20-The Multiple Mentality Course
20-The Multiple Mentality Course
20-The Multiple Mentality Course
by Harry Kahne
Contents:
Acknowledgement
Introduction
I. How the Space Age Degenerates Intelligence
II. How Multiple Mentalism Differs from Psychology & Psychiatry
III. Analytical vs. Synthetical Minds
IV. Relationship Between Mental & Physical Health & Multiple Mentalism
V. Psychological Difficulties Relieved by Multiple Mentalism
VI. Multiple Mentalism in Trades, Commerce & Professions
VII. The Problem of Middle Aged Men in Business
VIII. What Creative Imagination is & How to Develop it
IX. Specialization Means Narrowing the Mind; Diffusion Means Mental
Shallowness
X. Multiple Mentalism as an Aid in Public Speaking
XI. How to Develop Intuition --- The Sparkplug of Intelligence
XII. Modern Education & Its Critics Equally at Fault
Acknowledgment
This Multiple Mentalism course is a revised version of the course originated by Harry
Kahne in the early 1920s. At that time he was billed as The Incomparable Mentalist and
The Man with the Multiple Mind.
He often demonstrated his ability on stage by doing six different mental operations
simultaneously. His platform performance entailed standing in front of a large blackboard
with a piece of chalk in each hand while conversing with the audience. There was a
newspaper on a music rack in front of him. He began reading the headlines while writing
upside down and backwards with one hand and mirror language with the other hand.
At his left was another small blackboard on which appeared the number 28,642,981,673
--- which was being divided into five unequal parts --- these figures he began computing
at the bottom of the large blackboard. To his right was another small blackboard on which
appeared seven columns of figures which ran into the millions. These were being added
and notated as well at the bottom of the larger blackboard in front of him.
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This was Harry Kahne's demonstration of doing six things at one time, i.e., reading,
transposing, writing backwards and upside down, holding a conversation, adding and
dividing. These six separate processes actually involve fourteen distinct operations, i.e.,
hearing questions, answering questions, reading a newspaper, transposing what is read,
transposing spelling, writing with right hand, writing with left hand, writing upside down,
carrying six different thoughts in mind, retaining questions, retaining figures for addition,
retaining figures for division, proving previous work and controlling all other physical
actions of the body --- such as walking, bowing, etc..
At the end of Harry Kahne's demonstrations, people often asked him, "Do you really
believe that nearly everyone can learn to perform the amazing mental feats you
demonstrate? Is my brain capable of carrying on four to six independent functions at one
and the same time, as yours is? Isn't the ability to master your training confined to well
educated people?" When answering, Harry Kahne admitted he had only an average brain
to do things no other man in history had done. Education had no bearing on it.
Introduction
One of the saddest things the people in this complex world of today are confronted with
--- is the disuse of their brains! We are constantly beset and bombard with ever-increasing
demands that we are ill-equipped or unprepared to handle! Hence, very often, stress sets
in. Stress can then contribute to physiological and psychological disruptions which bring
about disease and illness. Efficiency is down. Accidents and mistakes become more
frequent.
Now this course may not turn you into an Einstein or an Edison, but it will help you to
think with more of what GOD gave you --- Your brain! It is the only course of its kind in
the world. If you proceed with it lesson by lesson without deviating or digressing, you
will no longer be besieged by situations too hard to cope with! You WILL be master over
the most difficult situations and the answers will show themselves easily. This course is
the key to clearer thinking. It will elicit that latent potential that has always been within
you, and you will mentally grow strong and vibrant --- full of life and health.
Have you ever watched an unusual performer do something that you thought was
fantastic? Did you ever wonder how he got that way? He certainly wasn't born with this
talent, but instead he learned to develop such a talent by training himself. You are
endowed with the same basic mental and bodily functions as such a performer. Of two
people, each possessing the same natural ability and identical schooling, one will attain
great heights of achievement, while the other remains in a status of mediocrity.
There are many examples in history of those who excel and use their brain. Some
mechanics become Thomas Edisons or Henry Fords, while others are "grease monkeys"
to the day of their death. This wide discrepancy in the fortunes of men is due to the fact
that some see and do the right thing at the right time --- while others do not. But... the one
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man in a thousand who sees correctly and acts with decisiveness at precisely the proper
time does not blindly HAPPEN to do so. He sees and acts courageously and correctly
because his mind is trained to react efficiently under all circumstances. He has acquired
this mental training --- this ability to make his brain cells really work --- unconsciously.
He has not realized that he has been training and developing his mind to do so.
After completing this mental development course, you will no longer suffer the balm of a
tired mind, but instead you will be mentally alive and feel at ease with yourself. Problems
that plagued you before will become easy to solve and the correct decisions will always
be readily available.
Follow the instructions conscientiously and you will be amazed at your own ability to
perform mental feats that you previously had not thought possible of yourself. It is then
that you will realize the boundless potential of your own mind and what it can do for you.
As you proceed through each lesson, your brain power will be increasing in strength.
Mentally you will be more equipped to handle everyday situations. No matter what your
education or experience, for the first time in your life, you will be truly using your brain
power storehouse.
Of course, this course in mind training can only benefit you in proportion to the time and
effort with which you devote to it. Don't try to find easy methods of doing a certain
exercise or lesson for you will only be cheating yourself out of the rewards of completing
that lesson. When an exercise states that you do it from memory alone, then don't copy,
but do it from memory alone!
Whatever your profession this course will help you perform better and more efficiently.
You will find that the difficult and near impossible success can be yours and your hidden
dreams can be concrete realizations.
Harry Kahne's brain was little different from yours. However, such as it was, he taught it
to work for him. Really work! All its resources were instantly available when he wanted
or needed them. It had been trained to do what he wanted it to do, when he wanted it
done. His was only an average brain made to perform certain tasks for him.
In this series of lessons or exercises are all the things you need to make your mind work
for you. You will be surprised to find how simple they are and how much actual fun and
satisfaction you will get from completing the course. Why, it's like a game -- but with
far more value than any game ever possessed!
Follow the instructions conscientiously and you will develop all the cells of your brain.
You will train them to work in unison for you. And when they do that, YOU CAN MAKE
YOUR MIND DO ANYTHING YOU WANT IT TO DO! You can carry on several lines
of thought simultaneously. The most difficult problems will seem to solve themselves.
The hardest questions, seen in their proper perspective and with all their factors viewed
concurrently, become easy to answer promptly and correctly. You will not become
perplexed about little things that now cause you setbacks of greater or lesser degrees,
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because your brain will automatically analyze and evaluate them accurately and give you
the right answers at the right time. Such thinking brings SUCCESS!
The first lessons are almost childishly simple. But as you progress from one to another
they become more difficult and involved. However, your mind will become
correspondingly more able to grasp them and, in a surprisingly short time, you will be
actually amazed by your own ability to perform mental feats you had not thought
possible --- feats of incalculable value to you in the business and professional world. You
will realize at last that there is literally NO LIMIT to the extent to which you will be able
to make your mind work for you!
With each lesson, you will learn how you can apply the principles of mental function you
acquire to help you in your everyday life. There is no lesson that does not have its
practical application in achieving financial or social success. When you are only half way
through, you will be unwilling to accept a thousand dollars for the ability you already will
have acquired. No matter what your education, training or experience, you will be using
them to real advantage for the FIRST time in your life!
Obviously, this course can benefit you only in proportion to the time and sincerity with
which you follow it. Therefore, devote the prescribed time effort to every lesson. Do not
cheat yourself. Do not copy the exercises from the words you put down. Do them from
memory --- and from memory alone. Do not proceed to any lesson until you have
thoroughly mastered the one preceding it. To do so defeats the purpose of the course ---
defeats your own desires --- nullifies your efforts. Be fair with yourself throughout! Soon
you will be achieving mental exercises previously never thought possible.
Although the exercises necessarily are performed with words and figures the results they
accomplish in building Brain Power will be reflected in your work day by day, no matter
what that work may be. You will find that problems now difficult or even impossible for
you to cope with resolve themselves into simple matters before you are half way through
the course. In short, the Impossible becomes Simple!
And now I shall give you something startling to think about -- something at once alluring
and encouraging. There lies dormant within every man some thought, idea, plan --- call it
what you will --- that probably is deeply buried in his subconscious mind, doomed never
to reach fruition. But if that thought or plan were brought into the light, allowed to
develop, it would make its owner a truly outstanding success --- a man of achievement to
whom people would point. And I say to you that if you train your mind to work for you
--- to delve into the unexplored resources of your brain and emerge with the treasures
hidden therein --- spectacular success will be yours! If you are honest with yourself in
understanding Multiple Mentalism, if you are earnest and sincere in your desire to rise far
above the ordinary, I will show you how to be successful and powerful beyond your
fondest dreams! Simply follow my instructions as given on the following pages --- and
you will amaze yourself and the world at large!
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How the Space Age Degenerates Intelligence
Dr. Alexis Carrel, surgeon, scientist, member of the Rockefeller Institute, winner of the
Noble Prize in 1912 for his success in suturing blood vessels and the transplanting of
organs, co-discover of the famous Carrel-Dakin solution which made gangrene virtually
unknown in World War I and thus saved tens of thousands of lives, said in his book, Man,
The Unknown:
But the cause of this mental weakness is not difficult to discern. The pioneers who settled
our country were many-sided men --- we are not. They were at once hunters, trappers,
explorers, fighters, teamsters, ship or canoe builders, horsemen, wheelwrights, carpenters,
cabinetmakers, well drillers, masons, farmers, blacksmiths, traders, cooks -- all these, and
more, "specialized" trades and abilities combined in single individuals! No wonder they
were possessed of "mental equilibrium, nervous stability", and other attributes mentioned
by Dr. Carrel! They were well balanced because their talents were well rounded. They
had nervous stability because they had serene self-confidence based on a knowledge of
their ability to cope with any problem that might arise in their world. They had sound
judgment, for the most part, because their minds were expanded, embraced many
branches of lore and learning, were capable in thinking on many varied planes.
And so with the early merchant. He was at once his own architect, store designer, buyer,
stockkeeper, advertising manager, salesman, bookkeeper, and financial wizard. The
doctor of only a generation ago was an obstetrician, gynecologists, dentist,
opthalmologist, throat specialist --- in short, a "general practitioner" in all branches of
surgery and medicine.
Today, we have more intelligent exploration, more intelligent farming, better architecture,
advertising, accounting, obstetrics, dentistry and surgery. But what Man as a whole has
gained, man as an INDIVIDUAL --- you and your family and your employer and your
employees --- has lost. You have lost the capacity for broad-gauge reasoning. You are
incapable, at present, of viewing many conflicting factors simultaneously --- weighing
them side by side at one and the same time --- balancing them, one against another,
concurrently --- reaching almost instantaneously a decision which you know, in the
depths of your being, is the correct decision and acting upon it promptly with the courage
that comes with such conviction.
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By relieving man of the necessity for thinking, except within the exceedingly narrow
scope of whatever he has chosen as his life work, this Space Age has dulled and drugged
the greater part of Man's mind. How many men in this day of automobiles could even
harness a horse, to say nothing of caring for it? Why, the majority of them do not
understand even the automobiles they drive! The workers themselves, who help build our
cars by inserting and securing bolt No. 146, do not understand carburation, ignition, or
the principles of the transmission and differential. We no longer train our minds to carry
thoughts what we wish to impart to our friends when we next meet them. If the thoughts
are important, we reach for a phone or send a letter. If they are relatively unimportant, we
forget them. Machines and computers have become Masters, and Minds are deteriorating
because of ever-decreasing opportunities, and need for, their use!
That is why your mind needs "limbering up". The very elementary mental gymnastics
that I will give you at the start may seem useless almost to the point of foolishness, but
they are like the preliminary "warming up" exercises with which athletes indulge before
beginning a game. They are simple, easy to do and apparently without meaning.
However, they are but the start. As your mind gains flexibility, really "warms" to its task,
I shall take you farther and farther until you are performing feats that will astound your
friends --- and which will reflect themselves in your increased business ability and
earning power.
Exercise I
Although this is the simplest of my twelve exercises, it is by far the most important, for it
is upon this exercise that all subsequent instructions are based. Now, too, is the time for
you to acquire the proper habit of study. "Well begun is half done," you know, and this
exercise --- comprising three separate mental drills --- affords you the opportunity to
establish your earnestness, punctuality and continuity of effort. It is designed to train you
to apply yourself to a mastery of Multiple Mentalism and to give you a firm foundation of
thought application upon which the rest of the lessons in this course depend.
And right here I want to emphasize what will be repeated time and again throughout the
course --- that you must not copy this exercise, but must work from memory alone!
In this way, and ONLY in this way, will you be able to train your mind to do things for
you, when and as you want them done! It is work --- but it is fun too. It takes time --- but
it is worth it! And the results will seem nothing less than miraculous!
AB C D E FG H I J K LM NO PQ RSTUVWXYZ
You were taught to memorize that in the first grade. Now, with pencil and paper, BUT
WITHOUT LOOKING AT IT EVEN ONCE. write the alphabet backwards FIFTY
TIMES:
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ZYXWVUTS R QPON MLK J IH GFE D CBA
The first time will be difficult and you may make mistakes. But don't look, nor copy, nor
take too long to "think it out." Write it backwards, at a fairly even speed, regardless of
how slow that speed may be, from MEMORY. This is the first training for your mind. In
ten or twenty attempts you will be able to write the alphabet backwards easily. Do it fifty
times (recitation) and you will have mastered it perfectly.
Second: I assume that you now have mastered the alphabet backwards. By mastering I
mean that the sequence will come to mind as naturally and effortlessly (keeping the body
relaxed and grounded) as the original sequence did initially. Learn to recognize the
feeling..If you have not, do not stop at the fifty times you have written it, but continue
writing it from memory until you have mastered it. Then transpose in 1-3 2-4 order the
letters of the alphabet from A to Z, as follows:
A C B D, E G F H, I K J L, M O N P, Q S R T, U W V X, (Y Z),
which are left over from the six combinations of four letters each. Do this FIFTY times
from memory. It will be by no means easy the first few times, but you will gain accuracy
quickly. However, you will profit nothing if you look at the letters of the alphabet in order
to copy the exercise. Its value lies in the training given you by breaking up the
sequence of letters in YOUR MIND, without the help of your eyes. You can readily
understand how this will lead to mental agility in grasping and revolving business
problems in your mind. Therefore, do this exercise AT LEAST fifty times, or as many
more times as may be necessary for you to be able to do it quickly and accurately.
Third: In the same way, transpose the letters of the alphabet FIFTY times, in the order of
1-26, 2-25, 3-24, 4-23, 5-22, etc.; the first 13 letters (A to M, inclusive) in their regular
order; the last 13 (Z to N, inclusive) backwards; intermingling the two halves of the
alphabet thus:
A-Z B-Y C-X D-W E-V F-U G-T H-S I-R J-Q K-P L-O M-N
Do this also from MEMORY. Do not copy or look at the alphabet (do not look at the last
pair you have just written, use your memory recall it). And when you are doing this
exercise, realizing that you are doing two things at once in your mind. You are
writing the first half of the alphabet in its usual sequence, and the last thirteen letters in
reverse order. You are making your brain do something for you that it never did before. It
is performing a dual operation. When you have done this third part of Exercise I fifty
times, entirely from memory, you will have demonstrated that you can make your mind
really work for you with a nimbleness heretofore unrealized!
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Don't forget that you cheat only yourself --- not anyone else --- of you fail to perform
these mental gymnastics from memory and if you fail to spend ONE HOUR A DAY on
the exercises.
And now, I am going to put you on your honor. For your own sake, master this exercise --
in all its three parts -- before you go on to Chapter II and its accompanying exercise. Each
chapter and "drill" in this course is based on all that goes before it. Your success with the
second lesson depends on your mastery of the first. Be conscientious --- be fair to
yourself --- and spend all the time you need to do each exercise quickly, accurately and
easily. The rewards will delight you!
Simplistically, psychology is the study of the normal human mind in the laboratory; that
is, in an abstracted, ideal state influenced by actual, everyday environment. Psychiatry is
the study of the mind's functioning, or disorders in the functioning, under workaday
conditions. Multiple Mentalism is a training system that enables the average, ordinary
mind to cope successfully -- and more than successfully -- with the circumstances created
by modern civilization.
Psychology studies the mind, but does not treat it. Psychiatry treats the maladjusted mind,
but does not train the normal brain to use its full powers. Multiple Mentalism neither
studies nor treats the mind, but does train and DEVELOP the average brain so that it may
function easily at full capacity.
And if the rich rewards offered you through Multiple Mentalism seem disproportionate to
the seeming childishness of the exercises given you to master, think again! True, you will
not become Chairman of the Board in charge of all the DuPont interests because of your
ability to write the alphabet backwards -- nor will you land any big contracts on the
strength of your being able to transpose the letters of the alphabet. But neither would
Mohammed Ali expect to enter the ring with a skipping rope and beguile the public with
the old childhood formula, "Salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar"! He spends much of his
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training time in skipping rope -- but only to improve his footwork, his co-ordination and
his endurance. In other words, the exercises I give you are merely silly if viewed as ends
in themselves, which they decidedly are NOT. Considered in their true character, as
MEANS to an end, they are most effective, the most fruitful, the speediest and most
practical means of mind training that the world ever has known. And actual results will
prove that I am understating their value, rather than overstating it.
With this proper understanding of what Multiple Mentalism is, and an appreciation of the
exercises' value, we are ready to proceed.
Exercise II
Do not attempt this exercise until you have mastered the three parts of the first lesson!
The mental drill you are about to be given deals with words, and while you may not at
first see that it has anything to do with what you learned in Exercise I, Exercise II is
based on the TRAINING there given you and follows it in logical sequence. That is why
it is absolutely ESSENTIAL that you master the first before taking up the second.
If you have mastered Exercise I, you will agree that it is rather easy, and very interesting,
to write the alphabet backwards and to intermingle the letters. Remember, however, that
the letters, words and figures used in this training are merely the tools with which you
work on your mental processes -- as useless in themselves as a slide rule is to a Sunday
driver. They are the means -- the end result is a mind of such power and adaptability that
it will carry you to pinnacles of achievement far beyond your present imagination!
For your first drill in Exercise II, write from memory as many three-letter words as you
can; at least thirty of them. Fifty to one hundred would be better. There is not much
mental work involved in that, is there? Here are just a few for samples:
MAN DOG CAT THE HAY SEX RUN TOP WAS BUT NOW FOR HIP
|Now, write your list from memory! Do not copy these words, but think up three-letter
words yourself and write them on a sheet of paper. Write them a half dozen times until
you have them pretty well in mind and can recall them easily.
Next, without looking at what you have written (throw the paper in the waste basket!),
write as many of those words as you can remember, writing them BACKWARDS from
memory, like this:
NAM GOD TAC EHT YAH XES NUR POT SAW TUB WON ROF PIH
(notice the division of attention- remembering the words in sequence but writing them
backwards)
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Some of the words you have selected will form new and correct words when spelled
backwards, but disregard these new words thus formed. For the purpose of this exercise
they mean nothing, but are mere coincidences.
The purpose of this drill is to train your mind to see things holistically in their entirety.
For instance, when you think of the word "can", it should mean not just the sequence "c-
a-n" to you, but should appear as a picture in your mind, of three letters, each equally
important regardless of arrangement (developing the ability to respond regardless of
orientation- I do what is required of me [follow orders] regardless of the surroundings
[example-headstand variation]). The "a" is as important as the "c" or the "n" even though
it is in the middle of the word. You can see the practical application of this is the
consideration of commonplace problems of life and business!
Repeat this exercise twenty-five times, each time removing your previous effort from
sight and making your new attempt entirely from memory, quickly forwards or
backwards. And when that word pictures itself in your mind, it will appear to you not as
a static sequence of three letters, but as three separate letters which your mind will be
able to group into any form at will.
Try writing the list from end to beginning writing each word backwards.
"But what good will that do me?" you may ask. "What good is it to me to be able to spell
short words backwards?" This exercise will have taught your brain to do something it
never could do it do before -- it will have broken down another rut in which your
mind was traveling -- it is a step toward untrammeled, original thinking. And it will
have developed your brain by just that much -- prepared it for further training by the
lessons that follow in this course.
Furthermore, it will have trained your brain to see little things, like little words, in their
entirety. The small problems of life or business or the home are made up of two or three
sides, or questions, or 'angles". No matter how simple, every question has at least two
sides. The successful man is the one who can see ALL sides at once -- the other fellow's
as well as his own. And, knowing the other man's problem, he is able to take advantage of
the situation of his own interests -- while the other man, who sees only HIS side of the
matter and does not grasp the problem as a whole, is placed at such disadvantage that he
usually comes out second best. This exercise is powerful indeed in its potentialities!
Of course, these two chapters will not make you a success overnight in what you are
striving for, but they have started your brain on the path to clear, concise, concurrent and
analytical thinking -- which is an essential to success in any effort.
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Try these drills in your spare time. Make a game of them. You will learn to like them, and
all the time you will be developing your brain cells.
Drill A Write any THREE LETTER WORD you can think of, at the same time spell
aloud an entirely different THREE LETTER WORD. Example:
Continue with this drill, using different words in each attempt, until you are capable of
writing ONE THREE LETTER WORD and spelling ANOTHER three letter word at the
same time, without hesitation.
Drill B Do not attempt this drill until you have mastered Drill A
Write a THREE LETTER WORD, writing the letters in reverse sequence -- at the same
time spell it aloud correctly. Example:
Drill C This drill may be a little more difficult than those preceding, but you can master
it. Remember your brain is now more flexible than it was before you started MULTIPLE
MENTALISM -- and these drills will make it even more flexible.
Write any THREE LETTER WORD spelling it BACKWARDS: at the same time spell
ANOTHER three letter word correctly. Example:
Continue this drill until it is easy for you, using different words.
At the conclusion of Chapter II, I mentioned analytical thinking. Let me make this clear,
however: THE DAY OF THE ANALYTICAL MIND IS PAST, at least so far as major
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success is concerned. And to any of you men or women who pride yourselves upon
having an "analytical mind", I issue this warning: You've GOT to go beyond mere
analysis and on to synthesis, or you will be a galley slave all your life, chained to the
System or the Machine!
Reason it out yourself. In the beginning, primitive man was faced with a horde of
unknown, mysterious and terrifying forces. The sun died daily, and was born again next
dawn. Thunder threatened dire destruction in Stentorian tones. Forest fires, set by
malignant, unseen demons, drove all before them. Floods wrecked the work of years.
Dark diseases destroyed whole tribes. Everything about our hairy ancestors was
confusion. Only the power of reasoning -- analytical reasoning that could assign the right
effect to the right cause -- sorted things out for him and finally made Earth and its
element bearable.
Then came the long period of development when men had a fairly complete
understanding of their environment. They began to break more and more things down to
their component parts. The jack-of-all-trades began to give way to the specialist, the man
who analyzed one particular facet of a business, or a science, or a profession, or a trade.
By concentration, he became an expert and won the rewards due to his superior analytical
ability. That was when an "analytical mind" was the passport to success.
BUT... although the world has an over-abundance of advertising managers, art directors,
production managers, operating superintendents, tool makers and designers, auditors,
financiers, buyers, stockkeepers, salesmen, market analysts, time and motion men and
other executives... there is a definite lack of BIGGER men -- men who can view these
myriad other groups as you can now view a three-letter word -- who can see each in its
proper relationship to the others and to the world at large -- and can weld from the
heterogeneous mass a mercantile giant like Montgomery Ward or Sears Roebuck, or a
manufacturing Goliath like General Motors.
And there you have a glimpse of what Multiple Mentalism will do for you -- or, rather,
enable you to do for yourself. It will enable you not only to apply analysis to your
yourself -- the technique of tearing down and studying the component parts of any
situation -- but, far more important, will give you the constructive ability to assemble the
parts into a harmonious whole, a smooth-working organization, or plan, or book, or
whatever it is upon which you are engaged. Seeing and understanding all factors
simultaneously, you will be able to "synthesize" -- build up -- while your merely
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analytical competitor, like the canal boat captain of a vanished era, bemoans the passing
of the "good old days"!
Therefore, Exercise III continues the analysis and synthesis drill inaugurated in Exercise
II and supplements the training you have given your mind in this course so far.
Exercise III
In Exercise II you became adept at writing three-letter words backwards from memory.
And right here I want to emphasize the necessity of spending at least ONE HOUR a day
on this course. You can devote time to it while riding to or from work, while eating lunch,
or during any of the idle moments with which every man's day is blessed (or cursed!). No
doubt you gained a fair mastery of Exercise II in an hour or so, for it is purposefully so
simple that a child can do it and enjoy it. But to train the mind to accomplish a thing
readily and instantly, you must train it by repetition until the process becomes automatic.
In so doing, the right brain is engaged. It is not enough to be able, when leaving the
second lesson, to write backwards any three letter word that comes to your mind, and to
do so almost as readily as you would write it forwards. That is just a start. You must go
further before taking up Exercise III. Repeat Number II every day for a week. An hour a
day. At the end of the week you will find that you are doing it automatically, almost
unconsciously, and absolutely without effort.
Then, but not until then, you are ready for Exercise III, in which you are to do this: Write,
from memory, 25 to 50 four-letter words. Put them on a piece of paper and study them
carefully. Then discard the paper and write them again. Do this several times, until you
can quickly recall ALL OF THEM. Then write them backwards from memory. Here are a
few samples:
Forwards: KNOB PAIN CASE SILL RING SLIP READ SHOE WOOD
Backwards: BONK NIAP ESAC LLIS GNIR PILS DAER EOHS DOOW
Although they look queer, each is a word with a very definite meaning. The letters are in
reverse order, it is true -- but, still, each is a word you frequently use and should be able
to recognize at a glance, even though written backwards. Now, repeat this twenty-five
times -- EACH TIME FROM MEMORY -- recalling the words in your mind and not
looking at them in writing. Take a clean sheet of paper each time you write the group
anew. After you have perfected yourself in this drill, you will be able to recognize the
words Pale, Hump, Coon, even when you see them in reverse order, thus: Elap, Pmuh, or
Nooc.
And what's that to you? Well, it means that you have now taken the first step toward
being able instantly to see all sides of simple problems, no matter in what guise they may
confront you. And with this as a basis, you will build your ability to conquer life's most
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difficult situations. The drills I give you in the exercises to come, make greater and
greater demands upon your brain -- develop it constantly to a point far beyond what you
would now dream possible.
Drill B - Recite the verse above ALOUD; at the same time write your name and address.
Example:
Robert Armstrong
Cincinnati, OH
Drill C - Recite ALOUD the verse given above, while writing a friend's name and
address. This will be a bit more difficult, but MASTER it and then try this:
Recite ANY poem, prayer or song you well know, while writing your own name and
address or the name and address of a friend, or any addresses you are accustomed to
writing. Continue these drills until they are easy for you to accomplish.
Exercise IV
14
This is your first complex exercise. It utilizes all the training you have given your mind
through Exercises I, II and III. It consists of putting words together, exactly as you must
put ideas together in life in order to obtain the fullest measure of business or professional
success. Probably it will take you several days to become proficient in the mental
gymnastics I now introduce -- but they will give you a very definite mental ability that
you do not have at present.
Take 24 of the three-letter words you memorized in Exercise II, or any 24 other three-
letter words that come to mind. Write them a few times so that you are thoroughly
familiar with them. Then pair any two of the 24 that first occur to you, and intermingle
their letters in sequence. Here is what I mean:
and, likewise:
Pair up the 24 words into any 12 pairs, writing their letters, as above, in 1-1, 2-2, 3-3
order. Then start all over with the same or different letters. Mix the words in any pairs
that occur to you. Intermingle their letters in the order given.
In the second 20-minute period of your hour's exercise, pair a three-letter word with a
four-letter word and intermingle their letters:
and, similarly:
Do this FOR 20 MINUTES EVERY DAY, using a different pair every time you do it,
until you can take any three-letter word and intermingle its letters with those of any four-
letter word as rapidly as you could spell each word correctly by itself. This drill should
immediately follow your 20-minute practice in intermingling three-letter words.
Now, for the last 20-minute period of your daily drill, do the same exercises as the two
preceding, EXCEPT: pair and intermingle four-letter words, one with another, instead of
using three-letter and four-letter words, thus:
15
and also:
You may realize how essential I consider it when I repeat a bit of advice given you in
every exercise so far: NEVER "COPY" THE DRILL. Do it from memory! FROM
MEMORY ALONE. Use your "mind's eye", not your physical eye. In doing this, you
acquire that same miraculous ability with which the blind amaze the world -- the power
to recreate, in your own mind, everything about you at the moment and anything you
have seen in the past. Your mind OPENS -- it embraces THE WORLD IN ITS
ENTIRETY. It is ILLUMINATED -- dark, obscure corners become LIGHT. Your mind is
awake -- it LIVES. The whole earth is WITHIN YOUR MENTAL VISION -- and you are
master of it! That is the power possessed by the blind, in some measure -- and which you
can not only acquire, too, but to which you can ADD the inestimable value of sight.
Truly, I exaggerate but little when I tell you that practicing these exercises until you reach
perfection in them will make you nothing less than a Super-man -- a being apart from
those around you!
So, make your mind WORK. Don't "coddle" it by copying -- nor "baby" it by taking less
than an hour's drill every day. Take MORE, if you need it. The BIG thing is: to master --
master thoroughly -- each and every lesson as you go along. Perfect yourself in it before
proceeding to the one following. In this way, and in this way ONLY, you will get full
value from Multiple Mentalism, the SOLE course of its kind in the world
Numerical-Word Drill
Drill A - Recite aloud the numerals from 1 to 100, with every count tilt the body
forwards- this creates a bodily rhythm. At the same time write as many FOUR LETTER
words correctly as you can. Continue practicing this drill until you can keep an even
pace, counting and writing..
After a few attempts you should be able to write 15 or more 4-letter words without
stopping your counting (here he gives a benchmark), although you may have to pause
occasionally to think of words.
Drill B - Recite numerals from 3 to 99 by threes (or use 2-50, 3-49), while writing 4-
letter words, spelled backwards.
SPELLED: TAOB
A friendly bit of advice to you: The more difficult you find these exercises, is the sign
that you need them, so MASTER them by all means.
16
Psychological Difficulties Relieved by Multiple Mentalism
Exercise IV may have seemed difficult at first. But by the time you take up this chapter,
you will -- if you are fair to yourself -- have mastered Exercise IV and will now be able to
do the drill easily.
And if, in the striving, you occasionally feel a touch of "brain fatigue", remember this:
physical exercises that build up your muscles and framework are invariably accompanied,
at first, by physical stiffness. This stiffness is in itself PROOF that the exercises are
benefiting you -- calling into play parts of your body that have been "rusting", unused. So
with the mental exercises that are given here. If they seem to make your brain stiff and
somewhat "numb", you may be sure that they are helping you. The stiffer they make you
feel, in fact, the more you have been in need of just this kind of "limbering up", and the
more good you will get from it.
You are now becoming able to carry on four or five mental processes simultaneously.
Your thoughts of self are no longer able to crowd other thoughts out of your mind.
Expressed in another way, Multiple Mentalism has left you still conscious of self, but no
longer self-conscious! You are four or five times the individual you formerly were and
you have outgrown your childish self-consciousness just as you have outgrown the
clothes you wore as a child!
The same factors account for the disappearance of stuttering and stammering in several
others who have perfected themselves in these drills. Where thought was too rapid for
words, consequently crowding the consciousness so that no part of the mind was free to
direct the speech, they stuttered and stammered. With the ability to think several things at
once, they were free to complete their lines of thought while other parts of their brains
followed along, putting the thoughts into words and seeing that the words were properly
uttered, clearly and impressively. So, too, with those who hem'd and haw'd and er'd while
sparring for time in which to think. Mental agility -- the ability to see and weigh all sides
of a question simultaneously -- now enables them to speak right out, without impediment.
Multiple Mentalism opens up chamber after chamber in your brain -- airs and purifies it
-- lets in the sunshine of Intelligence to disperse any unwholesome, buried memories that
may be festering there -- gives you mastery in your own mind, over all that it is and all
that it contains.
After all the foregoing, you might expect Exercise V is a continuation of No. IV -- a trifle
more complex, perhaps -- but even more interesting. If you have been faithful in your
practicing and have mastered the four exercises given you so far, you have reached the
point where your increased mental abilities are a constant source of amazement and
pleasure to you!
17
Exercise V
Intermingling 4-letter words spelling one word frontwards and the other,
backwards:
Warning: if you have to any degree slighted the previous lessons, GO BACK AND
MASTER THEM NOW, or you will fall by the wayside in your effort to acquire a
Multiple Mind! Exercise V will absolutely stop 999 out of every thousand men who have
not approached it by mastering Nos. I, II, III and IV. However, if you have been
conscientious and regular in your practice and can now intermingle three-letter and four-
letter words with ease and speed, these gymnastics will give you a genuine thrill!
First, write 24 four-letter words from memory. It is easy, of course. You have used so
many of them in the preceding lesson.
Now, take any two of your four-letter words (select them in your "mind's eye", NOT by
looking at the list you have written!) and intermingle their letters so that you spell one
word frontwards; the other, backwards. Like this:
and
Naturally, you understand that this is to be done entirely from memory -- utilizing the
blind man's gift of seeing with his mind -- and writing the intermingled letters on a clean
sheet of paper, without having the words themselves before you as a guide. Just select the
words, reach for a clean sheet of paper and write down S N U O R O E L after having
selected, for example, the words SURE and LOON in your mind. Do not write SURE and
LOON, themselves, at all -- just their letters, intermingled as explained, and NOTHING
ELSE. Pair off other four-letter words and write them similarly for 30 minutes. Do not
overdo yourself by practicing more than 30 minutes at present, for you must spend at
least a week, and perhaps more, on Exercise V. You will have time tomorrow and in the
days following to become really proficient in this and the following drill (also a part of
Exercise V). It is better, you know, to take six hours in six days, for drilling than to take
even twelve hours in a single day. You learn better, and retain what you learn, which you
cannot hope to do if you "cram".
After you have practiced the above lesson for 30 minutes, go on to words of five . Write
JSULMLPSAF if you have selected JUMPS and FALLS. Pair off five-letter words and
write them thus FOR 30 MINUTES --- no more, no less, for the first day.
18
Tomorrow and in the days following, until you have MASTERED this drill thoroughly,
spend AT LEAST 30 minutes daily on four-letter words and five-letter words. Thirty
minutes EACH, that is. Or more. Two hours in all if you can find the time --- an hour and
a half if you cannot manage two hours --- but, at all costs, AT LEAST one full hour. And
KEEP AT IT, day after day, until you can make four-letter and five-letter words "jump
through the hoop" for you, in accordance with this drill.
Now that your mind is becoming trained to break down and reconnect words, to take ten
apparently unrelated letters and see them in their true relationship to each other, as two
separate and distinct words, your mind will become equally able to analyze and
reconstruct events in your business life --- to understand that which is now a puzzle to
you.
Better yet: Perhaps a series of events is now under way, but has not yet culminated in any
definite action. With your new-found ability to recognize seemingly heterogeneous
elements as coherent entities, you will in many cases find yourself anticipating
forthcoming actions and "beating the other fellow to the gun", or preparing yourself in
advance to handle situations that otherwise would prove too much for you.
Need I say that when you can do this, and your rivals cannot, you --- and not they --- will
win out in business competition?
This is NOT an arithmetical drill in the sense that it is designed to improve your
arithmetic. However, even before the time of Omar Khayam, various mathematical
exercises were much in vogue to develop judgment, reasoning power and mental
alertness. The following drill will stimulate your brain to greater nimbleness than you
would have dreamed possible just a few weeks ago.
Drill A - Spell your own name aloud and add this row of figures:
4
7
8
3
5
7
1_
19
Try this one:
8
6
5
4
5
9
2
7
8_
Try again:
14
67
45
34
97_
And again:
178
563
423_
Work on this drill for days, create more additions, and while adding RECITE the
alphabet ALOUD. Spell your friends names, recite poetry. As the new awakened
cells are called into play, continue creating more difficult additions.
6 x 42 9 x 18 8 x 17 6 x 56 4 x 37 3 x 59 9 x 39
8 x 45 7 x 78 8 x 29 7 x 345
Drill C:
20
Multiple Mentalism in Trades, Commerce & Professions
In the preceding paragraph, I mentioned the knowledge that we acquire from day to day
--- but many of us acquire little or no new knowledge in the ordinary course of our work.
Such unfortunates are the victims of lack of observation --- which, in turn, is one of the
deleterious effects of modern civilization. We see so many things, one crowding on the
heels of another --- automobiles flashing past, traffic lights winking on and off, animated
window displays frantically trying to catch our attention, advertisements screaming to be
noticed, radio loudspeakers blasting almost incessantly, throngs of people scurrying past
--- that the undisciplined mind becomes a muddled morass of confused impressions,
totally devoid of the power to see and understand. In other words, unable really to
observe intelligently --- to retain fresh knowledge that is worthy of retention and to reject
trivialities that would be only mental dead weight. Multiple Mentalism, by enabling you
to apprehend instantly what is, to the untrained mind, a hopeless jumble, gives you that
priceless quality of the superior mind: Observation. It is an important factor in your
success!
A hundred truck drivers may drive the same route, hauling the same loads, daily. And yet,
only one of them may be observant enough to notice that his loading platform is too high
or too low --- causing a waste of effort and time (which is money) in picking up his loads.
The same driver is apt to notice whether a trailer or a self-contained truck is best suited to
the character of the work. He may notice that most of his time is spent idling in traffic
and that one larger truck is more desirable than two lighter, speedier jobs --- or that the
reverse is true and his type of hauling could be done more efficiently by replacing one
large truck with two or three smaller ones. A driver so observant is slated to be
transportation superintendent or a highly productive salesman for some truck agency, or
owner of his own trucking concern!
21
Understanding and constructiveness are but other phases of analysis and synthesis, both
of which were discussed in Chapter III, but memory is another mental trait developed by
the training you are here giving yourself.
We all have good memories, insofar as memory is defined as the mind's capacity for
retaining impressions of names, faces, personalities, scenes and events. That is a trait
common to all Mankind --- every brain records indelibly every impression made upon it,
whether or not its possessor was conscious of the impression at the time it was made. But
the ability to recall those impressions, at will, is not so common.
My training, you must agree, not only makes you observant and thereby assures your
noticing every pertinent factor applying to a person, thing or event but, also, is
developing almost hourly your capacity for recalling those factors at will. The same brain
"muscles" that pull a word into your consciousness, reverse the sequence of its letters and
interpose them between the letters of a correctly spelled word (all of which, as you know,
is done in the MIND), will enable you to pull into consciousness again the names, faces,
conversations and characteristics of people you met long before. You will be able to recall
events long past, as well as scenes you thought forgotten. Not by any mnemonic tricks of
association or Magic Memory Formulae, but by simple and natural mastery of your
mental processes! Multiple Mentalism enables you to make your mind do what you want
it to do, when you want it done. Regardless of interrupting factors that woefully distract
undisciplined minds, your brain is your faithful ally and servant, always alert to do your
bidding --- ready instantly with whatever you require of it!
The accountant whose mind obeys its master sees and properly interprets the relationship
between selling cost and sales price, between overhead and production figures, between
volume and net income. He is on the way to becoming treasurer or financial agent!
Similarly, the attorney who is sharp to seize upon discrepancies in his opponent's
arguments, who is exact in drawing his own parallels with established precedents, who is
quick to identify contradictions between present and past testimony, is well in line for fat
retainers and generous fees! And these are the talents latent within us all --- machinist,
farmer, physician and chef --- talents that will blossom and bloom through Multiple
Mentalism. A rich harvest... yours for the reaping!
22
____________________________________________________________
Exercise VI
Since we have just discussed memory, I am --- for a diversion --- going to introduce an
amusing little parlor trick which will entertain and mystify your friends and associates
and, t the same time, strengthen your memory, or power to recall. Observe this "Magic
Square":
10 23 20 17
21 16 11 22
15 18 25 12
24 13 14 19
What is distinctive about it? If you are observant, you will note that its columns ---
whether added vertically, horizontally or diagonally --- yield the same total, 70. I am
going to show you how you can challenge your friends to draw such a square, in blank
(without numbers in it), and name any total they wish you to obtain. Then, almost without
pause, you will be able to write in the correct figures to yield any desired total, no matter
whether the columns are added up and down, across or diagonally!
1 14 11 8
1 7 2 13
6 9 16 3
15 4 5 10
Look carefully at what you have drawn. Note carefully the positions of the "key"
numbers, 1 to 16 inclusive. Fix each numbered square in your mind. Now, conceal your
diagram and draw a new one, exactly like it, FROM MEMORY. Number each square
exactly as numbered above --- BUT DO NOT LOOK at the above or your own previous
drawing. Draw and number the squares FIFTY TIMES, numbering the smaller squares 1
to 16, in numerical sequence. AFTER you have done this, draw the squares in blank, then
write in the numbers by horizontal columns, thus: (1st line), 1-14-11-8; (2nd line), 12-7-
2-13; 93rd line), 6-9-16-3; (4th & last line), 15-4-5-10. Repeat this drill until you have
mastered it completely. Then, starting with a drawing of the unnumbered squares, and
WITHOUT looking at previous efforts, insert the numbers by vertical squares; as (1st
column) 1-12-6-15; (2nd column) 14-7-9-4; (3rd column) 11-2-16-5; and (4th & last
column) 8-13-3-10. Do these three drills at least FIFTY TIMES each, from memory, or
until you are as familiar with the arrangement and numbering of the sixteen squares as
you are with the sequence of letters of the alphabet --- only more so!
Now, with the "Magic Square" well fixed in your mind, you are ready to puzzle your
friends. Drawing the squares in blank, ask someone to name the total he wants you to
reach. From whatever figure he names, subtract 30 and divide the remainder by 4.
23
Obviously, your friend must name a number as high as 34, or higher. Assume that the
number given you is 86. Subtract 30, as explained. You now have 56 for a remainder.
Divide 56 by 4 --- an easy mental calculation. This gives you 14. Write 14 into square #1
(the 1st square in the upper left hand corner), 15 into square #2 (3rd square in line 2 of
the "Magic Square" as you have memorized it), 16 into square #3 (4th square in line 3),
17 into square #4 (2nd square in line 4), 18 into square #5, 19 into square #6, 20 into
square #7, and so on until you have written them all in, concluding with the number 29 in
square #16. You will find that, no matter how you add the numbers you have written in,
86 is the total!
14 27 24 21
25 20 15 26
19 22 29 16
28 17 18 23
"Fine!" you say, "but what do you do if, after subtracting 30 in accordance with these
directions, the remainder is not evenly divided by 4?" Well, that doesn't make the trick
any harder. Suppose you had been given the number 88 instead of 86. You would proceed
as above, except that when you divided 58 by 4, you get 14 with 2 left over. Number your
squares exactly as in the example given above --- 14 in square #1, 15 in #2, 16 in #3 and
so on UNTIL you reach square #13. In square #13, instead of writing 26 as you did when
working for a total of 86, add 2 (the "left-over" you had when dividing 88 minus 30 (58)
by 4. That is, write in 28 instead of 26 --- skipping 26 and 27 entirely. Add 2, also, to each
of the remaining squares to and including #16 --- which means following 28 (Square #1)
with 29 (square #14), 30 (square #14) and 31 (square #16). You now have a square
numbered like your first one, which totaled 86, except for the squares 13 to 16 inclusive,
where you have subtracted 28 for your former 26, 29 for 27, 30 for 28, and 31 for 19 and
have omitted 26 and 27 entirely. Your rows, columns and diagonals will now add to 88,
the required sum! When your remainder after subtracting 30 from the sum required of
you is not evenly divisible by 4, the "carryover" must always be 1, 2 or 3 --- it cannot be
anything else, of course. Whichever it is, add it to the numbers that would normally
appear in squares 13 to 16 inclusive, had the figure been evenly divisible by 4 --- as
explained above. A simple trick, but effective!
Now that we've had our fun, let's get back to the intermingling of the letters of words ---
taking six-letter words this time, and intermingling their letter in multiple. This requires
more application and concentration than have been demanded of you up till now, so you
had better make DOUBLY sure that you have mastered the first five exercises!
Take any 6 six-letter words and write them in a vertical column, i.e.:
POWERS
EXPERT
HONEST
PUZZLE
24
MEMORY
HEALT
Memorize your words (not these!) and write them in the same order as often as may be
necessary to make you fully acquainted with the sight of them in your "mind's eye". Then
dispose of the paper upon which you have listed them and, FROM MEMORY ALONE,
set them down like this:
Take the first letter of the first word, follow it with the first letter of the second word, and
so on, taking the first letter each of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth words --- which would
give you, had you used the same words I used above, the letters PEHPMH. Now add, in
the same line, the second letter of each of the 6 words. You now have
PEHPMHOXOUEE. Continuing in the same line, take all the third letters, then the
fourth, followed by the fifth and sixth of the of the 6 six-letter words. Here is what you
get:
The numbers are the keys to the words in their original sequence. that is, the six letters
numbered 1 spell POWERS; those numbered 2 spell EXPERT; the 3s spell HONEST, etc.
Do this again and again from memory, using the same six words you originally select and
never peeking at what you have written before. Spend at least an hour doing it.
Tomorrow, select 6 new six-letter words, and practice another hour with those words.
Spend a minimum of one hour every day for a week, taking 6 new words each day.
Believe me, you won't find this exercise as easy to master as the ones ahead of it in my
training! But stay with it! Even if it takes two hours or more a day, spend all the time
necessary, for as many days as are needed to make you really adept at mingling any six
common words or names in multiple sequence, quickly and correctly. It will pay you!
Men of 40 are prone to lament: "The most stupid blunder business men make today is to
refuse to employ men in their forties, fifties and sixties. Why, that is exactly when a man
is most valuable to them! He has acquired judgment, is rich in experience and, for
obvious reasons, is far more interested in holding down his job to the complete
satisfaction of his employer!"
Is this complaint justified? We know that employers frown upon the middle-aged
applicants but are they, as a rule, right in doing so? Let us look at the average middle-
aged man who seeks a new connection. Not the exceptional middle-aged man, but the
average. What has age given him --- and what have the years taken away?
25
Our middle-aged man has gained a wealth of experience --- but in doing so, he usually
has lost his elasticity of mind. He is no longer willing to pioneer. New methods, new
paths deter him. He prefers to travel by the compass of precedent. And this indicates that
he has gained in judgment --- but what a loss he has suffered in daring! He no longer has
the courage to originate, to create or to take what are, to a younger man, perfectly sound
and promising business chances. He is steady as a plow horse is steady --- and with as
little enthusiasm! And what he has acquired in the way of assurance, he has lost in open
mindedness. He is no longer capable of viewing old problems in a new light. The rut has
closed in on him. Youthful ambition and energy have been replaced by the timidity and
inertia of age --- and he asks little better than to be left alone, to achieve some measure of
security for his declining years!
An exaggerated picture? Not at all! Look about you. You will see in every office and
shop, the very man I have described. What a pity!
And that shows you, more graphically than almost any other example I could give, why
Multiple Mentalism is such a boon to all who expect to earn their bread by the sweat of
their brows. If a man is not too firmly caught in the clutches of old Father Time, my
exercises restore to his mind the lost elasticity of Youth. His brain regains its nimbleness
and agility. Every day means to him a new day and a new start. he is open minded --- no
longer trammeled by the shackles of precedent. He is willing and able, now, to approach
old problems from new angles. Thanks to his new found ability, which my training has
given him, he sees in them factors he had not noticed before. And each heretofore unseen
factor suggests its own solution. His mind, constructive now, builds new methods to
overcome the obstacle or circumvent the difficulty. What wonder that Multiple Mentalism
restores his courage, his enthusiasm and his ambition! And his increased brain power
gives new meaning to the word "energy". He is able to do with ease things that would
have exhausted him before he tackled these mental gymnastics. Tasks that once fatigued
him, he now takes in his stride.
Such radical changes in a man's mind and in his outlook are bound to be reflected in his
bearing. He walks jauntily, with a new confidence. He approaches prospective employers
serenely, radiating Power and Poise. he is welcomed by executives who would have shut
their doors to him but a few months before!
Now do you see why my most enthusiastic "boosters" are men in their forties and early
fifties? They have good cause for their enthusiasm.
And while we are on the subject of age, let me say that I do not recommend these mental
exercises for youths. The youthful mind should be spent in gathering knowledge and
experience. After its owner has acquired a foundation of education and experience,
Multiple Mentalism should be taken up to develop that mind and to "cash in" the
experience and knowledge previously gained. Not knowledge --- but the most effective
use of knowledge --- is Power!
26
Roughly speaking, I set 25 to 50 years as the age limits of those who can profit most by
my training. Of course, some boys are men at 22; some men have not shed the final traces
of adolescence at 35; some are old at 40; while some are young at 65. So, when I say that
men from 25 to 50 years of age form the group that Multiple Mentalism will benefit
most, I am being purely arbitrary. In the light of the explanation I have given you, each
man must make his own decision.
_________________________________________________
Exercise VII
Even before you saw these exercises, your mind was capable of doing more than one
thing at a time. It was able to direct your hand to make penciled notes of telephone
conversations --- to control your hands, feet, eyes and ears in driving a car while carrying
on a conversation --- and many other such simple simultaneous acts. However, it
probably could not do two things simultaneously and do them well. Your handwriting or
word-choice, or both, suffered when you took notes while conversing on other subjects.
Most automobile accidents are caused by inattentiveness --- the driver's inability to do
justice to his driving while carrying on a conversation or listening to the radio. And the
effort of trying to do more than one thing at a time wears down the average man ---
causes nervousness, stress, heart afflictions, and other so-called "degenerative" ailments.
Now, however, your brain is able to do more things at once than you may have realized.
Our 20th President, James A. Garfield, could not only write with either hand with equal
ease, but he could also write the two classical languages, Latin and Greek, at the same
time, one with his right hand, and the other with his left! Let's look at how far YOU have
come along the road to mental mastery.
Chapter I gave you a thorough knowledge of the alphabet, backwards, and enabled you to
break the alphabet into two distinct parts. You have known one of these parts since you
finished your first grade in school, but the other was a new part with the letters in a new
sequence. And then you mastered the mental trick of carrying the first half of the alphabet
in its proper sequence, while mingling the second half with it, in reverse order. Simple?
Yes, but it takes two simultaneous mental operations!
Chapters II and III further increased the ability you gained in Chapter I. You became
capable of the same mental gymnastics in more complex form --- thinking of three-letter
and four-letter words in two ways --- spelled forward and in reverse.
A military man would say that you had consolidated your gains, in Chapter IV, where you
kept two unrelated words in mind and pictured their letters arranged alternately, one set
of letters with the other, at one and the same time.
Then came your first hurdle, Chapter V. When you had topped it, you were possessed of
still another accomplishment. Your brain could do three things at once: (1) carry two
words in mind; (2) carry one of them spelled backwards; and (3) combine the letters of
27
both into one sequence, spelling one of the words in normal order and the other
backwards. Chapter VI increased the complexity of these same mental tasks.
In Exercise VII, you will again increase your mental capacity, to which science knows no
limit. Your mind will do four things concurrently --- not merely for the sake of doing four
things but so that, when the demands of life force it upon you, you will be able to carry
on four separate lines of thought without undue nervous strain. However, the nervous
strain to which the untrained mind is subjected and the physical contortions in which
many of us indulge when trying to think beyond our present ability to do so, do cause
fatigue. Hence, the more you can do with your mind, the less effort and the more pleasure
(as well as profit!) there is in living.
Write 6 six-letter words in a vertical column, just as you did in Exercise VI, except: Write
only the 1st, 2nd and 3rd words forwards. Write the other three backwards. To illustrate:
WONDER
THGIRB (BRIGHT)
HEALTH
ERUTAN (NATURE) Memorize the list, then throw it away!
ASSERT
SUINEG (GENIUS)
Now, working in your mind alone, without reference to any written list, assemble the
letters of your six words as you did in Exercise VI, but putting the letters of words #4, #5
and #6 in backwards. Also, instead of taking the words in the order in which you have
listed them, take word #1, then word #6, then #2, followed by #5, and ending with the
words numbered 3 and 4. The above list would work out this way:
W S H E AT O U E R S H N IAU S G D N LT E I E E TAR R G H NT B
To help make this clearer, I have underscored the initial letters of each of the 6 words
used, when spelled properly.
Stop a moment and realize what this gymnastic means. It involves your (1) memorizing 6
words; (2) carrying three of them, spelled properly, in your mind; (3) carrying three of
them spelled backward; and (4) writing 36 letters in an entirely new and unfamiliar
sequence. If you find it quite difficult to do this at first, you can readily understand why!
I'll tell you a way to cheat the difficulty of this exercise. If you write a letter, then skip
five spaces and write the next that appears in the word you are spelling, then jump five
more spaces to the next letter, etc., you can write the line quite easily --- BUT YOU
WILL BE CHEATING YOURSELF and you will be setting yourself a long way back.
So, forget the short cuts and, for your own sake, play the game! Keep all 6 words before
your mind's eye, in the 1-6, 2-5, 3-4 order explained to you, and write the 36 letters in
sequence illustrated above.
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I have not sprung this bit of advice on you so far, because it has not been necessary, but I
say now: Spend at least an hour a day on this lesson for a full week, even if you think you
have mastered it long before the week is up. More than with any of the others, this
exercise requires frequent repetition in order to train your brain as it should be trained ---
to accomplish what has seemed the Impossible in your life until now. Remember, we are
building up your brain to take the hill of $uccess "in high gear".
_________________________________________________________
Given below are nine subdivisions or classifications. Under each heading, write names of
appropriate subjects. One such name, with letters jumbled, appears under each
classification. When you come to it, write it correctly in the space below it, then continue
writing more names, as before. Under "FLOWERS", for example, you might write
"daisy, "rhododendron", etc., until you encounter the jumbled flower. Write it correctly,
then continue your list. So with all nine subdivisions. This will stimulate your recall and
recognition.
FLOWERS
___________
___________
___________
HRAHMYCENMSUT
KITCHEN UTENSILS
___________
___________
___________
OLNCRDEA
MAGAZINES
___________
___________
___________
MPOLTOCASNIO
PRESIDENTS
___________
___________
___________
ABRVENU
29
STATES
___________
___________
___________
EWXECMOIN
ANIMALS
___________
___________
___________
HOSERNRICO
It has been said, "That man is most original who knows the greatest number of sources
from which to plagiarize." Again, wasn't it Solomon who said there is nothing new under
the sun?
To understand clearly what "creative imagination" is, consider some of the books,
pictures, plays or business enterprises that you would call examples of creative ability.
Take Woolworth, for example. There was an outstanding merchant! Made millions of
dollars, he did. Showed the business world something new, too, if I'm not mistaken. Yet,
articles sold for 5 cents and 10 cents long before Woolworth's day --- and other store
operators had price limitations before Woolworth came along. However, price limitations
were definitely set in the so-called "exclusive" stores. Snobbishly, because it appealed to
their snobbish trade, they would not handle merchandise priced below certain figures. All
that Woolworth did was to reverse that process --- just as you reverse the letters in a
word, now that you have completed more than half my training. See how simple his
technique, once you look at it?
All that Henry Ford did, to start with, was to add one more factor to what other
automobile makers were doing. They were trying to build cars that would run. Their aim,
at that time, was no higher. They had their eyes only on the production end ---
overlooking entirely the market and its demands. Ford coordinated the two as easily as
you mingle the letters of two words --- and became one of the richest men in history. He
aimed to build a car that not only would run, but that also would sell. Nothing to it ---
after it had been done!
We are told that there are only five or seven plots in all literature. Shakespeare used them
over and over again --- merely making new combinations of old elements. With only 26
letters in our alphabet, we have nearly a million English words --- and an English
literature of prose, poetry and plays that must include countless billions of words!
30
Do I make my meaning clear? Have I answered the questions raised by the title of this
chapter? "Creative imagination" is simply the ability to combine old elements into new
forms. Its development, in yourself, involves only the ability to cast aside the restrictions
of precedent --- to forget entirely what has been done before in your field --- to refuse to
accept any idea or method merely because it is long-established --- and to approach any
given matter with a fully open mind.
When you see the word GARAGE and, at the same moment, see it spelled EGARAG in
your mind's eye, you are casting off hidebound conventionality. You are thinking freely.
Your mind is not a slave of things as they are. And you can do the same with other
problems in your life --- see them forwards and backwards at one and the same time ---
see them in a different guise than that in which they appear to most others --- and, so
seeing them, solve them in what may well be a startling new manner!
There's the whole secret of Creative Thinking, explained so simply that, like Woolworth's
and Ford's accomplishments, it seems almost childish. But children, you must bear in
mind, are wise with a wisdom that surpasses that of age. Their thinking is independent,
not loaded with the thoughtless habit of years. Theirs are inquiring minds --- taking
nothing for granted, twisting and turning and examining every new fact that comes to
them. Do likewise --- as Multiple Mentalism makes it possible for you to do --- and you
will find life's major problems simpler than those of childhood! What's more, your
Creativeness, your daring thinking, will bring rich monetary rewards!
__________________________________________________
Exercise VIII
You are about to train your mind to see the words of an entire sentence spelled backwards
--- another step toward perfecting yourself in the ability to recognize the relationship
between apparently unrelated events of elements and build up, anew, fresh creations from
old material.
Think of (don't write!) a sentence containing three or four short words. Fix it in your
mind without touching pencil to paper. Then write the sentence backwards --- without
having seen it on paper in its correct form. The sentence:
HERE COMES THE BRIDE thus becomes EDIRB EHT SEMOC EREH;
and
I know this seems far easier than earlier exercises, but that is because, first, it really is not
a difficult exercise; and, second, because your mind is immeasurably better trained that it
was when you undertook, say, Exercise IV. You can see words and sentences in their
entirety, which you couldn't do before.
31
Practice ever longer sentences, with ever longer words. Ones like these:
One hour a day on this, faithfully, will find you able, after three or four days, to write
sentences backwards in from only a half to a third more time than it takes you to write
them in the customary manner. To aid your practice, make a game of it. Glance only once
at billboards, road signs, etc., then look away quickly and spell them backwards --- aloud,
if possible; silently, if necessary. You'll be astounded at the progress you can make by
using moments normally wasted. Profitable progress, too!
The specialist has been defined as "a man who learns more and more about less and less,
until he ends up by knowing everything about nothing at all!" By that same token, an all-
around man --- jack of all trades --- general practitioner --- is "a man who learns less and
less about more and more until he knows nothing whatsoever about everything there is"!
Multiple Mentalism enables you to avoid pitfalls. By developing your brain so that it
becomes really observant, it broadens your knowledge of many varied subjects. By
giving you the ability to see familiar things in brand new settings, it deepens your
understanding of men, objects and occurrences. By arousing your latent power to think of
many things simultaneously, it gives your mind versatility, poise and a firmer grasp of
situations and problems. And by putting you in complete control of your brain, for the
first time in your life, it makes it possible for you to remain, at will, oblivious to that in
your environment which is worthless to you, and to become more fully appreciative of
that around you which can be of help to you in your business, social or personal life.
To put it another way: You are rapidly becoming a well-rounded personality with a more
competent, well-rounded intellect. You are well on your way to becoming truly
outstanding among your associates; to attaining a prominence, because of your new-
found mental capability, that will bring your speedy advancement in whatever you
undertake. You are almost "over the hump" now, in the training contained in this course.
A final spurt or two will carry you to the very zenith of mental ability! So, with the goal
in sight, let's go!
Exercise IX
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Once more, your exercise becomes more intricate than those which came before it. And,
as before, you will find it easy, despite its greater intricacy, if you have been honest with
yourself in practicing the preceding drill (No. VIII)
To begin Exercise IX, think of two sentences, each containing three or four short words.
DON'T WRITE THEM IN THE NORMAL WAY. The very first time you touch the paper
with your pencil, in this exercise, write you two sentences with their letters intermingled,
thus:
G S I E R M LA S G LY I A K L E P D S O Y L O L B S
which combines GIRLS LIKE DOLLS (spelled forward) with BOYS PLAY GAMES
(spelled backwards)
This may stump you a bit at first, but it will soon become easy if you have practiced the
first eight exercises faithfully. In about three-quarters of an hour, of your first hour's drill,
you will be writing short sentences this way almost without hesitation.
Tomorrow, take on four-word sentences, but keep the thoughts and words very short and
simple at first. As short and simple as:
which is merely MEN WORK TO LIVE (spelled forwards) combined with WHO
WANTS TO EAT (spelled backwards).
Naturally, you cannot space the letters according to words --- but, as that would be
unnecessary for a mind trained as yours now is, it is unimportant. You can readily
understand what you are doing, without that.
Give at least an hour every day to this drill. Make your sentences longer and your words
more difficult as you progress. You will find this one of the hardest drills in my training,
but I assure you that it is also one of the most valuable. For the first time, you are making
practically all of your brain cells work --- except, obviously, those which control your
various physical activities.
In concluding this drill, I am going to make a new suggestion. I suggest that you take the
mental processes involved in this exercise and deliberately apply them to some specific
problem in your business or your home. Do not content yourself with merely calling the
problem to mind, and hoping that the mental processes will take place automatically! Call
them into play, consciously and deliberately. Turn the problem over and over in your
mind. Twist it. Look at its various component parts forwards and backwards. Fit one into
another and see how the new relationship affects them.
Do this --- and you will see, beyond all question or argument, how thoroughly practical
this training is in fitting you to cope more advantageously with everyday affairs! You will
33
find that the most stubborn problems do yield easily to this form of solution --- that the
answer often pops into your head so quickly and easily that you are ashamed of not
having thought of it long ago!
Multiple Mentalism is a $uccess course indeed. I no longer need tell you that. You must
have realized it, yourself, several chapters back. You know now that it actually and
literally means, "MORE POWER TO YOU"!
Drill A For this drill, use your daily newspaper. Read and study for a few moments a
headline in your newspaper (a sentence containing 8 or 9 words) Now take a pencil and
jumble the letters in each word as you write the sentence. try not to miss any of the
letters. Then check back to see if you have made any mistakes. Do this, using new
headlines each time, until it becomes easy for you. Example:
Write:
You need not follow any set rule in jumbling the letters in the words. Write them so each
word has no meaning in the manner that you spell it.
Continue on this drill --- you will find it fascinating and interesting.
Chapter V tells you how many men and women have overcome self-consciousness
through Multiple Mentalism. Their "multiple minds", acquired by means of this training,
enables them to be conscious of themselves without being self-conscious. This is the first
step to effective public speaking.
But this course goes even further in equipping you to speak well, to large or small
audiences. Quite aside from the reason given above, our new brain development gives
you the self-confidence --- self-assurance --- the innate knowledge that you can cope with
the situation when you rise to your feet and begin to talk. This has a steadying influence
which makes your words impressive and convincing.
In addition, you will find that you speak more clearly and logically than ever before. Your
brain is better able to marshall facts and to present them in their most reasonable
34
sequence. No longer need you utter your arguments in the order in which they presented
themselves to you when planning your speech, or in which you may originally have
memorized them. Your training in jumbling of letters of words and the words of sentences
permits you easily to intermingle your arguments in the order that seems to you most
effective. If other speakers have preceded you, and you wish either to rebut what they
have said or to emphasize arguments that were lacking in strength as they gave them,
your mind is nimble enough to fit this new material into what you had planned to say, and
to do it coherently and appealingly.
Interruptions cannot throw you off your stride, thanks to the discipline to which you have
subjected your brain. If you find it necessary to pause, waiting for exactly the right word
to come to mind, you will not be embarrassed or flustered by your momentary hesitation.
On the contrary, your calmness and deliberation will have a favorable effect on your
listeners. They will be impressed, consciously or subconsciously, by your cool and
collected manner. You will find yourself able to sway audiences as never before!
This advantage alone, disregarding all the other tremendous benefits of Multiple
Mentalism, may mean thousands of dollars to you. As you advance in the business,
professional or political world, you will meet increasing demands for formal or informal
talks. Your ability to fulfill these demands so readily can mean the favorable vote of an
important board of directors; the welding together of a political body that will carry you
to prominence and greater opportunity! If it accomplished nothing else, the help that
Multiple Mentalism can give you in public speaking is absolutely priceless!
Exercise X
Have you noticed that the exercises are getting shorter and easier to explain, but
increasingly difficult to do? That shows that you are approaching the climax and reaching
the peak of mental power! Exercise X, for example, takes only a few lines to explain but
sets you a real task in concentration and calls upon principles you have mastered earlier
in your training.
Take pencil and paper. Write a word of seven or more letters correctly while, at the same
time, you spell aloud another word (preferably of the same number of letters). In other
words: WriteENGRAVE slowly, while you spell aloud E-V-E-N-I-N-G. When you
write E (for "engrave"), say E (for "evening"); when you write N, say V; write G and say
E; write R and say N; write A and say I, write V and say N; and write E as you say G.
That gives your brain cells a workout!
Practice doing this with seven-letter and longer words. Do it fully one hour a day until
you have the knack of it down pat.
Next: Write one word backward, and spell another forward, aloud. I mean: Write
ETALER (RELATE) while you call off, aloud, the letters L I S T E N, just as you did in
35
the first part of this drill EXCEPT that one word, the written one, is now to be done
backward.
You will find this more difficult than the first section of Exercise X --- but stick to it and
you will be giving your mind some more exceedingly helpful training!
Drill B The letters in the names of six famous men have been intermingled. Each name
contains six letters. See how quickly you can unscramble them and identify the six
famous men. The underlined letters are the first initial.
Drill C As with the names above, the names of three American rivers are here given.
Each river has eleven letters in its name. The thirty-three letters have been jumbled. What
are the three rivers?
S I H M I A Q S N S H N I S M E N U G A N P I LA O U O P E S A S
Drill D As in the two drills above, letters have again been jumbled. This time, the
names of four minerals have their letters intermingled. The names are of unequal length.
What are the minerals?
R H C C M M R LA E O O U U E A D L P P I I
Drill E This is somewhat more involved --- a good limbering up exercise for your mind.
the letters in two sentences have been intermingled. One sentence concerns a household
pet --- the other concerns the weather. Both are short and simple, containing four short
words each. See how long it takes you to decipher the two sentences.
ThImyrdrngtioydnwyaaoataaae
36
How to Develop Intuition --- the "Sparkplug" of Intelligence
We know intuition under another name: Inspiration. When we say that a man writes,
speaks or acts as one inspired, we mean that he has grasped intuitively --- which is,
instantly --- the right thing to do and has done it at the right time. Is this the same as rapid
reasoning? In its result, yes --- although intuition usually brings that result far sooner that
reasoning does. But even though the results are the same, the process of reasoning is
different from intuition. More labored and cumbersome.
For example, suppose we have a problem consisting of three different elements, which
we will call A, B, and C. Assume that element A seemingly has no relationship whatever
with element C, but that it is practically identical with element B. Now, assume further
that close examination shows that element B is substantially the same as element C. The
reasoning man will work it out thus: "If A is the same as B, and B is the same as C, then
A and C must also be the same." Of course, that is very elementary reasoning, but you
can see that it involves the mind's traveling from to B, thence to C, then back again to B
and A for comparison and check up and finally, after this verification of identity, the mind
bridges the gap from A to C and the chain of logic is complete.
Contrast this with that of the intuitive mind, faced with the same problem. Intuition seizes
upon and understands A, B and C (all three of them) simultaneously. It does not travel
from A to B to C and back again, but apprehends all three elements at one and the same
time. You might say that it fuses them into their common identity in a flash, just as an
oxy-acetylene torch fuses tow metals in a single blast. Another way of putting it would be
to compare reasoning to a slow fuse, while intuition more nearly resembles a fulminating
cap. Reasoning travels slowly along a marked highway while intuition cuts across lots
and gets there just so much faster.
This differentiation between reasoning and intuition makes it clear that Multiple
Mentalism definitely and effectively develops your intuitive powers. Your brain is trained
to seize upon many factors at once, to compare them simultaneously, and your several
trains of concurrent thought naturally merge into a complete understanding of the
problem or situation as a whole --- an understanding based on the correct evolution and
sequences of the various factors involved. In five words: MY TRAINING
UNFAILINGLY DEVELOPS INTUITION!
________________________________________________
Exercise XI
Write down 3 five-letter words. Look at them until they are firmly fixed in your mind.
Then put the paper where you cannot see it.
Now, on a new sheet of paper, write two of the words with their letters intermingled,
spelling one forwards and the other backwards --- and while doing this, spell the
third word aloud, slowly. Like this:
37
While writing CRAORNROYH (CARRY and RONOH, which is HONOR written
backwards), spell aloud M-O-N-E-Y. It's dollars to doughnuts you will not do this
correctly the first five times you try it --- but you now have the brain power to master it
with but little practice. Give an hour to this drill today, using different groups of 5-letter
words. Take longer, if you need more time to attain speed and accuracy in the drill.
Tomorrow, repeat your practice of this exercise for at least an hour, but use 6-letter words
instead of words with only five letters. For example: Write EYNLEIRSGAYE
(ENERGY, frontwards, and EASILY, backwards) while saying aloud slowly P-O-R-T-
E-R.
On the following days of the week, take longer and longer words until the drill becomes
as easy for you while using words like CONGLOMERATION as it was with simpler
words.
For variation, try using words of unequal length, intermingling the letters of a 6-letter
word with those of a 10-letter words, while spelling a 12-letter word aloud. Try doing this
with the first three words that come to mid, regardless of their lengths. Take unfamiliar
words as well as familiar ones. Spell a word such as SUBSTANTIATION aloud while
writing DEFIES and WORLDLY with their letters intermingled.
Let me repeat the suggestion I made at the conclusion of Exercise IX. Now that your
brain cells have been awakened and trained really to work for you, make a conscious
effort to use in your daily life the principles of kinetic thinking you acquired through
these drills. Put them to practical application. See for yourself how the quality and
quantity of your work improve. Learn why so many speak of Multiple Mentalism as a
$uccess Course. See how rapidly promotion and profits will follow on the heels of this
priceless training!
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38
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Handling Stressful situations (making an important business call) while keeping a
relaxed and aligned body
40