The Mystic Will: A Method of Developing and Strengthening the Faculties of the Mind, through the Awakened Will, by a Simple, Scientific Process Possible to Any Person of Ordinary IntelligenceLeland, Charles Godfrey
Philosophy
The Mystic Will: A Method of Developing and Strengthening the Faculties of the Mind, through the Awakened Will, by a Simple, Scientific Process Possible to Any Person of Ordinary Intelligence
Leland, Charles Godfrey
Mental suggestion
(1) There has been omitted from this edition a long, tiresome chapter
contained in the original edition, entitled "On the Power of the Mind
to master disordered Feelings by sheer Determination. As Set forth by
Immanuel Kant in a letter to Hufeland," but which chapter had very
little to say about "the power of the mind," but very much indeed
about Hygiene, Dietetics, Sleep, Care of Oneself in Old Age,
Hypochondria, Work, Exercise, Eating and Drinking, Illness, etc.,
etc., from the point of view of the aged German metaphysician, which
while interesting enough in itself, and to some people, was manifestly
out of place in a book treating upon the development of Mental
Faculties by the Will, etc. We think that Mr. Leland's admirers will
find no fault with this omission.
(2) The word "Suggestion" has been substituted for the word
"Hypnotism" in several places in the original text, where the
former word was manifestly proper according to the present views of
psychologists, which views were not so clearly defined when the book
was written.
(3) The chapter headings of the original book have been shortened and
simplified in accordance with the American form.
(4) The title "The Mystic Will" has been substituted in place of that
used in the original edition, which was "Have You a Strong Will?" This
change was made for the reason that the original title did not give
one the correct idea of the nature of the book, but rather conveyed
the idea of an inquiry regarding the "iron-will," etc., which the
author evidently did not intend. The use of the Will, as taught in the
book by Mr. Leland, is not along the lines of "the iron-will," but is
rather in the nature of the employment of a mystic, mysterious, and
almost weird power of the Human Will, and the title of the present
edition is thought to more correctly represent the nature of the book,
and the author's own idea, than the inquiry embodied in the title of
the original edition.
(5) Several unimportant footnotes, references to other books, etc.,
have been omitted after careful consideration.
(Those who would wish to read the book in its original English edition
will be able to procure it from the English publisher, Mr. Philip
Wellby, 6 Henrietta street, Covent Garden, London, W. C, England.)
To the few readers of this book who are not familiar with the author,
Mr. Charles G. Leland, it may be said that this gifted man was an
American by birth, but who lived in Europe for many years before his
death. He died March 20, 1903, at Florence, Italy, at the ripe age of
79 years, active until the last and leaving unpublished manuscripts,
some not completed. He lived up to his ideas and profited by them. His
writings are spread over a period of nearly, or fully, fifty years,
and his range of subjects was remarkable in its variety, style, and
treatment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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