tion of some formula until a condition of semi-stupefaction is
produced; while yet another school among them would endeavor to arrive at
similar results by the use of some of the Indian systems of regulation of
the breath. All these methods are unequivocally to be condemned as quite
unsafe for the practice of the ordinary man who has no idea of what he is
doing--who is simply making vague experiments in an unknown world. Even
the method of obtaining clairvoyance by allowing oneself to be mesmerized
by another person is one from which I should myself shrink with the most
decided distaste; and assuredly it should never be attempted except under
conditions of absolute trust and affection between the magnetizer and the
magnetized, and a perfection of purity in heart and soul, in mind and
intention, such as is rarely to be seen among any but the greatest of
saints.

"Yet there is one practice which is advised by all religions alike--which
if adopted carefully and reverently can do no harm to any human being, yet
from which a very pure type of clairvoyance has sometimes been developed;
and that is the practice of meditation. Let a man choose a certain time
every day--a time when he can rely upon being quiet and undisturbed,
though preferably in the daytime rather than at night--and set himself at
that time to keep his mind for a few minutes entirely free from all
earthly thoughts of any kind whatever, and, when that is achieved, to
direct the whole force of his being towards the highest ideal that he
happens to know. He will find that to gain such perfect control of thought
is enormously more difficult than he supposes, but when he attains it it
cannot but be in every way most beneficial to him, and as he grows more
and more able to elevate and concentrate his thought, he may gradually
find that new worlds are opening before his sight. As a preliminary
training towards the satisfactory achievement of such meditation, he will
find it desirable to make a practice of concentration in the affairs of
daily life--even in the smallest of them. If he writes a letter, let him
think of nothing else but that letter until it is finished; if he reads a
book, let him see to it that his thought is never allowed to wander from
his author's meaning. He must learn to hold his mind in check, and to be
master of that also, as well as of his lower passions; he must patiently
labor to acquire absolute control of his thoughts, so that he will always