very idea tends to express itself in some form of bodily
activity_, is one of the most obviously demonstrable principles of human
life.

Bear in mind that this is but another way of expressing the second of
our first two fundamental principles of mental efficiency, and that we
are engaged in a scientific demonstration of its truth so that you will
not confuse it with mere theory or speculation.

To recall these fundamental principles to your mind and further impress
them upon you, we will restate them:

I. _All human achievement comes about through some form of bodily
activity_.

II. _All bodily activity is caused, controlled and directed by the
mind._

PHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF MENTAL MASTERY

CHAPTER V

PHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF MENTAL MASTERY

[Sidenote: Introspective Knowledge]

We have been considering the relationship between mind and body from the
standpoint of the mind. Our investigation has been largely
introspective; that is to say, we simply looked within ourselves and
considered the effects of our mental operations upon our own bodies. The
facts we had before us were facts of which we had direct knowledge. We
did not have to go out and seek them in the mental and bodily activities
of other persons. We found them here within ourselves, inherent in our
consciousness. To observe them we had merely to turn the spotlight into
the hidden channels of our own minds.

[Sidenote: Dissection and the Governing Consciousness]

We come now to examine the mind's influence upon the body from the
standpoint of the body. To do this we must go forth and investigate. We
must use eye, ear and hand. We must use the forceps and scalpel and
microscope of the anatomist and physiologist.

[Sidenote: Subordinate Mental Units]

_But it is well worth while that we should do this. For our
investigation will show a bodily structure peculiarly adapted to control
by a governing consciousness. It will reveal to the eye a physical
mechanism peculiarly fitted for the dissemination of intelligence
throughout the body. And, most of all, it will disclose the existence
within the body of subordinate mental units, each capable of receiving,
understanding and acting upon the intelligence thus submitted. And we
shall have strongly corroborative evidence of the mind's complete
control over every function of the body._

Examine a green plant and you will observe that it is composed of
numerous parts, each of which has s