ther, or upon some
task to be accomplished. Attention means reaching the mind out to and
focusing it upon something.

The trained Will exhibits itself in a tenacious Attention, and this
Attention is one of the signs of the trained Will. The student must not
hastily conclude that this kind of Attention is a common faculty among
men. On the contrary it is quite rare, and is seen only among those of
"strong" mentality. Anyone may fasten his Attention upon some passing,
_pleasing_ thing, but it takes a trained will to fasten it upon some
unattractive thing, and hold it there. Of course the trained occultist is
able to throw interest into the most unattractive thing upon which it
becomes advisable to focus his Attention, but this, in itself, comes with
the trained Will, and is not the possession of the average man. Voluntary
Attention is rare, and is found only among strong characters. But it may
be cultivated and grown, until he who has scarcely a shade of it to-day,
in time may become a giant. It is all a matter of practice, exercise, and
Will.

It is difficult to say too much in favor of the development of the
faculty of tenacious Attention. One possessing this developed faculty is
able to accomplish far more than even a much "brighter" man who lacks
it. And the best way to train the Attention, under the direction of the
Will, is to practice upon _uninteresting_ objects, and ideas, holding
them before the mind until they begin to assume an Interest. This is
difficult at first, but the task soon begins to take on a pleasant
aspect, for one finds that his Will-power and Attention are growing, and
he feels himself acquiring a Force and Power that were lacking before--he
realizes that he is growing Stronger. Charles Dickens said that the
secret of his success consisted in his developing a faculty of throwing
his entire Attention into whatever he happened to be doing at the moment
and then being able to turn that same degree of Attention to the next
thing coming before him for consideration. He was like a man behind a
great searchlight, which was successively turned upon point after point,
illuminating each in turn. The "I" is the man behind the light, and the
Will is the reflector, the light being the Attention.

This discussion of Will and Attention may seem somewhat "dry" to the
student, but that is all the more reason that he should attend to it. It
is the secret that lies at the basis of the Science of _Raja Yoga_, and