rson
other than himself, who compelled him to wait until the work was
performed for him by some hidden region of the mind. When the
subconscious part of the mind had completed its work, it would flash the
message to his conscious mind, and he would begin to write.

On page 178 mention is also made of the great French chemist Berthelot,
who relates that some of his best conceptions have flashed upon him as
from the clear sky. In fact, the Eighth Lesson is largely made up of
examples of this kind, and we ask the student to re-read the same, in
order to refresh his mind with the truth of the workings of the
sub-conscious mentality.

But you will notice in nearly all the cases mentioned, that those who
related instances of the help of the sub-conscious mind had merely
stumbled upon the fact that there was a part of the mind below
consciousness that could and would work out problems for one, if it could
somehow be set in operation. And these people trusted to luck to start
that part of the mind in operation. Or rather, they would saturate
their conscious mind with a mass of material, like stuffing the stomach
with food, and then bid the subconscious mind assort, separate, arrange
and digest the mental food, just as does the stomach and digestive
apparatus digest the natural food--outside of the realm of consciousness
or volition. In none of the cases mentioned was the subconscious
mind _directed_ specially to perform its wonderful work. It was simply
hoped that it might digest the mental material with which it had been
stuffed--in pure self defense. But there is a much better way, and we
intend to tell you about it. The Hindu Yogis, or rather those who
instruct their pupils in _"Raja Yoga,"_ give their students directions
whereby they may _direct_ their sub-conscious minds to perform mental
tasks for them, just as one may direct another to perform a task. They
teach them the methods whereby, after having accumulated the necessary
materials, they may bid the sub-conscious mentality to sort it out,
rearrange, analyze, and build up from it some bit of desired knowledge.
More than this, they instruct their pupils to direct and order the
sub-conscious mentality to search out and report to them certain
information to be found only within the mind itself--some question of
philosophy or metaphysics. And when such art has been acquired, the
student or Yogi rests assured that the desired result will be forthcoming
in due time, and c