MIND AND MEMORY TRAINING

MENTAL IMAGES
IMAGINATION is that operation of the mind which makes mental images or pictures. Sometimes these are called also "thoughts," or again, "ideas." But thought is, properly understood, a process, that is, a movement of the mind. Thought is dynamic, but a thought or idea is static, like a picture.
In order that the process of thinking may take place, there must be thoughts or ideas or mental images for it to work with, and it is at its best when these are clear and strong. So we take up as the second part of our study the means by which our imagination may be improved. We are all apt to live in a colourless mental world, in which we allow words to replace ideas. This must be remedied if our minds are to work really well and give us a colourful existence.

But first let us examine our thinking. In it our attention moves on from one thought to another—or rather from one group of thoughts to another group of thoughts, since most of our images are complex. The dynamic thinking makes use of the static thoughts, just as in walking there are spots of firm ground on which the feet alternately come to rest. You cannot walk in mid-air. In both cases the dynamic needs the static. In walking you put a foot down and rest it on the ground. Then you swing your body along, with that foot as a point of application for the forces of the body against the earth. At the end of the movement you bring down the other foot to a new spot on the ground. In the next movement you relieve the first foot and poise the body on the other as a new pivot, and so on. Thus transition and poise" alternate in walking, and they do the same in thought.
Suppose I think: "The cat chases the mouse, and themouse is fond of cheese, and cheese is obtained from the dairy, and the dairy stands among the trees." There is no connexion between the cat and the trees, but I have moved in thought from the cat to the trees by the stepping stones of mouse, cheese and dairy.
Now that we see clearly the distinction between ideas and thinking, let us turn, in this second part of our study, to the business of developing the power of imagination.
We shall begin our course by a series of exercises intended to train the mind to form, with ease and rapidity, full and vivid mental pictures, or idea-images.
When a concrete object is known, it is reproduced within the mind, which is the instrument of knowledge; and the more nearly the image approximates to the object, the truer is the knowledge that it presents. In practice, such an image is generally rather vague and often somewhat distorted.
For our purpose we will divide idea-images into four varieties; simple concrete, complex concrete, simple abstract, and complex abstract.Simple concrete ideas are mental reproductions of the ordinary small objects of life, such as an orange, a pen, a cow, a book, a hat, a chair, and all the simple sensations of sound, form, color, weight, temperature, taste, smell, and feeling.
Complex concrete ideas are largely multiples of simple ones, or associations of a variety of them such as a town, a family, a garden, ants, sand, provisions, furniture, clothing, Australasia.
Simple abstract ideas are those which belong to a variety of concrete ideas, but do not denote any one of them in particular, such as colour, weight, mass, temperature, health, position, magnitude, number.
Complex abstract ideas are combinations of simple ones, such as majesty, splendour, benevolence, fate.
The difference between simple and complex ideas is one of degree, not of kind. What is simple to one person may appear complex to another. A man with a strong imagination is able to grip a complex idea as easily as another may hold a simpler one.
A good exercise in this connexion is to practise reproducing simple concrete objects in the mind. This should be done with each sense in turn. If a student has been observing flowers, for example, he should practise until he can, in imagination, seem to see and smell a flower with his eyes closed and the object absent, or at least until he has an idea of the flower sufficiently real and complete to carry with it the consciousness of its odour as well as its colour and form. He may close his eyes, fix his attention on the olfactory organ, and reproduce the odour of the flower by an effort of will. Simply to name an object and remember it by its name does not develop the faculty of imagination.
I will now give a few specific exercises along these lines—
EXERCISE 1. Obtain a number of prints or drawings of simple geometrical figures. Take one of these—say a five-pointed star—look at it carefully, close the eyes, and imagine its form and size. When the image is clear, proportionate and steady in the imagination, look at the drawing again and note any differences between it and the original. Once more close the eyes and make the image, and repeat the process until you are satisfied that you can imagine the form accurately and strongly. Repeat the practice with other forms, gradually increasing in complexity.
EXERCISE 2. Repeat the foregoing practice, but use simple objects, such as a coin, a key, or a pen. Try to imagine them also from both sides at once.
EXERCISE 3. Obtain a number of coloured surfaces; the covers of books will do. Observe a colour attentively; then try to imagine it. Repeat the process with different colours and shades.