How Will Power can give you the Strength of the Incredible Hulk
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Today, I was planning on writing more on Canada’s disgusting “Human Rights Commissions’. However, I was without an internet connection for part of the day (thanks, Telus), so I wasn’t able to do the research I wanted. In lieu of this, here is my summary of another chapter of ‘The Power of Concentration”.
Lesson 6 of “The Power of Concentration” is entitled “The Training of the Will to Do“. Dumont makes the point that the will to do is among the greatest powers that human beings possess. He compares is to electricity, which we don’t fully understand, although we can observe its effects. I found this analogy somewhat quaint, as I believe we do have a pretty good idea today of just what electricity is. However, in the early 1900’s, this just wasn’t the case. I more modern take on this would be to compare human will power to gravity, I guess. I liked his example of the frail woman gaining almost Incredible Hulk like strength when she needed it. As an example of the power of will, it is pretty persuasive. At that moment, she simply has to accomplish this goal, no ifs ands or buts about it. For the briefest instance, she focuses her will and is practically able to move mountains. There is a lesson her for all of us, me thinks. Anyway, here is my summary of Lesson 6 from ‘The Power of Concentration”.
To Dumont, when it comes to human accomplishment, there is no greater power than the will to do. There are literally no limits to it. All things are possible. Despite its great power, however, it is difficult to explain exactly what it is. It is not unlike electricity, in that we can only know it through cause and effect. Anything you do or accomplish, whether conscious or not, are a result of your own will to do. All good and bad habits, as well as the ability to lower or improve your condition in life, are a result of the will to do.
To demonstrate the power of the Will to Do, Dumont tells of the story of a frail old woman who demonstrates incredible strength. First, she experiences something traumatic. For example, her grandchildren are trapped in a burning house. In order to save them, large pieces of furniture must be moved. Although the furniture under normal circumstances is much too heavy for her to move, she does this with ease. She is able to do this because this trying circumstance forces her to concentrate her will to do to an almost laser like intensity. She simply has to move that furniture at that moment to save her grandchildren. Hence, she does.
Used properly, will power is a mighty force. It is greater than physical force, as it also makes use of mental and moral force. Study yourself carefully. Discover your greatest weaknesses and use your will power to overcome them. In this way, you will develop a strong character and personality. If a desire arises within you, use your will power to crush all obstacles until you achieve it. If the desire is negative, use this same power to destroy it.
Slowness in making decisions is an example of weakness in will power. People are often failures for not deciding on things that should be done. Successful people quickly grasp opportunities. This brings them culture, wealth, and health. Lack of initiative is another manifestation of poor will power. He or she imitates others in all they do. As a result, life is one continuous grind. “He seems clever enough, but he lacks initiative” is the common refrain when others refer to this individual. You need to develop the power to think and do for yourself.
You are as good as anyone. If you use your will power, you can lay claim to anything in life. Don’t depend on anyone else, you have to learn to fight your own battles. All the world loves a fighter, while the coward is despised by all. Everyone’s problems are different. Analyze your opportunities and conditions and study your natural abilities. If you are ever in doubt, repeat the following to yourself: “Through my will power I dare do what I do.”
How Concentrated Thought Links All Humanity Together
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Chapter 5 of Dumont’s book is entitled “How Concentrated Thought Links All Humanity Together”. He seems to be saying, and I’ve read this elsewhere, that there is a power beyond yourself, a thinking power, which is at your service. Dumont usually refers to this as “the omniscient force”. Those who are able to control their thoughts and moods are able to access this force. Within all of us, there is a powerful urge to reach perfection. It is this urge that drives all life, to one extent or another. An amoeba replicating itself is achieving its highest purpose, as is a plant growing towards the sun. However, what constitutes perfection or achieving a higher self in a human being is considerably more complicated. I suppose this is why it is so easy for people to put up barriers of their own making, preventing them from achieving what is possible. Dumont assures us that by concentrated thought we can tap into this shared omniscient power (which all humanity shares) and achieve our dreams. Interesting ideas. Anyway, here is my summary for lesson 5 of “The Power of Concentration”.
Success is the result of the way you think. It is our unlimited power to think that connects you to your omniscient source. We evolved from the atom due to our ability to think, Dumont believes. The power to keep evolving towards perfection is within all of us, as well as the barriers that are preventing us. It is concentrated thought that will allow us to burst through these self made barriers of ignorance and achieve our highest ambitions.
Deep concentration will allow you to link to thoughts of omnipotence. You will entirely kill your belief in your limitations, driving away all fear and other negative and destructive thoughts. You will be able to build up the mental belief that every venture will be successful. Concentration allows you to control your mental creations, moulding your physical environment and circumstances to your desires.
It is just as easy to surround yourself with what you want as what you don’t want. If you base your desires on justice and good will, you will align yourself with the helpful powers of what Dumont calls the universal currents. By doing so, you can depend on ultimate success in your endeavours.
All just causes succeed with time. Focus on your ultimate goal, and do not become discouraged by temporary appearances. If you come upon a time when everything appears to be against you, use your concentration to drive away these destructive thoughts and quiet your fears. “Be Faithful in sowing the thought seeds of success, in perfect trust that the sun will not cease to shine and bring a generous harvest in one season.”
A negative mood attracts negative thoughts of a similar nature due to the law of affinity. When you think of failure, you will attract failure by your worries and anxiety. When you think of nothing but Good, Truth and Success, you will make more progress than eve before.
If you find that you can’t control your fears, think this thought to regain control: “Do not falter or be afraid, for I am not really alone. I am surrounded by invisible forces that will assist me to remove unfavourable appearances.” This thought can also be used to increase desire, aspiration, imagination, expectation, ambition, understanding, trust and assurance.
Always concentrate on what you are doing at the time. If you do not learn to control your mind during unimportant acts, you mind will wander on important acts as well. The person who learns to concentrate possesses a happy mind. Time does not drag him, he always has plenty to do. He does not think about past mistakes, as they make him unhappy. One’s Will will only act with the clearness, decisiveness, and promptness of the trained mind. If the mind is worried or hurried, the will cannot be photographed onto the sensitized plate of the subjective mind.
Why Your Thoughts Create Your World
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In this chapter, Dumont stresses the idea that our thoughts are incredibly powerful. He relates the story of a man actually dying from a thought experiment. Although I do believe thoughts are incredibly powerful, I doubt this story is actually true. It sounds like an urban legend to me. His ideas on how your thoughts attract people and situations to you ring true, and are very much in line with the law of attraction. Negative thoughts, in the form of anxiety, worry, despondency and discouragement are the result of the undisciplined mind. His final thought on the importance of speaking wisely was interesting, and something that I did not expect. His basic point seems to be that you need silence to concentrate, and to get in touch with your higher self (what he called the interior law, or the absolute law of the omnipotent). Speaking without thinking prevents us from doing this, and is thus to be avoided. Interesting idea. At any rate, here is my summary.
In Chapter 4 of “The Power of Concentration”, Dumont stresses that thought in and of itself is incredibly powerful. He offers two examples of this. One is the situation where a sudden shock or fright can turn a person’s hair grey. The other is a story in which a condemned man is offered a deal. He is told a test is to be performed on him to see how much blood a man can lose before he dies. A cut is to be made on his leg, and he is to be left alone all night in his cell. If he survives to the next morning, he will be given his freedom. Having nothing to lose, the condemned man agrees to this. What he doesn’t know, however, is that the real experiment is to test how this thought will affect him. When the cut is made on his leg, the amount of blood that is lost is so small that he couldn’t possibly expire from it. However, the room he is kept in is dark, and he can hear the dripping of water, which he thinks is his own blood. He believes he is bleeding to death, although in reality he is fine. What happens? The thought is so powerful, the man dies.
Thoughts create your friends and your environment. Positive thoughts attract positive people and events. Negative thoughts do the opposite. Most people rush through life, unaware that they are constantly driving away the people and situations that would make them happy. All it takes is to look within yourself, and you will discover the greatest machine ever made.
You must learn to speak wisely. Speech interferes with the focusing powers of the mind. You need deep silence to reflect. Real silence becomes attached to the interior law, the absolute power of the omnipotent.
Dumont ends this chapter with the following thought that you should hang on to:
In silence I will allow my higher self to have complete control
I will be true to my higher self
I will live true to my conception of what is right
I realize that it is to my self interest to live up to my best
I demand wisdom so that I may act wisely for myself and others
Chapter Three of “The Power of Concentration”
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I found Chapter Three of Dumont’s book much clearer than the previous chapter. I think the best point he made here was the importance of truly believing that you will accomplish something, as opposed to merely wishing it. You have to believe, right down to your core, that you can accomplish something. You have to commit yourself fully to what ever endeavour you are putting your mind to. If you merely wish for it, you are giving yourself an out to not accomplish it. As Yoda says, “do or do not, there is no try”. Anyway, here is my summary of Chapter Three from “The Power of Concentration”.
In Chapter Three, entitled “How to Gain What you Want Through Concentration’, Dumont explains that through concentration it is possible to get anything you want. However, concentration is much more than just “wishing’. If you only wish for something, it means you do not truly believe that you will get it. Rather, through the power of concentration, you need to acquire an all consuming belief that you will get the thing you desire. Feel you can accomplish what you undertake. When most people start a project, they assume they will fail from the onset. I’ll find a way or make one is the spirit that wins.
Dumont tells the story of a young boy who started work at a bank as a messenger boy. However, he desired to be the bank’s president. In order to help him, his Dad made him a small button with a “P” on it. This was to remind the boy that everyday he should do something that would move him closer to his goal to become the bank’s president. The boy didn’t tell anyone at the bank what the “P” stood for, and had to endure much fun at his expense for it. However, the “P” kept his mind focused, until one day he did become president of the bank. Only then did he reveal to his co-workers what the “P” stood for.
Concentrate on doing something worthwhile, Dumont urges. The man that sticks to something is not the man that fails. As Emerson said, “Power to him who power exerts”. Success today depends on concentrating in order to awaken you own Interior Law of Force. When you awaken these forces, permanent results are ensured. It is possible for you to make your own place in the universe. Whether it is an important or good place is up to you. If your cause is just, you can conquer the world. God and one are always a majority.
Dumont ends the chapter with the following quote:
Let the troubles and responsibilities of life come thick and fast. I am ready for them. My soul is unconquerable. I represent the infinite law of force, or of all power. This god within is my all sufficient strength and ever present help in time of trouble. The more difficulties the greater its triumphs through me. The harder my trials, the faster I go in the development of my inherent strength. Let all else fail me. This interior reliance is all sufficient. The right must prevail. I demand wisdom and power to know and follow the right. My higher self is all wise. I now draw nearer to it.
Yoda, the Jedi Mind, and The Power of Concentration
A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious
mind. (to the invisible Ben, indicating Luke) This one a long time
have I watched. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was
doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these
things. (turning to Luke) You are reckless!
- Yoda – The Empire Strikes Back
As I was reading chapter two of “The Power of Concentration”, it struck me that what Dumont is saying is not unlike the Jedi training seen in the Star Wars movies. If you want to achieve anything, you must focus on where you are, and where you want to go. Everything else is a distraction. Ideally, you want to develop a Jedi mind that is able to block out all of the noise that is constantly vying for your attention.
I found Chapter 2 to be a slightly difficult read. Dumont writes in what I would call 19th century style. I found it difficult at times to fully comprehend what he was saying. Perhaps this is just the fault of my own untrained mind? Nonetheless, here is my summary for Chapter 2 of “The Power of Concentration”.
Most men, Dumont claims, do not posses the self-mastery that comes from the self-directing power of concentration. When these self-regulating faculties are not developed, the mind can be influenced by all kinds of impulses, appetites and emotions. This forces the mind to become impulsive, restless and irregular. If the self-regulating faculties are weak in development, it is impossible to have a strong, focused mind.
Dumont believes there are three possible factors for the mind to not have developed this self-regulating faculty. One of these is deficiency of the motors centers. This is actually a physical condition, which is hard to correct (although he does allude to another book, not yet published in 1911, which will deal with this). The second is an overly impulsive or emotional mind. To correct this, it is important to learn how to restrain anger, passion, and intense emotions. One should also avoid over simulative food and drink, and associate with other calm people as much as possible. The third factor is that the mind simply has not been trained, and the person is unaware of this.
The well trained, concentrated mind pays attention to all its thoughts, words, acts, and plans. When you let you mind wander, you are wasting your energy. If you are allowing yourself to get emotional on items that are not central to whatever it is you are trying to achieve, you are wasting energy. For example, reading sensational stories from the newspaper that do not affect you in anyway are a waste of time and vital force. Dumont makes a useful comparison, comparing the trained mind to that of a steam engine. When the mind is trained, the steam is only used to move the train quickly along the tracks to its goal. The untrained mind is like a steam engine in which all of the valves are open. Steam dissipates, energy is lost, and the train no longer speeds along to its goal.
Dumont also mentions the importance of taking deep breaths in order to calm and focus the mind. The mind is associated with muscle and nerve, so this must not be neglected if you want to develop mental concentration.
Thomas Edison’s Power of Concentration
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Below is my first summary for Chapter 1 of Theron Q Dumont’s “The Power of Concentration”. With these summaries, I’m trying to draw out the key points he seems to be making in as little space as possible. This leads to somewhat inelegant writing, as I’m always saying “Dumont says this”, and “Dumont thinks that”. However, I hope you are willing to put up with this. If you want to read the chapter yourself, feel free to subscribe to my newsletter on the upper right. You’ll get the complete book as a PDF.
One of the things that struck me from reading this first chapter is his point that successful people expect to succeed. They have a vision of what they want, and they just keep moving forward towards it. Thomas Edison is a fantastic example of this. When Edison was inventing the lightbulb, he had to suffer through hundreds of failures before he had something that worked. He was able to concentrate on what he wanted with a laser like intensity. I think we can all learn from this.
If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.
- Thomas A. Edison
Summary for the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Theron Q Dumont’s “The Power of Concentration”
In order to make a success of anything, you must concentrate your entire conscious thought on the task. However, most people, as they have not trained themselves to focus on the positive, concentrate on negative, unhelpful things. With the training offered in this book, it is possible to train your mind to focus on the positive. Once you can do this, you will be aligned with what Dumont calls “The Laws of Success”, and you will be able to achieve anything you put your mind to.
Dumont believes that everyone is made up of two conflicting natures. One nature is positive and allows us to learn, grow, and prosper. Its opposite is negative in nature, and is a force for unhappiness and stagnation. Through focusing the will via concentration, Dumont believes it is possible to make the positive nature the dominant force in our lives. It is possible to be the director of one’s own life if one learns to concentrate and focus the will on desirable outcomes.
No matter how old you are, or what stage of life you are at, there are always opportunities. However, it is rare that opportunities come knocking at your door. Rather, you must know what you want and actively seek them out. Dumont notes that many people read excellent books on success, but few get anything out of them. The reason for this is that knowledge without action is useless.
Dumont believes it is a wise practice to seek out the good in all things and all people. If you project positive and helpful energy, people and situations will become more disposed towards you. We all need encouragement from time to time. Give and you shall receive.
Every moment of the day, we all have opportunities to improve our lives. Dumont suggests to start each month by reviewing the previous month, and deciding if it lived up to expectations. If it doesn’t, action should be taken to correct this for the current month. We cannot change the past, only learn from it, and correct for the future. Never shrink from difficult tasks, Dumont consoles, as one difficult task completed successfully is worth many easier tasks done well.
Dumont believes that any man can be a success. The price is effort, not money. He lists the key 3 ingredients as a deep desire, gathering knowledge to accomplish that desire, and then executing on that knowledge. The secret of success is to always improve and grow.
The difference between the successful man and those who are not is that the successful man expects to succeed. Consider inventors, Dumont consoles, who make hundreds of mistakes before they succeed. Use your trained mind to focus on what you want, and it will be yours.
The Power of Concentration and FeedaPALOOZA!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but on the upper right of this blog, I’ve added a “subscribe” button for a newsletter I’m planning on making. The newsletter will basically be a compilation of this blog, plus anything else I find that is interesting. I set this up using Aweber, which was fairly easy to do.
If you sign up for my newsletter, I will also send you a copy of “THE POWER OF CONCENTRATION” for FREE. What is “THE POWER OF CONCENTRATION”? Well, it’s a long out of print book that I’ve only heard fantastic things about. It’s basic premise is this. As human beings, all of us are pulled by two natures. One nature wants us to succeed, the other does not. These natures are manifested in our consciousness as positive and negative thoughts. If you want to succeed and be happy, you need to train your brain to focus on the positive and constructive thoughts, blocking out the negative and destructive. The problem we all have is that none of us have been trained to do this. It is this training that “The Power of Concentration” offers us.
Now, like I said, I have only just recently discovered this book, although I have only heard positive things about it. Here’s what I’m planning on doing. I’m going to read this book chapter by chapter, and post what I think about it here on my blog. I’ve only read a little bit about it, but what I’ve read so far is fascinating. If this sounds interesting to you, I suggest you sign up, download the book, and follow along with me. Maybe we can learn together? Here’s hoping. 
On another topic, Aaron Abber at FullTiltBLogging has a new initiative up called “FeedaPALOOZA”. What FeedaPALOOZA does is bring together a whole bunch of blogs in one place with the following intentions:
1) help bloggers promote their blogs
2) help readers find blogs and free e-books that they might find interesting
If you’re a blogger, or if you’re just interested in discovering some cool new blogs, I suggest you head over to FeedaPalooza to check it out.
Also, as I’ve mentioned before, I you are interested in making money online, I suggest you head over to Aaron’s site and sign up for his newsletter and free e-book, as I guarantee you’ll learn a lot.
That’s if for now!
All the Best,
- Dave
