Psychology and Achievement | Page 6

PROBLEM
[Sidenote: Speculation and Practical Science]
The fact is, one's opinion as to whether mind controls body or body
makes mind-action depends altogether upon the point of view. And the
first step for us to take is to agree upon the point of view we shall
assume.
Two points of view are possible. One is speculative, the other practical.
[Sidenote: Philosophic Riddles and Personal Effectiveness]
The speculative point of view is that of the philosopher and religionist,
who ponder the tie that binds "soul" and body in an effort to solve the
riddle of "creation" and pierce the mystery of the "hereafter."
The practical point of view is that of the modern practical scientist,
who deals only with actual facts of human experience and seeks only
immediate practical results.
The speculative problem is the historical and religious one of the
mortality or immortality of the soul. The practical problem is the
scientific one that demands to know what the mental forces are and
how they can be used most effectively.
[Sidenote: What We Want to Know]
There is no especial need here to trace the historical development of
these two problems or enter upon a discussion of religious or

philosophical questions.
Our immediate interest in the mind and its relationship to the body is
not because we want to be assured of the salvation of our souls after
death.
We want to know all we can about the reality and certainty and
character of mental control of bodily functions because of the practical
use we can make of such knowledge in this life, here and now.
[Sidenote: Spiritualist, Materialist and Scientist]
The practical scientist has nothing in common with either spiritualists,
soul-believers, on the one hand, or materialists on the other. So far as
the mortality of the soul is concerned, he may be either a spiritualist or
a materialist But spiritualism or materialism is to him only an
intellectual pastime. It is not his trade. In his actual work he seeks only
practical results, and so confines himself wholly to the actual facts of
human experience.
The practical scientist knows that as between two given facts, and only
as between these two, one may be the "cause" of the other. But he is not
interested in the "creative origin" of material things. He does not
attempt to discover "first" causes.
[Sidenote: Science of Cause and Effect]
The practical scientist ascribes all sorts of qualities to electricity and
lays down many laws concerning it without having the remotest idea as
to what, in the last analysis, electricity may actually be. He is not
concerned with ultimate truths. He does his work, and necessarily so,
upon the principle that for all practical purposes he is justified in using
any given assumption as a working hypothesis if everything happens
just as if it were true.
The practical scientist applies the term "cause" to any object or event
that is the invariable predecessor of some other object or event.

For him a "cause" is simply any object or event that may be looked
upon as forecasting the action of some other object or the occurrence of
some other event.
The point with him is simply this, Does or does not this object or this
event in any way affect that object or that event or determine its
behavior?
[Sidenote: Causes and "First" Causes]
No matter where you look you will find that every fact in Nature is
relatively cause and effect according to the point of view. Thus, if a
railroad engine backs into a train of cars it transmits a certain amount of
motion to the first car. This imparted motion is again passed on to the
next car, and so on. The motion of the first car is, on the one hand, the
effect of the impact of the engine, and is, on the other hand, the "cause"
of the motion of the second car. And, in general, what is an "effect" in
the first car becomes a "cause" when looked at in relation to the second,
and what is an "effect" in the second becomes a "cause" in relation to
the third. So that even the materialist will agree that "cause" and
"effect" are relative terms in dealing with any series of facts in Nature.
[Sidenote: A Common Platform for All]
A man may be either a spiritualist, believing that the mind is a
manifestation of the super-soul, or he may be a materialist, and in either
case he may at the same time and with perfect consistency believe, as a
practical scientist, that the mind is a "cause" and has bodily action as its
"effect."
Naturally this point of view offers no difficulties whatever to the
spiritualist. He already looks upon the mind or soul as the "originating
cause" of everything.