The Mind and Its Education | Page 5

can ever make it
clearer than it is at this moment to each of us. The only way to know
what mind is, is to look in upon our own consciousness and observe
what is transpiring there. In the language of the psychologist, we must
introspect. For one can never come to understand the nature of mind
and its laws of working by listening to lectures or reading text books
alone. There is no psychology in the text, but only in your living,
flowing stream of thought and mine. True, the lecture and the book
may tell us what to look for when we introspect, and how to understand
what we find. But the statements and descriptions about our minds
must be verified by our own observation and experience before they
become vital truth to us.
HOW WE INTROSPECT.--Introspection is something of an art; it has
to be learned. Some master it easily, some with more difficulty, and
some, it is to be feared, never become skilled in its use. In order to
introspect one must catch himself unawares, so to speak, in the very act
of thinking, remembering, deciding, loving, hating, and all the rest.
These fleeting phases of consciousness are ever on the wing; they never
pause in their restless flight and we must catch them as they go. This is
not so easy as it appears; for the moment we turn to look in upon the
mind, that moment consciousness changes. The thing we meant to
examine is gone, and something else has taken its place. All that is left
us then is to view the mental object while it is still fresh in the memory,
or to catch it again when it returns.

STUDYING MENTAL STATES OF OTHERS THROUGH
EXPRESSION.--Although I can meet only my own mind face to face, I
am, nevertheless, under the necessity of judging your mental states and
knowing what is taking place in your consciousness. For in order to
work successfully with you, in order to teach you, understand you,
control you or obey you, be your friend or enemy, or associate with you
in any other way, I must know you. But the real you that I must know is
hidden behind the physical mask that we call the body. I must,
therefore, be able to understand your states of consciousness as they are
reflected in your bodily expressions. Your face, form, gesture, speech,
the tone of voice, laughter and tears, the poise of attention, the droop of
grief, the tenseness of anger and start of fear,--all these tell the story of
the mental state that lies behind the senses. These various expressions
are the pictures on the screen by which your mind reveals itself to
others; they are the language by which the inner self speaks to the
world without.
LEARNING TO INTERPRET EXPRESSION.--If I would understand
the workings of your mind I must therefore learn to read the language
of physical expression. I must study human nature and learn to observe
others. I must apply the information found in the texts to an
interpretation of those about me. This study of others may be uncritical,
as in the mere intelligent observation of those I meet; or it may be
scientific, as when I conduct carefully planned psychological
experiments. But in either case it consists in judging the inner states of
consciousness by their physical manifestations.
The three methods by which mind may be studied are, then: (1)
text-book description and explanation; (2) introspection of my own
conscious processes; and (3) observation of others, either uncritical or
scientific.
2. THE NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
INNER NATURE OF THE MIND NOT REVEALED BY
INTROSPECTION.--We are not to be too greatly discouraged if, even
by introspection, we cannot discover exactly what the mind is. No one
knows what electricity is, though nearly everyone uses it in one form or

another. We study the dynamo, the motor, and the conductors through
which electricity manifests itself. We observe its effects in light, heat,
and mechanical power, and so learn the laws which govern its
operations. But we are almost as far from understanding its true nature
as were the ancients who knew nothing of its uses. The dynamo does
not create the electricity, but only furnishes the conditions which make
it possible for electricity to manifest itself in doing the world's work.
Likewise the brain or nervous system does not create the mind, but it
furnishes the machine through which the mind works. We may study
the nervous system and learn something of the conditions and
limitations under which the mind operates, but this is not studying the
mind itself. As in the case of electricity, what we know about the mind
we must learn through the activities in which it manifests itself--these
we can know,