The Mind and Its Education | Page 7

the weary eyes and chattering teeth are
unnoticed. Consciousness has piled up in a high wave on the points of
interest in the book, and the bodily sensations are for the moment on a
much lower level. But let the book grow dull for a moment, and the
make-up of the stream changes in a flash. Hero, heroine, or literary
style no longer occupies the wave. They forfeit their place, the wave is
taken by the bodily sensations, and we are conscious of the smarting
eyes and shivering body, while these in turn give way to the next object
which occupies the wave. Figs. 1-3 illustrate these changes.
[Illustration: FIG. 3]
CONSCIOUSNESS LIKENED TO A FIELD.--The consciousness of
any moment has been less happily likened to a field, in the center of
which there is an elevation higher than the surrounding level. This
center is where consciousness is piled up on the object which is for the
moment foremost in our thought. The other objects of our
consciousness are on the margin of the field for the time being, but any
of them may the next moment claim the center and drive the former
object to the margin, or it may drop entirely out of consciousness. This
moment a noble resolve may occupy the center of the field, while a
troublesome tooth begets sensations of discomfort which linger dimly
on the outskirts of our consciousness; but a shooting pain from the
tooth or a random thought crossing the mind, and lo! the tooth holds
sway, and the resolve dimly fades to the margin of our consciousness
and is gone.
THE "PILING UP" OF CONSCIOUSNESS IS ATTENTION.--This

figure is not so true as the one which likens our mind to a stream with
its ever onward current answering to the flow of our thought; but
whichever figure we employ, the truth remains the same. Our mental
energy is always piled up higher at one point than at others. Either
because our interest leads us, or because the will dictates, the mind is
withdrawn from the thousand and one things we might think about, and
directed to this one thing, which for the time occupies chief place. In
other words, we attend; for this piling up of consciousness is nothing,
after all, but attention.
3. CONTENT OF THE MENTAL STREAM
We have seen that our mental life may be likened to a stream flowing
now faster, now slower, ever shifting, never ceasing. We have yet to
inquire what constitutes the material of the stream, or what is the stuff
that makes up the current of our thought--what is the content of
consciousness? The question cannot be fully answered at this point, but
a general notion can be gained which will be of service.
WHY WE NEED MINDS.--Let us first of all ask what mind is for,
why do animals, including men, have minds? The biologist would say,
in order that they may adapt themselves to their environment. Each
individual from mollusc to man needs the amount and type of mind that
serves to fit its possessor into its particular world of activity. Too little
mind leaves the animal helpless in the struggle for existence. On the
other hand a mind far above its possessor's station would prove useless
if not a handicap; a mollusc could not use the mind of a man.
CONTENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS DETERMINED BY
FUNCTION.--How much mind does man need? What range and type
of consciousness will best serve to adjust us to our world of opportunity
and responsibility? First of all we must know our world, hence, our
mind must be capable of gathering knowledge. Second, we must be
able to feel its values and respond to the great motives for action arising
from the emotions. Third, we must have the power to exert
self-compulsion, which is to say that we possess a will to control our
acts. These three sets of processes, knowing, feeling, and willing, we
shall, therefore, expect to find making up the content of our mental

stream.
Let us proceed at once to test our conclusion by introspection. If we are
sitting at our study table puzzling over a difficult problem in geometry,
reasoning forms the wave in the stream of consciousness--the center of
the field. It is the chief thing in our thinking. The fringe of our
consciousness is made up of various sensations of the light from the
lamp, the contact of our clothing, the sounds going on in the next room,
some bit of memory seeking recognition, a "tramp" thought which
comes along, and a dozen other experiences not strong enough to
occupy the center of the field.
But instead of the study table and the problem, give us a bright fireside,
an easy-chair, and nothing to do. If we are aged, memories--images