The Power of Concentration

Concentration , or bringing of the mind to a center and keeping it there , is vitally necessary  to the accomplishment  of any task . It is the father of thoroughness and the mother of excellence . It is the power that serves all purposes. It is a dynamic force in the machinery of the mind and the function of life .  Every successful man or woman , in whatever direction his success may lie , practices concentration . Though he may know nothing about it as a subject of study , whether in your spiritual task , mental task or physical task whenever you become or whole absorbed in something , without concentration is brought into play . Remember , always concentrate on loft goals, good objectives and pure task , there is where the real power lies. 

Concentration is power, intelligence, and is an aid to the doing of something , it is not the doing of something in itself . A ladder has no value  in and of itself , but only as it enables us to reach something which we could not otherwise reach . In like manner , concentration is that which enables the mind to accomplish with ease that which it would be otherwise impossible to accomplish .

Concentration is so interwoven with the uses of life that it cannot be separated  from duty and he who tries to acquire it apart from his task , his duty , will not only fail , but will diminish  his mental control and executive capacity , and so render himself less and less fit to succeed in his undertaking . Have you ever seen a man feeding himself by ordinary gnashing his teeth  without food ? We need food in our mouth , chew it very well , and pass it to the throat and goes to the belly to be able to feed well . Concentration is like that process .

Concentration is the bringing of a well –controlled mind to doing of what has to be done  in time , and doing it diligently . He,  who does his work in an aimless , a hurried or thoughtless manner and resort to his artificial concentration method,  in order to gain that which he imagines to be some kind of mystical power , but which is very ordinary and practical quality, though he may drift toward insanity , he will  not increase in steadiness of mind.

The great enemy of concentration  and the greatest enemies of all skill  and power , be it spiritual , mental and spiritual ,  are wavering , wandering , undisciplined mind. When a man overcomes these challenges  , concentration is acquired . A scattered and undisciplined army would be useless. To make it effective in action and swift in victory , it must be solidly concentrated and masterfully directed . Scattered and diffused thoughts are weak and worthless . Thoughts marshalled , commanded , and directed upon a given point are invincible , strong , powerful and attract miracle . While confusion , doubt , difficulty give way to self destruction . Concentrated thought enters largely into all successes and informs all victories. Whether it is prayer , fasting , and other spiritual steps , pure concentration must be adopted to achieve its purposes.

You acquire concentration through practice , to be able to do things , you must begin to do it , and keep on doing it until the things is mastered. To be able to paint , you must paint , or begin to paint  until all skill is mastered and acquired. To be wise , you must do wise things , to become pure , holy ,and powerful , you must practice purity , meekness, holiness and divine task. Doing is not all , it must be done with energy and intelligence.  

The beginning of concentration is to go to your daily task and put your mind on it , bringing all your intelligence and mental energy to a focus upon that which has to be done and every time the thought are found wandering aimlessly away . They should be brought promptly back to the thing in hand. Thus the centre upon which you are to bring your mind to a point  is but the work  which  you are doing every day and your object in thus concentrating is to be able to do your work with smooth rapidity and consummate skill , for until you can do your work , you have not gained any degree of control over the mind and you have not acquired the power of concentration .

The powerful focusing of one thought and energy and will upon the doing of things is  difficult at first , as everything  worthy acquiring is difficult  , but daily efforts , strenuously made and patiently followed up , will soon lead to such a measure of self control, as will enable one to bring  a strong  and penetrating  mind to bear upon any work undertaken . A mind that will quickly comprehend all the details of the work and dispose of them with accuracy and dispatch . He will increase his concentrative capacity ,enlarge his usefulness in the scheme of the thingsand increase his value  to the world  , thus inviting nobler opportunities , and opening the door of higher duties.  He will also experience the joy wider and fuller life. A mind that fails to learn , and concentrates on loft goal and exhibit gratitude shall suffer .

Discourage yourself and your mind from thinking and concentrating on what is evil , weak and immoral . A stronger mind concentrates on lofty , good and godly task  . Be godly and concentrate on thinking,  acting and speaking good , success shall be yours in all levels of life. The proud and the fool concentrate on criticism , condemnation and complaining all the time. The wise concentrates on the goodness of life and gives thank for whatever situation he finds and work to change all things by being good , and the law of nature favours him at the end.

The process of concentration takes four stages attention , contemplation , abstraction and activity in repose.  At first the thoughts are arrested and the mind is fixed upon the object of concentration , which is the task in hand , that is attention . The mind is then aroused into vigorous thought concerning the way of proceeding with the task , that is contemplation . Protracted contemplation leads to a condition of mind in which the doors of the senses are closed against  the entrance of outside distraction , the thought being wrapped in and solely and intensely centred upon , the work in hand , that is abstraction . The mind thus centred in profound thought or consideration reaches a state in which the maximum of work is accomplished with the minimum of friction , this is activity in repose.

Attention is the first stage in all successful work , those who lack it fail in everything . Such are the lazy , the thoughtless , the indifferent and unsympathetic and incompetent . When attention is followed by an awakening of the mind to serious thought , then the second stage is reached . Abstraction is the sphere of the genius , here there is fusion of the mind and the work . when the mind has attained perfection in abstraction , the subjective method of working is accomplished , as distinguished from the objective . Thinker is the oblivious and unconscious of the outside world . The negative vibration of the outside world does not bother him again , he gains victory and concentrate with eternal development of power to dominate the world  and all things are brought under divine control . he is vividly alive  in his mental  operation. Abstraction  is a kind of waking dream , do not confuse it with mere dreaming . In abstraction , there is perfect order  , penetrating insight  and a wide range of comprehension . whoever attains to perfection in abstraction will manifest  genius in the particular work upon which his mind is centred.

He who has perfected  himself in concentration is able at any moment , to bring his thought to a point upon any matter and to search into it with strong light of an active comprehension . He can both take a thing up and lay it down with equal deliberation . He has learned how to use his thinking faculties  to fixed purpose and guide them toward definite end. He is an intelligent doer.

Asé.