Now, let us consider the subject of visualization.  Every person knows that the person who wishes to accomplish anything, or who expects to do good work along any line, must first know what he wishes to accomplish.  In the degree that he is able to see the thing in his mind’s eye—­to picture the thing in his imagination—­in that degree will he tend to manifest the thing itself in material form and effect.

Sir Francis Galton, an eminent authority upon psychology, says on this point:  “The free use of a high visualizing faculty is of much importance in connection with the higher processes of generalized thought.  A visual image is the most perfect form of mental representation wherever the shape, position, and relations of objects to space are concerned.  The best workmen are those who visualize the whole of what they propose to do before they take a tool in their hands.  Strategists, artists of all denominations, physicists who contrive new experiments, and, in short, all who do not follow routine, have need of it.  A faculty that is of importance in all technical and artistic occupations, that gives accuracy to our perceptions and justice to our generalizations, is starved by lazy disuse instead of being cultivated judiciously in such a way as will, on the whole, bring best return.  I believe that a serious study of the best way of developing and utilizing this faculty, without prejudice to the practice of abstract thought in symbols, is one of the pressing desirata in the yet unformed science of education.”

Not only on the ordinary planes is the forming of strong mental images important and useful, but when we come to consider the phenomena of the astral plane we begin to see what an important part is played there by strong mental images or visualized ideas.  The better you know what you desire, wish or aspire to, the stronger will be your thought vibrations of that thing, of course.  Well, then, the stronger that you are able to picture the thing in your mind—­to visualize it to yourself—­the stronger will be your actual knowledge and thought-form of that thing.  Instead of your thought vibrations being grouped in nebulous forms, lacking shape and distinct figure, as in the ordinary case; when you form strong, clear mental images of what you desire or wish to accomplish, then do the thought vibrations group themselves in clear, strong distinct forms.  This being done, when the mind of other persons are affected by induction they get the clear idea of the thought and feeling in your mind, and are strongly influenced thereby.

A little later on, I shall call your attention to the Attractive Power of Thought.  But at this point I wish to say to you that while thought certainly attracts to you the things that you think of the most, still the power of the attraction depends very materially upon the clearness and distinctness of the mental image, or thought visualization, of the desired thing that you have set up in your mind.  The nearer