On page 178 mention is also made of the great French chemist Berthelot, who relates that some of his best conceptions have flashed upon him as from the clear sky.  In fact, the Eighth Lesson is largely made up of examples of this kind, and we ask the student to re-read the same, in order to refresh his mind with the truth of the workings of the sub-conscious mentality.

But you will notice in nearly all the cases mentioned, that those who related instances of the help of the sub-conscious mind had merely stumbled upon the fact that there was a part of the mind below consciousness that could and would work out problems for one, if it could somehow be set in operation.  And these people trusted to luck to start that part of the mind in operation.  Or rather, they would saturate their conscious mind with a mass of material, like stuffing the stomach with food, and then bid the subconscious mind assort, separate, arrange and digest the mental food, just as does the stomach and digestive apparatus digest the natural food—­outside of the realm of consciousness or volition.  In none of the cases mentioned was the subconscious mind directed specially to perform its wonderful work.  It was simply hoped that it might digest the mental material with which it had been stuffed—­in pure self defense.  But there is a much better way, and we intend to tell you about it.  The Hindu Yogis, or rather those who instruct their pupils in "Raja Yoga," give their students directions whereby they may direct their sub-conscious minds to perform mental tasks for them, just as one may direct another to perform a task.  They teach them the methods whereby, after having accumulated the necessary materials, they may bid the sub-conscious mentality to sort it out, rearrange, analyze, and build up from it some bit of desired knowledge.  More than this, they instruct their pupils to direct and order the sub-conscious mentality to search out and report to them certain information to be found only within the mind itself—­some question of philosophy or metaphysics.  And when such art has been acquired, the student or Yogi rests assured that the desired result will be forthcoming in due time, and consequently dismisses the matter from his conscious mind, and busies himself with other matters, knowing that day and night, incessantly, the sub-consciousing process is going on, and that the sub-conscious mind is actively at work collecting the information, or working out the problem.

You will see at once the great superiority of this method over the old “hit-or-miss,” “hope-it-will-work” plan pursued by those who have stumbled upon bits of the truth.

The Yogi teacher begins by impressing upon his students the fact that the mind is capable of extending outward toward an object, material or mental, and by examining it by methods inherent in itself, extracting knowledge regarding the object named.  This is not a startling truth, because it is so common, everyone employing it more or less every day.  But the process by which the knowledge is extracted is most wonderful, and really is performed below the plane of consciousness, the work of the conscious mind being chiefly concerned in holding the Attention upon the object.  We have spoken of the importance of Attention in previous lessons, which it will be well for you to re-read, at this time.