THE CULTIVATION OF ATTENTION.

In our last lesson we called your attention to the fact that the Yogis devote considerable time and practice to the acquirement of Concentration.  And we also had something to say regarding the relation of Attention to the subject of Concentration.  In this lesson we shall have more to say on the subject of Attention, for it is one of the important things relating to the practice of Raja Yoga, and the Yogis insist upon their students practicing systematically to develop and cultivate the faculty.  Attention lies at the base of Will-power, and the cultivation of one makes easy the exercise of the other.

To explain why we lay so much importance to the cultivation of Attention, would necessitate our anticipating future lessons of this series, which we do not deem advisable at this time.  And so we must ask our students to take our word for it, that all that we have to say regarding the importance of the cultivation of Attention, is occasioned by the relation of that subject to the use of the mind in certain directions as will appear fully later on.

In order to let you know that we are not advancing some peculiar theory of the Yogis, which may not be in harmony with modern Western Science, we give you in this article a number of quotations, from Western writers and thinkers, touching upon this important faculty of the mind, so that you may see that the West and East agree upon this main point, however different may be their explanations of the fact, or their use of the power gained by the cultivation of Attention.

As we said in our last lesson, the word Attention is derived from two Latin words “ad tendere,” meaning “to stretch toward,” which is really what Attention is.  The “I” wills that the mind be focused on some particular object or thing, and the mind obeys and “stretches toward” that object or thing, focusing its entire energy upon it, observing every detail, dissecting, analyzing, consciously and sub-consciously, drawing to itself every possible bit of information regarding it, both from within and from without.  We cannot lay too much stress upon the acquirement of this great faculty, or rather, the development of it, for it is necessary for the intelligent study of Raja Yoga.

In order to bring out the importance of the subject, suppose we start in by actually giving our Attention to the subject of Attention, and see how much more there is in it than we had thought.  We shall be well repaid for the amount of time and trouble expended upon it.

Attention has been defined as a focusing of consciousness, or, if one prefers the form of expression, as “detention in consciousness.”  In the first case, we may liken it to the action of the sun-glass through which the sun’s rays are concentrated upon an object, the result being that the heat is gathered together at a small given point, the intensity of the same being raised many degrees until the heat is sufficient