Just as Interest develops Attention, so it is a truth that Attention develops Interest.  If one will take the trouble to give a little Voluntary Attention to an object, he will soon find that a little perseverance will bring to light points of Interest in the object.  Things before unseen and unsuspected, are quickly brought to light.  And many new phases, and aspects of the subject or object are seen, each one of which, in turn, becomes an object of Interest.  This is a fact not so generally known, and one that it will be well for you to remember, and to use in practice. Look for the interesting features of an uninteresting thing, and they will appear to your view, and before long the uninteresting object will have changed into a thing having many-sided interests.

Voluntary Attention is one of the signs of a developed Will.  That is, of a mind that has been well trained by the Will, for the Will is always strong, and it is the mind that has to be trained, not the Will.  And on the other hand, one of the best ways to train the mind by the Will, is by practice in Voluntary Attention.  So you see how the rule works both ways.  Some Western psychologists have even advanced theories that the Voluntary Attention is the only power of the Will, and that that power is sufficient, for if the Attention be firmly fixed, and held upon an object the mind will “do the rest.”  We do not agree with this school of philosophers, but merely mention the fact as an illustration of the importance attributed by psychologists to this matter of Voluntary Attention.

A man of a strongly developed Attention often accomplishes far more than some much brighter man who lacks it.  Voluntary Attention and Application is a very good substitute for Genius, and often accomplishes far more in the long run.

Voluntary Attention is the fixing of the mind earnestly and intently upon some particular object, at the same time shutting out from consciousness other objects pressing for entrance. Hamilton has defined it as “consciousness voluntarily applied under its law of limitations to some determinate object.”  The same writer goes on to state that “the greater the number of objects to which our consciousness is simultaneously extended, the smaller is the intensity with which it is able to consider each, and consequently the less vivid and distinct will be the information it contains of the several objects.  When our interest in any particular object is excited, and when we wish to obtain all the knowledge concerning it in our power, it behooves us to limit our consideration to that object to the exclusion of others.”

The human mind has the power of attending to only one object at a time, although it is able to pass from one object to another with a marvelous degree of speed, so rapidly, in fact, that some have held that it could grasp several things at once.  But the best authorities, Eastern and Western, hold to the “single idea” theory as being correct.  On this point we may quote a few authorities.