Chapter VI

Multiple Mentalism in Trades, Commerce &

Professions

Success in business requires certain attributes --- intelligence, observation, understanding, constructiveness and memory; whether you are a truck driver, an accountant or an attorney. Multiple Mentalism is a definite and potent aid in developing these requisites and is a truth self-evident to all who have carefully and honestly followed my admonitions and exercises thus far. Nevertheless, some consideration of this mental training in its relation to success in various occupations should prove helpful at this point.

Take the matter of intelligence, for a start. Intelligence is by no means a matter of formal education or schooling. Dictionaries define it as: “Mental acuteness, sagacity, understanding.” Far different from mere learning, isn’t it? A mind may be literally stuffed with facts but, unless it can use them, its possessor is stupid. The plumber, the salesman and the pharmacist all have infinitely better chances for advancement if their minds are active, are constantly using what knowledge they have as well as that which they acquire from day to day. That is but one of many reasons for the mental gymnastics I give you.

In the preceding paragraph, I mentioned the knowledge that we acquire from day to day --- but many of us acquire little or no new knowledge in the ordinary course of our work. Such unfortunates are the victims of lack of observation --- which, in turn, is one of the deleterious effects of modern civilization. We see so many things, one crowding on the heels of another --- automobiles flashing past, traffic lights winking on and off, animated window displays frantically trying to catch our attention, advertisements screaming to be noticed, radio loudspeakers blasting almost incessantly, throngs of people scurrying past --- that the undisciplined mind becomes a muddled morass of confused impressions, totally devoid of the power to see and understand. In other words, unable really to observe intelligently --- to retain fresh knowledge that is worthy of retention and to reject trivialities that would be only mental dead weight. Multiple Mentalism, by enabling you to apprehend instantly what is, to the untrained mind, a hopeless jumble, gives you that priceless quality of the superior mind: Observation. It is an important factor in your success!

A hundred truck drivers may drive the same route, hauling the same loads, daily. And yet, only one of them may be observant enough to notice that his loading platform is too high or too low --- causing a waste of effort and time (which is money) in picking up his loads. The same driver is apt to notice whether a trailer or a self-contained truck is best suited to the character of the work. He may notice
that most of his time is spent idling in traffic and that one larger truck is more desirable than two lighter, speedier jobs --- or that the reverse is true and his type of hauling could be done more efficiently by replacing one large truck with two or three smaller ones. A driver so observant is slated to be transportation superintendent or a highly productive salesman for some truck agency, or owner of his own trucking concern!

Understanding and constructiveness are but other phases of analysis and synthesis, both of which were discussed in Chapter III, but memory is another mental trait developed by the training you are here giving yourself.

We all have good memories, insofar as memory is defined as the mind’s capacity for retaining impressions of names, faces, personalities, scenes and events. That is a trait common to all Mankind --- every brain records indelibly every impression made upon it, whether or not its possessor was conscious of the impression at the time it was made. But the ability to recall those impressions, at will, is not so common.

As an illustration of this fact: Psychologists have introduced a subject to someone he never met before, given him five or ten minutes with this stranger and then after the stranger has left the room, requested the subject to write his description. Almost invariably, the description is incomplete, inaccurate, and most vague. It might well apply to any four of the first six men you meet on the street. Even such obvious details as age, height, weight, and color are given incorrectly or omitted entirely! All of which might seem indicative of lack of observation as well as of faulty memory. however, when the subject is then hypnotized and questioned concerning the appearance of the man he has just met, his description is positively startling in its completeness and accuracy! Even such details as the initials on intricately intertwined monogram rings, the shades of color in multi-hued fabrics and the number of pencils or other impediments from a vest pocket are clearly given! You see, the facts were there but the subject could not recall them.

My training, you must agree, not only makes you observant and thereby assures your noticing every pertinent factor applying to a person, thing or event but, also, is developing almost hourly your capacity for recalling those factors at will. The same brain “muscles” that pull a word into your consciousness, reverse the sequence of its letters and interpose them between the letters of a correctly spelled word (all of which, as you know, is done in the MIND), will enable you to pull into consciousness again the names, faces, conversations and characteristics of people you met long before. You will be able to recall events long past, as well as scenes you thought forgotten. Not by any mnemonic tricks of association or Magic Memory Formulae, but by simple and natural mastery of your mental processes! Multiple Mentalism enables you to make your mind do what you want it to do, when you want it done. Regardless of interrupting factors that woefully distract undisciplined minds, your brain is your faithful ally and servant, always alert to do your bidding --- ready instantly with whatever you require of it!

The accountant whose mind obeys its master sees and properly interprets the relationship between selling cost and sales price, between overhead and production figures, between volume and net income. He is on the way to becoming treasurer or financial agent! Similarly, the attorney who is sharp to seize upon discrepancies in his opponent’s arguments, who is exact in drawing his own parallels with established precedents, who is quick to identify contradictions between present and past testimony, is well in line for fat retainers and generous fees! And these are the talents latent within us all --- machinist, farmer, physician and chef ---talents that will blossom and bloom through Multiple Mentalism. A rich harvest... yours for the reaping!

Exercise VI:

Since we have just discussed memory, I am --- for a diversion --- going to introduce an amusing little parlor trick which will entertain and mystify your friends and associates and, at the same time, strengthen your memory, or power to recall. Observe this “Magic Square”:

10 23 20 17

21 16 11 22

15 18 25 12

24 13 14 19

What is distinctive about it? If you are observant, you will note that its columns --- whether added vertically, horizontally or diagonally --- yield the same total, 70. I am going to show you how you can challenge your friends to draw such a square, in blank (without numbers in it), and name any total they wish you to obtain. Then, almost without pause, you will be able to write in the correct figures to yield any desired total, no matter whether the columns are added up and down, across or diagonally!

The first step is to draw and number a “key” square, thus:

1 14 11 8

1 7 2 13

6 9 16 3

15 4 5 10

Look carefully at what you have drawn. Note carefully the positions of the “key” numbers, 1 to 16 inclusive. Fix each numbered square in your mind. Now, conceal your diagram and draw a new one, exactly like it, FROM MEMORY. Number each square exactly as numbered above --- BUT DO NOT LOOK at the above or your own previous drawing. Draw and number the squares FIFTY TIMES, numbering the smaller squares 1 to 16, in numerical sequence. AFTER you have done this, draw the squares in blank, then write in the numbers by horizontal columns, thus:
(1st line), 1-14-11-8; (2nd line), 12-7-2-13; 93rd line), 6-9-16-3; (4th & last line), 15-4-5-10. Repeat this drill until you have mastered it completely. Then, starting with a drawing of the unnumbered squares, and WITHOUT looking at previous efforts, insert the numbers by vertical squares; as (1st column) 1-12-6-15; (2nd column) 14-7-9-4; (3rd column) 11-2-16-5; and (4th & last column) 8-13-3-10. Do these three drills at least FIFTY TIMES each, from memory, or until you are as familiar with the arrangement and numbering of the sixteen squares as you are with the sequence of letters of the alphabet --- only more so!

Now, with the “Magic Square” well fixed in your mind, you are ready to puzzle your friends. Drawing the squares in blank, ask someone to name the total he wants you to reach. From whatever figure he names, subtract 30 and divide the remainder by 4. Obviously, your friend must name a number as high as 34, or higher. Assume that the number given you is 86. Subtract 30, as explained. You now have 56 for a remainder. Divide 56 by 4 --- an easy mental calculation. This gives you 14. Write 14 into square #1 (the 1st square in the upper left hand corner), 15 into square #2 (3rd square in line 2 of the “Magic Square” as you have memorized it), 16 into square #3 (4th square in line 3), 17 into square #4 (2nd square in line 4), 18 into square #5, 19 into square #6, 20 into square #7, and so on until you have written them all in, concluding with the number 29 in square #16. You will find that, no matter how you add the numbers you have written in, 86 is the total!

14 27 24 21

25 20 15 26 19 22 29 16 28 17 18 23

“Fine!” you say, “but what do you do if, after subtracting 30 in accordance with these directions, the remainder is not evenly divided by 4?” Well, that doesn’t make the trick any harder. Suppose you had been given the number 88 instead of 86. You would proceed as above, except that when you divided 58 by 4, you get 14 with 2 left over. Number your squares exactly as in the example given above --- 14 in square #1, 15 in #2, 16 in #3 and so on UNTIL you reach square #13. In square #13, instead of writing 26 as you did when working for a total of 86, add 2 (the “leftover” you had when dividing 88 minus 30 (58) by 4. That is, write in 28 instead of

26 --- skipping 26 and 27 entirely. Add 2, also, to each of the remaining squares to and including #16 --- which means following 28 (Square #1) with 29 (square #14), 30 (square #14) and 31 (square #16). You now have a square numbered like your first one, which totaled 86, except for the squares 13 to 16 inclusive, where you have subtracted 28 for your former 26, 29 for 27, 30 for 28, and 31 for 19 and have omitted 26 and 27 entirely. Your rows, columns and diagonals will now add to 88, the required sum! When your remainder after subtracting 30 from the sum required of you is not evenly divisible by 4, the “carryover” must always be 1, 2 or 3 --- it cannot be anything else, of course. Whichever it is, add it to the numbers that would normally appear in squares 13 to 16 inclusive, had the figure been evenly divisible by 4 --- as explained above. A simple trick, but effective!

Now that we’ve had our fun, let’s get back to the intermingling of the letters of words --- taking six-letter words this time, and intermingling their letter in multiple. This requires more application and concentration than have been demanded of you up till now, so you had better make DOUBLY sure that you have mastered the first five exercises!

Take any 6 six-letter words and write them in a vertical column, i.e.:

POWERS

EXPERT

HONEST

PUZZLE

MEMORY

HEALT

Memorize your words (not these!) and write them in the same order as often as may be necessary to make you fully acquainted with the sight of them in your “mind’s eye”. Then dispose of the paper upon which you have listed them and, FROM MEMORY ALONE, set them down like this:

Take the first letter of the first word, follow it with the first letter of the second word, and so on, taking the first letter each of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth words --- which would give you, had you used the same words I used above, the letters PEHPMH. Now add, in the same line, the second letter of each of the 6 words. You now have PEHPMHOXOUEE. Continuing in the same line, take all the third letters, then the fourth, followed by the fifth and sixth of the of the 6 six-letter words. Here is what you get:

P E H P M H O X O U E E W P N Z M A E E E Z O L R R S L R T S T T E Y H 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

The numbers are the keys to the words in their original sequence. that is, the six letters numbered 1 spell POWERS; those numbered 2 spell EXPERT; the 3s spell HONEST, etc.

Do this again and again from memory, using the same six words you originally select and never peeking at what you have written before. Spend at least an hour doing it. Tomorrow, select 6 new six-letter words, and practice another hour with those words. Spend a minimum of one hour every day for a week, taking 6 new words each day.

Believe me, you won’t find this exercise as easy to master as the ones ahead of it in my training! But stay with it! Even if it takes two hours or more a day, spend all the time necessary, for as many days as are needed to make you really adept at mingling any six common words or names in multiple sequence, quickly and correctly. It will pay you!