READ AND REFLECT: Page 16

carriage passes on and deepens the track. It is exactly so with the brain. One thought passes through it and a track is made through the grey matter. The intensity of the thought will determine the depth of the track. As we think, nerve-tracks are created and the repetition of the same thought deepens that nerve-track. New sets of atoms start into activity. Brain-cells are multiplied, and fresh layers of matter cover up these tracks. A similar thought gives them a blow and they are shaken up, as it were, into new life. Reading conveys suggestions to the brain and induces certain trains of thought. The human will, if it presses a thought with vigor, increases in force and mental electricity is thus generated. This is "thought-force" in a nutshell. Now far greater pressure is exerted if we think by ourselves. The fine nerves of the brain put themselves in a state of tension, more life flows into them, and, as this goes on, the inner powers of consciousness, of which the brain is only an instrument, are called forth from their potential into an active, vigorous condition. We should read only those books which yield us fresh strong thoughts, in a line with our own aims and aspirations in life. People take up a book and start reading page after page with the speed of an express train. The mind is in a state of utter confusion and but faint impressions are being made. This is most foolish. Haste makes waste, remember!