This put the boy on his mettle, and he began to work with his pencil, putting down little details that had escaped him before, but which now seemed very plain to him.  He began to catch the secret of observation.  Little by little he brought to light new objects of interest about the fish.  But this did not suffice his teacher, who kept him at work on the same fish for three whole days.  At the end of that time the student really knew something about the fish, and, better than all, had acquired the “knack” and habit of careful observation and perception in detail.

Years after, the student, then attained to eminence, is reported as saying:  “That was the best zoological lesson I ever had—­a lesson whose influence has extended to the details of every subsequent study; a legacy that the professor left to me, as he left to many others, of inestimable value, which we could not buy, and with which we cannot part.”

Apart from the value to the student of the particular information obtained, was the quickening of the perceptive faculties that enabled him to observe the important points in a subject or object, and, consequently to deduce important information from that which was observed.  The Mind is hungry for knowledge, and it has by years of weary evolution and effort built up a series of sense systems in order to yield it that knowledge and it is still building.  The men and women in the world who have arrived at the point of success have availed themselves of these wonderful channels of information, and by directing them under the guidance of Will and Attention, have attained wonderful results.  These things are of importance, and we beg of our students not to pass by this portion of the subject as uninteresting.  Cultivate a spirit of wide-awakeness and perception, and the “knowing” that will come to you will surprise you.

No only do you develop the existing senses by such practice and use, but you help in the unfoldment of the latent powers and senses that are striving for unfoldment.  By using and exercising the faculties that we have, we help to unfold those for the coming of which we have been dreaming.

MANTRAM (AFFIRMATION).

I am a Soul, possessed of channels of communication with the outer world.  I will use these channels, and thereby acquire the information and knowledge necessary for my mental development.  I will exercise and develop my organs of sense, knowing that in so doing I shall cause to unfold the higher senses, of which they are but forerunners and symbols.  I will be “wide-awake” and open to the inflow of knowledge and information.  The Universe is my Home—­I will explore it.

THE SEVENTH LESSON.

THE UNFOLDMENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS.