subjects closely associated with it, and having some practical relation to it. You would discover these associations by asking yourself:
(1) What is this thing?
(2) Of what is it composed?
(3) What is its purpose?
(4) For whose use is it intended?
(5) What is its past history—its evolutionary story?
(6) What are the things most resembling it?
(7) What thing is most unlike it—its “opposite?”
and many more questions of that sort. You would seek to fill your mind with all the essential images connected with or related to your subject.
But you would not be satisfied with merely learning the names of these connected or related things—though even these are of great importance, and really form the first step of your task. You would seek also to learn the meaning of those names. You would consult the best dictionaries, reference works, encyclopaedias, etc., for the meaning of one term, you would uncover other terms closely associated with the one you are “running down”—then you would search for the meaning of these new terms. You would learn the past history—the story of the evolution of the prime factors of your special subject. You would learn the various attempts to solve certain of the problems involved; the failures and successes. You would learn the various theories advanced in the history of the subject, and the answer and objections to each. In short, you would fairly saturate yourself with the known facts concerning the subject, and the subjects associated with it. You would know the name of every thing involved in the subject, and the meaning of that name.
Briefly, you would fill your mind with the “mental images,” concepts, or ideas of each and every thing connected with or related to that subject. Of course, you would use your pencil in noting down these names and their meaning—you would “think with your pencil.” You would arrange your facts into classes—minor classes forming greater classes and so on. You would have on your list every important element involved in the matter. You would know what each of these meant—you would have an adequate conception of each and every one of these elements. You would not be satisfied until your list was made as complete and as comprehensive as possible. The one hundred thousand dollar reward would inspire you; but, as you worked, the growing interest in the task itself would urge you on—you would have awakened the “creative instinct” which had been lying dormant within you.
Well, then; this is just the way for you to go to work concerning the subject of your Definite Purpose and Definite Ideal. What you would do for the millionaire, you must do for yourself. You must work for yourself just as faithfully as you would work for such an employer. The same spirit must inspire you—the same interest must urge you on—the same “creative instinct” must be awakened. Here is what you must accomplish in this stage: You must make an inventory of all the essential elements involved in your special subject; and each name on that inventory must be so well understood by you that it constitutes a definite mental image, concept, or idea.
The ideal inventory of “important elements” must include (1) every discoverable important thing employed or used in connection with the subject; (2) every discoverable important fact concerning that subject; (3) every discoverable important item of information concerning the essential application of that subject; (4) every discoverable important event or experience in the history of that subject; (5) every discoverable important cause affecting that subject; (6) every discoverable important effect produced by that subject; and (7) every discoverable important law, principle, or method employed in the processes connected with that subject.
You must know (1) of what the thing is made; (2) how it is made; (3) who makes it; (4) who uses it or may use it; (5) what the users need it for, and how they use it—and how others may use it, and the other ways in which persons may use it; (6) how it is sold (or may be sold) to those who use it; (7) the general methods of its distribution, and the extent of such. The above are but general suggestions: you must adapt them and add to them according to the special requirements of the case.
For the purposes of such listmaking, we make the following suggestions: Use freely a good encyclopaedia, preferably one having a classified index, or an efficient system of crossindexing. Use trade or professional textbooks, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, reference works, etc. Read the trade or professional journals relating to your subject—paying due attention to the advertisements—for advertisements, properly read, constitute a rich mine of suggestive ideas.
Before we pass on to the next step in the process of Constructive Imagination, we would again emphasize the importance of having a definite, clear idea or mental image back of every name or term representing an essential element of your problem or subject. A name or term without an associated meaning is like a skeleton without flesh, nerves and muscles—and, above all, without life. You do not know a thing merely by knowing its name—you know it only in the degree that you grasp the meaning sought to be expressed by that name. Get acquainted with your dictionary—turn its pages and put flesh and meat on the bare bones of the mere names and terms that you know—breathe life into them.
Halleck says concerning this point: “The formation of accurate images is essential to the right culture of the imagination. A good house cannot be built out of shapeless brick. The use of words without definite corresponding images is fatal to imagination. If we study any branch of science without representing to ourselves by imaginative power the meanings of the various terms, our time is somewhat more than wasted, for we are forming a bad habit. ‘Molecular vibrations: ‘tension of the ether,’ ‘undulations of varying amplitude and length,’ ‘valves of the heart,’ ‘stamens,’ ‘peltate leaves,’ ‘Gothic arches’—these are terms which should never be used without the ability to form sharp images in each case. A person who had been talking about defective flues as causes of fires, was asked to state plainly what he meant by ‘a defective flue.’ It was then seen that he had no clear image corresponding to the term, which was simply a mask for his ignorance. Persons who allow themselves to use terms in this way must not expect to have much imaginative power.”
Let your “meanings” of names and terms take on the aspect of mental pictures, or images, of the thing represented by the names. “See” the thing in your “mind’s eye” when you are intently thinking of it—visualize it into mental life and vigor—and it will take on a world of new meaning to you when you wish to employ it as an element of Constructive Imagination. A “lively imagination,” in the true meaning of that term, is an imagination in which the images are “alive,” and not mere lifeless verbal skeletons of things long since passed out of actual, moving existence. Breathe the breath of life into your mental images.
The fourth section of the General Rule tells you to: “Classify these ideas, elements and factors according to their general nature, their general uses, their known relations and associations; crossindexing them under appropriate headings, and referring to the lesser elements, parts, or factors of which each is composed. Diagram and chart these ideas according to your system of classification, so as to have the whole matter under your mind’s eye, and that you may be able to grasp the arrangement at a glance without having to hunt for scattered items.”
By following this method, after having accumulated your materials of Constructive Imagination, i. e., your concepts, ideas, or mental images of the elements involved in the future creation of new images, you will arrange them according to some logical system of classification. In this way you file away each particular concept or idea according to its proper place in a more general class, and, thereby, you are able more easily to find it when you need it. This plan, as compared with that of simply piling your ideas and concepts in a miscellaneous heap, is akin to the scientific method of filing away correspondence in a filing cabinet as compared with that of simply throwing the letters together in a barrel,
