prime requisite for the acquirement of the art of Volation is the recognition of the power of the real self - the I AM. The more complete the recognition, the greater the power. I cannot give you specific directions for acquiring this faculty of recognition. You must feel it rather that reason it out. You will not be in doubt as to whether you are on the right track - you will realize it at once. As near as I can express it to you, is to say that you will feel that your body is as a suit of clothes, which, whilst covering you temporarily, its not YOU; that you are separate and apart from your body and superior to it, although for the time being connected with it. You will realize that even your mind is not YOU, but that is merely the instrument through which YOU manifest yourself, and which being imperfect, prevents the complete expression of your real self. In short, when you say or think "I AM," you are conscious of the existence of your real self, and feel the growth of a new sense of power within you. This recognition of the self may be but faint; but encourage it and it will grow, and whilst growing will manifest itself to your mind by impressing upon the latter the knowledge of the proper plan for further development. It is an example of "to him who hath shall be given, and to him who hast not shall be taken away even that which he hath." Their mere calling of the attention to the act may awaken the recognition in some, whilst others will find it necessary to reflect upon the idea and awaken to recognition of the truth more slowly. Some will not feel the truth. To such I say: the time is not yet ripe for your recognition of this great truth, but the seed is planted and the plant will appear in time. This may seem like the veriest nonsense to you now but the time will come when you will admit its literal correctness. To those who feel the first indications of the awakening of the real self, I say: Carry the thought with you and it will unfold like the lotus, naturally and gradually; the truth once recognized cannot be lost, and there is no standing still in nature. To those who recognize the truth, I would like to say more, but this is not the place.
The practice of concentration, as explained in a subsequent lesson, will enable anyone to develop this idea of the real self. The thought, "I AM," held in the Silence, whilst you are concentrating, will grow stronger and stronger.
To exercise the power of Volation in influencing others, in a personal interview, you have merely to make a strong mental demand of the other person, accompanied with a consciousness of your right to do so, and the veil that your command will be obeyed. You must fully expect that your command will be obeyed. In all mental processes the earnest expectation is a prime factor in producing the effect. If you have only a faint, half-hearted expectation, you will have only halfway results. You will realize the reason for this after you have completed this course, the matter being explained in subsequent lessons.
Now, do not understand that you will be able to approach anyone, and by simply willing and expecting the results, make that person do just what you will. You could do all of this if the person had no power of mental resistance, no Volic Force of his own to counteract yours. Some persons, unfortunately for themselves, have but little Volic Forces, and are but puppets in the hands of those who know the secret of personal influence; others have a little more of the force, and so on, until the high stages are reached.
I do say, however, that you will obtain some degree of success from this plan from every person with whom you come in contact, the degree of success depending entirely upon the degree of Volic Force of the other person, as compared with you own. You will understand this well after a few trials. Do not hesitate in commencing to practice this form of mental influence at once. You will improve by practice, and will grasp the theory better from having put it into practice. Remember the boy not being able to swim until he believed he could, and tried. You should of course use Volation in connection with the power of suggestion as explained in preceding lessons. You will be able to concentrate your powers of command by observing the exercises given in the lesson on Concentration. In other lessons, I will explain why these occult powers should not be used for any evil purposes or in working harm to anyone, but I think it well, at this point to caution students against any misuse of this power. Such practices, besides being wrong morally, will result to the disadvantage of the practitioner, and if persisted in, will wreck his prospects in the end. He may be successful temporarily but the result in the end will be disastrous. There are good occult reasons for this, and I hope that my warnings will be heeded by anyone reading this course. There is no harm in using this knowledge and information toward promoting your legitimate business interests and your welfare, providing always that no harm is inflicted on the person influenced. You may influence a man to deal with you, and if you treat him fairly, you are making no misuse of your powers. But, on the other hand, if you should influence a man for the purpose of swindling or cheating him or doing him other harm, you commit a great working for which you will some day suffer in proportion to the wrong perpetrated. I am not speaking of punishment in a future life, but right here in this world. "As ye sow so shall reap," holds well in this case. There is very little likelihood of your misusing your powers of Volation, for when you attain them fully; you will instinctively recoil from the idea of working evil by means of your newfound strength. There are, however, a few men in the world, who, like Satan, use their mighty power for evil, but, like Satan, these men are doomed to extreme misery and unhappiness. They are like fallen gods.
The best exercise for the development of Volation is of course Concentration, but it may be interesting to the student to be able to "try his hand" on a few simple tests so as to gain confidence in himself. I append a few exercises for this purpose. Many others will readily occur to the student. Try only easy tests at first, and then gradually work up to more difficult feats. Practice makes perfect.
Let me say here that when you "will" anything, do not get the notion that you must frown or clinch your fists or anything of that sort. The force is attained by a calm, undisturbed attitude, the "willing" being done in the form of a clam, earnest demand, and the thought that what you expect will occur. The earnest expectation is the secret. You will soon get the "knack" of it. Do not be discouraged, but keep at it until you get things working smoothly.
In our next lesson we will take up the subject of "long-range" Volation or, more properly, Telepathic Volation.
Exercise 1. Whilst walking down the street, fix your attention upon someone walking just ahead of you. A distance of at least six to ten feet should separate you, and a greater distance is no obstacle. Fasten a firm, steady, earnest gaze upon your subject, focusing the gaze upon the back of the neck, just at the base of the brain. Whilst gazing firmly at this point, will that the subject shall turn his head and look around in your direction. A little practice is required to perfect yourself in this exercise, but after you once acquire the "knack" of it, you will be surprised at the percentage of people whom you can affect in this way. Women seem to be more highly susceptible to this mental influence than are men.
Exercise 2. Fix your gaze upon some one sitting ahead of you in church, theater, concert, etc., focusing your gaze upon the same point as in the previous exercise, and will that the person shall look around. You will notice that the subject will fidget around in his seat, appear more or less uncomfortable, and finally half turn in his seat and direct a quick glance in your direction. This experiment will prove more successful with persons whom you know, than with strangers. The better you know the person, the quicker the influence will manifest itself. The two exercise just given can be indefinitely multiplied by the ingenuity of the student. The principle is the same in all cases, the concentrated gaze and strong, earnest, expectant willing or demanding the result, being the prime factors in producing the phenomenon. You, of course, realize that the concentrated will power can be developed by the practice of the exercises given in the lesson on Concentration. If you find difficulty in producing the above results, you will know that your powers of concentration are not sufficiently developed, and you will accordingly perfect yourself in this respect.
Exercise 3. Select some person who may be seated on the opposite side of a streetcar from you, but several seats to the right or left of the point directly opposite you. You may look straight ahead, so as to appear as if you were not looking at the other party, but you will be conscious of his presence, and will see him out of the corner of your eye. Direct a strong mental demand toward him, willing and expecting that he will look
