"Post fata resurgo."

"What is forethought may sleep - 'tis very plain, But rest assured that it will rise again."

" Forethought is plan inspired by an absolute Will to carry it out"

It may have struck the reader as an almost awful, or as a very wonderful idea, that man has within himself, if he did but know it, tremendous powers or transcendental faculties of which he has really never had any conception. One reason why such bold thought has been subdued, is that he has always felt, according to tradition, the existence of superior supernatural (and with them patrician) beings, by whose power and patronage he has been effectively restrained or kept under. Hence gloom and pessimism, doubt and despair. It may seem a bold thing to say that it did not occur to any philosopher through the ages that man, resolute and noble and free, might will himself into a stage of mind defying devils and phantasms, or that amid the infinite possibilities of human nature there was the faculty of assuming the Indifference habitual to all animals when not alarmed. But he who will consider these studies on Self-Hypnotism may possibly infer from them that we have indeed within us a marvellous power of creating states of mind which make the idea of Pessimism ridiculous. For it renders potent and grand, pleasing or practically useful, to all who practise it, a faculty which has the great advantage that it may enter into all the relations or acts of life; will give to every one something to do, something to occupy his mind, even in itself, and if we have other occupations, Forethought and Induced Will may be made to increase our interest in them and stimulate our skill. In other words, we can by means of this Art increase our ability to practise all arts, and enhance or stimulate Genius in every way or form, be it practical, musical, or plastic.

Since I begun this work there fell into my hands an ingenious and curious book, entitled "Happiness as found in Fore-thought minus Fearthought" by Horace Fletcher, in which the author very truly declares that Fear in some form has be-come the arch enemy of Man, and through the fears of our progenitors developed by a thousand causes, we have inherited a growing stock of diseases, terrors, apprehensions, pessimisms, and the like, in which he is perfectly right.

But, as Mr. Fletcher declares, if men could take Forethought as their principle and guide, they would obviate, anticipate, or foresee and provide for so many evil contingencies and chances, that we can secure even peace and happiness, and then man may become brave and genial, altruistic and earnest, in spite of it all, by willing away his Timidity.

I have not assumed a high philosophical or metaphysical position in this work; my efforts have been confined to indicating how by a very simple and well-nigh mechanical process, perfectly intelligible to every human being with an intellect, one may induce certain states of mind and thereby create a Will. But I quite agree with Mr. Fletcher that Forethought is strong thought, and the point from which all projects must proceed. As I understand it, it is a kind of impulse or projection of will into the coming work. I may here illustrate this with a curious fact in physics. If the reader wished to ring a door-bell so as to produce as much sound as possible, he would probably pull it as far back as he could, and then let it go. But if he would in letting it go simply give it a tap with his forefinger he would actually redouble the noise.

Or, to shoot an arrow as far as possible, it is not enough to merely draw the bow to its utmost span or tension. If just as it goes, you will give the bow a quick push, though the effort be trifling, the arrow will fly almost as far again as it would have done without it.

Or, if, as is well known, in wielding a very sharp sabre, we make the draw-cut, that is if we add to the blow or chop, as with an axe, a certain slight pull and simultaneously, we can cut through a silk handkerchief or a sheep.

Forethought is the tap on the bell, the push of the bow, the draw on the sabre. It is the deliberate yet rapid action of the mind when before falling to sleep or dismissing thought we bid the mind to subse-quently respond. It is more than merely thinking what we are to do; it is the bidding or ordering self to fulfil a task before willing it.

Forethought in the senses employed or implied as here described, means much more than mere previous consideration or reflection, which may be very feeble. It is, in fact, "constructive," which, as inventive, implies active thought. "Forethought stimulates, aids the success of honest aims."

Therefore, as the active principle in mental work, I regard it as a kind of self-impulse, or that minor part in the division of the force employed which sets the major into action. Now, if we really understand this and can succeed in employing Forethought as the preparation for, and impulse to, Self-Hypnotisation, we shall greatly aid the success of the latter, because the former insures attention and interest. Forethought may be brief, but it should always be energetic. By cultivating it we acquire the enviable talent of those men who take in everything at a glance, and act promptly, like a Napoleon. This power is universally believed to be entirely innate or a gift; but it can be induced or developed in all minds in proportion to the will by practice.

Be it observed that as the experimenter progresses in the development of will by hypnotism, he can gradually lay aside the the latter, or all processes, especially if he work to such an end, anticipating it. Then he simply acts by clear will and strength, and Forethought constitutes all his stock-in-trade, process or aid. He preconceives and wills energetically at once, and by practice and repetition Forethought becomes a marvellous help on all occasions and emergencies.

To make it of avail, the one who fre-quently practices self-hypnotism, at first with, and then without sleep, will inevitably find ere long that to facilitate his work, or to succeed he must first write, as it were, a preface, synopsis, plan or epitome of his proposed work, to start it and combine with it a resolve or decree that it must be done, the latter being the tap on the bell-knob. Now the habit of composing the plan as perfectly, yet as succinctly as possible, daily or nightly, combined with the energetic impulse to send it off, will ere long give the operator a conception of what I mean by Foresight which by description I cannot. And when grown familiar and really mastered, its possessor will find that his power to think and act promptly in all the emergencies of life has greatly increased.