Influencing En Masse
In our last chapter we considered the manifestation of Mental
Influence at a distance in so far as was concerned the influencing
of one or more persons by another. There is another phase of the
subject that must not be overlooked, and that is the influencing of
large numbers of people by some active, strong projector of Mental
Influence. This form of the manifestation of the power is known as
"Mental Influencing En Masse" – "En Masse," of course, means "in a
body" – or "in a crowd," and Mental Influencing En Masse means the
use of the influence in the phase of exerting a strong attracting or
directing power to the mind or "the crowd," or rather, "the public,"
or a large number of people.
This form of the use of the power is that consciously or
unconsciously exerted by the great leaders of men in the fields of
statesmanship, politics, business, finance or military life. You
will at once recall a number of the so – called "great men" of
history from ancient times down to our own times who seemed to exert
a wonderfully, almost miraculous, effect upon the minds of the
people, causing men to see things through the eyes of the strong
man, and making of all instruments to carry out the ideals, will or
desires of these great masters of Mental Influence. And on a smaller
scale are the majority of the successful people who depend upon
public support. In fact, this influence in some degree is used by
nearly all who succeed in any form of business or profession, in
which success calls for the attraction of other people toward the
occupation of the person in question. This may seem like a strange
thought to many, but occultists know it as the truth,
notwithstanding.
The most common form of Influencing En Masse is the lesser degree
manifestation, along unconscious lines, manifested by a majority of
people by reason of their desire for the success of certain things.
By desire we do not mean the mere "wanting" or "wishing" state of
mind, but rather than eager longing, craving, demanding mental state
that evinces a hungry reaching out for the desired thing. You will
notice that the men and women who "get things" are generally those
who are possessed of a strong, burning desire for the things in
question, which prompts them to be more of less aggressive in the
search for satisfaction of the desire possessing them. These people
are constantly sending out strong waves of thought–vibrations, which
has a drawing, attracting influence upon all with whom they come in
contact, and tending to draw such persons toward the center of
attraction, which is, of course, the mind of the person sending out
such thoughts. And in the same way a person possessed of a strong
Fear of a thing will send out similar attracting waves, which have a
tendency to attract or draw to him the people calculated to bring
about the materialization of the thing feared. This may sound
paradoxical, but the secret lies in the fact that in both the case
of Desire and Fear the mind forms the Mental Image, which tends to
become materialized. Fear, after all, is a form of "expectation,"
which, alas! Too often tends to materialize it. "The thing that I
have feared, hath come upon me," says Job, and in that saying he has
stated the experience of the race. The way to fight things you may
fear is to create a burning desire for the opposite thing.
Other persons who have either studied the principles of Mental
Influence, or else have stumbled upon certain facts concerning the
same, improve upon this elementary form of Influencing En Masse just
mentioned. They send out the Thought–Waves consciously and
deliberately, erecting the mental image, and holding strongly to it,
so that in time their sweeps of mental currents reach further and
further away and bring a greater number of people under the
influence and into the field of attraction. They "treat" the public
"en masse" by holding the strong mental picture of that which they
desire, and then sending out strong thought–currents of desire in
all directions, willing that those coming within their radius shall
be attracted toward the ideas expressed in the Mental Image
projected in all directions.
The constant dwelling upon some special object of subject, by men
who have developed concentration, strong wills and fixity of purpose
has the effect of sending out from the mind of that person great
circles, constantly widening, of Thought – Waves, which sweep ever
outward like waves in a pond caused by dropping in a stone. These
waves reach and affect a great number of people, and will render
them at least "interested" in the object or subject thought of, and
the indifference has been overcome. Other appeals to the minds of
these people will be far more likely to reach them than otherwise,
for "interest" is the first step toward attention, and attention is
another step toward action.
Of course, there are very many people sending out circles of
Thought – Waves, and these currents come in contact with each other
and tend to neutralize each. But now and then a particularly strong
man will send out waves that will persist even after meeting other
currents, and will reach the minds of the public in spite of the
opposition. These thought – currents have the personality of the
sender, and reflect the character of his will, be it strong or weak.
The Mental Influence sent out by a strong business man in a town
will soon make itself felt in a subtle manner, and the store becomes
a center of attractive influence, although the public does no
understand just why. In the same way some lawyers spring into public
favor, although not possessing greater ability than their legal
brethren. And popular preachers make their influence felt in a
community in similar ways, although often they are not conscious of
just what force they are using, their only knowledge being that they
have a feeling of inward strength and an attractive influence over
people, and at the same time a burning ardent desire to draw people
their way, and a strong will to back it up with. And these are just
the mental qualities that create and manifest the strongest kind of
Mental Influence. And, besides, these people almost invariably "know
just what they want" – there is no mere vague "wishing" about them –
they make a clear mental picture of the things that they wish to
bring about, and then they bend every effort toward materializing
the picture. Everything they do towards accomplishing their ends
gives an additional impetus to their constantly widening and
constantly strengthening circle of power and influence.
Some masters of this art of influencing the public create a
mental picture of themselves sending out great volumes of
Thought–Waves for a time, and then afterward mentally imparting a
rotary motion to the waves, until at last they form a mental
whirlpool rushing round and round and always sucking in toward the
center. An effort of this kind acts on the mental plane just as a
physical whirlpool acts on the physical plane, that is it draws into
its power all that comes in contact with its force. This is one of
the most powerful forms of Influencing En Masse, and is used with
great effect by many of the "strong men" of this age, who have
acquainted themselves fully with the secrets of the ancient
occultists. Ancient Occultism and Modern Finance seem far apart, but
they are really working together to further the interests of some of
these powerful minds of the day – and the public is paying the bill.
You will readily see from what has been said that an individual
who has cultivated the faculty of concentration and has acquired the
art of creating sharp, clear, strong mental images, and who when
engaged in an undertaking will so charge his mind with the idea of
success, will be bound to become an attracting center. And if such
an individual will keep his mental picture ever in his mind, even
though it may be in the background of his mind, when he is attending
to the details and planning of his affairs – if he will give his
mental picture a prominent place in his mental gallery, taking a
frequent glance at it, and using his will upon it to create new
scenes of actual success, he will create for himself a center of
radiating thought that will surely be felt by those coming within
its field of influence.
Such a man frequently "sees" people coming to him and his
enterprises and falling in line with his plans. He mentally "sees"
money flowing in to his, and all of his plans working out right. In
short, he mentally imagines each step of his plans a little ahead of
the time for their execution and he concentrates forcibly and
earnestly upon them. It is astonishing to witness how events,
people, circumstances and things seem to move in place in actual
life as if urged by some mighty power to serve to materialize the
conditions so imaged in the mind of the man. But, understood, there
has got to be active mental effort behind the imaging. Daydreamers
do not materialize thought - they merely dissipate energy. The man
who converts thought in activity and material being, throws energy
into the task and puts forth his will–power through the picture on
the slide. With the rays of the will there will be no picture
projected, no matter how beautifully the imagination has pictured
it. Thought pictured in mental images and them vitalized by the
force of the desire and will tend to objectify themselves into
material beings. That is the whole thing in a nutshell. |