The Mystic Will

by Charles Godfrey Leland

"The Mystic Will" by Charles Godfrey Leland. This book teaches a simple theory and method of inducing the mystic power of the human will to bring about desired state of mind satisfying reality and miracles. By practicing the simple steps of forethought self-suggestion and repetition the divine nature of the mind works its own wonder even during one s sleep. The many benefits and applications of this theory include increasing memory power enhancing learning ability achieving calmness andcheerfulness getting rid of fears and bad habits working assiduously without weariness healing illness and disorders etc.

120 pages, Hardcover

First published November 2, 1907

About the author

Charles Godfrey Leland (August 15, 1824 – March 20, 1903) was an American humorist and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Princeton University and in Europe.
Leland worked in journalism, travelled extensively, and became interested in folklore and folk linguistics, publishing books and articles on American and European languages and folk traditions. Leland worked in a wide variety of trades, achieved recognition as the author of the comic Hans Breitmann’s Ballads, fought in two conflicts, and wrote what was to become a primary source text for Neopaganism half a century later, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches.

Reviews

[Sotiris Makrygiannis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather early, primitive neuroscience book. Now days is known that Agree easily from the OCEAN model, are those that can utilize the power of self-suggestion, visualization,etc
The sceptics like me read more books like this :)

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read with great wisdom on memory and power of mind.

[Matjaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

One could call it a very basic intro into self-hypnosis I believe. It's a very slow read that won't reward you if you're not reading it with the sole intention of exploring the field of interest. This isn't an inspirational "brute-force will" self-help book but relies more on the sentiment that things should come to you more naturally, easy and in a relaxed way otherwise there's no point of pursuing it.

Read only if you're interested in autosuggestion.

Light 3/5

[Abdullah Almuslem · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot to digest in this book. But in principle, the book equates the “will” to the repeated effort of a task until it is mastered and become a habit. So, you want to master something, do it many times, you want to remember something repeat it until it becomes a second nature etc. There were a lot of discussion in the book on hypnotic methods and self-suggestion and other topics which I did not like a lot.

Few highlights:

One should never overdrive a willing horse.

Dante's assertion that :”There is no greater grief than to recall in pain the happy days gone by”.

There can be no greater hero than the man who can conquer himself and think exactly as he pleases.

He who has swam in the river can swim in the sea; he who can hear a door bang without starting can listen to a cannon without jumping.
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Learning to control or strengthen the Will is closely allied to developing Attention and Interest.

Where an earnest and serious Attention has been directed to it, Interest soon follows.

Mere repetition of anything to almost anybody, will produce remarkable results; or a kind of Hypnotism Causing the patient to yield to what becomes an irresistible power.

I would remark that "no one should ever expect full success from any first experiment."

By faith we can remove mountains, by perseverance we can carry them away, and the two amount to precisely the same thing.

Let the aspirant who is to appear in public, or pass an examination, and is alarmed, base his forethought on such ideas as this, that he would not be afraid to repeat his speech to one person or two—why should he fear a hundred?


It is a principle, recognized by all physiologists, that digestion and fixed thought cannot go on together; it is even unadvisable to read while eating.


He who can lead himself, or others, into a habit can do anything.

[Emma Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Victorian Predecessor to "The Secret", though repetitive (the author himself exercises his own technique by repeating it throughout) I found it far more interesting and well written than the latter book. I'm very glad I read it and will certainly implement the technique contained herein.

[Matt Kelland · Rating 1 out of 5]

Imagine the worst of Crowley plus the worst of Nietzsche dressed up as a Victorian self-help book. Unreadable, pompous waffle, only of interest for historical reasons.