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Wallace D. Wattles Ultimate Collection — Chapter-102: Lesson 6 The Development of Talent
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- Note: Work: The Personal Power Course, section 6 of 10.
Lesson 6 The Development of Talent Table of Contents All life is the same, comes from the same source, and contains the same possibilities. In the subconscious of every person is the power that can; but the present application of the power depends upon development of faculty. The power that can produce music is inherent in the subconscious of every person; but in very many persons the power is denied expression because the musical faculty is not developed. The power to paint beautiful pictures is inherent in the subconscious of every person, but in most persons the power is denied expression for lack of training of the objective faculty, or talent. The power to conduct great commercial enterprises, and to originate wonderful inventions is inherent in the subconscious of every person, but in the majority is hampered by lack of training and development of the objective faculty, or talent. All power is given to the subconscious, but without objective training, or the development of talent the subconscious is like a skilled workman without tools; it can do nothing, or can work only in a clumsy and ineffective fashion. It is the development of talent, or faculty, which makes subconscious power effective. Every talent or faculty finds its expression through some particular section of the brain; and the development of the talent, or the power and ease of the action is in proportion to the fineness and number of active cells in its own particular brain area. A child born with a large number of fine and active cells in one section of the brain will be a “natural” musician; one born with the same condition in another section of the brain will be a mathematician; and so on. The musical ability, or the mathematical ability, or the oratorical or artistic ability are the same in all cases, but the ease and power of expression will depend upon the number, fineness, and the activity of the cells in the particular brain area involved. It is a correct expression to say: “I have no musical talent,” if you
speak of the power to express yourself in music; but it is not correct to say: “I have no musical ability,” if you speak of the potential power to cultivate expression. You have as much musical ability as any one, but it may be a much longer and harder task for you to develop TALENT than if you had been born with a good start in that direction. The development of talent is a matter of multiplying brain-cells, and increasing their activity; and this is accomplished by turning the energy of the subconscious to the work. And in the beginning, let me remind you of what you learned in the second lesson; that the subconscious cannot work unless it is supplied with proper materials, perfectly prepared. You cannot build fine and active brain-cells with partially digested food; so the first step in the development of talent must be to adopt the no -breakfast plan, and begin the practice of fletcherism. Give to the subconscious the finest and most perfectly prepared materials, and it will manufacture the finest and most perfect cells in whatsoever part of the body it may expend its power. Having supplied the subconscious with the right materials for brain building, the next step is to direct its energies to the proper section of the brain. It has been taught that the best method of doing this is to concentrate the attention upon that section of the brain for a considerable period every day, thereby, increasing the circulation of the blood, the nerve action, and consequently the nutrition and growth; but a better acquaintance with the matter shows us that this process is unnecessary. The process of “sitting” several times a day for concentration upon various sections of the brain, soon becomes burdensome and monotonous; and it is found to be unnecessary. There is a better and more natural way. The development of talent is accomplished by obedience to the same law which governs all other development and attainment. Do what you can do today, and do it in the most perfect manner possible; and when you can do any one thing perfectly, it will give you the ability to do a more difficult and complicated thing tomorrow. It is a self-evident proposition that all growth and all advancement must come by obeying this law. If you can do the work of your present position only in a feeble and imperfect fashion, you certainly could not “make good” with the larger and more complex tasks of the next higher position. It is not merely doing what you can do today, but doing it PERFECTLY that causes development. It will be seen by what is said above that the development of talent is, in part, a
physical matter; the section of the brain used in expressing the particular talent must be cultivated. Now, the cultivation is like that of any other part of the body; it is done by exercise, taken in the right mental attitude. The benefit of exercise depends mostly on the attitude of mind in which it is taken; exercise builds up the athlete, and when it is called work, stiffens and cripples the laborer. Play will make a child grow healthy and happy, while the same, or less, exertion in the monotonous work of a cotton mill would soon kill the same child. It is mostly a matter of the mental attitude in which the work is done. The exercise of a faculty causes innervation of the brain area involved, and causes an increased flow of blood to that section; so the brain cells are quickened to activity, and new ones are created. If effort is made to do the work in hand PERFECTLY, the capacity is tried to the utmost, and an imperative demand is made for more power, and for rapid creation of new cells. The child which practices its musical exercise in a shuffling and indifferent manner having no other interest or desire than to get through so many hours of “practice” each day, will develop musical talent, but the process will be slow. The child which eagerly and conscientiously tries to make each exercise a perfect performance will develop rapidly, and if its interest and confidence are intense, will be considered a prodigy. It does not matter whether the talent you wish to develop is mechanical, executive, literary or artistic, you must begin by using what you do have, and by doing what you do in the most perfect manner possible. If you do not use what you have, you cannot get more, and if you use what you have in an imperfect fashion, you are not making a demand for more. If you only give a muscle light and easy work, you will not develop it and increase its size; and if you give a brain only light and easy work, you will not cause the development of many new and active cells. If you habitually and regularly work a muscle until it is TIRED, nature responds to the demand by increasing the muscle; and she will increase it very rapidly if the exercise is taken with purpose and faith to bring such results. So, if you use a brain regularly and systematically, with full faith and purpose and use it to its full capacity for effective work, nature responds to the demand by a very rapid building of new cells, and a quickening and refining of those already in existence. You were born with certain sections of your brain larger and more fully developed than others; so certain things were easier for you to learn than others; you had a “natural talent” for them. In other words, your subconscious already
had the tools to work with, in expressing itself along those particular lines. Other sections of your brain were smaller and contained fewer cells; and it is by developing these that you acquire or develop new talents. You do not need to change the shape of your skull, or to enlarge these parts of your brain; but only to refine the brain tissue, and multiply the number of active cells. And this you can certainly do as indicated above, by using the faculty steadily and regularly, and by seeking PERFECTION in your work. And your progress will be rapid in proportion to the FAITH and PURPOSE with which you do your work. The development of talent is not by any means a necessarily slow process. Let us suppose, for example that you wish to develop a talent for literature. First, you must know that you CAN write. However little the ability you seem to possess now, you must KNOW that you can bring that latent possibility to the surface. This will give you the absolute FAITH which arouses the subconscious to full and effective action, and which causes it to draw on the Infinite for more power if necessary. If your faith is absolute, there is no limit to set to the genius you may develop; no one has ever done such perfect work but that better work is possible to you. You may write better dramatic verse than that of Shakespeare; better character delineation than that of Dickens; better fiction than that of Dumas; better poetry than Whittier or Longfellow. All the limitless resources of the Universal Mind are yours to draw upon, if your FAITH is unwavering, you are not limited by what others have done. Along with FAITH in your ability to develop talent must go the PURPOSE TO DEVELOP TALENT. It does not build a faculty rapidly if we merely use it as the ditch-digger uses his muscles; in drudgery, without the purpose of development. We must use the brain as the athlete uses his body; use it in hard work, but with the purpose of development always in view. The object of work is to produce something; the object of exercise is to develop the instrument. Work which is not exercise may produce something, but it tears down and wears out the brain; exercise which is not work may build up brain or body, but it produces nothing. Work which IS exercise both produces and develops. If you have faith that you CAN develop talent, and keep steadily in mind the purpose to develop it, your work becomes exercise, if it is done in the proper manner. The proper manner in literary as in all other work, is suggested above. Aim at PERFECTION; do perfect work. Do not allow yourself to be hurried or driven into doing imperfect work. If the spur of necessity is driving you to imperfect work, find something else to do to “help out” until you can write what you write
with time enough to give it perfect consideration. Do not try to live solely by your literary talent until you have developed it to such an extent that it will support you without worry or driving. This is true of all talents; you should not try to make your living by the exercise of the least developed ones. Make your living by the exercise of those talents in which you are strongest, and meanwhile, develop the others. If you have good arms and shoulders, and a strong back, you had better get a job in the street cleaning department of your town, and so earn your bread while you develop your literary talent, than to depend on literary work before you have developed the talent of doing it. There are many who feel that they have no chance to develop certain talents because they must work hard all day doing something else; when night comes they are too tired, as they think, to turn their minds to a new field. This however, is a limitation which does not really exist. No matter what your work is, so that it is anything at all in reason, it will not exhaust you if you do it in the right mental attitude. Work which we do not WANT to do, and which we do not LIKE to do, becomes drudgery, and it is very tiresome; but work which we love for its own sake, or because of the results which it brings, becomes joyous exercise, and makes us stronger. If your daily task is distasteful to you, do it with the thought that it is making your development possible; rejoice in it, because it is enabling you to get your heart's desire. Go to bed early, and get up and do two or three hours of the literary or other work before the whistle blows; you will find that you can do this perfectly well, and that the very best time for brain work of any kind is before seven o'clock in the morning. Whatever talent you wish to develop, know that it is an absolute certainty that you CAN develop that talent; and know that it is quite within the bounds of possibility for you to develop it to a greater extent than has ever been done. Begin in full faith, and with an unshakable purpose to do what you can do now, with what talent you have now. Do this regularly, and as continuously as possible, never losing sight of your purpose of limitless development. Do all that you can do in the most perfect manner in which it can be done, in the full faith that you are developing a brain which will enable you to do it still more perfectly tomorrow; proceed exactly as indicated in all the foregoing, and you must certainly succeed, and succeed so rapidly as to astonish you.