EFFICIENCY STUDY GUIDE
to the
MASTERY OF THE COURSE
by
Edward Earle Purinton
Companion Guide to:
A Home Course in Mental Science
Benedict Lust, N.D. M.D., Publisher
New York, 1921.
FOREWORD
The big thing in education is to teach the student how to
analyze, organize, and utilize himself.
The new thing in education is to make
the student his
own teacher, thus enabling him to study where, when, how he pleases,
and to enjoy the subject because he knows he will master it and benefit
by it.
We have here united the big thing and the new thing in
education, possibly for the first time. At the request of Dr. Benedict
Lust, leader of the drugless healing schools of America and my personal
friend for twenty-five years, I have prepared a new self-examination
system for the student of the Wilmans Mental Science Home Study Course.
It has been my privilege to give instruction, personally
or
by
mail, to more than 100,000 students. From this experience I have
reached a very clear, definite, conclusion: Every good student, of any
subject whatever, needs two things from the teacher or the text--original
thought and immediate action.
He must think for himself, he must put into effect the result of his
thinking. Only by this double operation can he gain mastery of his
subject and himself.
The ordinary school recitation, followed by the ordinary
school
examination, does not lead to the end sought. Neither is personal,
neither is practical. Nor does the mail course method of teaching
usually followed produce the desired results, being composed of a set
of form questions and stereotyped answers, without individual
application or even personal interest.
The great work of a student is not to memorize what his
teacher tells him, but to vitalize what he thinks
and feels about it. The way to learn a lesson is to think it over and
out--then do something!
We come to the point. The Efficiency Guide here presented
aims
to put the fine teachings of Helen Wilmans so quickly, deeply and
everlastingly into your mind, heart, work and life that you will gain
both immediate and perpetual benefits.
The plan is brief, yet comprehensive. The five personal
questions for each Lesson are here to prove not how well you recall
what the teacher says, but how well your mind works on it. The action
problem at the close of each Lesson gives you something to do, not
merely to show how effectively you have mastered the Lesson, but rather
to demonstrate how valuable you can make it for and to yourself. The
practical result records the completion of the Lesson, with a tangible
proof of attainment or achievement you have gained from study and
application of the Lesson.
I judge that the value of this study to yourself resides
about
one third in the text of the Wilmans Course, one third in the form of
the Efficiency Guide, and one third in the way you employ the Guide. So
the following directions for the use of the Guide are as important as
the Course or the Guide, in your method of study.
1. Decide first whether you will merely read the Course,
or
actually study it as you would a college textbook of applied
psychology. To study it will take twice or three times as long as to
read it--and should bring five or six times the benefit. You should
find the studying and experimenting process indicated by the Efficiency
Guide the most enjoyable part of each Lesson, after you get your mind
used to exercising its reflective and creative powers. Do you have
interest enough, time enough, will force enough, to go into the study
for all there is to be gotten out of it? Then use the Guide regularly
from the start. But don’t read part and study part. If you
merely read
the Course, let the Guide alone.
2. If you want to study right, observe this method. Read
every
Lesson first as a whole, to gain a general knowledge of the subject.
Always have a pencil with you, and underscore the short, powerful
statements that seem to you most inspiring and encouraging. Then read
the five questions for that Lesson in the Guide. See if you can write
the answer to any, from first reading the Lesson. Do it if you can.
Then go over the Lesson more carefully, with the questions in mind,
answering each as you get facts or suggestions from the author.
3. Having mastered the philosophy of each Lesson, prove
that
you can work it out. Solve the action problem assigned for each Lesson,
following the questions in the Guide. You may find some of these
problems unusual, perhaps difficult. All the better, for in solving
them you will develop to an unusual degree your latent powers of
thought and execution. Having answered the questions and worked the
problems, write in the last space a brief notation of some good result
you feel you have accomplished by mastering that particular Lesson.
Don’t leave a Lesson till you have cleaned up the job. The
habit of
doing everything right is worth more to you than all the textbooks on
earth.
4. Be patient. The process of reconstructing your whole
manner
of thinking may take years, will certainly take months. Follow
instructions, do the work well, with faith to believe in a splendid
outcome. Don’t get in your own way by stopping to measure and
judge
immediate benefits. The man of power makes sure he is using the right
motives, methods and principles--then leaves results to Providence.
5. Keep the Guide to yourself, as a personal record of
ambition, evolution and attainment. Don’t allow even your
best friend
to see it. Share the Course with anybody far enough grown to understand
it, value it and profit by it. Should a friend or relative, student,
client or employee of yours be really interested, you can arrange to
supply him with a duplicate Course and Guide. But your
Guide is for you alone.
Thousands of students of Helen Wilmans have been cheered,
uplifted and
empowered by her teachings in book form, without any personal,
practical way to apply the teachings to everyday thought and life. It
is my earnest hope and firm belief that the Guide, supplementing and
completing the Course, may put you in line for the big things awaiting
him who knows and commands himself.
Edward Earle Purinton
* * * * *
LESSON
QUESTIONS & EXERCISES
* * * * *
A Home Course in Mental Science
Table of Contents
