First lesson, exercise II: Write from memory as many three-letter words as you can, at least fifty of them. Fifty to one hundred would be better. There is not much mental work involved in that. Is there? Here are just a few samples:
MAN DOG CAT THE HAY SEX RUN TOP WAS BUT NOW FOR HIP HAT AND AIM ALL END
Now, write your list from memory! Do not copy these words, but think up three-letter words yourself and write them on a sheet of paper (or the space below which is much less wasteful). Write them a half dozen times until you have them pretty well in mind and can recall them from memory. Next, without looking at what you have written, write as many of those words as you can remember, BACKWARDS, from memory, like this:
NAM GOD TAC EHT XES NUR POT SAW TUB WON ROF PIH TAH DNA MIA LLA DNE
Some of the words you have selected will form new and correct words when spelled backwards, but disregard these new words thus formed. For the purpose of this exercise they mean nothing, but are merely coincidences.
The purpose of this drill is to train your mind to see things wholistically and in their entirety. For instance, when you think of the word "can," it would mean not just the sequence "c-a-n" to you, but should also appear as a picture in your mind, of three letters, each equally important regardless of arrangement. The "a" is as important as the "c" or the "n" even though it is in the middle of the word. You can see the practical application of this in the consideration of common place problems of life and business!
Use the following text field to practice writing three letter words forwards then backwards
Repeat this exercise twenty-five times, each time removing your previous effort form sight and making your new attempt entirely from memory, quickly forwards or backwards. When that word pictures itself in your mind, it will appear to you not as a static sequence of three letters, but as three separate letters which your mind will be able to group into any form at will.
"But what good will that do me?" you may ask. "What good is it to me to be able to spell short words backwards?" This exercise will have taught your brain to do something it never could do before -- it will have broken down another rut in which your mind was traveling -- it is a step towards untrammeled, original thinking. And it will have developed your brain by just that much preparing it for further training by the lessons that follow in this course.
Furthermore, it will have trained your brain to see little things like little words, in their entirety. The small problems of life or business or the home are made up of two or three sides, or questions, or "angles." Now matter how simple, every question has at least two sides. The successful man is the one who can see ALL sides at once, the other person's as well as his own. Knowing the other person's problem he is able to take advantage of the situation to his own interests. The other person, who sees only HIS side of the matter and does not grasp the problem as a whole, is placed at such disadvantage that he usually comes out second best. This exercise is powerful indeed in its potentiality.
Of course, learning the lessons so far will not make you a success overnight in whatever you are striving for, but they have started your brain on the path to clear, concise, concurrent and analytical thinking which is essential to success in any effort.
If the rich rewards offered you through Multiple Mentalism seem disproportionate to the seeming childishness of the exercises given here, think again! True, you will not become chairman of the board in charge of all the Dupont interests because of your ability to write backwards. Nor will you land any big contracts based on your strength of transposing letters of the alphabet. But neither would Mohammed Ali expect to enter the ring with a skipping rope and beguil the public with the old childhood formula, "Salt, Pepper, Mustard, Vinegar." He spent much of his training time in skipping rope but only to improve his footwork, coordination, and endurance.
In other words, the exercises provided here are silly if viewed as ends in themselves, which they are NOT. (For example, a martial artist might play memory games, so he can instantly recall every situation surrounding himself and his opponent.) Considered in their true character, as MEANS to an end, they are the most effective, the most fruitful, the speediest, and most practical means of mind training that the world has ever known. Actual results will prove that I am understating their value.
With a better understanding and appreciation of what it takes to gain Multiple Mentalism, we are ready to advance.