Your Mind and How to Use It

CHAPTER I.

What is the Mind?

Psychology is generally considered to be the science of mind, although
more properly it is the science of mental states--thoughts, feelings,
and acts of volition. It was formerly the custom of writers on the
subject of psychology to begin by an attempt to define and describe the
nature of mind, before proceeding to a consideration of the subject of
the various mental spates and activities. But more recent authorities
have rebelled against this demand, and have claimed that it is no more
reasonable to hold that psychology should be held to an explanation of
the ultimate nature of mind than it is that physical science be held to
an explanation of the ultimate nature of matter. The attempt to explain
the ultimate nature of either is futile--no actual necessity exists for
explanation in either case. Physics may explain the phenomena of matter,
and psychology the phenomena of mind, without regard to the ultimate
nature of the substance of either.

The science of physics has progressed steadily during the past century,
notwithstanding the fact that the theories regarding the ultimate
nature of matter have been revolutionized during that period. The facts
of the phenomena of matter remain, notwithstanding the change of theory
regarding the nature of matter itself. Science demands and holds fast to
facts, regarding theories as but working hypotheses at the best. Some
one has said that "theories are but the bubbles with which the grown-up
children of science amuse themselves." Science holds several
well-supported, though opposing, theories regarding the nature of
electricity, but the facts of the phenomena of electricity, and the
application thereof, are agreed upon by the disputing theorists. And so

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