John St. John

JOHN ST. JOHN There are countless worlds of wonder unpath’d and un- comprehended—and even unguessed, we doubt not. Therefore we set out diligently to explore and map these untrodden regions of the mind. Surely our adventures may be as exciting as those of Cortes or Cook! It is for this reason that I invite with confidence the attention of humanity to this record of my journey. But another set of people will find another disappoint~ ment. I am hardly an heroic figure. I am not The Good Young Man That Died. Ido not remain in holy meditation, balanced on my left eyelash, for forty years, restoring ex- hausted nature by a single grain of rice at intervals of several months. You will perceive in these pages a man with all his im- perfections thick upon him trying blindly, yet with all his force, to control the thoughts of his mind, 50 that he shall be able to say ”I will think this thought and not that thought” at any moment, as easily as (having conquered Nature) we are all able to say “I will drink this wine, and not that wine.” For, as we have now learnt, our happiness does not at all depend upon our possessions or our power. We would all rather be dead than be a millionaire who lives in daily dread of murder or blackmail. Our happiness depends upon our state of mind. It is the mastery of these things that the Magicians of to-day have set out to obtain for humanity; they will not turn back, or turn aside. 5