LESSON 3
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     Believing is Seeing

    Preparation.
    Choose a time and place in which you can be fairly sure of being
    undisturbed for, say, fifteen minutes. Close your eyes, and imagine
    yourself sitting in a dark room, in front of a large white screen. For
    a few moments, allow nothing to intrude on this empty, white expanse.
    The monotony of this expanse will gradually induce a light trance
    state.

    The Exercise.
    Now, in your mind's eye, create a picture of an empty glass and project
    it onto the screen. Be sure to visualize it on the screen, rather that
    behind your closed eyelids. (At least in the beginning, you should make
    a special effort to project visualized objects outward.)

    When the image of the glass in your mind's eye is as clear and
    three-dimensional as you can make it at this time, fill it with a
    strongly-tinted liquid, such as coffee or Coke. Now add some ice cubes.
    Next, provide a straw. Make it a colorful one -- candy-striped, for
    example, or a solid primary color. Now add the caption 'Coffee' or
    'Coke' underneath, in a variety of styles. First visualize it as
    typewritten, next as handwritten then as printed.

    This process of creating pictures in your mind's eye should be repeated
    with other objects, of graduated complexity. When the ability to
    visualize individual objects has been mastered, proceed to scenes --
    an apartment (perhaps furnished in a variety of styles), a department
    store, a playground.

    Lastly, practice visualizing individuals. This can be surprisingly
    tricky and frustrating, but here too steady, relaxed practice will bear
    fruit. You may find, for example, that you can easily picture a
    comparative stranger, whereas a far more familiar face consistently
    eludes you -- especially when you try to get at the essence of the
    expression rather than contenting yourself with an approximation.

    It may help you to see such a "difficult" individual against a variety
    of backgrounds; certain poses may prove much less problematic than
    others. For an especially elusive face it may help to sneak up on it by
    visualizing the back of the head first, then working your way around
    the profile, and inching forward gently until the full frontal view
    comes into focus.

    Make use of whichever of your senses serves you best. Most people are
    visually oriented, others tend to feature sounds or the feel of things.
    Do you have exceptionally good hearing? Then, in developing your
    ability to grasp a person in your mind, hear that person's mood in the
    innumerable inflections of his voice and in his choice of words, while
    you visualize the expression in his eyes, his posture and his gestures.

    Is your sense of smell very acute? Perhaps recalling in your mind a
    whiff of a particular fragrance will instantly evoke a face reluctant
    to appear.

    The means you can use to achieve expertise are as varied as human
    personality; and to find your own most congenial method of visualizing
    an object will in itself be a step toward enhanced self-awareness.