Future Master Mind

THE NATURE OF THOUGHT

Posted by admin on March 5th, 2010

In our survey of the Creation endowed with life and intellect, we are
impelled to the conclusion, that the human mind is, beyond all
comparison, the most perfect specimen that the Divine Author has chosen
to allot to his creatures. The history of our species unfolds the
splendid catalogue of man’s achievements: many monuments, reared by his
patriotism and piety, and elaborated by his tasteful ingenuity, that
have resisted the corrosions of time, and the spoliations of conquest,
remain in our possession: and we still preserve those intellectual
treasures that embalm the poetry, the eloquence, and the wisdom of the
enlightened nations of antiquity. These are, deservedly, the models we
have endeavoured to imitate, and they have even been considered the
boundaries of attainment: but a new epoch has arisen, distinguished for
the cultivation of that which tends to ultimate advantage, where the
mind, confiding in its native energies, and exercising its own thought
on human affairs, has been less disposed to submit to the dictates of
authority.

At this period we possess abundant facilities for the acquirement of
valuable knowledge: under this system, the mental faculties have been
directed to their proper objects, and the time consumed in teaching has
been considerably abbreviated. This abridgement of the usual course of
education has conduced to the neglect of that classical learning, which
required a painful and enduring attention, even for many years, to two
languages that have ceased to be spoken, and are only addressed to the
eye in written character. It is in no manner intended to under-rate the
value of classical literature, the constituent of a scholar, and the
passport and ornament of a gentleman; but to introduce a very probable
opinion, that few of those who have devoted many of the most productive
years of their existence to the Greek and Latin writers, ever attain a
critical knowledge of those tongues: and that the substance of morals,
wisdom, and even the elegant turns of expression, may be more certainly
conveyed through the medium of the best translations, which we now
possess, and the performance of which has occupied a large portion of
the time of accomplished scholars. This conversion of talent to that
which is useful, and productive of emolument, has given a more
energetic impulse to the mind, and accelerated that march of which we
now so justly boast: but it cannot be denied, that in the rapidity of
our advancement, and flushed with the ardent hope of arriving at our
destination, we have bestowed but little notice on the machinery that
urged us forwards, or contemplated the scenery through which we passed.

Most persons concur that the human mind is the noblest subject of
investigation; but few will be at the trouble of undertaking its
analysis. With the multitude there is neither leisure nor inclination,
and the doctrines that have been dictated concerning our intellectual
faculties and their operations, have tended rather to stifle than to
promote inquiry. It is therefore unnecessary to enumerate the catalogue
of illustrious names whose contradictory systems have created suspicion
and distaste in the student. The science that has been improperly termed
Metaphysics, ought to be considered a branch of human physiology, not
abstracted from, but in this state of existence, connected with the
phenomena of life. The citations on the reverse of the Title-page, to
which many more might have been added, clearly shew that the doctrine of
words being the elements of Thought, did not originate from my own
conjecture or inference, and, consequently, that the endeavour to
investigate its truth has been the sole object of my research; under
the persuasion that, if ideas were inadequate, words only remained to
afford the solution of this important process. The necessary connexion
of thought with the construction of a perspicuous sentence, has not, to
my knowledge, been previously noticed.

We are said to THINK on certain subjects, and this process is confessed
to require an intense exertion of our intellectual faculties: but for
this operation, the materials have not been clearly specified, nor the
manner of the elaboration defined. It has been held, that our thoughts
are produced by some mysterious assemblage and arrangement of IDEAS,
which the mind or soul performs by a dexterous and imperceptible
contrivance; although we are conscious of all our acts of intelligence,
and on a moment’s consideration it will be evident, that such
intelligence would be useless without our consciousness.