ideas into our minds. It means only that the entire organism keeps whole 

 or well — or not. If anything goes wrong, it is important to find out what 

 causes the trouble. But no one medicine or one trick can cure all disorders, 

 just as there can be no one answer to all questions. We must guard against 

 the idea that somebody has found a universal remedy, whether it is a kind 

 of drug or a kind of exercise or a kind of lucky stone or a kind of happy 

 thought. 



How the Mind Unifies the Organism^ At any given moment the dif- 

 ferent processes of the body are unified by the chief activity. If you are 

 playing a game, such as basketball or tennis, the heart and the lungs and the 

 perspiration glands and the liver and the kidneys are adjusting their ac- 

 tivities to the body's purposes. The whole organism is on the alert. Your 

 senses and your muscles are all set, in readiness for whatever your adver- 

 saries and partners may do, for whatever move the ball may make. You 

 may become quite excited in the game, and everybody knows that excite- 

 ment may work in opposite ways. If you are not warmed up or excited 

 enough, if you do not care enough, you will not see enough of what goes 

 on to guide your movements; you will not hit hard enough. You will not 

 be quick enough with your responses. On the other hand, if you are too 

 excited, if you begin to think about the score or possible failure, if you 

 begin to wonder whether certain eyes are watching you, you may spoil the 

 game by playing too wildly. In any case, the body works as a whole just 

 so far as it is controlled by a single purpose or desire, and in proportion to 

 the strength of the purpose (see illustration, p. 331). 



Concentration, orderliness and perseverance make for unity and strength. 

 On the other hand, mind-wandering and day-dreaming, indecision and 

 worry, suspicion and jealousy, concealment and shyness, indicate a lack of 

 unity or wholeness. At the same time, they interfere with the satisfactory 

 co-operation of all the powers of the body in achieving a goal. A strong 

 will may mean holding firmly and with clear vision to a definite purpose. 



Attitudes The word attitude commonly refers to the "point of view", 

 or position, that one takes in relation to the environment. This is illustrated 

 by the close connection we expect between the physical posture and the 

 state of mind in such cases as fear, defiance, curiosity and shame. Indeed, 

 you can hardly pronounce these words and think of their meanings with- 

 out having different muscles actually pull toward getting your face and 

 arms and legs and back into positions corresponding with these various 

 feelings. We have seen that the emotions are closely connected with all the 

 important functions and processes of the body (see pages 308-318). 



Some emotions — hunger, fear, love, anger, curiosity — sometimes drive us 

 to do things that we should otherwise not do at all. Our impulses to action 



iSee No. 2, p. 337. 

 332 



