Focus And Concentration
The ability of total focus and concentration at will are not only extremely beneficial but in fact some of the most important of all abilities, and one upon which most other abilities ultimately rely. Without adequate powers of concentration nothing worthwhile can be achieved or true progress accomplished; this is such an important truth that everyone should fully understand. On the other hand with the ability of complete powers of concentration quite literally anything is possible.
The benefits of developing the ability of focus and concentration at will includes but is certainly not in any way limited to the complete control of thoughts, absolute peace of Mind, self-confidence, inner strength, will power, ability to focus your Mind, improved memory, better ability to make and carry out decisions, more control over your daily life, ability to study and learn much more quickly and efficiently, control over extraneous passing thoughts and not giving in to them, freedom from needless, annoying, obsessive, compulsive or upsetting thoughts, routines and habits, inner happiness, the development of extremely valuable abilities as will be discussed in more detail later in this book, more advanced powers of the imagination including visualization, and the ability to meditate effectively. There are many more valuable benefits arising from the ability to fully concentrate, these being just a few of the more important ones.
Many people unfortunately have considerable difficulty in concentrating for more than a few seconds at a time, with the Mind constantly jumping around from thought to thought and subject to subject without any sort of conscious control or structure whatsoever. People are often heard to complain for example, “I cannot possibly think of a hundred things at once”; and therein is a real problem; they are indeed thinking of a hundred things at once instead of just one single thought; the immediate task in hand or point of focus.
Another expression for this inability to concentrate on a single thought is “monkey mind”; the Mind is constantly chattering away endlessly creating noise and thus dimming its true power, abilities and therefore effectiveness. In some parts of the world people who are unable to maintain any single thought for more than a few moments are known as “quinhentos pensamentos”, which literally means, “five hundred thoughts”. This situation applies equally to people of all cultures throughout the world.
Diluting the Mind with thoughts is like diluting anything; the totality of its effectiveness will be reduced in proportion to the amount of dilution as the concentrated effectiveness is scattered and dissipated. A single strongly focused thought is extremely powerful, this simply cannot be emphasized enough. “Phenomena” which to most people would seem to be completely miraculous are easily possible by means of single pointed, completely focused and concentrated powers of the Mind.
As previously discussed, thought is Energy and therefore focused thought is focused Energy the vibrations of which can have a profound effect on the object of the thought, with results that might appear to the casual observer as truly miraculous. A graphic example of such immense power of concentration has often been observed and related by those who have traveled in India. They tell of how they personally witnessed a seed actually being planted in the earth, and which seed not only then immediately sprouts and grows before their very eyes, but very soon thereafter also yields fruits that could actually be plucked and even tasted. All of this occurred in just a few moments. This “phenomena” was accomplished by the use of the most intense use of the powers of concentration and imagination by Fakirs who used these powers to such focused, single pointed and profound effect, that the objects of their intense powers of concentration and imagination actually manifest for all to see, sense and experience in the physical world.
To control your thoughts is to exercise a much higher level of control over every aspect of your life with all of the profound resultant benefits. Lack of concentration and control over thoughts generally can be likened to piercing a sheet of thin paper with a blunt pencil; piercing a sheet of paper with a blunt pencil will prove to be difficult, and the paper will very often simply tear. However if the pencil is sharp, the point will pierce the sheet of paper very easily indeed leaving a small neat hole.
The same situation can be applied to concentration; if concentration is blunt and undisciplined and the Mind is crowded by hundreds of thoughts, the Mind will be equally blunt and ineffective, and accomplishing any single objective or indeed anything at all worthwhile will be very difficult indeed or quite often impossible to do. If on the other hand the concentration of the Mind is sharp and single pointed, then the entire Energy of the point is focused in one place on one single intended action, and the results will be that much more effective. The stronger, more focused and single pointed your concentration, the more powers and abilities you will enjoy in controlling every aspect of your life, ongoing evolution, and therefore your own personal happiness, peace and harmony.
The ultimate objective of focus and concentration is to attain a state of “single pointedness” of Mind. Such single pointedness is the total, complete and unwavering focus on either one single thought, or very often no specific thoughts at all; in other words a focus on a total emptiness of Mind, totally devoid of all thoughts of any kind. Such a complete concentration on emptiness of Mind is fundamental to another very important ability, that of meditation, the benefits of which are profound, numerous and extremely valuable. A highly developed ability of concentration will also assist in the processes of Astral Projection, OBE, healing and many other powers of the Mind.
Although almost anyone can develop high levels of focus and concentration and willpower there are certain barriers to success that should be taken into account. Any inherent physical or mental weaknesses brought about for example by an ongoing illness, can effect concentration. At the same time such conditions can fortunately be healed, as we will also discuss later. A lifestyle too filled with a wide range of activities can also make it difficult to achieve the ability of total concentration, the Mind of such a person always being preoccupied with thoughts pertaining to their ongoing activities. Such a person will also have difficulty in finding the time and motivation required to put aside the necessary time each day.
