Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 8.djvu/465

 ROUTINE PROCESS. 451 side he communicates the shortest, the simplest, and the most effective manner of writing. He ensures that there is little to learn and less to unlearn. He reduces labour and perplexity. He knows just what should be done, and insists upon that alone. The consequence is that his pupil acquires the art of writing perhaps with one-third the trouble and in one-third the time expended by another who, though other- wise his equal, has had no teacher or a bad one. Exercise offers no guarantee that we perform every move- ment in the most economic manner. In many an organised trend in which the parts are not obvious (and in most they are not), movements are executed circuitously. A life-time of exercise may make no difference in this respect. The most direct way is not revealed mechanically and is very often difficult to discern. A careful analysis will frequently show movements to be superfluous. Sometimes the prevailing method is cumbersome and wastes time, trouble, and effort. Sound training alone, not mere training, can produce the effect we should be aiming at. As with circuitous activities, so with the absolute amount of energy expended. Most men employ in organic reaction more energy than is needful. The initially superfluous output becomes the normal output, and thus part of a man's energy is frittered away. Thoughtful analysis alone indicates the proper quantity of energy de- manded. Time should never be wasted. We need never cease learning or improving. Alertness, deliberate obser- vation, and the study of others engaged in the same or a similar pursuit, all tend towards progress. Not exercise but judgment is the most desirable. Judg- ment is also more important than time. Double the former and you quarter the latter. In many an instance half an hour's conversation with the right individual will do more than years of plodding. A wise man will learn nothing at haphazard, and introduce judgment into every activity. The child who learns to write, benefits in every way by the employ- ment of his own and others' judgment. He ought to be taught that exercise alone will not bring him to his goal. 12. Why is it Difficult to Influence Organic Trends ? The learner has ceased to be a learner. The organic trend is fully formed. The apprentice has reached a stage at which he writes without troubling himself about the how of writing. Suppose he arrives at the conclusion that he soon feels tired when writing, while others do not. Suppose he decides to make the necessary changes which shall enable him to write without rapid exhaustion. The ideal procedure in such a case would be, first, to remember, and then to remove the