Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/194

 176 PSYCHOLOGY AND PREACHING

from within. Positively it may be described as a concen tration of consciousness under the control of some inclina tion which for the time dominates the mind without any serious competition. We often give attention to an object at a certain time because it is itself so interesting that it absorbs the mind. In compulsory attention we attend to an object not because it is interesting to us, not because it appeals to a present dominant inclination in us, but because our organism instinctively takes note of every stimulus which by reason of its sudden, violent, strange or strik ing character may bear an important relation to its welfare ; because it may menace some organic interest. The response is reflexive or instinctive. In voluntary or strained attention there is a competition between objects that appeal to differ ent inclinations, or between an intrinsically interesting object and some stimulus that seeks to force itself upon our con sciousness. But in spontaneous attention the mind is dwell ing on something which is in itself interesting, and so in teresting that at the moment it takes practically complete possession of our thoughts. Under such circumstances the mind drifts. The attention may move from one object to another quite suddenly and rapidly; but the drifting and shifting take place under the control of some interest which, having its origin in some situation or other, rises to the sur face and for the moment directs the current of thought. The process is well exemplified in our reveries and day dreams. What we think about when we &quot; turn our minds loose &quot; and nothing disturbs us, are objects of spontaneous attention.

Now these inclinations (or interests) which select the objects of spontaneous attention represent the constitution of the mind as at the time organized. The mental organ ization is revealed also, and sometimes more adequately revealed, in voluntary attention; but this rather represents the mind in the process of further organization, while spon taneous attention simply shows the mind off guard, in

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