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 2l6 PSYCHOLOGY AND PREACHING

of suggestion they are, if of low mental grade, quite sus ceptible.

2. Other things equal, normal suggestibility varies in versely as the mental equipment and organization. The wider the range of one s ideas and the more thoroughly in tegrated in an intellectual system they are, the less subject to normal suggestion will one be, other conditions remaining the same. If the store of ideas is a rich and varied one, the greater is the likelihood that there will be in the mental sys tem something contrary to any idea that may be suggested. This is self-evident. But an equally important considera tion is that if the collection of ideas is well organized, uni fied, or correlated into a system there is a greater probability that any suggested idea will awaken and bring into con sciousness any such opposing idea. This is the great ad vantage of mental organization, just as it is the advantage of organization in any other realm of life. It is well known and often remarked that a man may have a wealth of resources, but if they are loosely organized they are likely not to be available at the particular moment when they are most needed. A badly organized army, although having a large and splendid body of men with ample equipment, may be defeated by a smaller body of less amply provisioned troops, if the latter is greatly superior in organization. How often does a man exclaim, after committing some fool ish act, &quot; I ought to have known better I did know better, but I was off my guard ; I was caught napping.&quot; There was in his mind knowledge which, if it had been available at the proper moment, would have saved him from the blunder; but he &quot; did not think &quot; until it was too late ; and the knowl edge which ought to have guided action only reflected its vain and belated light back upon the pitfalls which it should have made visible in advance. The ultimate cause of these blunders and vain regrets is that the mental system is lack ing in adequate organization, so that a given impulse does not call into consciousness all of the contents of the mind which are relevant From somebody or some

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