Develop Your Mind Through Study ~ Fr. Edward Garesché

by Fr. Edward Garesché, Catholic Book of Character and Success

The intent concentration of the mind on a problem, which focuses upon it all our capacities for intelligence and seeks to comprehend it and weigh it in all its aspects and relations, is what we mean by study. The word comes from the Latin studium, meaning “eagerness,” because eagerness of the will for truth, for fact, for honest decision, must lie at the root of all our study.

There is a good deal of superficial thinking nowadays. People are lazy in intellect. They wish to get along with as little study as possible. They jump to conclusions and seek information by shortcuts. The intent concentration required to solve problems is too much for their lazy minds.

Yet, the one who really wishes to succeed must train his will, his memory, and his imagination so that he can truly study, can truly concentrate his intellect on a problem so as to solve it as it should be solved.

If you examine critically the careers of great men, you will find that, almost without exception, they depend for their success to a very great degree on their power of concentration, of attention and decision — in other words, on their power of study.

The ideal person is one who is equally balanced in heart, intelligence, and will, so that he is able at the same time to will strongly, to feel tenderly, and to decide vigorously and carefully. One who slips or slurs over any one of these elements of greatness really destroys his chances of becoming a person of fine achievement.

The intelligence is necessary as a guide to action, the will is necessary as the rudder to steer the ship, and the feelings are needful in order that a person may not be a mere automaton, a mechanical and self-centered being, but may be deeply human, and rightly humane in the true sense of that noble word.

Now, perhaps strong will and good feelings are more common than effective study, the concentration of the mind and the functioning of the intelligence that goes into the heart of the subject to discover the objective truth. This much is certain: many more persons seem to have good hearts than have good heads, and the errors and misfortunes of mankind come much more from ignorance and stupidity than from malice.

Those who deliberately and constantly apply their intelligence in an unbiased way to the solution of their problems are much more likely to live a happy life and achieve real success than those who slur over the need for study and try to make a strong will or dogged determination take the place of earnest thought and intelligent decision.

The intellect is a faculty that may be strengthened, made accurate and dependable, just as may any other of our faculties. Exercising the intellect thus makes it alert, dependable, correct, and enduring.

If you observe successful persons, you will find that they give time to quiet reflection, or, perhaps, that they have developed the faculty of thinking deeply and accurately as they go. They discuss, weigh opinions, and look at both sides of a question — in other words, they exercise their intellect as a guide in their decisions.

Unthinking people sometimes complain that those who draw the largest salaries in great corporations seem to do the least work. The man who works with his hands has to observe regular hours and be on duty at a certain time. Those who have less important positions in the offices are likewise required to work longer hours.

But the chief of the whole corporation, the man who makes the important decisions, who really guides and directs the whole enterprise, is very often on duty for fewer hours than any of his employees. Such a man may come in late in the morning and spend only a few hours at his desk, but he is the thinking part of the corporation; the rest are working with their hands or minds in merely subordinate capacities.

He is the one who has to take the responsibility for grave decisions, to frame new policies or enforce old ones. In other words, he is the brains of the enterprise, and he receives his salary, not for doing tasks, but for thinking and deciding.

Thus, it is the man who can think and decide who has the faculty of concentration and of study, who succeeds, and he who lacks this faculty is apt to fail.

Since, therefore, you aspire after success, learn to study. Examine every one of your problems with fair and frank intelligence. Try to put away mere conjectures and to avoid the habit of jumping at decisions without taking the trouble to reason about them.

Insist on cultivating the power of serious thought. You will thus be giving yourself a great advantage over the light-minded and the lazy-minded, for you will not be led by mere feelings or by half-truths, but by the clear light of a strong and sure intellect.

“Painful trials strengthen our faith and make it purer, more supernatural; the soul believes, not because of the consolation that faith gives it, not because it trusts in its feelings or enthusiasm, not even in the little it does understand of the divine mysteries, but it believes only because God has spoken. When the Lord wishes to lead souls to a more intimate union with Himself, He almost always makes them undergo such trials; then is the moment to give Him testimony of our faith by throwing ourselves, with our eyes closed, into His arms.” – Divine Intimacy

Artist: Arthur Hughes ~ 1908

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