MEDITATION

The following illustration from A Primer on Meditation points out what happens when the mind is directed and focused on one thing: "M.A. Rosanoff, long associated with Thomas Edison, had worked futilely for over a year to soften the wax of phonograph cylinders by altering their chemical constitution. The results were negative. Rosanoff relates how he mused night after night trying to 'mentally cough up' every theoretical and practical solution. 'Then is came like a flash of lightning. I could not shut waxes out of my mind, even in my sleep. Suddenly, through headache and daze, I saw the solution. The first thing the next morning, I was at my desk; and half an hour later I had a record in the softened wax cylinder...This was the solution! I learned to think waxes...waxes...waxes, and the answer came without effort, although months of thought had gone into the mental mill.'" 

Daily Bread.

The story goes that Henry Ford once hired an efficiency expert to evaluate his company. After a few weeks, the expert made his report, which was highly favorable except for one thing.

"It's that man down the hall," said the expert. "Every time I go by his office he's just sitting there with his feet on his deck. He's wasting your money."

"That man," replied Mr. Ford, "once had an idea that saved us millions of dollars. At the time, I believe his feet were planted right where they are now."

Reader's Digest, August, 1981.