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      Lesson 8 — Personal Magnetism

      We hear much about Personal Magnetism these days.

      It is a peculiar quality of the mental being of the individual that serves to bring other persons into a mood or state of mind sympathetic with that of the magnetic person. Some men have this quality developed to a wonderful extent, and are able to bring about a harmonious agreement on the part of other persons in a short time, while others are almost entirely deficient in this respect and their very presence tends to arouse antagonism in the minds of others. The majority of people accept the idea of Personal Magnetism without question, but few will agree upon any theory attempting to account for it.

      Those who have studied the matter carefully know that the whole thing depends upon the mental states of the individual, and upon his ability to cause others to “catch” his mental vibrations. This “catching” is caused by what is known as Mental Induction. Induction, you know, is “that property or quality, or process by which one body having electrical or magnetic polarity produces it in another without direct contact.” And Mental Induction is a manifestation of similar phenomena on the mental plane. People’s mental states are “catching” or “contagious,” and if one infuses enough life and enthusiasm into his mental states they will affect the minds of persons with whom they come in contact. We have explained this matter in detail in the little book of this series entitled, “Mental Influence.” It seems to us that the prime factor in successful Mental Induction, or manifestations of Personal Magnetism, is Enthusiasm. In another lesson in this book we have told you about Enthusiasm, and when you think of Personal Magnetism, it will be well for you to read what we have said about Enthusiasm also. Enthusiasm gives Earnestness to the person, and there is no mental state so effective as Earnestness. Earnestness makes itself felt strongly, and will often make a person give you attention in spite of himself. Walter D. Moody, a well-known writer on the subject of Salesmanship, says, truthfully, “It will be found that all men possessed of personal magnetism are very much in earnest. Their intense earnestness is magnetic.” And nearly every student of the subject has noted this fact. But the earnestness must be more than a firm, confident, honest belief in the thing being presented to the attention of the other person. It must be a live, contagious earnestness, which can best be described as Enthusiasm — Enthusiastic Earnestness, that’s the term.

      This Enthusiastic Earnestness has much emotion in it — it appeals to the Emotional side of human nature, rather than to the Thinking-Reasoning side. And yet an argument based upon reason and conducted upon logical principles, may be presented with Enthusiastic Earnestness with much greater effect than if the appeal to the reason is conducted in a cold, unemotional way. The average person is so constituted mentally that he thaws out under a manifestation of live, enthusiastic “feeling,” under the term of Personal Magnetism. The “feeling” side of mentality is as important as the “thinking” side — and it is far more common and universal, for the majority of people really think very little, while everyone “feels.”

      A writer in the “early seventies” of the last century said: “All of us emit a sphere, aura, or halo, impregnated with the very essence of ourselves; sensitives know it; so do our dogs and other pets; so does a hungry lion or tiger; aye, even flies, snakes and the insects, as we know to our cost. Some of us are magnetic — others not. Some of us are warm, attractive, love inspiring and friendship making, while others are cold, intellectual, thoughtful, reasoning, but not magnetic. Let a learned man of the latter type address an audience and it will soon tire of his intellectual discourse, and will manifest symptoms of drowsiness. He talks at them, but not into them — he makes them think, not feel, which is most tiresome to the majority of persons, and few speakers succeed who attempt to merely make people think — they want to be made to feel. People will pay liberally to be made to feel or laugh, while they will begrudge a dime for instruction or talk that will make them think. Pitted against a learned man of the type mentioned above, let there be a half-educated, but very loving, ripe and mellow man, with but nine-tenths of the logic and erudition of the first man, yet such a man carries along his crowd with perfect ease, and everybody is wide-awake, treasuring up every good thing that falls from his lips. The reasons are palpable and plain. It is heart against head; soul against logic; and is bound to win every time.”

      If you will notice the man and woman who are considered the most “magnetic,” you will find that almost invariably they are people who have what is called “soul” about them — that is, they manifest and induce “feeling,” or emotion. They manifest traits of character and nature similar to that manifested by actors and actresses. They throw out a part of themselves, which seems to affect those coming in contact with them. Notice a non-magnetic actor, and you will see that although he may be letter perfect in his part, and may have acquired the proper mannerisms, gestures and other technical parts of his art, still he lacks a “certain something,” and that something may be seen to be the ability to communicate “feeling.” Now, those who are in the secret know full well that many of the successful actors, who seem to burn with passion, feeling and emotion on the stage, really feel but little of these qualities while acting — they are like phonographs, giving off sounds that have been registered in them. But if you will investigate still further, you will see that in studying their parts and practicing the same privately, these people induced a stimulated emotion, such as the part called for, and held it firmly in their minds, accompanying it with the appropriate gestures, etc., until it became firmly “set” there — impressed upon the tablets of the mentality as the record of a phonograph is likewise impressed upon the wax. Then, when afterward they played the part, the outward semblance of the feelings, with the motions, gestures, emphasis, etc., reproduced itself and impressed the audience. It is said that if an actor allows himself to be actually carried away with his part so that he feels the same keenly, the result will not be advantageous, for he is overcome with the feeling and its effect is upon himself rather than upon his audience. The best result is said to be obtained when one has first experienced and felt the emotion, and then afterward reproduces it in the manner above stated, without allowing it to control him.

      We mention the above facts for the use of those who do not naturally possess the faculty or quality of Personal magnetism to the required degree. Such people will find it to their advantage to endeavor to work up the desired feeling of Enthusiastic Earnestness, in private, fixing the mental impression by frequent private rehearsals and practice, until it becomes registered in their “habit mind,” to be reproduced upon occasions when needed. Be a good actor — that is the advice in such cases; and remember this, that frequent practice and private rehearsal makes the good actor. It is a far better thing to be able to induce feeling and enthusiasm in this way, rather than be lacking of it, on the one hand; or to be an “emotional inebriate” on the other hand. One may be rationally Enthusiastically Earnest, without being filled full of “slushy gush” or maudlin emotionalism. We think that the careful student will see just what is meant here, and will not misunderstand us. And remember, that through this repeated “acting” the desired quality will often become real and “natural.”