CONCENTRATION 773Following are comments by leading authorities that will give you
a better understanding of the law of Concentration as it is often used
by those who wish to "blend" or "fuse" the minds of a crowd so they
will function as a single mind.
COMMENTARY
In the original edition of Law of Success, following the above introduction,
Napoleon Hill had included an extremely lengthy digression on religious revival
meetings.
As readers of this book are well aware, Hill was intrigued by the
workings of the mind, the study of psychology in general, and in particular
the serious study of hypnosis. To his dismay, the scientific work done in
these areas was being abused. Hypnosis was falling into disrepute because
stage magicians, who were extremely popular at the time, often used it as
a part of their act. At the same time the phenomenon of the religious revival
meeting was sweeping America. Hill was very critical of the ways in which
the leaders of these "tent meetings" manipulated the emotions of their
followers by using the techniques of mass psychology and hypnosis to create
the illusion of religious epiphany. Apparently Hill felt that his readers needed
to be warned of these abuses and he extensively quoted numerous experts
to support his position.
At the time of this writing, revival meetings are far from being a widespread
phenomenon, the magicians of note are creating grand illusions in the casinos
of Las Vegas, and hypnosis has regained its status as a serious psychological
technique used in hypnotherapy. Knowing that the reader of this edition is not in
danger of being bamboozled, the editors have limited the number of repetitive
supporting quotations. There are, however, some interesting points made in this
quoted material about the mass psychology of revival meetings, which the
modern reader may even have experienced at a seminar or workshop given by
one of today's powerful motivational speakers.