Here’s an interesting quote by William Walker Atkinson
“There are two distinct aims in the attainment of the power of concentration: First, to mold the consciousness into a new and better state; second, to attain the highest possible knowledge of things spiritual.
Remember that habit is what you desire to cultivate, so that you are able to form your body anew, and to repeat the process almost involuntarily is the chief necessity for continual and regular concentration, for the more concentrated and single your mind becomes on any particular point, the more it tends to permanency, and in the same way, if you are irregular, you tend to suppress the thought power you ought to manifest.
The cellular brain tissues are greatly changed by this process of correct thinking, and may be actually increased, whilst those that have been constructed by wrong thinking are caused to waste away. Every effort at right thought, or concentration, brings into play a new set of atoms which tend to build up the new tissues, and at the same time devour and destroy the old.
There is absolutely nothing in the all world so plastic as the brain of man. It can be molded by the will or over soul of the owner or of someone who may have influence over him, and in this way a teacher, by applying the right impulse, may bring the pupil to a higher state of mind, and help him in the process of rebuilding his physical and mental system.
When a man arrives at a state when he realizes how much his over soul can do for him he does not need a teacher to help in the molding process, but when, as very frequently happens, the spirit awakens in a man whose over soul is still more or less dormant, then is the guidance of a teacher more or less of a necessity.
Often the searcher after truth doubts his own power and divinity and so long as he doubts he will obtain little benefit from the occult. It is the poor opinion of his own powers which keeps man in the background, and also that he forgets that every moment of his life he is fashioning the future, that is to say, that all his thoughts today may take material form tomorrow, or the day after, so that each time he fails to concentrate with earnest purpose, each time he omits the daily exercise, he is postponing his future happiness.”
Notice that Atkinson’s core point here is quite simple: concentration reshapes you from the inside out: steady, deliberate focus builds new mental habits, strengthens the higher self, and slowly rewires the very tissues of the brain.
While irregular effort weakens this process, consistent and purposeful attention allows a person to grow into clearer thought, deeper spiritual insight, and a stronger sense of personal power.
