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Attention
resolute, changeful, and forgetful are many persons. Some will start to tell of an occurrence, stop to mention some other matter, forget what they started to say, and then remark, "What was it I wanted to tell you?" The difference between the mind of a Plato and that of an ordinary being is simply this: a Plato possesses the power of continuous mental attention, he is capable of focusing his thought; while the ordinary person cannot control his mentality so as to concentrate its powers for any length of time on any specific object. Now then, the first step toward training the memory is to learn to pay attention.
Consider the lines from As You Like It, quoted in the first lesson:
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.
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