Excerpt from The History and Power of Mind:

"Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand."

THIS book is made up from personal notes and stenographic reports of lectures delivered in New York City during the seasons of 1900-1901-1902, with the addition of some new matter in the form of amplifications. The compilation is made at the request of my students and is published primarily for their benefit. The material is left in the form in which it was delivered. The book may not appeal to the orthodox religionist nor to the materialist; but may prove interesting, if not enlightening, to the agnostic and to the investigator of either psychic phenomena, or the phenomena of mental therapeutics. 

The modern teachings of the Science of Mind have not appealed to many thinkers because of the vagueness of thought and expression of the majority of those who attempt to present them; and also because of the lack of a working hypothesis needed to explain the law under which both psychic and mental phenomena occur. This book is an attempt toward supplying the latter deficiency by stating laws under which Mind evolves and operates.

The author does not claim any original research or discoveries along these lines, having had the matter herein contained given to him in the course of his study, under trained minds who had verified these facts for themselves and who required him to do the same. The Occult forces of nature and their modes of manifestation have been known for ages to certain secret orders which have not deemed it wise heretofore to give their knowledge to the world. 

This age, however, seems, in their judgment, propitious for the wider spread of such knowledge both because many independent investigators are discovering for themselves something about these forces and, in their ignorance, are perverting the use of them—as witness hypnotism —and because the advanced men of the race have reached a point where they are desirous of this knowledge, and every mental demand brings its supply.

"The HISTORY AND POWER OF MIND" was selected for a title because the history of mind is the history of man; and these lectures first trace Mind's, or psychic man's, origin and development, and then describe the power of mind and its modes of manifestation. It may not be amiss to state in conclusion that the book is not written for the purpose of propagandism. Something of the operation of Nature's Laws is described in these lectures, and the acceptance or rejection of the statements made will not change the Laws nor affect the author. R. I. New York City, October 1st, 1902.