There was one test for visualizing used by the ancients that we can readily adopt today, and it is a good plan for us to spend this week in a practice of this method, slightly modified.  The plan is this.  Sit down at a table with a piece of paper before you and a pencil, and then on the sheet of paper make ten large dots in a straight row, each dot about one-half inch from the other.  Make the dots about as large as the head of a pin.

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Now take the point of the pencil and put it on the first dot, at either the right hand or left hand side of the row of dots.  Then lift the pencil and skip a dot and put the point on the third dot; then lift it and put the point on the fifth dot, then on the seventh, then on the ninth.  Then put the point of the pencil on the tenth dot and start going in the opposite direction, each time skipping a dot and lifting the pencil.  When you have returned to dot number one again, skip to number three, then to number five, seven, and nine; then skip to number ten and return again, but this time skip two dots each time on your return, going from number ten to number seven, then to number four, then to number one.  Do this over and over again until it is easy to skip one or two dots each time with regularity.  Then take away the sheet of paper with the dots and visualize the ten dots on a sheet or on a dark piece of cloth or something that will not be easily marked by the pencil point. Then with only the visualized dots before you, pro­ceed to tap each one of those dots, going forward and backward, then skipping every other dot, then skipping two of them, and so on.

If this little mental and visualizing practice is tried once a day during this coming week, for about ten or fifteen minutes each time, it will be a great help in other forms of visualization.  You will find that it is a rest, a recreation for the mind, and affords excellent concentration and relaxation.

You realize that in order to do the dot exercise properly, after you have done away with the sheet of paper and marked dots, you must visualize the whole row of ten dots.  You will have to see the whole row in order to tap one and then skip one.  You will note the first time you try it that it is easy to visualize ONE dot at a time, but this will not suffice, for then you will have trouble skipping one or skipping two of them as you proceed forward and backward.

To visualize the row of ten dots, first see in your mind’s eye as many as you can without great effort.  It will not be difficult for you to visualize three dots. Hold the mental picture of the three dots and then visualize another series of three immediately following.  When you can visualize two series each of three dots, then think of starting a third series.  Next visualize the tenth dot following the series of three.

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To visualize the skipping of every other dot, just allow yourself to be­come conscious of the first and last of the first series, then the middle dot of the second series, and again the first and last dot of the third series, and finally, the tenth dot by itself.

After a few such attempts, the series of three dots each and the tenth dot will seem to merge so as to constitute a single line of ten dots.  Perfection in this exercise will help you to visualize the whole of a circle, or three circles, instead of one part of a circle at a time.

Of course, when you come to visualizing a large circle on the floor, it will be impossible to see or visualize the whole circle while you are in its center, for you will be able to see only that part of your created circle that is in front of you.  But you should be able to turn around in the circle and see the whole circle in all directions on the floor.

Please bear in mind that while dealing with circles may seem an unimportant part of the work, you should think rather about the prin­ciple of visualizing.  Other things also must be visualized in your work and the same laws and principles apply to them.