Influence - How To Exert It
	The Influence Of The Eyes <  Previous Contents Next  >

Few people escape the influence of the human eye. If its look is imperious, it subjugates; if it is tender, it moves; if it is sad it penetrates the heart with melancholy.

But this influence cannot be real and strong unless it is incited by the thought behind it, which maintains and fixes that look, in communicating to it the expression, terrible or favorable, persuasive or defiant, which alone can maintain the firmness and the perseverance of the active forces of our brain.

“Some persons,” said Yoritomo, “possess naturally a fascinating eye; usually they are those who can maintain a steady gaze for a long time without blinking.

“But it is not sufficient to be able to throw a glance the persistence of which sometimes causes a passing discomfort, which almost always tends toward the subjection of spirits of the weaker sort.

“This look should be the projection of a thought in which the fixed form is definite enough so that its penetrative influence shall become efficacious.”

“But,” someone will say, “it is not always necessary to think, since several animals possess this power of fascination, like the snake, which holds a bird motionless under the power of its gaze, so that it never dreams of trying to use its wings to escape from its enemy.”

“But if conscientious thought does not exist in the animal, it is nevertheless active in responding to instinct.”

“There is a blind force in the brain of the serpent, and which turns it from taking possession of its prey, and this force, mastered by a powerful instinct determines a compulsion, which in the weaker creature is sufficient to paralyze all inclination to resist.”

But the serpent does not monopolize this privilege of fascination, if one may believe certain old French chronicles.

In the old book published by Rousseau in the seventeenth century, it is related that a toad, shut up in a vase, could not get out and found it difficult to endure the fascination of the human eye; at first, in evident uneasiness, it tried to escape; then, when convinced that that was impossible, it would return to its former position and stare at the person in its turn, and ended by dying of the effect of this peculiar force.

Is it necessary to lend strength to this story by adding that one day a toad, stronger or more irritable than the others, riveted its eyes so long upon a mans eyes that he actually felt the influence of the creature and swooned under the implacable fixity of its gaze?

I do not believe that such experiences have been officially established, but it is nonetheless interesting to conclude that if under the sway of an instinctive thought, the eye of an animal can acquire a rare power. The eye of man, when he is animated by an active reasonable thought, may be an important agent of influence of suggestion.

“In order to convince an adversary,” said the Japanese philosopher, “one must look him straight in the eyes. But it would be very stupid and unskillful to employ this method without discretion.

Some would see in it only insolence, and their irritation would prevent them from feeling the full influence of the gaze; others would feel a certain uneasiness which would cause them to turn the eyes away before having submitted entirely to the gazer’s influence, and might prevent them from renewing an interview with a person that had impressed them so unpleasantly.

The best way to begin the use of the eye in influencing is to talk of subjects that will not arouse suspicion in the interlocutor.

One should present himself in an easy and quiet manner listen without showing any signs of impatience of whatever objections the person may make; some of these may not be lacking in accuracy, and it would be unwise to combat them.

It is unnecessary to add that the least hastiness, which would displace the point of concentration of the thought, would be injurious and might work serious harm to the success that we seek.

Too great excess of modesty should be avoided, for the transmission of thought – and consequently of influence – is worked at our cost.

Timidity is always an obstacle to the influence of the eye, which should, at the very first interchange of glances look straight and frankly into the eyes of the interlocutor, at the top of the bridge of the nose.

The first conflict once over, one should turn away his eyes carelessly; especially he should avoid the eyes of his opponent (as we will call him) in the first minutes of conversation, before your own have gained any hold on him; one should in some way fix his gaze without allowing his eyes to gain a hold over your own.

In short, he who wishes to influence another by his look, must take the greatest care not to let him suspect his design, which would immediately put him on the defensive and render all your efforts vain.

“I once knew a young man named Yon-Li,” added Yoritomo, “who went to call on a Daimio to conclude a transaction that was injurious to his own interests.”

Besides, the friend had promised a round sum to Yon-Li if he should succeed in influencing this important person to the point of accepting this solution.

For a long time the young man had practiced exercises in the development of psychic influence and believed that he had arrived at the point when one is sure of himself.

He entered and immediately threw on the Daimio a glance, which the other thought rather singular; he tried to surmise the cause of a look, which became almost aggressive in its expression of determination to dominate him.

He was a man of strong will, who had for a long time exercised his powers of penetration.

He had no great difficulty in discovering the motive that actuated the young Yon-Li, and he conceived the idea of fighting him with his own weapons.

Taking care to avoid looking into the pupils of his visitor’s eyes, he fixed him in the way which we have described, concentrating his gaze at the top of the bridge of the nose and strongly centering his thought on the idea of domination.

The young amateur was not prepared to meet an attack more powerful than his own; his bold assurance faltered a little; under the influence of that penetrating look he blinked, lowered his eyelids, and gently turned away.

He was vanquished and it was with hesitation that he made his request. It was not entertained or even listened to, and he had besides the embarrassment of confessing, despite himself, the indelicate step which he had been ready to undertake.”

Yoritomo added:

“The influence of the eye is undeniable; it is occult power set in vibration by the force of the thought; it is the result of the action of the forces that surround us, combined with our own vital force.”

“One should not use these forces by chance. It is well to use them, especially, as arms, offensive or defensive, in the great battle won by wisdom and knowledge of human nature.”

But just as when he instructed us in the acquiring of energy, as well as when he taught us how to overcome timidity, Yoritomo did not content himself with uttering precepts; he told us the methods whereby we might acquire the precious gifts that he extolled.

“In order to attain that authority of the eye which is one of the first conditions in the study of acquiring mental dominance,” said Yoritomo, “certain exercises are necessary”: “For example, it is well to lay a stick of bamboo across a sheet of vellum, and then sear oneself at a few steps’ distance and stare fixedly at the bamboo without allowing the eye to wander to the sheet of vellum. One must use all his strength of will to avoid blinking.”

“This exercise should begin with counting up to twenty, then to thirty, increasing the enumeration up to two hundred, which is enough. When one can perform this first exercise easily, it will be time to pass to another, a little more complicated.”

“Having made a hole in the sheet of vellum – taking great care to pierce it in such a way as to have the edges of the opening neat and clean-cut, experimenter now rivets his fixed gaze on this aperture one, two, three minutes, longer if possible.”

“It is well also to place oneself in front of a bright, smooth surface, preferably polished tin – lacking one silver or gold – and to seek in it the reflection of his own eyes.”

“Plunge your gaze into the inmost depths of your eyes; from the beginning this will be a good exercise in compelling the gaze of others the yield to your own.”

“In this situation, turn the head from the right to left, then from left to right, without losing sight one’s glance firmness and the desired power. One should avoid winking the eyes and lowering the eyelids, and should practice meeting firmly the gaze of others.”

But all these exercises would be in vain, if during the time of this contemplation, you do not know how to concentrate your mind on a single subject. How much influence could you exercise over others if you do not know first how to master yourself?

Singleness of thought is indispensable during the development of the use of the eye; if it seems too difficult to keep it fixed on a single point, it would be well to avail oneself of certain means of suggestion, like the following:

“First, count up to ten with the simple idea of doing it slowly, and to allow the same space of time to elapse between the uttering of each number.”

“Secondly, run through the fingers a chaplet of about sixty beads, counting them in a low tone of voice, without losing sight of the point one has fixed on.”

“One may count at first up to five or ten; then increase the count, taking care to begin all over again if one finds one’s attention has wandered or that while pronouncing the numbers it has been diverted, of only for an instant, from the single thought that is the object of his purpose.”

But this is not all; as soon as one has acquired the desired qualities in the cultivation of the power of the eye, he should begin to experiment with them, and regarding this here is what our philosopher counsels us:

“When you have mastered the use of the eye, and have learned how to concentrate the mind, try the ascendancy of your visual power on some person in the midst of a crowd.”

“First, choose some one whose face indicates a character weaker than your own, and fix your gaze in the back of his neck, with a single thought, which shall invade his mind, haunting him with a desire to turn around.”

“If your influence is already sufficiently formed, at the end of a certain time you will see him begin to fidget, then to move his head slightly, as if to shake off an importunate thought; finally, he will move his hand to the spot on which your gaze has been fixed, then, in spite of himself he will turn around.”

“This experiment may be made on all sorts of subjects, and it will always succeed on condition that you know how to envelope your subject in and intense mental current the action of which will combine itself with the power of your gaze.”

“You can imagine, then, to what extent this faculty may be useful in the ordinary circumstances of life; it is the secret of those we call fascinating persons, whom no one can resist and who know how to obtain anything they desire by merely saying what pleasure it would give them to possess the desired object; for they know well that in concentrating that mind strongly on that for which they ask, the mind of their interlocutor, yielding to mental sway, abandons itself easily, especially if the domination of the eye increases this conviction by creating in him a psychic state which compels him to submit to its power.”

These precepts were those of that other tamer of spirits, Mahomet, who said:

“The effect of the human eye is indubitable. If there is anything in the world that can move more rapidly than fate, it is the glance of the eyes.”

From this saying strong superstitions have arisen, against which the Shogun puts on our guard:

“One of the reasons,” says he, “ that militate in favor of the cultivation of the influential use of the eye is the necessity of getting the better of a certain kind of persons who pretend to have inherited occult power from magicians.

A man gifted with a strong will has nothing to fear from these shameless liars; but a sensitive and impulsive person, who does not know how to assert himself and dominate others, becomes and easy prey; and the suggestions of these wretches will soon lead him to dissipate his fortune in answering their stupid requests.”

“Besides,” Yoritomo added, “those that would wish to use their occult influence to compel others to commit a wrong action would be soon punished by the loss of this influence, which develops itself gently only when actuated by beneficent thought; while they retract and end by becoming annihilated when the uppermost thought is of the kind of which may be said: ”

“Evil thoughts about others are rods with which we ourselves shall one day be beaten.”