Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    How To Read Human Nature - Its Inner States And Outer Forms
    How To Read Human Nature - Its Inner States And Outer Forms
    How To Read Human Nature - Its Inner States And Outer Forms
    Ebook149 pages1 hour

    How To Read Human Nature - Its Inner States And Outer Forms

    By William Walker Atkinson and Willoughby De Broke

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This is William Walker Atkinson’s 1913 book, “How To Read Human Nature - Its Inner States And Outer Forms”. It is a comprehensive guide to the human condition that explores body language, personality, and character through the analyses of emotion, perspective, and mental attributes. This fascinating volume will be of utility to those with an interest in the development of early psychoanalysis, and is not to be missed by collectors of classic literature of this ilk. Contents include: “Inner State and Outer Form”, “The Inner Phase: Character”, “The Outer Phase: Personality”, “The Temperaments”, “Balances Temperaments”, “Mixed Temperaments”, “The Mental Qualities”, “The Egoistic Qualities”, etc. William Walker Atkinson (1862–1932) was a lawyer, author, and publisher. He was a famous occultist, and pioneered the New Thought movement. Many classic books such as this are becoming increasingly rare and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateMay 11, 2015
    ISBN9781473370258
    How To Read Human Nature - Its Inner States And Outer Forms
    Author

    William Walker Atkinson

    William Walker Atkinson (1862 – 1932) was a noted occultist and pioneer of the New Thought Movement. He wrote extensively throughout his lifetime, often using various psydonyms. He is widely credited with writing The Kybalion and was the founder of the Yogi Publication Society.

    Read more from William Walker Atkinson

    Related to How To Read Human Nature - Its Inner States And Outer Forms

    Related ebooks

    Nature For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      New Path For Those Recovering From Addiction: Training To Be Peer Advocates

      Aug 2, 2022

      LaShondra Jones went through years of mental illness and alcohol addiction, and in her late 40s she was living in a women’s shelter in New York. Finally stable and sober, she needed work – any type of work – for which her history wouldn’t count again

      7 min read

    • Article

      WHY WE TALK to Ourselves

      Oct 18, 2022

      WHY WE TALK to Ourselves
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Joys of Being a Stoic

      Nov 4, 2020

      In September, a writer for HBO’s Watchmen series, Cord Jefferson, was awarded an Emmy. I enjoyed the show’s first season, a sequel to arguably the best movie (and graphic novel) about superhero vigilantism. The plot involves the protagonists combatti

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Hour Between Dog and Wolf

      Dec 12, 2018

      The Hour Between Dog and Wolf
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Benefits of Emodiversity

      Nov 26, 2021

      The Benefits of Emodiversity
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Kings of Calm

      Jun 4, 2021

      The Kings of Calm
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Writer Turned Mystic

      Jan 27, 2020

      The Writer Turned Mystic
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Dark Side of Awe

      Jan 29, 2024

      The Dark Side of Awe
      10 min read

    • Article

      Changing Your Mind

      Aug 27, 2023

      by Robin McConnell On a spring paddock hill, dismembered by dusk, the broad shouldered boy is reading Keats. While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day and touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue. The rim of farm light flecks hayseeds Luminescent

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Scaffolding of Rhetoric

      May 30, 2023

      The Scaffolding of Rhetoric
      8 min read

    • Article

      What Mind Is Made Of

      Jan 22, 2019

      What Mind Is Made Of
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Wisdom of the Aging Brain: Tantalizing evidence suggests that brain activity shifts to increase wisdom as we age.

      May 12, 2016

      At the 2010 Cannes Film Festival premiere of You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, director Woody Allen was asked about aging. He replied with his characteristic, straight-faced pessimism. “I find it a lousy deal. There is no advantage in getting older

      10 min read

    • Article

      The Spiritual Materialist

      Mar 30, 2023

      The Spiritual Materialist
      11 min read

    • Article

      The End of Ice

      Sep 24, 2019

      The End of Ice
      3 min read

    • Article

      Qalvy Grainzvolt

      Nov 22, 2022

      Qalvy Grainzvolt
      2 min read

    • Article

      My 3 Greatest Revelations

      Nov 17, 2023

      My 3 Greatest Revelations
      4 min read

    • Article

      BOOKMARK THIS read…listen…stream

      Jan 26, 2021

      The Path Back to Connection in a Fractured World Sarah Wilson • Dey St. Anyone who read Sarah Wilson’s First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, her remarkable 2018 memoir about shifting our approach to anxiety and mental illness, will have high expectatio

      8 min read

    • Article

      Ideas To Change Your Life

      Apr 22, 2019

      Ideas To Change Your Life
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Power Of AWE

      Feb 14, 2023

      The Power Of AWE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Meditations on Buddhanature

      Sep 20, 2023

      Meditations on Buddhanature
      12 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for How To Read Human Nature - Its Inner States And Outer Forms

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      How To Read Human Nature - Its Inner States And Outer Forms - William Walker Atkinson

      HOW TO READ

      HUMAN NATURE:

      ITS INNER STATES AND

      OUTER FORMS

      By

      WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON

      With Numerous Illustrations

      Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

      This book is copyright and may not be

      reproduced or copied in any way without

      the express permission of the publisher in writing

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      Contents

      WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON

      CHAPTER I

      CHAPTER II

      CHAPTER III

      CHAPTER IV

      CHAPTER V

      CHAPTER VI

      CHAPTER VII

      CHAPTER VIII

      CHAPTER IX

      CHAPTER X

      CHAPTER XI

      CHAPTER XII

      CHAPTER XIII

      CHAPTER XIV

      CHAPTER XV

      CHAPTER XVI

      CHAPTER XVII

      CHAPTER XVIII

      CHAPTER XIX

      WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON

      William Walker Atkinson, perhaps better known as Theron Q. Dumont or Yogi Ramacharaka, was born on 5 December 1862, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was a publisher, author, merchant and attorney, as well as an occultist and a pioneer of the New Thought movement. Atkinson started his working life as a green grocer, helping his father in the family shop, but quickly desired a more illustrious career. In 1894 he was admitted as an attorney to the Bar of Pennsylvania and enjoyed great financial success as a lawyer. However the stresses and strains of the job took their toll, and later in life Atkinson suffered an almost complete physical, mental and financial breakdown. It was in the late 1880s that Atkinson found New Thought, later praising this movement for the restoration of his health, mind-set and material prosperity. The group essentially promoted the idea that infinite intelligence (or God), is everywhere and that true human selfhood is divine. They argued that as divine thought must be a force for good, ‘right thinking’ could have incredible healing effects. Chicago was a major centre for New Thought, and as a result Atkinson decided to relocate there in the late 1890s. He became an active promoter of the movement, as well as associate editor of Suggestion and New Thought magazine. During this time, Atkinson also founded his own psychic club and the Atkinson School of Mental Science. He wrote many of his articles and books under pseudonyms, and it is very uncertain how many works in total Atkinson produced. It is known that he wrote a series of books under the name Yogi Ramacharaka in 1903, mostly on the subject of yoga, and created a further two Hindu personas, Swami Bhakta Vishita and Swami Panchadasi, who mostly wrote on divination and mediumship. During the 1910s, Atkinson created yet another pseudonym, that of Theron Q. Dumont, who was a French author interested in New Thought ideas about the training of the will, memory enhancement and personal magnetism. During this period Atkinson still continued his career at the Bar, and was admitted to the Bar of Illinois in 1901. It is likely that he only practised part time however, leaving intervals for his amazing output as a writer, editor and publisher, penning over 100 books in the last thirty years of his life. After 50 years of simultaneous success as a lawyer, business man, writer and occultist, Atkinson died on 22 November, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, USA. He has been little remembered today, largely due to his extensive use of pseudonyms, however his works have remained in print more or less continuously since 1900.

      CHAPTER I

      INNER STATE AND OUTER FORM

      Human Nature is a term most frequently used and yet but little understood. The average person knows in a general way what he and others mean when this term is employed, but very few are able to give an off-hand definition of the term or to state what in their opinion constitutes the real essence of the thought expressed by the familiar phrase. We are of the opinion that the first step in the process of correct understanding of any subject is that of acquaintance with its principal terms, and, so, we shall begin our consideration of the subject of Human Nature by an examination of the term used to express the idea itself.

      Human, of course, means of or pertaining to man or mankind. Therefore, Human Nature means the nature of man or mankind. Nature, in this usage, means: The natural disposition of mind of any person; temper; personal character; individual constitution; the peculiar mental characteristics and attributes which serve to distinguish one person from another.

      Thus we see that the essence of the nature of men, or of a particular human being, is the mind, the mental qualities, characteristics, properties and attributes. Human Nature is then a phase of psychology and subject to the laws, principles and methods of study, examination and consideration of that particular branch of science.

      But while the general subject of psychology includes the consideration of the inner workings of the mind, the processes of thought, the nature of feeling, and the operation of the will, the special subject of Human Nature is concerned only with the question of character, disposition, temperament, personal attributes, etc., of the individuals making up the race of man. Psychology is general—Human Nature is particular. Psychology is more or less abstract—Human Nature is concrete. Psychology deals with laws, causes and principles—Human Nature deals with effects, manifestations, and expressions.

      Human Nature expresses itself in two general phases, i.e., (1) the phase of Inner States; and (2) the phase of Outer Forms. These two phases, however, are not separate or opposed to each other, but are complementary aspects of the same thing. There is always an action and reaction between the Inner State and the Outer Form—between the Inner Feeling and the Outer Expression. If we know the particular Inner State we may infer the appropriate Outer Form; and if we know the Outer Form we may infer the Inner State.

      That the Inner State affects the Outer Form is a fact generally acknowledged by men, for it is in strict accordance with the general experience of the race. We know that certain mental states will result in imparting to the countenance certain lines and expressions appropriate thereto; certain peculiarities of carriage and manner, voice and demeanor. The facial characteristics, manner, walk, voice and gestures of the miser will be recognized as entirely different from that of the generous person; those of the coward differ materially from those of the brave man; those of the vain are distinguished from those of the modest. We know that certain mental attitudes will produce the corresponding physical expressions of a smile, a frown, an open hand, a clenched fist, an erect spine or bowed shoulders, respectively. We also know that certain feelings will cause the eye to sparkle or grow dim, the voice to become resonant and positive or to become husky and weak; according to the nature of the feelings.

      Prof. Wm. James says: What kind of emotion of fear would be left if the feeling neither of trembling lips nor of weakened limbs, neither of goose-flesh nor of visceral stirrings, were present, it is quite impossible for me to think. Can one fancy the state of rage and picture no ebullition in the chest, no flushing of the face, no dilation of the nostrils, no clenching of the teeth, no impulse to vigorous action, but in their stead limp muscles, calm breathing, and a placid face?

      Prof. Halleck says: All the emotions have well-defined muscular expression. Darwin has written an excellent work entitled, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, to which students must refer for a detailed account of such expression. A very few examples must suffice here. In all the exhilarating emotions, the eyebrows, the eyelids, the nostrils, and the angles of the mouth are raised. In the depressing passions it is the reverse. This general statement conveys so much truth, that a careful observer can read a large part of the history of a human being written in the face. For this reason many phrenologists have wisely turned physiognomists. Grief is expressed by raising the inner ends of the eyebrows, drawing down the corners of the mouth, and transversely wrinkling the middle part of the forehead. In Terra del Fuego, a party of natives conveyed to Darwin the idea that a certain man was low-spirited, by pulling down their cheeks in order to make their faces long. Joy is expressed by drawing backward and upward the corners of the mouth. The upper lip rises and draws the cheeks upward, forming wrinkles under the eyes. The elevation of the upper lip and the nostrils expresses contempt. A skillful observer can frequently tell if one person admires another. In this case the eyebrows are raised, disclosing a brightening eye and a relaxed expression; sometimes a gentle smile plays about the mouth. Blushing is merely the physical expression of certain emotions. We notice the expression of emotion more in the countenance, because the effects are there more plainly visible; but the muscles of the entire body, the vital organs, and the viscera, are also vehicles of expression.

      These things need but a mention

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1