Table of ContentsTheron Q. Dumont
The drillmaster of the New Thought library: Dumont turns the scattered mind into a single, directed force through daily exercises in attention and will.
Lived
1862 – 1932
Also wrote as
Nationality
American (writing under a French persona)
Tradition
New Thought
Known For
The Power of Concentration (1916), The Art and Science of Personal Magnetism (1913), The Advanced Course in Personal Magnetism (1914)
Tone
Light-Leaning2 / 6
Dumont writes in the bright, practical register of New Thought self-culture: encouraging, methodical and centered on effort and achievement. The Power of Concentration stays in the light, with exercises, habit and purpose. The magnetism and mental fascination courses reach toward the influence of mind upon mind, and this moves part of the work a step further toward the middle of the scale.
Why Dumont Matters
Much New Thought literature shows what the mind can do. Dumont shows how to train the mind so that it does it. The Power of Concentration takes the principle that thought is creative and makes it into a discipline. Attention is a faculty, and it grows by exercise like a muscle. The will is trained by deliberate, small acts of self-command. Habit is the servant of whoever governs it. Personal force flows from a mind gathered into one point. These books are the practical gymnasium behind the broader teachings of Atkinson's other names, among them The Kybalion and the Ramacharaka lessons. Without the trained attention Dumont teaches, the principles of mental science stay ideas and are not realized. His exercises shaped the success literature of the following decades and still serve as an entry into meditation, self-mastery and the conscious direction of mental energy.
Start Here: The Reading Path
- The Power of Concentration1916Dumont's central manual. It begins with the nature of concentration and moves through a sequence of exercises for body, attention, memory, will and purpose.Read it as a course, not a book. Take one exercise at a time and practice it daily for a week before going on.
- The Art and Science of Personal Magnetism1913The force that concentration gathers, here directed outward as poise, presence and influence.Begin with the chapters on poise and breath, which are the ground for everything else in the course.
- The Master Mind1918The governing principle behind the exercises: the 'I' that stands above the mind and directs it.Come to it last. It makes plain what the earlier practice has already begun to build.
Core Ideas in 60 Seconds
- Concentration is the master key to every achievement.Whatever a person accomplishes comes from the mind gathered upon one object. Scattered attention wastes force, and gathered attention multiplies it. Dumont places concentration at the root of success, memory, health and character.Concentration
- Attention is a faculty that grows by exercise.The power to hold the mind steady is trained, not given. By daily practice in fixing attention on a single object, a thought or a task, the student builds a faculty that answers more readily each day.
- The will is strengthened by small, deliberate acts of self-command.Each time the student does what he has resolved to do, against impulse or inertia, the will grows firmer. Dumont prescribes simple drills such as sitting perfectly still, deliberate movement and unbroken focus, so that the will learns obedience to the 'I'.
- Habit is formed by attention and can be remade by it.Habits are grooves worn by repeated thought and action. By concentrating on the desired habit and withdrawing attention from the old one, the student replaces the habits that bind him with habits that serve him.Habit
- Personal magnetism is concentrated mental force directed outward.Poise, steady gaze, controlled breath and settled purpose gather the nervous and mental energies into a living force. Others feel this force as presence and influence.Personal Magnetism
- Desire held with steady purpose draws its object.A clear desire, held in concentrated thought and backed by will, sets the whole person moving toward its fulfillment and attracts the means of accomplishment.Desire
- Fear and worry scatter the mind's force; confidence gathers it.Fear divides attention and drains energy. Dumont teaches the student to turn the mind from fearful thought and hold it on the positive aim, so that force flows toward the goal rather than leaking away.
- The 'I' is the master of the mind.Behind thought, feeling and habit stands the conscious self, which directs them. To concentrate is to act as this 'I', commanding the mental faculties rather than being driven by them.Ego / the "I"
Major Works
| Title | Year | What It Teaches | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Power of Concentration | 1916 | Concentration is the master faculty from which all accomplishment flows. Dumont gives graded exercises that steady body and mind, from stillness of the limbs to holding one thought steadily. He shows how attention directed by will builds habit, character, memory and success, and how scattered thinking wastes the vital force. | Anyone beginning practical mental training who wants a daily discipline of attention. |
| The Art and Science of Personal Magnetism | 1913 | Personal magnetism is mental and nervous force gathered and directed by the will. Through the gaze, poise, breath and the projection of desire, a person becomes a center of influence. Dumont sets out the physical and mental exercises that build this force. | Students drawn to the cultivation of presence, influence and inner force. |
| The Advanced Course in Personal Magnetism | 1914 | This sequel carries the magnetism teaching into mental fascination, the direct influence of mind upon mind, and the protection of one's own mental atmosphere from the influence of others. | Readers who have done the first course and want its deeper applications. |
| Mental Therapeutics | 1916 | The mind governs the body through suggestion, expectation and directed thought. Dumont gives methods for self-healing and for treating others by mental means, in the line of the American mental healing tradition. | Students of mental healing and the influence of thought on the body. |
| The Master Mind | 1918 | The 'I' is master of the mind. Through self-knowledge and the conscious use of the mental faculties, the individual takes command of thought, feeling and action and becomes the master mind of his own life. | Readers ready to move from technique to the governing principle of self-mastery. |
Lineage & Influence
Influenced By
Phineas Quimby, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Prentice Mulford, Helen Wilmans, Swami Vivekananda, The Yoga tradition of mental discipline
Influenced
Napoleon Hill, Robert Collier, Claude M. Bristol, Frank B. Robinson, Twentieth-century success and self-mastery literature
Parallel Thinkers
Orison Swett Marden, Frank Channing Haddock, Charles F. Haanel, Wallace D. Wattles, Elizabeth Towne, Yogi Ramacharaka (Atkinson's own Eastern pen name)
The Story
Theron Q. Dumont was a pen name of William Walker Atkinson, the prolific New Thought author widely credited as one of the Three Initiates behind The Kybalion. A Baltimore lawyer broken in body and fortune finds his recovery in the teachings of mental healing, moves to Chicago and becomes one of New Thought's most tireless voices. William Walker Atkinson then divides his work among a cast of pen names: a yogi for the East, three initiates for Hermes, a magus for the Rosicrucians. For the student who needs a working discipline more than a philosophy, he becomes Theron Q. Dumont, a calm instructor from Paris. Dumont's lessons are plain: gather the scattered mind, train the will, master habit, and direct the whole force of the self toward one purpose at a time. The Power of Concentration (1916) puts this training into a sequence of exercises, from sitting perfectly still to holding a single thought without wavering. It has passed from hand to hand ever since, a quiet manual of attention among louder promises.
In Their Own Words
All successful men are men of purpose. They grasp an idea, an ideal, and they concentrate on it until they have worked it out.
The Power of Concentration (1916)
The man who can concentrate his mind on one thing at a time, and shut out all else, is the master of his own forces.
The Power of Concentration (1916), paraphrase of the book's central teaching
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Theron Q. Dumont?
Theron Q. Dumont is a pen name of William Walker Atkinson (1862–1932), the American New Thought writer and publisher. Atkinson also wrote as Yogi Ramacharaka and Magus Incognito, and he is widely credited as one of the Three Initiates of The Kybalion. The Dumont persona was presented as an instructor in Paris.
What does The Power of Concentration teach?
Concentration is the faculty from which all mastery comes, and it is built by daily exercise. The book moves from steadiness of body to steadiness of mind. It shows how trained attention, directed by the will, reshapes habit, strengthens memory, builds character and carries a purpose through to fulfillment.
Where should a new reader begin?
Begin with The Power of Concentration and work through its exercises in order, one at a time, before going on to The Art and Science of Personal Magnetism and The Master Mind.
How do the Dumont books relate to The Kybalion?
The Kybalion sets out the principles of mental transmutation, and the Dumont books train the faculties that make that transmutation possible. They come from the same pen and serve the same work. One gives the law and the other gives the practice.
Do the exercises require any prior training?
No. Dumont begins with the simplest acts: sitting still, watching a single object, completing a small task with full attention. Everything else is built from these.
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