be able to distinguish, without mistake, the limits within which it is
narrowly confined.

"The art of situation consists in reproducing, mentally, past facts,
allowing for the influence of the surroundings at that time, as compared
with the present environment.

"One must not fail to think about the influences to which one has been
subjected since this time.

"It is possible that life during its development in the aspirant to
common sense may have changed the direction of his first conceptions
either by conversation or by reading or by the reproduction of divers
narrations.

"It would then be a lack of common sense to base an exact recollection of
former incidents on the recent state of being of the soul, without
seeking to reproduce the state of mind in which one was at the epoch when
those incidents occurred.

"Activity of mind, stimulated to the utmost, is able to give a color to
preceding impressions, which they never have had, and, in this case
again, the recollection will be marred by inexactness.

"The art of situation requires the strictest application and on this
account it is a valuable factor in the acquirement of common sense.

"Attention vitalizes our activity in order to accelerate the development
of a definite purpose toward which it can direct its energy.