And you will be taught how to apply them to your own business or
profession.

But mark this word of warning. To comprehend the teachings of this
_Basic Course_ well enough to put them into practice demands from you
careful study and reflection. It requires persistent application. Do not
attempt to browse through the pages that follow. They are worth all the
time that you can put upon them.

The mind is a complex mechanism. Each element is alone a fitting subject
for a lifetime's study. Do not lose sight of the whole in the study of
the parts.

All the books bear upon a central theme. They will lead you on step by
step. Gradually your conception of your relations to the world will
change. A new realization of power will come upon you. You will learn
that you are in a new sense the master of your fate. You will find these
books, like the petals of a flower, unfolding one by one until a great
and vital truth stands revealed in full-blown beauty.

To derive full benefit from the _Course_ it is necessary that you should
do more than merely understand each sentence as you go along. You must
grasp the underlying train of thought. You must perceive the continuity
of the argument.

It is necessary, therefore, that you do but a limited amount of reading
each day, taking ample time to reflect on what you have read. If any
book is not entirely clear to you at first, go over it again.
Persistence will enable any man to acquire a thorough comprehension of
our teachings and a profound mastery of our methods.