On the Gentle Path & of Quiet Moments - Tracing

Tracing will relax a man. The best example of this was with Japanese script and brush. Using a rice paper imposed upon it, the brush would be trailed along the path of the character beneath it. In this the will of the fellow did relax, and in place of what would have been effort he was given to concede into the message that he deliberately followed.

The script of many monks was traced for this purpose; and their learning of the Gospels, in the hand-printing was greatly accentuated.

You may try this for yourself: in taking a favorite contemplation that you wish to absorb - one that is healthy we warn. Ask another (preferably someone who holds good picture comprehensions of this thought) to write or brush it out quite largely onto paper. Then, as you copy over with an intent to follow only the lines over and over and into a monotony, there is a switch that ensues that we may experience the words to which we work upon and their full meaning.

It is very nearly impossible for a man to exert himself with a thought (by speaking out loud for example) and directly experience that which he is expressing at the same time. He may, if well practiced, synchronize his expression and pause that he may do both one after another, but not in concurrence. This is because the act of will which cooperates with the speaking or the conveying (the writing perhaps) takes the consciousness along its own path, and so the actual essence of the thought is temporarily pushed out.

With tracing we are excusing ourselves from the same distractions of practice, and if our first writer holds a wonderful comprehension, then also their nature in this matter may be adopted.

One warning though: do not scribe another's signature.