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diff --git a/17749-8.txt b/17749-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b80bca6 --- /dev/null +++ b/17749-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4410 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mystic Will, by Charles Godfrey Leland + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Mystic Will + A Method of Developing and Strengthening the Faculties of the Mind, through the Awakened Will, by a Simple, Scientific Process Possible to Any Person of Ordinary Intelligence + + +Author: Charles Godfrey Leland + + + +Release Date: February 10, 2006 [eBook #17749] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTIC WILL*** + + +E-text prepared by Ruth Hart (ruthhart@twilightoracle.com) + + + +Transcriber's note: + + In the Introduction, I have changed "yet is is a very literal + truth" to "yet it is a very literal truth". Also in the + Introduction, I changed the spelling of "faculities" to + "faculties" (other spelling remains unchanged). Finally, while + most of the proper names are capitalized, not all of them are, + and I have left the uncapitalized names as they appeared in + the original. + + + + + +THE MYSTIC WILL + +A Method of Developing and Strengthening the Faculties of the Mind, +through the Awakened Will, by a Simple, Scientific Process Possible +to Any Person of Ordinary Intelligence + +by + +CHARLES G. LELAND + + + + + + + +American Edition +Published by +The Progress Company +515-519 Rand McNally Building +Chicago, Illinois +English Representatives: +L. N. Fowler & Co. +7, Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circus, +London, E. C. + + + + + +In Memorium + +Charles Godfrey Leland + +AMERICAN AUTHOR +WHO DIED MARCH 20, 1903 +AT FLORENCE, ITALY +AGED 79 + +"_The good that men do lives after them_." + + + + +PUBLISHER'S NOTICE. + +This wonderful treatise was first published in England several years +ago, under the title of "_Have You a Strong Will_?" and has run +through several editions there. In its original form, it was printed +in quite large type, double-leaded, and upon paper which "bulked out" +the book to quite a thick volume. Some copies have been sold in +America, but the price which dealers were compelled to charge for it, +in its original shape, prevented the wide circulation that it merited, +and which its author undoubtedly desired for it, for it seems to +have been a labor of love with him, the interest of the race in his +wonderful theories evidently being placed above financial returns by +Mr. Leland. Believing that the author's ideas and wishes would be well +carried out by the publication of an American edition printed in the +usual size type (without the expedient of "double-leading" unusually +large type in order to make a large volume), which allows of the book +being sold at a price within the reach of all, the publisher has +issued this edition along the lines indicated. + +The present edition is identical with the original English edition +with the following exceptions: + +(1) There has been omitted from this edition a long, tiresome chapter +contained in the original edition, entitled "On the Power of the Mind +to master disordered Feelings by sheer Determination. As Set forth by +Immanuel Kant in a letter to Hufeland," but which chapter had very +little to say about "the power of the mind," but very much indeed +about Hygiene, Dietetics, Sleep, Care of Oneself in Old Age, +Hypochondria, Work, Exercise, Eating and Drinking, Illness, etc., +etc., from the point of view of the aged German metaphysician, which +while interesting enough in itself, and to some people, was manifestly +out of place in a book treating upon the development of Mental +Faculties by the Will, etc. We think that Mr. Leland's admirers will +find no fault with this omission. + +(2) The word "Suggestion" has been substituted for the word +"Hypnotism" in several places in the original text, where the +former word was manifestly proper according to the present views of +psychologists, which views were not so clearly defined when the book +was written. + +(3) The chapter headings of the original book have been shortened and +simplified in accordance with the American form. + +(4) The title "The Mystic Will" has been substituted in place of that +used in the original edition, which was "Have You a Strong Will?" This +change was made for the reason that the original title did not give +one the correct idea of the nature of the book, but rather conveyed +the idea of an inquiry regarding the "iron-will," etc., which the +author evidently did not intend. The use of the Will, as taught in the +book by Mr. Leland, is not along the lines of "the iron-will," but is +rather in the nature of the employment of a mystic, mysterious, and +almost weird power of the Human Will, and the title of the present +edition is thought to more correctly represent the nature of the book, +and the author's own idea, than the inquiry embodied in the title of +the original edition. + +(5) Several unimportant footnotes, references to other books, etc., +have been omitted after careful consideration. + +(Those who would wish to read the book in its original English edition +will be able to procure it from the English publisher, Mr. Philip +Wellby, 6 Henrietta street, Covent Garden, London, W. C, England.) + +To the few readers of this book who are not familiar with the author, +Mr. Charles G. Leland, it may be said that this gifted man was an +American by birth, but who lived in Europe for many years before his +death. He died March 20, 1903, at Florence, Italy, at the ripe age of +79 years, active until the last and leaving unpublished manuscripts, +some not completed. He lived up to his ideas and profited by them. His +writings are spread over a period of nearly, or fully, fifty years, +and his range of subjects was remarkable in its variety, style, and +treatment. + +Among his best known works were "Practical Education," "Flaxius," "The +Breitmann Ballads" (which introduced his well-known character "Hans +Breitmann"), "Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling," "Wood Carving," +"Leather Work," "Metal Work," "Drawing and Designing," "The Minor +Arts," "Twelve Manuals in Art Work," "The Album of Repoussé Work," +"Industrial Art in Education," "Hints on Self Education," and many +other works along the lines of Manual Training, etc., and the +Development of the Constructive Faculties; "Kulsop the Master, and +other Algonquin Poems and Legends," "The Alternate Sex," and many +other works, some of which are now out of print, but a number of which +may be purchased from, or through, any bookseller. There has been +recently published a biographical work embodying his memoirs, written +and edited by his beloved niece, Mrs. Pennell, to which volume all +admirers of this wonderful man are referred. + +Every subject touched upon by Mr. Leland was brightly illuminated by +the power of his marvellous mind. He seemed to be able to go right to +the heart of the subject, seizing upon its essential truth and at the +same time grasping all of its details. His mind was so full of general +information that it fairly oozed out from him in all of his writings. +The reader will notice this phenomenon in the present book, in which +the author has evidently had to fight his own mind in order to prevent +it from intruding all sorts of valuable and varied general information +in among the particular subjects upon which he is treating. While not +a professional psychologist, Mr. Leland has given utterance to some of +the most valuable and practical psychological truths of the last fifty +years, his contributions to this branch of human thought is sure to be +recognized and appreciated in the near future. It is hoped that this +little book will carry some of his valuable precepts and ideas to many +who have never had the advantage and pleasure of his acquaintance up +to this time. + +It is believed by the publisher that this popular edition of Mr. +Leland's valuable work upon the Use of the Will, issued at a nominal +price, will carry the author's teachings to the homes of many of those +whom Lincoln called the "plain people" of this American land, who need +it so much, but who would not have been able to have purchased it +in its original shape. This work has been well known in England, +but here, in America, the birthplace of the author, it has been +comparatively unheard of. It is to be hoped that this edition will +remedy this grievous fault. + +April 11, 1907 THE PUBLISHER. + + + +CONTENTS + + Introduction . . . 13 + + Chapter I.--Attention and Interest . . . 19 + + Chapter II.--Self-Suggestion . . . 28 + + Chapter III.--Will-Development . . . 34 + + Chapter IV.--Forethought . . . 48 + + Chapter V.--Will and Character . . . 58 + + Chapter VI.--Suggestion and Instinct . . . 66 + + Chapter VII.--Memory Culture . . . 74 + + Chapter VIII.--The Constructive Faculties . . . 81 + + Chapter IX.--Fascination . . . 85 + + Chapter X.--The Subliminal Self . . . 100 + + Chapter XI.--Paracelsus . . . 109 + + Chapter XII.--Last Words . . . 116 + + + +THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. + +During the past few years the most serious part of the author's study +and reflection has been devoted to the subjects discussed in this +book. These, briefly stated, are as follows: Firstly, that all mental +or cerebral faculties can by direct scientific treatment be influenced +to what would have once been regarded as miraculous action, and which +is even yet very little known or considered. Secondly, in development +of this theory, and as confirmed by much practical and personal +experience, that the Will can by very easy processes of training, or +by aid of Auto-Suggestion, be strengthened to any extent, and states +of mind soon induced, which can be made by practice habitual. Thus, +as a man can by means of opium produce sleep, so can he by a very +simple experiment a few times repeated--an experiment which I +clearly describe and which has been tested and verified beyond +all denial--cause himself to remain during the following day in a +perfectly calm or cheerful state of mind; and this condition may, by +means of repetition and practice, be raised or varied to other states +or conditions of a far more active or intelligent description. + +Thus, for illustration, I may say that within my own experience, I +have by this process succeeded since my seventieth year in working +all day far more assiduously, and without any sense of weariness or +distaste for labour, than I ever did at any previous period of my +life. And the reader need only try the extremely easy experiment, as I +have described it, to satisfy himself that he can do the same, that he +can continue it with growing strength _ad infinitum_, and that this +power will unquestionably at some future time be employed with +marvellous results in Education. For, beyond all question--since any +human being can easily prove or disprove it by a few experiments-- +there is no method known by which inattention, heedlessness, or +negligence in the young can be so promptly and thoroughly cured as by +this; while on the other hand, Attention and Interest by assiduity, +are even more easily awakened. It has indeed seemed to me, since I +have devoted myself to the study of Education from this point of view, +as if it had been like the Iron Castle in the Slavonian legend, unto +which men had for centuries wended their way by a long and wearisome +road of many miles, while there was all the time, unseen and unknown, +a very short and easy subterranean passage, by means of which the +dwellers in the Schloss might have found their way to the town below, +and to the world, in a few minutes. + +To this I have added a succinct account of what is, I believe, the +easiest and most comprehensive Art of Memory ever conceived. There +are on this subject more than five hundred works, all based, without +exception, on the _Associative_ system, which may be described as a +stream which runs with great rapidity for a very short time but is +soon choked up. This, I believe, as a means applied to learning, was +first published in my work, entitled _Practical Education_. In it the +pupil is taught the _direct method_; that is, instead of remembering +one thing by means of another, to impress _the image itself_ on the +memory, and frequently revive it. This process soon becomes habitual +and very easy. In from one year to eighteen months a pupil can by +means of it accurately recall a lecture or sermon. It has the +immediate advantage, over all the associate systems, of increasing and +enlarging the scope and vigour of the memory, or indeed of the mind, +so that it may truly bear as a motto, _Vires acquirit eundo_--"it +gains in power as it runs long." + +Finally, I set forth a system of developing the Constructive Faculty-- +that which involves Ingenuity, Art, or manual _making_--as based on +the teaching of the so-called Minor Arts to the young. The principle +from which I proceed is that as the fruit is developed from the +flower, all Technical Education should be anticipated. Or begun +in children by practicing easy and congenial arts, such as light +embroidery, wood-carving or repoussé, by means of which they become +familiar with the elements of more serious and substantial work. +Having found out by practical experience, in teaching upwards of two +thousand children for several years, that the practice of such easy +work, or the development of the constructive faculty, invariably +awakened the intellectual power or intelligence, I began to study the +subject of the development of the mind in general. My first discovery +after this was that Memory, whether mental, visual, or of any other +kind, could, in connection with Art, be wonderfully improved, and to +this in time came the consideration that the human Will, with all its +mighty power and deep secrets, could be disciplined and directed, or +controlled with as great care as the memory or the mechanical faculty. +In a certain sense the three are one, and the reader who will take the +pains, which are, I trust, not very great, to master the details of +this book, will readily grasp it as a whole, and understand that its +contents form a system of education, yet one from which the old as +well as young may profit. + +It is worth noting that, were it for nervous invalids alone, or those +who from various causes find it difficult to sleep, or apply the mind +to work, this book would be of unquestionable value. In fact, even +while writing this chapter, a lady has called to thank me for the +substantial benefit which she derived from my advice in this respect. +And, mindful of the fact that Attention and Unwearied Perseverance +are most necessary to succeed in such processes as are here described, I +have taken pains to show or explain how they may be rendered more +attractive, tolerable, and habitual to the fickle or light-minded; +this, too, being a subject which has been very little considered from +a practical point of view. + +But, above all things, I beg the reader, laying aside all prejudice or +preconceived opinion, and neither believing nor disbelieving what he +reads, to simply _try it_--that is to test it in his own person to +what degree he can influence his will, or bring about subsequent +states of mind, by the very easy processes laid down. If I could hope +that all opinion of my book would be uttered only by those who had +thus put it to the test, I should be well assured as to its future. + +And also I beg all readers, and especially reviewers, to note that I +advise that the auto-suggestive process, by aid of sleep, _shall be +discontinued as soon as the experimenter begins to feel an increase in +the power of the will_; the whole object of the system being to +acquire a perfectly free clear Will as soon as possible. Great +injustice was done, as regards the first edition of this work, by a +very careless though eminent critic, who blamed the author for not +having done what the latter had carefully recommended in his book. + +There are four stages of advance towards the truth: firstly, +Disbelief; secondly, Doubt, which is, in fact, only a fond advance +towards Disbelief; thirdly, Agnosticism, which is Doubt mingled with +Inquiry; and, finally, pure and simple Inquiry or Search, without any +preconceived opinion or feeling whatever. It is, I trust, only in the +spirit of the latter, that I have written; therefore I say to the +reader, Neither, believe nor disbelieve in anything which I have said, +but, as it is an easy thing to try, experiment for yourself, and judge +by the result. In fact, as a satisfactory and conclusive experiment +will not require more time, and certainly not half the pains which +most people would expend on reading a book, I shall be perfectly +satisfied if any or all my critics will do so, and judge the system by +the result. + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + "Unto many Fortune comes while sleeping."--_Latin + Proverb_. + + "Few know what is really going on in the world."-- + _American Proverb_. + +It is but a few years since it suddenly struck the gay world of comic +dramatists and other literary wits, that the Nineteenth Century was +drawing to an end, and regarding it as an event they began to make +merry over it, at first in Paris, and then in London and New York, as +the _fin-de-siècle_. Unto them it was the going-out of old fashions in +small things, such as changes in dress, the growth of wealth, or "the +mighty bicycle," with a very prevalent idea that things "are getting +mixed" or "checquered," or the old conditions of life becoming +strangely confused. And then men of more thought or intelligence, +looking more deeply into it, began to consider that the phrase did in +very truth express far more serious facts. As in an old Norman tale, +he who had entered as a jester or minstrel in comic garb, laid aside +his disguise, and appeared as a wise counsellor or brave champion who +had come to free the imprisoned emperor. + +For it began to be seen that this _fin-de-siècle_ was developing with +startling rapidity changes of stupendous magnitude, which would ere +long be seen "careering with thunder speed along," and that all the +revolutions and reforms recorded in history were only feeble or +partial, scattered or small, compared to the world-wide unification of +human interests, led by new lights, which has begun to manifest itself +in every civilized country. That well nigh every person or real +culture, or education guided by pure science, has within a very few +years advanced to a condition of liberal faith which would have been +in my university days generally reprobated as "infidelity," is not to +be denied, and the fact means, beyond all question, that according to +its present rate of advance, in a very few years more, this reform +will end in the annulling of innumerable traditions, forms of faith +and methods. _Upharsin_ is writ on the wall. + +More than this, is it not clear that Art and Romance, Poetry and +Literature, as hitherto understood or felt, are either to utterly +vanish before the stupendous advances of science, or what is perhaps +more probable, will, coalescing with it, take new forms, based on a +general familiarity with all the old schools or types? A few years ago +it seemed, as regarded all æsthetic creation, that man had exhausted +the old models, and knew not where to look for new. Now the aim of Art +is to interest or please, by gratifying the sense or taste for the +beautiful or human genius in _making_; also to instruct and refine; +and it is evident that Science is going to fulfill all these +conditions on such a grand scale in so many new ways, that, when man +shall be once engaged in them, all that once gratified him in the past +will seem as childish things, to be put away before pursuits more +worthy of manly dignity. If Art in all forms has of late been quiet, +it has been because it has drawn back like the tiger in order to make +the greater bound. + +One of the causes why some are laying aside all old spiritualism, +romance and sentiment, is that their realisation takes up too much +time, and Science, which is the soul of business, seeks in all things +brevity and directness. It is probable that the phrase, "but to the +point," has been oftener repeated during the past few years, than it +ever was before, since Time begun, of which directness I shall have +more to say anon. + +And this is the end to which these remarks on the _fin-de-siècle_ were +written, to lay stress upon the fact that with the year Nineteen +Hundred we shall begin a century during which civilized mankind will +attain its majority and become _manly_, doing that which is right +as a man should, _because it is right_ and for no other reason, and +shunning wrong for as good cause. For while man is a child he behaves +well, or misbehaves, for _reasons_ such as the fear of punishment or +hope of reward, but in a manly code no reasons are necessary but only +a persuasion or conviction that anything is right or wrong, and a +principle which is as the earth unto a seed. + +For as the world is going on, or getting to be, it is very evident +that as it is popularly said, "he who will tell a lie will generally +not hesitate to commit perjury," so he who cannot be really honest, +_per se_, without being sustained by principle based only on tradition +and the opinion of others, is a poor creature, whose morality or +honesty is in fact merely theatrical, or acted, to satisfy certain +conditions or exigencies from which he were better freed. + +This spirit of scientific directness, and economy of thought and +trouble by making the principle of integrity the basis of all forms, +and cutting all ethical theories down to "be good because you +_ought_," is rapidly astonishing us with another marvellous fact which +it illustrates, namely, that as in this axiom--as in man himself-- +there are latent undiscovered powers, so in a thousand other +sayings, or things known to us all, used by us all, and regarded as +common-place, there are astounding novelties and capacities as yet +undreamed of. For, as very few moralists ever understood in full what +is meant by the very much worn or hackneyed saying, "we ought to do +what is right," so the world at large little suspects that such very +desirable qualities as Attention, Interest, Memory and Ingenuity, have +that within them which renders them far more attainable by man than +has ever been supposed. Even the great problem of Happiness itself, as +really being only one of a relative state of mind, may be solved or +reached by some far simpler or more direct method than any thinker has +ever suggested. + +It all depends on exertion of the _Will_. There are in this world a +certain number of advanced thinkers who, if they knew how to develope +the _Will_ which exists in them, could bring this reform to pass in an +incredibly short time. That is to say, they could place the doctrine +or religion of Honesty for its own sake so boldly and convincingly +before the world that its future would be assured. Now the man who can +develope his will, has it in his power not only to control his moral +nature to any extent, but also to call into action or realize very +extraordinary states of mind, that is, faculties, talents or abilities +which he has never suspected to be within his reach. It is a +stupendous thought; yes, one so great that from the beginning of time +to the present day no sage or poet has ever grasped it in its full +extent, and yet is is a very literal truth, that there lie hidden +within us all, as in a sealed-up spiritual casket, or like the +bottled-up _djinn_ in the Arab tale, innumerable Powers or +Intelligences, some capable of bestowing peace or calm, others of +giving Happiness, or inspiring creative genius, energy and +perseverance. All that Man has ever attributed to an Invisible World +without, lies, in fact, within him, and the magic key which will +confer the faculty of sight and the power to conquer is the _Will_. + +It has always been granted that it is a marvellously good thing to +have a strong will, or a determined or resolute mind, and great has +been the writing thereon. I have by me the last book on the subject, +in which the faculty is enthusiastically praised, and the reader is +told through all the inflexions of sentiment, that he _ought_ to +assert his Will, to be vigorous in mind, _etcetera_, but unfortunately +the How to do it is utterly wanting. + +It will be generally admitted by all readers that this _How to do it_ +has been always sought in grandly heroic or sublimely vigorous +methods of victory over self. The very idea of being resolute, brave, +persevering or stubborn, awakens in us all thoughts of conflict or +dramatic self-conquering. But it may be far more effectively attained +in a much easier way, even as the ant climbed to the top of the tree +and gnawed away and brought down the golden fruit unto which the +man could not rise. There are _easy_ methods, and by far the most +effective, of awakening the Will; methods within the reach of every +one, and which if practised, will lead on _ad infinitum_, to +marvellous results. + +The following chapters will be devoted to setting forth, I trust +clearly and explicitly, how by an extremely easy process, or +processes, the will may be, by any person of ordinary intelligence and +perseverance, awakened and developed to any extent, and with it many +other faculties or states of mind. I can remember once being told by a +lady that she thought there ought to be erected in all great cities +temples to the Will, so as to encourage mankind to develop the +divine faculty. It has since occurred to me that an equal number of +school-houses, however humble, in which the art of mastering the Will +by easy processes _seriatim_ should be taught, would be far more +useful. Such a school-house is this work, and it is the hope of the +author that all who enter, so to speak, or read it, will learn +therefrom as much as he himself and others have done by studying its +principles. + +To recapitulate or make clear in brief what I intend, I would say +_Firstly_, that the advanced thinkers at this end of the century, +weary of all the old indirect methods of teaching Morality, are +beginning to enquire, since Duty is an indispensable condition, +whether it is not just as well to do what is right, _because_ it is +right, as for any other reason? _Secondly_, that this spirit of +directness, the result of Evolution, is beginning to show itself in +many other directions, as we may note by the great popularity of +the answer to the question, "How not to worry," which is briefly, +_Don't! Thirdly_, that enlightened by this spirit of scientific +straightforwardness, man is ceasing to seek for mental truth by means +of roundabout metaphysical or conventional ethical methods (based on +old traditions and mysticism), and is looking directly in himself, +or materially, for what Immaterialism or Idealism has really never +explained at all--his discoveries having been within a few years much +more valuable that all that _a priori_ philosophy or psychology ever +yielded since the beginning. And, finally, that the leading faculties +or powers of the mind, such as Will, Memory, the Constructive +faculty, and all which are subject to them, instead of being entirely +mysterious "gifts," or inspirations bestowed on only a very few to any +liberal extent, are in all, and may be developed grandly and richly by +direct methods which are moreover extremely easy, and which are in +accordance with the spirit of the age, being the legitimate results of +Evolution and Science. + +And, that I may not be misunderstood, I would say that the doctrine of +Duty agrees perfectly with every form of religion--a man may be Roman +Catholic, Church of England, Presbyterian, Agnostic, or what he will; +and, if a form aids him in the least to be _sincerely honest_, it +would be a pity for him to be without it. Truly there are degrees in +forms, and where I live in Italy I am sorry to see so many abuses or +errors in them. But to know and do what is right, when understood, is +recognising God as nearly as man can know him, and to do this +perfectly we require _Will_. It is the true _Logos_. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ATTENTION AND INTEREST. + + "To the fairies, Determination and Good-Will, all things are + possible."--_The Man of the Family, by_ C. REID. + +It happened recently to me, as I write, to see one afternoon lying on +the side walk in the Via Calzaioli in Florence what I thought was a +common iron screw, about three inches in length, which looked as if it +had been dropped by some workman. And recalling the superstition that +it is lucky to find such an object, or a nail, I picked it up, when to +my astonishment I found that it was a silver pencil case, but made to +exactly resemble a screw. Hundreds of people had, perhaps, seen it, +thought they knew all about it, or what it was, and then passed it by, +little suspecting its real value. + +There is an exact spiritual parallel for this incident or parable of +the screw-pencil in innumerable ideas, at which well-nigh everybody in +the hurrying stream of life has glanced, yet no one has ever examined, +until someone with a poetic spirit of curiosity, or inspired by quaint +superstition, pauses, picks one up, looks into it, and finds that It +has ingenious use, and is far more than it appeared to be. Thus, if I +declare that by special attention to a subject, earnestly turning it +over and thinking deeply into it, very remarkable results may be +produced, as regards result in knowledge, every human being will +assent to it as the veriest truism ever uttered; in the fullest belief +that he or she assuredly knows all _that_. + +Yet it was not until within a very few years that I discovered that +this idea, which seemed so commonplace, had within it mysteries and +meanings which were stupendously original or remarkable. I found that +there was a certain intensity or power of attention, far surpassing +ordinary observation, which we may, if we will, summon up and _force_ +on ourselves, just as we can by special effort see or hear far better +at times than usually. The Romans show by such a phrase as _animum +adjicere_, and numerous proverbs and synonyms, that they had learned +to bend their attention energetically. They were good listeners, +therefore keen observers. + +Learning to control or strengthen the Will is closely allied to +developing Attention and Interest, and for reasons which will soon be +apparent, I will first consider the latter, since they constitute a +preparation or basis for the former. And as preliminary, I will +consider the popular or common error to the effect that everyone has +alloted to him or to her just so much of the faculty of attention or +interest as it has pleased Nature to give--the same being true as +regards Memory, Will, the Constructive or Artistic abilities, and so +on--when in very truth and on the warrant of Experience all may be +increased _ad infinitum_. Therefore, we find ignorant men complacently +explaining their indifference to art and literature or culture on the +ground that they take no interest in such subjects, as if interest +were a special heaven-sent gift. Who has not heard the remark, "He or +she takes such an _interest_ in so many things--I wish that I could." +Or, as I heard it very recently expressed, "It must be delightful to +be able to interest one's self in something at any time." Which was +much the same as the expression of the Pennsylvania German girl, "_Ach +Gott_! I wisht I hat genius und could make a pudden!" + +No one can be expected to take an interest at once and by mere will in +any subject, but where an earnest and serious Attention has been +directed to it, Interest soon follows. Hence it comes that those who +deliberately train themselves in Society after the precept enforced by +all great writers of social maxims to listen politely and patiently, +are invariably rewarded by acquiring at last shrewd intelligence, as +is well known to diplomatists. That mere stolid patience subdues +impatience sounds like a dull common-place saying, but it is a silver +pencil disguised as an iron screw; there is a deep subtlety hidden in +it, if it be allowed with a little intelligence, _forethought_, and +determination towards a purpose. Let us now consider the mechanical +and easy processes by which attention may be awakened. + +According to ED. VON HARTMANN, Attention is either spontaneous or +reflex. The voluntary fixing our mind upon, or choosing an idea, +image, or subject, is _spontaneous attention_, but when the idea for +some reason impresses itself upon us then we have enforced, or _reflex +attention_. That is simply to say, there is active or passive +observation--the things which we seek or which come to us unsought. +And the "seeking for," or spontaneous action can be materially aided +and made persevering, if before we begin the search or set about +devoting Attention to anything, we pause, as it were, to determine or +resolve that we _will_ be thorough, and not leave off until we shall +have mastered it. For strange as it may seem, the doing this actually +has in most cases a positive, and very often a remarkable result, as +the reader may very easily verify for himself. This Forethought is far +more easily awakened, or exerted, than Attention itself, but it +prepares it, just as Attention prepares Interest. + +Attention is closely allied to Memory; when we would give attention to +a subject for continued consideration, we must "memorize" it, or it +will vanish. Involuntary memory excited by different causes often +compels us to attend to many subjects whether we will or not. Everyone +has been haunted with images or ideas even unto being tormented by +them; there are many instances in which the Imagination has given them +objective form, and they have appeared visibly to the patient. These +haunting ideas, disagreeable repetitions or obstinate continuances, +assume an incredible variety of forms, and enter in many strange ways +into life. Monomania or the being possessed with one idea to the +exclusion of others, is a form of overstrained attention, sustained by +memory. It is _enforced_. + +Mere repetition of anything to almost anybody, will produce remarkable +results; or a kind of Hypnotism Causing the patient to yield to what +becomes an irresistible power. Thus it is said that perpetual dropping +will wear away stones. Dr. JAMES R. COCKE in his "Hypnotism," in +illustrating this, speaks of a man who did not want to sign a note, he +knew that it was folly to do so, but yielded from having been "over +persuaded." I have read a story in which a man was thus simply +_talked_ into sacrificing his property. The great power latent in this +form of suggestiveness is well known to knaves in America where it is +most employed. This is the whole secret of the value of advertising. +People yield to the mere repetition in time. Attention and Interest +may in this way be self-induced from repetition. + +It is true that an image or idea may be often repeated to minds which +do not think or reflect, without awakening attention; _per contra_, +the least degree of thought in a vast majority of cases forms a +nucleus, or beginning, which may easily be increased to an indefinite +extent. A very little exercise of the Will suffices in most cases to +fix the attention on a subject, and how this can be done will be shown +in another chapter. But in many cases Attention is attracted with +little or no voluntary effort. On this fact is based the truth that +when or where it is desired, Attention and Interest may be awakened +with great ease by a simple process. + +It may be remarked on the subject of repetition of images or ideas, +that a vast proportion of senseless superstitions, traditions or +customs, which no one can explain, originate in this way, and that in +fact what we call _habit_ (which ranks as second nature) is only +another form or result of involuntary attention and the unconsciously +giving a place in the memory to what we have heard. + +From the simple fact that even a man of plain common-sense and strong +will may be driven to sleeplessness, or well nigh to madness, by the +haunting presence of some wretched trifle, some mere jingle or rhyme, +or idle memory, we may infer that we have here a great power which +_must_ in some way be capable of being led to great or useful results +by some very easy process. I once wrote a sketch, never completed, in +which I depicted a man of culture who, having lost an old manuscript +book which he had regarded in a light, semi-incredulous manner as a +_fetish_, or amulet, on which his luck depended, began to be seriously +concerned, and awaking to the fact, deliberately cultivated his alarm +as a psychological study, till he found himself, even with his eyes +wide open as an observer in terrible fear, or a semi-monomaniac. The +recovery of his lost charm at once relieved him. This was a diversion +of Attention for a deliberate purpose, which might have been varied +_ad infinitum_ to procure very useful results. But I have myself known +a man in the United States, who, having lost--he being an actor or +performer--a certain article of theatrical properties on which he +believed "luck" depended, lost all heart and hope, and fell into a +decline, from which he never recovered. In this, as in all such cases, +it was not so much conviction or reason which influenced the sufferer +as the mere effect of Attention often awakened till it had become what +is known as a fixed idea. + +A deliberate reflection on what I have here advanced can hardly fail +to make it clear to any reader that if he really desires to take an +interest in any subject, it is possible to do so, because Nature has +placed in every mind vast capacity for attention or fixing ideas, and +where the Attention is fixed, Interest, by equally easy process, may +always be induced to follow. And note that these preliminary +preparations should invariably be as elementary and easy as possible, +this being a condition which it is impossible to exaggerate. In a vast +majority of cases people who would fain be known as taking an interest +in Art begin at the wrong end, or in the most difficult manner +possible, by running through galleries where they only acquire a +superficial knowledge of results, and learn at best how to _talk_ +showily about what they have skimmed. Now to this end a good article +in a cyclopædia, or a small treatise like that of TAINE'S "Æsthetic" +thoroughly read and re-read, till it be really mastered, and then +verified by study of a very few good pictures in a single collection, +will do more to awaken sincere _interest_ than the loose ranging +through all the exhibitions in the world. I have read in many novels +thrilling descriptions of the effect and results when all the glories +of the Louvre or Vatican first burst upon some impassioned and +unsophisticated youth, who from that moment found himself an Artist-- +but I still maintain that it would have been a hundred times better +for him had his Attention and Interest been previously attracted to a +few pictures, and his mind accustomed to reflect on them. + +Be the subject in which we would take an interest artistic or +scientific, literary or social, the best way to begin herewith is to +carefully read the simplest and easiest account of it which we can +obtain, in order that we may know just exactly what it is, or its +definition. And this done, let the student at once, while the memory +is fresh in mind, follow it up by other research or reading, +observations or inquiries, on the same subject, for three books read +together on anything will profit more than a hundred at long +intervals. In fact, a great deal of broken, irregular or disjointed +reading is often as much worse than none at all, as a little coherent +study is advantageous. + +Many people would very willingly take an interest in many subjects if +they knew how. It is a melancholy thing to see a man retired from +business with literally nothing to do but fritter away his time on +nothings when he might be employed at something absorbing and useful. +But they hesitate to _act_ because, as is the rule in life, they see +everything from its most difficult and repulsive side. There is no man +who could not easily take an intelligent interest in Art in some form, +but I venture to say that a majority of even educated people who had +never taken up the subject would be appalled at it in their secret +hearts, or distrust its "use" or their own capacity to master it. Or +again, many put no faith in easy manuals to begin with, believing, in +their ignorance, that a mere collection of rudiments cannot have much +in it. We are all surrounded by thousands of subjects in which we +might all take an interest, and do good work, if we would, selecting +one, give it a little attention, and by easy process proceed to learn +it. As it is, in general society the man or woman who has any special +pursuit, accomplishment, or real interest for leisure hours, beyond +idle gossip and empty time-killing, is a great exception. And yet I +sincerely believe that in perhaps a majority of cases there is a +sincere desire to do something, which is killed by simple ignorance of +the fact that with a very little trouble indeed interest in something +is within the easy reach of all. + +I have dwelt on this subject that the reader may be induced to reflect +on the fact, firstly, that if he wishes to learn how to develop his +Will and strengthen it, it is absolutely necessary to take an +_interest_ in it. I beg him to consider how this art of acquiring +attention and interest has been, or is, obscured in most minds, and +the difficulties of acquiring it, exaggerated. Secondly, I would point +out that the method of process for making a Will is so closely allied +to that laid down for Attention that it will seem like a deduction +from it, both being allied to what may claim to be an original Art of +Memory, to which I shall devote a chapter in its due place. + +For as I hope clearly to prove it is an easy matter to create a strong +will, or strengthen that which we have, to a marvelous extent, yet he +who would do this must first give his _Attention_ firmly and fixedly +to his intent or want, for which purpose it is absolutely necessary +that he shall first _know his own mind regarding what he means to do_, +and therefore meditate upon it, not dreamily, or vaguely, but +earnestly. And this done he must assure himself that he takes a real +interest in the subject, since if such be the case I may declare that +his success is well nigh certain. + +And here it may be observed that if beginners, _before_ taking up +any pursuit, would calmly and deliberately consider the virtues of +Attention and Interest, and how to acquire them, or bring them to bear +on the proposed study or work, we should hear much less of those who +had "begun German" without learning it, or who failed in any other +attempt. For there would in very truth be few failures in life if +those who undertake anything first gave to it long and careful +consideration by leading observation into every detail, and, in fact, +becoming familiar with the idea, and not trusting to acquire interest +and perseverance in the future. Nine-tenths of the difficulty and +doubt or ill-at-easeness which beginners experience, giving them the +frightened feeling of "a cat in a strange garret," and which often +inspires them to retreat, is due entirely to not having begun by +training the Attention or awakened an Interest in the subject. + +It has often seemed to me that the reason for failure, or the ultimate +failing to attain success, in a vast number of "Faith cures," is +simply because the people who seek them, being generally of a gushing, +imaginative nature, are lacking in deep reflection, application, or +earnest attention. They are quick to take hold, and as quick to let +go. Therefore, they are of all others the least likely to seriously +reflect _beforehand_ on the necessity of preparing the mind to +patience and application. Now it seems a simple thing to say, and it +is therefore all the harder to understand, that before going to work +at anything which will require perseverance and repeated effort we can +facilitate the result amazingly by thinking over and anticipating it, +so that when the weariness comes it will not be as a discouraging +novelty, but as something of course, even as a fisherman accepts his +wet feet, or the mosquitoes. But how this disposition to grow weary of +work or to become inattentive may be literally and very completely +conjured away will be more fully explained in another chapter. For +this let it suffice to say that earnest _forethought_, and the more of +it the better, bestowed on aught which we intend to undertake, is a +thing rarely attempted in the real sense in which I mean it, but +which, when given, eases every burden and lightens every toil. + +Mere _forethought_ repeated is the easiest of mental efforts. Yet even +a little of it asserted before undertaking a task will wonderfully +facilitate the work. + +"Hypnotism," says Dr. JAMES R. COCKE, "can be used to train the +attention of persons habitually inattentive." But, in fact, +forethinking in any way is the minor or initiatory stage of +Suggestion. Both are gradual persuasion of the nervous system into +habit. + +And on this text a marvelous sermon could be preached, which, if +understood, would sink deeply into every heart, inspiring some while +alarming others, but greatly cheering the brave. And it is this. +There are millions of people who suffer from irritability, want of +self-control, loquacity, evil in many forms, or nerves, who would fain +control themselves and stop it all. Moralists think that for this it +is enough to convince their reason. But this rarely avails. A man may +_know_ that he is wrong, yet _not_ be able to reform. Now, what he +wants is to have his attention fixed long enough to form a new habit. +Find out how this can be done, and it may in many cases be the +simplest and most mechanical thing in the world to cure him. Men have +been frightened by a scarecrow into thorough repentance. "A question +of a few vibrations of ether, more or less, makes for us all the +difference between perception and non-perception," or between sight +and blindness. Accustom any such moral invalid to being Suggested or +willed a few times into a calm, self-controlled state and the habit +may be formed. + +And to those who doubt, and perhaps would sneer, I have only to say +_try it_. It will do them good. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SELF-SUGGESTION. + + "In thy soul, as in a sleep, + Gods or fiends are hidden deep, + Awful forms of mystery, + And spirits, all unknown to thee: + Guard with prayer, and heed with care, + Ere thou wak'st them from their lair!" + +The records of the human race, however written, show that Man has +always regarded himself as possessed of latent faculties, or +capacities of a mysterious or extraordinary nature: that is to say, +transcending in scope or power anything within the range of ordinary +conscious mental capacity. Such for example is the Dream, in which +there occurs such a mingling of madness with mysterious intuitions or +memories that it is no wonder it has always been regarded as allied to +supernatural intelligence. And almost as general as the faith in +dreams as being _weird_ (in the true sense of the much-abused word) or +"strangely prophetic," is that in _fascination_, or that one human +being can exercise over another by a mystic will and power a strong +influence, even to the making the patient do whatever the actor or +superior requires. + +However interesting it may be, it is quite needless for the purpose +which I have in view to sketch the history of occultism, magic or +sorcery from the earliest times to the present day. Fascination was, +however, its principal power, and this was closely allied to, or the +parent of, what is now known as Suggestion in Hypnotism. But ancient +magic in its later days certainly became very much mixed with +magnetism in many phases, and it is as an off-shoot of Animal +Magnetism that Hypnotism is now regarded, which is to be regretted, +since it is in reality radically different from it, as several of the +later writers of the subject are beginning to protest. The definition +and differences of the two are as follows: Animal Magnetism, first +formulized by ANTON MESMER from a mass of more or less confused +observations by earlier writers, was the doctrine that there is a +magnetic fluid circulating in all created forms, capable of flux and +reflux, which is specially active or potent in the human body. Its +action may be concentrated or increased by the human will, so as to +work wonders, one of which is to cause a person who is magnetized by +another to obey the operator, this obedience being manifested in many +very strange ways. + +Still there were thousands of physiologists or men of science who +doubted the theory of the action or existence of Animal Magnetism, and +the vital fluid, as declared by the Mesmerists, and they especially +distrusted the marvels narrated of clairvoyance, which was too like +the thaumaturgy or wonder-working attributed to the earlier magicians. +Finally, the English scientist, BRAID, determined that it was not a +magnetic fluid which produced the recognized results, "but that they +were of purely subjective origin, depending on the nervous system of +the one acted on." That is to say, in ordinary language, it was "all +imagination"--but here, as in many other cases, a very comprehensive +and apparently common-sensible word is very far from giving an +adequate or correct idea of the matter in question--for what the +imagination itself really is in this relation is a mystery which is +very difficult to solve. I have heard of an old French gentleman +who, when in a circus, expressed an opinion that there was nothing +remarkable in the wonderful performances of an acrobat on a +tight-rope, or trapeze. "_Voyez-vous monsieur_" he exclaimed; +"_Ce n'est que la mathématique--rien que ca_!" And only the +Imagination--"all your Imagination" is still the universal solvent in +Philistia for all such problems. + +Hypnotism reduced to its simplest principle is, like the old +Fascination, the action of mind upon mind, or of a _mind upon itself_, +in such a manner as to produce a definite belief, action, or result. +It is generally effected by first causing a sleep, as is done in +animal magnetism, during which the subject implicitly obeys the will +of the operator, or performs whatever he suggests. Hence arose the +term Suggestion, implying that what the patient takes into his head to +do, or does, must first be submitted to his own mental action. + +Very remarkable results are thus achieved. If the operator, having put +a subject to sleep (which he can do in most cases, if he be clever, +and the experiments are renewed often enough), will say or suggest to +him that on the next day, or the one following, or, in fact, any +determined time, he shall visit a certain friend, or dance a jig, or +wear a given suit of clothes, or the like, he will, when the hypnotic +sleep is over, have forgotten all about it. But when the hour +indicated for his call or dance, or change of garment arrives, he will +be haunted by such an irresistible feeling that he _must_ do it; that +in most cases it will infallibly be done. It is no exaggeration to say +that this has been experimented on, tested and tried thousands of +times with success and incredible ingenuity in all kinds of forms and +devices. It would seem as if spontaneous attention went to sleep, but, +like an alarm clock, awoke at the fixed hour, and then _reflex_ +action. + +Again--and this constitutes the chief subject of all I here discuss-- +we can _suggest_ to ourselves so as to produce the same results. It +seems to be a curious law of Nature that if we put an image or idea +into our minds with the preconceived determination or intent that it +shall recur or return at a certain time, or in a certain way, after +sleeping, it will _do so_. And here I beg the reader to recall what I +said regarding the resolving to begin any task, that it can be greatly +aided by even a brief pre-determination. In all cases it is a kind of +self-suggestion. There would seem to be some magic virtue in sleep, as +if it preserved and ripened our wishes, hence the injunction in the +proverbs of all languages to sleep over a resolve, or subject--and +that "night brings counsel." + +It is not necessary that this sleep shall be _hypnotic_, or what is +called hypnotic slumber, since, according to very good authorities, +there is grave doubt as to whether the so-called condition is a sleep +at all. _Hypnotism_ is at any rate a suspension of the faculties, +resembling sleep, caused by the will and act of the operator. He +effects this by fixing the eyes on the patient, making passes as in +Mesmerism, giving a glass of water, or simply commanding sleep. And +this, as Dr. COCKE has experienced and described, can be produced to a +degree by anyone on himself. But as I have verified by experiment, if +we, after retiring to rest at night, will calmly yet firmly resolve to +do something on the following day, or be as much as possible in a +certain state of mind, and if we then fall into ordinary natural +sleep, just as usual, we may on waking have forgotten all about it, +yet will none the less feel the impulse and carry out the +determination. + +What gives authority for this assertion, for which I am indebted +originally to no suggestion or reading, is the statement found in +several authorities that a man can "hypnotize" another without putting +him to sleep; that is, make him unconsciously follow suggestion. + +I had read in works on hypnotism of an endless number of experiments, +how patients were made to believe that they were monkeys or madmen, or +umbrellas, or criminals, women or men, _à volonté_, but in few of them +did I find that it had ever occurred to anybody to turn this wonderful +power of developing the intellect to any permanent benefit, or to +increasing the moral sense. Then it came to my mind since +Self-Suggestion was possible that if I would resolve to work _all_ the +next day; that is, apply myself to literary or artistic labor without +once feeling fatigue, and succeed, it would be a marvelous thing for +a man of my age. And so it befell that by making an easy beginning I +brought it to pass to perfection. What I mean by an easy beginning +is not to will or resolve _too_ vehemently, but to simply and very +gently, yet assiduously, impress the idea on the mind _so as to fall +asleep while thinking of it as a thing to be_. My next step was to +_will_ that I should, all the next day, be free from any nervous or +mental worry, or preserve a hopeful, calm, or well-balanced state of +mind. This led to many minute and extremely curious experiences and +observations. That the imperturbable or calm state of mind promptly +set in was undeniable, but it often behaved, like the Angel in H. G. +Wells' novel, "The Wonderful Visit," as if somewhat frightened at, or +of, with, or by its new abode, and no wonder, for it was indeed a +novel guest, and the goblins of "Worry and Tease, Fidget and Fear," +who had hitherto been allowed to riot about and come and go at their +own sweet mischievous wills, were ill-pleased at being made to keep +quiet by this new lady of the manor. And indeed no mere state of +mind, however well maintained, can resist everything, and the +mildest mannered man may cut a throat under great provocation. I +had my lapses, but withal I was simply astonished to find how, by +perseverance, habitual calm not only grew on me, but how decidedly it +increased. I most assuredly have experienced it to such a degree as to +marvel that the method is not more employed as a cure for nervous +suffering and insomnia. + +But far beyond perseverance in labor, or the inducing a calmer and +habitually restful state of mind, was the Awakening of the Will, which +I found as interesting as any novel or drama, or series of active +adventures which I have ever read or experienced. I can remember when +most deeply engaged in it, re-reading DE QUINCEY'S "Confessions of an +Opium Eater." I took it by chance on my birthday, August 15, which was +also his, and as I read I longed from my very heart that he were +alive, that I might consult with him on the marvelous Fairyland which +it seemed to me had been discovered--and then I remembered how Dr. +TUCKEY, the leading English hypnotist, had once told me how easy it +was for his science to completely cure the mania for opium and other +vices. + +And this is the discovery: Resolve before going to sleep that if there +be anything whatever for you to do which requires Will or Resolution, +be it to undertake repulsive or hard work or duty, to face a +disagreeable person, to fast, or make a speech, to say "No" to +anything; in short, to keep up to the mark or make any kind of effort +that _you_ WILL _do it_--as calmly and unthinkingly as may be. Do not +desire to do it sternly or forcibly, or in spite of obstacles--but +simply and coolly make up your mind to _do it_--and it will much more +likely be done. And it is absolutely true--_crede experto_--that if +persevered in, this willing yourself to will by easy impulse unto +impulse given, will lead to marvelous and most satisfactory results. + +There is one thing of which the young or oversanguine or heedless +should be warned. Do not expect from self-suggestion, nor anything +else in this life, prompt perfection, or the _maximum_ of success. You +may pre-determine to be cheerful, but if you are very susceptible to +bad weather, and the day should be dismal, or you should hear of the +death of a friend, or a great disaster of any kind, some depression of +spirits _must_ ensue. On the other hand, note well that forming habit +by frequent repetition of willing yourself to equanimity and +cheerfulness, and also to the banishing of repulsive images when they +come, will infallibly result in a very much happier state of mind. As +soon as you actually begin to realize that you are acquiring such +control remember that is the golden hour--and redouble your efforts. +_Perseverando vinces_. + +I have, I trust, thus far in a few words explained to the reader the +rationale of a system of mental discipline based on the will, and how +by a very easy process the latter may, like Attention and Interest, be +gradually awakened. As I have before declared, everyone would like to +have a strong or vigorous will, and there is a library of books or +sermons in some form, exhorting the weak to awaken and fortify their +wills or characters, but all represent it as a hard and vigorous +process, akin to "storm and stress," battle and victory, and none +really tell us how to go about it. I have indeed only indicated that +it is by self-suggestion that the first steps are taken. Let us now +consider the early beginning of the art or science ere discussing +further developments. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WILL DEVELOPMENT. + + "Ce domaine de la Suggestion est immense. Il n'y a pas un + seul fait de notre vie mentale qui ne puisse être reproduit et + exageré artificiellement par ce moyen."--_Binet et Frère, Le + Magnetisme Animal_. + +Omitting the many vague indications in earlier writers, as well as +those drawn from ancient Oriental sources, we may note that +POMPONATIUS or POMPONAZZO, an Italian, born in 1462, declared in a +work entitled _De naturalium effectuum admirandorum Causis seu de +Incantationibus_, that to cure disease it was necessary to use a +strong will, and that the patient should have a vigorous imagination +and much faith in the _praê cantator_. PARACELSUS asserted the same +thing in many passages directly and indirectly. He regarded medicine +as magic and the physician as a wizard who should by a powerful will +act on the imagination of the patient. But from some familiarity with +the works of PARACELSUS--the first folio of the first full edition is +before me as I write--I would say that it would be hard to declare +what his marvelous mind did _not_ anticipate in whatever was allied to +medicine and natural philosophy. Thus I have found that long before +VAN HELMONT, who has the credit of the discovery, PARACELSUS knew how +to prepare silicate of soda, or water-glass. + +Hypnotism as practiced at the present day, and with regard to its +common results, was familiar to JOHANN JOSEPH GASSNER, a priest in +Suabia, of whom LOUIS FIGUIER writes as follows in his _Histoire du +Merveilleux dans les Temps Modernes_, published in 1860: + +"GASSNER, like the Englishman VALENTINE GREAT-RAKES, believed himself +called by divine inspiration to cure diseases. According to the +precept of proper charity he began at home--that is to say on himself. +After being an invalid for five or six years, and consulting, all in +vain, many doctors, and taking their remedies all for naught, the idea +seized him that such an obstinate malady as his must have some +supernatural evil origin, or in other words, that he was possessed by +a demon. + +"Therefore he conjured this devil of a disorder, in the name of Jesus +Christ to leave him--so it left, and the good GASSNER has put it on +record that for sixteen years after he enjoyed perfect health and +never had occasion for any remedy, spiritual or otherwise. + +"This success made him reflect whether all maladies could not be cured +by exorcism . . . The experiment which he tried on the invalids of his +parish were so successful that his renown soon opened through all +Suabia, and the regions roundabout. Then he began to travel, being +called for everywhere." + +GASSNER was so successful that at Ratisbon he had, it is said, 6,000 +patients of all ranks encamped in tents. He cured by simply touching +with his hands. But that in which he appears original was that he not +only made his patients sleep or become insensible by ordering them to +do so but caused them to raise their arms and legs, tremble, feel any +kind of pain, as is now done by the hypnotist. "'In a young lady of +good family' he caused laughter and weeping, stiffness of the limbs, +absence of sight and hearing, and _anæsthesia_ so as to make the pulse +beat at his will." + +M. FIGUIER and others do not seem to have been aware that a century +before GASSNER, a PIETRO PIPERNO of Naples published a book in which +there was a special exorcism or conjurations, as he calls them, for +every known disorder, and that this possibly gave the hint for a +system of cure to the Suabian. I have a copy of this work, which is +extremely rare, it having been put on the Roman prohibited list, and +otherwise suppressed. But GASSNER himself was suppressed ere long, +because the Emperor, Joseph II, cloistered--that is to say, imprisoned +him for life in the Monastery of Pondorf, near Ratisbon. One must not +be too good or Apostle-like or curative--even in the Church, which +discourages _trop de zéle_. + +But the general accounts of GASSNER give the impression, which has not +been justly conveyed, that he owed his remarkable success in curing +himself and others not to any kind of theory nor faith in magnetism, +or in religion, so much as unconscious suggestion, aided by a powerful +Will which increased with successes. To simply _pray_ to be cured of +an illness, or even to be cured by prayer, was certainly no novelty to +any Catholic or Protestant in those days. The very nature of his +experiments in making many people perform the same feats which are now +repeated by hypnotizers, and which formed no part of a religious cure, +indicate clearly that he was an observer of strange phenomena or a +natural philosopher. I have seen myself an Egyptian juggler in Boulak +perform many of these as professed _tricks_, and I do not think it was +from any imitation of French clairvoyance. He also pretended that it +was by an exertion of his Will, aided by magic forms which he read +from a book, that he made two boys obey him. It was probably for these +tricks which savored of magic that GASSNER was "retired." + +Having in the previous pages indicated the general method by which +Will may be awakened and strengthened, that the reader may as soon as +possible understand the simple principle of action, I will now discuss +more fully the important topic of influencing and improving our +mental powers by easily induced Attention, or attention guided by +simple Foresight, and pre-resolution aided by simple _auto_ or +self-suggestion. And I believe, with reason, that by these very simple +processes (which have not hitherto been tested that I am aware of by +any writer in the light in which I view them); the Will, which is the +power of all powers and the mainspring of the mind, can be by means of +persuasion increased or strengthened _ad infinitum_. + +It is evident that GASSNER'S method partakes in equal proportions +of the principles of the well-known "Faith Cure," and that of the +Will, or of the passive and the active. What is wanting in it is +self-knowledge and the very easily awakened _forethought_ which, when +continued, leads to far greater and much more certain results. +Forethought costs little exertion: it is so calmly active that the +weakest minds can employ it; but wisely employed it can set tremendous +force in action. + +As regards GASSNER, it is admissible that many more cures of disease +can be effected by what some vaguely call the Imagination, and others +Mental Action, than is generally supposed. Science now proves every +year, more and more, that diseases are allied, and that they can be +reached through the nervous system. In the celebrated correspondence +between KANT and HUFELAND there is almost a proof that incipient gout +can be cured by will or determination. But if a merely temporary or +partial cure can _really_ be obtained, or a cessation from suffering, +if the ill be really _curable_ at all, it is but reasonable to assume +that by continuing the remedy or system, the relief will or must +correspond to the degree of "faith" in the patient. And this would +infallibly be the case if the sufferer _had_ the will. But +unfortunately the very people who are most frequently relieved are +those of the impulsive imaginative kind, who "soon take hold and soon +let go," or who are merely attracted by a sense of wonder which soon +loses its charm, and so they react. + +Therefore if we cannot only awaken the Will, but also keep it alive, +it is very possible that we may not only effect great and thorough +cures of diseases, but also induce whatever state of mind we please. +This may be effected by the action of the minds or wills of others on +our own, which influence can be gradually transferred from the +operator to the patient himself, as when in teaching a boy to swim the +master holds the pupil up until the latter finds that he is +unconsciously moving by his own exertion. + +What the fickle and "nervous" patients of any kind need is to have the +idea kept before their minds continuously. They generally rush into a +novelty without Forethought. Therefore they should be trained or urged +to forethink or reflect seriously and often on the cure or process +proposed. This is the setting of the nail, which is to be driven in by +suggestion. The other method is where we act entirely for ourselves +both as regards previous preparation and subsequent training. + +I here repeat, since the whole object of the book is that certain +facts shall be deeply and _clearly_ impressed on the reader's mind, +that if we _will_ that a certain idea shall recur to us on the +following, or any other day, and if we bring the mind to bear upon it +just before falling asleep, it may be forgotten when we awake, but it +will recur to us when the time comes. This is what almost everybody +has proved, that if we resolve to awake at a certain hour we generally +do so; if not the first time, after a few experiments, _apropos_ of +which I would remark that "no one should ever expect full success from +any first experiment." + +Now it is certainly true that we all remember or recall certain things +to be done at certain hours, even if we have a hundred other thoughts +in the interval. But it would seem as if by some law which we do not +understand Sleep or repose acted as a preserver and reviver, nay, as a +real strengthener of Thoughts, inspiring them with a new spirit. It +would seem, too, as if they came out of Dreamland, as the children in +TIECK'S story did out of Fairyland, with new lives. This is, indeed, a +beautiful conception, and I may remark that I will in another place +comment on the curious fact that we can add to and intensify ideas by +thus passing them through our minds in sleep. + +Just by the same process as that which enables us to awake at a given +hour, and simply by substituting other ideas for that of time, can we +acquire the ability to bring upon ourselves pre-determined or desired +states of mind. This is Self-Suggestion or deferred determination, be +it with or without sleep. It becomes more certain in its result with +every new experiment or trial. The great factor in the whole is +perseverance or repetition. By faith we can remove mountains, by +perseverance we can carry them away, and the two amount to precisely +the same thing. + +And here be it noted what, I believe, no writer has ever before +observed, that as perseverance depends on renewed forethought and +reflection, so by continued practice and thought, in self-suggestion, +the one practicing begins to find before long that his conscious will +is acting more vigorously in his waking hours, and that he can finally +dispense with the sleeping process. For, in fact, when we once find +that our will is really beginning to obey us, and inspire courage or +indifference where we were once timid, there is no end to the +confidence and power which may ensue. + +Now this is absolutely true. A man may _will_ certain things ere he +falls asleep. This willing should not be _intense_, as the old animal +magnetizers taught; it ought rather to be like a quiet, firm desire or +familiarization with what we want, often gently repeated till we fall +asleep in it. So the seeker wills or wishes that he shall, during all +the next day, feel strong and vigorous, hopeful, energetic, cheerful, +bold or calm or peaceful. And the result will be obtained just in +proportion to the degree in which the command or desire has impressed +the mind, or sunk into it. + +But, as I have said: Do not expect that all of this will result from a +first trial. It may even be that those who succeed very promptly will +be more likely to give out in the end than those who work up from +small beginnings. The first step may very well be that of merely +selecting some particular object and calmly or gently, yet +determinedly directing the mind to it, to be recalled at a certain +hoar. Repeat the experiment, if successful add to it something else. +Violent effort is unadvisable, yet mere repetition _without thought_ +is time lost. _Think_ while willing what it is you want, _and above +all, if you can, think with a feeling that the idea is to recur to +you_. + +This acting or working two thoughts at once may be difficult for some +readers to understand, though all writers on the brain illustrate it. +It may be formulated thus: "I wish to remember tomorrow at four +o'clock to visit my bookseller--bookseller's--four o'clock--four +o'clock." But with practice the two will become as one conception. + +When the object of a state of mind, as, for instance, calmness all day +long, is obtained, even partially, the operator (who must, of course, +do all to _help himself_ to keep calm, should he remember his wish) +will begin to believe in himself sincerely, or in the power of his +will to compel a certain state of mind. This won, all may be won, by +continued reflection and perseverance. It is the great step gained, +the alphabet learned, by which the mind may pass to boundless power. + +It may be here interesting to consider some of the states of mind into +which a person may be brought by hypnotism. When subject to the will +of an operator the patient may believe anything--that he is a mouse or +a girl, drunk or inspired. The same may result from self-hypnotism by +artificial methods which appeal powerfully to the imagination. +According to Dr. JAMES R. COCKE many of his patients could induce this +by looking at any bright object, a bed of coals, or at smooth running +water. It is, of course, to be understood that it is not merely by +_looking_ that hypnotism is induced. There must be will or determinate +thought; but when once brought about it is easily repeated. + +"They have the ability," writes Dr. COCKE, "to resist this state or +bring it on at will. Many of them describe beautiful scenes from +Nature, or some mighty cathedral with its lofty dome, or the +faces of imaginary beings." This writer's own first experience of +self-hypnotism was very remarkable. He had been told by a hypnotizer +to keep the number twenty-six in his mind. He did so, and after +hearing a ringing in his ears and then a strange roaring he felt that +spirits were all round him--music sounding and a sensation as of +expanding. + +But self-hypnotizing, by the simple easy process of trusting to +ordinary sleep, is better adapted to action delayed, or states of +mind. These may be: + +_A desire to be at peace or perfectly calm_. After a few repetitions +it will be found that, though irritating accidents may countervene, +the mind will recur more and more to calm. + +_To feel cheerful or merry_. + +_To be in a brave, courageous, hearty or vigorous mood_. + +_To work hard without feeling weary_. This I have fully tested with +success, and especially mention it for the benefit of students. All of +my intimate friends can certify what I here assert. + +_To keep the faculty of quickness of perception alert_, as, for +instance, when going out to perceive more than usual in a crowd. A +botanist or mineralogist may awaken the faculty with the hope of +observing or finding with success. + +_To be susceptible to beauty_, as, for instance, when visiting a scene +or gallery. In such cases it means to derive Attention from Will. The +habitually trained Forethought or Attention is here a _great_ aid to +perception. + +_To read or study keenly and observantly_. This is a faculty which can +be very much aided by forethought and self-suggestion. + +_To forgive and forget enemies and injuries_. Allied to it is the +forgetting and ignoring of all things which annoy, vex, harrass, tease +or worry us in any way whatever. To expect perfect immunity in this +respect from the unavoidable ills of life is absurd; but having paid +great attention to the subject, and experimented largely on it, I +cannot resist declaring that it seems to me in very truth that no +remedy for earthly suffering was yet discovered equal to this. I +generally put the wish into this form: "I will forget and forgive all +causes of enmity and anger, and should they arise I determine at once +to cast them aside." It is a prayer, as it were, to the Will to stand +by me, and truly the will is _Deus in nobis_ to those who believe that +God helps those who help themselves. For as we can get into the +fearful state of constantly recalling all who have ever vexed or +wronged us, or nursing the memory of what we hate or despise, until +our minds are like sewers or charnel-houses of dead and poisonous +things, so we can resolutely banish them, at first by forethought, +then by suggestion, and finally by waking will. And verily there are +few people living who would not be the better for such exercise. Many +there are who say that they would fain forget and be serene, yet +cannot. I do not believe this. We can all exorcise our devils--all of +them--if we _will_. + +_To restrain irritability in our intercourse with others_. It will not +be quite sufficient as regards controlling the temper to merely will, +or _wish_ to subdue it. We must also will that when the temptation +arises it may be preceded by forethought or followed by regret. As it +often happens to a young soldier to be frightened or run away the +first time he is under fire, and yet learn courage in the future, so +the aspirant resolved to master his passions must not doubt because he +finds that the first step slips. _Apropos_ of which I would note that +in all the books on Hypnotism that I have read their authors testify +to a certain false quantity or amount of base alloy in the most +thoroughly suggested patients. Something of modesty, something of a +moral conscience always remains. Thus, as Dr. COCKE declares, +Hypnotism has not succeeded in cases suffering from what are called +imperative conceptions, or irresistible belief. "Cases suffering from +various imperative conceptions are, while possessing their reasons, +either irresistibly led by certain impulses or they cannot rid +themselves of erroneous ideas concerning themselves and others." This +means, in fact, that they had been previously _hypnotised_ to a +definite conception which had become imperative. As in Witchcraft, it +is a law that one sorcerer cannot undo the work of another without +extraordinary pains; so in hypnotism it is hard to undo what is +already established by a similar agent. + +_One can will to remember or recall anything forgotten_. I will not be +responsible that this will invariably succeed at the first time, but +that it does often follow continued determination I know from +experience. I believe that where an operator hypnotizes a subject it +very often succeeds, if we may believe the instances recorded. And +I am also inclined to believe that in many cases, though assuredly +not in all, whatever is effected by one person upon another can +also be brought about in one's self by patience in forethought, +self-suggestion, and the continued will which they awaken. + +_We can revive by this process old well-nigh forgotten trains of +thought_. This is difficult but possible. It belongs to an advanced +stage of experience or may be found in very susceptible subjects. I do +not belong at all to the latter, but I have perfectly succeeded in +continuing a dream; that is to say, I have woke up three times during +a dream, and, being pleased with it, wished it to go on, then fallen +asleep and it went on, like three successive chapters in a novel. + +_We can subdue the habit of worrying ourselves and others needlessly +about every trifling or serious cause of irritation which enters +our minds_. There are many people who from a mere idle habit or +self-indulgence and irrepressible loquacity make their own lives and +those of others very miserable--as all my readers can confirm from +experience. I once knew a man of great fortune, with many depending on +him, who vented his ill-temper and petty annoyances on almost everyone +to whom he spoke. He was so fully aware of this failing that he at +once, in confessing it to a mutual friend, shed tears of regret. Yet +he was a millionaire man of business, and had a strong will which +might have been directed to a cure. All peevish, fretful and +talkative, or even complaining people, should be induced to seriously +study this subject. + +_We can cure ourselves of the habit of profanity or using vulgar +language_. No one doubts that a negro who believes in sorcery, if told +that if he uttered an oath, _Voodoo_ would fall upon him and cause him +to waste away, would never swear again. Or that a South Sea Islander +would not do the same for fear of _taboo_. Now both these forms of +sorcery are really hypnotizing by action on belief, and Forethought +aided by the sleep process has precisely the same result--it +establishes a fixed idea in the mind, or a haunting presence. + +_We can cure ourselves of intemperance_. This was, I believe, first +established or extensively experimented on by Dr. CHARLES LLOYD +TUCKEY. This can be aided by willing that the liquor, if drunk, shall +be nauseating. + +_We can repress to a remarkable degree the sensations of fatigue, +hunger and thirst_. Truly no man can defy the laws of nature, but it +is very certain that in cases like that of Dr. TANNER, and the Hindu +ascetics who were boxed up and buried for many weeks, there must have +been mental determination as well as physical endurance. As regards +this very important subject of health, or the body, and the degree to +which it can be controlled by the mind or will, it is to be observed +that of late years physiologists are beginning to observe that all +"mental" or corporeal functions are evidently controlled by the same +laws or belong to the same organization. If "the emotions, say of +anger or love, in their more emphatic forms, are plainly accompanied +by varying changes of the heart and blood-vessels, the viscera and +muscles," it must follow that changes or excitement in the physical +organs must react on the emotions. "All modes of sensibility, whatever +their origin," says LUYS, "are physiologically transported into the +sensorium. From fiber to fiber, from sensitive element to sensitive +element, our whole organism is sensitive; our whole sentient +personality, in fact, is conducted just as it exists, into the +plexuses of the _sensorium commune_." Therefore, if every sensation in +the body acts on the brain by the aid of secondary brains or +ganglions, it must be that the brain in turn can in some way act on +the body. And this has hitherto been achieved or attempted by +magicians, "miracle-mongers," thaumaturgists, mesmerists, and the +like, and by the modern hypnotizer, in which we may observe that there +has been at every step less and less mysticism or supernaturalism, and +a far easier process or way of working. And I believe it may be fairly +admitted that in this work I have simplified the process of physically +influencing mental action and rendered it easier. The result from the +above conclusions being that _we can control many disorders or forms +of disease_. This is an immense subject, and it would be impossible +within a brief sketch to determine its limits or conditions. That what +are called nervous disorders, which are evidently the most nearly +allied to emotions--as, for instance, a headache, or other trouble +induced by grief--can be removed by joy, or some counteracting emotion +or mere faith is very well known and generally believed. But of late +science has established that the affinities between the cerebral and +other functions are so intimately, extensively and strangely +sympathetic or identical that it is becoming impossible to say what +disease may not be temporarily alleviated or cured by new discoveries +in directing the nervo-mental power or will. The Faith-Cure, Magic, +Mesmerism, Religious Thaumaturgy and other systems have given us a +vast number of authentic cures of very positive disorders. But from +the point of view taken by many people what has been wanting in all +is, _firstly_, a clear and simple scientific method free from all +spiritualism or wonder, and, _secondly_, the art of _Perfecting the +cures by Perseverance_. For what will relieve for an hour can be made +to cure forever, if we exercise foresight and make perpetuity a part +of our whole plan. + +Now, as regards curing disorders, I beg the reader to specially +observe that this, like many other works, depends on the state of the +mind; nor can it be undertaken with hope of success unless the +operator has by previous practice in easy experiments succeeded in +perfectly convincing himself that he has acquired control of his will. +Thus having succeeded in willing himself to work all day without +fatigue, or to pass the day without being irritable, let him begin to +consider, reflect and realize that he _can_ make himself do this or +that, for the more he simply induces the belief and makes himself +familiar with it, the stronger and more obedient his Will will be. +However, this is simply true that to any self-suggestionist whatever +who has had some little practice and attained to even a moderate +command over his will, a very great degree of the power to relieve +bodily suffering is easy to develop, and it may be increased by +practice to an incredible extent. Thus in case of suffering by pain of +any kind in another, begin by calmly persuading him or her that relief +has been obtained thousands of times by the process, and endeavor to +awaken belief, or, at least, so much attention and interest that the +fact will remain as _forethought_ in the mind. The next step should be +to promise relief, and then induce sleep by the showing a coin, passes +with the hands, etc., or allowing the subject to sink into a natural +slumber. If there be no success the first time, repeat the experiment. +Gout, headaches, all forms of positive pain, severe colds, _anæmia, +insomnia, melancholia_, and dyspepsia appear to be among the ills +which yield most readily to, or are alleviated (to the great +assistance of a regular cure), by suggestion. + +As regards curing disorders, producing insensibility to hunger and +thirst, heat or cold, and the like, all are aware that to a man who is +under the influence of some great and overpowering emotion, such as +rage or surprise, or joy, no pain is perceptible. In like manner, by +means of persuasion, sleep, a temporary oblivion, and the skillfully +awakened Will, the same insensibility or ignoring can be effected. +There is, however, this to be observed, that while in the vast library +of books which teach mental medicine the stress is laid entirely on +producing merely a temporary cure I insist that by great Forethought, +by conducting the cure with a view to permanence, ever persuading the +patient to think on the future, and finally by a very thorough +continuation and after-treatment many diseases may be radically +removed. + +To recapitulate and make all clear we will suppose that the reader +desires during the following day to be in a calm, self-possessed or +peaceful state of mind. Therefore at night, after retiring, let him +first completely consider what he wants and means to acquire. This is +the Forethought, and it should be as thorough as possible. Having done +this, will or declare that what you want shall come to pass on +awaking, and repeating this and thinking on it, fall asleep. This is +all. Do not wish for two things at once, or not until your mind shall +have become familiar with the process. As you feel your power +strengthen with success you may will yourself to do whatever you +desire. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FORETHOUGHT. + + "Post fata resurgo." + + "What is forethought may sleep--'tis very plain, + But rest assured that it will rise again." + + "Forethought is plan inspired by an absolute Will to carry + it out." + +It may have struck the reader as an almost awful, or as a very +wonderful idea, that man has within himself, if he did but know it, +tremendous powers or transcendental faculties of which he has really +never had any conception. One reason why such bold thought has been +subdued is that he has always felt according to tradition, the +existence of superior supernatural (and with them patrician) beings, +by whose power and patronage he has been effectively restrained or +kept under. Hence gloom and pessimism, doubt and despair. It may seem +a bold thing to say that it did not occur to any philosopher through +the ages that man, resolute and noble and free, might _will_ himself +into a stage of mind defying devils and phantasms, or that amid the +infinite possibilities of human nature there was the faculty of +assuming the Indifference habitual to all animals when not alarmed. +But he who will consider these studies on Self-Hypnotism may possibly +infer from them that we have indeed within us a marvelous power of +creating states of mind which make the idea of Pessimism ridiculous. +For it renders potent and grand, pleasing or practically useful, to +all who practice it, a faculty which has the great advantage that it +may enter into all the relations or acts of life; will give to +everyone something to do, something to occupy his mind, even in +itself, and if we have other occupations, Forethought and Induced Will +may be made to increase our interest in them and stimulate our skill. +In other words, we can by means of this Art increase our ability to +practice all arts, and enhance or stimulate Genius in every way or +form, be it practical, musical or plastic. + +Since I began this work there fell into my hands an ingenious and +curious book, entitled "Happiness as found in _Forethought minus +Fearthought_," by HORACE FLETCHER, in which the author very truly +declares that _Fear_ in some form has become the arch enemy of Man, +and through the fears of our progenitors developed by a thousand +causes, we have inherited a growing stock of diseases, terrors, +apprehensions, pessimisms, and the like, in which he is perfectly +right. + +But as Mr. FLETCHER declares, if men could take _Forethought_ as their +principle and guide they would obviate, anticipate or foresee and +provide for so many evil contingencies and chances that we might +secure even peace and happiness, and then man may become brave and +genial, altruistic and earnest, in spite of it all, by _willing_ away +his Timidity. + +I have not assumed a high philosophical or metaphysical position in +this work; my efforts have been confined to indicating how by a very +simple and well-nigh mechanical process, perfectly intelligible to +every human being with an intellect, one may induce certain states of +mind and thereby create a Will. But I quite agree with Mr. FLETCHER +that Forethought is strong thought, and the point from which all +projects must proceed. As I understand it, it is a kind of impulse or +projection of will into the coming work. I may here illustrate this +with a curious fact in physics. If the reader wished to ring a +door-bell so as to produce as much sound as possible he would probably +pull it as far back as he could and then let it go. But if he would in +letting it go simply give it a tap with his forefinger he would +actually redouble the noise. + +Or, to shoot an arrow as far as possible, it is not enough to merely +draw the bow to its utmost span or tension. If just as it goes you +will give the bow a quick _push_, though the effort be trifling, the +arrow will fly almost as far again as it would have done without it. + +Or, if, as is well known, in wielding a very sharp saber, we make the +_draw-cut_, that is if we add to the blow or chop, as with an axe, a +certain slight pull and simultaneously, we can cut through a silk +handkerchief or a sheep. + +Forethought is the tap on the bell, the push of the bow, the draw on +the saber. It is the deliberate yet rapid action of the mind when +before falling to sleep or dismissing thought we _bid_ the mind to +subsequently respond. It is more than merely thinking what we are to +do; it is the bidding or ordering self to fulfill a task before +willing it. + +Forethought in the senses employed or implied as here described means +much more than mere previous consideration or reflection, which may be +very feeble. It is, in fact, "constructive," which, as inventive, +implies _active_ thought. "Forethought stimulates, aids the success of +honest aims." Therefore, as the active principle in mental work, I +regard it as a kind of self-impulse, or that minor part in the +division of the force employed which sets the major into action. Now, +if we really understand this and can succeed in employing Forethought +as the preparation for, and impulse to, Self-Suggestion, we shall +greatly aid the success of the latter, because the former insures +attention and interest. Forethought may be brief, but it should always +be energetic. By cultivating it we acquire the enviable talent of +those men who take in everything at a glance, and act promptly, like a +NAPOLEON. This power is universally believed to be entirely innate or +a gift; but it can be induced or developed in all minds in proportion +to the will by practice. + +Be it observed that as the experimenter progresses in the development +of will by suggestion, he can gradually lay aside the latter, or all +_processes_, especially if he work to such an end, anticipating it. +Then he simply acts by clear will and strength, and Forethought +constitutes all his stock-in-trade, process or aid. He preconceives +and wills energetically at once, and by practice and repetition +_Forethought_ becomes a marvelous help on all occasions and +emergencies. + +To make it of avail the one who frequently practices self-suggestion, +at first with, and then without sleep, will inevitably find ere long +that to facilitate his work, or to succeed he _must_ first write, as +it were, or plan a preface, synopsis, or epitome of his proposed work, +to start it and combine with it a resolve or decree that it must be +done, the latter being the tap on the bell-knob. Now the habit of +composing the plan as perfectly, yet as succinctly as possible, daily +or nightly, combined with the energetic impulse to send it off, will +ere long give the operator a conception of what I mean by Foresight +which by description I cannot. And when grown familiar and really +mastered its possessor will find that his power to think and act +promptly in all the emergencies of life has greatly increased. + +Therefore Forethought means a great deal more, as here employed, than +seeing in advance, or deliberate prudence--it rather implies, like +divination or foreknowledge, sagacity and mental _action_ as well as +mere perception. It will inevitably or assuredly grow with the +practice of self-suggestion if the latter be devoted to mental +improvement, but as it grows it will qualify the operator to lay aside +the sleep and suggest to himself directly. + +All men of great natural strength of mind, gifted with the will to do +and dare, the beings of action and genius, act directly, and are like +athletes who lift a tree by the simple exertion of the muscles. He who +achieves his aim by self-culture, training, or suggestion, is like one +who raises the weight by means of a lever, and if he practice it often +enough he may in the end become as strong as the other. + +There is a curious and very illustrative instance of Forethought in +the sense in which I am endeavoring to explain it, given in a novel, +the "Scalp-Hunters," by MAYNE REID, with whom I was well acquainted in +bygone years. Not having the original, I translate from a French +version: + +"His aim with the rifle is infallible, and it would seem as if the +ball obeyed his Will. There must be a kind of _directing principle_ in +his mind, independent of strength of nerve and sight. He and one other +are the only men in whom I have observed this singular power." + +This means simply the exercise in a second, as it were, of "the tap on +the bell-knob," or the projection of the will into the proposed shot, +and which may be applied to any act. Gymnasts, leapers and the like +are all familiar with it. It springs from resolute confidence and +self-impulse enforced; but it also creates them, and the growth is +very great and rapid when the idea is much kept before the mind. In +this latter lies most of the problem. + +In Humanity, mind, and especially Forethought, or reflection, combined +in one effort with will and energy, enters into all acts, though often +unsuspected, for it is a kind of unconscious _reflex_ action or +cerebration. Thus I once discovered to my astonishment in a gymnasium +that the extremely mechanical action of putting up a heavy weight from +the ground to the shoulder and from the shoulder to the full reach of +the arm above the head, became much easier after a little practice, +although my muscles had not grown, nor my strength increased during +the time. And I found that whatever the exertion might be there was +always some trick or knack, however indescribable, by means of which +the man with a brain could surpass a dolt at _anything_, though the +latter were his equal in strength. But it sometimes happens that the +trick can be taught and even improved on. And it is in all cases +Forethought, even in the lifting of weights or the willing on the +morrow to write a poem. + +For this truly weird power--since "the weird sisters" in "Macbeth" +means only the sisters who _foresee_--is, in fact, the energy which +projects itself in some manner, which physiology can as yet only very +weakly explain, and even if the explanation _were_ perfect, it would +amount in fact to no more than showing the machinery of a watch, when +the main object for us is that it should _keep time_, and tell the +hour, as well as exhibit the ingenuity of the maker--which thing is +very much lost sight of, even by many very great thinkers, misled by +the vanity of showing how much they know. + +Yes, Foresight or Forethought projects itself in all things, and it is +a serious consideration, or one of such immense value, that when +really understood, and above all subjected to some practice--such as I +have described, and which, as far as I can see, is _necessary_--one +can bring it to bear _intelligently_ on all the actions of life, that +is to say, to _much_ greater advantage than when we use it ignorantly, +just as a genius endowed with strength can do far more with it than an +ignoramus. For there is nothing requiring Thought in which it cannot +aid us. I have alluded to Poetry. Now this does not mean that a man +can become a SHAKESPEARE or SHELLEY by means of all the forethought +and suggestion in the world, but they will, if well developed and +directed, draw out from the mystic depths of mind such talent as he +_has_--doubtless in some or all cases more than he has ever shown. + +No one can say what is hidden in every memory; it is like the sounding +ocean with its buried cities, and treasures and wondrous relics of the +olden time. This much we may assume to know, that every image or idea +or impression whichever reached us through any of our senses entered a +cell when it was ready for it, where it sleeps or wakes, most images +being in the former condition. In fact, every brain is like a +monastery of the Middle Ages, or a beehive. But it is built on a +gigantic scale, for it is thought that no man, however learned or +experienced he might be, ever contrived during all his life to so much +as even half fill the cells of his memory. And if any reader should be +apprehensive lest it come to pass with him in this age of unlimited +supply of cheap knowledge that he will fill all his cells let him +console himself with the reflection that it is supposed that Nature, +in such a case, will have a further supply of new cells ready, she +never, as yet, having failed in such rough hospitality, though it +often leaves much to be desired! + +Yes, they are all there--every image of the past, every face which +ever smiled on us--the hopes and fears of bygone years--the rustling +of grass and flowers and the roar of the sea--the sound of trumpets in +processions grand--the voices of the great and good among mankind--or +what you will. Every line ever read in print, every picture and face +and house is there. Many an experiment has shown this to be true; also +that by mesmerizing or hypnotizing processes the most hidden images or +memories can be awakened. In fact, the idea has lost much of its +wonder since the time of Coleridge, now that every sound can be +recorded, laid away and reproduced, and we are touching closely on an +age when all that lies _perdu_ in any mind can or will be set forth +visibly, and all that a man has ever _seen_ be shown to the world. For +this is no whit more wonderful than that we can convey images or +pictures by telegraph, and when I close my eyes and recall or imagine +a form it does not seem strange that there might be some process by +means of which it might be photographed. + +And here we touch upon the Materialization of Thought, which +conception loses a part of the absurdity with which Spiritualists and +Occultists have invested it, if we regard all nature as one substance. +For, in truth, all that was ever perceived, even to the shadow of a +dream by a lunatic, had as real an existence while it lasted as the +Pyramids of Egypt, else it could not have been perceived. Sense +cannot, even in dreams, observe what is not for the time an effect on +matter. If a man _imagines_ or makes believe to himself that he has a +fairy attendant, or a dog, and _fancies_ that he sees it, that man +does really see _something_, though it be invisible to others. There +is some kind of creative brain-action going on, some employment of +atoms and forces, and, if this be so, we may enter it among the +Possibilities of the Future that the Material in any form whatever may +be advanced, or further materialized or made real. + +It is curious that this idea has long been familiar to believers in +magic. In more than one Italian legend which I have collected a +sorceress or goddess evolves a life from her own soul, as a fire emits +a spark. In fact, the fancy occurs in some form in all mythologies, +great or small. In one old Irish legend a wizard turns a Thought into +a watch-dog. The history of genius and of Invention is that of +realizing ideas, of making them clearer and stronger and more +comprehensive. Thus it seems to me that the word _Forethought_ as +generally loosely understood, when compared to what it has been shown +capable of expressing, is almost as much advanced as if like the fairy +HERMELINA, chronicled by GROSIUS, it had been originally a vapor or +mere fantasy, and gradually advanced to fairy life so as to become the +companion of a wizard. + +If an artist, say a painter, will take forethought for a certain +picture, whether the subject be determined or not, bringing himself to +that state of easy, assured confidence, as a matter of course that he +will _retain_ the subject he will, if not at the first effort, almost +certainly at last find himself possessed of it. Let him beware of +haste, or of forcing the work. When he shall have secured suggestive +Interest let him will that Ingenuity shall be bolder and his spirit +draw from the stores of memory more abundant material. Thus our powers +may be gradually and gently drawn into our service. Truly it would +seem as if there were no limit to what a man can evolve out of himself +if he will take Thought thereto. + +Forethought can be of vast practical use in cases where confidence is +required. Many a young clergyman and lawyer has been literally +frightened out of a career, and many an actor ruined for want of a +very little knowledge, and in this I speak from personal experience. +Let the aspirant who is to appear in public, or pass an examination, +and is alarmed, base his forethought on such ideas as this, that he +would not be afraid to repeat his speech to _one_ person or two--why +should he fear a hundred? There are some who can repeat this idea to +themselves till it takes hold strongly, and they rise almost feeling +contempt for all in court--as did the old lady in Saint Louis, who +felt so relieved when a witness at _not_ feeling frightened that she +bade judge and jury cease looking at her in that impudent way. + +Having read the foregoing to a friend he asked me whether I believed +that by Forethought and Suggestion a gentleman could be induced +without diffidence to offer himself in marriage, since, as is well +known, that the most eligible young men often put off wedding for +years because they cannot summon up courage to propose. To which I +replied that I had no great experience of such cases, but as regarded +the method I was like the Scotch clergyman who, being asked by a +wealthy man if he thought that the gift of a thousand pounds to the +Kirk would save the donor's soul, replied: "I'm na prepairet to +preceesly answer thot question--but I wad vara warmly advise ye to +_try_ it." + +It must be remembered that for the very great majority of cases, if +really not for all, the practicer of this process must be of temperate +habits, and never attempt after a hearty meal, or drinking freely, to +exercise Forethought or Self-Suggestion. Peaceful mental action during +sleep requires that there shall be very light labor of digestion, and +disturbed or troublesome dreams are utterly incompatible with really +successful results. Nor will a single day's temperance suffice. It +requires many days to bring the whole frame and constitution into good +fit order. Here there can be no evasion, for more than ordinary +temperance in food and drink is _absolutely indispensable_. + +It is a principle, recognized by all physiologists, that digestion and +fixed thought cannot go on together; it is even unadvisable to read +while eating. Thus in all the old magical operations, which were, in +fact, self-hypnotism, a perfect fast is insisted on with reason. This +is all so self-evident that I need not dwell on it. It will be +needless for anyone to take up this subject as a trifling pastime, or +attempt self-suggestion and development of will with as little +earnestness as one would give to a game of cards; for in such a +half-way effort time will be lost and nothing come of it. Unless +entered on with the most serious resolve to persevere, and make +greater effort and more earnestly at every step, it had better be let +alone. + +All who will persevere with calm determination cannot fail ere long to +gain a certain success, and this achieved, the second step is much +easier. However, there are many people who after doing all in their +power to get to the gold or diamond mines, hasten away even when in +the full tide of success, because they are fickle--and it is precisely +such people who easily tire who are most easily attracted, be it to +mesmerism, hypnotism, or any other wonder. And they are more wearisome +and greater foes to true Science than the utterly indifferent or the +ignorant. + +This work will not have been written in vain should it induce the +reader to reflect on what is implied by patient repetition or +perseverance, and what an incredible and varied _power_ that man +acquires who masters it. He who can lead himself, or others, into a +_habit_ can do anything. Even Religion is, in fact, nothing else. +"Religion," said the reviewer of "The Evolution of the Idea of God," +by GRANT ALLEN, "he defines as Custom or Practice--not theory, not +theology, not ethics, not spiritual aspirations, but a certain set of +more or less similar observances: propitiation, prayer, praise, +offerings, the request for Divine favors, the deprecation of Divine +anger, or other misfortunes"--in short, Ritual. That is to say, it is +the aggregate of the different parts of religion, of which many take +one for the whole. But this aggregation was the result of earnest +patience and had good results. And it is by the careful analysis and +all-round examination of Ideas that we acquire valuable knowledge, and +may learn how very few there are current which are more than very +superficially understood--as I have shown in what I have said of the +Will, the Imagination, Forethought, and many other faculties which are +flippantly used to explain a thousand problems by people who can +hardly define the things themselves. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WILL AND CHARACTER. + + "And I have felt + A Presence that disturbs me with the joy + Of elevated thoughts, a sense sublime + Of something far more deeply interposed, + Whose dwelling is . . . all in the mind of man; + A motion and a spirit that impels + All thinking things."--_Wordsworth_. + +As the vast majority of people are not agreed as to what really +constitutes a Gentleman, while a great many seem to be practically, at +least, very much abroad as to the nature of a Christian, so it will be +found that, in fact, there is a great deal of difference as regards +the Will. I have known many men, and some women, to be credited by +others, and who very much credited themselves, with having iron wills, +when, in fact, their every deed, which was supposed to prove it, was +based on brazen want of conscience. Mere want of principle or +unscrupulousness passes with many, especially its possessors, for +strong _will_. And even decision of character itself, as MAGINN +remarks, is often confounded with talent. "A bold woman always gets +the name of clever"--among fools--"though her intellect may be of a +humble order, and her knowledge contemptible." Among the vulgar, +especially those of greedy, griping race and blood, the children of +the thief, a robber of the widow and orphan, the scamp of the +syndicate, and soulless "promoter" in South or North America, bold +robbery, or Selfishness without scruple or timidity always appears as +Will. But it is not the whole of the real thing, or real will in +itself. When MUTIUS CAIUS SCAEVOLA thrust his hand into the flames no +one would have greatly admired his endurance if it had been found that +the hand was naturally insensible and felt no pain. Nor would there +have been any plaudits for MARCUS CURTIUS when he leapt into the gulf, +had he been so drunk as not to know what he was about. The will which +depends on unscrupulousness is like the benumbed hand or intoxicated +soul. Quench conscience, as a sense of right and obligation, and you +can, of course, do a great deal from which another would shrink--and +therefore be called "weak-minded" by the fools. + +There is another type of person who imposes on the world and on self +as being strong-minded and gifted with Will. It is the imperturbable +cool being, always self-possessed, with little sympathy for emotion. +In most cases such minds result from artificial training, and they +break down in real trials. I do not say that they cannot weather a +storm or a duel, or stand fire, or get through what novelists regard +as superlative stage trials; but, in a moral crisis, the gentleman or +lady whose face is all Corinthian brass is apt like that brass in a +fire to turn pale. These folk get an immense amount of undeserved +admiration as having Will or self-command, when they owe what staying +quality they have (like the preceding class) rather to a lack of good +qualities than their inspiration. + +There are, alas! not a few who regard _Will_ as simply identical with +mere obstinacy, or stubbornness, the immovability of the Ass, or Bull, +or Bear--that is, they reduce it to an animal power. But, as this +often or generally amounts in animal or man to mere insensible +sulkiness--as far remote as possible from enlightened mental action, +it is surely unjust to couple it with the _Voluntary_ or pure +intelligent _Will_, by which all must understand the very acme of +active Intellect. + +Therefore it follows, that the errors, mistakes, and perversions which +have grown about Will in popular opinion, like those which have +accumulated round Christianity, are too often mistaken for the truth. +Pure Will is, and must be by its very nature, perfectly _free_, for +the more it is hindered, or hampered, or controlled in any way, the +less is it independent volition. Therefore, pare Will, free from all +restraint can only act in, or as, Moral Law. Acting in accordance with +very mean, immoral, obstinate motives is, so to speak, obeying as a +slave the devil. The purer the motive the purer the Will, and in very +truth the purer the stronger, or firmer. Every man has his own idea of +Will according to his morality--even as it is said that every man's +conception of God is himself infinitely magnified--or, as SYDNEY SMITH +declared, that a certain small clergyman believed that Saint Paul was +five feet two inches in height, and wore a shovel-hat. And here we may +note that if the fundamental definition of a gentleman be "a man of +perfect integrity," or one who always does simply _what is right_, he +is also one who possesses Will in its integrity. + +Therefore it follows that if the pure will, which is the basis of all +firm and determined action, be a matter of moral conviction, it should +take the first place as such. Napoleon the First was an exemplar of a +selfish corrupted will, CHRIST the perfection of Will in its purity. +And if I can make my meaning clear, I would declare that he who would +create within himself a strong and vigorous will by hypnotism or any +other process, will be most likely to succeed, if, instead of aiming +at developing a power by which he may subdue others, and make all +things yield to him, or similar selfish aims, he shall, before all, +seriously reflect on how he may use it to do good. For I am absolutely +persuaded from what I know, that he who makes Altruism and the +happiness of others a familiar thought to be coupled with every effort +(even as a lamb is always painted with, or appointed unto, St. John), +will be the most likely to succeed. There is something in moral +conviction or the consciousness of right which gives a sense of +security or a faith in success which goes far to secure it. Hence the +willing the mind on the following day to be at peace, not to yield to +irritability or temptations to quarrel, to be pleasing and cheerful; +in short to develop _good_ qualities is the most easily effected +process, because where there is such self-moral-suasion to a good aim +or end, we feel, and very justly, that we _ought_ to be aided by the +_Deus in nobis_, or an over-ruling Providence, whatever its form or +nature may be. And the experimenter may be assured that if we can by +any means _will_ or exorcise all envy, vanity, folly, irritability, +vindictiveness--in short all evil--out of ourselves, and supply their +place with Love, we shall take the most effective means to secure our +own happiness, as well as that of others. + +All of this has been repeated very often of late years by Altruists; +but, while the doctrine is accepted both by Agnostics and Christians +as perfect, there has been little done to show men how to practically +realize it. But I have ever noted that in this Pilgrim's Progress of +our life, those are most likely to attain to the Celestial City, and +all its golden glories, who, like CHRISTIAN, start from the lowliest +beginnings; and as the learning our letters leads to reading the +greatest books, so the simplest method of directing the attention and +the most mechanical means of developing Will, may promptly lead to the +highest mental and moral effect. + +Prayer is generally regarded as nothing else but an asking or begging +from a superior power. But it is also something which is really very +different from this. It is a formula by means of which man realizes +his faith and will. Tradition, and habit (of whose power I have +spoken) or repetition, have given it the influence or prestige of a +charm. In fact it is a spell, he who utters it feels assured that if +seriously repeated it will be listened to, and that the Power to whom +it is addressed will hear it. The Florentines all round me as I write, +who repeat daily, "_Pate nostro quis in cell, santi ficeturie nome +tumme_!" in words which they do not understand, do not pray for daily +bread or anything else in the formula; they only realize that they +commune with God, and are being good. An intelligent prayer in this +light is the concentration of thought on a subject, or a _definite_ +realization. Therefore if when _willing_ that tomorrow I shall be calm +all day or void of irritation, I put the will or wish into a brief and +clear form, it will aid me to promptly realize or feel what I want. +And it will be a prayer in its reality, addressed to the Unknown Power +or to the Will within us--an invocation, or a spell, according to the +mind of him who makes it. + +Thus a seeker may repeat: "I _will_, earnestly and deeply, that during +all tomorrow I may be in a calm and peaceful state of mind. I _will_ +with all my heart that if irritating or annoying memories or images, +or thoughts of any kind are in any way awakened, that they may be +promptly forgotten and fade away!" + +I would advise that such a formula be got by heart till very familiar, +to be repeated, but not mechanically, before falling to sleeps What is +of the very utmost importance is that the operator shall feel its +meaning and at the same time give it the impulse of Will by the dual +process before described. This, if successfully achieved, will not +fail (at least with most minds) to induce success. + +This formula, or "spell," will be sufficient for some time. When we +feel that it is really beginning to have an effect, we may add to it +other wishes. That is to say, be it clearly understood, that by +repeating the will to be calm and peaceful, day after day, it will +assuredly begin to come of itself, even as a pigeon which hath been +"tolled" every day at a certain hour to find corn or crumbs in a +certain place, will continue to go there even if the food cease. +However, you may renew the first formula if you will. Then we may add +gradually the wish to be in a bold or courageous frame of mind, so as +to face trials, as follows: + +"I _will_ with all my soul, earnestly and truly, that I may be on the +morrow and all the day deeply inspired with courage and energy, with +self-confidence and hope! May it lighten my heart and make me heedless +of all annoyances and vexations which may arise! Should such come in +my way, may I hold them at no more than their real value, or laugh +them aside!" + +Proceed gradually and firmly through the series, never trying anything +new, until the old has fully succeeded. This is essential, for failure +leads to discouragement. Then, in time, fully realizing all its +deepest meaning, so as to impress the Imagination one may will as +follows: + +"May my quickness of Perception, or Intuition, aid me in the business +which I expect to undertake tomorrow. I _will_ that my faculty of +grasping at details and understanding their relations shall be active. +May it draw from my memory the hidden things which will aid it!" + +The artist or literary man, or poet, may in time earnestly will to +this effect: + +"I desire that my genius, my imagination, the power which enables man +to combine and create; the poetic (or artist) spirit, whatever it be, +may act in me tomorrow, awakening great thoughts and suggesting for +them beautiful forms." + +He who expects to appear in public as an orator, as a lawyer pleading +a case, or as a witness, will do much to win success, if after careful +forethought or reflecting on what it is that he really wants, he will +repeat: + +"I will that tomorrow I may speak or plead, with perfect +self-possession and absence of all timidity or fear!" + +Finally, we may after long and earnest reflection on all which I have +said, and truly not till then, resolve on the Masterspell to awaken +the Will itself in such a form that it will fill our soul, as it were, +unto which intent it is necessary to understand what Will really means +to us in its purity and integrity. The formula may be: + +"I _will_ that I may feel inspired with the power, aided by calm +determination, to do what I desire, aided by a sense of right and +justice to all. May my will be strong and sustain me in all trials. +May it inspire that sense of independence of strength which, allied to +a pure conscience, is the greatest source of happiness on earth!" + +If the reader can master this last, he can by its aid progress +infinitely. And with the few spells which I have given he will need no +more, since in these lie the knowledge, and key, and suggestion to all +which may be required. + +Now it will appear clearly to most, that no man can long and steadily +occupy himself with such pursuits, without morally benefiting by them +in his waking hours, even if auto-hypnotism were all "mere +imagination," in the most frivolous sense of the word. For he who will +himself not to yield to irritability, can hardly avoid paying +attention to the subject, and thinking thereon, check himself when +vexed. And as I have said, what we summon by Will ere long remains as +Habit, even as the Elves, called by a spell, remain in the Tower. + +Therefore it is of _great_ importance for all people who take up and +pursue to any degree of success this Art or Science, that they shall +be actuated by moral and unselfish motives, since achieved with any +other intent the end can only be the bringing of evil and suffering +into the soul. For as the good by strengthening the Will make +themselves promptly better and holier, so he who increases it merely +to make others feel his power will become with it wickeder, yea, and +thrice accursed, for what is the greatest remedy is often the +strongest poison. + +Step by step Science has advanced of late to the declaration that man +_thinks all over_ his body, or at least experiences those reflected +sensations or emotions which are so strangely balanced between +intellectual sense and sensation that we hardly know where or how to +class them. "The sensitive _plexi_ of our whole organism are all +either isolated or thrown into simultaneous vibration when acted on by +Thought." So the Will may be found acting unconsciously as an emotion +or instinct, or developed with the highest forms of conscious +reflection. Last of all we find it, probably as the result of all +associated functions or powers, at the head of all, their Executive +president. But _is_ it "the exponent of correlated forces?" There +indeed doctors differ. + +There is a very curious Italian verb, _Invogliare_, which is thus +described in a Dictionary of Idioms: "_Invogliare_ is to inspire a +will or desire, _cupiditatem injicere a movere_. To _invogliare_ +anyone is to awake in him the will or the ability or capacity, an +earnest longing or appetite, an ardent wish--_alicujus rei cupiditatem +a desiderium alicni movere_--to bring into action a man's hankering, +solicitude, anxiety, yearning, ardor, predilection, love, fondness and +relish, or aught which savors of Willing." Our English word, +_Inveigle_, is derived from it, but we have none precisely +corresponding to it which so generally sets forth the idea of +inspiring a will in another person. "Suggestion" is far more general +and vague. Now if a man could thus _in-will_ himself to good or moral +purpose, he would assume a new position in life. We all admit that +most human beings have defects or faults of which they would gladly be +freed (however incorrigible they _appear_ to be), but they have not +the patience to effect a cure, to keep to the resolve, or prevent it +from fading out of sight. For a _vast_ proportion of all minor sins, +or those within the law, there is no cure sought. The offender says +and believes, "It is too strong for me"--and yet these small +unpunished offenses cause a thousand times more suffering than all the +great crimes. + +Within a generation, owing to the great increase of population, +prosperity and personal comfort, nervous susceptibility has also +gained in extent, but there has been no check to petty abuse of power, +selfishness, which always comes out in some form of injustice or +wrong, or similar vexations. Nay, what with the disproportionate +growth of vulgar wealth, this element has rapidly increased, and it +would really seem as if the plague must spread _ad infinitum_, unless +some means can be found to _invogliare_ and inspire the offenders with +a sense of their sins, and move them to reform. And it is more than +probable that if all who are at heart sincerely willing to reform +their morals and manners could be brought to keep their delinquencies +before their consciousness in the very simple manner which I have +indicated, the fashion or _mode_ might at least be inaugurated. For it +is _not_ so much a moral conviction, or an appeal to common sense, +which is needed (as writers on ethics all seem to think), but some +practical art of keeping men up to the mark in endeavoring to reform, +or to make them remember it all day long, since "out of sight out of +mind" is the devil's greatest help with weak minds. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +SUGGESTION AND INSTINCT. + + "Anima non nascitur sed fit," ut ait.--TERTULLIANUS. + + "Post quam loquuti sumus de anima rationali, intellectuali + (_immortali_) et quia ad inferiores descendimus jam gradus + animæ, scilicet animæ mortalis quæ animalium est." + --PETRUS GREGORIUS THOLOSANUS. + +It must have struck many readers that the action of a mind under +hypnotic influence, be it of another or of self, involves strange +questions as regards Consciousness. For it is very evident from +recorded facts, that people can actually reason and act without waking +consciousness, in a state of mind which resembles instinct, which is a +kind of cerebration, or acting under habits and impressions supplied +by memory and formed by practice, but not according to what we +understand by Reason or Judgment. + +All things in nature have their sleep or rest, night is the sleep of +the world, death the repose of Nature or Life--the solid temples, the +great globe itself, dissolve to awaken again; so man hath in him, as +it were, a company of workmen, some of whom labor by day, while others +watch by night, during which time they, unseen, have their fantastic +frolics known as dreams. The Guardian or Master of the daily hours, +appears in a great measure to conform his action closely to average +duties of life, in accordance with those of all other men. He picks +out from the millions of images or ideas in the memory, uses and +becomes familiar with a certain number, and lets the rest sleep. This +master or active agent is probably himself a Master-Idea--the result +of the correlative action of all the others, a kind of consensus made +personal, an elected Queen Bee, as I have otherwise described him or +her. + +But he is not the only thinker--there are all over the body ganglions +which act by a kind of fluid instinct, born of repetition, and when +the tired master even drowses or nods, or falls into a brown study, +then a marvelously curious mental action begins to show itself, for +dreams at once flicker and peer and steal dimly about him. This is +because the waking consciousness is beginning to shut out the world-- +and its set of ideas. + +So consistent is the system that even if Waking Reason abstract +itself, not to sleep, but to think on one subject such as writing a +poem or inventing a machine, certain affinities will sleep or dreams +begin to show themselves. When Genius is really at work, it sweeps +along, as it were, in a current, albeit it has enough reason left to +also use the rudder and oars, or spread and manage a sail. The reason +for the greater fullness of unusual images and associations (_i. e._, +the action of genius) during the time when one is bent on intellectual +invention is that the more the waking conscious Reason drowses or +approaches to sleep, the more do many images in Memory awaken and +begin to shyly open the doors of their cells and peep out. + +In the dream we also proceed, or rather drift, loosely on a current, +but are without oars, rudder or sail. We are hurtled against, or +hurried away from the islands of Images or Ideas, that is to say, all +kinds of memories, and our course is managed or impelled, or guided by +tricky water-sprites, whose minds are all on mischief bent or only +idle merriment. In any case they conduct us blindly and wildly from +isle to isle, sometimes obeying a far cry which comes to them through +the mist--some echoing signal of our waking hours. So in a vision ever +on we go! + +That is to say that even while we dream there is an unconscious +cerebration or voluntarily exerted power loosely and irregularly +imitating by habit, something like the action of our waking hours, +especially its brown studies and fancies in drowsy reveries or play. + +It seems to me as if this sleep-master or mistress--I prefer the +latter--who attends to our dreams may be regarded as Instinct on the +loose, for like instinct she acts without conscious reasoning. She +carries out, or realizes, trains of thought, or sequences with little +comparison or deduction. Yet within her limits she can do great work, +and when we consider, we shall find that by following mere Law she has +effected a great, nay, an immense, deal, which we attribute entirely +to forethought or Reason. As all this is closely allied to the action +of the mind when hypnotized, it deserves further study. + +Now it is a wonderful reflection that as we go back in animated nature +from man to insects, we find self-conscious Intellect or Reason based +on Reflection disappear, and Instinct taking its place. Yet Instinct +in its marvelous results, such as ingenuity of adaptation, often far +surpasses what semi-civilized man could do. Or it does the same things +as man, only in an entirely different way which is not as yet +understood. Only from time to time some one tells a wonderful story of +a bird, a dog or a cat, and then asks, "Was not this reason?" + +What it was, in a great measure, was an unconscious application of +memory or experience. Bees and ants and birds often far outdo savage +men in ingenuity of construction. The red Indians in their persistent +use of flimsy, cheerless bark wigwams, were far behind the beaver or +oriole as regards dwellings; in this respect the Indian indicated mere +instinct of a low order, as all do who live in circles of mere +tradition. + +Now to advance what seems a paradox, it is evident that even what we +regard as inspired genius comes to man in a great measure from +Instinct, though as I noted before it is aided by reflection. As the +young bird listens to its mother and then sings till as a grown +nightingale it pours forth a rich flood of varying melody; so the poet +or musician follows masters and models, and then, like them, +_creates_, often progressing, but is never _entirely_ spontaneous or +original. When the artist thinks too little he lacks sense, when he +thinks too much he loses fire. In the very highest and most strangely +mysterious poetical flights of SHELLEY and KEATS, or WORDSWORTH, I +find the very same Instinct which inspires the skylark and +nightingale, but more or less allied to and strengthened by Thought or +Consciousness. If human Will or Wisdom alone directed _all_ our work, +then every man who had mere patience might be a great original genius, +and it is indeed true that Man can do inconceivably more in following +and imitating genius than has ever been imagined. However, thus far +the talent which enables a man to write such a passage as that of +TENNYSON, + + "The tides of Music's golden sea + Setting towards Eternity," + +results from a development of Instinct, or an intuitive perception of +the Beautiful, such as Wordsworth believed existed in all things which +enjoy sunshine, _life_, and air. The poet himself cannot _explain_ the +processes, though he may be able to analyze in detail how or why he +made or found a thousand other things. + +It is not only true that Genius originates in something antecedent to +conscious reflection or intellect, but also that men have produced +marvelous works of art almost without knowing it, while others have +shown the greatest incapacity to do so after they had developed an +incredible amount of knowledge. Thus Mr. WHISTLER reminded RUSKIN that +when the world had its greatest artists, there were no critics. + +And it is well to remember that while the Greeks in all their glory of +Art and Poetry were unquestionably rational or consciously +intelligent, there was not among them the thousandth part of the +anxious worrying, the sentimental self-seeking and examination, or the +Introversion which worms itself in and out of, and through and +through, all modern work, action and thought, even as mercury in an +air-pump will permeate the hardest wood. For the Greeks worked more in +the spirit of Instinct; that is, more according to certain transmitted +laws and ideas than we realize--albeit this tradition was of a very +high order. We have lost Art because we have not developed tradition, +but have immensely increased consciousness, or reflection, out of +proportion to art It was from India and Egypt in a _positive_ form +that Man drew the poison of sentimental Egoism which became +comparative in the Middle Ages and superlative in this our time. + +It is very evident that as soon as men become self-conscious of great +work, or cease to work for the sake of enjoying Art, or its results, +and turn all their attention to the genius or cleverness, or character +or style, self, _et cetera_, of the _artist_, or of themselves, a +decadence sets in, as there did after the Renaissance, when knowledge +or enjoyment of Art was limited, and guided by familiarity with names +and schools and "manners," or the like, far more than by real beauty +in itself. + +Now, out of all this which I have said on Art, strange conclusions may +be drawn, the first being that even without self-conscious Thought or +excess of Intellect, there can be a Sense of Enjoyment in any or every +organism, also a further development of memory of that enjoyment, and +finally a creation of buildings, music and song, with no reflection, +in animals, and very little in Man. And when Man gets beyond working +with simple Nature and begins to think chiefly about himself, his Art, +as regards harmony with Nature, deteriorates. + +We do not sufficiently reflect on the fact that _Natura naturans_, or +the action of Nature (or simply following Tradition), may, as is the +case of Transition Architecture, involve the creation of marvelously +ingenious and beautiful works, and the great enjoyment of them by +Instinct alone. It is not possible for ordinary man to even understand +this now in all its fullness. He is indeed trying to do so--but it is +too new for his comprehension. But a time will come when he will +perceive that his best work has been done unconsciously, or under +influences of which he was ignorant. + +Hypnotism acts entirely by suggestion, and he who paints or does other +work entirely according to Tradition, also carries out what is or has +been suggested to him. Men of earlier times who thus worked for +thousands of years like the Egyptians in one style, were guided by the +faith that it had been begun by the Creator or God. + +For men cannot conceive of creation as separate from pre-determined +plan or end, and all because they cannot understand that Creative +innate force, _potentia_, must have some result, or that the simplest +Law once set agoing awakens, acquires strength in going and develops +great Laws, which, with an all-susceptible or _capable_ material to +work on, may, or _must_, create infinite ingenuities, so that in time +there may be an organic principle with sentiency, and yet no Will, +save in its exponents, or working to end or aim, but ever tending to +further unfolding "a seizing and giving the fire of the living" ever +onwards into Eternity, in which there may be a million times more +perfect "mind" than we can now grasp. + +Now, having for many years attempted at least to familiarize myself +with the aspect or sound, of this problem, though I could not solve +it, it seems at last to be natural enough that even matter (which so +many persist in regarding as a kind of dust or something resistant to +the touch, but which I regard as infinite millions of degrees more +subtle), may _think_ just as well as it may act in Instinct. It is, +indeed, absurd to admit souls to idiots or savages, who have not the +sense to live as comfortably as many animals, and yet deny it to the +latter. When we really become familiar with the idea, it appears +sensible enough. But its opponents do _not_ become familiar with it, +it irritates them, they call it Atheistic, although it is nothing of +the kind, just as if we were to say that a man who bravely and nobly +pursued his way in life, doing his duty because it was his duty, and +giving no thought as to future reward or punishment, must needs want +_soul_ or be an Atheist. + +If all men were perfectly good, they would act morally and +instinctively, without consciousness of behaving well, and if we felt +a high ideal of Art it would be just the same. When Art was natural +men never signed their names to their work, but now the Name takes +precedence of the picture. + +Therefore, as we go backward into the night of things, we find, though +we forget it all the time, that Instinct or the living in the Spirit +of Law, had its stars or planets which shone more brilliantly than +now, at least in Faith. Thus, there are two sources of Creation or +Action, both based on Evolution, one being unconscious and guided by +Natural Law, and the other which is conscious and grows out of the +first. Hence _cognito ergo sum_, which well-nigh all men really +understand as _cogito, ergo sum Deus_. Or we may say that they assume + + "Because _I_ think, then God must _think_ like me!" + +Now to come to Hypnotic thought, or suggested mental action. I would +infer that, according to what I have said, there may be two kinds of +mentality, or working of the mind--the one under certain conditions as +effective or resultant as the other; the first being--as it was in the +order of time--Unconscious or Instinctive; the other, conscious and +self-observant. + +For the man who built a Romanesque Cathedral worked by the +suggestiveness of minds which went before him, or Tradition. He was +truly, as it were, in a kind of slumber; indeed, all life was more or +less of a waking dream in those dim, strange days. "Millions marched +forth to death scarce knowing why," all because they were _told_ to do +so--they felt that they must do it, and they did it. "Like turkeys led +by a red rag," says CARLYLE. And the red rag and the turkey is an +illustration of Hypnotism in one of the books thereon. Instinct _is_ +Hypnotism. + +Now I have found that by suggesting to oneself before sleep, or +inducing self by Will or Forethought to work gladly and unweariedly +the next day, we do not _think_ about self or the quality of what we +do to any degree like what we would in working under ordinary +conditions. Truly it is not thoroughgoing or infallible in all cases, +but _then_ it must be helped by a little wide-awake self-conscious +will. But this is certainly true, that we can turn out _better_ work +when we urge our creative power to awake in the morn and act or aid, +than if we do not. + + "For there are many angels at our call, + And many blessed spirits who are bound + To lend their aid in every strait and turn; + And elves to fly the errands of the soul, + And fairies all too glad to give us help, + If we but know how to pronounce the spell + Which calls them unto us in every need." + +That spell I have shown or explained clearly enough. + +And, finally, to recapitulate, Instinct in its earlier or simpler form +is the following laws of Nature which are themselves formed by motive +laws. In Man the living according to Tradition is instinct of a higher +order, and the one or the other is merely being ruled by Suggestion. +The more free Will is developed and guided by reflection, or varied +tradition and experience, the less instinct and the more intellect +will there be. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MEMORY CULTURE. + + 'Twas wisely said by Plato, when he called + Memory "the mother of the Intellect," + For knowledge is to wisdom what his realm + Is to a monarch--that o'er which he rules; + And he who hath the Will can ever win + Such empire to himself--Will can do all. + +There is nothing in which the might of the Will can be so clearly set +forth as in the _making_ of memory. By means of it, as is fully proved +by millions of examples, man can render his power of recollection +almost infinite. And lest the reader may think that I here exaggerate, +I distinctly assert that I never knew a man of science, familiar with +certain facts which I shall repeat, who ever denied its literal truth. + +As I have already stated, there are two methods, and only two, by +means of which we can retain images, facts or ideas. One of these is +that which in many varied forms, which are all the same in fact, is +described in the old _Artes Memorandi_, or Arts of Memory. There are +several hundreds of these, and to the present day there are professors +who give instructions according to systems of the same kind. These are +all extremely plausible, being based on Association of ideas, and in +most cases the pupil makes great progress for a short time. Thus, we +can remember the French for bread, _pain_, Italian _Pane_, by thinking +of the pan in which bread is baked, or the difficult name of the +inventor, SSCZEPANIK (pronounced nearly _she-panic_) by thinking of a +crowd of frightened women, and which I remembered by the fact that +_pane_ is the Slavonian for Mr. or Sir. For there is such a tendency +of ideas to agglutinate, and so become more prominent, as we can see +two bubbles together in a pool more readily than one that we can very +soon learn to recall many images in this way. + +But after a time a certain limit is reached which most minds cannot +transgress. VOLAPUK was easy so long as, like Pidgin-English, it +contained only a few hundred words and no grammar. But now that it has +a dictionary of 4,000 terms and a complete grammar it is as hard to +learn as Spanish. It invariably comes to pass in learning to remember +by the Associative method that after a time images are referred to +images, and these to others again, so that they form entire categories +in which the most vigorous mind gets lost. + +The other method is that of _direct_ Memory guided by Will, in which +no regard is paid to Association, especially in the beginning. Thus to +remember anything, or rather to learn _how_ to do so, we take +something which is very easy to retain--the easier the better--be it a +jingling nursery rhyme, a proverb, or a text. Let this be learned to +perfection, backwards and forwards, or by permutation of words, and +repeated the next day. Note that the repetition or _reviewing_ is of +more importance than aught else. + +On the second day add another proverb or verse to the preceding, and +so on, day by day, always reviewing and never learning another +syllable until you are sure that you perfectly or most familiarly +retain all which you have _memorized_. The result will be, if you +persevere, that before long you will begin to find it easier to +remember anything. This is markedly the case as regards the practice +of reviewing, which is invariably hard at first, but which becomes ere +long habitual and then easy. + +I cannot impress it too vividly on the mind of the reader, that he +cannot make his exercises too easy. If he finds that ten lines a day +are too much, let him reduce them to five, or two, or one, or even a +single word, but learn that, and persevere. When the memory begins to +improve under this process, the tasks may, of course, be gradually +increased. + +An uncle of the present Khedive of Egypt told me that when he was +learning English, he at first committed to memory fifty words a day, +but soon felt himself compelled to very much reduce the number in +order to permanently remember what he acquired. One should never +overdrive a willing horse. + +Where there is a teacher with youthful pupils, he can greatly aid the +process of mere memorizing, by explaining the text, putting questions +as to its meaning, or otherwise awaking an interest in it. After a +time the pupils may proceed to _verbal memorizing_, which consists of +having the text simply read or repeated to them. In this way, after a +year or eighteen months of practice, most people can actually remember +a sermon or lecture, word for word. + +This was the process which was discovered, I may say simultaneously, +by DAVID KAY and myself, as our books upon it appeared at almost the +same time. But since then I have modified my plan, and made it +infinitely easier, and far more valuable, as will be apparent to all, +by the application of the principles laid down in this book. For +while, according to the original views, Memory depended on Will and +Perseverance, there was no method indicated by any writer how these +were to be created, nor was energetic Forethought considered as +amounting to more than mere Intention. + +Now I would say that having the task selected, first give energetic +forethought, or a considerate determination to master this should +precede all attempts to learn, by everybody, young or old. And when +the lesson is mastered, let it be repeated with earnestness and +serious attention before going to sleep, with the _Will_ that it shall +be remembered on the morrow. And it will be found that this process +not only secures the memory desired, but also greatly facilitates the +whole course and process. + +It is to be noted that by this, or any process, we do not remember +everything, but only what is first considered and measured by +Forethought. Also that by it the Memory is never overcharged at the +expense of Intellect, for the exertion of will in any way strengthens +the mind. To explain the immense power which this all implies, I +observe: + +That previous to the invention of printing, it was usual for students +to get their text-books by heart. Thus in India, according to MAX +MULLER, the entire text and glosses of PANINI'S Sanskrit grammar were +handed down orally for 350 years before being committed to writing. +This work is about equal in size to the Bible. + +There are Indian priests now living who can repeat accurately the +whole poems of the _Mahabarata_ of 300,000 _slokas_ or lines. + +That these incredible feats were the result of a system of memorizing +similar to what I have explained. + +That the _Guzlas_ or Slavonian minstrels of the present day have by +heart with remarkable accuracy immensely long epic poems. I have found +the same among Algonkin Indians, whose sagas or mythic legends are +interminable, and yet are committed word by word accurately. + +I have heard in England of a lady ninety years of age whose memory was +miraculous, and of which extraordinary instances are narrated by her +friends. She attributed it to the fact that when young she had been +made to learn a verse from the Bible every day, and then constantly +review it. As her memory improved, she learned more, the result being +that in the end she could repeat from memory any verse or chapter +called for in the whole Scripture. The habit had marvelously developed +her intelligence as well as memory. + +Now I confidently declare that if this lady had submitted what she +learned to the suggestive-will process she could have spared herself +half the labor. And it is to be observed that as in time the labor of +reviewing and the faculty of promptly recalling becomes easier and +easier till it is simply mechanical, so the memorizing by suggestion +becomes more _facile_ until it is, so to speak, only a form. And as it +becomes easier the foresight strengthens till it wields an _absolute_ +power. + +If the reader is interested in this subject of developing the memory, +I would refer him to my work on Practical Education in which it is +discussed with reference to recalling objects through all the Senses. + +No one who has made even a very slight trial of the process of +impressing on the mind before sleep something which must be +remembered, can fail to be convinced ere long of the truth that there +is in it a marvelous power which will with easy and continued practice +enable him to recall whatever he pleases. It follows as a matter of +course, that this would be of incredible value in education, but +notwithstanding the vast discussion of this subject which is ever +going on, it does not seem to occur to a living man that we should +develop and train the mental faculties, such as memory and quickness +of perception, as well as set them to hard work. + +It is also safe to say that there is not a man living who was educated +from boyhood upon this principle, and yet I am confident that no +scientist in existence, knowing the facts on which my statement is +based, will deny that it is as easy to develop the mental factors +alluded to, as to learn a language or play on the piano. It is not a +matter of theory but of facts. Millions of men have in the past +acquired the faculty of being able to repeat and remember whatever +they heard, if they earnestly attended to it. Earnest attention in +this case means a strong exercise of forethought, or determination to +an end or given purpose. In Iceland, that which has since become the +English common law, was at an early date very fully developed, without +any books or writing. And there were lawyers who had by heart all the +laws, and incredible numbers of precedents, as appears from several +sagas, among others, that of The Burnt Njall. + +Our present system of Education is that of building houses without +foundations. No one suspects or dreams what mighty powers there are +latent in us all, or how easily they may be developed. It would not be +so reprehensible if men entirely neglected the subject, but they are +always working hard and spending millions on the old system, and will +not even make the least experiment to test a new theory. One reason +for this is the old belief that we are all born with a certain quantum +of "gifts," as for example memory, capacity, patience, _et cetera_, +all more or less limited, and in reality not to be enlarged or +improved. The idea is _natural_, because we see that there are very +great differences, hereditary or otherwise, in children. But it is +false. So we go to work to fill up the quantum of memory as soon as +possible by violent cramming, and in like manner tax to the utmost all +the mental faculties without making the least effort to prepare, +enlarge or strengthen them. + +I shall not live to see it, but a time will come when this preparation +of the mental faculties will be regarded as the basis of all +education. + +To recapitulate in a few words. When we desire to fix anything in the +memory we can do so by repeating it to ourselves before we go to +sleep, accompanying it with the resolution to remember it in future. +We must not in the beginning set ourselves any but very easy tasks, +and the practice must be steadily continued. + +It has been often said that a perfect memory is less of a blessing +than the power of oblivion. Thus THEMISTOCLES (who, according to CATO, +as cited by CICERO, knew the names and faces of every man in Athens) +having offered to teach some one the art of memory, received for +reply, "Rather teach me how to forget"--_esse facturum si se oblivisci +quæ vellet, quam si meminisse docuisset_. And CLAUDIUS had such an +enviable power in the latter respect that immediately after he had put +to death his wife MESSALINA, he forgot all about it, asking, "_Cur +domina non veniret_?"--"Why the Missus didn't come?"--while on the +following day, after condemning several friends to death, he sent +invitations to them to come and dine with him. And again, there are +people who have, as it were, two memories, one good, the other bad, as +was the case with CALVISIUS SABRINUS, who could recall anything in +literature, but never remembered the names of his own servants, or +even his friends. But he got over the difficulty by naming his nine +attendants after the nine Muses, while he called his intimates Homer, +Hesiod, and so on. This scholar would truly seem to have drunk of the +two fountains sacred to Trophonius, by the river Orchomenus in +Boeotia, one of which bestowed memory and the other oblivion. And like +unto them is the power of the Will, aided by Forethought and +Suggestion, for while it properly directs and aids us to remember what +we will, it _per contra_ also helps us to forget. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTIES. + + "He who hath learned a single art, + Can thrive, I ween, in any part." + --_German Proverb_. + + "He would have taught you how you might employ + Yourself; and many did to him repair, + And, certes, not in vain; he had inventions rare." + --WORDSWORTH. + +When I had, after many years of study and research in England and on +the Continent, developed the theory that all practical, technical +education of youth should be preceded by a light or easy training on +an æsthetic basis, or the minor arts, I for four years, to test the +scheme, was engaged in teaching in the city of Philadelphia, every +week in separate classes, two hundred children, besides a number of +ladies. These were from the public schools of the city. The total +number of these public pupils was then 110,000. + +My pupils were taught, firstly, simple outline decorative design with +drawing at the same time; after this, according to sex, easy +embroidery, wood carving, modeling in clay, leather-work, +carpentering, inlaying, repoussé modeling in clay, porcelain painting, +and other small arts. Nearly all of the pupils, who were from ten to +sixteen years of age, acquired two or three, if not all, of these +arts, and then very easily found employment in factories or fabrics, +etc. + +Many people believed that this was all waste of money and time, and, +quite unknown to me, at their instigation an inquiry was made of all +the teachers in the public schools as to the standing of my art pupils +in their other classes, it being confidently anticipated that they +would be found to have fallen behind. And the result of the +investigation was that the two hundred were in advance of the one +hundred and ten thousand in every branch--geography, arithmetic, +history, and so on. + +It was not remarkable, because boys and girls who had, at an average +age of twelve or thirteen, learned the principles of design and its +practical application to several kinds of handiwork, and knew the +differences and characteristics of Gothic, Arabesque, or Greek +patterns, all developed a far greater intelligence in general thought +and conversation than others. They had at least one topic on which +they could converse intelligently with any grown-up person, and in +which they were really superior to most. They soon found this out. I +have often been astonished in listening to their conversation among +themselves to hear how well they discussed art. They all well knew at +least one thing, which is far from being known among æsthetes in +London, which is that in Decorative Art, however you may end in all +kinds of mixtures of styles, you must at least begin with organic +development, and not put roots or flowers at _both_ ends of a branch +or vine. + +The secret of it all is that those who from an early age develop the +constructive faculty (especially if this be done in a pleasing, easy +manner, with agreeable work) also develop with it the Intellect, and +that very rapidly to a very remarkable degree. There are reasons for +this. Drawing when properly taught stimulates visual perception or eye +memory; this is strikingly the case when the pupil has a model placed +in one room, and, after studying it, goes into another room to +reproduce it from memory. Original design, which when properly taught +is learned with incredible ease by all children, stimulates +observation to a remarkable degree. The result of such education is to +develop a great general quickness of perception and thought. + +Now, be it observed, that if anyone desires to learn design or any +art, it may be greatly facilitated by the application to it of Will +and Foresight, and in the beginning, Self-Suggestion. He who +understands the three as one, sees in it a higher or more energetic +kind of self-discipline than most people practise. In the end they +come to the same as a vigorous effort of the Will. + +Thus, having mastered the very easy principles of design which govern +all organic development or vegetable growth (as set forth in a plant +with roots, offshoots, or crochets, and end ornaments, flowers, or +finials, with the circle, spiral, and offshooting ornaments; rings +made into vines and wave patterns; all of which can be understood in +an hour with diagrams), let the beginner attempt a design, the simpler +the better, and reproduce it from memory. If on going to bed he will +impress it on his mind that on the morrow he would like to make more +designs, or that it _must_ be done, he will probably feel the impulse +and succeed. This is the more likely because patterns impress +themselves very vividly on the memory or imagination, and when studied +are easily recalled after a little practice. + +The manner in which most artists form an idea, or project their minds +to a plan or invention, be it a statue or picture; and the way they +think it over and anticipate it--very often actually seeing the +picture in a finished state in imagination--all amounts to foresight +and hypnotic preparation in a crude, imperfect form. If any artist who +is gifted with resolution and perseverance will simply make trial of +the method here recommended, he will assuredly find that it is a great +aid to Invention. + +It is probable that half the general average cleverness of men is due +to their having learned, as boys, games, or the art of making +something, or mending and repairing. In any case, if they had learned +to use their hands and their inventiveness or adaptability, they would +have been the better for it. That the innumerable multitude of people +who can do nothing of the kind, and who take no real interest in +anything except spending money and gossiping, are to be really pitied, +is true. Some of them once had minds--and these are the most pitiful +or pitiable of all. It is to be regretted that novels are, with rare +exceptions, written to amuse this class, and limit themselves strictly +to "life," never describing with real skill, so as to interest +anything which would make life worth living for--except love--which is +good to a certain extent, but not absolutely all in all, save to the +eroto-maniac. And as most novelists now pretend to instruct and convey +ideas, beyond mere story-telling, or even being "interesting," which +means the love or detective business, I would suggest to some of these +writers that the marvelous latent powers of the human mind, and also +some art which does not consist of the names and guide-book praises of +a few great painters and the Renaissance _rechauffée_ would be a +refreshing novelty. + +The ancient Romans were thoroughly persuaded that _Exercitatione et +usu_ (by exercising the physical faculties in every way; by which they +meant arts as well as gymnastics; and by making such practice +habitual) they could develop intellect, in illustration of which +Lycurgus once took two puppies of the same litter, and had the one +brought up to hunt, while the other was nursed at home in all luxury; +and when grown, and let loose, the one caught a hare, while the other +yelped and ran away. So the word _handy_, in old English _hend_, +meaning quick, alert, or gifted with prompt perception, is derived +from knowing how to use the hands. BRUSONIUS ("Facetiæ," Lyons, 1562) +has collected a great number of classic anecdotes to illustrate this +saying. + +_Recapitulation_. Those who desire to become artists, can greatly +facilitate their work, if beginning for example with very simple +outline decorative designs, and having learned the principles on which +they are constructed, they would repeat or revise them to themselves +before sleep, resolving to remember them. The same principle is +applicable to all kinds of designs, with the proviso that they be at +first very easy. This is generally a very successful process. + +_Fore thought_, or the projection of conception or attention with +will, is a marvelous preparation for all kinds of art work. He who can +form the habit of seeing a picture mentally before he paints it, has +an incredible advantage, and will spare himself much labor and +painting out. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +FASCINATION. + + "Quærit _Franciscus Valesius, Delrio, Gutierrus_, et alii, + unde vulgaris ilia fascini nata sit opinio de oculo fascinante + visione et ore fascinando laudando."--De Faseinatione + Fatatus. A. D. 1677. + +I have in Chapter Fifth mentioned several of the subjects to attain +which the Will may be directed by the aid of self-hypnotism, preceded +by Forethought. If the reader has carefully studied what I have said +and not merely skimmed it, he must have perceived that if the power be +fully acquired, it makes, as it were, new existence for its possessor, +opening to him boundless fields of action by giving him the enviable +power to acquire interest--that is to say agreeable or profitable +occupation--in whatever he pleases. In further illustration of which I +add the following: + +_To recall bygone memories or imperfectly remembered sensations, +scenes and experiences or images_. + +This is a difficult thing to describe, and no wonder, since it forms +the greatest and most trying task of all poets to depict that which +really depends for its charm on association, emotion and a chiaroscuro +of the feelings. We have all delightful reminiscences which make +ridiculous Dante's assertion that + + "There is no greater grief than to recall in pain + The happy days gone by;" + +which, if true, would make it a matter of regret that we ever had a +happy hour. However, I assume that it is a great pleasure to recall, +even in grief, beautiful bygone scenes and joys, and trust that the +reader has a mind healthy and cheerful enough to do the same. + +What constitutes a charm in many memories is often extremely varied. +Darkly shaded rooms with shutters closed in on an intensely hot +American summer day. Chinese matting on the floors--the mirrors and +picture frames covered with _tulle_--silence--the scent of magnolias +all over the house--the presence of loved ones now long dead and +gone--all of these combined form to me memory-pictures in which +nothing can be spared. The very scent of the flowers is like musk in a +perfume or "bouquet" of odors--it _fixes_ them well, or renders them +permanent. And it is all like a beautiful vivid dream. If I had my +life to live over again I would do frequently and with great care, +what I thought of too late, and now practice feebly--I would strongly +impress on my mind and very often recall, many such scenes, pictures, +times or memories. Very few people do this. Hence in all novels and +poems, especially the French, description generally smacks of +imitation and mere manufacture. It passes for "beautiful writing," but +there is always something in really unaffected truth from nature which +is caught by the true critic. I read lately a French romance which is +much admired, of this manufactured or second-hand kind. Every third +page was filled with the usual botany, rocks, skies, colors, fore and +backgrounds--"all very fine"--but in the whole of it not one of those +little touches of truth which stir us so in SHAKESPEARE, make us smile +in HERRICK or naïve PEPYS, or raise our hearts in WORDSWORTH. These +were true men. + +To be true we must be far more familiar with Nature than with scene +painting or photographs, and to do this we must, so to speak, +fascinate ourselves with pictures in life, glad memories of golden +hours, rock and river and greenwood tree. We must also banish +resolutely from our past all recollections of enemies and wrongs, +troubles and trials, and throw all our heart into doing so. Forgive +and forget all enmities--those of Misfortune and Fate being included. +Depend upon it that the brighter you can make your Past the pleasanter +will be your Future. + +This is just the opposite to what most people do, hence the frequent +and fond quotation of pessimistic poetry. It is all folly, and worse. +One result is that in modern books of travel the only truthful or +vivid descriptions are of sufferings of all kinds, even down to +inferior luncheons and lost hair brushes. Their joys they sketch with +an indifferent skill, like HEINE'S monk, who made rather a poor +description of Heaven, but was "gifted in Hell," which he depicted +with dreadful vigor. + +I find it a great aid to recall what I can of bygone beautiful +associations, and then sleep on them with a resolve that they shall +recur in complete condition. He who will thus resolutely clean up his +past life and clear away from it all sorrow _as well as he can_, and +refurnish it with beautiful memories, or make it better, _coûte que +coûte_, will do himself more good than many a doleful moral adviser +ever dreamed of. This is what I mean by _self-fascination_--the +making, as it were, by magic art, one's own past and self more +charming than we ever deemed it possible to be. We thus fascinate +ourselves. Those who believe that everything which is bygone has gone +to the devil are in a wretched error. The future is based on the +past--yes, made from it, and that which _was_ never dies, but returns +to bless or grieve. We mostly wrong our past bitterly, and bitterly +does it revenge itself. But it is like the lion of ANDROCLES, it +remembers those who treat it kindly. "And lo! when ANDROCLES was +thrown to the lion to be devoured, the beast lay down at his feet, and +licked his hands." Yes, we have all our lions! + +_To master difficult meanings_. It has often befallen me, when I was +at the University, or later when studying law, to exert my mind to +grasp, and all in vain, some problem in mathematics or a puzzling +legal question, or even to remember some refractory word in a foreign +language which would _not_ remain in the memory. After a certain +amount of effort in many of these cases, further exertion is +injurious, the mind or receptive power seems to be seized--as if +nauseated--with spasmodic rejections. In such a case pass the question +by, but on going to bed, think it over and _will_ to understand it on +the morrow. It will often suffice to merely desire that it shall recur +in more intelligible form--in which case, _nota bene_--if let alone it +will obey. This is as if we had a call to make tomorrow, when, as we +know, the memory will come at its right time of itself, especially if +we employ Forethought or special pressure. + +When I reflect on what I once endured from this cause, and how greatly +it could have been relieved or alleviated, I feel as if I could beg, +with all my heart, every student or teacher of youth to seriously +experiment on what I set forth in this book. It is also to be +observed, especially by metaphysicians and mental philosophers, that a +youth who has shown great indifference to, let us say mathematics, if +he has manifested an aptitude for philosophy or languages, will be in +all cases certain to excel in the former, if he can be brought to +make a good beginning in it. A great many cases of bad, _i. e._, +indifferent scholarship, are due to bad teaching of the rudiments by +adults who took no _interest_ in their pupils, and therefore inspired +none. + +_To determine what course to follow in any Emergency_. Many a man +often wishes with all his heart that he had some wise friend to +consult in his perplexities. What to do in a business trouble when we +are certain that there is an exit if we could only find it--a sure way +to tame an unruly horse if we had the secret--to do or not to do +whate'er the question--truly all this causes great trouble in life. +But, it is within the power of man to be his own friend, yes, and +companion, to a degree of which none have ever dreamed, and which +borders on the _weird_, or that which forebodes or suggests mysteries +to come. For it may come to pass that he who has trained himself to +it, may commune with his spirit as with a companion. + +This is, of course, done by just setting the problem, or question, or +dilemma, before ourselves as clearly as we can, so as to know our own +minds as well as possible. This done, sleep on it, with the resolute +will to have it recur on the morrow in a clear and solved form. And +should this occur, do not proceed to pull it to pieces again, by way +of improvement, but rather submit it to another night's rest. I would +here say that many lawyers and judges are perfectly familiar with this +process, and use it habitually, without being aware of its connection +with hypnotism or will. But they could aid it, if they would add this +peculiar _impulse_ to the action. + +What I will now discuss approaches the miraculous, or seems to do so +because it has been attempted or treated in manifold ways by sorcerers +and witches. The Voodoos, or black wizards in America, profess +to be able to awaken love in one person for another by means of +incantations, but admit that it is the most difficult of their feats. +Nor do I think that there is any infallible recipe for it, but that +there are means of _honestly_ aiding such affection can hardly be +denied. In the first place, he who would be loved must love--for that +is no honest love which is not sincere. And having thus inspired +himself, and made himself as familiar as possible, by quietly +observing as dispassionately as may be all the mental characteristics +of the one loved, let him with an earnest desire to know how to secure +a return, go to sleep, and see whether the next day will bring a +suggestion. And as the old proverb declares that luck comes to many +when least hoped for, so will it often happen that forethought is thus +fore-bought or secured. + +It is known that gifts pass between friends or lovers, to cause the +receiver to think of the giver, thus they are in a sense amulets. If +we believe, as HEINE prettily suggests, that something of the life or +the being of the owner or wearer has passed into the talisman, we are +not far off from the suggestion that our feelings are allied. All over +Italy, or over the world, pebbles of precious stone, flint or amber, +rough topaz or agate, are esteemed as lucky; all things of the kind +lead to suggestiveness, and may be employed in suggestion. + +What was originally known as Fascination, of which the German, +FROMANN, wrote a very large volume which I possess, is simply +Hypnotism without the putting to sleep. It is direct Suggestion. Where +there is a natural sympathy of like to like, soul answering soul, such +suggestion is easily established. Among people of a common, average, +worldly type who are habitually sarcastic, jeering, chaffing, and +trifling, or those whose idea of genial or agreeable companionship is +to "get a rise" out of all who will give and take irritations equally, +there can be no sympathy of gentle or refined emotions. Experiments, +whose whole nature presupposes earnest thought, cannot be tried with +any success by those who live habitually in an atmosphere of small +talk and "rubbishy" associations. Fascination should be mutual; to +attempt to exert it on anyone who is not naturally in sympathy is a +crime, and I believe that all such cases lead to suffering and +remorse. + +But where we perceive that there is an undoubted mutual liking and +good reason for it, fascination, when perfectly understood and +sympathetically used, facilitates and increases love and friendship, +and may be most worthily and advantageously employed. Unto anyone who +could, for example, merely skim over all that I have written, catching +an idea here and there, and then expect to master all, I can clearly +say that I can give him or her no definite idea of fascination. For +Fascination really is effectively what the old philosophers, who +had given immense study and research to the subject in ages when +susceptibility to suggestiveness went far beyond anything now known, +all knew and declared; that is to say, it existed, but that it +required a peculiar mind, and very certainly one which is not +frivolous, to understand its nature, and much more to master it. + +He who has by foresight, or previous consideration of a subject or +desire, allied to a vigorous resolution (which is a kind of projection +of the mind by will--and then submitting it to sleep), learned how to +bring about a wished-for state of mind, has, in a curious manner, made +as it were of his hidden self a conquest yet a friend. He has brought +to life within himself a Spirit, gifted with greater powers than those +possessed by Conscious Intellect. By his astonishing and unsuspected +latent power, Man can imagine and then create, even a spirit within +the soul. We make at first the sketch, then model it in clay, then +cast it in gypsum, and finally sculpture it in marble. + +I read lately, in a French novel, a description of a young lady, by +herself, in which she assumed to have within her two souls, one good, +of which she evidently thought very little, and another brilliantly +diabolical, capricious, vividly dramatic and interesting _esprit_--to +which she gave a great deal of attention. He who will begin by merely +_imagining_ that he has within him a spirit of beauty and light, which +is to subdue and extinguish the other or all that is in him of what is +low, commonplace, and mean, may bring this idea to exert a marvelous +influence. He can increase the conception, and give it reality, by +treating it with forethought and will, by suggestion, until it gives +marvellous result. This better self may be regarded as a guardian +angel, in any case it is a power by means of which we can learn +mysteries. It is also our Conscience, born of the perception of +Ideals. + +The Ideal or Spirit thus evolved should be morally pure, else the +experimenter will find, as did the magicians of old, that all who +dealt with any but good spirits, fell into the hands of devils, just +as ALLAN KARDEC says is the case with Spiritualists. But to speak as +clearly as I can, he who succeeds in winning or creating a higher Self +within himself, and fascinating it by sympathy, will find that he has, +within moral limits, a strange power of fascinating those who are in +sympathy with him. + +Whereupon many will say "of course." Like and like together strike. +Birds of a feather flock together. _Similis similibus_. But it often +happens in this life, though they meet they do _not_ pair off. Very +often indeed they meet, but to part. There must be, even where the +affinity exists, consideration and forethought to test the affinity. +It requires long practice even for keen eyes to recognize the amethyst +or topaz, or many other gems, in their natural state as sea-worn +pebbles. Now, it is not a matter of fancy, of romance, or imagination, +that there are men and women who really have, deeply hidden in +their souls, or more objectively manifested, peculiar or beautiful +characteristics, or a spirit. I would not speak here merely of +_naïveté_ or tenderness--a natural affinity for poetry, art, or +beauty, but the peculiar tone and manner of it, which is sympathetic +to ours. For two people may love music, yet be widely removed from all +agreement if one be a Wagnerian, and the other of an older school. +Suffice it to say that such similarities of mind or mood, of intellect +or emotion do exist, and when they are real, and not imaginary, or +merely the result of passional attraction, they suggest and may well +attract the use of Fascination. + +Those who actually develop within themselves such a spirit, regarding +it as one, that is a self beyond self, attain to a power which few +understand, which is practical, positive, and real, and not at all a +superstitious fancy. It may begin in imagining or fancy, but as the +veriest dream is material and may be repeated till we see it visibly +and can then copy it, so can we create in ourselves a being, a +segregation of our noblest thoughts, a superb abstraction of soul +which looks from its sunny mountain height down on the dark and +noisome valley which forms our worldly common intellect or mind, or +the only one known to by far the majority of mankind, albeit they may +have therein glimpses of light and truth. But it is to him who makes +for himself, by earnest Will and Thought, a _separate_ and better Life +or Self that a better life is given. + +Those who possess genius or peculiarly cultivated minds of a highly +moral caste, gifted with pure integrity, and above vulgarity and +worldly commonplace habits, should never form a tie in friendship or +love without much forethought. And then if the active agent has +disciplined his mind by self-hypnotism until he can control or manage +his Will with ease, he will know without further instruction how to +fascinate, and that properly and legitimately. + +Those who now acquire this power are few and far between, and when +they _really_ possess it they make no boast nor parade, but rather +keep it carefully to themselves, perfectly content with what it yields +for reward. And here I may declare something in which I firmly +believe, yet which very few I fear will understand as I mean it. If +this fascination and other faculties like it may be called Magical +(albeit all is within the limits of science and matter), then there +are assuredly in this world magicians whom we meet without dreaming +that they are such. Here and there, however rare, there is mortal who +has studied deeply--but + + "Softened all and tempered into beauty; + And blended with lone thoughts and wanderings, + The quest of hidden knowledge, and a mind + To _love_ the universe." + +Such beings do not come before the world, but hide their lights, +knowing well that their magic would defeat itself, and perish if it +were made common. Any person of the average worldly cast who could +work any miracles, however small, would in the end bitterly regret it +if he allowed it to be known. Thus I have read ingenious stories, as +for instance one by HOOD, showing what terrible troubles a man fell +into by being able to make himself invisible. Also another setting +forth the miseries of a successful alchemist. The Algonkin Indians +have a legend of a man who came to grief and death through his power +of making all girls love him. But the magic of which I speak is of a +far more subtle and deeply refined nature, and those who possess it +are alone in life, save when by some rare chance they meet their kind. +Those who are deeply and mysteriously interested in any pursuit for +which the great multitude of all-alike people have no sympathy, who +have peculiar studies and subjects of thought, partake a little of +the nature of the _magus_. Magic, as popularly understood, has no +existence, it is a literal _myth_--for it means nothing but what +amazes or amuses for a short time. No miracle would be one if it +became common. Nature is infinite, therefore its laws cannot be +violated--_ergo_, there is no magic if we mean by that an inexplicable +contravention of law. + +But that there are minds who have simply advanced in knowledge beyond +the multitude in certain things which cannot at once be made common +property is true, for there is a great deal of marvelous truth not as +yet dreamed of even by HERBERT SPENCERS or EDISONS, by RONTGENS or +other scientists. And yet herein is hidden the greatest secret of +future human happenings. + + "What I was is passed by, + What I am away doth fly; + What I shall be none do see, + Yet in that my glories be." + +Now to illustrate this more clearly. Some of these persons who are +more or less secretly addicted to magic (I say secretly, because they +cannot make it known if they would), take the direction of feeling or +living with inexpressible enjoyment in the beauties of nature. That, +they attain to something almost or quite equal to life in Fairyland, +is conclusively proved by the fact that only very rarely, here and +there in their best passages, do the greatest poets more than +imperfectly and briefly convey some broken idea or reflection of the +feelings which are excited by thousands of subjects in nature in many. +The Mariana of TENNYSON surpasses anything known to me in any language +as conveying the reality of feeling alone in a silent old house, where +everything is a dim, uncanny manner, recalled the past--yet suggested +a kind of mysterious presence--as in the passage: + + "All day within the dreary house + The doors upon their hinges creaked, + The blue fly sang in the pane, the mouse + Behind the mouldering wainscot shrieked, + Or from the crevice peered about; + Old faces glimmered thro' the doors, + Old footsteps trod the upper floors, + Old voices called her from without." + +Yet even this unsurpassed poem does no more than _partially_ revive +and recall the reality to me of similar memories of long, long ago, +when an invalid child I was often left in a house entirely alone, from +which even the servants had absented themselves. Then I can remember +how after reading the Arabian Nights or some such unearthly romance, +as was the mode in the Thirties, the very sunshine stealing craftily +and silently like a living thing, in a bar through the shutter, +twinkling with dust, as with infinitely small stars, living and dying +like sparks, the buzzing of the flies who were little blue imps, with +now and then a larger Beelzebub--a strange imagined voice ever about, +which seemed to say something without words--and the very furniture, +wherein the chairs were as goblins, and the broom a tall young woman, +and the looking-glass a kind of other self-life--all of this as I +recall it appears to me as a picture of the absence of human beings as +described by TENNYSON, _plus_ a strange personality in every object-- +which the poet does not attempt to convey. This is, however, a very +small or inferior illustration; there are far more remarkable and +deeply spiritual or æsthetically-suggestive subjects than this, and +that in abundance, which Art has indeed so reproduced as to amaze the +many who have only had snatches of such observation themselves. + +But the magicians, SHELLEY, or KEATS, or WORDSWORTH, only convey +_partial_ echoes of certain subjects, or of their specialties. It is +indeed beautiful to feel what Art can do, but the original is worth +far more. And if the reader would be such a magician, let him give his +heart and will to taking an interest in all that is beautiful, good +and true--or honest. For that it really can be done in all fullness is +true beyond a dream of doubt. By the ordinary methods of learning one +may indeed acquire an exact, mechanically drawn picture, which we +modify with what beauty chance bestows. But he who will learn by the +process which I have endeavored to describe, or by studying with the +_will_, cannot fail to experience a strange enchantment in so doing, +as I have read in an Italian tale of a youth who was sadly weary of +his lessons, but who, being taken daily by certain kind fairies into +their school on a hill, found all difficulties disappear and the +pursuit of knowledge as joyful as that of pleasure. + +I have heard hypnotism, with regard to fascination, spoken of with +great apprehension. "It is dreadful," said one to me, "to think of +anybody's being able to exercise such an influence on anyone." And +yet, widely known as it is, instances of its abuse are very rare. +Thus, when Cremation was first discussed, it was warmly opposed, +because somebody _might_ be poisoned, and then, the body being burned, +there could be no autopsy! Nature has decreed some drawback to the +best things; nothing is perfect. But to balance the immense benefits +latent in suggestion against the problematic abuses is like condemning +the ship because a bucket of tar has been spilt on the deck. + +Sincere kindness and respect, which are allied unto identity, are +the best or surest key to love, and they in turn are allied to +fascination. Here I might observe that the action of the eye, which is +a silent speech of emotion, has always been regarded as powerful in +fascination, but those who are not by nature gifted with it cannot use +it to much good purpose. That emotional, susceptible subjects ready to +receive suggestion can be put to sleep or made to imagine anything +terrible regarding anybody's glance is very true, just as an ignorant +Italian will believe of any man that he has the _malocchio_ if he be +told so, whence came the idea that Pope Gregory XVI had the evil eye. +But where there is _sincere_ kindly feeling it makes itself felt in a +sympathetic nature by what is popularly called magic, only because it +is not understood. The enchantment lies in this, that unconscious +cerebration, or the power (or powers), who are always acting in us, +effect many curious and very subtle mental phenomena, all of which +they do not confide to the common-sense waking judgment or Reason, +simply because the latter is almost entirely occupied with common +worldly subjects. It is as if someone whose whole attention and +interest had been at all times given to some plain hard drudgery, +should be called on to review or write a book of exquisitely subtle +poetry. It is, indeed, almost sadly touching to reflect how this +innocent and beautiful faculty of recognizing what is good, is really +acting perhaps in evil and merely worldly minds all in vain, and all +unknown to them. The more the conscious waking-judgment has been +trained to recognize goodness, the more will the hidden water-fairies +rise above the surface, as it were, to the sunshine. So it comes that +true kindly feeling is recognized by sympathy, and those who would be +loved, cannot do better than make themselves truly and perfectly +_kind_ by forethought and will, and with this the process of +self-hypnotism will be a great aid. For it is not more by winning +others to us, than in willing ourselves to them that true Love +consists. + +Love or trusting sympathy from any human being, however humble, is the +most charming thing in life, and it ought to be the main object of +existence. Yet there are thousands all round us, yes, many among +our friends or acquaintances, who live and die without ever having +known it, because in their egotism and folly they conceive of close +relations as founded on personal power, interest or the weakness of +others. The only fascination which such people can ever exercise is +that of the low and devilish kind, the influence of the cat on the +mouse, the eye of the snake on the bird, which in the end degrades +them into deeper evil. That there are such people, and that they +really make captive and oppress weaker minds, by suggestion, is true; +the marvel being that so few find it out. + +But in proportion as this kind of fascination is vile and mean, +that which may be called altruistic or sympathetic attraction, or +Enchantment, is noble and pure, because it acquires strength in +proportion to the purity and beauty of the soul or will which inspires +it. It is as real and has as much power, and can be exercised by any +honest person whatever with wonderful effect, even to the performing +what are popularly called "miracles," which only means wonderful works +beyond _our_ power of explanation. But this kind of fascination is +little understood as yet, simply because it is based on purity, +morality and light, and hitherto the seekers for occult mysteries have +been chiefly occupied with the gloomy and mock-diabolical rubbish of +old tradition, instead of scientific investigation of our minds and +brains. + +There is also in truth a Fascination by means of the Voice, which has +in it a much deeper and stronger power or action than that of merely +sweet sound as of an instrument. The Jesuit, GASPAR SCHOTT, in his +_Magio Medica_ treats of Fascination as twofold: _De Fascinatione per +Visunt et Vocem_. I have found among Italian witches as with Red +Indian wizards, every magical operation depended on an incantation, +and every incantation on the feeling, intonation, or manner in which +it is sung. Thus near Rome any peasant overhearing a _scongiurasione_ +would recognize it from the _sound_ alone. + +Anyone, male or female, can have a deep, rich voice by simply subduing +and training it, and very rarely raising it to a high pitch. _Nota +bene_ that the less this is affected the more effective it will be. +There are many, especially women, who speak, as it were, all time in +italics, when they do not set their speech in small caps or displayed +large capitals. The result of this, as regards sound, is the so-called +nasal voice, which is very much like caterwauling, and I need not say +that there is no fascination in it--on the contrary its tendency is to +destroy any other kind of attraction. It is generally far more due to +an ill-trained, unregulated, excitable, nervous temperament than to +any other cause. + +The training the voice to a subdued state "like music in its softest +key," or to rich, deep tones, though it be done artificially, has an +extraordinary effect on the character and on others. It is associated +with a well-trained mind and one gifted with self-control. One of the +richest voices to which I ever listened was that of the poet TENNYSON. +I can remember another man of marvelous mind, vast learning, and +æsthetic-poetic power who also had one of those voices which exercised +great influence on all who heard it. + +There is an amusing parallel as regards nasal-screaming voices in the +fact that a donkey cannot bray unless he at the same time lifts his +tail--but if the tail be _tied down_, the beast must be silent. So the +man or woman, whose voice like that of the erl-king's is "ghostly +shrill as the wind in the porch of a ruined church," always raise +their tones with their temper, but if we keep the former down by +training, the latter cannot rise. + +I once asked a very talented lady teacher of Elocution in Philadelphia +if she regarded shrill voices as incurable. She replied that they +invariably yielded to instruction and training. Children under no +domestic restraint who were allowed to scream out and dispute on all +occasions and were never corrected in intonation, generally had vulgar +voices. + +A good voice acts very evidently on the latent powers of the mind, +and impresses the æsthetic sense, even when it is unheeded by the +conscious judgment. Many a clergyman makes a deep impression by his +voice alone. And why? Certainly not by appealing to the reason. +Therefore it is well to be able to fascinate with the voice. Now, +_nota bene_--as almost every human being can speak in a soft or +well-toned voice, "at least, subdued unto a temperate tone" just as +long as he or she chooses to do it, it follows that with foresight, +aided by suggestion, or continued will, we can all acquire this +enviable accomplishment. + +To end this chapter with a curious bit of appropriate folk-lore, I +would record that while Saxo Grammaticus, Olaus Magnus, and a host of +other Norsemen have left legends to prove that there were sorcerers +who by magic of the soft and wondrous voice could charm and capture +men of the sword, so the Jesuit ATHANASIUS KIRCHER, declares that on +the seventeenth day of May, 1638, he, going from Messina in a boat, +witnessed with his own eyes the capture not of swordsmen but of sundry +_xiphioe_, or sword-fish, by means of a melodiously chanted charm, the +words whereof he noted down as follows: + + "Mammassudi di pajanu, + Palletu di pajanu, + Majassu stigneta. + Pallettu di pajanu, + Palè la stagneta. + Mancata stigneta. + Pro nastu varitu pressu du + Visu, e da terra!" + +Of which words Kircher declares that they are probably of mingled +corrupt Greek and ancient Sicilian, but that whatever they are, they +certainly are admirable for the catching of fish. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE SUBLIMINAL SELF. + +While the previous pages of this work were in the press, I received +and read a very interesting and able Book, entitled, "Telepathy and +the Subliminal Self, or an account of recent investigations regarding +Hypnotism, Automatism, Dreams, Phantoms, and related phenomena," by R. +OSGOOD MASON, A.M., Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. +MASON, on the whole, may be said to follow HARTMANN, since he places +Thaumaturgy, or working what have been considered as wonders, +miracles, and the deeds of spiritualists, on the evolutionary or +material basis. He is also far less superstitious or prone to seek the +miraculous and mysterious for its own sake, than his predecessors +in _occulta_, and limits his beliefs to proofs sustained by good +authority. He recognizes a second, or what he calls a subliminal Self, +the Spirit of our Soul, acting independently of Waking Conscious +Judgment, a mysterious _alter ego_, which has marvelous power. + +This second or inner self I have also through this work of mine +recognized as a reality, though it is, like the self-conscious soul, +rather an aggregate than a distinct unity. Thus we may for convenience +sake speak of the Memory, when there are in fact millions of memories, +since every image stored away in the brain is one, and the faculty of +revising them for the use of the waking soul, is certainly apart from +the action of bringing them into play in dreams. In fact if we regard +the action of all known faculties, we might assume with the Egyptians +that man had not merely eight distinct souls, but eighty, or even a +countless number. And as the ancients, knowing very little about +mental action, classed it all as one soul, so we may call that which +is partially investigated and mysterious, a second or inner "soul," +spirit, or subliminal self--that is to say provisionally, till more +familiar with its nature and relations. + +DR. MASON, to his credit be it said, has not accepted for Gospel, +as certain French writers have done, the tricks of self-confessed +humbugs. He has only given us the cream of the most strictly attested +cases, as related by French scientists and people of unquestioned +veracity. And yet admitting that in every instance the witness +sincerely believed that he or she spoke the truth, the aggregate is so +far from confirming the tales told, that consideration and comparison +would induce very grave doubt. Thus, who could have been more sincere, +purely honest or pious than JUSTINUS KERNER, whom I knew personally, +SWEDENBORG, ESCHENMAYER and all of their school? Yet how utterly +irreconciliable are all their revelations! + +Therefore, while I have cited illustration and example as affording +unproved or hearsay evidence, I, in fact, decidedly reject not only +all tradition, as proof on occult subjects, but all assertion from any +quarter, however trustworthy, asking the reader to believe in nothing +which he cannot execute and make sure unto himself. Tradition and +testimony are very useful to supply ideas or theories, but to actually +_believe_ in anything beyond his experience a man should take +sufficient interest in it to _prove_ it by personal experiment. And, +therefore, as I have already declared, I not only ask, but hope that +no reader will put faith in anything which I have alleged or declared, +until he has fully and fairly proved it to be true in his own person. + +The history of true culture, truth, or progress has been that of doubt +or disbelief in all which cannot be scientifically proved or made +manifest to sensation and reflection, and even in this the most +scrupulous care must be exercised, since our senses often deceive us. +Therefore, in dealing with subjects which have undeniably been made +the means of deceit and delusion thousands of times to one authentic +instance, it is not well to accept testimony, or any kind of evidence, +or proof, save that which we can establish for ourself. The day is not +yet, but it is coming, when self-evidence will be claimed, and +granted, as to all human knowledge, and the sooner it comes the better +will it be for the world. + +But I would be clearly understood as declaring that it is only as +regards making up our minds to absolute faith in what involves what +may be called our mental welfare, which includes the most serious +conduct of life, that I would limit belief to scientific proof. As an +example, I will cite the very interesting case of the hypnotic +treatment of a patient by DR. VOISIN, and as given by MASON. + +"In the summer of 1884, there was at the Salpètrière a young woman of +a deplorable type, Jeanne S----, who was a criminal lunatic, filthy, +violent, and with a life history of impurity and crime. M. Auguste +Voisin, one of the physicians of the staff, undertook to hypnotize +her, May 31. At that time she was so violent that she could only be +kept quiet by a straight-jacket and the constant cold douche to her +head. She would not look at M. Voisin, but raved and spat at him. He +persisted, kept his face near and opposite to hers, and his eyes +following hers constantly. In ten minutes she was in a sound sleep, +and soon passed into a somnambulistic condition. The process was +repeated many days, and she gradually became sane while in the +hypnotic condition, but still raved when she woke. + +"Gradually then she began to accept hypnotic suggestion, and would +obey trivial orders given her while asleep, such as to sweep her room, +then suggestions regarding her general behavior; then, in her hypnotic +condition, she began to express regret for her past life, and form +resolutions of amendment to which she finally adhered when she awoke. +Two years later she was a nurse in one of the Paris hospitals, and her +conduct was irreproachable. M. Voisin has followed up this case by +others equally striking." + +This is not only an unusually well authenticated instance, but one +which seems to carry conviction from the manner of narration. Yet it +would be absurd to declare that the subject neither deceived herself +nor others, or that the doctor made no mistakes either in fact or +involuntarily. The whole is, however, extremely valuable from its +_probability_, and still more from its suggesting experiment in a much +more useful direction than that followed in the majority of cases +recorded in most books, which, especially in France, seem chiefly to +have been conducted from a melodramatic or merely medical point of +view. Very few indeed seem to have ever dreamed that a hypnotized +subject was anything but a being to be cured of some disorder, +operated on without pain, or made to undergo and perform various +tricks, often extremely cruel, silly, and wicked--the main object of +all being to advertise the skill of the operator. In fact, if it were +to be accepted that the main object of hypnotism is to repeat such +experiments as are described in most of the French works on the +subject, humanity and decency would join in prohibiting the practice +of the art altogether. These books point out and make clear in the +minutest manner, how every kind of crime can be committed, and the +mind brought to regard all that is evil as a matter of course. The +making an innocent person attempt to commit a murder or steal is among +the most usual experiments; while, on the contrary, any case like that +of the reform of Jeanne S---- is either very rare, or else is treated +simply as a proof of the skill of some _medico_. The fact that if the +successes which are recorded are _true_, there exists a _stupendous_ +power by means of which the average morality and happiness of mankind +can be incredibly advanced and sustained, and Education, Art in every +branch, and, in a word, all Culture be marvelously developed on a far +more secure basis than in the old systems, does not seem to have +occurred to any of those who possessed, as it were, gold, without +having the least idea of its value or even its qualities. + +Happiness in the main is a pleasant, contented condition of the mind, +that is to say, "a state of mind." To be perfect, as appears from an +enlarged study of all things or phenomena in their relations (since +every part must harmonize with the whole), this happiness implies duty +and altruism, every whit as much as self-enjoyment. This agrees with +and results from scientific experience. Under the old _a priori_ +psychologic system, _selfishness_ (which meant that every soul was to +be chiefly or solely concerned in saving itself, guided by hope of +reward and fear of punishment), it was naturally the basis of +morality. + +Now, accepting the definition of Happiness as a state of mind under +certain conditions, it follows that it can be realized to a great +degree, and in all cases to some degree, firstly by forethought or +carefully defining what it is or what we desire, and secondly by +making a fixed idea by simple, well-nigh mechanical means, without any +resource to _les grands môyens_. According to the old and now rapidly +vanishing philosophy, this was to be effected by sublime morality, +prayer, or adjuration of supernatural beings and noble heroism, but +what is here proposed is much humbler, albeit more practical. Reading +immortal poetry or prose is indeed a splendid power, but to learn the +letters of the alphabet, and to spell, is very simple and unpoetic, +yet far more practical. What I have described has been the mere dull +rudiments. It is most remarkable that the world has always known that +the art of RAFFAELLE, MICHAEL ANGELO, and ALBERT DURER was based, like +that of the greatest musicians, on extensive rudimentary study, and +yet has never dreamed that what far surpasses all art in every way, +and even includes the desire for it, may all proceed from, or be +developed by, a process which is even easier than those required for +the lesser branches. + +He who can control his own mind by an iron will, and say to the +Thoughts which he would banish, "Be ye my slaves and begone into outer +darkness," or to Peace "Dwell with me forever, come what may," _and be +obeyed_, that man is a mighty magician who has attained what is worth +more than all that Earth possesses. Absolute self-control under the +conditions before defined--since our happiness to be true must agree +with that of others--is absolutely essential to happiness. There can +be no greater hero than the man who can conquer himself and think +exactly as he pleases. That which annoys, tempts, stirs us to being +irritable, wicked, or mean, is an aggregate of evil thoughts or images +received by chance or otherwise into the memory, developed there into +vile unions, and new forms like coalescing animalcule, and so powerful +and vivid or objective do they become that men in all ages have given +them a real existence as evil spirits. + +Every sane man living, can if he _really_ desires it, obtain complete +absolute command of himself, exorcise these vile demons and bring in +peace instead, by developing with determination the simple process +which I have described. I have found in my own experience a fierce +pleasure in considering obnoxious and pernicious Thoughts as imps or +demons to be conquered, in which case Pride and even Arrogance become +virtues, even as poisons in their place are wholesome medicines. Thus, +he who is haunted with the fixed idea, even well nigh to monomania, +that he will never give way to ill temper, that nothing shall disturb +his equanimity, need not fear evil results any more than the being +haunted by angels. Now we can all have fixed or haunting ideas, on any +subject which we please to entertain--but the idea to create good and +beneficent haunting has not, that I am aware, been suggested by +philosophers. + +That mental influence can be exerted hypnotically most directly and +certainly by one person upon another is undeniable, but this requires, +firstly, a susceptible subject, or only one person in three or +four, and to a degree a specially gifted operator, and very often +"heaven-sent moments." + + "However greatly mortals may require it, + All cannot go to Corinth who desire it." + +But forethought, self-suggestion, and the bringing the mind to dwell +continuously on a subject are absolutely within the reach of all who +have any strength of mind whatever, without any aid. Those of feebler +ability yield, however, all the more readily (as in the case of +children) to the influence of others or of hypnotism by a master. +Therefore, either subjectively or with assistance, most human beings +can be morally benefited to a limitless degree, "morally" including +intellectually. + +We often hear it said of a person that he or she would do well or +succeed if that individual had "application." Now, as Application, +or "sticking to it," or perseverance in earnest faith, is the main +condition for success in all that I have discussed, I trust that it +will be borne in mind that the process indicated provides from +the first lesson or experiment for this chief requisite. For the +_fore-thinking_ and hypnotizing our minds to be in a certain state or +condition all the next day, by what some writers, such as HARTMANN, +treat as magical process--but which is just so much magical as the use +of an electrical machine--is simply a beginning in Attention and +Perseverance. + + "So, like a snowball rolled in falling snow, + It gathers size as it doth onward go." + +When we make a wish or will, or determine that in future after awaking +we shall be in a given state of mind, we also include Perseverance for +the given time, and as success supposes repetition in all minds, it +follows that Perseverance will be induced gradually and easily. + +And here I may remark that while all writers on ethics, duty or +morals, cry continually "Be persevering, be honest, be enterprising, +exert your will!" and so on, and waste thousands of books in +illustrating the advantages of all these fine things, there is not one +who tells us _how_ to practically execute or do them. To follow the +hint of a quaint Sunday School picture, they show us a swarm of Bees, +with hive and honey, but do not tell us how to catch _one_. And yet a +man may be anything he pleases if he will by easy and simple practice +as I have shown, make the conception habitual. I do not tell you as +these good folk do, how to go about it nobly, or heroically, or +piously; in fact, I prescribe a method as humble as making a fire, or +a pair of shoes, and yet in very truth and honor I have profited far +more by it than I ever did from all the exhortations which I ever have +read. + +Now there are many men who are not so bad in themselves in reality, +but who are so haunted by evil thoughts, impulses, and desires, that +they, being taught by the absurd old heathenish psychology that the +"soul" is all one spiritual entity, believe themselves to be as wicked +as Beelzebub could wish, when, in fact, these sins are nothing but +evil weeds which came into the mind as neglected seeds, and grew apace +from sheer carelessness. Regarding them in the light, as one may say, +of bodily and material nuisances, or a kind of vermin, they can be +extirpated by the strong hand of Will, much more easily than under the +old system, whereby they were treated with respect and awe as MILTON +hath done (and most immorally too), DANTE being no better; and they +would both have exerted their gigantic intellects to better purpose +by showing man how to conquer the devil, instead of exalting and +exaggerating his stupendous power and showing how, as regards Humanity +(for which expressly the Universe, including countless millions of +solar systems, was created), Satan has by far the victory, since he +secures the majority of souls. For saying which thing a holy bishop +once got himself into no end of trouble. + +I say that he who uses his will can crush and drive out vile haunting +thoughts, and the more rudely and harshly he does it the better. In +all the old systems, without exception, they are treated with far too +much respect and reverence, and no great wonder either, since they +were regarded as a great innate portion of the soul. Whether to be +cleared out by the allopathic exorcism, or the gentler homoepathic +prayer, the patient never relied on himself. There is a fine Italian +proverb in the collection of GUILLO VARRINO, Venice 1656, which +declares that _Buona volontà supplice à facolta_--"strong will ekes +out ability"--and before the Will (which the Church has ever weakened +or crushed) no evil instincts can hold. The same author tells us that +"The greatest man in the world is he who can govern his own will," +also, "To him who wills naught is impossible." To which I would add +that "Whoever chooses to have a will may do so by culture," or by ever +so little to begin with. Nay, I have no doubt that in time there will +be societies, schools, churches, or circles, in which the Will shall +be taught and applied to all moral and mental culture. + +He who wills it sincerely can govern his Will, and he who can govern +his Will is a thousand times more fortunate than if he could govern +the world. For to govern the Will is to be without fear, superior and +indifferent to all earthly follies and shams, idols, cants and +delusions, it is to be lord of a thousand isles in the sea of life, +and absolutely greater than any living mortal, as men exist. Small +need has that man to heed what his birth or station in society may be +who has mastered himself with the iron will; for he who has conquered +death and the devil need fear no shadows. + +He who masters himself by Will has attained to all that is best and +noblest in Stoicism, Epicureanism, Christianity, and Agnosticism; if +the latter be understood not as doubt, but free Inquiry, and could men +be made to feel what all this means and what power it bestows, and how +easily it really is to master it, we should forthwith see all humanity +engaged in the work. + +It has been declared by many in the past in regard to schooling their +minds to moral and practical ends that, leading busy lives, they had +not time to think of such matters. But I earnestly protest that it is +these very men of all others who most require the discipline which I +have taught, and it is as easy for them as for anybody; as it, indeed, +ought to be easier, yes, and far more profitable. For the one who +leads by fortune a quiet life of leisure can often school himself +without a system, while he who toils amid anxious thoughts and with +every mental power severely taxed, will find that he can do his work +_far_ more easily if he determines that he _will_ master it. The +amount of mental action which lies dormant in us all is illimitable +and it can all be realized by the hypnotism of Will. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +PARACELSUS. + +That our ordinary consciousness or Waking Intellect, and what is +generally recognized as Mind or Soul, includes whatever has been taken +in by sensation and reflection and assimilated to daily wants, or +shows itself in bad or good memories and thought, is evident. Not +less clear is it that there is another hidden Self--a power which, +recognizing much which is evil in the Mind, would fain reject, or +rule, or subdue it. This latent, inner Intelligence calls into action +the Will. All of this is vague, and, it may be, unscientific. It is +more rational to believe in many faculties or functions, but the +classification here suggested may serve as a basis. It is effectively +that of GRASSNER, or of all who have recognized the power of the Will +to work "miracles," guided by a higher morality. And it is very +curious that PARACELSUS based his whole system of nervous cure, at +least, on this theory. Thus, in the _Liber Entium Morborum, de Ente +Spirituali_, chap, iii, he writes: + +"As we have shown that there are two _Subjecta_, this will we assume +as our ground. Ye know that there is in the Body a Soul. (_Geist_.) +Now reflect, to what purpose? Just that it may sustain life, even as +the air keeps animals from dying for want of breath. So we know what +the soul is. This soul in Man is actually clear, intelligible and +sensible to the other soul, and, classing them, they are to be +regarded as allied, even as bodies are. I have a soul--the _other_ +hath also one." + +PARACELSUS is here very obscure, but he manifestly means by "the +other," the Body. To resume: + +"The Souls know one another as 'I,' and 'the other.' They converse +together in their language, not by necessity according to our +thoughts, but what _they_ will. And note, too, that there may be anger +between them, and one may belittle or injure the other; this injury is +in the Soul, the Soul in the body. Then the body suffers and is ill-- +not materially or from a material _Ens_, but from the Soul. For this +we need spiritual remedy. Ye are two who are dear unto one another; +great in affinity. The cause is not in the body, nor is it from +without; it comes from your souls (_Geisten_), who are allied. +The same pair may become inimical, or remain so. And that ye may +understand a cause for this, note that the Spirit (_Geist_) of the +Reasoning Faculty (_Vernunft_) is not born, save from the _Will_, +therefore the Will and the Reason are separate. What exists and acts +according to the Will lives in the Spirit; what only according to +the Reason lives against the Spirit. For the Reason brings forth no +spirit, only the Soul (_Seel_) is born of it--from Will comes the +Spirit, the essence of which we describe and let the Soul be." + +In this grandly conceived but most carelessly written passage the +author, in the beginning thereof, makes such confusion in expressing +both Soul and Spirit with the one word, _Geist_, that his real meaning +could not be intelligible to the reader who had not already mastered +the theory. But, in fact, the whole conception is marvelous, and +closely agreeing with the latest discoveries in Science, while +ignoring all the old psychological system. + +Very significant is what PARACELSUS declares in his _Fragmenta +Medicina de Morbis Somnii_, that so many evils beset us, "caused by +the coarseness of our ignorance, because we know not what is born in +us." That is to say, if we knew our mental power, or what we are +capable of, we could cure or control all bodily infirmities. And how +to rule and form this power, and make it obey the _Geist_ or Will +which PARACELSUS believed was born of the common conscious Soul--that +is the question. + +For PARACELSUS truly believed that out of this common Soul, the result +of Sensation and Reflection, and all we pick up by Experience and +Observation (and such as makes all that there is of Life for most +people), there is born, or results, a perception of Ideas, of right +and wrong, of mutual interests; a certain subtle, moral conscience +or higher knowledge. "The Souls may become inimical;" that is, the +Conscience, or Spirit, may differ or disagree with the Soul, as a son +may be at variance with his father. So the flower or fruit may oft +despise the root. The Will is allied to Conscience or a perception of +the Ideal. When a man finds out that he knows more or better than he +has hitherto done: as, for instance, when a thief learns that it is +wrong to steal, and feels it deeply, he endeavors to reform, although +he _feels_ all the time old desires and temptations to rob. Now, if +he resolutely subdue these, his Will is born. "The spirit of the +Reasoning faculty is not born, save of the Will. . . . what exists and +acts according to the Will lives in the spirit." The perception of +ideals is the bud, Conscience the flower, and the Will the fruit. A +pure Will must be _moral_, for it is _the_ result of the perception of +Ideals, or a Conscience. The world in general regards Will as mere +blind force, applicable to good or bad indifferently. But the more +truly and fully it is developed, or as Orson is raised to Valentine, +the more moral and optimistic does it become. _Will_ in its perfection +is Genius, spontaneous originality, that is Voluntary; not merely a +power to lift a weight, or push a load, or force others to yield, but +the Thought itself which suggests the deed and finds a _reason_ for +it. Now the merely unscrupulous use of Opportunity and Advantage, or +Crime, is popularly regarded as having a strong Will; but this, as +compared to a Will with a conscience, is as the craft of the fox +compared to that of the dragon, and that of the dragon to Siegfried. + +And here it may be observed as a subtle and strange thing, approaching +to magic apparently, as understood by HARTMANN and his school, that +the Will sometimes, when much developed, actually manifests something +like an independent personality, or at least seems to do so, to an +acute observer. And what is more remarkable, it can have this freedom +of action and invention delegated to it, and will act on it. + +Thus, in conversation with HERKOMER, the Artist, and Dr. W. W. +BALDWIN, Nov. 2d, 1878, the former explained to me that when he would +execute a work of art, he just determined it with care or Forethought +in his mind, and gave it a rest, as by sleep, during which time it +unconsciously fructified or germinated, even as a seed when planted in +the ground at last grows upward into the light and air. Now, that the +entire work should not be too much finished or quite completed, and to +leave room for after-thoughts or possible improvements, he was wont, +as he said, to give the Will some leeway, or freedom; which is the +same thing as if, before going to sleep, we _Will_ or determine that +on the following day our Imagination, or Creative Force, or Inventive +Genius, shall be unusually active, which will come to pass after some +small practice and a few repetitions, as all may find for themselves. +Truly, it will be according to conditions, for if there be but little +in a man, either he will bring but little out, or else he must wait +until he can increase what he hath. And in this the Will _seems_ to +act like an independent person, ingeniously, yet withal obedient. And +the same also characterizes images in dreams, which sometimes appear +to be so real that it is no wonder many think they are spirits from +another world, as is true of many haunting thoughts which come +unbidden. However, this is all mere Thaumaturgy, which has been so +deadly to Truth in the old _à priori_ psychology, and still works +mischief, albeit it has its value in suggesting very often in Poetry +what Science afterwards proves in Prose. + +To return to PARACELSUS, HEINE complains that his German is harder to +understand than his Latin. However, I think that in the following +passages he shows distinctly a familiarity with hypnotism, or +certainly, passes by hand and suggestion. Thus, chap, x, _de Ente +Spirituali_, in which the Will is described, begins as follows: "Now +shall ye mark that the Spirits rule their subjects. And I have shown +intelligibly how the _Ens Spirituale_, or Spiritual Being, rules so +mightily the body that many disorders may be ascribed to it. Therefore +unto these ye should not apply ordinary medicine, but heal the +spirit--therein lies the disorder." + +PARACELSUS clearly states that by the power of Foresight--he uses the +exact word, _Fürsicht_--Man may, aided by Sleep, attain to knowledge-- +past, present or future--and achieve Telepathy, or communion at a +distance. In the _Fragmenta, Caput de Morbis Somnii_ he writes: + +"Therefore learn, that by Foresight man can know future things; and, +from experience, the past and present. Thereby is man so highly gifted +in Nature that he knows or perceives (_sicht_), as he goes, his +neighbor or friend in a distant land. Yet, on waking, he knows nothing +of all this. For God has given to us all--Art, Wisdom, Reason--to know +the future, and what passes in distant lands; but we know it not, for +we fools, busied in common things, sleep away, as it were, what is in +us. Thus, seeing one who is a better artist than thou art, do not say +that he has more gift or grace than thou; for thou hast it also, but +hast not tried, and so is it with all things. What Adam and Moses did +was to _try_, and they succeeded, and it came neither from the Devil +nor from Spirits, but from the Light of Nature, which they developed +in themselves. But we do _not_ seek for what is in us, therefore we +remain nothing, and are nothing." + +Here the author very obscurely, yet vigorously, declares that we can +do or learn what we _will_, but it must be achieved by foresight, +will, and the aid of sleep. + +It seems very evident, after careful study of the text, that here, as +in many other places, our author indicates familiarity with the method +of developing mental action in its subtlest and most powerful forms. +Firstly, by determined Foresight, and, secondly, by the aid of sleep, +corresponding to the bringing a seed to rest a while, and thereby +cause it to germinate; the which admirable simile he himself uses in a +passage which I have not cited. + +PARACELSUS was the most original thinker and the worst writer of a +wondrous age, when all wrote badly and thought badly. There is in +his German writings hardly one sentence which is not ungrammatical, +confused, or clumsy; nor one without a vigorous idea, which shows the +mind or character of the man. + +As a curious instance of the poetic originality of PARACELSUS we may +take the following: + +"It is an error to suppose that chiromancy is limited to the hand, for +there are significant lines (indicating character), all over the body. +And it is so in vegetable life. For in a plant every leaf is a hand. +Man hath two; a tree many, and every one reveals its anatomy--a +hand-anatomy. Now ye shall understand that in double form the lines +are masculine or feminine. And there are as many differences in these +lines on leaves as in human hands." + +GOETHE has the credit that he reformed or advanced the Science of +Botany, by reducing the plant to the leaf as the germ or type; and +this is now further reduced to the cell, but the step was a great one. +Did not PARACELSUS, however, give the idea? + +"The theory of signatures," says VAUGHAN, in his _Hours with the +Mystics_, "proceeded on the supposition that every creatures bears in +some part of its structure . . . the indication of the character or +virtue inherent in it--the representation, in fact, of its ideal or +soul. . . . The student of sympathies thus essayed to read the +character of plants by signs in their organization, as the professor +of palmistry announced that of men by lines in the hand." Thus, to a +degree which is very little understood, PARACELSUS took a great +step towards modern science. He disclaimed Magic and Sorcery, with +ceremonies, and endeavored to base all cure on human will. The name of +PARACELSUS is now synonymous with Rosicrucianism, Alchemy, Elementary +Spirits and Theurgy, when, in fact, he was in his time a bold +reformer, who cast aside an immense amount of old superstition, and +advanced into what his age regarded as terribly free thought. He was +compared to LUTHER, and the doing so greatly pleased him; he dwells on +it at length in one of his works. + +What PARACELSUS really believed in at heart was nothing more or less +than an unfathomable Nature, a _Natura naturans_ of infinite resource, +connected with which, as a microcosm, is man, who has also within him +infinite powers, which he can learn to master by cultivating the will, +which must be begun at least by the aid of sleep, or letting the +resolve ripen, as it were, in the mind, apart from Consciousness. + +I had written every line of my work on the same subject and principles +long before I was aware that I had unconsciously followed exactly in +the footprints of the great Master; for though I had made many other +discoveries in his books, I knew nothing of this. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +LAST WORDS. + + "By carrying calves Milo, 'tis said, grew strong, + Until with ease he bore a bull along." + +It is, I believe, unquestionable that, if he ever lived, a man who had +attained to absolute control over his own mind, must have been the +most enviable of mortals. MONTAIGNE illustrates such an ideal being by +a quotation from VIRGIL: + + "Velut rupes vastum quæ prodit in æquor + Obvia ventorum furiis, exposta que ponto, + Vim cunctum atque minas perfert cælique marisque + Ipsa immota manens." + + "He as a rock among vast billows stood, + Scorning loud winds and the wild raging flood, + And firm remaining, all the force defies, + From the grim threatening seas and thundering skies." + +And MONTAIGNE also doubted whether such self-control was possible. He +remarks of it: + +"Let us never attempt these Examples; we shall never come up to them. +This is too much and too rude for our common souls to undergo. CATO +indeed gave up the noblest Life that ever was upon this account, but +it is for us meaner spirited men to fly from the storm as far as we +can." + +Is it? I may have thought so once, but I begin to believe that in this +darkness a new strange light is beginning to show itself. The victory +may be won far more easily than the rather indolent and timid Essayist +ever imagined. MONTAIGNE, and many more, believed that absolute +self-control is only to be obtained by iron effort, heroic and +terrible exertion--a conception based on bygone History, which is all +a record of battles of man against man, or man with the Devil. Now the +world is beginning slowly to make an ideal of peace, and disbelieve in +the Devil. Science is attempting to teach us that from any beginning, +however small, great results are sure to be obtained if resolutely +followed up and fully developed. + +It requires thought to realize what a man gifted to some degree with +culture and common sense must enjoy who can review the past without +pain, and regard the present with perfect assurance that come what may +he need have no fear or fluttering of the heart. Spenser has asked in +"The Fate of the Butterfly": + + "What more felicity can fall to creature + Than to enjoy delight with liberty?" + +To which one may truly reply that all delight is fitful and uncertain +unless bound or blended with the power to be indifferent to +involuntary annoying emotions, and that self-command is in itself the +highest mental pleasure, or one which surpasses all of any kind. He +who does not overestimate the value of money or anything earthly is +really richer than the millionaire. There is a foolish story told by +COMBE in his Physiology of a man who had the supernatural gift of +never feeling any pain, be it from cold, hunger, heat, or accident. +The rain beat upon him in vain, the keenest north wind did not chill +him--he was fearless and free. But this immunity was coupled with an +inability to feel pleasure--his wine or ale was no more to his palate +than water, and he could not feel the kiss of his child; and so we are +told that he was soon desirous to become a creature subject to all +physical sensations as before. But it is, as I said, a foolish tale, +because it reduces all that is worth living for to being warm or +enjoying taste. His mind was not affected, but that goes for nothing +in such sheer sensuality. However, a man without losing his tastes or +appetites may train his Will to so master Emotion as to enjoy delight +with liberty, and also exclude what constitutes the majority of all +suffering with man. + +It is a truth that there is very often an extremely easy, simple and +prosaic way to attain many an end, which has always been supposed to +require stupendous efforts. In an Italian fairy tale a prince besieges +a castle with an army--trumpets blowing, banners waving, and all the +pomp and circumstances of war--to obtain a beautiful heroine who is +meanwhile carried away by a rival who knew of a subterranean passage. +Hitherto, as I have already said, men have sought for self-control +only by means of heroic exertion, or by besieging the castle from +without; the simple system of Forethought and Self-Suggestion enables +one, as it were, to steal or slip away with ease by night and in +darkness that fairest of princesses, La Volonté, or the Will. + +For he who wills to be equable and indifferent to the small and +involuntary annoyances, teasing memories, irritating trifles, which +constitute the chief trouble in life to most folk, can bring it about, +in small measure at first and in due time to greater perfection. And +by perseverance this rivulet may to a river run, the river fall into a +mighty lake, and this in time rush to the roaring sea; that is to say, +from bearing with indifference or quite evading attacks of _ennui_, we +may come to enduring great afflictions with little suffering. + +Note that I do not say that we can come to bearing all the +bereavements, losses, and trials of life with _absolute_ indifference. +Herein MONTAIGNE and the Stoics of old were well nigh foolish to +imagine such an impossible and indeed undesirable ideal. But it may be +that two men are afflicted by the same domestic loss, and one with a +weak nature is well nigh crushed by it, gives himself up to endless +weeping and perhaps never recovers from it, while another with quite +as deep feelings, but far wiser, rallies, and by vigorous exertion +makes the grief a stimulus to exertion, so that while the former is +demoralized, the latter is strengthened. There is an habitual state of +mind by which a man while knowing his losses fully can endure them +better than others, and this endurance will be greatest in him who has +already cultivated it assiduously in minor matters. He who has swam in +the river can swim in the sea; he who can hear a door bang without +starting can listen to a cannon without jumping. + +The method which I have described in this book will enable any person +gifted with perseverance to make an equable or calm state of mind +habitual, moderately at first, more so by practice. And when this is +attained the experimenter can progress rapidly in the path. It is +precisely the same as in learning a minor art, the pupil who can +design a pattern (which corresponds to Foresight or plan), only +requires, as in wood-carving or repoussé, to be trained by very easy +process to become familiar with the use and feel of the tools, after +which all that remains to be done is to keep on at what the pupil can +do without the least difficulty. Well begun and well run in the end +will be well done. + +But glorious and marvelous is the power of him who has habituated +himself by easy exercise of Will to brush away the minor, meaningless +and petty cares of life, such as, however, prey on most of us; for +unto him great griefs are no harder to endure than the getting a coat +splashed is to an ordinary man. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTIC WILL*** + + +******* This file should be named 17749-8.txt or 17749-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/7/4/17749 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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