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.