Sec. III. Page Line Dr. Heysinger writes: "In the case of Mollie Fancher, in Brooklyn, N. Y., who has been examined during many years by the most eminent neurologists, we have surely a living miracle. She has for many years been blind, paralysed, without apparent sensa5 tion, without food and almost without drink, without the perform ance of any of the ordinary bodily functions, and yet she is bright, clear, intelligent, and I have recently received a letter from her most beautifully and correctly written-and, as Dr. Hammond said of this case, 'She did not see-at least with her eyes.' 10 Physical sight is an ethereal effect, the thing seen vibrating along the lines of force of which the ether is composed, direct to the human mechanism or so-called mind (see, however, p. 71, line 24). Painting. —It is interesting and instructive to note that when you are looking, for instance, at a portrait, you have become ethereally 15 in touch with the thoughts portrayed 75 17 76 37 119 41 122 5 one of of the illusory 84 18 cinematographic pictures that constitute the material person. You are in ethereal touch with the so-called man, with the pride and cruelty, the wisdom, nobility, and love that the thoughts represent. That is why a portrait painter has to have what Malcolm Bell 2 calls "insight into the deeper mental recesses of his sitter." If you analyse this more closely you will see that in looking at a portrait your real spiritual self in heaven is in mental touch with the spiritual being who is seen falsely in the material world. In the material world the picture puts you in ethereal touch with the material thoughts 84 2 constituting the material form. Appendix V. is a copy of a letter written to an artist friend a few years ago, which may be of use to those who wish to understand the position better. When discordant material thoughts are destroyed by right thinking, while the 321 artist does his work, he obtains what is called a speaking likeness. When the thoughts of evil are destroyed, and the best side of the character is shown, he obtains a result which stamps him, not only as a genius, but as a benefactor to his fellow-men, for he gives us a 127 7 grouping of ideas which indicates, although faintly, the true man. 469 1 24 HEARING IS MENTAL.-" Mind is eye and ear together, blind and 467 9 deaf is all else besides" (Plato). Hearing also is entirely ethereal, and can be developed. The human 'consciousness" can "hear" at any distance. What theoretically takes place, although such a thing cannot be said truly to happen at all, is that the sound vibrates by means of the lines of the ether," thoughts," impinging on the "consciousness," causing it to vibrate and receive a mechanical impression, called sound.† It may be recalled that just after Elisha had made the axe head to "Science and Matter before the Bar of Modern Science." + "Mortal mind is the harp of many strings" ("Science and Health," p. 213, line 27. Mary Baker Eddy). 122 5 119 76 10 37 Page Line Sec. III. swim he told the king of Israel at least three times where the king of Syria was pitching his camp. On Ben-hadad asking which was the traitor, one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber" (II. Kings 6, ver. 12). Just after, Elisha foretold that the king's messenger was coming for him, and predicted the raising of the siege of Samaria, and the death, on the following day, of the lord who scornfully. denied the possibility of cheap food; all of which happened. 5 A well-attested instance is that of Sir John Drummond Hay, who, whilst Her Majesty's Minister in Morocco, was wakened from his sleep by hearing his daughter-in-law, who was at Mogador, 300 miles away, say: "Oh! I wish papa only knew that Robert [her husband] was ill." On closing his eyes he again heard the same voice and words, when he woke his wife, told her what he had heard, and noted it in his diary. Later, he found that Mrs. Robert Hay that night had used the precise words and had repeated them.* "Now that by suggestion alone we can with perfect precision 10 cause a hypnotised person (or even a person who has at some earlier 225, 21, 35 period been hypnotised but has recovered his normal state) to hear-in his mind alone-sounds which have no objective existence, just as vividly and clearly as any sounds we can physically produce, does it seem extravagant to believe that the whole mechanism of 15 sense, nay, the dark mind-gulf beyond mechanism, too, will receive full illumination from the science of the coming time? Such a discovery would, of course, throw utterly into shadow anything we have yet learned of the nature of man. Limited as we are by the knowledge of our own time, we cannot even conjecture whither such discoveries might lead us. All we can affirm is that the whole outlook of man, nay, the nature of man himself, might very conceivably be changed by them, and the greatest problems of the thinker may be resolved "† (T. Baron Russell). 135 166 125 153 17 29 34 31 Speaking Directly to America. A few years ago, a man came to me 25 for advice as to whether he should allow his wife to continue daily "speaking mentally " to her sister in America. He had constantly been able to verify the information given. I advised him to discourage it as being too dangerous, and told him that it was rather like experimenting with high-tension electrical currents in days when we knew very little about them. Several times in the early days of electricity, in the ordinary course of my professional duties, I have paid the penalty of ignorance of high-tension electrical effects and burnt and temporarily blinded myself. In the false, "non-mental" work the danger is that in endeavouring 3: to get better results, the worker forces the human "consciousness,' causing troubles of different kinds to arise, leading often to insanity. There is only one way of awakening dormant powers safely and properly, and that is, in the way in which our Lord worked, namely, by knowing the truth, turning in thought to God, and realising the truth; for instance, that God being Soul, and man being made Attested details will be found in "Human Personality," by F. W. H. Myers, 車 vol. 1, p. 396. + "A Hundred Years Hence," p. 132. "The telegraphy of mind speaking to mind should claim us. Any working in this way is electricity, and needs no wires ("Science and Health," Vol. II., p. 8, line 22, 6th edition. Mary Baker Eddy.) Sec. III. Page Line 12246 121 45 5 in the image and likeness of God, has all understanding. Soul is the 167 synonym that expresses God as the giver of all wisdom and knowledge. 34 The first step is to open the door. Everything being "pseudo-mental," 5 we could practically prevent any given result by realising strongly 324 29 enough that such result was impossible. This is the wrong way 298 of working, as the human consciousness cannot judge of what is best. 312 In our endeavours to gain truth, we must not outline human events, 220 but must keep an absolutely open mind, ready to receive more 10 spiritual ideas. Then we shall be governed by God.. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (I. Thess. 5, ver. 21). SPEECH IS MENTAL.-When one spiritual, immortal man in heaven speaks to another, he is passing on or re-presenting the ideas that the action of God has caused a fellow-being previously to pass on to him. That is to say, God speaks to us by means of our fellowIn the material world the human being has a false sense of these thoughts of God which apparently give an impression of hearing sounds. 13 men. When in this material world, or false sense of the real world, the thought is sufficiently uplifted, we get a far clearer sense of these thoughts of God; so clear, it may even be, that they sound like a person speaking, though none be visible, and some mistakenly believe that it is a finite God speaking. This uplifted thought is the reason for the sounds heard by Moses, Samuel, Paul; and by others living to-day, who are personally known to me, and who are following in the Master's footsteps. At the same time, it must be recollected that whenever anyone speaks to you, the sounds are God's thoughts, perceived materially and therefore falsely, as everything in the material so-called world is simply a counterfeit of the real. SMELL IS MENTAL.-Speaking of the young girl already mentioned, Professor Lombroso says: "Her sense of smell was also > transposed; for ammonia or asafoetida, when thrust under her nose, did not excite the slightest reaction, while, on the other hand, a substance possessing the merest trace of odour, if held under the chin. made a vivid impression on it, and excited a quite special simulation (mimica). . . . Later, the sense of smell became transferred to the back of the foot." 57 PREDICTION. He continues: "Next appeared phenomena of prediction and clairvoyance, for she foresaw with what I would 117 call mathematical exactness. She later predicted things that 172 were to happen to her father and brother, and two years afterwards 176 4 they were verified. She clairvoyantly saw from her sick bed her brother in the coulisses of a theatre (as in fact he was), distant by more than half a mile from the house."* PSYCHOMETRY.-Sir David Brewster investigated the matter and testified to the power that man has of seeing the past. He wrote: "Not a leaf waves, not an insect crawls, not a ripple moves, but each motion is recorded by a thousand faithful scribes in infallible and indelible scripture-only waiting for a suitable application to reveal themselves to the inquiring gaze.' 22 It is recorded in the Bible that it was not necessary for people *The reason why any results of this description are so difficult to obtain under 45 test conditions, is that the thought of anyone that the results cannot be obtained, as a rule is sufficient to interfere with the vibrations, so delicate is the mechanism at work. 9 30 18 Sec. III. to tell our Lord of events. For instance, he knew the past of the woman at the well. There are several cases recorded of his knowing what was going to happen, and often it is stated that he knew people's thoughts (Matt. 12: 25; Luke 5: 22; 6: 8; 9: 47; 11: 17). Agassiz, the famous naturalist, three times dreamed that he saw a fish, the characteristics even of which he had failed to recognise from its fossil imprint. The third time, upon awakening, he sketched and described the fish, and later found that his dream was correct. Scientific Explanation.-" Thoughts and images may be transferred from one mind to another without the agency of the recognised organs of sense" (Sir William Crookes, F.R.S.). 5 Directly a person thinks of anything in the material world, even in the past or future, he is immediately in faint touch along the lines of the ether with the thoughts or lines of force that constitute 10 the thing thought of. The ordinary man is not conscious of these thoughts, as his human consciousness, through a belief in limitation, works so badly. Some peopl ehave not this false belief of limitation, and the conscious mind" vibrates in unison or synchronously with the "subconscious mind," or universal false belief, when the person 15 knows the thing immediately. Sometimes he sees the thing happening, and sometimes he merely knows it intellectually. This development is a curse or a blessing in proportion as a man knows how to destroy evil foreseen or foreknown, and to realise the eternal reality of good. The Divining Rod.-This is a useful form of thought reading, whereby the thought reader is able to tell when he is standing over water, and to indicate it by unconscious action in various ways, such as the turning or twisting of a rod in his hands. The use of a rod is a mere limitation, and unnecessary.§ 20 23 I remember a few years ago, when in conversation with a wellknown scientific man, saying that before very long we should find such results as a man knowing whether he was standing over gold-bearing rock by his hair standing on end, or by some such inconsequent sign. A day or two afterwards I read an account of a man in America 30 who, when he stood over oil in quantity, knowingly or otherwise, was at once seized with severe illness.] Evil Effects when Reading.-" Passing through the brain of a Walter Scott or a Dickens such knowledge [" of the tragic events and turpitude of life"] becomes purified and protective, and has nothing but 35 *The book called "An Adventure," recently published, to the good faith of the authors of which Messrs. Macmillan & Co. testify, is simply a record of two people with special powers of sight, who were enabled to see the thoughts that gave the impression on the 10th of August last, of what was happening in 1789. Visitors to the spot on the same date this year, will probably be disappointed, as the general thought which has now been roused, that such a thing is impossible, will probably be sufficient to stop any sight of the thoughts even by those who are sufficiently psychic. 40 † Presidential Address, British Association, 1898. Professor Barrett has made an interesting report to the Psychical Research 45 Society on his investigations, showing that results have been obtained that cannot be explained by any generally recognised theories. § I have recently been consulted with reference to an electro-mechanical apparatus for bringing about the same result, which is said to act perfectly. Since this was written it has been taken up and successfully used by W. Mansfield & Co., of Brunswick Street, Liverpool. Recently, a "water-diviner" from Bolton states that he has been able to 50 locate beds of iron ore near Barrow by using a steel rod instead of the usual hazel twig. Details are given in the "Western Mail" of August 17th, 1911. Sec. III. Page Line mi. a wholesome effect when sown broadcast, but passing through the brain of an Aphra Behn or a Zola, it grows infective and deadly and disseminates a moral plague around. And thus ideas, like microbes, may by cultivation be attenuated and rendered harmless, or raised to a higher 5 malignancy”* (Sir J. Crichton-Browne, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S.). It is a mistake to read books by people who are not of a satisfactory character. Directly you read them you are in ethereal 469 touch with the individuality of the person who wrote the book, and if he is not the right class of man, wrong thoughts are more 1 likely to affect you, unless you are protecting yourself in the right way. If a man is protecting himself thoroughly, I do not think that he would find himself reading such books. Scientific Method of Working.“ Jesus. . . needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man" (John 2, 15 ver. 24, 25). 46 16 2488 In order to gain knowledge in the right way, we must 167 12 turn to heaven and realise the truth, for instance, that 164 16 God is Soul, the Principle of all knowledge, and that, 316 therefore, man, the spiritual man, instantly knows everything necessary. The action of God as Truth then destroys the particles on the cells of the human mechanism that give the trouble, with the result that the two portions of the machine work better together, and in this way requisite and legitimate knowledge of the past, 75 present, or future is conveyed. It is interesting to note, however, 167 that working thus the knowledge does not always come to your consciousness in the way above mentioned. Sometimes somebody will give you the information, or you will see it in a paper or book. 37 Mark 115 THOUGHT READING." Were I now introducing for the first time these inquiries [the results of his researches into so-called spiritualistic phenomena] to the world of science I should choose a starting point different from that of old. It would be well to begin with telepathy.‡ with the fundamental law, as I believe it to be" (Sir William Crookes, F.R.S.) The power of thought reading is nowadays very common. Twain prided himself on his powers, and said that he often knew what people far distant were thinking, or made them know what he was thinking. He called it "mental" telegraphy. Well-known recent instances are those of Mr. Zanzig and Mr. Zomah intensifying material thoughts so that their wives could perceive them. Such intensification is not only a wrong and dangerous method of working, but very tiring, and therefore those working professionally *The Hygienic Uses of Imagination." p. 14. "When mortal man blends his thoughts of existence with the spiritual, and works only as God works, he will no longer grope in the dark" ("Science and Health," p 263, line 7. Mary Baker Eddy). † Mr. Bergson has said: "I consider," he answered after some thought, "that those experiments [those published by the Society of Psychical Research] have brought out so much evidence for telepathy as to render it so highly probable as to be practically certain. I myself have read through all the forty volumes of cases collected by the Society, and I do not think anyone could do so without feeling as convinced as I do. There is a considerable amount of evidence to show that the medium is-in part at least-material . . . apparently no distance presents any difficulty to telepathic communication" (interview published in Morning Pest," June 16th, 1914). 27 2220 15 20 |