Mesta de panta semeion ka sofostis ho mathon ex allou allo.
Plotinus
I
In this essay several interesting and remarkable studies will be discussed, and it will be demonstrated that they have considerably more significance than has been maintained.
In his book Indrestyre (Copenhagen 1914, p. 337), Dr. Ernst Möller recounts how an American physician, Dr. Sahler, helped an insane patient, who was in a very poor state. For three years the madwoman had been in such a condition that there seemed no hope of a cure. She lay with her eyes closed, did not speak a word, paid no attention to anyone, and had no more idea of hygiene than an infant; it was very difficult to induce her to eat anything, and death seemed to be the only prospect. Sahler now tried what is called spiritual healing. He closed his eyes and concentrated his thoughts on the ill woman, and “spoke” to her in his mind. The doctor transmitted thoughts to her, telling her that her spirit was healthy, and that the spirit could make the body healthy, in the manner which he further described. On some evenings he sent thoughts to her in this way when he was in bed, and fell asleep over such thoughts. When he had been doing this for a week, the patient got up from her bed, went down several flights of stairs, and wandered feebly about; but she did not speak. She did this another two or three times over the following weeks. Now it was clear that speech and noise affected her, but she did not speak a word. Sahler continued these efforts to cure her, from February until early April. Then, one day, there was a knock at the doctor’s door, and the patient came in; from her expression it was clear that she was entirely conscious, and indeed she answered when addressed. She was still somewhat confused, but nonetheless recognised her children. Within a few days she started to recall the events of her life, from childhood until she had fallen ill three years before. She then gradually made a complete recovery.
What happened here was that Dr. Sahler empowered the patient with his own mental and nervous power. This is what is called a miracle, if it happens suddenly. The ability to perform such a deed is enhanced, the greater the confidence people have in the healer. In the gospels this sort of confidence is termed “faith,” and this has given rise to a great misunderstanding. Had Dr. Sahler had the backing of several more people who were well attuned to him, he could probably have achieved in a short time what took several months. It is obvious that the doctor himself, and Dr. Möller too, misunderstand quite seriously the nature of the cure, and that will be clarified below.
II
1
Ochorovicz was a physician and psychologist of Polish origin. He has written a most remarkable work on what may be termed mental suggestion. The book was written in French, but I have seen it in English translation: Mental Suggestion, New York 1891. The book contains a most interesting account (pp. 102-3): Ochorovicz, who was a physician in Paris, came one morning to one of his patients, whom he calls Mlle S. The woman told him what he had been doing the previous evening: “You were writing all evening,” she said, “and it was not a letter that you were writing, for I saw large sheets of paper. You weren’t reading any book, but were always writing, and at 11 pm you went to bed, but you could not sleep. You got up again, walked about, and smoked a cigarette.”
At this point a lady who had been with the young woman the night before told the doctor that, after she was in bed, she had kept saying “Good God! When is he going to go to sleep? He is keeping me awake.”
It was exactly as Mlle S. said – says Ochorovicz – “with the exception that there was a delay in the timing, i.e. she “saw” me writing at 11 pm, whereas I had stopped writing at 10.45.” But it is no surprise that the impatient girl believed the doctor was still writing, a few minutes after he had stopped. And the test was not performed with sufficient accuracy for it to be possible to say that Mlle S. “saw” Ochorovicz writing, after he had stopped doing so.
2
In another essay I mentioned the superstition of scepticism; and such superstition is very noticeable with respect to such stories as the one I have recounted. Yet there is no doubt that the story is true. It is told by a talented and conscientious scientist, a man who strives to attain the most correct knowledge and to tell the truth as best he can. Many people regard it as a sign of great intellect to be a sceptic; however, one must apply one’s intelligence. The greatest intelligence is to doubt where one should doubt, and not to doubt where one should not. A person with a strong tendency to doubt that which is, will never take the great steps on the road to knowledge. And we see that it is certainly not the ignorant and foolish who are the first to believe important discoveries. It is quite safe to predict that the person who will be first to believe in the discovery that what has been believed to be a spirit world, is in fact other planets and life on them, will be a person who has outstanding intelligence and knowledge. Intelligence is the principal gift of the scientist: the ability to see what is similar and what dissimilar, to analyse and to connect correctly. The sphere of knowledge is expanded in such a way that people see that something previously unfamiliar is similar to something which was familiar – something with which a connection had been established. Here and there in these essays are examples of this.
3
If people seek to be on the side of intelligence, it must be assumed that the account given is true; and it will now be explained more fully. Mlle S. perceived the actions of the doctor as he sat in his room, half a mile away. It is not clear from the doctor’s account whether he himself clearly realises how remarkable the story is. He appears to believe that Mlle S. “saw” him, whereas he does not realise that what happened was that Mlle S. saw with his eyes, felt his emotions, and knew what he knew. A telepathic connection was established between them: and, more than that, what we may term a psychic connection. The doctor’s spirit, though at a distance, attuned the patient’s spirit to his own. It is also quite clear that the influence is not only from doctor to patient, but also from patient to doctor. Mlle S. was agitated as she lay in bed, as stated above, and that is why the doctor cannot sleep, gets up again and so on, as stated above. And, in the manner now to be explained, one can understand how this occurred. Just as Mlle S. is falling asleep, and her own will is letting go, as it does at such a time, the doctor thinks of her, as he sits at his desk, and his brain attunes her brain to his; his brain activity is induced in her brain. She sees, for instance, the large sheets of paper on the desk before the doctor, because the reaction in his brain to seeing the sheets of paper is also in her brain, just as a certain movement in a Marconi telegraphic transmitter in England, for instance, will be received by the Marconi receiver here in Reykjavík. Mlle S. sees what the doctor’s eyes see, she sees with his eyes. Mlle S. saw so-called hallucinations; and this is a remarkably interesting example of how hallucinations occur: the hallucinator sees with the eyes of another – sees what another sees. What occurred is an example of what I term bioinduction; it is similar to what Faraday called electrical induction. Had the doctor’s consciousness become somewhat stronger in Mlle S., her own consciousness would have been entirely overcome, so that she would have believed she was the doctor, forgetting herself; this would have been what psychologists term dissociation of personality, or double or multiple personality; this can be called exchange of souls, which has been much debated by psychologists in recent years, but with no comprehension of the crucial point. Psychology has not yet progressed even as far as astronomy had, before people realised that the planets revolve around the sun, and that the stars are suns.
Ochorovicz had once hypnotised Mlle. S., and from this, quite understandably, arose the attunement between them which took place. Let us now consider some more studies carried out by this outstanding psychologist. A patient in a hypnotic state says to him (Mental Suggestion, p. 66): “When I am in a light sleep, as I am now, I can think well if you are near me. But if you move farther from me, it is as if something starts turning in my head, as if you were going to abandon me in a dark room.”
These words are worthy of attention, though the meaning is not entirely obvious. The inference is that the brain of the hypnotised subject is aware of the change of position of objects in the room observed by the doctor when he moves about the room; and that the light perceived by the doctor’s eyes appears in the consciousness of the hypnotised subject when the hypnotist is close enough, but grows less and then vanishes as the hypnotist moves farther away. This indicates that the nervous force of a person has greater influence on another, the shorter the distance between them. There are studies, however, which show that brains can be attuned to each other by bioradiation, in spite of the greatest distances between them.
The telepathic connection, and all attunement of the nervous systems, is admirably illustrated in studies in the book previously cited, p. 75. Once again, the account concerns a woman under hypnosis. “If someone pinches me or strikes me,” says Ochorovicz, “the hypnotised subject experiences pain. She describes precisely my state of mind or, more precisely, my perceptions.”
This is an example of the attunement of nervous systems, or psychic connection, of a very high order. The hypnotist has here induced his own soul in the body of the hypnotised subject.
III
Interesting studies of psychic connections by a well-known English physicist and psychical researcher, Sir William Barrett, have been mentioned by me before (Á Bröttubrekku, Lögrétta, June and July 1918). A little girl hypnotised by Barrett felt no pain, so far as anyone could tell, when pricked with a pin, or shocked with a fairly strong electric current. The hypnotised subject’s own perceptions appeared to be minimal, or none. But when Barrett placed salt in his mouth, she asked: Why do you put salt in my mouth? And the same applied when Barrett put pepper, mustard, etc. in his mouth. But the hypnotised subject appeared not to notice when these strong-tasting substances were placed on her own tongue. In one of Barrett’s experiments, he passed his hand through a flame and burned himself slightly; the hypnotised subject had her back to him, and as an extra precaution she was blindfolded. When the hypnotist felt pain, the little girl exclaimed that she had burned her hand, and it was obvious that she felt pain. The same was true when Barrett moved away from the hypnotised subject, and even into another room. It was as if Barrett’s soul had entered the girl and replaced her own for a time. This may be compared with what I wrote in my essay Á annarri stjörnu/On Another Planet, on the experiments carried out by psychologist Dr. Sidis with F.V. But that experiment is more similar to an experiment performed by Barrett in Ireland, which will now be recounted. Barrett said to the hypnotised subject, who had never been out of Ireland, that she should travel in her mind to London, to a street he specified; she then described correctly to him a shop on that street, which he had in mind. What Barrett did in this case was, if I understand it correctly, to establish a connection between the hypnotised subject and someone who saw the shop in reality – just as Sidis created a psychic connection between F.V. and Deady. It has also been demonstrated that a psychic connection can also exist without hypnosis. The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in England has made experiments of a high calibre in this regard: the person equivalent to the hypnotist in the experiments recounted before is called the agent, while the person equivalent to the hypnotised subject is termed the percipient. It is quite extraordinary, how little has been added to human wisdom by the many very interesting studies which have been carried out: powerful prejudices prevent people from understanding this matter, and finding the true scientific path.
Two young ladies, Miss Miles and Miss Ramsden, have, under the auspices of the Society for Psychical Research, made many experiments in the telepathic connection of consciousnesses. One such experiment was as follows: Miss Miles, the agent in the experiment, was in the south of England, while Miss Ramsden, the percipient, was in the north of Scotland. Miss Ramsden wrote to Miss Miles on 31.10.1907: What I think you wish me to see is a little girl with brown hair down her back, tied up in a hairband in the usual way. She sits at a table, turning her back, and apparently cutting paper. She wears a white pinafore, and is approximately 8 to 12 years of age. – H.R. (Barrett, Psychical Research, pp. 102-3).
What she saw was accurate. The lady with whom Miss Miles was staying had an 11-year-old daughter, and the description fit her. Miss Ramsden appears to have seen the girl through the eyes of her friend, although they were separated by most of the length of the British Isles. This is reminiscent of the way that Mlle S. saw the sheets of paper on the table in front of Ochorovicz. Miss Ramsden seems to see the child (visio cerebralis!) and she appears to estimate the child’s age from her own judgement, and not of the mind of her friend.
This is a case of transference of perception rather than of thought, as is the rule in dreams. But it is studies of this nature which make it so clear how dreams arise – although no-one has grasped this hitherto.
IV
1
In the periodical 19th Century for 1899, pp. 857-864, an old essay by James Knowles on Brain Waves is reprinted. It contains this account, which Knowles has heard from a friend, a person of importance, whom he regards as reliable. A man sitting alone in his room suddenly started to think a lot about an old friend, of whom he had not thought for a very long time, who had emigrated many years before from England to New Zealand. The thoughts about his friend were accompanied by a most unpleasant sensation, which intensified, becoming a strange feeling of terror. In order to try to shake off the feeling he went out and walked for nearly two hours in the busiest streets of the city, before he recovered. He then made a note of the date and time, expecting to hear some news of his friend. And he was proved correct. Some time later he learned that, on the very day and time that he was seized with such horror, together with memories of his friend, the man had been captured by natives in New Zealand, who had tortured him to death in the most horrible manner. Thus the man appears to have shared the perception of his friend’s terrible sufferings as he died, although they were as far apart as is possible here on earth. Had the man been asleep when his suffering friend’s nervous state was induced in him, he would probably had dreamed that he himself was being tortured to death – as in the case of the little girl, hypnotised by Barrett, who believes she is burning herself, when it is the hypnotist who is burning himself – or, more accurately, she shares his consciousness of burning himself, etc. The next account will add something to understanding of this remarkable attunement of nervous systems.
2
A German physician, Franz Hartmann, gives the following account in his autobiography (Denkwürdige Erinnerungen, p. 49): As he sat listening to a lecture, he suddenly felt that he had become a young girl, with black, curly hair: Fraulein J.W. Yet, although he had a clear feeling of being a young girl, he did not entirely lose the consciousness of who he was in fact.
We see the various levels of telepathic connection: Mlle S., who shares a good part of the doctor’s consciousness, though not so much that she believes she herself is the doctor; Hartmann, who feels that he has become a young girl, yet manages to keep alive a spark of consciousness of himself; the third level is illustrated by the little girl hypnotised by Barrett: here all consciousness of self is gone; it is as if the same soul is in both hypnotist and subject. But there are several aspects to the soul of the hypnotised person: it is not only that the hypnotised person shares in the soul of the hypnotist. Let us now return to Hartmann: Fraulein J.W., the young girl whom Hartmann felt he had become, had been sitting in the next room, thinking of him, with the desire to heal his ailment. According to Hartmann, when the girl’s consciousness departed, he was free of the toothache he had had before. Fraulein J.W. had told Hartmann that she intended to try to cure him by “spiritual healing.” Hartmann’s will was engrossed by the lecture – or perhaps he grew drowsy – and thus Fraulein J.W.’s brain radiation was able to gain control of him, with the results recounted.
V
Many phenomena which are deemed mystical become clear, if we consider these studies which have been recounted here, and other similar ones. For example, one can easily discern the origins of what has been called the subliminal self, normally beneath the “threshold of consciousness.”
“The person who invented this concept,” writes Barrett in his above-mentioned book, “was Sir John Herschel, one of the greatest scientists of the last generation.” Herschel tells us he was led to believe, from a curious experience of his own, that “there was evidence of a thought, an intelligence, working within our own organization, distinct from that of our own personality,” or, in other words, the consciousness of another worked within our consciousness. There is no reason to doubt that the excellent Herschel was correct in this; but I find it most doubtful that it was he who invented the misconception of the “subliminal self.” In reporting Herschel’s words, Barrett has interpolated the word conscious: “there was evidence of a thought, an intelligence, working within our own organization, distinct from that of our own [conscious] personality.” Barrett has added the word “conscious” to the sentence..
Herschel reports being aware of the thoughts of another in his consciousness, and there is nothing mystical about it; but Barrett, who had himself performed experiments which explained the phenomenon so well, was so convinced by the wrong-headed psychology of Myers and the others in the Society for Psychical Research, that he apparently believed that Herschel had intended to say something that was in agreement with the ideas of the members of the SPR, and hence that the word “conscious” must be presumed to have been omitted. This is a not- unenlightening example of how preconceptions or prejudices can prevent acceptance of the right understanding, even in those who are intelligent and experienced scientists.
VI
Hartmann’s account shows how empowerment, or induced nervous energy from another, can alleviate suffering. However it is probably more common as yet here on earth that a state of suffering in one nervous system appears in another due to induction. It appears not unlikely that so-called “hysterical” ailments originate in this manner; there is a common tendency to judge such phenomena with little sympathy or mercy, and dismiss them as hysteria. This is a good illustration of how lack of knowledge can lead to lack of sympathy.
An important scientist, J. Hamberger, says that the following studies are backed by excellent evidence (“Als ein sehr wohl verbörgtes Faktum”). A certain soldier was sentenced to a penalty called Spiessruthenlaufen (Running the Gauntlet): the person being punished enters an enclosure with men on all sides, and each deals him a blow with a stick or switch. This was regarded as a harsh punishment. As the blows rained down on the man, his sister – who was far away from the place of punishment, at home with her own people – started to groan and wail. It was as if she was in a trance, and she felt she was being beaten on the back, as her brother was. This continued until she collapsed unconscious, and was put to bed. As she was undressed, her back was seen to be bleeding, with marks as if she had been beaten. A similar case is that of a woman who felt a blow which her husband, in another place, received on the mouth; I have discussed this study elsewhere.
VII
A most enlightening account of induction is contained in Isis Unveiled by H. P. Blavatsky (in German translation by A.K. and R.W., II, pp. 606-9). H.P.B., who is in Tibet, asks a renowned monk and his followers to demonstrate what they believe to be the entry of the spirit of the Buddha into a body. The monks procured a child aged three or four months, and the preparation of the experiment took some days. The child was placed on a bit of carpet in the middle of the floor in front of the vestibule shrine where the monks had made their home; K., H.P.B.’s companion, was not permitted to enter the shrine itself. The monks sat on the floor, leaning their backs against the granite wall; each of them was at least ten feet from the child. The leader of the monks was farthest away. K. placed himself close by the infant, and watched every movement with intense interest. The visitors were instructed to maintain complete silence. Bright sunlight streamed through the open door. Soon the “Superior” fell into what seemed a state of profound meditation, while the others, after a sotto voce short invocation, became suddenly silent, and looked as if they had been completely petrified. It was oppressively still, and the crowing of the child was the only sound to be heard. After a few moments, the movements of the infant’s limbs suddenly ceased, and his body appeared to become rigid. Now the Superior seemed rather like a bronze statue than a living being. Suddenly they saw the child, not raise itself, but, as it were, violently jerked into a sitting posture. A few more jerks, and then the four months’ baby stood upon his feet! The story then continues according to the account written down by K. that evening. After a minute or two of hesitation, writes K., the baby turned his head and looked at me with an expression of intelligence that was simply awful! It sent a chill through me. I pinched my hands and bit my lips till the blood almost came, to make sure that I did not dream. But this was only the beginning. The miraculous creature, making, as I fancied, two steps toward me, resumed his sitting posture, and, without removing his eyes from mine, repeated, sentence by sentence, in what I supposed to be Tibetan language, the very words, which I had been told in advance, are commonly spoken at the incarnations of Buddha, beginning with “I am Buddha; I am the old Lama; I am his spirit in a new body etc”. I now felt a real terror, – says K. – , that honestly speaking went to my spine; my hair rose upon my head, and my blood ran cold. For my life I could not have spoken a single word. There was no trickery here, no ventriloquism. The infant lips moved, and the eyes seemed to search my very soul with an expression that made me think it was the face of the monk Superior himself, his eyes, his very look that I was gazing upon. It was as if his spirit had entered the little body, and was looking at me through the transparent mask of the baby’s face. I felt my brain growing dizzy. The infant reached toward me, and laid his little hand upon mine. I started as if I had been touched by a hot coal; and, unable to bear the scene any longer, covered my face with my hands. It was but for an instant; but when I removed them, the little actor had become a crowing baby again, and a moment after, lying upon his back, set up a fretful cry. The Superior had resumed his normal condition, and conversation ensued.
It was only after a series of similar experiments extending over ten days, according to K., that he realised the fact that he had seen the “incredible, astounding phenomenon.” He asked the Superior what would have happened if he had killed the child, believing it to be “the Devil.” He replied that, if the blow had not been instantly fatal, the child alone would have been killed, but that a blow which instantly killed the child would have killed him also.
2
It is no exaggeration to call this a most enlightening account, and it is obvious that it is true in the main. Madame Blavatsky was far from having sufficient understanding of these matters to enable her to invent so credibly.
Let us now consider the story a little, concentrating on how consistent it is with the studies which have been recounted above – and some aspects are clearer her. Here we have a case of induction, similar to that carried out by Dr. Sahler. But this induction takes place in a brief time – while the induction carried out by Dr. Sahler took a long time. The monks’ Superior, the aged lama, was not alone in the induction process, but was joined by the other monks, and together they formed a sort of focus of energy, like the circle formed at a séance. Let us now read the story with attention. The bioradiation from the monks to the child first halts his own movements. The child’s nervous system continues to be charged with the mysterious energy until the induction reaches the point where the child suddenly sits up, as if in a spasm. After a few more spasms the four-month-old child has become so charged with the energy that he can stand on his feet. This is reminiscent of the spasms (and clonic seizures) which can signal the start of major episodes of hysteria, as described by Friberger in Lærebog i intern Medecin, published by Faber, Holst, Petrén, II, 1, 1916, p. 345. And indeed it will transpire that hysteria is an illness of induction, and “hysterical” sufferings are of the same nature as the pain experienced by the girl who felt the blows dealt to her brother, and by the man in England who experienced something of the pain of his friend who was being tortured to death on the other side of the world. It will be easy for physicians to show that this is the case; and they will make many remarkable discoveries when they become willing to undertake the research which is proposed here. Friberger writes (p. 344) “de stora hysteriska anfallen studerades … ytterst noggrant af Charcot och hans lärjungar, men det lider nog intet tvifvel, at just detta studium bidrog att odla anfallen, och at en del af de beskrifna fenomenen därför ära konstprodukter.” Fits of this nature are a kind of mediumistic phenomena, achieved by the physicians present, functioning as “sitters.” According to Friberger, fits of this kind are now rarer in asylums than in the past.
Barrett writes (On the Threshold of the Unseen, 1918, p. 123): as Dr. Hyslop and many European psychiatrists have shown, an entranced medium… shows evidence of hysteria.
In view of this, it now seems not unlikely that the studies may now progress, so that, by open-minded and careful comparison of the studies, people will find the true path of understanding.
Let us now return to the induction of the infant. The child takes two steps, but the monks do not induce him farther in that direction, and he sits down again. Now a new part of this astonishing story begins. The child gazes straight into K.’s eyes, and absorbs his brain energy – is induced by him. This is the origin of the chill felt by K.; and the chill develops into terror. The reason is physical, although neither K. nor Madame Blavatsky realised this. K. becomes speechless, like the infant, while the infant gains from him the power of speech. So much of the energy which charges the child is now taken from K. that he grows dizzy. And when the child touches him, the transfer of nervous energy from him to the child is stimulated to such a degree that it becomes unbearable to him. Instinctively he breaks the connection, by moving and by ceasing to look into the child’s eyes.
Dr. W.J. Crawford’s book The Reality of Psychic Phenomena (London 1916) reports studies which may contribute to explaining the phenomenon. Crawford is a Doctor of Science and a lecturer in mechanical engineering, an experienced and ingenious researcher. Dr. Crawford does not understand the nature of “spirits” – here he falls into the well-known age-old misconception. The value of his studies is that they demonstrate, so that no reasonable objection can be made, that some of the “psychic phenomena” which have met with the greatest scepticism, do indeed take place. Crawford writes (p. 240) that for the first half-hour or so of the séance it is advisable for the participants in the circle to clasp hands; but that after that time it does not matter whether the sitters clasp hands, or put hands on knees; but if the phenomena are weak they are usually over when the sitters unclasp hands. This should be borne in mind when attempting to explain that the empowered child places his hand on K.’s hand, and that the induction ceases when K. withdraws his hand. A cold wind is often apparent at the commencement of a séance, says Crawford. The “sitters” clasp hands, and spasmodic jerking occurs (cp. the jerking of the charged child, and the spasms at the beginning of an episode of hysteria). A cold wind is sometimes felt in the wrists and hands. After half an hour or so the jerking ceases or becomes less pronounced (p. 242).
Consider, by comparison, that the child’s jerking ceases when the induction reaches a level sufficient to move him; by the same token, the spasms of the “hysteric” cease when the patient starts to speak, as if in sleep – and it is clear from his speech that he feels he is another person – the consciousness and nervous condition of another have been induced in him. The chill in the wrists and hands of the sitters – which may be what Crawford calls a “cold wind,” is equivalent to the “chill” felt by K.
Crawford says (p. 238) that entities purporting to speak through the medium have told him (a little obscurely, it is true) that there are two kinds of substance taken from the members of the circle and used in the production of phenomena. One of these is taken in comparatively large quantities from medium and sitters, and is all, or nearly all, returned to them at the close of the séance. The other is taken in minute quantities, and can only be obtained from the medium, and this stuff cannot be returned to her because when it is used for phenomenal purposes its structure is broken up. It consists of the most vital material in the medium’s body – stuff from the interior of her nerve cells, – and only the most minute quantity can be removed without injury to the medium.
“I give this statement, of course, only as a matter of interest,” comments Crawford (p. 239). It should be mentioned here that K. felt during the experiment that his heart would stop beating – or I believe that is the inference of the words quoted above. It is no surprise that the “spirits” spoke “a little obscurely” on this matter through Crawford’s medium: we now know that the ideas of the sitters have a great influence upon what the medium says in a trance; and it appears to be no exaggeration to say that those ideas were very mistaken – and the words quoted above show that even Crawford’s ides were not entirely worthy of such a scholar of mechanics. Crawford also believed that the entities which spoke through the medium and caused the phenomena were the spirits of the dead in the spirit world; but, while people are so far from the way of science and the life line, diexelixis, one cannot expect that voices heard via a medium will be anything other than obscure, compared with what could be achieved, if the connection centre on “this side” were to be treated more-or-less correctly.
3
Next we come to that part of the story which is far from being the least remarkable. We have learned how Barrett induces his soul into a little girl whom he hypnotises, and how Fraulein J.W. induces her soul into Hartmann, as he (in all probability) dozes at a lecture. And in the four-month-old baby who walks and talks, it is not the child’s own soul that is active, but energoumenon, the soul of another induced in the child. And not only one other, but many others. More than one soul has replaced the child’s own soul. The child’s mouth does not only speak the words: I am the old Lama (i.e. the superior of the monks, who organised the induction ceremony), but also I am Buddha. The monks believe that the soul of the Buddha temporarily entered the body of the child. The words I am Buddha clearly spring from the minds of the monks, who are the equivalent of the sitters at a conventional séance; what occurs, however, is that it is not only the soul of the Superior monk, his consciousness of himself, which is induced into the child, but also another, far greater consciousness. It is vital to grasp this, and this is a matter of great importance, although I will not write at length on the subject at present. If we observe closely, we see how common it is that, when the soul of one person is induced in another, more is included: a connection is established with a broader consciousness than any consciousness here on this earth.
When Barrett asks a little girl in Ireland to describe to him a shop in London, as was recounted before, there is no indication that it is Barrett’s own soul which speaks through the child’s mouth: the description given is not according to Barrett’s thoughts of the shop, but given as if by a person observing the shop as he speaks through the child. The same applies, on careful consideration, to Fraulein J.W.’s experiment with Hartmann: H. does not simply feel that he has become Fraulein J.W., but also that he sees her. This is exemplified more clearly in an experiment described by French psychologist (Pierre) Janet in a letter to Ochorovicz (Mental Suggestion p. 96). Janet had performed telehypnosis upon a woman named Léonie (so far as I recall from a distance of about ten kilometres). Léonie said repeatedly that she saw him hypnotising her. When the hypnotic subject sees that which no human eye can see, for instance the inner parts of his/her own body or that of another, it is quite obvious that a connection has been established with a consciousness far superior to human consciousness – a consciousness of the kind from which religious “revelations” spring. Those who call what has been recounted here mystical or semi-mystical have not begun to understand me, and cling too tightly to the dysexelictic mindset.
What we see here is precisely not a matter of something mystical happening all at once; the relationship of phenomena is obvious. Applying a good and truly scientific method, we can ascertain that there are consciousnesses which are far more perfect than the human consciousness here on earth. Some people are of the view that such research is nothing but trumpery – and that it not a wise view. Others suppose that it is the consciousness of the individual him/herself, which becomes thus perfect, when he/she loses consciousness or self-awareness – and this is another form of simplicitas dysexelictica. The greatest hindrance to diexelixis – preventing the true path of progress being reached – is precisely people’s ignorance of biology, their lack of knowledge that the less perfect can, bioinductively, receive a share of the life energy and wisdom of those who are more perfect, even if they be billions of miles away. And the less perfect must make a connection of this nature: otherwise he cannot develop in the right direction, and the Great Connection cannot be made. No founder of a religion or philosopher has known this; and much has been termed mystical which, as we now see, tends in that direction. I have written about Plato’s concepts or “ideas” in another essay. Even clearer is the theory of the daemon or genius, and the Norse belief in guardian spirits, and good and evil daemons. Plotinus writes informatively about this in his tractate on the spirit or daemon that watches over us (peri tou eilekhotos hemas daimonos: Ennead III, IV, 6). A good man, he says, is he who has the daemon on his side; for nous (often interpreted as mens or intellect, although that is an imperfect translation) functions in the daemon. Nous, he says, is itself a daemon or daemon like; the god is to the daemon as the daemon is to man. Let us compare this to the way that the empowered child says: I am Buddha, I am the old lama. Man here on earth is influenced by a being superior to him (a daemon), which in turn is influenced by a yet superior being (a theos, god). The existence of such connections is proven by various experiments, which have hitherto not been fully understood. Man’s connections can also be with beings which make him worse, and less perfect. It is most interesting that Plotinus indicates that daemons and gods live on other planets; and here the extraordinary truth may be glimpsed: but this is only an awareness of a revelation or connection, which does not lead to true knowledge.
In more recent times, the theories of Plato and Plotinus have been dismissed as parables and metaphor and nonsense – and this exemplifies the primary feature of the wrong path, dysexelexis: people do not find the path of science, and thus they are not heading in the direction of correct conduct. It is the main feature of the evil path, dysexelexis, that people are unaware of connections with good and evil beings on other planets, but instead have beliefs in spirits and the spirit world. This may be termed protomori or the protomoric philosophy (protos = first, moros = ignorance). More recently, when human knowledge has made some progress, and some light shines after the dark ages, the view is taken that such beliefs are nothing but imagination. And this gives rise to what may be termed heteromori (heteros = other, + moria), thanatism, ignorabimism and so on, which cannot of course be regarded as true scientific philosophies.
VIII
In the examples cited here, it often transpires that people do not notice that these remarkable influences are reciprocal: what takes place is mutual induction. People will come to realise, as more effort is devoted to such research, that influence of this nature – mutual induction – is always taking place between people, and that it has a great effect on the relationship with the beings termed by Plato and Plotinus daemon and theos. This is no mysticism. These matters may be studied and understood, and placed in the context of other knowledge. The essential factor is to know that, the more united people are – the more they aim in the same direction, the more they are attuned together – the more they are induced by related, but more advanced, beings in other places – the stronger the connection to better or worse beings – according to whether it is good or evil that unites them. There is much in the psychology of war and the military which is not understood until this is known. Many cases may be cited which demonstrate that men’s nervous power, energy and stamina are greatly increased when they are part of a united military unit which functions as a whole. A famous violinist, who participated in a fierce attack on the Russians, says (Veckorapp. Från Världskriget, Dahlsbergs Förlag vol. 6, p. 182): “Those who fight in such a unit, and have every day and every hour such examples before them, know no ordeals (i.e. they do not perceive their ordeals as ordeals) and are always young and powerful. I have gone twelve days and nights – and more – without undressing, and I do not even find it uncomfortable. Every night I slept in the wet grass with nothing to cover me but my greatcoat. I did not even get a cold; but had I been as I was usually I would undoubtedly have developed pneumonia. All neurosis, and other things of that nature, disappears as if by magic. The whole body becomes charged (Danish: laddad) with energy.” (The writer here uses the accurate term, without having any idea that he is indeed charged with a new power.)
“The result of this,” he continues, “ is that I long with all my heart to be healthy, in order to get back to my military unit.” P. 183: “I noticed with what childlike confidence in their leader, and with what astonishing courage, our soldiers made their attack. It was in fact hard for me to keep my men in their trench.”
This case and many others indicate that the soldiers are in hypnotic state of a kind, and that they are in fact hypnotically controlled by their leaders, while the leaders in turn are empowered by their men. The extraordinary energy of Caesar, who ate and drank less than anyone else, arose, I believe, from induction of this nature; and the same is true of Napoleon. Taine says, so far as I remember, that once when Napoleon went to mount his horse, the little man shot over the horse and struck his groom with his whip when he reached the other side. This could be induction of the kind seen in levitation – but the whipping indicates that the induction was not of a good nature, and future historians will, when analysing this great man of the evil path, consider better than hitherto the conditions experienced by his mother when she was pregnant with him.
A soldier in the artillery said he felt certain sympathy for the enemy artillery, rather than for his comrades in other branches of the military. The same is indicated by the story of a French marksman who finally managed to shoot and kill his German counterpart. He was heaped with praise for this feat, but he himself felt so unhappy as to be unwell. To judge from the account, some form of nervous or psychological connection may have formed between him and the German, so that his shot robbed him of some of his own powers, although it was another who was shot. And it is certain that this, sooner or later, will result from evil actions: they will have an impact upon the person performing the action.
IX
The less people understand about the relationship between things, the more they will regard what occurs as strange and prodigious. The electrical emanations termed acumina by the Romans – marsh gas or will o’ the wisp – were regarded as a supernatural phenomenon before people knew of electricity. And Herodotus regards it as a great marvel (thoma megiston) that Apollo speaks on one occasion through his soothsayer not in Greek as usual, but in the Karian language (Her. IX, 135). But the man who put the questions to the god was Karian; and thus the soothsayer, when in a divine trance, thus spoke Karian, although in his normal state he did not know that language. When we know the law of the influence of “sitters” at séance, mentioned above, this ceases to be at all wonderful; and we can tell, precisely from this, that the story must be true. From this we begin to anticipate the results, if scientific psychology were to be used in researching old folklore.
The linguistic ability of the soothsayer, when he speaks the word of the god, is of exactly the same nature as the knowledge of French exhibited by an American when in a trance in the presence of Victor Hugo, although when awake he had no knowledge of that language; and when the Apostles “spoke in tongues” on the morning of Pentecost, it was the same phenomenon. This ceases entirely to appear supernatural when a mind unbound by any religion, as manifested in heteromori, finds the way forward, the way to the utter victory of science and wisdom.
Biodynamics make it clear to us the true nature of those phenomena which have been termed “miracles,” and we see that there is far more truth in such stories than heteromori believes. It is vital here to apply one’s intelligence, and one must take care not to confuse the actual phenomenon with the protomorian interpretation of it in ancient and medieval times. Tales of miracles performed by the Ancient Greek god of medicine, Asclepius, now appear even more remarkable to us than to those who believe that such stories are nothing but invention, and evidence of human credulity and gullibility. And it is no surprise that these Ancient Greek stories are very similar to tales of miraculous cures from Lourdes, and other such Catholic stories over the centuries.
And biodynamics will benefit us far more yet, than has already been discussed. We see that bioradiotherapy will become one of the most important factors in the medicine of the future. Patients will be returned to health by induction: the bioradiation of the daemon or theos will be channelled to them. Or, more accurately, the bioradiation of superior beings will no longer be prevented from making them healthy. It was bioradiotherapy which Dr. Sahler applied to his patient, as discussed above, although he did not realise this. And it is bioradiotherapy which is applied in so-called Christian Science: in this case, however, it is applied most unscientifically, and even so ignorantly that the “cure” sometimes kills the patient, instead of healing. And it is also this process which is applied when an herbal healer or homeopath cures an ailment, after a qualified physician has given up. A folk healer is empowered by the trust of the ordinary people around him; and sometimes their lack of trust may weaken the powers of the conventional doctor. In order to perform “miracles” the confidence of others is required.
In other words, the mindset of others to the healer must be of such a nature that it does not block the connection to the superior being, the daemon or theos. It is this trust which in Christian writings is called faith. It is thus that people may be “saved by faith.” Jesus could perform no miracles in the city where he grew up, says St. Mark, because of the unbelief of the people there. And when most of his disciples believe that he has lost his mind, and abandon him, and even the few who remain lose faith in him, he temporarily loses his connection to the being he calls Father, and he is saddened and trembles in anguish. All this is entirely understandable, and there is much truth in these stories.
Belief establishes that attunement which is necessary in order to participate in the biodynamism of a higher being, and to channel this to others. This may be seen as a biodynamo of ten, a hundred, or even a thousand manpower: the greater numbers of people are united, the more they can achieve by biodynamism, as can the individual they empower by their belief. Where a state of dysexelixis prevails, military leaders are accorded great honour, and they are the most admired. Such men could have much to say about the empowering effects of such a following, if they were able to understand these matters; they often become highly religious, are constantly praying, and carry the New Testament wherever they go; while others have become highly superstitious. And it is noteworthy that the most devoted believers have not infrequently been the worst tyrants. The way of knowledge is the only, completely reliable, way to humanitarianism.
The energy which is produced by confidence and unity will be put to far better use when the right path to progress has been found. And the “supernatural” miracles of the past will be as nothing in comparison with the miracles of knowledge in the future, when not only protomori has been vanquished, but also heteromori.
X
Along with the ancient sages, we can conceive of existence in descending stages from the source of all existence. Closest to the source is what Ancient Greek philosophers called nous, then the World Soul, then the lower World Soul, and finally Nature. Nous and the World Souls were collectively called kosmos noetos, which has been expressed as mundus intelligibilis, the intelligible world, and may be said to mean “the world perceived by the mind.” The divine, says Plotinus, reaches to the boundary of the lower World Soul, which arises from the emanations of the higher soul; and only within those boundaries can one truly live, he says. In the perceived world are what Plato termed ideas, or paradigms. But beyond the bounds of that world, beyond the bounds of the divine, in the world of nature, only copies (mimemes) are found, springing from attempts to make copies of the ideas or paradigms, using imperfect materials.
When bioradiation and bioinduction have been discovered as laws of existence, we can well understand that the cosmology of these ancient sages is far more remarkable, and contains far more truth, than is believed today. And we can understand how vital it is to facilitate induction from the higher to the lower plane of existence. If this fails, dysexelixis prevails: the infernal path, the way of suffering and death. Death means that the effort to bring the imperfect to the path of perfection is abandoned – and abandoned precisely because the attunement of the lower plane of existence to the higher is so imperfect: induction cannot be as it should be, and thus progress towards perfection is slow, and ultimately fails. The infernal way prevails, and stronger connections may even form with lower planes of existence, than with the higher.
XI
What is said here is natural science. Whatever others may believe – for as long as they are not prepared to explore this subject in the correct way – I have discovered, scientifically, emanations from other planes of existence flowing here to earth-dwellers. And I have discovered, in a manner which can be verified by tests and experiments, that those other planes of existence are on other planets. “For all There is heaven,” writes Plotinus. “Earth is heaven, and sea heaven; and animal and plant and man; all is the heavenly content of that heaven” (Enn. V, VIII, 3). And this is correct: Plotinus’ cosmos is in heaven, i.e. the intelligible world comprises other planets, and the life there.
I have found that the attunement of people one to another, the mindset, the degree of mutual understanding, and good- or ill-will, has a strong influence upon connections with other planes of existence. And this is a crucial factor. In due course people will come to understand what a life they have made for me, by imagining that my systematic essays, on a more remarkable subject than has previously been addressed here on earth, spring from some delusions. Nowhere on any planet is there a person less likely to talk nonsense than the one who has discovered the two paths, diexelixis and dysexelixis. And while the news of that discovery is not given a more sensible reception than my arguments have so far received, connections will be made with the most perilous planes of existence – with places where beings sink deeper and deeper into dysexelixis, until efforts to maintain life on that planet come to an end, following worse disaster than any that has occurred here on earth – although much has occurred here which has been quite horrible. When people realise the origins of the appalling atrocities which have been committed, for instance in Russia in recent years, they will better understand what is said here.
XII
In order to demonstrate that this is the correct path, it is sufficient to show that I have been able to bring together in one category various different states, which have not been understood. I have discovered that sleep, the psychic’s trance, and the prophetic state of the soothsayer are various forms of a state which is in principle the same, the state of induction or telepathy, which arises from induction or bioinduction. And the same is true of the state which as been called unio mystica, mystical union, homosis, henosis, theiosis. Specific types of this state are e.g. hypnosis, hysteria, paranoia, and what is known as double or multiple personality.
By understanding this, all mysticism is eradicated. The light of science disperses all the mystical mists, and it is certain that far more extraordinary territories will become visible to us, than even the most mystic of mysticism has ever conceived. By understanding psychic or telepathic connection, and its variants, a more important step is taken on the path of knowledge than when the discovery was made that an apple, falling to earth, is subject to the same power as the moon as it orbits the earth – or that universal gravity is manifested both in the weight of objects and their falling to earth, and in the movements of heavenly bodies.
XIII
The higher the level of existence, the greater the attunement of individuals: unity of mind, empathy, solidarity. And the greater the similarity between levels of existence in their degree of perfection, the greater the connection will be between them. This entails that, the better the attunement among people here on earth, the more they will be empowered by planes of existence where life is more powerful. Thus one can understand better how even the most foolish wars are begun, when we remember how nations can become crazed when a large number unite on some cause which they believe is quite magnificent, and see as just and necessary. But the empowerment will be more enduring and successful, the more that people can contrive to unite preferably in some good cause – and here it is vital to make the right judgement of individuals, so that those who have the most important contribution to make do not become exhausted and demoralised. That has been the characteristic of human history here on earth – and generally characterises all human history of the evil path, dysexelixis: all the dysexelictic history. Those who have some knowledge of our human history can understand that those who have done, or could have done, most to bring mankind to the right path had, less than others, the friends they required, and were less justly valued, and some even persecuted and downtrodden. And even now historians rarely judge such men quite rightly, and still less the general public. Even in the country which was until recently the best-educated on earth, it was generally believed that e.g. Luther was a far more remarkable man than Kepler: but the reverse is true.
The last paragraph of this chapter omitted.
XIV
A living being strives to gain control of the lifeless material, to make it into itself, make the lifeless into living stuff. The more one considers this, the more it illuminates the nature of the world. In the most remarkable way, this tendency emerges in man, the being who has developed farther than others towards intelligence; but this is precisely where the difficulties emerge most clearly. Now we can begin to understand that where life is, the results of the tendency of the power which seeks to organise the material that makes up the world, emerge most clearly. The reader must here bear in mind some of what has been said before. An attempt will now be made to enhance somewhat the understanding of these matters. The greater the harmony between the small living units, cells, in each body, the greater control it will have over lifeless nature. And, what is more, the greater the harmony and unity among individuals in a society, the more they will, as a rule, achieve in gaining control of the forces of nature. Lack of harmony in the body leads to aging and death. We know how the Russian biologist Elias (Ilya) Mechnikov, who worked for a long time in France, revealed that some cells of the animal body attack other cells and devour them. Mechnikov maintained that this was the cause of aging and death. And it is most interesting to see how the way of enmity, the wrong path of life here on earth, appears in the very inner workings of the body, and what its consequences are. The situation in Russia gives enlightening indications of what happens in a society where unity is lost – even a unity as defective and imperfect as that of Imperial Russia.
The objective is to attain perfect control of the powers of lifeless nature, to attune together living nature and lifeless, in a far more perfect manner than is the case before good sense prevails. Some myths show us that those beings which men have called gods – which have progressed so far towards harmony – have power over the even the most ungovernable powers of their planet – volcanic energy – and they harness it for their purposes. And the significance of geology consists not least in that it carries mankind along the way to that objective.
This perfect harmony of mankind or god-kind with its planet may be what Plotinus describes in highly mystical terms in his Tractate on Intellectual Beauty (Enn. V, VIII. 4). “Each There [in the intelligible world] walks upon no alien soil; its place is its essential self; and, as each moves, so to speak, towards what is Above, it is attended by the very ground from which it starts: there is no distinguishing between the Being and the Place; all is Intellect, the Principle and the ground on which it stands, alike.”
What the mystic describes appears to be a state where wisdom has gained such control over the forces of nature that those forces can never disrupt or delay the progress towards wisdom and energy and beauty – on the contrary, they work perfectly with, and perfectly serve, wisdom.
Chapter XV. omitted.