Part 2 (1/2)
”Ce domaine de la Suggestion est immense. Il n'y a pas un seul fait de notre vie mentale qui ne puisse etre reproduit et exagere artificiellement par ce moyen.”--_Binet et Frere, 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 ent.i.tled _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 _prae cantator_. PARACELSUS a.s.serted the same thing in many pa.s.sages 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_ antic.i.p.ate 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-gla.s.s.
Hypnotism as practiced at the present day, and with regard to its common results, was familiar to JOHANN JOSEPH Ga.s.sNER, a priest in Suabia, of whom LOUIS FIGUIER writes as follows in his _Histoire du Merveilleux dans les Temps Modernes_, published in 1860:
”Ga.s.sNER, 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 Ga.s.sNER 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.”
Ga.s.sNER 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 _anaesthesia_ 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 Ga.s.sNER, 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 Ga.s.sNER 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 zele_.
But the general accounts of Ga.s.sNER 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 Ga.s.sNER 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 Ga.s.sNER'S method partakes in equal proportions of the principles of the well-known ”Faith Cure,” and that of the Will, or of the pa.s.sive 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 Ga.s.sNER, 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 a.s.sume 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 pa.s.sing 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 subst.i.tuting 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 repet.i.tion. 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 h.o.a.r. Repeat the experiment, if successful add to it something else.
Violent effort is unadvisable, yet mere repet.i.tion _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 ill.u.s.trate 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 pa.s.s 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.