HPB-SB-14-94: Difference between revisions

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{{Style P-HPB SB. Title continued|Notes by the Way.|14-93}}

{{Style P-No indent|gaze is an essential gift of the successful mesmeriser. This acquired or developed, he cultivates the power of imagination; consciously projects mental pictures vividly conceived. This conception, as in thought-reading, he directs by power of will on to the mind of his subject, aiding his mental effort by a few communicatory passes. (Just in this way some energetic talkers unconsciously emphasise their words by action of the hand.) By degrees a ''rapport'' is established between the two minds, and the subject ''sees'' as the mesmeriser ''imagines'' and projects his conception. This is the secret, in another sphere of action, of true oratory. When matters have gone so far, sympathetic control is easily established. The subject, excited to laughter or tears, soon becomes unable to control the sources of those emotions, and acts solely according to the suggestion of his mesmeriser until a few reverse passes liberate his subjugated will and restore him to liberty. His very muscular movements are beyond his control, and he can be influenced and governed when beyond the sight of his mesmeriser.}}

There are various processes of mesmerising. Miss Hunt, besides her own, which is simple and good, enumerates those of various successful adepts in the art—Mesmer, Dr. Keiser, Abbé Faria, Bruno, Deleuze, Billot, Teste, Lafontaine, Dupotet, Puységur, Gruelin, Gassner, Jörden, Hufeland, Kluge, Dr. Gregory, Dr. Darling, Mr. Lewis, Captain James, and others. She alludes also to two processes of Auto-mesmerism, the Hypnotism of Braid, and the Statuvolence of Fahnestock. I may say that the elaborate instructions of Kluge, and the experiments of Dupotet, are worth special attention. The latter are full of danger, and should be studied rather as examples of what to avoid than as models for imitation. I remember the Baron detailing to me with much vivacity how by his arts and practices, which he was willing then to regard as unlicensed and belonging to Black Magic, he had evoked certain spiritual beings of a type so terrible that he fled for his life, and abandoned his black arts ever after.

All experiments of the mesmeric kind are (as I believe) risky, and unless conducted with extreme care, and by properly qualified persons, are in a high degree dangerous. In this belief I am glad to find myself at one with so experienced a person as the writer of this book. One of such dangers is dramatically illustrated in a recent story of Julian Hawthorne’s, published in his “Prince Saroni’s Wife.” The story is called “Constance,” and though somewhat overdrawn, illustrates what may conceivably be the terrible use of this power in the hands of an unscrupulous person. There is, however, a legitimate and beneficent use of it which I have not space to dwell upon—the healing or alleviation of disease. To this the authoress devotes a large amount of attention. This portion of her book is perhaps most worthy of study, and will least bear condensation. In taking leave of her book, I venture to refer my readers to this part of it as a subject of study; and I am glad to express my own obligations to a manual which has amongst other good qualities the merit of clearness and brevity. I should be glad to see it, with some excisions and additions, placed at the command of a wider public.

{{Style P-Signature custom|M.A. (Oxon.)}}

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{{Style P-Title|LINES BY A GIRL OF SIXTEEN, DYING OF CONSUMPTION<br>AT PISA,}}

{{Style P-Subtitle|{{Style S-Small capitals|On being awakened by her Mother.}}}}

{{Style P-Poem custom|poem=<small>Ah, why disturb me from my morning dreams,

And call me up to face my fevered day!

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Some words in explanation of what I find stated in a possibly misleading manner in my last article. The spiritual Ego may seem to be there represented as the result of a process of religious conversion, and thus not essential to humanity as we know it. That is certainly not what I intended to convey. Man is man by virtue of this principle of consciousness, which is indeed the ''capacity'' of the highest spiritual attainment, but is ''manifest'' only in the recognition of an universal reason and will superior to the individual. It is, ''in fact'', this very universal come to individual consciousness, but the individual does not recognise it ''as such'' at first, but sees in it a law upon him, external to him, at variance with his own will. This is his conscience. And because it is the Absolute Reason in him also, it is his ''nous'', in the great Greek sense, which signifies so much more than the discursive, analytic faculty we moderns take for reason. What these teachings aim at shewing is that the Divine Spirit is not a mere adornment, so to speak, of an already immortal soul, but is itself the principle of that soul, which, by accretion or organic substantiation, becomes the basis of ''objective'' immortality. But personality, in any but an empty subjective sense, is not therefore likewise immortal. It is a phenomenal ''experience''. It depends on external conditions, and is the objectivity of the Ego under those conditions. The complex of the latter is what we call a world. The personality is a ''manifestation'' of the Ego in such a world, and thus itself phenomenal. Now relatively to spirit the Ego is itself objective and phenomenal; it may be said to be an organic mode of spirit. It is the consciousness of this mode, in and through personal experience. And at death, when the Ego enters the state of Devachan, or comparative subjectivity, its consciousness is the net result or ''income'' of this past experience. That is its Karma; and with a good Karma this state is “Heaven.” But since that is not Nirvana, ''i.e.'', perfect identification with the impersonal, universal consciousness of spirit, this does not last for ever,<nowiki>*</nowiki> but there is re-manifestation, or re-birth into another objective world, or “world of causes,” where new Karma is generated. In the personal lives, there is no self-identification by the Ego, and for this reason. What took place in Devachan was the gradual ''indrawing'' of its past life experience till it ceased to be objective unconsciousness and became the subjective basis of another external life or personality. That is the ''character'' of the new person. Our character is thus the result of our former lives, the quintessential product of these, but to us, of course, is not an objective memory. It will become so, however, when we get ''behind'' our present character, that is, into the still more internal condition to which all past results are objective. And then, also, there will be an unfoldment of these results into their causes and elements, and the whole vast field of phenomenal experience will be displayed to our view.