HOW TO REACH THE SUBCONSIOUS MIND

WE HEAR so much these days about the importance of reaching the subconscious mind that it is very easy for one to assume that there is no other important factor in demonstra­tion, yet there are two other factors equally, if not more important, i.e., arousing the interest of and gaining a response from the subconscious mind. No perfect demonstration can be made without each of these three factors receiving the proper consideration.

Reaching the subconscious mind is merely the preliminary process of demonstration, — like touching the keys of a piano is but the prelim­inary steps to producing music. To gain a re­sponse from the subconscious mind is as necessary in demonstrating material things as it is to awaken a response of tone from the keys of a piano in order to produce a demonstration of music.

However, in order to gain a response from the subconscious mind, its interest must be awakened for the determination of the subconscious mind lies at its point of interest, hence, the more interest awakened, the greater and quicker the response.

Because of this fact, perfect demonstration must incorp-orate these three modes of directing the sub­conscious activities: reaching it, arousing its in­terest, and gaining its response.

The reverent attitude, coupled with an earnest, specific desire, is the surest and quickest method of reaching the subconscious mind, but the rev­erent attitude is gained in a variety of ways according to the individual and develop-ment, also to subconscious habits and convictions for it is easier for it to grasp ideas to which it has been the most closely related than it is to grasp suggestions entirely new and strange.

Remember, — the subconscious mind operates wholly by suggestion and whichever suggestions are more closely related to its dominant habits of activity will become crystallized into outer form more quickly than will suggest-ions which are new or only partly related to established habits. Therefore, the reverent attitude is gained more quickly by suggestions which follow most closely the natural trend of subconscious habit. Suggestion is classified into four groups: mental, verbal, physical, and veiled, and each is crystal­lized into material form as dominant conditions according to its quality.

If your childhood training has been deeply religious and you have a great respect for what you have been taught, then your subconscious mind will be quickly reached by repeating favor­ite passages of scripture or those which especially illustrate best the point you wish to make or cover. Repeat not only one but as many as you can think of pertaining to the subject at hand, continuing to quote until you are thrilled with reverence for your Creator and His Divine and beautiful promises to those who love to do His will.

If you are of a philosophical turn of mind, then use philosophical quotations to produce the desired result. There are transcendentally beau­tiful thoughts contained in Emerson's Essays, especially "Circles," "Self Reliance" and "Friendship." The writings of Socrates, as well as many of the more modern writers, also express truths which should be familiar to every one who is seeking release from the bondage of material­ism and its effects which manifest as ill health, unhappiness, poverty, and sordid environment.

If poetry has always appealed to you, then, by all means, quote beautiful poetry. And if you love the artistic and Divine in whatever form you find it, then use whatever appeals to you most at the time. Kipling's "IF" expresses some especially beautiful thoughts.

Another beautiful thought is embodied in the following lines by W. S.:

"Like the Infinite tone of a Nightingale's warble,

Like the music of poetry frozen in marble

Is the origin of Love."

Also these lines from the poem, "Give," by Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

 

"Give and thou shalt receive;

   Give words of courage, of success and cheer

To friend and stranger,

   And from a thousand sources far and near,

Help will be sent thee in thy hour of danger!

   Give of thy love nor wait to know the worth

Of what thou lovest, and ask no returning;

   And where so e'er thy footsteps fall on earth

There, thou shalt find the lamp of Lovelight burning."

 

The reverent attitude can also be easily attained through fervent prayer. But if you pray as to a God in the clouds, afar off, you will be bitterly disappointed in your God! Pray as to a kind, loving, friend who is sitting beside you, eagerly waiting and willing to do your slightest bidding instantly. When you are thrilled with the beauty and sincerity of that which you are repeating, then send out to this kind, loving, Friend your earnest desire in a concise but spe­cific form with a confident feeling that what you ask will be granted, and that immediately. One can specify time and place in connection with sending forth one's desire, but one should never specify the channel through which it shall manifest. Divine Power should never be limited to human vision or conception. That is why so many people fail in demonstration. They insist upon Divine Mind manifesting their desires through the channels which they specify.

Faith is a feeling of confidence; therefore, if you send forth your desire in a reverent, confi­dent manner, you reach your subconscious mind almost instantly.

Beautiful thoughts, like beautiful music, depict an insight into that which is Divine, that which reaches beyond the materiality of the commonplace, recognizing an Infinite Power and Wisdom that is sublime, fulfilling every desire of human longing.

If you are lacking in faith, that is, if you have been taught an orthodox creed, and that your God is only concerned with universal issues and is unconcerned with the personal problems of an ordinary sinner, such as yourself, then you need to quote passages of scripture that will convince your conscious and your subconscious minds that your Savior is an ever present Friend who is ready, and willing, and tenderly waiting, to supply your every need.

"Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." Matt. 7:7

"In all their affliction, He was afflicted and the angel of His presence saved them, and He bare them and carried them all the days of old." Isaiah 63:9

" Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten by God? Fear not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows." Luke 12:6-7

"And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. But rather seek ye the Kingdom of God (Love); and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not little flock for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." Luke 12:29-33

The following is good as a conclusive promise, — "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Or, as you hear it!) Luke 4:11

Time and energy is the Divine heritage of every human being and is the only substance used in fashioning our lives. This Truth clothes the statement of Thomas Jefferson, "All men are created equal," with the vesture of Divine Wis­dom, notwithstanding the statements of his biographers to the contrary that he was a dreamer and more visionary than practical.

Time and energy are used by each individual in a construct-ive or destructive manner; accord­ing to the Divine Qualities or in opposition to them. That is what makes success or failure. Time and energy expressed as God intended, as Love, Truth, Faith, Gratitude, and Praise, must create success while time and energy expended as hate, fear, anger, worry, or unkind criticism, always react as failure. Thus, you reach your sub­conscious mind by using time and energy to express a reverent, unselfish desire to accomplish something definitely worthwhile and, "According to your faith be it done unto you."

I recall to mind a demonstration which clearly illustrates the points at issue.

An earnest student, new in the study and application of psychology, found it necessary to demonstrate a set of dishes. She was the mother of two children and their sole support. She maintained the home by selling stocks and bonds.

While the mother pursued her duties of bread winner, the care of the house was largely left to the two children and an inexperienced girl. The oldest child owned a pet dog which was con­sidered by its young master much too valuable and high bred to eat from common china or tin, in lieu of which the hand-painted china was used without the knowledge of the mother; the girl was given a home with the family in exchange for the companionship she might give to the children while the mother was at work. She knew very little about the science of housekeeping and her method of washing dishes was very hard on the china, consequently the mother returned from a trip only to find her supply broken and limited to odds and ends, such as jelly glasses for drinking purposes, odd soup plates to supplement vegetable containers, and two or three cracked dinner plates.

She had been asked to entertain at dinner one of the officials of the company by whom she was employed and she had promised to do so. You can imagine her chagrin when she arrived home only to find that she lacked the necessary dishes with which to serve a dinner and the funds with which to purchase new ones! Her arrival was on a Tuesday and she had promised to entertain the following Saturday! What could she do? It was a serious condition for she had no friends of whom she could borrow either money or dishes. The official she had been asked to entertain was practically a stranger and a very fastidious man, one who at least was entitled to a well appointed table.

The afternoon of her arrival home, she had an errand which took her into the shopping district of the city and as she walked along, wondering what she could do to solve the disturbing prob­lem, this query was forced into her con-sciousness, — "Why not let your knowledge of psychology solve your problem?" Well, why not indeed? If one could demonstrate health and love, why not a set of dishes? A science which could solve big problems could surely solve the small ones as well.

Had she not been taught that the Great Law could be applied to every problem and that it worked with math-ematical precision when ap­plied in a scientific manner? Did she dare trust to her meager knowledge of the Great Law when failure might result at the last moment? She analyzed her motives in the matter and felt that her desire was both unselfish and right for it was prompted by her regard for the sales manager who had shown her many courtesies. She finally decided to take a chance and pin her faith to the ever lasting promise: "Ask and ye shall receive." This promise had been proven true too many times for it to fail her now when grati­tude demanded that she meet the obligation of the moment.

Her final decision, following her meditation on the matter, was to apply Psychological Law and demonstrate a set of dishes. As harmony and order are Divine Laws, she knew that the demonstration of a set of dishes in keeping with the rest of her dining appointments would be in accord with what she had learned.

Following her decision, she had no time to devote to concentration until the following morning after she had set the house to rights and was alone for an hour or two. Getting herself into a reverent attitude by repeating several beautiful passages of scripture, for her early training had been deeply religious and she still retained great respect for the beautiful truths of Biblical lore, she then sent her desire out into the Universal Ether in a clear, con­cise, manner and next proceeded to idealize that desire both by mental argument and con­centration. She continued to concentrate for perhaps half an hour and then something interfered and her concentration was postponed until the following day, which was Thursday.

It was ten a.m. before an opportunity came for following the plan she had decided upon. Seating herself in her favorite "Sleepy Hollow" chair, close to the window where the sunshine streamed in upon her, she proceeded to get her physical body into a perfectly comfortable posi­tion.

The body is never perfectly comfortable until you are no longer conscious of any part of it. A dark room is to be avoided if possible, al­though many people advise meditation and con­centration in a slightly darkened room and some advise a room completely darkened. But if you wish a quick demonstration, choose a room that is flooded with sunlight for that is God's way of energizing every creation. Destructive forces hover in dark places. Even a better way than a lighted room is to get out into the sunlight where the fresh air and the trees and flowers help to inspire one to acts of love and kindness.

The above mentioned student preferred the great out-of-doors in which to do her meditating and concentrating but at the particular time mentioned, the press of circumstances seemed to prevent. So, instead of complaining at cond-itions, she adjusted herself to them by holding the agreeable attitude and realizing that her environment must change whenever she ap­plied the science of right thinking to the prob­lem in the right way. After getting herself into the reverent attitude, she again sent out her desire in a clear, concise, way, just as she had done on the previous day, the only change being that she visualized the desire in simple, specific, words until they stood out clear and strong as though written with white chalk upon a black board. She followed this with an intimate picture of her little family and invited guest sitting at the well appointed dinner table having a most enjoyable time.

We will now turn the calendar back one year to the time when she had moved to her present location, a building containing six apartments and occupied by five other tenants who had all lived there for a much longer period than her­self. During the entire year of her residence in the building, she had not made the acquaint­ance of any other tenant except the one who lived directly across the hall from her. Her two children knew most of the tenants but there had been no occasion for coming in contact with any but the family who had the adjoining apartment. The occupants of the two first floor apartments were wealthy and their ways lay along the pleasant paths of life; they needed neither the friendship nor the assistance of one who had to earn her livelihood. One family on the second floor, she had never even heard her children mention and the other occupant of that floor was only known to her by virtue of the fact that propinquity was an excellent ex­cuse for borrowing, although this was usually done through the agency of the children, never in person, for she never paid back the articles borrowed so preferred not to come in contact with her neighbor on the top floor.

The occasion of concentration above men­tioned was just two days previous to the im­portant dinner and nothing had materialized which would indicate that the demonstration would be made; she only knew that God was a never failing supply. Just as she was about to conclude her period of "Silence," a ring at the door bell aroused her and upon answering it she beheld a very pretty woman, in a sport costume but bareheaded. Pleasantly bowing and intro-ducing herself, the stranger apologized for having disturbed her neighbor when she had never seen fit to make her acquaintance during the year of their residence in the building. But she used as her excuse the fact that every other neighbor was out and she had accidently (?) locked herself out and found it necessary to gain entrance to her apartment in some way.

Thinking that her neighbor's door key might fit the Yale lock in her own door, she had made bold to ask the favor of borrowing it. The key to both the Yale lock and the rear door were given her, also a case knife, with the advice to slip the knife through the door casing where the Yale lock was fastened, provided the keys did not fit, explaining that burglars had used that method of gaining entrance to the apartment across the hall some two weeks previous.

In about five minutes, the woman returned with the keys and the knife, and profuse thanks for the accommodation and suggestion, as the knife alone had proven the only means of gain­ing an entrance. Our student of Applied Psy­chology invited her new acquaintance in, with the remark that she appreciated even this late opportunity of meeting her. The other woman made the excuse that she was moving on Satur­day morning and was too busy to spare even five minutes as she had not finished packing and had several pets to crate and ship after which remark, she hastened away.

This incident raised a mental query in the mind of the student as to just what the unusual occurrence might mean and she sat down to affirm that it could only bring good, for her com­mon affirmation that "God has perfected that which concerneth me" was never failing. She never once dreamed that the incident had anything to do with the present demonstration but, always mentally alert to the fact that there are no chance happenings but that every circum-stance is vital, she knew that it was im­portant in some way. Nothing further of un­usual interest happened during the day.

The next morning being Friday, she decided to spend more time than usual on concentra­tion for the time of demon-stration was fast ap­proaching and nothing had as yet transpired to give her the faintest hope that she would suc­ceed, and she must prove that the Law was de­monstrable in minor as well as major problems.

Again she was interrupted by a ring at the door bell and answered it only to find the same smiling countenance bowing pleasantly and ask­ing if she might be granted the privilege of using the phone, saying, as she entered, that again all the tenants were out and she was forced to ask the accommodation as she was busy packing and found it extremely inconvenient to dress and go out to use a public phone. She apolo­gized on the ground that she had been treated with such graciousness on the preceding day that she had presumed to ask still another favor.

It seemed that her phone had to be discon­nected some days previous so that she might have the use of it upon her arrival in the new apartment to which she was moving.

After using the phone, she was asked to sit and chat awhile as it seemed Fate had decreed that they should get acquainted. She laugh­ingly acquiesced and sat and chatted for about five minutes. She then made her excuses and departed, her hostess following her to the door chatting and laughing as they went and finally leaning over the newel post as the departing one descended to the second floor landing where she stopped and, with a gesture of disgust, re­marked to the effect that it seemed that she had packed nothing but dishes! She said that every­where she turned, she saw dishes to be packed, dishes of all kinds and descriptions! She then laughed saying she wondered if ever she would get through packing dishes. From the student at the top of the stairs came a remark to the effect that dishes would be the smallest part of packing if she were to move. And then followed a hasty resume of why she had so few. Upon hearing the story, told in a smiling, witty way, the first floor tenant again threw up her hands, this time with a gesture of entreaty, and ex­claimed, — "Oh, won't you please do me one more favor?" And when she was answered in the affirmative, she said, "Please come down and get a set of dishes that are all packed but which I would be glad to have out of my sight as the one who gave them to me is now the object of my hate, and you will be doing me a favor by taking them out of my sight"

Doubting that the woman could be in earn­est, the student asked what the price of the set would be. "Not one cent, I would be only too glad to pay you for taking them away."

Of course, the dishes matched the other din­ing appoint-ments and were a complete set, except for one saucer which had been broken. And an unusual feature of the demon-stration was that the women have never met since that day.

The dishes were a surplus supply for the one woman and a much needed supply for the other and that need was met out of a surplus, as will always be the case when the demonstration is made on a scientific basis. The exchange created a perfect balance and brought happi­ness to both. It is always so. Universal Forces are ever at work, striking a perfect balance but never robbing one to meet another's need, sim­ply meeting the need out of the surplus that has already been created. That is why, when you "borrow of Peter to pay Paul," you are not working in accord with God's Law.

When you know how to apply the rule to each problem, you will attract what you need out of the established channels of supply, or will attract to you the one who can supply that need out of their surplus and be happier in so doing. So, out of the Cosmic Ether, the need of the one brought her in contact with the one who could supply that need out of a surplus and, best of all, she proved that the Great Law worked in minor occasions when applied correctly.

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