The New Psychology
Its Basic Principles and Practical Formulas by A. A. Lindsay M.D. Order in Adobe PDF eBook form for $7.95 or click here to order in printed form from Amazon.com for $19.95 Book Description This book is for the purpose
of defining what mind department communicates between man and the
objective
world; what department communicates between man and the sub-conscious
world;
what department forms the ideas and another that makes these become
reality;
how the body is transformed into conformity to the idea; how permanent
character is established, item by item, in accord with the idealizing.
Then it
is a book that deals with the powers, attributes, qualities and
classifications
of all the mental functions of the individual and the methods of their
working,
and formulas for directing their operation for definite results. Chapter 1 - The Basic
Principles
Chapter 2 - Psycho
(Suggestive) Therapeutics
Chapter 4 - Hypnosis—How to
Produce and Use
Chapter 5 - Suggestion in
Moral Reform
Chapter 6 - Intelligence of
the Cells
Chapter 8 - Telepathy
Chapter 9 - How to Become a
Psychic
Chapter 10 - Some Psychic
Phenomena
Chapter 11 - Chemistry of body
Modified by Emotions
Chapter 12 - Absent
Treatment
Chapter 13 - Truth About
Evil Thought Transference
Chapter 14 - Scientific
Inspiration
Chapter 15 - The Chemistry
and Psychology of Love
Chapter 16 - The Mother and
Her Child
Chapter 17 - Faith, Hope
and Trust, Psychologically Speaking Chapter 1 THE BASIC
PRINCIPLES TO say that the cure of
disease is by mind power, or to say that
curing takes place because of mind over matter, or to
say that mind cures disease, when an idea is introduced into
it, because it is controllable by suggestion, is not sufficiently
definite in
this day when exact knowledge is the standard. This book is for the purpose
of defining what mind department communicates between man and the
objective
world; what department communicates between man and the sub-conscious
world;
what department forms the ideas and another that makes these become
reality;
how the body is transformed into conformity to the idea; how permanent
character is established, item by item, in accord with the idealizing.
Then it
is a book that deals with the powers, attributes, qualities and
classifications
of all the mental functions of the individual and the methods of their
working,
and formulas for directing their operation for definite results. It has been in the human
conception to regard the sun because it manifested its wondrous power
in heat
and light beneficently, as the source and sum total of power, and so
was chosen
as an object of worship. The earth and other members of the planetary
system,
and sideral regions have likewise been looked to by men as Deific and
all;
lightning with its consequent thunder, indeed all the elements, birds
and
animals and reptiles and sometimes a man, and again members of the
human body, all, all have been and many of
these are yet regarded as the ultimate and the all. With this view of human
history we must concede the tendency of the human mind is to limit his
vision
and declare that this, his little horizon, is all there really is, or
can be,
and it therefore is almost excusable that the man who has seen some
thing of
intellect, saw it capable of great development, saw it might solve
problems of
science, mathematics, and encompass the earth through his constructions
should
conclude the intellectual department of man was all the mind he could
possess.
The same law that limited the expansion of comprehension, when all
power was by
supposition concentrated in the sun, prevents the perception of any
human power
being beyond that of mind, as it obtains knowledge through the sense
department
and expresses it, just like if one held a red glass before a green
object, and
it looks black, or looking at a blue object with a yellow glass it
seems black,
or to the man who has always looked at this objective world through
blue
glasses, declares all its properties are blue, so to the individual who
has
never perceived anything except through the senses, he determines the
sense or
its objective mind with its will and its reasoning, constitutes all the
man is
or may be mentally. However, an acquaintance with the soul, with its
perceptive
and expressive power, has caused us to analyze the direction of his
mental
activities. I will discuss herein later the various sources of
discovering that
there is in man something beyond sense perception and reflex action,
but only
declare the truth of the discovery now. The scientific study of
another department of mind, which is spoken of as the subjective or
psychic
division has been mainly through hypnotism, which in the hands of the
scientific student has disclosed mental powers, so different as well as
so
superior to the phenomena of the ordinary consciousness that the next
serious error
to thinking the intellectual of the objective was all the mind, was to
conclude
that there are two minds. The authors who have helped us greatly were
under
this impression of duality, and almost showed a line of demarcation
between the
“subjective and objective minds.” Further researches convince
us that there is but one mind or soul in the individual, and this we may correctly define as manifesting,
so far as our usual states are concerned, conscious and sub-conscious.
The
sub-conscious may be well described under the title of the psychic
department,
and so the terms “sub-conscious or psychic powers,” when speaking of
the subjective
mental functions are correct. But to declare a man is two
men is no more correct than to say that because there are phenomena of
light
that illumines our buildings and the power that hurls our cars through
the
street, are two forces instead of the one force of electricity with
different forms
of expression. The quality of speed and power to draw should just as
much
require that a horse be two horses as that one mind must be two, else
it could
not do such widely different things. The clearest statement of the
truth as it
is, is this: Man is one entire soul (I use the word in no religious or
theological sense, but as being the only word that possesses the
meaning, comprehending
life, mind and immortality in one word) having a body with many
members, for
the purpose of a multiplicity of acts and varied, and the two very
distinct
forms of mental expression. It is just as though soul had appointed a
department
of itself to preside over the senses, give and receive impressions, as
to the
physical world, collate the data of that world, reason upon it, form
conclusions, which it may transmit to the soul and there record in
perfect
memory, where it shall remain, unless an equally forceful suggestion
either
neutralizes or supplants it, and while it is there, it is a part of the
character,
or the individual. The normal situation would be where the objective
consciousness
attended strictly to its appointment, as above, for it trespasses upon
the psychic
department when it tries to order the functions of the body, for the
sub-conscious department, situated to know the state of every atom of
the body,
can never delegate to the volitional department the office of presiding
over the
composition and function of the body, for there are no means to know
through
the senses, as to the states, of the cells, cither in their chemistry,
or their
mentality. To show that the objective
department of mind communicates with the objective world, and that the
psychic
or sub-conscious department is the seat of the emotions, the permanent
reservoir of inherent knowledge, is possessed of the intuitive
faculties, the department
of inspiration, invention, of art, is possessed of a perfect memory,
and the
attribute of fore-knowledge, the latter holding the experiences, yet to
come to
the individual, and is possessed of even creative power with regard to
the
body, and does preside over tissue changes through cell reproduction,
as well
as controlling all of the functions of the body, is the chief lesson in
psychology, and in practical soul culture is of first importance. The
infringements upon the office of the sub-conscious department through
usurping
of authority by the objective is the source of silencing the psychic
department, out of which there should be constantly flowing its
superior powers.
People try, they try to play musical instruments; they try
to be orators; they try to invent by calculations, and by
reasoning, or
intellectual power, and in business they try by objective force to
accomplish their
excellence, and ingloriously fail, though within them, but in the
sub-conscious, there is every qualification to do and to be all they
would
aspire to; the sick try to cure themselves upon the same
principle. So
the musician, who must go through objective training under the usual
formulas
will finally discover that to sing, he must let the voice give
expression, make it never; that to be an artist in painting there is no
art
where they objectively try, but it has to flow, so to speak. In every
form of
art, that which distinguishes the individual in his aim is that which
declares him
inspired instead of mechanical. No further emphasis or declaration is
necessary
to show to anyone convincingly that all superior powers must be
acquired
through bringing the subjective into expression. Since the excellence
of art,
music, literature, etc., excellence in business, social affairs,
teaching as
well as invention, and all other traits, properties, expressions,
powers
previously- mentioned as belonging to the sub-conscious mental
department,
really do exist even to a degree to make those who avail themselves of
them, to
become perfect in health, appear as veritable geniuses and possessed of
well
rounded character, we will now take up the matter of formulas to bring
out of
the soul the expressions of its powers, just as we would have them to
appear in
our lives.
Chapter 2 PSYCHO (SUGGESTIVE) THERAPUTICS AS stated in the previous
chapter, all power over the body is in the sub-conscious department.
That being
literally true, that the
sub-conscious mind preferably called the soul, presides over the body
as to its
chemistry, its function, and structure, including cell vibration, cell
functioning, cell reproduction; modifying and controlling the forces as
temperature and electricity, absolutely determining the nutritive and
eliminating processes, and as you may readily see,
atom by atom, cell by cell, creates the body. Every experience, clinical,
hypnotic, or in the observation of normal or abnormal states proves
that that
power spoken of as the sub-consciousness or the soul, operates under
suggestion. The first classification of phenomena that we
will deal with under the proposition that the soul, in its
subjective department, creates and controls the body, as indicated, and
is itself
controlled by suggestion, will be psycho (suggestive) therapy. In the ordinary use of the
word suggestion, we would mean the
introduction of an idea into the objective department of the mind, but
when we
speak of the Science of Suggestion, we mean the introduction of an idea
into
the soul. When a patient comes into my office and I tell him in his
active
state that his rheumatic symptoms are beginning to disappear, and will
soon be entirely
overcome; that the cause of the pain is being removed; that the uric
acid will
cease to be in excess; that the pain and swelling are going; I have
introduced
into his mind the idea consistent with these words, and he looks at me
incredulously
and informs me he does not believe a word I have said. None of the conditions
occur as I said they would. Another person comes to me in the same
condition. I
say the same things to him and he believes what I say, and says so, and
the
pain and other symptoms begin disappearing, his entire cure ensuing. The practice of that kind of
suggestion cannot be called scientific, for there are no fixed, but
haphazard
results. If we are applying fixed laws, we will always get the same
results in
using the formula; and this experience has been that of many physicians
who
thought the mind power had efficiency, but having given the suggestion
to the
objective, as in the first instance above, and sometimes getting no
corresponding
results, they have pronounced against suggestion as never being
efficient. In the first instance of
the rheumatic sufferer, I introduced the idea into the mind, and he,
being
incredulous at once, offset the idea by his auto-suggestion. The
thought never
went beyond his objective mind, and the decision that he registered in
his soul
was that he would not be benefited, and of course he got no relief. In
the
second instance, under the same physical conditions, the idea was
introduced
into the same objective mentality, but he believed with that mind, and
weighing
evidence that applied to him, he came to the conclusion that he was
being cured
of his disorder, and all the symptoms disappeared, and along with them the cause. With his mind he registers
that decision in his soul. In other words, the belief of his mind when
it
reaches his soul is faith. It is faith, expectancy, in the soul that
cures all
diseases, regardless of the method adopted to reach that faith. No
disease was ever
cured until the expectancy of the soul was established. Scientific suggestion means
then the introduction of an idea into the sub-conscious department of
mind, the
psychic department, usually spoken of as the soul. This idea may be
introduced in
the active state of the patient by his accepting with his mind and
passing down
to the soul the idea, thus giving his objective co-operation with the
positions
suggested. It is so seldom that the patient with his mind can believe
implicitly, not carrying even a shadow of doubt to the soul, that
dependence
upon suggestion given in the active state is not warranted. There is a
law of suggestion,
because the laws of the soul are as fixed as the laws of chemistry,
magnetism,
electricity, or gravity. The idea that is fixed in perfect faith upon
the soul
will compel answer involving even a changing o f the organism
chemically, structurally,
or functionally. It believes all the mind tells it; it builds upon
wrong expectancy,
as effectually and as surely as upon the correct. Under a wrong suggestion
the soul will change the body to the abnormal; under a right suggestion
it will
perfect all of the physical organization. We have now briefly
outlined the power that is in the patient that heals his own body, and we will now illustrate how to get access
to that power to produce the phenomenon of cure. Therapeutic suggestion
contains as much in curing habits as it does to blot out disease or as
being a
power in character building. A young Englishman of 26
years presented himself at my office for treatment for stammering. His
distorted countenance when endeavoring to speak would call forth the
sympathy
of almost any observer. His disorder had existed since the age of six
or seven,
and had its origin in his mimicry of a man whom he saw occasionally. He
and his
sister indulged in this sport-making, having no evil purpose, but kept
up the
practice voluntarily for a time, when he found that if he desired to
speak
normally there was involuntary stammering. This grew upon him until it
was with
the greatest difficulty that he could make himself understood at all.
His
education was fair in general lines. He had fitted himself for
book-keeping,
and, being an adept accountant, could have commanded the best position
and
salary, but for his defective speech. He had been through several
institutions
in this country, that had various methods for treating such a case, but
he said
the exercises seemed to have made him more self-conscious and he had
met with
no improvement. I applied the science of suggestion in his instance. He
seated
himself comfortably in my treating chair. I instructed him to
thoroughly relax
his body and let his mind wander as it pleased. The condition of his
body and
the state of his mind favored the best passivity, the latter being
essential
before suggestions can best be addressed to the sub-consciousness. I
suggested “From
this moment you will have better control over your organs of speech;
there
shall be less hesitancy at the beginning of your sentences; you will
not become
violently entangled in the midst of the sentence, and no letter or word
shall
be a serious obstacle to your pronunciation; your nervousness in all
forms
shall be overcome, and you will be better in all respects from this
moment; the
distorted countenance shall disappear, as no involuntary action of the
facial
muscles shall take place; you will become less conscious of self and
you shall
feel no discouragement at any remaining evidence of your disorder, for
you will
expect a perfect cure, and will know that any delay is because of the
long established
habit.” I probably repeated this form of suggestion five or six times
audibly
during the half hour. I mentally suggested the same thing during the
silent
moments. These treatments were given three times a week during two
months,
modifying the form of the suggestions in that as the case advanced I
ceased to
refer to the old conditions and giving negative suggestions and gave
the
positive suggestions of harmonious speech and perfect control over all
the
organs of speech and muscles of the face. Of course this was a
disorder purely of functions. The feature of habit was as profound as
could be
in any instance. However, neither habit, heredity, or any other form of
mental
impress can be impressed more deeply than in the soul itself. That
being the
case since in the passive state, we get free access to the soul, that
has been
wrongly impressed, and remove the error, plant and cultivate new habit,
then
this comes out as natural expression. The soul is ever striving
for moral and physical harmony, and because of that it took much less
time to
plant order in the soul than it did the disorder. The gentleman had to
break
law to obtain defective speech. He had only to bring himself in harmony
with
law to correct his speech. I will not recite a series
of such cases, for this is a type of many such habits as stammering,
facial or
eye jerkings, or of involuntary muscular movements that may have the
feature of
habit in any parts of the body. This case and many others of the kind
show to
be cured in a month and sometimes less, but from a long experience, I
know that
to eradicate one habit and establish another should engage repeated
attention
covering a reasonable period of time. This has been my rule for the
last five
or six years, during which I have observed no relapses, whereas
fourteen years
ago I many times saw that dismissing a patient immediately upon their
appearing
well would sometimes mean relapses. The manner of giving a
suggestion to this patient is just like that I have used of late years
in all
cases, namely: quiet, confident, natural, soothing, and sympathetic.
There is
no place in suggestive treatments for violent manner of expression, nor
loud
tones This young man took shipment for England to be with his friends
that he
had previously left because his disorder was humiliating to them as to
himself.
Of course this case was one in which the organs were all present and
all right,
but sometimes even where there is surgery necessary to make it possible
for an
individual to speak, still the operation might not produce a cure
without suggestions
being given that would overcome the habit of stammering. Outside of
this
particular form of disorder, many surgical operations fall short of
their
purpose, in the absence of suggestion, for suggestion and surgery must
co-operate to establish right organic conditions and functional control. Insomnia is probably the
most easily responsive disorder of all the conditions where the nervous
system
chiefly is involved. Mrs. R., a patient of about thirty-five, belonged
to the
society set in San Francisco. She could not sleep except by the use of
drugs,
the most of which she had exhausted, and from none of them did she get
any
refreshing sleep. She was placed in a chair and made comfortable, and
the usual
processes adopted for producing the passivity, and being quite
responsive, I
began her suggestive treatment at once. The words I used were like
these “Immediately upon retiring
to-night you will find a drowsiness overcome you quickly, followed by
an
unconscious sleep. During the night, whenever you shall awaken, it will
be only
for a moment, and you will immediately fall back into a refreshing
sleep. In
the course of the night you will get at least six hours sleep, and in
the
morning you will be conscious of having had a most refreshing slumber.
You will
be so glad that you have had that
sleep without any drugs to compel it. You will not desire
any medicine again to produce sleep.
You will not feel the loss of it
in giving it up entirely.” This case and all of the
kind have been treated usually three times a week
for two weeks or a month according to how long a period of
time the insomnia had previously existed. The idea of progress in the
case is
planted with the beginning of the treatment, and is always observed
until we
can truthfully say that the disease and its symptoms have all
disappeared and
will never return. The beginning practitioner should carefully observe
the lessons
herein taught pertaining to aspiration. That is, the patient does not
receive
the suggestion at the first treatment that he is going to be perfectly
well
when he is aroused from his passivity, or that immediately upon being
treated
at any sitting there has been such action that none of the symptoms of
the
disorder will ever appear again, that you will always suggest
improvement and yet
observe conservation, that you may avoid deceiving the soul of the
patient which
you were addressing. Such an impress is made by the chronic condition
that it
is very rarely indeed if ever possible for one to absolutely remove all
symptoms at a few sittings. Usually there is a necessity to overcome
disease,
but also to establish a health habit. You should hold your patient
under
treatment until that has been accomplished. In cases of insomnia,
especially
with people represented by this lady, you will nearly always have to
cure a
drug habit, as well as to restore the equilibrium of the nervous
system, so
that the patient can sleep naturally. Insomnia is usually
indicative of other departures from the normal which need attention,
for though
it be the most prominent symptom and may be the chief cause of the
patients
application for treatment, insomnia itself may be incidental to the
habits or diseases
of the patient. Psycho therapeutics is a method of treatment by which
we can
eradicate all of the cause, whatever it may be and however numerous and
peculiar the disease’s symptoms may be. The patient’s general condition
should
be taken into consideration, and whatever is abnormal should be
suggested away,
and we usually find that with the disappearance of the symptoms the
cause has
also gone. To compel sleep while there were conditions in the body
being
neglected, would be no better practice by suggestionists than is that
followed
by the medical man that deadens his patients with an opiate. We have no
occasion to benumb the sensibilities, for the soul is a power that
could do
that and it will more readily correct conditions than it would produce
abnormal
states. If the midnight luncheon, or other practices of the patient are
the
cause of sleeplessness, always instruct the patient that willfully
breaking the
law always must pay its penalty. Instruct for correct habits and
hygiene, along
with even as forceful a method of correcting disease as suggestive
therapeutics. In the instance cited full
observation was given to all of these phases and her cure was perfect.
Order in
Adobe PDF eBook form for $7.95
or click here to order in printed form from Amazon.com for $19.95 |