Book Description
1893. This book contains the foundation of New Thought teaching and
practice and was very widely
read in the first quarter of the 20th Century, having reached 47
editions by 1925. These
writings of Thomson Jay
Hudson
undoubtedly had a great impact on the later writers in the New Thought
field such as Thomas Troward and Christian D. Larson. This is the book that inspired H.
Spencer Lewis, the founder of the modern day Rosicrucian Order, AMORC,
to begin his early studies into mysticism. Dr. Lewis treasured this
book because it convinced him of a vast world to explore within
himself. It was the first book dealing with mysticism and the psychic
side of life that he ever read. Contents: Duality and suggestion;
Reasoning powers of the two minds differentiated; Perfect memory of the
subjective mind; Subjective memory; Perception of the fixed laws of
nature; Effects of adverse suggestion; Hypnotism and mesmerism;
Hypnotism and crime; Psycho-therapeutics; A new system of mental
therapeutics; Practical conclusions and suggestions.
INTRODUCTION
By Dr. Jack H.
Holland
The author of The
Law
of Psychic
Phenomena is as fascinating as the great work itself. Dr. Hudson
was truly a man of many talents, many intellectual pursuits and many
accomplishments. He was a man with great talent for bringing out the
very best in all those who knew him - family, friends and
acquaintances. He had a great love for all life and a great love for
scientific and intellectual pursuit. Logic was, for him, the password
for life.
It was during the period of 1870 through 1915 that
man
began another of
his periodic great "upsurges" of making serious inquiry into the nature
of man, man's evolution, man's relationship with all nature and the
actual working of man's mind. Despite living and working in this period
of "giants" - Charles Darwin, Sir Oliver Lodge, Frank Podmore, Richard
Bucke, Judge Troward, Max Heindl, etc., - Thomson Jay Hudson stood out
because of his intellectual honesty, logic, sincerity, curiosity and
ability to put into writing his great wisdom and intellect.
Truly for him the writing of The Law
of Psychic Phenomena was a labor of love and a challenge to his
genius. That it proved to be one of the most successful books of the
past century (over 47 printings) appeared to be somewhat of a surprise
to him as he had envisioned the book to be primarily of interest to
scholars seeking a scientific approach to "right living and thinking."
The commercial success of this book, or any of his books, never
concerned him. He was only interested in "sparking" an intellectual and
spiritual awakening in man. Above all else, he was concerned that man
be made aware of the great evidence of the existence of power in
thought and of the importance of developing a spiritual nature. Dr.
Hudson was a great forerunner of modern day giants of science,
psychology and theology.
Dr. Hudson was involved in so many diverse
activities and
intellectual
pursuits that to enumerate them all would be beyond the scope of any
introductory remarks. However, to really appreciate his great breadth
of knowledge and intellectual curiosity, a little of his life should be
known.
Even while working on his father's farm in early
years,
he studied
natural philosophy, chemistry and logic, which were subjects far beyond
the usual prescribed educational pursuits of the mid-1800's.
Later, while preparing for college, his father
insisted
that he study
for the ministry. In this request he stubbornly refused. He stated that
he could not accept much of the theological dogma that he had been
given. Forced therefore to leave his father's protection and support,
on his own, he pursued studies in law. He was admitted to the bar at
twenty-three and practiced as an attorney and journalist in Port Huron,
Ohio, until 1866 - the year he entered politics. During the years he
was studying and practicing law, he was actively working with new ideas
concerning both mind and matter. During an oil boom in the Lake Erie
area of Canada around 1860, Hudson spent considerable time researching
and exploring the oil fields themselves; and his most inventive mind
developed a number of devices and processes for working in oil fields
which are still used today. In all of his many careers, he used his
most analytical and inventive mind. Everything he touched was affected
most constructively with his ingenuity and curiosity.
He later became editor-in-chief of the Detroit Daily Union. In 1877, he
became Washington correspondent of a national syndicate - a post he
held until offered a position on the examining corps of the United
States Patent Office in 1880. This position was a "natural" for Dr.
Hudson with his inquiring and open mind and his own penchant for
invention. He remained with the Patent Office for thirteen years,
rising to the position of Principal Examiner and in charge of one of
the scientific divisions of that office. He left that position in 1893
immediately after the publication of The Law of Psychic Phenomena
- which overnight made Dr. Hudson famous throughout the
English-speaking world. As one of his biographers has stated: "Without
violence to the truth it may be said that one morning, in 1893, Dr.
Hudson awoke to find himself famous throughout the English-speaking
world."
Dr. Hudson spent the remainder of his life in
pursuing
his study into
the "true nature of man" with particular emphasis on the extra-sensory
powers of man as manifested through psychic phenomena. He wrote a
number of other outstanding books dealing with this subject prior to
his death in 1903. Dr. Hudson received an LL.D. degree from St. John's
College and a Ph.D. from Ewing College.
Any reference to Dr. Hudson's work should concern
his
objectives. He
was adamant about why psychic phenomena should be of interest to man.
To use his own words:
"Jesus, who was master of the science of the soul,
drew
the line, on
strictly scientific principles when he proclaimed the law that belief -
faith - was the essential prerequisite to the attainment of immortal
life. Faith, in the sense in which Jesus employed the term means much
more than belief, although the latter is included in the term. Faith in the psychic sense and that is the
sense in which Jesus employed it, is conscious potentiality. It
is a power; it is the power of the soul. All psychic phenomena
demonstrate that proposition. Without it there can be no psychic
phenomena beyond the exercise of the purely animal instinct. It is the
creature of suggestion. Suggestion alone awakens it into existence,
suggestion can utterly destroy it. Inasmuch as no suggestion of the
possibility of immortal life can be conveyed through the embryotic soul
of the brute, the conscious potentiality requisite to the sustentation
of independent existence does not exist; and it obviously cannot exist
in other than an intelligent being. And this remark, according to the
philosophy of Jesus, applies to all the brute creation, whether it is
embodied in the form of animals or of man."
This statement underlies his objective - to make
man
aware of his
spiritual potential, of awakening this important faculty of man. He
believed, and reiterated time after time, that the only reason to study
the psychic aspects of man was to better comprehend the importance of
developing the "spirit faculty" that exists within every man. Hudson
was able to let the creative force within him free itself; and because
of that, all of us who are privileged to read his works are much the
richer.
Several other passages from Dr. Hudson's work give
us
further evidence
of the great wisdom, creative ability and understanding that this
unique individual had. He wrote; "....the subjective mind is constantly
amenable to control by suggestion. (This is not true of the objective
mind as he says in another passage.) ....The objective mind is merely
the function of the physical brain. The subjective mind is a distinct
entity possessing independent powers and functions, having a mental
organization of its own, and capable of sustaining an existence
independently of the body. The subjective mind of man is synonymous
with the soul of man."
How far ahead of his day - even of today - was Dr.
Hudson! He was a
pioneer in such fields as psychology, philosophy, biology, metaphysics
and even in some areas of chemistry and physics. Dr. Hudson was writing
of the power of mental conditioning fifty years before Dr. Norman
Vincent Peale and others popularized the concept of "mind power." Fifty
years ago, Dr. Hudson was discussing ideas that have now become proven
scientific facts in many areas of medicine, biology, physiology and
psychology. Even so, he was able to effectively communicate to those of
"his time", and his writing is just as effectively communicated to us
today.
No one could really do an adequate job of
"introducing"
this man and
his work. One has to read what Dr. Hudson wrote, digest it and relate
it to subsequent events and newly discovered "facts" in order to
comprehend the ability, creativeness and uniqueness of this man and his
work. The more we become exposed to his work the greater will be the
understanding that man has of man.
November 1970 San Jose, California.
PREFACE
I DO not expect this book to stand upon its
literary
merits; for if it
is unsound in principle, felicity of diction cannot save it, and if
sound, homeliness of expression cannot destroy it. My primary object in
offering it to the public is to assist in bringing Psychology within
the domain of the exact sciences. That this has never been accomplished
is owing to the fact that no successful attempt has been made to
formulate a working hypothesis sufficiently comprehensive to embrace
all psychic phenomena. It has, however, long been felt by the ablest
thinkers of our time that all psychic manifestations of the human
intellect, normal or abnormal, whether designated by the name of
mesmerism, hypnotism, somnambulism, trance, spiritism, demonology,
miracle, mental therapeutics, genius, or insanity, are in some way
related; and consequently, that they are to be referred to some general
principle or law, which, once understood, will simplify and correlate
the whole subject-matter, and possibly remove it from the domain of the
supernatural.
The London Society for Psychical Research, whose
ramifications extend
all over the civilized world, was organized for the purpose of making a
systematic search for that law. The Society numbers among its
membership many of the ablest scientists now living. Its methods of
investigation are purely scientific, and painstaking to the last
degree, and its field embraces all psychic phenomena. It has already
accumulated and verified a vast array of facts of the most transcendent
interest and importance. In the mean time a large number of the ablest
scientists of Europe and America have been pursuing independent
investigations in the phenomena of hypnotism. They too have accumulated
facts and discovered principles of vast importance, especially in the
field of mental therapeutics, — principles which also throw a flood of
light upon the general subject of Psychology.
This vast array of facts, thus accumulated and
verified,
and awaiting
scientific classification and analysis, would seem to justify at least
a tentative effort to apply to them the processes of induction, to the
end that the fundamental law of psychic phenomena may be discovered.
In the following pages I have attempted such a
classification of
verified phenomena, accounts of which I find in the literature current
on the subject; and I have tentatively formulated a working hypothesis
for the systematic study of all classes of psychic phenomena. It will
be observed that I have availed myself largely of the labors of others,
instead of confining myself to experimental researches of my own. I
have done this for two reasons: first, that I might avoid the
accusation of having conducted a series of experiments for the purpose
of sustaining a pet theory of my own; and second, because I hold that
substantial progress cannot be made in science until one is ready to
accord due credit to human integrity, and to give due weight to human
testimony.
In conclusion, I desire to say that I claim no credit for this work,
save that which is due to an honest desire to promote the truth for its
own sake. Sincerely believing in the correctness of my hypothesis, I
have not hesitated to follow it to its legitimate conclusion in every
field which I have entered. If at the close of the book I have seemed
to trespass upon the forbidden field of theological discussion, it was
not for the purpose of sustaining any preconceived opinions of my own;
far from it. It was because I was irresistibly led to my conclusions by
the terms of my hypothesis and the inflexible logic of its application.
I cannot but be aware that my conclusions sometimes oppose the
preconceived opinions of others. But no one who accepts my hypothesis
as the true one will be compelled more frequently than I have been to
renounce his former convictions.
T. J. H.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
October 21, 1892.
CHAPTER
1
INTRODUCTORY
Necessity of a Working Hypothesis. — The Newtonian
Hypothesis. —
The Atomic Theory. — A Psychological Hypothesis necessary. — Theories
of
Hypnotism and Mesmerism. — Spiritism.— Mental Therapeutics. —
Liébault's Law of Suggestion. — Duality of Mind. — A Working
Hypothesis
for Psychology formulated. — Its Three Terms.
SUBSTANTIAL progress in any science is impossible
in the
absence of a
working hypothesis which is universal in its application to the
phenomena pertaining to the subject-matter. Indeed, until such an
hypothesis is discovered and formulated, no subject of human
investigation can properly be said to be within the domain of the exact
sciences. Thus, astronomy, previous to the promulgation of Kepler's
Laws and the formulation of the Newtonian hypothesis of gravitation,
was in a state of chaos, and its votaries were hopelessly divided by
conflicting theories. But the moment Newton promulgated his theorem a
revolution began which eventually involved the whole scientific world.
Astronomy was rescued from the domain of empiricism, and became an
exact science. What the Newtonian hypothesis did for astronomy, the
atomic theory has done for chemistry. It enables one skilled in that
science to practice it with a certainty of results in exact proportion
to his knowledge of its principles and his skill in applying them to
the work in hand. He knows that if he can combine hydrogen and oxygen,
in the proportion of two atoms of the former to one of the latter,
water will be the result. He knows that one atom, or part, of oxygen
and one of carbon combined under heat will produce carbonic oxide,—a
poisonous gas; that the addition of another atom, or part, of oxygen
will produce carbonic anhydride (dioxide), — a harmless gas; and soon
throughout the vast realm of chemical combinations.
The fact that the literal correctness of a given
hypothesis is not
demonstrable except by results, in no wise militates against its value
in the domain to which it belongs. Indeed, it would cease to be a
hypothesis the moment it were demonstrated. Newton's theorem is
undemonstrable except from its results. Its correspondence, however,
with every known fact, the facility with which astronomical
calculations can be made, and the precision with which every result can
be predicted, constitute a sufficient demonstration of its substantial
correctness to inspire the absolute confidence of the scientific world.
No one would hesitate to act in the most important concerns of life —
nay, to stake his very existence — upon calculations based upon
Newton's hypothesis. Yet there are not found wanting men who deny or
doubt its abstract correctness. Volumes have been written to disprove
it. But as no one has yet discovered a fact or witnessed a phenomenon
outside of its domain, the world refuses to surrender its convictions.
When such a fact is discovered, then, and not till then, will there
arise a necessity for revising the "Principia." It is a trite and true
saying that one antagonistic fact will destroy the value of the finest
theory ever evolved.
It is equally impossible to demonstrate the abstract correctness of the
atomic theory. An appeal to the evidence found in uniform results is
all that is possible to one who would give a reason for the faith that
is in him. No one ever saw, felt, tasted, or smelled an atom. It is
beyond the reach of the senses; nor is it at all probable that science
or skill will ever be able to furnish instrumental aids capable of
enabling man to take cognizance of the ultimate unit of matter. It
exists for man only in hypothesis. Nevertheless, the fact remains, that
in all the wide range of human investigation there is not a more
magnificent generalization, nor one more useful to mankind in its
practical results, than the atomic theory. Yet there are those who
doubt its abstract correctness, and labor to disprove the existence of
the atom. If the ultimate object of chemical science were to
demonstrate the existence of the atom, or to seize it and harness it to
the uses of mankind, it might be worthwhile to set the chemical
fraternity right by demonstrating its non-existence. If the practice of
chemistry on the basis of the theory were defective in its practical
results, or failed in universal application, it would then be the duty
of scientists to discard it entirely, and to seek a better working
hypothesis.
The most that can be said of any scientific
hypothesis
is, that whether
true in the abstract or not, everything happens just as though it were
true. When this test of universality is applied, when no known fact
remains that is unexplained by it, the world is justified in assuming
it to be true, and in deducing from it even the most momentous
conclusions. If, on the contrary, there is one fact pertaining to the
subject-matter under investigation which remains outside the domain of
the hypothesis, or which is unexplained by it, it is indubitable
evidence that the hypothesis is unsafe, untrue, and consequently
worthless for all practical purposes of sound reasoning. Thus, Sir
Isaac Newton, after having formulated his theorem, threw it aside as
worthless, for a time, upon making the discovery that the moon, in its
relations with the earth, apparently did not come within the terms of
his hypothesis. His calculations were based upon the then accepted
estimate of the length of a degree of latitude. This estimate having
been corrected by the careful measurements of Picard, Newton revised
his figures, and found that the supposed discrepancy did not exist. The
last doubt in his mind having been thus set at rest, he gave to the
world a theorem which rendered possible substantial progress in
astronomical science.
In the field of psychological investigation a
satisfactory working
hypothesis has never been formulated. That is to say, no theory has
been advanced which embraces all psychological phenomena. Many theories
have been advanced, it is true, to account for the various classes of
phenomena which have been observed. Some of them are very plausible and
satisfactory — to their authors — when applied to a particular class of
facts, but utterly fail when confronted with another class.
Thus, the students of the science of hypnotism
are, and
since the days
of Mesmer have been, hopelessly divided into schools which wage war
upon each other's theories, and dispute the correctness of each other's
observations of facts. Mesmer's theory of fluidic emanations, which he
termed "animal magnetism," seemed to account for the facts which he
observed, and is still held to be substantially true by many votaries
of this science. John Bovee Dods' electrical theory — positive lungs
and negative blood — was sufficiently plausible in its day to attract
many followers, as it afforded a satisfactory explanation of many
phenomena which came under his observation. Braid's physiological
explanation of certain classes of the phenomena afforded, in his time,
much comfort to those who believe that there is nothing in man which
cannot be weighed in a balance or carved with a scalpel. In our own day
we find the school of the Salpetriere, which holds that hypnotism is a
disease of the nervous system, that its phenomena are explicable on
physiological principles, that the suggestions of the operator play but
a secondary rule in their production, and that they can be produced, or
successfully studied, only in diseased persons. On the other hand, the
Nancy school of hypnotists holds that the science can be studied with
profit only in perfectly healthy persons, and from a purely
psychological standpoint, and that suggestion is the all-potent factor
in the production of all hypnotic phenomena. All three of the
last-mentioned schools agree in ignoring the possibility of producing
the higher phenomena of hypnotism, known as clairvoyance and
thought-transference, or mind-reading; whilst the earlier hypnotists
demonstrated both beyond the possibility of a reasonable doubt. Indeed,
a committee of the ablest scientists of the Royal Academy of Medicine
of France, after an investigation extending over a period of six years,
reported that it had demonstrated the existence of such powers in the
human mind.
Another large class of psychological phenomena,
which
has been
productive of more conflicting theories than any other, and which from
time immemorial has puzzled and appalled mankind, is by a large class
of persons referred to the direct agency of the spirits of the dead. It
would require a volume to catalogue the various theories which have
been advanced to account for this class of phenomena, and when done it
would serve no useful purpose. It is safe to say, however, that no two
individuals, whether believers or unbelievers in the generic doctrine
of spiritism, exactly agree as to the ultimate cause of the phenomena.
The obvious reason is that no two persons have had exactly the same
experience, or have observed exactly the same phenomena. In the absence
of a working hypothesis applicable to all the infinite variety of facts
observed, it follows that each investigator must draw his own
conclusions from the limited field of his own experience. And when we
take into consideration the important role which passion and prejudice
ever play in the minds of men when the solution of an undemonstrable
problem is attempted, it is easy to see that a bewildering hodge-podge
of heterogeneous opinions is inevitable.
Another class of phenomena, about which an
infinite
variety of opinions
prevails, may be mentioned under the general head of mental
therapeutics. Under this generic title may be grouped the invocations
of the gods by the Egyptian priests; the magic formulas of the
disciples of Esculaplus; the sympathetic powder of Paracelsus; the
king's touch for the cure of goitre; the wonderful cures at the tomb of
Deacon Paris and at Lourdes; the miraculous power supposed to reside in
the relics of the saints; the equally miraculous cures of such men as
Greatrakes, of Gassner, and of the Abbot Prince of Hohenlohe; and the
no less wonderful healing power displayed by the modern systems known
as mind cure, faith cure, Christian science, animal magnetism, and
suggestive therapeutics.
One fact, pregnant with importance, pertains to
all
these systems; and
that is that marvelous cures are constantly effected through their
agencies. To the casual observer it would seem to be almost
self-evident that, underlying all, there must be some one principle
which, once understood, would show them to be identical as to cause and
mode of operation. Yet we find as many conflicting theories as there
are systems, and as many private opinions as there are individuals who
accept the facts. Some of the hypotheses gravely put forth in books are
so bizarre as to excite only the pity or the ridicule of the judicious.
One notable example is found in that system, the basic theory of which
is that matter has no existence, that nothing is real but mind, and
that, consequently, disease and pain, suffering and death, are mere
hallucinations of morbid intellects. Other theories there are, which,
if not equally absurd, are probably equally remote from the truth; and
each treats the persons as well as the opinions of the others with that
virulent contumely which is the ever-present resort of him who would
force upon his neighbor the acceptance of his own undemonstrable
article of faith. Nevertheless, as before remarked, the fact remains
that each of these systems effects some most wonderful results in the
way of curing certain diseases.
What is true of the phenomena embraced under the
general
head of mental
therapeutics is also true of the whole range of psychological
phenomena; namely, the want of a working hypothesis which shall apply
to all the facts that have been observed and authenticated.
No successful attempt has heretofore been made to
supply
this want; nor
has success been possible until within a very recent period, for the
simple reason that previous to the discovery of certain facts in
psychological science, the scientific world was without the necessary
data from which a correct hypothesis could be formulated. The
researches of Professor Liébault in the domain of hypnotism,
seconded by those of his pupil, Professor Bernheim, have resulted in
discoveries which throw a flood of light upon the whole field of
psychological investigation. Their field of observation being confined
to hypnotism, and chiefly to its employment as a therapeutic agent, it
is not probable that either of those eminent scientists realized the
transcendent importance of their principal discovery, or perceived that
it is applicable to psychological phenomena outside the domain of their
special studies. The discovery is this:
that hypnotic subjects are constantly amenable to the power of
suggestion; that suggestion is the all-potent factor in the production
of all hypnotic phenomena. This proposition has been
demonstrated to be true beyond the possibility of a reasonable doubt.
In subsequent chapters of this book it will be shown that this fact
supplies the missing link in the chain of propositions necessary for a
complete working hypothesis for the subject under consideration.
The general propositions applicable to all phases
of
psychological
phenomena are here only briefly stated, leaving the minor, or
subsidiary, propositions necessary for the elucidation of particular
classes and sub-classes of phenomena to be stated under their
appropriate heads.
The first proposition relates to the dual
character of
man's mental
organization. That is to say, man has, or appears to have, two minds,
each endowed with separate and distinct attributes and powers; each
capable, under certain conditions, of independent action. It should be
clearly understood at the outset that for the purpose of arriving at a
correct conclusion it is a matter of indifference whether we consider
that man is endowed with two distinct minds, or that his one mind
possesses certain attributes and powers under some conditions, and
certain other attributes and powers under other conditions. It is
sufficient to know that everything happens just as though he were
endowed with a dual mental organization.
Under the rules of correct reasoning, therefore, I
have
a right to
assume that MAN HAS TWO MINDS; and the assumption is so stated, in its
broadest terms, as the first proposition of my hypothesis. For
convenience I shall designate the one as the objective mind, and the other as
the subjective mind. These
terms will be more fully explained at the proper time.
The second proposition is, that THE SUBJECTIVE
MIND IS
CONSTANTLY
AMENABLE TO CONTROL BY SUGGESTION.
The third, or subsidiary, proposition is, that THE
SUBJECTIVE MIND IS
INCAPABLE OF INDUCTIVE REASONING.
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