Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily DeathMyers, F. W. H. (Frederic William Henry)
Religion
Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death
Myers, F. W. H. (Frederic William Henry)
Immortality; Parapsychology; Personality
But, on the other hand, even though words may thus be used by genius
with something of the mysterious remoteness of music itself, it seems to
me that our subliminal mentation is less closely bound to the faculty of
speech than is our supraliminal. There is a phrase in common use which
involves perhaps more of psychological significance than has yet been
brought out. Of all which we can call genius, or which we can ally with
genius--of art, of love, of religious emotion--it is common to hear men
say that they _transcend the scope of speech_. Nor have we any reason
for regarding this as a mere vague sentimental expression.
There is no _a priori_ ground for supposing that language will have the
power to express all the thoughts and emotions of man. It may indeed be
maintained that the inevitable course of its development tends to
exhibit more and more clearly its inherent limitations. "Every
language," it has been said, "begins as poetry and ends as algebra." To
use the terms employed in this work, every language begins as a
subliminal uprush and ends as a supraliminal artifice. Organic instincts
impel to primitive ejaculation; unconscious laws of mind shape early
grammar. But even in our own day--and we are still in the earth's
infancy--this naïveté of language is fast disappearing. The needs of
science and of commerce have become dominant, and although our
vocabulary, based as it is on concrete objects and direct sensations, is
refined for the expression of philosophic thought, still we cannot
wonder if our supraliminal manipulation leaves us with an instrument
less and less capable of expressing the growing complexity of our whole
psychical being.
What then, we may ask, is the attitude and habit of the subliminal self
likely to be with regard to language? Is it not probable that other
forms of symbolism may retain a greater proportional importance among
those submerged mental operations which have not been systematised for
the convenience of communication with other men?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account