Telepathy and the Subliminal SelfMason, R. Osgood (Rufus Osgood)
Philosophy
Telepathy and the Subliminal Self
Mason, R. Osgood (Rufus Osgood)
Parapsychology -- Investigation; Telepathy
A patient comes to the physician's office complaining of continual
headaches, general debility, nervousness, and unsatisfactory sleep. She is
willing to be hypnotized, and is accompanied by a friend. The physician
seats her comfortably in a chair, and, seating himself opposite her, he
takes her thumbs lightly between his own thumbs and fingers, asks her to
look steadily at some convenient object--perhaps a shirt-stud or a
specified button upon his coat. Presently her eyelids quiver and then
droop slowly over her eyes; he gently closes them with the tips of his
fingers, holds them lightly for a moment, and she is asleep.
He then makes several slow passes over her face and down the front of her
body from head to foot, also some over her head and away from it, all
without contact and without speaking to her. He lets her sleep ten or
fifteen minutes--longer, if convenient--and then, making two or three
upward passes over her face, he says promptly: "All right; wake up."
She slowly opens her eyes, probably smiles, and looks a little foolish at
having slept. He inquires how she feels. She replies:
"I feel remarkably well--so rested--as though I had slept a whole night."
"How is your head?"
(Looking surprised.) "It is quite well--the pain is all gone."
"Very well," he says. "You will continue to feel better and stronger, and
you will have good sleep at night."
And so it proves. Bernheim or a pupil of his would sit, or perhaps stand,
near his patient, and in a quiet but firm voice talk of sleep.
"Sleep is what you need. Sleep is helpful and will do you good. Already,
while I am talking to you, you are beginning to feel drowsy. Your eyes are
tired; your lids are drooping; you are growing more and more sleepy; your
lids droop more and more."
Then, if the eyelids seem heavy, he presses them down over the eyes, all
the time affirming sleep. If sleep comes, he has succeeded; if not, he
resorts to gestures, passes, the steady gaze, or whatever he thinks likely
to aid his suggestion.
When the patient is asleep he suggests that when she awakes her pains and
nervousness will be gone, and that she will have quiet and refreshing
sleep at night. What is the condition of the patient while under the
influence of this induced sleep? Pulse and respiration are little, if at
all, changed; they may be slightly accelerated at first, and later, if
very deep sleep occurs, they may be slightly retarded. Temperature is
seldom changed at all, though, if abnormally high before the sleep is
induced, it frequently falls during the sleep.
If the hand be raised, or the arm be drawn up high above the head,
generally it will remain elevated until it is touched and replaced, or
the patient is told that he can let it fall, when he slowly lowers it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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