The Mystic Will: A Method of Developing and Strengthening the Faculties of the Mind, through the Awakened Will, by a Simple, Scientific Process Possible to Any Person of Ordinary Intelligence — John Shaqi
The Mystic Will: A Method of Developing and Strengthening the Faculties of the Mind, through the Awakened Will, by a Simple, Scientific Process Possible to Any Person of Ordinary IntelligenceLeland, Charles Godfrey
Philosophy
The Mystic Will: A Method of Developing and Strengthening the Faculties of the Mind, through the Awakened Will, by a Simple, Scientific Process Possible to Any Person of Ordinary Intelligence
Leland, Charles Godfrey
Mental suggestion
It is not necessary that this sleep shall be _hypnotic_, or what is
called hypnotic slumber, since, according to very good authorities,
there is grave doubt as to whether the so-called condition is a sleep
at all. _Hypnotism_ is at any rate a suspension of the faculties,
resembling sleep, caused by the will and act of the operator. He
effects this by fixing the eyes on the patient, making passes as in
Mesmerism, giving a glass of water, or simply commanding sleep. And
this, as Dr. COCKE has experienced and described, can be produced to a
degree by anyone on himself. But as I have verified by experiment, if
we, after retiring to rest at night, will calmly yet firmly resolve to
do something on the following day, or be as much as possible in a
certain state of mind, and if we then fall into ordinary natural
sleep, just as usual, we may on waking have forgotten all about it,
yet will none the less feel the impulse and carry out the
determination.
What gives authority for this assertion, for which I am indebted
originally to no suggestion or reading, is the statement found in
several authorities that a man can "hypnotize" another without putting
him to sleep; that is, make him unconsciously follow suggestion.
I had read in works on hypnotism of an endless number of experiments,
how patients were made to believe that they were monkeys or madmen, or
umbrellas, or criminals, women or men, _a volonte_, but in few of them
did I find that it had ever occurred to anybody to turn this wonderful
power of developing the intellect to any permanent benefit, or to
increasing the moral sense. Then it came to my mind since
Self-Suggestion was possible that if I would resolve to work _all_ the
next day; that is, apply myself to literary or artistic labor without
once feeling fatigue, and succeed, it would be a marvelous thing for
a man of my age. And so it befell that by making an easy beginning I
brought it to pass to perfection. What I mean by an easy beginning
is not to will or resolve _too_ vehemently, but to simply and very
gently, yet assiduously, impress the idea on the mind _so as to fall
asleep while thinking of it as a thing to be_. My next step was to
_will_ that I should, all the next day, be free from any nervous or
mental worry, or preserve a hopeful, calm, or well-balanced state of
mind. This led to many minute and extremely curious experiences and
observations. That the imperturbable or calm state of mind promptly
set in was undeniable, but it often behaved, like the Angel in H. G.
Wells' novel, "The Wonderful Visit," as if somewhat frightened at, or
of, with, or by its new abode, and no wonder, for it was indeed a
novel guest, and the goblins of "Worry and Tease, Fidget and Fear,"
who had hitherto been allowed to riot about and come and go at their
own sweet mischievous wills, were ill-pleased at being made to keep
quiet by this new lady of the manor. And indeed no mere state of
mind, however well maintained, can resist everything, and the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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