The self-conscious faculty of mind

Front matter

Class ___J:

Book.

Copyright W.

Chapter Second. The Real Truth About Hypnotism

In explaining the principles of Hypnotism I want the reader to plainly understand that the mind is the all-important part of mankind. The body is like a lamp with reference to a light; the lamp may be good, and yet it is no good without the fire. So the body may be good, but without the mind it would be good for nothing.

There is not a thing that we do but what we first do it in the mind. This may seem an extravagant assertion at first, but it is true nevertheless. The reason it seems to be untrue is because you don't yet

THE SELF-CONSCIOUS .FACULTY OF MIND.

fully comprehend the self-concious faculty, many things we do when the self-conscious faculty is not active, consequently we are inclined to think that we do it without the mind's activity; but remember, there are many faculties which act voluntarily, or automatically, without being any more conscious of their activity than the alarm clock is conscious of awakening you in the morning; do it because they were made to do it thus without annoying the conscious faculty; and when it is necessary that the conscious facutly should be active, they arouse it to action, just as your alarm clock aroused you when the proper time came, without being aware it did it

We are now becoming acquainted with the human mind by studying its different parts, and we can't become too familiar with it, for it is the greatest thing we can study or become familiar with. And now let us consider some of the proofs of the existence of this self-conscious faculty, for if you fail to get this great truth, you fail to get the first and all important principle of Hypnotism.

There is one and only one faculty of mind that is conscious of activity; but the activity of this one makes the entire mind conscious just so long as it is active or on the alert. That is, it satisfies the entire mind so far as consciousness is concerned. Just as the eyesight satisfies the entire mind with sight, or the ear satisfies it with hearing.

No two faculties perform the same functions; it is the function of this one to make its owner conscious of existence or conscious of any or all other faculties of mind. When this one fails from any cause the individual is as deep in unconsciousness as he could possibly be in the dark if his eyesight failed him.

Whenever unconsciousness comes, whether it be caused by a blow on the head, or by disease, sickness, death, or by the use of chloroform, ether, or whatever may be the cause, it is always instantaneous, and yet some of the faculties may be in active operation showing when this faculty is stilled, it matters not what the cause may be, all consciousness is suspended until this organ comes into activity again, and then consciousness is as suddenly restored, although some of the other organs may still be incapable of activity. When sleep overcomes this faculty, or its organ, unconsciousness is the result, although many of the other organs may keep on actively engaged in thought for hours after consciousness has been suspended, or when the mind and brain has been satisfied with sleep. Oftentimes many of the organs become awake and actively engaged in thought and feeling before the self-conscious faculty becomes awake and active.

Many times in my life my conscious faculty has been aroused to activity at or near the midnight hour, to find that many of my faculties were actively engaged and had been for hours, evidently from the record which memory had accurately kept, attempting to solve some of the most weighty problems of life, or debating among themselves some of the deepest questions that human mind could possibly think of without any conscious activity, until the debaters became so enthusiastic that they woke the self-conscious faculty.

SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION OF DREAMS.

Dreaming is nothing more or less than the activity of one or more of the organs of mind, when the self-conscious organ is asleep. The dream may be finished all satisfactory and the entire mind go to sleep, or it may be broken off suddenly by all of the organs falling asleep; or it may continue, but not be remembered, because of memory being asleep ; or it may be broken off suddenly by the self-conscious organ becoming awake; the other faculties have all the experience, do all the thinking, while this one simply makes us conscious of that experience.

The dreamer has an experience, and sometimes a very wonderful experience, and, although the memory recollects it, yet he is not conscious of that experience until the self-conscious faculty awakes, and even then would not if memory had not been awake.

The same is true in Hypnotism; they may have a wonderful experience, and yet, if the Hypnotist withholds the memory from activity, they will not be conscious of that experience.

Hypnotism is a magnetic sleep in which the self-conscious organ is especially put to sleep ; but many of the other organs may be kept awake and made to dream any kind of a dream that the hypnotist may suggest.

All the other faculties are of themselves unconscious, just so long as the self-conscious faculty is in abeyance, and the subject may be made to have any experience that any human being ever did have, because the entire mind may be used except this one faculty of self-consciousness, whose function it is to make us conscious of all our feelings and conditions of mind and body and to guide these movements accordingly. Whenever this organ is aroused to activity, the hypnotic influence is gone, just like the dream is gone, and for the same reason the entire mind is conscious because of the activity of this organ. In a natural dream no one is ever conscious that they are really dreaming, because the self-conscious organ is always asleep, and when it awakes the dream is always at an end, whether it is finished or not, which is another proof of the truth of the only one conscious faculty.

Whenever any one goes into unconsciousness, it is always instantaneous; this is always true whether it is caused by sleep, death, an injury, fainting, Hypnotism, or whatever may be the cause. The same is true when coming back to consciousness, it is always instantaneous; this is another proof of its being a single faculty, for if it belonged to more than one faculty it would not be instantaneous, but a gradual going into unconsciousness and a gradual coming out, as one faculty after another went in or came out of the unconscious condition. Then, too, when the self-conscious organ is asleep, many of the other organs which we would be inclined to think would be self-conscious, if indeed any others are self-conscious, are awake and active, such as the memory, the reasoning organs of causality and comparison. The perspective organs of size, weight, color, order, number, etc., these so-called intelligent organs, may be awake and in active operation, and many others, and yet the individual be altogether unconscious of their activities until the self-conscious organ comes into operation, and then memory reveals the fact that they had actually been in active operation by calling to mind their past activities and thoughts.

Can anything be more convincing than this, of the fact of the one, and only one, self-conscious faculty? And especially, when we remember that the reasoning organs and the organs of number oftentimes perform feats of logic and in the science of numbers that would be impossible for the person to do while the self-conscious organ was awake, simply because of the ability to concentrate the mind upon one thing until completed. This, too, explains why many persons when hypnotized can perform many things that they could not do when in their normal condition, because the concentrating power of the mind is greater when the self-conscious organ is in abeyance.

In our greatest mental efforts the nearer we can withdraw from self-consciousness the greater will be our success. Yet it must all be planned or guided by our self-consciousness, or it may be like our dreams, oftentimes disjointed, or disconnected, because if it is not planned or guided by the self-

THE SEKF-COx\ T SCIOUS FACULTY OF MIND. 21

conscious faculty, there is our ever-ready organ of imagination, which is always a blind guide and will lead us into all kinds of flights of the imagination. When a person is asleep this is our leader, and when we hypnotize a subject we lead the imagination by suggesting in any way or manner in which we may wish or desire. But the hypnotist should always understand the nature of all of the organs of the brain and all the faculties of the mind to give him the greatest success. In fact, he should be a practical phrenologist in order to properly size up his subject and know in what manner he would perform best, and then lead him in that direction.

I am satisfied that much of my success as a hypnotist is due to my knowledge of Phrenology, as I have studied it and practiced it for many years ; and it is due also to my knowledge of hypnotism, which lead to the discovery of this self-conscious faculty.

The one science agrees with and proves the truth of the other, as all truth must agree and harmonize with every other truth.

There is no possible way for accounting for the phenomena of Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Clairvoyance, and so forth, scientifically — except through partial manifestation of mind. And therefore, to understand it, we must study the mind by becoming familiar with its parts.

Every thought that the person entertains, whether in the hypnotized condition or in the normal state, is brought about by the activity of one or more organs of the brain; and by a careful study of the nature of the thoughts the practical phrenologist may determine to a certainty what organ of the brain, or faculty of the mind, produced it.

Therefore, the hypnotist who is a practical phrenologist understands his subject thoroughly — for he can tell from the shape and configuration of the head of his subject what his capabilities are, and can show his talents and peculiarities off to the best advantage.

If he should find his subject to be of musical turn of mind, and the general make-up of the person to tend toward refinement and taste, he may have the subject sing or play an instrument almost to perfection while in the hypnotized condition; but if the subject is low, coarse, and of the animal type, he would not attempt to have him perform in that way, but would play upon the baser tones of his nature; for instance, have him imagine he was becoming rich by gambling, or feasting on turkey and cranberry sauce, while in reality he would be vainly trying to eat a sauce of dry flour and puffing and blowing it all over the room.

And if your subject is of a high moral character, with a high, wide head at the top of the brain, you may have him see and enjoy all the pleasures of Paradise.

But some of my readers may say, Why all these deceptions ? And in answer to this I will say that I simply show you the manner of influencing your subject to show how the mind may be led and influenced in a similar way for their good and improvement and recovery from disease, etc.

The mind is the overruling power of the body, and through its medium many of the defects of the body may be overcome. But before I proceed further on this point, let me tell you something of the influence of mind over the body. Many of the diseases of the body are more of a mind infirmity than a bodily disease. But few people realize the influence of mind over the body in causing disease or curing it. Recent experiments have proved beyond a doubt that stout, healthy people can be made sick, or sick people be made well, simply through the medium of the mind, or what is called "Suggestive Therapeutics." But we have a great accompanying influence to go with the suggestive therapeutics in magnetic treatment.

Everyone's brain is like a magnetic battery. It is made up of many thousand cells, and these cells are constantly vibrating; in fact, everything in nature is constanly in motion; but the vibrations of mind and body should be in harmony to be in a healthy condition. But thoughts of sickness and disease are discord and invite disease and ill-health, while thoughts of health is harmony and drives away disease and pain.

Nothing is more natural than for a person in poor health to think of their sickness and continue the discord; while the magnetic healer can think the thoughts that will restore harmony and communicate it to the patient by the laying on of the hands.

It was Christ's way of restoring health, and he fully appreciated the necessity cf the thoughts of health when he urged them to have faith, which is in reality expectation of health and recovery from sickness; and in some cases he upbraids them for not believing, for not expecting. He says, "Oh,, ye of little faith." Now here is the importance of Hypnotism in healing the sick. When a person is hypnotized you can make them expect anything you suggest. And here is the importance of Suggestive Therapeutics, even without Hypnotism; for it is very hard for any one to doubt an assertion made by a person who fully believes that assertion himself; and especially is it hard to doubt if that assertion be repeated and afterwards the same meaning affirmed in a little different manner and repeated again — it seems to sink into their very being and they cannot resist it. "As a man thinketh in his heart (or mind) so is he." If he thinks he is getting better he is getting better, and is certainly on the road to recovery; and the same may be said of the person who thinks he is getting sick, or getting worse, or that he is going to be sick. The mind will build the body in accordance with the thoughts, whatever they may be, and will eventually destroy the body if thoughts of destruction are are persisted in.

We are all free moral agents to think the thoughts we desire to think so long as the self-conscious faculty is intact. But let that faculty be overcome by sleep, or by accident, or by the hypnotist's art, or by the doctor's anesthesia, whatever it may be, whether chloroform, morphine, ether, or anything else, and we are no longer a free moral agent to control our thoughts, until the self-conscious faculty again comes into activity.

And it is a fact that when this faculty is entirely unconscious we cannot suffer pain until it again comes into activity. However great injury may be done to the person while in this condition he will not be conscious of any pain.

So, you see, it is a very important faculty of mind —and from its very nature it is quite important that it be most of the time on the alert and active; yet there are times when it is also imporant that it be withdrawn from activity.

We live in a world in which we often meet with dangers and difficulties, and for this reason we have the faculty cautiousness, but the faculty is not enough to keep us from every danger we encounter, for we are often overtaken by calamity and so severely injured that death would be the immediate result were it not for the fact that the self-conscious faculty is thrown into an unconscious condition. It is a natural safety-valve to ward off the intense pain until it becomes bearable, for it is the mind that suffers pain; and the All Wise Creator has given us this faculty and made it thus easy for us to be thrown into an unconscious condition, that life be tided over a critical period of severe injury, or illness, until the danger has passed. The medical doctors have learned that various medicines, such as morphine, chloroform, etc., have the power of throwing this faculty into an uncon3cious condition; and yet, strange to say, they never discovered it was a separate faculty of mind. But these medicines are positively injurious to the person's health, while the hypnotist, without the use of any drugs, can effect the same result without any injury whatever to the patient.

To the practical phrenologist, let me say, that this organ of brain occupies the space that was formerly allotted to what was believed to be a faculty by some phrenologists and doubted by others; and which, I think, I can fully demonstrate is but a certain phase of the organ in question. Turn, if you please, to page 116 of "Heads and Faces/' by kelson Sizer and H. S. Drayton, and read carefully the description of agreeableness, or suavity. ]STow think for a moment, Who can be agreeable, or have much suavity, without this self-conscious faculty? Have you ever seen one hypnotized ? Have you observed how they were swayed by the operator? Not a particle of suavity about them because the self-conscious faculty was in abeyance; and if any agreeableness — it was because it was produced by the suggestions of the operator or hypnotist.

I attribute agreeableness more particularly to approbativeness being large and self-esteem only moderate, combined with a sweet temper, hope and mirthfulness.

The larger the self-conscious organ is in any one, the more suavity he will have, other things being equal.

This organ, like all others, is larger in some persons than in others, and it is always found large in those who have swayed the multitudes; while in those who have it only moderate or small, can sway or influence but little; and I have known persons with that organ so small, and coupled with small self-esteem, that they would lose their consciousness if compelled to speak in public.

Both agreeableness and suavity are due to a combination rather than a single organ.

But self-consciousness is undoubtedly the result of a single organ, and forms an important factor in both agreeableness and suavity, yet more particularly suavity.

To prove this we have only to refer to the condition of the subject whose self-conscious organ is in abeyance, and we see that there is little or no agreeableness manifested; and especially is this true of suavity. So I have not the least hesitancy in saying that this is the location of the self-conscious organ at what was formerly called agreeableness. And I believe it is at this point only that we are all conscious of the activity of the brain when engaged in thought.

isTow consider the person who is thoroughly hypnotized and while he is not at all conscious of what he is doing, and, as I have said, void of these qualities above mentioned, yet many of the other talents are capable of wonderful accomplishments.

The finest singing I ever heard was done by a young lady while she was hypnotized. I hypnotized

28 THE SELF-CONSCIOITS FACULTY OF MIND.

her and had her performing many amusing things before a large audience ; after some time I suddenly changed my manner of suggestions and said we would go to church, telling her that there were fine singers there and that she should sing with them; then I announced that they were to sing "Nearer, My God, to Thee" ; she began singing and far surpassed her natural ability, to the perfect delight of the whole audience. And after I brought her out of the hypnotic spell, she said, "I wish you could always control me when I sing; I enjoyed that singing more than any other part of the entertainment tonight." She imagined the whole congregation were singing with her, while in reality she was singing alone.

Hypnotism is a partial manifestation of mind in which the self-conscious faculty is always inactive, made so by the operator, or hypnotist. It is not a hard task to do this if we only understand the nature of the faculties; we can call into activity any of them that we wish to, or can withhold any one of them from activity.

Do you ask how we can do this ? Let me give you one suggestion. Perhaps my readers are as familiar with the faculty of mirthfulness as with any faculty. If I wished to call it into activity in the minds of all my readers or hearers, I would relate an amusing anecdote, or tell a very funny or witty story; but, suppose I wished to withhold it from activity, then I would go to the other extreme. But as there are over forty faculties, and all are different and differently affected, you may see the necessity of becoming acquainted with them all to be able to control them. If you are really interested and wish to become familiar with the faculties of the mind I would suggest that you study "How to Eead Character/' by Fowler & Wells Co. (Pub.), N. Y. ; also "Heads and Faces," by the same company. (The price of the former is $1.00 and the latter 40 cents).

ISTot more than one faculty can be exercised in its best and most perfect condition at the same time ; this is the reason why any one who is hypnotized can accomplish things when they are under the hypnotic spell that they cannot do while in their normal condition, because they can concentrate the whole mind on the one faculty. But when the self-conscious faculty is active, any one of the others may be active at the same time, but neither can be at its best. Sometimes three or more may be see-sawing at the same time; as when an operator in a telegraph office is receiving and taking down a dispatch at once, with his self-conscious faculty at work at the same time. But this is dividing the mind up too much, and requires a great deal of practice to do it, and then mistakes are liable to be made, so that the companies will not insure correctness without its being sent both ways, or returned the same as sent. We can do reasonably good work with both the self-conscious and any one of the other faculties active at the same time, because we practice this almost every hour of our lives. But when the clairvoyant wishes to accomplish that which she cannot do in her normal condition, she withdraws from consciousness, or, in other words, makes her self-conscious organ inactive for the time being and throws the entire power of the mind upon the one organ necessary to accomplish the thing desired.

This, you see, gives concentration of mind which is impossible to get while the self-conscious organ is active. And we may say that (to withdraw from the self-conscious faculty) is the secret of success in all of the occult sciences, so that we may have the concentration of mind.

This is the all-important factor in accomplishing any great mental feat.

If you think this is not true, try to listen to the conversation of two or three people talking at the same time and see how important it is to keep the mind centered on one thing at a time until completed. Or try relating two anecdotes at the same time, by telling one sentence alternatively of each one until they are completed.

Some writers on this subject have tried to convince their readers that there were many faculties of the mind, which they termed the "unconscious mind," and which they describe as always acting unconsciously, as if their action was always unconscious. But this is false teaching. Every faculty of the mind is made conscious by the activity of this self-conscious organ; all are unconscious when this one is inactive.

THE SELF-CONSCIOUS FACULTY OF MIND. 31 NO NEW FACULTIES NECESSARY.

l\ r o new faculties aside from these already discovered and described, and the one I have discovered, need be conjured up to account for any of the activities or accomplishments of the human mind.

With this new one added to those already described in our phrenological works makes Phrenology a perfect mental science. With a thorough understanding of these we can account for every phase of human character. A few words here may be necessary for the reader to understand the importance of a knowledge of this kind. It gives one a knowledge of self which he cannot get from any other source, and self-knowledge is considered the very best of education. Phrenology should be taught in every school in the land. Is it not a fact that every person judges from his or her standpoint. If their knowledge of self is imperfect, their knowledge of every other subject is almost as imperfect. If their knowledge of self is good, they have a good standpoint from which to view and judge all other subjects.

The great masses of mankind of to-day are very ignorant of themselves, and especially of the makeup of their own minds. I am aware that if they should read this in this book they would doubt the statement — but, let me illustrate: The ancients studied the planets and stars and undoubtedly supposed they knew their movements quite well. But they were not aware of their being hurled through space at the rate of over one thousand miles per hour by the movement of the planet on which they lived. So they had a movable and variable standpoint from which to make their calculations, and believed the sun revolved around the earth instead of the earth around the sun. They were like the colored preacher w T ho came up from the South a few years ago and preached in Pittsburg. During his sermon he said he believed all the scientists were crazy. He said, "They claim that the earth turns around and that the sun stands still, and the moon goes around the earth. Well, now, anybody can see that the earth don't turn around and the sun don't stand still, but they are all right about the moon ; so, you see, they are all right once and all wrong twice."

So we must remember and study well the standpoint from which we judge. iSTo two minds are exactly alike, and hence no two persons see anything from the same standpoint.

Persons whose heads are wide across from ear to ear, in proportion to the height and width at the top of the head, are inclined to look at things from a selfish standpoint, because the selfish organs in that case are strong and influential.

But persons whose heads are high and wide at the top, in proportion to the width at the base of the brain, are comparatively free from selfish thoughts and deeds, because the moral faculties at the top of the brain are stronger than the selfish qualities. If the back part of the head is wide and extends back far behind the ears, it indicates a strong social tendency, because the social qualities are all located in the back of the head. But if it is narrow and contracted from the ears backward, it shows a lack of sociability. If the front part of the head in front of the ears is wide, it shows mechanical skill and ingenuity, inventive genius, and also economy, because this is the location of these powers of mind.

If this part, of the head is narrow in proportion to the remainder of the head, these talents will not be good. If the forehead extends far out in front of the ears, it indicates intelligence and capability for education. If the lower part of the forehead is more prominent than the upper part, the person will be more of an observer than a thinker; but if it is the reverse, he will be more of a reasoner than an observer. If the top of the forehead is wider than the lower part, it shows that the person has the self-conscious faculty well developed and also the imitative and the mirthful faculty, with a lively imagination. But if the lower part is the widest, the musical talent is good, with good order and good mathematical capacity. If the top of the head is as high in front of the ears as it is behind them, it indicates a rather amiable disposition, very benevolent and kind. But if the head rises extremely high behind the ears, it will be the reverse ; the person will be domineering, and if wide about the ears also, he will be cruel and unforgiving.

Now, this is just describing the head in a general way, and also the character; and if you will look around you among your friends, and also your enemies (if you have any), you will find that their character will correspond with what I have said about the shape of the head, and also that the shape of the head will correspond with what I have said about character.

But, of course, it is only describing it in a general way, for I have so much other subject-matter I have not the time nor space to go into details. Suffice it to say that if you become thoroughly acquainted with the forty-two faculties of the mind, and their location in the brain, you will be surprised to find how well you can read the characters and dispositions of those whom you meet, although they may be strangers to you.