Psychology, normal and abnormal; a study of the processes of nature from the inner aspect

Front matter

Class Book

BEO

.Lx

Introduction

1. The Necessity for a Hypothesis 1

2. Physiological Psychology as a Natural Science 2

3. The Problem of Knowledge 4

4. Polarity and the Law of Opposites 5

5. Mind and Matter as Polarized Aspects of the Same Thing. . 6

CHAPTER I. Consciousness

1. Consciousness as a Whole having Parts 8

2. Sensation as Contact between Units of Force 12

3. The Rhythms of Expansion and Contraction of Conscious-

ness 13

4. The Seat of Consciousness in the Physical Body 14

5. Abnormal Aspects of Consciousness 17

CHAPTER II. Desire

1. Energy is Directed by Desire 22

2. Attraction and Repulsion between Units of Force 24

3. The Poles of Desire 26

4. The Effect of Will or Desire in Matter 29

5. Abnormal Aspects of Desire 30

CHAPTER III. Action and Reaction

1. The Double Aspect of Physical and Mental Laws 31

2. Mathematical and Geometrical Symbols and Illustrations.. 32

3. Action and Reaction as a Psychological Law 34

4. Accumulated Causes and Suspended Results 35

5. Abnormal Aspects of Action and Reaction 36

CHAPTER IV. Emotion

1. Emotion Accompanies Energy 38

2. The Quality of the Emotion Depends upon the Form of

Energy Displayed 39

3. The Extremes of Emotion 41

4. Active and Passive States of Emotion 43

5. Abnormal Aspects of Emotion 43

xi

Xll PSYCHOLOGY, NORMAL AND ABNORMAL.

CHAPTER V. Pleasure and Pain

1. Pleasure and Pain are Qualities attaching to all Emotions . . 45

2. Pleasure and Pain balance each other 46

3. Polarity and Cross-Polarity 49

4. The Physical Basis of Pleasure and Pain 50

5. Abnormal Aspects of Pleasure and Pain 52

CHAPTER VI. Imagery

1. Imagery is Consciousness of Form and Motion 54

2. Space and Time Elements in Imagery 57

3. Form and Motion are Antithetical Concepts 58

4. Sensation is the Physical Recognition of Form and Motion . . 59

5. Abnormal Aspects of Imagery 60

CHAPTER VII. Memory and Imagination

1. Memory and Imagination are Specializations of Imagery. . . 63

2. The Element of Perspective in Memory and Imagination . . 65

3. Variations in Intensity of Memory and Imagination 68

4. The Seat of Memory and Imagination in the Physical Body 75

5. Abnormal Aspects of Memory and Imagination 83

CHAPTER VIII. Intuition and Understanding

1. The Special and the General in Knowledge 85

2. Intuition as an Empirical Judgment or as Pure Knowledge . . 87

3. Growth and Change in Knowledge 91

4. The Body of Knowledge 96

5. Abnormal Aspects of Knowledge 98

CHAPTER IX. Periodicity

1. Motion and Rest 103

2. Force and Consciousness 104

3. Rhythm and Orbital Motion Ill

4. Law and Laws 113

5. Abnormal Aspects of Periodicity 115

CHAPTER X. Poise

INTRODUCTION.

1. The Necessity for a Hypothesis.

The use of assumptions and hypotheses as instruments of investigation in the sciences being universal, we can see no reason why psychology should attempt to avoid this method. Her failure to make proper advance seems to arise from weakness in this line. The old psychology had the assumption of a mind or of a soul whose faculties and experiences constituted mental life. "Whether tenable or not, this hypothesis gave definiteness to the matters treated and made them comprehensible^ so that our ordinary ideas regarding mind and mental processes to this day are couched in its terms.

Under the influence of modern science a reaction against speculative teachings and doctrines led to a discarding of the old hypothesis, but so far psychology does not seem to have found a satisfactory new one. Physiological psychology and psycho-physics, while diligent and patient in their methods, can hardly claim to be more than specializations of nerve physiology and cerebral anatomy. They have no means of going beyond the territory illuminated by their physical methods of search. On the other hand, most of those who revel in abnormal and occult phenomena travel in that obscure realm without hypothesis, chart, or compass. Their journeys are erratic and the wares they bring home hardly worth considering.

But the subject is far too vital to be avoided. The natural sciences are piling up material facts and noting laws in which we begin to lose interest because of the uncertain attitude of science toward the invisible side of life. The realm of psychology must be conquered or modern civilization itself is imperiled.

With a proper hypothesis, the facts of mental life will be explained and investigated wiith the same facility as in the physical realm. Also the knowledge gained will have as practical a bearing as that which has given such impetus to material progress. While the need of a better understanding of the nature of thought and mental processes is pressing, and inspires these pages, the application of the principles to be enunciated is not within the scope of this book. A true and proper analysis of psychological problems is our aim, and, if attained, practice can be left to take care of itself.

By abnormal, we mean only that which is unclassified and unusual. Some nexus or relation to the normal must be discovered; for psychology can no more tolerate uncaused phenomena than can her law-abiding sisters of natural science. The matter as far as investigated must be made intelligible, even if the structure is left incomplete. All principles and laws discovered by science are only portions of the larger house of knowledge. The beams and structural parts thus discerned will be given final architectural shape by philosophy.

If, in this investigation, we shall advance a hypothesis which explains the known facts of mental life and leads to the discovery of the principles governing the more obscure and subtle processes of inner nature, it can be accepted as the true basis of our present individual life and a stable part of the foundation in which all things have their eternal existence.

2. Physiological Psychology as a Natural Science.

Proceeding with the analysis of the problem, let us define the field in which psychology must work. It is the aim of the natural sciences to explain nature. In one sense they claim that nature iucludes everything, yet, while so doing, they confine themselves to a particular conception of matter and to investigating the physical forces affecting it. This attitude is common to all the natural sciences. Their laws establish only the modes of motion of matter and the properties manifested by it.

INTRODUCTION. 3

For this reason, they are all interdependent. Starting with the earth as the unit, geology studies its history since its formation and show3 the progressive modification of the earth's crust. Astronomy pushes the history further back and takes up the question of its relation to the heavenly bodies. Spectroscopy and stellar photography work out more details of constitution and structure. Going forward, chemistry and physics begin their qualitative work. Botany, zoology and kindred sciences treat of organic life, and anthropology in its widest significance includes all human activities.

In this series, physiological psychology could begin only with sentient life. It would be the science dealing with the sensations and conscious processes of living organisms arising from or correlated with the motions of the matter of which they are composed.

Under this conception it is inevitable that psychology be assigned a secondary place. Sentiency and consciousness, as thus understood, are not very pervasive. The first tendency is to confine them to cerebral matter and organized brains. If an extension is made to ganglionic centers and neural matter in general, it is with an implied understanding that the search should stop there. Only nerve cells are supposed to feel.

In spite of this positiveness, there is dissatisfaction with the situation. Nature abhors a vacuum and discontinuity. By the hypothesis of other sciences, all organic structures arise by the continuous process of evolution. If this is true, nerve cells and brains are similarly created. The point then at which sensation ought to arise cannot be determined. A worse difficulty is got into by treating it as a wholly dissimilar product after it has arisen. We shall not elaborate these points here. It is certain, that if consciousness comes from the motions of nerve and brain cells, it must be implied in the motion of all the constituent atoms and molecules which compose those cells. These molecules, however, come from and return to other forms of matter. Therefore it was said that the consciousness of the organism arises from the motion of the matter of which it is composed.

3. The Problem of Kiiowledge.

There is one point of view from which psychology cannot be treated as a science with a limited conception of consciousness. This arises from a consideration of the fact that all knowledge of external nature comes to us from sensations and mental imagery. In order to hang these phenomena together, we have the ideas of substance, time, space and causality. Whether these ideas come from external nature or internal mind, we cannot say. From the point of view of knowledge, the mental half of the transaction is as important as the material world in which sensation is supposed to have its origin.

It appears, then, that the knowing subject stands over against the perceived object in strict and complete opposition. Nature cannot be understood or enlarged without the knower expanding likewise. If nature is conceived as a fixed and determinable quantity, the person or being who can perceive or understand nature must be in relation to nature in all its parts. If subject and object are not in relation, each is non-existent for the other; but it is more logical to say that neither can exist without the other. The knower therefore, must either have relation to the known in all its parts or be a constituent half of the knowiQ by reflective or polarized opposition. This being understood, the problem of knowledge is shifted to the question of part and whole. Why is knowledge ever limited, if the subject bears a constant and indefeasible relation to all of the object? How can knowledge expand or contract ; or, to put it another way, what is the law under which sensations and experiences come into and depart from consciousness? This brings us to the question of the nature of interest and attention. They are matters we cannot treat here. For psychology, knowledge either partial or complete consists in a polarized relation between subject and object. The amount of territory included in consciousness must in some way de-

INTRODUCTION. 5

pend upon the intensity of the polarization and fluctuate with its rhythms.

4. Polarity and the Law of Opposites.

By polarity we mean the unity in opposites. The simplest expression of polarity is seen in the mathematical signs of plus and minus or in the physical phenomenon of the positive and negative poles of a magnet. The characteristics manifested are always diametrically opposed, but the tendency to exhibit opposite or contrasted properties is in the unit. What you can posit of one pole you can never posit of the other. Although polarity consists in possessing contrary tendencies, or powers in opposite or contrasted directions, it is the opposite aspects of a one thing.

This separation of things into opposite poles is not confined to physics. Although polarity pervades nature, it is equally characteristic of mental phenomena. Ideas and metaphysical conceptions are so constantly polarized that faint-hearted philosophers stagger at the problem of knowledge, fearing that all conceptions contradict or cancel each other. "With fuller understanding the conviction arises that they, in fact, support or balance each other. How these concepts arise, with what distinctness they stand out, or in what way they show fluctuations in tension or energy is a question purely philosophical. It is sufficient to say that all discovered laws and principles are formulated in terms of these paradoxical concepts and that they seem to constitute the very framework of reality.

Subject and object are only one of many faithful pairs of opposites. Ideas in common use are as hopelessly antithetical as are metaphysical conceptions. Space is divided into its up and down, right and left and forward and backward. Time has its past and future balanced in the present. The idea of fast and slow also applies to time. Motion and rest, heat and cold, hard and soft, good and bad, and one and many are all polarized expressions.

Some of these concepts seem to blend into others, and some, like part and whole, motion and rest, light and dark, conscious and unconscious, stand out with such vividness and intensity that it would seem the very secret of existence had been compressed into the single term. Notwithstanding the necessity of recognizing the system existing in these concepts, most philosophers have failed to observe their importance or to study them as a whole. They often encounter difficulty in detecting even the single pair of opposites involved in the simple object of search. Struggle after struggle takes place over opposite aspects of the same thing. Nor is that the only confusion, for each investigator may shift to an auxiliary pair of opposites or find himself at the reverse pole of his problem without himself being aware of how he made the change. For these reasons we wish to formulate the doctrine of the law of opposites so that the dual nature of all concepts may be anticipated and deliberately sought and understood. And by this very law of opposites the matter will not rest here. A surd or irreducible element will be implied in every polarized thing. This is probably the point of contact of the thing or conception with polarity of a different power or degree.

5. Mind and Matter as Polarized Aspects of the Same Thing.

"We are now ready to state the hypothesis which will govern in formulating the principles contained in this book. The assumption or hypothesis which seems necessary in order to make psychology consistent and scientific is that mind and matter are opposite poles of the same thing. With this conception even tentatively accepted, so many difficult problems will be solved that we fearlessly advance into the most resistant and intricate territory. No question can be so obscure but that we shall be able to pick up either the mental or physical end of it. If it yields so far, we can, by the law of opposites, discover its antithetical companion. All that throws light

INTRODUCTION. 7

on matter will illuminate mind. Every law discovered in the mental realm will have its reverse aspect and reflection in matter.

The application of the foregoing must, as with all hypotheses, be its justification. The real point at issue is whether nature has an internal aspect. By the hypothesis she has, and must exhibit her inmost secrets to all who have the courage and strength to question her. It is not logical nor consistent to assert completeness in a single pole. The material world with its myriads of specialized forms is bleak and barren without knowledge of their inner unity. The heart or mind wearied of the conflict of ideas and desires, by knowing the law of its being, may turn towards peace. Whether specialized in matter or generalized in thought, there will be one world, perceived and understood by countless minds. By the hj^othesis. Minds are the Units of Force in which nature expresses herself as conscious.

CHAPTER I. Consciousness

1. Consciousness as a Whole having Parts.

The nature and characteristics of mind appear to us through consciousness. We study mind by observing its conscious processes, and by noting the laws governing its manifestations. Being the reverse side of matter, mind is as complex as matter, and is subject to every law operating in matter. It is the internal aspect of nature. Both matter and mind originate in a primal polarity of the substance of nature.

Let us consider some of the properties of matter and see the form they take at the pole of mind. Matter is always conceived as made up of particles or parts. Nature is a whole made up of parts. Science has not discovered the ultimate unit of matter. Atoms are not final units as long as they are conceived as having appreciable dimensions or geometrical shape. Even experimental science seems now to find that they break up into particles many times smaller in size than the atom was originally supposed to be. Atoms and ions, then, are just as arbitrary units as molecules, cells, organs, individuals or worlds.

But if matter is composed of parts, it is also a whole. Force is constant; matter is indestructible. Particles of matter always form a larger something which may be grasped in consciousness as a whole. Not only this, but all matter tends to take form and work itself out in an organized way. The tendency to relational adjustments is inherent in matter of all grades. In one form, the question is to find out what it is that unites all particles of matter in a living relation. What unity exists between the apparently discrete particles of matter so that each can bear a dynamic relation to the other ? How can atoms be separated and have motion?

In answering the last question, we come to understand consciousness. The word conscious means to know with or against. A state of consciousness is impossible for a single unit of energy. Friction with another, or others, is essential to this condition. The conscious being is along with or against something and therefore limited and affected by it. Consciousness implies action and reaction, an interchange of force. There is a coalescence of subject with object, the me with the not-me, the see-er with the thing seen, the inner with the outer.

The relation between units of force, which makes possible this interdealing, is imperishable, but the force displayed in the contact defines the field of attention and divides consciousness into its parts. The extent of consciousness is always measured in terms of energy. Its content and mood vary with the forces brought into play. If there is no dealing with or bombardment of other units, there will be no action or reaction to produce life, and no friction to be measured as consciousness. The field of consciousness, then, is limited by the energy generated by the unit, and expands and contracts as this energy is given forth or conserved. The true unit cannot be added to or taken from. It expresses its characteristics and properties by polarization. The field of consciousness is the internal aspect of the unit's experiences. There is no polarity without dynamic tension or play of force between the poles. This tension or relation between mind and matter appears as consciousness. Through it we recognize the one thing polarized into parts.

To become conscious is an instantaneous process; if process at all. An individual lifts his eyelids in no matter what environment, whether hateful or likable, and becomes one with it, is glued to it, is the other half of it. It is recognition rather than cognition. He goes through no process of thought in regard to it, until after he has married it. He and his environment are one. He is conscious with the help of his environment; such reason as he brings to bear on the matter cuts no figure. The eyelids lift and the individual finds the other half of himself, his environment. Or with the physical eyes closed, the mental eyes may be opened upon an objective domain within the mind, either conjured by the imagination or recorded by memory. "Whatever it is, it has been taken in from without sometime, somewhere. And at once the eye coalesces with it and becomes conscious; made so by the friction of the me and the not-me, of subject and object. However you look at the question, there must be at least two to make that state called consciousness. A unit unpolarized can never be conscious. If the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere, each unit would seem to be the center of his own universe. But this is hard to conceive, although the countless differentiated and specialized forms make it necessary. As the many must be infinite, where can the Unit poise? Upon an alleged center? It were better to say, that the Unit is simply the conscious point, or point of consciousness, in its infinite environment. Whether this environment be conscious or not, it is not necessary to decide. The unit of energy, that is self-conscious, is fully aware that it could not be so without some environment. It is evident, then, that polarity is essential to consciousness, and that consciousness is not an act of reason, but instantaneous recognition.

Having explained how consciousness arises and is supported, let us examine its subdivisions and separation into parts. By the hypothesis, consciousness must have the same number of parts as matter. Every unit of matter has its mental pole resulting in an interposed moment or element of consciousness. If these cohere, there must be a world or cosmic consciousness embracing all matter. Evidently this is the case, but we now grasp it only by pushing our conceptions to their limit. Consciousness as we first pick it up for study has a definite and limited content. So the problem for psychology is to understand how consciousness can be less than the whole and more than the simplest sensation. How can dynamic tension or pressure result in fluctuations in the content of consciousness? Is there possible any separation of physical particles or isolation of consciousness? This question must be divided so that it can be answered in two ways.

Consciousness as studied by psychology is always the consciousness of an individual or true unit. It is the mind of one whose world expands or contracts with his desires. We speak of sub-, super-, and self-consciousness, or of under-, over-, and central-consciousness. This is really a play upon words. There is but one consciousness, and that is self-consciousness. "We speak of the sum total of all consciousness, that is again fallacious. There can be no sum total of an infinity of self-consciousness. The limitless can never be summed. There is but one order of consciousness and that is self-consciousness. Its unity lies in the quality, its variety in the infinity of the units and the degrees of intensity of the sensations. The quality of consciousness then is one (self -consciousness) the quantity many, as innumerable as the units of force. Thus when we speak of super-consciousness and sub-consciousness we mean only some aspect of a larger self-consciousness than that with which we are accustomed to deal. That is, the unit-self within us expands to a larger recognition of environment than before. Instead of confining itself to a small room, it may coalesce with the visible universe, becoming less intense but more universal. As extreme meets extreme, and subject clashes with object, there is a subtle friction, (though friction is hardly the word) followed by neutralization in unity which is instantaneous recognition. Unity is never conscious, but the coming into unity is intense consciousness. Subject and object are forever merging and consciousness results. The symbol is that of the serpent with its tail in its mouth. The head recognizes the tail of the one body which unites the two.

Consciousness, measured by the impulses of force, shades off in intensity at rhythmic periods. Not only that, but it passes to the opposite pole of unconsciousness. This retreating from outer to inner environment is most commonly recognized in sleep. The ego goes farther and farther back into itself until the outer environment is lost. What new environment is reached, we need not say. The important point is that reversing of consciousness is not only possible but necessary. Nature forces it upon us, but that realm may be deliberately sought. For every vale without there is one within. Every prospect of mountain or sea can be matched within. The sun, the stars, constellation upon constellation, system upon system, the universe itself, each is interior as well as exterior, and may be reached by consciousness from either direction.

Having considered the matter from the standpoint of our hypothesis, we come to the conclusion that consciousness is a whole having parts. It is a whole, because the Unit of Force never loses its unitary character. It has parts, because the contact of the Unit with other Units produces an infinite variety of sensations which result in changes in the field of consciousness.

By close analysis, we find consciousness subtly complex. An individual seems to be simultaneously conscious of many things. Bodily sensations, mental efforts and emotional reactions unite in the stream of consciousness and color all its waters. Realizing the gamut of being from the crudest forms of matter to the subtlest processes of mind, consciousness passes through all shadings and gradations, meets all forms of the manifested universe and coalesces with its moods, altogether equal to the other half of itself. The fact of consciousness proves the indestructibility of the Units. There is no consciousness without the many; a conscious One is impossible. The Law of Consciousness necessitates eternally conscious Units. The whole of consciousness unites all the parts.

2. Sensation as Contact between Units of Force.

It seems well established that the five senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling are but differentiated forms of the tactile sense, which is but a means to facilitate contact and consciousness. The nexus that unites subject and object is primarily touch. Touch, when analyzed, is seen to be a means of discerning resistance and motion. Experimenters recognize this, and call attention to the direct consciousness of muscular effort, resistance and motion, even suggesting that these forms of sensations are received by a special sense. The number of special senses discovered makes little difference. All sensations unite in consciousness and are specializations of consciousness. For this reason we have treated of consciousness first. The simplest element in consciousness is sensation.

Sensation, as we know it, arises only by means of organs of sense. Sense organs are composed of matter. They are evolved by the process of evolution, and, from the matter side, are controlled by physical laws. They correspond to portions of the physical environment and make possible the constant adjustment of the living organisms thereto. Bearing this in mind, we define sensation as conscious contact between Units of Force. By Units of Force we mean units which have the double aspect of matter and mind. From the viewpoint of matter, there are only aggregates of matter or particles of matter. From the viewpoint of mind, there are only units^ of sensation or centers of consciousness. By Units of Force, however, we mean polarized units. At one pole they are conscious and have sensations. At the other pole they have form and manifest the characteristics of matter. The word Unit implies substance and the word Force implies contact and interdealing. Out of the contact of the Units of Force arises sensation. Only through their interdealing is conscious life possible.

3. The Rhythms of Expansion and Contraction of Consciousness.

Starting with any given state of consciousness, it is manifest that the content does not remain the same. Activity is followed by repose. Attention and alert observation are overcome by drowsiness and want of interest. This applies not only to the larger rhythms of waking and sleeping, youth and old age, but to every single sensation and object in consciousness. All objects in consciousness wax and wane.

Seeing this expansion and contraction of the field of consciousness, we ask what is the cause. Let us take the simplest illustrations, for consciousness as exhibited in man is very complex. Considering sight, we see that the apparent size of all objects depends upon their distance from the observer in space and their illumination. Without change in the space relations with reference to the object seen, the visual power of the observer at least subjectively may be momentarily increased or diminished. Also, up to a certain point, familiarity with an object brings a quicker detection of it and a clearer discernment in consciousness. The diminishing value in consciousness caused by distance applies also to objects observed with reference to light and heat given off, irrespective of size. Distance also tends to decrease the volume of sound.

The above mentioned variations in consciousness are observed by simple experiments. From them we conclude that space and time elements constantly modify conscious states. Consciousness is measured on a sliding scale. Fluctuations may come from the outer environment or from the inner organ. The cause of the fluctuations is change in space relations and in rapidity of vibrations. The matter presented being complex, consciousness varies constantly. Objects are sensed by pulsations of attention. Ehythms of waking and sleeping affect all life. The periodic laws governing the motions of matter have their correlative expression in moods and states of consciousness.

4. The Seat of Consciousness in the Physical Body.

Consciousness, as we define the term, includes all mental processes, so that if we discover its seat in the body, we also have the location of sensations of the emotions and of thought. By our hypothesis, however, we are excluded from assigning consciousness to an exclusive locality. It arises from contact and friction between Units of Force, and therefore has no locality, but that of the Units. This is true to the facts as far as observed. The vibrations received by sense-organs are but specialized forms of the impulses and waves of motion undulating in spirals through all nature. Sensation arises for the Unit only when it resists or modifies them. Sensations, emotions and thoughts correspond to the motions of the matter composing the Unit's vehicle of expression. The motion is the physical pole, the sensation the mental pole of the same thing.

This being the case, the point in any wave of motion at which sensation arises for the individual depends upon the organization of his physical vehicle and the intensity and focus of his attention. Many Units of Force participate in the motions of the same physical body, yet with varying degrees of consciousness. The physical body is an aggregate presided over and dominated by resident forces. Changes in physical particles and cellular structure make no difference, because the Unit of Force is not the particular physical body of any moment, but the co-ordinating energy under the impulses of which the physical particles assume their positions. The physical body being the tem^porary expression of the Unit, the scope and character of its consciousness depend upon the energy of the Unit and the state of fruition of the causes set in operation by it. Its immediate consciousness is measured by the intensity of its desires and the direction towards which it turns its attention. A shifting focus of attention and interest may extend its consciousness above or below the normal, that is to say, to any and all vibrations in which the Unit participates.