Section 10 - Part A:

 Psychic Phenomena 

The term "psychic phenomena", as used here, means "mind manifestations". It is broad enough to include all mental functions, but it will here be limited to a discussion of only those functions coming from the subjective and subconscious phases of mind. The scope of this Course does not permit a full discussion of all the strange things that sometimes come from unusual mental states. The discussion must, therefore, be limited to the general and more universally recognized mental phenomena that are usually called "abnormal", though as a matter of fact there is nothing abnormal about them. Their abnormality consists only in the general ignorance concerning them. When you understand their nature, and the mental laws underlying them, they are just as normal as any other function of mind.  

A group of these phenomena will be treated under the general heading of hypnotism, because they all involve levels of mentality reached by some degree of hypnosis. Hypnotism literally means "the theory of inducing sleep", (from Greek hupnos, sleep; - ismos, denoting theory), but true hypnotic sleep is something very different from ordinary sleep. When people fall asleep naturally, they drop quickly from objective reasoning consciousness, down through the dreaming phase of the subjective phase of mind, and on into the Subconscious Mind. They descend rapidly into subconscious mentality so that they can take advantage of the marvellous re-creative and reconstructive wisdom of the subconscious phase of mind. This is used for healing and rebuilding in their bodies what has been injured or destroyed by the activities and stress of their waking hours. We have already seen that the thoughts of the average Objective Mind, revealing more or less anger, hate, jealousy, fear and selfishness, spark over to the parts of the brain and nervous system used by the subconscious phase of mind in operating the body. This causes a disturbance of the subconscious thought-processes that keep the body well and strong.  

During deep natural sleep people drop back into the throbbing, pulsating bosom of the Creative God-Mind, or Universal Mind, to be recreated. The greater damage they do to their bodies and their organs by their wrong mental attitudes during waking consciousness, the more and deeper sleep they need in order to repair the damage. In this connection it is well to note that something which is damaged can never be repaired so as to make it just as good as new, and if it is damaged and repaired beyond a limited number of times it becomes an irreparable wreck. This constantly repeated damage by day and repair by night, until the wreck can no longer be repaired, is the history of nearly all human bodies.  

You will quickly see that by eliminating from your mentality the destructive passions and attitudes of anger, hate, fear, jealousy and selfishness, you will not only tune yourself to the guiding wisdom of the Universal Mind, but will greatly improve your health and tend to prolong your life.  

The Phenomena of Hypnosis  

While hypnosis is a form of sleep, it is usually something quite different from natural sleep. It is usually a very light form of sleep, induced in a "subject" by a "hypnotist" through "suggestion". However, you may become both the hypnotist and the subject and hypnotise yourself, as was pointed out in the discussion of "speaking in tongues".  

Hypnosis is produced by inducing the subject to fall back from a state of full objective waking consciousness, and to enter one of the deeper phases of mind. This state of a deeper phase of mind may be so slight that subjects are able to sit up, stand up or even move about, or it may be a state of coma so deep that all spontaneous-activity ceases. Or it may be any one of a large number of degrees between these two extremes. The lighter phases are used for experimental and demonstration work and the deeper phases for healing work. The middle phases are sometimes used instead of an anaesthetic in minor operations. Through its use childbirth can be made painless. One of the phenomena of light hypnosis is a tendency on the part of subjects to become more talkative, and to talk about things of which they have little or no knowledge in full waking consciousness. Their personalities seem to change, and an air of refinement comes over them that is not shown at other times. It is just at this point that they contact the remembering phase of the Subjective Mind, and seem to know things they have never learned and to remember things they have never experienced.  

In the next and slightly deeper phase the subjects' personalities seem to disappear and they act any part assigned to them. If told that they are a dog, they yelp and bark. If told that a lead pencil is a piece of red-hot wire, they scream with pain when their flesh is touched with it. If told that their bodies are as rigid as a piece of stone, they actually become so rigid that their heels may be placed on one chair and their heads on another, and their bodies will remain rigid and extended until they are told that they are again limp. By the same method of suggestion, the subjects may, at this stage of hypnosis, be induced to do many other physical and mental stunts that would be impossible for them in their full waking consciousness. By careful handling they may be made to sense people and events at a distance, so as to describe the people and tell what they are doing and what is transpiring around them.  

The next and final stage of hypnosis is a deep and dreamless sleep which may be pushed so far that it closely resembles a condition of profound stupor. In this stage the subjects can still hear and understand the things said to them by the hypnotist — provided it has been previously suggested to them that they will hear and understand them. Unless this suggestion is previously made, it sometimes becomes difficult for hypnotists to awaken subjects.

A Direct Line to the Subconscious Mind  

When the subjects are in this profound sleep they are functioning only in the subconscious phase of mind, without power to remember or to reason, but with all the creative knowledge and wisdom that their particular brain and nervous system can produce. Being temporarily deprived of reason, the subconscious phase of mind accepts as true any statement made to it, and forms a mental picture of the thing it is so induced to believe. If there is a weak or diseased condition in the body, the subconscious phase of mind is told that the diseased part or organ is well and strong. It then makes a mental image of the part in health and strength. The tendency of all mental images made by the subconscious phase of mind is to function on the physical plane of life. Living tissues and protoplasm are more or less psycho-plastic to those mental images.  

There is a twilight zone between the objective and subjective phases of mind, and in this zone is an important phase of mind through which the process of hypnosis passes. This important phase of mind is the Realm of Telepathy, it being the first subjective phase to be contacted after the objective phase of mind. 

Realm of Telepathy  

Telepathy is another psychic phenomenon which deserves our brief consideration. In a limited way it is one of the commonest experiences of life. It happens thousands of times every day throughout the world that a husband and are sitting quietly together during a break in their conversation, and then one begins to talk about the very thing of which the other was intently thinking. The same thing often happens between people other than husbands and wives, and not infrequently between people of the same sex; but some degree of affection seems to furnish the best setting. It often happens that, when a room is full of people and conversation lags for a moment, two or more of them will simultaneously begin talking about the same thing.  

Young people play a game in which they send, say, a boy from the room, and agree to concentrate upon some silly act they will mentally command him to do when he comes back into the room. It may be scratching his ear with his little finger, rubbing his eye with his thumb knuckle, putting his thumb into his mouth, or any one of a dozen other things. The chances are in a good many cases that he will do the very thing he is mentally commanded to do. If he is of a very stubborn and non-suggestible type of mentality, he either fails to get the mental command or refuses to act on it. In a large audience some people may be greatly perturbed and made to turn their heads by looking intently at them from the side or rear and mentally calling upon them to turn - especially if the person giving the mental command is intimately friendly with the other people.  

All these phenomena, and many similar events, are well known and generally recognised. It is generally thought that some kind of a radiating force proceeds from the one brain to the other, but it is realised that such a feeble radiating force could not survive the passage over any great distance; and so examples of long-distance telepathy are regarded as mere coincidences or as unexplained mysteries.  

Telepathy is not the result of radiant energy going out from one human brain and registering on another. The one Mind of the universe is at every instant aware of everything in the universe. It knows no space in its consciousness, because space is relative, and the Universal Mind is absolute. It functions through the space-less oneness of mind known as the Realm of Telepathy, which is universal in its scope and the whole of which is sensitively aware of things affecting any part of it - a mental realm binding all human beings into a great mental kinship.  

The patent office records are full of evidence of this tendency of different minds to think the same things. After the race has got along for years without anyone thinking of a certain machine or device, there suddenly appears a flock of applications for patents on that very machine or device, all so nearly alike that each inventor accuses the other of having "stolen his idea". In truth the different inventors have merely "tuned in" on the Realm of Telepathy without realising it. The result is a host of protests and frequently a hotly contested lawsuit to determine who is entitled to the patent. The very process of deep thought and meditation involved in mentally working out a new machine or device is such as to push the people's thinking back into the upper realms of their subjective phase of mind, and so put them into contact with everyone who chances to be functioning in that same realm of mind. Therefore, telepathy provides still more evidence of the fact that all knowledge of all men is common knowledge, stored in a phase of the Universal Mind, and that this common fund of knowledge may be drawn on by anyone who will go to the trouble to set his or her thinking in tune with the phase of mind containing the store.

Do Some Real Thinking!  

As a practical application of the principle involved, I suggest that you make up your mind definitely just what you want to be, what you wish to possess and what you want to achieve. Having made up your mind and reached definite decisions, you should begin using some spare moments in trying to determine just what you should do in order to become, possess and achieve what you want. You should endeavour to do some real THINKING! For a few days you should start with some general thought, and then, when any plan comes into your mind, get down to working out the details of the plan. If you have not been accustomed to this constructive kind of thinking, you probably will not seem to be making much headway for a few days. But you will gradually become more and more interested, and before very long you will find yourself occasionally so lost in your thoughts and planning that you will forget yourself and your surroundings. When you reach this state of mentality you will have dropped back from full objective consciousness, and will be tuned in on the universal store of knowledge, from which definite plans and ways and means will begin to come to you. You should not hesitate to carry these plans into effect, nor to adopt the ways and means which occur to you, for these plans and ways and means will enable you to be the things you want to be, to possess the things you desire, and to accomplish the things you wish to accomplish.  

How to Avoid the Realm of Error  

It was explained in Lesson Eight of this Course that the Realm of Error lies just behind the phase of Mind containing the Fountain of Wisdom; and there is always a chance that the beginner may fall just a little too far back into the subjective phase of mind, and so get impressions and suggestions from the Realm of Error. Here, however, is a test to determine whether a suggestion is coming from the Fountain of Wisdom or the Realm of Error.  

Impressions and suggestions from the Fountain of Wisdom come in the form of WORDLESS THOUGHTS, and impressions and suggestions from the Realm of Error come in the form of WORDED THOUGTHS. If you get a strong urge to do something, or to follow some particular course, without the urge taking the form of words, it is coming from the Fountain of Wisdom. On the other hand, if the urge comes in the form of worded thoughts directing that you do so and so, it is coming from the Realm of Error. The "devil" lurks close beside the Way of Life, always ready with his lies and false pretences to lure the traveller aside into byways that end in disappointment, heartache and failure. This isn't the "horned and hoofed devil" but a phase of the Universal Mind functioning in every human being.  

If in the course of carrying out the thought method I have described here you find that you are getting suggestions from the Realm of Error, you should immediately stop day-dreaming, come into full waking consciousness and begin all over again. This is equivalent to saying "Get thee behind me, Satan" (Matt. xvi. 23; Mark viii. 33; Luke iv. 8), and after a few rebuffs of this kind no more suggestions will come from the Realm of Error.  

Controversy Surrounding Spiritualism  

Spiritualism probably is the oldest form of psychic phenomena in the world, and around it has clustered many bitter controversies. Even in the Old Testament days it was common, and mediums were called "witches". It was supposed that their mediumistic powers were due to the fact that the devil or one of his "black angels" periodically took possession of them. King Saul of Israel bitterly persecuted all mediums, and issued a decree that they should all be exiled (l Sam. xxviii. 3). At least one medium escaped the execution of this decree, a woman whose real name was not recorded. She lived in the little town of En-dor.  

In the last days of King Saul, he was hard pressed by an invading army, and in his desperation, he went incognito to the witch of En-dor, seeking such counsel as she might be able to give (l Sam. xxviii.). She went into a mediumistic trance and soon reported the appearance of a spirit form which was old and covered with a mantle. Saul recognised the spirit form as that of the deceased prophet Samuel, the judge who had anointed him king of Israel (l Sam. x. 1). The supposed spirit rebuked him for his many sins of omission and commission, told him that his army would be defeated, and that he would soon die. This prophecy was soon fumed - Saul's army was routed, and he himself was wounded by the enemy archers and committed suicide by casting himself upon a sword (l Sam. xxxi; 1 Chr. x.).  

I have had much experience in the investigation of Spiritualism, the record of which would fill a large volume. Included in this experience was associate membership in the Society for Psychical Research during the time when the evidence was being gathered which convinced many people that there is actually individual existence after death It was also thought possible for a human being to communicate with "spirits" who have lost their bodies by death. I pursued these investigations enthusiastically and hopefully, and at numerous stages along the way I was almost persuaded that these theories were correct.  

In the meantime, however, I was delving into the mysteries of the Universal Mind, and particularly of the subjective phase of that mind and its ability to remember the things learned and experienced by people whose bodies have passed out of existence through death. I was also investigating telepathy, which until then was not recognised as a scientific fact, and was trying to find what part it played in Spiritualism.  

There is a great deal of error in mediumship - some of it consciously practised by mediums, and some of it unconsciously practised by them when functioning in the Realm of Error. But this is neither the time nor place to go into a detailed consideration of these things. Rather, I shall tell you about a typical case of "genuine mediumship" which contains the elements of other genuine cases.

During the lifetime of Dr. Henry Ward Beecher, a famous preacher, he and Dr. Isaac K. Funk, editor of A Standard Dictionary of the English Language, were close personal friends, and both of them extensively investigated Spiritualism. Many times, they had listened to alleged "spirit controls" speaking through mediums and elaborately describing conditions of life and action in the "spirit world" - just as thousands of others have listened to similar descriptions. Yet when they got away from the "spirit controls" and seemed to contact the spirit of one whom they had known in life, all they could get were a few fragmentary references to the things of this present life and little or nothing concerning the spirit world. So, they made an agreement that when one of them died the other would try to get in touch with his "spirit" through Spiritualism, and the spirit was to give an accurate and full account of conditions in the spirit world as he actually found them.  

A Message from the Dead  

It so happened that Dr. Beecher was the first to die, and Dr. Funk immediately began trying to communicate with his departed friend. For a time, it seemed that he had failed, but finally a medium announced that the spirit of Dr. Beecher was present and wished to communicate with him. The alleged spirit of Dr. Beecher spoke through the medium, who was in a mild state of trance. This was his message: "When you were gathering material for the Standard Dictionary, you borrowed from my collection of coins a little Hebrew mite. You failed to return it. My wife has missed it, and is worried about it. Please look it up and return it to her."  

Dr. Funk protested that he did not have the coin, having long since returned it. Then the alleged spirit of Dr. Beecher told him that he would find it under some papers which had not been disturbed for a long time, and again asked that he return it to Mrs. Beecher. The medium announced that Dr. Beecher had no further communication to make, and the séance was closed. No reference to life or conditions in the world of spirit! The little coin was found where the alleged spirit said it would be found, and was returned to Mrs. Beecher, who said she had missed it from the collection, and had wondered what had become of it.  

Dr. Funk was both disappointed and elated - disappointed that the spirit of Dr. Beecher had said nothing about life and conditions in the spirit world, and elated at this apparent evidence that his friend still lived. He had remembered things that had happened while he was in the body, still knew what was happening in the physical realm, and had a kind of second-sight, or clairvoyance, which enabled him to tell just where the lost coin would be found. Dr. Funk made other attempts to get into touch with his departed friend, but none of them had anything approaching the evidential value of this first apparent success.  

The remembering phase of the Universal Mind remembered the incident of the borrowing of the coin and the failure to return it. It remembered all the other experiences of Dr. Beecher, but under the limitations and handicaps of mediumship this particular memory was the only one which registered on the medium's brain. Dr. Funk actually knew, deep down in the memory storehouse of his mind, that he had never returned the coin, and knew exactly where it was. Mrs. Beecher had missed the coin, and wondered about it. The medium was in a state of light trance, so that she was sensitive to the remembering phase of the Universal Mind, and sensitive to the telepathic influence of the minds of both Dr. Funk and Mrs. Beecher. Through the remembering phase of the Universal Mind, she contacted enough of the characteristics of Dr. Beecher to form the outline of his "personality". All these influences centred on the medium's brain, and framed the message about the lost coin and its location. The medium was not conscious of any deception. She did not even know what was going on, for she was in a mental state beyond the realm of reason.

Sprit Controls  

Each medium develops within his or her brain the capacity to sense enough of the twilight zone of mind lying between the true objective phase and the true subjective phase to constitute one or more separate personalities called "spirit controls", and these controls use the medium's brain and vocal cords while he or she is in a helpless state of trance. These "controls" speak fluently and at length of life and conditions in the "spirit world", but they are not even substantially in agreement as to life and conditions in that alleged realm. So again, we find the Realm of Error lurking close beside the Way of Life, functioning in a phase of the Universal Mind present in every human being.  

This fact that the subjective phase of the mind exists in every individual human being and so links together all human minds in a oneness of mind is the great obstacle which, more than anything else, hinders the scientific investigation of Spiritualism. For although we have a great mass of evidence of genuine spiritualistic phenomena, this evidence does not prove that Spiritualism is true, if all human beings are so linked together through the subjective phase of the Universal Mind.  

It is of some significance that in the whole period of its existence (since 1882) the Society for Psychical Research, which was formed expressly for the purpose of putting the claims of Spiritualism to the test of scientific investigation, has never proclaimed its acceptance of the spiritualistic hypothesis of psychic phenomena. present opinion of the Society is that "Some, if not all, of the phenomena of Spiritualism appear to have their origin in the ultra-conscious processes in the mind."  

Other researchers have approached the problem by examining the experiences of people who have died and then been brought back to life again. Such people, it is argued, should be able to give authentic descriptions of what the afterlife is like. What they say does indeed show a remarkable amount of agreement. They speak of going through a tunnel, brightly-lit buildings, the events of one's life passing in review, vivid scenes of beautiful surroundings accompanied by feelings of flying, etc.  

These descriptions, however, were exactly the same as those given by the victims of drug-induced hallucinations. These researchers concluded that they were, in fact, the same hallucinations, and that, in the words of one authority, "the alternate hypothesis, that dying patients are in fact experiencing glimpses of the afterlife, has no compelling evidence to support it."