Telepathy and the Subliminal Self Part 18

The following case, while of the same general character, presents this remarkable difference: that the agent's mind was not at all directed to the real percipient, but only to the _place_ where the percipient happened to be. It is from the notebook of Mr. S. H. B. who was also the agent.

"On Friday, December 1st, 1882, at 9:30 P. M. I went into a room alone and sat by the fireside, and endeavored so strongly to fix my mind upon the interior of a house at Kew (viz., Clarence Road), in which resided Miss V.

and her two sisters, that I seemed to be actually in the house.

"During this experiment I must have fallen into a mesmeric sleep, for, although I was conscious, I could not move my limbs. I did not seem to have lost the power of moving them, but I could not make the effort to do so.... At 10 P. M. I regained my normal state by an effort of the will and wrote down on a sheet of note-paper the foregoing statements.

"When I went to bed on this same night, I determined that I would be in the front bedroom of the above-mentioned house at 12 P. M., and remain there until I had made my presence perceptible to the inmates of that room. On the next day, Sat.u.r.day, I went to Kew to spend the evening, and met there a married sister of Miss V. (viz., Mrs. L.). This lady I had only met once before and that was at a ball, two years previous to the above date. We were both in fancy dress at the time, and as we did not exchange more than half a dozen words, this lady would naturally have lost any vivid recollection of my appearance even if she had noticed it.

"In the course of conversation (although I did not for a moment think of asking her any questions on such a subject), she told me that on the previous night she had seen me distinctly on two occasions. She had spent the night at Clarence Road, and had slept in the front bedroom. At about half-past nine, she had seen me in the pa.s.sage going from one room to another, and at 12 P. M., when she was wide-awake, she had seen me enter the bedroom and walk round to where she was lying and take her hair (which is very long), into my hand. She told me that the apparition took hold of her hand and gazed intently into it, whereupon she spoke, saying, 'You need not look at the lines for I have never had any trouble.'

"She then awoke her sister, Miss V., who was sleeping with her, and told her about it. After hearing this account I took the statement which I had written down the previous evening from my pocket and showed it to some of the persons present, who were much astonished, although incredulous.

"I asked Mrs. L. if she was not dreaming at the time of the latter experience, but she stoutly denied, and stated that she had forgotten what I was like, but seeing me so distinctly she recognized me at once. At my request she wrote a brief account of her impressions and signed it."

The following is the lady's statement:--

"On Friday, December 1st, 1882, I was on a visit to my sister, at 21 Clarence Road, Kew, and about 9:30 P. M. I was going from my bedroom to get some water from the bath-room, when I distinctly saw Mr. S. B.

whom I had only seen once before, two years ago, walk before me past the bath-room, toward the bedroom at the end of the landing.

"About 11 o'clock we retired for the night; about 12 o'clock I was still awake, and the door opened and Mr. S. B. came into the room and walked around to the bedside, and there stood with one foot on the ground, and the other knee resting on a chair. He then took my hair into his hand, after which he took my hand in his and looked very intently into the palm. 'Ah,' I said (speaking to him), 'you need not look at the lines for I never had any trouble.' I then awoke my sister; I was not nervous, but excited, and began to fear some serious illness would befall her, she being delicate at the time, but she is progressing more favorably now.

"H. L."

(Full name signed.)

Miss Verity also corroborates this statement.

The following is still another case of one mind acting upon another mind at a distance and at least in a most unusual way. Call it mind-projection, making one's self visible at a distance, sending out the subliminal self--call it what we may--it is a glimpse of a phenomenon, rare in its occurrence, but which nevertheless has been observed a sufficient number of times to claim serious attention, and calm and candid consideration.

The case is from _Phantasms of the Living_, and is furnished by "Mrs.

Russell of Belgaum, India, wife of Mr. H. R. Russell, Educational Inspector in the Bombay Presidency." It differs from those already cited in the fact that it is unconnected with either sleep or hypnotism, but both agent and percipient were awake and in a perfectly normal condition.

Mrs. Russell writes:--

"June 8th, 1886.

"As desired I write down the following facts as well as I can recall them. I was living in Scotland, my mother and sisters in Germany. I lived with a very dear friend of mine, and went to Germany every year to see my people. It had so happened that I could not go home as usual for two years, when on a sudden I made up my mind to go and see my family. They knew nothing of my intention; I had never gone in early spring before; and I had no time to let them know by letter that I was going to set off. I did not like to send a telegram for fear of frightening my mother. The thought came to me to will with all my might to appear to one of my sisters, never mind which of them, in order to give them warning of my coming. I only thought most intensely for a few minutes of them, wishing with all my might to be seen by one of them--half present myself, in vision, at home. I did not take more than ten minutes, I think. I started by the Leith steamer on Sat.u.r.day night, end of April, 1859. I wished to appear at home about 6 o'clock P. M. that same Sat.u.r.day.

"I arrived at home at 6 o'clock on Tuesday morning following. I entered the house without any one seeing me, the hall being cleaned and the front door open. I walked into the room. One of my sisters stood with her back to the door; she turned round when she heard the door opening, and on seeing me, stared at me, turning deadly pale, and letting what she had in her hand fall. I had been silent. Then I spoke and said, 'It is I. Why do you look so frightened?' When she answered, 'I thought I saw you again as Stinchen (another sister) saw you on Sat.u.r.day.'

"When I inquired, she told me that on Sat.u.r.day evening about 6 o'clock, my sister saw me quite clearly, entering the room in which she was, by one door, pa.s.sing through it, opening the door of another room in which my mother was, and shutting the door behind me. She rushed after what she thought was I, calling out my name, and was quite stupefied when she did not find me with my mother. My mother could not understand my sister's excitement. They looked everywhere for me, but of course did not find me. My mother was very miserable; she thought I might be dying.

"My sister who had seen me (i. e. my apparition) was out that morning when I arrived. I sat down on the stairs to watch, when she came in, the effect of my real appearance on her. When she looked up and saw me, sitting motionless, she called out my name and nearly fainted.

"My sister had never seen anything unearthly either before that or afterwards; and I have never made any such experiments since--nor will I, as the sister that saw me first when I really came home, had a very severe illness afterwards, caused by the shock to her nerves.

"J. M. RUSSELL."

Mrs. Russell's sister, in answer to her inquiry whether she remembered the incident, replied: "Of course I remember the matter as well as though it had happened to-day. Pray don't come appearing to me again!"

We started out with this proposition. Perceptions--those of the cla.s.s denominated hallucinations--may have their origin telepathically. In proof and ill.u.s.tration of that proposition we have so far presented a single cla.s.s of cases, namely, Those where the hallucination was produced with will and purpose on the part of the agent. The cases present the following conditions:--

(1) The agent being in a normal condition--the percipient hypnotized, the hypnotic condition having been produced at a distance of a hundred yards--and from a point from which the percipient could not be seen.

(2) The agent in the hypnotic condition; a definite hallucination strongly desired and decided upon beforehand was produced, the percipient being in a normal state.

(3) The agent was in normal sleep. Hallucination decided upon before going to sleep was produced--the percipient awake and in normal condition.

(4) Both agent and percipient awake and normal--hallucination produced at a distance of four hundred miles. In one case the phantasm is seen by two percipients, and in another case the _place_ only where the phantasm should appear was strongly in the agent's mind; and while the sisters who _usually_ occupied that room might naturally be expected to be the percipients, as a matter of fact another person, a married sister who happened to be visiting them--a comparative stranger to the agent--was occupying the room and became the percipient.

In each of these cases a definite purpose was formed by the agent to produce a certain hallucination or present a certain picture--generally a representation or phantasm of himself to the percipient. A picture or phantasm is seen by the intended percipient, and, on comparison, in each case it is found that it is _the same phantasm_ that the agent had _endeavored_ to project and make visible, and that it was perceived in the same place and at the same time that the agent had intended that it should be seen.

Can these statements be received as true and reliable? In reply we say, the evidence having been carefully examined is of such a character as to ent.i.tle it to belief, and the errors of observation and reporting are trifling, and not such as would injure the credibility of statements made regarding any event which was a matter of ordinary observation; moreover, these cases now have become so numerous and have been so carefully observed that they should be judged by the ordinary rules of evidence; and by that rule they should be received.

Having been received, how can they be explained?

It may be answered:--

(1) That these apparent sequences presenting the relation of cause and effect are merely chance coincidences. But on carefully applying the doctrine of chances, it is found that the probability that these coincidences of time and place, and the ident.i.ty of the pictures presented and perceived, occurred by chance, would be only one in a number so large as to make it difficult to represent it in figures, and quite impossible for any mind to comprehend. And that such a coincidence should occur repeatedly in one person's experience is absolutely incredible.

(2) The circ.u.mstances of distance and situation render it certain that the phantasms could not have been communicated or presented to the percipient through any of the usual channels of communication--by means of the physical organs of sense--even granting that they could be so transferred under favorable conditions.

If, then, these cases must be received as authentic and true, and if they cannot be disposed of as chance coincidences, nor explained by any ordinary method or law of production or transmission, then there must be _some other_ method of mental interaction, and mental intercommunication _not usually recognized_, by means of which these pictures or phantasms are produced or transferred, and this unusual method of mental interaction and intercommunication we designate _telepathy_. What the exact method is by which this unusual interaction is accomplished is not fully demonstrated, any more than are the methods of the various interacting forces between the sun and the planets or amongst the planets themselves. The hypothesis of a universal or inter-stellar ether has never been demonstrated; it is only a hypothesis framed because it is necessary in order to explain and support another undemonstrated theory, namely, the vibratory or wave theory of light. We do not know what the substance or force which we call _attraction_ really is. Light has one method of movement and action, sound another, heat another, and electricity another, but most of the propositions concerning these methods of action are only theories or hypotheses having a greater or less degree of probability as the case may be. They were invented to account for certain actual and undeniable phenomena, and they are respected by all men of science or other persons having sufficient knowledge of these different subjects to ent.i.tle them to an opinion. The same thing is true of telepathy; its facts must be known and its theories well considered by those who a.s.sume to sit in judgment upon them; and when known they are respected. The Copernican theory of the planetary movements was formulated three hundred and fifty years ago; it was one hundred and fifty years later when Newton proposed the first rational theory regarding a force which might explain these motions. For this he was ridiculed and even ostracized by the self-const.i.tuted judges of his day. Telepathy has been the subject of careful study and experiment comparatively only a few years, and it can hardly, at this early date, expect better treatment at the hands of its critics. Its facts, however, remain, and its explanatory theories are being duly considered.

What, then, are the theories or hypotheses which may aid us in forming an idea of the manner in which a thought, a conception, or a mental picture may pa.s.s between two persons so situated that no communication could pa.s.s between them through the ordinary channels of communication--sight, hearing, or touch? Let us suppose two persons A and B to be so situated. A is the agent or person having unusual ability to impress his own thought, or any conception or mental picture which he may form in his own mind, upon some other mind; and B is the percipient or a person having unusual ability to receive or perceive such thoughts or mental pictures. Suppose these two people to be in the country and engaged in farming. Upon a certain morning A takes his axe and goes to the woods, half a mile distant, and is engaged in cutting brush and trees for the purpose of clearing the land, and B goes into the garden to care for the growing vegetables. After an hour spent in these respective occupations, B becomes disquieted, even alarmed, oppressed with the feeling that some misfortune has happened and that A is needing his a.s.sistance. He is unable to continue his work and at once starts for the woods to seek for A. He finds that A has received a glancing blow from his axe which has deeply wounded his foot, disabled him, and put his life in immediate danger from hemorrhage. Here the thought of A in his extreme peril goes out intensely to B, desiring his presence; and B, by some unusual perceptive power, takes cognizance of this intense thought and wish. This is telepathy.

Again, suppose B hears a voice which he recognizes as A's calling his name and with a peculiar effect which B recognizes as distress or entreaty. Or, again, that B sees a picture or representation of A lying wounded and bleeding, still it is a telepathic impulse from A and taken cognizance of by B which const.i.tutes the communication between them, whatever the exact nature or method of the communication may be.

The theories or hypotheses which have been put forward regarding the method by which this telepathic influence or impact is conveyed may be noted as follows:--

(1) That of a vibratory medium, always present and a.n.a.logous to the atmosphere for propagating sound or the universal ether for propagating light.

(2) An effluence of some sort emanating from the persons concerned and acting as a medium for the time being.

(3) A sixth sense.

(4) A duplex personality or subliminal self.

First, then, as regards the vibratory hypothesis; it would demand a variety of media to convey separately something corresponding to the sense of sight, the sense of hearing, and to each of the other senses--touch, taste, and smell--as all these sensations have been telepathically transmitted, or else there must exist one single medium capable of transmitting these many widely different methods of sensation separately,--either of which suppositions are, to say the least, bewildering. Such a medium must also possess a power of penetrating or acting through intervening obstacles, such as no medium with which we are acquainted possesses; and, lastly, in addition to numerous apparently insurmountable difficulties and insufficiencies, there is no proof whatever that any such vibratory medium exists.

Second. Regarding a vital effluence or some physical emanation or aura belonging to each individual, and by means of which communication is possible between persons separated by too great a distance to permit communication through the ordinary channels; it is at least conceivable that such an aura or personal atmosphere exists, and by some it is claimed to be demonstrated; but admitting its existence, that it would be capable of fulfilling the numerous functions demanded of it in the premises is doubtful.

Third. That the telepathic intercommunication is accomplished by means of a sixth sense--a sort of compend of all the other senses, with added powers as regards distance and intervening obstacles--is a hypothesis which has been urged by some, and is at least intelligible; but, while it presents an intelligible explanation of such facts as clairvoyance and the hearing of voices, there is a large cla.s.s of facts, as we shall see, which utterly refuse to fall into line or be explained by this hypothesis.

Fourth. The hypothesis of different strata of personality--or of a second or subliminal self--is the one which best fulfils the necessary conditions and also harmonizes the greatest number of facts when arranged with reference to this idea. There is also real, substantial evidence that such a second personality actually exists, some of the facts bearing upon this subject having been presented in former chapters.

Those of my readers who have carefully followed the cases of unusual mental action there presented--cases of thought-transference, of clairvoyance, of remarkable mind-action in the hypnotic trance and in natural somnambulism--in well marked examples of double consciousness as shown in the cases of Felida X., of Alma Z., of Ansel Bourne, and the hypnotic subject, Madame B., in her various personalities of Leonie, Leontine, and Leonore, in automatic action as displayed in Planchette-writing, in trance-speaking and in crystal-gazing, cannot have failed to observe, throughout the whole series, mind acting rationally and intelligently, quite independently of the ordinary consciousness, and even at times independently of the whole physical organization. We have considered the evidence which points to the fact, or at least to the theory of a subliminal self, or another personality, in some manner bound up in that complicated physical and mental mechanism which const.i.tutes what we term an individual. We have seen that there are weighty proofs that such a secondary or subliminal, or, if you choose so to designate it, _supranormal_ self, actually exists, and that it exhibits functions and powers far exceeding the functions and powers of the ordinary self. We have seen it expressing its own personal opinions, its own likes and dislikes, quite different and opposite to the opinions, likes, and dislikes of the ordinary self; having its own separate series of remembered actions or chain of memories, its own antecedent history, and its separate present interests; and especially performing actions altogether beyond the powers of the ordinary self. We have seen it going out to great distances, seeing and describing scenes and events there taking place--for example, Swedenborg at Gottenburg witnessing the conflagration at Stockholm; Dr. Gerault's clairvoyant maid-servant, Marie, in France, seeing the sad death of her neighbor's son, Limoges, the ropemaker, while serving in the Crimea; and also the serious illness of Dr. Gerault's military friend in Algiers. Fitzgerald, at Brunswick, Me., seeing and describing the Fall River fire three hundred miles away, and Mrs. Porter, at Bridgeport, Conn., describing the burning of the steamer _Henry Clay_ while it was occurring on the Hudson River near the village of Yonkers. We have seen this same subliminal self in the case of Mr.