- THE HIDDEN TWIN -
"O Hidden Twin and Secret Lover of me, hear all the words of my prayer" . . .
It is the subconsciousness to which these ritualistic Words are addressed; that is to say, to a part or level of the unconscious, according to the broad and common interpretation. But the words of the ritual personalize this part of the mind or psyche, and for this there are good and practical reasons.
The notion that man is a completely unitary being, and that his so-called subconscious part is no more than a dim and repressed phase of ordinary brain consciousness is a fast vanishing illusion - born of the smug, orthodox and religionistic psychologies of the past hundred years. This folly has arisen, very largely, from the principle of economy, or parsimony, or 'Occam's razor.'
According to this principle, we must never invent unnecessary causes or reasons or hypotheses, provided we have one already at hand which actually 'works', which is sufficient and intelligible and does not conceal other problems and contradictions within itself.
It is an admirable principle when properly applied, because it reduces arbitrary assumptions to a minimum; but it is also the line of least resistance and mental indolence. How easy it is to say 'I have seen a stage magician take rabbits out of a hat; doesn't that prove that apports and other things like that are all fakes?' Such is the easy so-called reasoning of ignorant minds, everywhere.
Many psychologists assumed that the waking consciousness was the 'real' individual, with a unity and identity its own, and that everything else in the psyche was derived from it, or subordinate to it. It was true that all the organic life of the body was governed 'outside' of consciousness, and that thoughts and ideas and dreams, and flashes of extended perception, and hunches, intuitions and discoveries, and the high illuminations of genius - all seemed to arise beyond the limits of brain consciousness, to pop in from nowhere, as it were. But still, by the principle of economy only one familiar source could be assumed.
One result of this kind of thinking was, that if a man were suffering from an 'imaginary' brain tumor, the trouble was supposed to lie in 'his' mind - that is, to have originated in his ordinary conscious thinking, even if later repressed. The tumor was said to be unreal and the disease imaginary, because there was no actual physical disorder; and the patient could get rid of the tumor idea, because his conscious mind was supposed to be under his control.
That, however, is what we call boot-strap thinking, or lifting yourself by pulling up on your shoe-laces. For it is quite certain that the tumor idea did not originate in the conscious mind. It was just as much an intrusion as if it had come from some passing hypnotist. It came from, or at any rate via the subconsciousness, and with its cooperation. The pain was real, the psychosis was real - and so was the tumor, because it existed in a psychic or mental sense. But the actual situation was not understood.
Psychic realities come closer to us than any other kind - if there are other kinds. The fixed idea which can cause a man to kill himself or his neighbor, is just as 'real' as his knife or club. Hardly anyone can be found, anyway, to cavil at such a term as 'psychic existent.'
If such ideas seem far-fetched to you, read what Jung, for instance, has to say in a similar connection. He is talking about an "imaginary" cancer. "I assume," he says, "that the cancer idea is a spontaneous growth, originating in that part of the psyche which is not identical with consciousness . . . It appears to be an autonomous development intruding upon consciousness . . . it is its own psychical existence. There are "autonomous intruders". The patient may make either of two mistakes; he thinks that the cancer exists in a physical form for which he does not feel responsible, or else that it has a mental existence, as an idea only, for which he is responsible. But the truth is, that the cancer has a psychic existence only, and that he is not responsible for it.
But consider a different kind of affliction -- the case of a man who is defeated and hopeless and embittered. It's mere cruel stupidity to tell him that he is 'master of his fate', and that he either is or must become strong and confident and happy. Even orthodox religionism knows better than that, and has a glimmering of right thought when it bids him turn to God and to prayer-: that is, to an external source, to a not-self. The common sense of the person who is ill or downcast, tells him that same mind, same self, cannot be the opposite, or be two contradictory things at the same time. He wants to know how his mind got that way; he needs an opponent not himself to deal with; and he needs a source of help not-himself from which to draw strength and wisdom.
The subconscious psyche, functioning almost like an independent person in the same body with the consciousness, is a source both of trouble and of help. Of the Superconsciousness we do not speak here, except to say that it is the one God, personal God, and Guide and Elder Brother to whom we have continual access, and who will never leave us, nor forsake us. Awareness of this Self and union with it, is the goal of all Schools of occult development. But for the moment it is the concept of the subconsciousness as a person which we emphasize. Think of it in this way, and not as an enemy, but as a friend and willing servant and inseparable companion in this life and the life to come. Talk to it, learn about it, find how to lead and instruct it - and bid it carry all your prayers to the High Self, the Superconsciousness, and to bring back the reply.
This is a practical working psychology of enormous importance; it is vital to psycho-therapy, psychobiology, all forms of healing, and to ESP and other psychical research studies. It is not new, by any means, and it is supported by very able contemporary thinkers, and by a great body of esoteric teachings, of course with numerous refinements and elaborations. What is said here has been crudely put, and the student of psychology will find it very inadequate - yet it may prove useful in its own way.
The best exponent of this psychology is Jung, whose books are too many to list here. The Occultist and particularly the Qabalist should consult the Middle Pillar, by Israel Regardie. Strange as it may seem, for the 'bare bones' and basic concepts, one can do no better than to study the Huna of the Polynesians, concerning which Round Robin has just printed a series of articles. Huna ideas need elaboration and study, but they were not born in the huts of grass, but are part of a wisdom as old as the race.
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Psychology and Religion. Gustave Jung. Yale Univ. Press, 1938. Part I. It is difficult to over-rate the importance of these few pages.
References
- Regardie, Israel. The Middle Pillar: a Co-relation of the Principles of Analytical Psychology and the Elementary Techniques of Magic. Chicago: Aries Press, 1938. Print. <http://amzn.to/1nyb4mk>
- Jung, Carl G. Psychology and Religion (The Terry Lectures). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1938. Print. <http://amzn.to/1AApRQV>