The Invisible Influence
By Alexander Cannon
Chapter I
Influence and Power
IFLUENCE! That word of nine letters carries a potency so terrible that kings reel off their thrones, armies stand aghast before its pitiless command, electrified as it were into obedience, and all this effect is produced by the power of one man's influence over another.
History has recorded many instances of such men and women who dominated all by their influence. What is this subtle, intangible power which affects man's relationship with man? It is the power to rein in a thousand horses whilst permitting one to be the dominant leader and guide, until all the rest of the thousand are in mental harmony with the lead.
The Science of Hypnotism and the Art of Telepathy, the Master of Destiny, date back more than three thousand years. The Aryan Hindoos devoted centuries to unravelling the secrets of the control of the human mind, and [16] to divulge those secrets meant more than the forfeiture of life itself. They realized that human intelligence is frail and finite, but life infinite; that to be forewarned is to be forearmed. They knew that every moment of one's life has to be accounted for; that they must lean on no one, yet not stand aloof; that rust destroys more than use. Their philosophy was and is one of deeds, not words; they understood that impossible is the adjective of fools; fear is the proof of a degenerate mind; speech is silvern, silence is golden; that one must be master of his own faculties and slave to none of his desires; that as a man thinketh in his heart, so will he become, and that every action is a result of a preconceived idea. They taught that a great character founded on the living rock of principle, is a fact, not a solitary phenomenon, to be at once perceived, limited, and described. It is a dispensation of Providence designed to have not merely an immediate but a continuous, progressive, and never-ending agency. Such a character survives the man who possesses it, and leaves its imprint not only upon the sands of time, but upon eternity.
These Hindoo adepts were a cultivated sect when Western people were almost barbaric. Music and all the refinements of taste, architecture and the like were in exquisite development when England was ruled by Boadicea, and had the Druids as the heads of their religious faith. These adepts of a Hindoo religious sect not [17] only knew the secrets for the government and control of the mind of man, but they also held sway over the animal kingdom. They used the sleep state of hypnosis in serious cases of palsy or paralysis, although most of their work was, and is, among their descendants to-day, performed without sending the subject to sleep. The adepts now, as of old, first hypnotize themselves and whilst in that state communicate with their subject's unconscious mind by telepathy and so cause any hallucination, illusion or delusion they think fit to suggest. They are very powerful, and their works extend from the North to the South, and from the East to the West. These great wise men of the East know that a stream of consciousness embraces unknown powers. In England, real hypnotism can claim but few followers. They are indeed masters of the mind of man, and can use hypnotism in the waking and sleeping states to a degree that is indeed uncanny.
We are taught that it is extremely doubtful whether the persons who think most, that is, those who have most conscious thoughts passing through their minds, do the most mental work. The sage tells us that the tree we plant grows while we are sleeping: so be it with a new idea that is planted in a real thinker's mind. It will grow when he is least conscious of it. An idea in the brain or mind, is not a legend carved on a marble slab: it is an impression made on living tissue which is the seat of active [18] nutritive processes. Will not the initials I carved in the bark of the tree increase from year to year with the growth of that tree, and shall not my recorded thoughts develop into new forms and relations with my growing mind? The Yogis, who are the wise men of the East, tell us that works of genius instead of being the result of an infinite capacity for taking pains, are due to the intelligent action of a secondary consciousness. The labour is performed in a "subterranean workshop", as it were, and then presented in complete form to the normal consciousness. It might even be claimed that every deeply hypnotized subject shows evidence, if in memory changes alone, of the existence of a dual or secondary consciousness, which we term the unconscious mind. The phenomenon of automatic writing shows not only that such a secondary consciousness exists, but also that it may be in action simultaneously with the normal one. These Yogis are truly wonderful men.
The Six Orders of Yogi
There are really six orders of hypnotic or telepathic degree among the races in India, where the masses are as ignorant of these methods of hypnotism as are the masses in England to-day.
The supreme Yogi recognizes no other as of the Yoga Philosophy than those of his, the first order. Beyond that, some of the orders are [19] stages in the learning of the great secret of life.
One of the six orders is a sect that performs the lower kind of hypnotic work, namely, the theatrical, where they hypnotize whole audiences collectively and exhibit the "rope trick". The fakir (pronounced, fack-ee-er) stands on the stage or in their midst, with a red rope in his hand, and throws it above his head with the audible suggestion that he will climb it and disappear from the sight of the onlookers. This act has been seen and vouched for more than a thousand times. Photography is our one proof that the whole thing is a mere visual hallucination, if it can be accepted that it is so because the camera records no such feat. It is an extremely difficult effect to produce in the West, as in the hot climates the cortex of the brain is much more passive and the unconscious mind consequently easier to deal with.
The hallucinations and the illusions which can be effectively produced in the East by the Adepts are so amazing that it is little wonder that Orientals are superstitious. Let me tell this story. A famous judge, whom I know well, assures me that whilst travelling home one night in his spacious car, as he came to a small bridge over which it had to pass, he saw (as did the other occupants of the car) a great fire rise up in front of them; and although the temperature was well over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, every member of the party began to shiver, just [20] as if they had suddenly plunged into an icy region. The driver of the car was brave, however, and "stepped on the gas"; it seemed as if, momentarily, the car would not pick up speed. He then suddenly switched on his head-lights, whereat the fire died down and the feeling of cold passed off. Not one of the party ever touched alcohol, and none of them were in the least credulous; yet this phenomenon appeared without warning or suggestive allusion. Afterwards it was ascertained that the Black Magicians (whom we shall visit soon) had cast a spell upon this bridge, and it was only the light, that, by its brilliance, had been able to dispel the magicians of darkness. The Hindoo belief that light will always disperse the workings of evil, may not necessarily be founded on other than fact. In Great Britain we are too materialistic, far too incredulous, to appreciate half the wonders of the world of the vast unseen around and about us: mighty is its influence, that Invisible Influence which controls us, whether we like to admit it or not.
The Western methods of hypnotism and telepathy, good as they are, in no way equal those of the Aryan Hindoo Masters, who hold all the secrets ever discovered by man with regard to the control of the mind of another.
Compared with these great Adepts we are but children in our knowledge of the human mind. Listen to this story of Professor X. For years I had known this distinguished [21] gentleman, who to the outer world was just an ordinary man; for these sages aim at avoiding anything spectacular, do nothing for the sake of show, but only for the good of mankind. Daily he went about his work teaching his students; while in the evenings, in the manner of an ordinary man, he would visit the theatre and "talkies" (for we have good "talkies" in the East and Far East), or go to dinners and dances. There was, however, something very out of the ordinary about this gentleman. His face wore the kindest of expressions; he was always calm, cool and collected. Nothing ever could, it seemed, disturb him; no misfortune ever upset his equanimity. But in the hours of darkness this modest and unassuming Professor X experimented with the very soul of man. Nightly he left his body in the bed unconscious to external things (as we all do each night); and as he and I both studied pre-eminently the mind of man, he confided in me and I in him. One day he said to me, "Do you realize that we die each night, and we are resurrected each morning? That to die is merely to leave the physical body, as we do at night; but with this difference, that we do not return to the body next morning, as is customary after sleep on this our Mother Earth?" I admitted that I had not looked upon the transit of the soul in this light before. That is an arresting thought! Death is just the continuance of the sleeping state of our earthly [22] bodies, whilst our mind goes on its ever-important journeys as it has done for many years each night when we have closed our eyes in sleep. But he went further and said: "You should know that the reason why so-called ordinary men understand not these things, is because they have never trained their minds to that mental height of being able to recall what happens during the unconscious state. Most people can only experience this phenomenon by being hypnotized; the hypnologist being able to extract from the subject in that state of mind, the workings of the real mind, which is Eternal, never dies, but goes on living throughout the ages." Then he continued, "To me, sleep is just a departure from my physical body into countries far distant, to friends I have long since met, to loved ones who are no longer imprisoned in the flesh of this material little planet (of which there are many more in the wide Universe of God); but who now live in their ethereal bodies and know neither time nor space, for time is only a material measurement, and space means nothing where matter as such does not exist, ('A thousand ages in Thy sight are like an evening gone'). Have you realized that neither you nor I look one day older than we did twenty years ago? To us age has ceased to count; the years matter not I am now over one hundred years old; but I dare not tell the multitude that, because they would come miles to gaze upon me with wonder, for [23] I look not a day more than forty years of age. How great are the secrets which one can learn through the mind of man, and reaching beyond that to the Universal mind of God who knows all things." He then proceeded to demonstrate, in secret, to me, his wondrous powers. Having first asked if I really believed that the great Yogi of old, our Lord Jesus Christ, did make the fig tree wither away, and whether I would consider such an act a miracle to-day; he then proceeded to walk into a neighbour's vineyard, and at the bottom of this vineyard he came to an aged tree, which must have weathered some hundreds of years, and as he yet stood afar off he thus addressed this tree: "Thou hast done well; thou hast weathered the storms of life, thou hast comforted and protected my soul. Now hast thy time come to depart from this world of vanity and nothingness. Die now, and come to life no more!" To my amazement the tree did immediately wither, and I was allowed to go up to it and examine its withered state; as were others. So be it! the miracles of the Bible are true to-day as they were in the days of old. The tree withered, and to-day in its place is but a piece of barren ground; no life whatsoever has taken root again on the spot where it stood so long.
Photographs were actually taken of this miracle, and the camera recorded the withering of the tree. But even then does this prove that the whole thing was not an ingenious illusion [24] which even deceived the photographic plate? You say, "Oh! how absurd, of course it must be an actual fact." May I remind you always that the mirror you look in produces an image of yourself which appears to be behind that looking-glass. The Camera can photograph that image and the photograph looks real, and it appears to be a photograph taken of yourself, but it is not: it is but a photograph of your image which is something which is not real, and cannot be felt, and in fact is only imaginary. It appears to be behind the looking-glass, yet I can prove to you that there is no image behind the looking-glass and that you see (as does the camera) what is not there. I mention this fact, because it not only helps us to throw new light on the possibility of the performance of miracles but it also throws light on the ingenious ways in which the senses can be deceived. It is possible that the so-called material things of Earth are but a looking-glass reflection of the few of the many greater things which exist in the World-to-come!
We shall return later to learn many things from the great Master of the East; but let us pause, at this point, to investigate if there is really anything of account in Black Magic.
Black Magic
There are Eastern Adepts belonging to the "Order of the Left Hand Path", who practise "Black Magic" as known by Western Powers; [25] these clairvoyants can and do destroy life by concentration of their own will, without the aid of the hypnotist. Their bodies are immune from disease and they often live, if they so desire, to an age far exceeding that of my friend previously mentioned; they die, as a rule, quite naturally at a great age from the wearing out of the physical body, as recorded in Biblical times, nine hundred years being no exception. This was man's God-given heritage, here upon Earth, before he sought out many inventions, also poisons including alcohol, harmful to himself and to his fellow-men.
The "Black Magicians" of this "Order of the Left Hand Path" can, and actually do, destroy life, as I have already stated, by a certain method of clairvoyance. The Magician links his mind, at a distance, with that of his intended victim; and without any visible hypnosis whatever, causes an idea to enter the other person's mind, producing a vibration of thought which we call telepathy (a process which was well described in a work by Pythagoras in 562 B.C.).
Mr. Justice _________ of the High Court of Justice, vouches for the accuracy of the story given below. A wife's husband lay sick of a fever and dying. This husband had a younger brother who would become heir to his elder brother's possessions; seeing that in India a wife does not inherit her husband's belongings but, after his death, is at the mercy of her [26] relatives. The wife resented the idea of the younger brother displacing her. What steps could she take to avert this "disaster"? "This will I do," she said to herself, "I will go to the street of the Black Magicians at Surat near Bombay. There I will inquire for the greatest of these adepts of Black Magic, or this Order of the Left Hand, and ask for help." She went on her way, on this errand of destruction; but it was so strange to see so respectable a person walking in this district that a large crowd was attracted; in which, incidentally, was the younger brother who happened to be passing that way. He followed the woman, at a distance, into this street of the invisible under-world where Devils reign in all their glory. The young wife went to one house, knocked at the door and asked, "Can you tell me where the chief of you all lives, Sir?" The Black Magician pointed to a house a little lower down the street, across the road, and replied: "Yonder lives the Master of the most powerful of Black Magicians. He can do with absolute ease what even we find difficult to accomplish; so, if it is anything of supreme importance, go to him and maybe he will pay attention to your desires. Begone!"
Having reached the house of the leader of this Order of the Left Hand Path, the woman asked if the great man were in. Eventually she was shown into a room which was dimly lit, hot and stuffy, despite the fact that all the [27] windows were wide open, so hot was the day. With steps that were slow but resolute entered this puissant one of the evil world, an uncanny look in his eyes, that seemed as if they could pierce the very walls; observing the woman he said: "Woman, I take it that thou hast come to entreat me to take the life of thy younger brother-in-law, he to whom all thy wealth and power should go when thy husband dies on the morrow?" The wife, much astonished, murmured, "But Master, how knowest thou that this is my errand, and how art thou aware that my husband lies sick of a fever?" The Black Magician looked at her with a steady and disquieting gaze, until she would have given her all to escape out of his presence, but she was for the moment as one paralysed. The sage then demanded in ringing tones, "Woman, have I not spoken correctly?" To which she replied, "Indeed, as though thou hast knowledge of all that was within my mind." The Great Master of the Underworld then said, "Truly hast thou spoken! This mind is to me an open book; at any hour or moment that I please can I read its contents; whether thou be here or far distant, for distance matters not; to me there is no time, no space. I travel through space a thousand miles, in the twinkling of an eye; I take no account of the ignorant, clumsy ways of those who know naught of the mysteries of the invisible world above, or of that below to which I belong." The Black [28] Magician then entreated her to cross his palm with three hundred rupees (twenty pounds sterling), that he might feel the impulse to go and work the magic of magic. Again he spoke to her, "Thou still desirest in thine heart that I commit the supreme act, the Act of Death?" The young woman, this time almost hesitatingly said, "I do, Sir." "Then I will evoke the Angel of Death this coming night, woman," said the Magician, "and the morrow will find thy husband's younger brother also dead, as he — thy husband — will by that time be, having departed to another world, as yet unsighted by thee." Rejoicing at this promise, the young wife went on her way; and, eventually arriving home, proceeded to make her plans for the future.
It so happened that the younger brother who had, out of curiosity, followed the crowd, managed to hide in the house where the great Black Magician lived; overhearing the conversation between the Great Master of the Underworld and his sister-in-law, he was so distressed that he hastened at once to the High Priest under whom he was studying for entrance into that most sacred of all orders, the Holy Order. After a long wait, the High Priest sent for the one whom he was initiating; he entreated him to reveal all that was worrying him, so that he might come to his aid. Having learnt the whole story, the Great One of the Unseen World Above spoke with a voice so [29] grave that even the atmosphere became disturbed; the walls shook, and the floor did quake. The High Priest admonished : "Thou must strictly observe all these my instructions; not one minute point must thou neglect. One slip in the carrying out of these instructions and thou wilt surely die. Therefore take heed, lest thou easily forget. Thou must dine well this coming evening, and having filled thy belly to the full, thou shalt then go into the spare room where a fire must be lit and the floor overlaid with white sheeting. In the centre of that room, a white table-cloth shall be spread as if for a feast; around the table-cloth will be hung a rope, held there by stakes, and in the centre thereof thou shalt kneel in meditation. Kneeling so, upon the table-cloth, thou shalt face the East; and on no account must thou sleep, not for one blink of the eyelids, lest in that fleeting moment thine enemy slay thee. Thou shalt continue thy meditations without break, until the morn, when thy life shall be spared. Now go thy way and do as commanded!" The boy returned to his home and dined well; having eaten to the full, he entered the spare room, which could well-nigh have held a dozen horses and chariots, with space to spare. There did he spread all over the floor the sheeting, having collected this from his relations, friends, and many shops; he placed a table-cloth in the centre as directed. Having fixed the stakes and tied the rope securely, the black-haired [30] youth knelt long in silence, inwardly meditating. It was approaching nine of the clock, and all was quiet; with much apprehension he strove to continue his meditations. Time passed and the hour of ten struck in deep undertones, but still nothing happened. The night crept on; a lengthy pause between each second, it seemed to him, so slow did the hands of the clock move. Eleven of the clock was reached and still nothing had happened. Oft-times the youth's mind wandered from his appointed task; he questioned himself, "I wonder, is there really anything in this, or is it just nonsense? Yet I remember a spell cast upon Perrin, yet again upon Piloo, and they fell under it. By what means will this great man of the underworld try to take my life? Oh! Thou of the World-on-High, save me from the assaults of all servants of darkness!" The hour of midnight had passed and he still meditated unharmed. Then unexpectedly, as if from out the bowels of the Earth, there appeared on the Eastern side of the rope a black horse so large as to terrify the most brave; which beast did spit fire out of its mouth, and whose rider was clad in sable and carried a sword of flaming fire. The youth, frightened beyond speech, forgot completely those high thoughts on which his attention had been fixed, so awestruck was he at this chimaera. The rider reined his horse nearer and nearer to his victim; but as he reached the rope on the Eastern side, the horse [31] each time stepped back, in spite of the efforts of its rider to reach his victim. This terrible battle raged between the powers of evil and the powers of good for three long hours — from just midnight until the hour of three did this ghastly rider, this fiend of the underworld, use every power under his control to reach his victim, but in vain. As the hour of three struck, the rider and his horse vanished into the bowels of the Earth whence they had come; during that ordeal the youth's hair had turned quite white. Though the enemy had departed, the youth, as commanded by the High Priest, protracted his meditations until the sun had risen, when he realized that the great God had indeed spared his life — that the champion of the underworld had sunk back into the bowels of the Earth whence he had emerged and the victory had been given to the Powers-on-High. But had the victory, in truth, been given to the Powers-on-High? Only in so far as the life of the youth was spared. It has to be remembered that once the great Black Magician has evoked a spirit from the underworld and promised a certain thing, that particular thing must be given to the spirit ere it will again depart. This time the Angel of Death had been evoked by the Great Master of the Invisible Underworld, who had promised that Dark Angel a life, and a life he must have! Therefore, having failed to secure the life which had been promised, the Diabolical Messenger must needs take the life [32] of the Great Master who had failed in his promise. So it was that, the next morning, the news was broadcast in the cities, in the highways and by-ways, from the hill-tops and the underlying valleys, that the great Black Magician had paid the supreme penalty and died in his sleep, at the hour of three, at the very moment when the youth saw the terrifying beast with its dauntless rider sink again into the bowels of the Earth. The rider had now seized another victim, in place of the one falsely promised: a life for a life! The Law was powerless in the matter, for this Angel of Death leaves no visible or detectable traces of his visit; no man knoweth the methods he doth pursue, so ingenious are his plans and so perfect his skill.
This Angel of Death evoked by the ceremony of black mass and of black magic acts under cover, as I have implied, leaving no trace of any physical cause; so to this very day these deaths remain unsolved, and their recurrence is a veritable nightmare to Judges, Coroners and Magistrates of the Mystic East. This is but one of many such stories that could be told, upon good authority: surely it makes one think, if one has the brains with which to think! Can we not now conceive of the devils referred to in the Bible, to the devils which were cast out of human beings and sent into the swine, so that the swine did drown themselves in their frenzy? Does this not further prove, psychologically, how immense is the [33] power of thought for good or evil in the mind of man? How profound is the moral which can be learnt from this lesson. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!
The Black Magician first starts as a type of Yogi, who are in the first order of a noble sect, and indeed the saviours of the East; for was not Our Saviour Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, the greatest of all Yogis of His time? The Initiate or true Eastern Yogi first exerts his influence over plants; then upon trees, causing them to grow or wither at his command, by the mere framing of a thought. My friend, the High Court Judge, informs me that he has witnessed the withering of trees, many a time, as recorded in the Scriptures; and, incredible as this may seem to Westerners, it is a common practice in the outlying villages of Ancient India. The camera has recorded the withering of the fig tree, for instance, which may disprove the hypnotic theory that holds good for the rope trick: the lesson of the mirror previously referred to must, however, not be forgotten. Have I not witnessed the same phenomenon take place with the small trees that grow near Lhasa, within reach of the great Lhama Convent? India and Thibet can teach us more about psychology and the workings of the mind than any Freud, Jung, Adler, or the exponent of any other new-thought movement.
During the Indian Mutiny, mental telepathy was in full force with these Adepts, and the [34] position of the English troops was known to them long before the electric wire had transmitted the information to those concerned. The Government were baffled as to how this information was obtained, but the "Order of the Left Hand Path" and I (the "Order of the Right Hand Path") knew! They had in their grasp the Master of Destiny, that great Invisible Influence which makes kings reel on their thrones; before which armies stand aghast, so great is its power.
Hypnotism is a very powerful form of telepathy, which might better be termed the "Psychic State"; it is, as it were, the opening of the door into the library of the mind. But the dynamic power of the mind conveying knowledge or issuing a command through vibrations of thought force, transmitted on waves of ether to the unconscious mind of another, is the same power as conscious suggestion, differing only in degree from that force which puts a person into the hypnotic sleep, or produces the visual hallucination of the "rope trick". The first is but a more subtle way of informing the mind at a distance.
When I was on my travels through unknown China, where any white man was a sight for the native to behold, I learnt much from the apparent beggar who looked worthless and had little or nothing of this world's goods; but who had, I soon realized, much of the next world's goods — a comforting reflection.
My usual baggage was thirty-five large trunks, as I carried most of my worldly possessions with me, fearing not bandits or robbers of any sort, as I had been taught how to cast a spell, and to form an opinion at a glance; also space was of no consequence to me. On one occasion thirty-four of my trunks arrived after a seven days journey by river, such as it was; and my brain had to ponder intently as to what had befallen one missing trunk marked "nine", all my trunks being numbered in white paint, I sat down with an adept friend, and soon the trunk was located by us in an empty room at the old castle which more than a week ago we had vacated. The next thing was to secure the trunk. Telegrams were unheard of in those parts; the post took not less than ten days each way, as it travelled by land; a messenger could not cover the distance, to and fro, in less than sixteen days by river, and I was anxious to continue my travels. There was one thing left for us to do, and that was to employ telepathy, and, since my knowledge of the language was scanty, I left this operation to my friend. Within ten minutes he passed into a trance state, when his body soon grew cold, his breathing apparently ceased, and the heart-beats could not be heard even with the stethoscope. Perspiration streamed down his forehead and for three hours he remained in this death-like state. At the end of this time he groaned, twitched, muttered; eventually he opened [36] his eyes and as he looked somewhat exhausted, I revived him with neat brandy and milk. Fully awake, he informed me that everything was arranged; that the missing trunk, number nine, would in ten minutes be put on board a small junk, and would arrive safely in not more than eight days. And so it came to pass as the sage had predicted. I cautiously asked the messenger who accompanied the trunk (a necessary precaution in the Far East, and in certain parts of the East), to relate to me precisely how he learnt that I wanted the trunk, and how he knew that it was in that empty room at the old castle. Before I repeat his story, it should be remembered that in that part of the world to which I now refer, no one opens the door after dusk, and if anyone travels, he does so taking due precautions; should he call upon anyone after dusk, he is not admitted, but the person from within will shout, "Who goes there?" Whereupon the caller will give his name and identity; after which he is (on very special occasions only) admitted. Usually the message is given only by voice, neither speaker seeing the other, conversation taking place through closed doors. And so it was on this occasion. The Commissioner of Police, who was a native, was summoned by a knock on his door at the exact time when my friend went into a death-like trance. The Commissioner heard my friend speak, as distinctly as if he were there, and, receiving the message, made [37] haste to carry out my wishes. My friend had either been there in the spirit or telepathized so powerfully that the unsuspecting Police Official was convinced that the sage was in his presence. He was much perturbed on the morrow when he found that no one had seen my friend since his departure, several days before, with me, on my great journey in search of the unknown. So intense was his surprise that he wrote to me later, and was astounded when he learned that my friend had never left my side. The chief point of interest in this story is that hot even the high officials appreciate to any extent what hidden powers are at work in their midst. Why it took the sage three hours to return to consciousness is difficult to understand; though it is quite usual for things to happen in either three's or seven's of something, in the East, in these phenomena. Such telepathy is unquestionably concentration of thought directed by the will, influencing another absolutely, without, in some cases, any audible language. Try it yourself, and don't doubt; then you will be astonished.
Think of your friend, picture his face in your mind, or if you have a photograph, look at it and speak to it audibly; then picture it in your mind just as you are falling asleep at night-time. Concentrate your whole mind on your purpose, and you will find that the desired letter will be written to you the next day or so; or the wish that you so earnestly transmitted, [38] with such vibration of thought force, will be brought into operation. We often get a message, as it were, of someone near and dear to us. We think of them suddenly, perhaps, whilst reading of some subject in no way connected with them. (It is in this state, when the conscious mind is occupied or passive, that we receive impressions from our unconscious mind.) One evening we think casually of some friend; the very next morning we hear news from, or of, him. Our thought vibrations travelled faster than the express train that carried the letter to us, their prompt reception having caused the sender to write to us.
When I was discussing this subject with my friend, the sage, he remarked : "The fool understandeth not these things; if only he possessed wisdom, he would enhance for himself the pleasures of this life more than one hundredfold, by the cultivation of his mind, and in the knowledge of its power."
Have you recognized that the man or woman who is the most intellectual, has, in the proper use of knowledge, the greatest power to fascinate and is most responsive to fascination? Reflect upon this great truth!
The "Order of the Left Hand Path" does not employ passes or suggestion as we do; but by a fixed look and mental determining, its members affect the nervous centres, so as to bring about what is termed the hypnotic or psychic state.
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