The Invisible Influence
By Alexander Cannon
Chapter X
Psychology and Things Occult
WE spent a most enjoyable evening on the farm, and rested well, to awaken in the morning feeling refreshed. When we had eaten, we made our way down to the piggery, where the Knight Commander made many observations. Amongst the many that he made I must recall this: "The pig is obstinacy personified: place a rope around its hind leg and draw it backwards and it will instantly go forward. Most weak men and women portray this characteristic feature. They reveal their smallness of mind. A great mind can lead and be led!"
As we were leaving the piggery, the Sage noticed a curious sight: he pointed to a man lying in a hammock in a profound sleep; he asked what might this state be? The farmer informed us that this servant was an addict to the taking of Daggah or Haschisch (sometimes spelt Haschish or Hashish). The Knight Commander mused upon its benefits and its dangers, saying: "Hashish is known in England as Cannabis Indica and is the only drug I know of which can in any way simulate the hypnotic [134] state; apart from the second or 'going under' stage of chloroform narcosis as an anaesthetic. In Hashish intoxication the suggestion is simply a natural sensory expression received spontaneously and greatly exaggerated. The addict sees a small sheet of water and in his dreams it becomes a magnificent river, a vast lake or a boundless ocean. He hears a gramophone playing nearby and imagines himself listening to the orchestra at Bayreuth. A slight noise made by someone turning over the pages of a book is imagined to be a thunderstorm. Post-hashish suggestions (as with post-hypnotic suggestions) have been carried out without the person being conscious of the previous command. Moments seem like hours, and the visions are pleasant but sensuous.
"People frequently do not realize that the brain is a double organ both anatomically and physiologically: though in normal life the two hemispheres are so functionally associated that they act as one; such cases as those I have seen, seem to show what most observers are agreed in concluding that under certain conditions the partnership may be dissolved and one side may act independently of the other.
"The dissociation of the two sides of the brain and the transference of preponderating influence from the one to the other, certainly appears to afford a plausible explanation of many of the phenomena of deep hypnosis.
"I also believe that the dissociation is caused by some interference phenomenon with the sympathetic nervous system; that is, the nervous system over which we have no voluntary control. This system is largely responsible for most of the phenomena of hysteria and of many of those of neurasthenia and allied conditions. It is not under the control of the will or consciousness but can be profoundly influenced in the hypnotic and allied states; as is seen by the occasional production of the stigmata of religious ecstasy and of inflammation of the skin produced by suggestion in deep hypnosis. It is this action on the sympathetic system, the brain of systemic consciousness and organic life, through the highest cortical brain centres, constituting the ultimate court of appeal, that enables us to effect cures of functional disorders if not cure, of organic disease; by suggestion.
"This man is really drunk with hashish; but in England you have people who get drunk on wine, or rather the alcohol that is within that wine. The man is, for the time being, mad for he has temporarily lost his reason. It might be aptly put that the drunkard is mad because he drinks; that the dipsomaniac drinks because he is mad. Dipsomania is a form of impulsive insanity, as you know, which is nearly always inherited and which manifests itself by uncontrollable fits of drinking, during which the patient is obviously insane.
"How true is your English 'sing-song' that,
'When the drink is swept away;
When the drink is swept away;
There'll be work for everybody,
And we'll all get better pay;
When the pubs are closed for ever,
And the drink is swept away.'
"You know that a business becomes bankrupt as soon as the demand for its commodities cease: when people cease to ask for and drink alcoholic liquors, the pubs will sweep themselves away.
"Few people realize that hypnosis can cure both dipsomania and drunkenness; and with it crime. All that one has to do is to place the subject in the deep hypnotic state, and suggest to him three things; namely: (1) abhorrence of alcohol and its effect; (2) absence of craving for it; and (3) self-control, which is power to resist all temptation. In other words, in the deeply hypnotized subject, one has only to tell him that if he takes beer or spirits, these alcoholic drinks will at once cause him to vomit; then on waking him, compel him to drink a glass of beer, to produce such an attack of nausea and vomiting, as he will remember for many a day.
"Don't forget that old channels cannot be destroyed at once, any more than new ones can be formed in a day. Therefore always tell the subject that it takes a month to get over the crude effects of confirmed alcoholism; and [137] three months for the liver, stomach and other organs to recover their tone. That twelve months is required for the brain power and morale to be fully re-established. We can learn other great lessons from this one. Let us therefore always keep an open mind on all subjects and remember that there is a vast difference between an open mind and an empty mind: let us therefore not mistake the one for the other, either in ourselves or in others.
"In dealing with these cases," said the Sage, "I take it that ordinary consciousness makes up but a small part of a man's personality. Beneath the threshold of working consciousness there lies, not merely an unconscious complex of organic processes, but an intelligent vital control." To this the Knight agreed, and added, "We have much to learn of hypnotism as a stimulator of effort and arouser of the will."
At this moment there was a commotion in the yard nearby: it was ascertained that one had committed a theft and no one knew who was the thief. As a result, every man was given some rice to chew and then told to spit it out. The guilty person was so affected by terror that the rice was reduced to a fine powder; in consequence of the dryness of his mouth owing to the absence of saliva. The innocents were able to eject the whole mouthful of rice as a pulp or bolus. I pointed out to my friends; "No function of organic life is more influenced [138] by mental states than that of salivation. The thought of savoury food, when one is hungry, is sufficient to make the salivary glands water; while fear or disgust will have an exactly opposite effect and the mouth in consequence becomes dry and parched."
The farmer said that this servant who was addicted to the taking of Haschisch used to dream for "hours on end". This caused the Sage to remark: "Healthy dreamless sleep depends upon temporary abolition of the functions of the highest centres of the brain, together with a partial inhibition of those below the middle and lower levels of the nervous system. In the dreamful and disturbed sleep, inhibition is less complete and certain areas continue to discharge nervous energy and so produce dreams. The more intense the discharge, the more vivid the dream; and if the discharge be very intense, the attending process may overstep the limit of mere ideation and take the form of action: there will be actual movement or sleep-walking, from the stimulation and discharge of the motor areas. The actions will be unaccompanied by consciousness; for consciousness depends upon the functioning of all the higher centres, in orderly relation: in somnambulism this order is disarranged or destroyed. The actions, being unconscious, are automatic; and tend to partake of the nature of those usually or habitually performed. They will be in keeping with the character [139] temperament of the sleeper; for the nervous discharges will travel through well-worn and accustomed channels and will hardly effect new combinations of movements.
"The post-epileptic state (following the epileptic fit), shows some very important resemblances to hypnotic somnambulism: the researches, of Hughlings Jackson and other observers, enable us to understand this phenomenon."
"The mind is a much more complicated and greater thing than most people imagine, and the theory of it being part of a Universal mind is favoured by the fact that under special circumstances and in rare instances a subject who has been hypnotized a great number of times by the same operator, may be sent to sleep by the hypnotizer exerting his will at a distance."
The family were not known by names but by numbers, as is quite common in China: hence the eldest of the family was called "one" and the next "two" and so on. After a short discussion concerning the various members of the farmer's fine family of twelve, our conversation gradually turned to the Theory of Pythagoras, not only regarding the fact that he was the first philosopher to state that the Earth was round, but that he was the great genius who showed that anything and everything in the World, including the World itself, was "made up of" vibrations; which vibrations emanated from these objects, be they [140] living beings, or mineral; that the type of vibration varied enormously. Then the Knight Commander suggested that we might, with advantage, at least review the work of Pythagoras on Numerology. Pythagoras believed that all numbers had significance and that every letter in a name had a significance in relationship to its place in the alphabet. That, if a person changed his name, or added a hyphen name to it (a practice as old as the hills); it meant that he had really changed his outlook on life, due to slight changes in his inward vibrations; and to make the vibrations be in harmony without knowing it (unconsciously), he had the desire to change his name; although he had a superficial conscious reason which was little more than a rationalization. "The date of birth, with the month and the day all have numerical significance," pointed out the Knight, "and further, the methods of use have changed but little since that date of introduction, in the year 562 B.C. The idea was to place the letters of the alphabet under the numbers one to ten, and then to repeat the placing from left to right until all the letters of the alphabet were exhausted. By this means, every letter had a number allocated to it." He also showed that the names of colours themselves are significant; in that they fit in with the natural vibration of the colour, no matter what language is used; which is either a strange coincidence or a notable fact. Pythagoras further taught that, [141] even months had relationships to colours; as had also people themselves: this accounted for certain people preferring certain colours, and certain forms of address. In other words the psychology of numerology and its apparent relationship to colours, names, dates of birth, and even the professions, is a matter worthy of consideration: even the Bible has a Book of Numbers, and the significance given therein is no mere trifling observation."
The conversation now became very interesting; the farmer's wife asked if there was any importance as regards destiny in the date of birth of an individual, especially since Pythagoras laid such stress on dates and numbers. The Sage replied, "Don't you know that there is a philosophy older than that of Pythagoras, which we call Astrology; the study of the stars in relationship to the destiny of mankind, horses, trees and stones. Even the New Testament refers to the wise men predicting the birth of a Saviour to this World, by a study of the stars, in this connection. Do we not read of the wise men being 'guided by' a star; the Star of Bethlehem? We are all predestined, within a general compass, but our individual efforts can either improve or make worse that allotted destiny. The study of the stars is merely a rough guide; but nothing more. Nevertheless it is useful to know what the stars foretell. English astrology is not the same as Indian astrology, as the methods vary [142] enormously; but the strange thing is that the results are identical. There is an explanation which has never been given which I think is of enormous value, in assessing the true value of astrology, to mankind. Think for a moment! This world itself is magnetic, and is suspended in space. In that great space are suspended many other worlds, which we call, for convenience, planets. There are, yet, other little worlds, which we call stars. Now we have previously held that the human body is magnetic and therefore animal magnetism does exist. Therefore, we all are magnetic; the world, the other worlds; else how could they remain in space, if it were not for the magnetic attraction of some, and repulsion of others so keeping a sort of equilibrium; we know that the position of these worlds vary from time to time. We further know that they take a particular course over a specified number of years. From this we deduce that the magnetic influence of these worlds collectively will vary upon the earth's surface from time to time.
"Now when a nail is first magnetized, by being brought into contact with a magnet, it retains for some time afterwards, only in a much less degree, the same type of vibratory magnetic force as does the magnet. Now think for a moment: the new-born babe may be likened to the new nail which for the first time comes into existence at birth; and then picks up a magnetic vibration of its own, which persists at [143] that time, on the earth's surface due to the position of the various planets at the date of birth. As the vibrations become fixed in type at this stage, it will be seen that, during life, the various planets vary in position; and as their effect upon the earth varies, so will it affect the mental and physical vibrations of that particular human being accordingly. This brings in a most interesting link between an apparently empyrical study and true science by linking up the magnetic theory with astrology.
"Whilst discussing astrology, there is another interesting factor to note: most astrologers speak of some of the planets, at birth for instance, being 'squared' and believe that this is an evil omen. Experience has taught me a belief far different from this. A planet that is squared, means definitely lack of rest or remaining where one is, as it indicates a dynamic force which stirs things up: if used aright it is the very thing which will lead to great success, far above that of others. If horoscopes were read from this angle much useful advice could be given; apart from the psychological aid to success which the very suggestion would bring forth. Indeed, astrology is a science as old as the hills; and the very fact that it has stood the test of time, speaks in its favour."
And now it was time to depart; so having said farewell (which means "May you always do well, keep well; and fare thee well"), to [144] our most delightful farmer hosts, we went on our way rejoicing.
A few hours' walk brought us back to our cave dwelling, where we prepared to rest for the night; and as we were about to pass into the sleep state of this material world, a telepathic message came through, to all of us, with a clearness and decisiveness which could not be mistaken. It rang in our ears over and over again: "On the morrow thou shalt go further on, having sown good seed wherever thou hast rested thy body; and thou shalt be brought here to the monastery on high, the sacred Lhama of all time: the Knight Commander who was with thee a moment ago, but is now here, will, in the twinkling of an eye, return for thee, when thou hast come to the river, five miles distant, which canst not be crossed by human means, so rapid is its flow, so precipitous the cliff, to the water, on either side. When thou hast reached this spot, help will be given thee from on High."
We slept peacefully and deeply: on the morrow we arose at sunrise and prepared to depart.
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