THE POWER OF MIND. William Walker Atkinson
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Mesmerism, Suggestion, Thought-transference, Telepathy, etc., as well as of Mental Healing, Magnetic Healing, etc., all of which are manifestations of "Dynamic Thought." Not only do we see, as Prentice Mulford said, that "Thoughts are Things," but we may see "just why" they are Things. And we may see and understand the laws of their production and operation. This theory of Dynamic Thought will throw light into many dark corners, and make plain many "hard sayings" that have perplexed you in the past. The writer believes that it gives us the key to many of the great Riddles of Life.
This theory has come to stay. It is no ephemeral thing, doomed to "die a-borning." It will be taken up by others and polished, and added to, and shaped, and "decorated"—but the fundamental principles will stand the stress of Time and Men. Of this the writer feels assured. It may be laughed at at first, not only by the "man on the street," but also by the scientists. But it will outlive this, and in time will come to its own—perhaps long after the writer and the book have been forgotten.
This must be so—for the idea of "Dynamic Thought" underlies the entire Universe, and is the cause of all phenomena. Not only is all that we see as Life and Mind, and Substance illustrations of the Law, but even that which lies back of these things must evidence the same Law. Is it too daring a conception to hazard the thought that perhaps the Universe itself is the result of the Dynamic Thought of The Infinite?
Oh, Dynamic Thought, we see in thee the instrument by which all Form and Shape are created, changed and destroyed—we see in thee the source of all Energy, Force and Motion—we see thee Always—present and Everywhere—present, and always in Action. Verily, thou art Life in Action. Thou art the embodiment of Action and Motion, of which Zittel hath said: "Wherever our eyes dwell on the Universe; whithersoever we are carried in the flight of thought, everywhere we find Motion." Suns, planets, worlds, bodies, atoms, and particles, move, and act at thy bidding. Amidst all the change of Substance—among the play of Forces—and among and amidst all that results therefrom—there art thou, unchanged, and constant. As though fresh from the hand of The Infinite, thou hast maintained thy vigor and strength, and power, throughout the aeons of Time. And, likewise, Space has no terrors for thee, for thou hath mastered it. Thou art a symbol of the Power of The Infinite—thou art Its message to doubting Man!
Let us close this book with the thought of the Greatness of this Thing that we call Dynamic Thought—which, great as it is, is but as the shadow of the Absolute Power of The Infinite One, which is the Causeless Cause, and the Causer of Causes. And in thus parting company, reader, let us murmur the words of the German poet, who has sung:
"Dost thou ask for rest? See then how foolish is thy desire; the stern yoke of motion holds in harness the whole Universe.
"Nowhere in this age canst thou ever find rest, and no power can deliver thee from the doom of Activity.
"Rest is not to be found either in heaven or on earth, and from death and dying break forth new growth,—new birth.
"All the life of Nature is an ocean of Activity; following on her footsteps, without ceasing, thou must march forward with the whole.
"Even the dark portal of death gives thee no rest, and out of thy coffin will spring blossoms of a new life."
FINIS.
The Inner Consciousness: A Course of Lessons on the Inner Planes of the Mind, Intuition, Instinct, Automatic Mentation, and Other Wonderful Phases of Mental Phenomena
Lesson I. Inner Consciousness.
Lesson II. The Planes of Consciousness.
Lesson III. The Basements of the Mind.
Lesson IV. The Mental Storehouse.
Lesson V. "Making-Over" Oneself.
Lesson VI. "Automatic Thinking."
Lesson VII. Inner-Conscious Helpers
Lesson IX. The "Leland Method."
Lesson X. Intuition and Beyond.
Lesson I.
Inner Consciousness.
IT WAS formerly taught in the schools that all of the Mind of an individual was comprised within the limits of ordinary Consciousness, but for many years this old idea has been gradually superceded by more advanced conceptions. Leibnitz was one of the first to advance the newer idea, and to promulgate the doctrine that there were mental energies and activities manifesting on a plane of mind outside of the field of ordinary consciousness. From his time psychologists have taught, more and more forcibly, that much of our mental work is performed outside of the ordinary field of consciousness. And, at the present time, the idea of an “Inner Consciousness” is generally accepted among psychologists.
Lewes says: “The teaching of most modern psychologists is that consciousness forms but a small item in the total of physical processes. Unconscious sensations, ideas and judgments are made to play a great part in their explanations. It is very certain that in every conscious volition—every act that is so characterized—the larger part of it is quite unconscious. It is equally certain that in every perception there are unconscious processes of reproduction and inference—there is a middle distance of subconsciousness, and a background of unconsciousness.” And Sir William Hamilton states: “I do not hesitate to affirm that what we are conscious of is constructed out of what we are not conscious of—that our whole knowledge in fact is made up of the unknown and incognizable. The sphere of our consciousness is only a small circle in the centre of a far wider sphere of action and passion, of which we are only conscious through its effects.” And Taine has said in connection with the same thought: “Mental events imperceptible to consciousness are far more numerous than the others, and of the world which makes up our being we only perceive the highest points—the lightedup peaks of a continent whose lower levels remain in the shade. Beneath ordinary sensations are their components, that is to say, the elementary sensations, which must be combined into groups to reach our consiousness. Outside a little luminous circle lies a great large ring of twilight, and beyond this an indefinite night; but the events of this twilight and this night are as real as those within the luminous circle.” To this, Maudsley adds his testimony, as follows: “Examine closely and without bias the ordinary mental operations of life, and you will surely discover that consciousness has not onetenth part of the function therein which it is commonly assumed to have. In every conscious state there are at work conscious, subconscious and infraconscious energies, the last as indispensable as the first.”
It is now known that “InnerConscious” ideas, impressions and thoughts play a most important part in the thoughtworld of every individual. Beyond every outerconscious action there may be found a vast innerconscious background. It is held that of our entire mental processes, less than ten per cent are performed in the field of outerconsciousness. As a well known writer has so well expressed it: “Our self is greater than we know; it has peaks above and lowlands below the plateau of our