If you will analyze your mental operations you will find that conscious thinking is never a continuous line of consciousness, but a series of conscious data with great intervals of subconsciousness. We sit and try to solve a problem and fail. We walk around, try again and fail. Suddenly an idea dawns that leads to a solution of the problem. The subconscious processes were at work. We do not volitionally create our own thinking. It takes place in us. We are more or less passive recipients. We cannot change the nature of a thought, or of a truth, but we can, as it were, guide the ship by a moving of the helm.”
But, perhaps, the most beautiful expression of this underlying truth, is that of Sir Oliver Lodge, who says in his consideration of the subject: “Imagine an iceberg glorying in its crisp solidity, and sparkling pinnacles, resenting attention paid to its submerged self, or supporting region, or to the saline liquid out of which it arose, and into which in due course it will some day return. Or, reversing the metaphor, we may liken our present state to that of the hull of a ship submerged in a dim ocean among strange monsters, propelled in a blind manner through space; proud perhaps of accumulating many barnacles of decoration; only recognizing our destination by bumping against the dockwall; and with no cognizance of the deck and cabins above us, or the spars and sails—no thought of the sextant, and the compass, and the captain—no perception of the lookout on the mast— of the distant horizon. With no vision of objects far ahead— dangers to be avoided—destinations to be reached—other ships to be spoken to by means other than by bodily contact—a region of sunshine and cloud, of space, or perception, and of intelligence utterly inaccessible below the waterline.”
Dr. Schofield has cleverly and beautifully illustrated the idea in the following words: “Our conscious mind, as compared with the unconscious mind, has been likened to the visible spectrum of the sun’s rays, as compared to the invisible part which stretches indefinitely on either side. We know now that the chief part of heat comes from the ultrared rays that show no light; and the main part of the chemical changes in the vegetable world are the results of the ultraviolet rays at the other end of the spectrum, which are equally invisible to the eye, and are recognized only by their potent effects. Indeed as these invisible rays extend indefinitely on both sides of the visible spectrum, so we may say that the mind includes not only the visible or conscious part, and what we have termed the subconscious, that which lies below the red line, but also the supraconscious mind that lies at the other end—all those regions of higher soul and spirit life, of which we are only at times vaguely conscious, but which always exist, and link us on to eternal verities, on the one side, as surely as the subconscious mind links us to the body on the other.”
The late Frederic W. H. Myers, after years of careful study and research along the lines of the “outofconsciousness” states, formulated a hypothesis of a “secondary self,” or as he called it a “Subliminal Self,” which “self” he held possessed certain powers which it exercised in a measure independent of the ordinary conscious “self.” Perhaps the best explanation of his hypothesis has been stated by Mr. Myers, himself, in his book entitled “Human Personality,” in which he states: “The idea of a threshold of consciousness—of a level above which sensation or thought must rise before it can enter into our conscious life—is a simple and familiar one. The word Subliminal—meaning ‘beneath the threshold’—has already been used to define those sensations which are too feeble to be individually recognized. I propose to extend the meaning of the term, so as to make it cover all that takes place beneath the ordinary threshold, or say, if preferred, the ordinary margin of consciousness—not only those faint stimulations, whose very faintness must keep them submerged, but much else which psychology as yet scarcely recognizes; sensations, thoughts, emotions, which may be strong definite, and independent, but which, by the original constitution of our being, seldom merge into that Supraliminal current of consciousness which we habitually identify with ourselves. Perceiving that these submerged thoughts and emotions possess the characteristics which we associate with conscious life, I feel bound to speak of a Subliminal, or Ultramarginal, Consciousness—a consciousness which we shall see, for instance, uttering or writing sentences quite as complex and coherent as the supraliminal consciousness could make them. Perceiving further that this conscious life beneath the threshold or beyond the margin seems to be no discontinuous or intermittent thing; that not only are these isolated subliminal processes comparable with isolated supraliminal processes (as when a problem is solved by some unknown procedure in a dream) but that there also is a continuous subliminal chain of memory (or more chains than one) involving just that kind of individual and persistent revival of old impressions and response to new ones, which we commonly call a Self—I find it permissible to speak of subliminal Selves, or more briefly a subliminal self. I do not indeed by using this term assume that there are two correlative and parallel selves existing always within each of us. Rather I mean by the Subliminal Self that part of the Self which is commonly subliminal; and I conceive that there may be—not only many coöperations between these quasiindependent trains of thought—but also upheavals and alternations of personality of many kinds, so that what was once below the surface may for a time, or permanently, rise above it. And I conceive also that no Self of which we can here have cognizance is in reality more than a fragment of a larger self—revealed in a fashion at once shifting and limited through an organism not so framed as to afford it full manifestation.”
We have given you the different views of these respective authorities not that we purpose adopting exclusively any of the various theories or hypotheses advanced, but merely that you may see that this question of an “Inner Consciousness” is not a mere vague theory of certain mystics and metaphysicians, but on the contrary is one that has attracted the earnest attention and consideration of scientific men and careful investigators along psychological lines. We shall have but very little to do with theories in this book—the Facts of the subject concern us more earnestly.
Lesson II.
The Planes of Consciousness.
WE HAVE seen, in the preceding chapter, that many leading minds have recognized the existence, and phenomena of, certain Planes of Consciousness lying outside of (below or above) the ordinary plane or field of ordinary consciousness. Brushing aside as unimportant the various names and terms that have been aplied to these planes or fields of “inner consciousness,” we easily find a common ground of agreement between all of the authorities. It is true that the subject has become somewhat clouded by the insistence of certain details of theory on the part of the several investigators, but they all practicaly agree upon the fundamental and basic facts and phenomena—and it is upon these basic and fundamental facts and phenomena that we shall rest our case as presented in this little book.
The student of psychology has heard much during the past decade regarding the many theories, some of them quite fantastic, designed to account for and explain the phenomena which science finds to exist and which it has classified as belonging to the innerconscious plane of mental activity. Some of the theories advanced to account for the known facts and observed phenomena, have attracted to their support many followers, the respective schools holding animated and sometimes fierce contest regarding the validity and superior qualities of their respective schools and their founders. But with these theories, and the schools which have been built up upon them, this work will have little to do or say. Enough for us is the fact of the existence of the phenomena, and the fact that there is certainly in manifestation an area of mental activity, which for reasons that we shall state we have called “The Inner Consciousness.” Recognizing the fact of the phenomena and accepting it as proven truth, we shall proceed to consider its manifestations, and apparent laws, and also the methods whereby one may use this mental activity to advantage. But we shall leave the theories to the theorists, and the discussions regarding the same to those who are fond of such exercises of the mind—for ourselves, we are tired of such things, and prefer to deal with observed facts, and the “how to get results” part of the question. We are apt to regard as a truth the observation of the writer who said: “Theories are but mighty soapbubbles, with which the grown up children of science amuse themselves.” And we also view with favor the lines of the poet in which he says:
“The