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The Science of Mind, by Ernest Shurtleff Holmes [1926], at sacred-texts.com
Psychic phenomena are the phenomena of the soul, or subjective mind. The subjective mentality is man's atmosphere in Universal Mind; it is the seat of his memory and the avenue through which Instinctive Life works.
The subjective mentality, being deductive only in its reasoning power, is compelled to retain all of the impressions that it receives, but, of course, these impressions can be erased, consciously.
Man is Universal on the subjective side of life, and in this way is connected with the subjectivity of all with whom he is in harmonious vibration.
Mental suggestion operates through the subjective mind, and a silent influence is always going on through this avenue in the form of race-suggestion. A silent communication takes place at all times between friends on the subjective side of life; when it comes to the surface, it is called mental telepathy.
The subjective mind, being in contact with the race-thought, has a much greater knowledge than the conscious mind. It is through this avenue that human inspiration comes. Orators and actors contact the subjective side of their audiences and, in this way, wield a tremendous influence. Singers, poets and writers enter the subjective race-thought and interpret it; this enables them to depict the race-emotions.
Each person has a subjective mental emanation or atmosphere which is the result of all that has ever been consciously or unconsciously said, thought or done by that person. The mental atmosphere of a person is his power of attraction. It is the result of his inner thoughts. The mental atmosphere of a place is the result of all that has been thought, said or done in that place. The mental atmosphere of a place is its power of attraction. We love those places whose mental atmosphere is one of love and peace; this is why we like our homes. The home should always be kept sacred and its atmosphere should always be one of love.
Things are possessed of a soul element and continuously emanate this atmosphere.
Each city or town has a special atmosphere which is the result of the mental emanations of those who inhabit it. The same may be said of nations; each has its national mentality.
The history of the whole race is subjectively written on the unseen walls of time, and may be reproduced by one who can read the race-mentality.
Telepathy, which is the act of reading subjective thought takes place through the medium of Universal Subjectivity. In order to mentally receive a message, and bring it to the surface, one must be in tune with the vibration of that message.
Since the whole field of subjectivity is Universal, it follows that everything that has ever been thought, said or done, is retained in the race-thought; and since this field is a unit, all of the vibrations are ever present, and may be contacted at the point of any one's mentality.
In his objective state, man is separate and distinct, but on the subjective side of life he is universal.
The conditions necessary for the best results in psychic work are faith and expectancy; this is because the subjective mentality is the seat of the instinctive emotions and responds to feeling.
A psychic, going into more or less of a subjective state, is able to enter the vibration of an individual's thought and read from the book of his remembrance. The personal reading seems to be limited to the subjective remembrance, although this is often very far-reaching.
Each maintains a stream of consciousness in the One Mind, and any one contacting this stream may objectify it. Because of the Universality of the Medium, the individual stream of consciousness is always omnipresent, whether the one from whom it emanated be in the flesh or out of it.
Time and space are unknown in Mind, the past and the present are one. In reading the thought of people set down in books, we enter their vibration, and in studying their thoughts we enter their stream of consciousness.
Every one who ever lived on earth has left behind a mental picture of himself; these pictures are often seen when one is
in a subjective state. This does not mean that we really see the person; what we see generally is the picture.
The human aura is the mental vibration or emanation of the individual. The idea of the halo surrounding the heads of the saints is explained in this way. The personal atmosphere varies with the changing thought and emotion, and is sometimes pleasant and at other times unpleasant.
Habits are formed through conscious thought becoming subjective, and in its turn, controlling the one through whom it operates. Mania is a strong desire, subjectified, which becomes an obsession.
People may become obsessed with their own ideas or with those that operate through them from some foreign source, whether this source is from some one in the flesh or out of it. Obsession is always some form of mental suggestion. Insanity is the loss of the objective faculty.
The psychic power must always be controlled. A normal state is a perfect balance between the objective and the subjective faculties. This is the aim of evolution: to produce a man who, at the point of his objective faculty, may perfectly control the subjective. A trance state is abnormal, and only that psychic faculty is normal which is under full control of the self-discerning mind.
Clairvoyance is the ability to see without the physical eye. Psychometry is a clairvoyant state wherein the medium is able to enter the subjective side of things and read the atmospheres surrounding them; this is why mediums often wish to hold some familiar object in their hands while giving readings.
Clairaudience is the ear of the soul. Independent voices sometimes come from the air, proving that some inner power is able to express itself audibly. Apparitions are thought forms, and may come from the living or from the dead; at times they come as a warning.
Crystal gazing is for the purpose of concentrating the mind, in order that it may become subjective.
Black magic, the curse of malpractice, all mean the use of thought power for destructive purposes.
Automatic writing takes place when the arm is under control
of the subjective mind of the operator or by the subconscious mind of some one else, either in the flesh or out of it; it is a form of suggestion, either conscious or unconscious. Independent writing is where the pencil writes without physical contact. This shows that some inner power has the ability to grasp solid objects without physical contact. Table tipping and rappings are from the same source. It is thought by some that these manifestations come from the agency of what is called "ectoplasm," or a subtle emanation of the body; this theory, however, does not explain all of the facts. Mind alone can do this. Levitation or the ability to move the body is another fact well known to investigators.
The power of prophecy is limited to some subjective tendency already set in motion; for mental tendencies cast their shadows before them. There is a higher power of prophecy which contacts the Cosmic Purposes and reads the thought of God.
Man reproduces, on the mental plane, all of the physical faculties.
IMMORTALITY
Immortality means that the individual shall persist after the experience of physical death, carrying with him a complete remembrance and an unbroken stream of consciousness; for if man be immortal, death cannot rob him of anything.
Man cannot conceive of himself, either as being born or as dying; he lives, and cannot think of himself from any other standpoint. Even though a person should conceive of himself as dying and imagine his own funeral, he would still have to conceive of himself as consciously being there, and so prove that he did not die at all. It is the same with birth; we can imagine being born into this world, but we cannot imagine the self as being non-existent; for, while thinking of the self as being born, we are still consciously thinking; thus proving that we were before we were physically born.
All inquiry into the Truth starts with the self-evident proposition that Life Is.
When man first woke to self-consciousness on this plane he already had a body. Consciousness always clothes itself in some kind of form.
Matter, from which the body is made, is a fluent substance, forever taking the form that intelligence gives it; it flows in and out like a river; we yearly immortalize ourselves, so far as the body is concerned.
The ether, being more solid than matter, proves that we could have a body within the one that we now occupy. Since matter in form is only a certain rate of vibration, it follows that, in dealing with Infinite Life, we are dealing with an infinite number of vibrations; consequently, we might have a body within a body to Infinity.
In reality, the body is a spiritual idea; the flesh simply covers it for the purpose of providing a physical instrument through which Spirit may function on this plane.
Man departs this body only to find himself already equipped with another one. He carries with him every attribute that he now possesses, and goes forth in complete retention of his individuality.
Since there is but One Mind, it follows that it is possible to communicate with the departed; but, as the communication must come through the subjective, it is difficult to receive clear messages; and it is impossible to know whether or not the ones with whom we think we are communicating are consciously present.
It is never safe to go into a trance state in order to communicate with the departed, as in so doing, one might subject himself to the mental influences of lesser mentalities. Individuality is sacred and must never be tampered with nor controlled, except by the conscious mind.
The value of an understanding of psychic phenomena lies in the fact that they are the phenomena of Mind and must be accounted for.
Every plane reproduces the one just below or just above it; psychic phenomena are the reproductions, on the mental plane, of the principle just below the mental, which is the physical.