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The Secret Science Behind Miracles, by Max Freedom Long, [1948], at sacred-texts.com
To be able to see a future event before it occurs is even more amazing than fire-walking. One can, by stretching a point, imagine that there are physical explanations for fire-immunity, but by no stretch of the imagination can a physical explanation be given for seeing into the future.
It is all as clear as day. A future event has not yet transpired, therefore it is utterly impossible to see it or know in exact detail what that event will be. But, the impossible and incredible happens. We actually see events before they occur, in dreams or visions. We sense future occurrences and call this sensing "premonition."
There is a third "impossibility" which stands beside fire-immunity and prevision as proof that there are higher and little known powers at work in this world of ours. This third thing is instant healing—a matter which will be considered at much length later on because of its great importance.
As a secondary, but most desirable and practical part of the Huna lore of seeing future events, there is to be considered the magical practice of changing the future
in order to better events which are seen and found to be undesirable. This magical art was a large part of the work of the kahunas, for they healed both body and purse—social and economic tangles.
While it is of the utmost importance that we recover Huna and so add to our priceless store of human knowledge, it is even more important that we learn the ancient methods of calling down instant healing and of gaining the help of the High Selves in changing and reconstructing the accidental future so that it becomes ordered, planned and fortunate.
As a matter of fact, it may be said that instant healing, or even the slower psychological healing practiced by the kahunas, is directly related to changing the future. If a patient is very ill and is suddenly healed, that change in itself marks a change in the ordinary course of the future in which the illness might have resulted in eventual death.
Aside from the usual explanation that "God knows and shows the future" in dreams, prevision, premonition or clairvoyance, call it what we will, we moderns have nothing faintly resembling an explanation to offer. However, we have accumulated considerable information as to the occurrence of these glimpses of the future, and this information can be used to check against the theories of Huna—which are the only detailed and logical explanations mankind has ever evolved.
There are several items of popular belief or disbelief that need to be discussed briefly before going on. The first of these is part and parcel of most religions, and raises a question which only the kahunas can answer in a conclusive manner.
In religions, war has long raged between those who taught that man had free will to do as he pleased, and those who taught that, because God must (if rightly understood and evaluated as a Creator) know everything that each one of us will do in future, we have no free will—our every act being decided upon in advance by a Supreme Being, and, therefore, predestined, unchangeable and inevitable.
Science, in grappling with the problem, has taught that everything happens in a purely accidental manner and that free will is the answer. (Overlooking the fact which bothers the religionists, that the future can be, and often is, seen.)
The bare and uncompromising records of the Psychical Research Societies tell of many instances in which events have been foreseen, and have been avoided by what cannot be described as anything but the exercise of "free will" on the part of those who were warned. In "my own experience I had such a case.
One evening at a Spiritualistic seance I was told by an entranced medium that I was slated to have a bad auto accident in the near future. I countered by asking whether my friend, Bob, sitting at my right, was also to have an accident. After a pause, the answer came as, "No." I asked my friend to accompany me and help me watch for an accident-potent situation for the next few days. Three days later, we were driving through Honolulu, when, at a busy intersection, a drunken truck driver drove his truck at high speed from behind a street car and came directly at me. I happened at that instant to be watching a car crossing ahead of me on
the opposite side. Bob, however, caught sight of the truck rushing toward us, seized the wheel and twisted it around, and at the same time shouted a warning. The result was that the partial turn made by my car allowed the truck driver to squeeze in ahead of me, crumpling a front fender instead of striking a disastrous blow full on the side of the car where I sat.
This incident is typical of the evidence which shows that the future which would normally occur can be foreseen, and that it is not unavoidable, providing one is able to take the proper steps to circumvent the aforeseen incident.
The question of the value of seeing future events is settled by the mass of proofs (my own experience being only one of thousands) showing that, once forewarned, we can take steps to change or evade future events. A moment's thought will show how valuable to humanity an extension of the faculty of premonition would be.
General or world conditions can be seen ahead and the individual can profit by such foresight. I have a friend who saw in a dream the financial crash of 1929, and who sold out all his stocks and invested in government bonds. He warned several acquaintances, but his warnings were not heeded, (the warnings were three months ahead of the crash, and all looked rosy) and some of the acquaintances were ruined.
THE KAHUNA EXPLANATION OF THE PROBLEM OF FREE WILL VERSUS PREDESTINATION is that the Aumakua or Superconscious "parental pair" of each of us has a form of mentation, or mental power, unlike our own. It is higher than the
power of remembering which characterizes the low self, or the power of inductive reason which characterizes the middle self. It is such that (among other things) it enables the High Self to see those parts of the future which have been crystallized or "set." Much of the future is in a fluid or uncrystallized and unset state, and so cannot be seen. Great world events seem crystallized farthest in advance. In a like way the long-term events in the lives of individuals are set and may be seen—such events as marriage, accidents and death.
There is a very distinct philosophy in the kahuna beliefs concerning the element of free will enjoyed by the low and middle selves which live together in the human body to make the man. The High Self, which is connected to the body by a thread of the aka (kino mea) or invisible "shadowy body stuff" (and through this connection maintains contact) is under some compulsion to let the lower selves exercise free will and learn by experience UNLESS they desire and request guidance and help from the High Self, in which case the Aumakua takes a hand in the affairs of the man. Only in planning the long-term events in the life of the man is free will seemingly denied, but even then, if proper steps are taken to change those events, it is possible to circumvent them to a degree.
There seem to be two kinds of free will, one for the low self in its less highly evolved state as an animal, and, therefore, under the rule of some High Self which presides over physical growth and operations connected with the body itself. Because of this direct supervision, the body conforms to definite and set patterns, while the
conscious mind or middle self, having more complete free will, has the privilege of dictating the external activities of the body, although not its internal vital functions.
It might be said that man has two High Selves, one for the low self and its guidance, and one for the middle self. The "group soul" idea of Theosophy closely checks with the High Self guiding the animal man, and with the idea that the lesser animals and creatures are also guided and informed through "instincts" by High Selves watching over them in groups. As we cannot penetrate the plane of consciousness just above ours—that of the High Selves—we cannot know to a certainty what the real state is in this relation. However, we can observe the many acts and conditions of living things on our levels and draw our conclusions. This also holds for our observations when we see some mysterious Consciousness using some mysterious force, through some mysterious form of invisible matter, to produce fire-immunity, instant healing, prevision, the material phenomena of Spiritualism, and so on and so forth.
The kahunas also believed that ALL PREMONITION COMES FROM THE HIGH SELF BY WAY OF THE LOW SELF or subconscious. This agrees with the known fact that we cannot, by any effort of the will, force ourselves to see into the future or dream of it. In hypnotized subjects, the order to look into the future is seldom obeyed, thus causing us to conclude that the subconscious (which alone is suggestible) does not have the ability to look into the future. If neither the low nor the middle self can see ahead at will and as a result of its own natural ability, we must
look for another source of prevision—look to the Super-conscious or similar Higher Beings.
A proof that the kahunas were right in saying that all premonition must come through the low self, lies in the fact that we get visions, dreams or other forms of knowledge concerning future events, through the subconscious when it is relaxed—when it is let alone by the middle self. The most relaxed state for the low self, and the time when it is most completely free from the domination of the middle self, is during sleep. For this reason it is natural that premonitory dreams are the most common sources of knowledge of future events. In crystal gazing there is a similar relaxation but of a lesser degree. The middle self stands by in a waking state to observe what is sensed by the low self through the images centering around the crystal. In telepathy the low self is also the agent performing all the work, and it has to be allowed to slip the ordinary control of the middle self and relax in order to project its "finger" of invisible shadowy substance, and so contact the person from whom a telepathic or mind-reading impression is to be gained.
The verification of the kahuna belief that the low self is the one which performs all psychic acts, always comes back to the indisputable fact that our best known self, the middle self or conscious mind, cannot, under any circumstance, use its will to force us to produce psychic action. We can only give the order to the low self and then let go of it so that, in a relaxed condition, it can set to work, exercise its psychic abilities, and present to us through our mutual center of consciousness the information obtained.
In getting information concerning the present, the low self can reach out and read minds or gather telepathic impressions directed to it by another, and otherwise act on its own initiative; but when it comes to the future, it must contact (as in telepathy) the High Self, and ask that it be given glimpses of the part of the future which has crystallized and which would, therefore, be visible.
THE MAKING OF THE FUTURE, according to the kahunas, depends upon the plans and desires of the lesser selves. These plans and desires, (and, unfortunately our fears) are made into thought forms (composed also of shadowy body stuff) and are used by the High Self in some seemingly automatic process of constructing the future for the individual. Just how this mechanism works is uncertain, as it belongs to the next higher level of consciousness, but the kahunas spoke of the thought forms as "seeds," which were taken by the Aumakua and made to grow into future events or conditions.
The kahunas considered it of great importance for the individual to take time out at frequent intervals to think about his life and decide in exact terms what he wished to do or wished to have happen. The average person is too much inclined to let the low self take the helm, which is dangerous because it lives under the domination of the animal world where things happen illogically and as if by accident. It is the business and duty of the middle self, as guide for the low self, to use its power of inductive reason and its will (to control the low self) in making plans for the task of living, and
seeing that proper efforts are made to work according to those plans.
The average person, especially if emotional (an indication that the low self is too much in charge) changes plans too often, also changes desires. The result is the making of a mixture of contradictory thought forms of plans, wishes and fears, from which the High Self, perforce, makes a mixture of future events fully as unsatisfactory and inconclusive.
A large part of the kahuna's magical practice in days gone was aimed at seeing what crystallized future lay ahead for the client, then procuring changes in that future to make it more desirable. (Later on we will take up exhaustively the methods used by the kahunas and the nature of the difficulties to be overcome.)
Dreams are the open door to premonition. Research has disclosed the fact that in our dreams we are given to see the future almost nightly, but that we do not remember the dreams, and so remain unaware of what is to come except by vague uneasiness stemming from the depths of the low self.
Little is known of dreams, although there has been much conjecture and much muddled thinking about dream conditions. One thing, however, stands out clearly, and that is the fact that the low self has a peculiar knack of confusing things sensed in dreams with things familiar to it, frequently joining one idea to another through a process of association, to make a SYMBOL.
The practice of psychoanalysis is largely based upon
a study of these symbols as they appear in remembered dreams, or in thoughts which come into the mind of the patient when he is in a state of relaxation brought about (in some cases) by suggestion or mild drugs.
Dr. Nandor Fodor, one of the leaders in this field and now practicing in New York, writes in his many articles on the subject, of a curious thing observed in psychoanalysis. It is that certain symbols mean the same thing even when found in the dreams of many different people, none of whom are acquainted with the others. This seems to be more than a coincidence, and points in the direction of the group soul, as do similar instincts with similar reactions in creatures lower than man.
It is to be concluded that a direct "seeing" of a future event may be passed on to us by the low self, or, it may pause to mix what it sees or senses with things already known to it, thus producing a symbol which the middle self will have to try to understand.
In her valuable book, Telepathy, Eileen J. Garrett tells of the frequency with which telepathic messages are received in a form which is partly symbolic. She found that her pupils, in learning telepathy, soon became expert in grasping the meaning behind the symbols which came to them repeatedly.
Mrs. Garrett describes her sensations when sending telepathic messages, and writes that she has the feeling that her five senses are tied to something like a white beam which she sends here and there with an effort of will to contact those to whom a message is to be sent. When this "white beam" (she does not speak of it as a beam of light) meets an obstacle, it bends around it.
[paragraph continues] The obstacle is felt but not seen, as a rule. This "white beam" corresponds to the kahuna idea of a "finger" of shadowy body substance which is projected by the low self, feeling or following with great speed along the threads of shadowy substance which already have been fastened and established as contact or connecting mechanisms between individuals who have once met.
Mrs. Garrett also describes the sensation experienced frequently by those who practice telepathy—the sensation of faint electric tingling or warmth, often accompanied by a tactile response of "goose-flesh" when a working contact has been made. In her own case these sensations often warn her that a message is being projected to her by someone and that her attention is needed to receive it.
Deep breathing is a common preliminary to telepathic practice or other forms of psychometrizing—all these related forms depending on the movement of thought forms along a thread of connecting shadowy body stuff. Deep breathing seems to help in getting the low self to relax and set to work. Impressions come frequently as from below the solar plexus, which has been considered the main seat of the low self when sending out or receiving messages or sensory impressions.
A slightly different phase of telepathy is one in which distant scenes appear before the inner eye. This is often called "clairvoyance," and it occasionally includes glimpses of events that will transpire in the future.
According to the kahunas, any glimpse or knowledge of the future which comes in connection with psychic practices, must be given by the High Self. Mrs. Garrett writes very clearly of her sense of greater alertness
and of her quickening perceptions when she makes contact with what she has called the "superconscious," and from her statements, it is to be deduced that she contacts the same High Self described in the Huna philosophy. A similar increase in lucidity and a similar sharpening of the senses and perceptions has been mentioned by other psychics, particularly when they were fully or partially out of the physical body, either in a state known as "astral projection" or when they had left the body while a controlling spirit used it during trance states.
After these explanations and comments a better understanding of the case materials given in the next chapter will be possible. It must always be kept in mind that this is a very important part of magic, and that it needs understanding in careful detail to become practical in our hands, as it was in the hands of the kahunas.