INTROSPECTION
With our mortal eyes turned outwardly we cannot see spiritual things, nor the motive power of life, nor the material form the spirit assumes in moving the mechanism of the body. For there is a material way in which it is thus moved, as there necessarily must be, and I have obtained glimpses thereat by turning my eyes inwardly—by looking into myself with the inner surface of my eyes.
Yet through all these centuries people have been using that portion of their eyes which is intended for external vision only, in a vain endeavor to arrive at spiritual-material facts. Thus the larynx, as the supposed seat of the voice, has been subjected to scrutiny based upon laws derived from phenomena which owe their origin to physical causes only. During this vain endeavor the larynx has been subjected to torture and maltreatment worse than that inflicted upon a mediæval witch.
But its tormentors have derived no solace from this treatment, not even that of a confession of imaginary sins. Why not? Simply because it had not anything to confess, being a reflex, an indirect, and not a free and original agent. Through torture (by means of the laryngoscope), the destroyer of harmony, we cannot arrive at laws based upon harmony.
Is not all physiological research more or less of this order? The "higher law" of science may demand its victims, even as did the "higher law" of the church. I do not wish to say, however, that the sacrifice of animals on the altar of science is as useless as that of human beings used to be on that of religion. Vivisection, however, while it may, and no doubt sometimes does, help to recognize the physical cause of disorder, will never be of any value in arriving at spiritual causes and the recognition of the inner motive power of life, nor to any great extent at that of the exercise of our faculties and functions. For this knowledge we require a different mode of proceeding. To penetrate into the realm of the spiritual-material world (and all phenomena of life are of that nature) we must not look externally but internally, not into other beings but into ourselves. That is the only place where we can hope to find it in action and arrive at the causes of such action.
As our being cannot enter into the inner life of another being and identify itself with the same or become a part thereof, or remain apart and become a spectator of the same or substitute therefor (not even for that of the simplest and lowest living vegetable or animal organism), we would have to despair of our ability of ever being able to arrive at the laws governing life, if we were not able to look into our own lives by substituting for our observations our inner for our outer consciousness.
The word "Introspection" has heretofore meant reflection upon purely spiritual phenomena only; I have proven by my personal example that we can observe physiologico-psychological phenomena with considerable accuracy—very little of this kind of work, as far as I can learn, ever having been done before. The nearest approach at amalgamation, probably, is that which is brought about by means of hypnotism. In this instance the two factors, the positive and the negative, the operator and the person operated upon, do not fuse, however, and become one, but remain entities, each in his own right. Or, to speak still more to the point, while the positive, that is the spiritual, factor of the operator may, and no doubt does, join hands with the negative, that is the material, of his subject, by which the operator becomes one with the latter, there is still but an influence, and not an insight. Besides, this condition is as yet too obscurely known to be made use of as a practical means of observation.
After all this, the question will still be asked, "What must we do to look into ourselves?"
I will admit that I have not stated what others should do, but in explaining what I have done I mean to explain what general course others will have to pursue. By taking into consideration what I have said, and adding thereto what I shall still have to say, a general idea may be formed of what the reader must do to place himself in a position to make original observations by means of introspection. No two cases being just alike, from the fact that heredity, the mental capacity, physical condition, education, temperament, nationality, etc., with no two persons are just alike, it is not well possible to point out a course quite suitable to all. I might as well attempt to arrive at a law by the observance of which all persons would be enabled to write poetry.
Still, needing assistance in this vast undertaking, I am particularly anxious to make this matter clear, as the results of these observations are of vital interest to all, and I am but one weak, ignorant mortal creature, with but a small fraction of a life left to me in which to state that which it would at least take a full lifetime to properly and fully explain. I am overburdened with an insight which is being increased daily, even against my will, and which I shall never be able to fully communicate to others. Let the flood-gates of truth once be opened and come in upon you as they have upon me, and you will be overwhelmed by the mass of their detail no less than by the vigor of their mass. My great want, therefore, for the purpose of more fully arriving at these facts and obtaining ever higher results is assistance and coöperation. I wish it to be distinctly understood, however, that I do not mean this in a personal sense—far from it; but in the interest and the promotion of science, as everybody wanting to make original observations must pursue these studies for himself and by himself.
Why such a course has not been heretofore pursued by others I am at a loss to understand, except from the fact that it takes an unusual amount of perseverance to reach the first results. Though all persons may not be able to personally obtain satisfactory results, all may be benefited by the results obtained by those qualified to successfully carry on a course of observations by means of introspection. The world at large will always have to be satisfied with being simply the beneficiary of scientific research; more especially of research in matters spiritual or psychical. From facts thus obtained rules may be deduced, which, translated into "physical forms," may become the property of all. In this manner numerous observations I have made have already assumed a practical shape; but I have not as yet been able to devote the necessary time to them to produce a system which may be used for general instruction.
Meanwhile I do sincerely hope that others will take hold of these matters in all seriousness, and assist me in arriving at these practical physical forms, which I trust, in fact know beyond the shadow of a doubt, will be fruitful of the most beneficent results in the teaching of the deaf, of singing and elocution, of pure vocal utterance in speaking; in curing stammering and other chronic faulty or deficient utterance; besides numerous other matters of equal importance not in immediate connection with vocal utterance.
That these matters must be and are of the greatest importance to the medical student goes without saying. It is to be hoped that they may lead to a more rational treatment of our frail and often ailing bodies. I say "bodies" because this is the common phrase. Yet how false this is, every true physician is but too conscious of. Our ailments cannot be successfully treated from a mere physical standpoint. The question of life is not a mechanical one; it is spiritual beyond anything else, the spirit being the motive power giving life to the otherwise inert physical body. Yet the only endeavor of the physician has always been to cure the "machine," to set its mechanism right again when it is out of order, simply because he has not been able to get at the spiritual motive power which propels it.
I have been trying to get at this motive power, and to some extent have been successful in so doing. Besides, the body never suffers. Its ailments make the soul suffer; while the ailments of the soul have a comparatively less injurious effect upon the body. The body is the habitation of the soul. The soul dwells in its every part. As long as this habitation is habitable the soul continues to dwell therein. When it becomes uninhabitable the soul departs, never to return. Hence a body, never so frail and ailing, will continue to live as long as a vital part is not affected, that is, a part the soul requires for its habitation and cannot do without. Close such part to the indwelling of the soul, prevent material and spiritual factors from joining hands therein, and the spirit departs. Once departed it can never be made to return. Hence a body in the full vigor of health, after having been immersed in water sufficiently long to have any one vital avenue positively closed against the indwelling of the soul, cannot be resuscitated. As long as the soul clings to it, however, with never so feeble a grasp, it may come to life again, in the same manner that a flame nearly extinguished may be fanned to life again.
For me to fully describe my mode of proceeding in arriving at these matters would be equal to an attempt at crowding into a few paragraphs all I have gone through within something like forty years, more or less, of observation.