FOOTNOTES:
[39] Matthew xiii. 10, 11, 13, 15, 34, 35.
[40] John xvi. 12.
[41] John xvi. 13.
[42] John xv. 26, 27.
[43] Matthew xvii. 20.
[44] Luke xvii. 12-19.
[45] See the chapters on Mental Therapeutics.
[46] Mark v. 35-43.
[47] Mark xvi. 17, 18.
[48] John xiv. 12.
THE PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF CHRIST (continued).
The Word Faith in its Application to Psychic Phenomena.—Its Definition.—An Epitome of the Law of Suggestion.—Subjective Faith only required.—Illustrative Incident.—The "Spoken Word."—Jesus knew the Law, and always acted within its Limitations.—Intuitive Perception of the Laws of the Soul.—His Manhood and its Limitations.—Our Warranty of Title as Sons of God.—Christ constantly controlled by Reason.—His Subjective Powers subservient.—The Three Temptations illustrative.—The Great Lesson to Mankind.—The Normal Exercise of Subjective Power.—Simon the Sorcerer.—Miracle not a Necessary Explanation of the Power of Christ.—Conclusions.
In proceeding to make a more direct application of our hypothesis to the doctrines of Jesus, it will be necessary first to consider the meaning of the word faith as it was employed by him, and as it must be understood in its application to all psychic phenomena.
In the common acceptation of the term, faith is "belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting solely and implicitly on his authority and veracity; reliance on testimony."[49] "The faith of the gospel is that emotion of the mind which is called 'trust,' or 'confidence,' exercised towards the moral character of God, and particularly of the Saviour."[50]
It is obvious that neither of these definitions properly characterizes that emotion of the mind, called faith, which is the necessary prerequisite condition of the mind of a person to enable him to confer or to receive the benefits of psychic power.
It has been shown in a former chapter that the faith necessary to enable a person to be healed by mental processes is subjective faith; that is, the faith of the subjective mind, or soul. It has been shown that this faith may be entertained by the subjective mind in positive opposition to the faith, or belief, of the objective mind,—that it may be forced, upon the subjective mind in defiance of objective reason or the evidence of the objective senses. It is not deemed necessary, therefore, to enter at this time into a full discussion of this branch of the subject, and the reader is referred to the chapters on psycho-therapeutics. In this view of the question it is obvious that the definition of the word faith must be revised if we would understand it as Christ understood it, and make it conform to the facts demonstrated by modern science. In other words, we must define that particular kind of faith which pertains to the development and exercise of psychic power,—that faith of which Christ was the first to proclaim the necessity and define the attributes.
Faith, therefore, in the sense in which Jesus employed it, may be defined as the assent of the soul, or subjective mind, to the truth of what is declared to be true.
In other words, faith is that emotion of the human soul which consists in the unhesitating acceptance and belief in the absolute verity of a suggestion.
As has been frequently stated before, the belief of the subjective mind in the verity of a suggestion made to it is the essential and never-failing law of its being. If the suggestion made to it is not counteracted by an auto-suggestion proceeding from the objective mind of the individual, it will always be unhesitatingly accepted. If it is controverted by auto-suggestion, the strongest suggestion must prevail. This law is universal. It frequently happens that a therapeutic suggestion is counteracted by auto-suggestion. The latter may arise from intense prejudice, or from natural scepticism regarding phenomena not understood. It is, however, comparatively easy to overcome an auto-suggestion, in the treatment of disease, for the patient is generally anxious to be cured, and is willing to assume a passive state of mind; and this is generally all that is necessary. Moreover, the subjective mind, ever on the alert for any means of preserving the life or health of the individual, will readily accept a therapeutic suggestion if there is no active counter auto-suggestion. If the healer understands the law of auto-suggestion, and advises his patient that he can overcome the effect of objective unbelief by a simple assertion of belief, salutary results all the more readily follow.
A remarkable instance illustrating this principle occurred in the history of Jesus. It was in the case of the man who brought his son to be healed, who was afflicted with a "dumb spirit." He had gone to Jesus' disciples, who failed to effect a cure. In despair, he appealed to the Master, saying:—
"If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
"And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."[51]
Whereupon Jesus rebuked the foul spirit and commanded it to come out of the boy, "and enter no more into him." And the boy was instantly healed.
Now, the whole circumstances surrounding this case were calculated to render the father sceptical concerning the power of Jesus to heal his son. He had gone to the disciples, and they had failed. When he appealed to Jesus he said: "If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us." This expression plainly implied a doubt. After Jesus had explained that belief was a necessary condition of success, the father cried out: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." This expression plainly indicated a want of objective faith. But he spoke the words, "I believe," and then intimated to Jesus that his real belief depended upon him. He uttered the words "I believe" in pursuance of an earnest desire to comply with the conditions imposed, and that was sufficient. These words constituted an auto-suggestion from his objective mind to his subjective mind; and Jesus was satisfied with that compliance with his demand for faith, and he instantly healed the sufferer. He knew the law, and was fully aware that any lingering objective doubt remaining in the father's objective mind could not prevail against the "spoken word" of faith.
This case is also illustrative of the principle discussed in the previous chapter; namely, the desirability of having a favorable mental environment, especially in cases where the objective mind of the patient could not be appealed to. The boy was in a state of complete objective insensibility. The father was the only one present who was in telepathic rapport with him. Hence the importance of impressing the father's subjective mind with faith, to the end that his mental condition might be impressed upon the subjective mind of the son, and by that means exert a favorable influence upon the latter by telepathic suggestion. In this case the father's spoken word of belief was a more potent suggestion than his objective doubts, and the son's subjective mind, ever alert, seized upon the suggestion; and Jesus, by means of a suggestion uttered in a solemn tone of supreme authority, healed him instantly.
I do not mean to say that Jesus could not heal in such cases where the mental environment was unfavorable; but the fact that he took infinite pains, wherever practicable, to secure the best conditions, shows that he understood the law and worked within its limitations.
Certain it is that he never performed any of his wonderful works outside the laws which he proclaimed, nor did he ever intimate that he could do so. It is true that his biographers did not always relate the details of the transactions recorded; but it must be remembered that they wrote at a later day, and may not have been in possession of all the details. It is, however, a marvellous fact, and one which constitutes indubitable evidence of the truth of his history, that in no instance do they relate a single act performed or word spoken by him, relating to the healing of the sick, that does not reveal his perfect knowledge of and compliance with the laws which pertain to mental therapeutics as they are revealed in modern times through experiment and the processes of inductive reasoning.
There is but one legitimate conclusion, and that is that the discoveries of modern science demonstrate the essential truth of the history of the physical manifestations of Jesus.
The next question is, How did it happen that Jesus came into possession of the knowledge of the true science of mental therapeutics, when no one else in all the world at that time knew its rudiments? It may be true, and doubtless it is true, that there were mental healers before his time, who, by various methods, performed wonderful works in psycho-therapeutics. But it must be conceded that he was the first who evinced a true knowledge of the underlying principles of the science. He it was who first divined the very essence of that science, and proclaimed it to the world in the one word faith. That word embraced all that it was necessary for the world to know at that time. Faith, and the means of acquiring it, is the substance of all that he taught to his disciples concerning the means of healing the sick; and it was all that was necessary to enable them to imitate his example and to transmit the power to those who should come after them. To use his own language, it was all that they could bear. It was the exoteric science of mental healing. The esoteric doctrine he reserved for the time when mankind, inspired by the "Spirit of truth," which he promised, should be able to discover it for themselves. His was the "dispensation of faith." The "dispensation of knowledge" was yet to come. That he was in possession of the knowledge of the underlying principles of the whole science of mental healing is all but self-evident. No man without that knowledge could have done what he did to secure the most favorable conditions for the exercise of his power. It required a full comprehension of the law of suggestion, a thorough knowledge of the law of telepathy, a complete realization of the dual nature of the mind of man, and the power of the soul over the functions of the body, to enable him to take the seven steps preparatory to the raising of Jairus' daughter from the dead. If he had failed in that attempt, his preparatory steps to that end would nevertheless have demonstrated his knowledge of the laws which pertain to healing by psychic power.
The theologian will find a ready-made answer to the question, How did Jesus come into possession of knowledge which it has taken nineteen hundred years of scientific research to verify? His answer will be: "By direct inspiration from God; by virtue of his being the Son of God,—one with the Father." I shall not attempt to gainsay this proposition, but shall endeavor to show that it is true in the highest and best sense of the expression. In doing so I shall not discuss the question of his miraculous birth; I leave that to the theologian. I desire simply to show that, whatever may have been the conditions of his birth, he took upon himself the nature and attributes of humanity, and subjected himself to its physical conditions and limitations. In other words, his wondrous works were performed within the domain of the same natural laws which limit the powers of all mankind. He was a man, and merely a man, in his physical life and manifestations, and differed from other men only in the degree of his faculties and in the possession of the intuitive power of perception of the laws of the soul in its relations to the physical world and to God.
I have shown that Jesus did not find it necessary to go outside the pale of natural law for the power to perform his mighty works, that he not only operated within the domain of natural law, but even avowed and proclaimed the fact to the world. It remains for me to show that his knowledge of those laws was obtained through the operation of natural law, and without the necessity of our invoking the aid of miraculous power.
It will be remembered that in a former chapter of this book it was shown that the subjective mind, or soul, of man possesses the inherent power to perceive, under certain exceptional conditions not clearly defined, those operations of nature which are governed by fixed laws. It was by means of this power of instantaneous perception of the laws of numbers that Zerah Colburn, before his objective education was sufficient to enable him to understand the power of the nine digits, was enabled instantly to state the cube root of any number that was given him. He could never give any explanation of the means by which the result was accomplished. It was beyond his own objective powers of comprehension. He simply perceived the truth.
It was this power that enabled Blind Tom to perceive the laws of the harmony of sounds. He was without objective education, and devoid of the capacity to acquire one; but from the moment when he discovered an old piano in an unused room of his master's mansion, he was able to improvise beautiful melodies, and to reproduce with remarkable accuracy a piece of music after once hearing it played.
This is a power which transcends reason, and is independent of induction. Instances of its development might be multiplied indefinitely, but it is not necessary in this connection to enlarge upon a fact which will receive the instant assent of the intelligent reader when his attention is called to it. In this objective existence of ours, trammelled as is the human soul by its fleshly tabernacle, it is comparatively rare that conditions are favorable to the development of the phenomena. But enough is known to warrant the conclusion that when the soul is released from its objective environment it will be enabled to perceive all the laws of its being, to "see God as he is," by the perception of the laws which he has instituted. It is the knowledge of this power which demonstrates our true relationship to God, which confers the warranty of our right to the title of "sons of God," and confirms our inheritance of our rightful share of his attributes and powers,—our heirship of God, our joint heirship with Jesus Christ.
It was this power of perception of truth without the necessity of resorting to the slow and laborious processes of induction that enabled Christ to divine the whole law of mental therapeutics. Science, after nineteen hundred years of induction, has demonstrated the fact that he perceived the whole law and applied it with scientific accuracy. The most marvellous part of it all is that the account of it has been preserved and transmitted with such fidelity of scientific detail.
Leaving out of consideration the question of the alleged miraculous conception and birth of Christ, it is certain that he was exceptionally endowed, morally, physically, and mentally. No man ever before possessed the subjective power that he did. And yet, unlike most of those of modern times who are exceptionally endowed with that power, his objective faculties and his subjective powers seem to have been harmoniously balanced and developed. This is shown by his perfect moral character and attributes. It is demonstrated by the fact that his subjective mind was always under the perfect control of his reason. In these respects he presents a most striking contrast to the great majority of persons, especially of the present day, who are in possession of great subjective powers. Not clearly understanding the relationship between their objective and subjective faculties, they allow the latter to usurp control. They realize the wonderful powers and attributes of the human soul, but they fail to understand its equally wonderful, but necessary, limitations. They realize that the soul is "God in us," and naturally conclude that it is endowed with all god-like attributes. They fail to realize that while it is imprisoned in the body, it must be limited and controlled by its objective environment. They cannot understand that the soul, as long as it is amenable to control by the power of suggestion, must necessarily be limited in its powers of reasoning. Most important of all, they fail to understand that the soul is the seat of all human passion and emotion; that, uncontrolled by objective reason, it runs riot at the bidding of every immoral suggestion; that his objective powers of reason were given to man to enable him to train the soul for eternity,—to work out his own salvation.
The whole life of Christ is an illustration of the fact that he knew the law, and, knowing it, employed his subjective powers in their legitimate domain, and never suffered himself to be tempted to allow them to usurp the throne of reason.
The account of his temptations in the wilderness is a striking illustration of this fact, and it teaches a lesson to humanity of the utmost practical importance. Like all the recorded events of his life, it is intended to illustrate a great principle. It is not a mere literal history of an episode in his career, in which a personal devil figured at a disadvantage. To suppose that he could be tempted by such a devil as has been pictured by some, would be to degrade him below the level of common humanity. But to interpret the story as a symbolical vision appearing to Christ after his forty days' fast in the wilderness, is to find in it one of the most important lessons ever conveyed to humanity.
He was just entering upon his ministry. He had shut himself out from the world for forty days, preparatory to entering upon his work. He employed his time in silent contemplation and earnest prayer for strength and power and Divine guidance. He fasted all this time, as a physical preparation necessary to the attainment of the full powers of the soul. At the end of that time, conscious of the full possession of subjective power such as no man ever before attained, contemplating the career upon which he was about to enter, realizing all its possibilities for good and all its opportunities for the attainment of personal power and aggrandizement, the temptation came. His subjective mind was the tempter. Reasoning deductively from the consciousness of transcendent power, and selfishly, in obedience to the laws of its being, it pictured to the imagination of Jesus all the possibilities in store for him if he chose to exercise his power for selfish ends. The first temptation appealed to his sense of personal necessity. He was poor. "He had not where to lay his head" at night. He was dependent upon the bounty of his friends for his daily food. In the pursuit of his mission he had the prospect before him of being often thrown among strangers hostile to his faith; and his immediate necessities, after his forty days' fast, gave intensity to the temptation and suggested its concrete form. It came in the words: "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." Jesus understood the vision, not only as pertaining to his present necessities, but, in its broader sense, as a temptation to the exercise of his power for selfish personal ends, for the promotion of his individual ease and comfort.
It was then that his objective power of reason asserted itself, and he refused to allow his subjective mind to usurp control. He knew that his mission on earth could not be promoted by the employment of his subjective powers for the purpose of ministering to his own selfish wants. Therefore he spurned a temptation which, if yielded to, would weaken the altruistic sentiment which was regnant in him.
His next temptation followed the first in deductive logical sequence. It came in the form of a symbolical vision, in which he saw himself placed upon a pinnacle of the temple, and a voice said: "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." This suggestion was a sequence to the other, for it was as much as to say: "If you wish to heal the sick, exhibit your power in public, where all men can see and know that you have the power to preserve your own life. Then will you receive the plaudits of the multitude, and their faith in you will be made strong."
His answer to this, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," conveys, in one brief sentence, a valuable and important lesson pertaining to the exercise of subjective power,—a lesson the importance of which, in its application to the science of mental therapeutics, cannot be overestimated. In its general sense it means that subjective power should never be exercised for purposes of mere display. The tempter appealed to his love of approbation, his pride of power, his desire for the plaudits of the multitude, tempered by the insidious suggestion that, by the public exhibition of his power, he could all the more readily secure the confidence of the people and promote the object of his mission. He had refused to exercise his power for the purpose of securing his own ease and comfort, for the reason that his mission, in part, was to relieve the sufferings of others; and now he was tempted to promote that object by a public display in the presence of an admiring multitude. There was nothing morally wrong in either suggestion. It is not wrong, per se, to produce bread, or to take measures to secure our own comfort. Nor is it wrong, in itself, to give a public exhibition for a good purpose; but from the standpoint from which he viewed it, both were wrong in principle and practice. The first would interfere with, and endanger the success of, his mission; the second would be trifling with the gift of God. It would be a wanton exercise of a power which is given, not for idle display, but for the promotion of the highest good of mankind, when exercised within its legitimate sphere.
But there was another and a more potent reason still for his refusal to exercise his power for purposes of display. It is a reason which the world is just beginning to appreciate. It is a reason which finds its justification in the fundamental principles pertaining to the exercise of psychic power. As in all the words and deeds of Christ, there was a scientific principle underlying the sententious expression employed in his rejection of the second temptation. This principle applies with special force to the employment of psychic power to the healing of the sick.
It has been shown in a former chapter that the normal functions of the subjective entity consist in the performance of those acts which tend to the preservation and perpetuation of the human race. It has also been shown that all exercise of subjective power outside that domain is abnormal, and, consequently, injurious. As this subject has been sufficiently enlarged upon elsewhere, it need only be mentioned here. It was this principle which Christ desired to illustrate and enforce, and he never neglected an opportunity to do so by precept or example. As before remarked, it applies with special force to the exercise of that power for the purpose of healing, and it teaches a most important and salutary lesson both to healer and patient. It is this: that no one should ever presume to violate the laws of health for the mere purpose of showing to himself or to others that he has the psychic power to heal himself. A necessary or an unavoidable act may be performed which is ordinarily injurious to health, or even dangerous to life, and psychic power may be invoked to avert the natural consequences; but when one wantonly violates the laws of health for the mere purposes of display, he is apt to find that the power to avert the consequences has deserted him. He has violated the commandment uttered by the Saviour on that occasion: "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." He has violated a law of nature, a law of psycho-therapeutics, which Christ thus sententiously formulated for the guidance of all who should come after him. Like all the other laws which he revealed to mankind, it applies with equal force now as it did when he first promulgated it nineteen hundred years ago; and it may safely be said that there is no one act of his life that more clearly discloses his perfect knowledge of the laws which pertain to the normal exercise of subjective power than his rejection of the three temptations.
His next temptation came in the form of a symbolical vision, in which he saw himself, figuratively, upon the top of "an exceeding high mountain," from which he could view "the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them."
The other temptations attacked his usefulness as a man. The third was directed against his spiritual mission also. It came in a more insidious form than either the first or second, for its promises included both. It was equivalent to saying: "You see the wide world before you, with all its comforts, its honors and glory, its wealth and splendor and power. All these can you acquire by the exercise of that potent force with which you have been invested."
"Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."
Again had reason triumphed over the natural, instinctive suggestions of his human nature. Again had he refused to employ the power with which he had been invested, outside the limits of its legitimate domain. Again had he taught a lesson to humanity by illustrating the normal relations between the objective and subjective faculties,—between reason and instinct. In his rejection of the last temptation he did more,—he exhibited his entire devotion to the objects of his spiritual mission. He had come into the world, taking upon himself the yoke and burden of common humanity. He was circumscribed by the limitations of its laws, municipal, ecclesiastical, and natural. He willingly obeyed them all. His lot was cast among a poor and humble people. He must mingle familiarly with them if he would impress them with the grand and awful simplicity of his philosophy. If he placed himself above the laws of the land, he would be proscribed. If he transcended or violated the laws of nature, his example would be lost to common humanity. If he sought the worldly wealth and secular power which was within his grasp, he would be feared, but not loved, by the people whose destiny it was to be the first recipients of his teachings, the beneficiaries of his power, the witnesses of his example, the recorders of his testament.
This digression from the main point of our present argument seemed necessary in order to show how perfectly the subjective mind of Jesus was under the control of his objective reason. Besides, there is no one act of his life that more clearly discloses his perfect knowledge of the laws which pertain to the normal exercise of subjective power, and his firm determination never to exercise that power outside of its legitimate domain, or for purposes of private advantage or emolument, than his rejection of the three temptations. That these principles actuated him is shown by his every act and word. That he taught them in their purity to his apostles is shown in the indignant reply of Peter to Simon the sorcerer, who offered a money consideration to Peter to purchase the secret of his power. Knowing that Simon was a professional magician, and suspecting that he desired only to add to his répertoire of stock exhibitions of occult powers, the apostle rebuked him in these memorable words:—
"Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God."[52]
I now recur to the main question under discussion: How did Jesus obtain the scientifically accurate and exclusive knowledge of the laws pertaining to the exercise of subjective power, of which every act and word of his demonstrates his possession?
The ready and easy answer of unreasoning faith is, "Miracle." But is it necessary in this case to invoke the aid of such an explanation? Clearly not. Without entering upon the discussion of the vexed question of the possible existence of the power to work a miracle, it must be held as a self-evident proposition that we should never convert an event into a miracle when there is a satisfactory explanation within the known laws of nature.
In this case the necessity does not exist to presuppose a miraculous intervention of Divine power, since God has given to every human soul the inherent power, under certain conditions, to perceive and comprehend the fixed laws of nature. What those conditions are, we may never know. That they exist, the events within common knowledge amply demonstrate. That they are exceptional, goes without saying. No one man has ever been able to perceive all the laws during his objective existence. One perceives the law of numbers, another that of the harmony of sounds, another that of the harmony of colors, and so on.
Jesus Christ perceived spiritual law.
That his intuitions were scientifically exact, so far as they pertained to the subject of his physical manifestations in healing the sick, is amply demonstrated by comparison of what he did and said with the discoveries of modern science within this, the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
I have purposely refrained from commenting on the accounts of his physical manifestations other than those of healing the sick, for the reason that science in the Western world as yet furnishes little or no data for comparison. I cannot refrain, however, from calling the attention of the reader to the fact that a few years ago sceptics were just as incredulous regarding the biblical accounts of Christ's healing the sick as they still are regarding his feeding of the multitude on the five loaves and the two fishes. It must be remembered that experimental knowledge of the occult sciences is still in its infancy in the Western world, and that what is regarded as a miracle to-day may be known to be a scientific fact to-morrow. In the mean time enough is known to the scientific world to-day to demonstrate the essential truth of the physical history of Jesus of Nazareth. It remains to show what light the scientific discoveries of the nineteenth century shed upon his spiritual philosophy.