Only once was it heard, and that was to restrain him from preparing any set argument in his defence before his judges. So he accepted his sentence and drank the hemlock, surrounded by his friends, to whom he calmly explained that death could not be an evil thing, not only from the arguments which he had adduced, but also because the Divine Sign, which never failed to admonish him when pursuing any harmful course, had not admonished nor restrained him in this course which had led directly to his death.
Joan of Arc heard voices, which in childhood only guided her in her ordinary duties, but which in her early womanhood made her one of the most conspicuous figures in the history of her time. They placed her, a young and unknown peasant girl, as a commander at the head of the defeated, disorganized, and discouraged armies of France, aroused them to enthusiasm, made them victorious, freed her country from the power of England, and placed the rightful prince upon the throne. She also heard and obeyed her guiding voices, even unto martyrdom.
Numerous instances might be cited occurring in ancient and also in modern times where the subliminal self has sent its message of instruction, guidance, warning, or restraint to the primary self by means of impressions made upon the organ of hearing. Socrates, Joan of Arc, Swedenborg, and many others considered these instructions infallible, supernatural, or divine; but in other cases the messages so given have been trivial, perhaps even false, thus removing the element of infallibility and absolute truthfulness from messages of this sort, and at the same time casting a doubt upon their supernatural character in any case. It seems wisest, therefore, at least to examine these and all cases of automatically received messages, whether by writing, trance-speaking, dreams, visions, or the hearing of voices, with a definite conception of a real and natural cause and origin for these messages in a subliminal self, forming a definite part of each individual: bearing in mind also that this subliminal self possesses powers and characteristics varying in each individual case, in many cases greatly transcending the powers and capabilities of the normal or primary self. But infallibility, though sometimes claimed, is by no means to be expected from this source, and the messages coming from each subliminal self must be judged and valued according to their own intrinsic character and merit, just as a message coming to us from any primary self, whether known or unknown to us, must be judged and valued according to its source, character, and merit.
CHAPTER X.
PHANTASMS.
Perhaps no department of Psychical Research is looked upon from such divers and even quite opposite standpoints as that which relates to Apparitions or Phantasms. Many intelligent people, in a general way, accept them as realities but assign for them a supernatural origin; while others discredit them altogether because they have apparently no basis except an assumed supernatural one.
It has been said that primitive, undeveloped, and ignorant people almost universally believe in ghosts; while with the advance of civilization, culture, and general intelligence, the frequency of alleged apparitions and the belief in ghosts diminishes or altogether disappears. If this statement were to stand unqualified, by so much would the reality and respectability of phantasms be discredited. Possibly, however, it may be found that the last word has not yet been said, and that there may exist a scientific aspect for even so unstable and diaphanous a subject as ghosts.
Instead of going over the literature of the subject from the earliest times—a literature, by the way, which in the hands of Tylor, Maury, Scott, Ralston, Mrs. Crowe and others certainly does not lack interest—it will better suit our present purpose to examine some facts relative to perception in general and vision in particular, and give some examples illustrating different phases of the subject.