Submitted by Nicholas B on
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The third phase of Psychic Influence is that which may be called Indirect Psychic Influence, in which psychic induction is manifested in the minds of other persons coming in contact with the thought vibrations of the person manifesting them, although no deliberate attempt is made to influence the mind of any particular person or persons. Closely connected with and involved in this phase of psychic influence, is that which is called the Psychic Law of Attraction.
The fundamental principle of this phase of psychic influence is the well-known psychic fact that mental and emotional states not only induce similar vibrations in those who are similar attuned on the psychic vibratory scale, but also tend to attract and draw to the person other persons who are vibrating along similar lines, and also tend to repel those who are vibrating in an opposing note or scale of psychic vibration.
In the preceding lessons I have shown you how by induction we tend to arouse in others mental and emotional states similar to our own. But there is a law in effect here, which must be noted if you wish to thoroughly understand this phase of psychic influences. Omitting all technical explanations, and getting right down to the heart of the phenomenon, I would say that the general principle is this: Psychic induction is difficult in proportion to the opposing quality of the characteristic mental and emotional states of the person affected; and easy in proportion to the harmonious quality thereof. That is to say, in plain words, that if a person's habitual thought and emotions are along the same lines that you are trying to induce in him, you will find it easy to induce the same in him; if, on the contrary, they are of an opposing nature, then you will find it difficult to so influence him. The many degrees of agreement and difference in the psychic vibrations of persons constitute a scale of comparative response to any particular form of mental or emotional vibrations.
It is hard to change the spots of a leopard, or the skin of an Ethiopian, as we are told on ancient authority. It is almost as difficult to change the characteristic mental and emotional states of a person by psychic induction, except after long and repeated efforts. On the contrary, let a person have certain characteristic mental and emotional habits, then these may be aroused in them with the greatest ease by means of psychic induction. For instance, if a person is characteristically and habitually peaceful, mild and calm, it will be very difficult to arouse in him by psychic induction the vibrations of anger, fight and excitement. On the other hand, if the other person is combative, fierce and easily excited to wrath, it is the easiest possible thing to arouse these feelings in him by psychic induction. So much for ordinary psychic induction; let us now consider indirect psychic induction, in which the same principle operates.
In indirect psychic induction, that is to say in cases in which psychic vibrations are aroused by induction without deliberate attempt or design to influence any particular person or persons, there is noted the manifestation of a peculiar law of attraction and repulsion along psychic lines. This psychic law operates in the direction of attracting to oneself other persons who, actively or passively, vibrate on the same note, or on some note or notes in general harmony therewith. In the same, way, the law causes you to repel other persons who vibrate on a note or notes in general inharmony or discord to yourself. So, in short, we go through life attracting or repelling, psychically, others in harmonious or inharmonious psychic relation to us, respectively. An understanding of this law and its workings will throw light upon many things in your life which you have not understood previously.
You of course understand that you are constantly radiating currents of psychic vibrations, some of which flow out to great distances from you, and affect others often far removed from you in space. But you may not also know that on the astral plane there is manifesting a similar sequence of cause and effect. A strong emotional vibration, or a strong desire or will, tends to manifest on the astral plane by attracting or repelling others in psychic harmony or inharmony with you. This phenomenon is not so common as is that of ordinary thought vibrations from brain to brain, but it is far more common that is generally supposed. It is particularly marked in cases of men of strong desire and will, and strong creative imagination. These vibrations awakening response in the minds of those in harmony with them, tend to draw to one those other persons whose general character will fit in with the desires and ideas of the first person, or to repel those who are not harmonious therewith. This explains the peculiar phenomenon of strong men in business, politics and other walks of life, drawing and attracting to them other men who will fit in with their general plans and aims.
This law works two ways. Not only do you draw such persons to you as will fit in with your plans and purposes, but you are attracted to them by the same law. Not only this, but you will find that through the peculiar workings of this law even things and circumstances, as well as persons, will seem to be moulded by your strong desires and ideas, providing your psychic vibrations are sufficiently strong and clear. Have you never noticed how a strong, resourceful magnetic man will seem to actually draw to him the persons, things and circumstances that he needs to carry out and manifest his plans and designs. To many, not understanding this great law, these things have seemed positively uncanny and mysterious. But, now-a-days, the big men of business and politics are beginning to understand these psychic laws, and to apply them deliberately and with purpose.
Some of the great leaders in the business world, and in politics, are known to deliberately start into operation strong psychic vibrations, and to send out strong psychic currents of attraction, by the methods that I have already explained to you. They, of course, are filled with a more than ordinary degree of desire and will and, in the second place, they create very strong and clear mental pictures of their plans working out successfully to a finish; then concentrate strongly on the thing; and lo! the effect is felt by all hands and on all sides. They "treat the public" (to use the term favored by some of the metaphysical cults of the day) by holding the mental picture of that which they strongly desire to come to pass, and by concentrating their thought and will strongly upon it.
A favorite mental picture of some of these men (who have been instructed by teachers of occultism), is that of themselves as the centre of a great psychic whirlpool, drawing to themselves the persons, things and circumstances calculated to bring success and realization to them. Others picture their thought-vibrations flowing from them like the rings in a pond into which a stone had been dropped, influencing a constantly widening circle of other persons; then they picture the persons being drawn to them in the manner just mentioned. They persist in this practice day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year—is it any wonder that they draw to themselves that which they desire?
Other persons of lesser caliber take similar advantage of the law in the same way, but on a smaller scale. In every community there are certain persons who seem to draw to themselves the patronage and custom of the community, in some peculiar way. In most cases this may be traced back to some form of psychic influence. I do not mean that these persons consciously and deliberately set these forces into operation. On the contrary, many of them do so more or less unconsciously, and without a knowledge of the underlying psychic principles involved. Such persons have stumbled on a portion of the psychic laws, and have used them more or less unconsciously and without understanding the real reason of the happening. They found out that certain mental states and certain mental pictures tended to produce certain results—that they "worked out"—and so they continued them. Some of these men think of the whole thing as something supernatural, and get to believe that they are being helped by some supernatural power; whereas, they are simply operating under a universal psychic law of cause and effect.
In America a number of teachers and writers have devoted much attention to this phase of the general subject of psychic influence. Cults have been formed upon this general basis, the main idea of their followers being that of attracting financial and other success by means of this phase of psychic force. One of the leading writers along this line, says: "An individual who has cultivated the faculty of concentration, and has acquired the art of creating sharp, clear, strong, mental images, and who when engaged in an undertaking will so charge his mind with the idea of success, will be bound to become an attracting centre. And if such an individual will keep his mental picture ever in his mind, even though it be in the background of his mind, when he is attending to the details and planning of his affairs—if he will give his mental picture a prominent place in his mental gallery, taking a frequent glance at it, and using his will upon it to create new scenes of actual success, he will create for himself a centre of radiating thought that will surely be felt by those coming within its field of influence.
"Such a man frequently 'sees people as coming to him and his enterprises, and as falling in line with his plans. He mentally 'sees' money flowing in to him, and all of his plans working out right. In short, he mentally imagines each step of his plans a little ahead of the time for their execution, and he concentrates forcibly and earnestly upon them. It is astonishing to witness how events, people, circumstances, and things seem to move in place in actual life as if urged by some mighty power to serve to materialize the conditions so imaged in the mind of the man. But, understand, there must be active mental effort behind the imaging. Day dreamers do not materialize thought—they merely dissipate energy. The man who converts thought in activity and material being throws energy into the task, and puts forth his willpower through the pictured image. Without the rays of the will there will be no picture projected, no matter how beautifully the imagination has projected it. Thought pictured in mental images, and then vitalized by the force of the desire, and will, tend to objectify themselves into material being."
The student will be interested in reading and hearing the various theories and explanations given by different writers and teachers to account for the phenomena of psychic influence. Once he has grasped the real scientific principles involved, he will be able to see the same in operation in all of the cases cited by the different teachers and writers, and will find that this fundamental principle fully explains and accounts for all of these cases, no matter how puzzling they may seem, or how mysterious they may be claimed to be by those mentioning them. Truth is very simple when we brush away the fantastic dressings which have been placed around it by those who have lacked knowledge of the true fundamental principles.
We see this same law or principle operating in very many different ways from those previously mentioned. For instance, we frequently find cases in which one person has a strong desire for a certain kind of assistance in his business or other work. He has almost given up hope of finding the right kind of person, for those whom he has tried have failed to measure up the requirements of the situation. If he will (and he sometimes does) follow the general plan just mentioned, he will set into operation the psychic forces which will attract that person to him, and him to that person. In some peculiar way, the two will be thrown together, and the combination will work out to the best advantage of both. In these cases, each person is seeking the other, and the psychic forces of attraction, once set into operation, serve to bring them together.
In like manner, one often draws to himself certain knowledge and information that he requires or is desirous of gaining. But, and you must always remember this, no miracle is worked, for it is simply a matter of the working out of natural laws of cause and effect—attraction and response to attraction—on the psychic or astral plane. Such a person will accidently (!) run across some other person who will be led to give him the key to the knowledge he seeks. Perhaps a book may be mentioned, or some reference to some writer be made. If the hint is followed up, the desired information comes to light. Many persons have had the psychic experience of being led to some book store and induced to examine a particular shelf of books, whereupon a particular book presents itself which changes the whole course of the person's life. Or, perhaps, one will pick up a newspaper apparently at random, and without purpose; and therein will find some information, or at least a hint in the direction where the information may be found. When one accustoms himself to the workings of psychic forces, these things soon become accepted as a matter of course, and cease to arouse wonder or surprise. The workings of the Psychic Law of Attraction is seen to be as natural and invariable as the law of gravitation, or magnetic attraction, once one has mastered its principles, and learned the methods of its application. Surely such a wonderful law is well worth study, attention, investigation, and mastery, isn't it?
A writer along the lines of Mental Science, which is really based on the principles which have been stated in this book, has the following to say regarding his system: "Wonderful results arise by reason of what has been called 'The Law of Attraction,' by the workings of which each person is continually drawing to himself the people, things, objects, and even circumstances in harmony and accord with his prevailing mental states. Like attracts like, and the mental states determine that which one draws to himself. If you are not satisfied with what is coming to you, start to work and change your mental attitudes and mental states, and you will see a change gradually setting in, and then the things that you want will begin to come your way. * * * A most important fact about the effect of mental vibrations upon people lies in the principle that one is more affected by vibrations in harmony with his own accustomed feelings and mental states, than by those of an opposite nature. A man who is full of evil schemes, and selfish aims, is more apt to be caught up by similar vibrations than one who lives above that plane of thought. He is more easily tempted by evil suggestions and influences, than one to whom these things are abhorrent. And the same is true on every plane. A man whose mental attitude is one of confidence and fearlessness, is not apt to be affected by vibrations of a negative, pessimistic, gloomy nature, and vice versa. Therefore, if you wish to receive the vibrations of the thoughts and feelings of others, you must place yourself in a mental attitude corresponding with those vibrations which you wish to receive. And if you wish to avoid vibrations of a certain kind, the best way is to rise above them in your own mind, and to cultivate the mental states opposite them. The positive always overcomes the negative—and optimistic mental states are always positive to pessimistic mental states."
Another writer on, and practitioner of Mental Science, in America, several years ago, explained her theory and practice by means of the term "corelation of thoughts and things." She held that when one thought positively, clearly and forcibly of a thing, he "related" himself to that thing, and tended to attract it to him, and to be attracted toward it. She held that true wisdom consists in so managing our thoughts that we shall relate ourselves only to those things which we know to be desirable and beneficial to ourselves, and to avoid thinking of those which are harmful and detrimental to us. The student of this book will see how this practical Mental Scientist was really using the same principles that we have examined and become acquainted within this book, although she called them by another name, and explained them by another theory. At the bottom of all the teachings and theories you will always find the one same basic principle and universal law.
The advanced student of occultism knows that each and every one of us is really a creator of his own circumstances, environment and conditions, to a great extent. Each of us is able to so modify our mental activities as to bring about such changes in our environment and surroundings as to actually re-create them. The things accomplished by successful men are really but materializations of that which they have previously held in their mental vision. Everything is first created on the psychic plane, and then manifested in the physical world. All the great works of man, the great bridges, great buildings, tunnels, machinery, cities, railroads, canals, works of art, musical compositions, etc., first existed in the mind of their creators, and were then afterward materialized in physical form and shape. And, so you see we are proceeding with our work of mental creations whenever we think and make mental images. This, however, is no new teaching. It is as old as the race of mankind. Over twenty-five hundred years ago, Buddha said to his disciples: "All that we are is the result of what we have thought; it is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts."
I would be telling you but half the story did I not warn you that strong Fear may play the part ordinarily filled by Desire in the production of the psychic phenomena of materialization of mental pictures. Strange as it may appear at first, a strong fear that a thing will come to pass will act much the same as a strong desire that the happening will occur. Consequently, many persons by continually dwelling upon the thing that they fear may happen to them, actually attract that thing to them, just as if they had actually desired and wished for it. I cannot go into occult technicalities in explaining this strange fact; but the gist of the secret may be said to consist in the fact that the person clearly and vividly pictures in his mind the thing that he fears may happen to him. He thus creates a strong mental-picture or image of it, which sets into forces the attractive power of psychic influence and draws the feared thing into material reality. As Job said: "The thing that I feared hath come upon me." The moral of this is, of course, that persons should learn to stamp out fear and mental images of things feared. Instead, they should make strong positive mental denials of the things that they may find themselves fearing. They should deny the reality of the feared thing, and assert positively their own superiority to the thing, and their power to overcome it.
A great religious cult has sprung into existence which makes a leading doctrine of this ability to materialize the things which one desires, and to deny out of existence undesirable things. Many persons who have witnessed the wonderful success of some of the followers of this cult or organization, have been puzzled to account for the same on scientific and rational grounds. A little understanding of fundamental occult and psychic principles, as given in these lessons, will show the "why and wherefore" of these strange and wonderful manifestations. In this connection you must remember that the combined thought of the thousands of persons composing this cult or organization undoubtedly gives additional psychic force to the mental affirmations and denials of the individual member thereof.
In past and present, and probably in future time, there have been many instances of magical procedures tending to bring about the results that we have herein seen to come about by reason of psychic influence, in some of its many phases. These magic procedures have usually been accompanied by incantations, ceremonies, strange rites, evocations, etc., which were supposed to have great virtue in bringing about desired results. But the true occultists now know that these ceremonies and rites were merely hopes to the imagination and aids to faith, and thus tended to bring about the psychic phenomena. There was no virtue in these ceremonies themselves, and the same results may be secured by simply following the procedure outlined in this book. The wonders of ancient magic have been reproduced by the modern occultists, without all the mumbo-jumbo of the past rites and ceremonies.
A gifted English writer upon the subject of the relation of mysticism and magic, sums up the gist of the principles of Magic as follows:
"The central doctrine of Magic may now be summed up thus:
"(1) That a supersensible and real cosmic medium exists, which interpenetrates, influences, and supports the tangible and apparent world, and is amenable to the categories both of meta-physics and of physics." [This of course is the astral plane, which is the container of the subtle form or framework of all that exists on the physical plane.]
"(2) That there is an established analogy and equilibrium between the real (and unseen) world, and the illusory manifestation that we call the world of sense." [By this of course is meant the correspondence and balance between the subtle form of things and the material manifestation thereof. Things created in the astral, tend to materialize on the physical plane. All creation proceeds from the astral to the physical.]
"(3) That this analogy may be discerned, and this equilibrium controlled, by the disciplined will of man, which thus becomes master of itself and of fate." [The essence of Will consists of strong desire accompanied by a clear mental picture of the thing desired, and held steady and firm by concentration.]
So you see by reference to the above very clear statement of the central doctrine of Magic, and my explanations thereof, that in these lessons you have been taught the very essence of the wonderful, mysterious ancient Magic, and its modern counterpart. As for the various rites and ceremonies, as I have said, these are mere symbols and aids to mental imaging and concentration. As an eminent occultist once said, "Ceremonies being but artificial methods of creating certain habits of the will, they cease to be necessary when these habits have become fixed." The master of occultism sees ceremonies, rites, and ritual as but the playthings of the kindergarten scholar—useful and important so far as they go, but serving merely to teach the scholar, sooner or later, that he may proceed without them.