SUGGESTION AND INSTINCT.
"Anima non nascitur sed fit," ut ait.--TERTULLIANUS.
"Post quam loquuti sumus de anima rationali, intellectuali
(_immortali_) et quia ad inferiores descendimus jam gradus
animæ, scilicet animæ mortalis quæ animalium est."
--PETRUS GREGORIUS THOLOSANUS.
It must have struck many readers that the action of a mind under
hypnotic influence, be it of another or of self, involves strange
questions as regards Consciousness. For it is very evident from
recorded facts, that people can actually reason and act without waking
consciousness, in a state of mind which resembles instinct, which is a
kind of cerebration, or acting under habits and impressions supplied
by memory and formed by practice, but not according to what we
understand by Reason or Judgment.
All things in nature have their sleep or rest, night is the sleep of
the world, death the repose of Nature or Life--the solid temples, the
great globe itself, dissolve to awaken again; so man hath in him, as
it were, a company of workmen, some of whom labor by day, while others
watch by night, during which time they, unseen, have their fantastic
frolics known as dreams. The Guardian or Master of the daily hours,
appears in a great measure to conform his action closely to average
duties of life, in accordance with those of all other men. He picks
out from the millions of images or ideas in the memory, uses and
becomes familiar with a certain number, and lets the rest sleep. This
master or active agent is probably himself a Master-Idea--the result
of the correlative action of all the others, a kind of consensus made
personal, an elected Queen Bee, as I have otherwise described him or
her.
But he is not the only thinker--there are all over the body ganglions
which act by a kind of fluid instinct, born of repetition, and when
the tired master even drowses or nods, or falls into a brown study,
then a marvelously curious mental action begins to show itself, for
dreams at once flicker and peer and steal dimly about him. This is
because the waking consciousness is beginning to shut out the world--
and its set of ideas.
So consistent is the system that even if Waking Reason abstract
itself, not to sleep, but to think on one subject such as writing a
poem or inventing a machine, certain affinities will sleep or dreams
begin to show themselves. When Genius is really at work, it sweeps
along, as it were, in a current, albeit it has enough reason left to
also use the rudder and oars, or spread and manage a sail. The reason
for the greater fullness of unusual images and associations (_i. e._,
the action of genius) during the time when one is bent on intellectual
invention is that the more the waking conscious Reason drowses or
approaches to sleep, the more do many images in Memory awaken and
begin to shyly open the doors of their cells and peep out.
In the dream we also proceed, or rather drift, loosely on a current,
but are without oars, rudder or sail. We are hurtled against, or
hurried away from the islands of Images or Ideas, that is to say, all
kinds of memories, and our course is managed or impelled, or guided by
tricky water-sprites, whose minds are all on mischief bent or only
idle merriment. In any case they conduct us blindly and wildly from
isle to isle, sometimes obeying a far cry which comes to them through
the mist--some echoing signal of our waking hours. So in a vision ever
on we go!
That is to say that even while we dream there is an unconscious
cerebration or voluntarily exerted power loosely and irregularly
imitating by habit, something like the action of our waking hours,
especially its brown studies and fancies in drowsy reveries or play.
It seems to me as if this sleep-master or mistress--I prefer the
latter--who attends to our dreams may be regarded as Instinct on the
loose, for like instinct she acts without conscious reasoning. She
carries out, or realizes, trains of thought, or sequences with little
comparison or deduction. Yet within her limits she can do great work,
and when we consider, we shall find that by following mere Law she has
effected a great, nay, an immense, deal, which we attribute entirely
to forethought or Reason. As all this is closely allied to the action
of the mind when hypnotized, it deserves further study.
Now it is a wonderful reflection that as we go back in animated nature
from man to insects, we find self-conscious Intellect or Reason based
on Reflection disappear, and Instinct taking its place. Yet Instinct
in its marvelous results, such as ingenuity of adaptation, often far
surpasses what semi-civilized man could do. Or it does the same things
as man, only in an entirely different way which is not as yet
understood. Only from time to time some one tells a wonderful story of
a bird, a dog or a cat, and then asks, "Was not this reason?"
What it was, in a great measure, was an unconscious application of
memory or experience. Bees and ants and birds often far outdo savage
men in ingenuity of construction. The red Indians in their persistent
use of flimsy, cheerless bark wigwams, were far behind the beaver or
oriole as regards dwellings; in this respect the Indian indicated mere
instinct of a low order, as all do who live in circles of mere
tradition.
Now to advance what seems a paradox, it is evident that even what we
regard as inspired genius comes to man in a great measure from
Instinct, though as I noted before it is aided by reflection. As the
young bird listens to its mother and then sings till as a grown
nightingale it pours forth a rich flood of varying melody; so the poet
or musician follows masters and models, and then, like them,
_creates_, often progressing, but is never _entirely_ spontaneous or
original. When the artist thinks too little he lacks sense, when he
thinks too much he loses fire. In the very highest and most strangely
mysterious poetical flights of SHELLEY and KEATS, or WORDSWORTH, I
find the very same Instinct which inspires the skylark and
nightingale, but more or less allied to and strengthened by Thought or
Consciousness. If human Will or Wisdom alone directed _all_ our work,
then every man who had mere patience might be a great original genius,
and it is indeed true that Man can do inconceivably more in following
and imitating genius than has ever been imagined. However, thus far
the talent which enables a man to write such a passage as that of
TENNYSON,
"The tides of Music's golden sea
Setting towards Eternity,"
results from a development of Instinct, or an intuitive perception of
the Beautiful, such as Wordsworth believed existed in all things which
enjoy sunshine, _life_, and air. The poet himself cannot _explain_ the
processes, though he may be able to analyze in detail how or why he
made or found a thousand other things.
It is not only true that Genius originates in something antecedent to
conscious reflection or intellect, but also that men have produced
marvelous works of art almost without knowing it, while others have
shown the greatest incapacity to do so after they had developed an
incredible amount of knowledge. Thus Mr. WHISTLER reminded RUSKIN that
when the world had its greatest artists, there were no critics.
And it is well to remember that while the Greeks in all their glory of
Art and Poetry were unquestionably rational or consciously
intelligent, there was not among them the thousandth part of the
anxious worrying, the sentimental self-seeking and examination, or the
Introversion which worms itself in and out of, and through and
through, all modern work, action and thought, even as mercury in an
air-pump will permeate the hardest wood. For the Greeks worked more in
the spirit of Instinct; that is, more according to certain transmitted
laws and ideas than we realize--albeit this tradition was of a very
high order. We have lost Art because we have not developed tradition,
but have immensely increased consciousness, or reflection, out of
proportion to art It was from India and Egypt in a _positive_ form
that Man drew the poison of sentimental Egoism which became
comparative in the Middle Ages and superlative in this our time.
It is very evident that as soon as men become self-conscious of great
work, or cease to work for the sake of enjoying Art, or its results,
and turn all their attention to the genius or cleverness, or character
or style, self, _et cetera_, of the _artist_, or of themselves, a
decadence sets in, as there did after the Renaissance, when knowledge
or enjoyment of Art was limited, and guided by familiarity with names
and schools and "manners," or the like, far more than by real beauty
in itself.
Now, out of all this which I have said on Art, strange conclusions may
be drawn, the first being that even without self-conscious Thought or
excess of Intellect, there can be a Sense of Enjoyment in any or every
organism, also a further development of memory of that enjoyment, and
finally a creation of buildings, music and song, with no reflection,
in animals, and very little in Man. And when Man gets beyond working
with simple Nature and begins to think chiefly about himself, his Art,
as regards harmony with Nature, deteriorates.
We do not sufficiently reflect on the fact that _Natura naturans_, or
the action of Nature (or simply following Tradition), may, as is the
case of Transition Architecture, involve the creation of marvelously
ingenious and beautiful works, and the great enjoyment of them by
Instinct alone. It is not possible for ordinary man to even understand
this now in all its fullness. He is indeed trying to do so--but it is
too new for his comprehension. But a time will come when he will
perceive that his best work has been done unconsciously, or under
influences of which he was ignorant.
Hypnotism acts entirely by suggestion, and he who paints or does other
work entirely according to Tradition, also carries out what is or has
been suggested to him. Men of earlier times who thus worked for
thousands of years like the Egyptians in one style, were guided by the
faith that it had been begun by the Creator or God.
For men cannot conceive of creation as separate from pre-determined
plan or end, and all because they cannot understand that Creative
innate force, _potentia_, must have some result, or that the simplest
Law once set agoing awakens, acquires strength in going and develops
great Laws, which, with an all-susceptible or _capable_ material to
work on, may, or _must_, create infinite ingenuities, so that in time
there may be an organic principle with sentiency, and yet no Will,
save in its exponents, or working to end or aim, but ever tending to
further unfolding "a seizing and giving the fire of the living" ever
onwards into Eternity, in which there may be a million times more
perfect "mind" than we can now grasp.
Now, having for many years attempted at least to familiarize myself
with the aspect or sound, of this problem, though I could not solve
it, it seems at last to be natural enough that even matter (which so
many persist in regarding as a kind of dust or something resistant to
the touch, but which I regard as infinite millions of degrees more
subtle), may _think_ just as well as it may act in Instinct. It is,
indeed, absurd to admit souls to idiots or savages, who have not the
sense to live as comfortably as many animals, and yet deny it to the
latter. When we really become familiar with the idea, it appears
sensible enough. But its opponents do _not_ become familiar with it,
it irritates them, they call it Atheistic, although it is nothing of
the kind, just as if we were to say that a man who bravely and nobly
pursued his way in life, doing his duty because it was his duty, and
giving no thought as to future reward or punishment, must needs want
_soul_ or be an Atheist.
If all men were perfectly good, they would act morally and
instinctively, without consciousness of behaving well, and if we felt
a high ideal of Art it would be just the same. When Art was natural
men never signed their names to their work, but now the Name takes
precedence of the picture.
Therefore, as we go backward into the night of things, we find, though
we forget it all the time, that Instinct or the living in the Spirit
of Law, had its stars or planets which shone more brilliantly than
now, at least in Faith. Thus, there are two sources of Creation or
Action, both based on Evolution, one being unconscious and guided by
Natural Law, and the other which is conscious and grows out of the
first. Hence _cognito ergo sum_, which well-nigh all men really
understand as _cogito, ergo sum Deus_. Or we may say that they assume
"Because _I_ think, then God must _think_ like me!"
Now to come to Hypnotic thought, or suggested mental action. I would
infer that, according to what I have said, there may be two kinds of
mentality, or working of the mind--the one under certain conditions as
effective or resultant as the other; the first being--as it was in the
order of time--Unconscious or Instinctive; the other, conscious and
self-observant.
For the man who built a Romanesque Cathedral worked by the
suggestiveness of minds which went before him, or Tradition. He was
truly, as it were, in a kind of slumber; indeed, all life was more or
less of a waking dream in those dim, strange days. "Millions marched
forth to death scarce knowing why," all because they were _told_ to do
so--they felt that they must do it, and they did it. "Like turkeys led
by a red rag," says CARLYLE. And the red rag and the turkey is an
illustration of Hypnotism in one of the books thereon. Instinct _is_
Hypnotism.
Now I have found that by suggesting to oneself before sleep, or
inducing self by Will or Forethought to work gladly and unweariedly
the next day, we do not _think_ about self or the quality of what we
do to any degree like what we would in working under ordinary
conditions. Truly it is not thoroughgoing or infallible in all cases,
but _then_ it must be helped by a little wide-awake self-conscious
will. But this is certainly true, that we can turn out _better_ work
when we urge our creative power to awake in the morn and act or aid,
than if we do not.
"For there are many angels at our call,
And many blessed spirits who are bound
To lend their aid in every strait and turn;
And elves to fly the errands of the soul,
And fairies all too glad to give us help,
If we but know how to pronounce the spell
Which calls them unto us in every need."
That spell I have shown or explained clearly enough.
And, finally, to recapitulate, Instinct in its earlier or simpler form
is the following laws of Nature which are themselves formed by motive
laws. In Man the living according to Tradition is instinct of a higher
order, and the one or the other is merely being ruled by Suggestion.
The more free Will is developed and guided by reflection, or varied
tradition and experience, the less instinct and the more intellect
will there be.