RELATION OF MIND ACTIVITY TO BODILY ACTIVITY
POINT OF VIEW FROM WHICH YOU MUST APPROACH THIS PROBLEM
[Sidenote: Speculation and Practical Science]
The fact is, one's opinion as to whether mind controls body or body
makes mind-action depends altogether upon the point of view. And the
first step for us to take is to agree upon the point of view we shall
assume.
Two points of view are possible. One is _speculative_, the other
_practical_.
[Sidenote: Philosophic Riddles and Personal Effectiveness]
The _speculative point of view_ is that of the philosopher and
religionist, who ponder the tie that binds "soul" and body in an effort
to solve the riddle of "creation" and pierce the mystery of the
"hereafter."
The _practical point of view_ is that of the modern practical scientist,
who deals only with actual facts of human experience and seeks only
immediate practical results.
The speculative problem is the historical and religious one of the
mortality or immortality of the soul. The practical problem is the
scientific one that demands to know what the mental forces are and how
they can be used most effectively.
[Sidenote: What We Want to Know]
There is no especial need here to trace the historical development of
these two problems or enter upon a discussion of religious or
philosophical questions.
Our immediate interest in the mind and its relationship to the body is
not because we want to be assured of the salvation of our souls after
death.
_We want to know all we can about the reality and certainty and
character of mental control of bodily functions because of the practical
use we can make of such knowledge in this life, here and now._
[Sidenote: Spiritualist, Materialist and Scientist]
The practical scientist has nothing in common with either spiritualists,
soul-believers, on the one hand, or materialists on the other. So far as
the mortality of the soul is concerned, he may be either a spiritualist
or a materialist But spiritualism or materialism is to him only an
intellectual pastime. It is not his trade. In his actual work he seeks
only practical results, and so confines himself wholly to the actual
facts of human experience.
The practical scientist knows that as between two given facts, and
_only_ as between these two, one may be the "cause" of the other. But he
is not interested in the "creative origin" of material things. He does
not attempt to discover "first" causes.
[Sidenote: Science of Cause and Effect]
The practical scientist ascribes all sorts of qualities to electricity
and lays down many laws concerning it without having the remotest idea
as to what, in the last analysis, electricity may actually be. He is not
concerned with ultimate truths. He does his work, and necessarily so,
upon the principle that for all practical purposes he is justified in
using any given assumption as a working hypothesis if everything happens
just as if it were true.
The practical scientist applies the term "cause" to any object or event
that is the invariable predecessor of some other object or event.
For him a "cause" is simply any object or event that may be looked upon
as forecasting the action of some other object or the occurrence of some
other event.
The point with him is simply this, Does or does not this object or this
event in any way affect that object or that event or determine its
behavior?
[Sidenote: Causes and "First" Causes]
No matter where you look you will find that every fact in Nature is
relatively cause and effect according to the point of view. Thus, if a
railroad engine backs into a train of cars it transmits a certain amount
of motion to the first car. This imparted motion is again passed on to
the next car, and so on. The motion of the first car is, on the one
hand, the effect of the impact of the engine, and is, on the other hand,
the "cause" of the motion of the second car. And, in general, what is an
"effect" in the first car becomes a "cause" when looked at in relation
to the second, and what is an "effect" in the second becomes a "cause"
in relation to the third. So that even the materialist will agree that
"cause" and "effect" are relative terms in dealing with any series of
facts in Nature.
[Sidenote: A Common Platform for All]
A man may be either a spiritualist, believing that the mind is a
manifestation of the super-soul, or he may be a materialist, and in
either case he may at the same time and with perfect consistency
believe, as a practical scientist, that the mind is a "cause" and has
bodily action as its "effect."
Naturally this point of view offers no difficulties whatever to the
spiritualist. He already looks upon the mind or soul as the "originating
cause" of everything.
[Sidenote: Thoughts Treated as Causes]
But the materialist, too, may in accordance with his speculative theory
continue to insist that _brain-action_ is the "originating cause" of
mental life; yet if the facts show that certain thoughts are invariably
followed by certain bodily activities, the materialist may without
violence to his theories agree to the great practical value of _treating
these thoughts as immediate causes_, no matter what the history of
creation may have been.
Whatever the brand of your materialism or your religious belief, you
can join us in accepting this practical-science point of view as a
common platform upon which to approach our second fundamental
proposition, that "all bodily activity is caused, controlled and
directed by the mind."
[Sidenote: Scientific Method with Practical Problems]
Ignoring all religious and metaphysical questions, we have, then, to ask
ourselves merely: _Can the mind be relied upon to bring about or stop or
in any manner influence bodily action? And if it can, what is the extent
of the mind's influence?_
In answering these questions we shall follow the method of the practical
scientist, whose method is invariably the same whatever the problem he
is investigating.
This method involves two steps: first, the collection and classification
of facts; second, the deduction from those facts of general principles.
[Sidenote: Uses of Scientific Laws]
The scientist first gathers together the greatest possible array of
experiential facts and classifies these facts into sequences--that is to
say, he gathers together as many instances as he can find in which one
given fact follows directly upon the happening of another given fact.
Having done this, he next formulates in broad general terms the common
principle that he finds embodied in these many similar sequences.
Such a formula, if there are facts enough to establish it, is what is
known as a scientific law. Its value to the world lies in this, that
whenever the given fact shall again occur our knowledge of the
scientific law will enable us to predict with certainty just what events
will follow the occurrence of that fact.
First, then, let us marshal our facts tending to prove that bodily
activities are caused by the mind.
INTROSPECTIVE EVIDENCE OF MENTAL MASTERY