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.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 49: Webster.]
[Footnote 50: Dwight.]
[Footnote 51: Mark ix. 22-24.]
[Footnote 52: Acts viii. 20, 21.]
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