_The temporary possession of a person's body, or some member of
that body, by an alien will, as exemplified in automatic writing and
obsession_.
It would doubtless amaze the scientifically orthodox to know how
many people habitually and successfully practice the dubious art of
automatic writing--not mediums, so-called, but people of refinement
and intelligence. Although the messages received in this way may
emanate from the subconscious mind of the performer, there is
evidence to indicate that they come sometimes from an intelligence
discarnate, or from a person remote from the recipient in space.
If such is indeed the case, if the will is extraneous, how does it
possess itself of the nerves and muscles of the hand of the writer?
The Higher Space Hypothesis is of assistance here. It is only
necessary to remember that from the fourth dimension the interior of
a solid is as much exposed as the interior of a plane figure is
exposed from the region of the third dimension. A four-dimensional
being would experience no difficulty, under suitable conditions, in
possessing itself of any part of the bodily mechanism of another.
The same would hold true in cases of possession and obsession; for
if the bastion of the hand can thus be captured, so also may the
citadel of the brain. Certain familiar forms of hypnotism are not
different from obsession, the hypnotizer using the brain and body of
his subject as though they were his own. All unconsciously to himself,
he has called into play four-dimensional mechanics. Many cases of
so-called dual personality are more easily explicable as possession
by an alien will than on the less credible hypothesis that the
character, habits, and language of a person can change utterly in a
moment of time.