BY PSYCHIC INFLUENCE LESSON VI

Psychic influence consists in awakening the forces, too often wasted by a habitual state of moral weakness, or perhaps lessened from a physiological cause. It is the power that determines the processes, which we wish to produce in other minds.

It is the art of substituting for the want of resolution in others our own will, which they obey blindly, sometimes unconsciously, ever glad to feel themselves guided and directed by a moral power which they cannot elicit in themselves.

“It is not necessary,” says Yoritomo, “to have as many pretend, recourse to magic, in order to become past masters in the art of influencing our fellows; what is needed above all is to keep ourselves constantly in a condition of will-power sufficient to impose our commands on minds capable only of obedience.”

“Intensity of determination, when it reaches a certain point, possesses a dazzling influence which few ordinary mortals can resist, for it envelops them before they are aware of it and thus before they have dreamt of endeavoring to withdraw themselves from it.”

“Moreover, the man who retains the power of influencing rarely needs to exert himself, in order to exercise it effectually, for the need of protection from it is non-existent in most persons.”

“They are rare who are morally sufficient for themselves and who pass through life without feeling the need of resting their weakness on a supporting and directing force.”

“Still less numerous are those who accept with courage the consequences of their acts and do not seek to place the responsibility for these acts on an outside influence, which, however, they re ready to repudiate if they’re successful.”

“But, should failure come, they will hasten to ascribe the causes to their advisers, proclaiming loudly that, if they had not been impelled to give ear to them, the disaster would not have come about.”

“Timidity, while not influenced by the same motives, often leads those who suffer from it to such a dread of responsibilities that they arrive at the point of being unable to at, except under the shelter of an impelling power, the manifestation of which seems to them indispensable for excusing their activities.”

“We might well pass over in silence persons of had faith, although they constitute an important group among those who seek the cooperation of others.”

“But this sickly dependence on others is with them only adopted by design.”

“Feeling themselves incapable of achieving anything by their own efforts.”

“They’re content to enjoy the fruit of the exertions of others, for they can always take credit to themselves for the best part, by throwing into the shade those who have a far better right to commendation than themselves.”

“I once knew two brothers who were devoted to the study and explanation of the ancient inscriptions graven in temples by the hand of primitive faith.”

“The younger of these brothers was verbose, very superficial, but a very brilliant and learned talker.”

“The other, continually engrossed, kept himself almost entirely out of sight, uttered only words absolutely necessary, and, when questioned on his science, replied so simply that people pitied his brother for being burdened with such an obvious nonentity.”

“The latter, however, won the good graces of every one by never speaking of his elder brother except with respect and by displaying certain uneasiness when his learning was discussed.”

“In spite of everything, he was obliged to admit he alone was learned, and his brother too shallow to take any other role that that of copyist; but it was perceived that this declaration hurt his brotherly feelings, and the esteem conceived for him increased the more.”

“Now the day came when the elder brother vanished into the spirit world, his death passed almost as unnoticed as his life, and no one dreamt of regretting him, when a serious mistake was discovered in a much disputed text. Of course, the error fell on the memory of the copyist, that useless person whom the kindness of his brother had wished to class among the learned.”

“The survivor appeared so affected by this that he gave up his work for some time, and his utterances grew dull and commonplace.”

“Nevertheless, at the instance of his friends, he undertook the translation of some ancient Buddhist Prayers of immense religious and archaeological interest.”

“Great was the general astonishment. The grossest errors were combined in this work with the most palpable ignorance; in short, it was impossible to doubt of this. Not only had the dead brother alone merit, but he had also the gifts of influencing the young, for, under the dazzling action of the elder ones thought, the other had been able to reflect himself to the extent of imposing on every one.”

And Yoritomo adds:

“It is unquestionable that, by throwing off the effluvia of a sound mental perception, we are able to obtain results which material efforts would achieve with more difficulty.”

“Nevertheless, it is something indispensable to avail ourselves of other powerful means in order to put in vibration the forces, which surround us and must cooperate in the creation of the result, which we wish to attain.”

“Every one knows that certain orders uttered during a sleep which we have brought on continue after waking in the from of an obsession, at first confused, afterward dim, but gaining in definiteness and at length tenacious, and, I should say, almost instinctive.”

“The quickest and most scientific method of obtaining this sleep is the condition of torpor produced by a look, in which we have learned to embody the fascination of our influence.”

“I have already mentioned the power of this look, but we shall increase it in a remarkable degree, if we can succeed in approaching the person whom we wish to influence by lightly touching his shoulders with our hands, turning the thumbs toward his neck and the fingertips on the vertebral column.”

“If we are afraid to display too much the desire of influencing, and wish to avoid provoking a shrinking back, whether voluntary or not, it will be well to proceed by standing behind the person whom we wish to put to sleep and, chatting the while, place both hands on his shoulders.”

“But this procedure is more difficult to put in practice, for the application of the hands must last more than a minute in order to be efficacious.”

“In any case, the experiment can only succeed if it is accompanied by the putting forth of a strong and fixed power of will.”

“If you give to your thought the strength and fixity required, even though the person whom you wish to put to sleep should not succumb to slumber, he would none the less become utterly subject to the mental processes which you have willed to arouse in him.”

“But a single second of distraction would render all your exertions vain.”

“In order to obviate this failure, it is then well to give to his thought a tangible shape and not to abandon it to a meditative condition; it must take on the features of the object of the desire, which you wish to inspire.”

“For example, you desire to inculcate in some one of the love of science, make a picture representing him bending over manuscripts, or in the dim light of crypts, see him engaged attentively in deciphering inscriptions, and seeking their meaning, that veritable key of the door from which the truths of history emerge.”

“If you wish to imbue him with the warlike spirit, see him confronting enemies whom he is crushing to earth.”

“Similarly with every accomplishment the idea of which you wish to see born in his mind.”

“At the same time, it is absolutely necessary to accentuate and to sustain the thought by words that arouse and stimulate it, by a definite enunciation of it.”

“For example, you will say to the man whom you wish to render brave and resolute: ‘Lift your head and accustom yourself to look danger in the face, flee not, it would pursue you and surely overtake you; but know how to measure yourself with it and confront it with a countenance unbleached with fear…’”

“It is with such words uttered in a firm voice, the while using the influence of the eye, that of the thought and that of the will, combined with the power of the fluids, that you will succeed in subjugating the most rebellious natures and in making the most inattentive ear.”

“Leaders of men should never lose sight of this truth: the effort of the will produces vibratory waves the circulation of which must touch the brain of those whom they wish to subjugate.”

“To allow this force the means of unbending a little, it is well, when you engage in conversation, to remain quiet while the others talk.”

“While listening to each of them with attention you will avoid looking at the speaker and, without affectation, turn your eyes from his in order not to allow to be scattered the fluid which later you will send forth more efficaciously, if, instead of submitting involuntarily to the sway of the speech coming from your interlocutor, you reserve the accumulation of your psychic forces to support your discourse with all the power of occult insight.”

“This must be strictly observed when it involves imposing a definite resolution, such as to deter one form a blamable action, or one contrary to that which you desire to see follow.”

“Then persuasion by influence takes the form of suggestion, and, after having had recourse to the practices which we have just described, you should say to him, fixing your eyes, not on but between his, at the bridge of the nose, ‘You will not do such or such a thing, because that is bad and would draw you into grievous ills’; or ‘You must do such a thing, there is the solution of the problem which you seek. ’”

“If the desired result should not be obtained after a first trial, you should renew it.”

“It is, however, preferable to press home the conviction gradually; it thereby gains solidity, and the vacillation, so common in feeble minds, is less to be feared in proportion as the suggestion has been slow in affirmation.”

The Shogun deals also with the health of the body, which, he assures us, is always related to that of the mind, and recommends means for assisting the cure of certain sick persons. Nevertheless, he advises the greatest care in the use of these agencies, however beneficent they may be.

“It is bad,” he says, “roughly to compel an imaginary invalid to recognize moral error, the prime cause of physical ailments.”

“We should, on the contrary, refrain from denying the existence of his sufferings and, little by little, introduce into his mind the suggestion of something better, until the moment when the idea of recovery gains possession of him.”

“But in order to acquire a definite value, this idea must be the culmination of a series of other thoughts the upward gradation of which has led the patient to conceive, at first as a possibility, then as a well-grounded hope, afterward as a certainty, at last as a realization, the complete return of health definitely regained.”

We will not conclude this lesson on psychic influences without quoting some lines of the valuable Nippon manuscripts.

“Influence,” says the author, “is synonymous with ‘substitution of will’; in certain cases, the word ‘creation’ would be still more appropriate, for those whom we have succeeded in dominating to the extent of directing their thoughts are nearly always persons of weak character in whom the faculty of volition has remained in a rudimentary state.”

“As for the others, those in whose minds we substitute our own will for that which they tend to manifest, they are generally dull or frankly vicious souls, who combine with their natural defects a kind of moral weakness, which renders them accessible to outside influence.”

“When two forces come together, it is often the evil one that gives way, for, to possess the genuine endowment of influence, certain qualities must come into play which rarely fall to the lot of mediocre minds.”

“The latter, totally enslaved to the satisfaction of their instincts, and their strength sapped with fleeting pleasures, lack that impassioned desire of the better, the creator of the cohesion of forces.”

“The masters of conscious will alone hope to arrive at this splendid goal of influencing others, for, their spirit being imbued with nothing but the love of truth, they will ignore those passing whims that ever imprint falsehood or deceit no the thought of those who love to stray along the devious by-paths of unworthy considerations.”

“The latter must never hope to possess completely the power of dominance, for they ignore the unity of thought, inasmuch as their mouth utters one word while their mind conceives another; thus the image cannot take shape in them except in an imperfect fashion, and we know how important a part that plays which we might call, in a way, the materialization of the idea in the are of influencing others.”

Some pages farther on, we find the confirmation of these principles in the following lines, which adept in our modern psychology would not contradict:

“It is not given to all to possess in themselves the aggressive spirit necessary to command the influences which must emanate from our brain in order to result in forming the convictions of others; that is why it is sometimes well, instead of commanding the idea, to let it simply penetrate by itself, in order that we may arrive at its complete possession, which should not be confounded with the fact of being possessed by it.”

“The difference is immense. He who possesses completely the idea, which he wishes afterward to send out from himself by the means which we have described in this chapter, in order to transmit the idea to others, is a master who commands; he who allows himself to be overcome by the obsession of an idea which takes possession of his brain and prevents his reasoning is the slave of that idea and of the acts which it will impel him to commit.”

“But this cannot be, if quietly and by degrees, he allows himself to be imbued with it, for the gradual conquest implies discussion, reasoning, and even resistance, things all indispensable to the formation of rational conviction.”

“Now, without conviction, influence has little weight.”

“It is personal conviction, which allows us to find the words necessary to introduce it into the minds of our hearers; only personal conviction can produce adepts.”

“All apostles have been persuaded of the truth of their belief, and, if some among them have been the leaders of the multitude, it is because they taught a doctrine in which they themselves sincerely believed and because their discourse spread around them the radiance of fervor, which, far better than enthusiasm, can fill men’s souls and influence them.”

“The gradual penetration of the idea is, therefore, to be sought in the case of those whom their natural qualities incline rather to meditation and steady adherence than to aggressive zeal.”

“We might compare these different characters to those two men who, having each obtained an equal supply of wood in the forest, returned home and lit the fire to warm themselves.”

“One of them let the flames mount in the beautiful spiral curves of prismatic color, and when they died down he threw in a fresh armful, delighted with the pleasure of the sight and with the bodily comfort of the warmth.”

“But soon nothing remained with which to renew the fire; the flames died away, the ruddy fire took on a vesture of gray, then a fine ash, rapidly cooling, alone remained at the bottom of the fireplace.”

“The man went out again to find a fresh supply; but in passing before the hut of his friend he was astonished to see smoke arising from it, while, near the threshold, the pile of wood still lay, but little diminished.”

“He went in; agreeable warmth took possession of him and he saw a modest fire gently smoldering under the ashes; all around people were standing stretching their hands for the genial sensation that pleasantly imbued them.”

“So it is with gradual and continuous penetration; if it does not produce brilliant flashes, it bathes us with its beneficent suggestion, and persuaded at last that we bear within us the truth, it will be so much the easier for us to surround ourselves with all the means that the knowledge of influence places at our disposal for allowing this truth to filter gently into the minds of those who would seem to us worthy of understanding it and of spreading it in their turn.”