THE LAW OF AUTOMATISM.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 349, 16 January 1912, Page 7

THE LAW OF AUTOMATISM.

The presidential address at the fourth annual conference of the Association of Suggestive Therapeutics was delivered by Mr D. Shaw. His subject was 'The Law of Automatism,' and m the course of his remarks he said: —

If there is one phase of suggestive thevapeutics of more importance than any other, ir is the Law of Automatism. The Law of Automatism, briefly stated, is that with any aot or thought which is repeated there grows a specific group of eelife to carry on that act or thought automatically — that is, without any conscious effort on our parts ; and when we consider that quite 90 per cent, of our actions, thoughts, and- words during any and every day are automatic, it will be seen that it is ve"y important of what that automatism consists. We. want to be quite clear m our minds just what we mean by that little word " law." It does not mean that the I law does anything, but the way m which the thing is always done. In this case it means that our every thought, word, or deed is transmuted into cellular tissue, and this transmutation takes place every time according to this law. It might be thought we should only be held responsible for the less than 10 per cent, of our conscious acts, thoughts, and sayings, but this is not so. We are responsible for the whole 100 per cent. The law of compensation does not work that way. The compensating element consists m the fact that w£ can, if. we so will it, — Build an Automatism — that wil! be proof against every kind of evil suggestion. Ido not think the Law of Automatism has had the attention it deserves from our pastors, teachers, and writers generally. The magnitude of the I subject is appalling, and this may be the i reason why, with the exception of a few cxperte, scarcely anyone has ventured to say anything about it. The influence of j our material, ethereal, and metethereal ■ environment, corresponding to our body, ; soul, and spirit, are with us not only m our waking states, but during sleep and dreams, both veridical and ordinary. It may be noticed that each person's dreams are peculiar to himself — that is, his dreams are not exactly like anyone else's dreams, any more than his walk, his tone of voice, or his habits. This integrating process, or habit-buiiding, is usually quite haphazard, and almost entirely the product of our environment, the suggestions we are imbibing everyday from our immediate surroundings, and beoause of this it is not surprising to the psychologist that it may and does very often lead to disintegration of the personality. All forms of hysteria and phobies are of this nature — dtial and multiple personality, down to imperative ideas. and insanity — plainly demonstrating to the expert ihe fact that these disintegrations are the result of

— Erroneous Thinking. — But the knowledge of the processes of these disintegrations enables the healer to see just what is wrong, and how to remedy it. For instance, if a person thinks of one thing anxiously and fearfully, the nerves involved m this idea tire, and the coordinating centre, being the most complex, gives way first, cutting off all control, intermittently at first, but gradually^ by the well-known process of association of ideas, getting a wider and wider grasp, until the patient is unable to think of anything cisc, and he is suffering from aboulia — i.e., absence of will. If his. thoughts can be switched off this fixed-, idea to something else, it gives the group of nerves involved a chance to recuperate . and recover. This little example shows that the wider our mental horizon is, the saner and safer is our mental stability. We have only to look at the men of history to see this fact demonstrated. Those who have a variety of interests, like the late Ma* Gladstone, retain their mental alertness to extreme old age, while the man who narrows his mental activities down to business, devoting himself entirely to it, very soon finds Himself m need of relaxation and rest ; the co-ordinat-ing centre begins to waver ; he finds himself unable to remember dates and proper names, and, indeed, every mental act becomes an effort. Another advantage of this wide mental horizon is the -calm poise that usually accompanies it, enabling us to draw on our metethereal environment, and here we have -'the man of genius, a higher and wider form of automatism. Genius consists of an amalgamation of the direct perception of fixed laws by the immortal soul with the educated intellect; at any rate, this is the highest form of genius. Ordinarily we see these manifestations of the

— Direct Perceptions of Fixed Laws — by the soul when the intellect is still, as m sleep or trance states, but when it amalgamates with the normal consciousness, i augmenting it, we have genius. This man knows more than he ever learned ; indeed, we all do to some extent, but when the uprush from the soul is what we might call extraordinary, then we have genius. . . . In previous lectures I have defined suggestion as the idea raised m the mmd — not necessarily the thing said, but the idea, and when you come to consider that , the latest impression suggested to U6 has to amalgamate with all the impressions pf a similar kind already lodged m the subconsciousness, also that the latest impression is but a small fraction of the mental picture that arises m the mind, the reason why we cannot accept suggestions of health, which we so much desire, becomes obvious. Indeed, this is why it has been said by a psychologist as celebrated as Gumey that conviction is the result of habit, not demonstration. It seems ridiculous at the first glance that when a thing has been demonstrated to us as scientifically correct we are unable to accept it, but 'when we comprehend this Law of Automatism the reason becomes clear. It' I were to wiite up on a blackboard a number of figures, and show it to a small -boy who has not learned mathematics, he would only be able to see that they were figures — they would carry no idea to his mind ; but if I showed it to an elder boy who had. had some education on the^subject he would know that it was an addition sum ; a still older boy would not only see it was an addition sum, but that it was added up correctly. Now, these different —Ideas or Mental Pictures — arising m the minds of these three lads did not depend so much on the latest impression, but almost entirely on what was already stored away m the sub-conscious-ness. And this rule holds good throughout every human experience, simply because it is the law, and a law is always the way a thing acts. Once we realise that automatism is a fact always with us, whether we are asleep or awake, whether we have known it or not, the discovery that this is so marks a time when we must at least begin to build an automatism favorable to health, success, and power. It will be impossible for us to go on building habits that are detrimental, tyrannical, and that lead to servitude. This sort of thing is surely only possible when we do not know anything about this law. As soon as we have a perception of it, we are bound to take some notice of what we are building into the sub-conscious-

ness, and presently as we get more light and are liberated, to some extent, from the old habits, we will begin to feel an enthusiasm m

— Striving Towards Our Ideal. — We must all have an ideal of what we should be, and, realising what a tremendous power our unconscious thinking is m attaining this or any other ideal, we will of necessity pay more attention to it. Just at first we will be certain to drift back into the old habits to a very considerable extent ; but presently there will come a time when we cannot indulge m an adverse suggestion without noticing it, and surely to be aware of it is to reject it. We are pretty sure to look back occasionally — old habits will obtrude themselves; but eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and we must be quick to recognise and drop them. Every time we fail — well, get up and go ahead again. It often happens that what appears to be the darkest, hour is just that which precedes the dawn. We never know how aiear we are to victory, and it occasionally happens that just when we think defeat is certain and give up victory was within our grasp. If we look down history, we see lot 6 of Jacobs — that is, as far as the blackness of the mental horizon is concerned — and we must, like him, determine to hold on until the light appears, and then it is easy. I suppose each one of us, once we have conquered a bad habit, looks back at it and feels surprised that it ever held us. With our present knowledge of the subject, and knowing that the law is working with us instead of against us, the only question that can possibly arise is as to whether we will dally by the way or push resolutely on to victory. Seeing the way clearly mapped out before us, it will be much easier for us to say to our neighbor "' Come, this is the road !" and m helping him we help ourselves, until at last we shall arrive with him m the Land of Promise, where there is no more sin and suffering, but joy and everlasting life.