Евгений Шубралов – Suggestion at a distance: theory, practice and philosophy (страница 5)

One of the good examples of suggestion in the waking state, produced on a mass of people at the same time, are the famous sessions of Mesmerism during the glory period of its founder Mesmer. The latter arranged a special tub, around which more than thirty persons were simultaneously magnetized. The patients, having placed themselves around the tub in several rows and holding on to movable rubber handles, connected with each other with a rope around the torso or connected with each other with their hands. Then the patients remained waiting. During these sessions, complete silence was observed, but the sounds of a harmonica, a piano, or the singing of a human voice were usually heard from the next room. The phenomena that were observed in patients and which were explained by special magnetic currents, according to the description of an eyewitness of the Bailiff, were as follows: "Some patients are completely calm and do not experience anything, others cough, spit, feel slight pain, local or general warmth and sweat; others agitate and fall into convulsions, unusual in their numbers, duration and strength; sometimes these convulsions last for more than three hours and are characterized by involuntary jerky movements of all members, the whole body, spasms of the throat, tremors of the ilium and epiglottis, blurred and wandering eyes, piercing screams, tears, hiccups and uncontrollable laughter. They are preceded or followed by a state of fatigue or drowsiness, a special kind of exhaustion, and even sleep.

At the slightest unexpected sound, the patients shuddered, and any change in tone or tempo in playing the piano affected them to the point that some later more intense movement acted in a stunning way and resumed the intensified convulsions.

However, there were also such subjects who, trying to suppress this state in themselves, turned to each other, chatted affectedly, laughed, thanks to which they naturally managed to prevent a crisis. Those who submitted entirely to the magnetizer quickly succumbed to an imaginary sleep, his voice, gesture and even look brought them to themselves.

In view of the constancy of such phenomena, it is impossible to refrain from recognizing the powerful force that dominates the sick and, as it were, emanating from the magnetizer. This convulsive state is called a crisis. It has been noticed that of the patients who fall into crisis, most are women, few are men. It has also been noticed that the crisis occurs within one or two hours and that, having appeared in one, it then gradually, after a short time, is revealed in all the others." Similar examples are possible today. Binet and Fere. Animal magnetism. St. Petersburg, 1890, pp. 15 and 16. So, more recently in Berlin, the authorities were greatly concerned about the spread of occultism, which was expressed, among other things, in peculiar methods of healing. According to the newspapers, two Englishwomen, English teachers, set up a kind of clinic in a Berlin women's lyceum, in which patients were treated without medication with mysterious spells alone. These spells seemed to direct the healing influence of some secret forces on the patient, and even the unbelieving patients recovered. By the way, a lot of ladies of high Berlin society believed in the mysterious gift of the mentioned Englishwomen. Their success was extraordinary both in terms of fame and money.

THE MEANING OF FAITH

Faith in general plays an extraordinary role as a factor contributing to suggestion. One of the clearest examples of such an influence of faith is the recent exploits in America of the German emigrant Schlater, who, starting as a shoemaker in Danver, imagined that his vocation was to enlighten the whole of America with the gospel teaching. Since then, he closes his trade and, turning into a wanderer, pretends to be the messiah and heals many by laying on his hand. Soon, the rumor of the miracles he performed led to crowds of adherents following him, in front of whom miraculous healings were performed. Many patients began to flock to him, eager for his hand, so that he no longer had time to satisfy everyone who sought his help.

To borrow a description of one scene made by a reporter and characterizing in vivid strokes the influence of the Actor on the crowd: "Men, women and children with the stamp of mental suffering on their faces were visible from all sides; every minute the crowd increased, and soon the whole area represented a sea of heads, as far as one could cover with a glance. Then a sudden movement passed through the assembly, and even the slightest whisper died away… Schlater came. As I approached him, I was overcome by a supernatural fear that was difficult to analyze. My faith in this man grew in spite of my reason. The waking, controlling, thinking, reasoning self began to waver, lose its strength, and the reflexive, encouraging self began to strengthen. When he let go of my hands, my soul recognized some kind of power in this man, which my mind and my brain apparently resisted. When he opened my hands, I felt that I could fall on my knees in front of him and call him the lord." B. Sidis. Psychology of suggestion. p. 302.

The actor enjoyed special fame in the state of Colorado. Then he went to Mexico, after which he soon disappeared, and no one knew what had become of him. His followers claimed that he had gone to other countries to preach, others that he had ascended to heaven. Taking advantage of this, his imitators, false Hatters, began to appear here and there.

In the end, the skeleton of a real Hatter was found quite accidentally under a tree by two Sierra Madre researchers 50 miles from casas grandes in the province of Chiguaguay.

This striking example, taken from the life of modern society, shows us with all the vividness what the effect of suggestion can be in the waking state, provided blind faith in the power of the influence produced.

The well-known healing influence of faith, to which, among other things, the studies of N. Tuke, Regnard, Littre, Banrneville, Charcot (La foie, qui guerit), and others are devoted, has been pronounced here with all vividness. Among other things, faith is such a favorable ground for autosuggestion that it often performs miraculous cures in this way even where ordinary suggestion proves powerless. In this regard, the example of Schlater makes clear to us many of those sudden healings during religious inspiration that were already known in ancient times (for example, in the Egyptian temples of Serapis or in the temples of Asclepius of ancient Greece), which happened at all times and which are still repeated today. The healings that took place at the beginning of our era, as well as during the Middle Ages (healings at the grave of Louis IX, in the Basilica of St. Denis, etc.), later the so—called Saint-Medard phenomena, are especially well known.

For the sake of illustration, I will cite here a case of miraculous healing that happened several years ago in St. Petersburg.

The boy G. suffered from paralysis of hysterical origin, the nature of which, unfortunately, remained unrecognized by a well-known psychiatrist in St. Petersburg, who recognized him as incurable. The paralyzed boy remained helpless for many years, when suddenly one day in a dream he saw the face of the Mother of God, who ordered him to worship the holy icon, located in the chapel along the Shlisselburg Highway near the Glass Factory and known for being struck by lightning in 1888. everything inside the chapel was destroyed, but only the image of the Mother of God was preserved, and her face turned out to be dotted with copper coins from the national team of the people's circle in the form of a crown. Upon waking up, G. persistently began to ask himself to be taken to the said icon and, when his wish was fulfilled, it turned out that already during the prayer service he was able to stand on his feet and from then on began to walk.

An equally instructive case occurred several years ago in Moscow with a private associate professor D., who was diagnosed by a well-known specialist with an incurable skin disease on his head in the form of sycosis. It turned out that it was enough for him to heal that an old woman took him to church and prayed with him there.

Even earlier, in Moscow, there was a case of miraculous healing of blindness, obviously of a hysterical nature, with one touch to an image that was in a silver robe, as a result of which, during the period of the then fascination with metallotherapy, some doctors tended to explain this case by the action of metal, whereas it was most simply explained by the influence of faith. We still see the healing influence of the latter at the confluence of worshippers, such as in France in Lourdes, in Ireland in M. Unfortunately, we have in Kiev and other places, especially on certain solemn occasions, for example during large religious festivals, when the religious enthusiasm of the flocking people reaches an extraordinary degree.

But is not the influence of faith more or less revealed in relation to the doctor who approaches the patient's bed? Everyone knows what a magical healing effect one comforting word from a doctor can acquire and, conversely, how sometimes the harsh cold verdict of a doctor who does not know or does not want to know the power of suggestion has a deadly effect on a patient in the literal sense of the word.