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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Life After Death (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 44. An Uncharted Realm of Mental Science
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An Uncharted Realm of Mental Science
It should be noted carefully here that there is a legitimate psychical research which belongs to the realm of mental science or psychology. There are certain functions of the mind that seem never to have been fully understood, nor adequately explained and defined.
Mental science, or psychology, as convention-ally treated in all text books and schools, has ignored these functions. That's one extreme. The psychical specialists who attempt to treat the subject in a scholarly way do not as a rule, make clear analysis and distinctions. That's the other extreme. Without question there is here a field of research in mental science not yet adequately explored and charted.
There seem plainly to be mental traits or gifts or functions that properly belong to our natural stock of mental powers, but which seem to have been lost, or partially lost, through the hurt of sin. Some still have them in varying degree. But commonly we are so ignorant of just what they are that they seem uncanny to the common man.
These traits or functions are said to belong to the sub-conscious mind. That is they are working while we are unconscious of them. They are also said to belong to the subliminal mind. That is, the mind below the threshold of what we are conscious of. The thought is the same with both terms.
For instance one will have a premonition about a loved one who is at a distance, quite apart from any information that has come through the ordinary channels. He may have a similar premonition about some coming event. Without any doubt the Holy Spirit guides those in touch with him regarding such things. But distinctly in addition to this guidance, there is undoubtedly a mental trait that takes account of such things. But this is much more marked in some, and in others quite missing.
I have an intimate friend who has this sort of mental quality to rather a marked degree. For instance it comes to him that a certain one will call and will act in a certain detailed way. And so it turns out.
He has had the experience of driving along a country road and of seeing places and people and incidental happenings as though in his mind's eye, and only so. Then after driving maybe two or three miles he would come across exactly what his spirit vision had discerned.
He is an earnest Christian man, somewhat familiar with the dangers we are speaking of here. And he follows the settled principle of not seeking to tamper with a realm unfamiliar, but instead prayerfully to hold all his powers subject to the Holy Spirit's constant guidance.
One remarkable thing he constantly experiences is the strong impulse to pray for certain ones, indeed an intense drawing aside for such prayer, as though the one brought to mind were in peculiar need or danger or temptation. And repeatedly the knowledge has come afterwards of the sore need or danger or special temptation, and the deliverance.
If one find himself possessed of some such gift in some marked degree, he should pray quietly over it. Dedicate it, with all your powers, to the Master. Never seek to use it save as you use any better-understood power, by the Holy Spirit's gracious guidance, in practical ways. Be cautious, just because of the element of not clearly understanding the gift.
Something akin to this sort of thing, though quite distinct, is the experience of some saintly people, as they near death's door. As they draw near the veil between this and the spirit world, seems to grow thinner. As the physical powers weaken, the spirit vision seems able to see what could not be seen before.
As Stephen stood in the midst of the raging murderous mob bent on his blood, the eyes of his spirit were opened. He saw what was clearly beyond the range of physical eyesight. And what did he see? Jesus ! glorified, standing at the Father's right hand (Act_7:55).
I recall as though yesterday the light that came into the face of a dear saint as she was slipping out over into the King's presence. She looked quietly intently up, as though she could see some one or some thing which we could not see.
A delighted look lightened her eyes and face. Then she looked around at those surrounding her bed, as though she would say "Can't you see, too?" Then she sank into the sleep that carried her spirit into the presence of Him she loved so devotedly.
The word telepathy has been coined for something akin to this, though distinctly different. That is the communication of one person with another in close sympathy without the ordinary recognized means of communication. One mind seems to communicate with another without words, looks, gestures, or the like. Some are much more sensitive to this sort of thing than others.
Without any doubt our common ignorance of these little-understood mental traits or powers, has been skilfully made use of by professional experts who themselves are peculiarly sensitive in these directions, and have carefully cultivated that sensitiveness. There is apt to be with these professional spiritists a subtle blend of what is quite legitimate with that which is distinctly illegitimate, and is cunning trickery. And the uninformed man, perhaps under the stress of some great grief, is quite swept off his feet.