Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-10-03

Tho Mysteries of Mind.


is continually going forward within Us in the fa-
miliar process which 10 known to us by the name
of memory. Nothiug 20 simple. II might seem at
first Wow. and yet the moment We stop to think Of
il nothing m ne ,foundly my teriou, ,ands trange
Images aud thoughts are continually entering the
consciousness of the mind and then disappearing
from it again, as though they were entirely lost.
but they are in fact only buried and hidden away
in tho secret depths of the mind itself. as to be
capable of being resuscitated and called back n
gain whenever thor presence may be required:
aud in this way they are in truth all the time COM
ing and going. appearing and disappearing IN
our ordinary thinking What we hold IN our
Intelligence thus IL only in small part ever con-
tanned in our actual consciousness ut any given
time. BY far the most Of it is in us always under
n latent. slumbering form. And yet all enters
into our spiritual being, is truly part Of ourselves
and goes to make continually the proper contents
of our personality. But what u marvel this is
that 80 much of our knowledge should bc in tho
mind and yot out OF mind ut the same imo; that
sense Of self should hold joined with it in this
way such avast multitude OF conceptions, thoughts
and IDEAS, such whole world of pnst experiences
and affections, which nevertheless nre in general
rs much unperceived us though they did not exist
at all, and only came into view occasionally and
transiently, ever rising and ever sinking. ever en-
tering and ever departing An endless succession
OF vanishing forms, in what remains throughout
after ali the ndvsible, unhrokeu unity of one
and tho same consciousness. To stand on the
shore of such nm ocean. TO look forth on its broad
boundcss cxpansc. to send tho Imagination down
among the secrets that lie buried iar out Of sight in
itsdark and silent depths. may indeed we'll produce
in any thoughtful mind and ovcrw whelming senti-
msnt both ot astonishment and awe. There "
neither height nor depth, nor show OF yasness
and sublimity undr any other form in tho
simply physical world that may tearto DO placed
in comparison with it for single moment.
The case swclls upon into it's full Significance
"uy when we come to ask. tan. Thai which has
once been in the mind No as " es pxrt and parcel
of it's conscou Sncss, ever so pass cut of it again
rs TO sink into everlasting oblivion Some
thoughts, we know return upon US readily and
easily in ordinary experience lying as 1t
were near ut hpud to us all tho time others are
recalled with more difficulty, as having got farther
out Of reach; while others again. the largest class
of nil. seem to have sunk like lead in tho mighty
waters, to be remembered by us no forever
But who will pretend to distinguish here between
what Is still within the reaeb of memory, and
what hn. become Tor it thus MS tlu,ugh il had ney
or leen 7 Who will undertake to say ut what
point of time. or under what terms and cond'i!o 's
otherwise that which has once been the property
Of tn" spirit. in the way of thought, shall be ~
snndcred aud alienaied from it To puss lrrecov-
erablv and entirely y out Of its possessiun? Tho
grand wonder is. how the past should return ut
all and become thus the matter Of present con.
sciou~ne,s and knowlcIge--a thing past and yet
present ut th" same time that it should do 20 at
ter II short interval. or do allern long one
would seem to hc in the case distinction Of no
material account. II the power of memory may
bridge in this way the chasm Of nh hour. why not
with equal the Oblivion Of year, or the dark
void Of thousand years We know in fact that
what has thus >lumhercd in rs through long peri
DDS OF time does often wake up within con-
sci.usncss at lat in the most surprising manner
H. old age especially nothing is more common
than such resurrection of long buried images
and thoughts. In many cases tho circumstances
and experiences Of chdhopl and early youth, .af-
ter heinS forgotten for Of years, are res
t,red To memory again us to seem only Of recent
Gate Persons recovered from drowning lave
said that in the middle state t" which they were
brought between life and death IA whole world of
such bure rccollectia eened To pass before
them in panoramic si-ioa. We have been told of
others who in circumstances of extreme danger
falling from precipice for instance, or exposed
to the laws of death in some like Nay. have Ind
their whole past lives, rs it appeared, brought
back upon lhcm with solt OF instantaneous
rush. Who. in view If snch cases. may presume
to limit the possibilities of memory? And who
that thinks Of it mayn t well be filled with amaze
ment, rising even to terror itself, in considering
what is involved for himself in the awful abyss
which is found thus yawning before him contin
uaIy in the depths Of his 1wn soul ueTce'slurg
RerieW.