Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-04-16

Il were in the trance state. The ono
looks at the other, knows the other ana
that knowledge once acquired can never
be forgotten The danger is that once
the trance state ended, once the stick
loosed from the bottom, the soul instead
of being carried on in the old current
may be caught In n new one and driven
by the dominant sclf hitherto dormant
but now put In power In new and strange
directions. If the dominant self, tho
nucleus soul. Is evil, then the whole
man may become evil and his whole
future life contaminated. There arc
ways of checking the evil influence
should such au influence be found to
exist, but they are known only 10 the
wise men Of the East. This is not q mat
ter 10 be trihed with by dilletante search
ers after novelties. Amateur thcosO-
phists will do well 10 leave their gcnii
securely sealed mp In their kettles
Speaking of theosophy. 1t Is just as well
TO say that Mr.. Crawford II neither an
admirer nor u follower of Madame Bla-
yatsky.
Mr.. Crawford gave me striking IL
lustration Of the serious results which
may easily come from any daDbling In
these occult arts without proper instruc-
ton. Some weeks ago he allowed him
self 10 be- persuaded into giving an intel
liEent friend the receipt If | may So eX-
trance. In spite Of the most serious in
functions TO be careful this friend pro
ceeded to experiment with himself on
the basis of his newly acquired knowl-
edge and actually succeeded In throwing
himself into a deep trance on 4 railway
train coming from Boston to New York.
Getting into the trance was one thing
aud getting out of IL was quite another.
The enthusiastic friend had quite over
looked this important point and re-
manned In ecstntic contemplation Of his
dominant self for so long IA time with
such Il strange pallOr on his face and
riedity in his limbs, that the passengers
aud the conductor became alarmed and
only succeeded in bringing him 10 a
scmi-consciOusness after great efforts
Even then the shock TO the mans nerves
was so great that medical attendance be
came necessary and he has never fully
recovered from this reckless attempt AT
trunce experiments
While out of respect 10. the public wei
fare. Mr. Crawford was unwilling to iu-
dicnte in detail Low this self-hypnote
condition may be brought about, he was
perfectly free In discussing the process
In general way. He claims that an
religions make use of hypnotic processes
whether the teachers of these religions
are conscious of 1t or not. Fasting and
prayer. for instance, have been used hy
selves into semi-trance condition, in
which they have experienced ecstatic
visions such as the Brahmins expert
ence to-day. The repeating of certain
words many times and the fixed looking
nt bright objects are often ellicacious.
Any specialist IN mesmerism knows
this. The Catholic church has had its
formulae of this kind for generations.
inst as the eastern adopts have theirs.
The same result may be reached through
the sounding verses Of the "Alamiiicat"
or the jingle Of a nursery rhyme. The
candles burned on Christian affairs aud
the monotonous ave Mamas" serve the
same deep hypnotic purpose as the mys.
tic phrases said over aud over again bv
oriental sages as they fixed their gaze
on white circles.
Music has It's influence. Incense has
its Influence Anything Is Of use which
aids IN mental concentration ana all the
means tend 10 one end-the trance The
only difference Is that the wise men of
eastern lands understand the real utility
of such ceremonies, know that they ara
only means 70 an end and have learned
how 10 carry them 10 their logical con.
clusiOn. Christians. ON the other hand
content themselves for the most mart
with the mere prelimiuaries Of PRAYER
chanting, incense and So forth, ana never
reach the trance state at all
Many OF the Old saints, however Mr.
Crawford believes, aud notably Christ
himself. were perfectly capable of self
hypnousm and derived the fun adyan.
tnges from H.
llypnotlsm, then, properly understood
instead u being a pathological curiosity
90 be studied In the hospitals or exploited
by chnrlatans, becomes az once The
grandest function OF the soul and tbe
most sacred. IL Is ike prayer ana Tie
sacraments, lifting man. as Il were. out
Of himself and above himself and Der.
mitting him to see himself as be IS, 10
know his own soul.
How strange il seemed 20 hear such
words IN commonplace, cosy New York
club, looking out on the fashionable show
OF Fifth ayenuel How strange 70 hear
them from a man wearing Well cut
clothes, and speaking IN the same bna-
ness Ike tone as the men about US who
are taking stocks or horses. on dancing
parties. And strangest OF an. 70 reflect
that the man who said these things and
smoke with utter conviction was q
thinker aud traveller, entitled both By
his intellect and his special studies 60
have his opinion received with the higll
~ respect No man reasons more clearly
ana c6ldly than Marion Crawford; few