The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-02-26

A DESIRE, "the seed of the
~ mind" impels humanity to-
y ward the unknowable, so also
has it been the means of evol-
wing from the word Suggestion" q
variety of definitions. It has, in sense
lost its specific meaning, while the
different uses of its present enuncia-
tion render it almost a generalized
term.
The potency of the force which it
represents, and the erroneous construc-
tion put upon the uses of suggestion,
has been largely responsible for its
diversi6cation. The primal element Of
its influence has been lost sight of, in a
whiri Of fatuous philosophic- -theologic-
al teachings that would disarrange the
differential calculus itself, were there
the least compatibility between the two.
The spotency of simple suggestion
has but lately thrust itself into the path
of the metaphysician, the pathologist,
and the criminologist as well; and from
1t have grown a number of cults,
who in the exclusiveness of their
egoism, have eventually lost the funda-
mental principle on which their faith
was builded.
In the abstract and commonly applied
term, suggestion defines itself as "the
presentation of an idea" What of the
potentiality of an idea? Ideas have
ruled the world, swayed kingdoms
men have died for an idea. What of
the association of ideas? Their ANAL
gamation gives birth to a grandeur per-
ception of the truth in its entirety
the process being transmutation. The
idea presented to others by suggestion,
is nothing more than simple transmits
sion, and yet its power for good or
evil is incalculable.
A personal research after the origin
of an idea, admitting the success of the
operation, invariably leads one to for
eign influence. The idea in a majority
of instances will be found to have orlgi-
mated in transmittance, not from trans
mutation. The very pIebeian "you had
better do" SO and so, wields a mighty
influence on any preconceived idea or
action, and affects the attitude of mind.
AlthO the subsequent action appear
entirely volitionary, it is nevertheless
effected by the suggestion, in varying
proportion to the minds receptivity.
A previous suggestion is invariably the
incentive for all action, resulting effica-
cious or otherwise We can expend
no force without its equivalent having
been taken on at period antecedent.
1t matters not whether an idea, or an
experience through sense perception,
has been absorbed in past existence,
or within the present hour; the equiva-
lent has become personal force an
terror to the action
Turning from the moral aspect of
suggestion, to that which applies to
mental therapeutics, the underlying
principle is the same; and it is but just
to state that mental science has de-
parted the least from frankly acknowl-
edging the source of its success. The
condition may be reduced to phrase.
Receptivity on the one hand, and the
implanting of an idea on the other.
Christian Science unconsciously works
along the same line, having lost sight
of the true principle, in forced effort
to regard the cosmos as an intangible
-materialistic dream-a hypothesis,
which it taken, ought to be Immediate
ly. followed by an emetic. The real un-
recognized, wonder-working principle
in Christian Science is the same the
law of suggestion, otherwise prayer
suggestion, and a condition of receptiv-
ity on the part of the patient, in other
words, faith.
1t is with no apology that the state
ment is made, that faith in anything is
but condition of mind, induced by
suggestion, foreign or auto. Paracel-
sus said hundreds of years ago: "It
matters not whether the object of your
faith be real or false, the effect is the
same" And SO tits. Witness the mir
acles at Lourdes and kindred ether