The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1909-04-09
POWER OF MENTAL SUGGESTION
Last in Series of Sermons by Rev. r. M. Houghton
Mental Healing.

Rev. R. M. Houghton spoke last Sun
day night on the subject: The Power Of
Suggestion, taking for his text, "Jesus
saith unto the sick of the palsy, Il say
unto thee arise, take up thy bed and &c
unto thy house, and he arose and straight
way took up the bed and went forth be-
fore them all" Nix. 2-ll, II. Mr. Hough-
ton said in part:
Jesus made use of the power of sugges-
ton in the healing of diseases. He ad-
dressed himself strongly to the patient
and in some cases he accompanied his
suggestion, as the case demanded. We
have called these miracles, and why should
we not? What could be more miraculous
than by few brief words of suggestion
to cause man with palsied limbs to
walk? The significant thing is these mir
acles did not end with Jesus death
There are just as, striking miracles per
young soldier presented himself to the
hospital. The professor examined him,
verified a sore throat and gave him a
gargle. Then, DESTROYS Of showing his
class the power of verbal suggestion, he
takes the young mans I arm and says to
arm been paralyzed?" The astonished pa
tient declares positively that there is
nothing the matter with his arm, but the
professor stands firm. ''See, gentlemen,
says he to the students, 'here is young
man who has been attacked by rare at
lection, psychic paralysis of the right arm
You see how this limb hangs without life,
by the side of the body and falls back
when lifted, and joining the action to
the word, he raised the arm, which really
fell back like club. The arm was really
and truly paralyzed, and it was necessary
next day to restore it by inverse sugges-
ton, which was quite as easy Tins case
h,.I. {,r,,, ,Nf h,tn
dreds of recorded cases where the power
of suggestion is employed for the removal
of certain functional disorders.
The power of suggestion in influencing
human life has it's basis in the subcon-
scious mind, that vast realm OF our being
which lies beneath the conscious and
which is so susceptible to suggestion. The
patient is in a subconscious state, when |
the active powers of the mind are quies-
cent There are various forms of this
state of mind. The mental life of the
child is largely a subconscious state. The
active power of the mind is not yet
strongly developed The consciousness OF
infancy and childhood is largely sub
conscious state, when the mind is un
usually susceptible to suggestion and when
lasting habits are formed-when the phys
ical health or weakness of the whole life
may be determined and when the charac-
ter of the man is moulded.
But childhood is not the only subcon-
scious state. This may be induced in
adults All through life it is possible to
efface, to large degree, early impressions
and to correct bad habits by suggestion
If good only were stored away in the
self, all would be well, but '
evil is stored there, too, and thoughts of S
weakness and fear and disease. day by /
Law as we touch the world and get our il
own reactions of courage and cowardice, n
If self control or self defeat, of purity "
n selishness. of love or hate, we are con- h
inually dropping, dropping these sugges- II
ions into the reservoirs of the subcon- a
cious self to come forth some day to d
less or curse" We need to efface the til
IMPRESSIONS made by the evil suggestions o.
y the counter-suggestions of good. To rs
o this effectively it is necessary for the ii
'atient to be in a subconscious state In II
xtreme cases hypnotism is used There II
las been much mystery and fear asso- st
lated with hypnotism. This is due to |
which have arisen through tt
public exhibitions, by travelling charla- W
ans. This should be suppressed. Hyp- ii
lotism when practiced by specialists is as
imply form of absent mindedness ST
rought on by suggestion and a sound q
sociological procedure which in extreme b
asses may be used effectively for the re- bt
1oval of certain diseases. The authori IL
les on the subject are agreed, however, ii
hat its use as plaything for public ex- tt