Читать книгу THE POWER OF MIND - William Walker Atkinson - Страница 6

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THE writer has deemed it advisable to preface his consideration of "Mind" in itself, as well as of Substance and Motion, with two chapters, the purpose of which will be to demonstrate that Mind, in some form or degree, is to be found in connection with all Things—and that Everything has Life—and that Mind is an accompaniment of all Life. To many the term "Mind" means only the "thinking quality" of man, or perhaps of the lower animals; and "Life" the property only of such organic creatures. For that reason it has been deemed advisable to point out that Life and Mind are found even in the lowest forms of substance—even in the inorganic world.

In this chapter and from now on, the writer shall use the term "the Mind," etc., to indicate the particular mental principle of the creature or thing—the bit of Mind that is segregated from the rest, and which each person thinks of as "mine," just as he thinks of "my" body, as distinguished from the universal supply of Substance. The term "Mind" will be used in its Universal sense.

And, the writer intends to use Elmer Gates' term, "Mentation," in the sense of "effort; action; or effect; in or of, the Mind"—in short, "mental process." The word is useful and when one has learned to use it, he will prefer it to the more complicated terms. Remember, then, please—"Mentation" means "Mental Process." Mentation includes that which we call "Thought," as well as some more elementary forms of mental process that we are not in the habit of dignifying by the term, Thought, which latter we usually reserve for mental process of a higher order.

So, then, "Mind" is the something of which one's particular Mind is composed; "The Mind" is that something possessed by one, by and through which he "thinks"; "Mentation" is mental process; and "Thought" is a advanced kind of Mentation. At least, the said words will be so employed in this book, from now on.

In this chapter, you are asked to consider the fact that Life is Universal—that Everything is Alive. And, that Mind and Mentation is an attribute of Life, and that, consequently, Everything has Mind, and is able to express a degree of Mentation.

Forms of Life, as we know them, are always seen as possessing two aspects, viz., (1) Body (Substance); and (2) Mentation (Mind). The two aspects are always found in combination. There may be living creatures who occupy bodies of so fine a form of Substance as to be invisible to the human senses—but their bodies would be "Substance" just as much as is the "body" of the granite rock. And, in order to "think," these beings would need to have a material something corresponding to the brain, though it be finer in quality than the rarest gas, vapor, of electric wave. No body, without Mentation; no Mentation without a body. This last is the invariable law of the world of Things. And naught but The Infinite—That-which-is-above-Things—can be exempt from that law.

In order to grasp the idea of the Universality of Mind, let us go back to the elementary forms of Things, and, step by step, see how Mentation manifests itself in every point on the scale from mineral to man—using bodies ranging from the hardest rock to that finest form of known Substance—the Brain of Man. As Mind advances in the scale of evolution it creates its own working instrument—the body (including the brain) and shapes, and moulds it to admit of the fullest possible expression of Mentation possible at that stage. Mind is the moulder—body (and brain) that which is moulded. And Inclination, Desire, and Will, are the motive powers leading to gradual Unfoldment, the impelling cause being the craving for Satisfaction.

We shall make our journey backward—and ignoring Beings higher in the scale, we shall start with Man. Leaving out of the consideration, for the moment, the fact of the existence of the "Ego," or "Spirit" of Man, which is higher than Body or Mind—and considering "the Mind of Man," rather than the Man himself—we have our starting point on the downward journey of investigation. We need not devote much attention to the consideration of the Mind of Man, at this stage, although we shall have much to do with it, later on.

But we may undertake a brief consideration of the descending degrees of Mentation as manifested by Man, as we pass down the scale in the human family, considering in turn, the Newtons, Shakespeares, Emersons, Edisons, and their brothers in intellect, in the field of mathematics, literature, music, art, invention, science, statesmanship, business, skilled workmanship, etc., respectively. From these high levels we pass down, gradually, through the strata of men of but a slightly lower degree of intellect—down through the strata of the "average man"—down through the strata of the ignorant man—down through the strata of the lowest type of our own race and time—down through the strata of the barbarian, then on to the savage, then on to the Digger Indian, the Bushman. What a difference from highest to lowest—a being from another world would doubt that they were all of the same family.

Then we pass rapidly through the various strata of the lower animal kingdom—from the comparatively high degree of Mentation of the horse, the dog, the elephant, etc., down through the descending scale of the mammals, the degree of Mentation becoming less marked at each step of the journey. Then on through the bird kingdom. Then through the world of reptiles. Then through the family of fishes. Then through the millions of forms of insect life, including those wonderful creatures, the ant and the bee. Then on through the shell-fish family. Then on through the community of sponges, polyps, and other low forms of life. Then on to the vast empire of the microscopic creatures, whose name is legion. Then on to the plant life, the highest of which have "sensitive cells" that resemble brains and nerves—descending by stages to the lower plant life. Then still lower to the world of bacteria, microbes, and infusoria—the groups of cells with a common life—the monera—the single cell. The mind that has followed us in this descent of life, from the highest form to the cell-like "thing" merely "existing" in the slime at the bottom of the ocean, has acquired a sense of awe and sublimity not dreamed of by "the man on the street."

The degrees of Mentation in the lower animal kingdom are well known to all of us, therefore, we need not devote much time to their consideration at this time. Although the degree of Mentation in some of the lowly forms of animal life, are scarcely above that of the plant life (in fact, are inferior to that of the highest plants), still we have accustomed ourselves to the use of the word "Mind" in connection with even the lowest animals, while we hesitate to apply the word to the plants.

It is true that some of us do not like to think of the lower animals "reasoning," so we use the word "Instinct" to denote the degree of Mentation of the lower animal. The writer does not object to the word; in fact, he shall use it for the sake of distinguishing between the several mental states. But, remember, "Instinct" is but a term used to denote a lesser form of "Reason"—and the "Instinct" of the horse or dog is a fine thing when we consider the "Reason" of the Bushman or Digger Indian. However, we shall not quarrel about words. Both "Reason" and "Instinct" mean degrees or forms of "Mentation," the word we are using. The lower forms of animal life exhibit Mentation along the lines of sex-action; feeling and taste. Then by degrees come smell, hearing and sight. And then something very like "reasoning" in the case of the dog, elephant, horse, etc. Mentation everywhere in the animal kingdom, in some degree. No doubt about Life and Mentation, there.

But what about Mentation and Life in the plant life? All of you admit that there is "Life" there—but about Mentation, well, let us see! Some of you draw the line at the word "Mind" in connection with plants, although you freely admit the existence of "Life" there. Well, remember our axiom—"no Life without Mentation." Let us try to apply it.

A moment's reflection will give you instances of Mentation among the plants. Science has called it "Appetency," rather than admit "Mind," the word "Appetency" being defined as "an instinctive tendency on the part of low forms of organic life to perform certain acts necessary for their well-being—such as to select and absorb such particles of matter as serve to support and nourish them." Well, that looks like a degree of Mentation, doesn't it? Many young animals evidence little or nothing more than "Appetency" in suckling. We shall adopt the word "Appetency" to designate the Mentation in plant-life. Remember this, please.

Anyone who has raised trees or plants has noticed the instinctive efforts of the plant to reach the water and sunlight. Potatoes in dark cellars have been known to send forth shoots twenty feet in length in order to reach an opening in the wall. Plants have been known to bend over during the night and dip their leaves in a pot of water several inches away. The tendrils of climbing plants seek for the stake or support, and find it, too, although it has been changed daily. The tendril will retwine itself, after it has been untwisted and bent in another direction. The tips of the roots of the tree are said to show a sensitiveness almost akin to that of the limb of an animal, and evidently possess something akin to nerve matter.

Duhamel placed some beans in a cylinder of moist earth. When they began to sprout, he turned the cylinder around quarter way of its circumference; then a little more the next day; and so on, a little each day, until the cylinder had described a complete revolution—had been turned completely around. Then the beans were taken from the earth, and lo! the roots and sprouts formed a complete spiral. With every turn of the cylinder the roots and sprouts had changed their position and direction—the roots striving to grow "downward," and the sprouts striving to grow "upward"—until the spiral had formed. Akin to this is the boy's trick of uprooting a sprouting seed, and replanting it upside down, in which case the sprouts begin to turn a semicircle until it is able to grow straight up to the surface of the earth, while the roots describe a semicircle until they can grow downward once more.

And so on, story after story of "Appetency" or Mentation in plants might be told, until we reach the insect-catching species, when even the most conservative observer is forced to admit that: "Well, it does almost seem like thinking, doesn't it?" Any lover of plants, flowers or trees, and who has been able to study them at first hand, does not need much argument to prove that plant-life exhibits traces of Mentation, some of it pretty far advanced, too. Some lovers of plants go so far as to claim that one must "love" plants before they will succeed in growing them, and that the plants feel and respond to the feeling. But the writer does not insist upon this, but merely mentions it in passing.

Before leaving the subject of Mentation in plants, the writer is tempted to steal a little more space and tell you that plants do more than receive sensations of light and moisture. They exhibit rudimentary taste as well. Haeckel relates an interesting story of an insect-catching plant. He states that while it will bend its leaves when any solid body (excepting a raindrop) touches its surface, still it will secrete its acrid digestive fluid only when that object happens to be nitrogenous (meat or cheese). The plant is able to distinguish its meat diet (its food being insectivorous), and while it will supply its gastric juice for meat and cheese, as well as for the insect, it will not do so for other solids to which it is indifferent. He also mentions the fact that roots of trees and plants are able to taste the different qualities of soil, and will avoid poor soil and plunge into the richer parts of the earth. The sexual organism and life of plants also affords a great field for study to the student hunting for evidences of "life" and "Mentation" in that kingdom.

The motion or circulation of the sap in trees and plants was formerly considered to be due to capillary attraction and purely "mechanical laws," but recent scientific experiments have shown it to be a vital action—an evidence of life and Mentation—the experiments having proven that if the cell-substance of the plant was poisoned or paralyzed, the circulation of sap immediately ceased, although the "mechanical principles" had not been interfered with in the least.

And now on to the mineral kingdom. "What," you may cry, "Mind and Mentation in the mineral and chemical world—surely not?" Yes, even in these low planes may be found traces of mental action. There is Life everywhere—even there. And where there is Life there is Mind. Away back among the chemical principles, and the minerals we may go in our search for Life and Mind—they cannot escape us—even there!