01 - Mind Powers
1. MIND POWERS By Malcolm Edwards; The Australian Christadelphian Shield, December 1995. The Amazing Complexities of the Human Mind The human brain is one of nature’s great marvels, easily surpassing the most advanced computers of modern technology. Whatever mankind invents in the audio-visual field of communications, the human brain already has it, and we are so accustomed to its achievements that we simply take it all for granted. Our brain permits us to behold full-colour moving pictures perfectly coordinated with hearing, speaking, smelling, and touching to a degree far beyond anything mankind can create. The human mind itself is a remarkable computer, capable of thinking, reasoning, imagining, retaining and recalling; yet at the same time controlling the whole body machine in movement, air supply, blood circulation, food digestion and also having a complete built-in maintenance and repair system. Yet there is nothing inside the human cranium which even remotely resembles the electronic gadgetry which we find in manufactured equipment. This invites the obvious question as to how it could all possibly work!
Unless one believes in an intelligent allwise creator, one is driven to the less convincing alternative view that the complex human mind was developed by totally unintelligent and random forces. It is not our current brief to discuss the source and origin of the human mind, but it seems very much easier to believe in an intelligent creator than blind chance. The Levels of the Human Mind
We are reliably informed that there are three different levels of the human mind: the Conscious mind that we employ daily in full awareness; the Sub-conscious mind that keeps the body working when we are unaware; and the Unconscious mind that is the level we are currently concerned with.
There are certain aspects of the unconscious mind which will be familiar to most of us: for example its uncanny ability to awaken a person in the morning at a predetermined time, the telepathic link that seems to exist between close relatives and sometimes man and wife, etc.
Two more interesting examples of collective mind-power are sometimes practised by groups as games and are worthy of mention. The first is where a subject is blindfolded and placed in the centre of a circle of people who have agreed on concentration of thought towards one particular person. The subject is asked to allow himself to fall as he feels inclined, and is said to usually fall towards the person chosen. The second is frequently practised by psychic research students, and consists of four people after serious thought preparation being able to quite easily lift up a seated subject by their fingertips, one under each armpit and one under each knee. There are also familiar stories of amazing feats of momentary strength in times of severe crisis such as a mother single-handedly lifting the rear of a car to release a trapped child. Since it can be demonstrated that the human unconscious mind is capable (under certain circumstances), of much greater source of energy than normal, then we are beginning to see a possible explanation for the more disturbing phenomena spoken of in earlier chapters.
Child Prodigies
Every so often, nature produces a child with incredible mental abilities, confirming again that in rare circumstances the human mind has extraordinary powers. Child prodigies are well documented, some live only a short time, others such as musical prodigies, survive to give the world the benefits of their unusual gifts. In 1510, a European boy named Zerah Colbur at the age of 6-7 was able to perform astonishing mathematical feats having had little or no tuition in that subject. Given the number 106, 929 and asked to extract its square root, he gave the correct number (327) in a matter of seconds. When asked what factors will produce 247, 483, he instantly replied 941 and 263, and when he was further asked to give the factors for 36, 083 he immediately replied correctly, that there were none. When asked how many minutes there are in 48 years he quickly gave the right answer of 25, 228, 800, and for good measure added that in the same period the number of seconds would be 1, 513, 728, 000. Similar stories can be related about youthful minds showing flashes of brilliance beyond normal capacity, contributing further to the suggestion that the unconscious mind is the suspected key to all paranormal phenomena.
Hypnosis
Most TV viewers will have witnessed the recent revival of hypnotism as music hall entertainment, where, contrary to many sceptical doubts, the subjects involved are most certainly hypnotized, and not simply acting. Usually they are made to look foolish, but are volunteers willing to cooperate with the hypnotist. It is sad that this remarkable phenomenon is demeaned by such entertainment, since it does have some quite beneficial advantages in medical fields as most people know.
Hypnosis occurs when the cooperating subject is placed in a trance by skilled and persistent suggestion of the operator. These trances may vary from light to profound, but it usually becomes possible to plant a suggestion in the unconscious mind of the subject which will cause a delayed response quite abnormal to their usual behaviour.
Under hypnosis, subjects may be made to feel pain simply by suggestion, or conversely, anesthetized. The subject may adopt the role of a young child, see and speak to an imaginary character, recall incidents in the life which have been long forgotten, simply at the suggestion of the hypnotist. I well remember as a boy a theatrical hypnotist placing a subject in a cataleptic trance in which the whole body, facing upwards and horizontal, became so rigid that it was able to support without harm two seated individuals, the neck and heels of the subject resting on chair backs. In modern psychic research, hypnotized subjects are able to perform feats of strength and endurance much beyond their normal ability, yet without fatigue or discomfort - once again emphasizing the power of the unconscious mind over the physical structure of the body.
Autohypnosis
It should be pointed out, that hypnosis is not imposed by the hypnotist; all hypnotism is actually self-induced, even though triggered by external suggestion. However, hypnosis does not depend upon outside suggestion, since certain individuals are able to place themselves in a trance by auto-suggestion. The results are very similar to those induced by a hypnotist in that such people in the trance state may be able to move around and communicate and even walk over hot coals, or pierce their flesh without feeling pain or suffering bruises or scars.
Self-hypnosis features prominently in the occult and spiritism, and in most cases of hallucination. In some cases the inducement is gradual, but in other cases almost instant. Hypnosis helps us to understand how the releasing of the unconscious mind leads to a world of human phenomena which, though difficult to define, need not be attributed to outside intelligences such as demons etc. In his book, Hypnosis: A Guide for Patients and Practitioners, Dr David Waxman, a medical hypnotist for over 20 years, speaks of "the still unknown process of the unconscious mind." The experts are still a long way from knowing the capabilities and workings of the human mind, but most seem convinced that the remarkable manifestations induced by hypnosis are controlled from within the mind itself, and not from outside sources. AN EXPLANATION Drawing Threads Together
We have now considered sufficient examples of the power and versatility of the human unconscious mind to attempt a rational explanation of demonic possession, without the need to attribute such phenomena to evil spirits. All the phenomena cited, whether telepathic, hypnotic, psychokinetic, Geller-type, clairvoyant-type, voodoo-type, occult-type, and poltergeist-type, can be adequately explained as emanations from the human unconscious mind. The human brain itself never ceases to amaze us, and under certain circumstances it is obviously quite capable of much more than most people realize, and especially in the releasing of energy beyond normal capability and control. In the preface to his famous work, The Law of Psychic Phenomena published in 1892, Dr Thomas Jay Hudson says: "It has long been felt by the ablest of thinkers of our time, that manifestations of the human intellect, normal or abnormal, whether designated by the name mesmerism, hypnotism, somnambulism, trance, spiritualism, demonology, miracle, mental therapeutics, genius or insanity, are in some way related; and consequently that they are to be referred to some general principle of law."
Dr Hudson was himself a religious man, and a believer in the teachings of Jesus Christ, yet he found no difficulty in relating all such manifestations to the remarkable capacity of the mind, and not to any external spirit source.
Parapsychology has only in recent years become a serious consideration of scientists seeking to explore the strange ability of psychic individuals, and how this aspect of the mind operates. Already telepathy and psychokinesis are generally accepted psychic phenomena, and computer-aided researchers are beginning to make progress in these fields. In his work Super Senses (1975) Charles Panati comprehensively surveys work in progress throughout the world in the field of parapsychology and explores the potential people have for parasensory experience. He concludes that psychokinesis is the connecting bridge between the "insubstantial mind and the chemistry of the human brain giving good reason to expect that, before very long, scientists should be able to unravel the age-long mysteries of "mind over matter." Time will show whether he is right.
Demons Explained
Perhaps it can now be seen more clearly that the phenomena men have for so long called "demonic" are not caused by intelligent spirits inhabiting the body of tormented individuals, but are rather forms of hysteria in which subjects have a mental obsession on similar lines to that of a spiritist medium, except that the demoniac is convinced that the inhabiting spirit is not friendly, but hostile and evil.
It is worth repeating at this stage, that people must believe in the existence of demons to become demoniacs, for just as a person cannot be hypnotized unless they cooperate, so an unbeliever in demons cannot respond to concepts the mind does not accept. Because of his mental acceptance of evil spirits, the unconscious mind of the demoniac becomes programmed to his obsession. Such a person is generally likely to be psychic to some degree, and able to reach an involuntary state of self-hypnosis in which the distressing but characteristic manifestations take place. In other words, whatever such an individual thinks himself to be, so he eventually becomes.
Knowing what we do about the dangers of outside interference with a hypnotized person, other than the hypnotist, it can be understood why a well-meaning exorcist is immediately seen as a threat by the programmed mind of the demoniac and why he resists with all his might. The approach of the exorcist throws the unreasoning unconscious mind of the subject into a turmoil and crisis, as the two minds grapple for supremacy, causing mental stress to both parties, and often physical injury.
Since the demoniac can only act as ‘programmed,’ suppressed evil thoughts, obscenity and blasphemy often reach the surface and are hatefully directed at the exorcist, who is in fact seen as an enemy by the unreasoning unconscious mind. Such hostile response is sometimes coupled with violence and almost super-human strength. If the exorcist is successful (and in many instances he is not), the subject usually goes into a coma and rather like the hypnotized subject and the epileptic, has no recollection of what has taken place.
We have likened demonic manifestations to ‘spiritist’ phenomena, and we should also include poltergeist phenomena, since all three have strong similarities. All these manifestations produce telepathy and psychokinesis. However, if consistent reports of demonic exorcism producing levitation is true, then there is a further link with poltergeist phenomena in the reported lifting of heavy objects from the ground. In 1905, an Italian journal published a well-attested poltergeist account from the town of Ruvo in, Italy, which interestingly, combined several other manifestations which can now be seen to be closely linked. The happenings centred around a seven-year-old boy named Alfredo Pansini, and featured the usual disturbances such as pictures falling from walls, and heavy furniture sliding across the floor. The boy also developed demonic manifestations, coupled with familiar clairvoyant phenomena such as trance state, visions and catalepsy. The attacks lasted about four years, and were witnessed by a local judge, several churchmen, and also by a well-known physician, Dr J Laponi, who documented these, and other even more bizarre happenings. The state of trance indicates again, that self-hypnosis and the unconscious mind are the key to the explanation of the events, emphasizing once again the scope and power of the human unconscious mind under certain circumstances.
Since it has been sufficiently demonstrated that under rare circumstances, the human mind is capable of producing all the phenomena previously discussed, then, although not fully scientifically explainable, there is no reason to attribute them to intelligent evil spirits and the like.
God in Control The powers of the mind may seem unnecessarily complex and even incredible, but a believer in God and Creation has to remember that what may seem purposeless to us, has both meaning and purpose with God. We must be reminded that man is essentially a fallen being, an imperfect representation of the splendid human creation which first stood on planet Earth, created "after the image and likeness of God" and described as ‘very good.’ The human brain, as part of that excellent creation can be no failure, and it is very likely that after the fall, the full potential of the human mind was restrained. But this will not always be the case, Scripture plainly promises that in the mercy and providence of The Almighty, mankind will once again manifest His glory when immortal saints will reign on earth as "kings and priests." Revelation 5:8-10