The Supremacy Of Mind
From the standpoint we have now reached we can look back once more on
those troublesome naturalistic insinuations as to the dependence of the
mind upon the body, which we have already considered. It is evident to us
all that our mental development and the fate of our inner life are closely
bound up with the states and changes of the body. And it did not need the
attacks and insinuations of naturalism to point this out. But the reas
ns
brought forward by naturalism are not convincing, and all the weighty
facts it adduces could be balanced by facts equally weighty on the other
side. We have already shown that the apparently dangerous doctrine of
localisation is far from being seriously prejudicial. But if the
dependence of the mind upon the body be great, that of the body upon the
mind is greater still. Even Kant wrote tersely and drily about "the power
of our mind through mere will to be master over our morbid feelings." And
every one who has a will knows how much strict self-discipline and firm
willing can achieve even with a frail and wretched body, and handicapped
by exhaustion and weakness. Joy heals, care wastes away, and both may
kill. The influence which "blood" and "bile" or any other predisposition
may have upon temperament and character can be obviated or modified
through education, or transformed and guided into new channels through
strong psychical impressions and experiences, most of all by great
experiences in the domain of morals and religion. No one doubts the
reality of those great internal revolutions of which religion is well
aware, which arise purely from the mind, and are able to rid us of all
natural bonds and burdens. This mysterious region of the influence of the
mind in modifying bodily states or producing new ones is in these days
being more and more opened up. That grief can turn the hair grey and
disgust bring out eruptions on the skin has long been known. But new and
often marvellous facts are being continually added to our knowledge
through curious experiments with suggestion, hypnosis, and
auto-suggestion. And we are no longer far from believing that through
exaltations, forced states of mind associated with auto-suggestion, many
phenomena, such as "stigmata," for instance, which have hitherto been over
hastily relegated to the domain of pious legend, may possibly have a
"scientific" background.