158 A. T. SCHOPIELD^ ESQ.;, M.D., ETC., UJS 



and the conscious mind the middle region where both 

 meet.* 



The powers of the unconscious mind are seen in a remark- 

 able way in insanity. The sane man is one in whom the 

 conscious mind — the middle part of the spectrum — rules. 

 In an unsound mind, the supra, or sub-conscious, steps in, 

 and, overpoweiing the conscious mind, produces ecstatic 

 visions and phantasms, or coarse and sensual conduct. It is 

 remarkable to note in this connection that when reason is 

 even partially dethroned how the whole unconscious mind 

 can unite in coupling the highest spiritual ideas with the 

 lowest sensuality, as in some recent heresies. In defective 

 intellects, wdiere the conscious mind is weak, the power ot 

 the sub-conscious mind is remarkably seen. Miss Martineau 

 tells of an idiot who had his hands washed and nails cut at 

 11.10, and who came of his own accord exactly at the same 

 hour each day to have the operation repeated, though he 

 knew nothing consciously of time. 



Our conscious mind is like the yellow spot in the eye, 

 Avhich is really the conscious centre of vision, the images 

 falling as a rule unnoticed on all the rest of the retina, and 

 making an unconscious record in the brain. When the 

 conscious mind is in abeyance, as in a dream or reverie, or 

 artihcially, as in hypnotism or narcotism, the unconscious 

 mind emerges from its obscurity, and these and other im- 

 pressions unconsciously formed upon the brain are seen and 

 noticed for the first time, just as a receding tide lays bare 

 the hidden parts of the coral mountain, e.g., a servant in 

 delirium spoke Latin and Greek words which she had 

 absorbed unconsciously from her master years before. 



* The Spirit of God is said to dwell in believers, and yet His presence 

 is not the subject of direct consciousness. We would include, therefore, 

 in the supra-conscious all such spiritual ideas, together with conscience — 

 the voice of God, as Max Miiller calls it — which is surely a half-unconscious 

 facultj'. Moreover, the supra-conscious, like the sub-conscious, is best 

 apprehended when the conscious mind is not active. Visions, meditations, 

 prayers, and even dreams, have been undoubtedly occasions of spiritual 

 revelations, 1 Cor. ii, 3-5 ; 2 Coi'. iv, 7, 16 ; 2 Cor. xii, 2, are instances of 

 the working of the spirit apart from the action of reason or mind. 



A well known Christian teacher, the Eev. Dr. Andrew Murray, 

 writes, "Deeper down than wheie the soul with its consciousness can 

 enter, there is a spirit nature linking man with God, and deeper down 

 than the mind and feelings, or will — in the unseen depths of the hidden 

 life, thei-e dwells the spirit of God." 



