Religion and Psychology 3 1 3 



encourage concentration by giving him something to concentrate 

 upon. The mind, although passive, is not in a state of distraction. 

 It is narrowed down upon some very general idea, preferably upon 

 the idea of sleep, and if in that state an idea is aroused in the mind, 

 an idea of some change in the patient's bodily and mental condition, 

 that idea tends to realise itself to its utmost possible extent. A con- 

 venient time for giving suggestion is before rest at night. At that 

 time the patient has relinquished all his interests in matters of the 

 day, he is more able to get really peaceful and relaxed, and the back- 

 ground of his mind, the so-called subconscious mind, is more 

 accessible to outside influences. In referring to the subconscious 

 in this way, one seems to be speaking rather metaphorically, as if 

 the subconscious were a sort of occult force. It is not exactly 

 that, but rather a class concept, including mental tendencies which 

 are not clearly present in consciousness. Indeed, it is those 

 tendencies not clearly present in consciousness that are most 

 important in suggestion treatment, because those which are clearly 

 conscious have appropriate ideas linking them up with other con- 

 scious tendencies. The mind, so far as it is conscious, is alert and 

 acts therefore according to more or less rational motives. Sugges- 

 tion to the conscious mind has usually little effect — it is transitory 

 if it takes effect at all. Persuasion, which uses rational arguments, 

 is the more appropriate and effective influence in this sphere. 

 Suggestion is a kind of affirmation, it is rightly addressed to the 

 subconscious, to the fundamental tendencies of the mind that are 

 not directly represented in consciousness. 



The question then arises. What is the relation between sugges- 

 tion, as we have thus explained it, and faith .? The following 

 example may throw some preliminary light upon this problem, A 

 year or two ago I was treating a boy of thirteen for some disturbing 

 nervous symptoms which interfered with his life at school, and 

 which he was most anxious to get rid of, by means of suggestion 

 (after a preliminary analysis of the conditions in which the illness 

 began). The first two or three hours of suggestion treatment, 

 during each of which he lay passive on a couch, receiving sugges- 

 tions from me every five minutes or so, seemed to produce very 

 little if any effect, till about the fourth treatment, when he suddenly 

 burst into tears, and said in a voice charged with emotion, " Now 

 I really do believe that it is going to be all right, I feel absolutely 

 certain about it." From that moment his Symptom (enuresis) 



