DR. GREGORY SMITH, ON PSYCHOLOGY. 



131 



existences apart from material organisms. What is the value of 

 the alleged evidence of spiritism ? Then there is the question of 

 the so-called "subliminal consciousness." Wherein does this differ 

 from what used to be called " unconscious cerebration " or the 

 unconscious growth of ideas in the mind 1 In the sphere of 

 religious experience is what we call conversion, the uprushing of 

 the sub-conscious self 1 And if so, how does this affect what we 

 have been accustomed to regard as the work of the Holy Spirit *? 

 Does it put conversion into a new category 1 A man awakens 

 suddenly to the idea that he may become a painter or an author, he 

 determines and determines successfully that he will. Does such an 

 uprush of conscious capability belong to the same category as 

 religious conversion '? Personally, I do not think so. But I should 

 like to have had the difference discussed. 



In dealing with the will the speaker was not so clear as one could 

 have wished. There is a danger of confusing the will with the 

 person. The will is a faculty just as is the reason, the imagination, 

 or the memory. There is an ego behind the will. The Greeks 

 distinguished between the two by the use of the verb ePeXw. Strictly 

 speaking, the question is not that of the " freedom of the will," but 

 are we free to will 1 The will is the faculty or power of self- 

 determination. 



Eventually, I suppose it is only the physical that is dropped. 

 Everything affecting the ego remains. The old Eomans believed 

 that the soul was stripped and brought before Ehadamanthus the 

 judge, and upon the naked spirit were seen the scars left by every 

 evil thought, word and deed. The thought is a very terrible one. 

 Here, however, we get into mysteries which we are unable to 

 fathom. But we are " fearfully and wonderfully made." 



Bishop Thornton asked : Does Dr. Smith consider that man has 

 a consciousness of God, and would this also come to him through 

 sensation 1 



The Rev. J. M. Turner said : I have come here by kind invitation 

 in the attitude of a learner, and I could have wished Dr. Gregory 

 Smith had spoken for hours instead of minutes. He has spoken of 

 the connection between sensations and perceptions, but I should like 

 to know the connection between them and the conceptions of the 

 human mind, for this I think makes the great distinction between 

 the animal and the human. 



