lecture19-第7节
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insight; a most manifest energy in all that was to be done;
having such effect on my mind as the clearest ocular
demonstration would have on the eyes。〃'327'
'327' Quoted by Augustus Clissold: The Prophetic Spirit in
Genius and Madness; 1870; p。 67。 Mr。 Clissold is a
Swedenborgian。 Swedenborg's case is of course the palmary one of
audita et visa; serving as a basis of religious revelation。
If we turn to Islam; we find that Mohammed's revelations all came
from the subconscious sphere。 To the question in what way he got
them
〃Mohammed is said to have answered that sometimes he heard a
knell as from a bell; and that this had the strongest effect on
him; and when the angel went away; he had received the
revelation。 Sometimes again he held converse with the angel as
with a man; so as easily to understand his words。 The later
authorities; however; 。 。 。 distinguish still other kinds。 In
the Itgan (103) the following are enumerated: 1; revelations
with sound of bell; 2; by inspiration of the holy spirit in M。's
heart; 3; by Gabriel in human form; 4; by God immediately; either
when awake (as in his journey to heaven) or in dream。 。 。 。 In
Almawahib alladuniya the kinds are thus given: 1; Dream; 2;
Inspiration of Gabriel in the Prophet's heart; 3; Gabriel taking
Dahya's form; 4; with the bell…sound; etc。; 5; Gabriel in propria
persona (only twice); 6; revelation in heaven; 7; God appearing
in person; but veiled; 8; God revealing himself immediately
without veil。 Others add two other stages; namely: 1; Gabriel
in the form of still another man; 2; God showing himself
personally in dream。〃'328'
'328' Noldeke; Geschichte des Qorans; 1860; p。 16。 Compare the
fuller account in Sir William Muir's: Life of Mahomet; 3d ed。;
1894; ch。 iii。
In none of these cases is the revelation distinctly motor。 In the
case of Joseph Smith (who had prophetic revelations innumerable
in addition to the revealed translation of the gold plates
which resulted in the Book of Mormon); although there may have
been a motor element; the inspiration seems to have been
predominantly sensorial。 He began his translation by the aid of
the 〃peep…stones〃 which he found; or thought or said that he
found; with the gold plates apparently a case of 〃crystal
gazing。〃 For some of the other revelations he used the
peep…stones; but seems generally to have asked the Lord for more
direct instruction。'329'
'329' The Mormon theocracy has always been governed by direct
revelations accorded to the President of the Church and its
Apostles。 From an obliging letter written to me in 1899 by an
eminent Mormon; I quote the following extract:
〃It may be very interesting for you to know that the President
'Mr。 Snow' of the Mormon Church claims to have had a number of
revelations very recently from heaven。 To explain fully what
these revelations are; it is necessary to know that we; as a
people; believe that the Church of Jesus Christ has again been
established through messengers sent from heaven。 This Church has
at its head a prophet seer; and revelator; who gives to man God's
holy will。 Revelation is the means through which the will of God
is declared directly and in fullness to man。 These revelations
are got through dreams of sleep or in waking visions of the mind;
by voices without visional appearance or by actual manifestations
of the Holy Presence before the eye。 We believe that God has
come in person and spoken to our prophet and revelator。〃
Other revelations are described as 〃openings〃Fox's; for
example; were evidently of the kind known in spiritistic circles
of to…day as 〃impressions。〃 As all effective initiators of
change must needs live to some degree upon this psychopathic
level of sudden perception or conviction of new truth; or of
impulse to action so obsessive that it must be worked off; I will
say nothing more about so very common a phenomenon。
When; in addition to these phenomena of inspiration; we take
religious mysticism into the account; when we recall the striking
and sudden unifications of a discordant self which we saw in
conversion; and when we review the extravagant obsessions of
tenderness; purity; and self…severity met with in saintliness; we
cannot; I think; avoid the conclusion that in religion we have a
department of human nature with unusually close relations to the
transmarginal or subliminal region。 If the word 〃subliminal〃 is
offensive to any of you; as smelling too much of psychical
research or other aberrations; call it by any other name you
please; to distinguish it from the level of full sunlit
consciousness。 Call this latter the A…region of personality; if
you care to; and call the other the B…region。 The B…region;
then; is obviously the larger part of each of us; for it is the
abode of everything that is latent and the reservoir of
everything that passes unrecorded or unobserved。 It contains;
for example; such things as all our momentarily inactive
memories; and it harbors the springs of all our obscurely motived
passions; impulses; likes; dislikes; and prejudices。 Our
intuitions; hypotheses; fancies; superstitions; persuasions;
convictions; and in general all our non…rational operations; come
from it。 It is the source of our dreams; and apparently they may
return to it。 In it arise whatever mystical experiences we may
have; and our automatisms; sensory or motor; our life in hypnotic
and 〃hypnoid〃 conditions; if we are subjects to such conditions;
our delusions; fixed ideas; and hysterical accidents; if we are
hysteric subjects; our supra…normal cognitions; if such there be;
and if we are telepathic subjects。 It is also the fountain…head
of much that feeds our religion。 In persons deep in the religious
life; as we have now abundantly seenand this is my
conclusionthe door into this region seems unusually wide open;
at any rate; experiences making their entrance through that door
have had emphatic influence in shaping religious history。
With this conclusion I turn back and close the circle which I
opened in my first lecture; terminating thus the review which I
then announced of inner religious phenomena as we find them in
developed and articulate human individuals。 I might easily; if
the time allowed; multiply both my documents and my
discriminations; but a broad treatment is; I believe; in itself
better; and the most important characteristics of the subject
lie; I think; before us already。 In the next lecture; which is
also the last one; we must try to draw the critical conclusions
which so much material may suggest。