قراءة كتاب Buchanan's Journal of Man, October 1887 Volume 1, Number 9

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Buchanan's Journal of Man, October 1887
Volume 1, Number 9

Buchanan's Journal of Man, October 1887 Volume 1, Number 9

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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on, and the individual is conscious that he is going to be buried, but incapable of giving the alarm. On the other hand the action of the brain may be suspended, as in apoplexy, while the heart is beating vigorously. In such cases, though the action of the cerebrum is suspended, the physiological brain or cerebellum sustains physical life. We cannot say that the heart is superior to the brain, because it supplies the brain with blood for its growth, any more than we could say the same of the lungs, which supply oxygen, without which the action of the brain is speedily arrested. We might even extend the remark to the stomach and thoracic duct, which supply the material for making a brain, which certainly does not prove their superiority. The action of the brain is far more important, for the quickest death is produced by crushing the brain, or by cutting it off from the body in the spinal cord of the neck, when heart, lungs, and stomach are promptly arrested by losing the help of the brain. If prior development in growth proved a superiority of rank, the ganglionic system which accompanies the arteries and precedes the evolution of the convoluted cerebrum would hold the highest rank, although it is destitute of consciousness and volition, which belong to the brain alone.]

But what is this power which emanates from the brain, and which guides the organizing activity of the soul, but the power of life which is transmitted to the brain from the heart, and which is modified in its activity by the peculiar organization of the latter? Man in his present state does not think with his heart, but with his brain; nevertheless, the heart is superior to the brain, for the brain has been built up by the power which came from the heart; and it is a universal law of nature, that no thing can produce anything superior to itself. During its fœtal existence the brain of the child is built up by the blood of the mother; after man is born his brain receives its power of life through the heart, and in spiritually developed man the thought-force created in the brain reacts again upon the will in the heart, controlling its desires and entering into harmonious union with the latter. The ancient alchemists say: “If the Sun (the heart) enters in conjunction with the Moon (the brain) then will Gold (Wisdom) be produced.”

We see, therefore, in man two centres of life, the heart and the brain, and it may properly be said that the brain is the seat of life, only it may perhaps be added, that it is the secondary seat, while the principal seat is, or ought to be, in the heart. [Dr. H. identifies will with life, yet every one knows that all acts of volition proceed from the brain alone, and never from the heart; hence by his own statement the brain is the seat of life.] According to the doctrines of the Hermetic philosophers, God is the invisible central fire in the universe from which the Light of the Logos (Christ or the celestial Adam) emanated in the beginning. Man being a Microcosm, contains in his heart the image of that internal and invisible central fire of Love, which sends the light of thought to the brain and illuminates the mind of the seer. We are at present not living in the age of Love, but in the age of Thought (not the age of Reason, but the age of Reasoning and Speculation), and by the law of heredity, life has become pre-eminently concentrated in the brain; while in a more advanced age, when the principle of universal Love and Benevolence will be generally recognized, life will become more strongly concentrated at the heart. Men will then not only think, but feel and become able to recognize the truth by that power which is known to us in its rudimental state as Intuition, but which, if developed, will be far superior to that uncertain feeling called Intuition, and become a Sun within the heart, sending its rays far up into the regions of thought. Then, as their Love for the supreme Good increases, will their knowledge increase, and as their knowledge expands will their Will become powerful and free.

[The physiology of this passage is all erroneous. In the ages of animalism and barbarism the heart is more powerful, like the rest of the muscular system to which it belongs. In a more humane and refined condition the brain is more predominant. The female heart is not as well developed as the male. The moral superiority of women is due not to the heart but to the superior region of the brain, to which we owe all elevation of individuals and society.]

It has been said above that Will and Life are identical, and there are sufficient facts to prove that they are one. A man may prolong his life by an effort of will, or he may cease to live if he wills to die. A loss of will-power in a limb is identical with paralysis of the latter. If the will (conscious or unconscious will) ceases to act, man ceases to live. No amount of thought exercised by the brain will raise a limb of a person, unless the person has the will to raise it; no amount of imagination on the part of the brain will execute an act, unless the will guided by the imagination causes the act to be executed. In the blood,—the representative of the animal life-principle (Kama-rupa) is the seat of the will, its central office is the heart. There the will or life-power acts consciously or unconsciously, sending its rays to the brain, where they become more refined, and from thence they radiate again back through the organism, causing the unconscious or conscious processes of imagination and thought. The way in which these processes take place, has been well described in Dr. Buchanan’s “Therapeutic Sarcognomy.” Love, Will, and Life are ultimately one and the same power; they are like the three sides of a pyramid ending in one point, or like a star emitting a light of three different hues. Without the fire of divine Love at the centre there will be no good and powerful Will, without Will man is a useless being, without virtue and without real life, an empty shell or form kept alive by the play of the elements, ceasing to exist when the form falls to pieces. But he who possesses a strong love for the good, the beautiful, and true, grows strong in Will and strong in Life. His heart sends a pure current of life to the brain, which enables the latter to see and grasp the ideas existing in the Astral light. The purer the will the more pure will be the imagination, and the more will the latter be able to rise to the highest regions of thought, while these exalted thoughts will radiate their light back again to the heart and stimulate the heart as the heart stimulated the brain.

A consideration of the above will go to prove that Love (Will or Life) and Thought (Imagination or Light) are the forces by which the soul forms and regenerates the external body, and that he who obtains mastery over these forces within his own organism will be able to change and remodel his body and to cure it of all ills. The fountain of life is the will, and if the will is good and pure and not poisoned by the imagination, a pure blood and a strong and healthy body will be the result. If the imagination (thought) is pure, it will purify the will and expel from the latter the elements of evil. The fundamental doctrine of the most rational system of medicine is therefore the purification of the Will and the Imagination, and every one carries within his own heart the universal panacea, which cures all ills, if he only knows how to employ it. The purification and strengthening of the will by acts of love and human kindness and by leading a pure and unselfish life, should be the principal object of all religious and scientific education. The Bible says: “If the salt (the will) of the earth is worthless, wherewith shall it be salted?” If the fountain from which all life springs is poisoned by evil thoughts, how can the soul and body be healthy? The best

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