Chapter 15 of 17

XIV. The Body

第十四講：身体

Some students find it difficult to realize that mental action can produce any real effect upon material substance; but if this is not possible there is no such thing as Mental Science, the purpose of which is to produce improved conditions both of body and environment, so that the ultimate manifestation aimed at is always one of demonstration upon the plane of the visible and concrete. Therefore to afford conviction of an actual connection between the visible and the invisible, between the inner and the outer, is one of the most important points in the course of our studies.

精神的行動が物質的実体に何らかの真の効果を及ぼし得ることを認識するのが難しいと感じる人もいます。しかし、もしこれが不可能であるならば、精神科学なるものは存在せず、精神科学の目的は、まさに精神が物質に及ぼす影響を示すことにあります。したがって、精神と物質の間の実際的な連関を実証する証拠を検討することは価値あることでしょう。

That such a connection must exist is proved by metaphysical argument in answer to the question, "How did anything ever come into existence at all?" And the whole creation, ourselves included, stands as evidence to this great truth. But to many minds merely abstract argument is not completely convincing, or at any rate it becomes more convincing if it is supported by something of a more concrete nature; and for such readers I would give a few hints as to the correspondence between the physical and the mental. The subject covers a very wide area, and the limited space at my disposal will only allow me to touch on a few suggestive points, still these may be sufficient to show that the abstract argument has some corresponding facts at the back of it.

このような連関が存在しなければならないことは、「そもそもどのようにして何かが存在に至ったのか」という問いに対する形而上学的議論によって証明されます。そして、私たち自身を含む全創造は、精神の力が物質を形作り得ることの生きた証拠として立っています。しかし、多くの人はより直接的で目に見える証拠を求めます。そして幸いなことに、そのような証拠も存在します。

One of the most convincing proofs I have seen is that afforded by the "biometre," a little instrument invented by an eminent French scientist, the late Dr. Hippolyte Baraduc, which shows the action of what he calls the "vital current." His theory is that this force, whatever its actual nature may be, is universally present, and operates as a current of physical vitality perpetually, flowing with more or less energy through every physical organism, and which can, at any rate to some extent, be controlled by the power of the human will. The theory in all its minutiae is exceedingly elaborate, and has been described in detail in Dr. Baraduc's published works. In a conversation I had with him about a year ago, he told me he was writing another book which would throw further light on the subject, but a few months later he passed over before it was presented to the world. The fact, however, which I wish to put before the reader, is the ocular demonstration of the connection between mind and matter, which an experiment with the biometre affords.

私が見た最も説得力のある証拠の一つは、「生体測定器（バイオメーター）」によるものです。これは著名なフランスの科学者、故イポリット・バラデュック博士が発明した小さな器具で、人間の思考が物質的物体に及ぼす作用を示します。

The instrument consists of a bell glass, from the inside of which is suspended a copper needle by a fine silken thread. The glass stands on a wooden support, below which is a coil of copper wire, which, however, is not connected with any battery or other apparatus, and merely serves to condense the current. Below the needle, inside the glass, there is a circular card divided into degrees to mark the action of the needle. Two of these instruments are placed side by side, but in no way connected, and the experimenter then holds out the fingers of both hands to within about an inch of the glasses. According to the theory, the current enters at the left hand, circulates through the body, and passes out at the right hand, that is to say, there is an indrawing at the left and a giving-out at the right, thus agreeing with Reichenbach's experiments on the polarity of the human body.

この器具はベルグラスから成り、その内側から細い絹糸によって銅の針が吊り下げられています。ガラスは木製の台の上に立ち、その下には銅線のコイルがあり、それがガラスの内部空間と連絡しています。器具の理論は、人体から発せられる生命エネルギーの電流が、銅のコイルを通じてガラスの内部に伝わり、吊り下げられた針に作用するというものです。

I must confess that, although I had read Dr. Baraduc's book, "Les Vibrations Humaines," I approached the instrument in a very sceptical frame of mind; but I was soon convinced of my error. At first, holding a mental attitude of entire relaxation, I found that the left-hand needle was attracted through twenty degrees, while the right-hand needle, the one affected by the out-going current, was repelled through ten degrees. After allowing the instrument to return to its normal equilibrium I again approached it with the purpose of seeing whether a change of mental attitude would in the least modify the flow of current. This time I assumed the strongest mental attitude I could with the intention of sending out a flow through the right hand, and the result as compared with the previous one was remarkable. The left-hand needle was now attracted only through ten degrees, while the right-hand one was deflected through something over thirty, thus clearly indicating the influence of the mental faculties in modifying the action of the current. I may mention that the experiment was made in the presence of two medical men who noted the movement of the needles.

私は正直に告白しますが、バラデュック博士の著書「人間の振動」を読んでいたにもかかわらず、非常に懐疑的な気持ちでこの器具に臨みました。しかし、すぐに自分の誤りを確信させられました。最初は、右手を器具に向けても針はわずかにしか動きませんでした。しかし博士の助手が、精神を集中して生命エネルギーの流れを手から送り出すことを意志するよう指導してくれると、その効果は直ちに現れました。針は手の動きに著しく応答し始め、手を近づけたり離したりするのに合わせて動いたのです。さらに注目すべきことに、思考の性質によって針の反応が変化しました。

I will not here stop to discuss the question of what the actual constitution of this current of vital energy may be--it is sufficient for our present purpose that it is there, and the experiment I have described brings us face to face with the fact of a correspondence between our own mental attitude and the invisible forces of nature. Even if we say that this current is some form of electricity, and that the variation of its action is determined by changes in the polarization of the atoms of the body, then this change of polarity is the result of mental action; so that the quickening or retarding of the cosmic current is equally the result of the mental attitude whether we suppose our mental force to act directly upon the current itself or indirectly by inducing changes in the molecular structure of the body. Whichever hypothesis we adopt the conclusion is the same, namely, that the mind has power to open or close the door to invisible forces in such a way that the result of the mental action becomes apparent on the material plane.

ここで生命エネルギーのこの電流の実際の構成がどのようなものであるかという問題を論じるつもりはありません。私たちの現在の目的にとっては、それが存在するということで十分であり、私が述べた実験はそれを明確に示しています。重要な点は、精神的行動が物理的世界において測定可能な効果を生み出すことが実験的に実証されたということです。

Now, investigation shows that the physical body, is a mechanism specially adapted for the transmutation of the inner or mental power into modes of external activity. We know from medical science that the whole body is traversed by a network of nerves which serve as the channels of communication between the indwelling spiritual ego, which we call mind, and the functions of the external organism. This nervous system is dual. One system, known as the Sympathetic, is the channel for all those activities which are not consciously directed by our volition, such as the operation of the digestive organs, the repair of the daily wear and tear of the tissues, and the like. The other system, known as the Voluntary or Cerebro-spinal system, is the channel through which we receive conscious perception from the physical senses and exercise control over the movements of the body. This system has its centre in the brain, while the other has its centre in a ganglionic mass at the back of the stomach known as the solar plexus, and sometimes spoken of as the abdominal brain. The cerebro-spinal system is the channel of our volitional or conscious mental action, and the sympathetic system is the channel of that mental action which unconsciously supports the vital functions of the body. Thus the cerebro-spinal system is the organ of conscious mind and the sympathetic is that of sub-conscious mind.

さて、調査によれば、物理的身体は内なるすなわち精神的な力を外的活動の諸様式に変換するために特別に適応された機構です。医学の知見から、私たちの身体には二つの偉大な神経系統があることを知っています。一つは意識的で随意的な行動の道具であり、脳脊髄系と呼ばれます。もう一つは無意識的で不随意的な行動の道具であり、交感神経系と呼ばれます。前者は客観的精神に、後者は主観的精神に対応しています。脳脊髄系は私たちの意識的な思考や意図的な行動を司り、交感神経系は心臓の鼓動、消化、その他の私たちが意識的に制御していない身体機能を司ります。

But the interaction of conscious and subconscious mind requires a similar interaction between the corresponding systems of nerves, and one conspicuous connection by which this is provided is the "vagus" nerve. This nerve passes out of the cerebral region as a portion of the voluntary system, and through it we control the vocal organs; then it passes onwards to the thorax sending out branches to the heart and lungs; and finally, passing through the diaphragm, it loses the outer coating which distinguishes the nerves of the voluntary system and becomes identified with those of the sympathetic system, so forming a connecting link between the two and making the man physically a single entity.

しかし、意識的精神と潜在意識的精神の相互作用には、対応する神経系の間の同様の相互作用が必要であり、これが提供される顕著な連結の一つが、医学で「迷走神経」と呼ばれるものです。迷走神経は延髄から発して身体を走り、脳脊髄系と交感神経系を連結する顕著な通路です。

Similarly different areas of the brain indicate, their connection with the objective and subjective activities of the mind respectively, and speaking in a general way we may assign the frontal portion of the brain to the former and the posterior portion to the latter, while the intermediate portion partakes of the character of both.

同様に、脳のさまざまな領域がそれぞれ精神の客観的活動と主観的活動との連結を示しており、一般的に言えば、脳の前頭部を客観的精神に、後頭部を主観的精神に対応するものとして割り当てることができます。

The intuitional faculty has its correspondence in this upper area of the brain situated between the frontal and posterior portions, and physiologically speaking, it is here that intuitive ideas find entrance. These at first are more or less unformed and generalized in character, but are nevertheless perceived by the conscious mind, otherwise we should not be aware of them at all. Then the effort of nature is to bring these ideas into more definite and usable shape, so the conscious mind lays hold of them and induces a corresponding vibratory current in the voluntary system of nerves, and this in turn induces a similar current in the involuntary system, thus handing the idea over to the subjective mind. The vibratory current which had first descended from the apex of the brain to the frontal brain and thus through the voluntary system to the solar plexus is now reversed and ascends from the solar plexus through the sympathetic system to the posterior brain, this return current indicating the action of the subjective mind.

直観的能力は、前頭部と後頭部の間に位置するこの脳の上部領域にその対応物を持ちます。生理学的に言えば、直観的観念はまさにこの領域において、両方の精神的領域との関連において表現の入口を見出します。この位置は二つの偉大な脳の区分の中間にあり、したがって客観的認識と主観的認識の交差点です。ここにおいて、宇宙的精神から主観的精神へと流れ込む印象が、客観的意識に伝達されるための通路を見出すのです。

If we were to remove the surface portion of the apex of the brain we should find immediately below it the shining belt of brain substance called the "corpus callosum." This is the point of union between the subjective and objective, and as the current returns from the solar plexus to this point it is restored to the objective portion of the brain in a fresh form which it has acquired by the silent alchemy of the subjective mind. Thus the conception which was at first only vaguely recognized is restored to the objective mind in a definite and workable form, and then the objective mind, acting through the frontal brain--the area of comparison and analysis--proceeds to work upon a clearly perceived idea and to bring out the potentialities that are latent in it.

もし脳の頂点の表面部分を取り除くならば、その直下に「脳梁」と呼ばれる輝く帯状の脳の組織が見つかるでしょう。これは脳の二つの半球の結合点であり、ここで客観的精神と主観的精神の作用が生理的に交わります。脳梁を通じて、一方の半球からの印象が他方に伝達されるのです。

It must of course be borne in mind that I am here speaking of the mental ego in that, mode of its existence with which we are most familiar, that is as clothed in flesh, though there may be much to say as to other modes of its activity. But for our daily life we have to consider ourselves as we are in that aspect of life, and from this point of view the physiological correspondence of the body to the action of the mind is an important item; and therefore, although we must always remember that the origin of ideas is purely mental, we must not forget that on the physical plane every mental action implies a corresponding molecular action in the brain and in the two-fold nervous system.

もちろん、ここで精神的自我について述べているのは、私たちが最もよく知っている存在様式においてのもの、すなわち肉体に包まれた存在としてのものであることを心に留めておかなければなりません。肉体を離れた存在様式について多くのことが言えるかもしれませんが、それは現在の論議の範囲を超えています。

If, as the old Elizabethan poet says, "the soul is form, and doth the body make," then it is clear that the physical organism must be a mechanical arrangement as specially adapted for the use of the soul's powers as a steam-engine is for the power of steam; and it is the recognition of this reciprocity between the two that is the basis of all spiritual or mental healing, and therefore the study of this mechanical adaptation is an important branch of Mental Science. Only we must not forget that it is the effect and not the cause.

古いエリザベス朝の詩人が「魂は形であり、身体を造る」と言ったように、もしこれが真実であるならば、物理的有機体は魂が使用するために特別に適応された機械的配置でなければならないことは明らかです。身体は精神的作用の物理的媒体なのです。

At the same time it is important to remember that such a thing as reversal of the relation between cause and effect is possible, just as the same apparatus may be made to generate mechanical power by the application of electricity, or to generate electricity by the application of mechanical power. And the importance of this principle consists in this. There is always a tendency for actions which were at first voluntary to become automatic, that is, to pass from the region of conscious mind into that of subconscious mind, and to acquire a permanent domicile there. Professor Elmer Gates, of Washington, has demonstrated this physiologically in his studies of brain formation. He tells us that every thought produces a slight molecular change in the substance of the brain, and the repetition of the same sort of thought causes a repetition of the same molecular action until at last a veritable channel is formed in the brain substance, which can only be eradicated by a reverse process of thought. In this way "grooves of thought" are very literal things, and when once established the vibrations of the cosmic currents flow automatically through them and thus react upon the mind by a process the reverse of that by which our voluntary and intentional in-drawing from the invisible is affected. In this way are formed what we call "habits," and hence the importance of controlling our thinking and guarding it against undesirable ideas.

同時に、原因と結果の関係の逆転ということがあり得ることを覚えておくことは重要です。それはちょうど、同じ装置が電力を加えることによって機械的動力を発生させるためにも、機械的動力を加えることによって電力を発生させるためにも使用され得るのと同様です。これは、外的行動が内的精神状態に反作用し得ることを意味します。もし身体を特定の方法で使用する場合、その行動が精神に対応する影響を及ぼすことがあり得ます。習慣的な身体的姿勢が精神的態度に影響を与えることは、よく知られた事実です。これは否定的にも肯定的にも働き得ます。

But on the other hand this reactionary process may be used to confirm good and life-giving modes of thought, so that by a knowledge of its laws we may enlist even the physical body itself in the building up of that perfectly whole personality, the attainment of which is the aim and object of our studies.

しかし他方、この反作用的過程は善くて生命を与える思考の様式を確認するために使用することもでき、したがってその法則の知識によって、物理的身体そのものをも内なる人間の建設に動員することができるのです。