In 1897, the physician R. Osgood Mason compiled a book summarizing phenomena that were being explored by "New Psychology" at the time, such as telepathy, hypnosis, dreams, and hallucinations. In the preface, the author states the position of this book, which is to fairly examine these phenomena without uncritically attributing them to supernaturalism or dismissing them simply because they are unknown.

In this article, we will publish the full text of the author's preface following the bibliographic information.

• Original work: R. Osgood Mason, Telepathy and the Subliminal Self: An Account of Recent Investigations Regarding Hypnotism, Automatism, Dreams, Phantasms, and Related Phenomena (Henry Holt and Company, 1897).

Book Information

Telepathy and Potential Self

Recent research records on hypnosis, automatism, dreams, hallucinations, and other related phenomena.

R. Ozgood Mason

Doctor of Medicine, Master of Letters. Member of the New York Academy of Medicine.

New York. Henry Holt and Company. 1897.

Copyright 1897 Henry Holt and Company

Preface

No matter what conclusions one may draw, there is no doubt that the public's interest in matters related to "new psychology" is unprecedented. Hardly a day goes by without reports of unusual psychic experiences or astonishing phenomena appearing in newspapers, magazines, and novels. Newspapers, magazines, and novels alike compete with each other to attract attention by presenting such strange events. While some are presented with intelligence and good taste, the vast majority are treated with extreme superficiality.

General readers are not yet critical of these matters. However, they at least have an interest in them and want to know what can be trusted as established truths from various reports. There is a question about telepathy, or thought transmission: Is it a fact, or is it delusion? Will hypnosis actually gain recognition, both scientifically and in common sense? What about clairvoyance, planchettes, trance states and utterances during those states, crystal gazing, and apparitions?

In the following discussion, intelligent readers from both within and outside the medical field will find fair explanations and discussions on these topics. Furthermore, reasonable and logical answers to some of the questions raised will be provided. The purpose of publishing this book is to contribute in a small way to the current efforts aimed at rescuing some of the most valuable facts found in nature and some of the most interesting and beautiful spiritual phenomena in human experience from unfounded and irrational supernaturalism.

However, there are arguments against such research, stating that the principles involved are too vague, the facts are too new and unsubstantiated to be taken seriously. But we must not forget that even knowledge considered scientific today was once ambiguous and experimental. It is unreasonable to ignore newly discovered facts simply because they are new and their laws are unknown. Nevertheless, this tendency is particularly characteristic of our time when it comes to matters related to the spirit world.

Even if, from a practical standpoint, such research is deemed insufficient, that does not mean it becomes useless or uninteresting.

It is, in a sense, self-evident that Western civilization is excessively tense and pragmatic. It is materialistic, rigid, and mechanical. Anything that cannot be weighed, measured, analyzed, named, and evaluated has no value and is not worthy of belief. Emotions, intuition, aspirations, premonitions, and insights that come from within, rather than from the outside or are clearly recognized, are all belittled, disdained, and trampled upon by both pretentious dilettantes and ignorant commoners. As a result, development has been abnormal, unbalanced, and distorted, showing a tendency towards collapse.

For a small number of people who need the mysteries of the East, for others who quickly derive conclusions from spiritualism, and for even more people who seek supernatural elements in various religious systems, these offer at least partial, though often exaggerated, antidotes to this fundamental flaw. This is because they all posit that there exists a spiritual, or at least transcendental, aspect within human nature, contrasting with purely material aspects. However, even such partial remedies are not available to everyone, and many people find them unsatisfactory.

In order to establish a more balanced and sustainable foundation for development, we must examine certain generally accepted facts about the subtle structures of power that operate within our existence. As an introduction to this work, I hope that these studies in the peripheral areas of psychology will not be considered valueless.

Some of the arguments presented here have been reprinted with substantial revisions, courtesy of The New York Times.

New York, October 1896.

Original Information

• Author: R. Osgood Mason (Rufus Osgood Mason, 1830–1903)
• Title: Telepathy and the Subliminal Self
• Edition: 1897, New York, Henry Holt and Company

Note

• This is a translated text that introduces the author's concerns and viewpoints, and it does not mean that the translator acknowledges paranormal phenomena or individual claims as facts.