I shall perhaps be told that it is not certain that these
apparitions are objective, that they correspond with an external
reality, but that it is exceedingly possible that they spring
solely from the man's or the animal's brain. This is not the
moment to discuss this very obscure point, which raises the whole
question of the supernatural and all the problems of the
hereafter. The only important thing to observe is that at one
time it is man who transmits his terror, his perception or his
idea of the invisible to the animal and at another the animal
which transmits its sensations to man. We have here, therefore,
intercommunications which spring from a deeper common source than
any that we know and which, to issue from it or go back to it,
pass through other channels than those of our customary senses.
Now all this belongs to that unexplained sensibility, to that
secret treasure, to that as yet undetermined psychic power which,
for lack of a better term, we call subconsciousness or subliminal
consciousness. Moreover, it is not surprising that in the
animals, these subliminal faculties not only exist, but are
perhaps keener and more active than in ourselves, because it is
our conscious and abnormally individualized life that atrophies
them by relegating them to a state of idleness wherein they have
fewer and fewer opportunities of being exercised, whereas in our
brothers who are less detached from the universe,
consciousness--if we can give that name to a very uncertain and
confused notion of the ego--is reduced to a few elementary
actions.
Pages:
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205