It is well worth remembering the significance that the mind has in our well being.
Hack Tuke, in his classic on the subject, gives us figures in respect of the power of the mind on the body, stating that 56 per cent of the effects on the vascular system comes from the intellect; 56 per cent on the glands and organs of the body comes from the emotions; and 8 per cent on the so-called voluntary muscles comes from the will. Yoga is a science confident in its knowledge that no mechanical system could adjust itself to the constantly changing environment of the body unless there were a flexible centre such as the mind in control. This is confirmed by Professor Clouston's statement to the Royal Medical Society in 1896 that the mental aspect is a factor for good or evil in any disease.
Religion, calling for ethical living, links up with natural science, for if the mind and body are so linked that the mind can influence the body, it is equally probable that the body can affect the mind, and immoral use of the flesh or its abuse can warp the mind. Medical men have compiled frightening lists of diseases influenced or created by the mind, from cancer and heart diseases to simple stomach-ache. The mind can induce paralysis, and death may be caused either by a natural physical reaction in the body, or by hysteria where non-existent diseases or conditions are imagined.
Just think of the power of the mind! It holds agony and death in its grasp, and yet science is only just taking it seriously as a factor in therapeutics, whereas Yoga has been striving after an understanding for two thousand years. Does not this demand that the West should seriously consider a culture with such a tradition?
The mind also has a curative effect when directed and applied in the right channels, and we have only to think of hypnotism, faith, hope, prayer, confidence, will-power, auto-suggestion, and religious mysticism to realize the power of mind over matter. These aspects of the mind have in practice saved people from years of prostration, pain, and from death, and they cannot be ignored. Yoga sees this as an indication of the power of the mind, and directs it accordingly by a system based on knowledge from prolonged study over centuries.
The yogi endeavours to create a life force within himself, and Western science itself acknowledges something much akin in the vis medicatrix naturae, a natural inherent combative force in function against disease, described by Dr. A. H. Carter as a 'working out of the balance of nature', that harmonious system of life.
Captain J. A. Hadfield, M.A., M.B., in his contribution to that excellent work, The Spirit—God and His Relation to Man, states:
'Whatever their ultimate origin, there are resources of power whose existence we do not ordinarily recognize but which can be made available for the purposes of our daily life.'
He instances genuine cases of feats done by people under unusual circumstances and strong emotions which could not be done afterwards in the ordinary course of living. Case after case is quoted, revealing in all that the subject has made access unconsciously, or rather subconsciously, to hidden sources of power, and afterwards suffered no fatigue from his extraordinary expenditure of energy. Under hypnosis cases before Captain Hadfield exhibited abnormal feats of strength. This leaves no alternative but to see the will as a power in itself governing the whole body, and the emotions as providing impetus to the will.
A governing law seems to be that progress comes from the adaptation of the individual, with all his special powers, to the prevailing social life, and it is this that forms the basis of the moral outlook, for as Captain Hadfield points out, power used to the detriment of the community is eventually reflected back on the individual who abuses it, with unhappy consequences to himself.
Her is another quotation from this interesting book: 'This art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men.'
That is worth a thought in an age that saps mental energy and nervous strength when it is most needed.