THE POWER OF MIND. William Walker Atkinson

      Chapter III

       Mentative Induction

       Table of Contents

      AS WONDERFUL as is the manifestation of Mind-Power within the limits of the form of the thing, cell, plant, animal, or person, and which produces the effects known as local action, movement, etc., there is still a greater wonder to be witnessed in the manifestation of the same power beyond the limits of the personality or form in which it originates. And it is to this manifestation of Mind-Power that I am about to apply the term "Telementation."

      I may as well explain my terms at this place and time. In the first place I use the term "Mentation," in the sense of "Mental activity"; the term being derived from the Latin word mentis, meaning "the mind"; and the suffix "ation"; meaning "action." So "Mentation" means "mental activity." From Mentation we derive Mentative, or "relating to mental activity"; Mentate, or "to manifest mental activity"; etc., etc.

      From Mentation, also, I derive the term, "Telementation," which so far as I know, was originally coined by me several years ago. The word is derived from the Greek word, tele, meaning "far off "; and the word "mentation," above explained. "Telementation" means "mental activity at a distance," or mentation exerted over space," or "long-range mental influence," etc. I have been led to the coining of this new term designed to take the place of "telepathy," for the reason that the latter term is improper and misleading. "Telepathy," according to its root-words, really means "to suffer at a distance," or the "feeling of the pain of another," the suffix "pathy," being derived from the Greek word meaning "to suffer." It may be used properly in connection with the sympathetic transference of pain, or disease, or similar mental state, but its use otherwise is improper. It is being discarded by the best scientific authorities, who prefer the term "Thought Transference," etc. I have thought it advisable to use the term "telementation" in this connection, believing that it meets the requirements of the case better than any other term of which I have any knowledge. I expect it to come into general use before long.

      And now about the transference of mental states from one thing or person to another. I shall not attempt to go into a discussion of the phenomena of Thought-Transference in this work, for the reason that it is too well established, and too generally known to require an argument in its favor from me. To thousands of careful investigators it is an established fact, and anyone who will take the time and trouble to conduct the experiments may reproduce the phenomena to his own satisfaction. Moreover there are instances of telementation arising in the everyday life of nearly every person, such instances being of the spontaneous order, that is, not having been expected or sought after. Those who are desirous of obtaining "proofs" of telementation, beyond their own personal experiences, are referred to the records of the English Society for Psychical Research, which contain the carefully noted reports of many very interesting cases which have been conducted by the society under the most careful supervision and scientific requirements. The circulation of Mind-Power is as real a natural phenomenon as the circulation of air, water, or the blood.

      There have been many theories advanced to account for telementation, and there has been much talk of "two-minds," "dual-mentality," etc., in this connection. In this work I shall have very little, if anything, to say regarding man's "two-minds." I, of course, am fully conversant with the subject of the sub-conscious and super-conscious regions of the Mind, but I find this principle of telementation to have its roots still further back in the scale of evolution—back before "consciousness" as we know it, existed in the created forms of matter or life—back to the plane of "mind in inorganic matter"—and therefore, I shall not attempt to urge any "two-mind" theories to account for it. In fact, I believe that the mind of man is a far more complex thing than a "dual-mind" combination—there are many more planes and regions of mind than the "objective" and "subjective" minds of the "dual-mind" authorities.

      I find the basis for the theory of telementation far back in the scale—in fact at the lowest extreme of the scale of things. I find it in the atoms, or in the particles of which the atoms are composed. In the first chapter of this work I called your attention to the manifestation of Mind-Power among the atoms and particles of matter, which was evidenced by action, motion, and movements resulting from "attraction and repulsion" of these atoms and particles. In other words I showed that physical forces were produced by the motions of the particles, or vibrations of the atoms, which arose from states of like and dislike; love and hate; attraction and repulsion; pleasure and pain; among these tiny particles of matter. And it is here that the elementary principle of telementation is noticeable—here is where it may be seen in full primitive force and operation. If you will think for a moment, you will see that the motions of the atoms are two-fold, viz. (1) the voluntary motion of the atom toward the other atom to which it is attracted by chemical affinity; and (2) the movement of the atom occasioned by the "attractive force" exerted by the other atom, in the same manner that a magnet" draws" the needle to it.

      Haeckel has told us that there is the voluntary movement of the atom itself, in response to the "desire" awakened in it by the attraction—how does it become aware of the presence of the other atom unless something passes between them? And that something must be in the nature of a mentative current, for there is nothing else to pass, because all other forms of energy being produced by vibrations of the atoms arising from mental states, the Mind-Power must precede the physical energies, and must be the "something that passes between" the two atoms. Feeling the presence of the other atom, the first atom moves towards its affinity, voluntarily, and just as you move your arm or walk—the atom probably exerting a push upon the ether which must be to the atom or particle what the air is to the wing of the bird, or the water to the fin of the fish. But there is another cause of motion, as we have seen—the mutual pull of the attracting atoms.

      And what manner or kind of energy is it that thus "draws" or "pulls" the other atom? It cannot be electricity, or magnetism, for those forces, as we have seen, are produced by a rate of vibration occasioned by the Mind-Power in the atoms themselves—therefore we must go back to the antecedent force, which is Mind-Power, and attribute to it the drawing or pulling force which moves the atoms toward each other.

      That this attracting or pulling force is in operation between the particles of matter, there can be no doubt. No two atoms of matter are in absolute touch with each other—there is always a distance between them—a space which thus separates them—which never can be traversed or overcome. There seems to be an individuality in these tiny particles which, although allowing them to form combinations, nevertheless prevents absolute blending or amalgamation. There is always a "keep your distance," or "thus far and no further" principle in Nature which holds every particle of matter individual and alone. Every ion, electron, atom, and molecule of matter is alone, and separated even from its closest affinity by a "touch me not" circle of influence, which is also mentative in its nature, in my opinion. Even the hardest diamond, or piece of steel, is composed of molecules close together but yet separated by this circle of influence; and every molecule is composed of several atoms between which the same law operates; and every atom is composed of many ions or electrons, which have distances between them. So true is Nature in her proportions and laws, that scientists assert that in the hundreds of ions of which the tiniest atom is composed (and which atom is invisible to the sight by reason of its smallness) there is a "distance between" observed and maintained by these particles, which bears the same proportion to their sizes that the distance between the planets of our solar system bears to their particular sizes—in other words, that the ions composing an atom are akin to a minute solar system, each ion being attracted to the other, and yet "kept at its distance," the combined pull and push of the desire and the "keep off," respectively, tending to cause them to circle round and round each other.

      And