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means of subjugating the lower mind. The value of suggestion is coming to be recognised on all hands. M. Jean Finot observes in 'The Philosophy of Long Life ':--
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
us.
"It is suggestion ill-employed which undoubtedly shortens it [life]. Arrived at a certain age, we drug ourselves with the idea of the approaching end. We lose faith in our powers, and they abandon Under the pretext of the weight of age upon our shoulders, we take on sedentary habits. We cease to busy ourselves with our occupations. Little by little our blood, vitiated by idleness, together with our ill renewed tissues, open the door to all kinds of diseases. Premature old age attacks us, and we succumb sooner than we need in consequence of a harmful auto-suggestion. Now let us try to live by auto-suggestion instead of dying by it. Let us have ever before our eyes the numerous examples of robust and healthy old age. We must store up in our brains healthy, serene, and comfortable suggestions."
The Yogis insist that we must first rub off the store of recorded unhealthy suggestions from our memory, and re-arrangé our ideas in the light of the knowledge of Truth. This, however, cannot be accomplished without enormous mental labour, inasmuch as memory is not a thing which can be taken out, cleansed and put back in its place by any known process. Severe mental drilling, necessitating the closing up of old and deeply-rooted tracks in the nervous matter of the brain and the spinal column, and the opening up of new paths, in place thereof, is required for that purpose. As Vivekananda observes:
"We will find later on that in the study of these psychological matters there will be a good deal of action going on in the body. Nerve currents will have to be replaced and given a new channel. New sorts of vibrations will begin, the whole constitution will be remodelled as it were. But the main part of the action will lie along the spinal column, so that the one thing necessary for the
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