The Gaelic Manuscripts
by Betty White
with Stewart Edward White

Chapter 20
The Technique of Communication

1. Initial difficulties – the physical

The first requisite for communication, said Gaelic, is relaxation of the station’s body. The second is really the sane thing, on another plane of activity. It is the placing in abeyance of the conscious mind. The object is the same in both cases – as far as possible to keep the station from interfering in his own person. It is obvious that we want the discarnate communicator’s ideas, rather than those of the station. "But," said Gaelic, "there is such a thing as ideas in the body; ideas formed by long habits, resistances to the unusual, which in their sum and aggregate amount to counter intention". For this phenomenon permeability to the communicator’s intention is demanded, and "if the demonstration is to complete itself, it must not be crossed by a conscious or unconscious counter intention. It is for this simple reason that the conscious mind is placed to a greater or lesser degree in abeyance – and that a demand is made for at least a degree of relaxation, The relaxation of the body corresponds in its realm to the abeyance of the conscious mind."

That much is simple and understandable. But there intervene difficulties in the way of perfection of these conditions. We cannot set aside the whole of the conscious mind; not and stay alive! The conscious mind, to repeat, is that portion of the whole mind that is focused for use in that environment in which its owner is functioning for the moment. In our case the environment is physical. We must, says Gaelic, extend our conception of the conscious intellect. It has to do not only with thought, but "with such matters as the conduct of the ordinary affairs of the body. Such matters, I mean, as the intake of the breath, the beating of the heart, the digestion of the food, the circulation of the blood, and all the more obscure . . . what you nominate as involuntary activities of the body. These are as definite a focusing of a portion of the mind as an intellectual process. They are also a sharpened utilization in the especial environment in which the entity is placed.

"Thus you find that many activities which you have considered merely instinctive and therefore completely subconscious – in the old sense – are now transferred to the conscious in the broad sense, or focused."

So at once we discover a real difficulty, and a very nice balance to be struck by those presumably manipulating the adjustments. Though the conscious mind must be placed aside, to be sure; at least enough of it must remain untouched to keep the station alive. But that is not sufficient.

"Naturally," said Gaelic, "the bodily functions continue. But also a lower stratum of intellectual focus, per se, must be retained. It is necessary that a physical message be conveyed from the motor centers to the hand holding the pencil – or to the tongue, throat and epiglottis that make the words. It makes no difference. I take the simplest example. It is necessary also to retain an activity in that portion or the frame capable of recollection – not memory, recollection. For from the unfocused, which alone can receive the impulse of our idea, must rise a portion sufficiently focused to manipulate the physical organism, not only a concept but a selective faculty for the evocation and transmission of the material expressive of that concept.

"Dinna forget that in the psychic state to which I allude, the proportions of the focused and the unfocused are artificially altered, so that when I say our impression is on the unfocused, I may mean partially on what is unfocused for the moment – unfocused for the purpose.

"The common idea is that we do not use what you call your intellect. We can use what you call your intellect – what contains your words, your equipment, your polished tools of daily use – provided we throw it into the unfocused. Now it is a matter – without going into a rule book, or a handy manual of how to run a psychic – that the exact balance here is very difficult, even excluding a tendency on the part of the station to intervene. The delicacy of the adjustment makes for confusion".

That is difficulty Number One. Difficulty Number Two is more subtle, but not less obvious once it is explained. The operator to the best of his skill has, by his compromise with complete abeyance, cleared the channel. But that is not enough. "We must have", says Gaelic, "not only a free channel, but a power of attraction drawing the vital force into that channel". The appropriation, the checking, of vital force is apparently a matter of the station’s power. That is his own job in his ordinary life; a part of his individuality. He does that by his desiring; purposing. Once in possession of the vital force, he directs his action by ‘intentioning’ it. But, says Gaelic, "automatically the degree of that force is measured by the need. "When the mind is deliberately placed in abeyance, and the bodily functions deliberately lowered by relaxation, automatically the current of vitality operating through them is normally reduced". And this reduced current is not sufficient to operate the machine in the production of the desired phenomena. "The problem", – difficulty Number Two – said Gaelic, "is to slow down the customary functions while continuing to supply a proper power".

"This", he went on to explain, "can only be done by an unusual expedient. The operator can direct, check and purpose the needed force. He cannot assure its entrance into and its use by the station. That comes at its best by a habit of alert and eager expansion and desire without tension. Tension attracts, but at the same time constricts the channels. Therefore, this small residue of responsibility rests with the station. If this were not so there would be no reason why each and every human being should not possess this faculty.

"The ideal combination for this type of phenomenon, a combination of detached conscious mind, a bodily relaxation, and a receptive and demanding spiritual alertness. I say ideal combination: in the present state of development we obtain this combination only in lesser and varying degrees, almost always without definite understanding – if any understanding at all – of what is taking place.

"Given a modicum, at least, of these conditions, so that the force can be made to flow with slight interruptions, there remains the necessity of intentioning it. You must remember that it has already been purposed, and by that purpose differentiated into one sort of force from the numberless potentialities of the primal force. It, roughly speaking, is the type of force that, checked by the purpose, will manifest itself through the human physical organism.

"The intentioning is of two parts – first, as to its definite nature; second – as to the specific thing to be done by it – as, for example, whether it is to be a healing current, or a force that will push the hand. That part we can do ourselves. The definition of exactly what is to be done is a definite manifestation of reality on the physical planet and can only be done through the intermediation of the carnate equipment. There the station must intervene and is necessary. I do not refer to
the hand or the pencil; those are the tools. I do refer to the inner self.

"Having determined that the force will be that to push the pencil, we must then turn to the consciousness of the station to convey what the push is to be. We must impress upon the station’s consciousness what we would convey, and then permit that consciousness – independent of ourselves – to send the message to the tools. We give the content, and must trust to its safe delivery.

"In this ideal condition which I have sketched, the discarnate intelligence has intervened in several ways. He has assisted to keep the force pressure at normal when the circumstances would indicate a reduction; he has purposed the kind of force to be produced and utilized; he has impressed upon the station’s consciousness the intention and content. That is his part."

2. The initial difficulties – the mental

Those two might be called difficulties of preparation. But when conditions are once established, they are by no means stable.

"There remains", said Gaelic, "a remnant of focused consciousness. This must be so, as far as bodily functions are concerned, of course, as far as human recollection is concerned; and the memory evocation of words is also necessary. Now you have no doubt noticed that concepts do not stand alone. You have a game of your own when you name one thing and say what that thing reminds you of and another guesses..".

"Association of ideas", someone supplied.

"Now there are a thousand reasons for the affinity of concepts in anyone’s mind; but the fact remains that touch one and you tend to evoke another. Now suppose that within the area of unfocused consciousness there lies a primitive concept very close in affinity with some function of the remaining focused mind. Touch that concept, so to sneak, and you get a reaction, in the realm of the focused mind, in its complement. That complement may result in direct action by word, or it may in turn reverberate into the unfocused, to be translated in exactly the same way as an impression.

"Suppose, for an example, that the beating of the heart is within the focused mind left for the purpose. Now, when I say ‘heart’, Betty, what comes to your mind? Betty! Quick! Heart!"

"Beats!" cried Betty.

In the unfocused part of your mind is a rhythm of forces due to some part of the
manipulation which is a beat. Now, for the moment, those two concepts are linked. That translates itself, though an old fear, an old bit of reading, and the pencil writes; ‘You will die of heart disease in one year.’ This, he told us, is difficult to avoid.

"It is the source of nine-tenths of what you call coloring. It starts the machinery of the station’s own equipment, no matter how well under control, and that impetus must run down before pure communication is again resumed.

"Suppose again", he is speaking now of a ‘raiding intelligence’; but the principle applies equally to ordinary ‘coloring’ by the station himself. "We have adjusted the station's ordinary focused mind so that one-third remains focused and two-thirds is thrown into the unfocused. That is our adjustment for our purposes with the station. Your raiding intelligence tries quite simply to alter this proportion. He may do this by figuratively sticking a pin in the station and waking him up somewhat. He touches a physical nerve, perhaps, or an old thought, but he alters the adjustment, and before it can be restored in balance, again what you call coloring has come in, due to the fact that for a space of time a certain proportion of the station’s mind is out of control, has been subjected to a stimulus, and is working independently".

A shared emotion, or indeed an emotion experienced by the station alone is capable of altering the adjustment. "It often happens that this very emotional power is released by an idea, an emotion, a desire, or even a physical reaction induced by some extraneous or accidental circumstance, directly impinging on some portion of the station’s make-up. This may or nay not be something that is apparent to the bystanders, or to any conscious portion of the station.

"A sound unnoticed, a movement of the body, especially – and here we impinge upon another type – an association of ideas, will touch a button and loosen a dynamic emotional reaction. This will, according to its strength, set into vital motion a greater or lesser degree or area of the unfocused mind. That force, unless it be skillfully deflected and utilized by ourselves, must find its outlet in a translation of that untouched area.

"Thus a very definite interference is induced, originating wholly in the station, perhaps connected by subtle and mysterious bonds with summat deep buried and long hidden. Unskillful manipulation from this side is very likely by its clumsiness of approach, to arouse these irrelevancies,

"Notice this point. It is the only point that has not already occurred to you. For self-interference there must exist an emotion. The emotional basis is necessary for the appropriation of a force that must find an outlet. A mere intellectual conception or association does not suffice. The dynamics lack.

"In the type of interference that has to do with the balance of focused and unfocused consciousness, the main, actuating principle is rather an instinctive resistance to allowing the consciousness to be placed in abeyance. It is as though a swimming man instinctively fought against submergence. And the result is that a certain portion (on the border, so to speak) is alternately focused and unfocused, and perhaps focused again, in that struggle.

"It is from this indeterminate zone, sometimes rapidly shifting, that – first – focused intellectual ideas may be formed; then submerged to that realm whence those communications proceed, or partially impressed on the unfocused; and finally raised to a deliberate intellectualization, which you can see must be personal."

3. Initial difficulties – external

Naturally it had occurred to us, as it has occurred to all who have experimented with these things, that those present in the room must contribute cross-currents to modify, distract, perhaps annul the purity of the material communicated. What effect, for example, the presence of an avowed skeptic? Of one distinctly antagonistic? Gaelic agreed – with an important modification.

"Opposing opinion, skepticism, contradictory argument", he said, "have no effect whatever in themselves. Indeed, they are sometimes of a help. They have no more dynamics than the intellectual thought in the mind of the station, of which I spoke a time ago. But supply them with dynamics, and their effect is sometimes almost fatal, for the reason that, given equal dynamics in a carnate and in a discarnate, other things being equal, a carnate has more points of affinity with another carnate than have we. The contest is not equal.

"Dynamics is supplied here, as in the other cases by emotion. The desire not to believe – I mean desire – the desire not to be intellectually fooled or wrong, the desire to support intellectual pride, the irritation that contradiction sometimes rouses through hidden egoism, the fear sometimes that a painfully built structure of thought is threatened, and many lesser emotions, down to the desire to be considered a fine smart-Alec, each in its kind and in its way impregnates the thought with a force that will make its impression and cause an interference. Your intellectual skeptic expresses his skepticism coolly and calmly".

The rest of this statement was too rapid for the reporter to take verbatim. The gist was that cool, calm, intellectual skepticism, lacked dynamic force, and makes no impression on the unfocused mind of the station, therefore creating no interference. Belligerent statement of skepticism, being emotional and therefore dynamic, does create interference.

"Then anything that emotionally stirs the station opens the gate for interference?" asked someone.

"It is more than that. Emotional stirring of the station is the result. The dynamics are supplied by the other person, the carnate .... well, let us be personal. Conceive that Betty is about to question my statement. She says, "But I am not a belligerent person". And in that she places no resentment. The station is unaffected in his unfocused mind by the contradiction. On the other hand, if Betty rejects this statement with indignation she has furnished the form in the substance of thought with wings, and it is impressed on the unfocused mind of the station. One Is an intellectual thing, an idea; the other is force".

Gaelic then said that this was one reason why such circles as we had been talking about lately – i.e. the Margery Committee in Boston – were perfectly futile because of the conflict of dynamics surrounding and impinging upon the situation. He added, with great emphasis, and repeated for notation:

"It is even possible that if in the chamber is sufficient detailed conception of specific fraud, backed by sufficient dynamics of emotion, that that impression of fraud and the method of it can be impressed upon a station with sufficient clarity and sufficient force so that the fraud will be brought about."