A. SUBCONSCIOUS (AUTOMATIC) WRITING ACCOMPANIED Observation I. In this observation both the script and the hallucination record a memory of an episode which occurred two or three years ago when the subject, as I have explained, exhibited the secondary personality of 'Juliana.' The subject now consciously remembers the episode here described at the University. (Susie is the name of the normal personality; 'Dr Jones' is assistant professor of philosophy.) To conceal the identity of the subject fictitious names, including that of the University, have been substituted throughout. I. A Memory of a Previous Episode in The subject was directed to write automatically an account of some episode in her life making the selection herself subconsciously. (Of course neither I nor the subject had any suspicion of what it would be.) 1 SCRIPT: "I was at Harvard [University one day with Dr Jones when I changed into Juliana for Dean Smith and he] was pleased with me. 3 I went [through all sorts of gestures as Juliana and] I spoke 'lingo' for [the men and they seemed very much interested and the Dean never] took his eyes off Juliana." While the hand was writing this script automatically without awareness on the part of the subject, the first 'picture' (hallucination) appeared when the word "university" was written and continued until the word "he" was written, when it vanished. This is indicated in the text by the words in italics enclosed in brackets and designated by the number 1. Similarly the second picture appeared synchronously with the word "through," and ended after the writing of the words "Juliana and”; the third picture appeared with "the men" and ended after "never.” The hallucination (as described and taken down verbatim by me) and the script were now compared to see (a) if and to what extent its images were synchronized with the 'ideas' contained in the script, and (b) if the images corresponded to and represented these ideas thus synchronously expressed in the writing after the manner of conscious imagery. For clarity the script and the hallucination are arranged below in parallel columns, each 'picture' being set off against those portions of the script that were written during its occurrence. (I trust this explanation of the phenomena obtained in this experiment and of the form in which they are now presented will be sufficient for a comprehension of all the succeeding observations that follow, as the same plan was adhered to in each.) SCRIPT 1. I was at Harvard [University one day with Dr Jones when I changed into Juliana for Dean Smith and he] was pleased with me. 2. I went [through all sorts of gestures as Juliana and] 3. I spoke 'lingo' for [the men and they seemed very much interested and the Dean never] took his eyes off of Juliana. HALLUCINATION I see Harvard University. The steps going up and the brown stones and the whole front of the building I see myself as Susie going up the steps and into the building and I go down the hall to Dr Jones' office. Dr Jones is there and Dean Smith. They rise and shake hands and then sit down. I sit down as Susie and I see myself sitting in a chair and I turn into Juliana. I rise again as Juliana and shake hands again. They seem pleased. (The whole vision is like a movie.) I see myself sitting in Dr Jones' office as Juliana and I am going through all sorts of funny gestures like a foreigner. They laugh. (I cannot hear them.) I see myself as Juliana and I am talking the 'lingo' (I can hear the words but cannot tell what they are). I can hear Dr Jones' voice as if he is saying this is "an interesting phase" (the exact words). If you will take the pains to examine carefully these results and compare the script with the corresponding hallucinations you will note several things: 1. At the moment of the occurrence of the subconscious writing of the words "Harvard University," and the words describing each succeeding step of the original episode, a visualization, or hallucination, or image—call it what you will-corresponding to and representing the ideas or thoughts expressed by the subconsciously written words developed in consciousness. I am particular to express it this way because it must not be forgotten that all we have are certain physical marks (writing) on paper (of which the subject, let it also be not forgotten, was unaware) and a described hallucination. But if we accept the doctrine that automatic script is written by actual coconscious thoughts not in awareness rather than by purely physiological processes1 we may with equal accuracy express the facts and avoid pedanticism by the formula: at the moment of the occurrence of a subconscious memory or 1 I am not certain that it makes any difference in our conclusions whether the writing is done by physical or psychical processes. The point is the correlation of imagery with a subconscious process that is equivalent to a thought and corresponds to the image or images. thought (not in awareness) of Harvard University and of each succeeding step of the original episode a visualization corresponding to and representing that thought-memory appears in conscious awareness. 2. These visualizations resemble and perhaps we may say simulate or are identical with the ordinary visualizations of conscious thought although they may be richer1 in detail and more vivid. She subconsciously thinks of being at Harvard University, as had happened on a certain occasion, and almost at once she experiences not only images representing a building at Harvard, but also images of herself in movement, walking up the steps, into the building and down the corridor to 'Dr Jones'' room, as she did in the original episode. And so on with the remainder of the episode described in the script. 3. The visualization (hallucination) was much richer in detail than the description of the episode given in the script. I shall come back to this fact and discuss it more fully later. I will merely point out now that this is also true of the imagery of conscious thought and particularly of written thought. When I write "I took such a train for New York," with the thought of having taken the train I may have an elaborate imagery of the Boston station of the N.Y. and N.H.R.R. crowded with bustling people, of entering the gate with other passengers, of the long train of cars standing by the platform of the station, etc. More or less of all this I may have and do as I write it, according as my mind dwells on the incident and gives time for the thoughts and images to develop. And yet I only precisely think and still more only write, "I took a train.” A good visualizer has very rich imagery for very simply expressed thoughts. 4. A moment elapses after the script begins to describe the incident before the correlated image develops. For instance, the image of the University building does not develop until after the four words "I was at Harvard," were written. This slight delay in the development of the hallucination is of considerable significance and I will come back to it later after the results of the other experiments are given. We shall find better examples of it and also of the correlation of script and imagery in the more elaborate scripts and hallucinations. In fact I begin with this simple type of script and imagery that the main principle involved in all the experiments may be first clearly understood. 5. Finally I would point out that the three 'pictures' in this experi 1 Although this qualification is true by comparison with the imagery of the average run of individuals it may be doubted if it is true by comparison with the imagery of some persons who are extraordinarily vivid and elaborate visualizers. ment can be recognized easily as continuations of the same theme. But although this was always the case, we shall find that with most of the other hallucinations there is no obvious continuity to the pictures. The scenes shift as in a dream without apparent relation to one another. The significant fact is that the continuity will be found in the subconsciously written script without which the varying hallucinations would not seem to be related to one another and could not be understood or interpreted as manifestations of one and the same theme. All these points should be borne in mind when studying the phenomena of the other experiments. Observation II. (This was the first and a preliminary experiment to determine the best technique.) The subject was directed to write subconsciously a fabricated story constructed out of her former so-called 'Spanish dreams'-those of the Juliana system which had as a second personality conceived itself to be the reincarnated soul of a Spanish peasant girl and had created an elaborate fantasy of a previous life in Spain in the thirteenth century. The scenes and personages incorporated in the script had been often previously imagined. The images of the hallucination were therefore reproductions of former imagery. The image of Juliana, for instance, was reproduced exactly as it had always been visualized in the Spanish fantasies. (See Observation IV for a drawing of Juliana and the dancing scene.) The visual images were accompanied by a number of auditory 'images' and also by somatic sensations and feelings. These latter were the same as those which had always been associated with the conception of herself as a Spanish girl. Hence the script begins "I feel I am Spanish through and through." In this preliminary experiment the scenes of the hallucination were described in detail from memory after the completion of the script. In thus recalling the scenes the imagery was revived again and described from the reproduction. The images, both as they occurred in the hallucination and as revived, were said to be very vivid, more vivid than when experienced in the original fantasies, and were likened to the pictures of the 'movies.' SCRIPT: "I feel I am [Spanish] through and through. [As I paddled 3 barefooted through brooks] and carried [jugs of water upon a yoke and danced barefooted before the king of Spain and his Court-Cortes]. Also when 5 6 [I walked to early mass at the village church or mission at a village called in 7 my time Medesa]. And of [Father Brazado, the priest who discovered my 8 voice]. [I have a voice. I shall always believe I am a soul.”] SCRIPT 1. I feel I am Spanish through and through. 2. As I paddled barefooted through brooks 3. and carried jugs of water upon a yoke 4. and danced barefooted before the King of Spain and his Court-Cortes. 5. Also when I walk to early mass at the village church or mission 6. at a village called in my time Medesa. 7. And of Father Brazado, the priest who discovered my voice. A priest (a man just as vivid as I can see you) medium height-fat-big fat stomach, dressed in a long black robe. Around his waist is tied a cord, a funny twisted cord like nothing I have seen. (Here she imitates with her fingers the twisting of the cord.) He has a 1 Note the shifting of the scene after each hallucination without apparent continuity of action which is to be found only in the theme of the script, that is, in the subconscious process. The exact points in the script where two of the hallucinatory scenes ended are not quite clear in my record, so that the time interval between them and the next ones is not apparent. |