Telepathy: Thought-transference: Inner Experiences.

The first intimation I had as a boy that one possesses other senses than those obviously physical, came through spontaneous impressions regarding things mislaid or lost. One of these impressions was more distinct than earlier ones. I had been almost indifferent when a member of the household lost a diamond out of a ring, while every one in the household save myself had tried to find it. Then after two days I started up with a spontaneous inclination to find the diamond, and went immediately to the place where it lay concealed. This experience led me to believe that I might put my mind into a state to receive impressions, and I found that often-times by a process of elimination it was possible to discover ''a live clue" and to follow it successfully. Thus began the life-long habit of turning to the inner world for impressions before seeking information by asking questions or by external observation. I found that with some measure of success I could gain impressions at cross-roads or obscure points in a path, concerning the right road to my destination; and that in a strange town it was possible to get leadings by sending out my thought in various directions to determine the one to follow. This endeavor was fostered by visualizing the face of the person whom I was expecting to see or by calling up the mentality or sphere. Once in New York City I started out apparently at random with the hope that I might meet a friend who was surely in the city, although I had not the least clue to his whereabouts. Threading my way along a main thoroughfare for a while, I followed an impression to turn down an intersecting street and in a few minutes I met my friend walking towards me. My friend did not know I was in town and was not looking for me. He was well acquainted with the inner life, and I knew him as an "inner friend." This interior relationship apparently accounted for the fact of the impression to turn toward him.


Once, I apparently heard my name called, although a member of the family who was present heard no sound. Going to another part of the house to find the person who had supposedly called me by word of mouth. I learned that the other had been thinking of me and was about to call when she remembered that I was occupied with important matters, and so she did not call. I had not only received her thought but distinctly heard my name. Plainly, the supposed sound was an auditory illusion. But the experience showed that one need not be disconcerted by such an illusion, since it might be associated with a real inner experience. In this case the significant fact would be the inner experience. Thus in the case of a younger member of the family out at play there was an actual thought but no sound, howbeit the illusion was perfect. This time the mother was really trying to call the boy mentally. The boy received the thought with such vividness that he exclaimed to his playmate, "Did you hear my mother call?" The other boy heard nothing, but so strong was the auditory illusion that the recipient went home in response to the call which seemed to him the actual sound of his mother's voice.

On another occasion M was several miles from home, and eagerly wishing that she might return, I unintentionally called her. Although perceiving no words and having no impression regarding my need, M felt the outreaching so strongly that she came home to ascertain "the trouble," as she said. From this experience I learned not to disturb a person unless the need were urgent. Plainly, this precious power of communication at a distance should be reserved for special occasions.

The intimate relationship of minds at a distance having been established, I also received spontaneous evidences that guidances may come in time of need. Once when in imminent danger from an oncoming train in a railway "yard" into which I had wandered with the recklessness of youth, and when I was momentarily confused by a train approaching around a curve, I received a sudden impression to stop. Accordingly, I obeyed and the passing train went by leaving me in safety. During the same year I ran an even greater risk, for I was walking toward a railroad track where an embankment at my left concealed a train backing down without warning: that was before the days of safety signals. When, unmindful of the danger, I was on the point of taking the fateful step that would have brought me to the track, there came a most distinct warning to stop. I obeyed the impression, and was then brought to a realization both of the very great risk I had taken and of the protecting care which surrounded me even when I was careless. Plainly, I ought to be more cautious. But how comforting the thought that one could be warned in a moment of need! It was natural to conclude that these experiences were given for my instruction concerning inner guidance.

Another phase of these inner experiences began to come into view in connection with a plan to move to another house in the same city. During the two weeks in which members of the family were house-hunting and consulting advertisements, I felt as indifferent as in the case of the lost diamond referred to above. Then suddenly one evening I announced that I would find the house we were to live in. Going rather directly to a vacant house not half a mile away, I distinctly saw the family living and carrying on a certain kind of work there. Returning home, I informed my parents that I had found our new home. After some delay and further exploration, this house was decided upon and the work I foresaw was carried on there. From this experience I learned to wait until the impression came before seeking a dwelling-place. On two other occasions separated by intervals of years I was led to our next home in the same way, and in each instance on the day when the impression came. In neither case did I make any effort to find the house that was "for us" by any conscious activity on my own part. In still another instance of house-hunting the place to which we moved was found by another member of the family, but I knew it was the right one because on entering it for the first time I saw the family living there.

Excerpted from:
THE OPEN VISION
BY
HORATIO W. DRESSER, Ph.D.
1920

He prefaced the chapter with:

Inasmuch as personal experience is more interesting and instructive to most of us than volumes of argument and theory, I shall without apology tell how I was led into the realities of psychical experience by following clues which life itself disclosed. It is to be hoped that more people will give heed to the leadings of experience in this unpretentious way. There should be no more objection to the description of experiences and what they appear to imply than to an account of an experiment in a laboratory. The inner life is the laboratory of the soul. What is observed there should be at least as significant for human beings as any discovery one might make in chemistry. In a scientific laboratory we learn to make allowances for deflecting influences, and later we submit our results to searching criticism. In the inner world we should be able to make equivalent allowances and arrive at results no less sure.

Born and reared in a household where the teachings of P. P. Quimby began to prevail before my birth, I grew up without the traditional teachings concerning salvation and the exclusive privileges of the Church. I was not taught to read any views into the Bible, but was permitted to read it in my own way when I became interested to do so. Mr. Quimby's view of the spiritual world as near at hand and that death is incidental, prevailed in the household, although the subject was not often mentioned. The experiences and beliefs I grew into were those which any one might enjoy who is equally free to follow where he is led. If this statement is correct in the main, the chief difficulty is that we give no thought to intuition or the promptings of personal experience. It should be said in my case, however, that with a keenly sensitive temperament and an early tendency to introspection, I turned rather more naturally than some to the examination of inner states. If this seems like an advantage, it should also be said that one tends in a measure to become self-sufficient. One must guard more resolutely against the imagination and any phase of consciousness likely to lead to mystical self-centeredness.

It would be interesting to know what, if any, experiences his younger brothers JEAN PAUL DRESSER and DAVID SEABURY had.

When a niece of mine was one year old I mentally asked where my stocking was. She pointed to it at fireplace and then looked at me and started laughing. Now I have a closer understanding. Hence my interest in Dressers' books and his life. It does bear further study. What if ALL children were raised in such a manner.