BUCHANAN'S. JOURNAL OF MAN
Many Authors




BUCHANAN'S
                           JOURNAL OF MAN.

             VOL. I.        OCTOBER, 1887.        NO. 9.




CONTENTS OF JOURNAL OF MAN.


  The Oriental View of Anthropology
  MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE--Religion and Science; Good Psychology;
    The Far-away Battle; How not to do it; Robbery of Public Lands;
    Land Reform in England; Life in Europe; Education in France;
    Canada and the Union; Woman in the Moon; Emancipation from
    Petticoats; Women's Rights on the Streets; A Woman's Triumph in
    Paris; A Woman's Bible; Work for Women; Mrs. Stanton on the
    Jubilee; Electricity; Progress of the Telegraph; The Mystery of
    the Ages; Progress of the Marvellous; A Grand Aerolite; The Boy
    Pianist; Centenarians; Educated Monkeys; Causes of Idiocy; A
    Powerful Temperance Argument; Slow Progress; Community Doctors;
    The Selfish System of Society; Educated Beetles; Rustless Iron;
    Weighing the Earth; Head and Heart; The Rectification of
    Cerebral Science
  Chapter IX.--Rectification of Cerebral Science, Correcting the
    Organology of Gall and Spurzheim




THE ORIENTAL VIEW OF ANTHROPOLOGY.


In the following essay, DR. F. HARTMANN, an enlightened author of the
Theosophical and Occult school, presents the mystic or Oriental view
of man, in an interesting manner, deducing therefrom a philosophy of
the healing art. My readers will no doubt be interested in his
exposition, and, as the ancient doctrine differs materially from the
results of experimental investigation, I take the liberty of
incorporating my comments in publishing the essay.


A RATIONAL SYSTEM OF MEDICINE.

All lovers of truth, progress, and freedom of thought must be grateful
to Dr. J. R. Buchanan for his discovery of the science of SARCOGNOMY.
His system brings us nearer to a recognition of the true nature of
man, his origin and his destiny, and of the relations which he bears
to the Divine Source from which he emanated in the beginning, and to
which he will ultimately return; for the enlightened ones of all
nations agree that the _real_ man, who resides temporarily in the
physical human body, who feels through the instrumentality of the
heart, and thinks through the instrumentality of the brain of the
external body, does not originate in the womb of the mother from which
the physical body is born, but is of a spiritual origin, again and
again re-incarnating itself in physical masks and forms of flesh and
blood, living and dying, and being reborn, until, having attained that
state of perfection, which renders the inner man capable to exist in a
state of spiritual consciousness without being encumbered by a gross
earthly organization, which chains him to animal life.

    [It should here be remarked that the great majority of those who
    are considered enlightened, and to whom the world is indebted
    for the sciences which it now possesses, do not accept this
    theory of re-incarnation. As commonly stated, it is liable to
    many decisive objections, and these objections, which I have
    clearly stated in the Religio-Philosophical Journal, have not
    been, and I think will not be, removed by the teachers of
    re-incarnation.]

It may perhaps not be premature to examine how far the doctrines of
Dr. Buchanan correspond with the doctrines of occult science; that is
to say, with that science which is based upon a perception and
understanding of certain facts, which, to be perceived, require
spiritual powers of perception, such as are not yet developed in the
majority of mankind, but which are only in possession of those who
have mentally risen above the sphere of external phenomena and
accustomed themselves to look at spiritual things with the eye of the
spirit. It is not my intention to enter at present into an elaborate
review of the most prominent writers on occult subjects, and to quote
passages from such authors to support the views expressed in the
following pages, but rather to give a short statement of their
doctrines in regard to the omnipotent power of Will and Life; both
these powers being fundamentally identical; both being merely
different modes of actions, or functions, of that universal, eternal,
and divine Central Power of the universe, which is beyond the
conception of mortals, and which the latter call _God_.

The ancient religions, as well as reason and logic, tell us that there
is, and can be, only one supreme God, or First Cause of the universe,
and that from this one first and fundamental Cause or Power every
secondary power and everything that exists has come into existence, or
been evolved within it and through its eternal activity. The whole of
the universe with everything contained therein, man included, is and
can be nothing else but a manifestation of this internal fundamental
power, or, as it has been expressed by the ancient philosophers, the
universe is the product of the Divine Imagination (thought) of the
First Great Cause, thrown into objectivity by its eternal Will.

We see, therefore, the great unmanifested _One_ manifesting itself in
its own _Substance_ (Space) by means of _two_ powers, _Thought_
(imagination) and _Will_ (the _Word_ or Life); both powers being
fundamentally identical and merely two different modes of activity or
functions of the _One_ Eternal, internal Principle, called God.
According to the _Bible_, God said, "Let there be light," and through
the power of this outspoken "_Word_," the world came into existence.
This allegory, expressed in modern language, means that by the
_active_ Will of the universal First Cause, the images existing in its
eternal memory were thrown into objectivity and thus produced the
germs from which the worlds with all things existing therein were
evolved and grew into the shapes in which we see them now. The
_Brahmins_ say that when _Brahm_ awoke from his slumber after the
night of creation (the great Pralaya) was over, he _breathed out_ of
his own substance, and thus the evolution of worlds began. If he
_in-breathes_ again, the worlds will be re-absorbed in his substance,
and the day of creation will be over.

    [God being essentially and self-evidently inconceivable by man,
    all attempts of Brahmin, Christian, or any other theologians to
    explain his existence and his methods of creation can be
    recognized by the scientific mind only as hypotheses
    unsusceptible of verification, and, therefore, incapable of
    becoming a proper basis of Philosophy.]

Thus we find, on examining the doctrines of all the greatest religions
of the world, that they all teach the same truth, although they teach
it in different words and in different allegories. They all teach that
there exist two fundamental powers, originating from the absolute
_One_, namely, _Thought_ and _Will_; and it logically follows that if
a man were a complete master over his thoughts and his will, he could
become a creator within the realm to which his thought and imagination
extend; he could, consequently, by the power of his will and thought,
control all the functions of his organism, the so-called involuntary
ones as well as those which are voluntary. He could--if he possessed a
perfect knowledge of his own constitution--restore abnormal functions
to their normal state, and restore diseased organs to health.

    [The mode of expression used in this paragraph is rather
    misleading. One may have a complete mastery of his thoughts and
    will, while both thought and will are very feeble and
    ineffective. It requires great POWER in the will and thought to
    acquire such control over bodily functions, and any expression
    leading persons of feeble character to suppose they can attain
    such results would be delusive. Many persons of feeble character
    have been led by current speculations to aspire far beyond their
    ability.]

Another fundamental doctrine of Occultism is that man is a Microcosm,
in which is germinally (potentially) contained everything that exists
in the Macrocosm of the universe. [An unproved hypothesis.] As the
will and thought of that universal and divine internal power, which is
called God, penetrates and pervades the whole of the universe;
likewise the will and thought of man, if he has once attained perfect
mastery over himself, extends through all parts of his organization,
pervades every organ, and may be made to act consciously wherever man
chooses to employ it. But in the present state of man's condition upon
this earth, no one but the adepts have acquired this power. In them
thought and will act as one. In the vast majority of human beings
thought and will are not yet in entire harmony, and do not act as one.
In the regenerated one (the adept) heart and head act in perfect
unison. The adept thinks what he wills, and wills what he thinks. In
unregenerated humanity will and thought are divided and occupy two
different centres. In them the will has its seat in the _blood_ (whose
central organ is the heart), and their thought or imagination has its
seat in the brain. In them heart and brain are often not only not in
perfect harmony, but even opposed to each other. But the _will_ and
_life_ being one, and identical, we see that the central seat of
_life_ is not, as has been maintained by Dr. Buchanan, the _brain_,
but the primary source of all life is the _heart_.

We see, therefore, a discrepancy between the doctrines of Dr. Buchanan
and the occult doctrines in regard to Anthropology; but this
discrepancy is of no serious consequence; because the _moon_ (the
_intellect_) is in our solar system as necessary as the _sun_ (the
_will_), and as the vast majority of people have a considerably
developed intellect, but only a very little developed will, and live,
so to say, more in their brains than in their hearts, they may be
looked upon as receiving their powers and energies from their brains,
while the brain receives its stimulus from the heart. The ancient
Rosicrucians compared the heart to the _sun_, the intellect, or
_brain_, to the moon. The moon receives her light from the sun, the
centre of life of our solar system. If the sun were to cease to exist,
the moon would soon lose her borrowed light; likewise if the sun of
divine love ceases to shine in the human heart, the cold, calculating
intellect may continue to glitter for a while, but it will finally
cease to exist. If the brain vampyrizes the heart, that is to say, if
it absorbs the greater part of the life principle, which ought to go
to develop love and virtue in the heart, man may become a great
reasoner, a scientist, arguer, and sophist; but he will not become
_wise_, and his intellect will perish in this life or in the state
after death. We often see very intellectual people becoming criminals,
and even lunatics are often very cunning. That which a man may call
his own in the end, are not the thoughts which he has stored in his
perishable memory; but the fire of love and light which he has kindled
in his heart. If this fire of life burns at his heart it will
illuminate his mind, and enable the brain to see clear; it will
develop his spiritual powers of perception, and cause him to perceive
things which no amount of intellectual brain-labor can grasp. It will
penetrate even the physical body, and cause the soul therein to assume
shape and to become immortal.

It is not to be supposed that the above truths will be at once
accepted by every reader of the JOURNAL, except by such as have given
deep thought to the true nature of man. Neither are they a subject for
scientific controversy or disputation. A knowledge of the truth is not
produced by disputations and quarrels, but only by direct perception,
experience, and understanding. The conclusions which man arrives at by
logic are merely productive of certain opinions, and these opinions
are liable to be changed again as soon as the basis from which his
logic started, changes. A real knowledge of spiritual truths requires
a power of spiritual perception, which few men possess. Nevertheless,
even our logical deductions, taking as a starting point that which we
know to be true, will help us to arrive at the same conclusions at
which the Hermetic philosophers arrived by the power of spiritual
perception.

    [In the foregoing passage, Dr. H. professes to state doctrines
    derived from intuition or spiritual perception by the ancients,
    and also recognized to-day by spiritual perception. To me they
    appear as the results only of that sort of ancient SPECULATION,
    which recognized earth, air, fire, and water as the four
    chemical elements of all things. I do not find them sustained by
    the spiritual perception of those who have the intuitive powers
    to-day, nor by scientific investigation. The substance of the
    heart is _not the seat of life_. It is a merely muscular
    substance, and ceases all action when separated from its
    controlling ganglia. The vitality of the heart lies in its
    ganglia--in