Place of the senses in the development of science

Abstract

0 RTHODOXY has its vaIue. UnIess a person is deepIy interested in a search for truth in a speciaI fieId, it is better for him to keep an open mind and, with “a decent respect for the opinions of mankind,” trave1 with the majority, that his energy may be conserved to deveIop the work in which he has been trained. If he wishes to devote his Iife to a study of so-caIIed psychic phenomena, it is one thing, but as a side Iine investigation of the occult carries distinct danger to integrity of thought. It Ioosens the mind from the moorings of fact, gives predominance to the Iesser senses, and creates emotiona disturbances which resembIe the instinctive fear reactions of primitive man and the Iower animaIs. One of these reactions was fear in the dark, which remains with us today as a source of emotiona disturbance. Man first recognized onIy enemies that were Iarge enough to be seen and dangers that couId be estimated visuaIIy, such as wiId beasts, serpents and tempests. Against phenomena which he couId not understand he invoked the protection of his gods. Through association of ideas the words cult and occult have become cIoseIy aIIied. The cuItist devotes his energy to spread a speciaI behef not recognized by the majority as resting on a sound foundation. The occuhist devotes his time to an attempt to eIucidate a beIief in hidden and mysterious powers having their origin in a spirit worId and to subject them to human contro1. Anyone dabbIing in the occuIt, deIiberateIy depriving himseIf of vision, man’s chief means of obtaining information, injures himseIf mentaIIy. It is a curious ego that in the cIear