No. 10 Thomas Troward
Performance & The Subconscious Mind- Part 10 Thomas Troward
Posted on February 12, 2011 by Richard Matteson
Hi,
Understanding the Subconscious Mind
Thomas Troward
In this blog we will examine the essence of the subconscious mind by examining the work of Thomas Troward (1847–1916), who called it the subjective mind, and we will look at Troward’s work though the writing his only student, Genevieve Behrend (1881-1960). We will also compare Troward’s concepts with Aaron Shearer’s performance concepts.
We are working with the concepts that form the Law of Attraction as found in the movie, The Secret. According to Wiki: In the opening of the 2006 film, The Secret,
introductory remarks credit Troward’s philosophy with inspiring the movie and its production.
Curiously the current “law of attraction” literature doesn’t seem to include the “spiritual prototype,” or what I would call the symbolic meaning, to manifest the object of desire. More on that later.
We’ll examine parts of Troward’s 1904 Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science. The philosopher William James characterized Troward’s Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science as “far and away the ablest statement of philosophy I have met, beautiful in its sustained clearness of thought and style, a really classic statement.”
Judge Troward, born of English parents in India, started organizing his concepts after his retirement from the judiciary in 1896. The concepts aren’t new and weren’t new then- in fact- the Bible is one of the sources that best describes the Law of Attraction.
Although I’m applying these concepts to performing, certainly they could and should be applied to life study. Genevieve Behrend, Troward’s student, examines Toward’s work in her books, including the 1929 Attaining Your Desires By Letting Your Subconscious Mind Work for You. Her writing makes it much easier to understand Troward.
What Troward points out is: the subconscious mind (or subjective mind as he calls it) is revealed during hypnosis. So studying how people react and operate during hypnosis is studying the subconscious mind.
From Troward’s Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science; titled Significance of Hypnotism:
“An intelligent consideration of the phenomena of hypnotism will show us that what we call the hypnotic state is the normal state of the subjective [subconscious] mind. It always conceives of itself in accordance with some suggestion conveyed to it, either consciously or unconsciously to the mode of the objective [conscious] mind which governs it, and it gives rise to corresponding external results.
The abnormal nature of the conditions induced by experimental hypnotism is in the removal of the control held by the individual’s own objective [conscious] mind over his subjective mind and the substitution of some other control for it, and thus we may say that the normal characteristic of the subjective [subconscious] mind is its perpetual action in accordance with some sort of suggestion.”
So what Troward is saying is simply,
your subconscious mind is made up of information from your conscious mind and responds to suggestions from your conscious mind.
Here’s more from The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science 1904:
“The subjective mind is only able to reason deductively and not inductively, while the objective mind can do both.
Deductive reasoning proceeds on the assumption of the correctness of certain hypotheses or suppositions with which it sets out; it is not concerned with the truth or falsity of those suppositions, but only with the question as to what results must necessarily follow supposing them to be true.
Inductive reasoning, on the other hand, is the process by which we compare a number of separate instances with one another until we see the common factor that gives rise to them all.
Induction proceeds by the comparison of facts, and deduction by the application of universal principles. Now it is the deductive method only which is followed by the subjective mind. Innumerable experiments on persons in the hypnotic state have shown that the subjective mind is utterly incapable of making the selection and comparison which are necessary to the inductive process, but will accept any suggestion, however false; but having once accepted any suggestion, it is strictly logical in deducing the proper conclusions from it, and works out every suggestion to the minutest fraction of the results which flow from it.”
What Troward says above is,
the subconscious mind believes what the conscious mind tells it and acts as if it were true.
Troward: “Under the control of the practised hypnotist the very personality of the subject becomes changed for the time being; he believes himself to be whatever the operator tells him he is: he is a swimmer breasting the waves, a bird flying in the air, a soldier in the tumult of battle, an Indian stealthily tracking his victim; in short, for the time being, he identifies himself with any personality that is impressed upon him by the will of the operator, and acts the part with inimitable accuracy.”
Here Troward says the subconscious assumes any role (given by the conscious mind) and plays the part.
Clearly any performer who has a negative self image and negative beliefs concerning their performance ability will be aided by the subconscious to create a negative performance result.
There are performers who play or sing brilliantly and say some negative things. They know subconsciously they can play and despite their rhetoric, believe they can play from past successful experiences.
Those with performance problems and anxieties now understand that their conscious minds have created their situation and their conscious mind can direct their subconscious mind to assume a different role.
Genevieve Behrend began studying under Troward around 1912 and became his only student. Behrend was born in France and grew up in Paris. She was in her early 30s, recently widowed, and living in New York when she began reading Troward’s books. After some difficulty she managed to move to England where she began her studies with the master.
This is an excerpt from the 1929 book, Attaining Your Desires By Letting Your Subconscious Mind Work for You:
How to Drive Anxiety Out of Your Mind
“Sage: When the triad of enemies-fear, anxiety, and discouragement- assails you, poisoning your mind and body, weakening your power to attract what you want, begin instantly to take deep breaths, and repeat as fast as you can, aloud or silently, the following affirmation, which is an antidote to the poison and a powerful assurance and attraction of Good:
The Life in me is inseverably connected with all the life that exists, and it is entirely devoted to my personal advancement.
If you are alert and can make this affirmative thought overlap the negative, anxious suggestion, you will very soon free yourself.”
Clearly this is using what we call an “affirmation”. Affirmations are repeated by a method we call auto-suggestion to replace the negative thoughts in the subconscious with positive thoughts.
In the above quote from Behrend the sage represents her teacher Troward and is presented as a dialog between the Sage and Pupil to clearly present Troward’s concepts.
Aaron Shearer, my teacher for many years, recommended a similar procedure just before beginning a performance, the important correlation is taking deep breaths to quiet the body and mind. From his book:
“Breathe slowly and deeply several times. Visualize as clearly as possible the beginning and successive phrases of your first piece.
In your mind’s eye, see yourself performing the first piece. In your mind’s ear, hear the music unfolding at the correct tempo.”
Shearer adds “Clear visualization induces confidence and correct focus of concentration.” Learning the Classic Guitar Part 3; Mel Bay Publications.
Shearer is presenting material about calming anxiety and about visualization closely in alignment with Troward and Behrend.
Now let’s look at Troward’s process of visualization as presented by Behrend as a dialog between Pupil and Sage:
Pupil: The subject of the subjective mind greatly interests me. I am sure that had I understood what you have said concerning it, I would have realized that all that was necessary to obtain my desires was to think out exactly what I wanted, consciously place it in my subjective mind, and it would at once begin to attract ways and means for its corresponding physical or material fulfillment.
Sage: Indeed the study of the subjective mind is an all-absorbing subject. I may be able to enlighten and help you to make working realities out of what now seems to be vague and even mysterious. But it will rest entirely with you to put vitality into these suggestions, and that can only be accomplished through using them.
Pupil: You mean that by making practical use of your suggestions, I will be able to attain practical results which will help not only myself but others also?
Sage: That is the idea. It has always seemed to me that the average person prefers the satisfaction of giving to another what he requires, rather than helping or teaching him how to attract the desired things to himself, which would give him in addition a feeling of assurance and liberty. You would unquestionably enjoy giving to others, and the recipient would likewise enjoy receiving, but, as a rule, it tends to pauperize the spirit of independence.
Pupil: If I were to put into my subconscious mind a definite idea that all people have the same power in their subconscious minds to attract to themselves the things they desire through their own efforts, would that thought register in their subconscious minds.
Sage: That would be the intelligent way of impersonally helping others to connect with their limitless supply.
Pupil: You have told me before that there was a definite way of impressing the subconscious mind with a particular thought. Would you mind explaining this again?
“Get into the Spirit of Your Desire?”
Sage: The process is quite different from that of retaining an idea in the so-called intellectual mind. It is necessary, above all else, to get into the spirit of your desire, and an effort to feel relaxed and confident will help you to do this.
“The spirit of a thing is that which is the source of its inherent movement.”
For example, if you wish to impress your subconscious mind with the sense of contentment, you must meditate on the quality of contentment. See how that affects you. If in response to your meditation you feel relaxed and confident, you may be sure that your subconscious mind has been impressed with that thought.
Troward says you need to also see the “spiritual prototype,” or what I would call the symbolic meaning, to manifest the object of desire.
For Shearer the “spiritual prototype” or deeper meaning of a performance was “sharing.” He uses a quote from Einstein about sharing in the preface of his book. By focusing on the
“spiritual prototype” of sharing and specifically “sharing music,” the performer is manifesting the spiritual as well as the material (the immediate applause or positive response to the music or increased bookings).