scious activity, or if his conscious fields
have a hard rind of a margin that resists incursions from beyond it,
his conversion must he gradual if it occur, and must resemble any
simple growth into new habits. His possession of a developed
subliminal self, and of a leaky or pervious margin, is thus a conditio
sine qua non of the Subject's becoming converted in the instantaneous
way. But if you, being orthodox Christians, ask me as a psychologist
whether the reference of a phenomenon to a subliminal self does not
exclude the notion of the direct presence of the Deity altogether, I
have to say frankly that as a psychologist I do not see why it
necessarily should. The lower manifestations of the Subliminal,
indeed, fall within the resources of the personal subject: his
ordinary sense-material, inattentively taken in and subconsciously
remembered and combined, will account for all his usual automatisms.
But just as our primary wide-awake consciousness throws open our senses
to the touch of things material so it is logically conceivable that IF
THERE BE higher spiritual agencies that can directly touch us, the
psychological condition of their doing so MIGHT BE our possession of a
subconscious region which alone should yield access to them. The
hubbub of the waking life might close a door which in the dreamy
Subliminal might remain ajar or open.

Thus that perception of external control which is so essential a
feature in conversion might, in some cases at any rate, be interpreted
as the orthodox interpret it: forces transcending the finite
individual might impress him, on condition of his being what we may
call a subliminal human specimen. But in any case the VALUE of these
forces would have to be determined by their effects, and the mere fact
of their transcendency would of itself establish no presumption that
they were more divine than diabolical.

I confess that this is the way in which I should rather see the topic
left lying in your minds until I come to a much later lecture, when I
hope once more to gather these dropped threads together into more
definitive conclusions. The notion of a subconscious self certainly
ought not at this point of our inquiry to be held to EXCLUDE all notion
of a higher penetration.

If there be higher powers able to impress us, they may get access to us
only through the subliminal door. (See below, p. 506 ff.)

Let us turn now to the feelings which immediately fill the hour of the