VISIONS. The seeing of visions is one of the common phenomena of religious experience. In ancient times and among primitive peoples visions are believed to be objectively real. Modern psychology and psychical re search have demonstrated that they are subjective and unreal. They may be explained by the working of Tele pathy (q.v.) and the Subconscious Mind (q.v.). Certain persons have the power of calling up images in the minds of other persons. " The percipient sees a vision repre senting the incident sought to be communicated by the agent. He sees the image of the object or person which the agent desires him to see. Thus, when a person con sults a medium he generally expects and desires to learn something of his deceased friends. The medium goes into the subjective condition for that purpose. The visitor's mind is full of anticipation and hope that he will be put into direct communication with the loved and lost. Presently the medium sees a vision of some person. He believes that he sees a spirit. He describes it, and it is found to correspond with one of the visitor's deceased friends. The visitor recognizes the description, and says so. He asks for the name, and it is given. Then the medium sees a vision known only to the visitor and the deceased. He describes the incident, not, perhaps, as a
vision which he sees, but as a statement of fact imparted to him by the spirit. The visitor very likely knows that the medium knew nothing of him or of the deceased before that hour. He is convinced that the medium has seen and conversed with the spirit of his dead friend, and he is a convert to spiritism from that moment. Now, has the medium actually seen a spirit, or has he merely read the sitter's subjective mind? Is there any more reason for supposing that he has seen a spirit of a dead man than there is for supposing that a mind-reader sees the spirit of the Jack of clubs when the image of that card is telepathed to him? Obviously not. The condi tions are precisely the same in both cases. The percipient sees the image of that which is in the mind of the agent " (T. J. Hudson). The agent of course need not be a pro fessional medium. The faculty is common to many persons who do not use it professionally. It has often happened that a person in great danger or at the point of death has been able to transmit an image of his con dition to someone with whom he is en rapport. Cp. APPARITIONS. See T. J. Hudson.