less rational faith. Thus the state of corporate suggestibility
generated in a revival and on which the success of that revival depends,
is closely related to the emotional character of the appeal which is
made. And, on higher levels, we see that the transfigured lives and
heroic energies of the great figures of Christian history all represent
the realization of an idea of which the heart was an impassioned love of
God, subduing to its purposes all the impulses and powers of the inner
man, "If you would truly know how these things come to pass," said St.
Bonaventura, "ask it of desire not of intellect; of the ardours of
prayer, not of the teaching of the schools."[112] More and more
psychology tends to endorse the truth of these words.

Quiescence, attention, and emotional interest are then the conditions of
successful suggestion. We have further to notice two characteristics
which have been described by the Nancy school of psychologists; and
which are of some importance for those who wish to understand the
mechanism of religious experience. These have been called the law of
Unconscious Teleology, and the law of Reversed Effort.

The law of unconscious teleology means that when an end has been
effectively suggested to it, the unconscious mind will always tend to
work towards its realization. Thus in psycho-therapeutics it is found
that a general suggestion of good health made to the sick person is
often enough. The doctor may not himself know enough about the malady to
suggest stage by stage the process of cure. But he suggests that cure;
and the necessary changes and adjustments required for its realization
are made unconsciously, under the influence of the dynamic idea. Here
the direction of "The Cloud of Unknowing," "Look that nothing live in
thy working mind but a naked intent directed to God"[113]--suggesting
as it does to the psyche the ontological Object of faith--strikingly
anticipates the last conclusions of science. Further, a fervent belief
in the end proposed, a conviction of success, is by no means essential.
Far more important is a humble willingness to try the method, give it a
chance. That which reason may not grasp, the deeper mind may seize upon
and realize; always provided that the intellect does not set up
resistances. This is found to be true in medical practice, and religious
teachers have always declared it to be true in the spiritual sphere;
holding obedience, humility, and a measure of resigna