July 1963 (. A

I of strength or endurance. But the unconscious.” A minister might say, H o w can a “don’t try” philosophy circuits that bring the power from “Have faith in God.” Personally, I the unconscious can be blocked by see no conflict between the two ideas. deal with seemingly insurmountable obstacles? frustration, tension, anxiety-or by Indeed, they may well be the same the equally destructive emotions of idea, expressed differently. After all, fear, guilt, hate, sustained anger. it was the Founder of Christianity And that is what is happening to w h o said t h a t “the kingdom of most of the individuals who seek my heaven is within you.” The Secret of “Easy Does It” help. They are fighting so furiously on the conscious level to solve their Next: Be willing to surrender to it. Get rid of the notion that you are by Smiley Blanton, M.D.* problems, and are rendered so des- all-powerful, that you can run your perate by their failure that emotion- life and solve all problems without ally they have short-circuited them- help from any source. The advice Director, Religo-Psychiatry Clinic selves. “Don’t try,” after you have tried American Foundation of Religion and Psychiatry, Such people have to be taught to everything, is an invitation to let go, New York City trust their unconscious, and shown to give up and let the deeper mind how to use it. Sometimes this is diffi- take over. The more complete this cult because many are afraid of the surrender, the more remarkable the uncharted region within and the results. When I was studying the primitive impulses that lurk there. healings at Lourdes some years ago, a practicing psychiatrist, I have mains the best all-inclusive prescrip- I noticed that those who were healed A” listened to just about every human problem under the sun. No two tion I know. The reason is this. Within each of But such fear is based on ignorance. There is nothing necessarily evil in the unconscious. Even the primitive (medically verified healings did take place) had reached the absolute end troubles are alike-human nature is us an all-wise Creator has’placed a impulses, understood and rightly of their resources-physical, emoinfinitely complex. But the people marvelous reservoir of courage, en- channeled, can be used for success- tional, spiritual. They had done all who come seeking help do have one ergy and wisdom that we seldom use. ful living. ‘ they could; the doctors had done all thing in common. Each is struggling This reservoir is the subconscious But how, then, does a person tap they could; there was nothing left but to overcome some problem-and mind. Like a dynamo it furnishes the the tremendous reservoir of power total surrender to whatevet restorafailing. Usually in the first visit these power and drive of our lives. This that is locked within him? He must tive force resided in God or in their people blurt out their frustration: power takes many forms. What we develop habits and attitudes that will own deeper selves. “I’ve tried everything I can think of, call intuition, for example, is noth- unlock and deepen the channels be- We know that very often, before Doctor, everything. What on earth ing but a “still, small voice” from the tween the conscious and the uncon- an alcoholic can be cured of his obshall I do now?” unconscious. It is also the uncon- scious mind, and let that power flow. sessive drive to drink, he must hit The advice I often give these peo- scious t h a t produces f o r poets, What are these habits and atti- bottom, give up, not try any more. ple is quite simple, and it never fails prophets, scientists-indeed all cre- tudes? They have a familiar ring, The illusion of self-sufficiency, or to startle them: “Don’t try.” ative thinkers-their deepest in- because centuries ago religion iden- “pride of intellect” as I once heard Sounds defeatist, doesn’t it? Ab- sights. tified them and nurtured them in an old minister call it, has to be shatsurd, really. But it isn’t. After more The power that the unconscious man. tered and abandoned before the -than forty years of practice, it re- *With rmiasion from the December 1962 can provide is almost limitless; we all know of individuals who, in a crisis, First: Trust and believe in the hidden power within you. A psychicurative forces in the unconscious can go to work. Reader’s &st. Copyright 1962 by The Reader’s were able to perform incredible feats Digest Association. Inc. atrist might say, “Have faith in your The third bit of advice that I often

give to patients (when I think ;hey for the rest of her life she hobbled have a daily period during which he not forget. may take it) is perhaps the most ef- about on crutches. But she did all arranges not to be disturbed, lays A fifth method of releasing the fective of all: Try prayer. In prayer, her housework and raised her three aside anxieties and burdens, and power of the unconscious is: Use whatever the creed or denomination, children. “Smiley, every night I pray gives himself up to the creative un- autosuggestion. Too much, at times, one accepts the concept of a Creator for strength to meet the next day,” conscious. It is best to lie down, if has been claimed for this-loudly who is the source of life and to whom she once said to me. “And every you can, and make yourself as limp asserting that problems don’t exist, one can turn in humility and trust. morning I pray again, and thank as a wet leaf on a log. If this is not for example, will not make them go Here again the surrender of self is the God for my home and husband and possible, sit in a chair, close your away. Still, it is also true that attiindispensable attitude: “Not my will, children.” eyes to remove visible distractions, tudes are more important than facts. but Thine be done.” When this atti- Obviously, it took enormous cour- and just “let go.” And there is no doubt at all that if tude is truly dominant, the results age and will power to carry on under Such a quiet period, in which the you consciously look for the best in can be astonishing. Whether you such circumstances, but Aunt Jo mind says to the body, “Don’t try,” things instead of the worst, it will act choose to call it mobilizing the un- knew how to summon the necessary is a great energy restorer during the as a tonic for your mind and heart, conscious or making contact with strength through prayer. day, a great tranquilizer before going tending to remove the tensions that God, prayer is a channel through A fourth method of tapping the to sleep at night. If you have prob- stifle the creative unconscious. which enormous power can flow. power in the unconscious is this: lems, you can turn them over to the I knew a man once, a salesman, When people come to my office Learn the secret of creative relaxa- unconscious to work on while you who literally breathed confidence seeking help, I sometimes tell them tion. The psychiatrist’s couch has sleep. And it will work effectively, into himself. By nature he was shy, about a friend I had years ago in become a source of endless jokes, for it is crammed with information- but he devised a little trick of auto- Tennessee, Aunt Jo. When she was but the idea behind it is valid: to all the knowledge you have dropped suggestion that worked wonders for a young woman a tornado smashed reach the unconscious, tension must into it, all the things you have learned him. When he approached a prosher home, pinning her in the wreck- be of a minimum. during your l i e and “forgotten.” The pect, he deliberately listened to the age and crippling both legs so that Everyone, it seems to me, should unconscious is timeless and it does rhythm of his own breathing, then .

imagined that with every exhalation this: each of us has, in his unconhe was breathing out negative ideas, scious mind, power and strength and and with every inhalation breathing courage past all imagining. Sometimes in positive ones. “I’m breathing out we fail to use this strength because shyness,” he would say to himself, we don’t know it is there. Sometimes “breathing in confidence. I’m breath- we delude ourselves into thinking we ing out timidity, breathing in assur- don’t need it. Sometimes we block it ance. I’m breathing out failure, with fear or guilt or tension. But it is breathing in success.” most assuredly there. What he was breathing, of course, “Don’t try,” clearly, is not advice was simply air. But his unconscious to be given (or taken) when a permind took these signals from his con- son has made only a half-hearted scious mind quite literally, and in attempt to help himself or has not response sent him the very qualities really tried at all. But when a full, he needed. honest, conscientious effort has been Every doctor has seen cases in made with no success, then the best which a desperately ill patient mi- thing to do is to stop struggling and raculously recovers because his let the great creative forces of the family needs him and he simply de- universe come to your rescue. cides he isn’t going to die. Again the “Having done all,” advised St. Bible summarizes it with matchless Paul, “stand!”. Stand quietly, he brevity: ‘*As a man thinketh in his meant. Wait. Relax. Accept the help heart (not his conscious mind, no- that will come to you out of the mystice, but his heart) so is he.” terious realm that we psychiatrists The thing to remember, then, is call the unconscious.