articulate repetition of such phrases increases their suggestive power;
for the unconscious is most easily reached by way of the ear. This fact
throws light on the immemorial insistence of all great religions on the
peculiar value of vocal prayer, whether this be the _mantra_ of the
Hindu or the _dikr_ of the Moslem; and explains the instinct which
causes the Catholic Church to require from her priests the verbal
repetition, not merely the silent reading of their daily office. Hence,
too, there is real educative value, in such devotions as the rosary; and
the Protestant Churches showed little psychological insight when they
abandoned it. Such "vain" repetitions, however much the rational mind
may dislike, discredit or denounce them, have power to penetrate and
modify the deeper psychic levels; always provided that they conflict
with no accepted belief, are weighted with meaning and desire, with the
intent stretched towards God, and are not allowed to become merely
mechanical--the standing danger alike of all verbal suggestion and all
vocal prayer.

Here we touch the third character of effective suggestion: _Feeling_.
When the idea is charged with emotion, it is far more likely to be
realized. War neuroses have taught us the dreadful potency of the
emotional stimulus of fear; but this power of feeling over the
unconscious has its good side too. Here we find psychology justifying
the often criticized emotional element of religion. Its function is to
increase the energy of the idea. The cool, judicious type of belief will
never possess the life-changing power of a more fervid, though perhaps
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