living and radiant things which they can become.

Further, this tendency of the received suggestion to work out its whole
content for good or evil within the unconscious mind, shows the
importance which we ought to attach to the tone of a religions service,
and how close too many of our popular hymns are to what one might call
psychological sin; stressing as they do a childish weakness love of
shelter and petting, a neurotic shrinking from full human life, a morbid
preoccupation with failure and guilt. Such hymns make devitalizing
suggestions, adverse to the health and energy of the spiritual life;
and are all the more powerful because they are sung collectively and in
rhythm, and are cast in an emotional mould.[114] There was some truth in
the accusation of the Indian teacher Ramakrishna, that the books of the
Christians insisted too exclusively on sin. He said, "He who repeats
again and again 'I am bound! I am bound!' remains in bondage. He who
repeats day and night 'I am a sinner! I am a sinner!' becomes a sinner
indeed."[115]

I go on to the law of Reversed Effort; a psychological discovery which
seems to be of extreme importance for the spiritual life. Briefly this
means, that when any suggestion has entered the unconscious mind and
there become active, all our conscious and anxious resistances to it are
not merely useless but actually tend to intensify it. If it is to be
dislodged, this will not be accomplished by mere struggle but by the
persuasive power of another and superior auto-suggestion. Further, in
respect of any habit that we seek to establish, the more desperate our
struggle and sense of effort, the smaller will be our success. In small
matters we have all experienced the working of this law: in frustrated
struggles to attend to that which does not interest us, to check a
tiresome cough, to keep our balance when learning to ride a bicycle. But