How to preserve the living moment?
An alternative application of a principle of preservation?
Continuing from:
The posts above touched on Mesmer's principle of preservation, which is at its basis a principle of harmony. But is there something more about "preservation" that can be applied psychologically that I myself can use today, that may not have been expressed by Mesmer, and yet is somehow along similar lines?
I take in particular the following things which seem vital to try to preserve as much as possible in one's inner and outer life, some of which are given periodically by Nature, some of which are dependent on me, but which are often used up or lost. Namely, for example, energy, insight, memory (in all its aspects), the decision and the motivation to complete some task or aim. And what about time? The moment?
Of course, all these things may be very much related. Perhaps one could also connect them to the so-called animal magnetism of Mesmer, or "life force." Mesmer did talk about how the process of thought, for instance, which for him was very material, was about the "modification of the fine flow [a series of fine matter such as animal magnetism] of the brain and the nerves,"1 and he linked the process of thought with will. Without will, thoughts could not be connected.2 Yet, my level of "will" for both thought and action also seems very variable.
All these things ebb and flow, to a degree, during the course of every day. For instance, subjective perception of energy levels, which have such a key effect on the ability to function and pursue one's aims, wax and wane, to a certain extent predictably, but also unpredictably. How can one preserve one's energy so that it is there when one needs it?
Mesmer spoke of his methods being to help, or reinforce, the operations of Nature.3 Through Nature, the organism automatically tries to preserve its own life. Mesmer assisted the development of critical symptoms in illness - those symptoms that Nature mounts against disease, in order to more efficiently remove obstructions to the flow of animal magnetism, and so that harmony can be restored.4
Is there a key even in every moment? That is, a key about applying this principle of preservation of the harmonious flow of the life force, as it were, and the removal of everything that hinders. Perhaps to focus for a while on that thing that affects everything else, namely, time, can help in in enlarging understanding of the whole. But it seems a strange question to ask, How can time be preserved? even though we talk about saving time, spending time and wasting time. It's not as if time is something that can be bottled. But time as a subjective experience of the flow of one's life, rather than the time of the physicists (although you could say that both are in the realm of subjective fantasy), seems almost infinitely malleable.
Mesmer, F.A. – Mesmerismus. Oder System der Wechselwirkungen, Theorie und Anwendung des thierischen Magnetismus als die allgemeine Heilkunde zur Erhaltung des Menschen [Mesmerismus. Or System of Reciprocal Influences, Theory and Application of Animal Magnetism as the Universal Science of Healing for the Preservation of Humanity], (ed. Wolfart, K.C.), Nikolai (Berlin), 1814, p.139.
Ibid., p.154.
E.g., Mesmer, F.A. – Allgemeine Erläuterungen über den Magnetismus und den Somnambulismus [General Explanations of Magnetism and Somnambulism], (ed. Wolfart, K.C.), Hallischen Waisenhaus (Halle and Berlin), 1812. p.40.
E.g., Ibid., p.35-6.