Max Freedom Long

Books
[1948] The Secret Science Behind Miracles by Max Freedom Long

Quotes
There is a very distinct philosophy in the kahuna beliefs concerning the element of free will enjoyed by the low and middle selves which live together in the human body to make the man. The High Self, which is connected to the body by a thread of the aka (kino mea) or invisible "shadowy body stuff" (and through this connection maintains contact) is under some compulsion to let the lower selves exercise free will and learn by experience UNLESS they desire and request guidance and help from the High Self, in which case the Aumakua takes a hand in the affairs of the man. Only in planning the long-term events in the life of the man is free will seemingly denied, but even then, if proper steps are taken to change those events, it is possible to circumvent them to a degree.

The kahunas demonstrated constantly their ability to foresee the future of the individual and gain the aid of the High Self to change it for the better. From this we can conclude that the future of the world and nations might also be foreseen and changed by concerted effort, were we sufficiently enlightened. Today, when we consider the possible use of the atom bomb as a weapon, we might, if greed did not rule the world, still be able to take such concerted action as to change what appears—even to our blind eyes—to be inevitable disaster.

A similar example can be found in any of the millions who have accepted a religion, and who close their minds entirely against any possible change of their opinion. New facts, new findings, or new circumstances make not the slightest impression on these individuals. They have developed a complexed set of beliefs or opinions which are SHARED BY BOTH LOW AND MIDDLE SELF.

The point can be illustrated by the case reported by a psychoanalyst, of a young man who had been brought up by an aunt who had given him a very strict religious training. As he finished high school he felt the urge to take up the ministry, but gave up the idea to take a job in a furniture factory. In the factory the paint and varnish fumes sickened him. He was sent to the wood working department, and the sawdust gave him asthma. He got another job and then another. In every case he was made ill by something connected with the job. He chanced to fall into the hands of a doctor who recognized the symptoms as the indications of a deep-seated complex. His original complex had been formed when he had given up the idea of devoting his life to religious service in the ministry. The low self had shared with the middle self a deep sense of guilt for refusing to give his life to the service of God. Because it was painful to think of the refusal, the young man had shut away the memory of it. But that memory had remained in the low self as a part of the fixation of guilt. As he had been taught that all sins and guilts are punished by God, his low self had expected and feared punishment. However, as the middle self refused to think about the sin of refusing to go into the ministry, the low self did what is known as "translating" or changing the externals of the complex. It hid its anxiety to have the man become a minister behind a dislike that amounted to illness for every other occupation.

He had become acquainted with a Hawaiian woman at a dinner party, and the woman had admired his girlishly fine skin. She had asked him thoughtfully if he did not find it a great chore to shave daily, and had solemnly told him that she could make his beard stop growing if he wished to be relieved of the shaving chore. She said that many Hawaiian men had so been relieved of the necessity of shaving.

The healer told me that in her experience most people sent to the High Self a continuous jumble of conflicting wishes, plans, fears and hopes. Each day and hour they changed their minds about what they wished to do or become or have happen. As the High Self makes for us our futures from our averaged thoughts which it contacts usually during our sleep, our futures become a hit-and-miss jumble of events and contrary events, of accidents and good and bad luck. Only the person who decides what he wants and holds to his decision doggedly, working always in that direction, can present to the High Self the proper thought forms from which to build the future as desired and planned and worked toward.

The healer then asked for a silver dollar as a preliminary part of her fee. This acted as a physical stimulus to her low self as it represented a reward for work and service—thus appearing as a good thing to the low self. The dollar was placed under the tumbler. She then shaded her eyes from the overhead light and sat for a short time looking down at the surface of the clouded water.