16. Diagnosis Of The Nature Of An Attack-e

At the post-mortem it was found that there was nothing whatever the matter with his heart. Imagine the feelings of the doctor who had given this rash diagnosis. A person already upset by a psychic attack will be in a state to jump at shadows. He must be handled very discreetly. Be very chary of announcing your suspicions until they are conclusively verified. When all is said and done, the main object is a cure, not an explanation. It is of little value to your patient to fix the blame unless the matter can be cleared up. He is considerably worse off if his suspicions are turned towards some person in his environment from whom he cannot escape, than if he be left to attribute his trouble to unidentified psychic influences. Where ignorance is bliss ‘tis folly to be wise is truer in psychic matters than anywhere else. Never open the eyes of your patient to a danger for which you cannot give him an effectual defence. The surgeon who is about to operate covers his instruments with a cloth so that the patient shall not see them. The wise occultist does the same. Do not forget that the Unseen is always suspect to the uninitiated. Having conducted an enquiry along the lines laid down in the previous pages, you should have acquired a considerable amount of material for investigation. Examine it carefully for correlations of cause and effect. Note if any exacerbation of the trouble is regularly associated with any incident, place, or person. Consider also the various type-cases that I have given as examples in the previous chapters, and see if you can find any that resemble the case you are investigating. Note the explanations given, and see if they throw any light upon the problem, or suggest lines along which enquiry might be pursued. Working in this way, you ought to be able to arrive at a tentative diagnosis. If this is confirmed by the findings of the psychics to whom you have sent specimens for psychometry, then you may feel confident you are upon the right track and go forward boldly. Remember, however, that although the psychics ought to agree as to the main points of their investigation, you cannot expect any complete agreement as to details. They are inspecting a composite photograph of the patient’s entire life, and there is so much to see that no one person is likely to see everything. The things in which they confirm each other may be held to be established, but the things which the one sees and the other does not are not necessarily illusionary.