MAGIC OF PHRASE

Shannon News, 22 September 1925, Page 4

MAGIC OF PHRASE

“The power of phrases to produce -■mental and emotional attitudes and hence to influence action, is not a discovery of politicians or physicians, today. It was known to the ancient makers of tribal cries such as the 'shibboleths’ of Western Asia mentioned in the Biblical story of the Children' of Israel. It has been used from the earliest phases of Ayran civilisation in the ‘mantric’ systems which recognised the potency of reiterated formulate not only to evoke the latent powers of the individual but also to ■ invoke reinforcement from the invisable regions of the cosmos. But whether such formulae ‘raised a mortal / to the skies’ or ‘drew an angel down,’ ' their essential power and secret lay in the attitude that they established in the individual or the community. That is their value to us to-day; not their words or accents, though these have their importance, but their direction.” —Dr. J. H. Cousins, in the Indian Review.