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Life, 1910-10-27 · page 38 of 44

Life — October 27, 1910 — page 38: what you’re looking at

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Life — October 27, 1910 — page 38: Life, 1910-10-27

What you’re looking at

This is satire mocking *Life* magazine's own subscription business—presented as absurdist pseudo-mysticism. The magazine pretends to offer "mental subscriptions" to an imaginary psychic version of itself, received through vibrations and astral projection rather than mail. The satire targets: 1. **New Age/Occult Trends**: The 1920s saw genuine popularity in spiritualism, yoga, and psychic phenomena. Life lampoons this by treating it as completely ridiculous yet conducting it with bureaucratic seriousness. 2. **Business Management**: The character "Gee. Ime. Mit." (likely "G.I.M."—a made-up manager) oversees absurd procedures: 20-million imaginary subscribers, yogis hired from Calcutta, 20-year waiting lists, office boys spontaneously entering trances. 3. **The Joke**: Life is simultaneously advertising actual subscriptions while mocking both occult believers *and* their own subscription-pushing tactics as transparently silly. The cartoons of "Yogis" and "Signs" reinforce the mockery through caricature.

📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

IMACINARY SUBSCRIPTIONS y Millions of Imaginary People Impatient to Become Ee Mental Subscribers to LIFE 4 U RING the past_week the superb poise of our manager, Gee. Ime. Mit., has been taxed to its utmost under the enormous strain of receiving vibrations from all over the world, from those who cannot wait to become actual mental subscribers, and who do not understand our system, or why they must first be placed on the waiting list. The situation briefly is as follows: We have twenty millions of actual bona fide paid-up mental subscribers to the Imaginary Life, who receive the paper mentally every week. Now, on account of the difficulty of ob- taining help, we cannot take on any more subscribers, as we have already explained. All those who wish to become subscribers in time, therefore, are placed on our waiting list, by mentally subscribing the nominal sum of five dollars, which is one half the regular subscription. The names of this waiting list are duly recorded according to the time they are vibrated, and when any one cf our regular mental subscribers drops out, a new name from this waiting list is added. By getting your name on the waiting list now, you will probably become a regular mental subscriber in about twenty years. There isno guarantee of this, but our experts have made as near a correct esti- mate as possible, based on the psychic life of all astral bodies. There is, however, a bare pos- sibility that we may be able to in- crease our regular office force, so that we can add more regular subscribers. We have just taken on a trained band of yogis from Calcutta, and we are in great hopes that they may pan out all right. We are also making discoveries. For example, we find that oftentimes some of our regular somatic office help employed in getting out the base materialistic Life, develop psychic power, and can thus be transferred to Gee. Ime, Mit.’s department, and aid us in getting out the mental Life. It was only the other day that a new office boy was caught going into a trance all by himself. Gee, Ime. Mit. was notified; he was given a few lessons by one of our Si ns assistant clairvoyants, with the result that he is now recording sev- eral thousand vibrations a day from imaginary subscribers. We are, of course, vibrating for help all the time, through the regular imaginary departments, but we find that good subliminal selves are scarce, and what we hope to do now is to educate a number who are groping in the dim light between the material- istic existence and the higher mental life, and don’t know it— just as our office boy had to be trained. Any one who reads this may be a psychic and not know it, may be earning steady mental money re- cording vibrations for the mental Life; right in your own home, too. It may need only a few brief touches on the part of some of our trained force to develop your powers. If you feel psychic, therefore, drop us a line; or, better still, try and send us a few vibrations. Never mind the spelling and punctuation— that will all come later. Concentrate on a door knob, or other shining object, remain in a purely passive state, and will Gee. Ime. Mit. to come to you mentally. Remember that you may not be conscious, physically speaking, of any response. That is only because your physical self and your mental self are not yet in perfect harmony; that will all come later. The main point is to make the effort; soon you will become conscious of a supreme joy, and suddenly the light will break in upon you, and you will understand. Do you see auras on other people? That is one sign that you are a psychic. Look at the heads of all those you see ina street car. Ifthe fine spiritual essence which always surrounds their heads is at all visi- bleto yourinner eye, you may know that it is only a question of time when you can be earning all the way up to a hundred mental dollars a month working for Gee. Ime. Mit. . Reduced Fac-simile Next Weeks Cover -_ Lifes Experts at work th Concentrate Here is a letter just received: DEAR LIFE: ‘Some time ago I noticed that my wife's disposition began to change. She became calmer, and I could see that some new in- fluence was entering into her life, When I complimented her and asked her what it was, she steadily avoided the subject. telling me that I would not understand, until the other day, upon my insisting, she declared that she w: ubscriber to the Im- aginary Life, and that it had made this great change in her She told me she had vibrated ten mental dollars long ago, and that the mental Life she was getting each week was a great deal better than the physical oneI am receiving, She says Iam (Continued on page 723) Vibrations re comicbooks.com