Life, 1912-08-01 · page 26 of 40
Life — August 1, 1912 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the early 20th-century American craze for New Thought spiritualism and pseudo-Eastern mysticism. The satirical advertisement promotes "Swami Baa Baa's Vibration Parlors"—a fake wellness business claiming to cure unhappiness through mental "vibrations" and Hindu-inspired practices. The joke targets multiple absurdities: an obviously fabricated Indian guru ("Baa Baa"), miraculous feats (surviving buried for weeks), and pseudoscientific jargon ("mental wireless," "objective existence"). The included letter from a client perfectly demonstrates the satire's point: a man tries the formula to deny his wife's existence, but she responds by physically attacking him—revealing the method's uselessness. The silhouette cartoon "At the Afternoon Tea" appears to show social commentary on manners. Life magazine here mocks wealthy Americans' gullibility toward trendy spiritualism and wellness scams dressed in exotic Eastern philosophy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“EPP : Would You Vibrate -With Joy? If So, Lose no Time, But Communicate with Life's ‘Vibration Parlors—Why Not Be Captain HE rhythmic harmony of the spheres is now upon us. The American people are at last waking up to their mental possibilities. Swami Baa Baa, the finest Yogi in the world, specially imported from the heart of India, is in full charge of our parlors, which are crowded from morning until night. Remember, that the harmonic life is epen to all. We comprehend all phases of the Newest Thought, and there is no vibration known to the inner circles in which we do not deal. Are you a skeptic? Come and be convinced. Swami Baa Baa is a seventh son of a seventh son. He was born with no less than three cauls, and up to the time he was seven years of age he concentrated continuously on the syl- lable Om. It is now known by the elect that Om is the All. At the age of twenty-one Swami Baa Baa was buried for fourteen days, during which period he never drank a drop. Recently he spent three weeks in an American sanitarium, being en- tered as one of the regular patients, and no nourishment passed his lips— and he gained eighteen pounds. We offer the only genuine brand of of Your Own Soul? vibrations on the market. All others are fakes, : Are you unhappy? «No matter what your trouble is, we can cure it. Call us up by mental wireless. Concentrate cn the first shining object and ask for Baa Baa. We advise, however, that you pay us a personal call; you can then make your initial deposit and be on a busi- ness basis. We care nothing for money itself. As soon as our clients are educated up to the higher planes we will dispense with it altogether. We are using it now temporarily merely to satisfy the materialistic de- mands mad: upon us. If you are having any trouble with your wife, consult us at once; we cure all forms. of disharmony between husband and wife. Repeat the follow- ing formula night and morning, with your eye fixed on shining glass. A cocktail glass is a good medium : My wife has no objective exist- ence. She is a purely mental object superimposed upon my arca of con- sciousness, When I appear to hear her voice, it is only vibrations out of tu I must be passive, remembering that she cannot harm’ me so long as I do not senist. I will mentally deny her existence so long as I am under the illusion that she is threatening me with any- thing. Repeat Baa Baa seventy-seven times. The above formula is only a begin- ning. Remember that, being a novice, you may fail the first time. You should then practise rhythmic breath- ing. The following letter is in point: “Dear Sirs: My wife is known as a terror. Yesterday, after receiving your formula, I went into silence, dur- ing which I repeated Baa Baa as directed, and said forty times: ‘My wife has no objective ex- istence. I am passive to every- thing, She appeared to hear me; at any rate she grabbed me by the neck and appeared to say: ‘I have no objective existence, have I? \ I'll show you!’ Please let me know what you would do ima case like that. Iam writing this from the club hospital room.” This is only an instance of what we mean when we say that the first lesson is oftentimes a failure. Our friend has become so long ob- (Continued on page 1528) AT THE AFTERNOON TEA: “THE ILL-BRED LINE.” comicboolhet (ch ql - oA RAS Sey ae