Our eyes are
the eyes of the universe
reflecting upon itself...
We look at the stars,
they look back at themselves
through us...
Lisen to the universe,
stir the deep memory ...
thus do we know
what we are to do.
~ by Nan Merrill
All words have a history. But some are particularly interesting to explore when it comes to psychology—because they're directly born from it. How many times have you been mesmerized by something, so captured by it that it was like you were in a trance? The word "mesmerize" dates back to an 18th century Austrian physician named Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815). He established a theory of illness that involved internal magnetic forces, which he called animal magnetism. (It would later be known as mesmerism.)