— pain. + St O— 9-0-4 0-9 OOO PI area ar ee Le a ee Eee et hie Finda tes etek eae AEE, = ~ =o rest Oa ata = - , a NR Ne aN Be nn en io en en basin enn mein A BA SEE ie rs eA Sa tee a hom papas nk no Neer TN, SEP Se ed arenes ; ene era ees pee attra wie ter ee Sere 3 RS Sie Pia sea Pasar se sie eaten seer pa pepe caer =e SA oe TO ne crn beater near ee pepe Te CPIPARaPeebe PPS niet ata thnks Urge bem tee ber en Peete pee tetnet ieee = : 4 2 z : : Pore ake > We peeceeente i: : 7 a Ree ee CDSs Sete tae ee ee ee ee arts c Siaetets gt gata. ee ee RS oes Rescreeegtetrestpeset ~ Fe ry ee ee ae 0 mes ——— ae aes ree .- ri +37 eee pe en ere ee~ : “ “ i as se : rs cet cit ee S ; : 2 wees : por ote eeeitat gteaeen pe : : Fy eee Weeetcen et Sere etatet eters Lee See Rata eis Seles Seer oer a ary So tet ei eter oan eipe iret. ey ‘eg ey cas etary eee ene Senate eed Sine tee het hehe t ak ter + “7 DRA Ee SA OPS Library of The Theological Seminary PRINCETON ° NEW JERSEY C=) PRESENTED BY The Estate of Victor H, Lukens a: mn 1 ci 24 oro BP UD ate ee OF VATS ERS RQ Seat a? > ‘ A : BY HELEN MARY ‘BOULNOIS WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY T. TROWARD ! Ne EO = (ED ee AG FE AEN OS, , F Ly ‘ ? it ; rt f aber’ ‘ UBal vi: th Nie : Yi he A \ , 4 " hae Les WW “ Y 7 * iy ) ya uM ' 7 r hive - 1 e , j Wey Me { or ; pt t ‘ cr ye to Ta > j ‘ . Titn if - fee ies a q 1! j y % rs ie is aw : . RL | Direct, control, suggest this day All I design, or do, or say; That all my powers, with all their might, In Thy sole glory may unite. . Bisuor Ken. ae ae ae |) 4c eee THE HEALING POWER CHAPTER I THE INNER SELF THERE is a great power of healing in this world of ours. It is the force of life work- ing invisibly within each one of us. What is it makes me ‘‘I’’? Every one is ‘1’? to themselves. There must be but few who have never said to themselves: ‘‘Why am I, I? What made me ‘I’ instead of some one else’s ‘I’?”’ Idle questions, that no man can answer. Yet, until we learn life’s mastery, each one of us is the tool of this unknown power of life, expressing itself through our bodies. Is our ‘‘I’’ and our inner power of life identical? Or are we tossed and pushed by something even more intimate, more master- ful, within us than that which each one of us calls ‘‘myself’’? For instance, there is the 4 THE HEALING POWER fact that every one we meet is either attracted or repelled by us, and that we are attracted or repelled by them. There is the further fact that where we find ourselves repelling, we are losing force, strength and health; while where we find ourselves attract- ing we increase in health, strength and force. Here there are two powers, working within ourselves for and against us—the power of attraction and power of repulsion. Yet how is the knowledge of this to assist us; for who can help their likes and dislikes? Then is there an ‘‘I’’? within us, to whom we do not dictate? An essential being, who makes our very ego; and yet is not under control? Can we attain to the ruling of this inner identity? Can we live so closely in touch with the unseen power of life, making of us its channel, that we shall no longer be slaves, driven, it seems, sometimes by caprice—but make of this power our chosen comrade, our help-mate? Can we learn to strengthen the forces that work to the healing of our lives? Can we expel with a firm heart those im- pulses that threaten (not from without but from within) to wreck our happiness? THE INNER SELF 5 Our likes and dislikes seem to rise from unknown depths within us, make their pres- ence felt, declare our good and our evil. At such moments we feel the presence of an inner identity, feel its insistent pressure and hear its tones. That still voice, whose tones rarely rise to the surface, is speaking, silently, unheard, all the time within us without any cessation. It is sending messages to and fro throughout our body, whether we sleep or wake, whether we walk or lie, whether we are ill or well, whether we are aware of its influence or whether we are not. It is not only silently directing—it is implicitly obeyed by every nerve, pulse-beat, vein in our bodies. It rules us for happiness or misery, for health or ill-health. Most of us have seen some woman blossom into unexpected beauty because she is happy. This is a common manifestation of power resident in herself. There is nothing we can see in some man who has appeared in her life to make her glow with softened yet radiating charm of life and beauty. He has cast no spell upon her. He has simply given her an honest affection. Yet emotions of 6 THE HEALING POWER gladness, raised in her, have sent messages over her body, so that not only her mind is elevated but its visible manifestation be- comes incorporate in health and beauty. _ And why is there bodily relief and refresh- ment in happiness—physical discomfort in misery? Ts it not that when happy we feel a strain removed? That everything becomes more natural? We seem to be more the whole self, to be expanding, growing, developing? Our inheritance is reached, or being reached. We ‘are nearing the fulness of being. Outside causes of happiness are taken as examples; because every thinking man knows how his own health and the health of those around him is swayed and influenced by that subtle electricity, called happiness. He knows that depression caused by misery is likely to affect the body. And yet we cannot shun grief; and no suggestion has yet been given of assisting the body, except by that external condition of happiness which is not under the direct control of most human beings to command for themselves. But it is more so than most of us believe. Let us return to that hidden ego, which THE INNER SELF 7 dictates—often justly—our likes and dis- likes, warns or encourages. It is the most deep-seated part of us that we can recog- nize. It is the inmost ‘‘I.’’ We have seen that external happiness will: set it favourably in action to work for good and bless us with benefits. Can we without the accidental interference of things beyond our grasp influence this inner self, so that in turn it may influence us - to our greater happiness, health and pros- perity? It is our aim to prove the possibility of an inward happiness—a source that can be unfailingly tapped, in trying moments, as well as in successful ones. ls may be many and varied; but there is only one power of health and healing in the world—the inner uprush of life, driving physical evils out before it, and, in spite of poverty, sorrow or suffering, renewing one’s being at its source. Doctors strive to eliminate all that inter- feres with this natural flow of life; but no doctor can place it there when absent. A certain creative and re-creative power is, however, the natural inheritance of man, 8 THE HEALING POWER if he but employ his free-will rightly in the choice of thought. It is useless attempting once and for all authoritatively to state that the inside ‘‘I’’ is to be different in future. It would pay not the slightest heed. But by constant self-suggestion, by feed- ing this essential self with good thought, with gentle, restful thought, by nourishing its strength and vitality indirectly through the action of the mind, we can lead it into such paths of peace that the whole being, nourished at its centre, will right its wrongs, increase in vigour, come round like a stricken ship on firm helm and sail forth on seas—calm or turbulent—secure in its own good foundations. Gradually, slowly but very surely, the essential self adjusts itself. As in the out- side happiness spoken of earlier, so do we feel a strain removed. Everything becomes more natural. We seem to be more the whole self—to be expanding, growing, developing. Little by little outer circumstances suc- cumb to the quiet inward strength. Sickness is replaced by positive health. Poverty is ousted. Even the suffering caused by others THE INNER SELF 9 takes a more just level: and our own quiet, inner attitude, silent and unobtrusive, com- mands tne immediate world. Yet with what thought is it best to comfort, feed and lead this spirit deep within the breast? That is a question for each one of us as human souls to answer. First know, deep within, what we truly be- lieve. Then take that Bread of life, eat of it, nourish the inner self, and as we do, so shall we grow, not only in inward grace, but also in bodily, external health, strength and vigour. CHAPTER II SOME BREAD IN LIFE THERE are few of us in moments of travail, in bodily or mental distress, who can go out on to nature’s broad breast, wandering over fields, moors, woods or cliffs without feeling some message, some balm from the Great Spirit, thus visibly manifesting His creation. It is at such moments that the spring of life within seems renewed by something greater than itself—something external, yet infinitely internal. Now is the time to pause, to draw breath and—not idly to repeat—but to know: ‘‘The Spirit of God hath made me. The breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”’ And the spirit within will be conscious of relief, because it will be resting in its own Divine Source. And what is this spirit? We came—we know not whence. We go— 10 SOME BREAD IN LIFE 11 we know not whither. But there is no savage SO savage, no poor and outcast so poor and outcast, but far inside himself he does not know that the life within, often so storm- tossed, is deeper, larger, finer than the cir- cumstance of the moment, harassing and tor- menting him. © Does this inner depth exist? Does it cry out at the injustice of life? Does it ask for larger spheres in which it may have scope? If we know this inner existence, we know our own spirit; and there is but one way to give it the nourishment it craves. We may try to tempt it with outward circumstances, to soothe it with toys that seem to bring hap- piness to others; but the spirit within will never find its central spot, nor its own activity for which it hungers, until allied with forces greater than itself. Forces exist. Such forces as justice, gen- erosity, love. They tower above us. We may try to elude them. They are there. And when we obey and use them we are never these things themselves. We are the channels through which they pass. It is useless to call to outward things to 12 THE HEALING POWER help us in distress. First call in to our own deepest depth. Find the one suffering in the breast, as a little child suffers. Ally it to the One, who alone can comfort it; and ally it by realizing we are not alone. Each one of us is a spark from the Eternal Fire. Each one is a life from the One Life. Through us the All-Father is hurt. The Spirit of Life, which makes of us a channel, is injured by our injury. And yet how little injured! Life itself sweeps on, regardless of the falling leaves. That Life is in us—ours so long as we are alive. Use it! Let the leaves fall. Life eternal is the essence of be- ing, of the being of all those whom we love. The seeming appearance of the moment passes. Let the leaves fall! While we stand firm on this everlasting foundation of Life. Live in this spirit. Be conscious of this spirit. Do not believe in immortality; but— if only for the space of a moment—be im- mortal. We can use this talisman on the car, in the subway, on the pavement, as we wait for ad- mittance outside a door. We can keep a strong, inspiring thought ready at call. ‘““The Spirit of God hath made me!’’ Or SOME BREAD IN LIFE 13 if this does not suit, search for one’s own thought. No one but the own self can ever know its inmost comfort. Having found it— do not fear reiteration. The spirit within works slowly, but will feed and expand upon this thought, throwing new light into the mind, new vigour into organs and limbs, as surely as it is fed. It is true that willing comrade, the spirit, keeps going all the time. It would see us out to the end of our days; but in what sort of way, if starved and neglected? To take a practical example: Perhaps we tire easily. Do not wait till tired, but re- mind ourselves on waking that the essence of being is of spirit, and that spirit does not tire, that its supply is not cut off, it is ours to take. And as we set forth, remind our- selves again that it is by the power of spirit that we move, using its elasticity, its fresh- ness. Even if we are strong, be strong with a strength greater than our own. Yet this quietly growing change, this hap- piness of the inward spirit, is not a patent medicine. It is impossible to write prescrip- tions for headache or lung trouble. For any specific complaint it may be well to consult 14 THE HEALING POWER a doctor; but this can be confidently affirmed: his treatment is more likely to progress fa- vourably with those who are steadily set upon finding that health and peace, undoubtedly within them, that the world knoweth not, and is powerless to give or take away. Moreover in the steady growth of inward spirit that will certainly follow on quiet affir- mations, many troubles of the flesh will slip away almost imperceptibly. We need not force the pace, but apply the new-found knowledge to every kind of trouble that may beset. Slip for one instant back to the very centre of being. Acknowledge the source. Perplexity may be bodily or mental; but a fresh stream of life—though it may not in- stantly nor miraculously sweep away the obstacle—will give us in ourselves an im- petus to come up successfully against it. This does not mean that we shall have to struggle more. Probably far less. Should an engine find itself trying to make way in a ploughed field, how exasperat- ingly futile would be its efforts. Every fresh strain would only plunge it deeper in the yielding soil. Yet with what sense of power, what ease could it push its way when once SOME BREAD IN LIFE 15 on the rails! This is the difference between working on own-power and on God-power. That moment, spent in realizing the inner self, hidden in Him, will set us on the rails. We shall no longer be pushing and striving, but letting free the chafed spirit within us to do its own chosen work. And with every little achievement, even with the attempt, a new sense of happiness and peace arises in the heart. Too often this sense of peace has been ' preached as something essential for the next world, but quite unpractical in any applica- tion to this. No falser doctrine was ever uttered. It is here and now that the expand- ing spirit will better every condition of life. ‘Now are we the sons of God.”’ Enter into this consciousness. Call our- selves this splendid name, as we go off to business in the morning. Taste now the liv- ing goodness of our God. Live now in the eternal habitation. It is ours. It is springing to life and joy deeply within our own aching breast. What makes us sad? It is because this life is longing to burst from its prison walls. But we have lost a dear one? He may 16 THE HEALING POWER have gone beyond these limitations, and yet be nearer than we think. Know that we are truly alive—through our own immortality feel his—and the separa- tion of his death will not so tightly encom- pass us. Two immortalities are with us: Life and Love. We cannot breathe without reflecting life. We can never be so miserable that we do not know love. Possibly one of the two may teem for us with more thought, power and electricity than the other. An instant’s reflection will tell which will be the stronger force. Use that force. It is the healer. We are of course using it; but let us use it con- sciously. In sickness or in pain, that force in the brain will relieve us. ‘‘Life! Life! I am alive.’’ Feel it stinging and singing through nerves and sinews. And Love: ‘‘He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.”’ Realize love. Reflect love from our Maker. Know the SOME BREAD IN LIFE 17 true self encompassed by His everlasting love; and pass it largely to His creatures. Immortality will well up and surge within us, blessing us as it comes, blessing others as we pass upon our way. CHAPTER III SELF AND OTHERS THE charge might be brought that so far this little book has dealt too intimately with Self. Cheery people with an open glance upon the good of others might condemn it as self-centred. But it need not be so. Indeed, for the true adjustment of that inward self, it must not be so. The gifts of the spirit cannot be placed under a bushel, nor be hid in a napkin. Like other fire, deprive them of the opportunity of shining and they will soon be extinguished. The ego at rest within its own breast, nourished and happy, is not only content in itself, but is better attuned, more helpful to others; and as we receive so must we give. It is the only way to renew supply. If we give sense of life wherever we go, life itself will pour freely into and from us. 18 SELF AND OTHERS 19 There are people who are more invigorat- ing than mountain air to meet. We want them when we are ill. We cling to them in SOrrow. Be one of those people. We cannot do it of ourselves. Our own strength, our own cheeriness will carry very little way; but deep within we are reflecting something infinitely greater. Seek that strength, employ it, knowing that it is ' stronger, sweeter, more everlasting than anything we can be alone and unaided. There are Forces of Love, Gentleness, Courtesy, waiting to make us their channel. Dip deeply into this well, springing up within our own breasts to everlasting life. ‘Courtesy costs nothing!’’ How often one hears it said, almost as if in excuse for deeds of kindness. Courtesy is to be had for the taking. Take it and use it. This is daily bread to be taken and eaten. Eaten for the sustenance and support of our own spirit—the Heavenly Bread that no man can break, unless his neighbour be there to share it. Yet, if dealing with one’s own bodily suffering, it may seem as if a great deal of 20 THE HEALING POWER thought and healing power is being brought to bear, perhaps too exclusively, upon the self. It is not so. It is very meet, right and our bounden ‘duty to summon the forces of Life and Love into the one channel under our immediate control. | f The body is given us for direct tillage. We have to let the Breath of Life pass through and vivify this dust of the earth; and first show forth the power of Spirit through the garment that God has given us. Nor are we doing this to ourselves alone. Every time the body is lifted and raised into higher, spiritual vibration, we have lifted, not only the self, but humanity. A problem is being solved for all; and so much nearer are we knit each to the other than we in our blindness see, that the whole race consciousness is raised by the effort of one of its members. Each time the Light of God shines through our limbs, shines through our life, humanity is benefited. Those around us are doubtless lifted by the mere fact that we are letting the Light shine through us. Such people are SELF AND OTHERS 21 sought—not because they are telling of things that others may not be ready to hear —but because good works are imperceptibly becoming visible, and, all unknown to them- selves, they draw others to their Father in Heaven, Who is thus manifesting Himself. Nothing is more infectious than cheeri- ness, unless it is depression. And the cheery man is building up, making, achieving, what- ever he may be at, if he is only sweeping a ’ erossing; while the grizzler is breaking down, lowering, destroying, not only his own health and happiness, but the health and happiness of those who use his crossing. Yet there can be an aggressive cheerful- ness, the outcome of loud animal spirits, that can be more depressing to weaker brethren than any melancholy. It is the wrong cheer- fulness. It is founded on accident, and may collapse at any moment. It is built on shift- ing, human sand; it does not rest on the Divine rock. The right cheerfulness is not noisy, nor aggressive. It does not bubble up suddenly and collapse. It is not of the body; but of the deathless spirit. The moment that we become a channel for this cheerfulness we relieve not only our- 22 THE HEALING POWER selves but others; for it is replete with strong | healing power. So many ills in life go to make up a great ill. Every one knows how the right kind of cheerfulness not only helps but sometimes heals these little ills. Furthermore, so soon as we carry a smil- ing face of strong and steady cheer, so soon do we possess positive, magnetic personality. . The smiling flower-girl sells more than her roses. And when active, positive good is thus spread, we reach a state of being which not only adds to strength, but makes us less receptive and open to ill. If we are so placed by circumstances of life that we can do nothing else for others, be cheerful, and we are helping every living creature that we meet. This cheerfulness is ours. Ours by the presence of the spirit, deep-seated in the breast. That spirit within us is infinitely loving. It wants to love. We are starving it, if we do not let it love. Half the time that we form a dislike it is because the spirit within us wants to love, and is disappointed because it cannot. SELF AND OTHERS 23 Dislike is a weak, poor, negative force. It takes its strength—and it can be strong— from thwarted love. Perhaps where love is thus thwarted and hurt, it should turn to pity, instead of dislike. Not the world’s pity—but Divine pity. CHAPTER IV A FEW WORDS ON THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND Unnapriny a slovenly use of the word sub- conscious has arisen. One constantly hears the word glibly employed where in past time the word ‘‘unconscious’’?’ would have been simply and correctly used; because in many cases the speaker is alluding to the uncon- Scious action of the exposed or known por- tion of the brain. But the subconscious lies far deeper, and is safely hidden—as its name denotes—from the consciousness of man. The theory is that the mind of man is as a coral island. One portion is above the sea and plainly visible. Although this is what one might call the island, it is only a point, an upfling of a great structure of reef, most of which remains unknown, beneath the sur- face of the water. There is an unknown tract of mind in man, as with the submerged coral 24 WORDS ON SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 25 reefs. It has been aptly termed the sub- conscious mind. Yet another way to realize the theory is to imagine the mind as a round object, split into two hemispheres. The first portion, or hemisphere, is provided with an opening door, setting it at the service of its owner. Into this one can enter as into a cupboard, putting in and taking out recollections and knowledge as we require them, according to storage power, to individual tidiness and energy. The portion, in fact, familiar and well known as the mind. But behind that hemisphere is another with locked door, to which no man ean fit a key. Into this veiled, shut mind passes in- delibly and for ever every single scene, word, act of our lives, there to be impressed, never to be forgotten; yet closed. Three examples are commonly given of the rare revelation of this hidden mind to the human consciousness. The first is that moment, common to many of us, of fancying a thing has happened pre- viously. The occurrence comes to us with a certain staleness; sometimes mercifully, in the ease of a shock. Words uttered have 26 THE HEALING POWER been heard before. Things seen were seen already. Somewhere, somehow, one knew all about it before it occurred. The front hemisphere, or conscious por- tion of the brain, has been momentarily lulled (possibly through shock or merely through fatigue), so that the back, or hidden portion of the mind, unknown to oneself, has grasped the situation; and it thus comes to the front hemisphere (of which alone one is conscious) with an inevitable sense of stale- ness, or rather of previous earlier knowl- edge. The second revelation is in that moment sometimes recorded by the dying; especially by those who have nearly succumbed to drowning. A moment, in which, like a flash of lightning illuminating a whole landscape on a dark night, they see every detail, hear every spoken word, recollect every act of their lives, and, incredible as it may appear, know all these things instantaneously and not (as we alone can know them) in se- quence. The rending of the veil, concealing the back hemisphere, and thus bringing the hidden portion of the mind to consciousness, offers an explanation of this phenomenon. WORDS ON SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 27 Lastly there are the phenomena of unusual memory, clairvoyance, recollection long-lost and revealed under hypnotism, marvellous reckoning powers, etc. An example may be cited in the well-authenticated story of the German servant girl, who, while ill and de- lirious, repeated long stanzas of Latin and Greek, languages with which she was utterly unfamiliar. This occurrence was traced back to the fact that, as an orphan child, she had sat in the kitchen of the village priest, nursing her doll by the open door, while on wet days he paraded the corridor, repeating lines from his favourite poets, little thinking that the words were being indelibly im- pressed on the unknown portion of the unheeding child’s ever attentive, hidden mind. But there is a farther field than that of which we have been speaking, for the activi- ties of the hidden mind. Scientists and doc- tors for many years have spoken of ‘‘uncon- scious cerebration.’’ It is the task of some hidden portion of our brains to guard and guide our internal organization. Consciously we tell our limbs to run or walk, sit or lie. Some unconscious 28 THE HEALING POWER portion of the brain directs circulation, di- gestive organs, and regulates all those intri- cate movements perpetually occurring in the body; of which we are often only first aware when they happen to get out of order. This busy mind, happily closed to con- sciousness, is alert night and day. Like Him that keepeth Israel, it neither slumbereth nor sleepeth; but works ‘‘unhasting, unresting’’ for weal or woe so long as we are alive. But it would be useless, unkind, ignorant to go to a sufferer and say: ‘‘It is your mind that makes you ull.’’ That part of the mind of which he is con- scious, and which he has been in the habit of regarding as the whole of his mind, is com- paratively innocent in the matter, and very naturally he would indignantly repudiate the remark. Now it may well be asked: ‘‘If that mind to which we must appeal for help and sup- port is submerged from consciousness, how are we to avail ourselves of its powers?’’ Emotion strikes right through the mind, both conscious and subconscious, just as a shock of dynamite upon the coral island might be felt in every corner of the reef, and WORDS ON SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 29 brings forth result, not only in the realm of that mind of which we are aware, but to the uttermost corners of that submerged mind that rules our physical being. This may be known to every one who has seen another turn pale with fear, blush with self-con- sciousness, redden with rage, or turn sick at an unpleasant sight or story. Anger in the nursing mother may poison her babe; and Sir Samuel Baker tells us that any severe grief in certain parts of Africa is almost sure to be succeeded by fever. In fact, though the hidden mind is dumb, though it gives no message, makes no sound, and can work through the average lifetime without letting the consciousness of its pos- sessor be aware of its presence, yet it is alive to all that goes on, hears all, feels all, and is influenced not only by every emotion, but by every thought that passes through the conscious mind; and unfailingly passes that message into the body. What hurts? What meets us constantly on this life’s journey, hinders, burns, tor- ments? Hurry. Worry. Depression. Hate. Ran- cour. Spite. Self-love. 30 THE HEALING POWER What heals? Is as green pastures and running brooks to sun-baked eyes? Peace. Content. Good temper. Laughter Happiness. Love. And if things do worry, people hurt, let as stop, think. Think a little of that great tract of mind—ours, and only to be reached by emotion, by suggestion, by taking thought. Comfort it. Comfort it as we would a little child. Keep gentle words of love and life to repeat inaudibly to it. Drop happy thoughts upon it. Let them sink in as the gentle rain and dew from Heaven. And so, passing through the valley of Baca, we make of our own subconscious mind a well. For if we remember to comfort this por- tion of mind, not only will it cease from feel- ing and spreading the ill effects of the harm done, but next time worry or hurt reach us, it will act as a faithful, though silent, ally. Somehow—we cannot realize why—the ill we meet has not the same power. We have strengthened force within, and, instead of its being repelled and frightened at an attack, now aware of a reliable friend, it is able to play its natural and instinctive part WORDS ON SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 31 of martialling our physical strength to our assistance. And if part of our mind is subconscious, the One Great Mind, the Motive-Power of Life, vitalizes all. The One Mind, above all, and in all, and through all, contains our mind—the part that is mercifully hidden from our conscious- ness, just as much as that with which we commune. ‘‘For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do His good pleas- ure.”’ Let Him do His good pleasure. His servant, the subconscious mind, does not resist His Heavenly will. Let us range the conscious mind on the side of the good, the true, the beautiful by thinking thoughts of truth, peace and beauty. ‘‘Whatsoever things are pure, whatso- ever things are lovely ... if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.’’ Think with the conscious mind, strong, positive, happy thought. Use the will to dis- pel the miserable, the lowering, the un- pleasant. 32 THE HEALING POWER Tone the upper portion of the mind, under immediate control to the very best at com- mand. Keep strong, sustaining thought ready at hand with which to nurture and con- sole it. So these two sections of the mind, no- longer at cross-purposes, but both working His good pleasure, will be as one; and not only the inmost being, but very soon the out- ward life will be set about with blessings,— the Heavenly will fulfilled. CHAPTER V HOW TO GUARD AGAINST HYPNOTISM PEoPLE who have not found their refuge are much more commonly hypnotized than they think. Many are hypnotized by some belief, and are running to and fro, busily hypnotizing themselves and others into the wrong things. What is hypnotism? The best figure to employ for seeing the action of hypnotism is to imagine the motor- centres of the human brain as a circle of seven lamps, each lamp connected by a cur- rent fusing them equally. Imagine that through intense concentra- tion (say, for instance, upon the motor-centre of sight) a power is brought to bear almost exclusively upon one lamp, and this power has to be withdrawn from the far side of the circle, so that another lamp’s light is weak- ened, and perhaps expires. So soon as the current ceases to circulate and light all seven 33 34 THE HEALING POWER lamps equally, or that the light from a lamp is extinguished to feed another—so soon is hypnotism induced. An immense rest may thus be produced. Many of us push our powers to their ut- most. One of the little lamps quenched, a load is lifted off ‘‘Brother Ass,’’ as St. Francis called the body, that perhaps he should not have been called upon to bear. The quenching of this lamp, dimming the intelligence, leaves the body nothing to cope with save the body. Quickly the subconscious mind, no longer fearing interference, re- stores it. But at what cost? The current fusing the lamps has been broken. It has to be readjusted, and perhaps may never again fuse exactly how and where it did. And each time of breaking weakens the round, steady flow of the current. Such is the action of hypnotism in deep slumber. But how many of us are concen- trating power unduly on some one motor- centre? Some fear arises. We stare at it spell- bound. Think of our seven lamps in con- nexion with this concentration, and the power GUARD AGAINST HYPNOTISM 35 brought to bear upon one light, draining away from the other side of the circle to feed ih We take some fad. It may be only clothes, or food. Are we pouring an undue concen- tration upon it? Because that power of con- centration is fetched from something else. Is another lamp growing dim, while we feed the fad? Then there is the power of suggestion we exercise, sometimes unwittingly, over one another. ‘‘Look at this splendour of wealth!’’ the rich man, driving by in his fine equipage, seems to say. Possibly he might prefer to walk and get some exercise in his own muscles; but the tired man on the pavement does not know it. His eyes are caught by the dazzle of outward things. ‘‘If only I were rich,’’ he thinks, and slides away, hypnotized into a land of dreams—his mind unduly con- centrated. Out goes some little lamp. Pos- sibly the very one that could have lit him to his next step. ‘‘Don’t do that!’’ some woman says to an- other. ‘‘Nobody does it.’’ Round the circle flashes the power to con- 36 THE HEALING POWER centrate on some vanity of the senses. Bal- ance is lost.