^ t££ MC 5M FIRST LESSONS IN THE NEW THOUGHT J.W.WINK.LEY M,D, Book. ."Ui_7L (kpightW COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. First Lessons in the New Thought First Lessons in the New Thought ©r, Ufoe 1KHa£ to the floeal Xife BY J. W. WINKLEY, M.D., || -Editor of Practical Ideals and Author of " John Brown the Hero : Personal Reminiscences," etc. -8? BOSTON JAMES H. WEST COMPANY LIBRARY of CONGRESS Two Copies Received MAY 6 1904 Copyright Entry CLASS^ ou XXo. No. 8 ■ L ^ ^- L COPY B Copyright, 1904 By James H. West Company 14 A copy of this book, in cloth binding, will be sent by the Publishers, postage paid, to any address within the Postal Union, on receipt of 60 cents, or in paper covers for 30 cents. Contents PAGE I. Introductory 9 II. The Power of the Mind 13 III. Health Natural — Disease Unnatural 19 IV. Health Pleasurable — Disease Painful 26 V. Health Harmonious — Disease Inhar- monious 32 VI. Man's Many-Sidedness 35 VII. The New Thought and God 40 VIII. The New Thought and Man 45 IX. The Fact of the Healing 55 First Lessons in the New Thought i Introductory THERE is an earnest desire on the part of most people to-day to know about the new Mental Healing, and especially to know how to apply it with benefit to them- selves. If it is good and worth having, they want it. They want to know the truth about it and to know how to use it if it is useful. This is in accord with the good, plain common sense of Americans. io First Lessons in the New Thought But there are many who have not yet become familiar with it. Others have learned somewhat of it, yet not enough to grasp its principles. Still less are they able success- fully to use the same. These First Lessons are designed to meet the wants of such persons, and of beginners generally in their study of the subject. The lessons are elementary, and the en- deavor has been to present the plain, simple facts and principles of the Mental Cure in the simplest, plainest English, — in untechnical language easily understood by every one. The subject is many sided. We may look at it on its therapeutical side, as a cure, or we may consider its moral side — for it surely has a moral side. And it has a religious or spirit- ual side, as can readily be seen. And yet the main truths and basic princi- ples of it are simple, easy to learn and easy to understand. For the sake of simplicity we will divide the whole subject into two parts. Introductory 1 1 The lessons of this series will deal only with one of them, namely, that which has to do with self-treatment and self-cure. In another series we may take up the other half — the treatment and cure of others. In this series we are to see how one can use or direct his mind — the thought, feeling, and will — for his own health, or for the cure of his own ills and ails. We must remember, however, that the ills and ails are not alone of the body. There are mental ills and ails, and moral ills and ails, which need cure or to be prevented as much at least as do the physical — those of the body. From what has been said, it will readily be seen that, in this new cure, much is made of the mind. The mind is above the body. To call it meta-physics y therefore, is very proper, — " beyond the physical.'* Again, in this cure much is made of thought and its power ; of ideas — the creations of the 1 2 First Lessons in the New Thought mind. Therefore, this cure can have no better name than Idealism. But more : ideas are dynamic, — are a power, — and can be put to use, can be made practical. Therefore this cure, its philosophy and useful application, can well be named Practical Idealism ; and its believers and advocates and practitioners are Idealists — Practical Idealists. II The Power of the Mind TO show plainly the truth of Mental Cure, and to make clear how naturally and easily it is done, we will start from the simple, well-known facts which everybody knows and will readily acknowledge.- The first of such facts is that the mind has an influence, a power, over the body. The mind, its activities, its states or conditions, has an influence on the body. That is, the thoughts and feelings, emotions and passions, exert a power, have an effect, upon the body. The doctors had long known and testified that this is true, though they took little advan- tage of it for good. 14 First Lessons in the New Thought A noted physician years ago stated the truth in this excellent way : " The mind has a powerful influence over the body for health or disease." No Christian Scientist ever voiced the fact more tersely or truthfully. There is nothing surer, nothing more thoroughly estab- lished, than the fact of the power of the mind to affect the body, — to produce illness or to restore health. Those who have known nothing about mental cure see plainly that this is true, for continually, right before their eyes, they have proofs of it. Indeed, they probably know it well from personal experi- ence — to some extent. They have seen first or last how undue excitement, severe depression, intense anxiety, have affected their appetite and digestion. Perhaps from the strain of business troubles, dread of failure and loss, or from some terrible affliction, they have been thrown suddenly into a dangerous fever or a complete break-down of health. On the other hand, everybody knows, after The Power of the Mind 1 5 these many years of prevalent mental cure, as also by their own experience, how the mind when cheerful, happy, joyous, acts ever power- fully to preserve and to restore the health. All this seems simple and true to every- body, now that attention has been called thereto and all have observed or experienced it. Here we have the primary fact, the obvious truth, acknowledged by everybody, of mental cure. It is singular that this should not always have been seen and known by every- body, or that it should ever have been doubted. If any one is asked, even a child, what gives life to the body, he would answer : the soul or spirit. The common belief is that when the mind or spirit goes out of the body the life is gone and dissolution takes place. If the spirit is the life of the body it surely is also its health, the lesser being included in the greater. Now let us see what follows from this. Step by step we wish to lead our readers who 1 6 First Lessons in the New Thought are unfamiliar with this Cure to see the truth about it and the way in which it can be made available for manifold and inestimable benefit. One must notice well the statement that the mind can act, and in fact always does act, as asserted by the doctors, and as we have all experienced, " for the health or for the disease of the body." The mind can act in two ways, — one way for disease, the other way for health. What more natural or important, when we understand this fact, than that we should ask, in the first place, what states or conditions the mind is in when it works to produce illness, when it works to throw the body into disease. The answer is so simple and easy that it states itself. We have seen, by the illustrations already given, that it is such states as fear, dread, anxiety, disappointment, despair. These states of mind are the disturbed, depressed, distressed thoughts and feelings. On the other hand, we have seen, by the examples already presented, that the states of The Power of the Mind 17 mind which are favorable to health and which work for recovery are those that are equable, tranquil, that are exhilarating instead of de- pressing, cheerful instead of sad, joyous instead of grievous. The general law seems to be that all the tranquil, orderly, undisturbed states of mind, of every kind and in any degree, always tend to health, — are healthful ; while, oppositely, all the disturbed, distressful states, of every sort and to any extent, tend always to produce bodily disorders, — are diseasef ul. How simple all this is, and how true ! Did any one ever have any experience not in accord with it ? We do not say that a little fear, a slight worry, a small degree of distress of mind, will make one seriously ill immediately. But all these have, even if in small measure, their disordering effects, and, if long con- tinued, bring serious consequences. Here, to repeat it, we have, simple and self- evident, the first important fact or fundamental truth in Mental or Spiritual Therapeutics, 1 8 First Lessons in the New Thought namely : that the tranquil, calm, poised, peace- ful (what we may call the natural) states of mind always tend to health — are healthful ; and, oppositely, that the disturbed, disquieted, distressed states of mind ever tend to disorder the body — are diseasef ul. And all this is by a natural law which is of transcendent scope and which has far-reaching consequences. Knowledge of it and con- formity to it promise to be of immense practical value to mankind. Ill Health Natural — Disease Unnatural WE wish now to call attention to another interesting and important fact in con- nection with what has preceded. It is valuable because it is knowledge that can be put to practical use ; and although a simple truth, it is one which we need to understand and realize fully. Whatever is in accord, in harmony, with Nature, we rightly call natural. That is what natural means, as we all know. On the other hand, whatever is out of accord, out of har- mony, with Nature, is unnatural. That is 20 First Lessons in the New Thought what unnatural means. This is all simple, self-evident, if we think of it. The reader has already anticipated our appli- cation of this truth. We are safe, without any question, in asserting that health, physical or bodily health, is natural to man ; is in accord and in harmony with Nature. Equally true must it be that disease is unnatural, out of accord or harmony with Nature and Nature's laws. That is, disease is the consequence, as we are accustomed to say, of our violation of Nature's beautiful laws and beneficent order, which are God's laws and order. Now, it surely follows, if health is natural and disease is unnatural, that all the states or conditions of mind which tend always to pro- duce disease — the disturbed, disorderly, and distressed thoughts and feelings — are like- wise unnatural to man, out of accord and har- mony with Nature and with man's nature. What are these unnatural states, thoughts, feelings, and passions which are unhealthful Health Natural 21 and tend always to produce bodily disorder, sickness, and disease ? We have already men- tioned some of them, such as severe fright, dread, grief, and so forth. But these are not all ; because all disturbed, distressed, dis- ordered states of mind whatsoever are disease- ful and therefore unnatural to us, — are out of harmony with Nature's order, and with our own orderly nature, physical and mental. This is true of every disturbed state, of every kind and degree. Fear, worry, anxiety, grief, regret, remorse, despair, resentment, brooding care and disappointment, feelings of disgrace, shame, and guiltiness, an upbraid- ing conscience, feelings of hatred, malice, revenge, cankerous suspicion, envy, jealousy, bitterness, ill will, ill temper — in a word, all the ill passions and vicious, sinful disorders of mind, heart, and soul are unhealthful and unnatural. Is there not truth in the old, old saying that sickness, disease, came into the world by sin ? 22 First Lessons in the New Thought But let us now look on the other and more pleasant picture. It is just as true, oppositely, that — as effect follows cause — health follows the orderly, natural state of mind, good thoughts and feelings. Does not all our experience prove this, when we come to think of it ? The trouble has been, we heretofore have not given our atten- tion and thought to these all-important truths, which are worth more than very much of the knowledge we spend years to acquire. What are the natural states of mind — the feelings, thoughts, desires, good passions — which are healthful, restorative, recuperative of the health, and which tend to the recovery and renewing of the life, strength, and vigor of the body ? Let us familiarize ourselves with these natural, Nature-given, God-intended blessings for man's use and welfare, — the health-makers, the life and strength restorers and conservers. What can they be but faith, hope, love, Health Natural 23 good will, a good conscience, good temper, cheer, content, joy, trust ; all serene, tranquil, satisfying feelings, exhilaration, exaltation ; all happy, joyous, blessed states of mind and soul ? These are the life-bestowing, health- creative, strength and youth renewing elixirs, and they make possible to men length of days. These are as natural as they are healthful ; are what good Mother Nature tries to make our own ; are what the good God and Father wishes ever to crown us with. Do not indeed our ill states of mind — our evil, vicious, sinful thoughts and feelings — have to do with our illnesses and diseases ? We do not live out half our natural days, half the natural length of life which Nature — or the God of Nature — designs us to live. The present average length of life is only thirty- five years. Half or two-thirds of the magnifi- cent gift of life on earth which the Creator puts into our hand we throw away. Is not sickness a sin indeed ? Does not our religion 24 First Lessons in the New Thought have to do with our health, according to the above showing ? Would not our morals, virtue, religion, spirituality, if they were true, gen- uine, and real, be health to our minds, souls, and bodies ? If what has been said is tenable, we have here a momentous truth of far-reaching scope and transcendent value. It is no less than this : that the very states of mind — right thoughts, good feelings, lofty passions, noble desires and affections — which are healthful tend to keep us well and, if we are ill, to restore us to health, and are also the natural, normal thoughts and feelings for us : are also virtuous, moral, spiritual, and truly religious. Faith, trust, love, good will, chastity, purity of heart, nobleness of soul, humility, mag- nanimity, righteousness, holiness, — these are religion itself, and make up virtue, morals, spirituality. Oppositely, the ill states of mind and heart Health Natural 25 and soul — all ill feelings and evil passions, which, as we have found, are unhealthful and therefore unnatural and out of harmony with our true nature — are immoral, vicious, un- spiritual, and irreligious. Of a truth, then, we can say, largely at least, that our bodily health depends on our mental, moral, and spiritual health. IV H ealth Pleasurable Painful Disease LET us review a little our study thus far in these First Lessons. We agreed, I will take it for granted, that the mind or soul or spirit — call it what we will — animates the body, gives, or is, the life of the body. Secondly, it was decided that this animat- ing life-force, the mind (or soul or spirit), exerts an influence over the body, either for good or for evil, for health or for disease. When the mind, on the one hand, is in its orderly, tranquil, equable states it works for Health Pleasurable 27 bodily health and recovery. In other words, its action then is healthful. When, however, the mind is in disorderly, disturbed states of thought, feeling, emotion, it produces, or tends to produce, disorder — diseases of the body. In other words, its action in such case is diseaseful. Next, we found, much to our satisfaction, that the states of mind — the thoughts and feelings — which are healthful and which tend always to bodily health and recovery are also moral and spiritual states, such as faith, love, charity, good will, benevolence, a good con- science, honesty, innocence, purity, and the like. Oppositely and just as certainly, the states of mind which are unhealthf ul we found to be also immoral and unspiritual, many of them even vicious and sinful, such as hate, malice, ill will, envy, jealousy, wrath, revenge, and so forth. Still further, the conclusion was forced upon us that the healthful states of mind, which are also good, moral, and spiritual, must be the 28 First Lessons in the New Thought natural ones for us to have : the natural ones, that is, in the sense of their being in accord with Nature and her laws — in accord with the God of Nature and of Nature's laws. On the other hand, it seems equally evident that the unhealthful states of mind, which are also wrong, foolish, vicious, and sinful, must be unnatural, at least in the sense that they are not in accord with Nature — for she ever tries to cure us and keep us well ; and are not in accord with the beneficent intent and wish of the God of Nature — for surely He does not desire to have us ill of body any more than ill of mind or heart or soul ; that is to say, vicious, wicked, or sinful. Now, if we are agreed substantially as to the foregoing, we are prepared to take another step in advance. And we find, next, the fact, perfectly self- evident to us when we think of it, that health is pleasurable. First of all, we notice that physical, bodily health is pleasurable. Sec- ondly, that equally so is the health of the Health Pleasurable 29 inner man ; that our healthful states of mind — and our good, our moral states as well — are also pleasurable to us, are agreeable and happy states. Such, of course, are faith, hope, love, good will, trust, joy, generosity, a good conscience, — all our noble, exalted, magnani- mous thoughts and feelings. All these are as pleasurable, indeed, as they are healthful ; and surely they are moral and spiritual conditions of all men's minds and hearts. Exactly opposite thereto, it is just as self- evident that disease is painful. First, bodily, physical disease, in all its forms, is painful. Secondly, that mental and moral illness or dis- order is painful ; that all our states and condi- tions of mind and heart, our thoughts and feel- ings, which are unhealthful are also unpleasant and painful to us ; are unhappy states of mind, while they are at the same time wrong, evil states — immoral, vicious, sinful. Such of course are (as we have already seen) hatred, ill will, malice, envy, jealousy, — all evil pas- sions, vices, and sins. All these are as pain- 3 IT has been questioned by our clerical and other critics whether the healing or health gospel, which we preach and try to put into practice, is Christian ; whether it is not devoid of ethics and religion. Our general reply, were we to say no more, would be that it is hardly anything else but these. As time passes, our friends will under- stand us better. We say frankly, we hold that our conceptions, moral and spiritual, are higher than those generally held. Were it otherwise, we should not so much value them and labor for their propagation. We should be the last to claim that all the The New Thought and God 41 ideas put forth by individuals in this move- ment are above question, or that many of the opinions held are not untenable ; but the exceptions generally relate to non-essentials and not to fundamental things. What we do claim is that, as far as our judgment goes, what are held as essentials generally by New Thought people are very high conceptions of ethical, spiritual, and religious truth ; that is to say, if you like, are truths of Christianity. Look briefly, for example, at the idea of the "Supremacy of the Spirit. " New Thought people, it would seem evident from their spiritual healing, are intense believers in the spirit — in the reality and power of the spirit ; in the Infinite Spirit, and in the human spirit also, as derived from the Infinite ; and they believe that this spirit, man, whom we call human, is divine, as is his Source. Moreover, their conception of this Infinite Spirit, Mind, Heart, Soul, — that is to say, of God, the Father, — is as much higher than the ordinary dogmatic, creedal portrayal of 42 First Lessons in the New Thought Him as the heavens are higher than the earth. Some one said recently that somebody had " discovered God." This discovery has been made by the Christian Scientists, whoever else has made it. We read in the New Testament that it is immortal life to know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. All New Thought doers of the "works" have had God revealed to them at first hand. How ? In the healing which they have been doing in obedience to the great teacher's command. All phases of the great movement of modern times — Faith Cure, Divine Healing, Christian Science, Mental Cure — have sprung from the healing: the healing of disease, physical, mental, and moral. And God, the Father and Healer, has thus been revealed to them. They have experienced Him, have felt and known Him directly, felt and known His life, power, good- ness, and love. He is an immanent, a living, working, healing power, healing them of phys- "The New Thought and God 43 ical ills as well as transforming their minds, hearts, and souls. He has thus become to them a reality so present and living that they ask no other evidence of his reality. And note, God is thus revealed to them as a God of Goodness. The words are with them interchangeable. He is in reality All- Good. He is so infinitely good that his good- ness swallows up all evil. All things work together for good. They will not tolerate the thought that there can be any real evil in the universe. Note their language and see how their thought has changed from the usual religious ideas. They no longer use, for example, in their language about the good God, the word punishment. It is simply inconceivable that God should ever punish. When we put ourselves out of harmony with Him, out of harmony with His beautiful order and perfect laws, He ordains results that we call evil. But it is all out of His love, to bring us back to Him, to bring us back to happiness and joy, not for punishment. 44 First Lessons in the New Thought The good God of the New Thought people is never wrathful, angry, or even displeased with his children or with anything of his creation. He can do only works of love, can have no feelings but pleasurable ones. He is God of infinite joy as well as of goodness and love, and He is ever transforming His children into His own divine image, creatures of the same joy, peace, love, and holiness. This God they have found worthy of love, trust, and worship. The New Thought people have discovered man also, and they have found him a worthy child of this infinitely good God. This sub- ject has to do with the next lesson. VIII The New Thought and Man WE said in the previous lesson that, in the New Thought, among other discover- ies, man has come to light. And, if the New Thought of man is even approx- imately correct, this is a real discovery. The old conception of him, almost diametrically opposite to the new, shows that he had not yet been found, but remained largely an unknown and unexplored world. It was taken for granted, simply from outside ap- pearances, that disorder reigned. It has fared with the spiritual man very similarly as with the physical man. Observ- ing how almost universal was bodily disease, and death by disease, the doctors of the olden 46 First Lessons in the New Thought time declared disease and not health to be natural to man. In more modern times the conclusion of the medical profession has been that both health and disease are about equally- natural. The New Therapeutics, on the con- trary, asserts that physical health is man's normal condition in accord with Nature and with the beneficent intention of Nature's Author. The different ideas about man that have pre- vailed can be well illustrated also as follows : Explorers find in their travels a new continent. Its rough exterior, superficially observed, leads them to conclude that it is a wilderness or waste — a sort of " bad land." After a long time, closer observers find indeed the same rough exterior, but that there are riches hidden beneath the surface. At last the modern explorer arrives and finds " a goodly country/ ' " a land flowing with milk and honey," abound- ing in wealth, with apparently unlimited re- sources. So of the new-found world, man. The The New Thought and Man 47 New Thought has discovered that man is inherently divine, made in God's image, His own offspring, and so partaker of His nature. He is made up of attributes, faculties, qualities mental, moral, and spiritual. He has no other kind of qualities — no innate bad qualities. All are essentially good and nothing but good. He has a sense-nature also, appetites and pas- sions, natural to him, and all good and only good. Are there any real attributes of lust, gluttony, ill passion in man ? Nay, these are the sensuous nature in a state of disorder or disease. There is no faculty by which we gain ignorance, but a power that enables us to gain knowledge. There is no faculty of folly, but there is one of reason. There is no faculty of idiocy, but there is one of intelligence. Neither is there any attribute of badness, but there is one of goodness. There is no attribute of hate, but there is one of love. There is no quality of cowardice, but there is one of courage. There is no quality out of which any vice springs, but there are moral elements within us from 48 First Lessons in the New Thought which all the virtues blossom, beautiful and good. There is an attribute of love in man's nature, and true love is wholly unselfish. Is there an attribute of selfishness ? What is natural to man's body is health, — its organs and functions all in order. All conditions opposite to this are disorder, de- rangement, disease. What is natural to man himself, mind, heart, and soul, is also health, wholeness, holiness, — his powers, attributes, faculties, qualities all whole and sound. Man's thoughts, feelings, and emotions flower out of these inherent elements making up his nature, as the blossom flowers out of the plant. Wisdom, goodness, love, faith, hope, courage, joy, generosity, and righteousness, all virtue, morals, spirituality, are their natural expres- sion. Thus only do they manifest themselves. All opposite to these can only be these in disorder, out of order. Faith is natural to man. Trust is natural to man. Courage is natural to man. So are intelligence, sanity, goodness, love. But fear, grief, despair, The New Thought and Man 49 avarice, hate, and the like, are unnatural to man. So is all vice, sin, crime, folly, idiocy, insanity. These are no more normal to the spiritual being, man, than disease of his body is normal. To make this truth simple and plain, we will put it in a concrete form, as follows : Love and Wisdom. Faith, Serenity, Hope, Courage, Joy> Aspirations, Gratitude, Generosity, Magnanimity, Good will, Sympathy, Ungrudgingness, Affection, Honesty, Humility, In a word, all the good passions, virtues, moralities, spiritualities, graces, and beatitudes possible to man. Selfishness and Ignorance. Fear, Worry, Despair, Cowardice, Grief, Groveling, Ingratitude, Avarice, Meanness, 111 will, Antipathy, Jealousy, Hatred, Deceit, Egotism. In a word, all the ill pas- sions,vices, immoralities, de- pravities, crimes, and sins — the disorders into which man is liable to fall. 50 First Lessons in the New Thought We thus place a few of the main qualities, and the respective disorders incident to them, opposite each other. Love and Wisdom head one column, Selfishness and Ignorance the other. These titles show the tap-roots out of which the various qualities and disorders grow por, what is a better analogy, show the parents, father and mother, of the divine off- spring on the one hand, and of the evil progeny on the other. In Mr. Fletcher's excellent little book, full of the new healing philosophy, the author makes, mostly for convenience, anger and worry the tap-roots of man's mental aberrations, although he admits that behind and beneath these is fear. But there is something deeper even than fear as the source of man's moral maladies. The root and cause of them all is selfishness. Selfishness is the world's great disorder, — moral disorder, — out of which all others spring. Let no one think we are saying anything against a true " self-regard " — let us call it — The New Thought and Man 5 1 which belongs to us normally and which it is our right and duty to exercise. But fear, worry, cowardice, anger, hate, and all the rest of our mental and moral disturbances or derangements are begotten of our self-regard become really morbid and unnatural, and are not our normal health and wholeness. Jesus gave us the true principle : " Love thy neigh- bor as thyself," — self-regard with equal re- gard for others ; which, we may say, perfectly balance each other and tend ever to — are, indeed — health, harmony, happiness. But selfishness is the arch-disturber of the world's peace. Ignorance, however, ever goes along with it, is its reverse side. At any rate, if we knew enough, were we wise enough, we should never be really selfish. Let us put it this way : Ignorant selfishness breeds all man's moral evils. In fact, fear, worry, hate, ill will, malice, envy, jealousy, all vice, iniquity, ill passion, sin are only so many varying phases of our parent, root disorder, ignorant Selfishness. 52 First Lessons in the New Thought On the other hand, of the parent attributes, Love (or unselfishness) and Wisdom, are born the moral and spiritual, the divine, qualities of man — faith, hope, charity, all virtues, graces, spiritualities. All these, and all sim- ilar good, true elements belonging to man, are inherent in him, potential in his nature. What is needed is to draw them out, evolve, unfold them ; whereupon, on the new therapeutic principle that health cures disease, these qual- ities which make up the divine order of moral health will displace all evil disorders. Bring Love and Wisdom, and all that is kin to them, into activity, life, and health, and we will thereby displace ignorant Selfishness in all its forms and phases. This would not only make the individual man and woman free, healthy, happy, and beautiful, but would tend to banish strife, disorder, war, poverty, crime, and all other moral evil, from the world. This points the way to the ideal life for the individ- ual, the way to the ideal life for mankind. The New Thought and Man 53 Emerson exclaimed, " Oh, my brothers, God lives.' ' Yes, and He has children partaking of His life, "made in His image, after His likeness. ,, As His offspring we are inheritors of His divine nature. And with what a magnificent endowment has He crowned us ! He has created and constituted us after His own nature, with elements, attributes, qualities only good, beautiful, Godlike, that are thereby native to us, inherent in us, making up our real selves. If from Him, what are they, what can they be, but love, goodness, wisdom, holiness ? He has endowed us with the divine qualities of love, faith, hope, courage, justice, forgiveness, the exercise, the use, the unfolding of which insure, as certainly as effect follows cause, our best good, our truest welfare, our highest well being, — our health, wholeness, and happiness, — in a word, our life. When shall we realize how much life — increased, real life — we may have by being our true, God-made selves ! 54 First Lessons in the New Thought If we once fairly experienced it, we should never go back to or be content with the husks and shells of our old life of fears, resent- ments, hatreds, narrowness, miseries, — in a word, selfishness in its Protean forms. Did we ever find anything but good when- ever we have, even in any slight degree, brought the high qualities of our nature into activity ? The true satisfaction, the inner reward, the deep gratification thereof, we have well known when we have let them sway our minds and hearts. We shall never know, however, the full blessedness they give — the full blessedness they are — until we allow them to reign supreme within us. This would be the ideal life. IX The Fact of the Healing PEOPLE are becoming more and more favorably disposed toward this new — and yet old — method of treating disease. Many are now quite ready to try its efficacy. But there are still misconceptions in the public mind, in regard to it, that hinder attention to it and acceptance of it. One reason for this is that the new cure goes under so many different names — " Chris- tian Science," "Mind Cure," " Faith Cure," " Mental Healing," " New Thought," and so on. This is, and has been, a source of great con- fusion. " Mind Cure," the first name by which it was popularly known, was a good appellation. The term " Christian Science " was, to say the 56 First Lessons in the New Thought least, from the commencement of its use, unhappy. It may be inherently Christian in its nature. We believe it is truly so. But in any case, the right and title to the name, by the believers and practitioners, for them- selves and their work, they could better leave to be determined by the test Christianity itself supplies : " By their fruits ye shall know them." The term which, of all others, best charac- terizes this mode of cure, simply as a cure of physical disease, — for the term is both defi- nite and modest, — is " Mental Healing." It is now quite largely used, especially with the reasonable and thinking believers in this cure. The term " New Thought " popularly in use refers more particularly to the philosophy of the healing. And this leads us to remark the main cause of the mistaken notions prevalent in the pub- lic mind on this subject. It has been the same with this truth as with every other. To say that every truth or right is "born in The Fact of the Healing 57 infancy " may be a Hibernianism, but it is likely to be fact also. And most new things, epoch-making discoveries and inventions, have small beginnings. They are very imperfect and partial, very crude, at the start and in their first stages. So has it been with this youthful " Mental Healing/ ' The theories of it and the philos- ophy put forth about it have been very crude and imperfect. Some of its theories, indeed, are manifestly as absurd as they are untenable. The public has become familiar with them. " There is no disease," and so forth. " The body, matter, and the material world are delusions of the senses.' ' " Sickness, pain, sin, and even death have the reality only of false ' beliefs/ and no other existence." Its very fundamental starting-point and first prin- ciple, as laid down and elaborated by its early expounders, reaches " the height of the ridic- ulous," as can be seen now by the merest tyro in logical reasoning. Sickness is declared to be simply and only a " seeming " — for it is 58 First Lessons in the New Thought only the senses that say one is sick, and the senses, it is said, always lie. It is asserted that a man is just as well when he appears most ill, even at death's door, as when he is apparently in the soundest health. All sick- ness, it is claimed, is illusion, therefore there is never, in any case, a disease to cure, but only an illusion to dispel. What follows ? According to this logic, as the senses always lie, and as only the opposite of what the senses say is true, when a man " seems " most well he ought to be the sickest and " his days already numbered/' What wonder that these irrational theories of mental healing disgust and repel plain, common-sense people as well as acute thinkers ! But now let us hasten to say, on the other hand, with the strongest affirmation, that in Mental Healing there is a great truth. We wish to emphasize it with all our might, for it is an immense truth, and its importance can hardly be exaggerated. Its unwise believers may make extravagant and unwarranted claims The Fact of the Healing 59 for it, but there is much more in it than even unprejudiced people think, and a great deal more than the doctors in their philosophy of it admit. There is not only a great truth here, but it admits, we believe, of a reasonable explanation, and we believe that a true and rational philosophy of it will at length be found. In other words, there is such a thing as rational Mental Healing. What is it ? We have used the word "rational" in connection with the term Men- tal Healing simply to indicate the explanation of this cure, — a reasonable and acceptable explanation withal, to the thinking mind, not- withstanding the irrational notions mixed up with it which have repelled so many people from any and all consideration of it. True Mental Healing is rational and credible ; it is plain common sense. It is simple in its nature — simple in principle ; and, in a way, its simplicity speaks its truth. All great truths and principles are simple, and are seen to be so when once understood. 60 First Lessons in the New Thought Rational Mental Healing is true to the name in this respect, first of all : it does not assume to be able to solve all the problems of the universe, or attempt to explain the Infinite Mysteries. It -simply strives to give the truth as far as possible, to recognize the evident facts in the premises, and thereby, most prac- tically important of all, to find the best work- ing theory of this method of healing. For it is the practical healing itself that is of primary value and of which we are in great need. Those who hold to the rational theory of this healing make no denial of matter. Neither do they find in their experience that any particular theory of matter or denial of its existence is necessary to be held by the practitioners in order to heal. They furthermore take it for granted, from evidence which mankind have always been forced, practically at least, to accept, that man has a body, and that it is a very useful and necessary instrument for him to possess. This seems to accord with reason The Fact of the Healing 61 as well as to have the testimony of the senses. In fact, the denial of the body's existence will generally be taken as a sign that those who so deny are bereft of reason — in some meas- ure, at any rate. In a word, the believers in this rational Mental Cure have a very positive philosophy of it, though they hold that philosophy, it is hoped, not dogmatically, but tentatively and as subject to improvement. They feel sure, indeed, of its growth and enlargement, and that it will be sifted and corrected as time goes on and human knowledge increases. Of course, the present writer speaks only for himself in making this general statement of the philosophy, yet he believes it will repre- sent in the main the view that is gradually being taken by thousands to-day ; a view, that is, which is in the direction of the rational, sen- sible, and tenable. They accept the fact of matter as well as the fact of mind. They believe there is a rational physics as well as a 6 2 First Lessons in the New 'Thought rational metaphysics. They acknowledge the existence of the body of man as well as the reality of his spirit. They acknowledge further that disease also has an existence after its kind, both physical and moral, and that that is the only actual reason, indeed, of the heal- ing itself, which we are trying to understand and use. They are forced to acknowledge those forms of disease which we call sin and ignorance, — sad to say, they are only too evident, — as well as other evils in the world, even among " Christian Scientists," though it may not be to their reproach above all others of mankind. But we must speak a moment, here, of the rational philosophy of the human body itself. What a marvelous thing it is ! How wonder- ful is its structure and mechanism ! Its wonderfulness has never been fully known or appreciated, and never can be except in the light of this new truth. What a marvelous piece of machinery it is ! There are several, The Fact of the Healing 63 a half dozen or more, bodies together, and yet one. Nerve, muscle, bone, skin, arterial, fluid body, and shall we not add psychical body also ? What marvelous mechanism, in truth ! and all working together in harmony and unity. And that is what it is — a machine, a tool, an instrument of the spirit, and for the spirit's use. A thing of beauty, a marvel, and in part a mystery still to man. Why, indeed, should we ignore it or deny its existence ? There is only one thing more wonderful that comes anywhere directly within man's conscious knowledge, and that is the spirit. The spirit, of course, is the primary reality, as it is of paramount importance. For it is not only through or by means of the spirit, accord- ing to the theory of this cure, that the body is healed, but to it the body primarily owes its formation, growth, and very existence. The one very important inquiry remains to be considered here : Is this Healing true ? Is it done ? Can cure of disease really be accom- 64 First Lessons in the New Thought plished through the agency of the mind or soul nature ? That is the great question to be settled. That is really the starting-point from which we must set out. If that can be dis- proven, then nothing more is to be asked or answered. On the other hand, that once established, everything follows that is reason- able, natural, and helpful. We believe that this healing is an estab- lished fact. The evidence of it seems to be simply overwhelming. The best minds of to-day that have examined the subject affirm it. Frances Power Cobbe, one of the ablest women in Great Britain, says : " That there is such a thing appears to my judgment a fact beyond dispute." Prof. John H. Denison, of Williams College, asks in regard to this agency to meet disease: "Can it cure anything?" And he answers: "That here is a curative power seems to be a tolerably well attested fact." Again he says: "One has but to glance at the array of facts to satisfy him- ^he Fact of the Healing 65 self that the mind does possess a somewhat extraordinary curative power." Dr. J. M. Buckley's words are well known : " The fact that most extraordinary recoveries have been produced, some of them instantaneously, from diseases in some cases generally considered to be incurable by ordinary treatment, must be admitted." The testimony to the fact of Mental Healing can be marshaled without end. The historical evidence of its truth ought to be conclusive to any mind. It is as old as the world, almost. It is no new-fangled notion or modern discov- ery. It has existed in all times and has been practised in a larger or less degree by all nations, — in a crude way even among prim- itive peoples and half -savage tribes of men. It was the ancient method of healing, and we may say the exclusive one, almost. This seems to be evidenced by all late researches. It is Scriptural, and has all the authority and sanction of the sacred records. The 66 First Lessons in the New Thought Bible is full of it, Old Testament and New. Elijah, by this method, apparently healed even that terrible and otherwise incurable disease, leprosy. Elisha, likewise, restored the sick to health. The inference is, from this Jewish his- tory, that the prophets, men of God, were ex- expected to heal. They were therefore called upon to do so. It was apparently a matter of common knowledge that they did such healing, as is shown by the story of Naaman. The Jew- ish maiden, Naaman's servant, certainly knew well the reputation of her nation's " Man of God," Elijah, for doing extraordinary cures. The method these prophets used, whatever it might be, the same accounts indicate, was the common one. If there is anything in the New Testament that stands out prominently, it certainly is the healing of physical ills and ails. How did Jesus heal the sick, cure the lame and halt, restore to the blind their sight ? No one will claim that it was by the system of materia medica. The Fact of the Healing 67 But even if we allow that the works wrought by the Master were wholly exceptional and miraculous, there was the healing by the dis- ciples who were sent out by him, and who also were evidently instructed how to cure. And then there are the remarkable works of Saint Paul, — his restorations of the sick to health and of the poisoned to soundness. No material drug or external means was employed by him, any more than by the other apostles. It would be still harder to account, on other than the mental healing principle, for the cures afterward performed by the Church fathers and Christian saints, and by others all the way down the Christian centuries, inside and outside of the church pale, under her wing and immediate direction and independent of her ecclesiastical sanction. The Catholic church has always claimed to have exercised the divine power conferred to heal disease by ways extraordinary. And continual and extraordinary healing is part 68 First Lessons in the New Thought and parcel of the early history of the many Christian sects, as the Huguenots, Moravians, Waldenses, Quakers, Covenanters, and Meth- odists. There are the many notable healers, besides, of every modern nation and century, from pagan Appollonius to Father Mathew, the Irish temperance champion. Valentine Great- rakes, Joseph Gassner, Prince Hohenlohe, Dorothea Trudel, and Elizabeth Mix exer- cised the healers* art. Martin Luther healed, and George Fox, and the late Dr. Board- man. And now, in the recent years, we have our modern phases of mental healing, — faith cure, prayer cure, mind cure, and Christian Sci- ence. The New Thought believers in mental healing hold that these are merely different names for essentially one and the same thing. The healing is all done on one principle. We need not go back to the ancient times, we are not obliged to rely on any obscure or doubtful The Fact of the Healing 69 testimony, for proof of the fact of mental healing. The experience of the medical pro- fession is full of illustrations of this mode of cure, the medical books recount the cases, some of the ablest minds of the profession have accepted understandingly the method and have more or less practised it. Indeed, all others of its members have used it always in some measure, more or less unwittingly, though they ignore or repudiate the idea and to-day manifest their opposition thereto. Besides all these witnesses, bearing volun- tary or unwilling testimony to the fact of mental healing, there are hundreds upon hun- dreds who have been for some years, and are now, giving their whole time and strength to the practice of it — and with success. And yet again there are thousands upon thousands living to-day who have experienced the benefits of this method of cure ; once sick, perhaps considered permanent invalids, now well or comparatively so, they are as convinced of its 70 First Lessons in the New 'Thought reality and truth as they are of their own conscious existence. It having been many times urgently re- quested, it will perhaps not be out of place here, nor needing any apology, if the author of this little work narrates somewhat of his own personal experience in this mental cure. His experience may be not altogether valueless testimony, in the judgment of his readers, as to its reality and efficacy. The opportunity of the present writer, as an eye-witness, for observation and study of the practical work- ings of this cure has been quite large and exceptionally good. That the circumstances were such as to afford this will be apparent from the facts when stated. In the first place, he himself was healed of long-standing difficulties. And, moreover, it was an experiment in self-healing, and a suc- cessful one. The application of the cure to himself was made purposely and especially for the experience it would afford, — and for its The Fact of the Healing 71 satisfaction also, if it were a success. The physical malady was a severe form of dys- pepsia, of years' standing, and with all the usual, if not all the possible, attendants and results, — biliousness, jaundice, head -aches, colds, coughs, intermittent appetite, and weak- ness, he being incapacitated every week or two for the ordinary duties and enjoyments of life, with much discomfort and loss of time. Frequent for years had been, almost as a matter of course, the resort to doctors and medicines, but with the result of only partial relief at times, never any real cure of the difficulties. Success in getting rid of these troubles followed very readily when once the princi- ples and method of this cure had been mas- tered in some degree, and without use of any other means whatsoever ; so that for the period of some years not a day's sickness occurred, and scarcely the loss of a meal. And during these years there was no trouble J2 Firs t Lessons in the New Thought with "colds," further than occasional slight symptoms, though precautions against them were almost wholly abandoned ; while pre- viously these afflictions had been suffered almost weekly, notwithstanding that nearly every precaution that was possible was taken to prevent them. So much for practical experience gained in self-healing. It need hardly be added that the tests of the cure itself thus made, and the observations of the conditions and laws of its workings, have been exceedingly interesting as well as instructive. In the next place, besides exercising this novel art of healing upon others not a little, and with fair success, it has been the writer's good fortune to enjoy advantages, among the best, for observing and closely following cases, — a large number and of great variety, under treatment, and during the time and process of recovery. Every facility was thus afforded him to judge of the reality and of the modus The Fact of the Healing 73 operandi of mental healing. This will seem plainly evident when it is said that the prac- titioner dealing with these cases is a member of the writer's family; the treatment of the patients has gone forward largely under his roof, and their condition and progress have been subject to daily and closest scrutiny. The practice has been quite large, extending over a period of several years, and almost every kind of disease has been treated, first or last ; consumption, rheumatism, dyspepsia, and so on, to the end of the chapter. The reader of this account naturally may have some curiosity to hear the opinion, if it is any way competent and unprejudiced, of one who has had such an experience in regard to this mode of cure. By such a one, it must certainly be felt to be a matter of duty as well as a pleasure to bear his testimony on a subject of so much moment and interest ; and it is hoped that this testimony is wholly unbiased, as well as 74 First Lessons in the New Thought entirely within bounds, as to statement. The privilege has been accorded him to witness what would surely be called, looked at from the usual viewpoint, very remarkable healing done by this method ; the privilege to see, for example, a fibrous tumor of four or five pounds* weight entirely disappear under this treatment, not to return ; to see an injury of the spine, that had been suffered for several years and had not yielded to the treatment of expert physicians, removed in a few weeks ; to see rheumatism of long standing, and supposed to be inherited, entirely and apparently perma- nently cured ; to see dyspepsia, very obstinate and of some years' continuance, and that had defied all other treatment, completely arrested and overcome ; also the cure of cases of insan- ity, in various stages of development ; of nerv- ous prostration of a number of years' duration, and which had received only temporary check or relief ; of constipation of severest form and many years' standing ; of indigestion, nasal The Fact of the Healing 75 catarrh, neuralgia, head-aches, piles, sprains, and other forms of organic and functional disease. No cases are mentioned here except those of apparently actual cure, susceptible of pretty strong verification ; and any one desir- ing it can have satisfactory testimony thereto in any one of these cases, from the patients themselves or from their immediate friends. It occurs to the writer, in closing, that, in all probability, the exclamation will be forth- coming from some of his readers, upon perusal of these statements : " What, you do not mean to assert that an organic disease — one that is in fact such — can really be cured in this way?" This interrogatory has been so usually made that it has come to be expected ; and some remark has been pretty sure to follow it about " mental cure being good, sup- posedly and naturally, for merely imaginary diseases, and for nervous troubles which are largely in the mind. ,, Also the remark is likely to be made, in a half-serious, half- j 6 First Lessons in the New Thought sarcastic tone : " You think all diseases can be cured by this mental method ! — then " (as though this followed as a logical sequence) " nobody need ever die, according to that/' These quite common inquiries and com- ments are cited here and now on purpose to answer them, and to answer them in good faith and to the best of our ability from the rational point of view, for the benefit perchance of those who seriously make them, as well as for the benefit of cavilers. And this is our answer : We have no hes- itation in stating our conviction, gained from the observation and experience briefly detailed in the foregoing pages, that every kind of disease known, which is not from its nature incurable, can be cured under this system of treatment. In fact, all such have been so cured in these recent years. As is well known to-day, what is called organic disease is cured again and again, when the conditions are favorable ; — and The Fact of the Healing 77 Mental Healing means, in its large sense, we take it, perfect conditions, especially perfect mental conditions, or the most perfect pos- sible, for the curative power, natural and divine, to work properly and without obstruc- tions. Again, the physical change we call death, or the dissolution of the body, it is taken for granted by rational mental healers, is in the order of Nature and will come to every child of earth ; but that death by disease is inevita- ble, necessary, and natural, is held to be an unwarrantable conclusion. On the contrary, it is believed — strange it is that there should be any occasion to say it — that health, not disease, is natural and intended of God, and that dissolution from old age is the only natural death. Books in Line with the New Thought. HEALTH AND A DAY. By Dr. Lewis G. Janes, M.A., Author of " Life as a Fine Art," etc. Cloth, gilt top, $1.00 net. Popularly included among the best hundred hooks of the year. Aims at a sane and rational treatment of the problem of health and of the conditions of a normal and useful life. NEW MODES OF THOUGHT. By C. T. Stock- well, Author of the " Evolution of Immortality," etc. Cloth, gilt top, $1.00 net. " Doctor Stock well handles with power and skill the latest deliverances of science, and argues that they all tend toward the recognition of spirit as the motive force in the upward life of man." — Christian Register. FROM AGNOSTICISM TO THEISM. By Charles F. Dole, Author of " The Coming People," etc. Cloth, including postage, 30 cents ; paper, 1 2 cents. Characterized by leading minds both in England and America as one of the brightest of recent constructive religious writ- ings. " Of practical value above that of some massive volumes for minds perplexed."— The Outlook. THE TRUTH IN CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. By Herbert Ernest Cushman, Ph.D., Professor of Phi- losophy in Tufts College. Cloth, gilt top, 60 cents. " It is the most philosophical discussion of Christian Science yet produced." — Gongregationalist. " We commend this calm and thoughtful treatise to the reader who wishes to think rightly on this complex subject."— Literary World. FAITH BUILT ON REASON. A survey of Free and Universal Religion in the form of Question and Answer. By F. L. Abbot. Cloth, 50 cents (by mail, 56 cents). "Most interesting, and of really remarkable character. So few statements on any opinion are made in a perfectly logical spirit and are thus altogether consistent, that it is pleasant to see any such successful effort made."— The Nation. James H. West Co., Publishers, Boston. 1 MAY, 6 1304