"_In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word
was God_."
"_And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his
glory full of grace and truth_."
Ever since the birth of the human race there have been health and
disease. Everywhere we find those who live at levels of comprehension that
cannot express in flesh the perfect power of the word and these must by
natural law take on the form of whatever they have power to comprehend.
Health is man's immortal birthright; it is eternal in the universal plan,
and it can be made to become eternal in the life of men in just the hour
they understand the laws of their own being.
There are two expressions of energy in the universe; one is called the
constructive, the other the destructive; the one builds up, the other
tears down. This must forever be so, for only as matter is destroyed and
passed back into energy can the energy pass out again into finer forms.
Living in these great universal currents of construction and destruction,
man relates himself constantly with one or both through the simple law of
his own consciousness, and only as he learns the laws of his own being and
consciously places himself in a position of power can he ever hope to
escape the results which the negative, destructive currents produce in his
body and his environment.
Today we know that the world in which we live is nothing but a great sea
of energy which, in the undifferentiated, is called God, and in the
differentiated is called matter or form, or, to make it more simple, we
can call one the energy that creates, and the other the things created
from and by this energy.
Man and his environment are created by this energy: He is a localized
center of force and he becomes the expression in form of just whatever he
relates with under the law of cosmic correspondence.
We have found that this great energy is also _intelligence_ and is
nothing but mind with its various manifestations. We know today that the
atoms of the atmosphere are intelligence, and as they touch one another
throughout space, it is through this atomic mind that messages are
carried, and currents are generated which can heal patients at a distance.
Everything in the universe is in a state of intelligent association, and
when the atoms become expressed in human form, they pass into that
expression of the universal mind known as _human_ consciousness.
All human life is simply different tastes of consciousness brought about
by the different vibratory rates to which our atoms respond.
The physical body is composed of a group of atoms attuned to move at a
certain vibratory rate, and within this physical body is another body of
finer atoms attuned to a still higher vibration and in relationship with
the higher electrical currents of the universe. There has not been much
told about this finer body, but it is time the sick world knows this law
of being, for then it will be in a position to control its own life. This
finer body is the "thought body" or psychic body and it is upon this that
the physical body depends for its power, just as the very best instrument
in the world depends upon the player for its expressed melody.
All sight, all hearing, all function is in this psychic body, not in the
physical one. What many of the psychologists call the subconscious mind is
only the registered intelligence of the psychic self. This psychic self is
in direct communication with the cosmic self and with the physical self,
and it is through this we become cosmic in our human consciousness.
The psychic body manifests through _idea_ centers of the human brain
and it is directly related with the cosmic currents through the solar
plexus of the physical body. The higher _concept_ centers of the mind
are the switchboard where connections are made, and it is in this way that
the psychic body registers its vibrations in the physical, and the
physical registers in the psychic--there is a circle of consciousness
established by the two minds.
This would be of no particular value to us, if it did not prove to us the
source of disease, for when we look scientifically and psychologically at
disease, we must see that it is simply disassociation between the psychic
and the physical selves, and comes as the natural loss of poise, either
physically, mentally or psychically.
Watching the play of human disease around us we can soon see that there
are two distinct ways by which disassociation of these selves begins;
first, through the mind by negative thinking, and second through the
emotions by negative feeling.
Our thoughts and our will are the great avenues by which we admit anything
into our psychic self, and are also the means by which we exclude all
things.
The whole poise of an individual can be destroyed by thoughts of fear,
hate, grief and anger; fright has killed and all these states of emotion
are simply grades of vibration, setting up inharmonious, psychical
activity, and leaving their corresponding effects upon the physical cells.
It is known only too well today by those who seek to know, that back of
all such physical conditions as nervousness, prostration, temporary
insanity, nervous disorders, pains resembling rheumatism, hay fever, heart
troubles, mental symptoms, nervous chills, morbid forebodings and mild
mania, there lurks the abnormal activity of the psychic or "thought body"
caused by thoughts and feelings acting abnormally upon the vital centers
of the nervous system and mind.
New Thought declares that all diseases, except accidental wounds and
fractures begin in the psychic or "thought body" as _energy_ and then
are registered in the physical cells as organic or functional disease.
We might follow this farther in order to satisfy science, but suffice it
to go this far, and then seek the value of knowing this: We can see that
the only thing that naturally follows is, the healer and patient must be
taught how to restore the lost equilibrium of the centers and again poise
the life in a creative thought vibration. This is done simply and surely
by teaching everyone the _correct_ use of the _idea_ centers of
the human brain and through this he is taught to form such thoughts and
produce such ideas as will allow a normal amount of energy to register on
both planes, and not permit the psychical mind to drive the human engine
on to destruction in a wild waste and explosion of physical, mental or
psychical energy.
This is not a long or wearisome task for in the cortex of every brain
there are distinct _idea_ centers whose business it is to take up
ideas built from thoughts, and _will_ must follow the idea, and by
constantly selecting the thoughts which will produce harmonious vibrations
within the psychic and physical selves, we join with the great creative
energy of the universe and it flows through us, healing and harmonizing
every atom of our body.
The very first step toward healing is to teach the patient to build for
himself a _health_ consciousness, and this is done by giving him the
positive ideas of health instead of the negative ones of disease. We build
for him the _idea_ of health, hold it firmly in our minds, and
project it into his _idea_ centers until it registers in his psychic
mind; then this is followed by his own increased power of willing, and
finally this passes into action and is registered in form.
_Ideation, willing_ and _doing_ is the great _health
trinity_, and when this is produced, healing must follow. This is the
_law_ and there is no appeal from it.
When we first meet a diseased person we find his field of consciousness
full of all kinds of negative thoughts of disease, worry, fear and
anxiety--these have been persisted in so long that they have weakened both
the idea centers and the power of willing. We at once create for him the
positive idea motor-form, and if his conscious mind is too weak to receive
the impulse, we project it into his psychic mind, helping him hold on to
the new idea until his own mind is able to grasp it, and it becomes
registered for him.
After he has learned the truth of the abundance of health energy within
and without to be aroused into action by the simple law of his own
thoughts and feelings, he sets to work to regenerate himself, and he finds
that he can really breathe the breath of life into his own nostrils.
After we have seen the scientific side of the real power of healing, then
if we want to get health and keep it, we set about studying how to live
our life so as to be able to generate thoughts and feelings, at all times,
which shall always move us at a creative health vibration. The very next
thing for anyone seeking health is to get easy in his everyday life; no
one can ever be well and live with every nerve on a tension. We need to
know the higher law of life that teaches us that no one put us anywhere
but ourselves; that no one is to blame but ourselves for what we have or
have not; we get and have in this world just what we have the power to
relate with and will get free from the thing we do not like in just the
hour that we build something better for ourselves. All we need to do is to
cease resisting conditions and agree with our adversary quickly. Freedom,
liberty and happiness are not things of the external world; they come from
within and we are sad or happy, bound or free, sick or well, not by our
external but by our internal conditions.
The sick, nervous, peevish, worrying mind sees everything as positive to
itself and must be taught that there is nothing in all the world that has
any power over us except that with which we endow it, and it must begin to
live under this idea rather than the old foolish one of being controlled
by every external condition.
"God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of love and of power and of a
sound mind," and with persistent thought culture we can soon form a habit
of thought and feeling that will build us away from our old consciousness
of disease and pain into a higher law of health and strength.
Good, positive, strong health thoughts are a certain preventive and cure
for every kind of disease. Disease and health have absolutely no relation
with each other; disease is the expression of a faltering, undeveloped
soul life, while health is the expression of a consciousness that has not
broken its law of universal recognition.
There are very good people who are sick and very many so-called bad folks
who are well; health is not bestowed as a reward of merit, it simply is by
the natural universal law, and it exists for those who know how to fulfill
the law within their own being. There are many so-called wicked people who
live in greater harmony with their wickedness than some so-called
Christians can ever do with their religion and goodness. Wholeness or
holiness means simply harmony, and harmony inside and outside gives
health. Anyone who has health has earned it by obeying the laws that
produce it.
Another great factor active in producing inharmonious vibrations and
registering destructive energy, is the old thought habit of living under
the laws of opposites, thinking thought of health today and of disease
tomorrow; to be passing daily between hope and despair. This is sowing
mixed thought seeds and cannot help bringing mixed vibrations.
The path to a health consciousness is to get the strong, positive idea of
UNITY and live under the law of similars. To begin at once to affirm UNION
with all the health and strength of the universe and stick to it in the
face of all the opposing negative thought vibrations generated within
ourselves, or thrown into our minds by others. This can be done by
resolutely substituting a health thought for a diseased one; no matter how
fast negative thoughts crowd in upon the mind, they can be antidoted by
the strong positive affirmation of HEALTH.
In order to register _health_ vibrations we must _think, feel_
and _be_ health in mind. The words of health, peace, power and
strength do not unfold into radiant flesh and dwell among us through a
faltering idea of fear, or vague "perhaps," or "I do hope I shall be
well," or "I want to get well," but it demands the eternal I AM HEALTH
NOW.
Courage, zeal and consecration to the laws of health and freedom from the
law of death are not kindled by the halting consciousness full of the law
of opposites, but they are the results of _knowing_ and _abiding_.
When we can in very truth and full of believing say to health, "Thy
kingdom come," it _will_ come.
Our daily thoughts then become the wires over which there passes into form
a finer substance, and our body is rebuilt and fashioned from the
indestructible _substance_ of the Universe.
The mortal body as we know it in the old thought world, is a thing of
earth and lives and suffers earth's calamities, but through the
understanding of this New Thought _union_ it can be made to become a
portion of the _cause_ as indestructible as _life_ itself, and
live and glory in omnipotence.
We are then in the resurrection of the _life_, and the _word_
that was _with_ God and _was_ God, is made _flesh_ to dwell among
us in glory and full of grace and truth; then we know what Jesus meant
when he said, "I tell you of a truth, there be those standing among you
who shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God."