does not know; but we believe that the presumption of those who figure
temporarily as the representatives of science, and who dogmatically
pronounce useless and absurd everything which they do not possess,
ought not to be encouraged. It is not so very long since recognised
science laughed at the rotundity of the earth, and declared officially
that no meteors could fall from the sky “because there were no stones
in heaven;” denounced the belief in “psychic phenomena” as being a
degrading superstition, and ridiculed the idea of building steamboats
and telegraphs, etc. These errors originate not from science, but
from stupid ignorance and self-conceit; they are the result of human
infirmities, which exist now as in times of old, and can be cured only
by the development of a superior power for knowing the truth.
_Memory._
The third great power of the spirit manifested in the mind is the
power of memory, which is, in fact, the power of man’s spirit to visit
those places within the sphere of his mind where the impressions of
former experiences are preserved, and thus to bring them again within
the field of consciousness. Whatever function the physical brain may
exercise in using this faculty of the spirit, the brain is no more
the memory than the eye the sight; it is merely an instrument for
perception, but not the perceiver nor the object of perception, nor
the perception itself. To remember a thing is to see its impression or
image in the _astral light_; to recollect a thing is to gather together
one’s own attention at the place where its impression is stored up in
the mind, and the power which enables a person to do so is the relation
which exists between the creator and his creatures; man having formed
a thought or idea, or perceived an image, is able to recollect it,
because the impression is his creation—having issued from himself, it
is a part of his world.
It depends upon the degree of spiritual power of perception in man,
whether he can clearly and vividly see these images in the Astral
Light, or whether they appear to him dim, uncertain and indistinct; but
in the vast majority of men and women in our present generation this
power of perceiving does not penetrate deeper nor rise higher than the
Astral Light, while the spiritually developed man can penetrate deeper,
and behold the memories of not only his present incarnation, but also
those referring to his previous states of existence.
Will, Imagination and Memory are the cause of many diseases and
such may be caused by one’s perverted use of those faculties, or by
being practised upon another. A thought of any kind, be it wicked
or virtuous, if rendered strong and substantial by the consent of
the will, becomes born in the inner world as an elemental being,
which grows by being cultivated, so that it may ultimately obsess
its own father and produce visible effects upon the physical frame.
The imagination of animals produces change in the colour of their
offspring, the imagination of a mother can produce marks upon the
child; the recollection of evil events and keeping such memories
constantly in the mind gives rise to melancholy, ill temper, and
despondency, anger, greed, lust, avarice, etc. All forms of evil will
produce not only morbid states of the mind, but also certain definite
changes in the physical body; all of which offer a vast field for a
science of psychology in the future. An exposition of such a mental
science cannot be attempted within the limited space of this work;
but there already exists a vast amount of literature on this subject
ignored by official science.
V.—ENS DEI.
_Diseases arising from eternal Retribution._
A definition of the word “Deus,” God, is an impossibility, because it
refers to a state beyond the conception of the limited mind. Eckhart
says:—“A god of whom I could conceive would not be a god, but a
limited creature.” We can therefore only say, God is the universal will
in its highest aspect as divine love; which is the supreme law and the
life of all things. A necessary consequence of the action of divine law
is divine justice; because it would be impossible to imagine how one
being could be favoured without doing injustice to another, and thus
depriving the law of universal divine love of its unity and equality.
This divine law of justice, according to which every cause created by a
rational being returns with all its effects to its creator, is called
in the East the law of _Karma_, and may be translated as the law of
Eternal Retribution. H. P. Blavatsky says:—
“_Karma is the unerring law which adjusts effect to cause, on
the physical, mental, and spiritual planes of being. As no cause
remains without its due effect from greatest to least, from a cosmic
disturbance down to the movement of your hand, and as like produces
like, Karma is that law which adjusts wisely, intelligently and
equitably each effect to its cause, tracing the latter back to its
producer._”[43]
This law of _Karma_ is in common parlance called the Will of God;
which means the action of divine justice throughout the universe, and
it is the cause not only of social evils, distinctions of classes in
society, of the unequal distribution of wealth and comfort, good luck
and misfortune, but also of defects of character, mental abnormalities
and physical diseases.
All diseases in fact are effects of the law of _Karma_, the effects of
causes, which are all based upon one universal Law; but this is not to
be understood as if it meant “fatality,” or as if nothing could be done
to cure such effects; for _Karma_ is also the source of good, and if
the patient finds a physician able to cure him, it proves that it was
his _Karma_ to find him and that he should be cured by him.
“All health and all disease comes from God, who also furnishes the
remedy. Each disease is a purgatory, and no physician can effect a
cure until the time of that purgatory is over. Ignorant physicians are
the devils of that purgatory; but a wise physician a redeeming angel
and a servant of God. The physician is a servant of nature, and God
is its Lord. Therefore no physician ever performs a cure unless it is
the will of God curing the patient through him.” (“Paramir.,” I., C.
iv., 2 and 7.)
To know the theory of a thing is a science, to know how to use it
successfully is art.[44] It was the view of the ancient philosophers,
and it will also be the view of the physician of the future, that
Medicine is not merely a science but a holy art, and that a mere
science without true goodness and wisdom is without real value. The
practice of medicine must be based not merely upon scientific theories
in regard to the laws of that part of nature which is its lowest plane
of manifestation, the plane of physical appearances; but at the bottom
of all science must be the recognition of eternal Truth itself. Health
and disease in man are not determined by physical laws alone, such
as govern the lowest orders of being; neither are the laws of Nature
created by Nature; _but all natural laws are the outcome of spiritual
law acting in Nature_, and in those kingdoms where intelligence
plays a part, where the will begins to become free and individual
responsibility takes place, a more direct action of divine law becomes
manifest. Although therefore a knowledge of the laws of physical nature
is extremely useful and necessary, the student of medicine should above
all cultivate nobility and spirituality of character, such as is the
result of the recognition of the fundamental law of Divine Wisdom, upon
which is based all the order and harmony that exists in the world. Thus
the practice of medicine has for its foundation not a merely technical
side, and is not merely a trade or profession, which anybody may enter
who chooses for the purpose of making a living; but it requires for its
legitimate object the employment of such faculties as are the result of
a development of the higher and nobler elements, the spiritual part in
the constitution of man.
IV.
THE FIVE CLASSES OF PHYSICIANS.
There being five causes of disease, and as each disease ought to be
treated with reference to its cause, there may be distinguished five
distinct modes of treatment, which, however, must not be confounded
with five different systems such as anyone may choose at his own
pleasure, for each of these modes requires the possession of certain
distinct natural qualifications, of which the higher are at present
only rarely to be found. While the science of the lower methods, such
as prescribing drugs, using hot or cold water, or applying any other
physical forces, may easily enough be taught to anybody in possession
of an ordinary amount of intelligence, the real art of medicine
requires higher gifts and talents, which cannot be acquired in any
other way than according to the law of spiritual evolution, by the
higher development of the inner man. A physician in possession of the
powers conveyed by wisdom may also acquire a knowledge of the medical
views and technicalities which form the stock in trade of the lower
orders of physicians; but a physician of a lower order cannot practise
the art of the higher order without becoming initiated into that order
by means of the development of the power required for it.
This will make it clear that the quality of the physician himself is
of as much importance as the system which he practises, and Paracelsus
distinguishes five classes of physicians: the three lower classes
seeking for their resources in the material plane; the two higher
classes employing remedies belonging to the supersensual plane; but
he also says that, owing to the unity of nature, either one of these
classes of physicians may accomplish cures in either one of the five
fields, and that no physician ought to change around from one system to
another; but each ought to stick to that “sect” to which he naturally
belongs.
These five classes of physicians he describes as follows:
1. _Naturales_; such as employ physical remedies, acting as opposites;
which means, using physical and chemical means, heat against cold,
etc., etc. (Allopaths).
2. _Specifici._—Those who employ certain remedies which experience has
shown to act as _specifica_ (Empirics, Homœopaths).
3. _Characterales._—Such as employ the powers of the mind; acting upon
the will and imagination of the patient (Mental healers, Mind cure,
Mesmerism, &c.).
4. _Spirituales._—Those who are in possession of spiritual powers,
using the magic power of their own will and thought (Magic,
Psychometry, Hypnotism, Spiritism, Sorcery).
5. _Fideles._—Those through whom “miraculous” works are performed in
the power of the true faith (Adepts).
To which of these five “sects” or faculties a physician belongs, he
ought to be thoroughly versed and experienced in that department,
having not merely a superficial but a thorough knowledge of it.
“In whatever faculty one desires to acquire a degree and obtain
success, he should, besides regarding the soul and the diseased body
of the patient, exert himself to obtain a thorough knowledge of that
department, and be taught more by his own intuition and reason than by
what the patient can tell him; he ought to be able to recognise the
cause and origin of the disease which he treats, and his knowledge
ought to be unwavering and not subject to doubts.” (“Paramir.,” I.,
Prolog.)
There are, therefore, in each of these classes three grades to be
distinguished, namely: (1) those who possess the full requirements of
their art; (2) those who have attained only mediocrity; (3) dunces,
pretenders and frauds; to which belong the vast array of licensed and
unlicensed quacks, such as thrive upon the ignorance and credulity of
the people and by means of their poisons and drugs “kill annually more
persons than war, famine and the plague combined.” But neither of these
five classes of physicians should regard their own system as the only
true one, and reject the others or consider them useless; for in each
is contained the full and perfect power to cure all diseases that come
from either of the five causes, and each will be successful if such is
the will of the Law.
I.—NATURALES.
To this class belongs the vast army of what is to-day usually termed
“regular practitioners,” meaning those who move in the old ruts of
official medical science, from the more or less progressive physician
down to the vendor of drugs. The remedies which they employ belong to
the three kingdoms of physical nature, and according to the elements
which they represent, may be divided as follows:
1. _Earth._—This includes all mineral, vegetable, and animal substances
that may be required for medical purposes, drugs, herbs, and their
preparations, chemical agents, &c.
2. _Water._—To this belongs the water cure, hot and cold baths, and
whatever may be connected with it.
3. _Air._—The therapeutic results which can be accomplished by means
of inhaling certain gases and vapours are at present comparatively
little known, except in so far as changes of climate are resorted to
for such purposes. The employment of such things as pure air, sunlight,
etc., is far too simple to find full appreciation of its value by a
generation whose mode of thinking is too complicated to enable them to
perceive simple truths, and is therefore considered to belong rather to
“hygiene” than to “therapeutics.”
4. _Fire._—To the agents belonging to this class may be counted
any kind of energy, heat and cold, sunlight and the actions of its
variously coloured rays,[45] physical electricity, mineral magnetism,
etc., all of which have thus far received very little attention from
modern medicine; while the ancients employed such remedies for the cure
of many diseases.[46]
5. _Ether._—The one element and its action is thus far hardly
theoretically admitted by modern science and practically almost
unknown. Only very recently a great step of progress in this direction
has been made by the discovery of the therapeutic action of the solar
ether, and by the employment of an apparatus for the employment of its
radiations.[47]
But the sphere of activity for the natural physician is not limited
to the extent of the merely physical plane. If he goes a step higher
he may employ not only the products of life, but the activity of life
itself, in a higher form.[48] The sources from which he receives the
physical remedies are the physical products of nature; the sources from
which he draws living powers are living organisms. To this department
belongs the employment of “animal magnetism;” the transfer of life
(_Mumia_); the transplantation of diseases[49] and similar things
thoroughly described by Paracelsus, Cornelius Agrippa and others, but
which for our present official medical science do not exist.
Even those who employ only gross material principles also employ,
without being conscious of it, the higher principles contained therein;
for every physical substance, to whatever kingdom in nature it may
belong, is an expression of not only one of the four elements, but of
all four, and contains all the higher principles. Thus, for instance,
it has been shown that the action of certain drugs corresponds to that
of the colours which they exhibit in the solar-spectrum;[50] each state
of matter also corresponds to a certain state of electric tension;
each particle of food proves the presence of the life principle in
it by being nutritious; each poisonous drug acting upon the mind,
shows thereby that the mind principle therein is in a high state of
activity. There is no “dead matter” in the universe; each thing is a
representation of a state of consciousness in nature, even if its state
of consciousness differs from ours, and is therefore beyond the reach
of our recognition; everything is a manifestation of “Mind,” even if
does not exhibit any intelligent functions, or what we are capable of
recognising as such.
For the comprehension of these things, the position adopted by modern
natural science is altogether insufficient, and such a philosophical
knowledge is required as shall constitute the first pillar in the
temple of medicine. There is a vast field still unexplored by modern
medical science, and if things which were known to the ancients are
not known at present, it is not because such sciences have never
existed, but because they have ceased to be understood owing to the
materialising tendency of this age.
II.—SPECIFICI.
To this class belong all physicians who under certain circumstances
employ certain remedies, of which they know from experience that under
similar circumstances similar remedies have proved successful. This
system may therefore be called “_Empiricism_,” and it constitutes the
greatest part of modern therapeutics; for what little is known to-day
of the physiological and therapeutic actions of medicine on the whole
the result of observation, and not of a knowledge of the fundamental
laws of nature which cause medicines to act as they do.
Heat is a specific remedy for cold, and moisture for dryness; but even
the very opposite remedies often have the same specific effect. Thus,
for instance, the pain caused by an inflammation, and the inflammation
itself, may be cured by cold as well as by hot applications to the
inflamed part; for in one case the walls of the blood vessels contract,
diminishing the quantity of the blood rushing to them, while in the
other case these vessels dilate, rendering the rush of blood painless
and easy. The specific action of chemicals is due to their chemical
affinities (harmonies). Thus the invigorating action resulting from the
inhalation of fresh air is caused by the affinity which Oxygen has for
the Carbon in the blood, and by the life principle of the air upon the
life principle in the body. Thus the tubercle-bacilli in the lungs may
be destroyed by the specific action of certain gases, which, inhaled,
form certain chemical compounds with certain elements contained in
these micro-organisms, and thereby cause their destruction.[51]
Everything in the universe takes place for a certain reason and has a
certain specific action depending on certain conditions. If we know
the laws and conditions, experience becomes a science; but where our
science is blind, experience can be our guide.
Like knows like. The physical senses only recognise physical things;
but all visible things are an expression of soul, and what can we
know about the _Soul of Things_, if we do not know that soul which is
our own? There can be no motion, where there is no emotion to produce
it, either directly or indirectly. All motions are manifestations of
energy; energy is a manifestation of consciousness; consciousness is a
state of the mind; mind is a vehicle for the manifestation of spirit;
spirit is the “Breath” by which the world was _created_.
If the colours of the _Tattwas_ and their nature were studied, a new
field for medical science would open. It would become possible to
explain why a raving maniac kept in a room of blue light will become
quieted, and a melancholy person improve in a room filled with red or
yellow rags; why a steer will become excited at the sight of red, and
a mob infuriated by the sight of blood. Where the laws in consequence
of which certain effects occur are unknown, we can only register
the facts. If we recognise a truth by experience we can make use of
it, leaving it to sceptical science to arrive at its recognition by
hobbling along on its crutches of external observation and inference.
These inferences are often drawn from wrong premises; effects mistaken
for causes; drugs administered where the sources of the diseases exist
in moral and mental conditions upon which drugs have no effect, etc.,
etc. The application of specific remedies therefore requires not merely
a knowledge that this or that remedy has effected such and such cures,
but also a knowledge of the circumstances in which it will produce such
effects again. The real _Arcanum_ is the understanding of the relation
existing between cause and effect. To those shortsighted practitioners
who behold in every disease nothing but the manifestation of a purely
physical or chemical cause, and to whom “mind,” “soul” and “spirit” are
terms without meaning or merely physiological functions of unconscious
matter, the _Arcana_ of such cures will ever remain unknowable
mysteries; for they can be known only to those who understand the
organization of the inner nature of man. The phenomena caused by life
are incomprehensible as long as life is regarded as a product of
forms without life; but he who is able to see in every living thing
a manifestation of the _One Life_ pervading all nature, a function
of universal will, has already entered the precincts of that higher
science, which cannot be explained by words, if it is not known to the
heart.
III.—CHARACTERALES.
A physician of this class is the one whose very presence inspires the
patient with confidence in recovery. Consciously or unconsciously such
a physician acts upon the two great motive powers in the constitution
of the patient, namely his will and his imagination. He who can restore
tranquillity of the soul by creating confidence, creates the condition
required for the cure of the disturbance of the elements producing
discord.
All the processes taking place in the physical body originate in the
unconscious or conscious action of the will and the imagination, to
which must be added the power of memory; for the existence of former
impressions either consciously or unconsciously produces certain states
in the imagination, which again determine the direction of will. The
average physician often employs these powers unknowingly; a physician
of the higher class can employ them intelligently. A sudden strong
emotion may in a moment cure a paralytic affection of long standing, a
sudden danger arouse the unconscious will. Perhaps in the majority of
cases it is not that which the patient takes but that which he imagines
that it will cure him, which effects the cure, and without this power
of the imagination very few medicines would produce any beneficial
results.
To this department belong so-called “hypnotism” and “suggestion,” two
old things described under new names. Paracelsus says of this action of
the spiritual will:
“It is as if one orders another to run and he runs. This takes place
by means of the word and through the power of the word; the word being
the character.” (“Paramir.,” Prolog. III.)
So-called “_hypnotism_” is the overcoming of a weak will by a stronger
one. The superior will of the physician overcomes the will of the
patient and forces it to act in a certain direction. It is an art
which is practised continually and constantly by one half of mankind
on the other half, from the will power of a general commanding his
army down to the unconscious influence unknowingly exercised by one
mind over another, without the subject being aware of its source. Evil
thoughts originating in one person create corresponding impulses in
others, and if the unconscious action of will and the relations which
it causes among sympathetic minds were truly known, human freewill and
responsibility would perhaps appear in a different light.
Similar to that is what has been called “suggestion,” which Paracelsus
calls the virtue of the imagination. It is the imagination of one mind
overpowering the mind of another and creating therein a corresponding
imagination, which is perfectly real to the patient, because it is in
reality his own creation produced unconsciously by himself.
“The visible man has his laboratory (the physical body), and the
invisible man is working therein. The sun has his rays, which cannot
be grasped with the hands, which are nevertheless strong enough to set
houses on fire (if gathered by a lens).
Imagination in man is like a sun, it acts within his world wherever
it may shine. Man is that which he thinks. If he thinks fire, he is
all on fire; if he thinks war, he is warring; by the power of thought
alone the imagination becomes a sun.” (“De virtute imaginativa,” V.)