IN A NUTSHELL.
There is a Cosmic Life which permeates, penetrates, and fills the
interspaces of the universe, being in and through all things. This Life
is not merely a vibration, or form of energy; it is a Living Substance.
All things are made from it; it is All, and in all.
This Substance thinks, and it assumes the form of that which it thinks
about. The thought of a form, in this substance, creates the form; the
thought of a motion institutes the motion. The visible universe, with
all its forms and motions, exists because it is in the thought of
Original Substance.
Man is a form of Original Substance, and can think original thoughts;
and within himself, man's thoughts have controlling or formative power.
The thought of a condition produces that condition; the thought of a
motion institutes that motion. So long as man thinks of the conditions
and motions of disease, so long will the conditions and motions of
disease exist within him. If man will think only of perfect health, the
Principle of Health within him will maintain normal conditions.
To be well, man must form a conception of perfect health, and hold
thoughts harmonious with that conception as regards himself and all
things. He must think only of healthy conditions and functioning; he
must not permit a thought of unhealthy or abnormal conditions or
functioning to find lodgment in his mind at any time.
In order to think only of healthy conditions and functioning, man must
perform the voluntary acts of life in a perfectly healthy way. He cannot
think perfect health so long as he knows that he is living in a wrong or
unhealthy way; or even so long as he has doubts as to whether or not he
is living in a healthy way. Man cannot think thoughts of perfect health
while his voluntary functions are performed in the manner of one who is
sick. The voluntary functions of life are eating, drinking, breathing,
and sleeping. When man thinks only of healthy conditions and
functioning, and performs these externals in a perfectly healthy manner,
he must have perfect health.
In eating, man must learn to be guided by his hunger. He must
distinguish between hunger and appetite, and between hunger and the
cravings of habit; he must NEVER eat unless he feels an EARNED HUNGER.
He must learn that genuine hunger is never present after natural sleep,
and that the demand for an early morning meal is purely a matter of
habit and appetite; and he must not begin his day by eating in violation
of natural law. He must wait until he has an Earned Hunger, which, in
most cases, will make his first meal come at about the noon hour. No
matter what his condition, vocation, or circumstances, he must make it
his rule not to eat until he has an EARNED HUNGER; and he may remember
that it is far better to fast for several hours after he has become
hungry than to eat before he begins to feel hunger. It will not hurt you
to go hungry for a few hours, even though you are working hard; but it
will hurt you to fill your stomach when you are not hungry, whether you
are working or not. If you never eat until you have an Earned Hunger,
you may be certain that in so far as the time of eating is concerned,
you are proceeding in a perfectly healthy way. This is a self-evident
proposition.
As to what he shall eat, man must be guided by that Intelligence which
has arranged that the people of any given portion of the earth's surface
must live on the staple products of the zone which they inhabit. Have
faith in God, and ignore "food science" of every kind. Do not pay the
slightest attention to the controversies as to the relative merits of
cooked and raw foods; of vegetables and meats; or as to your need for
carbohydrates and proteins. Eat only when you have an earned hunger, and
then take the common foods of the masses of the people in the zone in
which you live, and have perfect confidence that the results will be
good. They will be. Do not seek for luxuries, or for things imported or
fixed up to tempt the taste; stick to the plain solids; and when these
do not "taste good," fast until they do. Do not seek for "light" foods;
for easily digestible, or "healthy" foods; eat what the farmers and
workingmen eat. Then you will be functioning in a perfectly healthy
manner, so far as what to eat is concerned. I repeat, if you have no
hunger or taste for the plain foods, do not eat at all; wait until
hunger comes. Go without eating until the plainest food tastes good to
you; and then begin your meal with what you like best.
In deciding how to eat, man must be guided by reason. We can see that
the abnormal states of hurry and worry produced by wrong thinking about
business and similar things have led us to form the habit of eating too
fast, and chewing too little. Reason tells us that food should be
chewed, and that the more thoroughly it is chewed the better it is
prepared for the chemistry of digestion. Furthermore, we can see that
the man who eats slowly and chews his food to a liquid, keeping his mind
on the process and giving it his undivided attention, will enjoy more of
the pleasure of taste than he who bolts his food with his mind on
something else. To eat in a perfectly healthy manner, man must
concentrate his attention on the act, with cheerful enjoyment and
confidence; he must taste his food, and he must reduce each mouthful to
a liquid before swallowing it. The foregoing instructions, if followed,
make the function of eating completely perfect; nothing can be added as
to what, when, and how.
In the matter of how much to eat, man must be guided by the same inward
intelligence, or Principle of Health, which tells him when food is
wanted. He must stop eating in the moment that he feels hunger abating;
he must not eat beyond this point to gratify taste. If he ceases to eat
in the instant that the inward demand for food ceases, he will never
overeat; and the function of supplying the body with food will be
performed in a perfectly healthy manner.
The matter of eating naturally is a very simple one; there is nothing in
all the foregoing that cannot be easily practiced by any one. This
method, put in practice, will infallibly result in perfect digestion and
assimilation; and all anxiety and careful thought concerning the matter
can at once be dropped from the mind. Whenever you have an earned
hunger, eat with thankfulness what is set before you, chewing each
mouthful to a liquid, and stopping when you feel the edge taken from
your hunger.
The importance of the mental attitude is sufficient to justify an
additional word. While you are eating, as at all other times, think only
of healthy conditions and normal functioning. Enjoy what you eat; if you
carry on a conversation at the table, talk of the goodness of the food,
and of the pleasure it is giving you. Never mention that you dislike
this or that; speak only of those things which you like. Never discuss
the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of foods; never mention or think of
unwholesomeness at all. If there is anything on the table for which you
do not care, pass it by in silence, or with a word of commendation;
never criticise or object to anything. Eat your food with gladness and
with singleness of heart, praising God and giving thanks. Let your
watchword be perseverance; whenever you fall into the old way of hasty
eating, or of wrong thought and speech, bring yourself up short and
begin again.
It is of the most vital importance to you that you should be a
self-controlling and self-directing person; and you can never hope to
become so unless you can master yourself in so simple and fundamental a
matter as the manner and method of your eating. If you cannot control
yourself in this, you cannot control yourself in anything that will be
worth while. On the other hand, if you carry out the foregoing
instructions, you may rest in the assurance that in so far as right
thinking and right eating are concerned you are living in a perfectly
scientific way; and you may also be assured that if you practice what is
prescribed in the following chapters you will quickly build your body
into a condition of perfect health.