"What a great power is the power of thought! And what a grand being
is man when he uses it aright; because after all, it is the use
made of it that is the important thing. Character comes out of
thought. 'As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.'"--_Sir Walter
Raleigh._
"MARLOW, October ----.
"Dear Husband: I was just thinking of you all when the letter carrier
came this morning and gave me a welcome surprise, for your letters
usually come in the afternoon. It seems too wonderful to believe about
the children, and yet I can see it is their implicit faith that makes
their words so potent.
"They are doing their part to help too, for every one in the world,
large or small helps in greater or lesser measure to carry out the plans
of the invisible Good.
"I dreamed of being at home last night, and it seemed as though you were
all so happy and busy. You did not see me. Even little Jem was busily
engaged in some kind of work. I could scarcely see what it was, but a
vague white something like an invisible net was spread between you, and
the thought came that you and Anna were weaving something, and even the
children had a part to fulfill for they flitted to and fro, bringing
something to you with faces so full of light and happiness, I almost
cried out with joy.
"When I awoke I was deeply impressed that this was a symbol of united
effort in making the seamless robe of Truth, and the family group
represented the members of one body, each with a work to do to perfect
the whole.
"No matter how humble our part may be, no matter how childish and
incompetent we feel, by doing the best we know, with the ability we
have, in all joy and earnestness, we shall be serving the Master and
weaving the marvelous robe.
"Mrs. Pearl talked of the mighty power of thought in her lecture to-day.
"Every individual in the universe is inseparably connected with every
other individual, and we are, as it were, 'touching elbows' with the
whole world.
"How is it done? Simply by thinking and being susceptible to thought.
Every thought of the individual helps to make or mar the happiness and
health of the world. Every negative thought (and by that I mean opposite
the good, which is positive) sent forth, goes into the miasmatic fog of
error, and whoever believes in error or the reality of these thoughts,
attracts to himself this quality of thought, which sooner or later,
makes itself manifest in physical inharmony.
"For instance, one who believes in the reality of sickness and the
reality of evil is constantly attracting thoughts that make sickness
manifest, but if a knowledge of how to throw off or counteract those
thoughts were used, the cloud would be dispelled before it turned into
inharmony or sickness.
"This is why we are taught to deny every thought or feeling that is not
harmonious or desirable, everything which can not be predicated of
spirit. If this is what makes sickness and sin, truly it is not to be
wondered at, for how many are perfectly happy, perfectly unselfish and
kind, one single day at a time?
"Suppose one gets up in the morning with a feeling of crossness and
impatience; he goes to breakfast, impresses the whole family with his
discomfort, and so through the entire day leaves the imprint of his dark
forebodings on every person who sees him, besides the untold influence
that goes forth to the unprotected world, inasmuch as thoughts go
everywhere.
"He retires at night, disgusted with himself and displeased with the
whole world. People were unkind and unjust. Even inanimate objects were
unusually aggravating. He wasted half an hour trying to untie a knot,
hunted for a package of papers which were finally found in their proper
place, had a vexing ten minutes with his office key, etc.
"Every impatient thought, word or action was an expenditure, not only of
physical force, but a loss of moral strength, and just as surely as the
world moves, these thoughts, in their revolving circuit, constantly
return to the thinker, 'Whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap.'
"Who knows what dark trains of thought his lowering face suggested? Who
knows what headaches and heartaches were brought on by the unconscious
absorption of his impatience or bitterness? Who can measure the extent
of that mysterious burden of depression, so often called 'the blues,'
that crept into the consciousness of somebody under the influence of the
dark thoughts sent out by this one, of whom perchance they know
nothing?
"It is this negative quality of thought that holds the world in bondage.
To destroy it is to destroy all inharmony. On the other hand, note the
influence of the happy-voiced individual, who comes to us so running
over with the joy and beauty of life that we catch the thrilling
inspiration of his mood and begin to enjoy the same sunshine, see the
same beauty and feel the same happiness.
"One look or one word may often send us off into the most delightful
reveries, may inspire us to write a cheery letter, vibrating with love
and hope, or prompt us to spend half an hour with one who needs the bath
of joy our words may bring. Consciously and unconsciously we lighten the
pathway, lift the burdens, sanctify the sorrows of the world by sending
out and receiving this subtle thread of thought, so fine in its essence
and quality, that any one and every one may feel its strengthening
presence.
"It is the negative or mortal thought that produces disease. See how
grief bends and breaks the strongest constitutions, furrows the cheek,
dims the eye, takes the appetite, impairs the mind. See how anger
cankers everything it touches, how jealousy corrodes the thoughts with
poisoned arrows, until the body is written over with letters of
unmistakable meaning.
"The body is what we may call the thermometer of the mind and registers
the quality of thought. Universal beliefs in error find their common
expression on the body. Every thought of sickness, sin or discouragement
is recorded or bodied forth.
"With all our belief in and fear of evil, sickness and death, we are
continually subjecting ourselves to false and undesirable conditions,
until, as Job said, 'Lo, the thing that I feared has come upon me.'
"Fear is more quickly productive of disease pictures than any other kind
of thought. Some one has aptly said, 'if the human race were freed from
fear, it would be free from sickness,' which is verily true. Even the
most learned doctors of medicine admit that an epidemic takes hold of
those first who are most afraid, and frequently leaves the absolutely
fearless unmolested.
"Why is this so? Because fear weakens the power of mental control, and
consequently weakens the body. To leave the doors unlocked, and then
watch for the thief, is almost equal to having the thief in the house.
"The material scientist says an epidemic has a material cause; the
Christian healer says it has a mental cause. Before there is an object
to fear there must be the sentiment of fear. Let scarlet fever appear in
a community, and every parent will immediately send out the most
agonizing thoughts of fear. Where will they go? Everywhere, because
thoughts can not be restrained. Their influence goes out in every
direction. To the tender children especially, because particularly
directed to them. All who have left the door open to fear, though they
may be sleeping in their unconsciousness of danger, will be liable to
receive these uncontrolled thoughts, and some day when they least expect
or fear sickness, it may be upon them.
"So the children, to whom have been directed such thoughts, only prove
their susceptibility to them, by picturing forth fear in the form of
scarlet fever, or whatever may have been the naming of the error.
Anybody manifesting sickness without consciousness of fear proves
passive or unconscious fear, while those suffering sickness through a
conscious recognition and fear of sickness are manifesting active or
conscious fear.
"There are two departments of mind sometimes spoken of as the conscious
and unconscious. The conscious mind is the conscious thought, which is
easily swayed or changed. It has an immediate or direct influence on the
body as is shown by the blood that rushes to or recedes from the face at
some sudden change of thought. The unconscious mind is the aggregation
of past individual and universal conscious thought, and is the character
formed, the second nature or instinct.
"As the flesh and bones are more fixed than the ever moving blood, so
the unconscious mind is slower to receive impressions, and slower to
show them forth. Our bodies to-day are showing a harvest of the thoughts
of generations or ages of the past. The person manifesting consumptive
tendencies is not only expressing his own conscious thoughts, but is
veritably the picture of the thoughts of his parents, ancestors and the
entire race, concerning a belief in consumption. Year by year the
thoughts of this error have been writing themselves in his face, his
eyes, his chest, his very walk and talk and breath. Unless he offsets
them with thoughts of absolute Truth, they press him out of our sight.
He yields to the belief of death, because he never said no to sin or
sickness, because he was at one with the world in its false beliefs.
"'The last enemy to be overcome is death!' reads the inspired statement
of Paul, confirmed and strengthened by the Master's never-dying promise,
'If a man keep my saying he shall never see death.'
"There are certain fixed beliefs inherent in every mind which we call
universal beliefs. They are often referred to as belonging to the
unconscious mind; as, for example, the fear of pain or suffering under
certain circumstances will come to the surface of consciousness, proving
that despite every feeling of confidence and fearlessness it has not
been destroyed, but sleeps in the unconscious mind.
"These unconscious beliefs and fears of sickness are ultimately
expressed on the body in different forms of disease, sometimes given one
name and sometimes another. The material scientist calls a certain
outshowing on the body cancer, the Christian healer calls it the picture
of a belief of cancer. In this way disease is always the manifestation
of both conscious and unconscious thoughts.
"Special forms of disease are born by constant attention to the thought
of disease and their symptoms. It has been stated on good authority that
physicians who make a specialty of certain diseases are apt to be
afflicted with what they have especially fitted themselves to cure. In a
medical journal a case was cited not long since of an eminent physician
who read before a great convention of doctors, what was considered to be
the ablest treatise on insanity ever written. 'On going home from the
convention he killed his wife, four children, and then himself, in a fit
of dementia.'
"This reveals a startling fact, which might be corroborated by many
others, that the body ultimately pictures forth the idea. But the
thought is not confined to the individual. It not infrequently finds the
most striking expression in some member of the family or in any one
under his influence.
"If one man's thoughts so influence himself, family or friend, think of
the influence of such thoughts on those who go to him for advice or
treatment, those who deliberately place themselves under his inspection
and allow themselves to be guided both directly and indirectly by his
erroneous opinions. Think of the vast stream of such thoughts going out
from all medical colleges, students and practitioners. No wonder
diseases increase as physicians increase, as some of the best thinkers
of the age declare.
"Not that one class of people is more to be reflected upon than another,
for some kind or degree of erroneous thought is held by all classes.
Physicians talk sickness and death, ministers preach evil and
punishment, the entire race believe in and suffer for sins.
"It is centuries since it was first discovered that ideas were
transmitted without the ordinarily accepted means of communication, but,
to-day it is positively and repeatedly, yes, continually proven that
thought transference is not only possible or probable, but an every-day
occurrence. To realize that
'Thoughts are things.
Endowed with being, breath and wings,
And that we send them forth to fill
The world with good results or ill,'
is to be mightily responsible for what we think. To know that we are
verily our brother's keeper, and that every thought makes misery or
happiness for the whole world as well as for the individual, is
something that should engage our deepest and most earnest consideration.
"All thinking is for the weal or woe of the world that is yet in its
infancy of knowledge. As consciousness of truth takes the place of
consciousness of error, thoughts become light and beautiful and true
with corresponding conditions.
"Let us no longer slumber in the arms of indifference and ignorance, but
awake to truth and righteousness. 'Better be unborn than untaught; for
ignorance is the root of misfortune.'"