Mental Therapeutics
The new psychology and the science of mental
and spiritual healing teach us that the lower principles in Man
stand or should stand under the dominion of the higher. The physical
body, with its material elements, is dominated and guided by the
mind. The mind is inspired through the inner consciousness, which
is an attribute of the soul. The soul of man is in communion with
the Oversoul, which is the Source of all life and all intelligence
animating the universe.
Wherever this natural order is reversed,
there is discord or disease. Too many people think and act as though
the physical body is all in all, as though it is the only thing
worth caring for and thinking about. They exaggerate the importance
of the physical and become its abject slaves.
The physical body is the lowest and least
intelligent of the different principles making up the human entity.
Yet people allow their minds and their souls to become dominated
and terrified by the sensations of the physical body.
When the servants in the house control and
terrify the master, when the master becomes their slave and they
can do with him as they please, there cannot be order and harmony
in that house.
We must expect the same results when the
lower principles in Man lord it over the higher. When physical weakness,
illness and pain fill the mind with fear and dismay, reason becomes
clouded, the will atrophied and self-control is lost.
Every thought and every emotion
has its direct effect upon the physical constituents of the body.
The mental and emotional vibrations become physical vibrations and
structures. Discord in the mind is translated into physical disease
in the body, while the harmonies of hope, faith, cheerfulness, happiness,
love and altruism create in the organism the corresponding health
vibrations.
Have you ever noticed how the written or
printed notes of a tone piece or the perforations on the paper music
roll of an automatic player are arranged in symmetrical and geometrical
figures and groups? Dry sand strewn on the top of a piano on which
harmonious tone combinations are produced shows a tendency to arrange
itself in symmetrical patterns.
In this you have a visual illustration of
the translation of harmonious sound vibrations, which express the
harmonics of the soul's emotions, into correspondingly harmonious
arrangements and configurations in the physical material of the
paper roll.
A jumble of discords of sound, if reproduced
on a music roll, would present a chaotic jumble of perforations.
Thus the purely mental and emotional is
translated into its corresponding discords or harmonies in the physical.
As the perforations on the paper music roll
arrange themselves either symmetrically or without symmetry and
order, in strict accordance with the harmonies or discords of the
composition, so the atoms, molecules and cells in the physical body
group themselves in normal or abnormal structures of health or of
disease in exact correspondence with the harmonious or the discordant
vibrations conveyed to them from the mental and emotional planes.
Another Illustration: Two violins, as they
leave the shop of the maker, are exactly alike in material, structure
and quality of tone. One of the two instruments is constantly used
by beginners and persons incapable of producing pure notes. The
other passes into the hands of an artist who understands how to
use the instrument to the best advantage and who draws from it only
musical tones that are true in pitch and quality.
After a few years, compare the two violins
again. You will find that the one used by the tyros in music has
deteriorated in its musical qualities, while the one in the hands
of the artist has greatly improved in quality and purity of tone.
What is the reason? The atoms and molecules in the wood of the two
instruments have grouped themselves according to the discords or
the harmonies that have been produced from them.
If this rearrangement of atoms is possible
in dead wood, how much easier must be this adjustment of atoms,
molecules and cells to discordant or harmonious vibratory influence
in the living, plastic and fluidic human organism!
What harmony is to music, hope, faith, cheerfulness,
happiness, sympathy, love and altruism are to the vibratory conditions
of the human entity. These emotions are in alignment with the constructive
principle in Nature. They harmonize the physical vibrations, relax
the tissues and open them wide to the inflow of the life force.
Swedenborg truly says: "The warmth
of life is the heat of the divine love permeating and animating
the universe." The more we possess of hope, faith, love and
their kindred emotions, the more we open ourselves to the inflow
and action of the vital energies. The good-natured, cheerful, sympathetic
person is more alive than the crabbed, morose or selfish individual.
It has been proved over and over again by
everyday experience that mental and emotional conditions
positively affect the chemical composition of the tissues and secretions
of the body. The destructive emotions of fear, worry, anger,
jealousy, revengefulness, envy, etc., actually poison the fluids
and tissues of the body. The bite of an angry man may cause blood-poisoning
and prove as fatal as the bite of a mad dog. Sudden fear, anger
or any other destructive emotion in the nursing mother may cause
illness or even death of the infant.
In psychological laboratories it has been
found by scientifically conducted experiments that under the influence
of destructive mental and emotional conditions, the secretions and
excretions of the body show an increase of morbid and poisonous
elements.
Selfishness, fear and worry contract and
congeal the blood vessels, the nerve fibers, and the other channels
through which the life forces are conveyed from the innermost source
of life to different parts and organs of the physical body. The
flow of the life currents is impeded and diminished. Such are the
actual physiological effects of fear, anxiety and egotism on the
physical organism.
A man under the influence of great fear
and one exposed to freezing present the same outward appearance.
In both cases death may result through the congealing of the tissues
and the shutting out of the life currents. The person afflicted
with the worry habit may not die suddenly like the one overcome
by great and sudden fear. Nevertheless, the fear and worry vibrations
maintained constantly will surely obstruct and diminish the inflow
of the life force, lower the vitality and therewith the resistance
to the encroachment of influences inimical to the health of the
organism.
The cells in the body are negative,
or, at least, they should be negative to the positive mind.
The relationship of the mind to the cell should be like that of
hypnotist to subject. If the mind could not exert such absolute
control over the cells and cell groups, it would be impossible for
us to walk, talk, write, dodge danger, etc., with almost automatic
ease.
The cells are not able to reason upon the
truth or untruth of the suggestions conveyed to them from the mind.
They accept its promptings unqualifiedly and act accordingly.
Thus, if the mind constantly thinks of,
say, the stomach as being in a badly diseased condition, unable
to do its work properly, the mental images of weakness and disease
with their accompanying fear vibrations are telegraphed over the
efferent nerves to the cells of the stomach and these become more
and more weakened and diseased through the destructive vibrations
sent to them from the mind.
I often advise my patients to procure a
book on anatomy and physiology and to study and keep constantly
before their mind's eye the normal structure and functions of a
healthy stomach or liver or whatever organ may be involved in any
particular case.
Positive Affirmations
This explains why affirmations of health
are justified in the face of disease. The health conditions must
be first established in the mind before they can be conveyed to
and impressed upon the cells.
The well-being of the human body as a whole
depends upon the health of the billions of minute cells which compose
it. These cells are so small that they have to be magnified several
hundred times under a powerful microscope before we can see them.
Yet they are independent living beings which grow, assimilate food,
multiply and die like the big cell, Man.
These little cells are congregated in communities
which form the organs and tissues of the body and in these communities
they carry on the complicated activities of citizens living in a
large city. Some are carriers, bringing food materials to the tissues
and organs or conveying waste and morbid matter to the excretory
channels of the body. Other cells manufacture chemical substances,
such as sugar, fats, ferments, hormones etc., for the production
of which man requires complicated factories. Still others act as
policemen and soldiers which protect the commonwealth against bacteria,
parasites and other hostile invaders.
The marvelous work performed by these little
organisms, as well as observations made in the dissecting room and
under the microscope, strongly indicate that these cells are endowed
with some sort of individual intelligence. They do their work without
our aid or conscious volition. But, nevertheless, they are greatly
influenced by the varying conditions of the mind. While their activities
seem to be controlled through the sympathetic nervous system, they
stand in direct telegraphic communication with headquarters in the
brain and every impulse of the mind is conveyed to them.
If there be dismay and confusion in the
mind, this condition is telegraphically conveyed over the nerve
trunks and filaments to every cell in the body, and as a result
these little workers and soldiers become panic-stricken and incapable
of rightly performing their manifold duties.
The cell system of the body resembles a
vast army. The mind is the general at the head of it. The cells
are the soldiers, divided into groups for special work.
Much of the work of an army is carried on
through different well-established departments, as the commissariat,
the hospital service, the scouts and pickets, etc. Though the life
and the activities of the army are so well regulated that they seem
automatic, nevertheless much depends upon the commander.
The vital processes of the human organism,
digestion, assimilation, elimination, respiration, the circulation
of the blood, etc., are going on without our volition, whether we
be awake or asleep. These involuntary activities are impelled by
the sympathetic nervous system, while the voluntary
functions of the body are controlled through the motor [voluntary]
nervous system. This division, however, is not a sharp one, and
the two departments frequently overlap one another.
The sympathetic nervous system resembles
the commissarial department of the army, which attends to the material
welfare of the soldiers, while the motor nervous system, with headquarters
in the brain, corresponds to the commander with his executive staff,
the nerve centers in the spinal cord and other parts of the body
being the subordinate officers in the field.
While the physical well-being of the army
depends upon the almost automatic work of its different departments,
its mind and soul is the man commanding it. He determines the spirit,
the energy and the efficiency of the vast organization.
If the commander-in-chief lacks insight,
force and determination, the discipline of the army will be lax
and its efficiency greatly impaired. If he is a craven, without
faith in himself and in the cause he represents, his lack of courage,
his doubt and indecision will communicate themselves to the whole
army, resulting in discouragement and defeat.
The most successful commanders have been
those who were possessed of absolute confidence in themselves and
in the efficiency of their army, who in the face of gravest danger
and discouraging situations pressed on to the predetermined goal
with dogged courage and resolution. Determination and pertinacity
of this kind create the magnetic power which imparts itself to every
individual soldier in the army and makes him a willing subject,
even unto death, to the will of his commander.
When the plague was invading Napoleon's
army, that great general entered the hospitals where the victims
of the plague were lying, took them by the hand and conversed with
them. He did this to overcome the fear in the hearts of his soldiers,
and thus to protect them against the dread disease. He said: "A
man whose will can conquer the world, can conquer the plague."
To my mind, this was one of the greatest
deeds of the Corsican. At a time when "New Thought" was
practically unknown, the genius of this man had grasped its principles
and was making them factors in his apparent success. "Apparent"
because, while we admire his genius, we deplore the ends to which
he applied his wonderful powers.
At times when the battle seemed lost, Napoleon
would go to the front where the danger was greatest; and by the
mere sight of him the hard-pressed soldiers under his command were
inspired to super-human effort and final victory.
As long as the glamour of invincibility
surrounded him, Napoleon was invincible, because
he infused into his soldiers a faith and courage which nothing could
withstand. But when the cunning of the Russian broke his power and
decimated his ranks on the ice-bound steppes, the hypnotic spell
was broken also. Friends and enemies alike recognized that, after
all, he was but a man, subject to chance and circumstance; and from
that time on he was vulnerable and suffered defeat after defeat.
The power of the mind over the physical
body and its involuntary functions (the functions which are regulated
and controlled through the sympathetic nervous system) may be illustrated
by the demonstrated facts of hypnotism. Through the exertion of
his own imagination and his will-power, the hypnotist can so dominate
the brain and through the brain the physical body of his subject,
as to influence not only the sensory functions, but also heart action
and respiration. By the power of his will the hypnotist is able
to retard or accelerate pulse and respiration, and even to subdue
the heart beat so that it becomes hardly perceptible.
If it is possible thus to control by the
power of will the vital functions in the body of another person,
it must be possible also to control these functions in our own bodies.
Many a Hindu fakir and yogi have developed this power of the mind
over the physical body to a marvelous extent.
Here lies the true domain of mental therapeutics.
We can learn to dominate and regulate the vital activities and the
life currents in our bodies so that they will do their work intelligently
and serenely even under the stress of illness or of danger. We can,
by the power of will, direct the vital currents to those parts and
organs which need them most and we can relieve congested areas by
equalizing the circulation, by drawing from the surplus of blood
and nerve currents and distributing the vital fluids over other
parts of the body.
We must be careful, however, to use our
higher powers in conformity with Nature's intent; that is, we must
not endeavor to suppress Nature's cleansing and healing efforts.
It is possible to do this by the power of will as well as with ice
bags and drugs.
Mentally and emotionally, as well as physically,
we must work with Nature, not against her. When
we understand the fundamental laws of disease and cure, we cannot
well do otherwise.