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SPIRITUAL HEALTH
AND HEALING

BOOKS

BY

HORATIO W.

DRESSER

"The most prominent leader and teacher of
New Thought." — James H. Snowden

THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW THOUGHT
A HISTORY OF THE NEW THOUGHT

MOVEMENT
THE OPEN VISION
THE QUIMBY MANUSCRIPTS
SPIRITUAL HEALTH AND HEALING

THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK

SPIRITUAL HEALTH
AND HEALING

BY
HORATIO W. DRESSER, Ph.D.

Author of "The Power of Silence," "A History

of the New Thought Movement,"

"The Open Vision," etc.

NEW YORK
THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1922,
By THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY

Printed in the Umted States of America

MAR 23 1922
©CU661011

PREFACE

Interest in spiritual healing has reached a
point where it is no longer necessary to dwell
on such elementary matters as the influence of
fear and worry, the power of suggestion and
the utilizing of the subconscious. These con-
siderations are now taken for granted by those
who believe that inner healing is more than
mental. Suggestion is not regarded as decisive
except by those who would ignore the spiritual
life and limit healing to the sphere of psychol-
ogy. For those of us who believe that the
spiritual life is inseparable from true spiritual
healing, the question of mental influences and
mental methods is forever secondary. It ought
rather to be a question of cultivating the mode
of life which produces spiritual health. All our
efforts should be constructive. Our clues should
be drawn from the ideal, not through study of
conditions w^hich produce disease.

To be normal, to live in spiritual health is to
be in accord with the universe: to think, will,
live by the Divine order. Spiritual health is
the standard set for man by God's purpose in
bringing him into being. It is man's birthright

VI

Preface

as heir of the heavenly kingdom. It is inherent
in his nature as created in the Divine image and
likeness. Jesus came among us to disclose that
standard in its fulness, and establish it in the
minds and hearts of men by inspiring works and
words. He promised greater works when it
should become a social ideal. He taught that
wisdom which should become man's guide in
living the life which produces health and free-
dom. A spiritual science was implied in those
teachings. A spiritual art was exemplified by
those works and words of healing. Those who
would be true followers ought to give this science
first place, taking the clue from Christ as arche-
type.

Interest in spiritual health begins from above
and works down, from within and works out.
Ordinary healing is from below and is con-
cerned with measures of relief and the improve-
ment of man's material environment. Christ
bids man so live that health shall always radiate
from him as virtue radiates from one whose
religion is "to do good." Thus health is made
a secondary consideration in comparison with
that larger, more splendid life which manifests
health as one of the signs of its beauty. Health
is to be a result of the abundant life. It will
come as a consequence, just as our tastes change,
our manners become more gentle, our affections

Pkeface vii

more constant, our faces more radiant through
the inner touch of the Spirit.

In the following pages this philosophy of the
Christ is taken for granted. Many writers have
taught it in their favorite ways, since the time
of P. P. Quimby, who was the first healer in
our day to plead for a "Science of the Christ."
This philosophy includes the idea of the Divine
indwelling as the guiding principle of the inner
life, of the spiritual world as the nearby source
of real power ; the idea that there is a heavenly
purpose in our strivings, that the natural world
is a theatre for the development of the soul. If
different writers would express these introduc-
tory matters in various ways, all would agree
that the endeavor to live by this higher wisdom
is the great consideration.

The chief need at present is for a clearer
statement of the ideas which lead beyond mental
to spiritual healing. Some teachers would put
the whole matter in the present tense, affirming
the ideal as realized now, making light of the
natural world with its opportunities, and pass-
ing by the ages of philosophic thought. Hence
they would identify man in his real selfhood
with "the Christ within" and end the matter
with ever-varying affirmations turning upon one
idea. Others would maintain that we make no
headway except through acknowledgment of

viii Preface

"the light of Christ in the soul" as leading us
on to greater and greater attainments. While
they would agree that man in spirit already
exists in the Divine image and likeness, they
would find reality and meaning in his progress
from stage to stage in the natural world. It
would seem clear that the truth of the Christ
is too great and too wonderful to be appre-
hended except as man looks up to the Master,
admitting that he has more and more to learn.
It is this view which we plead for. A new state-
ment of this ideal is called for because the trend
of thought among people interested in inner
healing is too much the other way. We hope
to show that this philosophy of upliftment to-
ward the Christ is the true view of spiritual
healing.

A word seems to be called for concerning "A
History of the New Thought Movement," 1919.
Some reviewers have complained because I did
not indulge in adverse criticisms. But I had
supposed a historian should be impartial. I was
telling a story, not commenting on its reality or
truth. In other volumes, especially "A Hand-
book of the New Thought," 1917, I had made
critical estimates enough; pointing out that the
psychology of the New Thought is one-sided,
that some leaders tend to exalt the human self
so as to make it a god, thereby advocating ego-

Preface ix

tism instead of spiritual healing. My interest
in the movement was to call attention afresh to
its beginnings, in order to emphasize the fact
that the therapeutic movement had not realized
its spiritual standard. Since 1919, the remain-
ing branches of the movement, save one, have
been united in an effort to make the Christ the
cardinal principle. It is now a question of look-
ing forward to see what the movement will make
of the Christ as its ideal.

Critics of New Thought and Christian Sci-
ence in its various forms have pointed out that
we are not "parts" of God, because God is one
and indivisible; that man is not "life in it-
self," for God only is life in itself; that man is
not "one with God," but may be conjoined with
Him through responsiveness: hence that man's
recipiency of life is measured by his love, not
by his affirmation or thought. These discrimi-
nations point the way beyond mysticism and
pantheism in all its forms, beyond self-centred-
ness and mere thought to the ideal of constancy
of love for God and man in frank recognition of
our sonship. The whole outlook changes with
the adoption of this higher point of view. We
realize that the spiritual life has hardly begun,
since it is rather a gift of the Spirit in us than
the work of our efforts at self-control and effi-
ciency in the use of thought. It changes too be-

x Preface

cause we adopt the idea of a spiritual incoming
of power, touching the inmost being first, then
quickening the understanding, spreading through
mental life as a whole. The ideal is no longer
a mere settling down into self in poise and com-
posure, as if we had nothing to acknowledge
and nothing to overcome; it is the attainment
of inner openness to the Spirit, that the Divine
life may freely course through all channels. It
means that regeneration is still essential, hence
that we need to make ready by purifying our
desires, living on simpler food, keeping closer to
nature, and avoiding anything like drugs and
stimulants which clog and impede. Right think-
ing assumes its proper place at last as instru-
mental to right living. The life is a test in a
far deeper way than we had realized. There
is something better than being either healed or
cured. We need a nobler prevailing love. We
need practical Christianity in all its fulness.
We need the inner or spiritual Word. We need
the living Christ, the glorified Lord. This is
the great truth of the New Age. Interest in
spiritual healing is one of the tendencies of life
today which point to this truth. We have not
begun to interpret it aright until we regard the
healing movement in this its relation to the new
time. We may therefore pass beyond the cru-
dities and extravagant claims in quest of the

Preface xi

really spiritual element. The discerning reader
will find in these pages a very different way of
stating the whole matter, and will proceed to
test it by direct reference to life, in contrast
with the mere criticism of theories.

The best way, in fact, to overcome the limita-
tions of those who have not grasped the full idea
of spiritual healing is to look back to the pro-
phetic teachings of the New Age. For some
this will mean deeper study of the writings of
Swedenborg. For others it will mean pro-
founder knowledge of Dr. Quimby's philosophy.
In writing this volume I have had both of these
interests in mind. Some of the chapters are
concerned with Swedenborg's theory of the
Divine influx. In others I have tried to make a
clearer statement of the ideas and methods which
Dr. Quimby sets forth in his manuscripts. This
book may then be regarded as an estimate of the
Quimby method of healing. It is not written
in Quimby's terms. I have not assumed that
Quimby's view is in every way superior to ideas
now passing current. But it was the original
view, it contained the spiritual impetus which
gave rise to the modern therapeutic movement,
it was the result of many years of pioneer work
in this field, and it is still the view by which we
may most directly test our own ideas and meth-
ods. My parents were patients under Quim-

xii Preface

by's care in Portland, Maine, and from Dr.
Quimby they learned the method of silent heal-
ing which is here advocated. I have felt it a
duty I owed to humanity both to publish the
manuscripts and to make my own statement of
the ideas and methods which have come down
to us from Quimby. I began to put this work
in final form with the publication of ''The
Power of Silence," Boston, 1895. The present
volume completes this work, as the prime re-
sult of a later study of Quimby's writings.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. The Power of the Spirit 1

II. The Priceless Possession 13

III. The Christ 27

IV. The Spiritual Science 41

V. The Christ Method 55

VI. Spiritual Health 66

VII. Spirit and Body 80

VIII. True Spiritual Healing 94

IX. The Affirmative Attitude 108

X. The Quickening Word 122

XI. "With Signs Following 136

XII. The Value of Denials 149

XIII. Spiritual Influx 160

XIV. The Intuitive Method 178

XV. Spiritual Success 192

XVI. Instantaneous Healing 202

XVII. The Overcoming of Disease 209

XVIII. Creative Health 222

XIX. The Secret Place 234

XX. How to Demonstrate 250

XXI. Summary and Definition 265

XXII. Spiritual Psychology 290

Xlll

SPIRITUAL HEALTH AND
HEALING

THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT

Two generations ago, in a small New Eng-
land city, a promising young man of twenty-two
lay apparently at the point of death. On both
sides of his house the ancestors were physically
weak, and all save two in a family of nine had
already passed from this life when our record
begins. The young man of whom we are speak-
ing was frail in physique. There seemed to be
little power of resistance to withstand the on-
coming of a disease ordinarily accounted fatal
as matters go in this world of allegiance to ma-
terial things. In type he was spiritually minded
and highly intuitive, inclined to think for him-
self and exercise rights of individual initiative.
He was zealous in religion, devoted to the
church, eager in fact to prepare himself for the
ministry if his health should permit the comple-
tion of his college course. On the side of faith

l

2 Spiritual Health and Healing

as conventionally understood nothing more could
indeed have been asked.

He had joined the church at sixteen with a
large measure of emotional enthusiasm. He reg-
ularly attended all services and was especially
zealous in prayer-meeting. He was a Calvinist,
however, in the thorough-going sense of the
word. God to him was little more than a Man
seated on a white throne of authority outside
the world, a God to be admired with awesome
reverence rather than a Father to be loved.
Naturally our young man, devout as he was, had
no idea of the power of divine love as an in-
dwelling presence to be sought as one might
turn to a friend. Christianity was a doctrine of
salvation interpreted as a Baptist of the period
understood it. Salvation as thus conceived by:
no means included the problems of bodily weak-
ness and ill-health. Prayer was for certain pur-
poses. The observances decreed by the church
were to be rigidly adhered to, leaving mundane
matters for consideration in their proper place.
Among these matters was the question of dis-
ease, and the physicians of the old school had
apparently done their utmost to save this young
man.

Then there came from a wholly unexpected
source a marvellous change into this young life.
This change not only meant that he was rescued

The Power of the Spirit

from the abyss of death by spiritual means when
material methods had failed, but that he was
given a new impetus and an understanding of
life which enabled him to live on this earth dur-
ing many years of great usefulness. It will be
worth while considering what wrought the
change, why it could be so pronounced in the
case of a man emphatically spiritual in type,
genuinely a Christian as the Gospel was then
understood.

There came as if heaven-sent a man whose
work among the sick had no place among thera-
peutic systems commonly known as scientific.
He did not give medicines or drugs. He had
no system of physical treatment. Nor did he
even diagnose disease by its symptoms, or in-
quire into verdicts pronounced by those compe-
tent to make a diagnosis. He received as
patients those whose faith gave them impetus
enough to visit his office or send for him. With-
out asking questions, he sat meditatively by his
patients to gather whatever impressions might
come intuitively by his own way of seeking such
discernment. Having gained his impression and
sought light on the problem before him, he put
his mind through a realization akin to prayer
as an act of worship, but more effective than such
prayers as our young man was wont to hear on
Friday evenings at church. He believed that

4 Spiritual Health and Healing

God is directly accessible through prayer, yet
with additional faith in the immediate response
of the human spirit as potential master of the
body. This definite and practical faith implied
the utilizing of healing power to restore the body
through the spirit. Proceeding by his own
method, he ventured to seek help from within
when all hope of a cure through conventional
methods had passed. For in his practice with
the sick he was not governed by outward appear-
ances or even by signs which indicate the near-by
presence of death. What signified was the state
of a person's spirit and the possibility of leading
a responsive person into the light out of the
darkness of threatening miseries and fears.

Many people were restored to health by this
true believer in the presence of God, some of
whom became active workers when they grasped
the principle. The world has since become
familiar with the idea of mental healing, and
is quick to arrive at the conclusion that this is
what one means, namely, that by the influence
of one mind on another through " suggestion"
changes are wrought which physical means fail
to accomplish. But here our account would
end if this were an adequate explanation. Our
reason for telling about the marvellous result ac-
complished in this young man's life is found in
the fact that the change was more than victory

The Power of the Spirit

over death and the successful staying of a dis-
ease presumably fatal. It will hardly be pos-
sible to see the meaning of this profound turn-
ing of a young life from one channel into
another if we look at it as a mental cure. The
change was the equivalent of a conversion and
much more, if by a conversion we mean the adop-
tion of a creed which makes of a worldly man a
follower of Christ. For this young man had
already given himself to Christ. Strange to re-
late, in adopting the teachings of the new thera-
peutist he renounced the church as an organiza-
tion, together with all its observances, also his
desire to become a minister. Yet on the other
hand he became more faithfully a follower of
Christ than before.

The apparent paradox is resolved when we
note that the transition was from the Calvinistic
deity to faith in God as immanent, loving, guid-
ing Father, immediate and accessible, in a sense
as intimate as that of our own self -consciousness
when aware that there is an ideal self within us,
when we will to have that self become actual in
daily life. It meant the conviction that the true
God is already present in our spirit to uplift
and make us free as rapidly as we come to recog-
nize and respond, admitting the divine life into
all parts of our being. It signified the disclosure
of the original gospel of health and freedom

6 Spiritual Health and Healing

taught and proved by the Master. Sectarian
Christianity no longer existed for him. He re-
acted against its limitations as against the faults
of medical science and practice. Yet he did not
in any sense cease to believe in Christ as the true
Saviour of the world.

That his was a genuine conversion in the prac-
tical sense of the word was shown by the fact
that, once restored to active service, he began to
live by what to him was a new gospel and to
give his time to spreading this gospel in the world.
We naturally look for different signs if we gain
this point of view, and we are not surprised when
we find a person somewhat critical of the old
order of thought. For the reaction, in the case
of a man who discards theology as a formulated
scheme but retains religion, is in favor of what
is spiritually essential. It is constructive and
worthy of being regarded from within. Intel-
lectually it is critical because the understanding
must be clarified. Spiritually it assimilates all
that was best in the type of thought that has
been discarded.

Later, our young man was fond of saying that
one must set aside all preconceptions for the
time being, to grasp the new point of view as a
"spiritual science." So we too must neglect for
the moment ideas which are familiar and toward
which wre strongly incline, if we shall enter sym-

The Potter of the Spirit

pathetically into a spirit of truth capable of giv-
ing a creative impetus in Christian life. This is
not easy for those who judge by doctrines in
contrast with experience disclosing new fields.

This gospel involved the idea that Christ is
not a Person in the sense in which orthodox be-
lievers associate the Son with the Father in the
Trinity. The leading idea was that Christ was
divine wisdom taught and exemplified by the his-
torical personality, Jesus of Xazareth, whom we
begin truly to understand when we make this dis-
crimination. The extent to which such a distinc-
tion is justifiable by interpretation of the Gospels
is a question which we postpone for the time
being. We are now concerned with its practical
consequences through belief in "the light of
Christ in the soul/' the living Christ near to the
heart of every sincere believer, the divine wisdom
and love made concrete in our needs and aspira-
tions.

Much depends on our prior thought concern-
ing the human self. If instead of regarding
man as "fallen" or dwelling upon his shortcom-
ings and his sins, pitying him in his miserable
plight and emphasizing the need of supernatural
salvation, we hold that man is by birthright free
and sound, yet at first ignorant and in need of
experience w^hich shall make him aware of resi-
dent divine powers within him, we are ready for

8 Spiritual Health and Healing

the proposition that Christ is the enlightenment
needed to awaken man to his true estate. For
man's miseries are unwittingly of his own mak-
ing, ignorant that he is a spirit endowed with
power in the image and likeness of God. These
miseries belong with man's lesser selfhood when,
under bondage to material sense, he is like one
sleeping. Even our young man with all his
Christian zeal was as one in a dream. To
awaken him was to give him a different idea of
what it means to be faithful to the Master, to
believe in God and live by the divine wisdom.
It was to start from within in the living present,
the divine moment of his true selfhood. It was
to concentrate upon what man is ideally, touched
with the fulness of life by the quickening pres-
ence of Christ.

History virtually disappears from this point
of view and one sees the living Christ coming
through the mists with a glad message of light
and freedom. Whatever is deemed noblest and
best is already here. This was the real purport
of the Gospels, that we should find the living
Christ now. This means an ever-present re-
source, for power, for health, for life wherewith
to break down barriers which imprison souls and
set them free. It does not mean the exaltation
of the self, as if one claimed for the man of to-
day what the wisest men of the ages have missed.

The Power of the Spirit 9

It does not mean undue emphasis on inner ex-
perience, as if in one's egotism one attributed all
power to finite man. Yet it certainly does mean
an application of ancient truth which has eluded
good and wise men. It gives every one, however
humble his station, however great his trouble, op-
portunity to begin where he is and live by the
science which Jesus taught when summoning men
to fulness of being.

The impressive characteristic of the healer
who restored our young man was constructive
humility, an exceptional combination of true
receptivity interposing no obstacle and an af-
firmativeness reaching beyond what ordinary
Christians venture to claim. This is vastly dif-
ferent from attributing all virtue to the finite
self. It calls for much more thorough renovation
of one's life than is usually expected by priest or
physician, each of whom ordinarily asks us to
reform but half a man. It means taking life
seriously indeed, yet with a joy, a benefit, a free-
dom, with powers of service beyond comparison.

Our young man began to reform the whole
man — he who needed it less in most respects than
many men do. Or, rather the Spirit wrought such
regeneration in him. The Spirit summoned him
to live a consistent life in mind and body. He
was still handicapped, with his frail physique
and difficult inheritance. But he began anew to

10 Spiritual Health and Healing

work on and up. He led a triumphant life of
the spirit. That is the great consideration.

Too often we judge a human life by its fail-
ures, by disfigurements and injuries which do not
wholly disappear, by apparent lapses and in-
consistencies. We should gain the point of view
of the achieving spirit, taking up one phase of
life after another as steadily as each can be un-
derstood and brought into line. The perfect
demonstration will come only when the entire
human race is regenerated. No one can truly
know himself in the profounder sense save as a
member of a human family whose weaknesses
and ignorance he shares when he starts on the
long road. No one can begin truly to be free
unless he extends a helping hand to fellow mor-
tals. Indeed, one may begin thus genuinely to
serve while struggling to get on one's feet out
of quagmires of inheritance which seem over-
whelming.

The spiritual life is a progress, not a leap.
What one claims who adopts Christ as guide, in
preference to sciences and methods which ap-
proach man from the outside, is that the wisdom
which proves itself by its works here and now
can be carried on to the perfect demonstration.

Our young man had all the obstacles he
could contend with during years when people
were not ready for the truth he saw. But these

The Power of the Spirit 11

were given him, let us say, not to make light of,
not to run away from, but to face, to call out his
courage and his faith, that he might learn the
law of Christ, live by it and help others to live
by it. His spirit could not have begun to be
supreme save through obstacles in the flesh and
his environment over which to become triumph-
ant. The turning-point came with him when he
realized that infinite resources of divine love and
wisdom were ready at hand within him.

What we need to do, therefore, to realize the
power of the Spirit in the Christ-consciousness
is to discern the elements or principles which are
active in this triumph. For we have to do with
a more enlightened idea of the human spirit, a
different view of health extending into the spirit-
ual life in its fulness, and an interpretation of
healing adapted to the deepest problems of the
soul.

We are apt to think when we believe rightly
that the rest will follow, as zealous Christians
have thought all through the ages, with their
doctrine of "faith alone." We are apt to think
that it is sufficient to see near-by causes of our
unhappiness, and make some slight change. But
a spiritual interpretation of life calls upon us
to trace matters to the end, not stopping with
merely remedial activities.

The finding of the way back to health is

12 Spiritual Health and Healing

secondary to the discovery of the kind of life
we might have lived had we always kept close
to God, had we drawn upon divine resources,
practised divine wisdom, manifested divine love,
outwardly as well as inwardly in spiritual health.
The power of the spirit to keep the way, to live
by the truth, attain the life, is a greater con-
sideration than the power to regain the way
when we have missed it. For Christ is affirma-
tive in us. The Christ is the true science of
right living, and only indirectly the corrective
of our errors. We are bidden to judge by the
ideal, the normal, and to expand our life to its
full proportions. We are bidden to find the
kingdom which is within and to live by its law.
This the power of the Spirit is able to accom-
plish through us. This gives the impetus which
makes daily life a joy in the presence of our
friends and our God.

II

THE PRICELESS POSSESSION

Despite the impressiveness of such a transi-
tion in the spiritual life as the one we have con-
sidered in the foregoing, onlookers have not as
yet been persuaded to follow as far as one could
wish. The reasons for this conservatism are
worth noting before we turn to a restatement of
the central principles.

To the average observer this new interest has
meant little more than discovery of the power
of thought and the hitherto concealed functions
of the subconscious mind. We have all heard
about suggestion by this time and have learned
to make use of it in dealing with our fellow men.
We know about the subconscious mind, and we
take it into account when explaining experiences
once attributed to mysterious forces outside the
human personality. Whatever may be thought
about mental healing as a specific for all ill-
nesses, wre all acknowledge that our power over
life has increased by the addition of this new
interest. Here, however, the matter often ends,
and the therapeutic movement is regarded as
one more new cult assigned to its proper place.

13

14 Spiritual Health and Healing

The advocates of mental healing have been
partly responsible for this. For much has been
said and written about the utility of thought
as a more direct way of securing success, as if
success in material things were the chief end of
life. Hence there has been a tendency to con-
centrate upon the psychology of success. The
new interest could hardly mean more than this
to people who had no genuine desire to alter
their mode of life, who wanted to find a quicker
way of being relieved of their ills while retain-
ing most of their pleasures, habits and social
occupations.

Then, too, there has been a tendency to regard
the new spiritual science as a kind of absolutism
admitting of no appeal. To make this claim in
behalf of the authority of a text-book is of
course to miss the whole point, that each soul
has power to draw upon immanent divine
sources according to need. Thus people have
turned aside in favor of an organization which
might have pressed forward to the new revela-
tion of Christianity.

In all movements this is likely to be the case
for a time. Only a few adopt a new master's
teaching with adequate seriousness. We have
had leaders and visions enough in the history
of our race to make us children of light. What
the majority want is to be free from pain and

The Priceless Possession 15

misery due to their excesses, that they may be
a little more prudent, and retain their old life
as fully as possible. Consequently, when any
one comes forward with assurance that we can
become unselfish friends of man and worthy sons
of God we turn away as did the rich young man,
mindful of our luxuries. Creatures of habit,
imitative, conservative and envious, we refuse to
adopt a plan of action which will reach to the
uttermost confines of our social kingdom and
summon us to be noblemen of the Spirit.

The simple truth is that all our illnesses,
woes and vices are intimately related, and that
really to be rid of one is to overcome all. It
is not a question of gaining enough insight into
the power of the human spirit to overcome a
few maladies, and then disregard material things
and laws as if they did not exist. The power
of the spirit is not a half-way measure. It is
not disclosed that we may do as we like. The
real test of our spiritual faith is given us when
we carry the spiritual life into every sphere of
our natural and social interests. The power of
our human spirit was given us to live by the
Spirit. This Spirit has become manifest in this
splendid world of space and time, objective in
bodies and things, and the Spirit's manifesta-
tions are not to be ignored.

Life is surrounded by conditions intended to

16 Spiritual Health and Healing

call the human spirit into power. Our souls
need to be tested to the full, and the tests are
distributed along the line of life that we may
meet them one by one, through divine guidance,
and gradually grow into supremacy. The con-
ditions we face and must conquer are from the
self-same Spirit which gives us power to be-
come victors. But these conditions seen in the
divine light prove to be friendly. Life is indeed
friendly through and through. There is no off-
setting Power whose forces we must conquer in
order to live the spiritual life. In our ignor-
ance we have mistaken friends for foes, and
acted toward nature as if matter were the prod-
uct of some alien Energy striving to circum-
vent us, instead of a vehicle for the manifesta-
tion of Spirit. This is the whole problem of
life as the new therapeutism regards it: to con-
vert apparent enemies to friends and learn to
live with nature in our well-ordered bodies as
true children of Spirit.

The pioneers in this field were no more fa-
vored than other mortals. They had to work
their way along year by year and prove the
spiritual law for themselves. They did not come
by their exceptional wisdom through "revela-
tion." Indeed the word revelation is illusory if
we mean wisdom put into our minds apart from
the spiritual growth which discloses and proves

The Priceless Possession 17

it. Human experience as a whole is a revelation
to him who has eyes. Christianity came as the
culminating clue to this experience which we all
know. Its newness consisted not so much in its
ideas as in the transfiguring life and works of
the Master through whose service for humanity
God became manifest in fulness.

We may say in brief that the one great
reason why the world has not whole-heartedly
adopted this new version of Christianity is found
in the fact that this preliminary period was
needed to bring us back to the Gospel. The
pioneers cleared the way. They planted the
new seed. Its fruitage was judged by appear-
ances. Now we are learning that what seemed
to be a mental device for winning people was
in reality a call "to live the life." The requisite
change of thought from the old order to the new
was only a beginning. The psychology of suc-
cess was merely an aspect of spiritual truths
including the whole of life. Behind it all there
was a priceless possession which the few caught
sight of and have been cherishing. What was
that priceless possession? Can we put it into
words?

It was the truth of the Inward Presence once
more made known to men. It was the redis-
covery, made ever and again in human history,
that there is in man a God-sense or power of

18 Spiritual Health and Healing

direct communion with heavenly realities, such
that experience is the test and verification of all
spiritual wisdom. In a practical way this means
that any man at any time, whatever his need,
may lift his problem into heavenly light and
see it transfigured by the guidance he needs. It
means further that this light may be admitted
into our whole nature, that there is guidance for
every need whatsoever. And the application of
this guidance to healing was the special phase
which this wisdom brought us at first, because
this truth needed to be restored to the world.
This truth brought back, it became possible to
regard the Gospel in its fulness anew. Thus
the way to "live the life" again opened before
men as they had not seen it for ages.

The experience of the first pioneer in this re-
discovery shows that any one might make the
same discovery — guided by the Spirit. For the
heavenly light is always shining. What was
needed to bring men to knowledge of it through
quest for healing was a method of meditation
or silent realization. This method was acquired
by our pioneers through the prior discovery
that man has inner senses or intuitive power
enabling him to discern spiritual reality. All
men have evidences of such inward power, but
only a few put the evidences together to see
that our spiritual nature is adapted for manifold

The Priceless Possession 19

use when we need power in any field. What is
needed is an experience sufficiently absorbing
so that we will follow it through and find the
Spirit within the human spirit, the Lord of life
presiding over our human life.

Many of us arrive naturally enough at the
point where prayer spontaneously takes expres-
sion on our lips, and we realize that the power
of prayer has never reached its limits with us.
There are many believers in the inward light as
the direct witness of the Spirit, the true reason
for worship. Every earnest Christian has some
experience of inward piety akin to divine love.
We all believe that "the pure in heart" shall
see God. But there is a further step which
seems almost as new, as if no one had the habit
of prayer, none believed in the inward light or
purity of heart. This step is into knowledge of
the Inward Presence as power. It shows one
how to enter into quickening Life through vivid
realization of the love and the wisdom that are
ours. It shows the way to a dynamic experi-
ence passing beyond mere meditation or wor-
ship. Realization is more detailed than prayer
as most men know prayer. It enlists ideals
made vivid and held before the mind. It is
concerned with specific needs, with the convic-
tion that the life made concrete through con-
centration will begin at once to take effect.

20 Spiritual Health and Healing

Such realization becomes possible when the mind
gives itself to the belief that our human spirit
is rightfully an instrument of God, heir to di-
vine wisdom, an immediate participant in the
Inward Presence.

Such realization also differs from prayer be-
cause it implies an experienced contrast between
the inner mind and the outer, between one plane
of consciousness and another. We are all fam-
iliar with the contrast between the two voices
or natures. Many of us know what it is to feel
free or to feel conditioned. We know that there
is a difference between an ideal and a mere
process. In a way each of us has his two worlds
of thought. But we have not all learned to
bring these ideas together so that our inner
world is a meeting-point between the spirit and
a higher activity which can be utilized when
there is need. We have not learned to break
away from externalizing consciousness at will.
We have no definite idea what the activity is
within us which makes the change. We have
not learned to be alone with God's ideal.

It is fairly easy to acquire merely psycho-
logical knowledge of this contrast. Some effort
is required to pass beyond all mental devices,
penetrating behind all mental appearances to
spiritual reality. The priceless possession is in-
timacy of relation through spiritual experience

The Pkiceless Possession 21

in which the Inward Presence becomes an im-
mediate source of guidance and power. This
experience means more than the coming of a
vision or mystical ecstasy which the participant
neither understands nor is able to recover. It
may be the same in kind as the better sort of
mystical experience, while calling for a much
more intelligible interpretation.

This experience of the Inward Presence is re-
coverable through understanding of the condi-
tions. Such understanding is accessible to every
one who is willing to entertain the idea of im-
mediate experience of the presence of God in
contrast with the tradition in the churches that
only through zealously guarded authority can
man approach God. It becomes possible when
we take seriously the idea that man is spirit and
is recipient of Life ready to make him in fulness
a child of God in image and likeness.

This inward quest might lead to self-centered-
ness if it were not for the experienced contrast
between the inner mind and the outer. To
enter more deeply into one's mere self is not to
find the inner mind at all. The priceless pos-
session is awareness of the Inward Presence by
being in the sanctuary of the Spirit where a
higher light is shining. The kingdom is "at
hand/' it is "within," it comes "without obser-
vation," bearing its own evidences, summoning

22 Spiritual Health and Healing

man to seek it first and last. The particular
self making the quest is secondary. The essen-
tial is the great gift made to the self seeking
the Presence in all sincerity and devotion.

According to the old order of thought life
was a warfare. Hence the Gospel was put in
negative form. It seemed necessary to begin
by condemning and resisting, as if one were
struggling with an alien Power. In the new
order we find that a different attitude trans-
forms the same forces once deemed hostile. The
alleged enemy disappears in the divine light
shining from above. There is only friendliness
and peace, with a Life ever present that is work-
ing for health and freedom. Even the world
seems to have faded for the moment. To have
the world given back is to have it bestowed as
God's world.

To rise to the level of this higher light is to
find oneself in a measure a spokesman of the
Spirit speaking to the spirit in other men.
Such speech is given us through pure disinter-
estedness, when love touches the heart and the
human self interposes no obstacle. That is why
one may venture to call this the voice of the
living Christ, the healing Christ summoning
others to come into the same communion with
the Father. Not until the self thus becomes
an instrument have we seen what the universal

The Priceless Possession 23

reign of the Gospel on earth might be. It is
we who have been chosen, not that we attained
the end by mere self -consciousness. Our part is
to prepare the way as best we can for this con-
secration, with the hope that we may be chosen
disciples of the living Lord.

The central principle is that there is but one
Wisdom and all spiritual truth comes from this
source, that there is guidance for each need, a
wisdom which sees the state of the soul as it
truly is. Our part is to lift the Spirit to the
level of that Wisdom, that its guidance may
become our light on the path, its leading the
one we follow through every vicissitude. Other-
wise put, there is one Love and all genuine
devotion on our part is a sharing of its com-
passion, its tenderness and power to do good.
There is love for each heart. Love is the great
healing power, touching the soul, quickening,
opening, stirring into strength, and making the
soul a radiating centre.

No words can adequately tell what knowledge
of this priceless possession means for the in-
dividual. He who would gain it must first en-
tertain the idea of such unison with Life, then
see what leadings come, what there is in the
self and in daily life to impede. It is not the
idea but experience itself which gives the reality,
when there is a need which opens the spirit to

24 Spiritual Health and Healing

seek and find, to receive and give. What the
printed word may do is to suggest the way.
There is no formula that will unlock the inner
secrets. The way of the heart is more interior.
But affirmation will help us toward purity of
heart and the guidance which leads into "the
way." If we had kept the open vision the
way would immediately disclose itself. Experi-
ence is given us that we may regain this vision,
learning anew to see things as they are, as the
Spirit illuminates them.

There are moments when the Spirit seems to
possess us, to imbue us with power and cast
over our being its soft radiance. Cherishing
these beatific moments when they come, never
trying to control them, we find that the way is
disclosed to the next experience. That way
followed, the succeeding moments will appear,
and all experience will seem in truth a divine
revelation. Outward life as it unfolds from
moment to moment will then assume its proper
place as means of expression and means of test-
ing what the Spirit has disclosed. It is every-
thing to know that the real work is that of the
Spirit in us, whatever part man appears to
play. The human spirit is akin to the divine
and can conform to the Spirit's leadings. It
is also within man's power to be led into free-
dom in detail and at large, out of every anxiety,

The Priceless Possession 25

fear, friction, inertia, rebellion, or whatever the
state may be that impedes. Spirit is ready to
set us free when we say the word.

To see what this priceless possession means
for those who believe in spiritual healing as a
consequence of the spiritual life, we need to re-
consider the Gospel in the light of the distinc-
tion widely accepted among disciples of this
method, the distinction between Jesus and the
Christ. This distinction meant everything to
the pioneers, since the whole method of healing
turned upon recognition of "the Christ within."
The contrast grew up around the idea of the
inner self as immediately open to the Inward
Presence which experience itself revealed. It
was not a theoretical contrast. It is not
meant to be a basis for theology or for creeds.
Consequently one is asked to set doctrinal mat-
ters aside for the time being and turn to the
Gospels with this clue from inner experience.
There need be no loss in so doing, for a person
may freely return to the idea of the Lord which
has proved its value in the spiritual life. One
is simply asked to follow where the living Christ
may lead today, that the glorious message of the
Comforter may be fully given to men. Those
who have caught the new vision believe they
have a priceless possession because they find it
disclosing love, wisdom and power unknown

26 Spiritual Health and Healing

even to those who accept the Gospel in full as
a historical and doctrinal message, as the foun-
dation of the Church. For they have caught a
vision of the Church Universal over and above
all sects and creeds. And in catching this vision
they have found the test of its reality in "the
life."

Ill

THE CHRIST

"And many other signs truly did Jesus in the
presence of his disciples, which are not written
in this book. But these are written, that ye
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God; and that believing ye might have life
through his name." — John xx, 30, 31.

Two sharply contrasted views concerning
Christ have prevailed, the one that Jesus was
the unique Son of God from eternity, wholly
perfect and entirely divine; the other that he as
a man attained the wisdom and power indicated
in the Gospels as any one might strive to real-
ize a spiritual ideal. The one errs by over-
emphasis on the divine, leaves no room for temp-
tations and victories as we know them. The other
assigns such importance to the human self that
it fails to account for the universal wisdom and
the far-reaching love of the Christ. Nor is the
situation improved when we try to adopt one of
those elusive midway positions which stand, now
for the divine, and now for the human, but
which afford no clear idea of the divine as mani-

27

28 Spiritual Health and Healing

fested in the human according to a universal
ideal. We seem to be imposing our own limita-
tions on the Christ when we conceive of the
wisdom and love displayed by Jesus as results
of merely finite endeavor. What we need is an
approach which does not intrude upon the in-
finite but yields the conviction that through the
incarnation the divine love and wisdom dwelt
with men in a human self not too far removed
from the imperfections which we know.

We may begin by regarding the Christ as
universal divine love and wisdom, taking our
clue from the Gospels as they read. Such a
reading of the Gospels is possible if we deem the
recorded words parts only of the eternal Word
of God, written in the hearts and minds of men
throughout the ages. If the Christ is universal,
surely no statement in any book can limit this
wisdom so that there shall be nothing more to
say.

Anyone reading the Gospels without theo-
logical predispositions must admit that there is
a prevailing contrast between passages which
pertain to the historical Jesus and those that
imply special claims in his behalf as Messiah,
Christ, the Lord. By the term "the Christ"
we shall here mean Messiahship or Christhood,
however it may be interpreted. If Jesus were
"merely human," as some say, the special claims

The Christ 29

would seem preposterous indeed. If these claims
bespeak the Christ or universal divine love and
wisdom, they involve the conviction that God
has a universal way of making Himself known
to men.

The difficulty usually encountered rests on the
fact that Jesus speaks sometimes as man strug-
gling to be faithful, and sometimes as love or
wisdom implying all faith and all triumphs.
Distinguishing between the personality and the
love or wisdom for the moment, we may con-
sider those passages which would be almost
devoid of meaning unless we should think of
the Christ as universal. Note how numerous
are those passages which look beyond the man
who speaks to the universal principle which he
teaches.

"He that loveth father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son
or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
And he that doth not take up his cross and fol-
low after me, is not worthy of me. He that
findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth
his life for my sake shall find it" (Matt, x,
37-39). "He that receiveth you receiveth me,
and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent
me" (x, 40). "Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for

30 Spiritual Health and Healing

I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall
find rest unto your souls" (xi, 28, 29). The
wisdom thus speaking is declared to be greater
than the temple, greater than Solomon or
Jonah, and "Lord of the Sabbath." This wis*
dom was prior to the historical incarnation, it
is one with the Father in the works and teach-
ings recorded in the Gospels, and is able to be
with the disciples always, "even unto the end of
the world."

The Gospel of John from first to last ex-
presses this universal wisdom in such a way that
it can hardly be identified with or limited to a
personality in a certain time or place. It is
first associated with the Word, then with the
Light both in the sense of the enlightenment
of every man born into the world and also in
the sense of life. Then follow passages in which
the Christ is brought before us as "the living
water" which quenches the thirst of men, as the
bread of life which shall appease all hunger
even unto the life eternal, as the flesh and blood
which symbolize the immortal spirit, the divine
plenitude, and other passages which have no
meaning unless understood universally. The
Christ as thus brought vividly before us in the
greatest incidents recorded in the Gospels is
indeed the universal Giver of life, the way, the
truth, the surpassing power, triumphing over

The Christ 31

death, over space and time, over all limitations
or conditions.

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread
of life: he that cometh unto me shall never
hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never
thirst. . . . This is the bread that cometh down
from heaven. ... I am come that they might
have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly. ... I am the resurrection and the
life: he that believeth in me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live. . . . And I, if I be
lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto
me. ... I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father but by me."

Then follow still more intimate passages in
which Jesus, while speaking in part as a per-
son, utters statements which could be true only
of a universal spirit or principle. Thus we have
the figure of the vine as the symbol of all effec-
tive life in the Spirit, all true discipleship and
service. The Christ is here a principle such
that it can abide in all who are faithful to the
precepts and the love set before the disciples as
an ideal. It is not alone the spirit manifested
in Jesus in his fidelity to the Father, but one
capable of extension such that others shall re-
ceive it and abide in it. The self that speaks is
not limited to the man of flesh and blood.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the

32 Spiritual Health and Healing

husbandman. . . . Abide in me, and I in you,
... I am the vine, ye are the branches. . . .
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,
ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done
unto you. . . . Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit. . . . As the Father
hath loved me, so I love you: continue ye in
my love."

Even this the infinitely tender thought of the
love which is symbolized by the vine is sur-
passed in the great prayer of the seventeenth
chapter. For here Jesus is speaking to the dis-
ciples in statements addressed to the Father
expressive of a oneness which is not the one-
ness of identity, nor that of two beings whose
association is unique; but the spiritual relation-
ship which may become true of all.

"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
also that shall believe on me through their word ;
that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art
in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one
in us; that the world may believe that thou hast
sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me
I have given them: that they may be one, even
as we are; I in them, and thou in me, that they
may be perfected into one." The "I" or being
who here speaks also says, "for thou lovedst me
before the foundation of the world." It is not
a temporal self or merely historical being who

The Christ 33

speaks* A spirit or life is here expressed which
can bring all men together who receive spirit-
ual life as Jesus speaks of his oneness with the
Father. This passage carries our thought back
to that of the apparently unqualified statement
of Chapter X in which Jesus says, "I and my
Father are one."

This saying is often taken to mean the ab-
solute identity of the historical person Jesus
with the Father, and it is put with the passage
in Chapter XIV in which Jesus says, "He that
hath seen me hath seen the Father," with the
understanding that the two are absolutely one.
But this passage in Chapter X is followed by
the explanatory statement, ". . . the Father is
in me, and I in him." In the sense of this sur-
passing truth Jesus now prays that all may be
one, "as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us." Plainly the
oneness refers to unity of spirit in universal wis-
dom. We are to understand the figure of the
vine and the branches as a symbol implying in-
effable nearness which no words can express but
which the heart knows; not as an exact theo-
logical statement involving absolute identity of
substance.

Christ then is a unifying spirit or life which
brings men into the most intimate relationship
with the divine love, the relationship of Father

34 Spiritual Health and Healing

to son, Master to disciple, disciple to disciple
as brother with brother, and thus ever on and
on as far as this love shall be preserved in its
purity. This supreme relationship brings to
completion the promises of the preceding chap-
ters in which the Christ is symbolized as the
door, the light, the truth, the way, and the life,
each one being universal. These characteristics
are never mentioned in an exclusive sense, but
always with reference to the power going forth,
the bond of union, the guiding wisdom. We
are not led into a confined and narrow world
when Jesus assures us that no man comes to the
Father save through him, for he is speaking of
the universal way, truth, and life, the way of the
Christ. "All things are delivered unto me of
my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father; neither knoweth any man the
Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him" (Matt, xi, 27). The
power speaking is at once the bread, the blood,
the resurrection, the life, the light, the way, and
the truth. Each of these is universal, and only
through the Christ may they be understood.
Each of these is given that men may have life
more abundantly. "I am the resurrection and
the life . . . because I live ye shall live also."
All men thus knowing and living by the Christ
will be quickened.

The Christ 35

Again, we note the clearness of vision and
surety of knowledge with which Jesus performs
works of healing and other * mighty works."
These are plainly not the works of one who per-
forms miracles or mysteries, as if by special
privilege and by the aid of concealed powers.
He who performs these works proceeds as one
who knows precisely what he is doing and why,
who grasps the implied laws and understands the
forces employed. They are works given by the
Father for the Master to do, as bearing witness
that the Father has sent the Son (John v, 36).
Thus they have intelligible meaning, and the
disciples, if unable fully to understand, are bid-
den to believe "for the very works' sake." The
efficient principle is not only stated, namely,
that the Father dwelling in the Master does the
works; but assurance is given that those who
believe shall perform such works also. The
disciples had already been sent forth to perform
similar works, with explicit instructions con-
cerning this form of spiritual service.

It might confidently be said therefore that
the works were wrought according to a spiritual
science, so that Jesus could foretell the accom-
plishing of greater works when this science
should be more extensively applied. That is,
these works were wrought out in the open, in
the light of divine truth universal in scope and

36 Spiritual Health and Healing

meaning, for the purpose of making that truth
known which brings spiritual freedom and estab-
lishes the kingdom of God in the minds and
hearts of men. Hence Jesus said to critics who
sought to turn the matter aside from the main
principle, "But if I by the spirit of God cast out
devils, then is the kingdom of God come upon
you" (Matt.xii,28).

Furthermore, the extent of the principle is
shown by the fact that these works involve the
overcoming of all the adversities to which the
flesh is subject in man's ignorance of the power
of the spirit. The carrying out of the principle
involves the mastery of diseases of all kinds, the
casting out of obsessions, and the overcoming of
death as death is understood by those who know
not the power of the spirit. The emphasis is
everywhere put on the life or spirit which over-
comes, just as in the case of the crucifixion and
resurrection the emphasis belongs on the trium-
phant life which the Master lived. There is a fun-
damental difference between occult power which
an adept might acquire and display through
magic, and a universal spiritual science implying
divine laws capable of being understood through
interior enlightenment. The first calls for special
training in arts which man has acquired, arts
which even the unprincipled might employ; the

The Christ 37

second calls for a consecrated life into which man
is guided by divine light in his soul.

The same fidelity to a principle over and
above special privileges is shown in passages in
which Jesus, refusing to allow any credit to be
given, invariably refers to works given him to do,
words given him to speak, light to be made mani-
fest, truth that will bestow freedom. No words
could be more emphatic than the utterances of
Jesus in this connection. "And he said unto
him, Why callest thou me good? there is none
good but one, that is, God" (Matt, xix, 17) •
"The Son can do nothing of himself, but what
he seeth the Father do ... I can of mine own
self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my
judgment is just; because I seek not mine own
will, but the will of the Father who hath sent
me. ... If I bear witness of myself, my wit-
ness is not true. . . . There is another that
beareth witness of me. ... I am come in my
Father's name. . . . My doctrine is not mine,
but his that sent me. ... I do nothing of my-
self; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak
these things."

These are not the words of one who takes
credit unto himself. When Jesus says, "Before
Abraham was, I am;" "Search the scriptures
. . . they are they which testify of me ;" "Come
unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden,"

38 Spiritual Health and Healing

he is plainly not calling the weary and distressed
to him as a man only. Jesus teaches from first
to last that all wisdom, life and power have a
single source. It is the Father who gives accord-
ing to our needs, who guides us along life's path-
way, who sustains, provides, bestows life and
light. All the words of wisdom proceed from
Him. The works of healing are His. It is His
mission that saves, quickens and establishes the
kingdom. The divine plan of this mission ante-
dates Abraham. Jesus fulfils it step by step,
that all things may be accomplished according to
divine law, that the human may not intrude.
Hence he is able to say without qualification that
he is faithful in word and deed to the Father's
will. He knows that the Father's love and wis-
dom are so disclosed that the disciples actually
hear and see the Father in the Son: " . . . and
the word which ye hear is not mine, but the
Father's who sent me." "He that hath seen me,
hath seen the Father. . . . The Father and I
are one." It is these statements which disclose
to us the Christ, which show that a universal
wisdom and love were made manifest in Jesus.

We may state the universal principle as fol-
lows: There is one right attitude toward the
Father, whose wisdom and love constitute the
real efficiency in the minds and hearts of men,
namely, that we should seek first the purpose

The Christ 39

or forward movement of the divine life in process
through us, adopting this the divine trend of life
as our own, serving and living with the realiza-
tion that it is the Father who accomplishes in
each of us the work He would have us do. Jesus
is the living representative who not only teaches
but proves this Christ-wisdom which he came
to bring to men. As exemplifier of the Gospel
he turns attention away from himself. We must
"see the Christ stand/' saying with John the
Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God." We should
discern the universality of the way, the truth,
and the life. The Christ-wisdom is in a sense
separable and capable of being taught by itself.
Having discerned this universal principle, we
are ready to consider the selfhood of God as
Father on the one side and the personality of
Jesus in the historic sense on the other.

The practical consequences are plain. We
have before us a universal spiritual science in-
volving "the way, the truth, and the life." We
know its source, the universality of its provisions,
and of the guidances accessible to each. We
know that no man alone can save his fellow men,
that the true Saviour is God the Father, is the
Christ. This wisdom is in a sense over and above
each one of us as a person, inasmuch as we may
all abide in the divine love as branches of the true
vine. Hence it includes not only all men as sons

40 Spiritual Health and Healing

of God, but the Father too; it is the abiding
relationship throughout all eternity.

We may then say unqualifiedly that Christ is
divine; not merely "the anointed one," or the
enlightened one, but enlightenment itself. Hence
we see the value and meaning of impersonal
forms of expression, such as the spirit of truth,
the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. This is the
universal element foreseen in the Scriptures as
a whole. All spiritual history points forward
to it. It is discoverable, at any time when men
receive the essential enlightenment. It speaks
as it were to all men, in all time, this central
word of appeal reaching beyond all historical
events: "Behold, I stand at the door and
knock." "No man cometh unto the Father but
by me." "Neither doth any know the Father
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
willeth to reveal him." "I am the door: by me
if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall
go in and out and find pasture."

IV

TRUE SPIRITUAL SCIENCE

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free. ... If the Son . . . shall
make you free, ye shall be free indeed." — John
viii, 32, 36.

What is the Christ or universal wisdom
taught by the Master in the Gospels, and how
does it differ from other sciences? It is a higher
science pertaining to the inner life of man as
part of the whole mission of Jesus in making
known the kingdom of God on earth. It does
not start with the discovery and observation of
external facts, then work up to knowledge of
natural laws through inference and criticism,
as we proceed when fostering such a science as
physics or biology; it begins with a certain ap-
peal to the heart of man in behalf of an invisible
realm of being in which he has his real existence.
The test of its power or truth is not in its mere
law or rational consistency, in the ability of man
to think it out to the end and defend it against
all objections; but in its application to human
needs, through the works accomplished by it.
Hence its first appeal is to the individual to live

41

42 Spiritual Health and Healing

by it, see its truth for himself, become free him-
self, that he may be quickened to carry the liber-
ating message to others. It is the divine wisdom
descending into the human spirit and proving it-
self practical, workable, concrete; then working
out into social life and the physical organism,
that it may be shown in all its completeness or
objectivity. This divine science therefore proves
itself by taking shape in the concrete deeds of
men, the word made flesh in thought, in will and
in life, when it becomes a fact; whereas the nat-
ural sciences value facts first and only by labor-
ious thinking arrive at universals.

It might of course be said that from the first
Jesus has the social aim in view, that his one
great interest is brotherhood or service. But
since it is the individual doing his true work who
stands for the social ideal, we find Jesus every-
where beginning with individual men and sum-
moning them to a life of wholeness or all-round
health. Jesus addresses individuals whose needs
are typical, meanwhile setting forth principles
which enable us to see what is the true panacea.
The standard of health as we thus find it taught
point by point involves three great essentials.
First, there must be integrity within the self,
oneness of purpose between head and heart,
constancy in serving one master, with all that
this unity implies by way of purity of motive,

True Spiritual Science 43

courage and persistence in pursuing the one
ideal. This means loving the Father above all
men and above the world, believing in the divine
way of lif e with its provisions for daily welfare ;
and carrying this faith into the little affairs
which even more than the great contests of life
show what we truly believe. In the second place,
there should be love of the neighbor expressed
in concrete service proving its truth and real-
ity by deeds, with the love of Christ first in
order, whatever may be the love for father,
mother, brother; a losing of selfish or lesser
nature to find the unselfish or greater. And,
in the third place, there should be outward or
physical health proving that a man lives by the
Christ in fulness or integrity, instead of limit-
ing his interests to a narrow field or a special
theory.

In seeking these ends Jesus strikes at the root
of every life not founded on this unity within
the self. He singles out hypocrisy and self-
righteousness as typical of the wrong mode of
life in general. Why does he single out these
two? Because they stand for appearances con-
trary to man's real inner life. Until a man be-
gins to display in outward conduct what he truly
is within, as little as he may have actually at-
tained, he is unable to begin the constructive life,
there is war between forces within him, and he

44 Spiritual Health and Healing

slips back in one direction while striving to make
headway in another. The hypocrite may, for
example, pretend to be living a pure upright
life as regards matters in the social world while
seeking self -gratification in other ways usually
thrown out of account. The self-righteous man
may deem himself spiritual, therefore "saved,"
because he believes what Christ is said to teach
concerning salvation by those who separate be-
tween sin and the problems of health. But the
Master combines and teaches that which follow-
ers have separated. When he heals or forgives
he uses essentially the same language: "Thy sins
be forgiven thee," or, "Arise and walk." That
is to say, disease, whatever its external conditions
or occasions, arises from disordered life. There
is no permanent cure save through purification
within the life of every desire or activity, from
lust to self - centredness in its most refined
forms, which interferes with the free expression
of the divine image of health. Sin, whatever the
ostensible motives and social consequences, arises
from disordered life. There is no salvation save
through cleansing the entire "inside of the cup,"
including those conditions which make for dis-
ease. To have sins "forgiven," or to be made
whole of one's disease, is to begin to live in such
a way that neither the germs of sin nor condi-
tions that invite disease shall find fertile soil.

True Spiritual Science 45

The one is the other so far as the inner life is
concerned. For the Master is not talking about
symptoms, nor is he referring to the outward
occasions of disease or the semblances of sin. He
is speaking of causes, hence of the mode of life
which shall cleanse man through and through.
This has been a hard saying for the world. Men
have wanted to believe with their lips for the sake
of the soul's future welfare, while living as they
liked in the world and attributing their illnesses
and sorrows, their unhappiness and miseries to
outward things not supposed to be important.

We observe that Jesus does not apply his
science by taking away the effects of sin or out-
ward manifestations of disease, as if this sufficed
to save the soul. He strikes at the root of the
tree and bids his followers emulate him, despite
all the pretenses of the hypocritical and self-
righteous. We note, for example, that he seeks
faith on the part of both individuals and groups,
that he goes where faith prevails, commends
men and women displaying faith, and tells what
faith will accomplish. " According to your faith
be it unto you," or "Thy faith hath made thee
whole," is his general mode of expression. By
faith he plainly means much more than intel-
lectual acceptance, dependence on the divine
providence or trust for the future. He calls for
a mode of life in the living present which makes

46 Spiritual Health and Healing

for wholeness. Such faith is constructive, it im-
plies the affirmative attitude with its emphasis
on life and what life brings. To have faith is
"to enter into life," and to enter into life is to
turn each of those elements in our nature where-
by we oppose the divine incoming life into
elements of harmony and oneness. To have
faith is to believe in the divine image and like-
ness, and to do one's best to live by it in the little
passing thoughts, the minor motives or senti-
ments. True faith springs "out of the abun-
dance of the heart," in openness of spirit.

Again, we note that in applying this science
Jesus seeks the needy, "the poor in spirit," the
afflicted, the lost sheep; and that he readily as-
sociates with publicans and sinners, sitting at
meat with them, and meeting their needs as in-
dividuals. "They that be whole need not a physi-
cian, but they that are sick." This outreaching
in behalf of those who most need help leads one
to believe that the test of spiritual science is its
ability to solve difficult questions, which the
world gives up on the ground that man is selfish
and sensuous, burdened with fleshly appetites.
If we are not to draw any such circle about the
difficult and sinful, it must follow that we are
not to condemn the sinner as a human spirit;
but to summon him to the same fulness of life
which is everywhere the resource of the Gospel.

True Spiritual Science 47

Man's response to his physical appetites is in
accordance with his affections or love. If he
loves self first, he will seek those pleasures which
spring from selfishness and his sins and the dis-
eases springing from them will disclose self-love.
To love others above self will be to seek those
activities which express the true, full self
through service. Thus everything depends in
the last analysis on what man loves. Con-
sequently Jesus addresses the affections and
summons man to be his better, nobler self, "to
go and sin no more," to take up his bed and
walk, to be "every whit whole."

In the third place, wTe note that in carrying
out this spiritual science Jesus not only seeks
faith and turns first and last to those most in
need, but seeks disciples who will go forth and
labor in the vineyard as he has labored by meet-
ing the world where it is. Jesus gave the disciples
"power against unclean spirits to cast them out,
and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner
of disease." The Christ does not merely bring
the truth which sets them free, as if individual
freedom were the goal of life. It does not simply
teach men to pray, to preach, to discern the
spirits of people, singling out those who are like
houses divided against themselves; but quickens
them with an efficient stirring love, and by
making them "free indeed" inspires them to be

48 Spiritual Health and Healing

active agents for the Christ wisdom. The power
bestowed upon the disciple is not the power
which he attains by himself through the practice
of meditation, concentration or inner control; it
does not spring from silence or receptivity alone ;
nor does it come through spiritual understand-
ing apart by itself, as a product of study or the
training of interior faculties. This power is like
a gift, although universal in type — that is, a
power bestowed by the Giver of life sending the
disciple forth to give as freely as he has received.
Almost paradoxically this science bids man
begin with himself and yet do anything rather
than start with himself as if he could merely by
taking thought become a Christ. The great
truth that in and of himself man is naught and
can accomplish nothing is so great, so deep, and
far-reaching, that he who sees it has every reason
in the world to anticipate profound consequences
in his experience. Naturally then a large part
of the Gospel is devoted to telling man how to
begin with himself. Having begun to forgive,
to cast out the beams that are in his own eye, to
overcome anxiety and fear, to "let the dead
bury their dead," man may acquire true receptiv-
ity. Having learned that both sin and sickness,
so far as they spring from the life within him,
have the same root, he would next ask, What
then is my true self, when I am whole? If sick-

True Spiritual Science 49

ness be separateness, and sin be separateness,
what part of me is not sick, what remains in-
tact when I sin? This must be my inner self-
hood or spirit, the child of God made in the
divine image and likeness. I may say with con-
fidence that my heavenly Father intended me to
be sound and sane in all respects, and that in all
my thinking and willing I should take this heaven-
ly pattern as my standard, dwelling on the divine
ideal. In my true self I am a child of light, a re-
cipient of divine wisdom, open to divine love.
This is the real source of health and of virtue.
This source is within me, within every human
soul, awaiting recognition and co-operation.
The science of the Christ is above all the science
of the true self.

What shall we say concerning inherited and
external conditions which do not correspond with
inner reality? What shall we do about manifes-
tations of disease and sin which men minister to
in the world? Shall we combat them too? Not
in the same way by any means, if we understand
the method of Christ. That method has been
misinterpreted throughout the ages. It has
been taken to mean the practice of the nega-
tive virtues, especially meekness, or non-resist-
ance. But when we read the Gospels with open
eyes, we find the Master taught a higher resist-
ance, overcoming hate through loving our

50 Spiritual Health and Healing

enemies, returning good for what is termed evil,
the expression of righteous judgments in place
of condemnation, and the outdoing of so-called
virtuous people by freely giving as we would
have others give unto us in times of equal need.
Hence denial of the self does not mean self-sacri-
fice or the mortification of the flesh. The spirit
indeed is willing while the flesh is weak, and
there are manifold temptations to guard against.
There are reasons for sacrifice on occasion. The
great idea, however, is the conquering of the
nature in us which inclines toward selfishness.
The mastery of self is not by any means a nega-
tive consideration.

The Master does not turn into by-paths of
endless discussion by contrasting the real with
the unreal and developing a metaphysics
founded on this contrast. He leaves this for
those who care more for mere theory. Always
he brings to man the condition, "If thou wilt
enter into life," then do thus and so. The rest
is death and need not be considered. His science
turns upon truths which make for life. The
way out of spiritual death is to have one Master,
truth, or way ; and to pursue this ideal with entire
consecration. If thou wilt not enter into life,
then receive the consequences of allegiance to
riches, the world, self. For there is action and
reaction whereby each man draws to himself

True Spiritual Science 51

what he loves. It is because what man loves is
more central than what he thinks that Jesus
directs attention to two great types of love.
Thus it is borne in upon us with great conviction
that the science which Jesus taught is the science
of love to God and man.

It is hard for man to see that the way of the
world is not the way of life, to see that intellectual
rule may mean spiritual death, and that even
when man has commanded all the forces of his
natural environment which make for health he
will not be truly sound and sane. Most men
put the primary emphasis upon outward things,
or if not they put it upon heredity, racial evil,
human nature, or some other scapegoat. The
Gospel bids man look to himself so decisively
that he will never wish to turn his eyes anywhere
else in the world.

The critic objects to this position, however.
In an ideal world man might conquer his spirit,
so it is said; under other conditions he might
be unselfish, or truly free and wholly sound.
But as matters are now we are all bound up
with one another in ills and tribulations which
we never bargained for, the innocent suffer
with the guilty, and the individual can do little
save to look out for himself, taking a little
pleasure as he goes.

No, our science insists, it is not primarily a

52 Spiritual Health and Healing

question of heredity or environment, of handi-
caps or social relationships into which we are
born. It is a question of the great eternal truth
that man is a spirit born to mastery through
divine love and wisdom in whose image and
likeness he exists. There is no heredity so power-
ful as "our heredity from God." There is no
environment equalling that of the divine re-
sources more intimately at hand than any one
knows. There is no condition so adverse that
the spirit cannot begin forthwith to triumph
over it. For the world exists for the sake of
Spirit, the human spirit is clothed with a bodily
organism as by a garment, and all things favor
the man who lives by this great truth. We must
start with the Spirit, think and live for the Christ,
regarding the outward life as a sphere for the
expression of spiritual things, if we would real-
ize the full force of this science.

This is spiritual rather than mental science, be-
cause, having led the way to the inner life, it does
not stop with mental attitudes, beliefs, anticipa-
tions and suggestions ; but presses forward to the
central statement that man's entire existence is
involved, hence that if he would "enter into life"
he must overcome everything in his nature that
makes for selfishness with all its fruits in sins
and illnesses. It is understood of course that
as members of the human family .we are all inter-

True Spiritual Science 53

related, so that we suffer with one another. It
is understood that true health is social, and true
life is social. But instead of postponing until
some future period the direct effort to change
adverse social matters, the Gospel bids each man
who would "enter into life" to begin to act, live,
think and love today as a member of the spiritual
order, starting first with the power of the spirit
to conquer the flesh.

We answer the question then, How does the
spiritual science of Jesus differ from other
sciences? by saying that it must be proved by
each individual before he can prove it to another.
In these four brief records called the Gospels are
set down all the points needed to disclose the
way to the perfect life for all who make effort
to apply the Christ to the conditions at hand,
shirking nothing, making no pretense, giving all
to one Master. The way is narrow and strait, if
you please, — and few are found entering upon it.
So, too, the harvest is plenteous but the labor-
ers few. In the case of those who turn aside
there is a radical misunderstanding, namely, that
one can obtain more happiness and greater free-
dom by going some other way. This is in very
truth the way of the fulness of life which we all
love whether we admit it or not. Each of us has
the power to make the effort. The forces flow-
ing hitherward from the divine centre are all

54 Spiritual Health and Healing

tending that way. We were so constituted as
to be able to walk in the way which the Master
summoned us by setting the example. The
true science of life is precisely this spiritual
science of the Christ. There is no opposing
power. The Gospel summons man to the perfect
life. It summons him to freedom, health, hap-
piness; therefore to fellowship with his brother
man in this life of happiness, health and true
freedom.

THE CHRIST METHOD

At first thought it seems too great a claim on
our part to endeavor to heal by the method of
Christ. For was not Jesus master of life and
death, direct giver of life to men? Were not the
works of healing different in kind from those
wrought today? We find the Master speaking
"with authority," not as men, but uttering de-
cisive words which brought immediate conse-
quence as by a miracle. Why then should we
presume to accomplish works of a kindred
nature?

Yet if Jesus's works of healing were wrought
according to a science, this science becomes our
standard and we can do no less than try to be
faithful as far as the divine light has led us on
our way. The Master does indeed speak with
authority. He utters the affirmative words, "Be
thou made clean," "Go thy way; as thou hast
believed, so be it unto thee," "Stretch forth thine
hand." It is our privilege, however, to consider
how the affirmative word reaches the heart and
sets the sufferer free. Jesus everywhere appeals

55

56 Spiritual Health and Healing

to men to believe and follow. Attributing all the
works of healing to the Father, he drew attention
to those works as evidences of a principle which
was known by its fruits. He promised other
works to those believing on him, and taught that
belief in him meant belief in God. Why should
one do less than to take Jesus at his word, en-
deavoring faithfully to understand?

Comparison of the works of healing shows
that Jesus proceeded according to a principle.
Responding and appealing to faith, he healed
when there was readiness to receive. This ap-
pealing attitude was so strong and outreaching
that the centurion responded with implicit faith
in behalf of his servant, not then present; the
leper declared with full conviction, "Lord, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." One suf-
ferer merely begged the privilege of touching
the hem of Jesus's garment. Then, too, the
Master repeatedly declared that he came to per-
form his works for "the lost sheep," he sent the
disciples forth in quest of the lost and faithful,
once more showing that works were to be wrought
by a principle of intelligent response according
to need. The disciples were not merely com-
missioned with power for special purposes, as if
their works were to end by the withdrawing of
that power. They were taught by precept and
example in line with the whole Gospel as "the

The Christ Method 57

way, the truth, and the life." These instructions
lose all their force if we try to confine them by
the supposition that they implied special priv-
ileges.

Again, we find the Master displaying what
seems like special knowledge of the hearts and
minds of people around him, also knowledge of
suffering people at a distance. He not only
knows the thoughts of critics who hesitate to ex-
press their adverse sentiments, and the timid
questionings of the disciples; but is able to tell
the condition of the maid who was "not dead,
but sleeping," and of Lazarus in successive stages
of his sleep unto death. This discernment of the
real in contrast with the apparent state was
characteristic of his work among the sick as a
whole. Surely this intuition was akin to that
which we all possess in some degree, w^hich some
have had in marked degree who have recovered
the method of spiritual healing, and which may
be recognized and cultivated by all who believe
in "the Christ within." To aspire to heal in
this way is to make ready for that discernment
which reveals the spiritual states of men and
women ready for such healing.

Studying a given instance of healing, we note
that Jesus took the clue from the affirmative
attitude and its possibilities on the part of the
sick or sorrowing. In the case of the man blind

58 Spiritual Health and Healing

from his birth, Jesus explained that it was not
that this man had sinned or that his parents were
sinners. What he emphasized was the positive
consideration, that is, the work of God which was
made manifest through healing. The anointing
with clay was incidental to this. The man when
restored was true to the Master's confidence in
him, as he courageously met the scepticism of
the multitude. Presently the man went further
and began to plead for recognition of the power
of God, since no sinner could have wrought so
marvellous a thing. "If this man were not of
God, he could do nothing." Then Jesus met this
display of faith with a further expression of con-
fidence: "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"
The man did indeed believe, and he entered into
the joys of his faith through acceptance of the
Messiah. If this experience is in any way typical,
we may see in it a verification of the science
which the Master was teaching the disciples.
Doubtless others responded in the same way
through adopting the affirmative attitude.

The most touching incident, perhaps, is that
of the woman taken in the act. Conventionally
speaking there was every reason for condem-
nation. The Christians of the world at large have
taken much the same position as that of the self-
righteous men who gloried in their discovery of
the woman. It is still customary to condemn,

The Christ Method 59

and to uphold a double standard of morality, in-
stead of trying to discern the heart of both men
and women with open vision. It was contrary
to all expectations that Jesus should quietly
occupy himself with drawing a figure upon the
ground, then bid each guiltless critic cast a stone
at the poor creature. The world has scarcely
begun to make trial as yet of that higher resist-
ance which left the Master alone with the ac-
cused — so persistently have we misunderstood
what "non-resistance" means.

Connection having been broken with those
forces which would have swept the guilty woman
to her condemnation and made her an outcast for
life, the Master turned in far-sighted charity to
the accused. Jesus was not there to condemn.
He took no account of conventional standards, or
social appearances, but, as in all other instances
of which we have record, looked deeply into the
heart. For it was a question of the continued
life of this woman, not of her mere past. She
was a human spirit and had all the rights which
any soul in need can ever have to be regarded
as an individual, not as a mere unit in a social
group belonging to a given nation. As a human
spirit endowed with affection, she was sum-
moned by the Master to come out into the light
of her nobler self, to go and live for that self,
the connection being broken with her sin. She

60 Spiritual Health and Healing

was thus called toward the fulness of life be-
cause it was possible for her to respond. May
we read in this an expression of that method
which is universal either in disease or sin?

This faith in the human spirit did not mean
neglect of actual circumstances under which the
spirit meets experience. For on other occasions
we find Jesus speaking plainly about dark spots
in human society. He speaks of the good man
and the evil man, according to the expressions
they make of the life within. He refers to blind
leaders of the blind, and warns his disciples re-
garding various forms of deceit. Throughout
his teaching he shows that our words condemn or
justify us, that every idle word brings its effect;
hence that no man escapes from impurity of
thought by any theoretic device meant to conceal
or minimize. The Master in fact says plainly
that his teaching comes to cause dissension, as
a sword brings pain. Not in any way could he be
said to compromise with destructive forces. Yet
all his judgments are constructive. He comes
to find lost sheep and call them home to that king-
dom of love which every man may enter who will
turn about and adopt the affirmative attitude.
He comes that men may have life and have it
more abundantly.

To be the Master's follower in the field of
spiritual healing is to adopt as one's ideal this

The Christ Method 61

standard of spiritual health and see why people
are held up to that standard. It would be im-
possible to emulate the Master without trying to
live the Christian life in fulness, taking up the
cross, losing one's life to find it, going and selling
whatever riches one may have that stand in the
way of loving Christ. He who would lead men
as little children must himself become like those
the Master blessed. He who would teach others
how to forgive should begin by forgiving if he
have aught against anyone. In short, he who
would guide his fellow men into life is bidden
first to "enter into life" himself. But all this is
understood when we are speaking of any phase
of Christian service whatever. There is but one
law.

What we have so long failed to see is that
the mode of life which the world has accepted as
the ideal in a certain direction is the guide in all
directions. That life, for example, is a life of
giving, not "getting." It means acting unflinch-
ingly by a higher principle, never resisting any
force unfriendly to man on its own level but al-
ways on the upper level, through love. Healing
in accordance with the Christ is an instance of
this law of giving. Christ is the Giver of life.
What all men need in their spiritual illnesses is
this Life that quickens the heart, frees the spirit
from its bondages. What all men need, Christ

62 Spiritual Health and Healing

in the heart already knows. It is our human
privilege to be a messenger of this gospel. If we
have seen its truth in one sphere of human needs
we realize that it applies equally to all. The
world has not to any extent tried the principle of
unstinted giving. So the world has not seen that
this principle applies to healing.

In his sins and illnesses man shuts himself into
a narrow world. He thinks and wills, schemes
and acts for himself chiefly, considering how he
can attain his private ends, how he may gain
subtle sway over people, using them for his own
interests. When pain and suffering and the con-
sequences of his self-love come upon him man
enters more deeply into self, asks to be freed from
the results as mere results without inquiry into
causes. A creature of outward things and inter-
ests for the time being, he expects to be set free
by external forces. He professes to care nothing
about what is spiritual. He simply wishes to go
on with the game.

To be gifted with the Christ-spirit even in
small degree is to see what is the trouble with
man. To be touched more deeply by that spirit
is to be moved with compassion. For man has
separated himself in heart from his Maker. He
is acting as if apart, detached from spiritual re-
lationship with his brothers. The pains he suf-
fers are meant to lead him to consciousness of

The Christ Method 63

his real situation. They are not hostile, not alien
forces warring upon him, but blessings in dis-
guise. But he is in a negative attitude, opposing
the Love that would bless him, struggling not to
see the lessons of experience. There will be no
freedom for him while he rebels. But the Christ-
love comes to him to lift him out of his rebellion
that he may see what he is doing, may will to be
free. It comes to give him back to himself.
Therefore the discernment it brings makes the
eye single to the ideal, inspires a vision of the
self as made in the image and likeness of God,
created to be in health and freedom.

The affirmative attitude on the part of the hu-
man spirit puts the soul of one who would serve
as healer in touch with this outpouring or giving
of Life. In the affirmative attitude we believe
to the utmost and look for the highest. In that
attitude we see the best in another and hold firm-
ly to it. The efficiency is always from the one
Giver of life, but this life becomes most active
through us when we open the spirit to receive
and give it as if it were our own. The affirma-
tive is at the same time the giving attitude. In
this attitude there is no condemnation, no judg-
ment, no effort to influence another to go one's
own way. There is full giving of oneself in ser-
vice, that whatever is best for another may be
spoken and may be done. To give is never mere-

64 Spiritual Health and Healing

ly to use, to control or manage. To give is to be
ready to be used, to let the divine wisdom have
full expression, to withhold nothing of the divine
love.

Yet this unstinted giving of oneself that the
spirit may be an unimpeded instrument of ex-
pression for the healing Christ, is not at random
or merely in general. It is the essence of the
Christ to incarnate itself, to unite the Word with
the flesh in definite and concrete form. This is
why in the example given us in the Gospels the
Christ is always seen in relation to the most in-
timate needs of the individual, carrying purity
into the thought, love into the heart, and a cor-
responding purification into the bodily life.
Every individual is sacred to the Christ. There
is comfort for every sorrowing heart. No man
or woman, however separate in consciousness
from recognition of this great wisdom, is too in-
significant or even too sinful to warrant refusal
to give. The one condition is willingness, faith,
openness of heart such that the healing love may
enter in.

Thus too every thought of ours, every mental
ability to make our realization concrete, every
prompting of the heart however slight may be
dedicated to this divine service. There is every
reason for asking for what we will "in the name
of Christ," every reason for the prayer of the

The Christ Method 65

heart which believes that it will receive. "All
things are yours" in that spirit. Now "we have
the mind of Christ." We are renewed by that
mind to utter the quickening word. And natur-
ally in our prayers we will ask for more, since
we now begin to realize at last something like
the fulness of the promise, that other signs shall
follow, that "greater works" will be done.

VI

SPIRITUAL HEALTH.

"If man had lived the life of good, his inte-
riors would be open to heaven, and through heav-
en to the Lord ; thus also the smallest and invis-
ible vessels would be open, and man would be
without disease." This statement admits us into
the heart of the matter as spiritual health is re-
garded by one of our great seers. It tells us
that man's rightful estate according to the divine
purpose is one of health, happiness and freedom.
There is an incoming life from our Creator tend-
ing to keep us in perfect health. Disease is not
an infliction sent down upon us, suffering is not
a means of discipline bestowed by a stern will,
as devotees of a former theology used to say.
Spiritually speaking, it is normal to be well and
strong, and if normal to be in excellent health
it is right for man to be free and happy. All
our thinking in the matter should start from this
the divine ideal, not from the negative fact of
man's illnesses and sorrows. It follows that true
spiritual healing comes about through an endea-
vor to return to our normal condition, that we

66

Spiritual Health 67

need give attention to disease and its causes only
that we may learn how to remove obstructions
which impede the inflow of the divine life, the
life which makes for our health and freedom.

To be prepared to see the force of this view of
man's health we need to remind ourselves that
real causes are spiritual, whatever else may also
be true concerning life under natural conditions.
Man is a spirit, and the source of his being is in
God, in whom he lives, moves and has his being,
from whom there comes the impetus to develop
and achieve. The divine life enters his spirit
from within, in "the heart" whence springs his
inmost love and volition; and proceeds thence
into his understanding, or the life of thought, and
so on throughout his selfhood, into the physical
organism. Openness of heart tends to illumina-
tion of the understanding, and an illumined un-
derstanding can express itself in a quickened
brain, a harmonious nervous organism and
physical system, if there be no hindrances not
yet overcome. The centre of power is within the
soul, in the first place, and the centre must be
kept open and free if the currents of life shall
have free opportunity to course through man's
whole being. But the power received by man
tends toward expression, to be as completely
manifested as possible. There can be perfect
correspondence between soul and body only so

68 Spiritual Health and Healing

far as the life which touches the heart shall quick-
en every particle and possess every organ. For
correspondence means the expression of spirit-
ual power in exterior states. To be thorough-
going it must be carried out into expression in
every detail.

We are prepared then for another statement
which touches the heart of the matter, namely,
that "all diseases in man have correspondence
with the spiritual world." This statement seems
absurd at first, since we think of the spiritual
world as "heaven." But the term is here used
in its largest sense to i /.elude the entire realm of
influences affecting the inner life of man. Heav-
en is order, harmony; but the power tending to
produce it within us may be interfered with, and
if there is selfishness or uncleanness at the centre
there will be a corresponding outward expres-
sion. If the spiritual life sickens, if there is spir-
itual death, negation or strife, then the outward
organism will manifest the conflict that is going
on within. To say this is not to ignore any of
the disturbances on the surface commonly called
disease and attributed to purely physical causes.
But these are secondary matters, and we are try-
ing to look at the whole question in the light of
what is primary.

If, for example, man is living a life of intem-
perance of any sort, there is both the effect pro-

Spiritual Health 69

duced on the body through drinking, smoking,
excessive eating, inordinate physical desires and
passions ; and also the mode of life within man's
selfhood which permits and fosters this intem-
perance, leading as it does from one excess to
another. In contrast with all this excess, ration-
al balance between tendencies and desires is
health. If envy rules at the centre, if there is
hate at the helm, revenge, anger, jealousy, bit-
terness, anxiety, worry; fear of the loss of mon-
ey, reputation, or fear of punishment and death
— in each case the person's life is affected ac-
cording to the prevalence or persistence of the
disordered state. Whatever evil desire, lust, or
other selfish emotion arises to throw man's inner
life into discord also causes the bodily organism
to suffer. If man is in doubt, in inner strife or
temptation, his mental and physical life respond
accordingly. All these disordered states are
traceable to the prevailing desire or love, since
what man wants he pursues, and by putting
forth his activity in the chosen direction he draws
himself toward the conditions which fulfil his
desire. We all know how the changes begin
which cause our misery, if we are in the habit of
noticing the immediate results in our feeling.
To have an impulse to do a good act, to be chari-
table, forgiving, generous; and then to cut off
this prompting to be generous by being mean,

70 Spiritual Health and Healing

small, hateful, spiteful, is to find our inner life
immediately narrowed, cramped, impeded.

Whatever removes man from tranquillity
through worldly cares and anxieties, as quickly
affects his outer life. When the inner life is un-
clean, the thoughts and emotions find ways of
expression by enlarging upon this impurity.
For our directions of mind readily grow into
prevailing states and attitudes, fear and lust
alike grow by what they feed upon. If there is
mental weakness, a negative attitude, gnawing
doubt, or despair; then this attitude affects our
daily thought and conduct. But if the affirma-
tive attitude prevails, if every incident is turned
to account so as to give courage, to strengthen
hope, lead to success, then equivalent outward
results follow. To believe in success and to stick
to this belief is indeed the sure way to secure an
outwardly successful life.

The central consideration is never the effect
or outward expression alone, however many at-
tendant ills it may lead to; but the inward state
from which it springs, the state which must be
changed before the effects will change. " Since
the causes of disease are in the spiritual world,
and operate under the law of correspondences,
and indeed are evils of that world, the diseases
are not to be dreaded for what they are in them-
selves. The actual calamity or illness is in the

Spiritual Health 71

spiritual evil it externally represents. It is
selfishness which is the veritable thing to be
dreaded. It is lust, jealousy, unkind thoughts,
and enmities that are the real ill-health. Diseases
of the body are material images of selfishness
and sin. These are the concrete forms of our
lusts. These mental things are their origin and
their source of continuance." l

This is an unpleasant truth. People do not
like to have their diseases connected with their
life as a whole. They approve of the artificial
separation which Christians have made for cen-
turies between sin and sickness, in the face of
the fact that Jesus identified the two and sought
to establish spiritual health or wholeness. They
wish to be cured of their illnesses as things apart,
that is, as bodily maladies susceptible to physical
remedies only, that they may go on gratifying
their favorite desires as before. They wish to
keep such intemperance or excess as may please
them, according to the conventional life they
lead; and they refuse to classify these excesses
as sins or diseases. Nearly everybody objects
to any sort of teaching, whether urged by the
Church, by physicians, by science, or by social
reformers of any school, however liberal or radi-
cal, which traces human ills and evils down to
selfishness and bids man master himself. And

i "Psyehiasis," C. H. Mann, pp. 128, 131.

72 Spiritual Health and Healing

so the would-be leaders and reformers are in
league as it were not to make the indictment too
severe. We do not like to be fundamental in
our thinking. We do not like plain truths con-
cerning our miseries. Too much effort would be
required on our part were we to become free,
sane and pure from the ground up, in all depart-
ments of life.

To say, however, that all diseases correspond
with spiritual states is to realize that there are
also spiritual states which mean freedom for us
all. There is tranquillity, for example, serenity
or peace at the centre with its equivalent ideas
and emotions, calm and stable, and a well-or-
dered nervous system insuring inner control,
skilful use of the brain and efficiency in outward
work. There is interior openness to life, accom-
panied by what we call spontaneity of spirit,
freshness of feeling, a certain youthfulness and
vigorous power of accomplishment. When man
acknowledges the one source of all life and
power, and endeavors to live by the divine love
and wisdom in all things, this responsiveness at
the centre invites power which takes away any
number of interferences within the self. There
is obedience in the true sense, not through mere
humility or any negative attitude, but through
dynamic harmony with the divine will, the de-
sire to be, to live and to act as God would have

Spiritual Health 73

man act when attaining the fulness of life. Ser-
vice is then the natural expression of the inner
harmony. With faith at the centre there is
adaptation to divine opportunities along the
way. The moral life springs from the spiritual
and man shows by his deeds in his home, in so-
ciety, in civic service, in the commercial world,
that he serves one master. To be a house at unity
with itself is to be free from a thousand ills from
which we find men suffering who have divided
houses within them. In brief, it might be said
that to be in disease or sin is to be trying to serve
two masters; to be in health and freedom is to
serve one Master, the Christ.

"He wTho lives in good," says Swedenborg,
"and believes that the Lord governs the universe,
and that all good is from the Lord alone, that
all life is from Him, . . . thus that from Him
we live, move, and have our being, is in such a
state that he can be gifted with heavenly free-
dom, and together with it peace ; for he then trusts
solely in the Lord, and has no cares for other
things, and is certain that all things are tending
to his good, his blessedness and his happiness
to eternity."1 That is to say, man is thereby
brought into a state of unity between his will
and his understanding, he receives the divine
influx as one and is at peace with God and man

i "Arcana Ccelestia," No. 2892.

74 Spiritual Health and Healing

in his spirit. He does not merely receive from
within, he also gives. He does not seek first of
all to get possessions or wealth, to acquire from
his fellow men; he tries to give to men by per-
forming his true function in the world as a con-
structive member of society. Since there is ef-
flux or expression, there can be an ever greater
influx from the divine source of love and wisdom.
It seems an enormous step from the external
world where we are seeking the causes of dis-
eases in unsanitary surroundings, in impure
water and germs, to the realm of thought where
health means spiritual unity within the self. In
so far as man's environment is made sanitary
and all obnoxious germs are destroyed, we ex-
pect man to be healthy, and all this without re-
gard to what he may believe concerning spiritual
things. But we have not been carrying on an
equally vigorous campaign to teach man to ap-
preciate and rightly use the sanitary environ-
ment we hope to create for him. We forget that
health in the true sense includes every phase of
man's life, and that when there is no inner un-
derstanding the forces of the external environ-
ment may count for naught. What we need
above all is enlightenment expressing itself
according to need in conformity with the spir-
itual standard.

Spiritual Health 75

Man cannot truly be understood in one part
of his selfhood merely, as if he were a being of
flesh and blood with an obscure entity called "the
soul" somewhere hidden within the brain. To start
with man in an adequate way is to begin with
the great fact that he is spiritual and lives in both
the spiritual world and the natural, partly recip-
ient of spiritual forces within his spirit and part-
ly associated with physical things and influences
through his organism. The spiritual realm is in
every conceivable sense the real domain of causes.
Nothing in the natural world has any power of
change, motion or life of its own; things in the
natural world change, move and live by virtue of
the immanent energies animating them, energies
which exist for spiritual ends. This is true even
when natural events appear to go contrary to
order. The disorders of the natural world can-
not be understood save through knowledge of the
powers that normally make for order. Man
being a spiritual being, living by spiritual influx,
every event in his life must be put in relation to
that central truth, however far removed it may
seem from the ideal. If he suffers discords to
break into the harmony of his life, these are due to
misapplication of powers which are intended to
produce harmony. There is but one efficiency
in any event. The variations from harmony,
health and freedom from which man suffers are

76 Spiritual Health and Healing

one and all expressions of his own lack of adjust-
ment to this one Life.

It becomes plain that the physical organism
has no choice in what it shall express, since it is
merely an instrument for the use of the spirit,
obedient to the understanding and the will.
Whatever the spirit wills, whatever man yields
himself to as the goal of action, becomes mani-
fest in bodily expression and conduct even though
man permits himself to sink lower than the
brutes. The body does not live from nature
alone but from spirit. The body appears to
move and live by itself because the spirit is in
such intimate accordance with it that the two
move as one. The spirit is within it in a connec-
tion as intimate as that of the fibre within the
muscle. The spirit has in fact taken unto itself
a body or visible form, it has clothed itself with
the natural form as with a garment.

Since the physical organism is thus responsive
to the spirit, it follows that when any disturb-
ance such as anxiety, restlessness, ill-will, anger,
jealousy, hatred, bitterness, malice or any other
distemper that expresses selfishness becomes
active or breaks forth within, then the brain re-
sponds, the nervous system also responds, and the
physical organism as a whole reports the inner
condition. This is true, whether it be merely a
question of any angry emotion which shows it-

Spiritual Health 77

self in the flushed cheek, the clenched fist and the
swift blow, or a question of deep-seated mental
states steadily showing themselves in a life of
habitual servitude to angry passions. There is
disturbance whenever anger, hate, and the other
disrupting emotions gain ascendency. This is
so because man was made not for anger but for
love, not for selfishness but for fellowship and
service through response to the Fatherhood of
God and the brotherhood of man. He was made
for health, happiness and freedom. The life-
energies should course through his being without
let or hindrance. Whatever disturbs his inner
life disturbs the life-currents generally. The
more central the disturbance, the more wide-
spread and serious are the effects coming from
it. Whatever affects man's inner life affects his
attitude toward the spiritual world and the ener-
gies coming therefrom; for man as a receptacle
of life inevitably takes some sort of attitude,
either by responsively adopting an experience,
or by refusing and struggling against it. Thus
any change of state within him affects his rela-
tionship to the divine life. Thus it is that really
to explain his diseases however external they may
seem, one must take into account what is at the
same time in process at the centre, as he looks
above and beyond himself in aspiration or as he
looks more deeply within his lesser self in petti-

78 Spiritual Health and Healing

ness of motive. In either case he turns in a cer-
tain direction of mind which carries with it a
sphere of influences. For all his states have
their likenesses in the forces which they attract
and to which they correspond.

To say this is not to declare that the influence
of the spirit upon the body is the only influence
that results from man's disordered inner life.
The physical organism as we well know is not
like a channel through which a stream flows one
way only, it is not like an utterly silent ser-
vant or mere machine. The soul influences the
body and in the course of time makes manifest
whatever is in process inside, marking in the
face the results of anxiety, nervousness, inner
conflict, repression, unhappiness, domestic troub-
les; or touching it with evidences of beauty and
serenity of character, as the case may be. But
the body also stores away for future trouble or
future harmony the states into which it has been
shaped by long-continued activity, by habit, mis-
use, excess, indulgence. These adverse physical
conditions act in the course of time like counter-
forces to impede and deaden the spirit. If the
inner life is constrained, distraught, rebellious,
cantankerous, the body faithfully shows the con-
sequences and sends them back upon the soul.
Thus the conservative, crystallized, deadened
inner life of the person who adheres to an old

Spiritual Health 79

system of belief with rigid aristocracy and arbi-
trary intolerance becomes manifest in conditions
of the physical system that in turn still further
deaden the inner life.

The various stages are seen in the case of un-
clean desires of various sorts. These spring in
the first place out of misuse of instinctive forces
in themselves wholly good. The excesses in due
time quicken desires which grow by what they
feed upon, and lead to further indulgence. If
man yields he goes over to the side of selfishness.
His nervous system and bodily organism obe-
diently carry out and foster his desire, giving it
back with increase. Thus the body comes in time
to condition the mind. To the extent that this
condition increases man becomes the creature of
the instrument he should have controlled. When
such a condition results, something more radical
than a change of mind must occur. The body
must be cleansed. Some spiritual influence must
touch and transform the man, that he may take
possession of his instrument, and make it alive
with spiritual health. Only through a transfor-
mation of both spirit and body can he become
"every whit whole." It is the power of the divine
Spirit within him, the healing Christ which ac-
complishes this wondrous work.

VII

SPIRIT AND BODY

In the endeavor to learn just how the spirit
controls the body, it is important to note that
man may either give assent to bodily tendencies
or refrain from such desires. Thus he may be
either slave or master, in the one case apparently
without any control over his body at all, in the
other with every evidence of such control.
Whichever way he turns, and whether seeming
to control his body or not, his assent or endeavor
to control becomes an attitude which gathers its
like and influences the body, an attitude which
continues to be effective in that way until checked
by a stronger activity than that of the tendency
in question.

The body is adapted to receive the living
forces which flow in from the spirit in such a way
that man may act spontaneously, scarcely aware
that his bodily organism conditions his spiritual
life. But inasmuch as spirit and body act as one,
whatever interferes at one point interferes more
or less in all; for example, when a toothache or
some other pain localized in a small region up-

80

Spirit and Body 81

sets the customary activities of daily life as a
whole. Hence it comes about that the spirit
feels the weight of bodily interference and seems
to have no power to withstand the obstacles or
enticements of the flesh. To learn that the spirit
possesses entire control and impels the body to
do whatever it does is to become aware of the
activities by which the spirit has unwittingly per-
mitted divine forces making for health and purity
to be interfered with.

If the inner life is in a state of rebellion, dis-
traught by anxieties and tensions, the spirit by
yielding to these states and permitting them to
increase thereby gives assent to their expression
in the body, with all the consequences that may
ensue. In a sense man still rules his flesh even
when given over to the greatest lusts, for the flesh
always obediently portrays man's feelings and
carries out his desires. This subservience will
continue as long as man so wills. The source of
evil is not in the flesh, as the mediaeval Christians
thought. There is no reason to mortify the flesh.
We make no headway while we attribute either
the trouble or the efficiency to the body. To do
this is to be submissively a prisoner of the flesh.
Nor do we make progress while we conciliate
and indulge the body, on the ground that the
flesh is strong and the spirit weak. One could
not ask for more faithful servants than these

82 Spiritual Health and Healing

remarkably responsive bodies of ours, adapted
as they are to the slightest change of attitude
on our part. There is plainly a great difference
between a life of self-gratification and one of
self-control. Yet, strange as it may seem,
either condition reveals the supremacy of the
spirit. Control at the centre means control
all through, and sometimes mere assent to a
bodily desire is the equivalent of control. The
same power which weakly submits would suffice
to give man a strong hold in the beginnings of
self-mastery.

To adopt this deeper clue to the relationship
of the spirit and body is not to advocate the short
and easy road to health advertised by those who
regard "wrong thoughts55 as the only causes of
disease. For a man might mend his thoughts
in part and still give his will over to evil desires
in other respects, or he might indulge in idealistic
affirmations in one direction without endeavoring
to change his bodily life in conformity thereto.
Man is not essentially an assemblage of thoughts,
despite the fact that in large measure he tends
to make of himself what he thinks and by giving
himself to directions of mind experiences the
consequences of his own mental acts. He is more
truly a will, a centre of desires and affection,
with a prevailing love. It is this dominant de-
sire which gives direction to his thoughts. He is

Spirit and Body 83

influenced most by that which he steadily wills
to be. If you can touch him at heart so that he
is willing to turn from his old mode of life, open-
ing his whole nature to receive the powers that
make for goodness and health, then indeed his
thoughts will conform, his mental imagery will
be called into play, his emotions will correspond,
and his external life will begin to show signs of
change. So in the case of the nervous person,
the creature of tensions and anxieties, there is
no radical cure save through a spiritual process
which reaches the centre, induces a fundamental
change through cultivation of the life which
leads to nerve-control and moderate well-bal-
anced outward deeds.

To attain health and freedom one may well
bestow the usual care upon the body, attending
to its nourishment according to the most approved
ideas, giving it abundant exercise, observing the
conditions which men in their prudence have dis-
covered. Indeed, one who is seeking health by
spiritual means would naturally go farther than
this, noting in detail those physical conditions
which most favor the spirit in the effort to regain
full sanity and control. One would expect the
spiritual idealist to undergo a change of tastes,
steadily bringing the physical life up to the stand-
ard. Some of these results would come about
spontaneously, and a man would find himself no

84 Spiritual Health and Healing

longer caring for luxuries and means of gratifi-
cation which formerly expressed his servitude.

Yet the involuntary consequences are not al-
ways enough. Some must work and co-operate
from the outside as faithfully as possible to make
the physical organism a more fitting vehicle of
expression. Many of us are so external, so little
aware of the inner life, that we can best adopt
the appropriate inner attitude if we first make
an external change, just as one feels stronger in
mind by standing erect in a position which sug-
gests and commands strength. To begin in this
way is not necessarily to put emphasis upon, ex-
ternal things, is not to yield one's powers of
thought or will. One may begin at either end and
work toward the other. In any event one makes
such changes for the benefit of the spirit, that
the whole life may correspond with the spiritual
ideal. To co-operate from without by breathing
deeply, taking exercises, and eating pure food,
is to open the organism for receiving the inflow
of spiritual life from within.

There is in fact no reason for making light of
the laws and conditions of natural healing, for
the divine ideal coincides with these. All healing
in the sense of the restoration of function or
wasted tissue has a natural basis. In so far as
the organism is restored the spirit has free ex-
pression. The spirit, by overcoming fear, anxi-

Spirit and Body 85

ety, exciting emotions, haunting mental pictures
and weak attitudes, removes the inner resistances
to these natural restorative processes. The re-
sistances overcome, the next step is the substitu-
tion of attitudes which actively co-operate with
powers making for health. Such co-operation
means opening the way for free passage of life
from within outward. There is a sense in which
all power resides in the external form, that is,
when life has this freedom to course through to
the extremities so that the natural garment may
perfectly express the spirit. The increasing
health of the organism ought to be the regular
accomplishment of man's growth in spiritual
things. Perfect health would thus be perfect ex-
pression of an inner life according to the spiritual
order.

It is not primarily a question of supremacy
over the flesh as if the body contained nothing
friendly to the spirit. The body contains nothing
unfriendly save what man himself has generated
in it. It needs regeneration with man's own spiri-
tual rebirth. It needs to be purified with the
purification that is thorough. To try to make
out that it is pure while neglecting to purify the
spirit would be absurd. To ignore it as if it were
unreal is to make ready for more trouble. Its
true reality is the rightful privilege of the servant
carrying out the behests of its master. Every

86 Spiritual Health and Healing

instinct, function, organ, is good in its proper
place; and all its organs and functions are for
man's health and freedom.

True health for the body, in contrast with
either physical methods which reach part way
or mental alleviations which promise freedom
through "demonstrating over" the body, depends
upon recognition of the source of power and
reality in the body. Since the interiors of the
body make one or act as one with the interiors of
the mind, when those of the mind are turned
toward the divine source of power those of the
body turn in like manner. Thus to turn in spirit
toward the sources is to begin to regain the pris-
tine condition of openness which means perfect
health. The more truly we understand this law
of inner turning and outer response, the less at-
tention we need give to the details of the proc-
ess. It will then be a question of lifting the
spirit more and more into unison with the divine
Spirit, that harmony may increase from more to
more.

As one writer puts it, "No living thing has
life apart from God. All life is an influx from
Him who is life itself; it is variously manifested
in different living things because of the difference
in the forms into which it is received. Man's life
is conveyed primarily to the soul and through it
to the body, which has the appearance of life

Spirit and Body 87

only while the spirit dwells in it. Perfect health
results when the inflowing life from the Lord
is received fully and freely. This is possible only
when His laws are observed on both the nat-
ural and the spiritual planes. . • . Even more
essential than care of the body on the natural
plane is the observance of the laws of God on the
spiritual plane. Since life flows into the body
through the soul, the body can receive a full
normal influx only when the life of the soul is in
accordance with spiritual laws. Even the people
who do not understand this truth recognize the
tremendous influence which the mental state
exerts upon the bodily condition and emphasize
the importance of encouraging only kind and
elevating thoughts and of cultivating a serene
spirit."

It has also been pointed out by those who un-
derstand this truth in part that "physical health
does not necessarily prove the presence of spiri-
tual health nor physical ill-health the lack of it."
That is to say, man's external life receives in-
fluences from the external world, and his physical
condition may differ greatly from his spiritual
state. Hence it happens that people who are
almost devoid of spirituality are in robust health
while others who are spiritual have frail or dis-
eased bodies. Many have been mystified by this
break in the correspondence between inner and

88 Spiritual Health and Healing

outer conditions. It has been pointed out by
some that the individual in ill-health is not al-
ways directly responsible. He may not person-
ally have been guilty of the transgression of laws
by which his condition has been brought about,
but may be suffering from acts of his parents
and of the society in which he lives through fail-
ure to provide pure water, sanitation and food
inspection, and to guard against epidemics and
pestilences. Some one else has pointed out that
therefore "sick people are not morally responsible
for their diseases ; if they were, sinners would al-
ways be ill and saints would always be well ; and
human freedom would be lost, for no one could
do wrong nor think falsity without immediately
suffering physical harm as a result, and he could
not proceed far in evil courses without meeting
an early end in physical death."

Strangely enough, however, this qualification
is so urged that the value of the idea of spiritual
healing is wholly lost, and there is no resource
left save to depend solely upon medical treat-
ment in the conventional way. It is argued, for
example, that since there are two distinct worlds,
the natural and the spiritual, each with its
sources of power, the body receives life or energy
from the one, the spirit from the other ; and there
are natural laws governing the life of the body,
spiritual laws for the spirit. "Obedience to the

Spirit axd Body 89

former . . . gives the body harmony with its
environment, or physical health. Therefore
saints and sinners are alike benefited by the shin-
ing of the sun on earth, and may share together
the blessings or the curses of natural law, . . .
Thus bodily conditions are the basis of health
and disease, in common with all material con-
ditions as a basis of earthly blessings or hard-
ships."

To adopt this view literally would be to draw
such distinctions between the natural world and
the spiritual that we would completely lose sight
of the great idea of the dynamic, life-giving in-
flux from God. This view also ignores the fact
that more depends upon the spirit's way of taking
the conditions of life than on those conditions.
We are indeed subject to external influences
directly affecting the body. We are also subject
to social influences without number, to the
"mental atmospheres," the crowd-spirit, to sug-
gestion, to waves of mental influence. Psychical
influences also affect us. There are spheres on
spheres of influence. But the modern devotee
of spiritual healing assures us that the primary
consideration is the sphere of influences to which
we become open: all depends upon the point of
contact, and the attitude adopted. Thus an un-
desirable inheritance tending toward disease is
an opportunity to test our mettle. Back of the

90 Spiritual Health and Healing

inheritance is the disposition or temperament.
Possibly the entire environment, favorable or
unfavorable, is for the testing of the spirit.

However dependent the body may be upon
natural forces, its equilibrium is readily upset by
fear, the nervous system becomes weak and
tremulous, the normal rhythms of the heart and
lungs are interfered with, and it has even been
said that toxins are generated in the tissues, de-
vitalizing the blood for body -building. More
significant still, the equilibrium is rapidly restored
when fear and other exciting emotions are over-
come through the regaining of inner control and
an affirmative attitude. The worst of all emotions
is hate. It has been said that if a person could
hate intensely and steadily for one hour, exhaus-
tion or death would ensue. Contrariwise, the
most helpful of all emotions is love, and love alone
has sufficed to save the lives of both children and
adults. What we are concerned with is those
spiritual states which, while co-operating with the
natural restorative forces of the body at their
best, also open the spirit to the more direct in-
coming of divine power.

We note, too, that while sinners, also athletes
and others in perfect physical health, may be as
open as anyone to natural forces such as sun-
light, when illnesses come like dread spectres
from the outside world there is no power of inner

Spirit and Body 91

resistance and a man's apparently splendid health
counts for naught. On the other hand, a person
with a frail physique but with spiritual under-
standing which he applies and spiritual power
which he uses, may stem a tide which would sweep
a physically strong man down to death. Thus the
man who is apparently weakest and most severely
handicapped by his "unfortunate inheritance,"
may through self-knowledge and mastery over
his organism develop very great power in meet-
ing conditions tending to produce disease. Far
more important than external conditions, what-
ever they may be, is a man's way of meeting
them.

To dwell upon the adverse external conditions
and one's servitude to them would be to find the
mind overwhelmed and apparently helpless. But
those who have proved the power of the spirit
over the body have practically ignored the
secondary conditions of disease, discounting even
the fact of inheritance, and have faced what was
before them with positive determination to con-
quer. The results they have achieved lead one to
believe that the primary consideration is always
the spirit's way of taking life.

One person will submissively yield to a physi-
cal illness, or an injury due to a fall or broken
bone, taking immediately to his bed and lying
there as if his attitude in the matter had nothing

92 Spiritual Health and Healing

whatever to do with the physical condition. Thus
he will yield his body completely, without know-
ing that he is submitting it. But another person,
while observing all the conditions that are pru-
dent, so that the injured member may be put
in order and be healed, will in every way co-
operate with nature in spirit and be up and about
the first moment his victorious spirit will permit.
Another will go further still and actively co-
operate in spirit because of knowledge of his true
estate as a spiritual being open to divine life from
within.

The virtuous man will have a great advantage
on account of the purity of his life. It is a moral
privilege to be well, and true moral obedience is
of the inner life. The so-called saint may lack
the faintest conception of the divine influx as an
immediate resource in times of every sort of
trouble. The saint makes a virtue of a few activ-
ities only, ignoring the law of expression through
the external life as true evidence of inner har-
mony. Some saints also make a virtue of resigna-
tion to bodily ills, as if God preferred to have us
suffer in a meek spirit. The so-called sinner may
have advanced much further in real victory over
hypocrisy, may have a control over the bodily
organism which might well cause the saint to be-
come envious. These matters can never be under-
stood, therefore, by observation of the body alone,

Spikit and Body 93

nor by study of the influences and conditions by
which it is environed. What we must know in
order to understand the law is the state of the
spirit, its measure of control, its actual develop-
ment, its openness to life. Restraint, discipline,
is not necessarily a virtue ; nor are all men sinners
who possess freedom of expression, spontaneity
or obedience to life. All these matters must be
reassessed in the light of the spiritual standard
of health.

VIII

TKUE SPIRITUAL HEALING

Healing in the spiritual sense of the word
begins with the discovery of our inner powers as
children of God, made in His image and likeness.
For through such discovery we learn that the
spirit is potentially a master and can overcome
interior and far-reaching causes of human misery.
From this time forth it is never a mere question
of illnesses and external obstacles to be surmoun-
ted, but of the attitudes, beliefs, habits, which
underlie external conditions and give them their
power over us. Instead of combating errors or
denying the power of fears, it is a question of
cultivating the affirmative spiritual states which
make for freedom and happiness: faith, good-
will toward all, charity, loyalty.

To ' repent," that is, turn about and away from
our troublesome desires in pursuit of their diviner
opposites, is one step ; to press forward despite all
discouragements and conflicts, is another and
usually a much harder one. For this involves a
series of changes deeper in nature than any mere
thinking about ideals. It means earnest desire

94

True Spiritual Healing 95

to have the whole selfhood with its diverse
promptings and interests made profoundly one.
In this progress toward the deeper unity or in-
tegrity of the self man reaches a point where he
can no longer divide his nature and seek to ward
off certain consequences only, trying to escape
from the necessity of coming to judgment in other
respects. He can no longer dictate terms. If he
really desires freedom he must observe laws and
conditions with which he has nothing to do save
to obey. For man's true freedom is found, not
through discovering ways of his own, but in choos-
ing and moving with the guidances which lead in-
to the divine way. Man does not create the al-
ternatives which life offers, the opportunity to
look up or down, in or out ; to move with the con-
structive powers or against them; to be affirma-
tive or negative. Yet he has remarkable power
over life through his will to turn in the one way
or the other, to change to the affirmative attitude.
When man is ready to see this real situation in
life, as he is held in equilibrium between opposing
forces, looking with open eye courageously into
his spiritual past and with hope into his spiritual
future, then indeed he may be healed with that
healing which means complete sanity. Severe
and rigid seem to be the conditions which hold
him to his task, binding him to a present in which
he reaps the consequences of his unthinking past

96 Spiritual Health and Healing

and the failures of his ancestors. Yet the same
power which long appears to be his enemy, stand-
ing over him like a slave-driver, proves to be the
God of infinite love whose disguised blessings be-
gin at last to be understood. Man begins to be
free and to find that the power that appeared to
be hate was love, when he becomes enlightened
about the opportunities which life offers him,
when he chooses opportunities that are con-
structive.

It does not suffice, one insists, to specialize on
those matters commonly regarded under the head
of "sin," leaving man's health to be considered by
other specialists. Ill-health of any sort is no less
truly a sin or failure to achieve the type. For all
phases of man's life move forward together, sin
and sickness are sufficiently akin to touch the
whole individual: the healing which "saves" must
rescue the entire man and lead him into the ful-
ness of life.

Whenever any one has marked off man's sinful
nature in a sphere by itself as indicative of the
hell man is making for himself, leaving him to
repent by reckoning with his sins as if those were
isolated matters, there has been a tendency to ac-
quire self -righteousness, as if one were better than
other people. But when one sees that all these
matters belong together, there is no resource left
save through healing for all. There is no longer

True Spiritual Healing 97

even a theoretical stopping-point in the discrim-
ination between God and man, the spiritual world
and the natural, as if doctrinal distinctions were
virtues. If the idea of the divine influx of love and
wisdom means anything at all, one sees that man's
proper relation to it is dynamic throughout every
portion of his being, that man is so constituted
as to receive and appropriate the influent life in
the plentitude of many-sided health.

Our view of human nature is different from the
beginning, when this becomes the ideal. We
start with the inspiriting idea that man is by na-
ture a highly organized spiritual being, adapted
to receive and appropriate influent divine life in
minuteness of detail, giving it freedom to pass
into wise expression with creative efficiency.
We give up the notion that his spirit is a filmy
essence vaguely filling the body or timidly inhab-
iting the brain. We give our thought entire lib-
erty to develop to the full this ideal of the spirit
as master-life, master-substance underlying and
strengthening the body according to need. We
then think of each little receptacle as being
brought into orderly relation and response, that
the whole body may become in actuality what it is
ideally from the beginning, "the temple of the
Holy Spirit." Giving our thought to this glori-
ous conception more and more, we may follow
out very intimately and fully the idea that there

98 Spiritual Health and Healing

flows into the soul a life which should touch every
portion of our being. Realizing in spirit the vital
reality of this inflow, then experiencing it as a
quickening result throughout the organism, we
may give thought to the needs of our brother
man, exemplifying what we mean by the divine
influx as a life, not a mere theory; a healing pow-
er, not a mere summons to forego certain of our
sins ; a love guiding us to spiritual service, not a
mere feeling to give us consolation that we are
"saved."

The soul thus environed by divine possibilities
has been graphically compared to a tree out in
the sunlight receiving from the sun's warm and
vitalizing rays what is essential to its perfect
growth. Without the incoming energy from the
sun, the tree has no life, despite the richness of
the soil. In response to this descending energy,
the tree passes through remarkable stages of as-
similation, through changes wrought within the
structure by the life that enters every cell. En-
larging upon the comparison and recollecting that
man develops instruments of receptivity and ex-
pression by use, we have a vision of the human
spirit bathed in the warm, soft light of the Spirit,
touched in "the secret place" of the heart by de-
scending love and wisdom. What sort of practi-
cal realization or service is worthy of this sub-
lime relationship? What truth is more widely

True Spiritual Healing 99

needed than this, namely, that here at hand, in
the vital hour of interest and need, the soul may
enter in and receive from a source as bountiful
as that from which the tree draws sustenance but
many times increased, and of a quality infinitely
higher?

According to Swedenborg's statement of this
vital relationship, there is an influx into the soul
of each one of us at all times, in every moment,
otherwise we could not exist and would not sur-
vive; an influx which not only sustains us but
protects and guides us, withholding man by a
"very strong force" from influences which tend
to his injury. That is to say, this heavenly or di-
vine influx really ' 'rules every one" whatever the
appearances to the contrary and despite man's
failure to give recognition to it. This it is that
keeps man's life within bounds, drawing him into
the pathways of his progress in loving protection
and care. It rules man "not in the universal, but
in the veriest singulars," in the smallest things
of life ; it is the divine providence which is equal
to every emergency. Although we are generally
speaking unaware of this influx, so wrapped up
in our own concerns that we may even ignore and
oppose it, the divine life comes "in so vivid a man-
ner" that man can notice it. For man already
contains the powers which would make it possible
for him to live with open vision toward the source

100 Spiritual Health and Healing

of his life, with intimate knowledge of the favor-
able and unfavorable forces that play upon him.

While few of us may have been so illumined
and quickened as to become vividly aware of this
influx, able to distinguish by actual perception
between life coming from the spiritual world, in
contrast with influences coming from the natural
world through the body or from the minds of
people round about us, every one may attain an
ideal of this conscious relationship with the divine
presence by noting the elements of it and letting
them grow into a clear idea.

First, in regard to health, note that from this
point of view it is not physical health or even
moral health which should be sought as the end.
For if health is sought for itself aside from the
spiritual life we may depart from the divine or-
der, which is by growth from within outward,
from spiritual things to natural. We might then
mistake for ends in themselves activities which
should be co-operative, such as the endeavor to
keep the body well exercised and in prime condi-
tion, the use of pure foods, and the like. What
one should seek is the permanent inner state of
freedom, peace, tranquillity, from which health
will spring as a ready consequence if we are liv-
ing a divinely useful life. One seeks this end by
working first and last for the spiritual type of
life in human society. One realizes that the very

True Spiritual Healing 101

import of this interior influx is that it shall bring
precisely this health which does not stop short of
true service according to our fullest ability. One
emphasizes the realization by making the ideal
as vivid as possible, making it an uplifting pic-
ture of that which is to be.

Inasmuch as the influent life first touches the
affectional nature or "heart" in the secret place,
one thinks of divine love as entering in with quick-
ening power to establish the right balance in in-
tellectual things. Love in this creative sense is
simply unspeakable. Yet intuitively we all know
that it can accomplish the great miracle within us.
We think of this life as reaching into the under-
standing, touching it into illuminating thought;
and thence affecting the whole mind, the nervous
organism and the body, accomplishing its work
wherever needed. Inasmuch as all power is in
this influx, as it tends outward to that which is
most external in the body, one thinks of it as
meeting and overcoming obstructions, lessening
tensions, carrying out impurities. Once more one
sees the importance of any co-operation from
without which tends to keep the organism open
and free — just as when inwardly intense we
draw deep breaths, relax, and otherwise regain
the normal rhythms while interiorly yielding up
our tensions.

This realization of the divine influx becomes

102 Spieitual Health and Healing

most effective when one sits down in a quiet place
alone, or with someone who needs help. One
seeks the divine wisdom by closing the door upon
the outer world and opening the inner window
that looks upon the spiritual world. We attain
a similar attitude in prayer for the sake of wor-
ship when prayer is really effective; for in true
prayer there is an upliftment of heart and will,
an opening out to receive with the conviction that
it is man, not God, who needs to change. True
prayer, the Gospels tell us, is to the Father who
already knows what needs we have and has pro-
vided for them through the orderly incoming of
life. If to such a prayer one adds the realization
that the Father is as surely present as of old,
present in all detail and minuteness, in the rela-
tion of Heart to heart, through the divine in the
human, one may make the prayer as vivid as the
experience which the spiritual healer calls "real-
ization."

In a realization of the divine presence for im-
mediate spiritual benefit one needs to forget dis-
tinctions which are pleasing to doctrinal people,
and to transcend all barriers in quietly deep
desire to let the divine life enter without let or
hindrance. For the time being one thinks only
of divine relationships, remembering that man is
made in the image and likeness of God. Thus
while frankly acknowledging what one has learned

True Spiritual Healing 103

from mistakes, one no longer identifies the true
self with the self that thus erred. For whatever
the evidences that man acts as if of himself, as a
separated self subject to adverse influences, in
self-love and love of the world, one refuses for
the moment to think in those terms: one thinks
of man now in his larger estate. In that larger
estate it is God who achieves, not man. It is the
divine life in us that leads us to freedom and pro-
ductiveness. Man has no power in and of him-
self to work such wonders. The power which man
appears to have in sheer independence is due to
an apparent cutting off of himself as if he were
his very own, an isolated unit seeking private
ends in disregard of God and man. In very
truth man is never cut off. He lives from God.
He enjoys freedom through the divine presence.
God is the real source of health and strength.
Unceasingly man is sustained by life from the
spiritual world.

This realization is strengthened by the thought
that all power is in spiritual life, and that there
is no rival power. That is, the soul is a spiritual
being constituted of spiritual substance organ-
ized for the freer life in the spiritual world that
is to come as well as for experience in this world.
The spirit has ruling and conquering power over
the flesh. It can transcend physical conditions
and become active on the higher level. Every

104 Spiritual Health and Healing

thought is a help that is affirmative. Thought by
thought one can build up a habit, an attitude that
is favorable to the spiritual will. It is will or
love which accomplishes the greater work.

Again, there is strength and helpfulness in the
realization that to co-operate with the divine the
human will needs to make affirmative effort. This
is important for those inclined to yield too much
or carry self-sacrifice to the extreme. If our atti-
tude becomes weak we may be as far from true
adjustment to the divine life as people who assert
the self autocratically. Half the art of the spir-
itual life, so far as the individual regarded by him-
self is concerned, consists in knowing how far to
go in our endeavor to claim the place which be-
longs to us. Each must learn this lesson from
experience, as a part of the larger lesson which
our whole inner life is intended to teach.

Can one benefit another by the kind of realiza-
tion which brings spiritual healing for oneself?
Certainly, since we are intimately "members one
of another" in the inner world. It is a question
of substituting nobler influences for those which
we already exert. The world of thought which
we enter is essentially a social world, despite the
fact that we seem to be more alone when we med-
itate. There we are connected by spiritual ties
with those akin to us and those whom we can help.
We live more intimately with these our real affin-

True Spiritual Healing 105

ities than we ever suspect. We can learn to put
ourselves more fully in line with the divine in-
coming life through which there are greater op-
portunities for helpfulness than in anything ex-
ternal. The true test of relationship to the divine
influx is not in mere receptivity or meditation
for our own benefit, but in helping others into
freedom.

The spirit of man, let us remind ourselves, is
essentially dynamic, a user of power rightfully
supreme over thoughts and emotions, instincts
and desires ; it rightfully controls the flesh. One
who truly understands the connection between the
spirit and the flesh, instead of ignoring the body,
should be able to gain a control over it impossible
from the point of view of merely mental healing.
For he should be able to overcome every obstacle
in his nature which impedes the inflow of the di-
vine life. This would mean active co-operation
with that life all along the line of existence, spir-
itually, morally, socially, physically, in accord-
ance with one standard.

Thus we start in every instance with the same
great idea, namely, that man is a spirit dwelling
interiorly in a world of higher power, the home
of the Spirit within the human heart. In that
world it is not a question of space but of interior
states and their expression. The human spirit
is not separated from fellow spirits, but is drawn

106 Spiritual Health and Healing

nearer those akin by every accordant act. To
desire to be like another whose attitude and con-
duct are more nobly spiritual, is to put oneself
nearer the source of the other's power. To de-
sire to help another is to be with him in spirit,
adding one's might in favor of the best that is
in him, seeing him in spirit from the viewpoint
of the ideal. To make even a little headway in
such service is to realize that one must become
a more fitting instrument of the infinite life.

Once succeed, therefore, in transferring your
centre of thought from the physical world, as if
you were a thing of flesh and blood, bound down
by physical forces and forms, and a new world of
realities opens before you. Point by point your
thought may be brought round to correspond.
Begin to look outward, in touch with the outgoing
stream from the inner life into the body, then the
rest will follow. For you will see that, as you
once impeded the courses of life streaming
through you by endeavoring to stem the tide no
man can turn, so now your possibilities of co-op-
erating are without limit. The interferences you
offered in your ignorance, your folly, pride, im-
patience, self-conceit, arrogance and selfishness,
wrought misery enough for yourself and those
associated with you; but they did not really
change you as a person or alter the course of life.
You begin to be healed from the moment you see

True Spiritual Healing 107

the sources of trouble in yourself, your attitude
and the mode of conduct springing from it; for
you then cease to blame your neighbors and your
God, and begin with yourself. Your restoration
will continue in so far as you transfer your allegi-
ance to the ever-present, inflowing life which
never seeks anything within you short of your
freedom, your health, your larger social service.
In so far as you become sane at the centre, you
may become an instrument for that wise sanity
which the divine providence is ever ready to
reveal.

IX

THE AFFIRMATIVE ATTITUDE

Lorn, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. —
Mark ix, 24

Without question, most of us who are en-
deavoring to live the spiritual life, frequently find
ourselves in the state of spirit indicated above.
"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all
things are possible to him that believeth. And
straightway the father of the child cried out, and
said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine
unbelief." We see clearly that without childlike-
ness of heart, no one may enter the heavenly life.
In our desire to maintain the right kind of sim-
plicity of spirit and of life, we often look back to
a period in the life of the soul expressed by the
fidelity of young Samuel, when in entire respon-
siveness of heart he said, "Here am I. . . . Speak,
Lord; for thy servant heareth." Inasmuch as
the natural man is strongly self-assertive, we wish
to avoid any claims in our own behalf, that we
may learn to walk in the way of the Lord. There-
fore we ask, "What wilt thou have me to do?"
Again, we are taught that there is but one source

108

The Affirmative Attitude 109

of life or power, that man is a recipient of the
Divine Love and Wisdom. As instruments of
life, we wish to be true in every way to the heav-
enly standard. We realize that "all things are
possible to him that believeth," but the question
is, How may we acquire the right attitude with-
out making too much of ourselves?

It requires little observation, however, to dis-
cover that as some men err in self-assertiveness,
so others overdo in their endeavors to be recep-
tive. Our belief concerning man as a receptacle
of life often leaves us in a state akin to passivity,
as if our part were merely to receive and retain.
Inasmuch as no man can serve two masters, he
who is not actively working to serve the cause of
righteousness may be virtually against that cause,
like the pacifist in war time who merely stands
apart in protest. "He that is not with me is
against me; and he that gathereth not with me
scattereth." So-called passive obedience is not
true responsiveness. What is demanded of us is
not merely recognition but co-operation. They
really stand for and serve the kingdom who ac-
tively put themselves in line with work that is in
progress. No half-way measures suffice. We are
bidden to serve with all our might, just as we
are bidden to "love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind, and with all thy strength." This is very

110 Spiritual Health and Healing

emphatic language. He who is trying in every
way to be true to this commandment, earnestly
desires to know what kind of social activity should
spring from true interior receptivity. For he
wishes to be a man in full spiritual right.

A direct clue to the affirmative attitude is
found when we regard it in the light of victory
over temptation. The negative attitude is due
in part at least, to doubt or hesitancy. Natur-
ally those who wish to tempt us do whatever is
in their power to keep us in a state of suspense.
Thus dark influences have access to us. On the
other hand, the power of the good with us tends to
dispel doubt, hence to overcome the negative atti-
tude, that the door may be closed to all undesir-
able influences. While in temptation, man hangs
between the negative and the affirmative. To
become actively responsive to the divine life, we
must be strong in our hope, firm in faith, that
we may be helped into a spiritual state, in which
we are habitually in the affirmative. In war time
we saw the importance of the affirmative attitude.
We declared with entire conviction that the right
would win, that it must win. We could not af-
ford to doubt.

" Assurance respecting the result precedes the
victory and belongs to the victory." This assur-
ance bespeaks the moral attitude. By holding
to what we believe to be the right with strong

The Affirmative Attitude 111

conviction, we launch our energies with carrying
power, we call our reserves into play. As matters
go in the world, we need some great incentive,
we need to face a crisis or disaster in order to
be called into fulness of action and show what
we are able to accomplish. Only by adopting
the affirmative attitude in full strength, is man
able to depend on the powers of the moral order
to the full. The man who thus acts is not active
in his own might. Although apparently acting
as if all power were his own, he is in reality
co-operating with the divine will.

Again, we note the power of the affirmative
attitude when it is a question of spiritual truth.
We may not as yet be able to grasp a principle
as true. We may desire to accept it, but objec-
tions may arise. If, however, we are willing to
make the venture on faith, noting the practical re-
sults, it may forthwith become a truth to us. Our
teachings far surpass our power of present veri-
fication, but we can at least be affirmative in re-
gard to them. If we hold to a principle because
we believe it is divine, this fidelity will bring its
reward in the shape of sure convictions. It is the
affirmative attitude which quickens us to gain
spiritual wisdom. By wisdom in contrast with
mere knowledge, we mean truth that has borne
the test, knowledge we have dared to live by. It
comes forth from our lips with the power of life

112 Spiritual Health and Healing

behind it. We have ventured to stand by it and
it has stood by us. Seldom do we grow in spirit-
ual truth without an act of faith. And faith is
an efficient, constructive power in the spiritual
life.

The affirmation of spiritual truth "that it is
so" because of the source from which it came, is
indeed the beginning of the mind's regeneration.
By taking this step, even when we cannot see
clearly, we ally ourselves with the constructive
powers. The human part consists in making the
venture. Only when thus left free to choose and
to venture, could we be morally free. Our hu-
man situation often seems uncertain. So indeed
it is while we waver between the negative and
the affirmative. Yet a slight effort may turn the
scale. Even in our uncertainty we may test the
great promises. To cry out in our uncertainty,
"Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief," is
to change from weakness to strength. Much de-
pends on willingness to cast the die. The result
is a new centre of equilibrium.

We hardly need to be told that "the good can-
not flow into what is negative." The good, we
know, comes to us to accomplish results, to oper-
ate through us. It is with us to flow from the
inmost to the outmost, to take form in practical
service enlisting our social nature. Granted the
expression of what has come, although it be a

The Affirmative Attitude 113

mere beginning in the life of charity, more can
be added. While our minds dwell upon the ab-
stract or general principle, we still belong with
people classified as negative. We often meet
people who are in a vague intellectual state.
There is much scattering of force among those
who try to believe so many things, those who are
merely liberal, broad-minded; hence indefinite.
"He that is not with me is against me; and he
that gathereth not with me scattereth." To be
affirmative is to come out into the open, to take
sides, show our loyalty, speak out. It is to adapt
ourselves to our age at a promising point, where
activities are in process and people are testing
out what they believe.

We often look with a feeling akin to envy on
people who are cultivating their powers with no
thought for the time being save for self-expres-
sion. There seems to be an advantage in this
form of concentration. No energy is lost in self-
disparagement. There is no effort to be self-
sacrificing. There is expression, life, energy. In
contrast with this free self -development, people
who are trying to be good Christians frequently
lose headway by undue self-examination, by the
effort to be duly humble, contrite. The highly
conscientious person may spend most of his ener-
gies trying to learn in advance precisely what he
ought to do. Others discount every talent they

114 Spiritual Health and Healing

possess in their zeal to overcome the self. Chris-
tian self-sacrifice, as many pursue it, is chiefly
negative.

Yet why should we discount the self in this
way? Is there any real conflict between the cul-
tivation of our talents to the full and their use
for divine ends? What more could God ask of
us than that we should be productive individuals,
expressing character to the utmost? For no one
can endeavor to express himself to the full with-
out considering what he can do best in the world,
what he can contribute to society as it exists to-
day, how he may best realize a definite purpose.
Man in deepest truth is "an organ of life." He
cannot underestimate the prompting to come
forth and live out his life to the full without dis-
paraging his Creator. Self-sacrifice is not the
end; dedication to a purpose, devotion to an
ideal, is the standard. Devotion is a positive
term. It is affirmative.

The older theology was nearly always negative
in emphasis. It dwelt overmuch on the sinful-
ness of man, the depravity of human nature, and
the weakness of the flesh. It painted the world
in dark, lurid colors, and had more to say about
hell than about heaven. It condemned the world
and found fault with even the simple natural pur-
suits. It dwelt on the sufferings of the cross,
the atoning blood, the sacrificial death, as if the

The Affirmative Attitude 115

race were to be saved by these negative consider-
ations. It emphasized the resurrection instead
of the glorification and the saving life that went
forth into the world. The human self was sup-
posed to emulate the Saviour in all these negative
ways. The goal was escape from the woes of the
flesh through mere acceptance of the Redeemer
as having died to save us from our sins, as if mere
faith were adequate to save. Thus while it ap-
parently called upon man to choose the difficult
way, the way of the cross, the old theology really
exacted little of man; it was content with the
milder or negative virtues.

The newer theology expects everything of man,
just because it is positive. We now see clearly
that only so far as we come out of the strongholds
of our self -righteousness and really live by the
faith we profess, do we make any true headway*
For no one died to save us from making this ef-
fort. There is no salvation through death alone.
It is not a question of the sufferings upon the
cross, or even of the resurrection ; but of what fol-
lowed through the triumphant life of the living
Lord, whose second coming is through the inner
Word. The union of the divine with the human
was positive. It was a dynamic, live-giving unity.
It meant a new centre of action in the spiritual
life of the race. We have been waiting all through
the centuries for the time when Christianity

116 Spiritual Health and Healing

should be put to its true test as a dynamic faith.

So, too, the new birth is a positive event in the
life of the soul. It begins in all seriousness when
we come out into the clear light of day, out of
hypocrisy, and every device through which we
pretend to be what we are not. Through the new
birth, man is made constant. The will and the
understanding are brought into efficient unity.
Love comes to its own as the greatest power. To
love in fulness or consistency means to set our-
selves in motion to achieve what we love, namely,
to attain truth, to work for it ; to serve our fellow
men, to show by our conduct that we really love
the Lord. In short, the new birth comes, not to
destroy, but to fulfil; and to fulfil is to attain
the affirmative.

Since so much depends on this advance from
the subjective into the objective, every construc-
tive thought, emotion or act of will, is a help.
Strictly speaking, every thought is negative or
affirmative. By shifting the emphasis or even
by changing a word in a sentence, we can change
from the negative to the affirmative. With a
mere word or intonation, as we address ourselves
to a person in spiritual need, we may turn the
tide. The idle words for which we are called to
account are the negative words, the quick, harsh
judgments, the adverse criticism, the hate, anger,
jealousy, bitterness, complaint, faultfinding.

The Affirmative Attitude 117

Every one whom we thus condemn needs our
encouragement and love. A mere hint, a word
of good cheer or wise counsel, will sometimes
give the impetus. Idle indeed are many of our
utterances in comparison with what our lan-
guage might be.

A mother's loyalty to her children under con-
demnation is a typical instance of the affirmative
attitude. When the heart is affirmative, its power
is carried to another, though no word be spoken.
We feel the adverse influence of one who does
not understand and is condemnatory, one who
stands off and inspects. But sympathy is affirma-
tive. We are quickened into productivity by
those who believe in us, who call us out and
encourage us to do our best without bestowing
credit which does not belong to us.

To take the affirmative attitude toward people,
is to see the good in them, what they are endeav-
oring to achieve. This is no small attainment,
in view of all that we know about human frailties
and sins. We have been apt to think that we
should dwell on the frailties and sins, condemn
people for them, and call our neighbors to ac-
count. But we have excelled in negative crit-
icism. We have left people disheartened. Doubt-
less they were already keenly aware of their fail-
ings. Without being blind to their faults, what
is incumbent upon us is to see through these to

118 Spiritual Health and Healing

the goal or purpose in life. To dwell on the pro-
cess instead of the end, is to be negative. After
all, what is worthy of us as lovers of our fellow
men, is to see the spirit through the flesh and call
the spirit into power.

If no man sins with his whole nature, if there
is always a secret place where the Lord dwells,
where the Lord may be found, then to be affirma-
tive is to see man in the image and likeness of
God ; to stand for this ideal, to believe in it, help
to call it into realization. That surely is what
we wish people to do for us. When disheartened,
there is help for us if we once more discriminate
between the process and the product, if we return
to the ideal, rise above the actual, throw off the
bondage of circumstance. Accordingly, we re-
call what we started out to accomplish. We seek
the positive lessons of our present experience.
Thus we gradually shift the emphasis, gain a
new impetus and begin again. What we thus
accomplish for ourselves, we may help others to
accomplish by regarding them in the light of their
aspirations.

In deepest truth, the divine life within us
is seeking to lift us into fulness of being. We
have made great headway if able in some measure
to distinguish between the human and the divine.
Thus to discriminate, in the newer sense of the
word, does not mean to put God far from us,

The Affirmative Attitude 119

because unlike us in nature. Although differing
from us in power, God is made one with us by His
love. The truth of the incarnation, of the Divine
in the human, is affirmative. The great truth is
that the presence of God is life-giving, dynamic.
It is the presence of God, when recognized in this,
its vitalizing aspect, which develops the affirma-
tive attitude in us.

People have thoughtlessly fallen into the habit
of speaking of evil as if it were a cosmic power,
as if it were co-extensive with the good and at
war with it, endangering righteousness, making
heaven a matter of doubt. In contrast, goodness
appears to be negative ; people who are trying to
live righteously are often spoken of with dispar-
agement, as if they had chosen the doubtful side.
Now, life is oftentimes a warfare within the soul.
But we cannot for a moment entertain the hy-
pothesis of failure. The structure of the spiritual
cosmos is moral. Life is for moral ends. The
destructive forces of the world are in the last
analysis negative, despite all appearances. Over
against them is the supreme fact of the incarna-
tion with its victory over selfishness. We renew
our ideals, and, by an act of faith, cross from the
negative to the positive side and ally ourselves
with the powers making for righteousness. We
refuse to judge hy appearances. Belief in the
moral integrity of the cosmos is, we see, essential

120 Spiritual Health and Healing

to victory. We are assured that the right will
triumph. We identify ourselves in spirit with
it. To make this venture is to find ourselves
greatly heartened.

The application of the foregoing to daily life
becomes the more plain as we realize our responsi-
bility. Simply to think the matter out, is to make
headway. By every constructive thought, we
help. By every aspiration in love to the Lord,
we put ourselves in line with forces able to resist
the negative element in us, to overcome the de-
structive forces. We realize how true is the state-
ment that man is held in equilibrium between the
two groups of forces until he makes the choice.
Moral choice is an affirmative. By making it,
we put ourselves in line with any number of for-
tunate consequences. This is where we have the
greatest power, in this ability to shift the empha-
sis, to turn from doubt to willingness to believe,
from hate to love, and so on through an almost
endless series of contrasts.

The dependence of the human upon the divine
is seen at every stage. "Lord, I believe; help
thou mine unbelief." I do not wholly see. Often-
times I am very uncertain. I do not know how
my wants are to be provided for tomorrow or next
year. But there is work on hand for today. Let
me act in full faith now. What now seems im-
possible will prove perfectly possible when the

The Affirmative Attitude 121

right time comes. I need not hesitate to cultivate
and use my powers to the full. Every power is
good in its place. The whole of our earthly life
is a venture in behalf of faith, to find out what
actions are in line with the divine providence and
hence are constructive, wrhat ones spring from
our self-love and so are destructive. The divine
is with us to build us into houses not divided
against themselves, to quicken us to serve one
Master, one Lord ; to guide us into the affirmative,
out of all these weaknesses which cause our misery
and our discontent. Although we see this great
truth only in part and still in a glass darkly, we
may declare that we believe. "Lord, I believe;
help thou mine unbelief."

X

THE QUICKENING WORD

It is the spirit that quickeneth; . . • the
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and
they are lift. — John vi, 63.

What marvellous words are these that fall
from the Master's lips after he has assured his
hearers that he is "the bread of life/' "the living
bread" from heaven, bringing life from the Father
and giving life to those who are responsive. Even
the words he utters are spirit and life. Hence
Jesus says to the disciples on another occasion,
after conversing with them at length, "Now ye
are clean through the word which I have spoken
unto you" (John xv, 3). The word of the Lord
then is purifying as well as life-giving. This is
the word which "shall not pass away," the word
of eternal life, the truth which sets men free. It is
the word which unites, which is from the Father
to the Son, and thence to the disciples. "If a man
love me, he will keep my words : and my Father
will love him, and we will make our abode with
him . . . and the word which ye hear is not mine,
but the Father's which sent me" (John xiv, 23-

122

The Quickening Word 123

24). 'Tor I have given unto them the words
which thou gavest me; and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out
from thee, and they have believed that thou didst
send me" (John xvii, 8) .

Is it possible for us to read these same words
so that they shall become to us words of spirit
and of life? Surely, if we give thought to the
inward man as renewed and quickened by the
Divine Presence through the creative word.

The Apostle Paul speaks of having "the mind
of Christ," which renews. Writing to the Corin-
thians he says, "But though our outward man per-
ish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day"
(II Cor. iv, 16). He also bids the Ephesians
seek the inward source of the life that renews.
"And be renewed in the spirit of your mind"
(Eph. iv, 23). One's prayer would naturally be
that of the psalmist, "Create in me a clean heart,
O God; and renew a right spirit within me"
(Ps. li, 10). This quest for the renewing word
reminds us of the inspiriting statement in Isaiah,
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as
eagles ; they shall run, and not be weary ; and they
shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah xl, 31).

Surely, these are wonderful words of promise.
God is the true source of strength, of quickening
power. Our part is to seek the sanctuary of the

124 Spiritual Health and Healing

Spirit, that we may truly "wait on the Lord,"
may hear the quickening word which especially
meets our need. Every true prayer should bring
this quickening. Whenever we read the Master's
words as words of life> we ought to be renewed.
This renewal ought not only to give us a new im-
petus to do our work in the world but a sense of
power in carrying out that impetus, in His name.

Why is it that we do not more frequently feel
this renewing sense of Life? Is it because we
read with doctrinal interests and forget to realize
that there is quickening value in the very words
themselves, in addition to the truth which appeals
to our understanding? Is it because we have
heard and read these words so many times that
now they are as familiar as the beauties of spring
or the glories of sunset? Do we read them as
historical statements simply, and fail to make
them vivid and real in the concrete imagery of our
own thought? Or is our failure due to the fact
that we have never thought of these words of
power as applying to the whole of life, as bring-
ing strength and overcoming weariness through
the spirit they bring?

Whatever the reason for failing to make the
spiritual word a vitalizing power, it is well to
consider the matter in some detail, that we may
make headway at last in passing beyond the mere
letter.

The Quickening Word 125

How can it be true that the inward man is re-
newed day by day? Through the continuous, the
constant presence of the Divine life within us as
an influx or incoming into "the secret place" of
the heart. While we are not conscious of this in-
coming Life in the moment of its imbuing touch
with our spirit, we may complete in thought what
is lacking in actual experience, thinking of it as
more immediately present to our spirits at certain
times than at others. We may remind ourselves,
for example, that during sleep we may be more
receptive than in our waking hours, when mental
life surges forward so actively. If tonight I take
my problems and trials to bed with anxious and
fear-breeding thoughts, I shall thereby put a bar-
rier around the inward man. But if I begin half
an hour before the time for sleep approaches to
make my spirit ready for sleep, I may be able to
drop all cares with a free-mindedness which will
make of my night's rest a divine communion. My
part is to cut connection with external matters, to
drop all difficulties and uncertainties, and give
myself to gentle sleep, "Nature's sweet restorer/*
as I would offer my spirit in the truest prayer.

I do not assume to know my chief est needs in
so doing. I do not necessarily ask for help. My
hope is that I shall give myself to renewing
slumbers in whatever way I need most to be re-
ceptive. I return to the sources. I am a child

126 Spiritual Health and Healing

again. If I knew precisely by what word to utter
or express this responsiveness at its best, I would
let this be my last active thought before giving
myself to sleep. I can but say, "Let the words
of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be
acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and
my redeemer." "The words of my mouth" here
represent the external life, while the meditation
of the heart stands for the inner self. May these
be in unison. May I so give myself in spirit to my
Father who knows all my needs that on awaken-
ing there will come a new impetus for the dawning
day.

Sometimes the day begins to dawn on our con-
sciousness before we open our eyes to behold the
beautiful morning light. We may awaken at an
earlier hour than usual, to find the mind partially
illumined by thoughts which come spontaneous-
ly; not by self-conscious exertion, inference or
reasoning, but through the divine light. Diffi-
culties are sometimes cleared away in a flash
during such an experience. We may see precisely
where we have lost the spirit and become im-
mersed in forms, things and processes. We may
have a new vision of the self or of some one
whom it is our privilege to help.

No rule for putting the mind into this illumined
state at its best can be given. One can only say,
Cherish it when it comes, observing the conditions

The Quickening Wokd 127

which invite its coming that you may encourage
their recurrence. By such an experience one
learns in part what it means to "think with the
spirit" rather than with the external mind. Thus
one has a clearer idea what the spirit is.

But one can give a rule for mental states in
which the will plays a part. When you are non-
plussed, absorbed in conditions, involved in rou-
tine and weary, seek some form of recreation or
change which will fill your mind for the time, so
that you will drop your cares and problems. Then
in the midst of it all you may gain the needed
contrast, side lights may fall upon your daily
life, your work, your relation to your associates.
Again, read a favorite author or the Bible until
a thought appeals to you with clarifying power
and gives you a clue. The Apostle Paul says,
"Be ye transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that ye may prove what is the good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Bom.
xii, 2).

It is well to bear in mind, also, that there is
with us a "spirit of truth" which will lead us into
all truth if we faithfully follow. Oftentimes we
are unable to find a clarifying or uplifting
thought until we first think matters over, looking
back over the past to see what influences have
brought us where we are today, what lessons are
to be learned, what change we need to make in

128 Spiritual Health and Healing

our attitude. There is great value in facing life as
it actually exists in the living present which is
for our development, noting motives, desires, the
kind of love which is prevalent. For when we
trace our activities to their sources, seeing clearly,
realizing where we weakened, when we became
unduly absorbed in externals — then we realize
that there is a great freeing power in spiritual
truth. Sometimes a thought suffices to turn the
prevailing attitude from negative to positive.
Sometimes, too, we are prompted to utter the
word of power which as quickly sets another free.

It is interesting and helpful to put ourselves
back in imagination into the time of the Gospel
works of healing and realize what faith was some-
times felt in the Master's presence. One woman
of strong faith simply begged leave to touch the
hem of Jesus' garment, that she might be made
whole. Another person said confidently, "Speak
the word, onty, and my servant shall be healed."
Many of the hearers of the parables and the Ser-
mon on the Mount must have realized most vivid-
ly that they were hearing words which were spirit
and life. Undoubtedly these hearers felt marked
spiritual benefit from these power - carrying
words.

Why is it that the followers of Christ in the
churches have lost the ability to put the soul in
touch with spirit and life as the glad messages

The Quickening Word 129

once brought power to men? Why was it neces-
sary for a new movement to spring up outside
of the churches to re-emphasize the therapeutic
value of the Gospel? Apparently because so
much stress has been placed upon the intellectual
value in contrast with the life-giving power. It
has seemed to believers in doctrines that they have
done their part when they have come forth into
public acceptance of the denominational faith.
But thus to believe, with qualification after quali-
fication, lest one fail to state this faith in precise-
ly the right way, has been to lose the force of the
original truth. That truth was spread abroad in
its universality. It was for every emergency and
every hour of need. It was to be made concrete,
carried out into the flesh, the external life.
When we qualifj% when we try to manage or
regulate, we check the incoming life, losing im-
petus and becoming absorbed in our own states
and thoughts. But this life comes to us that
we may not only receive in fulness but give in
abundance.

"Give, and it shall be given unto you." The
power of love is increased within us by giving.
Conjunction with God is increased through such
responsiveness and expression. This reciprocal
action is the real test of belief. Man is so consti-
tuted as to receive the divine life in ever-increas-
ing fulness and perfection, if he gives in equal

130 Spiritual Health and Healing

abundance. "Every faculty can enlarge . . .
with capacity for the receptivity of love and wis-
dom, peace and joy, which will increase with every
influx of life from the Lord." Man appropriates
life and power from this influx by living in large-
minded responsiveness in accordance with it. The
influx vivifies in accordance with reception. In-
asmuch as no two individuals are precisely alike,
each one needs to learn from experience how to
adapt life in its fulness to receptivity and giving.
The individual who has proved the power of the
quickening word by admitting it into his whole
being, is able to speak and to give persuasively
to others.

The denominational Christian is apt to become
crystallized in attitude through constant emphasis
on his particular creed. Hence it remains for the
outsider to practice the Gospel with respect to its
larger application. But the large-minded fol-
lower of Christ never allows his thought to be-
come crystallized at all. There ought to be new
evidences, fresh reasons, immediate contacts with
life, to keep the spirit alive. This would be our
constant effort, if instead of believing for our own
salvation or worshipping to increase personal
piety, and the mere giving of intellectual assent
to what we already believe, we should seek the
words of life and of the spirit, and forthwith carry
them to someone in need.

The Quickening Word 131

Sometimes, in endeavoring to be helpful to one
in need, we find it necessary to utter keen truths
that arouse dissent, stir the mind into self-defense,
or even evoke vigorous emotions in protest. For
there must first be vital response of some sort.
Thus a physician may find it necessary to arouse
a bedridden invalid out of easy-going habits of
months or years of self-absorption and the nour-
ishing of luxurious aches and pains. Thus the
whole world had to be aroused from its compla-
cent, luxurious and pleasure-loving slumbers by
the great war. And the war itself was hardly
enough. It had to be followed by other deep stir-
rings over social issues, strikes and revolutionary
programs. "Where there is life there is hope."
There must often be ploughing and harrowing.
Then we may sow the good seed. All these pro-
cesses are mentioned in the Gospels, that we may
understand the rightful place of the quickening
word.

Of what avail after all is belief in spiritual
things unless we realize that the spiritual element
in us is the life-element, that to be spiritual
is to be unselfish? If the divine life which comes
to us comes as power to do, as energy wherewith
to achieve, then the first question is, What is there
within our being, our thought, our affections and
conduct, which interferes with this life, and how
can it be removed?

132 Spiritual Health and Healing

When such searching questions are put to us
we are apt to rise up in self-defense at first.
Some of us chanced to have a weak physical in-
heritance, with tendencies to disease, and so we
seem to be exempt. Others are handicapped
through early training at home, by educational
deficiencies, and by our contact with the world.
The story of our handicaps seems indeed endless,
as one after another we come forward to tell why
we are wearied, burdened, ill and suffering. We
seem to be involved in one another's burdens to
the limit. Our good resolutions and efforts should
have been made by our great-grandparents on
both sides of the house. There seems to be no
real relation or correspondence between what we
inwardly will to be and the conditions which our
outward life attracts.

Yet what shall we do? Shall we simply excuse
ourselves and our immediate ancestors, making
no effort to live by the quickening word? Of
what meaning is this great truth that the divine
love and wisdom are present with us according to
our need?

What if we think as little as possible of hered-
ity and external environment, of any and all
handicaps, and begin where we are today to give
the inner life more and more fully to the divine
presence? However old we may be according to
the calendar, whatever the hindrances before us,

The Quickening Word 133

we are all in the same process at one point or an-
other, and we may all begin to emphasize the
divine efficiency instead of dwelling on the hu-
man process.

Sincerely to believe in the divine influx as a
present reality, is to open our spirits in readiness
to receive guidance, the word of life and power
which is our greatest need today. We should not
try to bring the whole of life into line at once. It
is well to concentrate upon an immediate oppor-
tunity, lifting our spirit into spiritual light that
we may be guided. Then our responsiveness will
grow from more to more, and we may find our-
selves doing what seemed impossible while we
dwelt upon our limitations and handicaps.

Something we have gained if we are willing to
entertain even the idea that the divine influx is
to be regarded as vitally true now, that the living
Lord is here with words which are spirit and are
life. For theoretical objections will then fall
away and we will begin to see that it is a question
of our attitude.

On the inward side of our nature at least the
correspondence between attitude and what it in-
vites is perfect. There is all the power and life,
all the wisdom and love we need. There is spirit-
ual health and freedom. There is power to live
the good life. Everything depends on the human
side on recognition of and co-operation with the

134 Spiritual Health and Healing

one Efficiency. We can hardly expect what we
have not invited. We are not likely to seek to
be "every whit whole" even in spirit, until we
gain the idea that the living Christ comes to
minister to the whole individual.

So, too, when we read the Gospels, much de-
pends on what we look for. If we, when we read,
when we worship, merely anticipate a Sabbath
rest from our week day problems, this pleasant
contrast is what we are likely to find. If we
search the Bible in quest of passages to confirm
a favorite doctrine, we may find what we seek.
But to find the hidden truth in the letter of the
Word, we must make the effort which leads to
it. And so to hear the word which is spirit and is
life we need especially to start with the thought
of God as the living, present Lord, the light of
Christ in the soul of man today. We need the
idea of the divine influx and with this the thought
that there is wisdom, life, power according to our
need. The word is a symbol or sign of this power.
The idea is a clue or incentive to start our spirit
into activity in the direction in which we need
light. And so we endeavor to penetrate behind
the intellectual form in an attitude of openness
of spirit. It was in this penetrating, vivifying
spirit that Jesus spoke to the disciples and then
said to them in confirmation, "Now ye are clean
through the word which I have spoken unto you."

The Quickening Word 135

And it is in further confirmation and quickening
power that he also says, "And the word which
ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent
me.

XI

WITH SIGNS FOLLOWING

"And they went forth, and preached every-
where, the Lord working with them, and con-
firming the word with signs following." — Mark
xvi, 20.

Oftentimes when reading the Bible we come
upon a verse or phrase which we have passed by
a hundred times without even noting that it was
there, so intent are we ordinarily in the pursuit
of those ideas which habit has taught us to look
for. There is such a phrase in the verse quoted
above, "the Lord working with them," as the clue
to the conclusion which follows, "and confirming
the word with signs following." We are apt to
overlook this significant statement because con-
ventional thought emphasizes belief and the un-
fortunate consequences of wrong belief. Just
above there is a verse which reads, "He that be-
lieveth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that
believeth not shall be damned." The reader who
is fearful of results likely to attend refusal to be-
lieve will probably stop at this word "damned,"
not knowing that this is too strong a word to

136

With Signs Following 137

translate the original, which means "condemned/'
and is the same word used elsewhere to indicate
the natural consequences of our actions. Missing
the point with regard to belief, the reader is like-
ly to go on to this last verse, "And they went
forth and preached everywhere." This verb
"preach" is apt to suggest something modern,
and so the whole thought of these verses may be
shifted to the dogmas one is supposed to believe
or be punished, the dogmas which are commonly
preached in the churches.

But, noting this profound statement, "the Lord
working with them," we are sent back to recon-
sider. This is the last utterance of the disciple
who writes this Gospel. The evangelist has been
telling about the resurrection as the last of those
memorable experiences which brought near to
men's hearts the power of the Christ over out-
ward things. He informs us very briefly con-
cerning the final appearance of the Master among
the eleven. Once more he tells us how the dis-
ciples were imbued with the spirit of Christ and
sent forth to labor in the vineyard of the Lord.
The disciples were not bidden to "preach" in
the sense in which we usually apply the term,
but "to proclaim the glad tidings to every creat-
ure"— this is the way the original reads. It was
above all a question, not of alleged punishment
to be inflicted on those declining to believe; for

138 Spiritual Health and Heading

this would be a negative consideration ; but of the
signs following upon belief. What kind of signs
were these to be? Not theoretical matters, not
the issues which pertain to dogmas and the organ-
ization of churches; but practical results. In
the name of Christ the disciples were to cast out
devils, speak with new tongues, take up serpents,
drink deadly things without injury. That is, the
disciples were to enjoy those experiences which
show the supremacy of the Spirit over material
things. More important still, those who believed
were to lay hands on the sick, and the sick were
to recover. This much having been given as
a promise, the evangelist goes on to tell us that
the Lord "was received up in heaven/' This did
not mean that the Master of life and death de-
parted from the disciples, for there follows this
phrase so easily overlooked, "the Lord working
with them."

Here was an advance even beyond the power
of the Master's reappearance among the disciples.
The Lord was still present with those who be-
lieved and went forth to proclaim the glad tidings
with faith that practical benefits would follow
among the suffering, and it was because He
worked with them that the word was confirmed
and the signs were added. This "word" which
was confirmed was the glad tidings of the living
Gospel. It was confirmed because the Lord

With Signs Following 139

worked with the faithful, and produced the "signs
following."

This teaching puts belief in an entirely different
light. It is plainly not a question of what men
proclaim with their lips. Nor does it turn upon
what men accomplish in their own might. People
have fundamentally misunderstood the Gospel
who have been guided by the instruction of the
churches concerning doctrines. The living Gospel
which the Master taught and exemplified by
works was essentially a gospel of works or signs
following. It was so understood by the disciples.
It was proclaimed and verified by the impressive
works of which we read in the book of Acts. It
was taught in this way by the Apostle Paul, de-
spite the fact that he was also the first Christian
theologian and was inclined to be doctrinal. And
then little by little the original Gospel of immedi-
ate deeds among the suffering was lost in the
maze of doctrinal entanglements.

Looking back to this last meeting of the eleven
with the Master and trying to regain the lost clue,
we realize that if the gospel of works shall have
vital meaning for us there must be a way in which
the Lord works with every genuine believer to-
day so as to confirm the word with signs follow-
ing. This promise is given in connection with all
the evangelist has told us about the supremacy of
the Spirit over material things. Death apparent-

140 Spiritual Health and Healing

ly made no difference then, and makes no differ-
ence today. Time makes no difference. The
ages that have come and gone have not separated
us from the living Christ. The Lord working
with us is still the power that accomplishes the
signs that follow. We make a mistake if we al-
low anything whatsoever to stand between us and
the living Lord.

Why is it that we should look for such signs
following as the Gospels tell us about? Why
has the theologizing world separated sin and sick-
ness, and limited the work of the churches to the
kind of preaching that is supposed to show salva-
tion from sins merely? Why have we failed to
understand the works recorded in the Gospels in
which the healing of disease and the forgiving of
sins are brought into intimate relation?

Because, for one thing, we have failed to trace
out either sin or sickness to its interior sources.
The word translated "sin" in the Gospels means
error or mistake, and comes from a verb signify-
ing to miss the mark, that is, fail of doing, fail of
one's purpose. To hit the mark would be to real-
ize one's purpose, do one's work in the world con-
structively. Hence the Master summoned men
and women to be whole, to be their true full selves.
What does it mean to be sick? In the passage in
which Jesus said, "They that are whole need not
a physician; but they that are sick," the word

With Signs Following 141

rendered "sick" is from a term meaning "to cause
evil," of a bad quality or disposition. Evidently
the reference is to the mode of life which under-
lies sickness, the imier state with which the outer
is in correspondence. Immediately after saying
that it was the sick who had need of him, Jesus
said, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance." Righteousness is justice, integ-
rity, wholeness of life; it is hitting the mark.
Sickness is due to any quality in the disposition
which keeps one from attaining this wholeness.
The power of the Lord working with us to con-
firm the word with signs following is the power
which seeks to make men whole, whether their
lack of integrity is called sin or sickness. Whole-
ness is a positive consideration.

What kind of sign should we look for, there-
fore, among those who believe as the Gospels
would have men believe? Plainly, that kind of
life out of which righteousness or health would
spring as a consequence, instead of sin and sick-
ness. The human spirit is made for integrity or
wholeness. It has power to hit the mark, to real-
ize life's purpose. Our thought should be given
to the conditions which favor such wholeness, we
should look for power in this direction. The Lord
is working with us in this endeavor.

We have been taking our clues from the sorrow
and misery, the sin and suffering of the world.

142 Spiritual Health and Healing

We have judged the human spirit by its failures,
by unfortunate inheritances, by external environ-
ment with its sinful influences. But this is wrong.
We should think and will and work in the vine-
yard of the Lord with the divine standard of
health or wholeness in mind. It is those who
lack the ideal of this wholeness to whom the
Gospel comes especially, calling them to turn
about (repent) and look towards the light. The
Gospel is not a mere corrective of our errors, not
a mere plan of salvation. It discloses the true
positive plan of living. This plan implies the
supremacy of the Spirit over material things.
That is, it leads us to the great truth that all real
causality is spiritual, that we live and work from
the spiritual world, the Lord working with us.

What does the power of the living Christ with-
in us endeavor to achieve? To touch anything
in our disposition, such as a tendency to rebel,
look on the dark side, work for our own selfish
interest, or work against our rivals, so that this
lesser activity shall be enlarged into the greater
and become constructive. To shake us out of
our apathy and self -righteousness, our mere con-
tentment when things are moving as we would
like them whether other people suffer or not. To
call us into the active service of spreading the glad
news for those who believe. To quicken us out of
our hypocrisy and every other form of two-fold-

With Signs Following 143

ness into true unity within the self, unity between
head and heart, the understanding and the will.
To prompt our hearts to change from self-love
and love for the world to love of God and our f el-
lowmen. To lead us into the true life of charity
which is the real sign that we profoundly believe
and expect the signs following.

But why do these states which we are sum-
moned out of underlie both sin and sickness? Be-
cause he who is in them is untrue to the divine
standard of unity or wholeness. He who is a
hypocrite, for example, who is working under-
handedly for his own interest while seeming to be
virtuous, who strives to serve two masters, is in
interior conflict, and such conflict is sickness or
sin. It shows itself outwardly in a thousand dif-
ferent ways with as many individuals. The in-
dividual is beset within and around by those
forces which his inner conflict invites. The out-
ward life manifests by correspondence the inner
struggle. It is marked in the face, or in the voice.
It is expressed in daily conduct, with its subtleties
and compromises. It affects the nervous system,
and consequently the bodily activity in general.
The house thus divided against itself tends to fall.
It is repaired and propped up, painted other
colors and in various ways disguised. But still
it remains the same house. Some onlookers ad-
vise changed here. Others suggest modifications

144 Spiritual Health and Healing

there. The external signs or defects appear to
be the real trouble. But the real trouble is hidden
far within and for that there is no lasting remedy
save through becoming a house at harmony with
itself — unified, stable, constant.

We are apt to think that the inner pain or
struggle is due to some hostile force striving with
us, as a germ might play havoc with disordered
tissues or a devil insinuate sly temptations. It
is great glad news indeed that there is no other
life or power in the world plotting and work-
ing against man, whatever the appearance and
secondary struggles, but only the force of his
own self-love reinforced by the self-love of others
ignorantly and foolishly laboring against man's
own better self, producing out of this inner con-
flict the whole trouble of the house divided
against itself. For with this discovery comes the
knowledge that conflict can be changed into har-
mony through turning about and working with
the power once opposed. The living Lord is with
those who believe in the sense in which the Gos-
pels teach belief: to bring about just this marvel-
lous sign following, thus turning a state of war
into a state of peace so that the supposed enemy
is seen not to exist at all.

It seems almost unbelievable at first, that our
real foes are those of our own household and that
they may one and all be turned into friends. Our

With Signs Following 145

conflicts are so real to us and our struggles often
so intense that we appear to be mere victims of
outward things, as if we were supremely inno-
cent. We do indeed take on by inheritance and
from the influences coming from the world those
conditions which outwardly speaking give us our
experience. Thus, for example, the world readi-
ly contributes to the cantankerous person things
enough to be cantankerous about. It is not slow
in helping the pessimist to find facts to judge in
the darkest light. He who -has a chip on his
shoulder will find other fighters ready for him.
The world seems no better to any one of us than
we are ourselves. No one can complain that
things are not what they appear to be, for the
human mind is so constituted as to let the inner
state color the world according to its kind. The
world corresponds in marvellous degree, even to
our fluctuating moods. If we persist in putting
the blame on people and things, on God and
this splendid universe wherein we live, why then
the world will gratify us in our delusion. But
there is only one thing to consider after all, and
that is our own state of development with the
fears it brings, its illusions, its errors, hardships
and miseries. There can be no relief save
through a change within, since this is the very
nature of life, the law of experience. There is
no mystery, surely nothing to complain about;

146 Spiritual Health and Healing

simply the glad news that the key to the whole
solution is within ourselves, that the living Lord
holds this key with outstretched hand saying,
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest."

What is it that we need rest from? Is it from
ourselves? No, from the inner struggle which we
make by going counter to our nature. The nat-
ure of man is to find his place in the Grand Man,
in the social order in which all who love the Lord
and their fellow men are "members one of an-
other." The nature of man is to do a specific
work in the world, to be contributory, to co-
operate, live and let live, give full measure run-
ning over in his desire to serve. The right atti-
tude to take toward our fellow men is to see this
tendency toward co-operative service and mutual
love working its way out into expression. The
living Lord is with every one whom we would
help to accomplish just this purpose. That is
the great consideration when disciples are sent
forth to proclaim the glad news, with signs fol-
lowing.

Are we able, in the first place, to see the sig-
nificance of the word which shall be confirmed by
the signs following? It means a radical change
in our thinking for most of us. Our whole habit
of thought tends toward emphasis on things, on
outward conditions. We say, "human nature can-

With Signs Following 147

not be changed," meaning by "human nature" all
the sinfulness and criminality, all the selfishness
of the world. We say this is impossible. We
must take the world as it is. It is full of selfish-
ness and sorrow, and all we can do is to 'look out
for Number One." Over against this scepticism
the Gospel gives its amazing promises: With
man such things are impossible, but not with God.
"All things are possible to him that believeth."
Only believe. Have faith. It shall then be pos-
sible even to move mountains. To be saved
through belief is to be lifted out of this scepti-
cal attitude into alert expectancy which encour-
ages us to look for the signs following. Such
belief is "in His name." It comes with the prom-
ise of the spirit of truth present with us to lead
us into all truth. It comes with the impetus to
go forth into all the world and proclaim with con-
viction this glad news. Then the Lord will work
with us to achieve results which apparently
were utterly impossible. Material things will no
longer seem to be obstacles in our path. What
seemed like a deadly thing will not now prove so.
Our hands shall be imbued with power. We will
speak with new tongues. All these signs shall
come to those who believe whole-heartedly in such
a way as to look for benefits coming to others, not
the private joys supposedly vouchsafed to the

148 Spiritual Health and Healing

"saved." This is salvation and very much more.
It follows the resurrection of man's true self. It
is the triumph of the Holy Spirit in us, the work
of the ever-living Christ.

XII

THE VALUE OF DENIALS

Many devotees of mental healing believe there
is a short cut to the curing of disease through
the practice of denials. The word "denial" is
not to be understood in the Christian sense of
self-denial, losing the self that one may find it,
but in the sense of a declaration that any alleged
enemy, error or evil does not exist. The first
proposition about life in general is, "All is good,"
and the next, "There is no evil." Radical believ-
ers in this method deny even the existence of the
body and the natural world. While on the face
of it such denials seem absurd, we may well ask
ourselves what is the value of this method from
a practical point of view.

The theoretical basis of these denials is as fol-
lows. Man has two selves or minds, the spirit
which is never sick, which never sins or errs ; and
"mortal mind" or the consciousness of error, the
intellect or false mind, always in process of
change, essentially external and dependent on
information gathered through the physical senses.
These senses are discounted as giving misinfor-
mation merely, since "there is no intelligence in

149

150 Spiritual Health and Healing

matter." It is in this false or mortal mind that
all error resides. Disease, being an "error of
mind/' its cure consists in denying not only its
alleged power over the flesh but even its ex-
istence.

The use of denials is that one may realize "our
oneness with God." Otherwise stated, denials
are for the sake of affirming the reality of the
true self, which is pure spirit, never afraid, never
disturbed, never selfish, never at fault. In case
of any alleged material force, any cause for fear,
any supposed selfishness, one should positively
and persistently deny its power, reality or exist-
ence. One should deny the existence of all evil,
because there is but one Power in the universe
and that Power is wholly good, and "all is good."
One should deny the reality of all pain, sickness,
poverty, old age, suffering, even the reality of
death; since these have no existence in Spirit.
One ought also to deny the existence of all things
which appear to be apart from Spirit, for only
Spirit and its manifestations exist. To deny is to
efface, blot out the mental pictures, banish the
fear> take the life out of adverse suggestions by a
counter-suggestion, and overcome all "paralyz-
ing negations." To deny the evil is to affirm the
good. To deny pain and sickness is to affirm
health. To deny weakness is to realize strength.
To deny poverty is to affirm prosperity.

The Value of Denials 151

By denying the reality of what seems to exist
to mortal sight one realizes what eternally exists,
the unchangeable reality of Spirit. It is all a
question of realization, not of growth. There is
no evolution or progressive change from lower
to higher stages. Man does not learn anything
from experience, but already is in deepest truth
what he seems to acquire. All ills are imaginary.
There is no reason for learning from experience,
since man contains all wisdom within. Man al-
ready possesses perfect love and peace. Hence
he may unqualifiedly say, "I am spirit, perfect,
harmonious, wise, in perfect health, in perfect
peace."

Life on this basis would be "the constant re-
cognition throughout the day of the non-reality
of the material, knowing that as it is not real, the
material man cannot do anything, say anything
or think anything; that it is only illusion, appear-
ance having no basis in reality, and that the only
thing that takes place is the steady disappear-
ance of this illusionary sense through the action
of God." "When you see someone in pain, in-
stead of thinking of him as in pain and so increas-
ing it, turn in thought to heaven and realize that
there is no such thing as pain there, and then
think of the absolute joy, bliss and happiness in
that perfect world."

The first observation to be made is that healers

152 Spiritual Health and Healing

who have adopted these denials have often met
with more immediate success than other thera-
peutists who raise objections to denials on the
ground that they are not true. Outwardly such
healers are very prosperous. Their business ar-
rangements are uncommonly good. They are
highly contented with the commodities and in-
comes of the material world. Not concerned
with the inconsistencies of their several proposi-
tions in contrast with their delight in this world's
goods, they concentrate upon those suggestions
which bring the most fruitful results. Psycho-
logically speaking there is a great advantage in
concentration. To hold absolutely to your point
is to succeed where people fail who lose headway
when interested in noting what is inconsistent.

We are all placed at times where denials are
in order. When face to face with an enemy
likely to conquer us if we are not uncommonly
skilful and alert, we must resolutely declare
that he cannot, must not win. Thus a denial is a
psychological device adopted for the time being
to get us out of a tight place. A hard-pressed
nation may even deny the victories which an
enemy is winning, for the sake of keeping up the
courage of the people at home. But the question
is, What of the day of reckoning? Is it possible
to use a denial for the moment, then return to
facts and truths ? May one adopt denials for the

The Value of Denials 153

sake of concentration without giving the mind
over to extravagances tending toward Oriental
pantheism and the relegation of the natural uni-
verse to the category of illusion?

It was P. P. Quimby who introduced the dis-
tinction between the "scientific man" with the
wisdom of Christ to draw upon and the "man of
opinions/' always changing, subject to errors,
fears, and other false beliefs. Dr. Quimby's
silent realization consisted in making a clear-cut
separation between the two minds. All later
disciples of the silent method have made an equiv-
alent separation in their own terms. The mind
that is swayed by opinions is the "carnal mind,"
and to be "carnally minded is death." It
is this carnal-mindedness which Dr. Quimby
sought to banish by affirming the reality of the
truth which makes men free, the truth we possess
when we have the mind of Christ. No one can
make much headway in this field without drawing
this distinction.

Yet one ought to be intelligent enough to dis-
tinguish between opinions and the understand-
ing or intellect. The understanding can be hf ted
into spiritual light and learn to think truly con-
cerning the information the senses give us and
the marvellous universe which God has made.
There is no intelligible reason for ignoring the
long series of progressive changes from simple

154 Spieitual Health and Healing

to complex, from atom to star, from amoeba to
man, filled as this ascent is by the wisdom of
God. Our part is to learn the order and beauty,
the system and power of this great world of nat-
ure as it exists in the divine purpose. Then it is
our privilege to learn to live by the divine order
in a useful manner, in constancy of health, with
steadiness of purpose and productive courage.

Whatever the reason for making denials as
psychological aids to concentration, in the long
run we are all compelled to meet life as it is on
this natural plane. The truth which makes us
permanently free is the truth which discloses nat-
ural existence as it was meant to be for en-
lightened man, the existence which makes for
freedom and development, for health and happi-
ness here on earth. The real error of our carnal
mindedness is that the body is unfriendly, is a
source of evil and misery, prone to disease, weak-
ening old age and a lingering death. The truth
as that man might live in perfect harmony with
natural law, might use the body as an entirely
harmonious instrument, might conquer every ob-
stacle in the path. This is essentially a spiritual
truth. One needs to lift the mind into spiritual
light, to perceive it. For it is the spirit alone
which is able to use the body aright. There is no
reason to deny anything that God has made. The
error to be denied, and that most resolutely, is

The Value of Denials 155

the old notion that God wants us to be sick, that
He inflicts suffering upon us for our discipline.
There are, then, denials which are true, and we
all need to make them and most affirmatively.
Yet all the while the ideal is to rise to the level
of affirmations with such strength that we do not
need to deny their opposites. "Perfect love
casteth out fear." If you can realize the protect-
ing power of that love, you need not deny the
power of the fear. Later, when you are free and
strong, you may return and learn the lesson of
your fear.

The same is true in the sphere of moral ideals.
The more severely pressed the soldier "who
fights the good fight" the less reason he has for
admitting the power of evil. There can be no
such word as fail in the moral world. We de-
clare that all lying, stealing, dishonesty and
wrong-doing shall be overcome, and that right-
eousness shall prevail. Yet after all what is it
that calls out a man's potentialities and makes
him a hero in our eyes? Surely not a mere error.
It is because he rises to meet a well-nigh in-
superable difficulty. We grow strong by meet-
ing opportunities which call us into activity to
the full. Sometimes the more valiantly we admit
the foe to be conquered the more resolutely we
rise to the occasion which "makes the man."

What the moral soldier affirms is that right is

156 Spiritual Health and Healing

on his side, a right strong enough to conquer any
wrong whatsoever. He fights with his spirit.
He first conquers the enemy in himself by facing
his fears and the possibility of defeat. Then,
made alert and affirmative, he goes forth to meet
a danger which no denial can minimize but
which must be faced to the end. At every junct-
ure when tempted to weaken, he re-affirms the
supremacy of the right and bravely presses for-
ward. He cannot for a moment afford to enter-
tain a weakening idea.

Here we have concentration in high degree.
Allowing for different conditions, we may think
of this valiant moral attitude as applied in the
inner world where it is a question of attaining
health or healing others. One ought to be as
valiant in holding to the Christ ideal as the moral
soldier in fighting on the field of battle. For the
healer it is a question of the victorious faith
which pushes through to the end and overcomes
every obstacle.

It is a help in this connection to distinguish
between lower and higher levels of mentality.
On the lower level with the "mind of opinions"
one sees "in a glass darkly." One is then sub-
ject to mere reports, haunting fears, besetting
illusions, misinterpretations. The worst of these
is mistaking this body of flesh and blood for one-
self. To be thus minded is indeed to be in danger

The Value of Denials 157

of spiritual death. On the higher level one seeks
to think with the mind of Christ, to live in perfect
peace and love, realizing that the soul is a "son of
Spirit." The knowledge gained on the higher
level is insight "face to face/' a vision in which
we see the same things but see them as they are.

To disconnect from the activities of the lower
level and open the spirit on the higher is to find
oneself in another realm of thought. The change
from the one to the other is sufficient in itself to
set higher activities in motion. For it is a dy-
namic change. It opens the spirit to the divine
influx of love and wisdom. It is man who makes
the change. It is God who "giveth the increase."
Life "on a purely spiritual basis/' then, would be
in unison with God, wherever one might be led,
whatever the work given our hands to do. When
"God and one make a majority" we need no
longer deny what is to be overcome. For we now
function on the level of constructive forces.

It is plain of course that few of us are open as
we might be on the higher level. Most of us are
placed where it is better to admit that we are not
as responsive as we might be to the incoming
divine life, and then ask what needs to be over-
come. The whole secret for us to learn is interior
openness and responsiveness, recovery of the
open vision which will disclose divine truth. In
so far as we are open within and the channels of

158 Spiritual Health and Healing

our being are kept open even from the inmost
centre to the*outermost parts of the body, we are
in perfect health, able to function as free spiritual
beings,

A denial, then, is a practical device needed
when we are not sufficiently affirmative. A man
might, for example, deny evil reports concerning
himself, defending himself by arguments, until
he realizes that no man need contend with un-
righteous judgments but may put his whole re-
liance on what is true. A person may deny the
supposed power of an illness that is attacking
him, since he is determined to be well. But later
he may learn to unite in thought with the power
of God making for health. Later still, his ideal
may be to live so that he may let all external
circumstances take care of themselves in God's
own time. The real point is that external things
are occasions simply, while real causes are spir-
itual: The occasion will make or unmake the
man according to his way of meeting it. The
opportunity will be a blessing or a curse. Every
occasion meant for our betterment may serve to
call us into productive activity, if we meet it with
wisdom concerning our true place and service
in the world. All opportunities are blessings
in God's eyes. We have the power to unite our
hearts to make them blessings. Everything de-
pends on becoming affirmative. Our affirmations

The Value or Denials 159

will become more intelligent as we proceed.
What would they be if we habitually had the
mind of Christ, instead of fluctuating between
things carnal and things spiritual?

XIII

SPIRITUAL INFLUX

In another chapter we noted certain of Swe-
denborg's teachings which point very directly to
the theory of spiritual healing. Indeed, there are
several lines of resemblance between the doc-
trines of the great Swedish seer and the modern
therapeutic movement. The intimate relation-
ship was quickly noted by W. F. Evans, some-
time Swedenborgian minister, when he visited
Dr. Quimby as a patient in Portland, in 1863.1
Mr. Evans's books were widely read by early
leaders of the new therapeutism, and so there was
a commingling of ideas derived from Quimby and
from Swedenborg. The theory, for example, that
there is precise correspondence or relationship
between spiritual states and natural conditions is
due to this commingling. Swedenborg teaches
that there is an influx of spiritual life into the
human soul, and that our spiritual life is con-
ditioned by our response to this inflowing of
power from heavenly sources. He also teaches
that many diseases have spiritual causes, and that

i See "A History of the New Thought Movement," Chap. IV.

160

Spikitual Influx 161

salvation from our ills would ensue if we would
acknowledge the Divine inflow in such a way as
to prepare for genuine regeneration. To the
believer in spiritual healing it is but one step
further to incorporate this theory of the heavenly
influx into the practical teaching known as the
New Thought. Hence the new therapeutists are
surprised when Swedenborgians fail to apply
their teaching in this way.

But to his strict followers Swedenborg seems
to be primarily a theologian. Everything in his
system turns upon his doctrine of the Lord, the
relation of this doctrine to the spiritual inter-
pretation of the Bible, and "the life of charity"
which ought to ensue as a result of this accept-
ance of true doctrine. Hence the prevailing in-
terest is in salvation or regeneration, regarded
as superior in importance to "healing." It is the
New Church which should assimilate the New
Thought, not the other way. Moreover, Sweden-
borg teaches that the Lord approves of our use
of natural means in the treatment of disease, and
this is taken to mean the use of medicine and
reliance on physicians. This is why the New
Churchman of the doctrinal type turns as readily
to medical practice as if he were not a believer in
the Divine influx.

The apparent points of contact become radical
points of difference, when we compare the views

162 Spiritual Health and Healing

of the typical New Thought devotee with those
of the typical Swedenborgian. Where, for ex-
ample, the disciple of the New Thought would
harmonize contrasts the Swedenborgian would
strengthen them. Practically everything turns
upon the interpretation of Swedenborg's teach-
ing concerning the nearness of the spiritual world
to the natural, the theory of "discrete degrees,"
and the doctrine of contiguity.

In his "Divine Love and Wisdom" Sweden-
borg teaches that while the spiritual world is in-
deed intimately related with natural things this
intimacy is not the relationship of continuity, as
the doctrine of spiritual influx would seem to
suggest, for this would mean unbroken inflow
from the spiritual world into the natural ; but is
the relationship of "contiguity," or the nearness
of things fundamentally unlike. There is a dis-
crete difference between spiritual and natural
things. Real causes are spiritual, natural events
are effects. There is no interfusion or blending.
The same is true of God and man, the Lord
Jesus and man. Consequently every comparison
should be made clear and distinct. It is especially
important to guard against mysticism or panthe-
ism, that is, any teaching which lessens distinc-
tions between God and man, or in any way com-
promises the doctrine of the Lord. This explains
why any teaching not founded on the true doc-

Spiritual Influx 163

trine of the Lord seems to a Swedenborgian a
"falsity." To advocate spiritual healing by iden-
tifying oneself with Christ, or by regarding the
human self as a "part of God," would be to err
in the very beginning. Any theory or method
founded on a "false premise" must itself be false.

It may be seriously questioned, however, wheth-
er a mode of inference which so easily dismisses
a teaching that has brought incalculable good to
thousands of people is fair either to the new
therapeutism or to Swedenborg. The literal dis-
ciple of Swedenborg, making over-much of the
theory of discrete degrees, emphasizes the fact
that man is merely a "receptacle" of life. Hence
he tends to rear doctrinal barriers where Sweden-
borg would have called attention to the mode of
life incumbent upon all who know the glorious
truth that man receives "life from the Lord."

We must admit of course that God is the only
giver of life. It is plain also that to regard man
as a receptacle of Divine life is very different
from affirming that the higher self is Divine, that
man is "one with God," that each of us can be-
come "the Christ;" for from a New Churchman's
point of view the whole question is how, given
our alienation from the Lord, we can attain uni-
son of will with Him, and there is no advantage
in merely affirming what we have yet to achieve.
The New Thought devotee appears to attribute

164 Spiritual Health and Healing

the efficiency to man. But Swedenborg teaches
that to "look above oneself is to be lifted up by
the Lord ; for no one can look above himself, un-
less he is lifted up by Him who is above." Yet
when we have noted all these considerations, it
may well be that despite doctrinal divergences
there are impressive points of resemblance and
contact.

Swedenborg teaches that man as he was cre-
ated might have remained wholly open to the
heavenly influx, without disease and without sin.
The crucial question then is, Why did man lose
his pristine privilege? What may he do to regain
it? To learn Swedenborg' s answer is to find that
the dark picture of man's sins and the hells to
which they correspond is not so dark as it seems.
For man was created in the Divine image and
likeness, this is still the ideal put before man for
attainment. To deny the ignorance into which
we are born and the darkness in which we find
ourselves is not to find the wisdom that we need.
But granted fundamental awareness of our act-
ual situation, our great concern is with the
wonderful opportunity put before us here in this
natural world. Here is the ideal place to meet
life fairly and squarely, overlooking nothing,
never ignoring the conditions in which we are
placed. To look at life courageously and "see it
whole" is to realize that each of us has a prevail-

Spiritual Influx 165

ing love which for better or worse is steadily
shaping our future. It is what we love that de-
termines our thinking and our life, not what we
"affirm." Never till we rightly love can we be-
come intelligently open to the Divine influx.
Surely, no follower of the New Thought can dis-
pute this, and if he sees it he has gained new
insight into spiritual healing.

Nor can it be disputed that there is a radical
difference between love for self and the world,
and love toward our fellow men through love to
the Lord. While in this world we are held in
equilibrium between these two types of affection
— until we choose once for all. Hence most of
us are subject to an inner conflict which, when
all has been said, is the real trouble writh us. We
are one and all at some stage in this conflict. We
all know there are two voices, and we are strug-
gling, wavering, or choosing between them. No
relief comes to us through self-condemnation.
None comes by blaming our neighbors and the
world. We may enter into and pass out of many
of our tribulations and diseases — whatever views
we may hold regarding disease and its cure —
and still find this state of affairs pressing upon
us for solution. Whether we will or no, we must
admit that this, the problem of "salvation," is
deeper than 'any mere question of health, al-
though our health is intimately connected with

166 Spiritual Health and Healing

the will. What would bring real freedom, we
must indeed agree, would be fundamental en-
lightenment concerning the true unity of head
and heart, a "marriage," as Swedenborg calls it,
between the understanding and the will; and
everything he says on this subject is of vital im-
portance for the believer in spiritual healing.
For what we need is to be lifted out of this state
of tension in which we have turned possible bless-
ings into curses, that we may be guided into
true co-operation with the Divine life — with the
Lord's help. The whole meaning of the Divine
providence, Swedenborg insists, is that man shall
be led out of his ignorance and sin through succes-
sive states of repentance, reformation, and re-
generation into constancy of spirit. To do his
part man must acknowledge his sins as sins
against the Lord, and must acknowledge the one
true Lord.

Since man's diseases and sins correspond to his
interior love or spiritual states, there can be no
freedom till these states are changed. Man's sins
and diseases pertain to his life, and if that life is
covetous, selfish, self-seeking, until the life is re-
generated there can be no true healing. Man
will not change his thoughts or outward life un-
til his love changes. When he begins to love
spiritual things with devoted or constant love he
will find every helpful influence in the world com-

Spiritual Influx 167

ing to him. No device will ever succeed in con-
cealing man's actual self — as if he could somehow
avoid facing himself, avoid repenting and coming
to judgment.

Despite his suggestive statement about the
possibility of human openness to Divine life and
what such receptivity would mean in relation to
health, Swedenborg does not however draw the
inference that man might recover this responsive-
ness and apply it to the healing of disease. Swe-
denborg does not teach any method by which a
man might put his spirit into a certain attitude
to appropriate and utilize the life which enters
the spirit from within. He assures us that the
mind rules the body by influx, that the body is
"mere obedience," and so he seems on the point
of saying that man should cultivate the poise
and inner control which are essential to intelli-
gent use of the bodily instrument; but he does
not touch on these matters. He has nothing to
say about "the power of thought" as mental
healers employ it. He does not emphasize the
importance of mental attitudes, nor teach the art
of "attracting success." He has little to say
about the imagination and almost nothing about
the emotions or the effects they produce. Nor
does he write about ideals and the need of affirm-
ing them. He makes no reference to the sub-
conscious mind as the term is now used, although

168 Spiritual Health and Healing

he approaches modern physiological psychology
at various points.

Indeed, his emphasis is never put on any
method employed by man for his betterment.
Man of his own volition is said to be tending
toward the hell of self-love, and the Divine love
alone can bring salvation from this natural ten-
dency toward the hells. What is needed is the
doctrine which acquaints man with the subtle
influences to which he is subject when withdrawn
from the hells through the ministry of angels.

The reason for this apparent neglect of the
methods so much in vogue among mental healers
is that Swedenborg sees no salvation for man
save by admitting sins as sins, not as "errors" or
illusions. Man has no power of his own to over-
come temptations, but may be lifted above them
by the Lord's help when he is willing. Man
needs to realize his own weakness and unregen-
eracy, needs to see that there is a discrete differ-
ence between himself and the Lord who would
save him.

One sees why most followers of Swedenborg
have been highly doctrinal in type. The relation-
ship with the Lord is interpreted in a beautiful
way, so far as life in general is concerned ; hence
the nobility of spirit everywhere attributed to
Swedenborgians. The emphasis put on "the life
of charity" or service according to Divine pre-

Spiritual Influx 169

cepts has always led them to make steady effort
to live by their doctrines. But if asked why they
do not connect this beauty of spirit with healing
for the body, they would point out not only the
need for regeneration as above indicated but the
fact that there is a break in the correspondences
to which man is subject. Man by taking on he-
reditary evils comes into the world handicapped.
Moreover, man through external influx is open
to tendencies making for disease and evil through
his contact with the world. From this compro-
mised state of things, namely, the conflict be-
tween the influxes, there is no escape through any
method of healing. While, therefore, the Swe-
denborgian does indeed believe in the Divine in-
flux with respect to conduct, that is, in the inner
life, he finds himself surrounded by a natural
environment and a natural inheritance which may
be radically unlike his inner state and needs.
Where the disciple of the New Thought sees
favorable relationships or correspondences only,
and affirms that heredity can be overcome and
circumstance conquered, the New Churchman
points out that there is not necessarily a condition
of harmony between inner state and outward
condition. Consequently he does not anticipate
healing or escape from material conditions.

A few of Swedenborg's readers, however, in-
terested to find those principles which so quickly

170 Spiritual Health and Healing

led Mr. Evans to espouse Quimby's theory and
method of spiritual healing, have indicated what
to them is a more practical way of accepting the
idea of the Divine influx. It is pointed out that
as all causes are spiritual, as natural things have
no life or power, the relationship of the spiritual
to the natural is "dynamic." The Divine influx
then is the real causal efficiency in the world,
whatever the degree of difference between the
spiritual world and the natural. It accomplishes
its results despite the contrasts. It attains its
ends with man too. It is a real, a vital inflow.
Hence we should not emphasize the mere near-
ness of the spiritual world, pointing to the dif-
ferences and contrasts; but call attention to the
great truth that man lives, moves, and has his
being in and from this influent Divine life.

Why then should we always dwell on the fact
that man is a "receptacle" of life? The result
might be mere acquiescence on our part. What
if we emphasize the dynamic character of the
Divine influx, seek to unite with it and become
affirmative, in co-operative response to the Divine
love and wisdom? Indeed, Swedenborg teaches
that although man has no life or power of his
own he should act "as if" all the power were his
— while inwardly acknowledging that it is the
Lord's. This would mean that man should
actively respond to, assimilate and express the

Spieitual Influx 171

life which comes as love and wisdom. What is
needed is a method of realization which will en-
able man to become a genuinely efficient "organ
of life." This efficiency ought to be more prac-
tically attained on Swedenborg's basis then on
the New Thought basis. For Swedenborg's
teaching is more explicit, that is, that the Divine
life first touches the will or the affections, and
then the understanding or intellect. This means
that man more directly receives Divine love than
Divine wisdom, that his will is closer than his
thought. It is therefore plain that man must first
modify his affections before he can rightly re-
form his thinking. To begin by affirming or
holding thoughts would be to put the cart before
the horse.

Granted this more interior knowledge of the
human spirit, namely, that the life or love is
prior to the thought, we are in a position to see the
larger meaning of the theory of spiritual heal-
ing. For in his development of this theory Dr.
Quimby also emphasized the importance of
knowing what the life is before one could rightly
adjust the thoughts. Not primarily concerned
with theological matters, Quimby approached
the subject of man's relation to God in a purely
practical waj^. Laying emphasis on the Divine
presence as Wisdom adequate to meet all occa-
sions and all needs, he acquired a method of

172 Spiritual Health and Healing

practical realization or silent spiritual healing,
and used this method in the healing of disease
because this was the work given him to do. He
saw that healing included the life, and that it
was necessary to change one's idea of God if the
idea was ecclesiastical rather than practical; but
his province was to make sure that people saw
the connection between the Divine presence and
healing, since this was the vital application of
Christianity which the world had overlooked for
eighteen hundred years. The method of realiz-
ing the Divine presence which was original with
him could be applied with equal value to man's
life as a whole.

It was in accord with our practical age that
Quimby should bring the psychological elements
of this realization into view. Quimby drew a
fundamental distinction between the outer man
or "man of opinions" and the inner mind which
can know the Christ-truth. He believed that by
absenting himself from the outward world with
its opinions and errors, its notions about disease
and suffering, one could unite in spirit with the
Divine life ready at hand to guide the way to
freedom. To enter vividly into realizations of
the Divine presence is to banish every influence
to which man is subject through opinion, includ-
ing hereditary influences and those coming from
the world. To "realize" is to become open to

Spiritual Influx 173

the Mind which never changes, whereas the mind
of opinions is always changing. Quimby de-
veloped these realizations into an effective
method of silent or spiritual healing which ap-
plied, as he believed, to all kinds of disease and
trouble in the world.

The question would then be, How may I put
my spirit into the right attitude to receive Di-
vine love and wisdom most effectively? Thus
questioning one would find that the way to test
any spiritual teaching is by the method of inner
experience. In accordance with the modern spirit
one would not judge even the scriptural works
of healing by any doctrine, but one would be
prompted by the endeavor to recover the lost
methods of Christian healing. Thus one might
make capital use of the idea that the Divine life
enters the soul by influx, thence into the under-
standing, which in turn may be "lifted into spir-
itual light." One would then turn to the body
with the expectation that its ills could be over-
come through this inner response to influx.

But what of the distinction between God and
man? The answer is that the idea of discrete dif-
ferences does indeed help us in doctrinal matters,
but this idea should not keep us from putting
primary emphasis on the love which unites and
the wisdom which guides when man becomes
truly receptive. The tendency of the incoming

174 Spiritual Health and Healing

life is to make us in very truth sound men and
women in the image and likeness of God. It is
this which we should dwell on, this we should rec-
ognize, substituting the Divine idea for any other.
This tendency is the basis of true spiritual heal-
ing because it is the basis of spiritual life. Here
is the clue to all real efficiency and the dynamic
attitude.

The objection to urging discrete differences,
and the break in correspondences due to heredity
and present relations to the world, is that when
we have made all the requisite doctrinal qualifi-
cations we are apt to stop there instead of press-
ing forward to realize what the Divine presence
vitally means. If we reduce man to a "recep-
tacle," then leave him there, tied down by quali-
fying doctrinal distinctions, impotent in thought,
almost helpless in will, the prospect is indeed
dark. Even the doctrine of the Lord might then
remain an intellectual instrument merely. The
modern spirit says, If you believe all efficiency
is from the Lord, show this by living in accord-
ance with Divine providence as vitalizing guid-
ance today. It asks you vividly to realize what
it means to attribute all love and wisdom to God,
and to apply this realization to all problems.
The person who concentrates upon the vital pre-
sent realization is far more likely to show actual

Spiritual Influx 175

results than one who uses these ideas as doctrines
merely.

If charged with exalting the human self un-
duly, the practical devotee would say, "Whereas
I was blind, now I see." I formerly lived in
bondage to material things, now I have the ideal
of the supremacy of the spirit. Once I believed
that sickness, trouble, poverty, weakening old
age and an untimely death were the lot of man;
now I know that God intended man to be in good
health, to increase in power and live a trium-
phant life. I used to give way to negative atti-
tudes, now I am learning to adopt the affirmative
attitude in all things. Anyone can learn how to
take this attitude. Everyone can draw on Di-
vine sources at need.

Mental healing devotees do not claim to be
theologians. They leave believers in the new
therapeutism free to think as they like about
God, although steadily insisting that God dwells
with man and that we may grow into "the mind
of Christ." They sometimes verge strongly to-
ward Oriental mysticism, but this is for the sake
of making the Divine presence vivid. They some-
times speak of man as a god, identifying the high-
er self with Christ, but this is to encourage the
individual to recognize his full privileges as a son
of God. To condemn the teaching because its
statements concerning God are not always satis-

176 Spiritual Health and Healing

factory in form would be to miss the fruits or
"signs following" which are the real evidences of
the power of this new movement.

There is of course a difference between mental
and spiritual healing,. but the latter is meant to
include the new birth and the spiritual life. The
view of the spiritual life thus emphasized is en-
riched by the idea of the Divine influx. But as
developed by therapeutists this view ordinarily
has little to do with psychical experiences and
visions. The idea of intuition or direct inner
guidance is substituted for that of the Swe-
denborgian theory of guidance through angels.
Nothing is said about three classified heavens and
three hells, since the new therapeutists anticipate
endless progress in the future life, not a life that
is determined once for all by our choice or pre-
vailing love in this world. Consequently the
practical worker parts company with the doc-
trinaire, at all points responsive to the spirit of
his age. But his study of the problems of spir-
itual healing is always fostered by comparison
with teachings which have points in common.
Hence he is not disposed to be dogmatic or to
claim that the account is closed.

If the literal follower of Swedenborg is right,
there is little to say in behalf of spiritual healing.
But if it be permissible to interpret Swedenborg
freely or liberally, then we may profit by the

Spiritual Influx 177

description of life which Swedenborg gives us
and wholly assimilate his teaching concerning
the Divine influx. Great good might come from
interchange of ideas between New Thought
people and Swedenborgians. The former need
to discriminate more carefully, need light on the
more difficult problems of salvation, need to ad-
vance from mere healing to the ideal of the com-
pletely spiritual life. But the Swedenborgians
might well learn to overcome their fears, their
bondage to medical practice, their blindness to
the practical values of the Divine influx. Both
groups of people belong to the new age, and
that age is far larger than any doctrinal formu-
lation lets us know. To read Swedenborg liter-
ally is to miss the great value of his teaching.
But to read him in the modern empirical spirit
is to see that the true way to test what he taught
is by endeavoring to live in accordance with it,
by putting ourselves in dynamic relation with
the Divine influx.

XIV

THE INTUITIVE METHOD

We have now passed in review the method of
denials and found a certain practical value in
such denials. We have also found practical util-
ity in the idea that love and wisdom are received
by the human spirit through "influx." In the one
case we have guarded against overdoing mere
denials, since the ideal is to rise to a higher level
of affirmativeness through union with the perfect
love which casts out fear. In the other case we
have observed that one should not overdo the
idea of discrete differences between God and
man, since doctrinal qualifications might mean
loss of headway. The ideal is, a dynamic attitude
making concentration steadily possible. There
is a higher or synthetic attitude which includes
the truth of the methods which we have been
passing in review. This implies the intuitive
method which Quimby's work with the sick dis-
closed. For many of us this method is still an
ideal to grow to through experience. But it is
everything to have an ideal.

If mere denial were enough, there would of
course be no reason for inquiring into the origin

178

The Intuitive Method 179

of a man's trouble. If denials sufficed, all we
would need would be a complete set of statements
covering all cases. We might then proceed on
the same theoretical basis with every person. We
would never look to experience, for we would
not expect to learn anything from it. We would
not reason, having first condemned our God-
given reason as foreign to spiritual thought.

If, however, we wish to disabuse a patient's
mind of its errors and their attendant conse-
quences by leading the sufferer out of darkness
into a light that abides, we should seek causes and
endeavor to make explanations which really ex-
plain. For we should be mindful of the fact that
an error merely denied may come back, like a
mistake in solving a mathematical problem which
we do not understand. We know too that a
mind which deceives itself by abstract proposi-
tions must sooner or later come down to the con-
crete. A denial used for practical purposes may
be very serviceable. But "a philosophy of de-
nial" is false.

The patient is indeed a sufferer from "error."
But the error is that of misinterpretation. There
is no more reason for denying the thing inter-
preted than for denying the existence of an ob-
ject in the woods mistaken in the dusk for a bear.
The courageous thing is to march straight up to
the thing, see what it is, see what part of our

180 Spiritual Health and Healing

visual illusion had an objective basis, and what
part was attributed to the object by the imagina-
tion. Our fear and excitement disappear when we
see precisely what is before us, namely, a harmless
stump. We have learned something about the
tendency of the mind to project its inferences in-
to space. We can no more deny the reality of
the external object than that of our own self.
The illusion was as real as life itself while it
lasted. It would have been a delusion only in.
case there were no stump or other misinterpreted
object.

So in the case of any problem, sin, sickness,
or trouble: complete freedom is found through
the whole truth. The fact that we possess a higher
self that is "never sick" is only one of the es-
sential facts. It is a question of the right inter-
pretation to be put upon the experiences of the
self in its long progress into spiritual light.

If, for example, I misjudge a painful sensation
due to inward pressure which might be explained
by indigestion and attribute my pain to a disor-
dered heart, not to a disordered stomach, I pro-
ceed to develop my misinterpretation according
to my first error. I then entertain corresponding
fears and other exciting emotions, enlarging
upon my pain and describing my symptoms to
other people. This is what Quimby calls "in-
venting a disease." But if I had been able

The Intuitive Method 181

to trace the disturbance to its right source, physi-
cally speaking, I should at least have avoided the
initial error. I might then have proceeded to
overcome the disturbance. But my indigestion
might have been a mere expression of nervous
tension and haste. Behind this there might have
been one condition after another. At length I
might come to the more interior state which was
a prevailing cause of such disabilities. In any
case very much depends on the opinion which I
associate with my pain. There is a difference
between removing the pain for the time being,
for instance, by denying its power to cause dis-
ease; and endeavoring to live from the higher
level so as to avoid all troubles of this sort.

The intuitive method consists in rendering the
spirit interiorly open to the inner state in the
patient, to discern the actual condition or cause,
in contrast with its physical accompaniments.
The inner state involves, for example, the per-
son's attitude toward life, his way of taking
events, his type of belief, the influence of his dis-
position or temperament, the use or misuse of his
spiritual power. Inasmuch as no two individuals
are alike, it is necessary to gain the intuitive im-
pression in each case. Since the patient's con-
dition changes under treatment, there is reason
for seeking fresh impressions from time to time.
The implied conviction on the healer's part is

182 Spiritual Health and Healing

not merely that he possesses an interior suscep-
tibility to such impressions as experience has
tended to make him aware of, but also an interior
openness to spiritual guidance. This guidance
is an expression of the Divine wisdom for that
occasion and that need.

This way of seeking "the mind of Christ" is
different from the one which assumes that we al-
ready possess that perfect mind in actuality. For
one sees that life is too rich in experiences to per-
mit a knowledge of much of it at a time. There
is progressive change. There is experience with
its opportunities, the lessons it holds for us.
There is also an influx of wisdom to meet the
need and an influx of power to overcome the
obstacle. In short, there is with the human
spirit a movement tending to express itself in
"fulness of life." We are all at some point in
recognition of and response to that life — we who
have at least learned not to rebel. The question
is, What point? What is the next step? What
should be the attitude toward the influent Life
even now seeking to lead one in that step ? For
unless there is change at the centre, in the life or
conduct, there will be no real change elsewhere
— whatever the denials. With the change at the
centre, results are sure to follow. Perfect peace
will always cast out fear. Light will always dis-
pel darkness.

The Intuitive Method 183

Nevertheless, the intuitive method implies the
same contrast between the higher level and the
lower which is noted by those who give allegiance
to denials. Were the healer merely to render his
mind receptive to another's atmosphere, he might
take on that atmosphere and be unfit for service.
While seeking to know how the patient is situ-
ated in his darkness, the healer must stand in the
light, seeking "the wisdom of the situation."
This wisdom should not merely dispel the tem-
porary darkness but show the patient how to take
the next step in spiritual development. It is in-
tuition which yields this illuminating clue. The
healer believes this insight to be God-sent, im-
partial, of the nature of that spiritual truth which
sets all men free. The objective is to make the
sufferer acquainted with spiritual resources, that
he too may seek the inner guidance which applies
to the occasion.

To be sure, the best way to accomplish the
desired result with the patient, so far as the proc-
ess known as silent treatment is concerned, is
to concentrate upon the Divine ideal, to see the
patient in spirit as sound, clean, open, free. Here
we have affirmation or suggestion at its best. For
the eye must be single to the ideal. There must
be no compromise. Concentration is essential
to dynamic faith.

But the intuitive healer does not stop there.

184 Spiritual Health and Healing

The conversation which follows the treatment
makes plain the causes so as to point the way to
permanent freedom. Thus the educational work
growrs gradually out of the therapeutic work and
in the end becomes more important. This in-
volves an explanation of the principles implied
in healing. The clue is taken from the actual
needs of the patient as intuitively disclosed. The
patient is taught to recognize and co-operate
with the Divine influent life. He is taught more
than mere realization, he is taught how to grow.

If attainment were reduced to mere expression
of what is "within/5 there would of course be no
real place for aspiration. It is a question of
pressing forward to the open vision. The right
attitude having been attained, one ought in truth
to grow into abundance and freedom.

Mere affirmation might suffice if we were all
alike, as mere "parts of God" as cogs are parts of
a machine. But we are all different, and remark-
ably so. We not only live a life in the world
which distinguishes us from all others, but in the
inner sanctuary we are still more unlike. The
higher we ascend even to the level of the Divine
purpose, the more true this is. The very reason
for our being is found in the distinctive end to
be achieved by and through us. Each of us has
a work to do. The guidances that have come to
us from the beginning have been given us for

The Intuitive Method 185

that work. Even our mistakes have taught us
lessons. The whole meaning of the activity that
stirs within us from stage to stage in life's jour-
ney, and carries us forward from the present into
the future, is just here. It is never a mere ques-
tion of the guidance as such, as an insight pleas-
ant to have, but of its relation to the needs of the
hour in our adaptation to the world. Deny the
lower half and you have no subject-matter for
experience.

All our experiences are fitting us to do our
individual work. We may seem far indeed from
that work as we plod along, mistaking our bodies
for ourselves, regarding heredity and environ-
ment as the leading influences which shape us,
meanwhile striving as we do for a living amidst
materialistic competition. We may seem equally
far from spiritual things when we are ill from
diseases which appear to be bodily maladies and
nothing more. But anon the intuition of some
one gifted in spiritual healing may bring us a
new insight. We may come to regard the spirit as
the real man. We may see that spiritual influ-
ences are real causes. We may learn that hered-
ity and influences coming from the world can be
thrown off. Then in time we may come to see
the meaning of the long years of our bondage,
may see that all our experiences can be turned to
account.

186 Spiritual Health and Healing

The question, Where do we stand? is crucial
because the same life which is opposed through
ignorance is the Efficiency which will carry us
forward to freedom and success. The ideal is to
unite with the Divine guidance and move on
apace with its rhythms, taking its way for our
own, ready to go wherever the leadings shall
guide. Each individual must learn this adjust-
ment because no two are alike, no two are placed
in precisely the same way. We need the train-
ing appropriate to our work.

The advantage of the intuitive mode of state-
ment is that it can be true to all the facts and
assign them all to the proper level in such a way
as to grant full supremacy to the Divine ideal.
Life teaches us that not one step can be omitted.
We who are leaders are perfectly aware that
this is true. We know that at times we have
plodded, at times we have stumbled in the dark-
ness. We learned by doing. We became strong
through overcoming, never by ignoring. Some-
times we had to pause, look about and get our
bearings anew. Life itself developed a kind of
composure and strength in us. Life has quick-
ened us to see the whole situation in which we are
placed. Its spontaneous deliverances have great-
ly surpassed all utterances that we deliberately
planned for. Why should we ask for anything

The Intuitive Method 187

less for those whose journeyings have not taken
them so far?

What we should in fact strive to attain, when
we seek to be of the greatest service, is creative
insight into native capacities and talents. The
overcoming of diseases is incidental to this. The
finding of a way out of sin is secondary. The
conquering of poverty and bondage to material
circumstance is secondary too. The primary con-
sideration is a person's individuality, the work
he can do, the guidance coming directly to him
to lead him into that work. To learn this the
central state of his life, to see what is in process,
what is being disclosed, is to enter sympatheti-
cally into his presence as a spirit. Intuitively
speaking each of us is being quickened with just
the guidance we need, as unaware of it as we may
be. The Divine wisdom is latent in the present
experience, even in its darkness. This imma-
nent wisdom can be brought to the light. We can
be of service in making people aware of this the
real life-process. Thus the Divine creative work
may be furthered through us.

We all have something approaching this creat-
ive insight in what we call heart-to-heart talks
with people when it is given us to say the right
word. Nonplussed and in eager quest of light, a
friend will pour out the heart's sorrows and dis-
appointments. We as listeners may be puzzled

188 Spiritual Health and Healing

at first, at a loss to know what to say. But pres-
ently one statement will throw light on another,
more light will begin to come, and we will see
that our friend had all the elements of the longed-
for wisdom but lacked their uniting clue. We
are then led to put two and two together, to point
to the end all along implied in the rough journey-
ings, disclose the ideal immanent in the actual.
Our insight shows the wisdom for the present
need. It calls our friend into power by restor-
ing confidence and yielding vision. Very likely
at times in the conversation we speak better than
we know. Speaking frankly, we tell plain truths,
instead of qualifying them by polite language
till all their force is gone. These truths stay with
the friend and work for good. Then the guid-
ance comes to him directly, mayhap in the silence
of the night when the friend sees the wisdom that
is above all human advice.

The intuitive healer goes further than this by
directly opening his spirit, by talking from spirit
to spirit in that language which the heart knows.
He could not thus give his spirit to be a means
of guidance to another soul if he intruded any
abstract theories of his own. He opens his spirit
intuitively afresh, never knowing what may come.
He is ready for any guidance, old or new, ex-
pected or surprising. His own thought or feel-
ing may be a witness of the Spirit, but he does

The Intuitive Method 189

not claim that he himself is infinite Spirit. He
seeks reciprocal union with God, not mere blend-
ing with Him. He hopes to be a messenger of
"the light of Christ in the soul." He does not
pretend to be the Saviour of men. That light is
indeed the one wrhich will disperse all darkness,
when the right time comes, but it is not a light to
be turned on in full force at will as one might
illuminate a room by merely pressing a button.
The light that shines will be the light needed for
the occasion. It will increase and increase with-
out limit.

It once more becomes plain, therefore, that
everything depends upon the end we seek, upon
what we primarily love. If we still love self and
worldly power above the "things of the spirit/'
then we attribute our efficiency as healers to
Thought, we claim everything for the higher
self as one with God or a part of Him, we claim
the whole end of the spiritual life as achieved
now, and we affirm our self-complacent iden-
tity with the Christ. We then proceed from one
affirmation to another, according to the need.
We enter "the silence" to enjoy its gratifying re-
pose and declare our prosperity. In short, we
practically make a god of Thought. But if we
have genuine love of the Lord in our hearts, then
we attribute the efficiency to the Divine presence
as love and wisdom, and in our higher selfhood

190 Spiritual Health and Healing

we aspire, we pray, seeking to be led by the "mind
of Christ." That is, we desire to grow in in-
tuition through response to Divine wisdom, and
it would be absurd to try to grow unless we were
actually aware of a deficiency. When at last
we realize how little insight we possess and how
great is the need to grow in intuition, then indeed
there is hope for us.

The intuitive method is the larger, inclusive
method which we grow into after a time when we
realize the limitations of all methods centring
about the human self. The whole idea of intuition
involves the thought of the Divine presence as its
source, the realization that life is a process or
growth and that there is need of guidance all the
way along. While the human self seems all-suf-
ficient, it seems possible to ignore life or expe-
rience as if it were an illusion. Hence we tend
to say with the mere abstract theorist, "Man
never learns from experience." But when we
return to life and see that man never learned
anything whatsoever except through experience,
then we begin to acquire that true humility
which is the beginning of wisdom, we pray
to be rightly led, we accept the dynamic or pro-
gressive attitude, casting aside our static ab-
stractions. With this change of heart, a recon-
struction of our philosophy follows. Our prayer
henceforth is for the wisdom needed for the next

The Intuitive Method 191

step. We have no formula to fit the occasion.
We have no cut-and-dried method. We do not
crystallize our theory into a thought to be af-
firmed by all alike at a given hour, throughout
the month. But we endeavor to lead all who are
responsive to seek that Presence whose wisdom
is equal to every occasion, well knowing that no
two people have precisely the same needs at the
same time. "There is guidance for each one of
us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right
word."

XV

SPIEITUAL SUCCESS

Success used to be regarded as a question of
conditions and things in the world around. It
was frequently said to be a matter of money
alone. We were told that "nothing succeeds like
success/' and that "business is business," as much
as to say, the end justifies any means we may
see fit to adopt.

Many people may still be inclined to believe
that this is the ruling motive, inasmuch as the
profiteer is constantly mentioned in the public
press. Yet success has become largely psycho-
logical, and profiteering itself depends on the
popular mind. There is no longer success in
general. The man himself is the greatest factor:
his starting-point, the obstacles he has to over-
come, the methods he has employed, the services
rendered, the motives which prompted him.
What we long for is success that befits us as
men and women, according to our type and the
kind of work we choose. We desire success that
endures, that makes us free and independent.
Such success presupposes the art of life. It is for

192

Spiritual Success 193

all who are eager and thoughtful. Success may
spring from any conceivable beginning, in any
environment.

Success must of course include adaptation to
the world in so far as we are led to co-operate
with people where they are. We always measure
success in part by wage-earning power. We still
speak of men who have not "made good/' when
no financial rewards are forthcoming. But we
can no longer single men out as representatives
of what we mean by success merely because they
have made money. Success is manifold, and we
judge by varied standards according to our inter-
est in life. The Salvation Army has faithfully
informed the world that "a man may be down,
but he's never out." Mere failure is not a test.
"It is what man would do that exalts him."

There is a sense in which success cannot be
said to have been achieved by society unless all
classes share in it. Hence we take little interest
in schemes for social revolution in behalf of one
class simply. It is surely not a question of "the
privileged classes" or favored individuals said to
be "lucky" from birth. It is not a question of
individuals or classes but of man as a social being,
man thinking, willing, doing, living, rounding
out his days in the power and beauty of accom-
plishment.

To say that success cannot be measured by

194 Spiritual Health and Healing

worldly standards alone is not to plead for a spir-
itual life by which people console themselves who
have failed in the world. Mundane life is of
course incomplete, and we anticipate compensa-
tions in the future because of efforts which have
not yet borne fruits. The spiritual life is always
a consolation in a way. But we no longer under-
rate success in the world as a way of praising
people who adopt the spiritual ideal. A failure
here would be a failure in the future life, too. It
is not a mere matter of "rewards." There are
conditions to be met wherever we are. Life is
for success. We have not lived if we have failed
in our central undertaking. We have merely
served an apprenticeship.

Success is adaptation to life as it comes to us
from within. What makes life "worth while,"
as we say, is found through appreciation of the
work given us to do, through response to our
better nature. Success is never a mere game in
which we get the better of our neighbor, what-
ever the world may assume on this point. Suc-
cess is for higher self-realization. We have no
rivals in the work we can do best. We feel dis-
satisfied simply because we have not yet accom-
plished our individual purpose — not because the
world has failed us.

Sometimes indeed there is inward success in
an undertaking accounted a failure by observers.

Spiritual Success 195

One may succeed in doing work for which one is
not fitted, by sheer persistence in sticking to it.
Some people wait many years before beginning
their true work. Yet the real value of these
secondary victories is seen in the use we make of
the power acquired by meeting obstacles and
then transferring our activities to some work that
is to our liking. We may not judge merely by
the vocation a man is now pursuing, by his pro-
fession, salary, profits, or even by his reputation
in the community. For success involves the varied
relationships of the inner life, and these are not
apparent to the public eye. The man who knows
himself understands what his work is doing for
him, and how his life may be turned to higher ac-
count. We no longer praise people for mere
resignation in accepting life's hardships and ill-
nesses. We now look for the affirmative attitude.
Those of us who do fairly well in everything
we undertake are deemed "lucky." But luck im-
plies that there is a fortunate combination of
circumstances more powerful than the man him-
self, who merely receives what comes, while
others must work hard. Behind the scenes he
who has really succeeded has been working as
hard as anyone. The world often sees the fin-
ished result only, unaware of the years of inces-
sant effort by which inner victories have been won
and outward obstacles have been overcome. What

196 Spiritual Health and Healing

we need to know is the inner history behind the
alleged luck. There was an intelligible reason
in every case, and no mere chance at all. There
was alertness in meeting occasions, readiness in
responding to opportunities which others did not
take but might have taken. The man of char-
acter who "always lands on his feet" has acquired
a certain art of rising to occasions. Then, too,
we need to remind ourselves that there is Divine
guidance prompting men from within, hence a
spiritual law in events seemingly coming by
chance.

Life offers us opportunities amidst law, order,
system, and if we do not ignore or try to defeat
life we move steadily forward. Life favors the
man with true self-reliance. Life is for right-
eousness whatever sceptics may say to the con-
trary. Usually the one who complains that others
are lucky is trying to force life to flow in some
other channel. The pessimist would like to dic-
tate terms to the universe. The optimist marvels
at the order and beauty of things as they are.

This would be a mere platitude if men were
not trying to get something for nothing. The
time comes when people realize the great truth
that every action brings its own reward, and that
no one is excluded however unlucky he may seem
to be. Then they learn that it is not true that
"honesty is the best policy" because it "pays,"

Spiritual Success 197

but because honesty is right in itself. It is no
longer a question of anything that simply "pays,"
but of that which preserves moral integrity and
is right for all concerned. No mental device can
secure for us a real sucess that is not deserved.
What we need to make sure of in the first place
is that we have something worth while to give
the world. The more we have to give the less we
need think of the reward that is coming to us.

In the world it is said of course that the condi-
tions of life are hard, that one must live, and
hence in the intense competition one is justified
in adopting any method that may be in vogue.
But this would not be success but surrender. To
succeed we should expect to find a place and a
work for ourselves, whatever the conditions. To
surrender mentally is to weaken in life as a
whole. But life calls for the affirmative attitude.

Some say that life is too short to succeed
both in developing character and in earning
a competency. Then let us decide in favor of
character-building. But the saying is not true.
The affirmative attitude strengthens us to believe
that whatever is for us to do we will be able to
do. We need not try to evade or put off any-
thing that is right. Let us rather seek to live the
truly complete life, regarding every apparent
obstacle or handicap as an opportunity for suc-
cess. We need not ask for more time or for favor-

198 Spiritual Health and Healing

able conditions. Time is ours and the conditions
we need just now are at hand.

Success used to be judged by the amount of
"push" with which an enterprise was launched.
This type of activity was fostered by urging
one's point at any cost, by clever advertising to
create a demand, by seizing every opportunity to
follow up an advantage to the limit. It was
ingenious, competitive, often unscrupulous and
disagreeably persistent. It could secure the sale
of an inferior article. We all bought goods we
did not want, before we understood the psychol-
ogy of success. Now we know that the less value
there is in a thing the more enterprise must be
put into it to try to make us buy. It still "pays
to advertise," but there are things that advertise
themselves. It is a question of quality and of
permanent value.

There is a sure road to success thfough honesty
and steady persistence in right doing, with some-
thing to do for the world, or something to give to
the world, even though results are not at once
apparent. From this point of view financial re-
wards are signs but not the only evidences of suc-
cess. There are many forms of moral success
which bring no rewards in money at all, for in-
stance, deeds of heroism in the case of a disaster
at sea like the sinking of the Titanic. The true
hero does not even ask for thanks, although he

Spiritual Success 199

likes appreciation which shows insight into the
law of service. Then, too, there is success by
adaptation to nature in the case of explorations
and discoveries. A part of the art of life consists
in ability to meet changing conditions, all kinds
of weather and hardships, when our work calls
us into the various parts of the world. In a sense,
adaptation to nature through the development
of a sound mind and body, through due amount
of exercise, rest, sleep and triumphant health is
the basis of every other type of success.

Again, there is success through fidelity to
friends, in the preservation of home-life at its
best, the conservation of true marriage, fidelity
to a high ideal of love and truth and of a great
cause. All such successes are measured by their
own invisible rewards. Only he who gives abun-
dantly receives in large measure. These suc-
cesses become ends in themselves, while our
external life is regarded as means only or as
secondary.

If all worthy successes contribute to what we
call spiritual success, let us agree that resignation
is not in any sense the ideal. Not by mere self-
effacement or self-sacrifice can we give our best
to the world. What we need is strong belief in
the triumph of the right, the beautiful, the true,
together with consecration to do our part, to de-
vote ourselves to our work. It is not a question

200 Spiritual Health and Healing

of what we give up but of what we manifest. The
more fully we give ourselves in the direction in
which we can give best, the more we shall possess
of the joys and opportunities which stand for
fulness of life.

To start with the idea of God as all-encompass-
ing Spirit, with the universe regarded as exist-
ing for spiritual ends, is to accord spiritual things
the first rank from beginning to end, hence to
see that spiritual success is the one real success.
As spirits we have a two-fold relationship, one
in the spiritual world to the more direct activities
of the Divine life; and one in the natural world
where as dwellers in the flesh we take on the con-
ditions that come to us by birth. It is on the Di-
vine side that we draw from the great resources
which bring success over external obstacles.
What seems impossible outwardly becomes pos-
sible from within.

We have the power of the Spirit within us
to rise above circumstances through insight into
their meaning for the soul. The whole life-situ-
ation is changed for us when we grasp the inner
point of view. We then see the spiritual trans-
forming and expressing itself through the nat-
ural. What once seemed a hardship now proves
to be an opportunity. Our external conditions
prove adverse only so long as we regard them
negatively. True success always grows out of the

Spiritual Success 201

affirmative attitude. True success is for the indi-
vidual and for society at the same time. There is
no conflict ultimately speaking between self-real-
ization and service. For true success is based on
the higher truth of man's being. It implies the
inspiring idea that there is but one Power in the
universe and that this power is manifested in a
world-order which makes for spiritual success.

XVI

INSTANTANEOUS HEALING

Many years ago Dr. Quimby remarked that
the time would come when people would once
more be healed by word of mouth as in the case
of the remarkable healings wrought by Jesus
and the apostles. How is such healing possible
and when may we expect "the greater works''
promised by the Master?

At first thought the prospect of instantaneous
healing seems incredible if not utterly impossible.
This is probably the reason which led devotees
of the church to classify scriptural healing as
miraculous. Apparently there is no way by
which a person can suddenly be lifted from a
well-nigh hopeless state of disease, especially if
it comes on gradually out of cumulative causes;
for we know that time is required for recovery
in case of diseases of long standing. There seems
to be no way of ridding the human system of
its disorders except through a regular series of
changes.

If, however, we examine the scriptural record
to learn what we can about the works of heal-

202

Instantaneous Healing 203

ing, we find that there is a certain resemblance
in the several instances which affords us a clue.
So far as the record informs us the works of heal-
ing were wrought among the "common people,"
who heard the Master gladly. Such people, we
know from acquaintance with them today, have
greater emotional responsiveness, greater powers
of self-abandonment, than the socially elect and
the learned possess. These come by their mala-
dies more quickly, and whatever they yield they
let go of more readily. They are, therefore, able
to give themselves with more implicit faith to any
power or any person inspiring faith. It is wholly
credible that people of this responsive type
should so have given themselves in faith to the
Master as to have been made suddenly "whole."

Such healing would, let us say, lift the spirit
of the sometime sufferer to a higher level of
consciousness with such power, with such an im-
petus that a new mode of life would result, as in
the case of those remarkable conversions which
still occur from time to time through missionary
work in the slums of a great city. This changed
centre of equilibrium would bring its attendant
consequences and make the cure complete so far
as it could be wrought by another. The sub-
sequent results would depend upon the intelli-
gence of the individual in living the new mode of
life thoughtfully.

204 Spiritual Health and Healing

From the point of view of the therapeutist, in-
stantaneous healing would result from penetrat-
ing insight into the real state of soul, the true
inner life of the patient. This insight would be
accompanied by power to make it good. The
keener the insight, the more sharp would be the
separation made through the Christ-conscious-
ness between the spirit of the patient and his
former malady. The patient would not only
receive the benefit of the display of healing pow-
er, but hear such a thrilling word as "Thy faith
hath made thee whole/' "Take up thy bed and
walk." The Christ would both act and speak
"as one having authority."

Dr. Quimby used to say that "the explanation
is the cure." By this he meant the penetrating
truth which struck home and touched the real
cause of disease, whatever appearances might be.
Strictly speaking, the cure was wrought by that
insight, and if the patient grasped it, the cure
was immediate, so far as the inner life was con-
cerned. For we either see a thing or we do not.
What leads up to it is preliminary. When the
insight really comes, nothing more need be said.
Hence Quimby very suddenly and convincingly
spoke to some of his patients that illuminating
word which carried the most far-reaching re-
sults, results affecting not only the health but the
religion, business, mode of life and happiness of

Instantaneous Healing 205

the patient. With the growth of this power of
discernment, Quimby found himself able to speak
the healing word more effectively. Hence, he
foresaw the time when the clarifying word would
itself be sufficient.

We have all on occasion made inner changes
as quickly as that. For example, a man sees that
he has been a fool, and in detecting his folly
grasps in an instant the cause of much trouble
and as quickly drops his trouble with all its side
issues. A person realizes in a flash that he has
been duped and in the same flash utterly changes
his attitude toward the people and things in-
volved. Thus in a moment of electrifying self-
consciousness, a young person who has been in-
fatuated realizes his predicament. The "affair"
is all over at once. There is nothing more to
say. It would be utterly out of the question to
pretend to love the other partner to the expe-
rience. As quickly, also, a commercial deal may
come to an end.

Granted truth-seeking and truth-telling people
enough in the world, people would be taken out
of their hypocrisies and pretensions right and
left. Nothing is so swift in its effect as truth.
The only difficulty in the world in this regard is
that truth is not welcome. If we encouraged the
man of insight, it would become customary for
people to cure one another of their errors and con-

206 Spiritual Health and Healing

ceits, to say nothing of what are called their
"sins."

We may expect the greater works promised
by the Master when people more seriously adopt
the healing principle which goes straight to the
heart, down to the very foundation of human
life. As of old, those who are responsive in type
will give themselves most readily to such healing.
But there is hope for us all. Ideally speaking,
it is possible that a word should be spoken to any
one of us which would take us immediately out
of our darkness. When we see the light, the rest
follows.

Many of the instances of spontaneous healing
of which we hear from time to time are instan-
taneous in type. A bedridden invalid may sud-
denly do the impossible when a threatening fire
breaks out and there is no one at hand to help.
This happened in the case of one who rose from
her bed, packed her trunk and dragged it down
four flights of stairs to a place of safety, suffer-
ing no relapse. It sometimes happens when a
physician or some member of the family despair-
ingly resorts to a trick in order to arouse the bed-
ridden creatures of habits to help themselves. If
a shock may kill, a shock can also cure. What
some people need is the equivalent of a shock.

But spiritual healing will become more intel-
ligent as we proceed, and it will no longer be

Instantaneous Healing 207

necessary to shock people into activity. That is
to say, the sick and the sorrowing will be more
quickly restored if they so will. There are always
people who refuse to look at the truth as long as
they are able to be evasive. Many could be
cured quickly enough now if they wished to be.
But people either avoid the effort or the direct
view which discloses their inward self in all the
actuality of concealed motives and intentions.

Death is probably an instantaneous healing
for many people, or rather the process of coming
to judgment which follows it when there is no
longer any way to hide from oneself. Some of
us would prefer to look reality straight in the
eye here and now. There is marvelous help,
there are unbounded resources for those who are
ready to give themselves in full confidence to
the Spirit. We might even be raised suddenly
from a state of "spiritual death" into one of
hearty responsiveness to the Life whose resources
are infinite. It is not a question of the length
of time the soul has lain in the tomb of carnal
consciousness, but of the summoning power of
the Christ. "Lazarus, come forth," "Maiden, I
say unto thee, arise!" is the great word.

Someone has said that the only healing is self-
healing. This is true if by such healing we mean
the dawning in our own consciousness of the
truth which has set us free, the awareness of that

208 Spiritual Health and Healing

Life to which we owe our restoration. So, too,
a conversion or any other spiritual change be-
comes truly ours when we see it, and, touched
to the quick, will to make the new life our own.

In a more profound sense, it might be said
that the only genuine healing is the cure of our
selfishness. Other healings are introductory. It
is surely within our power to turn abruptly from
our selfishness within a single day, in an hour,
a moment. We do not even need to wait for a
quickening vision like that which came to Saul
on the road to Damascus and made him, by his
consent, Paul, the greatest of apostles; for we
have much more enlightenment now. The world
now sees with crystal clearness that selfishness
is the one great trouble. Then, too, there are
countless aids at hand if one wills to become un-
selfish. We need not stop to plead, to ask for
reasons and await results. As suddenly as an
apparently obscure private may become a hero at
the front by venturing to do the brave deed at
which his comrades hesitate, so any one of us
might step forth a new man; for either "we have
the mind of Christ" or this transfiguring mind
is close at hand in the person of someone who will
manifest it in our presence. The response made
to us by the Christ is never limited. "Be thou
made clean." "According to thy faith be it unto
thee."

XVII

THE OVERCOMING OF DISEASE

The question is often asked why it is that a
man in perfect physical health may be taken
suddenly ill and die a few days after, although
under the most skilful medical care. Here, for
example, is an exceptionally strong man in the
prime of life, engaged in a congenial occupation,
one that is not too taxing and is likely to sustain
his good health instead of militating against it.
He is a highly educated man, with well-trained
powers and an uncommonly acute intellect.
Moreover, he is philosophically inclined and
seems to be wiser in his attitude toward life than
most men. His special interest is also favorable
to wisdom in daily living. Apparently every-
thing is in his favor. Yet when the disease seizes
him he rapidly collapses and his physicians soon
announce that there is no hope. He passes out of
this lif e even more rapidly than men with far less
strength and much less intellectual power.

Of course death in such a case may be the
simple result of medical ignorance and practice.
Powerful remedies may be put into his system

209

210 Spiritual Health and Healing

to drive out some supposed germ or toxin, and
the system may be unable to resist this obstacle
to the indwelling restorative power. But throw-
ing such instances out of account for the moment
and confining our interest to cases where the
inner life of the patient is the primary considera-
tion, we may say in brief that the difficulty is that
there is no interior knowledge, no conscious pow-
er of resistance. For intellectual development
and education is no necessary guarantee against
disease — as things go in this world. A person
may have as beautiful a faith in the inner guid-
ance as the Quaker or as firm a belief in the Di-
vine influx as the Swedenborgian and yet entire-
ly fail to see the connection between inner seren-
ity or receptivity and conditions making for
health. In case of the man with a high degree
of intellectual development the mind is not used
to control its own states or those of the body, but
simply for the sake of concentration upon the
work at hand from day to day. There is not
even the mere idea of inner control, peace or
poise. There is no insight whatever into the
inner meaning of painful sensations. Con-
sequently, when the man "catches cold," as we
say in our astonishing ignorance of what a "cold"
really is; when fever comes, with its attendant
symptoms, the heightened circulation and rapid-
ly increasing activity of the heart, the man knows

The Overcoming of Disease 211

nothing to do save to give way mentally and suc-
cumb to physical treatment. He does not try
to put another interpretation upon his symptoms,
because his education has never developed him
in that direction. He does not open his spirit
to receive higher power, for he has never learned
that the human spirit has any such resource as an
actual experience. He does not seek spiritual
help from anyone, never having heard that such
help is practical. His mind simply yields to
circumstance, and he is as much a victim of the
successive bodily states which carry him from a
slight disturbance to a high fever, then to pneu-
monia and death, as if he had never trained his
mind at all.

What are the implied beliefs in such a case?
That disease is only a physical disorder due to
external causes — for example, a germ finding
lodgment in favoring conditions; that mental
life is conditioned by and dependent on the states
of the brain, and has no offsetting or controlling
power; and that the soul or spirit, if indeed it
exist at all, is a vague entity of some sort which
may become active after death but which does
not function now. There is no belief that the
spirit can control the mind, hence the brain, and
bring about changes in the physical organism.
For such belief would imply the inner point of
view, the view from within outward upon the

212 Spiritual Health and Healing

body as an instrument of the spirit, and such an
idea is utterly foreign to the conventional way of
thinking. It would seem absurd in the extreme
to tell a person with such dependence on con-
ventional teaching that the spirit can exert heal-
ing power.

In reality, the spirit in such a man as we have
described is like one asleep amid boundless re-
sources never contemplated even in dreams. The
mental power gradually acquired through years
of skilful training and splendid work implies a
high degree of efficiency and could be turned to
wonderful account in such a man's life, if he
realized that there is a way of using such power
for spiritual ends. This man has, let us say, a
considerable degree of composure, and this com-
posure might be the basis of spiritual poise. He
has intellectual discernment and this might be
exercised in behalf of spiritual intuition. But
there must first be an interior awakening. This
man quickly succumbs to illness because there
has been no such inner quickening.

How do we regard life's situation when we
awaken? We start in every respect from within,
not through mere introspection or self-analysis,
but with insight that man is spirit and that spirit
is the user of a higher activity than the activities
commonly regarded as intellectual.

Starting from within, one places much empha-

The Overcoming of Disease 213

sis on the spirit's ability to become receptive to
intuition or guidance, and through this receptiv-
ity to draw upon a superior life which becomes
triumphant over adverse mental stages, which
banishes fear, overcomes excitement, allays the
emotions, and arouses a counter-activity able to
overcome threatening bodily states. One regards
mental life, that is, the passing states of con-
sciousness, as expressing the spirit, and the brain
as the instrument for manifesting such mental
states as the spirit may select. That is, the mind
is the instrument for controlling the body and
receiving impressions through the brain from the
outward world. All life or power is looked upon
as spiritual or Divine in origin. Hence all real
efficiency or causality is regarded as spiritual,
while natural things and events are taken to be
secondary to the causes which operate through
them.

To say that man as spirit is nearest the Spirit
and can become open to Spirit as health-giving
life, is to realize that man may learn to know
and to cultivate those states of spirit most open
to this Life, those states which underly interior
control as the basis of poise and health. To grow
in ability to realize this life-giving presence of
Spirit is to be more and more able to put oneself
into the appropriate attitude at will, the attitude
for demonstration. Thus is acquired the counter-

214 Spiritual Health and Healing

acting faith which strengthens the mind in time
of need, the love which drives out fear, the calm-
ness which allays excitement. The spirit having
put itself in this affirmative direction, corre-
sponding mental results follow, the thoughts and
mental images take their clue from the attitude
of spirit. Then when the hour of need comes one
may regain this inner composure and hence pos-
sess the power of resistance required to stem the
rising tide of disturbed activities within the
organism.

Since very much depends upon the first atti-
tude assumed, the interpretation put upon the
beginning of pain, for example, a slightly pain-
ful sensation around the heart or increasing
temperature, if there is no idea of inner control
a person simply interprets the pain according to
the prevailing theories and adopts an attitude
favorable to the increase of the painful symp-
toms. That is, there is no resistance or affirma-
tiveness in the attitude at all. By giving assent
the mind merely capitulates and is soon engulfed.
The interpretation may be entirely wrong, that
is, based solely on appearances.

If, however, a man really knows his mental
life, instead of acquiescing in the notion that it
is entirely conditioned by the brain, he acquires
genuine insight into actual causes. He may then
see at a glance that the physical condition is due

The Ovekcoming of Disease 215

to excess, nervousness, excitement or tension;
and that this nervous excess is in turn due to some
activity which he has been overdoing, without giv-
ing his spirit sufficient time to overcome the daily
fatigue. Thus thinking, he knows that the out-
ward excess may be overcome by lifting his con-
sciousness to a higher level, becoming inwardly
still, breaking connection with the lower level of
disturbances. The spirit in fact may calm the
disturbances as a wisely calm person might quell
a mob by enunciating a great truth which clears
away all misconceptions and undermines the hot-
headedness. The spirit may go further on occa-
sion, that is, may direct the therapeutic power
straight to the disturbed region and bring about
a remarkable change in a few minutes.

For interior peace or spiritual poise in the
sense in which we are here using the term is
power-inviting or dynamic in unusual degree.
To regain it by lifting the spirit into unison with
the Divine presence is to change the centre of
equilibrium, the basis of activity. When peace
ensues where excitement might have reigned,
when repose is in control and consciousness is
absorbed in spiritual realization, the mind as a
whole not only becomes favorable but is put into
a state to shift the balance of power throughout
the organism. This accomplished, the tempera-
ture begins to go down, the heart and lungs re-

216 Spiritual Health and Healing

sume their normal rhythms, and other consequen-
ces follow as matters of course. It is not neces-
sary to keep up the inner process or realization.
For the crisis is past; as we say, the tide has
been turned. The same disturbance which might
have been developed into a severe or fatal illness
is by the right interpretation and the right action,
at "the psychological moment/' turned into a
relatively trivial series of states which soon pass
away of their own volition.

If the person who thus conquers the inceptive
stages of illness, by turning them into something
trivial, learns a lesson from the experience he
may presently take a further step, that is, by
avoiding the excess, whatever it may have been,
which brought on the initial disturbance. Such
a one is likely to regard all painful sensations as
incidental and to put the most favorable inter-
pretation upon them. After a while it becomes a
question, not of the mere overcoming of an ill-
ness, but of a regular mode of life tending to
bring health as a consequence without any
thought of disease.

Every person has a way of meeting life. Some
of us are highly emotional and readily enter into
a disturbing experience in such a way as to drain
the nervous forces. Nearly all emotions are ex-
hausting, and angry emotions use up the nerve-
energy with remarkable rapidity. To see that

The Overcoming of Disease 217

this is true in one's own case and to profit by it
is to make ready to cultivate those other mental
qualities, such as calmness and moderation of
thought, which give strength. Going further
still, one learns the true or spiritual source of
calmness and strength, and cultivates that mode
of life which is devoid of all emotional excess.
Worthy emotions may still find place, but all
worthy emotion is tempered by wisdom or mod-
eration.

Whatever the temperament, the great point to
gain is willingness to make the venture, to turn
from a disturbance to the realm of higher and
finer power within. To unite with that Power,
declaring "I am spirit and have infinite Life to
draw upon," or whatever the realization may be,
is to break with the disturbing element, turn the
tide. If one must put some sort of interpretation
upon the disturbance in order to be at rest, let it
be called a process of cleansing or readjustment.
Or call it simply "progress." For it should not
be regarded as a condition taken on from the out-
side. In the natural order of things we become
aware of a disturbance when something foreign
is being brought to the surface and cast off, just
as we become unpleasantly self-conscious when
a trait of character is undergoing change. To
regard the process as incidental and promising,
is to put oneself in line with it, that is, in line with

218 Spiritual Health and Healing

the creative Life behind it. Our part is to unite
with this Life, not to dwell upon the process.
Therefore our realization should always be such
as to make this union the more secure. The vital
point is that a disturbance which might be de-
veloped into a disease if met according to the old
order of thought, is given exactly the opposite
turn by realizing the truth which is "the cure."
Wonderful to relate, an apparently threatening
illness may pass off in a few minutes, simply by
giving the whole experience the right turn at the
right time for making as little of it as possible.

Too much emphasis cannot be placed on the
importance of rightly interpreting our sensations
and pains. This in fact is the vital point with
most of us. And at this point we find enlight-
ened medical opinion in our day in line with the
conclusions of the spiritual healer. Dr. Richard
Cabot emphasizes, for example, the importance
of taking account of the high degree of sugges-
tibility to which so many people are subject.1
Three examples of such suggestibility are cited:
misinterpretation of sensations which might in-
dicate heart disease, cancer or insanity. "People
are amazingly prone to fancy that they have
heart disease. If they have any symptoms in
that part of the body where they are taught to be-
lieve that the heart resides, or especially if they

i "Social Work/' p. 93.

The Overcoming of Disease 219

know someone who has recently died of heart
disease, there are many people likely first to be-
lieve that they have heart trouble, and then to
have actual symptoms which they attribute to
heart disease." Insanity is feared far more
often. Cancer is the most dreaded of all dis-
eases, "but one of the most unnecessarily feared,"
inasmuch as the only alleged basis for it may be
"trifling pains or stomach troubles, troubles that
all of us would disregard." In the same way a
person will speak of a "pain across the kidneys"
when the kidneys are perfectly healthy. Again,
a man will think that he has this or that disease
when all that troubles him is a "tired stomach."
Fatigue of the eyes is also very common and very
misleading.

If, then, we would overcome disease from with-
in we must begin by learning how to interpret
our pains aright. Many a potential disease is dis-
missed in a quiet sort of way without any malady
at all by the man who knows how to give his
sensations the right turn at the right moment.
For the wise man makes as little as he can of his
ills. Turning them off as incidental, he refuses
to name them, refuses to associate them with con-
ventional fears. It is then a question of a quiet
rest for a day or so, or of silent spiritual help en-
listed at the appropriate moment. If the stomach
is tired, then the stomach is given a rest, and no

220 Spiritual Health and Healing

fears are entertained concerning the kidneys.
If the eyes are tired, rest for the eyes is sought.
Always there is discrimination between pain and
the interpretation put upon it.

Furthermore, one who is wise in this direction
bears in mind the further fact stated by Dr.
Cabot, namely, that "the vast majority of dis-
eases get well without any help from anybody."
Since this is the case, why name them in the first
place? Why run to the doctor? Why accept the
notion that disease is cured by medicine instead
of being cured by the resident forces within the
individual? If most maladies tend to run them-
selves out any way, while others can be "starved
out" and some will disappear if we keep quiet
and rest, why make so much of disease? Why
not emphasize health and the way to attain and
keep it?

Plainly, all these are individual matters. It is
for each man to learn the difference between his
own pains and his own interpretations of them,
his suggestibility, his dependence on medical or
other opinion, bondage to fear. Most of our
fears are borrowed. They go with some medical
or religious belief which we have accepted — with-
out much thought. They have little basis in fact.
It is mere matter of common sense, therefore, to
face them, face the worst and see how far we are

The Overcoming of Disease 221

from it, how slight is the foundation of our
misery.

What we need is courage to make the venture
in the spiritual direction. What had always
seemed impossible may .easily come within our
power, when we plunge in and make a beginning
by taking our spiritual faith seriously. And
when we have dismissed our temporary or super-
ficial ills, the way will be open to face the real
problems of spiritual healing.

XVIII

CREATIVE HEALTH

Health is usually regarded as an end in itself,
to be sought directly, as we might go out in quest
of pleasure. Hence people have in the past con-
sulted physicians and have taken medicines and
drugs simply to be relieved of their aches and
pains. So, too, people have more recently visited
mental healers, insisting that what they wanted
was health ; they did not care to hear a word con-
cerning the spiritual life. Most of us who have
had to give special attention to our health have
been inclined to regard it as a distinct possession,
a state of the body to be gained without much
regard to the state of the mind or spirit. We
have had to learn from experience that health as
a true possession is inseparably connected with
the mode of life we live.

Meanwhile, instances have been observed in
which health has been restored to people who
have given up the quest for it as a distinct end,
and have, fortunately for them, yielded their
minds to other interests. Health has, for ex-
ample, come to men and women who have de-

222

Ckeatiye Health 223

served it by giving themselves in full consecration
to their life-work in the world. Any experience
which thus brings health as a sort of by-product
is instructive because it suggests that health
might best be sought by first pursuing a higher
end, by doing one's true work as leader, scholar,
artist, as a productive agent of any kind. Health
might therefore be regarded as creative. By this
term, "creative health," one therefore means that
larger health which springs from the life or con-
duct which is most intimately characteristic of
the individual.

The Englishman who, doomed by the verdict
of his physicians, to die within six months, entire-
ly regained his health by first asking how he
could most fully enjoy life during the time that
remained to him, merely exemplified this prin-
ciple in part. Exceedingly fond of hunting and
fishing, this man gave himself up to the sheer
pleasure of life in the open without thinking of
any result that might come to him. Despite the
possibility of catching cold in the swamps and in
stormy weather, he indulged in all sorts of ex-
posure to the elements without fear and without
resistance. Nature doubtless relieved him of
many a tension and inner obstruction because
he yielded his organism unqualifiedly, inasmuch
as he expected to die whatever he did. So na-
ture might be kind to us all if we would do our

224 Spiritual Health and Healing

part in full responsiveness, anticipating only
benefits. Men have sometimes built up a rugged
constitution through life in the open, or in con-
tact with real hardship through constant ex-
posure as in war-time, when their main interest
was far removed from the pursuit of health. It
is not recorded, however, that many who merely
sought their own pleasure through exposure to
nature have helped their fellow men to gain the
vision of creative health.

Another man, very different in type from the
Englishman and beset by headaches which no one
could overcome for him, resolved to try the ex-
periment of benefiting his head by using it to
the limit, a heroic remedy most of us would say.
Taking up an intellectual investigation with
steady persistence, this courageous worker be-
came sound in mind and body by using his powers
instead of letting them lie fallow while seeking
material aids. In so doing he found his vocation
once for all in a field of original research which
enlisted his intellect to the full. Undoubtedly
his energies were pent-up prior to the discovery
of this productive outlet. His motive in becom-
ing a scholar may not have been philanthropic,
but he surely found himself by losing himself in
his work.

More inspiring by far was the case of a woman
who, like the Englishman who loved to hunt and

Creative Health 225

fish, was limited by the best physicians of her
time to six months more in this natural world.
Her question was not, How may I have the best
time in six months remaining to me? but, How
may I do most for my fellow men in this short
time? Remembering that in the slums of the city
in which she lived there was a house belonging
to her family, she asked leave to dedicate this
house to social service for the benefit of the poor
and needy. Taking the house into her charge
and becoming absorbed in the opportunities
which contact with the laboring classes brought
her, this deep lover of good works found the
allotted six months passing into the years, and the
years bringing her a state of health which could
be prolonged into the fulness of life. She, too, not
only found her vocation but in such a way that
many co-workers were stimulated into creative
activity by her example. Health did not at once
cease to be a goal to be kept in sight, but it be-
came a secondary good to be guarded for the
sake of a life rich in opportunities for service.
Her health came unsought when there was no
apparent hope that she could survive beyond six
months. This health was in brief a gift of her
spiritual life. It came as an added element, not
as a possession which seemed within human power
to bestow. What resulted in her life might
come in full many an instance if with equal zeal

226 Spiritual Health and Healing

men and women who have no hope in material
things were to give themselves as resolutely to
some wrork supremely worth while. Thus creat-
ive work in any field might produce that wonder-
ful health which is of the Spirit.

In a measure this was the kind of health which
Dr. Quimby's labors produced for him when,
ostensibly a mere student of mental influences
and in dire need of health, he undertook the in-
vestigations which led to the modern discovery
of spiritual healing.1 Dr. Quimby apparently
had but a short time to live. Yet he completely
regained his health while scarcely thinking about
it. While studying the phenomena of what we
now call "suggestion" and the subconscious, he
found a vocation of absorbing interest. His
first interests could hardly have been called spir-
itual at all, although there may have been a Di-
vine purpose that he should discover the silent
method of healing at that time. He was not look-
ing for light upon his own health when it dawned
upon him with such fulness. There appeared
to be little left to create health out of, so far as
his physical condition was concerned. There was
no one at hand to tell him to seek his freedom by
spiritual means, unless we say that the Spirit
within him taught him to look beyond material
forces. But by discerning laws of mind which

i "A History of the New Thought Movement/' Chap. II.

Creative Health 227

he could utilize to set people free from bondage
to mere opinion and teach them a true "Science
of Health" he became filled with the life-interest
which brought his own spiritual health and with
it his bodily health.1

According to the principles which Dr. Quimby
was thereby led to adopt, health is the natural
right of every human soul. The presence of the
Creator with us through the wisdom which guides
and the love which sustains is for the sake of
health, among ends of greater value than health
itself. We ought therefore to judge by what
God is endeavoring to quicken in us and produce
through us, taking the whole of our life into ac-
count. We ought not to judge by physical signs
or symptoms. We should judge by the imma-
nent Life which makes for rounded development.
Taking this as our clue, it should not seem
strange at all that a person may find his health
spiritually by discovering his work in the world.
In Quimby's case the work and the health were
apparently one and the same. His theory that
health is a consequence of understanding and
rightly using our powers grew out of his own
quests. He created his own health, if you please,
by discovering a new field of service. But in the
larger sense God created these gifts through

i "The Quimby Manuscripts." Chap. III.

228 Spiritual Health and Healing

i him. Man's extremity was once more God's
opportunity.

Quimby's patients were in large measure in
the same position. They had no hope physically.
They had not found themselves or found their
work. This was as true of Mrs. Patterson (later
Mrs. Eddy) as of Rev. Mr. Evans, who became
the first writer on the subject, and of the other
pioneers. Coming simply to be restored to
health, if his work as a "last resort" could save
them, they found not merely health but a work
to do in leading others into the same freedom.
Quimby was their forerunner or guide. He could
save and cure in so far as anyone, divinely guid-
ed, may rescue another from the borders of the
grave and give a new lease of life. Yet there
was still a work to be done, namely, their own
creative response through the discovery of the
greater self and its field for individual service.
This meant that each one who became a pioneer
in the new work of freeing the soul must think
out the central principles concerning the Christ
as the true healing power. The individual need
afforded the special problem for each to solve,
that he might prove the truth of Quimby's teach-
ing for himself. He might have little capital as
it were to begin with: it was for him to aid in
the process of creating health by means of this
small beginning.

Creative Health 229

When, for example, a patient came to Quim-
by whose inner life was suppressed, with the
nervous energies pent-up and causing trouble,
the function of the silent spiritual treatment was
to touch the dormant life into action and start
the soul on its way to freedom. Through the
intuition which came to Quimby to meet the in-
dividual's needs, he did that work for another
which the sufferer was unable to do for himself.
It then remained for the sometime sufferer to
come into spiritual understanding, that he might
learn what conditions had caused his trouble and
how to live so that such conditions need never re-
cur. Thus a patient who had been an invalid for
six years as a result of over-study in school, in
gaining her health learned how to use her sensi-
tive disposition and exceptional intuitive powers
for the benefit of others beset by similar condi-
tions. Thus the young man whom we have
spoken of in Chapter I found himself as a true
follower of Christ. The greatest work wrought
by Quimby may therefore rightfully be called
creative.

Yet in these and all cases where striking results
ensued, where there was a life of service continu-
ing throughout the years that followed, the heal-
ing was only the beginning of the creative work.
The healing gave the impetus which when fol-
lowed with constancy of faith enabled the indi-

230 Spiritual Health and Healing

vidual to enter in and take possession of the
benefits produced in the inner life. These be-
came permanent with the discovery of the power
to go to the same Divine sources. To find these
sources was to discover the inner Word, to begin
to read the eternal Word as the book of the soul's
progress.

Now, the individual who thus began to find
the priceless possession may not have been whol-
ly restored to health when this regeneration be-
gan. He may not have reached the point where
he was free from bodily ills and able to demon-
strate the spiritual law on all occasions. That is
not the crucial point. Many take up their public
work before they are wholly free. The point is
that the remaining conditions offer the resistance
needed to enable a person to attain creative
health. These are the conditions one must master
for oneself. They are there to test the soul.
They are incentives to productive action. It is
much more than a question of "the besetting sin."
Say rather that it is the understanding and
mastering of disposition or temperament, and
the perfecting of character through Divine help.
Through the individual's victory the same forces
which apparently made for disease are now
turned into account in favor of health so that they
make for freedom. Thus the hardships of a sen-
sitive disposition, misunderstood, become the

Creative Health 231

benefits of the same disposition brought into con-
structive play.

Many have wondered why greater results have
not been achieved through mental healing, They
have wondered too why there has sometimes been
a return of former troubles and maladies, and
why some patients have not been restored at all.
Here is a prime reason. This greater work is spir-
itual. It comes from Divine wisdom. No mere-
ly mental therapeutist can ever bestow it upon
another, although abundantly able to overcome
superficial ills. It begins with that quickening
of the soul which shows that only through inner
regeneration is the individual brought into the
living abundance known as creative health.

It may well be that some are started on their
way unwittingly, as in the case of those who found
their health by forgetting themselves in a life of
service. But we are saying that the greater step
is into the spiritual knowledge which shows how
the change is wrought, how health can become
creatively permanent. In the same way others
are started on the road by the use of denials and
affirmations, without realizing that there is a
more intelligent method. But the great consider-
ation is change from mental methods to interior
awareness that there is an influx of Life which
is the constant source of health. It is knowledge
of this influent Life which lifts the whole restora-

232 Spiritual Health and Healing

tive process and makes it creative. From this
influx when known as guidance there comes the
impetus to do one's greatest work in the world.
Hence the whole pursuit of health changes into
quest for the larger spiritual life.

To put matters this way is to pass beyond
former ideas concerning salvation and the ac-
knowledgment of sin. These are implied, to be
sure. A man must see with open eye what his
selfishness was and what misery it caused. He
must trace matters to his own self-love, must will
to reform in order that the regenerative process
may begin in earnest. Yet merely to be "saved"
is little indeed in comparison with what the mod-
ern world understands by the life through which
a man is asked to prove by his works that he is
saved. Ileal regeneration begins to show itself
when life becomes constructive.

Thus Saul, the sometime persecutor of the new
faith taught by Jesus, became Paul the great
apostle of the doctrine he once opposed. We are
no longer concerned with what he was before
his quickening came, but with the quickening im-
petus which brought him "the mind of Christ."

What might be accomplished if we should
work first and last for these conditions which in-
spire creative health? Few of us know, because
we are not yet quickened in this spiritually con-
structive way. We still dwell on human woe and

Creative Health 233

misery, condemning people for their sin and look-
ing upon evil as a mystery. We still lament that
no quick road to health is found for all. We still
talk about doctrines as if they possessed magic
power to save the soul. In our schools we still
educate for the intellectual life, instead of train-
ing the young to make ready for the fulness of
life.

What if we were to seek directly that spiritual
life which not only makes for permanent health
but discloses the purpose for which we live?
What if we should begin forthwith by doing this
work which God calls us to do, wrhether it seems
to make for health or not? This would be adopt-
ing in entire seriousness the promise that Christ
came to bring the abundant life. It would imply
firm belief in the spiritual law, namely, that we
should first seek the kingdom of God and the
righteousness pertaining to the kingdom before
going in quest of the things which are to be
added. It would be putting health on the spir-
itual basis, as a gift of the Spirit.

XIX

THE SECEET PLACE

Looking back over the ground we have at-
tained in the preceding chapters, we realize that
while in spirit those who believe in healing by
the Christ-method may be in accord, their under-
standing of the method and the process may be
very different. If we begin by declaring that
the real self is never disturbed in spirit but ever
remains true to the image and likeness of God,
it would seem plain that the one course to pursue
is to break from any impeding consciousness,
affirm that the self is in perfect peace and health,
and deny any alleged trouble. This is the simple
method by which many have helped themselves
and others. This process seems so successful
that the tendency is to put all matters in the
present tense, to claim as already true everything
we aspire to be and will to realize. Hence it
has become matter of habit with many to choose
new affirmations for each week or month but
always to phrase them as if the ideals they sug-
gest were realized now.

On the other hand, if we agree that our

234

The Seceet Place 235

troubles and diseases regarded in the light of
their relation to character and the soul's welfare
have spiritual causes which must be acknowl-
edged and removed, to deny might be to gloss
over and to procrastinate. Healing does not pass
beyond the merely mental plane and become spir-
itual until it has to do with our real attitude or
prevailing love. Morally speaking, there is no
substitute for coming to judgment in utter sin-
cerity. What we need is to see the self and see
it whole, with open eye. This self is indeed the
spirit whose perfection we constantly affirm.
This self is always a child of God, in His image
and likeness, untouched in the inmost region.
Yet why should we ever have reason to affirm
its sanctity or deny the power of any influence
to thwart it unless there were a problem needing
solution and a difficulty to be overcome?

It would seem well then to pass from the
affirmative to the intuitive method as soon as we
can, and begin thorough study of the hidden self.
From the heights of theoretical affirmation there
is bound to be a fall sooner or later. Why not
come down as quickly as possible and adopt the
attitude and the pace which we can maintain
throughout the years? Surely we must do this
if we are to pass beyond interest in merely mental
health and healing to spiritual health and heal-
ing. It will then become a question of that

236 Spiritual Health and Healing

greater truth of the Christ-spirit which sets men
permanently free.

Moreover, if we accept the idea of the Divine
presence as an influx tending to produce changes
calling for co-operation on our part from stage
to stage, we must admit that much still remains
to be attained. We not only do not find people
possessing the open vision in large degree, re-
sponsive in mind and body to the tide of the
Spirit, but very few indeed who even have the
idea of any such relationship. To gain an
insight into this glorious possibility is to realize
that one could hardly claim to possess such union
with God unless one were to pretend to be the
Christ in fulness. Instead of any sort of claim
there is a prayer that, having had a glimpse of
what this union may be, one may be progres-
sively led into it.

To endeavor to move forward with the influent
Life, in order to give that Life full and free ex-
pression, bringing mind and body into line stage
by stage, is to be prepared in the first place to
learn everything one can from any source con-
cerning the present obstructions, that one may
see where to begin. What we ought to know is
the present or actual state of development, the
needs just now at hand, together with the wisdom
to meet those needs and see the way to take the
next step in spiritual evolution. To discover these

The Secret Place 237

needs one must be in the attitude of frank ac-
knowledgment, of willingness to learn and to be
led. Thus one adopts the view that there is such
a wealth of wisdom to be disclosed to us that it
can only be given progressively.

At the same time there is that other aspect of
the truth, namely, that the self already is poten-
tially what it presently becomes in actual expres-
sion, so that all growth is realization. If we
place too much stress on the affirmation of "our
oneness with God," we tend to lose sight of the
soul's progress through changing conditions from
lower to higher. But if we put too much em-
phasis on the conditions, wTe lose sight of the
ideal. There is a point of view which includes
these two truths. "So build we up the being that
we are," says the poet. All progress is realiza-
tion. Yet the conditions of growth are no less
necessary. The hidden self already is what it
would be. We cannot make the self over. We
cannot reform our neighbors. In a sense the self
never changes. Yet only through change does
life continue.

There is, in short, a course which the incoming
Life takes through us in its age-long revelation
of eternal truth and its continuous creation of
the human spirit into perfection. What we need
is a way of thinking which is faithful to actual
experience as a progressive revelation, and a

238 Spiritual Health and Healing

method of response to the Spirit which makes us
mindful of our present opportunities. We shall
not be bound or limited by present conditions if
we regard these as means which the Spirit takes
to its high end.

It is easy to lapse into the idea that the process
of life through which we are passing is itself the
whole reality. To break from this tendency we
need a way to lift the spirit into renewed vision
of the ideal. Hence we need to remind ourselves
again and again that there is a secret place with-
in the soul where we may always commune with
God. Our sometime absorption in processes and
conditions need never be taken to imply that the
whole spirit is absorbed. Hence we may dwell
for the time being on that other half of the truth
that is too great for words, namely, that in spirit
we are never disturbed, however great our aliena-
tion in consciousness from the Father.

It is never given us in our imperfect human
speech to say precisely where God in wise and
loving presence with us ceases, where man in his
uplift of heart and will begins. But what lan-
guage cannot directly say a scriptural passage
may impressively suggest. Hence we say to our-
selves, as if speaking for that Presence: "Be still,
and know that I am God," endeavoring to be
genuinely still as we repeat the passage: "Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is

The Secket Place 239

stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most
High shall abide under the shadow of the Al-
mighty." These sayings bring us into the secret
place as an experience, and that is what we need.

When we are in need of help we naturally con-
centrate upon the ideal, reminding ourselves that
despite any appearance there is an inmost region
of the spirit which remains untouched, in intimate
relation with the heavenly influx. This is the
side of our nature we wish to concentrate upon
to gain a fresh impetus to turn once more to
the experience of meeting the obstacles that lie
in our path. When we turn toward the secret
place in thought, we realize that with the over-
coming of friction at the centre there will be a
change throughout the organism. Hence we de-
sire that touch with the renewing Life which shall
send a thrill throughout our being comparable
to that which comes when we are deeply touched
by familiar music after having been long de-
prived of it. In the moment of detaching our
consciousness from outward things to renew the
ideal in the secret place, we may well yield our-
selves to the experience as if nothing else were
true, as if nothing else existed.

To avoid the pitfalls of self -absorption and ab-
straction in which some find themselves at this
point, we need a clearer way of thinking about

240 Spiritual Health and Healing

the human spirit or self in contrast with the mind
and the body. By the human spirit we mean both
the immortal part of us, the soul or son of God
created in His image and likeness, already dwell-
ing in the spiritual world, and the being who is
conscious and self-conscious in the successive
phases of natural existence. That is to say, the
spirit potentially is far nobler in quality and
greater in power than in any actual experience
we yet know. The spirit is in part an ideal or
purpose. But the spirit is also the self or soul
already aware of an ideal in contrast with the
conditions of life round about us in the natural
world. The spirit is the distinctive individual,
the permanent identity or ego surviving any sort
of change. Yet we are learning to know our-
selves here in this world through changes. The
human spirit in ideal is one, is a consistent har-
mony of all its elements or qualities enduring
through any vicissitudes. Yet in present expe-
rience we find ourselves far from this unity.

It is untrue to declare, as some affirm, that
whatever is true of God as Infinite Spirit is true
of us as finite spirits; for God as infinite, un-
created, is all-encompassing Life, while we are
recipients, each with his place and his gifts. The
secret place is not the point of "blending" but
the region where we may attain adjustment and
unison leading to co-operation, God and man re-

The Secket Place 241

maining distinct. The secret place is a sphere of
attainment, not of relapse, resignation or absorp-
tion. It would have no meaning for us at all un-
less it disclosed to us "the flying perfect" ever
leading us on toward the goal of social realiza-
tion which we call the kingdom of heaven. Forth
from our renewed experience of the ideal there
ought always to proceed clearer thinking, as we
turn from spirit to mind, from mind to body.

By the term "mind" we mean the whole com-
plexity and variety of activities taking place
within us, from sensation to intuition in its high-
est moments. We mean, further, the different
levels or planes of consciousness, the differences
between inner and outer conditions, interior and
exterior states, the subjective and the objective,
and all those contrasts which we know as duality
of self or conflict of voices. The mind is in close
relation with the brain and through the brain with
the whole body. But the spirit's most intimate
relation is with God, without whose constant pres-
ence there would not be one moment of being.

When we try to give full meaning to the inter-
mediate term "mind," hence by contrast to know
the secret places of the spirit, it is helpful to make
the transition in thought from outward things to
the inmost sanctuary.1 The starting-point of the
mind in this process is with sensation. Sensa-

iSee also "The Open Vision," p. 140.

242 Spiritual Health and Healing

tions give us " things," with color, light, heat,
sound, touch, and the rest. Then come emotions
and feelings associating themselves with sensa-
tion, such as fear or pleasure. Desires arise, too,
in this association with things around us in the
world. By "will" we mean the more interior ele-
ment of our mental life through which we select
between desires, eliminating some, overcoming
and using others, and transfiguring those that are
most eligible. Will possesses a freedom which
desires could never have, hence will springs from
within and at its best expresses the heart. Then,
too, there is thought, the intellect or understand-
ing. What we will to do and to be depends not
alone upon the selection between desires but upon
analysis, interpretation, and reasoning. All these
qualities of our inner life pertain to "mind."

What is it that possesses mind, that feels,
thinks and wills? The human spirit. When does
the spirit act from within in contrast with its
responsiveness to interests from without? When
it possesses "the understanding heart." The
spirit thinks and wills from within when it thinks
from enlightenment and from the Divine love.
The various mental elements whereby the spirit
expresses itself in action then become like obedi-
ent servants doing the will of a wise master. The
spirit is the real master. Mind might be a faith-
ful servant in each of us if we understood and

The Secret Place 243

had learned to control all the mental elements.
It is the spirit that controls. It is the mind that
is brought into order.

So far each of us may confirm the description
by experience. By "the secret place" we mean
something more than the self -consciousness which
shows us the difference between mind and spirit.
For self -consciousness, we know, is often an in-
terference, and when we would be receptive we
try too hard to be still, or permit our thought to
suggest too many ideas. Consciousness does not
follow into the secret place to tell us just when
God is present there with His guiding wisdom
and sustaining love. But consciousness does
yield the great contrast between our lesser and
our larger moments.

What figure of speech shall we choose to ex-
press the ineffable union of God and man in the
secret place? Let us keep to the imagery which
the term "life" suggests. Life, we know, moves
forward, brings changes. Its inflow is like that
of a stream with its current and its waves or
rhythms. It moves harmoniously in a ready
channel. It struggles against any obstacle. If
impeded, its flow is affected by the obstacle, often
seriously so.

Far more truly than in the case of a river im-
peded by obstructions in its course, the life-cur-
rent within us depends upon our response. The

244 Spiritual Health and Healing

secret place in the inmost of the spirit is the re-
gion of intimate relationship between guiding
life and recipient soul, ready or not to be guided
as the case may be. Life comes as pure essence.
It is received by the heart through affection and
will as love. It is then received by the under-
standing as light. The understanding heart is
quickened by heavenly love and wisdom. Thus
quickened in willingness to be guided, respond-
ing to love as Divine, to wisdom as Divine, taking
no credit to itself, the human spirit is prompted
from within in the secret place, and the under-
standing "thinks with the spirit" instead of think-
ing merely with the brain. The whole inner life
may then be prompted from the secret place,
mind as a whole may respond, and the brain as a
whole will become obedient.

Sometimes this relationship of God and man is
thought of merely in the light of receptivity. But
as important as receptivity may be, it is only the
beginning. The secret place is indeed the place
of worship, the place for listening, waiting humil-
ity. Our help is indeed solely in the Lord. Yet
we have our whole mental life to bring into play,
and unless we enlist thought and will, feeling and
the sense of effort in activities springing from the
Lord these mental elements will find some other
outlet. The spirit is not alone a recipient of
Life but also able to assimilate and co-operate.

The Seceet Place 245

The secret place is the place for beginning to do
things. Our great need is to return there for
fresh quickening, a new touch with Life, then
outgoing activity expressing Life in our human
activities. It is the place of conjunction between
the Divine and the human. The ideal of this
union is the Divine-human, the Christ. The
place is the region of the incarnation of the heav-
enly Heart in the human heart.

Incarnation means, for the individual, re-
sponse according to need, purpose and capacity,
leading to concrete or practical action. We are
most likely to be quickened in large measure by
an individual need when we seek the quietude of
the secret place in order to serve another. We
are uplifted by the idea of the Divine purpose
for us when we realize that through the secret
place we may be led to act more wisely than we
know, may be led to do just our work in the
world. That it is a question of capacity we see
clearly when we note how greatly individuals dif-
fer in talents or gifts. What our own capacity
for receiving may be we never learn save so far
as we pass far beyond receptivity to effective ex-
pression. What the Divine purpose is for us we
learn in large part by experience, not by theoriz-
ing. What we most need we ourselves seldom
know, but we may seek the inner silence in read-
iness to be filled according to need.

246 Spiritual Health and Healing

Humility is a word seldom used nowadays by
those who have reacted against the old theology.
It seems now to be solely a question of self-
reliance and self-realization. Yet something like
humility we always need when likely to express
self-love, pride, mere learning or self-righteous-
ness. There will always be tendencies into side
issues and temptations so long as we are human.
Humility is the corrective of self-assertiveness.
One might under-estimate the self, hence fail to
stand upright in the secret place. But most of
us are likely to err the other way.

What we need above all, on the human side, is
enlightenment to the effect that there is a move-
ment of Life outward from the secret place into
the understanding or intellectual life, hence
throughout the mind and into the body. We
need to think of life as dynamic, with us to
achieve and to achieve with energy. We need to
think of this dynamic Life as achieving by taking
a certain direction, pursuing an end. Our part is
very far from merely passive adjustment. Our
part is responsive movement forward with Life.
Life is creative. So must our response be.

In our ordinary thinking we are apt to limit
creative genius to the poet, composer or sculptor,
that is, to the lover of Beauty. But far more
truly the lover of Truth is a creative recipient of
Life. The Spirit is with us to attain creative

The Seceet Place 247

expression through us in behalf of Beauty,
Truth, and Goodness, the eternal Ideas. These
are the three great ends. There is one Spirit
with diversity of gifts making toward the eternal
values or ideas. If we are not artists or philos-
ophers, we may be servants of goodness, and the
Good is as genuinely and surely creative as Truth
and Beauty. Indeed, creative goodness pertains
to each of us as an individual, as a child of God.
Life is with us to carry forward our creation in
His image and likeness.

The highest gift of intuition as quickened from
the secret place is creative insight into the nature
and powers of the individual. At times we are
so fortunate as to be given this insight into an-
other's soul. Seeing the ideal latent there we do
what we can to summon it into power. We en-
courage, we advise, we point out opportunities.
We show that the soul tends to "make circum-
stance," to find its creative opportunity. But
better still we show that just as we have become
somewhat acquainted with the secret place and
begun to learn at home, so the soul we are cre-
atively advising can learn to go to direct sources
and be guided from within. Thus it may be given
us to summon the soul from knowing to doing,
from discipleship into leadership. The true spir-
itual leader has this creative touch with Life. To
say this is not to claim that man as such is a ere-

248 Spiritual Health and Healing

ator or giver of life. There is but one Creator,
one source of life. But there is a creative rela-
tion to the human spirit in the secret place. It
would not be a "secret" place if we knew just
why and how. Suffice it that experience itself
discloses this creative presence of Life.

If you would think with the spirit, instead of
merely working your brain, turn from outward
things in renewed consecration to Life, lifting
your problem into spiritual light to receive the
heavenly guidance you may need. Give yourself
time to listen, to meditate, but also give yourself
time to assimilate from Life and time to grow.
Remember that there is a movement from within
outward, from heart to understanding. Seek,
therefore, both the impetus of heart from Love
and the light which shines from Wisdom. In
other words, let your "leading" develop, expect it
to develop in detail and become complete, just as
a composer expects to develop and complete his
theme till his symphony is finished. The secret
place is the place of essences intuitively appre-
hended. What the understanding does is to work
out the essence. By an "essence" one means the
pure leading, the intuitively perceived whole, like
the composer's theme. It may be compared to
pure light. The light tends to distribute itself
into even the darkest corner of the mind. Fol-
lowing the light and trying faithfully to live by

The Secket Place 249

it, we grasp the meaning of our experiences little
by little, we see laws, understand principles,
think from causes to effects.

With utmost confidence then one may believe
in the secret place, endeavoring to live from it,
to be guided by its light. All the power we once
put into self-assertion we may now put into cre-
ative self-expression through this Wisdom. All
the rebellion we may have felt can become har-
mony. All negative attitudes can give place to
the positive responsiveness which makes for spir-
itual service. Quiet and free, open and poised
at the centre, we may think and will, feel and act
from the enlightened centre, with Life imbuing
our life. Open at the centre, we may grow into
greater responsiveness through our daily con-
duct, not only overcoming the nervous wear and
tear, the tensions and strains which impede, but
also the external activities not yet in correspond-
ence. The ideal throughout is harmony between
inner and outer, correspondence between the
eternal life and the ideal in the secret place.
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most
High shall abide under the shadow of the Al-
mighty.'' "Be still, and know that I am God."

XX

HOW TO DEMONSTRATE

To demonstrate is to establish in outward ex-
pression. It is to prove, verify, know for our-
selves. Its basis is either a principle which we
understand and wish to exemplify, or an item of
faith which we simply take on trust and hope to
understand when we have proved it. Demon-
stration is commonly regarded as the test every
individual must meet. For we have ceased to
believe in teachings which bear no consequences
in actual life, and it is the test which the individ-
ual makes that shows whether a belief is work-
able. To verify for ourselves we must come
down to the concrete and observe the results
in daily experience. Moreover, "the laborer is
worthy of his hire," each man ought to show by
the rewards or consequences which follow that his
work is in accord with the spiritual law. Since
there is a boundless source upon which to draw,
we show our relation to it when the results prove
the law of abundance.

The reason some people fail to demonstrate is

250

How to Demonstrate 251

not then hard to find. They fail because their
theories are too abstract, too remote from life;
because they do not understand practical life well
enough to know where to begin with a need im-
mediately at hand.

The idea prevails, for example, that by hold-
ing in mind the right thought it is possible for
anyone to "attract" all the conditions he desires.
The thought or formula repeatedly affirmed is
supposed to act like a magic influence to draw
what is desired. In this way we can not only
gain health without working in any other way to
secure it, but win prosperity merely because we
want it. Prosperity, in fact, becomes a direct
object of pursuit, like a hobby. To "affirm
abundance" is forthwith to gain it. One may, it
is said, direct affirmative thoughts to people of
wealth and draw money or other possessions from
them, one may picture desired possessions and
study mental influences tending to enlist the help
of people who can open the way to secure these
possessions. In short, to demonstrate is to pro-
cure what you want through suggestion. The
principle of "mental attraction" discloses the
royal road to success. The ability to "demon-
strate supply" is the test of one's real power.
Prosperity is a sign of salvation.

From a spiritual point of view this is contrary
to order. If the laborer is "worthy of his hire,"

252 Spiritual Health and Healing

the way to prove worthy is first to do some work
which merits reward according to value rendered.
Therefore, first serve, first live by the spiritual
law, labor for and love the more truly your fel-
low men. If you have greater needs and require
additional resources, more co - workers, more
money: then give more freely, express yourself
more fully, make manifest your faith through
actual service. If certain kinds of spiritual work
bring greater results and you are prompted to
enlarge your sphere of usefulness, consecrate
yourself anew to these opportunities. Begin at
the centre, not on the circumference. Do not
follow the inverted order by first seeking
"things" that "the kingdom" may be added, but
seek first the kingdom of God and find a place to
serve in a work which is making for the fuller
realization of that kingdom here on earth. It is
not a question of personal influence at all, since
one has no desire to "attract" things from people
by any insidious process. It is not primarily a
question of affirmation, since affirmation must be
followed by work entitling one to its rewards.
Nor is it essentially a matter of attraction, as if
one's inner fitness had nothing to do with circum-
stances. There is indeed correspondence be-
tween inward need and outward supply, but this
attraction is by spiritual law, not by caprice. The
prime consideration is service which prepares the

How to Demonstrate 253

way for more favorable conditions as rapidly as
the soul becomes worthy. It is Divine law which
presides over the selection of conditions, not our
own desire.

If we begin by affirming all perfection as
present with us now, denying that man ever
learns or gains anything by experience, ignoring
nature and making light of natural law, we put
ourselves into an artificial world of thought re-
mote from life as whole-hearted people know it.
Affirming perfection in the abstract, claiming
for ourselves what is true of God only, we then
wonder why health, freedom and prosperity do
not come our way. It is very difficult for any-
body, however wise, to teach us anything while
we remain in this theoretical position; for we
have cut ourselves off from all sources of knowl-
edge. Where all is claimed as accomplished and
perfect now, there is of course nothing to be de-
sired, nothing to do; hence nothing comes to us
with life in it.

A return to natural conditions is devoutly to
be desired for all who have isolated themselves
from growth through experience. There may be
other and more direct means of quickening us
than through the slowly moving processes of our
understanding. But not even intuition or "rev-
elation" gives us sure knowledge "out of hand."
Any principle offered us as truth becomes true

254 Spiritual Health and Healing

for us only when we have proved it by experi-
ence. That is precisely what we mean by "dem-
onstration. " We do not really know until we
have lived. Actual life is likely to be different
from our expectations. We need the open mind.
It is detrimental to be tied to a theory which is
like an anchor to windward.

Since there is order or sequence in all things,
no one can really make a leap beyond the con-
ditions which the soul needs, whatever illusions
to the contrary there may be. Since there is cor-
respondence between inner and outer conditions,
what the soul really attracts is what is needed.
The law of change is from within outward, not
to conditions created in imagination by ignoring
natural law and the spiritual ideal, but to circum-
stances essential to inner development. We can-
not "demonstrate over" nature, although we may
seem to, for example, when we steadily reduce
the amount of food, rest and sleep we take with
the assumption that these matters depend solely
on our thought about them. We cannot change
one hair white or black in the actual world to
be faced and understood. Our road lies through
the conditions which people ignore when they
indulge in abstract affirmations. There is no
such thing as evasion in the moral realm. Action
and reaction are still equal. No alleged royal
road can compare with the one which is disclosed

How to Demonstrate 255

when we frankly acknowledge actual motives
and seek God's help for real needs.

True demonstration is never the result of self-
assertion. It is only in part a consequence of
consciously chosen ends. More truly, it is a co-
operative result, involving experiences we did not
foresee and a wisdom greater than our own. It
comes from inner adjustment and willingness to
let Life have its way through us. Any prayer
we may utter in our effort to attain it should in-
clude the Christian qualification, "Thy will, not
mine, be done."

Our actual spiritual state is a condition, not a
theory. We need not fear to look at things as
they seem to be. True courage is not afraid of
illusions, shadows or errors. We may look with
open eye straight through any "claim" that be-
sets us, noting its sources and associations, its hold
upon us, and the point of contact which made
our servitude possible. It is truth that sets men
free, not the assertion of freedom when we dare
not look at our own past lest we enter into it
again. We are never really free until we under-
stand, and when the vision comes the clouds clear
away by themselves. We are then in the position
of the one who, mistaking a stump for a bear
in the dark forest, has marched up to the harm-
less thing and found out that it is merely a

256 Spiritual Health and Healing

stump. What we need is the right interpretation
of things as they are.

On the other hand, it is as easy to fail to dem-
onstrate by being too much absorbed in mere con-
ditions and processes. If some overdo the mat-
ter in one direction by ignoring the conditions of
spiritual development, others go to the extreme
in the opposite direction by analyzing too much
and becoming enveloped in details. The newer
methods of healing are, on the whole, a reaction
against the old-time introspection with its em-
phasis on our sins and the need for acknowl-
edging our errors and mistakes. The reaction
is a sound one and has come to stay. What we
now need is primary emphasis on the Spirit
which accomplishes, with willingness to learn the
essential lessons of life while not dwelling too
long on mere details.

To demonstrate is to disconnect our attention
from mere processes and unite in consciousness
with the higher level of life, give our thought to
the Spirit. To demonstrate is to turn about and
become affirmative in every respect in which our
attitude is still negative. When we are determi-
nately positive we may learn the lessons of past
experience without entering into details and con-
ditions. There are times for looking back to
learn and times when we should cut free as if the
past had never existed.

How to Demonstrate 257

To demonstrate one should not attempt to
overcome everything at once. Sufficient unto the
day is the problem we can best begin to solve
today. When we give our attention to that, con-
centrating our efforts upon the immediate prac-
tical need, we find that demonstration means,
grounding things ideal in things actual. To
demonstrate is to be specific, concrete, definite.
Hence we make progress toward the perfect
demonstration when we limit our interests and
our thoughts, with one central purpose before
us, with the eye single to truth. Thus a man be-
gins to demonstrate in earnest when he dares to
stand for what he believes is true in an actual
instance relating him with his fellow men today,
although what he believes may not be popular
and what he does may require great courage.

Frequently, our efforts fall short because we
indulge in so many aspirations in various direc-
tions that we make headway in none. Here is
a man, for example, who is high-strung, nervous,
intense and emotional in great degree. He never
permits anyone to pass him, he rushes when he
works, eats with nervous haste, and writes with
restless rapidity. His good resolutions lead to
nothing. He affirms his general "oneness with
God" to little effect. He receives treatment
from an abstractionist healer, but nothing comes
of it. At last he takes himself in the act, resolves

258 Spiritual Health and Healing

to master one habit ait a time, and begins by-
practising upon his handwriting, making each
stroke of the pen with moderation, concentrating
his attention upon the actual movements of
his hand. The result is a pleasure he has never
before experienced in his life, a sense of power
in doing something with inner control. He sees
at last what poise is, not as an assumed state, but
one that a person can grow into throughout one's
life, a state that is gradually developed through
performing activities with inner control and con-
centration. He now makes steady headway be-
cause he is taking over a habit which hitherto
simply swept him forward to do its restless bid-
ding. So any of us might make headway if we
would resolutely face something to be conquered
by meeting it with a consciousness of what it is
in us that wins all victories.

To adapt oneself to Life's way instead of try-
ing to find a short cut of our own, is to realize
anew that all real efficiency is from God. Both
the driving force (love) and the directing force
(wisdom) are from Him. What we ought to
demonstrate is the Divine image and likeness,
not the psychological presentment which grati-
fies our vanity. We wish, if our desires have
really become spiritual, to find God's way and
walk in it wherever it may lead, whether the
vicissitudes of the path are what we prefer or

How to Demonstrate 259

not. We do not know ourselves in entirety yet.
We are not aware of all the conditions to be met
or all the elements to be overcome. We should
not then claim to know the appropriate times and
seasons. As human beings we are not managers
of the conditions which best develop the soul. We
are not here to dictate terms. At best we trust
our guide may find us ready, when Wisdom
speaks, when Love impels. What must be "dem-
onstrated over" is our selfishness or self-love, and
the victory over self is won only through heav-
enly aid.

Hence the power of the Spirit is the only real
power that demonstrates. If our spirit bears
witness together with the Holy Spirit that these
heavenly things are true, so that we will to fol-
low in the Spirit's way, then what comes by way
of proof is sign and symbol of what has been
divinely wrought in us. The "signs following,"
the first-fruits which show what went before, are
needed to teach us the law of perfect demonstra-
tion; because only when spiritual realities have
been ultimated or expressed do they become com-
plete. The power which seemed to be in the
human will alone, or in the Spirit welcomed in
reverential receptivity, was in neither exclusively.
The human spirit had to be willing. God had
to be at hand. But the Spirit's might is seen
when God and man in union conquer outward

260 Spiritual Health and Healing

circumstances through inward victory. The full
truth is never seen till the thing is done. The
abundant life is the life of full practical realiza-
tion in the flesh, in natural things. "By their
fruits ye shall know them."

If I am still minded to ask, How then shall I
demonstrate? the answer is not that I must wait
until God does His part. Mere watchful wait-
ing may be as far from the right attitude as the
old-time attitude of Christian resignation. The
spiritual law is that I should act from God's
power "as if" that power were my own. Unless
I make the effort, unless I put forth the energy
to conquer something that is before me, such as
a tendency to drive forward with restless energy,
I do not put myself in line with the Life that is
here to win the victory. My part is to show that
I am ready to take the practical initiative, and
follow up my prayers with deeds done.

Let us make the matter simple. Here is a day
when one feels an inward need. There is a diffi-
culty to be overcome, a problem to be solved, or
someone to be helped. Let me then go apart by
myself and seek the quiet sanctuary of the Spirit
once more. "Be still, and know that I am God,"
I say to myself, with the realization that God is
present like an Over-soul to guide and illumine
me. May I trust in Him so that my mind shall
be "stayed" upon His wisdom. May I be at

How to Demonstrate 261

peace so that some measure of His peace shall
touch my spirit with tranquillity. Then may I
see the way in the special direction in which I
need light.

What I affirm as true, now, is the God-ward
part of my life, the perfect peace in which the
Father can keep me, the infinite wisdom ade-
quate to meet all occasions, the perfect love which
casts out all fear. If I did not lack this peace
there would be no reason for seeking it. If I
realized all wisdom I should have no problem to
bring forward for solution. If perfect love con-
trolled my heart I should not have "one fear to
conquer each day." Inevitably then I must take
an attitude in my quest for help which admits
a lack, with humility or readiness enough to make
me receptive. Since the Father already knows
the way whereon I should walk, since He has
provided for every need, my part is to listen and
make myself ready in the secret place that I may
receive what the Father has provided.

What I must do, therefore, in order to demon-
strate is to put out of the way whatever thought,
attitude of will, emotion, habit, deed or mode of
conduct there may be that interferes with the
coming of what the Father has provided. Then
when my thinking, my willing and my conduct
follow the spiritual order, I may indeed make
use of my imaging power, my affirmations and

262 Spiritual Health and Healing

all the rest of my psychological equipment, to
foster the things of the Spirit. The hard part
for most of us is to attain the spiritual order.
We want things to come in our way and when we
want them. We would like to sail serenely down
the stream of time with everything that could
gratify human desire floating to us out of the air,
while we smilingly discourse on the success of
our demonstrations. But that is not the order of
things in the spiritual life. Interiorly we have
only what we deserve. What we now possess
came to us in relation to what we were. We tried
"to get" rather than to give. We worked hard
to accumulate possessions and now we propose
to enjoy them. We looked out for Number One.
At first thought these new teachings about sug-
gestion and the subconscious mind seem to afford
a still more successful way of putting self first.
But sober second thought shows that in all
things there reigns a spiritual law such that we
need to seek the Spirit first, we need to give, to
be, to make manifest. When we have made the
great effort, that is, in the overcoming of self
and self-love, we shall find that matters are right-
ing themselves and seeking new positions in rela-
tion to the new inner centre of equilibrium.

The new teaching of our time shows how to
begin more immediately where beginnings are
effective, that is, with ourselves. No one who

How to Demonstrate 263

sincerely wishes to live by the spiritual law will
find himself without guidance. There is always
something at hand to begin upon. There is
always some word of wisdom we can begin to
apply. To demonstrate is to begin. To begin is
to find the little becoming more. "God helps
those who help themselves." And this deeper
self-helpfulness means in the language of the
new philosophy of healing a growing recognition
on our part of "the Science of the Christ."

To be prepared to demonstrate in the most
successful way, therefore, we need to be as well
equipped as we can in knowledge of what we
have defined in the foregoing chapters as "the
priceless possession." There should no longer
be any theoretical barrier which keeps us from
looking directly to the supreme sources of life
and wisdom. There is in very truth a spiritual
science which we may all begin to apply, to
verify for ourselves. There is for all an ideal of
Christian living which is workable here and now.
This science we may adopt and practise as a
science which is true in its own right over and
above or apart from any particular interpreta-
tion of the Gospels that may be espoused by a
given sect. Hence it is well to carry the inquiry
into this science far enough to have a practical
way of thinking about the human Jesus and the
resurrection or glorification, always keeping in

264 Spiritual Health and Healing

mind that from the point of view of spiritual
health and healing these are practical, not theo-
logical, matters.

That is to say, nearly everyone who owns
allegiance to a sect or denomination of the
Christian Church is likely to take exception to
the distinction drawn between "the Christ" as
considered above, Chap. Ill, and "the human
Jesus," when it is a question of theology. Some
will prefer the teaching of the Episcopal Church,
hence will emphasize the Pauline Epistles, and
will speak of "our Lord." Others will reinter-
pret what follows so that the human Jesus will
become "the Lord." Still others will prefer the
title of "the Son of God." We plead for the
direct reading of the Gospels themselves as
guides to practical life and spiritual healing,
since this distinction between Jesus and the
Christ has proved so helpful. Each reader will
then be free in other connections to reinterpret
as he chooses. For the present we are concerned
with the gospel of healing. The acknowledg-
ment of the Lord should bring this practical real-
ization. To demonstrate in Christian terms is
thus to carry our idealism concerning the Christ
into the ultimate. To demonstrate is to see that
regeneration of some sort should follow. Hence
we need to carry our practical thought through
to the end.

XXI

SUMMARY AND DEFINITION

The term "spiritual healing" as we have been
using it in these pages indicates both the source
of power and the special method employed. The
efficiency is attributed, not to human thought, not
to the individual will, self, or attitude ; but to the
Divine presence realized through inner respon-
siveness and co-operation, and made forceful
through the human spirit as means or agency.
The special method involves the attitude and
agencies of the inner life, through the use of silent
meditation, control of the energies centring about
the self, poise, peace, and an affirmative faith
made practical through psychological knowl-
edge. This method is further distinguished
by the effort of those who employ it to under-
stand and overcome the more serious difficulties
of the life of suffering, to gain freedom for the
individual, and to solve the more central prob-
lems of those who are sensitively organized,
Spiritual healing has for its object the actual
overcoming of the inner causes and conditions

265

266 Spiritual Health and Healing

which produce ill-health and misery, in contrast
with methods which deal with surfaces only. Thus
it involves not merely temporary alleviation of
human ills, and the help which one soul can give
another; but an educational process extending
out into the social world. It may begin and
usually does start with the alleviation of pain,
and the use of "silent treatment" for those who
are unable as yet to draw upon inner resources
for themselves. It may at first be wholly con-
cerned with problems of ill-health. But pres-
ently it leads to character-building, the "soul's
problem" or the mastery of temperament, and
the whole question of "salvation" or the new
birth. It changes from the silent method to con-
versational studies, the art of the spiritual life,
and spiritual re-education.

Spiritual healing, therefore, like the original
Christianity, ministers to the whole individual, as
a physical or natural' being, as mental and social,
moral and spiritual. Thus it takes all the facts
and conditions of disease and suffering into ac-
count, ignoring nothing. It frankly faces the
facts of heredity and environment, the given so-
cial atmosphere, noting man's multiform nature,
conscious and subconscious. But whatever the
character and force of the external circumstances
in a given case, the centre of activity is found in
the inner life. Hence the method employed im-

Summary and Definition 267

plies the use of those superior agencies accessible
to the human spirit which touch the heart. If,
for example, "perfect love casteth out fear," we
are concerned not with the fears to be cast out
but with the conditions that enlist the aid of "per-
fect love." If there is an inner peace which "pass-
eth all understanding," we must endeavor to rise
above our ordinary mental processes to realize
this peace through actual inner experience.

The surpassing gift which our age has be-
stowed upon us is this immediate spiritual clue
to the resources of the Divine presence. Too
often in the past God has been merely historical,
heaven elsewhere, and spiritual realities mere
matters to read about. It has seemed to many
that if they could not conform to the established
usages and beliefs of the Church their faith
would go. The new age assures us that Divine
realities are not dependent on time or place, on
creeds, institutions or books ; but on the individ-
ual's recognition and use. Here, in the priceless
eternity which is ever ours, there resides all the
power, the wisdom, the love and peace we need.
We need not make the effort difficult. We need
not look for the marvellous. Wherever placed
and however constituted, we may begin today
to look within and above, basing our faith on
the conviction that man is by nature so fashioned
as to live in the spiritual world, to apprehend the

268 Spiritual Health and Healing

Divine presence and to live by it. We may in a
measure need to look back to great historical
scenes in the spiritual life to regain the impetus,
but only that we may recover the Christianity
which ministers to the whole man.

To be sure, one must in a measure become
aware of the urgent needs in oneself and others.
We all have our repressed emotional states, our
dissatisfactions and interior conflicts. We lack
repose, we give way to fancies, worries, excite-
ments. Few of us possess sufficient control and
mental co-ordination to use all our energies to
advantage. It is difficult for most of us to draw
a line of distinction between the fleshly organism
and the soul, hence much effort is required to
work our way into the inner life as a conscious
centre of reality open to Divine resources. Yet
we need not urge ourselves. The first step is to
become inwardly still, that we may by contrast
realize the difference between the outward play
of consciousness and the inward activity which,
through its intervals, makes known the finer ener-
gies of the spirit.

Disease is inefficiency, scattering of force, ner-
vous constraint, tension. This is seen in the case
of one who is over-zealous in the effort to get
ahead in the world, who is self -coercive, insistent,
drawing upon the supply of nerve-energy to the
limit, and suffering from the subsequent exhaus-

Summary and Definition 269

tion and collapse. It is seen in the case of one
who is morbidly self-conscious, unsocial, cut off
from the usual activities of domestic life, hence
repressed, cramped in spirit. There is much
more to be said about ill-health than this. The
general physician would add his physiological
diagnosis, the nerve-specialist his description,
and so on. But we are here concerned with
crucial matters. At heart the over-zealousness
which expresses itself in nervous tensions and
exhaustion may spring from undue love of self
and the world, from a certain ambition or ruling
desire which must be understood and corrected.
The true cure comes with the discovery that what
we truly desire, what we can best do in the world,
is possible through quiet self-knowledge and in-
terior control, through thoughtful adjustment to
life. Health in this sense is spiritual efficiency,
the wise use of all our forces from the centre ; it
is spiritual freedom and adequate self-expression
through the Divine purpose.

We are all at some stage of the journey on
this the highway of life. We were started forth
by incentives which we did not understand. We
have had experiences which we never consciously
sought. But what truly impelled us one and all
was longing for the fulness of life, desire to find
our place and do our work in the world. We
have not proceeded at random, although this has

270 Spiritual Health and Healing

often seemed to be the case. We have passed
through the testing- times that we needed. Each
man of us belongs where he is today. There is
no reason to complain, spiritually speaking.
What is called for is, awareness of the situation,
the fact of correspondence between inner cir-
cumstance and type, between our real environ-
ment and the purpose to be realized through co-
operation with Divine guidance.

When we gain the inner point of view we re-
alize that life is constituted for the welfare of
the soul, with all the laws, powers, guidances and
conditions required. Being thus organized, life
could not at the same time be for external things
simply. Life is adapted to that which is most
worth while, to freedom, truth, beauty, service;
heaven, order, harmony, mutual life as "members
one of another/' howbeit man has tried to take
life as if meant for the realization of his desire to
possess outward things to the exclusion of his
brother and the neglect of God. Naturally we
are perplexed and mystified, till we learn this.
As naturally we mistake the physical organism
for the soul, searching for external causes of our
disquietude and misery, disparaging life and con-
demning our Maker. Inevitably our friction in-
creases, while in our ignorance and self-will we
persist in going counter to Life.

Spiritual healing reverses all this. It shows

Summary and Definition 271

us that we are in process, frequently suffering
from a sense of division within the self. By con-
trast we then learn that we have mistaken the
process for the efficiency, the means for the end ;
we have even mistaken this wonderful instrument
of ours, the physical organism, for the individual
who uses it. Thus we have become imprisoned
within the flesh, swept off our feet by whirlwinds
of excitement and fear, our substance gnawed
by nervous friction. Thus we have moved on
from moment to moment in the mere feeling or
thought of the passing hour; living in fragments,
shifting from mood to mood. We have had no
sense of unity or wholeness, no interior consist-
ency or constancy. Sometimes we have striven,
sometimes we have yielded. Now we have
prayed, and now rebelled as if the whole world
were against us. Some of us have been far too
self-assertive, while others have surrendered too
frequently. Thus we have lacked balance, repose.
What is the faith that makes whole? What
was meant when the Master said, "Thy faith
hath made thee whole?" Surely, the Divine love
thus appealing to the soul through the open chan-
nel of faith touched the entire individual, not
with reference to sin or disease alone. Such was
the openness, the responsiveness of spirit on the
part of those who came for salvation (whole-
ness), that the entire inner life was ready, gave

272 Spiritual Health and Healing

itself in aspiration. That which we intellectual
mortals strive to attain by varied efforts during
the weeks and months and years was thereby
achieved all at once. All the inner obstacles gave
way, the fears vanished, the excitements sub-
sided, the worries ceased, the tensions were re-
moved, the suppressions yielded. The real inner
self was thereby called into play. Such healing
was in fact creative, it produced a new combina-
tion of powers, achieved a synthesis amidst hith-
erto conflicting forces. Would that you and
I could so fully give ourselves to the Spirit!
Would that whole groups could so give them-
selves that the Holy Spirit should, as of old, fall
upon all who hear, overcoming all separateness !
The ideal of all spiritual healing is unison
with God regarded as creative love and guiding
wisdom. Through this conjunction one realizes
that this end is what the Divine power has all
the time been working for although we did not
know it. This conjunction is not attained
through mere humility or self-effacement ; for the
human soul is not a mere medium or "recepta-
cle," and we cannot remain in the period of
childhood. The soul is primarily active, what-
ever the attitude. We are by no means merely
receptive, for example, when we complain, when
we fear, rebel, lose patience, become wrought up,
nervous, excited. Nor are we quiescent when

Summary and Definition 273

we are pessimistic, self - centred, selfish. All
these are active states, and when we generate
misery for ourselves we are affirmative, though
in a mistaken way. What we need to do is,
"about face" and use the same energy in accord
with Life, not against it. All the power we em-
ploy when we are spiteful, angry, jealous, mean,
distrustful; when we agonize and become self-
coercive, or try to control others, is in itself good ;
it is primarily a question of the right use of our
energies.

The Divine life in its instreaming is, as we
have seen, unmistakably dynamic, the wisdom is
for our active use, and the love for our quicken-
ing. Unless we use the life that comes to us
we can hardly expect more. This means that the
peace our spirits feel is not for our private devo-
tions alone, not for mere piety but to be mani-
fested socially, in the voice, in the countenance,
in service. It means that unless we change our
attitude from self-love and the love of things to
love of God and our fellow men we will not con-
tinue to receive. It means that unless we think
for ourselves we do not appropriate the Divine
wisdom.

Here is where the practical method of realiz-
ing the presence of God comes to our aid. In-
stead of merely enjoying, acquiescing, as many
do when they listen to sermons and other parts of

274 Spiritual Health and Healing

a service in church, thereby losing the impetus
which calls for prompt response, we endeavor
actively to enter into and make our own the life
which is for our health, freedom, and social ex-
pression. We are aware that we must feel or
experience first in order to know; then we must
think vividly, assimilate, appropriate. More-
over, we well know that we must live first before
we can help others. But the goal of realization
is service through the power of example, through
composure, inner freedom, control, poise. Every
element of the inner process of realization is a
means to an end. It is the social self that is
called into wholeness of expression. The faith
that makes whole appeals to the entire individual,
to stand forth, to be thankful, glad, free, sane.

H

The ability to realize the Divine presence for
purposes of healing implies the possession by the
soul or spirit of higher powers than those that
are conditioned by the body, that is, intuition,
spiritual receptivity, spiritual sight: spiritual
senses acting independently of the physical
senses. Thus one is able to communicate with
and heal people at a distance, and healers pos-
sessing intuition in marked degree can discern
the states of their patients during "absent heal-
ing." The ability to disconnect the attention

Summary and Definition 275

from the lower level of consciousness and con-
centrate it upon the higher level, in quest of
Divine guidance, is also spiritual.

We start then with the fact that by turning
aside from the ordinary rush of consciousness on
the natural level one may connect one's active
centre with a finer stream of energies and so
apply those energies as to produce changes in
consciousness, in mental attitude, and so (by
making an impression that counts) inducing sub-
conscious after-effects and bodily results. The
emphasis is on the dynamic presence of God, and
on the affirmative response of the soul. One
thinks of the spiritual mind (the inner centre,
secret place, "mind of Christ") as immediately
open to the Divine life, according to need, and
of the spontaneous flow of thought as the first
result of this quickening. Thought in this sense
(thought with the spirit, in spiritual light) is
affirmative in high degree, directive, a vehicle of
the Creative Presence. It uses mental imagery,
ideas, directions of mind favoring ideals, force-
ful attention or concentration, at will. The spir-
itual activity is the central consideration. The
mental picturing or creation of ideals, the reali-
zational process or the particular thought em-
ployed, the affirmation selected, is instrumental.
The subconscious result follows upon the vivid
mental impression, the dynamic moment. The

276 Spiritual Health and Healing

essential is to find the inner kingdom, find God.
The changed centre of spiritual equilibrium then
brings its quickening consequences. The specific
thoughts that occupy the mind, during the fifteen
minutes or so which constitute the silent treat-
ment, develop out of the centralizing activity.
That is to say, the activity is more fundamental,
more widely inclusive than any one phase of the
process, such as affirming, realizing, concentrat-
ing on mental pictures, focussing the attention.

The physicist would argue that this breaks the
law of conservation of energy. But he limits
energy to the natural world, and shuts mental
life into a region apart. We do not sunder the
natural from the mental in this manner, but look
to the spiritual realm as the basis of causality,
the one ultimate source of energy. Consequently,
there is no chasm to bridge, no loss or creation
of energy when a spiritual impulse goes forth
to produce changes in the body through the brain.
It is primarily a question of transmutation or
sublimation, a different direction given to the
same energy. To say this is to hold that the
soul is essentially a centre of activity — not of
mere thought.

The soul may seem to be determined by bodily
processes, and so indeed it is for most of us, most
of the time. Thus we mistake processes for the
activity that stirs within them. Thus we become

Summary and Definition 277

prisoners of nerves, of the brain, of habits,
moods, directions of mind, stereotyped modes of
thought, customary modes of feeling, and the
like. But it need not be so. We can learn to
reverse the process, living and thinking with the
activity that produces, giving allegiance to the
Life within this activity. Thus the external
mental processes may be determined by the
interior spiritual states, and the brain may be
controlled by first controlling the spirit.

To give assent to a wave of angry excitement
or passion is to permit the soul to become a storm
centre. To turn away from the violent emotion
and connect with the stream of peace-energy is
to feel a different mode of motion and to give
forth a different kind of vibration. Here is the
process in barest outline. You may call it either
transmutation of energy, transfer of attention
or upliftment of spiritual consciousness, as you
will. The essential is to gain this power in some
measure, then to increase it. When you win it
you will have a basis in actual experience on
which to build.

As here regarded, the soul is in ideal a unity,
however many the phases of consciousness. On
the lower level, the soul is brought into relation
with the activities of the body, through the voli-
tions which we cannot consciously observe because
they occur so quickly. For example, when one

278 Spiritual Health and Healing

jumps out of a chair, one is merely aware of
a quickly formed decision to which the organism
responds by habit. A little higher, the activity
is more conscious and intellectual. There is less
accompanying physical activity. The world of
motion is represented by means of ideas. Higher
still, the soul is active in modes that conceivably
will survive after death. This is the level of
clairvoyance, clairaudience, the perception of
mental atmospheres, communication with persons
at a distance "psychically." The soul is both
active and passive on this level (passivity is
minimum activity). That is, one may become
consciously receptive, in the effort to catch a
thought from another at a distance, to discern
a person's interior state according to Quimby's
intuitive method; one may be spontaneously re-
ceptive, as in the case of an interior illumination
which the mind merely watches for the time; or
one may send one's activities forth in direct co-
operation with the Spirit. By contrast one is
aware through experience of the difference be-
tween this higher level and the ordinary round
of experiences.

What one feels is a finer vibration, a great
peace, a sense of inward repose. The inner self
thus touched, the personality as a whole responds.
The higher activity once received, it may be
directed according to need, or sent forth to

Summary and Definition 279

another. To seek this inner communion day by
day is to grow in repose, refinement, equanimity.
The active centre thus developed is a vantage-
point in times of stress, a centre of reserve-power
whither one may turn in perfect confidence, well
knowing that there is a boundless supply behind,
that the activities of the lower level cannot pre-
vail against it.

Only with faltering words can one suggest
the experience at its best. Beyond the point where
analysis penetrates there is a Presence whose
power lifts the soul to unwonted heights. There
one has a vision of the unity of life, the Divine
order, the wise beauty. Things and events fit
together, their meaning is seen. One thinks not
so much of the present moment or the next deed,
as of the fulness of life's perfect round. Here
one beholds the reality itself about which in other
moments one merely philosophizes. One lives
with the world-system. One abides with God in
the eternal. One is not so much concerned with
growth as with the world of the formative Spirit.
One seems almost to hear the word before it is
made flesh, one helps to make it flesh by accept-
ing the spiritual law. One beholds all events
from the point of view of the ideal, the details
of their development seem of minor importance.
Yet one receives a new impetus to action, a new
desire to share these heavenly gifts with all whose

280 Spiritual Health and Healing

vision is less clear. The resulting practical im-
petus is the best evidence one can give of the
sanity and value of these experiences.

How shall one begin? Simply by starting
with what is clear and letting the rest follow.
Here you are, a human soul. Here is human
life, loving, tender, sympathetic. Here is God,
the All-Father: you believe in His presence, His
guiding love and wisdom. Cling to this relation-
ship, and lif t the soul in responsiveness. You are
alive and have problems. Others are alive and
have their problems. In association with you
are those who share your aspirations, whose con-
tact with you enlists your better selfhood. Study
these associations to learn what you are by what
you do, to learn where you stand in the spiritual
process. Discover what is even now taking place,
how the present is leading to the future, what
you are becoming.

God is here in the common. Do not strain
after Him. See Life in what you are passing
through today, and let Life have its course. Be
calm at the centre, that you may truly respond.
Remember that the spiritual world is the more
real world, is around us here and now. There
is no space between, no time intervening. You
are a spirit now, even in this apparently insig-
nificant life-round. Do not postpone the high-
est and best.

Summary and Definition 281

But remember this. The soul sees quickly and
far in the superior realm, assimilates power and
wisdom without regard to time. Thereupon the
more slowly working intellectual process begins
a corresponding assimilation. The flesh responds
more slowly than the understanding. Therefore,
when you have dwelt on the heights for a sea-
son, give mind and body time to respond. Do
not push them. Do not think that you have
fallen back or lost hold, even though the way is
dark and you cannot see beyond physical sen-
sation. Give yourself time to grow. Let your-
self grow in Life's way. Keep your eye upon
the heights, but be moderate and faithful when
clouds veil the summit.

If you would help another, let love lead the
way. The desire to help is a prayer for the
power of spiritual healing. The silent, deeply
poised attitude is dynamic. Hold to this and
adopt supplementary methods only so far as may
be needed. There is guidance at hand for each
step of the way. There is a "stream of tendency"
or power. Pause and observe that you may
learn whither the stream is flowing. Do not
judge by the sensations. Live wholly in con-
sciousness of the readjustments which Life is
carrying forward. Trust Life and let your
dynamic attitude be quickened by it, in guided
co-operation.

282 Spiritual Health and Healing

hi

Quimby's intuitive method differed from the
affirmative method now employed by those who
use suggestion as the chief agency in healing.
The first dependence was put upon intuitive im-
pressions gained by sitting silently by the sick,
and rendering the mind (the spiritual senses)
inwardly open to discern the inner conditions and
causes. The process included (1) discernment
of the real interior inner mental state or attitude,
for example, rebellion, complaint, fear, nervous
excitement, bitterness; (2) knowledge of the
opinion or belief concerning the ailment, the
name attached to it, the physician's diagnosis or
the patient's misinterpretation; and (3) insight
into the actual condition of the organism in con-
trast with the fancied condition or the patient's
belief. Thus suppressed grief might be a cause,
worry over the notion that one had committed
the unpardonable sin, domestic unhappiness,
worry over financial and other affairs ; while the
supposed cause might be some physical symptom
of slight moment. The actual cause discerned,
one could proceed to "the wisdom of the situa-
tion," the truth which would set the patient free.
The "silent treatment" took its two-fold clue in
this way: from the need of the patient and from
the Divine truth, and varied with the case, the

Summary and Definition 283

need, the special occasion. The process was reali-
zation. The healer's thought was instrumental
to the therapeutic power of the Spirit. The
emphasis was on the spiritual truth of the
patient's being.

Since the early days, the tendency has been to
substitute specific affirmations for each case, and
to deny the reality of any besetting conditions.
This change came about partly because in the
diffusion of the silent method among many types
of healers there were few who had either the
intuition or the healing power of the pioneers.
Then, too, some people took the work up whose
interests might briefly be described as mental
rather than spiritual. But if we are interested
to attain the spiritual level we will naturally
advance from merely mental methods as soon as
we can, opening the spirit that it may grow in
intuition. The affirmations or suggestions do not
always "take." There are more difficult cases
which do not work out in that way. There is
often need of deep discernment into causes. If
we find a patient in an attitude of weak or re-
bellious adjustment, exciting, pessimistic, self-
assertive, over-sensitive, it may be necessary to
persuade him through conversation to adopt a
different philosophy of life. The more intimately
we discern the heart the more directly we can
proceed. The prime interest is : intelligently to

284 Spiritual Health and Healing

aid the patient to understand himself spiritually,
hence to begin to modify his attitude. The ex-
planation given includes an account of the real
origin of the trouble, and an ideal to follow. The
appeal is to reason as well as to the spirit. The
further one carries the intuitive method the more
clearly one sees that no two individuals are alike,
no two experiences in the silence are alike: one
is led by the spirit of the occasion. At the same
time one is free to make the best possible use of
specific affirmations or realizations, according to
the case.

One should start always with the thought of
God, make vivid the idea of the Divine presence
by selecting some sentence from the Bible, such
as, "Be still, and know that I am God," which
aids the process of detaching one's consciousness
from the outer world and renews the realizational
activity. Some prefer always to begin with the
same sentence, since it has hallowed associations
and readily admits one into the heart of the reali-
zation. Think of the Presence in the sense of
vivifying power or energy, as quickening, life-
giving. Consider what that Presence must be in
itself, undisturbed at heart, in perfect peace, in
ineffable composure, all-comprehending wisdom,
all-sustaining love. Make such affirmations as
best bring this realization before you.

Then see the Spirit as going forth from its

Summary and Definition 285

centre (which is everywhere, its circumference
nowhere) in power-conveying activity or vibra-
tion, going forth into action to touch the hearts
or spirits of men, imbuing them with love, guid-
ing their minds with wisdom.

Having dwelt on the God-ward side for a time,
turn to the human and see the spirit or soul in
its integrity in the presence of this divinely per-
fect peace and composure, able to receive love
and wisdom according to need.

Then put the two together: "Thou wilt keep
him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on
Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." "In Him
we live, and move, and have our being" in the
sense that we participate in this vivifying, power-
bringing Presence. The inward stillness or reali-
zation invites the presence. We speak as it were
to ourselves as if for God when we say, "Be still
and know that I am God." We catch for the
moment the Divine point of view, seeing our own
restlessness and lack of faith. We project our
consciousness as if looking down from a heavenly
height and stilling the tempest, bidding every-
thing in our nature fall into line. Then it dawns
upon us with clarifying consciousness that unless
we always dwelt in the ineffable Presence, unless
we always lived, moved, and had our being in
God in reality (whatever the appearance), we
never could exist for a moment, we never would

286 Spiritual Health and Healing

continue to be. Our first step in realization,
therefore, simply brings into consciousness that
which all the way along is the supreme truth of
life.

Having renewed our consciousness of the Di-
vine presence in general, the next consideration
is in favor of the special point on which we need
help, on which another needs light. To separate
one's thought as affirmatively as possible from the
old associates, the old imagery, fears, thoughts,
emotions, memories connected with the experience
which one is endeavoring to overcome, and to
make this separation clear-cut and distinctive, is
to give our realization the force of a denial of
the power of the old conditions in which one has
been immersed. This in brief is what the vic-
torious attitude accomplishes. It asserts so pos-
itively that one must find God that it makes
light of the greatest obstacle. For this attitude
means that one has so given the spirit to the
ideal that one knows no such word as fail. What
we have learned thus clearly for ourselves we
can see clearly for another. We may take the
other into the Presence, seeing him in the light
of the perfect ideal, in peace, in health, in free-
dom. We may draw the sharpest possible line
between the spirit as thus free and the old con-
ditions. Sometimes this can best be done by
realizing such freedom in general. Again, one

Summary and Definition 287

finds it desirable to be more specific, directive.
The thoughts that come and go and constitute the
subject-matter of the realization, take their clue
from this directive activity.

Experience shows that a realization is made
definite by being directed to the actual life we
are living today, from within. Hence it is im-
portant to avoid being abstract, as if experience
on the natural level of consciousness did not
exist at all. Sometimes indeed there is no reali-
zation which equals the thought of the realities of
the higher level, the assertion of "pure spirit" as
the only reality. But if we overdo this thought
we may be out of touch with the very life which
we wish to spiritualize. The result might be a
glossing over of actual conditions and we might
seem to be meeting with splendid success, even
for years. But a state glossed over, like one sup-
pressed, will have its day. That is why we find
some people falling from abstract grace and be-
ginning anew, depending on deep breathing,
out-of-door exercise, vegetarian diet, and any
other physical method by which they can reestab-
lish their balance. But putting our idealism in
relation to common sense we may begin as we can
hold out, steadily carrying our ideals into practice.
And so we find leaders going steadily on as the
years pass, never falling from grace, never ex-
periencing a relapse or recurrence of old trou-

288 Spiritual Health and Healing

bles. These have kept their eyes on the stars
while also walking wisely on earth. They have
dared affirm the realities of the higher level with-
out denying the lessons of the lower. They have
seen the Spirit going forth into incarnation,
becoming concrete in the flesh.

To be concrete, therefore, we need to realize
that the Power or Life with us to heal is im-
mediately at hand in such a way that, opportu-
nity being granted, it tends to enter where we
need it most, to proceed from the centre outward
to do its regenerative work until it touches the
"ultimates" or externals. The reason some have
first had to learn to breathe deeply, change their
diet, or overcome nervous tensions by practising
relaxation, before they could make much inner
headway, is found in the fact that they were beset
by all these tensions, and their mere declaration
of perfection on the abstract level was not suf-
ficient. But if we understand these matters from
within we can learn to take off the tensions with-
out trying now this method of relaxation and
now that, groping along for we know not pre-
cisely what. Then, working from within out-
ward when our ideals elevate us, our tastes
change, our standards become purer, we may
change outwardly in response and find that the
simpler, purer modes of living belong with the
inner changes and have come to stay. Then as

Summary and Definition 289

matter of habit we will keep the system freer,
more and more in harmony with the things of
the Spirit. The result will be constructive or
creative health. We will not then be forever
considering how to overcome, how to demonstrate,
but will live tha tmode of lif e which brings with
it health as a natural consequence without think-
ing about it.

Workers in this field have reached their present
point of success by seizing upon a few practical
ideas and putting them to the test, beginning
wherever they happened to be and forging ahead.
We should simplify. It is not a complex process,
this method of healing. The details may interest
us but they are not necessary. We should not
expect to have these all made clear in advance of
experience. There is an element which experi-
ence itself adds when we have put into use what
we possess. So if we do nothing more at first
than repeat a scriptural sentence, holding to
it steadily, this endeavor may open the way.
There is, of course, a complete spiritual science
of the whole process, with its psychological ele-
ments, its spiritual principles, with knowledge of
all the laws, forces and conditions. But this is
rather the intellectual or philosophical part of it.
There are times for reviewing this part, that we
may bring all these considerations into their uni-
ty. When it comes to actual practice, however,

290 Spiritual Health and Healing

we need to be specific and to simplify. Thus the
three words, "Peace, be still," may suffice to open
the inner door for us, and there we are in the
realm of pure Spirit. Then, pausing a moment,
a clue may disclose itself, and we are in the
realm of pure Spirit with a clue or leading.

If we could at once do what we want to, in
our impulsiveness, we might wish to take our-
selves out of the conflict of forces. But we are
in this balance between heavenly love and self-
love for a purpose: to see the consequences of
both, that is, that heaven or hell begins with the
one or the other; to come to judgment in the
living present, noting what has brought us where
we stand; that we may freely choose, adopt a
prevailing love. Then at last when we identify
ourselves with love for God and man, in prefer-
ence to selfishness, the conflict can be overcome,
will cease. That is the whole meaning of suffer-
ing: that we may be brought to the point where
we can live without it — so far as what we pro-
duce ourselves is concerned. Then we naturally
turn about and begin to carry the glad news to
others which will set them free also. The Divine
guidance holds us down to just this concrete
situation till we learn it. This is the wonder and
beauty of our practical life with God. The law
of the Divine-human is the great law to learn.
The same law which seems an infliction while we

Summary and Definition 291

are "under the law," as the great apostle puts
it, is the law of our emancipation when we under-
stand.

People try to evade this law who maintain that
it is only a question of "applied psychology," of
claiming wealth and piling up the millions, as
if the goal of life were to get rich ; they tell you
that the spiritual can all be left out, that we need
have nothing to do with religious considerations.
But granted this higher insight for which we are
pleading, it becomes plain that all the psychologi-
cal machinery, so to speak, may be lifted up to
the higher level. Then we may see with crystal
clearness that "the laborer is worthy of his hire,"
that there is a law of spiritual abundance such
that what we need for our life and work in the
world will be forthcoming so far as we are pre-
pared, when we respond and move from within
outward. The law exists to "bring us to Christ,"
to give us "the mind of Christ." It compels us
to reap as we have sown, that we may learn its
power over us. There is no such thing as demon-
stration over it by the human will or by human
thought alone. To put prosperity first in rank
is to fail to find it in the true sense at all. But
prosperity according to what we deserve is indeed,
like constructive health, one of the fruits of the
Spirit, one of the things that are added, that fol-
low. The essential is to seek the Spirit.

XXII

SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY

We come now, in conclusion, to certain ques-
tions of a psychological nature which need to
be considered if vistas for further thought and
study are to be opened before us. These ques-
tions are often asked. They are on the whole
secondary questions, and yet the pathway of
advance into the spiritual life is the more
thoroughly cleared if we regard them as of
interest in themselves.

For example, the question is often raised
whether or not it is possible to explain spiritual
healing on the basis of "suggestion." Many
writers on the subject believe that such healing
can be thus explained. Indeed, they hold that
it is merely a question of applied psychology,
anyway, and so-called spiritual thought need
not be introduced at all. They insist that sug-
gestion is the prime factor, whether understood
and acknowledged or not. And they seem to
have scored a point in the argument against de-
votees of this or that spiritual faith, as if the

292

Spikitual Psychology 293

whole idea of our relationship to God and the
spiritual life were superfluous.

From the point of view of this book the theory
of suggestion is adequate only so far as the
mental elements of the healing process are con-
cerned, that is, only so far as it is a question
of telepathy or thought transference, and of
the changes of mind wrought in the patient
other than regenerative or spiritual changes.

It has long been recognized, for example, that
in order for the therapeutist's suggestion to
take effect in the mind of the percipient there
must be predisposing conditions, such as faith
or expectant attention. The percipient's favor-
able attitude amounts to self-suggestion. This
auto-suggestion would no doubt explain many
of the results occurring at sacred shrines where
so-called miracles of healing take place, and in
all instances where there is no activity from
without sufficient to produce a decisive change
within. It would then be a question of the
favoring conditions in the percipient's mentality
as a whole, in contrast with any element of his
nature which might act as a counter-suggestion.

Mr. Myers long ago contended that "not one
suggestion in a million reaches or influences the
subliminal self," — that portion of our nature
which lies below the level or threshold of ordi-
nary consciousness. But even in the case of the

294 Spiritual Health and Healing

one suggestion which is instrumental in pro-
ducing a cure, the suggestion must be some-
thing more than a name or form of words.
There must follow, as Mr. Myers has shown
more plainly than most writers on the subject, a
profound nervous change started by some pow-
erful nervous stimulus from without or within.1
Granted this change following upon the sug-
gestion, what are its conditions, what are the
forces at work, and what lie? back of the ner-
vous activities? What is healing in its final
analysis ?

Suppose we agree that suggestion conveyed
by telepathy is the instrumental cause in many
cases, what shall we say about those cases where
the favoring auto-suggestions and conditions
are lacking, and where there are so many in-
hibitions or counter-suggestions in the percip-
ient's nature that it is practically impossible
to introduce a suggestion edgewise? Spiritual
healers have succeeded when there was no faith,
when there was pronounced opposition in men-
tal attitude, when, in fact, all known conditions
were unfavorable. They have maintained that
there is a higher or more direct access to a pa-
tient's inner nature than by means of thought
transference. Indeed, some have insisted that
no suggestion of theirs could have produced

i "Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death."

Spiritual Psychology 295

such a decisive effect as sometimes results. It
may well be that "vibration" is transferred, they
will say. But at times there is less mental ac-
tivity or "thought," the realization seems to be
almost wholly that of maintaining an inner
state, a state of peace and exceptional command
in the "inner centre." The favoring process
set up within the patient is incidental to a higher
activity, of which the nervous change is only
an expression. The decisive activity appears
to be spiritual in type. To the therapeutist the
"thoughts" he thinks seem to be incidental, just
as his personality is secondary. He seems to be
rather a partner to an experience which does
indeed manifest itself in his thoughts, but which
is greater in power than they are, a spiritual ex-
perience which he shares but does not assume
wholly to control. And to drop out the idea of
these beatific values in favor of suggestion as
decisive would seem to be to lose a supreme
reality.

Mr. Myers maintained that there is "some
unknown cause" which determines whether the
suggestion is to "take" or no. Looking further
than the theory of suggestion can carry us, he
finds it imperative to believe it possible by a
"right disposition of our minds to draw energy
from an environing world of spiritual life."
The real question then is, What is it that

296 Spiritual Health and Healing

touches the spring which moves us so potently
in our deeper selfhood? How is it that we
draw strength from the unseen? It is plainly
something dynamic within us that is set free.
But this attitude of the heart or response of the
secret place of the spirit is the prime essential
which we have been considering all along in the
preceding pages. The majority of readers will
care more to learn under what conditions it is
to be attained than to explain the psychological
process. And plainly there is a very great ad-
vantage in assigning the efficiency directly to
the Eternal Presence, whatever the mental aids
may be.

Why is it that even when the theory of spirit-
ual healing is stated clearly and persuasively
it is still difficult in some cases to put it into
practice ?

There are several reasons. Our conventional
education proceeds on the assumption that the
human mind is chiefly intellect, that we have
reached the "age of reason5' in the world at
large, and all that is necessary is to find the
right form of words, the persuasive argument.
Mental healing in all its forms still shows the
effect of this intellectualism, hence the emphasis
on the "power of thought" and on suggestion,
to the neglect of the will and the other mental

Spikitual Psychology 297

elements, as I have shown at length elsewhere.1
We cling to the notion that the intellect is some-
thing like three-fourths of life, despite Matthew
Arnold's wise remark that "conduct is three-
fourths of life." Therefore when our intellec-
tual methods fail we are nonplussed.

Meanwhile, our nature as a whole is inti-
mately related to the unconscious and the sub-
conscious. There is, for example, the whole
range of instincts, including the instinct for
self-preservation, the sexual instinct, and all
those promptings which manifest curiosity, im-
itativeness, and the like. These actuate the hu-
man being long before there is consciousness of
them. So, too, our desires and emotions begin on
an impulsive or unconscious basis; we are aware
of feelings of pleasure and pain because of proc-
esses going on which were originally pre-con-
scious- Again, our habits are outgrowths of the
unconscious. Consciousness in anything like
an explicit sense comes in with choice, that is,
with thought and will, when the self is devel-
oped enough to intervene, emphasizing some of
the desires, trying to outwit others. As highly
developed as thought may be, the major part of
mental life still remains below the threshold,
carried on subconsciously, as we say. Our
whole conscious life is a progressive discovery

i "Handbook of the New Thought."

298 Spiritual Health and Healing

of the elements of our nature which have been
operative all along but over which we have had
little control. If our technique is to become
complete it must take all these elements into
account, also our suppressions and repressions,
our dissatisfactions and inner conflicts, especi-
ally our inhibitions. We are not carried very
far by assuming that the chief obstacles with-
in us are "wrong thoughts." They are much
more likely to be misunderstood or unexpressed
desires and emotional complexes. All these
may act as counter-suggestions to offset a
healer's work. Hence the necessity of carrying
that work much further than suggestions can
carry it, in favor of deeply interior spiritual
understanding.

Now, mental healing may indeed be lifted to
the spiritual level by realizations involving the
idea of "the Christ within," and the results may
greatly surpass explanation. That is to say,
the healer may have touched some of these sub-
merged elements of a patient's nature without
knowing what he was touching. For there is
ordinarily no such penetrating insight into the
deeper self as made possible the remarkable
pioneer work of P. P. Quimby in this field.
But what is needed is an adequate spiritual psy-
chology, a science of all these mental and spir-

Spiritual Psychology 299

itual elements centering about the will or "pre-
vailing love" with its accompanying activities.

These deeper activities include, for instance,
the so - called "besetting sin," the temperamen-
tal problem. Spiritual therapy sometimes falls
short by aiming at mere harmony, inner poise
or control, without touching upon the more
central question of self-love, self-esteem or self-
ishness. It does not always push through to
the point of radical changes in conduct, in "the
life." But in many instances it is plain that
there is need of something more searching than
"transmutation" or "sublimation." The newly
formed habit of enjoying "the silence" is not
enough. Nor are all matters cleared up by
reading or by attending lectures and taking
lessons. The pathway that is "straight and
narrow" still lies ahead for some of the devotees.
Individual salvation is no more adequate in the
realm of health than it is in the Church, since
the real consideration after all is regeneration,
is change into the life of service. The true
"Christ within" is social, universal, and this
Christ is not attained by complacently identify-
ing oneself with the Christ in interior contem-
plation.

In short, there appears to be no suggestion,
silence, sublimation of lower emotions or trans-
mutation of unworthy desires, which takes the

300 Spiritual Health and Healing

place of the Christian necessity of coming to
judgment and seeing things a$ they are; and
sometimes a person's illnesses and troubles are
so connected with this the deepest problem of
the soul that there is no freedom except through
regeneration. In a way this is true of all of us.
The method of spiritual healing is another way
of finding it out. We realize after a time that
the initiatives do not all rest with the individual,
as if everything within us could be controlled
by thought. We need all the development
possible in this direction. We need a complete
technique for disclosing the subconscious. But
there is also need of the consecration to spirit-
ual service which in the case of Quimby and
his more ardent followers beautified the thera-
peutic work and made of it a religion in the
spirit of the original gospel. Such consecra-
tion borders too nearly on the greatest self-sac-
rifice to attract many of us. Consequently
there still remain to be accomplished those
greater works which were said of old to be made
possible only by "fasting and prayer."

It would doubtless open a new field of
thought for some if they should try out the idea
of spiritual influx, that is, by putting emphasis
on the incoming life as the decisive element
rather than upon the thought which may be
only an effect of this life. For this conception

Spiritual Psychology 301

of our spiritual nature involves emphasis on the
will or love as prior to and more interior than
the understanding. More explicitly, the Divine
love is said to flow into the will and the Divine
wisdom to flow into the understanding or intel-
lect. The ' 'inmost" region of the spirit first re-
ceives the influx before it enters what we com-
monly know as the "mind." If we then think
of the understanding as receiving this life after
it has touched "the heart" as love, and distrib-
uting it through the inner world in general, we
have a way of thinking about the operation of
the healing power which produces the decisive
nervous change and touches the bodily organ-
ism. The ideal then is that we may be so open
at the centre that the Divine life shall free-
ly course through our affections, quicken our
thoughts, and pass without let or hindrance
into our activities as a whole. Perfect spiritual
health would be the result.

Reverend Mr. Evans incorporated this idea of
the Divine influx into his interpretation of the
Quiimby philosophy before publishing his first
book, "The Mental Cure," 1869. But very
little has been made of this view. The result of
its adoption would be a more thorough study of
the whole relationship of the soul to the body.
It would then be important to distinguish be-
tween the two influxes, that from the spiritual

302 Spiritual Health and Healing

world and that from the natural. If we under-
stood the latter influx better we might in time
have an adequate idea of our heredity, and we
should see why the new therapy has sometimes
failed.

Our interest in the elaborate process should
not however keep us from concentrating upon
the working ideas which bring direct results.
Granted that the quickening impetus comes
from the Divine love, and that love or sympathy
on our part is the central motive, we naturally
seek the most practical means of realizing it
in actual service. And so the question arises
whether in giving silent treatment one should
think of the specific trouble or need on the part
of the patient.

This depends upon the case. Sometimes a
general realization is effective without direct
thought of the patient or his needs. The heal-
er's spirit, absorbed in contemplation of the
"perfect love" which casts out fear, the peace
"which passeth all understanding," may be in-
strumental in the best sense of the word in over-
coming the nervousness, excitement, or irrita-
bility in the patient. But there are cases which
are reached only through detailed understand-
ing, followed by specific realization. Patients
differ in temperament, also. Some readily re-
spond to a general realization, while others are

Spiritual Psychology 303

unyielding in type. The intuitive healer be-
lieves there is guidance for every occasion and
every case. He does not assume to control the
whole situation. He seeks to do what is given
him to do, in the Divine wisdom.

Should we treat the subjective mind?

This term, "subjective mind," suggests Hud-
son's, "The Law of Psychic Phenomena," with
its artificial distinction between the subjective
and the objective. Actual mental life does not
appear to confirm the distinction. Those who
ask this question are apt to believe that the
whole trouble with us is subjective, that is, there
is something hidden which can be taken from us
as a tooth might be extracted, leaving us free
to go on thinking and living as before. It
would then be a question of finding the right
combination in each case, the suggestion which
strikes home. But not even a prejudice comes
forth thus easily. We are on the road to free-
dom from a prejudice when we catch ourselves
in the act of expressing it, when we note that
it is a prejudice and undesirable, and will to
overcome it. Nothing can take the place of
recognition. And recognition is conscious, not
"subjective." Spiritual healing is not a proc-
ess to be performed on us only while we sleep.
Our woes have sprung in part from our own
conduct. We have been sowing as well as

HflMMHM

304 Spiritual Health and Healing

reaping. Our responsibility still remains, even
when it is partly a question of unconscious com-
plexes which must be brought to the surface.

There are indeed inner and outer phases of
the same mind. There is a difference between
inner thought, thought "with the spirit/' and
thought as most people know it when they use
their brains in intellectual work. There is in-
tuition. There is guidance. We come to know
what spiritual thinking is by learning about the
secret place. What we need is more intimate
knowledge of the spirit in contrast with bodily
life. What should be treated is the whole self.
And silent treatment is a means to an end, the
end being the inculcation of that spiritual wis-
dom which shows people how to live. Some
of the former therapeutists gave up the prac-
tice of treating silently many years ago, in favor
of the more important work of helping people
to understand themselves as spiritual beings.
The so-called "subjective" is only a small part
of this our total spiritual selfhood.

What is the function of the subconscious mind
in healing?

Again, the question suggests theories involv-
ing exaggerated emphasis, to the neglect of
our conscious selfhood. What is needed is a
clear conception of the unconscious, the sub-
conscious and the conscious in proper relation.

Spiritual Psychology 305

Most of the mental elements of disease are in
the realm of the unconscious, so far as the pa-
tient is concerned, although all these are related
to the life he leads, that is, to conduct. Con-
sequently the hidden causes need to be brought
to light, the repressed desires, the dissatisfac-
tions, the inner conflicts, the gnawing fears, the
suppressed emotional complexes, or what not.
The healer discerns and understands these first.
He then explains them to the patient in the re-
educational work following upon the treatment.
The patient then has opportunity to change his
attitude, if he will; to lead a wiser life, with less
friction, decreasing fear, less worry, less rebel-
lion and conflict. If the patient thus wills to
modify his life in accordance with the new pos-
sibilities put before him, beneficial subconscious
after-effects will follow. But nothing can take
the place of coming to judgment. The subcon-
scious mind is not a miracle-worker. It must be
given its cue. It is as obedient as a shadow. It
is a phase of consciousness in general, not a sep-
arate "mind."

How is absent healing possible?

In the same way as a silent treatment given
wrhen the patient is present. There is as much
to explain in the case of healing which takes
place when the patient is three feet away as when
he is six hundred miles distant. Silent treat-

306 Spiritual Health and Healing

merit, that is, healing without manipulation or
the use of electricity, medicine, hypnotic
"passes," or any other visible device, takes place
through inner affinity, "vibration," telepathy or
some mode of communication which we may
briefly call "wireless." The explanation usually
offered is that it occurs through the operation of
faculties or senses higher than those functioning
through the brain. These powers are said to act
independently of space. Hence space is no ob-
stacle— unless the idea of space stands in our
way.

Whether it is desirable to try to heal people
absently whom we have never seen is a different
matter. Those who are conscientious will ordi-
narily say that they must first know the patient,
for they need some clue or means of identifica-
tion. A highly intuitive healer might discern this
clue at a distance.

Why do former patients sometimes relapse
into their old troubles?

Because there has been no real interior change.
There may have been a glossing over through
acceptance of some form of mental therapy
involving denials rather than understanding.
This may have given the appearance of a cure.
The illusion may have been kept up for years.
But nature always compels us to disclose our
hidden illusions after a while.

Spiritual Psychology 307

Our deeper troubles are apt to be tempera-
mental. We may find some temporary remedy
in the form of a theory that is pleasing. But
eventually we need to see just how our tempera-
mental tendencies cause our trouble; for ex-
ample, in the case of a highly emotional or ar-
tistic temperament, an impulsive or high-strung
type. Hence life brings us to the point where
we must face the underlying attitude or pre-
vailing love which has entered into all that has
brought us our trouble.

What is the connection between healing and
psychical experiences?

It would take a whole volume to answer this
question adequately. In "The Open Vision" I
have argued that in this new age we are working
forward into insight where all seemed dark, be-
cause of ignorance of the powers that function
in us when we are psychically active, and because
we have failed to discriminate between experi-
ences which can be explained from within the
personality and those which may be said to imply
the presence of angels or spirits. The "open
vision" of old was possible when there was spirit-
ual perception and innocence, in the world's
spiritual childhood. People came to believe in
spiritual realities because they enjoyed spiritual
experiences. Later generations believed in such
realities because of doctrines referring to such

308 Spiritual Health and Healing

experiences, when "there was no longer any open
vision." We in our day are passing beyond the
doctrinal stage to the period of verification
through inner experience. We need to know
spiritual experience as such before we can under-
stand "psychical" experiences. For we need
vision, a standard, wisdom. Hence it is impor-
tant for us to grow in spiritual understanding
rather than in the cultivation of anything border-
ing on the psychic.

Now, in spiritual healing we, of course, use
the same powers, such as intuition, clairvoyance,
clair audience, the discernment of "mental at-
mospheres" at a distance, talking "with the
spirit," as in experiences set apart from another
point of view as "psychical." But we ordinarily
call them "spiritual," because we seek to realize
the Eternal Presence, not to commune with
"spirits." Hence there is a difference of motive
or interest. Spiritual healing may be practised
without concerning oneself with psychical phe-
nomena, popularly so-called. It is better thus.
Then one may come to see that such a work pur-
sued through the years has brought the mind into
possession of a standard by which to judge the
psychical.

Again, it is important to help the sick to see
their way through to spiritual understanding.
Psychism is a kind of disease, with some. There

Spiritual Psychology 309

is need of spiritual re-education and enlighten-
ment. It is not orderly to seek communications
with departed spirits.

As indicated in "The Open Vision," Dr.
Quimby acquired the same powers in high degree
which people with spiritistic interests would have
cultivated so as to become psychics. But he
steered clear of the psychical side-issues and used
his clairvoyance and his other powers in the
spiritual diagnosis of disease and the alleviation
of human suffering. In his writings, as recently
published in "The Quimby Manuscripts," we
find one of his strong reasons. Spiritualism was
just then coming into extensive vogue. Me-
diums claimed to summon up "the dead," and to
heal by their aid. Dr. Quimby sought to make
clear the way to spiritual healing through Divine
aid, through life in contrast with the "the dead."
The airy shapes summoned by mediums seemed
to him creations of a person's belief. But what
we need is something more than a product of our
own fancy. We need that truth which will set
men free.

Is it necessary to believe in obsession or demo-
niacal possession in order to explain certain types
of obstinate disease or insanity?

This is a mooted question just now. We seem
to be returning to a period when one can believe
anything once classified as superstition. In ac-

310 Spiritual Health and Healing

cordance with the principles advocated in the
foregoing chapters, let us say that our direct
concern in any case is with the centre of attrac-
tion and development which has brought the
given individual where he is today. Let us then
look as deeply as we can, and ever more deeply
into his inner life to discover its hidden complexes
and its points of contact. Even if we believe in
obsession we would need to break the connection
from within. We are primarily concerned with
these inner connections. We may well undertake
to explain as many of them as possible in terms of
what has been going on within the self, with its
instincts and impulses, its habits and emotions,
its desires and inner conflicts. Whatever may
be outside the self, it is to the self just what it
appears to be in terms of what the self believes.
Thus a temptation may be objectified into a con-
test with the Devil. But our devils subside out
of the objective as we grow in wisdom and in
psychology. At last we come face to face with
self-love, and that is demon enough.

What light does Mr. Myers's theory of the
subliminal self throw on spiritual healing?

A very clear light. In terms of this theory,
most of the self lies below the level or threshold
of consciousness, as we ordinarily know it; the
deeper or "subliminal" self has wider points of
contact with reality, including realities in the

Spiritual Psychology 311

spiritual world. Thus the mathematical prodigy
is able to give immediate answer to a complex
problem ordinarily involving long processes of
computation. Thus genius in general is explica-
ble. So, too, P. P. Quimby had wider contacts
of a certain type enabling him to have direct
communion with the energy or power through
which he accomplished his works of healing. Es-
sential to this deeper process was his clairvoyance
or intuition, which disclosed the states to be
healed in patients of many types.

According to this theory we come nearer un-
derstanding what the spirit is and what it can
accomplish. We see that it undoubtedly pos-
sesses what Quimby called "spiritual senses," as
counterparts of the natural senses. That is, we
possess not only clairvoyance ("telesthesia" or
inner vision) and clairaudience (inner audition),
but other direct perceptions which include the
discernment of "mental atmospheres," the de-
tection of what Quimby called "odors," percep-
tible at a distance. There are "emergences" or
"uprushes" from the subliminal which disclose
processes that have been going on subconsciously.
There is a sense of independence of space. Then
too in some cases there may be what Myers calls
a "clairvoyant excursion" by which information
is gained at a distance as if by self -projection.

312 Spiritual Health and Healing

All these abilities appear to be needed in order
to explain actual experiences.

The explanation is safer in Myers's hands, be-
cause he keeps close to the facts of psychical re-
search and does not allow himself to adopt the
extravagances of popular believers in the "sub-
conscious mind." One may find in this clear-
cut theory of the subliminal self a way to develop
a sound spiritual psychology. We may then see
how it was possible for Quimby to discern what
we call the unconscious portion of a patient's life,
long before the days of psycho-analysis and the
Freudian technique. A spiritual discernment
which should be as far-reaching as his would dis-
close more elements in the hidden life than any
mere psycho-analysis of dreams or suppressed
complexes. The study of the implied points of
contact below the threshold of consciousness
would take us into the wide region of relation-
ship or correspondence with the spiritual world.
Myers sought an explanation of the whole hu-
man self in relation to that world and the natural
world as well. His insight opened up the most
promising vistas for our study. And we need
scope, A specialist's theory, like that of Freud
with his analysis of dreams, is likely to leave us in
a limited region, with exaggerated emphasis on
one or more of the instincts. Again, we are apt
to be limited by the physiological psychology of

Spiritual Psychology 313

the day, as if the whole sphere of the unconscious
and the subconscious could be reduced to states of
the brain. In contrast with these special views,
Myers's interpretation of the subliminal self
opens up the whole field of the relationship be-
tween the present world of experience and the
future life.

The various inquiries tend however to con-
verge. We need not be negative or sceptical in
our attitude toward the " subconscious mind" just
because over-emphasis has been put upon it. The
tendency of thought in this field is toward the
conviction that there are deeper or more interior
receptivities, wider or more varied points of con-
tact in the subliminal than as conscious beings
we are aware of. This is a great truth. Then
with this truth let us not fail to put that no less
important one, namely, that however great the
powers of our hidden nature nothing ever takes
the place of consciousness as selective and voli-
tional. In the long run everything goes back to
what we love most as conscious beings. If there
is an open door in our consciousness with regard
to spiritual realities there will be an open door
subconsciously. But if our hearts are closed up
here on the level of consciousness, we in vain ex-
pect our subconscious mind to be open-hearted.
Consciousness was given us for judgment, for
choice, for moral decision. Granted a volition in

314 Spiritual Health and Healing

favor of love to God and man, the rest of our
nature will do its best to carry it out into the
realm of conduct. What we love most affects the
whole self, however we may name its various de-
partments. What we love most affects the whole
realm of our conduct too. So any special inter-
est, such as spiritual healing, is concerned with
the prevailing love. And the more directly we
can appeal to the love-nature to change from
selfishness in any of its forms to service and love
to God, the more will all the other special inter-
ests having to do with the human self be bene-
fited also.

THE END.

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