MIND OVER BODY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 227, 24 August 1938, Page 10

MIND OVER BODY.

DEFEATING DISEASE. An explanation as to how the mind controls the body was given by Miss M. G. Davies, A.R.R.C., in the course of a lecture delivered in the Opera House supper room last evening. Miss Davies, who is a fluent speaker, has made an intensive study of the psychological aspects of disease, and she dealt analytically with the close relation between body and mind. She stressed the need for 'their harmonious co-operation in restoring the bodily equilibrium of the sick through, an understanding of the fundamentals of Christianity. Science, she maintained, was day by day, being drawn closer to religion in a recognition of the power of the mind in disease. At the outset of her address, the speaker dealt with the scientific aspects of the question, referring to the various glands and their reactions to emotions. Knowledge, without wisdom, Miss Davies said, was of little value. Man, apart from his wisdom, was little separated from the animal. Many did not believe in evolution, but in its proper sense evolution could not be denied. Christ was the product of evolution, declared the speaker, who referred to the difference between the animal instinct and the wisdom of man. A man who set his mind to a task could achieve much; he could overcome the weaknesses of pride, lust, anger, usury, jealousy, and envy, and, in the forgetfulness of self, could overcome many bodily troubles.

“Practise the game of getting over hardships,” Miss Davies declared; “practise the game ‘of evolution as Christ did.” It had been truly said, “As a man thinketh in his heart so lie is,” and if people thought aright—if they did the right things; if they ate the right food—they would not suffer bodily.

Miss Davies punctuated her address with numerous instances of cases in which seemingly sick people had been inspired and restored to health through placing their mind in proper relation to their body. It was not maintained that the mind, even though controlled by Christ, could cure all alone, but a Christ-controlled mind was the greatest part of the battle against disease, she said. Miss Davies went on to say that while she did not desire to take sides in politics, and while it was not her task to influence her audience one way or another, she could not help feeling that Mr Savage and his Government had grasped the right idea of things more than any Government had done before. Man had to he raised to such a standard of living that his mind could be free from worry. Time for mental recreation was also essential. There could be no doubt, she declared, that Mr Savage was a student of psychology and was putitng into practice what he believed to be true.

In reply to a questioner, Miss Davies said that doctors more and more were beginning to realise the truth of power of the mind ovCr the body. Many doctors to-day were enthusiastic psychologists and as time when on the numbers would increase. The day of miraculous healing was not gone. So many people thought it belonged to Christ’s day alone, but that was not true. Christ could heal just as miraculously to-day were He allowed to do so.