MENTAL,SCIENCE AND HEALING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2363, 8 June 1899, Page 58

MENTAL, SCIENCE AND HEALING.

By a Student.

METHODS OF TREATMENT. (Continued.) It does not matter how earnestly you desire a thing you will "not get it unless you put yourself in the right way to obtain it. This seems a hard saying, but it is absolutely true. To .take a homely illustration : If you wish to go to Christchurch you will not get there by walking towards Inyercargill; if your desire is to become a doctor, you will not study at a theological college. As in the natural, so in the spiritual. .The man who would succeed in anything must put himself in line with the law, for in the •words of our Great Teacher, " : To him that hath shall be given." It is not enough that we wish a thing. All people wish for health, happiness, and prosperity, but all do ' not attain them. Why? Because they do not go the right way to work. Some desire the wrong things — things which can never bring them the "desired good. These people should receive pity and patience, not blame. They are still in ignorance, still undeveloped. Like the oak tree in the acorn, the potentialities are there, but they are not yet actualised ; and they cannot be actualised until placed in the right environment. Or, again, they desire ri£ht things, but look for them in the wrong ■ place. They desire health, and seek it in a medicine chest ; they, desire happiness *nd seek it by abusing everyone who is better off than themselves ; they desire prosperity, and seek jfo Iby means more or less dishonest. It is clear that all these peopje are going the wrong way. Are we, then, going in the right? That does not follow, for it is clear that there may be 19 wrong ways and only one right, and mental science is still 'in its infancy, and its students have much, very much, to learn ; but inasmuch as all the other ways have failed, it seems not unreasonable to claim a fair trial for the new thought. It cannot be denied that now on the eve of a new century, when we look back over the last hundred years we see gigantic strides made in % every science but one. .Men ire richer both in knowledge and in money than they were a century ago ; but they are not healthier or happier. It is therefore evident that knowledge and money — as such- — will not give the wisdom that is needed. Sickness and disease' are rife among us, and not only that, but we have developed new, and terrible diseases unknown, or scarcely known, to our predecessors. Insanity is yeai'ly on the increase, and obscure nervous disorders are continually demanding classification, not to mention that mysterious disease influenza, which is ever increasing in virulence and universality. We have learned a good deal about microbes, germs, and bacilli ; scientists have thrilled us with sensational j descriptions of the battle of the corpuscles i in our blood ; we have learned a great deal about "dirt diseases" and bad- drainage; but -we are as far is ever from the ideal of perfect health. Even the doctors who preach to us, how seldom can they say, " I am well." Is disease, then, a necessity? Must we in each succeeding generation become more and more decrepit and degenerate? Is Max Nordau and his pessimist school right? Are we. the whole human race, on the down-

ward grade? No — a thousand times no! The metaphysician is a true optimist. '. This is one of the reproaches brought against him — .that he is .too content with, "this best of all possible worlds." Not so: he sees the outward appearance as plainly as other people, but his inward sense is keener, his spiritual eyesight more clear, his diagnosis deeper. He sees truth beßind error and. good behind seeming evil. Back of ail the sickness, disease, and misery with which the world ia full he sees the divine Man as God made him, and he endeavours to actualise this conception. And this is the objecfc that every science healer puts before him or her self ; and as the experience of each individual varies so do their methods and. treatments. These are naturally specialised both as to the operator and the persons acted upon. The treatment that is immediately effectual in one case may be slow in itt operation or indeed fail altogether in another. As a great healer said to me ones — " I do nry part ; you muit do yours. If we fail, it is not my fault, but yours." He meant that in that case I should not be putting myself in line with the law, or perhaps that our two natures were not sympathetic, and could not affect each other by the law of polarity. Thus the metaphysician says that every disease of mind and body is • curable, -but ■ not. by every healer. -With regard to physical remedies (soealled). Some are" good, some are indifferent, some *ctivly injurious in their, effects. The first are those that partake of the nature of food, as cod-liver oil, &c. These — if taken with a good health-giving suggestion, are nearly always beneficial. True, the good student who has built up a pure thought-body for himself will not be likely to need them, and will soon mike himself independent of them ; but, pending that time, and while the thought still lingers in y the mind that they will be of service, most of our teachers think that it is wise, and certainly permissible, to use them. They are of the nature of food, and the wise man eats and drinks of such things as he knows from experience will agree with Sim. If when eatfhg he should say, . as some do, "I know that this will disagree with me," he is rarely disappointed in the suggestion. If he should think, " I am in perfect health, and this wholesome food will prove life giving," this suggestion will also he actualised. Yet in the first case the eater thinks himself ill-treated. Surely he is illogical.

Bub with drugs the case is entirely different. They are in no sense food natural to man. Very often they are the most deadly poisons, and to take them into the system mu&t be hurtful. The habit of flying to such remedies is pernicious in the extreme ; they can never do good, and when benefit is received, it is , from the suggestion, not the drug. StilJ, even in this manner benefit may be sometimes received, and perhaps we should not condemn them altogether ; yet remember , tha,t in metaphysics as elsewhere the highest aim, tho highest ideal, is the one for which we must strive. He who looks for perfect health in himself or another should be satisfied with nothing short of it. The ideal is the measure of the man. You are just as Kkely to reach a high one as a low one. Set before yourself the very highest that you can, and proceed to attain to.it. Always when desiring to obtain results, see* them before you as, already actualised. In the measure that you can do this will be your success. He who demands in doubt and wavering a thing . which he does not ex}>ect, has no right to be disappointed when ie does not get it. ' In truth he " has " what he desired.

Some practitioners take the hands of the patients in their own, palm to palm, in a. firm grip, until the palms grow hot and a circle of electricity is engendered which renders the patient more apt to receive impressions. The suggestion of health is then made — health general, and health in any diseased part. For instance, ■■ if you wish to induce sleep, say slowly and impressively, " You are tired, your eyes are closing, closing ; the lids are heavy, they want to close ; let them go," and so on, always giving the suggestion of sleep and rest and freedom from disturbing elements of whatever nature. In cases of rheumatism, lesion, locomotor ataxy, tumour, &c^, the hands, may be placed on, or passed over, the affected parts, a strong suggestion of health and freedom being given. Thus : " You are not suffering from any ailment ; you are well and strong ; you are full ot health ; there is no reason why you should think that you are ill : your arm is well,, lift it, stretch it out ; you cannot : try again and again ; there, now, you have done it," and so on, always giving the suggestion of health and power. The treatment should be continued for ten minutes or longer at one time. Sometimes it is almost immediately successful, and the patient experiences instantaneous relief, however slight ; but in the majority of instances it must be persevered in for weeks, even months.

Some of the most successful and permanent cures take months to effect and during the whole of that time great patience must be shown by both operator and patient. You must not allow yourself to be discouraged or give up the struggle. It is impossible for anyone to jay how long any case will take — it depends upon tWngs over which the healer has no control — -your own errors and false beliefs, and the deeper these are seated the more difficult it is to overcome them. It is natural that that which is perhaps the growth of generations of false race-belief should take some time to eradi; cate, and you must allow the new thought time to permeate the body and cast out the errors therein contained.

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