THE
principle upon which the higher form of healing is based is found in the statement
that man is created in the image and likeness of God.
The spiritual man is the real man, and the spiritual man is as God
is—eternally
perfect and whole through and through. To know this truth is to know
the truth
that makes man free, and this truth can be known by every mind that
will enter
into the conscious realization of the spirit of truth. The intellectual
under-standing
does not produce the knowing of truth; to know the truth, the spiritual
understanding becomes necessary. The intellectual understanding
looks upon
truth from with-out and thus learns to comprehend the outer form of
truth; the
spiritual understanding enters into
the very
spirit of truth and thus gains the power, not only to know the truth
itself,
but also to know everything that exists within the wonderful world of
truth.
There is a
world of eternal truth where everything is as wonderful, as beautiful
and as
perfect as the truth itself; and there is a world of mere appearance
where
everything is passing, and where nothing is real. To live in the world
of
appearance is to pass through what seems to be real; to live in
the world of
truth is to dwell forever in that which is real. In the world of
appearance we
find pain, sickness, evil and death; and we must of necessity pass
through
those things so long as we continue to pass through the world of
appear-ance.
To continue to pass through the world of darkness is to continue to
pass
through the darkness itself. But in the world of truth, we find neither
sickness nor pain, sorrow nor death; those things cannot exist in the
world of
truth; therefore, we shall be absolutely free from those things so long
as we
live in the world of truth. And to know the truth, that is, to enter
into the
consciousness of the spirit of truth, is to enter the world of truth.
To live in
the world of truth is to live in the conscious possession of everything that exists in
that world;
and in that world everything is a perfect and as beautiful as when
it first
appeared from the creative hand divine. To live in the world of truth
is to be
free from those things that are not of the truth, and only those things
are of
the truth that are perfect as God is perfect. Therefore, in the world
of truth
there can be no sickness, because sickness is not perfect as God is
perfect.
Sickness can never enter the world of truth, but to enter the world of
truth is
to eliminate from the human system every trace of sickness that we ever
thought
we knew. Enter into the truth—into the very spirit of truth, and you
are healed
absolutely. You are every whit whole. Your emancipation is perfect and
complete.
There are
many ways to temporary health and limited degrees of freedom; but to
enter the
truth—the spirit of truth—the world of truth, is to gain that health
that is as
perfect and as endless as the truth itself, and that freedom that is as
universal and as limitless as the truth itself. Therefore, we can find
no
better way to freedom, no higher path to health. To those who can
understand
all other paths are useless, all other methods vain. To follow other
paths is
to find but fragments; to enter the truth is to find the whole. The
truth contains
everything that is good for man; it is needless to seek elsewhere; but
that
which is not good for man cannot be found in the truth.
To enter
into the truth the simple secret is to seek the spirit of truth. So
long as we
seek the mere mental form of truth, consciousness will dwell on the
outside of
truth; and no matter how much truth we may see, we shall continue to
live in
the world of untruth. But when we seek the spirit of truth—that divine
something that exists within all truth, we enter consciously into the
truth,
and will therefore be filled and surrounded by the life of truth. We
shall,
accordingly, live the truth, and to live the truth is to give to life
every-thing
that is contained in the truth. Everything that pertains to the true
being of
man is thus expressed in every element throughout the entire being of
man; and
as perfect health is eternal in the true being of man, perfect health
will
likewise become eternal in every part of man. So long as we live the
truth,
that is, live consciously in the world of truth, not a fibre in the
physical
body can ever be sick, and not a single adverse mental condition
can exist
within us for a moment.
We are
conscious in every atom in the body, and what enters into consciousness will
therefore
enter into every atom in the body. When we are in the spirit of truth
we are conscious
of absolute health; absolute health will thus enter into our
consciousness—into
every part of our conscious-ness, which means that absolute health will
enter
into every atom in the body, because consciousness extends to
every atom in
the body. To be conscious of absolute health is to possess and express
absolute
health in every part of cons-ciousness, and accordingly, in every part
of the
body, for every part of the body exists within the field of
conscious-ness. In
like manner, to live the truth is to live the truth in every atom in
the body,
and thus give, to every atom in the body, the elements of true being,
one of
which is absolute health. We conclude, therefore, that so long as we
are in the
truth and are conscious of true being, it is not necessary to give
thought to
the body. And what is more, to think of the body as being distinct from
true
being is to hinder the mind from gaining complete consciousness of true
being.
To think
of true being as being one part of man and the physical body as being
the other
part, is to recognize two distinct entities in man, one of which is
perfect and
the other of which is imperfect; but no house that is
divided against itself can stand; therefore,
so long as we think of the physical body as being a separate and
imperfect
entity, we are not in the truth, and ills in abundance will appear in
the
personal life. In the truth there is no thought of imperf-ection and no
thought
of separation. In the truth, the being of man is one, and that one is
perfect.
The physical body is not looked upon as a thing apart, or as a
something that
can get sick; but is looked upon as a reflection of divine being, and
is
therefore thought of as having the same perfection as divine being.
The real
man is well, always was and always will be, because the real man is
created in
the image of God. But the body is not separated from the real man; the
body is
a reflection of the real and is therefore similar to the real man in
all
things. If the body seems to be imperfect the cause is found in the
mind which
is the mirror. When the reflection differs from that which is
reflected, the
mirror does not reflect properly; and the remedy lies, not in trying to
modify
the reflection, but in trying to remove the defects from the mirror. Do
something to make the mirror reflect properly and the reflection will
be the
exact likeness of that reality that is being reflected. And here we find the
secret to the
highest healing—the complete emancipation of man.
The true
being of man is perfect, and the mind is the mirror reflecting the
perfection
of true being. This reflection appears in the form of the visible
personality,
but it may not always appear in the exact likeness of true being.
When the
personality does not manifest the qualities of true being, we try to
change the
personality; we try to modify personal conditions by acting upon those
conditions themselves, regardless of the cause of those conditions; in
brief,
we try to "doctor" the effect while permitting the cause to remain
undisturbed. The result is a number of confused systems of healing, all
of
which aim to give relief or emancipation, but none of which can
remove the
cause. The only good they can possibly do is to stay the actions of the
effects
temporarily so that man may have occasional periods of peace.
Beyond this they
cannot go; therefore, man will not find real emancipation until he
learns how
to remove the cause; and the cause is to be found in the mirror. Remove
the defects
from the mirror and the reflection will be the exact likeness of the
reality
standing before the mirror. When the mind properly reflects the real
man, the
personal man will
express the perfection of true being; the personal in man will manifest
the
real in man, and the real in man is created in the image of God.
Chapter
2
WE have
three factors to consider: viz., the real man, the mirror and the
reflection,
otherwise termed the visible personality. The real man is always well,
and
lives perpetually in complete emancipation; therefore, the
personal man, being
a direct reflection of the real man, should also have perpetual health
and
emancipation. But this is not always so, and the reason why is that the
mind—the mirror—does not properly reflect the real man. If the mind was
so constructed
that it would reflect perfectly the true being of man, the personal man
would
always be as perfect, as wholesome and as divine as the real man, and
neither
sickness nor weakness nor any evil whatever could possibly exist
in the
personal life of man any more. His life would be from above, and from
above
only, and his emancipation would be complete.
When the
mind knows the truth, and actually lives in the consciousness of the
spirit of
truth, it becomes a perfect mirror and, in consequence, will perfectly
reflect
the true being of man. The defects in the mirror are composed simply of
beliefs
that are untrue; these beliefs turn aside some of the rays of light
from the
divine spirit within, and the reflection is distorted. Thus we have
imperfect
condit-ions in the personality. When all false beliefs are removed
from the
mind, there are no defects any more in the mirror, and the reflection
will be
perfect. To remove false beliefs from the mind, the simple secret is to
enter
the truth—the spirit of truth. To know the truth is to make the mental
mirror
clean and thus cause every ray of divine light to be reflected
fully and
perfectly. The life, the health, the purity, the power and the
wisdom of the
within will thus appear in personal form in the without.
We know
the truth when our minds reflect the truth; that is what it means to
know the
truth; but our minds will not properly reflect the truth unless the
mental
mirror is clean. Perfection means full expression, and the personal man
will be
a full expression of the true being of man when the mental mirror is so
clean
that all of true being is reflected. However, when there are "spots"
on the mirror, the reflection will not be complete; some of the
rays of the
spirit within will
be lacking, and it is this lack that constitutes the original
cause of every
ill that appears in personal existence. When every atom in the
personality is
full with life and wholeness from within, there can be neither disease
nor
weakness in any part of the physical body; and this fullness invariably
appears
in the personality when the mind reflects the whole of true being. When
the
mirror reflects perfectly, the reflection will manifest every-thing
that exists
in that which is being reflected. Nothing will be lacking, and that
which
appears will be just as perfect, just as beautiful and just as true as
that
which is. The seeming will be the exact likeness of the real, but these
two
will be one. The reflection does not exist apart from the real;
therefore we
must never think of the reflection as real. We must never think of the
body as
real; it is simply a reflection of the real; and when the mental mirror
reflects properly, the physical reflection will be just as beautiful
and just
as wholesome as the spiritual reality.
When the
true being of man is perfectly reflected in personal existence, the
Word
becomes flesh, and the tangible elements of the body become external
pictures
of the divine idea within—the spiritual idea of absolute truth.
Accordingly,
materiality, grossness
and physical ills must disappear, because those conditions are simply
the
result of confused reflections. When the mind reflects the wholeness of
the
spirit, the body becomes as pure, as clean, as refined and as beautiful
as the
spirit; and likewise, as strong as the spirit. The life, the power and
the
divinity that is within will manifest in the without, and as the
spiritual man
is so will the visible man be also.
To try to
heal the body is therefore not only unnecessary, but is actually an
obstacle
in the way of healing. Emanci-pation comes to the body only when the
fullness
of the spirit of truth finds expression in the body, but before the
body can
receive the expression of truth the mind must know the spirit of truth.
The
reflection becomes true to the real when the mirror becomes true to its
own
function. When the mental mirror reflects the perfection of true being
the body
will express, in every atom, the perfection of true being. But so long
as we
are trying to heal the body by simply dealing with effects as we find
them in
the body, we will not give our attention to those causes that exist
beyond the
body. So long as we devote all our efforts towards trying to remove
defects
from the reflection, we will do nothing to remove defects from the
mirror. It
is the defects
in the mirror that cause the defects in the reflection; it is untrue
states in
the mind that produce untrue conditions in the body; therefore, no
attention
need be given to the healing of the body; such efforts will profit
nothing. Do
not think of the body, because it is only a reflection and not a
reality; give
your attention to the mind; make the mental mirror clean; remove the
false and
the foreign from its surface so that it may become perfectly clear in
every
part. And you do this by immersing the mental mirror in the crystal
waters of
the spirit of truth. In brief, enter the spirit of truth, and your mind
will
become as pure as the spirit of truth. Thus you may clearly see and
perfectly
know the truth; all your thoughts will reflect the truth, and your
visible
being will be the expression of truth. Outer being will become a true
reflection of true being, and you will realize in personal existence
what you
have learned to know in spiritual existence.
What we
think of as disease is simply a broken reflection, and not a reality in
itself.
But this broken reflection cannot be reset; it must be removed
completely and
give place to a true reflection; and the true reflection appears when
the
mirror is made clean. The reason why the mental mirror is not always clean is found
in the fact
that the mind can be impressed from without. Everything that enters
through the
senses will impress the mind, and if consciousness is not selective,
many
impressions will be formed that are not in accord with absolute truth.
Such impressions
will become "foreign material" as it were, upon the glass of the
mirror, and will hinder true reflection. But we must not close the mind
to the
world of sense; we are here to manifest the real, and to do so the
within must
act upon the without; we must be conscious of the without and
susceptible to
all that is taking place in the external world. However, we should look
upon life,
not from the viewpoint of the valley, but from the view-point of the
mountain
top.
When we
look upon life through the limitations of the personal vision, we do
not see
things as they are, and accordingly those impressions that come from
without
are not true; but when we look upon life through the vision of the
spirit and
from the heights of absolute truth, we see all things as they are; the
mind is
thus impressed with the truth, both from within and from without. No
"foreign material" is permitted to gather upon the mirror because all
the impressions that enter the mind are rays from the omnipresent
light of
universal truth; and rays of light will not produce "spots" upon any
mirror. When we see all things as they are, the mind receives nothing
but truth
from any source. We can open the mind fully to the world of physical
sense as
well as the world of spiritual sense; only rays from the light of truth
will
come upon the mental mirror; and that mirror will reflect only the
truth
through every part of body, mind and soul.
To reduce
physical substance to its last analysis is to discover that the
physical body
is not solid. It appears to be solid, because those elements of which
it is composed
vibrate at a rate that produces a sensation that we interpret as
tangible; and
that sensation serves a true purpose in our present sphere of
existence, but
the sensation of a thing and the thing itself are not the same. When we
think
of the body as solid we not only school ourselves to believe that the
physical
can only with difficulty be changed or modified by the mind, but we
also form
the habit of viewing the body as "material" And whenever we think of
anything as "material" we cause "materiality" to gather
over the glass of the mental mirror. Thus we hinder the true reflection
of
perfect being, and bring upon ourselves conditions that are incomplete,
misdirected, adverse, imperfect and untrue. But when we think of the
body, not as
solid matter, but as spirit made visible, every thought that we form of
the
body will be a spiritual thought, and such thoughts invariably convey
the
health, the wholeness, the power and the life of the spirit.
When we
realize that all physical conditions are reflections of mental
states, and
realize that we can create all our mental states in the exact
likeness of
absolute truth, we elevate the mind to the lofty position of absolute
supremacy
over the body. We take our place as complete masters of our own
personalities
and everything that personal existence may contain; and when we
place
ourselves in the position of mastership we begin to exercise
mastership. He
who realizes that he is master of his life, will gain the power to
master his
life. When we know that all physical conditions are reflections
from the
mental mirror within, we are no longer in bondage to conditions;
we know that
we can reflect what we like, and therefore produce any physical
condition that
we like. Simply to know this great truth is to take the mind out of
bondage
into freedom, and when the mind is free from adverse conditions the
body will
be free from those conditions also. The mind that is free
from adverse conditions
will not reflect
such conditions; and your mind becomes absolutely free from all
conditions the
moment you realize or inwardly know that you can reflect any condition
that you
may desire.
When you
know that you can walk you are not in bondage to the thought that you
cannot
walk, because there can be no such thought in your mind. Likewise, when
you
know that you can fill your body with the power of absolute health, you
are no
longer in bondage to disease. When you know that you have the power to
do what
you wish to do, it is not possible for you to think that you do not
have that
power. You cannot feel the absence of something when you feel the
presence of
that something. When you know that you are true being, it is not
possible for
you to think that there is anything wrong or untrue in your being; and
so long
as you do not think that there is anything wrong in your being, no
wrong can
possibly exist in your being. To think the whole truth is to reflect
the whole
truth, and when the whole truth is reflected in your life there will
not be any
room for false' conditions in your life. You will be perfect and whole
through
and through.
When
you realize that your true being is perfect and whole in all
things, and that your visible personality is simply a reflection
of what you
think of your true being, your atti-tude towards both the without and
the
within is in perfect accord with absolute truth. You have placed
yourself in
perfect harmony with the true order of things, physically, mentally,
and
spiritually, and you may henceforth give full expression to the true in
every
part of your being. You realize that your personality is completely in
your own
hands, because he who controls the source of light may determine the
measure of
light that is to be given. All obstacles to a complete mastery of the
outer
life has been removed through your realization of the great truth that
you can
bring forth any measure desired of the inner life. And you find that
your
greatest purpose is to gain a more and more perfect realization of true
being
so that you can reflect in the personal man all that has existence in
the
wholeness, the perfection and the divinity of the real man.
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