Excerpts from
How To Stay
Well
by
Christian D. Larson
Order
in
Adobe PDF eBook form for $4.95
Book Description
In How To Stay Well, author
Christian
D Larson argues that any disease comes from the violation of one or
more of the laws of life. And,
therefore, it can be cured only by bringing mind and body back again
into harmony with those laws that have been violated. Mr Larson presents a complete and
practical system of life, through which the new view of health may be
realized. It
is a system that will enable anyone to get well and stay well no matter
what their physical or mental condition may be at the present time.
Contents
.
Chapter 1 - THE NEW WAY TO PERFECT HEALTH
Chapter 2 - THE METAPHYSICAL PROCESS OF CURE
Chapter 3 - THE CURATIVE POWER OF THOUGHT
Chapter 4 - THE INNER FORCE OF THOUGHT
Chapter 5 - RENEW YOUR MIND AND BE WELL
Chapter 6 - HOW THE MIND CAN PRODUCE HEALTH
Chapter 7 - HOW TO MAINTAIN PERFECT HEALTH
Chapter 8 - THE REAL MAN IS ALWAYS WELL
Chapter 9 - REALIZING THE PERFECT HEALTH WITHIN
Chapter 10 - PURITY OF MIND AND BODY
Chapter 11 - THE HAPPINESS CURE
Chapter 12 - HOW TO REST AND RECUPERATE
Chapter 13 - LETTING GO OF YOUR AILMENTS
Chapter 14 - HOW THE SUBCONSCIOUS CREATES HEALTH
Chapter 15 - THE POWER OF MIND OVER BODY
Chapter 16 - THE RELATION OF MIND AND MATTER
Chapter 17 - THE GREATER POWERS IN MAN
Chapter 18 - THE HIGHER CURATIVE FORCES
Chapter 19 - THE USE OF SPIRITUAL POWER
Chapter 20 - HOW TO ENTER THE SILENCE
Chapter 21 - THE USE OF POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS
Chapter 22 - STATEMENTS OF TRUTH AND SELECTED AFFIRMATIONS
Chapter 23 - CHIEF ESSENTIALS IN PREVENTION AND CURE
Chapter 24 - PRACTICAL HELPS TO GOOD HEALTH
Chapter 1 - THE NEW WAY TO PERFECT HEALTH
There are many systems of healing, and their number is growing
steadily, but there is no single system in existence as yet that is
based on all the laws of life.
Disease comes from the violation of one or more of the laws of life,
therefore, it can be cured only by bringing mind and body back again
into harmony with those laws that have been violated; but if the system
of healing employed ignores certain laws it is unable to bring mind and
body back into harmony when those certain laws are violated.
Here we find the real cause of failure in all systems. A system that is
only physical can produce cures when certain physical laws are
violated, but it is powerless when the malady comes from the violation
of moral or mental laws. A system that ignores all laws except a few
mental laws may produce cures when it is those few mental laws that
have been violated, but when the trouble comes from the violation of
other laws such a system can do nothing.
It is, therefore, simple to understand that a complete system of
healing must not only recognize all the laws of life, but must embody
exact scientific methods for correcting all the possible violations of
those laws. Such a system must be both physical and metaphysical and
must have the understanding of all the laws of life as its foundation.
That such a system could cure everything is a foregone conclusion, and
that it is possible to formulate such a system every thinker must admit.
There is so much knowledge in the world today on the subject of health
that no one ought to be sick any more, but the fact that most people
you meet are ailing in some way, proves that this knowledge is not
bringing practical results. The cause is lack of system. Therefore, if
we can formulate all of this knowledge into a complete working system,
and we can, we shall have the privilege of rendering a great service
indeed. We all agree that it is everybody's privilege to have perfect
health, and when we study the subject carefully we must admit that it
is possible for everybody to secure perfect health.
There are no incurable diseases. When we encounter ailments that do not
respond to the cures we employ, the cause is simply this, that the
methods we employ do not reach the laws that have been violated. But
there are methods that can reach those laws. For every ill there is a
remedy, because every negative has its own positive, and there is no
wrong that cannot be made right. If we have the power to violate a
certain law, we have also the power to correct that violation; but we
cannot correct the matter unless we understand the law that has been
misapplied. Therefore, if our system of healing is to be complete it
must be based upon the understanding of every law in human nature,
metaphysical as well as physical.
To establish such a system one of the first essentials is to remove
every form of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. That truth can come from
all kinds of sources and through all grades of mentalities is a fact
that we all ought to be familiar with in this age; and when we
recognize this fact we will not confine our research to the limits of
any one of the regular schools.
Millions of people have been sent to their graves because prejudice has
refused to try something else; and thousands are still going the same
way every year for the same reason; but there are many ways of doing
things, and, since it is' everybody's privilege to live a long life and
enjoy health as long as he lives, no person should be left to suffer
and die until every possible method of relief has been tried. Those who
are engaged in the healing of the sick are not dealing justly with the
public unless they are prepared to employ and recommend everything that
is known to have healing power; and they are not competent to decide as
to what does not possess healing power unless they have made a personal
test, or personally witnessed such a test.
We daily hear intelligent and well-educated people declare that there
is nothing in this or that particular system of thought; but upon what
do they base their conclusions? Prejudice, or the habit of accepting
mere public opinion as truth is usually the cause of such narrow views
and in the meantime millions suffer and thousands die on account of
those views. The fact is that the more we learn, the more convinced we
become that there is something in everything, that every system has its
virtues, and every belief its latent truth. To find this virtue in
every system, and bring forth the hidden truth in every belief, and
then arrange them all into a working system for everyday, practical use
- this must be our purpose.
Life is too important to be cut short on account of prejudice,
ignorance or narrow-mindedness; and the joy of living a large and full
life is so great that no one should f or a moment be deprived of its
pleasure. The new age demands completeness, the best of everything for
everybody, the removing of all barriers, that all truth from all
sources may minister to all minds. And when all minds will come
together and work in such a spirit, the full emancipation of the race
will be at hand, and the coming of a fairer day will no longer be a
dream. But it is all possible, and what is possible will surely come to
pass.
With this spirit in mind we shall proceed to outline what we consider
to be a complete system of prevention and cure - a system that can
bring health to everybody.
The Value of Health
To do one's best in life, to fully enjoy life, to get everything of
worth from life that life has to give, to fulfill the purpose of life
and realize in the fullest measure any aim, ambition or ideal that one
may have in view in life, perfect health is necessary.
Perfect health should be sought by everybody and sought with unceasing
persistency, but it should not be sought simply because it insures the
comfort and the well-being of the individual; it should be sought
principally because it is an absolute necessity to the full use and
right use of everything that has worth in human existence; and we are
here to make the largest and best use of all that is in us.
To fail in health is to fail, in a measure, in everything; to continue
in poor health is to continue in a condition where no faculty or power
can give itself justice.
To add to one's health is to make it possible to add to one's power,
one's worth, one's usefulness and one's efficiency; and to gain perfect
health is to gain possession of one of the most important factors in
the making of human life all that nature demands it should be.
It is in perfect health alone that man can be true to himself, that he
can be true to his work, that he can be true to the race. Perfect
health, therefore, is not a mere matter of personal comfort, though
that in itself is a great deal. We all have the right to personal
comfort to the very highest degree; but perfect health is more, vastly
more; it is a necessary element in all the workings of nature; it is an
indispensable factor in the great universal plan.
The New View of Health.
We have recently discovered that it is natural to be well; that it is
possible for everybody to be perfectly well, and that perfect health
can be secured by all through methods that are not beyond the
understanding or ability of anyone. In the past we looked upon sickness
as inevitable; now we look upon every form of ailment as positively
wrong. We do not criticize or condemn the man who is sick; we give him
sympathy and practical help instead, as we have no right to condemn
anybody; nevertheless we insist that he should know better, and we are
making it our personal business to see that he does know better.
The new view demands that no one should be sick at all, that no one
should be incapacitated for a moment, that no one should ever be
compelled to suspend physical or mental activity on account of ill
health; and even more than that, it demands that no one has a right to
be sick. And the new view is not irrational; on the contrary, it is
based upon the most substantial facts in modern science.
It is not possible to become sick unless one violates the laws of life,
which include the physical, the mental, the moral, and the spiritual.
But no one need violate any of these laws at the present time nor
henceforth, as the key to the understanding of the right use of all
natural law is now within the reach of everybody. The new view,
therefore, demands perfect health of all; and demands it with the same
right as it demands manhood, womanhood, morality, justice, liberty,
truth.
The Purpose of This
Study.
The chief purpose of this course of study is to present a complete and
practical system of life, through which the new view of health may be
realized; that is, a system that will enable anyone to get well and
stay well no matter what his physical or mental condition may be at the
present time. This study will aim to present all the facts known in the
science and art of attaining health; it will give due attention to all
efficient methods of cure, with special attention to those that have
proved themselves to be the best; and will aim to give instructions
with regard to the use of those methods that all can readily and
successfully apply. It will explain in the clearest and simplest manner
possible the real cause of disease, and how every ailment known to man
may be prevented as well as cured. And it will aim to carry out this
broad and far-reaching purpose by turning the light of exact science
upon the whole nature of man - his spiritual and mental nature as well
as his physical nature. In brief, this course of study will aim to
present sound, thorough and practical information concerning those
principles, laws and methods that will, by whomsoever applied, lead to
the very highest degree of health, strength and wholesomeness.
The Cause of Disease.
It is natural to be well; therefore, the presence of disease indicates
that the human system is not in harmony with nature; and as it is not
possible to get out of harmony with nature without violating one or
more of nature's laws, we conclude that all disease must come from the
violation of natural law; but to refrain from such violation and
thereby avoid disease, it is necessary to know, first, what constitutes
natural law, and second, what to do to continue in harmony with natural
law.
Complete information, however, on these important subjects has not been
given in the past. A few of the physical laws of nature have been
studied and carefully observed, but little or no attention has been
paid to such other laws as might operate in conjunction with human
activity. For this reason vast numbers have become sick without being
able to arrive at the cause. Living in the belief that they are caring
for themselves properly, they could see no reason why they should not
remain well, but in caring for themselves they observed certain laws
only, while others equally important were ignorantly and completely
ignored.
To enable everybody to avoid all disease by living in harmony with all
the laws of nature, we must understand the sphere of the natural, so as
to include all activity that may transpire anywhere in the world in
which we may act, think and live. In brief, we must study and observe
mental and moral laws as well as physical laws, because they are all
natural laws - laws that are so closely connected with the actions of
man that he will either use them or misuse them, as the case may be,
nearly every hour of his existence.
The following outline and division of the subject will therefore prove
valuable in connection with this part of the study:
(1) Violation of Physical Laws. - We have heard much about physical
exercise, but the truth is, that not one person in a thousand exercises
his body properly. The majority pay no attention to the subject, and
therefore most of their muscles do not receive sufficient exercise, and
a large percentage of those who do give the matter attention, overdo
it, so that in either case the proper exercise is barely secured. The
same is true of breathing. Natural law demands a certain kind of
breathing, but there are very few that comply with that demand. With
regard to nourishment, we are face to face with the same condition.
Foods that should not be taken are taken by the majority nearly every
day, and there are very few people who do not eat too much. The other
physical laws are misused more or less in the same way. It is readily
seen, therefore, that causes of disease are produced in abundance
almost daily in the physical life of the average person; but all those
causes can be prevented both easily and completely.
(2) Violation of Moral Laws. - The lack of vital energy is one of the
chief causes of the ills of man, and all immoral thoughts or actions
tend to deplete the vital energy of the system. We have frequently been
told that certain things are wrong, but we have not been told why.
Therefore, we have doubted the sinfulness of those particular actions.
When we find, however, that such actions almost invariably drain the
system of vital energy, thereby placing the system in a condition where
all kinds of disease may get a foothold, we understand why they are
wrong. Whenever we do anything that will decrease or lower the natural
amount of vital energy, we violate some of the most important laws of
nature, and at the same' time we originate those causes that are
responsible for more than one-third of the ills of the race.
(3) Violation of Mental Laws. - To be in harmony with nature, the mind
should always be in a state of harmony with itself, and should always
be wholesome in its actions and tendencies. To permit mental disorder
in any form is therefore a violation of natural law, and it is a
well-known fact that mental disorder is nearly always followed by
physical disorder. The consequent physical disorder may in many
instances be too slight to produce actual illness in the body, but it
will in every case interfere more or less with the normal functions of
the body. And if that particular disorder is continued, as it usually
is, physical diseases will be the final result. To permit such mental
states as worry, fear, anger, hatred, envy, gloom, depression,
discouragement, dread, anxiety, grief, antagonism, revenge,
excitability, and all other mental states of a similar nature, is to
violate natural law; and such violation always leads to physical and
mental weakness, and frequently to actual disease. To fear disease, to
think of disease, to expect disease or to suggest the possibility of
disease to oneself or others, is likewise a violation of natural law;
and such violation leads to ailment of some kind in the majority of
cases. How the misuse of the mind and the entertaining of wrong states
of mind may cause disease, is therefore simply understood, and it has
been estimated by close observation, that most of the ills of the human
race come originally from this cause; but, as is true of all other
adverse causes, it can be prevented or removed completely.
Prevention and Cure.
Since all ills come from the violation of natural law, all that is
necessary to remove an ailment is to restore the human system to
perfect harmony with natural law; and for the same reason all that is
necessary to prevent disease is to maintain the human system in
continual harmony with natural law; but it is not possible to live in
complete harmony with the laws of nature unless we understand them all.
To be in harmony with physical law is not sufficient, neither is it
sufficient to be in harmony with the mental or moral laws. To continue
in perfect health we must be in harmony with all the natural laws, and
to restore health we must restore harmony in that particular part of
the human system where disorder is found.
If the ailment comes from the violation of mental law, we may employ
all the hygiene in the world and the best medical treatment to be
secured without securing any results whatever. It is only when we
restore harmony and order in the field of that particular mental law
that results will be secured in that case. In every case we must know
what law has been violated before we can effect a cure, and we must
adopt that method that can restore the system to perfect harmony with
the law that has been violated. This, however, necessitates a complete
study of all those laws of nature that act in the life of man; that is,
the moral and the mental as well as the physical.
To prevent disease we must know all those laws so that we may live in
harmony with them all. To cure disease we must know all those laws so
that we can find the law that is violated and restore order in the very
place where order is required. But this need not mean an extensive or
complicated study. Nature is simple. Anyone can understand nature. It
is only necessary to study the whole of nature instead of fragments
only, as we have done in the past; and we shall find that the whole of
nature is far more interesting than the fragments, and much easier to
understand.
Important Principles.
To secure the best results from the application of the many methods
presented herewith, the following principles should be observed:
(1) Live a Natural Life. - The laws of nature, physical and mental,
should be observed with the greatest of care in all things and under
all circumstances. Gain as clear an understanding as possible of what
it means to be natural; then make it a point to be as natural as
present conditions will permit. Become fully familiar with those laws
of nature that operate in body and in mind; then live, think and act at
all times in harmony with those laws. Violate no natural law, neither
in action nor in thought, but aim to apply more and more of the laws of
nature in everything you think or do, and you are on the way to the
living of a natural life.
(2) Think Wholesome Thoughts. - Train the mind to think and entertain
only such thoughts as are conducive to health, harmony and well-being.
Think of the good, the true and the perfect; think of the larger, the
greater, and the better; think of the worthy, the strong and the
superior; think of the pure, the beautiful and the ideal. Give
attention to those things that build, that elevate, that make for a
richer state of existence, and create only such thoughts as have a
rising, growing and expanding tendency. Give health and wholeness to
every thought, by thinking health into every thought. Use the power of
thought to produce health and direct every mental action to add to the
quality and the measure of health.
(3) Believe Yourself Well. - If you are perfectly well, continue to
believe with all your mind and heart and soul that you always will be
well. If you are not perfectly well, believe with the same absolute
certainty that you are getting well; believe that the conditions you
desire are being produced for you now; believe in the possibilities of
your own power to produce any condition that you may desire, and make
that belief as strong as the limitless strength of your own soul.
(4) Feel Yourself Well. - Aim to live and think constantly in the
consciousness of health, and enter as far as possible into the deepest
feeling of health; try to feel well at all times, and try to impress
that feeling upon your deepest feelings. Permit every feeling of health
to sink into a deeper feeling of health until you consciously realize
that perfect health that forever abides in the purity, the wholeness,
the strength and the divinity of your own soul. Know that perfect
health is always within you, always existing in the depths of your real
being; then try to feel this perfect health by training yourself to
feel health at all times, and by permitting that feeling to enter at
once those depths of life and consciousness where perpetual health may
always be found. What we feel we express, and what we become conscious
of in our deeper life we gain possession of in our external life.
(5) Imagine Yourself Well. - The imaging faculty should constantly
picture before the mind the perfect health that is desired. What we
imagine we think, and as we think we become. See yourself well in your
own imagination and claim the actual possession of what you have thus
seen. Know that when you imagine yourself being in perfect health you
cause all the powers of your system to produce perfect health. What you
imagine becomes the pattern, and the mental workmen always build in the
likeness of that pattern that stands out most clearly and most
distinctly. Therefore, picture yourself well in your imagination and
make that picture strong, positive, clear and distinct.
(6) Be Morally Clean. - Live a clean life both in thought and in
action. A clean life means a strong life, and a strong life means
health, vigor, endurance and power. Entertain only such states of mind
as are clean, wholesome, and uplifting, and encourage only such actions
of mind and body as are directly conducive to higher attainments and
greater achievements. Be true to the best that you know, the best that
you are and the highest that you aim to realize. Train your ambitions
to seek that richer life which is found by acting in harmony with
purity, and that greater greatness that he alone can reach who has
mastered those finer elements that exist in the world of virtue.
(7) Maintain The Masterful Attitude. - In all things and at all times
be your own master, think your own thoughts, feel the way you want to
feel and act the way you know you should act. Permit no condition in
yourself or in your environment to influence your mind or determine
your conduct. Know that you can control your own life your own body and
your own mind; and be determined to exercise that control for the
complete emancipation of every atom in your being. Master yourself for
the attainment of better health, greater strength and a higher state of
physical, mental and spiritual well-being. Know that you can then
proceed with all the life and power that is in you, to do what you know
you can do.
(8) Have Faith in All Things. - To have faith is to enter into
conscious touch with the best that exists in that in which we have
faith. We can have faith only in that which is worthy of faith;
therefore, to have faith in all things is to live in mental contact
with the worthy in all things; and when the mind comes in contact with
greater work it invariably ascends, and to ascend is to gain freedom.
We always become free from the lesser, or that which we do not want,
when we rise into the realization of the greater, or that which we do
want. Have faith in your own power to produce and maintain perfect
health and you place your mind in possession of that very power. That
power is already within you. To have faith in that power is to enter
into its very life and action and thereby gain, personally, the
possession of it for actual use. Have faith in the perfect health that
is in you, and have faith in faith; thus you enter into that health,
and accordingly all will be well.
(9) Depend Upon Higher Power. - Recognize at all times the presence of
higher power; know that you are surrounded with higher power; that you
are filled with higher power, and that this power will work with you in
everything you may wish to do. Whatever the condition of your mind or
body, know that this higher power can restore all things. Depend upon
that power, have faith in that power, enter into the spirit of that
power, permit every atom in your being to become alive with the active
presence of that power, and complete emancipation will be realized
instantly.
(10) Live On The Heights. - All is well on the heights. Go up and live
in, the perpetual sunshine of truth, in that smile of God which has the
power to change everything. Transcend the world of things and dwell
constantly upon the mountain tops of supreme spiritual existence. Learn
to work with things and to master things, but live always above things.
Ascend to the heights and you take mind and body out of weakness and
limitations up into the freedom of greater strength and perfect health.
You also refine the entire personality, thus making the personal man a
more perfect instrument for the expression of the richer life and the
greater powers of mind and soul. Live above conditions. Live in the
real, the perfect, the true, the sublime. Live with the Infinite, in
conscious unity with the Supreme and feel at all times that you are
living, walking and working with God. There is immense power in such a
realization - a power that can never fail whatever it may be that we
wish to have done.
Important Facts.
Before entering upon the study of this vast subject it will be well to
note certain important facts connected with this particular field -
facts that clearly indicate the nature and possibilities of the new way
to health, and that are admitted by all, even the most exact among
scientists, in every line of research, who have given this unique
subject their consideration. A few of these facts are as follows:
(1) A complete change of mind tends to produce a similar change among
the vital conditions of the body, so that when the mental change is
uplifting and wholesome, all unhealthful conditions of the body will
tend to disappear.
(2) All unhealthful states of mind nearly always produce physical
disturbances, which, when deeply felt and prolonged, frequently result
in actual ailments both functional and organic.
(3) The restoration of healthy states of mind tends to produce physical
equilibrium and improved health, with added strength and vitality.
(4) The functions of the body are aided remarkably by a full and
continued state of mental harmony. Most stomachs could digest almost
anything if the mind was always in harmony, and the other organs of the
body would greatly increase their strength and endurance in the same
way.
(5) The fear of a certain disease has frequently produced it; even
contagious diseases have been produced through the fear of contagion
when that contagion did not exist in the vicinity.
(6) People who are absolutely fearless and who are absolutely certain
that they will not catch it, may go where there is contagion and not
get it, provided there is a full supply of vital energy in their
systems at the time.
(7) The more faith you have in a medicine, in a physician or in a
certain form of treatment, the better the results; while if the patient
has no faith or confidence in a treatment, or in the one who
administers it, it is almost impossible to get satisfactory results.
(8) Emotions that are deep, strong and exhilarating tend to increase
the activity and the energy of the vital organs, thereby promoting the
functions of the system. Depressed emotions tend to decrease activity
and energy, thereby preventing those organs from doing their work
properly, and such a condition is frequently the beginning of disease.
(9) Depressing memories tend to decrease functional activity and
physical energy, while pleasing memories and exalting or inspiring
ideas have the opposite effect.
(10) The attitude of expectancy, if deep, strong and continued, tends
to produce the very conditions expected. Those conditions are nearly
always produced in the mind, and in most instances in the body,
frequently to the fullest degree.
(11) A nervous, anxious, agitated state of mind will prevent digestion,
while states of mental sunshine, good cheer, light-heartedness and
pleasing anticipation will promote digestion.
(12) Mental states with deep feelings will affect the flow of the
juices of the physical system. The flow of any juice, such as saliva,
gastric juice, etc., can be increased or decreased at will by
entertaining certain deeply-felt states of mind.
(13) A strong, continued desire for health and life will stimulate all
the energies of the system, and usually to a sufficient degree to
increase permanently the health and the vigor of the body.
(14) When a patient deeply and vitally believes that a certain agent
has remedial powers, benefit will be derived from applying that agent,
even though it may have no remedial virtue whatever.
(15) When a patient absolutely forgets, through some startling event or
other cause, that he is ill, the ailment nearly always disappears for a
time, and in many instances disappears permanently.
(16) When the mind lives in the exhilarating atmosphere of an inspiring
ideal there is a decided increase in the quantity of mental energy and
a marked improvement in the quality. And in nearly every instance, a
similar increase and improvement in the physical energies follows.
(17) A new and uplifting mental atmosphere can take the body so
completely out of old or diseased conditions as to cause those
conditions to disappear completely. The entire physical system is thus
taken up out of its usual state into a state that is new and wholesome,
and all the elements of the body change to correspond.
(18) To secure something new and something most desirable to live for
will renew the life of the body, increase vital energy, stimulate the
circulation, bring color to the face, health and charm to the
personality and restored activity to the mind.
(19) When the mind enters a deep and perfect calm where it feels the
interior serenity and fullness of life, and continues thus for several
hours, disturbances of mind or body as well as threatening ailments
will disappear.
(20) When you believe that a certain thing is harmful, you will be
harmed by it mentally in every instance, and in many instances you will
be harmed physically, especially in the nervous system.
(21) The action of the mind for or against any mode of treatment will
assist or retard that treatment as the case may be.
(22) When a man works with a definite aim in view, his energy and
working capacity will be maintained indefinitely, and hours of actual
weariness will be few; but if he works with no aim in view, weariness
and exhaustion will come frequently and his working capacity will be
decreased from twenty-five to fifty per cent.
(23) A courageous and hopeful state of mind aids remarkably in the
overcoming of disease, no matter what the treatment may be.
(24) In functional and nervous diseases, thoughts and ideas can be made
direct remedies in every case. And in organic diseases those same
agencies can so assist nature as to insure complete recovery; that is,
when nature is given a fair chance in all other respects as well.
(25) Nature is constantly at work to keep the well man perfectly well
and to make the sick perfectly well. To give nature a fair chance to do
this work right is frequently all that is necessary to restore health,
but there is nothing in human life that can assist or interfere so much
with nature in this respect as the attitude of the mind.
(26) Medicine, or any material substance can produce certain definite
effects upon the chemical life of the body; therefore, those substances
do have the power to change physical conditions, and accordingly
promote cures, when those particular changes are needed for the welfare
of the system; but that power is limited, and the change the medicine
will produce will depend largely upon the state of the patient's mind
at the time.
(27) The attitude of the patient's mind at the time the medicine is
taken will modify the usual effect of that medicine. That attitude can
and frequently does neutralize the expected effect of the medicine; and
in many instances the effect desired by the medicine is produced wholly
by the mind through expectation and faith.
(28) Certain kinds of music, stimulated emotions, promise of reward, a
new purpose in life, an agreeable change of work, new opportunities,
the appearance of greater possibilities - all of these, and scores of
similar factors or experiences, invariably increase the activity of the
mind and the vital energies of the body.
(29) Through the direct and intelligent use of the mind any physical
ailment may be prevented or permanently cured.
Chapter 2 - THE METAPHYSICAL PROCESS OF CURE
There is a belief among many that mental and spiritual healing is
produced by some extraordinary or mysterious power, a power that is
very difficult to obtain if one does not naturally possess it; but when
we understand the power that heals, or the process of cure, we shall
find that it is like all other great things, very simple.
All healing is the result of mental change, and the various systems of
cure that are being employed are simply different methods for producing
the same thing - mental change. The mental change, however, must be
towards higher and finer states of thought, or the cure will not
follow. And here we find the reason why spiritual and metaphysical
systems of thought are usually very successful whenever they attempt
the art of healing. The same is true of the various systems of
optimistic suggestion. Any suggestion that can produce an elevating
change of mind will produce a cure whenever such a change is made, and
this is true even though the system of suggestion employed may not be
exactly scientific nor possess a complete understanding of the truth.
The beneficial results that come from going away for your health are
produced through the same law - mental change. New scenes, new
associations, new experiences, etc., produce new impressions upon the
mind, and these, if deeply enjoyed, will change the mind. When one
expects to regain his health by going away, the results are usually
better, because the change of mind produced will have health in view,
and whatever the mind has in view it always tends to produce.
Our thoughts are created in the likeness of those ideas that are
uppermost in consciousness; therefore, if health is the predominating
purpose, the conditions of health will naturally be instilled into
every thought. In some instances, however, a change of scenes does not
produce a change of mind, the reason being that the person either lacks
impressibility or the new scenes lack impressiveness.
The physician who sends his patients away for their health is simply
giving them metaphysical treatment without the name. The real object is
to get the patient away from his present state of mind, and anything
that will accomplish this can produce a cure; but it is possible to get
away from your present state of mind without taking a journey to some
other country, and it is usually more convenient. Until recently people
have depended upon a change of environment to produce a change of mind,
but we are now learning to change our minds in any way that we like,
regardless of the environments in which we may be placed.
We are beginning to become masters over ourselves, and we are learning
to so live that external conditions will not control us any more. We
have discovered that we can change our own minds whenever we like, and
in any way that we like; also that mental changes produce physical
changes, and that we may be completely transformed through the renewal
of our minds.
The secret of all healing and all changes in body, mind or personality
is thus revealed, and instead of being a mysterious power, is
simplicity itself. It is not something far beyond our reach, but a
power that we are using more or less daily simply the power to change
the mind.
Since any change in the human system can be produced through the proper
mental change, our leading purpose in this connection will consequently
be to find the best methods for producing such changes, and we shall
not have to search far nor wide to find the methods desired. The first
principle to learn is, that every mental change must be subconscious;
that is, the change must be a change of the heart or no change in life
will follow. The thought of the heart is the thought created in the
subconscious, and as the subconscious thought is the only thought that
produces effects in the system, we understand readily why the change
must be subconscious.
Every idea or belief that is impressed upon the mind in deep feeling
will enter the subconscious. Therefore, every effort to change the mind
should be made in deep feeling. The fact that feeling plays such an
important part in this respect, proves why impressionable minds respond
the most readily to those systems of healing that are based on mental
change. It also explains why emotional and religious systems are so
very successful in healing whenever they attempt this fine art.
Emotional methods, however, do not always produce permanent results,
while those results that come from deep metaphysical systems are nearly
always permanent.
The best system of healing would consequently be a system wherein
feeling and intellect were combined, where the emotional was employed
to give speedy mental change, and the metaphysical employed to
establish those changes permanently.
To produce mental change, three different factors may be employed;
first, new impressions from without; second, new ideas formed through
the usual intellectual process; and third, new states of consciousness.
Those impressions that come from without will at times produce decided
changes in the subconscious mind, though as a rule they simply divert
attention so that you will not think about your ills. This is
important, however, because so long as you think deeply about your
ailments you impress them more deeply upon the system and make matters
worse. But when you stop thinking about the trouble, nature will have a
chance to restore harmony and health without being interfered with.
When attempting to produce new ideas through your own independent
thinking, it is well to remember that the most wholesome ideas are
always those gained from thinking about the real, the absolute and the
perfect; in other words, metaphysical thinking is the most wholesome,
provided it is truly metaphysical and not speculative; and all
metaphysical thinking will be true and wholesome that is based upon
man's highest understanding of the ideal.
To produce a change in consciousness, various methods may be employed.
Anything that touches the inner life, such as good music, words of
inspiration, higher mental experiences, growth and ascension in soul
life and similar mental attitudes, will produce new states of
consciousness.
If the attention of the mind is centered upon health, while the change
of consciousness is taking place, the mental change that follows will
always have a tendency to produce better health. A change in
consciousness is always the most decided change and should therefore be
sought in preference to any of the others. And the reason is because
such a change affects directly the real life and action of the mental
forces; and these in turn affect the chemical life of the physical
system.
A chemical change in the system is always required before health can be
restored, and it is upon this principle that medicines aim to work; but
it has been thoroughly demonstrated that the subconscious forces of the
mind can produce chemical changes in the body with far greater rapidity
and certainty than any drug taken into the system. And what is
important, subconscious changes will be correct changes, while too
often medicines produce the wrong chemical change, thus making matters
worse. In many instances medicines produce no chemical change in the
system whatever, and there is no cure unless the patient has sufficient
faith in the medicine; in that case the change is produced by faith,
and it is well to remember in this connection that faith can produce
any change in the system that is possible under natural law.
Of all states of the mind, that state usually described as faith is the
deepest, the largest, the most penetrating and the most powerful. Since
mental change is the real secret of healing, and since this change must
be towards the higher, the finer and the interior nature of life, the
greatest results in healing would naturally come from that mental
process that always moves towards the ideal; and that is faith. Faith
is that state of mind that always goes up into the higher and more
perfect; in fact, it is not faith unless there is mental ascension into
or towards the absolute.
Faith is a normal, upward mental change, and there is no upward mental
change possible without faith, because every mental process that will
have the power to produce an upward change must be inspired by faith.
For this reason faith can never fail, because faith is an upward mental
change, and every upward mental change will unfailingly produce a
change for the better in the body. When we have faith in anything we
elevate the mind. No matter what it is we have faith in, the mere
matter of having faith will elevate the mind. The elevating of the mind
causes the renewal of the mind, and when we renew our minds we always
change things for the better.
Every subconscious action of the mind is a cause; and when the mind is
taken up into a new and more perfect state, all these causes will
become better and more powerful because they will accordingly produce
greater and better effects. When the mind is taken up the entire system
is taken up and is taken out into the freedom of the more perfect. The
same process tends to produce right mental states, and such mental
states are always conducive to good health.
All wholesome impressions formed upon the subconscious will produce
wholesome effects upon the system. And all ascending, enlarging and
perfecting states of mind, if deeply felt, produce wholesome
impressions upon the subconscious. This proves that faith can never
fail, because faith is always ascending, always enlarging, always
perfecting, and is always deeply felt. "As your faith is, so shall it
be unto you," is a strong statement, but we know it to be absolutely
true when we discover what faith really is, and what it has the power
to do.
Faith invariably awakens the powers of the inner life, and those powers
are higher and stronger than the ones that act in the external
personality. Those powers, therefore, can accomplish more, and, what is
well to remember, they can accomplish anything because they are
unlimited. Failure, however, becomes impossible when unlimited powers
are at hand, so, therefore, we realize again that faith can never fail.
It has been stated that the ascending change of mind is the secret of
all healing, regardless of what the treatment might be, and as there
are many ways to bring about such mental changes, our object must
naturally be to find the best way; and we find the best way in faith.
How to secure faith and how to employ faith will, therefore, become
great questions in this study.
Faith comes from having faith in all things and at all times. There is
nothing that develops so rapidly with use as faith, and the reason is
because the attitude of faith is towards the larger, the higher and the
superior at all times. To have faith and to exercise faith is to press
on directly to greater things. It is therefore self-accumulative and
self-developing, and demonstrates most positively the truth of the
statement that to him that hath shall be given.
"I have faith," and "I have faith in faith," are statements that should
be employed constantly, and the meaning of those statements should
always be deeply felt. Whenever you think of faith or try to exercise
faith turn your mind upon the great within, the boundless, and try to
feel your consciousness entering into the seeming void with the
assurance that it is all solid rock. If your faith has become well
developed you will know through your own interior perceptions that
whatever realm your consciousness may penetrate, it is only the real
and the substantial that will be found. You then realize that you can
go out anywhere in the vast mental world and always be on solid ground.
In the application of the laws of mental and spiritual healing the
value of such a realization is simply unbounded, because those systems
of healing depend very largely upon realizing the reality of the real.
When disease is present the system is in confusion; therefore, if the
mind can change into harmony by entering into the understanding of that
which is ever real, right, perfect and absolutely good, the regaining
of health must positively follow. While in the consciousness of
absolute harmony we can know neither confusion nor disturbance of any
kind, and we cannot be in a condition of ill health while we are in a
state where all is well.
The great secret of healing, therefore, is to change the mind from a
state of confusion, disorder and false action into a state where the
absolutely good is realized to be real, omnipresent and eternal. It is
leaving the stormtossed billows of perverted life and landing safely
upon the solid rock of absolute truth. And here we should remember that
it matters not where you may be upon this angry sea, faith will guide
you safely, surely and speedily to the harbor of perfect peace.
To depend absolutely upon faith is of the highest importance, because
faith cannot fail. We may fail, but faith never; and the reason why we
fail is because we do not take advantage of the highest wisdom, the
superior insight and those mightier powers that may be given to us
through faith. In this connection we should fully realize that faith is
not blind belief; belief may be blind, but faith sees everything. Faith
is constantly ascending into more and more light, because faith is the
mind growing into the light. When you say that you take things on
faith, you really mean that a superior insight has informed you that
those things should be taken, and that it will be very profitable in
some way for you to do so. When you are trying to help yourself or
others, this taking of things on faith will prove to be the one perfect
path to remarkable results.
Faith declares that all things are possible, and after making this
statement faith proceeds to awaken those greater powers in your larger
and higher life through which the mind may gain the capacity to do the
very things that faith declared could be done. Faith knows that in the
great within there is health in abundance; that the real man is always
well and that there is sufficient power at hand to bring this perfect
health into positive and tangible evidence in every part of the
physical system. Faith not only knows this, but acts according to its
convictions.
The result is, that what we took on faith we received through faith,
and we found it to be very substantial, profoundly real and absolutely
good. What we receive through faith is always good, because faith is
the continuous ascension of the mind into the absolutely good. Faith
may also be defined as the mind's ascension into absolute truth;
therefore, the more faith we have the more of truth we shall
understand; and it is the understanding of truth that brings complete
emancipation.
"How
To
Stay Well" by
Christian D. Larson
Order complete book in
Adobe PDF eBook form for $4.95
|