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The Quimby Manuscripts, Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, ed. by Horatio W. Dresser [1921], at sacred-texts.com
[These selections have been chosen from articles written between June, 1860, and July, 1865, and arranged, with condensations, according to topics. The omitted portions have been left out to avoid repetition. The sub-titles are usually the titles of the original articles. The first is a tentative introduction for a book.]
IN introducing this work to the reader my only excuse is the existence of evils that follow the opinions of the world in regard to man's health and happiness. My practice for twenty years has put me in possession of facts that have opened my eyes to the misery of mankind, from ignorance of ourselves. My object is to correct the false ideas and strengthen the truth. I make war with what comes in contact with health and happiness, believing that God made everything good, and if there is anything wrong it is the effect of ourselves, and that man is responsible for his acts and even his thoughts. Therefore it is necessary that man should know himself so that he shall not communicate sin or error.
All my writings are the effect of impressions made on me while sitting with the sick, so that my book is of the lives and sufferings of my patients, their trials and sorrows, and my arguments are in their behalf. It may seem strange to the well that I write upon so many subjects, but when you take into consideration the great variety of persons, and the peculiar state of literature, varying from the most cultivated to that of the lowest intellect, it would not be strange if my writings did not excite the curiosity of the reader.
For instance, one is full of religious ideas and becomes almost insane, and some are entirely so. This excites me, and my thoughts run upon religion. Another will be almost insane upon spiritualism; then I have to battle that, or show the absurdity of that belief. Some are excited upon
[paragraph continues] Millerism, and believe the world is coming to an end. This brings up arguments to refute their belief. Some upon witchcraft. Now their minds are continually dwelling on all these subjects and on the Bible. So to cure I have to show by the Bible that they have been made to believe a false construction. My arguments change their minds and the cure comes. This is my excuse for what I have said upon the Scriptures.
Some people are love-sick and disappointed. These are not a great many. Minds are affected in various ways. Some are ship masters. Their sickness is caused by various things. But all mankind must be reached by parables. All my illustrations are called out by the case I have to treat. Women are more spiritual than men, therefore with them my illustrations are drawn more from the Bible than from any other book. Medical science I have to use rather hard, for the sick have the most bitter feeling towards physicians and religious teachers. These two classes I have to come in contact with. The fear of these two classes makes the patient sick. I have found this out by the effect the patient has on me. I have been so provoked when sitting by the sick, with the physician and in regard to certain classes of disease, that it was with the greatest difficulty I could keep my temper, and I had never seen the doctor or minister. But I always found that when I would get the patients clear from their opinions, they would express themselves in as strong terms as I had. I thought the fault might be with me, but I am now satisfied that I was only the scape-goat to carry off feelings they dared not lisp out, but could not tell why. Therefore I have not the slightest feeling as a man towards any person, only regarding error. That I have no sympathy with. It is a hypocrite in myself and in every one else.
You may say I have gone out of the way to attack religious denominations. If I have, the fault is in my patient. Every one knows that pious persons when sick are the most profane and talk the worst about the Bible. This is because they have the most fear.
With these remarks I will leave this part of my subject, and say a word or two in regard to words. I differ from all persons about some words. One is "mind." Mind to me is not wisdom, but spiritual matter. And I think before you get through my book you will think so too, and be convinced of the truth of what I say. So far as my education is concerned
I need make no apology. If I have learning enough to explain my theory, it is all I want.
In giving to the public my ideas in regard to curing the sick it will be necessary to correct some false ideas that have been circulated in regard to my religious belief. So I will say I have no belief and in regard to any person's religion or disease I know they are based on a false idea of wisdom. I take the sick as I find them and treat them according to their several diseases. As their diseases are the result of their education or belief I have to come in contact with their beliefs. Their religious beliefs are often the cause of their trouble, but the medical theory causes more than all the rest at the present day. In times of old when the priests led the masses the causes emanated from the priests, but since the right of religious freedom has been granted to all, truth has destroyed the power of the priests. Yet it has not enlightened the people, but transferred the idea of disease to the medical fraternity. . . .
All the religion I acknowledge is God or Wisdom. I will not take man's belief to guide my barque. I would rather stand at the helm myself, but the priest and medical faculty have assumed sway, and one pretends to look after the body and the other the soul. So between both they have nearly destroyed soul and body, for you cannot find one person in ten but complains of some trouble in the form of disease. As disease leads to destruction or death, death is one of the natural results of disease. So to save persons from what may follow, a religious belief is introduced and another world is made which is to receive all men, who are to be rewarded according to their acts. This makes up the whole progress of man's life. In all this intelligence and goodness are not included. It is true we are told that to live a virtuous life is good, but you never hear that to be posted in the wisdom of the world gives a person advantage over the weak and humble believer who swallows everything the priest tells him. To be a good Christian according to their explanation of religion is to be humble and not wise at all. Now every man partakes of his belief, and in fact they are all made of belief, for everything you can think of or remember is such. Now all things must end according to man's belief, and there has
been nothing as yet that has come in collision with it. Therefore life and death are said to be the natural destiny of man. It is true that the medical faculty try to stave off death but the harder they work the surer they are to destroy the thing they are trying to save. Man's belief is the thing either to be saved or lost and to this end all their skill is directed. This was the state of the world when Jesus appeared.
In order to introduce my theory of curing disease it will be necessary to explain the use I make of a few words to which custom has given a meaning I am unable to use. For instance the word mind. All use the word applied to man's intelligence. As the word mind has never been applied to any spiritual substance or any substance at all, it strikes the reader strangely to hear it as I have to use it, still I think I can show that the author must have a different meaning in his wisdom than is commonly attributed to it. It could not be that he had an idea of any world or existence beyond this life, for mind was considered man's life and all his reasoning powers at death must end. Consequently the brain was considered the seat of the mind. Various beliefs show that this false reasoning still holds sway over mankind. The word mind as it is used and believed comprises all of man and beast that has life and instinct, which at death disappears or dies. As science progressed the weakness of the reasoning was seen, and the religious community invested the word with a new significance which the ancients never dreamed of; for, with their limitations, it could not explain the life of man; it could not contain the word wisdom, so a new word was needed and "soul" was introduced. But if you call the soul "science" you will have a higher development than is included in mind. Let "mind," then embrace all matter of the human and brute creations, as the word "matter" embraces all inanimate substances. Then the "soul" will represent wisdom that creates from inanimate matter every manufactured article. . . .
Ancient philosophers divided man into two elements, mind and matter, the body being matter and the soul mind, and one was the offspring of the other. The life of the soul was one thing and the life of the body another, but they both died together. So the word mind covered all of man's life. The intellect of the brute was termed instinct, which was
included in the meaning of mind. At death all were laid in the grave together: the wise man and the fool, the rich and the poor all found their level in the grave. . . . We have evidence enough to show that what is now called the soul in ancient times had no higher meaning than mind, for we read of good souls and wicked souls. So here is an end to the soul. Such teaching is the cause of man's misery.
Every one will admit that all the qualities of "soul" which I have mentioned will apply to man's intelligence, and that "mind" according to every definition can change; also admit that Wisdom cannot change, that it is the same today and forever. Now can any one tell me what there is that is not matter that can be changed? It cannot be Wisdom. It cannot be any form that can be seen, which of course must be matter. Then what is it that is not Wisdom, God, or spirit, and not matter and yet can be changed? It is matter held in solution called mind, which the power of Wisdom can condense into a solid so dense as to become the substance called "matter." Assume this theory and then you can see how man can become sick and get well by a change of mind.
Disease is the natural result of ignorance and error governed by discords of the mind. For instance, friction produces heat, heat expansion, expansion motion, motion disturbs life, and life comes out of the motion. There are various kinds of life, vegetable, animal, etc.; for life is what comes from the decomposition of matter. Wisdom is not life, it is from everlasting to everlasting, the same to-day and forever. But as life ascends from the lower to the higher kingdoms, Wisdom attaches itself to it in order to develop in man itself. . . .
I will give you the process as it comes to me by this great truth that heals all who come into it. The elements of the mineral kingdom by their chemical change bring forth life, this mingles with its mother-minerals and an offspring is produced called a vegetable. The life of minerals enters this new kingdom and a new creation springs into being. This again mingles with its parent kingdom and there comes a low form of life called the animal kingdom; one generation begets another till matter is prepared to receive some of the life from the Wisdom which rules these lower lives. Man's life comes from his peculiar development, so there is as much difference in the idea "man" as there is in the other kingdoms, for man is made of those kingdoms. He combines three parts
in himself, animal, human, scientific, in different degrees in each person. Man partakes more of the animal, less of the scientific. Women have more of the scientific element, less of the animal; the latter kingdom makes them strong, the human benevolent, and the scientific spiritual and poetical.
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From time immemorial the subject of mind has been a theme of ancient and modern philosophers. Now if the idea of mind did not embrace all our reason and philosophy man would not be all the time trying to investigate its nature.
Mind is always associated with something else. Moses used the word wisdom in the sense of mind when he said God created the heavens and the earth, which means mind and matter.
The philosophers of our day separate matter from mind and call matter material, and mind immaterial, so that matter is not [supposed to be] under the control of mind, and as mind is immaterial it is nothing. Now can nothing produce something? This the philosophers of our day may answer.
Why all these different applications of the same term? If mind is matter, what is life? To show that mind is [spiritual] matter we must illustrate by something that men will admit. But some one may ask of what consequence is it to man whether mind is substance or not? I say it is of vast importance to the world, for if it can be shown that mind is [spiritual] matter, it will be seen that mind is under the control of a wisdom possessed by man, so that wisdom acting upon mind changes it and destroys the error and brings man to the truth. . . .
Every person admits that mind has a great deal to do with the body, and each one makes a difference between them. The mind is said to be the intellectual part of man, and the body the servant. In one sense this is true, but to Wisdom it is false, for all admit that the mind can be changed, and if intelligence can change it cannot be wisdom. Jesus taught that the real man is of wisdom. Wisdom cannot change, but can arrange and classify ideas each in its proper place, and show where mind falls short of wisdom. To suppose mind is wisdom is as false as to suppose power is weight.
The natural man, whose intellect is linked with the brutes, and who cannot see beyond matter, reasons this way: He is in matter, but thinks he is outside of it. He cannot see his absurd mode of reasoning, but it is shown in disease. Physical
man is composed of fluids and gases, and also mind. The mind is supposed to be the offspring of his body, or brain, although in his conversation he makes a distinction between them; and being in matter his intelligence cannot see beyond it. Therefore he only believes in a superior wisdom as a mystery. The fact that he admits it as a mysterious gift or power shows that he does not know it. To make man know himself is to convince him, that he, his wisdom, is as distinct from his belief as he is from anything that exists separate from him. Then he will give to mind an identity embracing everything having a beginning and ending. Sickness and disease are contained in it, but wisdom is no part of it.
If we see a dead person we have no idea of a wisdom that exists with all the faculties that were exhibited through the body. We try to believe but our belief is vague; we cannot describe it. Man is not developed enough to see outside of his idea "matter." He is in the idea prophesying of what may come hereafter. I have developed this wisdom, which is the real man, till I have broken through the bars of death and can see beyond the world of opinions into the light of Science. I can see what things have being, and how we take our opinions for truth.
The moon is a figure of the natural man. Its light is borrowed, or the light of the opinions of the sun. It thinks it has light of itself, but the sun's light knows that it is the reflection of the sun's light. The wise man in like manner knows that the light of the body or natural man is but the reflection of the scientific man. Our misery lies in this darkness. This is the prison that holds the natural man, till the light of Wisdom bursts his bonds, and sets the captive free. Here is where Christ went to preach to the prisoners bound by error, before the reformation of Science.
I will try to define what I mean by the scientific man or man outside of matter. To do this I must assume myself in relation to mind as God stands to all creation. The natural man is only an idea made by God's wisdom, like a shadow.
After this shadow goes through a certain change like any other matter it is in a state to be a medium of a higher power than itself. God sent an identity of His wisdom to take control of the medium and carry out His design and bring man to
a knowledge of the Father. This identity that He sends is Science or the Son of God.
To illustrate I must use a figure so you can get my meaning. For if you do not do the thing God does you cannot be the Son of God. Jesus was called the Son of God. Why was He called the Son of God? Because He did the will of His Father who sent Him. To be a Son of God you must do His will, and His will is to subject your errors to the Truth, so that you can know that you are born of God. Now, I will suppose that God, when He spoke man into existence knew that man was His own idea. A chemical change was going on for a certain time till man became of age, or men became ready to be governed by a higher principle than matter. Science is this principle put into practice. So Science is the Son of God or Wisdom. Now Science being the Son of Wisdom, it is a part of Wisdom. Give this Science an identity with a knowledge of its Father, and then you have a Son ready to take possession of matter when matter becomes purified, or a chemical change takes place in it so that it can be governed by an independent power. . . . This Son or Science is not seen by the natural man, so the natural man thinks his life is in this belief. Now to come to the knowledge of this Science is the new birth.
All mankind have respect for wisdom or something superior to themselves that they cannot understand. Man of himself is naturally indolent, brutish, and wilfully stupid, content to live like the brute. He is pleased at any bauble or trifling thing. He has imitation and tries to copy whatever pleases him; in this he shows reverence for his superiors. As he does not posses Science he is often deceived. Thus he is made timid and willing to be led. His courage is the courage of ignorance and when he sees superior numbers he curls down like a dog when whipped by his master. Easily led and easily deceived, no confidence is to be placed on his word, for his word is always like the wag of a dog's tail, to show his submission. But when his ends are answered, his next act might be to injure the one that had saved him from trouble. He is easy in his manners if all goes well, but if needed for anything, like the dog he is ready at the whistle of his master or any one that will pat him, to bite his own master or any one else.
Now because the brutes can be taught something it does not follow that they can be taught Science. They have their bounds which they cannot pass. So the natural man has his bounds which he cannot pass. But when I speak of the natural man, I speak of that wisdom that is based on an opinion. The brute is undergoing a change by the introduction of the wisdom of man. So the natural man is undergoing a change by the introduction of the Scientific Man. The brute is developed as far as the wisdom of man is capable of instructing him. So Science takes the man of opinions and instructs him in the Wisdom of God. As every man has more of the wisdom of opinions than of Science, he is ignorant of himself, and being ignorant he can see only one character; for all the wisdom he has is public opinion. He is up today and down to-morrow, and knows not the cause of his rise or fall. His change is so gradual that he never knows he has changed but supposes that all changes go to prove that he has remained the same. These minds are often found in politics. You will hear a person say, "I was always a Democrat or Federalist, and my father and grandfather were before me." Now this is a man of one idea. He is like the old grey-headed veteran who stands on Mt. Joy and looks around on Portland and then turns to his young friend and says, "My lad, I remember when I helped cut the wood where the city now stands, eighty or ninety years ago." His young friend says "You must have changed very much." "Oh! I am older, but I am the same man I was then." In reality there is not a single idea about him that is the same. So it is with the political man. His senses are attached to the word "democrat," and as long as that word lives in the wisdom of opinions he is a Democrat; and so long as this identity lives in him he never changes, for his senses never were attached to any principle.
So the changes of principle are nothing to him, as he never had any.
Science being a stranger to both, cannot work like the demagogue appealing to one idea. For the senses of the scientific man are attached to the Wisdom that governs both. So as progress is the order of the day, the senses of the masses become attached to new ideas and detached from old ones, and thus parties are all the time changing and minds are changing to suit the times. This gives the demagogue
a chance to appeal to the masses, and as long as they can lead the masses by one popular name, they use any sort of cunning that comes up to suit their convenience.
I am often asked where I differ from a spiritualist. In everything, but as this is an opinion I will try to make it clear. The spiritualists believe in the dead rising, and they sometimes say there is no such thing as death. Now let us see what their works show. The senses of the natural man are attached to his knowledge, and that is made of opinions, and so his senses are attached to his opinions. His opinions embrace all belief. So to destroy his belief is to destroy his life, for his life is in his belief, and a part of it.
Let us see what his belief embraces. In the first place he believes in matter, called living matter, that has life; for he says that life or matter must die or perish. Now here is the contradiction in the spiritualists' belief. They deny that the dead rise, but if the dead do not rise, what are the dead? You are pointed to a man lying motionless and to all appearance even according to a spiritualist, dead. Now is he dead, or is he not dead? The spiritualist may answer. He says the body is dead. Was it ever alive? You must say, "yes," for I point to a man moving around and ask if that man is dead and your answer is, "no." Then he must be a living man, and according to your belief we have a living man and a dead one. Now where do they differ? Here is the mystery, their belief like all others flies back to the old superstition which they have all believed: that the dead rise, and in this fog they get lost.
I will show you where I differ from spiritualists and in fact all other sects. If you will admit that mind is spiritual matter, for the sake of listening to my ideas, I will give you my theory. I assert that according to man's belief there are certain facts admitted and established beyond a doubt, and as my wisdom is not of this world or man's belief, only in part, it follows that what I know I have no opinion about. All knowledge that is of man is based on opinions. This I call this world of matter; it embraces all that comes within the so-called senses. Man's happiness and misery is in his belief, but the wisdom of science is of God, not of man.
To separate these two kingdoms is what I am trying to do, and if I can succeed in this I have accomplished what never
has been done, but what has been the aim of the philosophers since the world began. The secret of life and happiness is the aim of all mankind, and how to get at it is the mystery that has baffled the wisdom of the world. I should never undertake the task of explaining what the wise men have failed to do but for the want of some better proof to explain phenomena that come under my own observation. The remedies have never destroyed the cause nor can the cause be destroyed by man's reason, and Science cannot admit what cannot be proved. Until some better proof of what we see and hear and feel can be produced the world must grope in darkness and scepticism.
I will separate the two worlds of which I am now speaking and show what one has failed to do, also that the other is not acknowledged as independent of the first. The world of opinions is the old world. That of Science is the new, and a separation must take place and a battle fought between them. The world of error and opinions has held Science in bondage ever since man began to be independent of savage life. The child of Science has been nourished in the bosom of its mother in the wilderness of error till it grew up so as to assume a character, then when it has undertaken to assume its rights it has always been met with the thunder of error. But as it is so much of a friend to the happiness of man, the enemies or error could never prevent its growth, for that was in the scientific world, and that world has no matter, or it is so rarified that error cannot see through it. So the scientific man can pass through the errors and instruct the child of Science till it bursts forth and becomes a man or law. Then the natural man or error destroys its leaders and falls down and worships the scientific laws, and acknowledges them as king of this world. As Science is now acknowledged, the kings of the earth are cut off and the kingdom is divided against itself; the leaders with their armies flee into the wilderness, there to rally for another attack when any new science is started. Now the Science of Life and Happiness is the one that has met with the most opposition from the fact that it is death to all opposers. It never compromises with its enemies, nor has it any dealings with them, Its kingdom is of Truth, not of error; therefore it is not of this world of matter.
I will state its laws, how much it admits, how much it condemns and how it puts its laws in force. Its habitation
is in the hearts of men, it cannot be seen by the natural man, for he is of matter. All he has is his senses, there is his residence for the time, he has no abiding city, but is a traveler or sojourner in the world. His house is not made with hands but is in the scientific world. So his whole aim is the happiness of man. The scientific man sees through matter which is only an error acknowledged as a truth, although it is to the natural man a reality. As error holds on to all territory as under its power, it keeps the scientific man in slavery or bondage. So to keep the Science of Life down, men invent all sorts of humbugs in the shape of invisible things and attribute life to them, while they pretend to be the people's guide to wisdom. It is almost impossible to tell one character from another, as . both communicate through the same organs. As the scientific man has to prove his wisdom through the same matter that the natural man uses he is often misrepresented and put down by false stories of the errors of the natural man. This was where Jesus found so much trouble in His day, for the people could not tell who was speaking.
The scientific man was called by the natural man, "angel." So if an angel spoke he would listen. The natural man, being superstitious and ignorant, is easily led by the cunning errors of the world; the leaders, being crafty and superstitious, believe in every phenomenon which is produced, and they attribute it to a power from the invisible world. The locality of this world is the mystery, so all varieties of speculations are got up about it. It opens all the avenues of matter, through which to give the inhabitants "communications." But the natural man has possession of the mediums, so that the scientific man is misrepresented in nine-tenths of all he says. To be in the scientific world is to acknowledge a wisdom above the natural man, which will enter that world where wisdom sees through matter. This is the condition of those who are thrown into the clairvoyant state. To them matter is nothing but an idea that is seen or not, just as it is called out. . .. The explanation is given by these blind guides, who have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, and hearts but cannot understand Science. They are afraid of the truth lest it destroy them, for the death of error is the introduction of the Science of Life and Happiness.
As the standards of parties are established by error; it is
almost impossible to introduce any new science unless it is explained on some of the theories of the natural man. Thus all phenomena are thrown into the hands of blind guides who have pronounced judgment upon everything that has appeared. Whenever anyone shows a phenomenon, the priest and doctor catch the idea out of the mouth of the author and explain it on some theory already known to the people. The theory of health is one that has come up many times and failed because of the blindness of the wise, so that it has now almost become a terror to the one who had boldness enough to stand up and face the blind leaders of the blind. . . .
This Christ whom you crucify by your theories, is the same that Jesus taught eighteen hundred years ago. It was taught by the prophets of old and has always been in the world, but has never been applied to the curing of disease, although false Christs have arisen and deceived the people, and the true Christ has been crucified by the priest and doctor to this time.
I will now try to establish this science or rock and upon it I will build the Science of Life. The starting-point is animal matter or life which set in action, leads to thought. Thoughts, like grains of sand, are held together by their own sympathy or attraction. The natural man is composed of these particles of thought combined and arranged to make a form called man. As thought is always changing, so man is always throwing off particles or thoughts and receiving others.
As man's senses are in his wisdom, and his wisdom is attached to his idea or body, his change of mind is under one of the two directions, either of this world of opinions, or of God or Science and his happiness or misery is the result of his thought. As the idea man has always been under the wisdom of this world, the scientific man has always been kept down, from the fact that no man has ever risen to that state where the scientific man could control the wisdom of the natural man. This has always caused man to be at war with himself.. In this warfare if the natural man rules, disease and unhappiness are the fate of man. If Science rules, life and happiness are the reward.
Now I stand alone on this rock, fighting the errors of this world, and establishing the Science of Life by my works. What is my mode of warfare? With the axe of truth, I strike at the root of every tree of error and hew it down, so that there
shall not be one error in man showing itself in the form of disease. My knowledge is my wisdom and is not matter or opinion. It decomposes the thoughts, changes the combinations and produces an idea clear from the error that makes a person unhappy or diseased. You see I have something to reason about, and this something is eternal life, which is in Science and is what Jesus tried to establish.
If I can show that man's happiness is in his belief and his misery is the effect of his belief then I shall have done what never has been done before. Establish this and man rises to a higher state of wisdom not of this world, but of that world of Science which sees that all human misery can be corrected by this principle, as well as the evil effects of error. Then the Science of Life will take place with other sciences. Then in truth can be said "Oh! death (or error) where is thy sting. Oh! grave where is thy victory!" The sting of ignorance is death. But the wisdom of Science is life eternal.
I will show the world's reasoning and how I reason. I will take the oracles of the world, for all science of this world of opinions has oracles. These oracles of which I speak are those who pretend to instruct the people in regard to health and happiness. The first is the clergy, for they take the lead in everything pertaining to man's happiness. I will ask them what they think of Jesus, His mission if He had any, and of what advantage it was to the world. They reply that the world had gone so far astray that it was necessary to send Jesus Christ into the world to convince man of a future state of rewards and punishments, that he might repent and be saved. If this is true I ask why did Jesus devote so much time to the sick? (Oracle) To show that He came from God. (Q) What does that prove? If I cure a person does it prove that I come from God? (O) No, but do you make yourself equal with Christ? (Q) Have you any proof of any thing that you never saw and is only an opinion? (O) The Bible. (Q.) Does the Bible speak for itself or does some one explain it? (0) We must take the Bible as our guide to truth.
Let us now sum up the wisdom which this oracle has delivered. All of his wisdom is founded on an opinion that there is another world and that Jesus came from that world to communicate the fact to the inhabitants of this one. The happiness of man is not increased by this theory, because this oracle cannot cure the sick. Now Jesus cured the sick and
said if they understood Him they might do the same. We want a theory like that of Jesus, not of talk but of words, for a theory that cannot be put into practice is worthless.
My oracle is Jesus: He proves the goodness of wisdom. Jesus was the oracle and Christ the wisdom shown through this man for the happiness of the sick who had been deceived by the other two classes, priest and doctor. God or Wisdom has seen how these blind guides had robbed the widow and the poor of their treasures, deserted them and left them forsaken and despairing, dependent upon the charity of a wicked world.
This wisdom developed itself through the man Jesus and He fearlessly stood up and denounced these blind guides as hypocrites and devils.
Are our senses mind? I answer, no. This was the problem ancient philosophers sought to solve. Most of them believed the soul, senses, and every intellectual faculty of man to be mind, therefore our senses must be mind. The translator of Lucretius says Lucretius attacks the ancient academics who held the mind to be the sole arbiter and judge of things, and establishes the senses to be the arbitrators. For, says he, "whatever can correct and confute what is false, must of necessity be the criterion of truth, and this is done by the senses only." This difference is true in part. Both were right. But they confused mind and senses into one, like the modern philosophers who make wisdom and knowledge, mind and senses, Jesus and Christ, synonymous. Now mind and senses are as distinct as light and darkness, and the same distinction holds good in wisdom and knowledge, Jesus and Christ. Christ, Wisdom and the spiritual senses are synonymous. So likewise are Jesus, knowledge and mind. Our life is in our senses: and if our wisdom is in our mind, we attach our life and senses to matter. But if our wisdom is attached to Science, our life and senses are in God, not in matter; for there is no matter in God or Wisdom; matter is the medium of Wisdom.
This difference has been overlooked by the ancients. And modern philosophers have put mind and soul in matter, thus making a distinction without a difference. Now according to modern philosophy, the soul, mind, life and senses are all liable to die; but according to this truth mind is spiritual
matter, and all matter must be dissolved. Wisdom is not [physical] life. Our senses are not life. But all of these are solid and eternal; and to know them is life and life eternal. Life is in the knowledge of this wisdom, and death is in the destruction of your opinions or matter.
I will give some experiments of a man of wisdom acting through and dissolving the man of matter so the man of wisdom can escape. This process is Science. Take for example two persons, or you and myself. One wishes to communicate to the other some fact. You feel a pain, I also feel it. Now the sympathy of our minds mingling is spiritual matter. But there is no wisdom in it, for wisdom is outside of matter. If we both feel the same pain, we each call it our own; for we are devoid of that wisdom which would make us know we were affecting each other. Each one has his own identity and wants sympathy, and the ignorance of each is the vacuum that is between us. So we are drawn together by this invisible action called sympathy. Now make man wise enough to know that he can feel the pains of another, and then you get him outside of matter. The wisdom that knows this has eternal life, for life is in the knowledge of this wisdom. This the world is unacquainted with.
Now Jesus had more of this life or truth than any other person, and to teach it to another is a science. If you know it and can teach it, you are a teacher of the truth. But if you know it and cannot teach it, you are a follower of the truth. Now the knowledge of this truth is life, and the absence of it is death. There are a great many kinds of life. The natural man begins at his birth. Animal life is not vegetable, and vegetable is not animal life. And there is another kind of life that is not understood, and that is the life that follows the knowledge of this great truth. The word "life" cannot be applied to Wisdom, for that has no beginning and life has. The word death is applied to everything that has life. All motion or action produces life, for where there is no motion there is no life. Matter in motion is called life. Life is the action of matter, and to know it is a truth, and to know how too produce it is Wisdom. This Wisdom was possessed by Jesus, for He says: "My sheep hear my voice and I give unto them eternal life." "I (Christ) and my Father are one."
I shall show that Jesus was not life, but life or Christ was
in Him, and He taught it. He says: "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it." The people believed their life to be in themselves. But Jesus knew their lives were in God, for if they lost their opinions and found this Truth, then they had lost their life and found it.
I will now take my own practice to explain what life is according to Jesus. I said if two persons were sitting together, and each felt a pain each would call it his own. Now this pain is life, for it contains our senses, and this life is in matter, for the pain is in our mind, and our mind, senses, and life are all the same according to the world's wisdom. I know I can take a person's feelings, and this knowledge to me is truth, and to know it is life, and this knowledge the patient does not possess. He knows he has a pain and this to him is a truth, but this life is in his belief, and so his life is liable to be lost by his losing his mind. My life is in my wisdom and my wisdom is not matter. So that to know this is a truth outside of my patient's belief, and this truth contains my life. To get his senses out of his matter into this truth is to give him eternal life. I want to give him eternal life to save him from the sufferings occasioned by his belief that he may lose his life by disease of the heart. Mly wisdom acting is in matter but it is no part of it, so what to him is disease is to me spiritual matter that can be changed. His ignorance keeps his senses in fear of death, and all his life subject to bondage through his belief.
I commence by describing his feelings. These he admits; but how I can tell them is to him a mystery. This I know for I see him in his error, yet he cannot see me in his wisdom, for it is in its own prison. It wants me to explain how I can see it, and how I know how it feels. I will suppose you, the reader, to be the patient, and that you acknowledge that I tell your feelings and what you think is your disease. All this I get from you without your knowledge, therefore you do not know how I do it. So I will inform you. Ideas have life. A belief has life or matter, for it can be changed. Now all the aforesaid make up the natural man, and all this can be changed. As I am trying to convince you how I take your feelings I must use such illustrations as you understand, for my life is in my words, and if my words cannot destroy your life or matter, then I cannot give you my life or wisdom.
I will now take a rose for an illustration. You are like a rose. You throw from yourself an atmosphere or vapor. When the rose is dead all outside of it is darkness to the germ of the bud. This is the child. As the rose opens it expands and unfolds itself to the world, the same as a child's brain expands and opens the folds of its understanding. As the rose comes before the world of roses it takes its stand with the rest of its kind. So it is with man. As he unfolds his knowl- edge, he is classed with others of his kind. As the rose throws off its peculiarities to the air, the world judges of its odor. So as man throws off his peculiar character or life, health or disease, the world is to judge of his happiness or misery by the fruits of his belief.
Take a person with consumption. The idea consumption decomposes and throws off an odor that contains all the ideas of the person affected. This is true of every idea or thought. Now I come in contact with this odor thrown from you, and being well I have found by twenty years experience that these odors affect me, and also that they contain the identity of the patient whom this odor surrounds. This called my attention to it, and I found that it was as easy to tell the feelings or thoughts of a person sick as to detect the odor of spirits from that of tobacco. I at first thought I inhaled it, but at last found that my spiritual senses could be affected by it when my body was at a distance of many miles from the patient. This led to a new discovery, and I found my [real] senses were not in my body, but that my body was in my senses, and my knowledge located my senses according to my wisdom. If a man's knowledge is in matter all there is of him (to him) is contained in matter. But if his knowledge is in Wisdom, then his senses and all there is of him are outside of matter. To know this is a truth, and the effect is life in this truth, and this truth is in Wisdom. So the man who knows all this is in Wisdom with all his senses and life.
Then where do I differ from you? In this respect. My wisdom is my health, and your wisdom is your disease; for your wisdom is in your belief, and my wisdom is my life and senses, and my senses teach me that your trouble is the effect of your belief. What is light to me is darkness to you. You being in the dark stumble and are afraid of your own shadow. I with the eye of Truth see in your darkness or belief, and you seem to me blind. Or, like the rose, you cannot see the
light, while I am in the light, and see through the clouds of your ignorance, see your senses and all there is of you, held in this ignorance by error, trying like the life of the rose bud to break through and come to the light. You have eyes, taste, and all your senses, but the clouds are before them, and as Jesus said, "Ye have eyes and see not, and have ears and hear not, and a heart that cannot understand." Now what is the reason? It is this. Your eyes have not seen, your ears have not heard, and your heart has not understood what happiness there is in knowing that your life, senses, and all that there is near and dear to you is no part of matter, and that matter is only a belief or casket to hold you in till Wisdom dissolves the casket, and lets you into the light of Science. Then you will hold life in the form of the rose, and live in a world of light, where the sorrows of hell and disease can never come, where you can sit and see that what man takes for reality is only the works of heathen superstition. Then you will not be afraid of disease, which leads to death.
You may ask if all I say is true what is it good for? If it is only a belief, I admit that it is of no more value to a person than any religious belief. You may ask for proof that will give some light upon the subject. I will give it, as near as a man who has eyesight can explain colors to a blind person. When I sit by a patient, if he thinks he has disease of the heart, the atmosphere surrounding him is his belief, and the fear of death is in the density of the clouds of his mind. Now knowing he is in the clouds somewhere I, as it were, try to arouse him. But it appears as though he were blind. So I shake him to arouse him out of his lethargy. At last I see him aroused and look around, but soon sink back again. By my talk I disturb the clouds, and this sometimes makes the patient very nervous, like a person coming out of a fit or awakened from a sound sleep. What I say is truth, and being solid it breaks in pieces his matter or belief, till at last he looks up to inquire what has been the trouble. My explanation rouses him and gives another change to his mind, and that is like a thunder storm. When it thunders and the lightning flashes, the patient is nervous. When the cloud of ignorance passes over and the light of truth comes, then the patient sees where his misery came from, and that it was believing a lie that made him sick. My arguments are based upon my knowledge of his feelings, and this knowledge put in
practice is the Science of Health, 1 and is for the benefit of the sick and suffering.
Why is it that I run a greater risk of being misrepresented in regard to my mode of curing than practitioners of other schools? I must be allowed to offer my own explanation of this fact; because if I were understood I should not be in danger of being misrepresented and condemned by the guilty. I stand alone, a target at which all classes aim their poisonous darts, for I make war with every creed, profession, and idea that contains false reasoning. Every man's hand therefore is against me, and I am against every man's opinion.
Man's senses may be compared to a young virgin who has never been deceived by the world. Popular errors are like a young prince who stands ready to bestow his addresses upon all whom he can deceive. When he approaches the virgin he appears like an angel of light and wisdom. By soft speech and imposing address he wins the virgin maid to his belief. Having become entangled in his web or false doctrines, she is carried away from her home or state of innocence into the gulf of despair, there to live a miserable existence or become a slave to fashion. In this state a false theory holds out to her all kinds of ideas and she becomes a slave to the world. Error favors the utmost freedom in thought and conduct, and offers all the allurements of pleasure and enjoyment to the young. Each one is approached with some fascinating idea with which he is carried away and to which he becomes wedded. These are the ideas founded in man's wisdom, and manifested through man. The pure virgin ideas are also shadowed through the same medium, and each is addressed by truth or by error. Error in making a picture of Wisdom assumes an air of wisdom. Wisdom, however, like charity, is not puffed up and it is slighted by error. It is looked upon by the young as an old conservative. They say to it, "Depart for a time, while I enjoy the pleasure of error, and when I am satisfied I will call upon you." Wisdom is banished from the society of the world, and error like a raging lion goes about devouring all whom it can find.
In the shape of man it approaches the virgin mind, and in musical tones commences paying his addresses. Finally overcome
by sophistry, she is won to his opinions, and is soon wedded to his ideas, and they two become one flesh. Her senses are attached to matter. What is his is hers, and she is in all respects the partner and wife of error. She is no longer a virgin but a wedded wife. The belief is the husband. When a person is converted from one belief to another she leaves her husband and marries another. This was the case with the woman whom Jesus told that she had truly said she had no husband, "for he whom thou now hast is not thy husband." She had served different religious beliefs and as each was destroyed by her wisdom, she became a widow. Then she joined herself to another and became a wife. These husbands were creeds, and the virgins were those who cared nothing for religion, and had no settled opinions about the future. The beliefs in regard to another world, were represented by men, for they were the embodiment of man's opinion, like virgin soil. When Jesus sought to explain the truth, he compared it to a wedding and all who could understand entered in. The ten virgins represented two classes, one having wisdom outside of the natural senses, and those who cannot believe anything outside of their senses. When the truth came they arose and trimmed their lamps, but those who had no oil or understanding could not enter. Every one who has not risen above the natural man, but is contented with being ignorant is a foolish virgin, while those who try to understand are of the other class. Every one belongs to the former till wedded to a belief.
There is still another class. Those who having professed to belong to a certain sect and having united with it after a while leave and join another. These are persons having committed adultery, for they are living with a new belief, therefore they are to be stoned and turned out of the church. This explains the case of a woman brought before Jesus as an adulterer. She had left the world's belief, and had become interested in Jesus’ truth. To the Jews she had committed adultery and had been caught in advocating His truth. As she did not fully understand, she was not lawfully married, and her husband or the church had claims upon her. The Jews, therefore, thinking she deserved punishment, brought her to Jesus to see what His judgment would be. When He had heard their story He said, "let him who is guiltless cast the first stone." They all immediately left, and He asked her,
[paragraph continues] "where are thy accusers?" or thy fears that this is not the true light that lighteth every one that receiveth it! She replied "No belief has any effect on me." And He said, "Go thy way and believe in man's opinion no more."
This article was written from the impressions that came upon me while sitting by a young lady who was afraid of dying, and also was afraid of being blind. It may seem strange to those in health how our belief affects us. The fact is there is nothing of us [the natural man] but belief. It is the whole capital stock in trade of man. It is all that can be changed, and embraces everything man has made or ever will make. Wisdom is the scientific man, who can destroy the works of the natural man. Disease is made by the natural man's belief in some false idea. The error comes to the virgin mind and makes an impression. The soil is disturbed and the mind listens or waits to be taught. If it is misled, briars and thorns and troubles spring up in its path through life. These all go to make the man of belief. Wisdom destroys these false ideas, purifies the soil, and brings the mind under a higher state of cultivation. This is the work of Science. When a person has made himself a body of sin and death, truth destroys his death, and attaches his senses to a body of life.
Why is it that mankind have settled down on the fact that man has five senses, no more, no less? The wise say the spiritual man has two more, making seven. Now, what is a sense? We often say "such a thing comes within my senses." If "senses" mean what the wise say it does why is man set down above the brute? Let us see how they compare. Man sees, hears, tastes, smells and feels, and so does the brute; neither shows any prominence of wisdom over the other. When you ask where is man's superiority you are told that man reasons and the brute does not. Ask for proof and people can show no difference only as they make their own minds. If you place them together the brute is a little the shrewder.
Now all will admit that there is a vast difference between a wise man and a brute, but the brutal man is as much below the brute as the latter is below the wise man. This wisdom that makes man above the brute is not of this
brutal world, but comes from some higher source. I have so much confidence in the wisdom of the wise men of old that I have no doubt but they solved that question, and I have so little confidence in the wisdom of this world that I disbelieve every truth founded on man's opinion.
We often hear of the laws of God, but when we ask for wisdom on the subject, the wise fail to give us the information desired by the scientific man. They can give their opinion and as that contains no knowledge the scientific must look for wisdom elsewhere than to the wisdom of this brutal world of five senses. So I will leave man and brute with their five senses and search out some other way to solve the problem of the senses.
I will ask any one if seeing is matter, or is it something independent of matter? For instance, you see a shadow: is the power that sees any part of the shadow? All will say no. Then the shadow comes in contact with something. Now what is that something called sight or one of the senses? Is it matter? The natural man cannot answer that question any more than the brute. He says the eye is the sight. Jesus says the light of the body is the eye. So the natural man and Jesus differ. Settle this question and you have one of the five senses defined so that there can be no dispute between the scientific and natural or brutal man. As the natural man has failed to satisfy the scientific man let the latter try to convince the natural man of his error. The scientific man makes all sensation outside of the idea of matter, so that to him all sensation must be made on something independent of the natural idea of the senses.
All will admit that God knows all things. If you do not own it you must admit it if you are above the brute; else you, admitting that the brute knows nothing about God, put yourself on a level with the brute. So I take it for granted that this question is settled, that God knows all things. So God sees, that is one sense. All will admit that God is equal to man, at least in regard to wisdom. If we can show that man's senses can act independently of his natural body, if it can be shown that man's wisdom is not of matter but of God, we will divide him into as many senses as it is necessary for the scientific world.
What is necessary for the natural man's happiness is to eat, drink and enjoy himself in the easiest way he can. The
savage is a fair specimen of the natural man and the wild beast the natural specimen of the brute creation. One has no preeminence over the other—"might is right"—each is happy when not disturbed. If never disturbed they would be like the fool without even error. But disturbance brings other senses into action, and as wisdom is developed it gives man a knowledge of himself above the natural man of five senses. Thus the wisdom of the scientific man sees the man with the five senses, a little above the brute, in error trying to free himself from his earthly matter, or ignorance, and arrive at knowledge of phenomena that keep him in a state of sin, disease and death. So I will leave the man of five senses in error and talk to the scientific man about the other senses.
He is not embraced in one idea. A man may be scientific in many sciences, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, all that are acknowledged and admitted by even the natural man, though not understood. But the Science of Happiness is not acknowledged by 'the wisdom of the five senses. It requires more senses to put men in possession of this Science that will teach him happiness. As happiness is what follows a belief it is necessary to know whether our wisdom is of this world of opinion or of the world of Science. This world sees nothing outside of its senses. Wisdom sees nothing of the natural man's senses but ignorance, so that the wisdom of this world is opposed to the Science of Happiness.
Let us see what will be admitted by all. I believe it will not be denied that there is such a phenomenon as mesmerism; if it is denied those who do so may enjoy their own opinions and I will turn to those who admit it. This embraces a large class of the scientific world, so taking it for granted that the phenomenon can be produced, I will show how many senses a person has in a mesmerised state. I once put many persons into this state and none with one exception, had any idea of seeing through their [natural] eyes. There was one who thought he saw through his eyes but all experiments show that it is not so. In fact, a mesmerised subject is all that any person can be in the waking state; at the same time he is another person separate from his earthly identity. He can feel, fly, walk, and pass into the sea and describe things lost. He can find things that be knows not of in another state.
Now where and what was this invisible something that could pass in and out of matter? What is this clairvoyance?
[paragraph continues] It is the mystery or power that has troubled the wisdom of this world to solve. Solve this problem and you give a knowledge to man that the world has always admitted but not understood. To understand the phenomenon is to go back to the First Cause and see what man was. We must go back of language to find the cause that prompted man. So let us pass back of language and we see living beings going round like beasts, not seeming to have any way of communicating with each other. Then each acted on his own responsibility, eating and drinking, as it pleased himself. Now, the desire for food prompted the mind, and as food has a sort of odor that arises from it, man, like the beast, was drawn to the odor from a desire to have this sensation gratified, so that the odor attracted the man like the beast, not by sight but by smell. Here is one sensation, but with no name. It is the same in man and beast, each eats and is satisfied. As they eat taste comes. This opens the mind to see what the thing is; this brings sight, or knowledge. So they go on until all the faculties are developed. As the faculty of smell was of more importance than sight it was the one most desired. For it not only attracted the animal to the thing smelt but also warned him of the danger of being destroyed, so that all animals cultivate this sense for their safety. So by experience all animals learned to keep clear of each other by the peculiar faculty of smell. As they associated sight with the odor, then when the odor came in contact with their other senses they would create the thing contained in the odor. If it was an odor from some living thing that they were afraid of they would fly or run until they were free from their enemy. So little by little the wild beast settled down to a basis that gave each a faculty to counteract some other faculty in another. The lion depended on his smell and so did all animals who were inferior to their enemies, so that if the lion imitated some other animal, for instance if quick in his motions he would not be so acute in his smell, so the victim could keep out of the lion's way and still be in his sight. The atmosphere of the lion was certain death to the other animals, so that their fright threw off an odor that did not attract the lion until the object of his prey came in contact with his sight. So all things went on in this way and man was at the mercy of the wild beast, his sense of smell was as acute as that of the animal.
Now, necessity is the mother of invention, and it became necessary for man to introduce something to counteract the wild beast. Hence it was natural for man to give his fellowman a sign of their danger, for men like all other animals would go together in herds or parties. This state must lead to language, so that language came about for the safety of the race. Now the sense of smell was the foundation of language and as language was made to apply to some sensation, it must take time to introduce it, for the odor must be so defined that a person perceiving a thing named could describe it. . . .
As language was introduced the sense of smell became more blunt till like other instincts it gave way to another standard. As imitation was developed the practice of thinking increased, so that thinking came to be as much of a sense as smelling. The action of forming thought into things or ideas became a sense, the power or sense of imitation brought up the sense of motion so that man's thought when put into an idea would seem to have life. All the above was spiritual and it could not be seen by the natural man or beast. So the spiritual man would imitate his idea in some way so that it could be seen and felt by the natural man. Thus invention in the spiritual world was shadowed forth in the natural world. As this invention was received, the spiritual senses were not relied on for the safety of man. Warfare was kept up till man could invent castles or places to defend himself against the wild beast. At last there must be laws or regulations introduced to feed those who could not fight. The ones who stayed at home would be the weaker portion of the race, including the females, the aged and children. So laws or regulations must be adopted for their support and safety and penalties attached to the disobedience of these laws. The officers of the laws would be taken from the most aspiring and cunning part of the tribes. This placed the leaders above the masses, so competition sprang up, which increased the leaders’ perceptive faculties to invent all sorts of stories to keep the people quiet. As language was what they all wanted, those who could teach it would be looked upon as superior to the rest. Phenomena would then as now take place and the wise would be called on to explain; this introduced astrology and priestcraft. Then all sorts of invention would spring up to keep the people in submission when they grumbled at their leaders,
not as they do now, for we are born slaves, and they were born free. Therefore it required more strict laws and punishments then than now, all sorts of ideas were started, and among others the power of creating objects that could be seen was cultivated for the benefit of the wise. This introduced spiritualism among civilized tribes, at first for the benefit of the leaders. So superstition became the power to worship, and as it was necessary that some one should explain the phenomena persons would be appointed, and so priests and prophets sprang up. These men must be paid and cared for and the people were taxed to support them.
At last the tribes formed themselves into nations and kingdoms and gave the power to the priest, so the priest stood at the head of the nation. As the priesthood was founded on superstition, it was necessary to keep the people superstitious, so all sorts of inventions were created to keep the people in ignorance, and as science was invented or discovered all the discoveries were kept a secret from the people so that any chemical or mechanical effect could be produced and the people would think it came from God. Astronomy was discovered and the priests kept it as a revelation from heaven, and all their astronomical calculations were made, not as a science for the masses, but as a direct revelation from God to bring about some great design. This kept the people in a state of nervous excitement. Whatever the prophets could make the people believe, they would create. So all they had to do was to start a storm of evil spirits, and the peoples’ superstition would produce the phenomena wanted. This was proof that evil spirits did exist. Then it was not hard to make people believe evil spirits could get hold of them. At last evil spirits became a matter of fact, so much so that at the time of Saul there were some fifty ways of getting communications from God, and how many ways of getting it from the devil I know not.
We often speak of man's identity as though there were but one identity attributed to him. This is not the case. Man has as many identities as he has opinions, and the one his senses are attached to last is the one that governs him. This may seem strange but it is true. Our senses are not our identity, because they cannot change, they are principles.
[paragraph continues] But our belief, thoughts and opinions can change. So when we say a person never changes it is as much as to say he is only a brute. We say that our tastes change. Does the principle change, or our belief? The fact that we are aware of the change shows the change must be in that which can change.
Then what is it that does not change? It is that Principle that never moves, the foundation of all things. It is that which says when we have found out something new, as we think, "Why did you not find it out before?" It says to us when we are investigating certain mathematical truths, "This truth has always existed, and we believed it." This something is Wisdom. It does not come or go, but is like light. You cannot keep it out of sight, in fact you acknowledge it in every act. But that which acknowledges it is not the something acknowledged. For instance, if you work out a problem aright, you acknowledge a wisdom that existed before you knew it. The trouble is to get our senses attached to Wisdom so that we shall not change.
It is an undisputed fact which philosophy has never explained, that persons affect each other when neither are conscious of it. According to the principle by which I cure the sick such instances can be accounted for, and it can be proved beyond a doubt that man is perfectly ignorant of the influences that act upon him, and being ignorant of the cause is constantly liable to the effect. To illustrate this I will relate a case that came under observation.
A woman brought her little son, about five years old, to be treated by me. When I sat with the child I found his symptoms were similar to those which people have in spinal or rheumatic troubles. But the child being ignorant of names, and having no fear of disease could only describe his feelings in this way: He complained of being tired. Sometimes he said his leg was sore and sometimes his head was tired. To me his feelings were as intelligent as any odor with which I am familiar. I described his feelings to his mother, telling how he would appear at times. This she said was correct, and feeling impressed with the truth I told her she said she would sit with me and see if I were equally correct in describing her case. I found that the mother had precisely the same feelings as the child, yet she
complained of disease which the child never thought of, and furthermore she had not the least idea the child had such feelings. To prove that I was right about the child, I told her to ask him if he did not feel so and so when he would lay his head down, and she found I was correct. These were the mother's symptoms: A heavy feeling over the eyes, a numbness in the hands, weakness in the back, and a pain going from the foot to the hip, all accompanied by a feeling of general prostration. To her every sensation was the effect of a sort of disease, yet every sensation she had the child had also, but he had not attached names to them. After playing his leg would pain him, and he would be restless at night; while the mother reasoned from the same feelings that she had spinal disease, trouble of the heart, and was liable to have paralysis. If she had been ignorant as the child of names, she would not have had the fear of these false ideas, and the child would have been well; for all its trouble came from its mother, and her trouble was from the invention of the medical faculty.
It may be asked, how could the child be affected by its mother? In the same way I was affected. To have the sense of smell or any other sense, requires no language. An odor can be perceived by a child as well as by a grown person. To every disease there is an odor, [mental atmosphere] and every one is affected by it when it comes within his consciousness. Every one knows that he can produce in himself heat or cold by excitement. So likewise he can produce the odor of any disease so that he is affected by it. I proved that I could create the odor of any kind of fruit, and make a mesmerised person taste and smell it. 1
Ignorance of this principle prevents man from investigating the operation of the human mind. Such a course would change our whole mode of reasoning. It would destroy society as it is now and place it on another basis. In the place of hypocrisy, aristocracy and democracy, the three original elements of society, science, progress and freedom would be introduced. In his ignorant state man belongs to the lowest of the aristocracy, but as he becomes scientific he subdues this element, and then the others are not needed to sustain it. His science works out patience, his patience perseverance, and perseverance wisdom, and the fruits are
religion. Now the religion of today contains the elements of society and they run through all its roots and branches and poison its fruit. Science makes war upon this trinity, and the war will continue till it is crushed.
Then democracy will be subject to science, and hypocrisy will not appear in the leaders. Then will come a new heaven or dispensation, based on eternal Truth, and man will be rewarded for what he knows, and not for what he thinks he knows. The popular teachers will then publicly correct the democracy of the errors which make them sick, as well as political errors. Now political doctors in addressing the masses bind burdens on them, which they kneeling like camels receive and kiss the hands that bind them. This slavery is the will of aristocracy and consequently it is not popular to oppose it. Therefore no appeal must be made to the higher feelings but the base passions must be addressed. Aristocracy never complains of oppression except when it cannot oppress. Its motto is "rule or ruin," and where it rules slavery is considered a divine institution. Science is mocked at in its religion and the mockery is echoed by hypocrisy, and it sits in the hearts of the rulers and delivers the law. Science like an under-current is deep and strong, and as its tide advances it will sweep away the foundations of aristocracy. Revolutions must come, and no man can tell what will be the end of this generation. But Science will work out the problem of universal freedom to the oppressed in body and mind.
I prophesy that the time will come when men and women shall heal all manner of diseases by the words of their mouth. They will show democracy that they have been deceived by blind leaders who flattered them that they ruled, when they have no more to do with ruling the nation than the dog who is set on to the swine has to do with his master's affairs. No slave either black or white ever did or ever can rule. They both will fight for their master till they are intelligent enough to know their own rights. . . . Such evils arise from man's ignorance of himself. If man knew himself his first object would be to become acquainted with sensations that affect him. He would then learn that a corrupt fountain cannot bring forth pure water, and that from aristocracy nothing but the blackest corruption can issue, which however is becoming popular because of the fountain. From the dens
of iniquity comes an atmosphere as pleasant to aristocracy as tobacco to one who has been poisoned almost to paralysis by it. Tell him it hurts him; the answer is, I know it, but I can not help using it. Such abject servitude is the medium of aristocracy, for democracy would never have taken the weed had not the former set the example. All drugs when taken stupefy the intellect, so that science cannot reign. Error is a tyrant and democracy is its agent to destroy the progress and happiness of man. Show a man who smokes or chews just how the habit affects him and he will part company with tobacco as quickly as a democrat will leave his leaders when he sees the corruption of their motives. A democrat is like a disease, he believes in everything popular and opposes everything unpopular, and does not regard the welfare of his government.
To be popular in religion, praise the institutions of the sabbath and the church. Say what you please in the street about priestcraft and fear of man: only mention that your family go to church and you will be considered sound. To be unpopular, be honest in every act; treat others with respect; mind your own affairs, and permit others to do the same. Then like an old fashioned person you will be out of society and no one will care for you. To be independent is to speak the truth on all subjects without fear or vanity; condemn error whenever it is popular; treat others as you wish to be treated, and let your religion be shown in your acts. Such a man will be envied by aristocracy, respected by the wise, hated by hypocrites, and listened to by the thinking classes. He is at the same time popular and not popular. His style pleases the people, therefore aristocracy will be forced to admire him, in order that it may retain their power over him, for the rule is: "keep as near a kicking horse as possible."
Physicians will admit what the people believe. They will acknowledge I cure, but limit my power to a few nervous cases, and appeal to the vanity of intelligence, by saying that it is not possible that an uneducated person can really cure actual disease. . . .
This word means something or nothing. Now if it means everything it certainly means nothing, but if is applied to the
power of invention or imitation it can be understood. It is wrong however to apply it to deception, for a person must first be acted upon before his imagination can produce a phenomenon, otherwise it would apply equally to all operators, but to apply it to one phenomenon and not to another of the same kind is not right. I tell you a lie and you believe it, immediately your inventive power or imagination commences to create that which I have said. I explain the operation of a machine to you and your inventive power immediately creates it according as you understand it. This is imagination. In the first instance the world says your imagination has deceived you and there is nothing in it, but in the latter case you are right. This is a misuse of the word and you suffer from it. This power of forming ideas called imagination is one of the highest elements in the human mind, and it is the foundation of all true discovery. Yet like all scientific facts it is abused and misrepresented.
To give you a clearer idea of the misuse of this word I will illustrate it by a religious belief. Church members never use the word imagination in speaking of their belief and their religion. Do they mean to say that they believe without creating the image of their belief? If so then what they call the power that understands is really the power of imagination. The fact is that religious beliefs are founded in deception and the leaders deceive the people into them. At the same time outsiders are sceptical and apply the words "imagination" and "superstition" in derision. Every person wishing to deceive the masses calls everything imagination that does not coincide with his belief. The medical faculty have assumed to themselves the power of creating by imagination every idea based on wisdom. All ideas opposed to them are said to be false, and they say that the imagination that creates these ideas is a disgrace, and belongs to ignorance and superstition.
A physician, for instance, may tell you the most absurd falsehood that his imagination can invent, but it is "true" because it has the sanction of the faculty. If you believe him you use the power which if rightly applied is one of the best of faculties for the purpose of creating a disease which you have taken for a truth. There is no dispute or controversy about that. But if some outsider should deceive you
half as much and you should create an idea you would be accused of being superstitious, believing everything and imagining all sorts of humbugs.
The word imagination is so misapplied that it has lost all the value it ever had, and like religion it has a name without meaning covering numerous deceptions applied to weak-minded people. I never use the word as others do. When people think they have a disease which I know they have not, I do not ascribe it to their imagination, but to the fact that they have been deceived. A physician may tell you what is not true about yourself. If you believe it and he deceives you that is no disgrace to you, for it shows an honest heart and confidence in the physician. Then follows the creation and appearance of the thing he has told you. As far as you are concerned you are blameless, but the physician is a liar and hypocrite and has used your creative powers to deceive you for his own selfish ends. Now when their hypocrisy and deceit are exposed they cry out, "humbug, our craft is in danger: this quack works upon the imagination of the sick and makes them believe the medical faculty are not honest."
Let me call your attention to one fact; the word imagination never applies to the first cause. There is a superior power that originates, and imagination does the work and produces. Science detects the direction that is given to imagination and corrects it if false. All men have gone out of the way, and no one reasons from Science. So Wisdom classes them all, that it may save the whole by introducing the light of a new mode of reasoning that will separate error from truth. This refers to the subject of health and happiness and not to arts and sciences. The evils that affect the body and mind are included.
No one knows the mischief or the misery that physicians of all kinds make by their opinions, and this never will be known till man learns that his belief makes his trouble. For instance, a person feels a slight disturbance at the pit of the stomach. Ignorant of its cause, he applies to a physician. Here comes the trouble. The physician assumes a false character. His practice makes him either a simpleton or a knave, for if honest he would know that he could not tell anything
about the patient. If he were blind he could not even tell that the patient was sick, so that all his knowledge is gathered from observation and questioning. Therefore he is doctor only in name. He dare not risk his reputation by sitting down by the patient and telling his feelings as I do. Therefore he knows he is acting the part of a hypocrite. The patient is in the hands of a deceiver, whose business it is to deceive him into some belief that happens to occur to him. At this time the physician stands to the patient like a tailor ready to fit him a garment. If rich he will persuade him he has the spinal complaint, or bronchitis, or some other disease that fits the patient's fears. If very poor, and there is no chance for a speculation, he will fit an old pair of worn out lungs on to him, just enough to keep him breathing a short time. This is the way the regular faculty humbug the people. Now when the people are educated to understand that what they believe they will create, they will cease believing what the medical men say, and try to account for their feelings in some more rational way.
I know that a belief in any disease will create a chemical change 1 in the mind, and that a person will create a phenomenon corresponding to the symptoms. This creation is named disease, according to the author. The idea disease has no effect on a person who has no fear of it. The idea small-pox, for instance, produces no effect on a person who has had it, or has had the varioloid, or has been vaccinated; but on another it is not so. The doctor can produce a chemical change by his talk. It makes no difference what he says. A phenomenon will follow to which he can give a name to suit his convenience.
For instance, a person gets into an excited, heated state and a doctor is called. He gives medicine which affects the patient and he feels better. That then is what the patient needed and the doctor has the credit. If the patient grows worse the medicine makes him sick; the doctor says he has the symptoms of a fever, while in reality he himself has been the cause of nine-tenths of the trouble. Give men the knowledge of one great truth, that man is constituted of two different principles: wisdom which is seen in Science, and error which is seen in matter or in opinions. The latter is governed by no principle known to man, but is simply the action of cause and effect; but man who sees only the phenomenon
puts wisdom into it, for the cause is never seen. To the natural man this is a mystery.
I will illustrate it. Take the small-pox. The first sensation upon the patient contains neither opinion, happiness nor misery. The cause was one of the natural results of motion which might be traced back through many changes containing no more harm than any breeze that reaches man at any hour, but it gives a start to the mind like the fall of a weight. This shock although containing no intelligence, disturbed the spiritual senses (the real man). I will drop this illustration here and undertake to describe the real man and separate him from what seems to be the man.
The spiritual senses are all that there is of a man. Therefore when he changes his senses, 1 it is necessary to know what he gains or loses by the change and also what he embraces. To suppose a man has but five or seven senses is as absurd as to suppose he has but a certain number of ideas. His senses are himself, what he knows and what he thinks he knows. Paul divides man into two identities: Wisdom or what could be proved by a science, and knowledge or what man believes to be true. So when a man says he thinks he knows or believes he knows it is sure that he does not know as he should. But if he can prove his knowledge by science then Science is known to him. Man's senses embrace these two characters, which are natural opponents, to both of which life has been attached. The scientific man sees and knows himself, and he also sees and knows his opponent, but the man of opinion can only see the scientific man in a mystery. As Wisdom advances in man the effect is to destroy the senses [belief] which are attached to knowledge. When knowledge overbalances a man's wisdom, his error reigns, but if wisdom is in the ascendency his knowledge becomes subject to his wisdom. In mathematics, chemistry and all the arts and sciences that can be demonstrated knowledge submits to wisdom, but that part of man's senses attached to knowledge that is not subject to science is in the ascendency in religion, disease, and politics. These are false sciences based on opinions. They are the same that Jesus denounced as false prophets, evil and blind guides who deceived the people. These errors embrace that part of man that believes in sickness, death, another world, and all kinds of superstition.
[paragraph continues] They beget tyranny and selfishness in man, and slavery and democracy in nations. It is the mission of Science to destroy these, and Science will be developed till they are destroyed.
Therefore where man's confidence in these opinions is at an end his senses will seem to be annihilated, but in reality he will be like the young eagle which has burst its shell and soars aloft on the wings of wisdom, where he looks down upon the earth and sees the natural man crawling like a reptile waiting to devour the child of science as soon as it is born. Every development of Wisdom whether applied to creeping things or to the element of freedom, is the child of God. Concealed in the egg of slavery wisdom is kept warm by the heat of discussion, but now it has broken its shell and assumed a character and the enemies of freedom, like those of Christ stand ready to devour it as soon as it is born. But the mother of freedom will receive the child to its bosom, and will flee into the wilderness till the time arrives, when the senses of man will be so changed that slavery will be chained to the lowest grade of brutality and then in the wilderness it will die and be forgotten. The error of disease will go through a similar revolution, for it has been hatched by the church, kept concealed by the medical faculty, while their opinions are the very food that has fed the child of science whose heel shall bruise the head of the serpent disease. These two characters, science and error are separate and yet they act together and always will till Truth reigns over all the dominions of opinion. They are embraced in every man and the separation was the Science that Jesus taught. To understand the separation is eternal life in Science.
Jesus came into the world of error, not into Science for he was there with Wisdom. All Science was with Wisdom, and when it comes to the world it comes as Jesus did. It first comes to the educated, but they having no light to distinguish between truth and error, and cannot receive it. So it turns to that class which have no prejudices, and here in the wilderness it develops itself until it has attained its growth and then it comes forth. Then commences the war between the educated who are ignorant of the truth and Science. While Science is growing in the minds of the people its opponents are eating and drinking, gloating over their spoils, till the tide of popular opinion sweeps away
their foundation. They never seem to realize their danger till their house falls over their heads. This has been the case with the democratic house, while they still hold to the idea that slavery will be tolerated. The thunder of freedom is shaking the temple to its foundation, and they hide themselves in the crevice of their belief, exclaiming "I was always opposed to the extension of slavery but the constitution must not be violated," that is, you must not break the egg by the heat of discussion and let out the bird of liberty, for if you do democracy is dead.
The medical faculty reason in the same way. "Do not destroy the medical constitution," they say, "for you will let in a swarm of quacks that will get the world in a horrid state. The regular physician will have no standing and sickness and death will triumph over the land." The ministers also exclaim, "Do not touch the Divine institution, for religion is all that keeps the world from going to destruction." Wisdom replies, "I will laugh at your fears, and I will pour out light like wrath and cut you off from the face of the earth and give the earth (or mind) to a more enlightened people, who will obey the laws of Science and teach others to do the same, and you shall be cast into everlasting misery." This is progression and it is the religion of Jesus. It is the stone of science that the builders of religion rejected. It is the star that guided the wise men to the only true God. Its body is wisdom, its blood is its life and unless you eat it and drink it you have no life in you. Happy is he who when a cloud of disease comes (for the Lord is always in clouds of error) can say I fear not, fear hath torment and perfect love casteth out fear. He will rise from the clouds and meet Christ above the opinions of man, then when Science comes you will not be harmed.
I wish to make you understand these two characters, Science and opinions. Give to each an identity like a man and separate one from the other, and then see which you follow; for you must follow one, you cannot serve both at the same time. If you serve Science, you are in your wisdom and know it. If you serve opinion, you have no wisdom but your life is in a belief that can be destroyed. So you will live all your life subject to bondage through fear of death. But if you have passed through death or opinion to the life of Science death will have no power over you. Disease is death and the belief is the fear, therefore if death is destroyed the fear is gone.
[paragraph continues] It becomes us then to search into the causes of the phenomenon called disease and find if it is not an image of our own make. The Jewish people were making all sorts of false beliefs that tormented them. So God through Moses says, "Thou shalt make no graven images" to represent any false idea which they had been taught, nor worship any superstition, for truth was jealous of error. It always condemns our error and rewards our scientific acts. Disease was conceived in priestcraft and brought forth in the iniquity of the medical faculty. The priest prophesied falsely and the doctors flourished by their lies, and the people love to have it so. Then the question arises, what can you do to prevent it? I say, repent all, and be baptized in the Science that will wash away your sins and diseases with your belief. Come out from the world of opinion, and when a doctor says you have so and so, make him prove it.
The great obstacle in establishing a new science in the understanding of the people arises from their ignorance. Science always has had to contend with this difficulty, and no one has as yet been able to direct the mind of man towards the true mode of reasoning so that superstition should dissolve before the advancing light of science; for man has always been ignorant of himself, and his errors he has fastened upon others. There are two modes of reasoning, both true to the one that believes them, and neither anything to the person that knows the truth. To the scientific mind a superstition about anything that science has explained is nothing. But to the unscientific mind it may be a truth. Now the science to be established is based on truth which can be applied to a false mode of reasoning and not only destroy it but bring about a more perfect and better state of society, and sweep away the lies that like the locusts of Egypt are devouring our lives and happiness. This cannot be done by any philosophy known to the world, for the present mode of reasoning is based on the errors the coming science is to destroy. If Satan cast out satan, then his kingdom is divided against itself. But if Wisdom casts out error, true Science will stand. I base my reasoning on a stone which the builders of error have rejected.
Every idea having a form visible to the world of matter, is admitted by that world as matter. The reasoning which stands on this basis is one world, and scientific knowledge is
another. Science does not make peace with the world; it makes war. It seeks not to save the life of error, but to destroy it. It sets ideas at variance with each other, the father against the son. It sets the world of matter in motion, that it may like the earth be prepared to receive a higher cultivation. This has been done in a vast number of cases. But in the things that concern man's health and happiness the world is in Egyptian darkness. This subject never has been sounded. The cause of man's misery and trouble lies in our false reasoning. It always has and it always will be so till man is convinced that his happiness depends on his wisdom, and his misery on his belief. True, he may be happy for a time in believing a lie, but that is like a man finding happiness in taking opium. It stupefies him so he is not sensible of his trouble, but it really increases his misery. Mind like the earth is under the direction of a higher power, which is subject to Wisdom. The world calls it God. To one matter is nothing, to the other it is everything. To science it is an unexplained error. To belief it is a real living substance. I am now speaking of the subject of health. I do not include any true science. But every science not based on the rock I have mentioned must crumble if that rock falls on it, and every idea that is rooted in matter and bears the fruit of misery must be hewn down.
Theories are like trees and ideas can be grafted into them, thereby changing the whole character of the fruit. Jesus engrafted this Truth into the understanding of the people by means of parables. Every one knows that ideas can be sown in the mind like seed in the ground, and that they will grow and bear fruit. The causes of both phenomena are unknown to us, but to the world above matter they are known. To Wisdom these facts are mere ideas, but to matter they are solid truths.
As I have said, everything having a visible form is matter, but there are things into which the world has put life which bring no danger to man, because they contain no knowledge. There are others which contain misery, such as the ideas of disease.
According to the world there is such a disease as small-pox. With God or Wisdom this must be truth or it must be a lie, or belief in a lie. No one will believe that Wisdom can have small-pox. Therefore its foundation must be in this world and it must be confined to the inhabitants of this world. Wisdom
teaches that error can create out of itself another error the same as a tree can bring forth another tree, and that mind can generate itself. Wisdom does not create wisdom, for it fills all space and sheds its light upon the world of matter, thus destroying the things of darkness and bringing to light things hidden.
Small-pox is like a tree whose fruits are scattered abroad infecting those who eat them. It is a superstitious idea and like all such it has a religious cast. It deceived the world so that every person was liable. Therefore the idea "kine-pox" was sent into the world that all might be saved or vaccinated. As many as received the virus or were baptized with the belief were saved. Here is introduced another world which is deliverance from small-pox. To all who have passed from their old belief into the world of vaccination there is no fear of death from small-pox, but a fear lest they have not been vaccinated with genuine virus. Now what does their salvation rest upon? It rests on no principle outside the mind. In ignorance of causes people are satisfied with some one's belief that there is virtue in this savior. Thus their minds are quiet and the fruits are a milder disease, if the graft is put into a healthy tree (or child).
This will apply to all diseases. Every disease is the invention of man and has no identity in Wisdom, but to those who believe it it is a truth. If everything he does not understand were blotted out, what would be there left of him? Would he be better or worse, if nine-tenths of all he thinks he knows were blotted out of his mind, and he existed with what was true? I contend that he would as it were sit on the clouds and see the world beneath him tormented with ideas that form living errors whose weight is ignorance. Safe from their power, he would not return to the world's belief for any consideration. In a slight degree this is my case. I sit as it were in another world or condition, as far above belief in disease as the heavens are above the earth. Though safe myself, I grieve for my fellow man, and I am reminded of the words of Jesus when He beheld the misery of His countrymen: "O Jerusalem! How oft would I gather thee as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not." I hear this truth now pleading with man, to listen to the voice of reason.
I know from my own experience with the sick that their troubles are the effect of their own belief; not that their belief
is the truth, but their belief acts upon their minds, bringing them into subjection to their belief, and their troubles are a chemical change that follows.
Small-pox is a reality to all mankind. But I do not include myself, because I stand outside where I can see things real to the world and real with Wisdom. I know that I can distinguish a lie from a truth in religion, or in disease. To me disease is always a lie, but to those who believe it it is a truth, and religion the same. Until the world is shaken by investigation so that the rocks and mountains of religious error are removed and the medical Babylon destroyed, sickness and sorrow will prevail. Feeling as I do and seeing so many young people go the broad road to destruction, I can say from the bottom of my soul, "Oh priestcraft! fill up the measure of your cups of iniquity, for on your head will come sooner or later the sneers and taunts of the people." Your theory will be overthrown by the voice of Wisdom that will rouse the men of Science, who will battle your error and drive you utterly from the face of the earth. Then there will arise a new science, followed by a new mode of reasoning, which shall teach man that to be wise is to unlearn his errors. Wisdom cannot learn, but it can destroy.
The introduction of Science is like engrafting. Every graft does not live, for some have no life except what they derive from error. When you believe a lie in the form of some disease, and the doctor comes, he does not engraft into your wisdom, but into your belief. Each must have graft of its kind. Small-pox is a lie, and so is kine-pox. It is the offspring of the former, and the senses becoming separated from the one, cling to the other. Wisdom shows that they are both false, and that they are the inventions of superstition. Thus the world is vaccinated from one lie into another, and this is called progress. But the time must come when this false mode of reasoning shall give way to a higher wisdom by which all things are proved.
I tell you a lie which you believe and an effect follows: this does not prove that I told the truth because the effect is seen. For instance, I tell you that you have small-pox. This shocks you and you are really frightened. A phenomenon attends or follows the fright. The physicians are consulted and they pronounce the disease small-pox. To you and to the world this is proof that it is small-pox. But to me it is only proof that you believed a lie.
Now the question to settle is this, can a lie act upon a person who believes it so as to make him sick? No one will deny that statement I think. Nothing then produces something, unless a lie is something, and if it is where does it start from? To me the lie and the effect are both nothing. So when I sit by a sick person I come in contact with what they call "something." This something frightens them, and another "something" is produced which they express by aches and pains, and other bad feelings. All these they think come from what they call disease. To me this something that they call disease is a lie which they believe, and their aches and pains are the expressions of their fears, and are like moans of a criminal sentenced to be hung or shot. Now comes the process of vaccination, or conversion, which is getting them out of one lie into another. The doctor introduces his opinion like virus which being received into the mind, a change is produced, and if his arguments are heeded, a milder disease is brought forth in the new graft, and finally the person is carried to that state of mind called "safe." The priest goes through the same process. First he affirms his belief till the people become alarmed. He then introduces his opinion as a means of safety, and when this is received the mind is quieted, and this is conversion. The world has been humbugged by these two classes till the sick are tired of life; their substance is devoured; their fields of happiness are laid waste, and every kind of enjoyment destroyed. While the people are in this state, another swarm of locusts come upon them to get what is left. These are the political demagogues, the second growth that always springs up after the others get the mind troubled and ready to be affected. These parties are the scourges that pursue society as it passes through the wilderness of error to the land of happiness and science. This journey that science has been traveling is dotted with little opinions where Wisdom has cleared up the wilderness and burned up the error. Wisdom never stops; it continues, and has now reached the wilderness of disease, and every tree that brings not forth good fruit will be hewn down by the axe of Science and burned up by the fire of Truth.
I have often spoken of the word mind as something which I call matter. I use this term from the fact that man cannot conceive of wisdom except as attached to matter, although
every one makes a difference between them. We always speak of mind as different from matter, one is something and the other is apparently nothing, or it is like velocity which seems to be the result of motion. There is another element called reason (like friction) which sees the effect, but being ignorant of the cause, puts weight and velocity together and calls them one. We are all taught to believe that mind is wisdom and here is the trouble, for if mind is wisdom then Wisdom cannot be relied on, for all will admit that the mind changes. Jesus separates the two by calling one the wisdom of this world and the other the wisdom of God. If we understand what He meant by "this world" we can follow Him.
I have spoken of that element in man called reason. This is a low intellect a little above the brute which is the link between God and mind, and the same that is called by Jesus the wisdom of the world, for this world is another name for spiritual matter. Now mind is the spiritual earth which receives the seed of Wisdom, and also the seeds of the wisdom of this world of reason. Disease is the fruit of the latter, and the application of the wisdom of God or Science is the clearing away the foul rubbish that springs up in the soil or mind. This rubbish is the false ideas sown in the mind by blind guides, who cry peace when there is no peace. Their wisdom is of this world that must come to an end, when the fire of Truth shall run through this world of error and burn up the stubble and the plough of Science, guided by the wisdom of God and pressed forward by the power of eternal truth, shall root out of the mind or matter every root and stubble. Then error can find no place to take root in the soil. Then minds like a rich cultivated vineyard shall bring forth that which shall be sweet to the taste and pleasing to the eye. Then man can see and judge of the tree for himself, whether its fruits are those of error and opinions or of Science.
It is a common remark that if Jesus should appear on earth and could hear the explanations given to the remarks which he made eighteen hundred years ago, He never would imagine that He was in any way alluded to. This may be true. Jesus was as any other man, but Christ was the Science which Jesus tried to teach. There never was and never can be a man who can express his thoughts without being governed more or less
by the scientific man or Christ, and the masses will receive the idea as they receive food, and will pass judgment according to their taste. Different opinions will arise, from the fact that often the writer is as ignorant of the true meaning of his ideas as his readers are, not that he does not know what he says, but there is in each person a hidden meaning or truth that he as a man does not know. When one reads or hears anything it awakens in him, some new idea which perchance the author never thought of, yet the author feels as though he had a similar idea of its meaning. It is the Christ in us making itself known through the senses, and as the senses are the only medium the world acknowledges, Wisdom uses them to destroy the darkness which prevents us from knowing ourselves.
Thus it is when we read the works of the old authors. They have been misrepresented, from the fact that the readers’ minds have been so dull that there was not sufficient light to penetrate through: so the dark explanations which are given become true ones till the world becomes educated up to a higher point where it shall see that truths may have been conveyed in the writings which the author himself had no idea of. Every person is more or less clairvoyant [intuitive], and is in two states of mind at the same time, and when any one writes he is not aware that he is dictated [guided] by a Wisdom that he thought his natural senses does not know.
On this principle rogues bring their evil deeds to light. Their crimes excite the mind and expose evils to view, for by their efforts to conceal their crimes they betray them to others by looks, acts, or words. This is as it should be and the better it is understood the more it will bring about the desired effect.
Every act or thought contains the higher science. The natural man calls it reaction, but it is wisdom. If you put sufficient wisdom in an act you will see what the reaction will be. You can hardly suppose a person so ignorant as not to know that when a stone is thrown into the air, it will come down again. If you put the wisdom in the stone, the stone would not know what the reaction would be, but if you put sufficient wisdom in the act that makes the stone go up, that wisdom will know the stone will come down again with the same force that it went up. Man's body is just as ignorant as a stone, but there are two motions which act upon it, one ignorance and the other science.
In all the crimes which man commits the act embraces the intelligence, that is, the reaction which will follow sooner or later, for every act of man's must come to light. So the person who commits a crime leaves the evidence against him just as plainly as the thief who steals in open daylight. The sick expose their idea of disease, and I know by my feelings what they know by their senses. 1 The more they try to conceal the fact, the more they expose it. Now the reason of this is that disease is a disgrace, although people try to make it fashionable; but they show they do not believe it so from the fact that they try to rid themselves of it, as they would any bad habit.
Every person has acquaintances whom they would like to get rid of, yet will put up with their company rather than cause them to feel badly. So with those who use tobacco, you will hear them say, "I know it hurts me and I wish I could leave off the habit, but I cannot." Their wisdom is not equal to what it should be or they would leave their "friend," as they call it, or their enemy in disguise. Now if their wisdom could destroy a little of the milk of human kindness, which they drink for the traitor who has no respect for their happiness except to gratify their desire, they would cut off their acquaintance as they would drop from their lips a cup of poison prepared for them by the hand of a pretended friend, and their sympathy would soon cease.
249:1 This was written in 1861.
258:1 With his subject, Lucius, 1843.
263:1 This term includes bodily changes, as well.
264:1 That is, his consciousness or belief, the direction of his mind.
274:1 That is, by an intuition which embraces Science.