GIFT OF 
 A. F. Morrison 
 
QJ 
 
 (^ 
 
 /f/r 
 
MENTAL CONTROL OF THE BODY OR 
 HEALTH THROUGH SELF-CONQUEST 
 
a 
 
 MENTAL CONTROL OF THE 
 BODY or HEALTH THROUGH 
 SELF-CONQUEST :: :: :: :: 
 
 BY 
 
 VILLETTE HUTCHINS WHITE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 EDWARD J. CLODE 
 

 UBHARY 
 
 COPYRIGHT, I917 
 BY EDWARD J. CLODE 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED WITH DEEP SYMPATHY, 
 
 BUT WITH ABOUNDING FAITH, TO ALL WHO 
 
 suffer; WITH THE EARNEST HOPE 
 
 THAT MANY MAY FIND THROUGH 
 
 ITS STUDY FREEDOM FROM 
 
 PAIN AND SURCEASE 
 
 OF SORROW 
 
 f^94420 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 FOREWORD 9 
 
 I. THE AIM 17 
 
 II. THE LARGER HOPE 29 
 
 III. THE NERVOUS CONTROL OF THE BODY . . 39 
 
 IV. THE TRAINING OF THE WILL 51 
 
 V. THE PLACE OF THE WILL IN MENTAL 
 
 HEALING 65 
 
 VI. THE EDUCATION OF THE LOWER BRAIN . 79 
 
 VII. THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF WILL CURE 89 
 VIII. THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF MENTAL 
 
 HEALING 105 
 
 IX. THE GROUND OF OUR HOPE 121 
 
 X. THE SPIRITUAL ASPECT 135 
 
 XL HEALTH THROUGH SELF-CONTROL .... 147 
 
 XII. MODUS OPERANDI — Continued 161 
 
 XIII. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 175 
 
 XIV. SCOPE OF THE WORK AND ITS LIMITATIONS 183 
 
 CONCLUSION . . 191 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 THE indulgence of the reader is asked for 
 a brief statement of the facts leading 
 to the writing and pubUcation of this book. 
 
 Only the necessity of giving proof of my 
 knowledge from experience of the practical 
 value of the method of cure set forth in this 
 book forces me to give this personal testimony. 
 
 After ten years of invalidism, during which 
 I had the more or less constant attendance of 
 physicians, I found this way to health. 
 
 Many years before, in desperation from 
 long continued suffering, I had been per- 
 suaded to try another form of mind cure, 
 but did not find it suited to my needs, so 
 now felt no desire to seek help from that 
 quarter. 
 
 However, I had always beUeved that there 
 must be some way in which to avail ourselves 
 of God's promises for the body, if we only 
 knew how. 
 
10 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 f ;• The .gii^eiai ; incentive which now gave spur 
 'to niy efforts' was the faihng health of my 
 xiiily' sOB^ .whoiA 1 'wished to be able to help. 
 
 A kind friend, an earnest member of the 
 Baptist Church, taught me very simply how 
 to give the self-treatment. She had been 
 greatly helped by Mr. D. W. Starrett, a 
 mental healer, who had taught her, as he 
 does all his patients, to secure health through 
 the use of the will upon the body. 
 
 She called the system Scientific Mental 
 Therapeutics, but gave me in a single short 
 interview merely the commands in a simple 
 form, so that I had no knowledge whatever 
 of the underlying principles till subsequent 
 research revealed them. As will be seen on 
 reading, this system has no connection what- 
 ever with any heaUng cult, but is really an 
 approach to the subject from an entirely 
 different angle. 
 
 Through following my friend's instruc- 
 tions and the general principles herein out- 
 lined, a great physical and spiritual uplift 
 resulted. The vicious circle was broken, and 
 I was lifted entirely out of the rut in which 
 
Foreword 11 
 
 so many years had been spent. Though the 
 realization of my new-found power came sud- 
 denly, strength returned gradually, but a 
 faithful use of the mental means alone finally 
 brought estabUshed health, and has been suf- 
 ficient for all physical needs ever since. My 
 son also soon learned to use the same method 
 of self-help and was restored to his former 
 health and vigor, and later many others 
 found health in the same way. 
 
 We have learned that the way to physical 
 as to spiritual health is through coworking 
 with God and so helping to answer our own 
 prayers. 
 
 To control the body consciously is not to 
 detract from the power and province of God 
 in the life, but is allying ourselves with his 
 omnipotence and depending upon his con- 
 stant presence, knowing that *'we have this 
 treasure in earthen vessels, that the excel- 
 lency of the power may be of God and not 
 of us." 
 
 "To do our best, and leave the rest" is 
 always the divine plan. In an effort to under- 
 stand the experience which had come to me 
 
12 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 and mine, serious studies were undertaken 
 and pursued which soon revealed the fact that 
 we had unwittingly obeyed the laws of mental 
 control of the body. 
 
 The reader is advised to extend his knowl- 
 edge and strengthen his faith by reading some 
 of the many books on mental healing from 
 reliable scientific sources that are now before 
 the public. Such investigation will throw 
 great light upon his mental and bodily 
 constitution. 
 
 The aim of the author is set forth in 
 Chapter First, but it may be well to state 
 that it is not intended to antagonize any 
 profession or class. 
 
 The great value of scientific investigation 
 is fully recognized and an appeal made for 
 further apphcation of its discoveries to the 
 needs of the world. Nor is it the purpose 
 either to combat or support Christian 
 Science, New Thought, or any other heaUng 
 cult, to which incidental reference may be 
 made. The book aims to teach a system of 
 Mental Therapeutics in harmony both with 
 the most advanced scientific thought, and 
 
Foreword 13 
 
 with the Word of God, and which would in 
 no way tend to unsettle religious faith or 
 Church loyalty. 
 
 It has long been the author's conviction 
 that it is most ungracious of any church or 
 individual to deride the efforts of others to 
 reheve suffering, while offering nothing upon 
 their own part. A recent letter from a 
 Methodist friend says, "I firmly beheve God 
 does not intend or wish people to struggle 
 along year after year burdened by ill health. 
 Jesus would never have healed if that were 
 so. But the average minister is afraid to 
 touch the subject; hence the people are flock- 
 ing to the Christian Scientists. 
 
 *'I think it time the church should awaken 
 to the fact that God cares for the body as 
 weU as the soid." 
 
 The people are demanding instruction and 
 help along physical lines as their rightful 
 heritage, and this need must be met in some 
 way. It is hoped that this may be a sort 
 of practical handbook, which in connection 
 with some exhaustive treatise, as Sadler's 
 "Physiology of Faith and Fear," could be 
 
14 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 used in classes, either in private or in the 
 churches. 
 
 The writer does not assume to be either a 
 theologian or a scientist. But the matter of 
 the book has just two sources. It is drawn 
 from the best and most recent authorities 
 in the scientific and religious world and from 
 the undoubted facts of personal experience. 
 
 The great systems of religious as well as 
 scientific thought are based upon ascertained 
 facts, either of consciousness or of research. 
 The great test to which everything is be- 
 ing subjected to-day is that of experience. 
 Through years of suffering and final victory 
 the writer has had ample opportunity to 
 test all this volume contains; and it has 
 been written in the attempt so to interpret 
 those experiences in the Ught of modern 
 research into the relations of mind and body 
 as to recommend itself to other sufferers, and 
 especially to the churches of all denomina- 
 tions. So much for the obvious reason. 
 
 But a deeper and more compelling motive 
 is in the conviction that it is a duty which 
 cannot be evaded without condemnation. 
 
Foreword 15 
 
 We believe that God often leads his chil- 
 dren through fiery trials, into the fuller Ught 
 of His Will. To discern His purpose and to 
 fulfill it is the Christian's goal. "Someone 
 must struggle that others may win," and to 
 have gained from life's experiences, how- 
 ever bitter, something that will help others 
 on its rugged path, is reward enough. 
 
 It is the writer's earnest hope that many 
 may here find help for themselves and others, 
 and become members of that great host who 
 shall pubhsh ''good tidings of redemption 
 and release" for body as well as soul. 
 
 "Hast thou had a kindness shown? 
 Pass it on! 
 'Twas not given for thee alone; 
 Pass it on! 
 Let it echo down the years, 
 Let it dry another's tears, 
 Till in heaven the deed appears, 
 Pass it on!" 
 
I 
 
 THE AIM 
 
MENTAL CONTROL 
 OF THE BODY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 THE AIM 
 
 IN attempting so ambitious a project as 
 offering to the public another book on 
 Mental Healing, the only sufficient reason is 
 its purpose, which is to present the subject in 
 such a simple, practical manner that it may 
 be understood and grasped by the masses 
 of the people, but more especially by the 
 members of those great denominations which 
 form the vast bulk of Christian beUevers. 
 
 Bodily heahng is not the exclusive pos- 
 session of any sect or cult, but is for all 
 humanity and was evidently originally in- 
 tended to be as imiversal as salvation for 
 the soul. 
 
 The subject, in the past, has been sur- 
 rounded with so much of mystery and super- 
 
20 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 stition, that thinking people have hesitated 
 to approach it for fear of being led into 
 fanaticism. 
 
 However, the extreme advocates of healing 
 have done the world a service by emphasiz- 
 ing its possibility and its importance to the 
 race; but their imperfect views and prac- 
 tices have left many mental and physical 
 wrecks along the way, and it is only as sci- 
 entific investigation has patiently discovered 
 and traced its possibility in the body itseK 
 that a really safe and sane foundation has 
 been laid for a universal application of the 
 truth. 
 
 At last the veil between religion and science 
 has been rent, and what has heretofore been 
 discerned only by the eye of faith now seems 
 to be fully demonstrated by the word of 
 truth. 
 
 It is hoped that the purpose of this book 
 will commend itself to that large and in- 
 creasing number of people who look with 
 longing upon the movements outside the 
 churches, which seem to offer help they do 
 not find in their own communions, and tend 
 
The Aim 21 
 
 to stop the drift away from the orthodox 
 churches, and "the faith once deUvered to 
 the saints." 
 
 There seems to be a dearth of Uteratm'e on 
 this subject, aside from the purely scientific 
 treatises, many of which are too extensive 
 and too technical for the ordinary reader. 
 
 This partly explains why the Uterature of 
 the various heaUng cults finds such a wide 
 reading. It is hoped that this book may 
 fill this need to some degree, and that the 
 reader may find in it the truth about healing 
 for which he is searching. 
 
 The attempt will be made to show that 
 heahng through the mind, like salvation, is 
 really a simple thing so plain that "the way- 
 faring man, though of simple mind, need not 
 err therein." 
 
 One need not go outside of his own church 
 to find it, nor take up any extensive study 
 of obscure theories. All that is necessary is 
 an intelHgent understanding of a few basic 
 facts, a vital faith in the possibility of cure, 
 and a disciphned will to realize upon that 
 faith. 
 
22 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 Another object sought is to free the sick 
 from either mental or financial dependence 
 upon the healer, by revealing their own 
 powers. 
 
 In the infancy of the race, men looked 
 upon the priest as the one who held the 
 issues of life and death, but in these later 
 days they have been taught to depend upon 
 Christ alone for spiritual help. Even so, the 
 time is at hand when we shall find our physical 
 needs supplied directly from the great foun- 
 tainhead of life, without any intermediary. 
 
 This form of mind cure can be used in our 
 churches without conflicting with any of our 
 doctrines or creeds. Any earnest seeker, of 
 whatever reUgious faith, if he fulfills the 
 conditions, may find the help he seeks, and 
 instead of interfering with his reUgion or 
 his love for the church of his choice, he will 
 find both far more satisfying. 
 
 To the one who seeks and finds this healing 
 power within himself, a new field of labor 
 will inamediately open. Each one becomes 
 a center of influence in his church or neigh- 
 borhood, and can be a soiu-ce of help and 
 
The Aim 23 
 
 inspiration to those in need. It is not always 
 easy to approach those in sin, as there is 
 a natural resentment which springs up to 
 combat what seems like correction or criti- 
 cism; but no one objects to suggestions of 
 physical help, since while all do not wish to 
 be good, everyone desires to be well, and 
 almost invariably welcomes any proffered 
 aid. 
 
 Most efficient service can be given by such 
 a sympathetic friend to another seeking help, 
 by instruction and encouragement, by sug- 
 gestions of cure, by having a strong faith for 
 the seeker, by prayer that grace may be given, 
 just as the Christian worker helps another 
 to *'get through" when seeking salvation. 
 
 If we need scripture warrant, we find it 
 in these words: "If two of you shall agree 
 as touching anything ye shall ask of my 
 Father, it shall be done unto you." 
 
 The care of the body is a sacred trust. We 
 cannot despise or defile this temple without 
 great loss. We are individually responsible 
 for its condition. As children, we are under 
 the control of parents and governors, but there 
 
24 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 must come a time when we assume our 
 rightful responsibiUty in this, as in all other 
 matters, and it is only natural to suppose 
 that the person who inhabits his own body 
 can and should do more for its welfare than 
 any outsider. 
 
 The matter of mental heahng, in its last 
 analysis, is strictly between the individual 
 and his God, and it will be the earnest effort 
 of the writer to point the way to the place 
 and operation of the divine power upon the 
 body. 
 
 Mental healing is not one final act, but is 
 a process to be wrought out, in which the 
 element of time is ever present. It is not 
 something to be done for us from without, 
 once for all, but something to be done within 
 us daily, through the union of our own efforts 
 with the divine elements ever present in 
 ourselves. 
 
 It is our part to set in motion the God- 
 given forces within, to cooperate with nature 
 and so energize her processes as to secure and 
 maintain health. To learn to use these forces 
 as a method of seff-help need not necessarily 
 
The Aim 25 
 
 bar one from availing himself of scientific 
 aid, and in some cases one will do better if 
 every earthly prop is not swept away at 
 once. Everyone should be free to use his 
 own best judgment, and it need not hurt his 
 conscience to seek medical help, if at the 
 same time he is doing all in his power to help 
 himself. The conscientious physician will 
 rejoice to find in his patient a disposition to 
 combat disease, instead of weakly yielding 
 to it, and often that attitude of mind will 
 turn the scales in favor of recovery. Never- 
 theless there are a great many ailments which 
 are the despair of the physician, and many 
 reputable professional men are sending such 
 patients to the Christian Science practitioner. 
 It is to meet this need as well as to lay down 
 the underlying principles of mental cure, by 
 which the race may attain bodily health, that 
 this work is attempted. 
 
 While the truth about mental healing is 
 really so simple, the process of attainment is 
 not so easy in practice. Its take courage, 
 patience, an imfaltering trust in the Unseen, 
 and a persistent faithfulness in using the 
 
26 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 mental means. While the only absolutely 
 necessary requirement to secure healing is the 
 faith of the seeker, to maintain one's hold 
 upon this blessing requires a high degree of 
 self-control, a mind at rest and fully stayed 
 upon God. 
 
 Mental self-mastery is the first essential, 
 without which mastery of the body is 
 impossible. 
 
 Let no one deceive himself into thinking 
 that there is any magic process by which 
 these results can be reached. There is no 
 royal road to healing, any more than to 
 learning. How many have turned away on 
 finding that one must put forth effort to 
 achieve! As one lady said, "I would so 
 much rather take a pill, it is so much easier." 
 It is easy to imagine what was in the heart 
 of the Christ when he said to his followers, 
 "And will ye also go away?" when they 
 found the way of life a rugged, steep ascent. 
 
 Yet the rewards of effort to attain are so 
 great and glorious that they are well worth 
 the highest endeavor. To encourage all 
 needy, aspiring souls to seek this highway 
 
The Aim 27 
 
 of holiness (wholeness) cast up for the re- 
 deemed of the Lord to walk upon, is the aim 
 and object of this book, and in the earnest 
 hope that many may find health and happi- 
 ness in its pages it is sent forth. 
 
 "If I can ease one life the aching, 
 Or cool one pain, 
 I shall not live in vain, — 
 I shall not live in vain." 
 
II 
 
 THE LARGER HOPE 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE LARGER HOPE 
 
 NO subject affecting the welfare of the 
 human race is of more vital interest at 
 the present time than that of bodily health. 
 Were it possible to banish disease from the 
 world, a large proportion of human misery 
 would disappear. With physical well-being 
 the sum of happiness would be immeasurably 
 increased, and the world which is now to many 
 only a "pent-up prison house" would become 
 almost a Paradise. 
 
 Could the enormous expense caused by dis- 
 ease be done away with and the great host of 
 invalids be restored to the possibility of self- 
 support by becoming producers and workers, 
 instead of helpless burdens upon the efficient 
 and strong, what a long step would be taken 
 toward solving the economic questions which 
 press upon us from all sides! How many 
 hearts would grow lighter, how many homes 
 would be brightened, how many more willing 
 
32 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 hands would help to do the world's work; how 
 much would the cares of life be eased, and 
 the whole course of existence be smoothed and 
 sweetened, could sickness be overcome! If, 
 in addition, it were possible so to teach the 
 laws of health to the young of the present 
 and future generations that they might be 
 freed from the burden of weakness and suf- 
 fering, would not all life be transformed and 
 glorified? 
 
 This has been the dream of the race from 
 its earliest history, but its realization has been 
 long deferred. Science has long sought the 
 goal, led on by the hope of decreasing if not 
 eradicating disease. Much, very much, has 
 been accompUshed in certain directions; but 
 while vaccination, serums, and antitoxins 
 have helped to lessen the ravages of some 
 diseases, others, such as pneumonia and 
 cancer, have not proved amenable to treat- 
 ment and are increasing in frequency and 
 virulence at a terrible rate. It also seems 
 as if one disease had no sooner yielded to the 
 power of science than some new ailment comes 
 in its stead, perhaps more obscure and in- 
 
The Larger Hope 33 
 
 tractable than the one it has displaced. 
 During the past, with few exceptions, hu- 
 manity has accepted disease as an inevitable 
 part of our earthly lot. The fataUst and 
 pessimist have thought it a part of life from 
 which there was no escape and have borne 
 it, sometimes with the grim courage of the 
 Spartan but, often, when hope has fled, have 
 succumbed in dull despair to mental and 
 physical bankruptcy and decay. 
 
 To the behevers in a Divine Providence, 
 sickness has been accepted as a mysterious 
 dispensation, intended to disciphne and 
 chasten humanity, and so aid in the develop- 
 ment of character. To those who have so 
 beheved, and have always been able to look 
 behind a frowning Providence and see a 
 smih'ng face, there is no doubt that sickness 
 has had a blessed ministry. Some of the 
 most perfect moral characters have been 
 developed during the ordeal of lengthened 
 illness and, according to their own testimony, 
 they learned much of truth and the meaning 
 of life which had never come to them in the 
 years of health and strength. So we cannot 
 
34 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 say that sickness has no place in the present 
 world, since through pain and weakness some, 
 perhaps many, have found a purer and a 
 higher plane of Kving. Yet, when we look 
 at the other side of the question and see the 
 unnumbered millions who have found in 
 sickness a leaden weight constantly depress- 
 ing and destroying their higher aspirations, 
 thwarting their worthy ambitions, making 
 success in life impossible, filling their days 
 and nights with torment, we do not wonder 
 that to these unfortunates life seems an 
 unequal battle and they go down to defeat. 
 It raises the question whether the few who 
 conquer do so because of physical suffering 
 or in spite of it. And the query follows: 
 Would not the acceptance of divine truth, 
 and its incorporation into their lives, have 
 the same effect, and thus many be saved to 
 usefulness in the world? 
 
 There is a deep instinctive feeling in the 
 race that sickness is undesirable, and all are 
 trying to avoid or overcome it. The thought 
 is rapidly growing in the minds of men that 
 instead of blindly submitting to the ravages 
 
The Larger Hope 35 
 
 of disease as a dispensation of Providence, 
 it is something to be fought and overcome 
 just as much as sin or poverty, or any other 
 ill which afflicts humanity. A large hope is 
 growing in the minds of many that disease 
 may be conquered. 
 
 Our Christian forces are in the contest with 
 evil, in all its forms. Our teachers and mis- 
 sionaries are girdUng the globe with the 
 knowledge of the truth which shall purify 
 and elevate the race. The sentiment of a 
 common brotherhood is touching all hearts, 
 and a mighty effort is now being made to do 
 away with the poverty which crushes and 
 degrades so large a proportion of mankind. 
 Why shall we not look forward to the time 
 when the lovers of humanity shall also join 
 in a mighty struggle against this dread foe 
 of peace, happiness, and progress — bodily 
 sickness? 
 
 With the growth of altruism and a concerted 
 effort for the conamon uplift, why is not this 
 the fit hour to help usher in the time when 
 "there shall be no more pain".^^ Why should 
 we refer all these promised blessings to the 
 
36 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 future life? If we can enjoy the spiritual 
 blessings of Heaven in the present time, to 
 which many lay claim, why is it unreason- 
 able or extravagant to expect that as the 
 warfare against moral evil goes on to suc- 
 cessful culmination, so will the warfare against 
 disease terminate in bodily as well as spiritual 
 perfection? Why is it any more unreasonable 
 to hope for the redemption of the body than 
 for that of the soul? We find a most wonder- 
 ful and significant statement as a ground for 
 this hope in the eighth chapter of Romans, 
 where the Apostle Paul makes the following 
 prophetic utterance: "For I reckon that the 
 sufferings of this present time are not worthy 
 to be compared with the glory which shall 
 be revealed in us." 
 
 "For the earnest expectation of the 
 creature waiteth for the manifestation of 
 the sons of God. . . . 
 
 "Because the creature itself shall also be 
 deUvered from the bondage of corruption into 
 the glorious liberty of the children of God. 
 
 "For we know that the whole creation 
 groaneth and travailleth in pain together 
 
The Larger Hope 37 
 
 until now, and not only they, but oiurselves 
 also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, 
 even we ourselves groan within ourselves 
 waiting for the adoption, to wit: the redemp- 
 Hon of the body.'' 
 
 Those who have felt the healing touch and 
 have found the way to health and happiness 
 reaKze the fulfillment of this prophecy in 
 themselves and understand fully what the 
 sweet singer of Israel meant when he broke 
 out into praise to Him '*who forgiveth all 
 our iniquities and healeth all our diseases." 
 
 We also beUeve that the same Redeemer 
 who taketh away the sins "of the world" also 
 **bare our sicknesses," and that through un- 
 derstanding how we may cooperate with the 
 Power "which worketh in us to will and to 
 do of His good pleasure," we may step out 
 into the glorious liberty of the children of 
 God. 
 
 We beheve that Christ is stiU the Great 
 Physician, but that now, as ever. He works in 
 and through the human mind and through 
 the mind reaches the body. As we learn more 
 of the mental and physical constitution of 
 
38 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 man, we shall be better able to avail our- 
 selves of this mental and spiritual power with 
 which we are endowed, and which may be 
 wonderfully increased by constant use, till, 
 like the people of Christ's time, we shall 
 glorify God who has given such power to 
 men. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE NERVOUS CONTROL OF 
 THE BODY 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE NERVOUS CONTROL OF THE BODY 
 
 IT is not necessary to rehearse facts con- 
 cerning the harmful influence of depressing 
 mental states, since they are becoming familiar 
 to all. 
 
 Nor does it seem necessary to claim that 
 mental conditions are the cause of all illness. 
 
 One of the gentlest of ladies happened to 
 mention to a friend — an enthusiastic ad- 
 herent of a heahng cult — that she had a 
 bunion; to which her friend rephed, "Oh, 
 you must hate somebody!" A little com- 
 mon sense would have suggested that an ill- 
 fitting shoe, and not a state of mind, was 
 responsible for the trouble. So there may be 
 many immediate causes for disease aside from 
 mental states. 
 
 What the world desires and needs to know 
 is how to overcome illness through the power 
 of the mind, and so build up the health of the 
 
42 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 body as to give it an inward resistance and 
 thus render it immune to disease. 
 
 Science teaches that the body is run and 
 controlled by forces within itself, that the 
 motive power consists in mental energy, 
 generated in the central nervous system, 
 whence it is transmitted through conducting 
 channels to every tissue, cell, and organ of the 
 body, vitalizing their every action. 
 
 It is only a fair conclusion that anything 
 which affects the brain adversely will limit 
 its output of nervous energy, entailing suf- 
 fering upon the rest of the body. The most 
 famihar illustration of this fact is to be seen 
 in the student who burns the midnight oil, 
 thus consuming all his nerve force, only to 
 find himself physically impoverished. 
 
 In these days of high pressure, many 
 unfortunates come into the world lacking 
 sufficient power to run the bodily machine 
 efficiently, and are practically invalids from 
 the first, through no fault of their own. 
 
 But the Creator has not left us without 
 hope or help, since within us he has placed 
 all the elements necessary to secure and 
 
The Nervous Control of the Body 43 
 
 maintain health if we but knew how to use 
 them. 
 
 In the blood are all the materials for build- 
 ing up the physical structure; in the various 
 glands, substances are formed to meet special 
 needs, which act as stimulants to nature's 
 processes. 
 
 It is even claimed by Dr. Abderhalden, an 
 eminent German physiologist, that the body 
 has the power of natural diagnosis, and that 
 when disease impends, special antidotal fer- 
 ments are formed and thrown into the 
 circulation to counteract the threatening 
 conditions. 
 
 Dr. C. W. Saleeby, an EngUsh medical 
 writer, says that the only ciu'ative drugs are 
 those of the body's own making. The ex- 
 tracts and serums prepared from the organs 
 of healthy animals and administered to sup- 
 ply a lack in the corresponding organ of the 
 human being, show how this idea is growing 
 in medical circles. Extracts from the thyroid 
 gland of a sheep, pepsin, pancreatin, and 
 adrenaUn from other animals, and even white 
 corpuscles developed from the blood of a 
 
44 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 horse, are administered, as being of physical 
 origin and hence capable of meeting a physical 
 need in man. 
 
 While this may be the most advanced 
 method of medication to-day, the fact re- 
 mains that it is not considered good practice 
 to do anything for the body which it is able 
 to do for itself. This evil is seen in the use 
 of pepsin and predigested foods, which after 
 a time cause the stomach to **he down on 
 its job." j 
 
 The body should be forced, if possible, to 
 take care of itself and upon the nervous 
 system falls the task of regulating and sus- 
 taining all the vital processes. 
 
 The force which ^s_^ ways at woA is called 
 by Dr. Sadler neuric ity, by ot hers elec tog- 
 mag netism. ^ — 
 
 It resembles electricity in its manifesta- 
 tions, but for the sake of simplicity will be 
 spoken of as nerve force, or energy. Since it 
 flows from the brain, it can never be dis- 
 tinguished from mental energy, and while 
 much of its action is automatic or unconscious, 
 yet a wonderful intelligence is shown in its 
 
The Nervous Control of the Body 45 
 
 operations. The bodily organs are constantly 
 stimulated to perform their functions by 
 nervous impulses passing over the sympathetic 
 nervous system. 
 
 This fact is the foundation upon which are 
 built the schools of osteopathy, chiropractic, 
 and mechanotherapy. Any interference with 
 the nervous flow means an enfeebled organ. 
 So the spine, from which proceed the vaso- 
 motor nerves, is manipulated, its vertebrae 
 and adjacent ribs are adjusted, the spinal 
 nerves are stimulated by deep pressure, the 
 nerve impulses set in motion, thus increas- 
 ing circulation and nutrition. 
 
 An osteopath was asked, while giving a 
 treatment, what he was trying to accom- 
 pUsh, to which he repUed, "I am releasing the 
 life forces." 
 
 In the words of Dr. Schofield, England's 
 most eminent authority on nervous diseases, 
 in "Nerves in Order": "Nerve power is the 
 very force of Ufe, and if it fail, life fails. 
 However perfect the machinery, it is useless 
 if there be no steam, for after all it is the 
 nerve force that drives the body. Nervous 
 
46 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 breakdowns are responsible for all functional 
 diseases, as well as often being a contributing 
 cause in organic disease." 
 
 A typical treatment by a well-known prac- 
 titioner of hypnotism may illustrate this 
 point: 
 
 After putting his patient into a passive, 
 relaxed condition, he talks to him as follows: 
 "You probably do not realize that your 
 brain or mind controls the muscles, nerves, 
 and blood vessels of your entire body, but it 
 does. Just as your brain or mind uncon- 
 sciously controls yovu* heart's action, your 
 breathing, and yoiu* circulation, so does it 
 control all other parts of your body. There 
 are running to and from the brain innumerable 
 nerves or wires to all the different parts of 
 the body, just Uke telephone or telegraph 
 wires. The brain, or mind, sends messages 
 to and receives messages from all these dif- 
 ferent parts consciously or unconsciously." 
 When the patient's will is completely yielded 
 to the hypnotist, he proceeds to send sug- 
 gestions to the mind, and through his stronger 
 will to supplement and strengthen the force 
 
The Ne^ous Control of the Body 47 
 
 of the messages akeady passing. The un- 
 doubted fact is that these orders are received 
 by the brain; and, finding no hindrance in 
 the relaxed body or the passive mind, they 
 are carried over the nervous system and 
 serve as stimuH to the nerve centers which 
 control the body. 
 
 What is this but an outflow of energy, 
 stimulating the lethargic organs to greater 
 activity? 
 
 Let one receive an injury, as a bruise, the 
 sensory nerve instantly sends a message to the 
 brain, which in turn immediately stimulates 
 the center of circulation, which sends out a 
 message to the blood supply. The response 
 follows in the congested area around the 
 bruise, which is nature's method of ciue, by 
 building up injured tissues through the 
 restorative power of the blood. 
 
 Mental physiology has amply demonstrated 
 that these messages, orders, or commands are 
 constantly flashing throughout the body, 
 and it is by means of this intercommuni- 
 cation that the automatic processes are 
 maintained. 
 
48 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 The vital question for the reader is to 
 know whether he can draw upon his own 
 mental resources, and, using his own mind and 
 will, instead of depending upon the hypnotist 
 or healer, influence his body for good. Can he 
 consciously start nerve currents flowing from 
 the brain that will either directly or indirectly 
 reach nerve centers and wake them into 
 renewed life? 
 
 All great authorities say that every function 
 of the body can be affected by the emotions, 
 but at the same time say the emotions 
 should be controlled. Something more than 
 a mere mental state is needed to energize 
 the body. 
 
 There must be a mental power suflicient 
 to overcome nerve inertia, to stimulate in- 
 hibited nerve action, to increase circulation 
 and give tone and vigor to all the vital 
 processes. 
 
 Dr. Sadler says: "Any power gaining control 
 of the brain and nerve centers will be able 
 eventually to gain control of the entire body. 
 Not only are the brain and its associated nerve 
 centers the recipients of all the impulses 
 
The Nervous Control of the Body 49 
 
 coining in over the nervous system, but they 
 are also the seats of authority from which 
 the mind sends out all mental messages to 
 the remotest cells of the body." 
 
 Physiologists dispute the power to influence 
 directly through the will the functions which 
 are under the automatic control of the sym- 
 pathetic system, and we need not question 
 their dictum. 
 
 One cannot say, ** I will circulate my blood," 
 "I will digest my food," and accomphsh any- 
 thing, but nevertheless it is possible to af- 
 fect all these functions indirectly, through 
 stimulating by the will the nerve centers 
 controUing them. We can consciously send 
 imperative messages by way of these great 
 nerve centers, which will be obeyed, and in 
 time the whole body can be made subservient 
 to the will. 
 
 In learning to exercise this power over 
 ourselves, we prove our kinship with God, of 
 Whom it has been said, "Law is the mani- 
 festation of His mind, force the movement of 
 His wiU," 
 
50 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 Great thinkers hold to-day that the only 
 ultimate force is in the energy of the divine 
 Will, so that in striving to use our own wills 
 in harmony with the laws of our being, we 
 are truly partakers of the divine nature. 
 
IV 
 THE TRAINING OF THE WILL 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 THE TRAINING OF THE WILL 
 
 " If you think you'll lose, you're lost; 
 For out in the world we find 
 Success begins with a fellow's will; 
 It's all in the state of the mind." 
 
 THE need of training the will is not 
 always fully realized, but its education 
 is really of far greater importance to the 
 individual than that of his intellect. 
 
 Religion alone adequately inculcates this 
 necessity. The gospel was proclaimed at the 
 first as being for **men of good will." 
 
 Christ said, ''He that willeth to do the will 
 of my Father shall know of the doctrine." 
 
 All genuine obedience to authority is 
 through the will. The great Teacher said, 
 "Ye wiU not come unto me that ye might 
 have life." 
 
 We are urged to "strive, to enter in," 
 which implies strenuous exertion of the will. 
 
54 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 We are told to ask that it may be given 
 unto us; to seek, that we may find; to knock 
 that it may be opened unto us. The parable 
 of the man coming at night to ask for bread 
 plainly states that it was because of his im- 
 portunity that his request was granted; in 
 other words he would not be denied. What 
 is this but an encouragement to put forth 
 the will in the strongest possible way; in 
 other words to come boldly to a throne of 
 grace? 
 
 This note is struck constantly from the 
 first to the last of the Christian revelation, 
 till in its closing pages the gracious words 
 ring out: "Whosoever will, may come and 
 take of the water of life freely," which life 
 is as efficient for our physical as for our 
 spiritual needs. 
 
 J, Brier ly,^ in ''R gjigJQii ajd_£xperience," 
 writes on this subject: ^^T^ hum an-wUl^ 
 of all things m this earth th e most^ jgqnderful, 
 the mostjaSed. 
 
 ''^To add to its resources, to open up to it 
 the way of inner reinforcement, should be 
 the one supreme object of spiritual educa- 
 
The Training of the Will 55 
 
 tion. For it is here, in this secret place, man 
 touches his godhood. 
 
 "It is here in the soul's innermost, holiest 
 ground, when with this single, invisible force 
 he meets the onset of passion, the craven 
 voice of his fears, the soUcitations of the 
 world, the threat of foes, with his invincible 
 'I will,' that man shows his kinship with the 
 God who made him." 
 
 Again, "The will feels itself most divinely 
 free when it mysteriously realizes its unity 
 with the imiversal Will, out of which itself 
 has come. It is by this reinforcement and 
 spiritual direction of the individual will that 
 man wiU eventually fight down all his foes 
 and come into his Kingdom." Further, 
 "What is wanted in the individual is not less 
 will, but more and ever more of it. There is 
 no character in subjection. It is in volition, 
 the subtlest, mightiest, most wonderful thing 
 in the universe, in the fullest, freest, most 
 reasoned exercise of it, that man's value really 
 consists." 
 
 Brierly insists that through this power it is 
 possible to recreate one's temperament, and 
 
56 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 appeals especially to those who naturally 
 tend to melancholy. To such he says, "But 
 the melancholy man has his remedy. It lies 
 in the daily energy of his will. When the 
 black thoughts come, a strong voUtion, Uke a 
 breeze from the north, will sweep away the 
 clouds. We can will the thoughts which are 
 to come to us, the memories on which to 
 feed, and the prospects for the mind to gaze 
 upon. Our world will change for us by the 
 constant repetition of this process. 
 
 "If we will to be cheerful, to banish the 
 unwholesome fancies, the brooding resent- 
 ments, the sense of slights and injuries, and 
 instead to summon to our thought the causes 
 of gratitude, the sense of the good in Ufe, the 
 reason for aspiration and hope, we can do it. 
 
 "It is in this way that men create their 
 world, and make a good one or a bad one of 
 it, apart from all consideration of external 
 fortune. They have made it by making 
 themselves." 
 
 Dr. Powell of Hobart College writes: 
 "There is only one way to character, and 
 that is through the will. But we fail to use 
 
The Training of the Will 57 
 
 the will. From disuse it becomes weak, and 
 when the great occasion comes, we are not 
 equal to our role." 
 
 Ibsen expresses the same thought in these 
 Unes: 
 
 "It is will alone that matters, 
 Will alone that mars or makes; 
 Will that no distraction scatters, 
 And that no resistance breaks." 
 
 Were it not for the possession of the will, 
 personal responsibihty would be a hideous 
 impossibihty. As it is, God has ennobled 
 and dignified man by making him master of 
 his own destiny. 
 
 A recent writer puts it in these strong words: 
 "You have to educate yourself. Your mind 
 is yoiu's and can be used only by you. You 
 must make your own decisions and abide by 
 the consequences of yom* own acts." 
 
 An eminent physician recently told a 
 patient: "I cannot make you well unless 
 you make yoiu'self well." 
 
 You alone can regulate your habits and 
 make or unmake your health. 
 
 Said a Brooklyn preacher, offering his 
 
58 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 parishioners communion: "I cannot give you 
 the blessings and benefits of this holy feast. 
 You must appropriate them for yourself. The 
 banquet is spread, help yourself freely. You 
 may be taught by a teacher, but you have 
 to imbibe the knowledge. He cannot trans- 
 fuse it into your brain cells. You have to 
 master your own faculties and solve your own 
 problems." 
 
 By what other power can personality be 
 created and developed except through the 
 intelligent, individual will.^ 
 
 Nowhere is an absolutely inflexible will of 
 more value than when endeavoring to recover 
 lost health. Dr. Schofield says, "A strong 
 will is a good therapeutic agent," and when 
 disciplined and directed it gives one a sense 
 of power and self-reliance that can never be 
 felt so long as one depends upon any sort of 
 a healer. 
 
 Hypnotism is said to paralyze the will by 
 inhibiting the action of the brain and substi- 
 tuting the will of the hypnotist. 
 
 The Immanuelist, Christian Scientist, and 
 mental healers of every school attempt to do 
 
The Training of the Will 59 
 
 for the patient what he should be taught to 
 do for himself. The vast majority of people 
 are in complete ignorance of their powers, 
 and must look to the conscientious students 
 of the mind to be taught the use of the will 
 and through it mastery of both mind and 
 body. 
 
 It would seem that the great body of physi- 
 cians would welcome this arm of power, and 
 would teach their patients to help themselves 
 through mental hygiene, as well as by any 
 other means. A few have become pioneers, 
 and are adding to their success by teaching 
 their patients to control their bodies through 
 autosuggestion, and by using the methods 
 herein outhned. 
 
 Dr. Schofield strongly indorses this method 
 as follows: "Autosuggestion is available to 
 a large extent in the early stages of nerve 
 and mind troubles and may be most success- 
 fully carried out if conducted systematically. 
 . . . Suggestions vigorously and determin- 
 ately given, even when there is Uttle faith in 
 the process, have often a marked effect." 
 Suffering humanity lifts imploring hands to 
 
60 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 the medical profession, saying, ** Teach us, 
 lead us to where we may realize the abundant 
 life! Teach us the necessity of self-mastery, 
 how to emancipate oiu'selves from fear, how 
 to use our God-given powers to keep the 
 temple of the body whole, and a fit place for 
 the abode of the Holy Spirit!" 
 
 Hoffman says, in '* Psychology and Com- 
 mon Life": "In days gone by disease was 
 treated by external appUcations, as plasters, 
 poultices, cupping, etc. Later, medicines 
 were administered through the stomach, then 
 by hypodermic injections; but in the time 
 to come, the wise physician will apply treat- 
 ment to the brain, the central power house of 
 the body." 
 
 If the brain be indeed the "power house of 
 the body," the man to whom it belongs should 
 know how to run its machinery, how to turn 
 the power off or on, how to direct its energy 
 throughout the body, and it should be subject 
 to his will alone. 
 
 One need not fear to use his will to regain 
 health, since everything goes to prove that he 
 would be acting in harmony with the Divine 
 
The Training of the Will 61 
 
 Will. Our Heavenly Father just as surely 
 wants us to be well as to be good, and He has 
 set His seal to that fact in the tendency 
 toward recovery upon which we can always 
 count, since remedy is a fundamental law of 
 the body. 
 
 This should be the settled conviction of 
 every seeker after health. 
 
 So long as we weakly pray, "if it be Thy 
 Will," we shall not make much progress. 
 Who would think of praying, "Save my soul, 
 if it be Thy will"? Rather, one should come 
 with confidence to the throne from which 
 flows the heahng stream and say at all times, 
 "Thy will be done in mel" 
 
 To beUeve that God afflicts us with sick- 
 ness is to dishonor Him and doubt His love 
 and mercy. Health, and not sickness, is 
 normal and wiU foUow when knowledge of 
 aU the physical and mental laws of health 
 leads to obedience to them. 
 
 So, since the state of our bodies becomes a 
 matter of our own volition, we have a fresh 
 incentive to cultivate this power. 
 
 It is an appeal to the self-interest of every- 
 
62 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 one. It is as if God said to each of us, *' Why 
 will ye die?" "Come, now, prove me here- 
 with, if I will not pom* you out a blessing 
 that there shall not be room enough to con- 
 tain it." He invites us to test his ojffers by 
 an experimental or experiential process in 
 which each may find health of body, through 
 confidence in the law written in our mental 
 and bodily constitution, and a determined 
 purpose to obey them. 
 
 But let him remember that "He that wav- 
 ereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the 
 wind and tossed; let not that man think that 
 he shall receive anything of the Lord." Em- 
 phasis has been laid upon the necessity of a 
 well-trained will because it is only through 
 this power that the inner discipline which 
 results in self-control can be carried on. Let 
 no man who flies into a rage at the least prov- 
 ocation, or who leads a life of self-indulgence, 
 expect to attain self-control at this point. Nor 
 can the selfish, fretful woman who lacks pa- 
 tience and consideration for others get very 
 far along on the road to health by this route. 
 
 To assume and maintain mental control 
 
The Training of the Will 63 
 
 of the body is no child's play, but calls for 
 the very best there is in one to achieve 
 success. 
 
 Yet every step toward the needful self- 
 mastery is a reward in itseK, since it is right 
 in Une with our upward progress in the 
 rehgious life and brings us that much nearer 
 the goal. 
 
V 
 
 THE PLACE OF THE WILL IN 
 
 MENTAL HEALING 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE PLACE OF THE WILL IN 
 MENTAL HEALING 
 
 THE basis of all mental cures is the es- 
 tablishment of one's self-control, or 
 securing the mastery of both mind and body 
 either by the help of a teacher or healer, or 
 through one's own efforts. This is made pos- 
 sible through the operation of the law that 
 mind is superior to and can control matter 
 to an extent not yet fully understood, but 
 certainly the matter of the body. 
 
 In trying to understand the scientific basis 
 of mental heahng we are greatly helped by 
 the researches of the modern psychologists, 
 who in their study of the mind have made 
 many great discoveries. 
 
 Dr. Boris Sidis, of Harvard University, is 
 one of the greatest authorities in our land, 
 and speaks from experience, as he has been 
 wonderfully successful in restoring people to 
 health through his scientific appeal to the 
 
68 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 mind. As a result of his own experience and 
 observation, he annomiced his doctrine of 
 reserve energy as follows: "According to this 
 doctrine, eacli ^ of us p o ssesse s^a ^stored-u p 
 fu nd of ener^ of which jK euia^iaL^jcdijiarily 
 make use, but which w e..cQu1d he, irm'nptl^ ^n 
 use habitually to our great advantage/ ' 
 
 Dr. Sidis contends that it is by arousing 
 this potential energy that the patients whom 
 he treats are cured, and he further insists 
 that it is actually possible to train people to 
 draw readily and helpfully on their hidden 
 energies. 
 
 We must acknowledge the truth of this 
 doctrine when we consider how a frail mother 
 will endure long vigils in the care of a sick 
 child, or how sudden disaster will often call 
 forth powers hitherto unsuspected. 
 
 There are well authenticated cases of bed- 
 ridden invaUds being cured by a sudden access 
 of strength which enabled them to get out 
 of bed and to a place of safety in case of a fire. 
 
 The writer knows definitely of a woman 
 badly afflicted with a form of hypochondria, 
 imagining herself to be very sick and help- 
 
Place of the Will in Mental Healing 69 
 
 less. One morning her long-suffering husband 
 picked her up out of her bed, ran with her in 
 his arms to the edge of a lake near which 
 she lived, and threw her into the water. 
 The shock and her indignation so roused her 
 latent energy that she scrambled out of the 
 water, ran back to the house, and as the 
 story goes, was well ever after. 
 
 Such instemc^e^s andji iany others whic hcguld 
 be cited jndicate thaUbh^reserve power is 
 
 really in the will which can be brough t into 
 action^by ho pe of recovery of health or jn __ 
 jgreat ennergericies. 
 
 Every physici an knows that if the will to 
 be well is presen1p wi|h_his-j; ^ient thejja tjje 
 is half won . But closer study has revealed 
 the fact that while the unaided will can do 
 much toward recovery, especially in main- 
 taining a cheerful and hopeful attitude of 
 mind, much more can be accompUshed by 
 setting to work the agencies of health placed 
 within oiu* bodies by a wise Creator, thus be- 
 coming ** workers together with God." Some 
 writer has called this indirect procedure a 
 "flank movement." 
 
70 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 The most advanced thought of to-day is 
 that it is possible for us to control our bodies 
 through the will and so secure and maintain 
 health. It is beUeved that our bodies were 
 intended to serve us, not to tyrannize over us; 
 that we should have dominion over the flesh 
 and not be its victim. Paul said: "I keep 
 my body under that I may bring it into sub- 
 jection" (meaning subjection to his will) in 
 order that he might make it the instrument 
 of the soul. The principle that we should 
 control the bodily appetites and passions is 
 weU-nigh universally recognized. Why is it 
 not just as true that we should be able to 
 set our physical houses in order and bring 
 about that harmony within which means 
 health? 
 
 Sickness is really mutiny in the life-boat, 
 and should be quelled with a firm, strong will. 
 We know that our eyes and tongue, our 
 limbs, our hands and feet, are the servants of 
 the mind and absolutely under the control 
 of the will, but it is equally true that the heart, 
 the lungs, and all of our internal organs have 
 just as definite functions to perform. In a 
 
Place of the Will in Mental Healing 71 
 
 state of health these functions are performed 
 automatically, but if sickness occurs, the body 
 may be restored to its normal conditions, 
 and all its organs forced through the exercise 
 of the will to do their share of the work of 
 maintaining the health and strength of the 
 body. 
 
 Heretofore the problem has been to know 
 how to bring the will to bear upon the body, 
 and it has taken much research and experi- 
 ment to find a solution, yet when found it is 
 so simple that it seems strange indeed that 
 it so long eluded the earnest seeker after 
 truth. It has at last been definitely proved 
 that the body is so constituted that it can be 
 brought entirely under the control of the will 
 through the brain and nervous system, and 
 it is evident to those who have looked deeply 
 into the subject that this was from the first 
 the design of the Creator dimly understood 
 for ages, but now fully revealed. This form 
 of mind cure into which we are inquiring is 
 based upon well-known physiological princi- 
 ples and is capable of scientific proof. 
 
 In the common school physiology (Cali- 
 
72 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 fornia State Series) under a section concern- 
 ing the part the will plays in bodily acts, it 
 says: "When we wish to move any part of 
 the body, the first thing to do is to will to do 
 it. The act of wiUing to do anything sends 
 nerve currents, or impulses, along nerve fibers 
 to the part to be set to work." Also: "The 
 nervous system may be compared to a tele- 
 graph system. Nerve impulses (starting 
 through the will acting upon and stimulating 
 the brain) pass along the nerve fibers as elec- 
 tric currents travel along the wires. The 
 ganghons which receive and send impulses 
 are similar to the offices which receive and 
 send out electric currents." 
 
 The function of every organ in the body is 
 controlled by mental impulses or nerve cur- 
 rents flowing from the brain and transmitted 
 over the nervous system. 
 
 We are not conscious of these nerve currents 
 which are constantly passing through the 
 body, but we have just learned that it is 
 possible to consciously start a new nerve 
 current or impulse toward any part of the 
 body through willing to do so. If we can will 
 
Place of the Will in Mental Healing 73 
 
 the hands to work, or the feet to walk, is it 
 not reasonable to suppose that we can will 
 the stomach to perform its function of diges- 
 tion and, by so doing, send a nerve current 
 which shall give it power to obey? These 
 results in former times have been brought 
 about by hypnotism and by suggestion to 
 the supposed subjective mind, but now it is 
 known that the brain and the whole nervous 
 system are constituted so as to carry out the 
 dictates of the will. 
 
 In the skull are the three divisions of brain 
 matter: the cerebrum, where original thought 
 is born and the higher mental processes car- 
 ried on; the cerebellum, the reservoir of the 
 special senses and the source of the planning, 
 driving power of life; and at the base of the 
 brain are the nerve centers controlling circu- 
 lation, respiration, the heart's action, also 
 the centers controlling vomiting, digesting, 
 perspiring, masticating, and swallowing, as 
 well as the emotions of depression, joy, sor- 
 row, and weeping. All of this nerve matter 
 is closely connected in the spinal bulb, which 
 is usually called the medulla oblongata. 
 
74 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 It will be seen that in this small portion of 
 brain matter lies the control of the body. 
 In a state of health this control is automatic, 
 but where the medulla abdicates the throne, 
 anarchy, as in some form of illness, results. 
 Such ailments as shaking palsy or St. Vitus 
 dance are famiUar illustrations of this lack 
 of control. One writer compares the medulla 
 and the sympathetic nervous system to a 
 horse and rider: the horse does all the going, 
 but the rider guides the horse. If the rider 
 drops the reins, the horse runs away. Just 
 so, the nerves do the work but the nerve 
 centers in the medulla hold the reins and 
 keep the nerves steadily at their tasks. 
 
 Sometimes the upper brain is called the 
 Superintendent of the body, which gives 
 commands to the medulla as to a foreman, 
 which passes on the orders to the nerves, 
 which as faithful workmen execute the higher 
 will. Here, then, we have in a few words the 
 physiological basis for the appUcation of the 
 will to the body. The exact way in which it 
 acts is clearly stated by William Hanna 
 Thompson, M.D., in his great work, *' Brain 
 
Place of the Will in Mental Healing 75 
 
 and Personality," as follows: *'The human 
 will is a specific brain stimulus more potent 
 than any other. It excites the higher nerve 
 centers in the gray matter of the brain, and 
 they in tmn control the working of all the 
 lower nerve centers in the spinal nervous sys- 
 tem. The medulla takes the orders and exe- 
 cutes them through the gangUa along the spine 
 and the solar plexus. Whole tracts of nerve 
 fibers descend from the brain, coursing along 
 the nervous strands of the cord till each fiber 
 ends at but not in a spinal nerve cell. Forth- 
 with that nerve fiber rules the spinal nerve 
 absolutely by directing how it is to act, and 
 do this or that according to commands coming 
 from above." That is, if we wish to move or 
 to affect any part of the body we must will 
 that the special effect be produced. The 
 command will then be carried as a message 
 by the faithful servitors and obeyed by the 
 lower brain and nerves. It is in this way 
 every habit in life is formed. 
 
 Thus, by the training of the nervous sys- 
 tem, the child learns to walk and to talk. 
 Thus we train the hands to knit, to play 
 
76 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 the piano, to write, and do all kinds of useful 
 work. At first so difficult, these processes 
 soon become automatic or, as we say, they 
 become second nature and, being carried on 
 by the basal ganglia, we do not have to con- 
 sciously direct them by the will. 
 
 By just the same process we can train the 
 nerve centers controlling the internal organs 
 of our bodies, and so form habits of health. 
 The great difficulty is that in ignorance of 
 our powers most of us, sooner or later, form 
 the very bad habit of being sick, and, as in 
 everything else in life, it is much harder to 
 break a bad habit than to form a good one. 
 But the young can be taught to form good 
 habits of health through self-control, and the 
 mature can break the bondage of illness when 
 they realize that the remedy is within them- 
 selves, if they are willing to make the effort. 
 But here as elsewhere we must pay the 
 price. No great boon is attained without 
 adequate search, and concentration upon the 
 desired object is necessary. God says of 
 Himself, "In the day that thou seekest me 
 with thine whole heart, I will be found of 
 
Place of the Will in Mental Healing 77 
 
 thee"; and in this search for health the same 
 conditions prevail as in seeking for spiritual 
 blessings. 
 
 Hear what a College President says about 
 mental concentration: "Mental concentra- 
 tion is thinking to a point. Its supports are 
 enthusiasm, interest, desire for achievement, 
 health, strength of will. Mental concentra- 
 tion needs all natural buttresses, for the mind 
 at every stage likes to wander. The will, 
 however, is to nail the mind down close and 
 hard to its thought. The heart is to prompt 
 the mind to rejoice in definiteness and fixed- 
 ness, even if it be hard for a time. The con- 
 science is to be convinced that only by close 
 devotion can worthy results be secured. 
 Health is to be amply sufficient to fill up all 
 the exhaustions made by long continued in- 
 tellectual processes. In such a concentra- 
 tion the mind finds forces of which it had not 
 been conscious. (Here we find again the doc- 
 trine of reserve energy.) It seems often to 
 create new forces. It raises itself to the nth 
 degree of power; it gets its second wind; its 
 slow moving feet become wings; it runs with 
 
78 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 the chariots, not with the footmen; and it 
 does not become weary. The spirit of the 
 very gods seems to fill its being; its sight be- 
 comes insight; it calls out the intellectual 
 reserves; it discovers the truth of the re- 
 mark of Wilham James that each of us has 
 resources of which he does not dream." 
 
 When such powers can be called out by the 
 will, should we not cultivate and strengthen 
 it and learn to use it for our mental and 
 physical benefit.^ When through this power 
 one is able to break the bondage of disease 
 and steps out once more into the glad free- 
 dom of health, he is better able to understand 
 the full meaning of Christ's questions to the 
 sick of His day : " Wilt thou be made whole.^ " 
 *' What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" 
 and also His blessed assurance, "Be it unto 
 thee even as thou wilt." 
 
VI 
 
 THE EDUCATION OF THE 
 LOWER BRAIN 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE EDUCATION OF THE LOWER BRAIN 
 
 FROM the standpoint of the physiologist 
 the matter of mental control of the body 
 is really dependent upon the education of the 
 lower brain. 
 
 During the past history of the race, atten- 
 tion has been given almost exclusively to the 
 development of the intellectual and moral 
 powers of the upper brain. It is said that the 
 surface of the brain of a child at birth is per- 
 fectly smooth, but that as he learns to think 
 and study, the organ of thought becomes 
 creased and wrinkled and that later in life 
 deep convolutions are formed as a result of 
 his mental operations in forming and deepen- 
 ing brain paths along which the thought 
 habitually passes. 
 
 We are told that brain cells are trained by 
 use; that thinking causes a flow of blood to 
 the special brain area employed; that the 
 education of the mind is registered in the 
 
82 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 brain tissue, and it is in this way that knowl- 
 edge becomes a permanent acquisition. 
 
 Memory is not a matter of the mind alone, 
 but in this existence at least is dependent 
 upon the integrity of the brain cells. 
 
 This tendency of all mental states first to 
 excite the brain, and then to leave a lasting 
 impression upon its sensitive structure, ex- 
 plains why as life proceeds one tends to become 
 accustomed to think along habitual fines. 
 
 The mind, at first sensitive and plastic, 
 graduaUy faUs into the grooves which the 
 thinking has made in the brain. The brain 
 becomes set; it grows increasingly difiicult to 
 take up new subjects of thought or study, 
 until finaUy there comes a time when the man 
 thinks as he must and not as he wiU, because 
 his brain is no longer responsive to new 
 impressions. 
 
 This theory of brain building throws 
 scientific Ught upon the scriptural state- 
 ment, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so 
 is he," and it is at the same time a source of 
 encouragement and a wholesome warning. 
 
 It points out the physical foundation of 
 
The Education of the Lower Brain 83 
 
 permanence in character, showing the great 
 danger of wrong thinking and hving in early 
 life, lest there come a time when it will be 
 difficult if not impossible to modify brain 
 structure and so change the current of the 
 thinking. At the same time it gives great 
 hope to everyone with higher aspirations to 
 know that he is adding daily to his mental 
 and spiritual resources; that these are an 
 enduring possession, because wrought into his 
 brain structure, and ready at any moment to 
 answer his need. In other words, we build 
 not only our characters but also our brains, 
 and are responsible for both. 
 
 But the cerebrum is not the only portion 
 of brain matter capable of being educated. 
 The whole nervous system is simply an ex- 
 tension of the brain substance inclosed within 
 the skull, and is under the control of the 
 superior cells of the cerebrum. 
 
 It is known that but one half of the brain 
 has to do with conscious mental processes, 
 while the other half seems to be concerned 
 alone with motor control of the body. This 
 plainly suggests that the functions of one half 
 
84 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 of the brain are similar to those of the motor 
 nervous system throughout the body and of 
 Uke substance and power. 
 
 It is now held that intelligence pervades 
 the whole nervous system, and that it is this 
 mind of the body which responds to the stimuli 
 from the higher nerve centers, obeys the higher 
 will as the servant obeys the master and so 
 brings the body into subjection. 
 
 It seems more intelUgible to think of this 
 diffused mental force as being an exhibition 
 of brain activity in the nerves than to caU 
 it the subjective, unconscious, or subconscious 
 mind. 
 
 Indeed, recent psychology teaches that 
 man has but one mind, having many latent 
 possibiUties. The most neglected portion is 
 the lower brain, or medulla oblongata, some- 
 times called the primitive brain, in which are 
 found the centers controlling the automatic 
 processes of the body and also the seat of the 
 emotions and instincts. It is the seat of pro- 
 creation and the intuitions and other instincts 
 and emotions, and in some ways links us with 
 the divine more closely than any other part of 
 
The Education of the Lower Brain 85 
 
 our physical being. The control of these 
 propensities is one of the highest duties of 
 life, and when attained most clearly dis- 
 tinguishes man from the brute creation. 
 
 For ages the operation of this portion of 
 brain matter has been considered involun- 
 tary, and the thinking of the upper brain has 
 more often been a hindrance than a help to 
 its humbler subordinate. But it is now be- 
 lieved that this brain, too, can be educated, 
 and by the same teacher, the will. One can- 
 not read Dr. W. B. Carpenter's book on 
 ''Mental Physiology," and Dr. Thompson's 
 *' Brain and Personality" without reaUzing 
 that the will is the man, and upon its attitude 
 and exercise depends his present and future 
 destiny. 
 
 As the will spurs the student to intellectual 
 effort, and stimulates and builds the upper 
 brain till it becomes the responsive instru- 
 ment of his thought, so the same power can 
 be used to stimulate and educate the nerve 
 centers in the lower brain till they too can be 
 trained to perform their functions with per- 
 fect regularity and efficiency. 
 
86 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 Dr. Saleeby says: "To educate the bowel 
 is really to educate the lower brain, which is 
 the only educational route to the upper 
 brain." 
 
 This is equally true of every other organ 
 and function under the control of the lower 
 brain. In stimulating the action of the stom- 
 ach through the will, we are really educating 
 the center of digestion in the medulla. In 
 quieting and calming the heart's action by 
 controlling our agitation, and in opening the 
 arteries by relaxation and vigorous com- 
 mands, we are certainly training the centers 
 of circulation in the same portion of brain 
 matter. Thus can one cultivate the power 
 of deep breathing and can also control 
 perspiration by forcing the pores to open or 
 close at will. To put it simply, this form of 
 mental therapy is simply stimulating nerve 
 action by the will, instead of by tonics, 
 manual or mechanical means, or by electricity. 
 
 It seems clear that the road to health by 
 mental means is through teaching the brain 
 centers, whose duty it is to control the body, 
 to respond to the stimulus from the cerebrum, 
 
The Education of the Lower Brain 87 
 
 to take its orders, and to transmit them to 
 their destination. 
 
 The power which alone can initiate and 
 carry forth this work is the will acting upon 
 the appropriate brain cells. So to use the 
 will is to develop a new faculty, but why 
 need we doubt its possibility when psycholo- 
 gists tell us that man is as yet an imperfectly 
 evolved creature? 
 
 Professor Halleck predicts that the man 
 of the future may make fuller use of all his 
 powers and be as superior to his present self 
 as the locomotive is to the stage coach. 
 
VII 
 
 THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF 
 WILL CURE 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF WILL CURE 
 
 A RECENT paper published a statement 
 from Professor Edgar Lucien Larkin that 
 there are now 10,000,000 people in the United 
 States depending upon mental means for 
 health. It is also true that there is a con- 
 stantly growing number of physicians, entirely 
 aside from the practitioners of Christian 
 Science, the Immanuel Movement, and simi- 
 lar bodies, who find in the use of mental 
 treatment a most efficacious aid in curing 
 mental and nervous ailments. Some of them 
 take the position that mental treatment can 
 be combined with material remedies or other 
 agencies. Others, as Professor Paul Dubois, 
 M.D., began by using a variety of physical 
 means, but finally became so convinced of 
 the superior value of his method of treat- 
 ing by persuasion or reeducation that, one 
 by one, he dropped all medication, mas- 
 sage, water cure, even hygienic measures, as 
 
92 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 too slow in their action. He then abandoned 
 electricity as worse than useless and finally 
 used nothing but quiet, the rest cure, and a 
 generous diet, with the mental means, thus 
 really simply letting nature do the work, 
 with the aid of the mind. He rejects hyp- 
 notism and suggestion and, instead, appeals 
 to the reason and the higher nature. 
 
 He encourages the patient to beUeve that 
 he can be cured. He thus induces a hopeful, 
 restful state of mind, and by rousing the will 
 power in the patient to stay by the treat- 
 ment, he performs wonderful cures. Some 
 are cured by a single conversation, many in a 
 few days; some require weeks, according to 
 the degree of impressionabiUty. But it is a 
 very bad case, really such as should be treated 
 in an insane hospital, which will not yield. 
 He classes among psychic or nervous diseases 
 dyspepsia in all its forms, constipation, 
 diarrhoea, enteritis, enteroptosis, neuralgia, 
 palpitation of the heart, pelvic troubles, 
 insomnia, melanchoUa, neurasthenia with all 
 its variations, all hysterias, and finds them 
 all amenable to his treatment. 
 
Physiological Bcisis of Will Cure 93 
 
 Professor John Quackenbos, for twenty 
 years Professor of Psychology in Columbia 
 University, and afterwards practicing physi- 
 cian in New York City, in his book *' Hypnotic 
 Therapeutics," says he has treated seven thou- 
 sand cases by hypnotic suggestion with almost 
 miiform success. The range and variety of 
 the ailments is very extensive. Among them 
 are criminal tendencies and moral perver- 
 sions, epilepsy, sciatica, neuritis, locomotor 
 ataxia, diabetes, tuberculosis, cancer, and 
 others too nmnerous to mention. While he 
 does not claim to be able to cure organic 
 diseases in an advanced stage, where a great 
 deal of tissue has been destroyed, he says 
 that the number of diseases known to be 
 amenable to this form of mental treatment 
 is constantly growing, and that he sees no 
 reason why organic diseases cannot be aborted 
 if taken in time. In all these varied modes 
 of mental treatment, the effort is to en- 
 courage the patient to beUeve in the possi- 
 bihty of cure, to call forth his latent powers, 
 by tapping the lower levels of reserve energy. 
 In other words, to reestabUsh the man in 
 
94 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 self-control, by banishing anxiety, thus bring- 
 ing about harmonious action of the organic 
 functions. 
 
 Since it is a mental power which controls 
 the body, it is a prime essential that the mind 
 should be able to control itself. We dispute 
 the claim made by some teachers that all 
 disease is caused by the mind, since body and 
 mind are so intimately related that it is 
 often impossible to tell which is cause and 
 which effect. But we affirm that the mind 
 is the seat of tne cm^ative power, and if one 
 expects to be cured by mental means, the 
 mind itself must be cured first — at least, it 
 must use its latent power. 
 
 It is impossible to cure a sick hpfJy ini% (i 
 sick mind, hence on e should look well to the 
 state of his mind before expecting results 
 along this line. Up to the present time the 
 appeal of the mental therapeutist has been 
 made to the mind alone without knowing 
 exactly what was the point of apphcation of 
 the mental stimulus, nor how the mind 
 acted upon the body to bring about a har- 
 monious adjustment. 
 
Physiological Basis of Will Cure 95 
 
 Dr. Morton Prince, professor of nervous 
 diseases in Tuft's Medical College, writes on 
 this point: ** Psychotherapy simply makes 
 use of the normal mechanism of the mind 
 and body, of the physiological machinery, to 
 bring about a restitution of the disordered 
 functions and restore the individual to health. 
 Thus, suggestion can only make use of ma- 
 chinery already provided; it cannot create 
 anything anew or do anything that is not in 
 accord with the laws of the nervous system. 
 As a method, psychotherapy is comparable 
 in every way to what is now known as physi- 
 ological therapeutics which has taken such 
 an important place in internal medicine." 
 Again he adds: **A11 this therapeutic pro- 
 cedure, of course, means the education or, 
 perhaps better, the reeducation of the pa- 
 tient." The effort of the author is to teach 
 the patient how to reeducate himself. 
 
 In the introduction to his last book, "The 
 Law of Mental Medicine," Dr. Thomson Jay 
 Hudson wrote as follows of the healing power 
 within the mind, as energized, and used 
 through faith: "Our aim should be to learn 
 
96 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 something of the machinery through which 
 this potent energy performs its work. It is 
 obvious that if we had this knowledge, we 
 may proximately know something of the 
 modus operandi by which the mind acts upon 
 the body in health and in the cure of disease. 
 It follows that such knowledge will enable us 
 to direct the heaUng energy more inteUi- 
 gently and presumably more effectively." He 
 says further: "If I can succeed in discovering 
 the fundamental psychological law pertaining 
 to the control of the healing power resident in 
 every man's mental organism and in pointing 
 out the physical mechanism through which 
 that power is exerted, I may hope to be able 
 to indicate the most effective methods of 
 practicing the healing art without the use of 
 material remedies." 
 
 Mr. Henry Wood, one of the ablest of the 
 New Thought writers, has long studied on 
 these Unes. In one of the early editions of his 
 book "Studies in the Thought World," pub- 
 Ushed in 1896, he made a prophecy which 
 now seems almost startUng, when he said: 
 *'In the early years of the 20th Century this 
 
Physiological Basis of Will Cure 97 
 
 problem will be worked out, and we shall 
 have a formula which will exactly state the 
 method of procedure by which we shall be 
 able to heal ourselves and others." We fully 
 beheve that this problem has indeed been 
 worked out, and that the underlying psycho- 
 logical principle for which the scientists have 
 been searching so long is to be found in forcing 
 the bodily condition to conform to the will, 
 through controUing and directing the life 
 forces within. The first mental requisite is 
 hope, for in this, as in the spiritual life, "we 
 are saved by hope." Next, what Dr. Sadler 
 calls a psychological faith, or a behef in the 
 possibiUty of ciu'e; last, and most important 
 of all, the use of the will, which is faith in 
 action, to accompUsh the desired end. We 
 beheve these elements are present in every 
 genuine case of heahng, even though the 
 person healed may not have fully realized it 
 himself. 
 
 The will, as emphasized in a previous 
 chapter, is the real energizing principle which, 
 acting upon the brain, is conamunicated to 
 the nervous system through the nerve centers 
 
98 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 at the base of the brain and restores health 
 by bringing about harmonious and vigorous 
 action of the functions of the bodily organs. 
 
 Professor Olston, in "Mind Power and its 
 Privileges," says: "We know that we can 
 instruct the subjective mind to act upon an 
 organ, and inhibit or increase its function. 
 We can cause it to supply blood to a part 
 and thereby nourish it and eliminate waste 
 products." Skeptical physicians agree, if this 
 be true, but httle more is needed to cure 
 disease. Again he says: ''It is the function 
 of the medulla and spinal cord to attend to 
 the needs of the cells and the various organs 
 of the body. Though this is done automati- 
 cally, it does not signify that the will has no 
 power over those functions." We have al- 
 ready learned through the investigations and 
 conclusions of medical science that the will 
 is a great brain stimulus and has power, when 
 exerted, over the bodily functions and that 
 the nervous system will respond and cany- 
 out the commands coming from the brain. 
 Let us see what our great authority, William 
 Hanna Thompson, says in discussing the evo- 
 
Physiological Bdsis of Will Cure 99 
 
 lution of the nervous system. **At the top 
 of the spinal cord, as it enters the skull, is 
 developed the final supreme center of the en- 
 tire system — that fit and responsible ruler 
 of the whole wonderful and beautifully regu- 
 lated spinal mechanism — that center in which 
 a small injury would threaten life more than 
 it would in the brain, as it may cause instant 
 death, for the medulla holds the reins of the 
 pulse and of the breath in its hands, while at 
 the same time it acts as the intermediary 
 between the various regions of the brain 
 above and those of the spinal cord beneath," 
 that is, receiving and transmitting conamands, 
 as pointed out in the chapter on the place of 
 the will in Mental HeaUng. 
 
 Again he says: "The medulla oblongata 
 sends a bundle of nerve fibers to the heart 
 called the heart accelerators, which make it 
 beat faster, while it also supplies an important 
 strand of nerves which bridle the heart and 
 make it beat slowly and deUberately. In the 
 medulla there is the center governing the 
 entire and most extensive system of special 
 nerves which ramify on the coats of the 
 
100 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 arteries and whose business it is to regulate 
 the caUber of the arteries so that their di- 
 ameter becomes large or small according to 
 whether the part which the arteries supply 
 needs more or less blood." In this statement 
 of nervous control of the body we have in a 
 nutshell the physical mechanism of mental 
 cures for which Dr. Hudson sought so ear- 
 nestly. He passed away with the goal just 
 in sight, in 1902, for Dr. William Hanna 
 Thompson's book, "Brain and PersonaUty," 
 was pubUshed the same year. 
 
 Dr. Thompson demonstrated theoretically, 
 and we are proving practically, that cures are 
 indeed brought about through understanding 
 the relations of the brain and the nervous 
 system to the rest of the body, and controlhng 
 its functions, either through suggestions or 
 positive commands transmitted by way of 
 the medulla and the sympathetic nervous 
 system to every organ and cell of the body. 
 
 Professor Hofifman, writing in his book, 
 "Psychology and Common Life," confirms 
 our theory. He says: "The brain is com- 
 posed of the cerebriun, cerebellum, and the 
 
Physiological Basis of Will Cure 101 
 
 medulla oblongata. If the cerebrum be re- 
 moved, the functions essential to the main- 
 tenance of life, such as breathing, eating, 
 digestion, and the like, may all go on uninter- 
 rupted, for they are attended to by the medulla 
 oblongata. But there will be no intellectual 
 guidance or vohtional control." 
 
 All this testimony is to the effect that the 
 fore brain is the organ through which the will 
 stimulates the nervous system to do its work, 
 either in voluntary actions or in conamuni- 
 cating impulses to the bodily organs to per- 
 form their work. 
 
 Dr. A. T. Schofield, another high authority 
 on mental therapeutics, concurs in this view 
 as follows: "The half involuntary organs are 
 good servants, but very bad masters, and 
 should early be trained to subserviency. If 
 fairly healthy, anyone with a resolute will 
 may easily teach them." 
 
 Referring again to our California State Series 
 physiology, we learn that the heart is made 
 to beat faster and stronger by the nerve cur- 
 rents that it receives through the sympa- 
 thetic nerves. Since on another page it says 
 
ioi Mental Control of the Body 
 
 that we may consciously send an impulse or 
 nerve current by willing to do so, does it 
 not follow that we can make the will felt 
 in every organ, every nerve and tissue, even 
 to the minutest cell, every one of which 
 is suppUed with its tiny portion of nerve 
 matter? 
 
 Again, with regard to the control of the 
 circulation, the same author says: "When 
 the muscle fibers of the arteries relax they 
 lengthen; the artery becomes wider, and more 
 blood flows through it. Now, these muscle 
 fibers are under the control of the sym- 
 pathetic nerves, which therefore regulate 
 the amount of blood that goes to every 
 organ." 
 
 Here, then, we have not only the physical 
 mechanism through which to work, but we 
 have the healing stream itself in the life 
 blood which courses constantly through the 
 veins and arteries, carrying the faithful sol- 
 diers, the white corpuscles, whose duty it is 
 to fight for us, in destroying disease germs, 
 bearing also the red corpuscles laden with 
 oxygen taken in through the lungs. The 
 
Physiological Basis of Will Cure 103 
 
 plasma, or liquid part of the blood, contains 
 the nourishing materials for the tissues ob- 
 tained from the food by digestion. The 
 plasma in the veins also takes up the waste 
 matter from the tissues on their way out of 
 the body. 
 
 Thousands of years ago Moses said: "The 
 blood is the life," while a modem scientist 
 states the same fact in these words: "Circu- 
 lation is the most important agency in the 
 cure of all bodily ills. It is the basis of cure 
 and health." In possessing this exact knowl- 
 edge of the way in which we may secure 
 health through knowing how to control the 
 nervous system and, through that, the circu- 
 lation of the blood, we are debtors to those 
 who have sought so earnestly for it, and are 
 tndy "the heirs of all the ages." 
 
 The Spirit of Truth has been using both 
 science and human suffering to guide humanity 
 into all truth, and we are highly favored in 
 receiving this rich heritage of physical heal- 
 ing. From this vantage ground of health and 
 reaUzed power we may look forward to still 
 greater conquests, when by the power of the 
 
104 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 mind under the leadership of the Master 
 Mind, the whole world may be brought to a 
 knowledge of the truth of our divine origin 
 and our high destiny as the offspring of the 
 Infinite. 
 
VIII 
 
 THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF 
 MENTAL HEALING 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF 
 MENTAL HEALING 
 
 IT may not be unprofitable to sketch 
 briefly the rise and progress of mental 
 healing in modem times. 
 
 The first to make use of the power of the 
 mind over the body was Mesmer, who, about 
 two hundred years ago, cured many by making 
 passes over them with his hands. He beheved 
 that an invisible fluid passed from him to 
 the patient. His knowledge of psychology 
 was Umited, and he neither understood nor 
 explained the part the mind of the patient 
 played in the cure. 
 
 Beginning with mesmerism, the knowledge 
 of the relation of the mind to the body in 
 curing disease and the methods of treatment 
 have passed by successive gradations through 
 hypnotism, suggestion in the hypnoidal state, 
 that is, just preceding a state of genius hyp- 
 nosis as practiced by Morton Prince and Boris 
 
108 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 Sidis, to suggestion in a fully conscious state 
 and finally persuasion or reeducation as used 
 most successfully by Prof. Paul Dubois. 
 
 As these steps in the understanding of the 
 human mind have been made, the mystery 
 connected with the subject has been gradually 
 eUminated. But we of the favored present 
 day have come into a still fuller light. These 
 early explorers into the realm of mind have 
 builded better than they knew, and we are 
 entering into their labors. 
 
 All modem writers on this subject have 
 posited the heaUng power in the subjective 
 or unconscious mind which they describe as 
 an intelligence which directs all the lower 
 intelligences resident in all parts of the body, 
 and which controls all the organs and directs 
 their functioning, even down to the minute 
 cells which make up their structure. All 
 mental healers make their appeal to that 
 inner mind which some writers believe to be 
 separate from, and others think to be only a 
 different function of, the one mind of man. 
 The latest science declares that there is this 
 central intelligence, which presides over the 
 
Rise and Progress of Mental Healing 109 
 
 body, which is sleepless, ever alert for its 
 welfare, which automatically controls the 
 vital processes, not only keeping the organs 
 at their appointed tasks, but superintending 
 the work of repair, through directing the life 
 forces in the body even down to the minutest 
 detail. 
 
 Dr. Schofield, in his book on "Unconscious 
 Therapeutics," identijSes this inteUigence with 
 the vis medicatrix naturae, or the heaHng 
 power of nature. This power, he says, is the 
 manifestation of the action of the unconscious 
 mind in the tissues and organs of the body. 
 This power, which some call simply Nature, is 
 active constantly in all cures. It is shown in 
 the heaHng of cuts and sores, the knitting of 
 a broken bone, and in niunerous processes 
 which go on in the body without any outside 
 help or interference. We call this natural, 
 but as Augustine said centuries ago: '* Nature 
 is the will of God," and another ancient 
 worthy truly said: "Nature is the healer of 
 our diseases." 
 
 It is because this unconscious mind is so 
 hidden and elusive that it is difficult for the 
 
110 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 common man to realize and make use of its 
 powers. 
 
 Psychotherapy, or soul cure, as practiced 
 by the Inamanuel healers, recognizes this 
 teaching of science, and in their treatment the 
 suggestion of cure is always made to this 
 unconscious mind. They, in common with 
 Hudson, teach that the peculiar character- 
 istic of this mind is to beUeve whatever thought 
 is impressed upon it. They suggest to the 
 unconscious mind that it can cure the body, 
 and by repeating the statement until it is 
 fully accepted the work of restoration fol- 
 lows. All schools of suggestive therapeutics 
 proceed on this hypothesis, that the power 
 which heals is mental, and belongs to and is 
 resident within the person healed. Hence the 
 appeal is directed toward that mind or that 
 part of the mind whose sphere it is to rule the 
 body. 
 
 But still another upward step has been 
 taken because of the fact that the so-called 
 unconscious mind is found to be the subor- 
 dinate and servant of the conscious mind. Its 
 wonderful powers are being discovered and 
 
Rise and Progress of Mental Healing 111 
 
 are being consciously used at the behest of 
 the sovereign will. 
 
 In the American Magazine of March, 1914, 
 is an article by WiUiam Hanna Thompson, 
 called "The Soul's Winning Battle with 
 Science." He identifies this inner mind with 
 the soul of man, which after long obscurity 
 among scientists and Uterati is once more 
 coming into fashion. Referring to remarkable 
 recoveries through mental means which had 
 come under his observation, he expresses 
 this most suggestive and pregnant thought: 
 "Pointing directly to previously unsuspected 
 powers in the human organism, facts such as 
 these point no less surely to the existence in 
 the organism of an entity that can manipulate 
 and bend that organism to its desire. In 
 other words, that mind or spirit are not only 
 superior to matter, but that the ego or per- 
 sonaKty is supreme within the man, and can 
 force the body to obey its will." 
 
 Does not all this growth in thought lead us 
 to the very position we hold to-day, — that 
 the conscious mind can control everything 
 below itseK? 
 
112 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 The discoveries of physiological psychology 
 supply the last link necessary to prove the 
 true foundation for what in the past has been 
 largely theoretical. 
 
 Dr. Hudson, more than fifteen years ago, 
 in his book, "The Evolution of the Soul," 
 expressed the belief that the organs through 
 which this subjective mind carried on its 
 operations in the body were the medulla 
 oblongata and the sympathetic nervous sys- 
 tem, but he did not intimate that they were 
 themselves subject to the direct control of the 
 conscious mind. 
 
 The laboratory has since revealed the nature 
 of the brain and its intimate connection 
 through the nervous system with every part 
 of the body. To illustrate this it is necessary 
 to repeat some extracts in a previous chapter. 
 Of this wonderful mechanism William Hanna 
 Thompson writes: "Whole tracts of nerve 
 fibers descend from the brain, coursing along 
 the nervous strands of the cord till each fiber 
 ends at, but not in, a spinal nerve cell. Forth- 
 with that nerve fiber rules the spinal nerve 
 absolutely, by directing how it is to act and 
 
Rise and Progress of Mental Healing 113 
 
 do this or that according to commands coming 
 from above." Again he says: "The human 
 will is a specific brain stimulus more potent 
 than any other. It excites the higher nerve 
 centers in the gray matter of the brain, and 
 they in turn control the working of all the 
 lower nerve centers in the spinal nervous 
 system. The medulla takes the orders and 
 executes them through the ganglia along the 
 spine and the solar plexus." The greater 
 significance attaches to these statements 
 because he is writing only of the ordinary 
 acts and motions of the body which he says 
 are entirely subject to the behest of the 
 brain fiber. This clear statement from such 
 a high authority of the relation of the will to 
 the brain, and the explanation of how com- 
 mands are carried out by the nervous sys- 
 tem, seems the most convincing proof of the 
 possibihty of mental cures, and the best pos- 
 sible explanation of how they are brought 
 about. This, however, is but an exact 
 scientific statement of what has been in the 
 minds of other men. 
 
 Dr. W. B. Carpenter's view is that the cere- 
 
114 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 brum does not act directly on the motor 
 nerves, but that it plays downward on the 
 motor centers contained within the axial 
 cord, from which the motor nerves arise. He 
 says, "Experiments seem to prove that the 
 office of the cerebrum is not immediately to 
 evoke, but to coordinate and direct the 
 action of the lower centers, just as it controls 
 the respiratory movements whose center is 
 in the medulla oblongata." 
 
 Just so we beheve the cerebrum can control 
 every other vital process, through stimulat- 
 ing the medulla by a command given by the 
 willing ego and transmitted and obeyed by 
 the nervous system. 
 
 It seems conclusive that it is in this way 
 that all cures through mental processes are 
 wrought out upon the body. The intense 
 desire, growing into a behef which becomes 
 active in the will to be well, acts as a powerful 
 brain stimulus, and finally energizes the whole 
 body. "No psychosis without neurosis," — 
 that is, no thinking without its effect upon the 
 nervous system, is a proverb among psy- 
 chologists. How much more true when the 
 
Rise and Progress of Mental Healing 115 
 
 thinking is of the intensity of seeking for 
 health! 
 
 Does not all this seem to indicate that the 
 thinking and willing process is the divinely 
 appointed way in which man is to gain do- 
 minion over the flesh? 
 
 Dr. Caleb Wilham Saleeby, in his book, 
 *' Worry, the Disease of the Age," says: "We 
 may or we may not possess a theory which 
 serves to explain how it is that the mind of 
 the patient is able to influence his recovery 
 from disease. For myseK I think that a per- 
 fectly reasonable theory can be constructed. 
 The more we study the processes of recovery, 
 the more we are convinced that they depend, 
 not upon the introduction of drugs from 
 without, but upon the activity of forces within 
 the body. In modern times we have come to 
 discover that this power of the body to heal 
 itself depends upon the abiUty of various 
 organs in the body to produce protective and 
 antidotal substances which destroy the poisons 
 produced by microbes, or even kill the mi- 
 crobes outright; such a substance may be 
 produced in the Hver, or in the pancreas, in 
 
116 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 the bone-marrow, in the thyroid gland, or 
 elsewhere. 
 
 ** But these tissues, like all others, are subject 
 to the control of the nervous system. Their 
 nutrition — upon which their activity de- 
 pends — is absolutely at the mercy of the 
 nutritive influence which the nervous system 
 sheds upon them by means of the special 
 nutritive nerves that are distributed to every 
 part of the body. 
 
 " If we clearly bear this mechanism in mind 
 we can readily discern a rational explanation 
 — perhaps here completely stated for the 
 first time — of the manner in which the mind 
 is able to control the processes of disease." 
 Here again we have a strong statement that 
 the health of the body is under the control 
 of the mind acting through the nervous 
 system, and, as we know, stimulating the cir- 
 culation and through the blood supply giving 
 tone and vigor to every part of the body. 
 
 Thus scientific investigation has given us 
 the undoubted proof of the physical founda- 
 tion of all mental cures. Through this 
 knowledge we pass from the realm of supersti- 
 
Rise and Progress of Mental Healing 117 
 
 tion and ignorance to a full understanding of 
 our bodily constitution and our own God- 
 given powers to control its condition. Is it 
 not the strongest possible prop to our con- 
 fidence in the power of the mind over the 
 body to find that the physical structure is 
 perfectly adapted to carry out the dictates of 
 the will and to know how the cure is effected? 
 
 Is it not also true, as Dr. Schofield says, 
 that mental therapeutics consciously used 
 are better adapted to truly educated people? 
 
 While suggestion and autosuggestion and 
 aU forms of unconscious therapeutics will 
 continue to be used, we are justified in be- 
 Heving that we have reached a higher round 
 upon the ladder in understanding that one's 
 own mind is the seat of power and that its 
 energy may be released and directed by the 
 noblest faculty of man — the will. When 
 we fully realize this truth and act upon it we 
 can at once correct any aberration from a 
 normal condition of health, and the control 
 of the body by the appointed forces and organs 
 will become as automatic as any other well 
 estabhshed habit. Is it extreme to believe 
 
118 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 that this principle ruled in the heeding work 
 of the Great Physician, Jesus, the Christ? 
 When the leper sought help, he said: "Lord, 
 if thou wilt thou canst make me clean." And 
 Jesus put forth his hand and touched him and 
 said: *'I will, be thou clean." He com- 
 manded the evil spirits to come out of the 
 afflicted ones. He rebuked by his word the 
 fever which immediately left the mother of 
 Simon, and when he quieted the raging storm, 
 His disciples said: "He commandeth even 
 the winds and the waves and they obey Him." 
 Did not these and many other incidents of 
 His earthly ministry indicate that the mo- 
 tive power of His work was His will, reinforced 
 by the will of Omnipotence in fulfilUng the 
 highest known law, that mind can control 
 and manipulate all forms of matter for the 
 benefit of man and the glory of God? 
 
 The Son of Man came not only to reveal 
 God to man, but to reveal man to himself, 
 by showing him his powers, his privileges, 
 and his destiny; and we honor him most 
 when we aspire most to fulfill his purposes 
 concerning us. We have reason to beUeve 
 
Rise and Progress of Mental Healing 119 
 
 that Christ was never ill, in spite of all his 
 burdens and sorrows and exhausting labors, 
 and we can only conclude that this was true 
 because He had perfect control over the flesh. 
 He moved through life with a mind at perfect 
 poise, His wiU in absolute harmony with the 
 divine will, conscious not only of His power 
 over others who came to Him in faith, but, 
 first of all, master of Himself in every part 
 of His physical and spiritual natiure. Is it 
 presumption for us who are Sons and heirs of 
 God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, to 
 aspire to attain a like power over ourselves, 
 through obedience to the divine law of self- 
 control! John said: "As he is, so are we in 
 this world," and we have Christ's constant 
 presence to help us to reahze our desires to 
 approach his likeness. 
 
 If you ask how is this to be wrought out, 
 and how we are to reahze what we fully be- 
 heve to be God's will for us and in us, I 
 can only refer you once more to Holy Writ. 
 "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the 
 mercies of God, that ye present your bodies 
 a Uving sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God 
 
120 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 which is your reasonable service. And be 
 not conformed to this world, but be ye trans- 
 formed by the renewing of your mind, that ye 
 may prove what is that good and acceptable 
 and perfect will of God concerning you." 
 
IX 
 
 THE GROUND OF OUR HOPE 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 THE GROUND OF OUR HOPE 
 
 AS we glance back over the history of 
 the heaUng art from its earUest begin- 
 nings, we see not only great change, but, in 
 recent years, great progress. 
 
 All that human skill can accomplish has 
 been applied to the cure of disease. The 
 span of Ufe has been lengthened, and a vast 
 amount of suffering relieved. The patient 
 research of the scientist has revealed the 
 constitution of the human body and its func- 
 tions and has laid the foundation of every 
 form of cure. Medicine, surgery, mechano- 
 theraphy, and various forms of hygiene vie 
 with each other in their efforts to heal, and 
 all have their adherents. 
 
 But when all forms of human treatment 
 shall have been tried and found unavailing, 
 what shall the sufferer do? Shall he, to be 
 consistent with his former ideas, pass quietly 
 out of life rather than look about him and 
 
124 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 seize upon something else which seems to 
 promise reUef? This is the question which 
 thousands are asking to-day. The world is 
 longing for a cure for disease, not simply for 
 paUiation of symptoms but for some knowledge 
 or power which shall completely eradicate it 
 at its source. 
 
 There are many indications that this boon 
 so ardently sought for ages is being gradually 
 revealed to a waiting, suffering world. The 
 ground for our hope is in the growing belief 
 that an "All-wise Creator has placed the 
 remedy within the material house where the 
 spirit of Ufe dwells" (Dr. Still), and that we 
 may learn to use it. Healing without material 
 remedies has been in the world as long as 
 we have written history, and it is probably 
 as old as the race. In fact, this form of 
 healing antedated medicine many thousands 
 of years, and everything indicates that this 
 was made possible by man's very constitution, 
 and was a divine provision for primitive man. 
 We know that the Israelites were without 
 physicians and, from the beginning of their 
 wanderings, were taught by Moses to seek 
 
The Ground of Our Hope 125 
 
 for healing from God Himself. All through 
 their history we find this custom revealed, 
 and it is probable that it was common beUef 
 and practice to a very late date. Certainly 
 Christ found many who beheved in divine 
 heaUng or He could not, at the very begin- 
 ning of His ministry, have succeeded in curing 
 the many who came to Him. Very early in 
 His pubhc work, as recorded in the fourth 
 Chapter of Matthew, the Word says: "Jesus 
 went about all Galilee, teaching in their 
 synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the 
 Kingdom, and heahng all manner of sickness 
 and all manner of disease among the people. 
 And His fame went throughout all Syria, 
 and they brought unto Him all sick people 
 that were taken with divers diseases and tor- 
 ments and those which were possessed with 
 devils and those which were lunatick, and 
 those that had the palsy; and He healed 
 them." 
 
 Since, in another place, it is said that He 
 did no mighty works, because of the unbeUef 
 of the people, it is conclusive that in many 
 parts of Palestine, and among many of the 
 
126 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 people, healing without physical means was 
 generally accepted, even before Christ's time 
 and before His character or His mission were 
 understood. For three hundred years after- 
 ward the early church practiced the healing 
 art as taught by the disciples. For many 
 centuries it was lost sight of except in rare 
 instances, but in modern times it is coming 
 forth again in many forms. 
 
 In Europe, the development has been along 
 purely scientific hues without emphasis upon 
 its relation to reUgion. Eminent men in great 
 hospitals in Holland and France have per- 
 formed marvelous cures by means of hyp- 
 notic and suggestive therapeutics, and have 
 fully demonstrated the amenabiHty of a 
 large class of diseases to mental treatment. 
 
 In America, strangely enough, physicians 
 have largely avoided this method of treat- 
 ment, confining themselves to material reme- 
 dies. But in many different minds the behef 
 in something higher and diviner has been 
 cherished. The Mormon Church taught and 
 practiced healing by the laying on of hands, 
 as did John Alexander Dowie and his fol- 
 
The Ground of Our Hope 127 
 
 lowers. The Catholic Church has taught its 
 people to offer a Novena to St. Anne, with 
 fervent faith, and, by looking upon a bone or 
 other reUc, many have been able to throw 
 away their crutches or their medicines and 
 go on their way rejoicing. 
 
 Dr. Cullis, of Boston, more than a quarter 
 of a century ago had a sanitarium where he 
 took patients and treated them only by 
 oflfering the prayer of faith, and many were 
 restored. Faith-healing has many adherents, 
 and is practiced by several bodies of beUevers, 
 the best known of which is the Christian 
 Alliance, whose members, as they say, take 
 Christ as their physician and find in Him 
 bodily as well as spiritual health. 
 
 However, the most aggressive advocates of 
 mental heaUng are to be found in the move- 
 ments known as Christian Science, New 
 Thought, and kindred bodies. They are 
 attracting many invalids and other inquirers, 
 and even Dr. Thomson Jay Hudson, the 
 eminent writer, who has done so much to 
 make the new psychology readable, admits 
 that they have made thousands of genuine 
 
128 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 cures. While scouting their theology, as 
 well as their psychology and metaphysics, 
 as utterly inconsistent and absurd to a de- 
 gree, he says it is useless longer to deny the 
 fact that many have found great help from 
 these sources. 
 
 Dr. Hudson, in his first book, "The Law 
 of Psychic Phenomena," and in his last, *'The 
 Law of Mental Medicine," very clearly sets 
 forth the explanation why cures are made in 
 all these different ways. He says it is be- 
 cause of an instinctive, intuitive faith of 
 the subjective mind, which, if appealed to 
 strongly enough, responds by an outflow of 
 reserve power, which revitalizes and re- 
 energizes the body. For this reason it does 
 not matter whether there is any curative 
 power in the method or object employed or 
 not, if only the confidence of the patient can 
 be sufficiently aroused. He instances the 
 work of the medicine man among the Indians 
 who puts on his bravest array and beats his 
 tom-tom before the tent of the sick until, in 
 many cases, the tide of disease turns, and 
 health is restored. 
 
The Ground of Our Hope 129 
 
 Memory serves to recall the eagerness with 
 which buck-eyes were sought in early days 
 and carried in many a pocket to ward off 
 rheumatism. Often a child was rendered 
 malodorous by the bag of asafoetida hung 
 about the neck to secure immunity from 
 infectious diseases. What different is this 
 from the fetish of the savage or the rabbit 
 foot of the African negro.^^ And yet, who can 
 say that the repose of mind secured by a 
 beUef in these prophylactic precautions does 
 not have its effect upon the body in render- 
 ing it less Uable to disease? A striking in- 
 stance of the same character is told in the 
 fifth Chapter of Matthew's Gospel. The 
 writer speaks of a certain man who had been 
 helpless for thirty-eight years, who lay wait- 
 ing at the pool of Bethesda for the moving of 
 the waters, in these words: "For an angel 
 went down at a certain season into the pool, 
 and troubled the water; whosoever then 
 after the troubhng of the water stepped in 
 was made whole of whatsoever disease he 
 had." What is this but an illustration of 
 the fact that it was the belief in the minds 
 
130 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 of the people which cured them and not 
 because of any virtue in the bubbUng of an 
 intermittent spring? Seeing the man's expec- 
 tation of cure, in case he could be placed in 
 the spring, Jesus did not even ask him if he 
 beUeved it possible, but simply said: "Wilt 
 thou be made whole?" On receiving an 
 affirmative reply, Jesus saith unto him : "Rise, 
 take up thy bed and walk." This same 
 naive, childUke faith was exhibited in the 
 work of the apostles as recorded in Acts, fifth 
 chapter and fifteenth verse, where we are told 
 that multitudes of men and women brought 
 their sick into the streets and laid them on 
 beds and couches, that the shadow of Peter 
 might fall upon them. Judging from the 
 context, we are led to beUeve that all such 
 were healed. Are we not fully justified in be- 
 Ueving that their mental condition was the 
 source of their healing and not because of any 
 mysterious virtue in Peter's shadow? 
 
 Even to-day handkerchiefs are sent to be 
 blessed by those claiming healing power and, 
 on their return to their owners, cm-es are 
 said to follow. Is not this a modern illustra- 
 
The Ground of Our Hope 131 
 
 tion of the fact that the behef in the mind 
 of the person is the determining factor in all 
 these cases? 
 
 In the past our thought has been centered 
 upon the work of the agent or healer, and 
 little attention has been given to the part 
 played by the one upon whom the heahng 
 was wrought. 
 
 A careful study of the heaUng miracles of 
 the Bible will show that even Christ Himself 
 seemed never to heal against the will or 
 without the cooperation of the sick ones or 
 some of the near friends. To one He said: 
 *' Stretch forth thine arm"; to another, 
 *'Take up thy bed and walk"; to the lepers 
 He said: "Go thy way, and show thyself to 
 the priest." And as they were going they were 
 healed. 
 
 Perhaps the most remarkable illustration 
 of this truth was given by the poor woman 
 who had an infirmity for twelve years, yet 
 who had such wonderful faith that she was 
 made whole simply by touching the hem of 
 His garment in a crowd, and even without the 
 knowledge of the Lord till after the cure was 
 
132 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 wrought. Turning to her He said, " Daughter, 
 be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee 
 whole." 
 
 The accounts of mental cures, both in 
 sacred and secular history, point unmistak- 
 ably to the fact that the necessary condition 
 of mind is one of hope and expectancy of 
 help — in other words of faith. It may be 
 so very weak as to be scarcely recognized, but 
 it is there or one would not seek relief through 
 mental means. Granting this to be true, the 
 question immediately arises: ''Why should 
 a false faith have the same results as a true 
 one?" The answer to this question is that 
 such results follow only when the faith is 
 beheved to be based upon the truth; when 
 proven to be false and unreasonable, it loses 
 its efficacy. 
 
 As the minds of men rise above the super- 
 stitions of the past, they drop their primitive 
 and childish beKefs in charms and amulets, 
 in the incantations of the savage, and the 
 power of hideous music to expel sickness or 
 drive out the devil. Instead, they look for 
 the deep underlying principle which mani- 
 
The Ground of Our Hope 133 
 
 fests itself in the human mind as faith and 
 accompHshes such mighty results. What is 
 the explanation? what the power? It is to 
 this question we must apply ourselves, and 
 in the answer is bound up the truth about 
 mental healing, for which the world is seeking 
 as for hidden treasure. At last we know that 
 the power is to be found in an intelligent un- 
 derstanding and appHcation of the divine law 
 of self-control or self-mastery through the 
 supremacy of mind over matter, of the spirit 
 over the body, and through the develop- 
 ment of the latent powers of the brain in its 
 control over the nervous system. It is still 
 of faith, but no longer bUnd. Wide-eyed and 
 expectant we look and wait for the still 
 greater things which shall be revealed to us 
 and in us. Through this conscious evolution 
 of our faculties we catch a new meaning in 
 the words of the beloved disciple, when he 
 said: **Now are we the sons of God, and it 
 doth not yet appear what we shall be; but 
 we know that when He shall appear we shall 
 be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 
 
X 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL ASPECT 
 
CHAPTER X 
 THE SPIRITUAL ASPECT 
 
 THE subject of healing should be viewed 
 in three aspects: physical, mental, and 
 spiritual. 
 
 The first is set forth in physiology; the 
 second in psychology; the third and highest 
 phase, in its rehgious interpretation. 
 
 The new psychology has made discoveries 
 in the study of the mind, which throw won- 
 derful Ught upon the Bible, and upon the 
 work of Christ. The words of Jesus, which 
 have been accepted by faith, modem science 
 is now proving to be absolutely true. The 
 wall which has so long separated science and 
 reUgion is being rapidly broken down, and 
 the conviction is growing that true science 
 and real rehgion, instead of being contradic- 
 tory, are in perfect harmony. 
 
 It is believed that revealed truth will 
 not be discredited by research, but will be 
 more fully confirmed, the more thoroughly 
 
138 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 it is understood. Nowhere is this more fully 
 shown than in the developments of mental 
 healing. 
 
 Now, as in olden times, the one essential 
 condition is that of faith. Of this state of 
 mind Hudson says, ''Fai th is the princip le 
 which ener gizes the huma n soul, and .without 
 wWchJJae-^Qu]-4&4)owerless^to heal the body. 
 And when Jesus declared to His patients, as 
 He constantly did, ' Thy faith hath made thee 
 whole,' it was a clear, positive, and em- 
 phatic declaration or statement of the one 
 basic principle of mental therapeutics. It 
 was equivalent to saying nineteen hundred 
 years in advance just what modern experi- 
 mental science has demonstrated to be 
 true, namely, that the mental energy that 
 heals the sick resides within the patient 
 himself." 
 
 Dr. Sidis agrees with Professor James that 
 there is in everyone potential energy stored 
 away as a reserve to be drawn upon in emer- 
 gency. He says that there is far less energy 
 utilized by the individual than is actually at 
 his disposal. In the treatment of his patients 
 
The Spiritual Aspect 139 
 
 he is able to tap these fresh levels of reserve 
 energy and call forth hitherto unsuspected 
 powers. In his own words, he writes, 
 **We are confronted with the important phe- 
 nomenon of Uberation of dormant reserve 
 energy. 
 
 "The patient feels the flood of fresh ener- 
 gies as a * marvelous transformation,' as a 
 'new Ught,' as a *new Hfe,' as something worth 
 far more than life itself." 
 
 This, then, is the scientific statement of 
 the mental and spiritual uplift which so 
 often accompanies a case of genuine healing, 
 especially if it be brought about quickly, 
 so that the contrast between the earlier and 
 latter condition is very strong. It is the 
 result of the faith of the patient energized 
 by his will to reaUze health, and with many 
 is just as marked and definite as conversion 
 or any other spiritual experience. 
 
 This gift of bodily health is not made alone 
 to the religious, but seems to be one of the 
 universal blessings proffered to all aUke, 
 and to be received and enjoyed by all who 
 obey therapeutic law. Christ healed the 
 
140 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 nine thankless lepers as freely as the one who 
 returned to give glory to God. Just as real 
 cures are effected in the great hospitals for 
 mental treatment in Europe as are wrought 
 by the most sincere faith healers and with 
 much better scientific attestation. 
 
 Just recently a committee, consisting of 
 ten representatives of the Church of Eng- 
 land and ten distinguished medical men, 
 with the Dean of Westminster as Chairman, 
 made pubUc the results of their careful in- 
 vestigations into the subject and power of 
 prayer. 
 
 The following is a brief extract from 
 their report: "This committee desire to ex- 
 press their beUef in the efl&cacy of prayer. 
 They reverently beUeve, however, that the 
 divine power is exercised in conformity 
 with and through the operation of natural 
 laws. 
 
 "Spiritual ministration should be recog- 
 nized equally with medical ministration, as 
 carrying God's blessing to the sick. Health, 
 bodily and mental, is capable of being influ- 
 enced for good by spiritual means. The 
 
The Spiritual Aspect 141 
 
 physical results of what is called faith or 
 spiritual heaUng do not prove on investiga- 
 tion to be different from those of mental 
 healing or suggestion." 
 
 The "unco guid" may question this, but 
 the fact remains and suggests that this may 
 be one of God's ways of winning the world 
 to Himself. Christ knew what was in man. 
 He set up no arbitrary standard of fitness, 
 but His appeal was only to the faith and 
 will. 
 
 However, He reproved the nine lepers for 
 their ingratitude, and said to one man whom 
 He healed, "Go thy way and sin no more 
 lest a worse thing come upon thee." 
 
 There can be no question that the man 
 whose mind is stayed on God will be best 
 able to grasp this blessing. Only Christ, 
 within the soul, can give the peace and poise 
 necessary to an enabhng and enduring faith. 
 
 " None else can heal all our soul's diseases, 
 No, not one; no, not one." 
 
 Or, as Rev. J. M. CampbeU in his recent 
 book, "The Presence," has beautifully ex- 
 
142 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 pressed this truth, *' He is the abiding presence, 
 flooding the soul with strength, heahng the 
 body of its diseases, reducing to harmony 
 life's discords, soothing frayed nerves, calm- 
 ing troubled hearts and bringing the entire 
 man into perfect oneness with the divine will 
 and with the divine order. To come into 
 touch with Him is to come into touch with the 
 Infinite. It is to tap the hidden fountain of 
 divine energy, which flowing into the soul 
 makes its possessor * every whit whole.'" 
 
 To the spiritually minded such a blessing 
 affords added reasons for gratitude and love 
 to his Heavenly Father, and his heart must 
 continuaUy sing, "Bless the Lord, my 
 soul, and forget not all His benefits, who re- 
 deemeth thy hfe from destruction; who 
 crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender 
 mercies." 
 
 In trying to define the nature of prevailing 
 faith, R. L. Marsh, the author of a httle book 
 on *' Faith Healing, a Defense," states the 
 matter very clearly and free quotations fol- 
 low. He says, "What then is faith? Con- 
 sidered actively, it is the action of the will in 
 
The Spiritual Aspect 143 
 
 appropriating what God has ojBfered or placed 
 within our reach. 
 
 "It is the cooperation of the hiunan will 
 with the will of God, in realizing the purposes 
 of God. Considered passively, faith is the 
 submissive attitude or state of the will in 
 consenting to receive the offered blessings of 
 God. 
 
 '* Faith is not an arbitrary condition, but 
 a necessary condition to the receiving of sal- 
 vation or heaUng, just as the stretching out 
 of the hand is necessary to the receiving of an 
 apple proffered by a friend. 
 
 "Faith is the soul's appropriating act. 
 
 "God's blessings are not bestowed each by 
 an individual act of His grace and power. 
 They are constantly within reach, having 
 already been given in Christ, and faith is the 
 act of appropriating them. 
 
 "The divine, the spiritual, the so-called 
 supernatural, is all about us, just as electricity 
 has always been within reach. But just as 
 man must reach out his hand, appropriate the 
 electric power, and turn its current into the 
 necessary channels, before it works his will, 
 
144 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 so he must reach out, take, appropriate, and 
 turn into the necessary channels the spiritual 
 currents of God's Ufe-giving forces before 
 they can avail for his blessing. Such is the 
 faith that saves the soul and heals the body. 
 In either case the power is divine. Faith, 
 therefore, brings the power of God, neces- 
 sarily, into action. The power of God cannot 
 be withheld from it. And this is not simply 
 because God has promised to do this or 
 that, but because He has so created men 
 that they may use His power when they will. 
 
 "And the willing to use this power is faith. 
 It is the province, the nature, the end of faith 
 to call the divine power into action. 
 
 "Faith, then, is the calling into effective 
 action, for a desired end, of the divine energy." 
 
 How this energy, which can be nothing less 
 than the Holy Spirit cleansing the temple of 
 his abode, works in response to faith, we may 
 not be able to understand. It is as if by 
 turning that pole of the mind we call faith 
 to the Som-ce of life the vital connection is 
 made through which new strength flows in 
 "and we are whole again." 
 
The Spiritual Aspect 145 
 
 But we cannot deny that in every other 
 reahn of life natural processes are used to 
 accomplish spiritual results, and it may well 
 be that His power flows through its natural 
 channels in the normal operations of the 
 human mind, when seeking health through 
 the appointed way of faith. 
 
 In his book, ''After Pentecost, What?" 
 Dr. Campbell says on this point: "From 
 the spirit, the body is reached; Christ 
 quickens the spirit, the spirit quickens the 
 body; Christ masters the spirit, the spirit 
 masters the body; Christ governs the spirit, 
 the spirit governs the body. From the 
 throne of the Spirit, He holds sway over the 
 entire man." 
 
 Here, then, in the entire surrender of the 
 life to Christ, is the secret of that perfect 
 wholeness which He came to create in his 
 followers. 
 
 If, in our quest for health, we must spiritual- 
 ize our Kves, let us not hesitate, no matter 
 what the cost, but press on with courage 
 high, and faith strong, until, our struggles 
 ended, we enter and possess the promised 
 
146 Mental Gonial of the Body 
 
 land of joyous heart and buoyant health, our 
 divine inheritance. 
 
 "Thou, Christ, art all I want; 
 
 More than all in Thee I find; 
 Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, 
 
 Heal the sick, and lead the blind. 
 Thou of Ufe the fountain art, 
 
 Freely let me take of Thee; 
 Spring Thou up within my heart, 
 
 Rise to all eternity." 
 
XI 
 
 HEALTH THROUGH SELF-CONTROL 
 HOW TO SECURE IT 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 HEALTH THROUGH SELF-CONTROL 
 HOW TO SECURE IT 
 
 AS has been fully set forth in the preceding 
 pages, the form of mind cure into which 
 we are inquiring is based upon the beUef that 
 all the bodily forces and functions can be 
 brought under one's control through the 
 will. To recapitulate briefly: The will, when 
 exerted, is a brain stimulus which sets nerve 
 currents or impulses flowing from the cere- 
 brum through the lower brain and spinal 
 nervous system, to every part of the body. 
 These nerve impulses give life and vigor all 
 along their course, and waken weak and 
 lethargic organs to greater activity. 
 
 In this manner nerve inhibition is over- 
 come and what seems quite miraculous often 
 results. There is ground for this in a state- 
 ment of HaUeck's when he says, "No constant 
 state, but only a change effected with a 
 certain suddenness, calls to life a nerve 
 
150 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 process." Since the circulation of the blood, 
 as well as every other function of the body, is 
 under the control of the nervous system, it 
 follows that this, too, can be stimulated or 
 retarded by these currents passing over the 
 nerves which accompany all the circulatory 
 system, and by means of which the arterial 
 walls can be relaxed or contracted, according 
 to whether more or less blood is needed. This 
 is of first importance, as the blood is the life 
 stream and is the basis of all cures. 
 
 Usually we depend entirely upon the auto- 
 matic action of the body, which after an injury 
 immediately rushes a large supply of blood 
 to the part affected. 
 
 The heat and sweUing about a bruised area, 
 the inflammation about a fracture in the 
 process of callous formation, and the impervi- 
 ous fibrous membrane formed by the union 
 of myriads of white blood corpuscles about an 
 infected area to ward off a general body in- 
 fection are all nature's efforts to cure through 
 the heahng and reconstructive power of the 
 blood. So if the circulation can always be 
 controlled and can be accelerated by the will, 
 
Health Through Self-Control 151 
 
 healing will always be perfect and presumably 
 more rapid. To heal through mental means 
 is never to do anything contrary to nature, 
 but simply to assist or "speed up" her proc- 
 esses by conscious effort instead of simply 
 "letting nature take her course." 
 
 To send fresh energy consciously to the 
 point at need is simply a reinforcement of 
 the natural elements, which may turn the 
 tide and bring victory out of defeat. To secure 
 this power over yourself, reaUze your privi- 
 lege to be master of yourself and bring the 
 body into subjection through conamands, 
 willing mentally any effect, in harmony with 
 nature's operations, which you desire to 
 produce. As heretofore explained, these com- 
 mands are transmitted as nerve impulses or 
 currents by the brain and nervous system to 
 all parts of the body. 
 
 In explaining how to secure this mastery 
 of the body, emphasis must be laid upon the 
 absolute necessity of giving the process ade- 
 quate time and attention. This is the crux 
 of the whole matter. If one is to be his own 
 physician, or healer, he must be both vigilant 
 
152 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 and diligent. Instead of denying disease and 
 the evidence of the senses, affirm the greater 
 power within to overcome it. Instead of ignor- 
 ing sickness, recognize it and deal with it 
 accordingly. Sickness is one of the most 
 patent facts of life, and cannot be wiped out 
 of existence by a mere mental negation. But 
 face it without fear, and bravely make use of 
 the weapons which an aroused will and the 
 physical forces supply to master it. 
 
 The disciples of New Thought go into the 
 silence, and give the body commands, though 
 not in the simple way herein outlined. 
 
 The followers of Christian Yoga make what 
 they call "the silent demand," the Christian 
 Scientist "realizes his being." In all cases 
 the object is the same, that is, to place them- 
 selves in such an attitude of body and mind 
 as shall enable them to realize their desire or 
 prayer for health. 
 
 What we must also do is to take time to 
 "get hold of ourselves" in such a way that 
 we may, through divine help, secure perfect 
 control of both mind and body. 
 
 When first trying to bring the body under 
 
Health Through Self-Control 153 
 
 control it is necessary to give the commands 
 often, at least twice a day and the last thing 
 before going to sleep and inamediately after 
 waking are reconamended. Then one is better 
 able to shut out the world and its cares, and 
 can look within and there come into closer 
 connection with the Life Giver, the source of 
 all health. Another rule as to time is to begin 
 the effort to overcome illness just as soon as 
 it is realized. Do not wait till any condition 
 becomes serious, but try at once to "nip it 
 in the bud." 
 
 In acute conditions, repeat the commands 
 frequently, as often as the mind is capable 
 of the necessary labor. As one lady, formerly 
 the wife of a physician, said, "Take as often 
 as indicated, until reUeved." 
 
 The first essential is to secure as perfect 
 relaxation as possible, consciously letting go 
 every Hmb and muscle, until the body is 
 hmp. This, of itself, relieves tension and 
 pressure, smooths out the taut nerves and 
 tired muscles, permits freer circulation, and 
 allows nature to do her work without inter- 
 ference. When teachers of physical culture 
 
154 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 can restore nervous pupils to health simply 
 by teaching them how to relax, it is well 
 worth anyone's while to cultivate the habit. 
 
 A proper mental condition is also essential. 
 When you look within, desiring to set your 
 physical house in order, you should remember 
 that you are dweUing in the temple of the 
 Most High and should reverence the body 
 which God honors by His presence. Under 
 such circumstances once must exclaim, "I am 
 fearfully and wonderfully made." But when 
 we realize that this marvelously intricate and 
 delicate mechanism is given into our keeping 
 and that we can make of it practically what 
 we will, our minds must surely be filled with 
 gratitude to the Giver of all good. Earnest 
 prayer for courage, fortitude, patience, per- 
 sistence, and every mental and spiritual gift 
 necessary to success prepares the mind for its 
 task. Let the mind be at ease, with the same 
 simple, impKcit trust in which you would ask 
 in prayer for any other good thing without 
 questioning or anxiety as to the outcome. 
 
 In seeking physical as well as spiritual 
 blessings we must become as little children. 
 
Health Through Self-Control 155 
 
 These great blessings are not reached 
 through the intellect, but through the in- 
 stinctive, intuitive faith of the soul. Aside 
 from the assurance you may have of divine 
 help in your efforts, you should have entire 
 confidence in the well estabUshed principle 
 that the mind should control the body, also 
 that it is your privilege to gain health by 
 controUing the mind, and through its power 
 rule the body. You should also have the con- 
 viction that it is God's will that you should 
 be well and that health may be yours by 
 obeying His laws and cooperating with him 
 in casting out and overcoming disease just 
 as you would overcome and cast out sin. So 
 long as one thinks that his sickness is a pun- 
 ishment or for discipUne, he will make no 
 progress. On the other hand, when we 
 remember that Christ healed all who came to 
 Him in the right spirit, we must reaUze that 
 He was doing the will of the Father, and 
 may rest assured that it is just as much 
 God's purpose and desire for His children 
 that they should be sound in body as to be 
 pure in heart. 
 
156 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 Concentration upon the object to be at- 
 tained is most important; so in giving the 
 commands hold the mind as firmly as pos- 
 sible to its task. Give the command in 
 faith that it will be obeyed, and do not 
 neutraUze it by a subsequent doubt or fear. 
 The nerve wire can carry but one message 
 at a time and the last one over will be the 
 one which will express the real state of the 
 mind and will be obeyed. Expect response 
 in conformity to your will, but be brave and 
 patient till you secure results. 
 
 To constantly examine yourself or your 
 symptoms is not consistent with a trustful 
 faith. Avoid introspection except just at the 
 time and for the purpose of the self-treat- 
 ment. In case recovery is delayed, study to 
 see if you are fulfilling the conditions. Never 
 get discouraged, but remember that in the 
 divine order it is "first the blade, then the 
 ear, and then the full corn in the ear." 
 
 Often these cures are matters of slow 
 growth, but they may be all the surer for 
 that. 
 
 An oak does not reach maturity in less 
 
Health Through Self-Control 157 
 
 than a century, but it is the most enduring 
 of trees. 
 
 Probably our noble sequoias were growing 
 when Solomon was building the temple, but 
 they still rear their lofty columns in the 
 groves which were God's first temples. So 
 it is true in life, as in nature, that the best 
 things are of gradual development, even 
 though in their culmination or blossoming 
 they seem very sudden or miraculous. 
 
 Let yom* mind be at rest in hope. Join the 
 "Don't Worry" Club. Trust m the Lord 
 and wait patiently for Him, and when you 
 have given the commands, faithfully and 
 earnestly, dismiss the matter from your 
 mind till the regular time comes around 
 again, and meantime live a sane, normal, 
 happy life. 
 
 Since the foundation stone of this matter 
 is self-control, or control of the body by the 
 mind, it is self-evident that the mind itself 
 must be entirely under the control of the will. 
 So one should preserve his self-control in 
 every other respect, not allowing himself to 
 be disturbed by anything which may happen. 
 
158 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 When seeking such a wonderful boon as 
 freedom from pain and weakness, surely it 
 is worth the price we must pay, even though 
 it does take an effort always to be calm and 
 sweet tempered. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to add that one 
 should be bright and cheerful at all times. 
 
 The path to physical well-being, as well as 
 to spiritual power, is not through theology, 
 psychology, or metaphysics, but through 
 obedience. 
 
 When we bring every thought into cap- 
 tivity to the law of Christ, success is assured. 
 
 Remember always that you have the remedy 
 within yourself, and that if you fu fill the 
 conditions and persevere, it is only a ques- 
 tion of time till you will be master of your- 
 seK in body as well as spirit. After all, the 
 only absolutely essential thing is to beUeve 
 that this blessing is for you as well as for 
 others, and to act upon that belief, leaving 
 the results with a higher power. 
 
 If we obey the law of the power, the power 
 will obey us; and if we do our part in trying 
 to bring our bodies back to a state of health, 
 
Health Through Self-Control 159 
 
 we may rest assured that the Power which 
 "worketh in us to will and to do of His good 
 pleasure" will reinforce our puny efforts with 
 His Almighty will. 
 
 So may we safely commit our way unto 
 the Lord, and, trusting in Him, know that He 
 will bring it to pass. 
 
 " I cannot do it alone, 
 
 The waves run fast and high. 
 
 And the fogs close chill around. 
 And the Hght goes out in the sky; 
 
 But I know that we two 
 
 Shall win in the end, — 
 Jesus and I. 
 
 "Coward and wayward and weak, 
 I change with the changing sky; 
 
 To-day so eager and brave, 
 To-morrow not ceuing to try; 
 
 But He never gives in. 
 
 So we two shall win, — 
 Jesus and I." 
 
XII 
 
 MODUS OPERANDI — Continued 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 MODUS OPERANDI — Continued 
 
 A SUGGESTIVE general self-treatment 
 is as follows: 
 
 Commencing with the brain, go through 
 its different portions in thought slowly, and 
 continue throughout the entire body one 
 organ at a time, firmly commanding or wiUing 
 each part to do what by nature it should do. 
 
 For example: I command the arteries and 
 blood vessels in the brain to open to allow 
 free entrance of blood. I command the life 
 forces in the blood to overcome all disease 
 there, I command the brain to do its work in 
 clear thinking. I command every artery and 
 cell in the lungs to open to allow free circula- 
 tion and perfect breathing. I command the 
 life forces to overcome all disease there. 
 
 Continue imtil you have given the com- 
 mands or sent nerve currents of power to 
 every organ of the body. To command the 
 establishment of the normal circulation in 
 
164 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 every part of the body will equalize the amount 
 of blood. 
 
 It is often a great help to place one's hand 
 over the organ treated, as it helps to focus 
 the attention and brings the will to bear more 
 directly upon the point at need. 
 
 Another method of procedure is to treat 
 the nervous system, conamencing with its 
 center, the brain, passing in thought down 
 through the medulla and spinal column or 
 through the trunk and out through the 
 limbs one at a time to the extremities, opening 
 the arteries and blood vessels which every- 
 where accompany the nerves. Hold yourself 
 in what Dr. Carpenter calls the attitude of 
 "expectant attention," and as you proceed 
 imagine you see the work actually going on. 
 
 It is the nutrient oxygenated blood which 
 energizes and rebuilds nerve tissue, and the 
 relaxed body and the expectant state of mind 
 furnish the favorable conditions for its ready 
 flow. 
 
 One understanding the matter fully can 
 give more general commands and can control 
 the nerves by saying "Be quiet! be calm! be 
 
Modus Operandi — Continued 165 
 
 strong! do your work of controUing circula- 
 tion and stimulating the vital processes," and 
 so on. The same results will follow as though 
 all the physiological action was kept in mind. 
 
 To a cramping muscle, you can say," Relax! 
 let go!" to a weak muscle and a sagging 
 organ, "Contract! draw up into your proper 
 position!" and in either case the message will 
 be carried and obeyed, if insisted upon. If 
 fever threatens, command the opening of the 
 pores; if in a draft or overheated, close them. 
 If a cold starts, give a general treatment to 
 energize the whole body, reUeve congestion 
 wherever present, and take a "mental physic" 
 by commanding the Uver, bowels, and other 
 organs concerned to become active and "carry 
 off the cold." 
 
 In all this effort to mentally master the 
 body there is nothing to hold the will to its 
 task hke an emotional interest. So put into 
 it all the feeUng which your need warrants 
 and it will multiply the motive power of the 
 command. 
 
 Many practical questions will arise, one of 
 which will be, "How can I know what com- 
 
166 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 mands to give in case I do not know what 
 ails me? " A general treatment of the nervous 
 system and the circulation will directly af- 
 fect every part of the body, but in case of 
 doubt, in the present state of om* knowledge 
 one should secure the best possible diagnosis. 
 If a physician is employed, learn from him 
 what effect he is endeavoring to produce, and 
 work in harmony with his efforts. A physician 
 was recently heard to give directions for self- 
 treatment to a patient suffering from a 
 severe cold, to cause bowel action through 
 commanding the action of all the organs 
 concerned, just as we would do. 
 
 The healing cults secure results with no 
 knowledge of the body, indeed while denying 
 its existence, so it is possible for one to help 
 himself with only a very general knowledge; 
 but an intelUgent understanding of the body 
 and its operations will be helpful, and will no 
 doubt bring better results. 
 
 Another question is, "Can harm be done 
 by giving the wrong command?" It seems 
 most unUkely. Dr. Sadler states that the 
 automatic processes cannot be perceptibly 
 
Modus Operandi — Continued 167 
 
 interrupted by the mind, and that all the 
 natural orders passing over the nerves are 
 censored by the great gangUa or relay sta- 
 tions. A naughty child can hold his breath 
 till he is black in the face, and an insane 
 woman has been known to hold her breath 
 till she suffocated, but these are conditions 
 where reason has abdicated her throne, and 
 do not apply to sane beings who are using 
 the will only in harmony with the regular 
 action of the bodily organs. 
 
 Mothers will ask, "Can I treat my children 
 while they are too young to treat them- 
 selves?" Speaking without experience, the 
 answer would be, "I would certainly try," 
 without neglecting any other wise means of 
 rehef. Suggestion is universally recognized 
 as a most powerful force in the training and 
 education of children, and in matters of health 
 it may well be efficacious; however, the main 
 purpose of this treatise is to teach the under- 
 lying principles by which health is to be 
 secured through self-help. In treating another 
 exert the will through commands just as for 
 yourself. 
 
168 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 "Can I treat anyone at a distance?" 
 
 We may not be able to explain how this 
 would be possible, but since so many healers 
 claim to do so, it may be well enough to give 
 the opinion of one of our wisest mentaUsts. 
 
 Dr. Carpenter writes: "Looking at nerve 
 force as a special form of physical energy, it 
 may not be deemed altogether incredible 
 that it should exert itself from a distance so 
 as to bring the brain of one person into 
 direct dynamical communication with that of 
 another without the intermediation either of 
 verbal language or movements of expression." 
 Some beheve this process is akin to what takes 
 place between the transmitter and receiver 
 in wireless telegraphy, which was once thought 
 incredible. 
 
 He adds that to deny this possibiUty would 
 be unscientific. Others must answer these 
 questions from their wider knowledge and 
 experience. 
 
 Another will ask, "Must I give up all other 
 means.^" 
 
 The writer would not be willing to assume 
 the responsibility of advising anyone on this 
 
Modus Operandi — Continued 169 
 
 point, but can see no conflict between a hot 
 water bag applied externally to increase cir- 
 culation, and a mental force exerted from 
 within for the same purpose. It may be true 
 that one will naturally put more energy into 
 his mental efforts if he reahzes that they are 
 his sole dependence. On the other hand, a 
 more fearful mind might, at first, be thrown 
 into a panic and be unable to accompUsh 
 anything if he felt obhged at once to depend 
 entirely upon powers as yet untried. "Let 
 everyone be fully persuaded in his own 
 mind." 
 
 If one desires, it is possible to leave off 
 medicines gradually by reducing the fre- 
 quency and size of the dose, and in time he 
 can so build up the health that he can dis- 
 pense with everything except the mental 
 means. But it must be acknowledged that 
 many of the greatest triumphs of psycho- 
 therapy have been won where physicians and 
 material remedies have been found unavailing, 
 and both have been given up at once. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that every 
 other means by which health is upbuilt is 
 
170 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 still available. Deep breathing, fresh air, 
 exercise, good food, sanitation, and obedience 
 to all the known laws of health are wise and 
 well-tested aids. 
 
 It is the height of folly to reject or despise 
 the certain results of scientific investigation, 
 but experience proves that one can soon 
 emancipate himself from dietary fads. A 
 well energized stomach can soon dispose of a 
 wide variety of foods, and improved digestion 
 become the best possible source of renewed 
 health. 
 
 Perhaps someone is even now asking, "Does 
 this mean the conquering of the last enemy?" 
 
 In the first flush of enthusiasm over her 
 wonderful experience in regaining health 
 through control of the Ufe forces, the writer 
 happened to speak of it to a lady who said 
 impulsively, "Oh, I don't believe it! If you 
 could do that you could Uve forever I" 
 
 To be sure, science is now teaching that 
 there is no inherent reason why life should 
 not be indefinitely prolonged if the ceUs 
 could be constantly rebuilt, and everything 
 points to the fact that the man of the future 
 
Modus Operandi — Continued 171 
 
 will live longer than the present generation. 
 As it is, the vast majority of deaths are pre- 
 matiu'e and few can be called natural. 
 
 Old age is not a disease, and who would 
 not prefer to come to his time of departure 
 like Moses with "eye undimmed and his 
 natural strength not abated," than to pass 
 through the physical and mental decrepitude 
 which attends so many in their dechning 
 years? 
 
 All have known some instances of such a 
 "green old age," where at the last only a sigh 
 has marked the translation of the passing 
 saint. 
 
 Dr. Quackenbos teaches that the mental 
 faculties can be preserved by suggestions caus- 
 ing an undiminished supply of blood to the 
 brain, and predicts the return of the age of 
 euthanasia, or "sweet and happy dying." 
 
 He who has lost all fear has conquered 
 death, and to him indeed, "There is no 
 death, what seems so is transition." There 
 is every reason to beUeve that natural death 
 is as painless as birth. 
 
 To the man who has lived as God ordains, 
 
172 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 there comes a time when his thoughts natu- 
 rally turn away from earth to "the better 
 land" and he sings: 
 
 "There the sunbeams are ever shining, 
 Oh, my longing heart, my longing heart is there." 
 
 His soul is ripe for the gamer, his will to 
 live is no longer dominant, and his only 
 desire is "to depart and be with Christ, which 
 is far better." 
 
 Well may we all pray, "Let me Uve the life 
 of the righteous, and let my last end be hke 
 his," "for the end of that man is peace." 
 
 SUMMARY 
 Health through Self-control 
 
 This form of cure is based upon the belief that all 
 the bodily forces and functions can be brought under 
 one's control through the will. Of first importance 
 is the control of the circulation of the blood, which is 
 the hfe stream, and is the basis of all cures. 
 
 To secure this power, assert your self-mastery, and 
 bring the body into subjection by enforcing the desire 
 through the commands. 
 
 These commands are transmitted by the brain and 
 nervous system to every part of the body, and wiU be 
 automatically obeyed under the outlined conditions. 
 
Modus Operandi — Continued 173 
 
 Time, — Last thing at night, and first thing in the 
 morning, just after prayer, and in the middle of the 
 day when resting, if convenient, giving from ten to 
 twenty minutes each time. 
 
 Relaxation. — Secure as perfect relaxation as pos- 
 sible before giving the commands, as this relieves all 
 strain and allows nature to do her work without 
 interference. 
 
 Mental condition. — First: the same implicit, simple 
 trust with which you would ask any other good — 
 without questioning or anxiety as to the outcome. 
 Second : confidence in the principle that the mind should 
 control the body, and that it is your privilege to gain 
 health by controlling your mind. Also that it is God's 
 will for you, and health may be yours by obeying His 
 law's, and cooperating with Him in casting out and 
 overcoming disease just as you would cast out and 
 overcome sin. 
 
 Concentration. — In giving the commands, hold your 
 mind as firmly as possible to the subject. Discipline 
 both mind and body until you can enforce obedience. 
 Expect response, but be brave and patient until you 
 secure results. 
 
 Self-control. — Preserve your self-control in every 
 other respect, and do not allow yourself to be dis- 
 turbed by anything which may happen. 
 
 Remember always that you have the remedy within 
 
 yourself, and that if you fulfill the condition and 
 
 persevere, it is only a question of a little time imtil 
 
 you will succeed. 
 
 Method of procedure. — Commencing with the brain, 
 
174 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 go through the body in thought, one organ at a time, 
 slowly, firmly commanding the organ to do what by 
 nature it should do, as follows: 
 
 I command the arteries in the brain to open to allow 
 free entrance of blood. I command the hfe forces in 
 the blood to overcome all disease. I command the 
 brain to do its work in clear thinking. I command 
 every artery and cell in the lungs to open to allow 
 free circulation of blood and perfect breathing. I 
 command the life forces to overcome all disease there. 
 Continue until you have given the command to every 
 organ and all parts of the body, with special stress on 
 the parts eepecially affected, including the nervous 
 system. 
 
 You can stimulate digestion by commands to the 
 stomach glands to produce more digestive fluids; can 
 relieve indigestion by forcing the pylorus to open and 
 allow the food to pass out. You can cause the bowels 
 to act by willing the organs concerned in elimination 
 to function properly. In every case mentally will the 
 eflPect you desire to produce according to your special 
 need. 
 
XIII 
 
 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 
 
 HEALTH is a relative matter, and all 
 may not expect to attain the same 
 standard of vigor. 
 
 Hence, in yom* seeking, do not look for a 
 miracle that will transform a weakUng into 
 an athlete, but be thankful to make as much 
 as possible out of your natural constitution. 
 
 Temporary relapses into former conditions 
 sometimes occur, but this is equally true in 
 convalescence through any other means. 
 
 It seems to be a law of the nervous system 
 to find its equilibrium by a series of *'ups and 
 downs." Progress in anything in life is sel- 
 dom steady, but if the general trend is toward 
 recovery, there is no reason for discourage- 
 ment, but rather for getting a Uttle stronger 
 grip on one's self. Improvement may be 
 rapid at first, but slower later. The reason 
 may be found in this statement from Hoffman: 
 "Nervous energy for any kind of response 
 
178 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 is limited. If the stimulation is continuous 
 the response must become gradually less 
 energetic." This would indicate that in the 
 use of the will the nervous reserve is first 
 drawn upon, and afterwards the improvement 
 is to be made by building up impaired tissue, 
 which is a much slower process. 
 
 However, we must continue to use the 
 stimulus of the will, as "long continued 
 stimuli tend to make new reflex paths in the 
 nervous matter." 
 
 We are told that a certain amount of 
 stimulus is expended in rousing nervous 
 matter. 
 
 If no more is added, the inertia will not be 
 overcome. Does not this show the need of 
 perseverance in sending, not weak suggestions, 
 but imperative commands, over the nerve 
 paths .^ 
 
 Every intense form of mental activity tends 
 spontaneously to work itself out for good or 
 ill upon the body, or to "generate its ac- 
 tuaUty," so in wiUing to be weU one is pro- 
 ceeding not only according to the law of faith, 
 but of fact. 
 
Practical Suggestions 179 
 
 Some will succeed sooner than others for 
 various reasons. A stronger faith, a more 
 responsive nervous system, a more plastic 
 brain and body, may all be contributing causes 
 to success, but the possibiKty is open to all, 
 and will be grasped by many as soon as 
 presented to them. 
 
 Of this matter Dr. Schofield writes : " Mental 
 therapeutics may be directed by the patient 
 himself in calming the mind in excitement, 
 and arousing feeUngs of joy, hope, faith and 
 love." Also, '* We are incHned to beUeve that 
 the forces a patient can set in action to cure 
 himself are far greater than most imagine, and 
 will undoubtedly be used more and more." 
 
 The nervous system is the first to feel the 
 effect of the mental treatment, but some physi- 
 ologists beUeve that the energy of the mind is 
 imparted to all the Hfe forces, that in time of 
 need the will can act in imion with the 
 natural tendency of the body to summon the 
 white corpuscles to the rescue and stimulate 
 them to greater activity. 
 
 Dr. Sadler and Professor Olston both sug- 
 gest this possibiUty, which if true opens 
 
180 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 the way for the healing of a great variety 
 of aihnents. 
 
 Dr. Schofield says, "Believing as we do that 
 the old division into functional and organic 
 diseases is merely the expression of our ig- 
 norance, and that all diseases, even hysterical, 
 probably involve organic disturbance some- 
 where, we may beUeve that mental cures are 
 not limited to so-called functional diseases 
 at all." 
 
 While realizing that "all things are possible 
 with God," yet this, or any other form of 
 mental healing, cannot be a universal panacea 
 because of the human element in it. 
 
 If disease has advanced to the point where 
 there is a great deal of cell destruction in vital 
 organs, or where the reserve strength has been 
 exhausted by prolonged struggle, perhaps the 
 best that can be hoped for is partial restora- 
 tion, but at any rate the full power of the 
 latent capacities of mind and body will have 
 been drawn upon. 
 
 The only way to build up the moral 
 character of the child is to "bring him up in 
 the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 
 
Practical Suggestions 181 
 
 Just as true is it that to early learn and obey 
 the mental laws through which one can 
 build up a strong resistance to the first inroads 
 of disease is the only sure way to constant 
 health. 
 
 The great endeavor of our leaders in this 
 line of thought must be to bring these truths 
 to the attention and comprehension of the 
 masses, till aU shall know and enjoy what is 
 now the possession of the few. 
 
XIV 
 
 THE SCOPE OF THE WORK AND 
 ITS LIMITATIONS 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE SCOPE OF THE WORK AND ITS 
 LIMITATIONS 
 
 IN writing of the scope of this form of 
 mind cure, it must be understood that 
 the writer is speaking from observation ex- 
 tending over :a period of but three years. 
 But enough has been seen and done to 
 demonstrate that it is as efficacious as any 
 other form of mental treatment. The same 
 kind of ailments as are successfully treated 
 by the Christian Science, Immanuel, and 
 other practitioners, yield to this self-treat- 
 ment. Through private instruction, in parlor 
 classes, and in large meetings held in our 
 church, these principles of healing through 
 self-mastery have been taught and the hearers 
 have appUed them to their own needs. 
 Among those in attendance, many have been 
 able to grasp the truth and apply it to their 
 great advantage. Only ladies have been in 
 the classes, but all earnest, intelligent women 
 
186 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 from probably a dozen different denomina- 
 tions. No bar of any kind to attendance 
 was set up, except that of curiosity, and no 
 charge was ever made. 
 
 Among the ailments overcome, either re- 
 ported privately or spoken of in the meetings, 
 are insomnia, various forms of indigestion, — 
 in one case of seventeen years' standing, — 
 chronic vomiting, sick and nervous head- 
 aches, constipation in its most severe forms of 
 from twenty to twenty-five years' duration, 
 muscular cramps, neuritis, nervous chills, 
 prolapsus uteri, mental depression and irrita- 
 biUty, palpitation of the heart, dilation of 
 the heart, nervous breakdown with severe 
 pain in spine, accompanied by melanchoUa 
 and tears, such poor circulation that no 
 amount of clothing would give warmth or 
 comfort, loss of memory, mental confusion, 
 backache, autointoxication, a variety of colds 
 and catarrhs, severe neurasthenia, nervous 
 debility, deranged womanly functions, falling 
 hair, and many other conditions. More seri- 
 ous troubles, as chronic appendicitis, heart 
 weakness, high blood pressure, hemorrhages 
 
Scope of the Work and Its Limitations 187 
 
 from different sources, have been greatly 
 helped. 
 
 In consequence, many minds have been 
 cleared and cheered, health and happiness 
 have been twin guests, and gratitude has 
 increased the spiritual life. As one dear young 
 lady said after recovery from a condition 
 which her physician said demanded a sur- 
 gical operation, "I never before appreciated 
 my mind or knew how much I owed to God 
 for giving it to me." Another said, *' Every 
 cure has passed me by till now." Another, 
 *'It is a perfect revelation to me to learn that 
 we have such a power within oxu*selves." 
 
 Many of these persons had studied Christian 
 Science and been under its healers for long 
 periods without avail, but were able to grasp 
 this simple teaching and received help at 
 once through their own efforts. 
 
 One lady, after reporting the physical 
 benefit received, said, " I have tried Christian 
 Science and New Thought, have dipped into 
 spirituaUsm and the occult, but now I have 
 found just what I want," and the best of it 
 was that she had found it within herself. 
 
188 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 How often do we seek the wide world over, 
 only to come back to find our treasure right 
 at home. ''The word is nigh thee, even in 
 thy heart." 
 
 These, at first blush, do not seem very 
 serious ailments, and yet they affect happi- 
 ness as much or more than more dangerous 
 diseases. To cure nervous weakness of any 
 kind is to ward off the grave consequences 
 which follow in its train. To keep the body 
 up to normal is to give it power to resist 
 infection, contagion, and every other threaten- 
 ing invasion. 
 
 Who can estimate the value to nutrition 
 and body building of good digestion? Or the 
 advantage to health of a clean alimentary 
 canal, especially the colon, — the so-called 
 sewer of the system, — the most fruitful 
 source of disease in the whole body? 
 
 Only time and experience will prove how 
 wide is the range of application of the mind 
 as a sanative agent. The only wise pro- 
 cedure is to begin early, and not wait till 
 so-called incurable conditions have developed. 
 
 The old way was to try every possible 
 
Scope of the Work and Its Limitations 189 
 
 earthly expedient, and then when hope was 
 all but fled expect God to perform a miracle. 
 The safer course is to learn to obey the mental 
 laws of health from the first, just as the child 
 learns to obey human and divine laws. The 
 old hymn runs: 
 
 "While the lamp holds out to bum, 
 The vilest sinner may return." 
 
 Yes, he may return, but how few in reality 
 do return after a life spent in sin. 
 
 Just so, the confirmed invaKd has a tre- 
 mendous handicap to overcome, and pain, 
 weakness of faith and will, real mental in- 
 abiUty for the effort, are often insuperable 
 obstacles to his success. 
 
 Our authorities say that the range of dis- 
 eases which can be reached by the mind is 
 constantly widening. They also say that 
 mind has its Hmitations, but they have never 
 been reached. Nowhere is Christ's saying 
 more appUcable than here: "According to 
 your faith be it unto you." 
 
 We certainly cannot limit God's power, 
 which is ever constant; but reaUzing the part 
 
190 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 the human mind plays, it is easy to see how 
 each can Umit his own possibiUties. The 
 present generation is seeing but the first 
 faint gleam of this wonderful truth, but in 
 future years mental hygiene will be taught 
 from early life, bodily health will be as much 
 the heritage of the race as any other promised 
 blessing, and it will be "without money and 
 without price." 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 NO one can reaKze more fully than the 
 writer the inadequacy of this effort to 
 bridge the chasm existing between the ex- 
 treme positions occupied by the material 
 scientist, who sees in mental cures only the 
 drawing out of the hidden powers of the 
 mind through suggestion, and the advocate 
 of faith cure, who attributes everything to 
 a direct act of God in miracle working. 
 
 Between these extremes are many different 
 theories leaning to one or the other of these 
 views, but usually but one side of the shield 
 is seen and presented. 
 
 Perhaps it is to be expected that the 
 scientist will recognize only the human side, 
 and the reUgious man only the divine ele- 
 ments involved. But in the mind of the 
 writer, the gap is fully closed, and the recon- 
 cihation is complete. We may safely say 
 that both have a measure of truth, and since 
 
194 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 two truths never conflict, there must be some 
 way of harmonizing them. 
 
 The Creator has evidently endowed man 
 with greater powers than he has hitherto 
 reaUzed, but these powers are available only 
 under certain conditions and can be used only 
 according to laws of which we have been 
 ignorant. 
 
 We are now learning the laws controlling 
 these human powers, through scientific study 
 of the mind, through psychological ex- 
 periments in the laboratory, and through 
 the practice of various forms of mental 
 therapeutics. 
 
 But when the brain has been studied and 
 mapped out, the mind analyzed and its 
 action observed, there is still something 
 beyond, which comes in to supplement 
 the personal endeavor, which cannot be 
 realized except by those who have felt its 
 power. 
 
 One last personal word will be permitted 
 on this point. This method of healing was 
 presented to me as a scientific matter purely, 
 and was used in that spirit, but in the 
 
Conclusion 195 
 
 subsequent experience its spiritual qualities 
 were fully realized. 
 
 The results were so far beyond anything 
 expected merely in response to the will, that 
 the only possible conclusion was that the 
 work wrought was not only in accordance 
 with divine law, but through the mighty 
 energy of divine power. 
 
 Nor does this view tend in any degree to 
 discredit science, but rather to exalt it, through 
 an experience showing how nearly science 
 has demonstrated the ultimate truth of re- 
 Ugion that in the matter of heahng as in all 
 else concerning our welfare, "We are workers 
 together with God." 
 
 Whatever the scientist may think, the re- 
 ligious mind should be fair and broad enough 
 to welcome an interpretation which fully 
 acknowledges the presence and power of the 
 divine energy, and yet shows that man's 
 initiative effort is in accordance with the 
 known facts of scientific discovery. 
 
 Thus the two phases of the subject, instead 
 of being contradictory, become complementary 
 truths, and a way is thus opened up for man, 
 
196 Mental Control of the Body 
 
 through divine assistance, to work out his 
 physical salvation. 
 
 A sincere effort has been made to treat 
 this subject with great moderation, while 
 fully reahzing its far-reaching possibiUties. 
 To make extravagant claims is only to court 
 humiUation, since ideal and universal results 
 can be reached only after the truth has been 
 fully incorporated into the mind of the world. 
 
 We know we are but heralds of that time 
 of which the Lord said, "In that day I wiU 
 put my laws into their mind, and write them 
 in their hearts," and when the prophesy, "All 
 shall know me from the least to the greatest," 
 is fulfilled, obedience to these laws will mean 
 the salvation of the whole man. 
 
 May God speed the day! 
 
 "Hear the footsteps of Jesus! 
 
 He is now passing by; 
 Bearing balm for the wounded, 
 
 Healing all who apply; 
 As He spake to the suff'rer, 
 
 Who lay at the pool, 
 He is saying this moment, 
 
 *Wilt thou be made whole?**' 
 
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