BUB New York State College of Agriculture At Cornell University Ithaca, N. Y. The Professor Dwight Sanderson Rural Sociology Library BL 53 Nsf""^"*" ""'"'^^''y ^""^'y jjj'ncjples of psychic philosophy, 3 1924 014 Oil 104 The original of tliis bool< is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014011104 BOOKS BY CHARLES B. NEWCOMB ALUS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD 261 pages Cloth $i.;o DISCOVERY OF A LOST TRAIL 282 pages Cloth $1.50 PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY Cloth Gilt top Net $1.40 Postpaid I1.50 BY KATHARINE H. NEWCOMB HELPS TO RIGHT LIVING 52 chapters Cloth Gilt top . . . $1.25 PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY BY CHARLES B. NEWCOMB Author of "All's Right with the World," '* Discovery of a Lost Trail" Such is the Law which moves to righteousness, Which none at last can turn aside or stay; The heart of it is Love, the end of it Is Peace and Consummation sweet. Obey I — LiOHT OF Asia. BOSTON LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. I 908 Copyright, igoS By CHARLES B. NEWCOMB Published April, igoS All Rights Reserved PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY To those to whom the dawn of spiritual con- sciousness has come — who are beginning to under- stand that in this present mortal life man has the opportunity of unfolding all the powers and realizing all the privileges of any spiritual plane, I dedicate these pages. CHARLES B. NEWCOMB. [vl FOREWORD. To obtain the best results from the study of this book the author would sug- gest that two days be given to the careful consideration of each chapter in turn. The awakening of Spiritual Conscious- ness is the discovery of the real self. It is not so much the technical training of our powers that we need as the sim- ple recognition of their existence. We are already in possession of infinite forces but they are useless until we find their true expression. In the propositions here presented it is [vii] not intended to follow the argument to its finality. These statements appeal to the spiri- tual consciousness, and those who enter the path will not miss the goal to which it leads. When the soul has learned to obey its higher self and to command its mor- tal tools, the brain and the body, it can safely trust its own illumination — for it will never fail of guidance at any point of life's experience. CHARLES B. NEWCOMB. [ viii ] CONTENTS. Page I. God I II. Nature n III. Man • 25 IV. PSYCHISM . . 41 V. Suffering ..... • 55 VI. Selfishness • 71 VII. Responsibility . . 89 VIII. Adjustment . ... . 107 IX. Power ... 125 X. Freedom . , 141 XI. Healing . . ... ■ 157 XII. Fulfilment ..... ■ 179 [ix] Give me, God, to sing this thought. Belief in plan of Thee enclosed in Time and Space, Health, Peace, Salvation Universal, Is it a dream ? Nay, but the lack of it the dream. And failing it life's love and wealth a dream, And all the world a dream. — Walt Whitman. [Xi ] I. GOD. I. GOD. " Underneath are the everlasting arms." The first lesson in the alphabet of life to which we are summoned by awakening consciousness is that which men have called by the various names of " God " " Law " and " Fate." We recognize a Universal Force — It is apparently superior to our personal will. We feel its power often in conflict with our purposes. [3] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. It governs life — in the individual and in the aggregate. Is this force intelligent? Is it benevolent ? Is it supreme? All discoveries of science show a tireless energy working throughout the realms of nature. It is silent. It is irresistible. Turn it from one channel — it will immediately make for itself another. Destroy or damage its work — it will at once recuperate and rebuild. [4J GOD. The scar on the face of the planet produced by volcanic disturbance will be clothed in vegetation. The wound of the tree will be covered by fresh bark. The skin of the animal or the human being will be immediately repaired with new granulations." As Emerson says — "All nature is remedial." In the Mineral, Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms we discover at every point : Progress — Develop- ment — Evolution. We find a persistent tendency to [5] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. perfection of form — to generation and regeneration in continually higher types. In the construction of the crystal, the leaf, the amoebe and the man we see mathematical principles in process of unfoldment, which led Plato to say "GOD GEOMETRIZES." The same laws are manifested in the stellar spaces. The constitution and the move- ments of the planets give evidence that within the range of our obser. vation these laws are universal. [6] GOD. The telescope and microscope work in harmony. The microcosm and the macro- cosm exhibit the same unity of design and variety of expression — in the diminutive and the great — the near and the remote. A frog's leg under the microscope shows the blood pulsing with regu- lar movement — the white and red corpuscle each following its own course with the same precision that governs the movements of the planets in their orbits. This power as interpreted by [7] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. science adapts means to ends with marvellous intelligence. It adjusts itself to the require- ments of all conditions, whether usual or unusual. It never loses sight of its purpose — the increase of Power, through the diversity of Expression, — the perfection of Organism. To secure these ends it manifests unflinching persistency, unerring accuracy, infinite patience and prodigal expenditure. It shows unity in diversity, harmony in results. It undertakes to rid itself of every [8J GOD. useless substance, or rather to cor- rect adjustment and to expel every foreign atom from the false relation to its temporary environment and relegate it to its proper place — as the eye ejects a cinder, the body a splinter, the blood a poison. It makes all natural operations pleasurable, and simple normal liv- ing a delight. It exhibits all life in different stages of development and discovers no positive force different from its own. It reveals a law which we have called " survival of the fittest," C9J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. through which all imperfect life is found to contain the germs of its own disintegration, resulting not in destruction of the atoms, but in their re-formation upon higher lines. What we have called evil proves to be only a negative condition, — a transition state, an imperfect ripening. It has none of the factors of a positive force. It has not the power of per- sistence. It destroys itself when it resists progress — while all reality is eternal. [loj GOD. There remains then but one power in the universe. This is summed up in the follow- ing terms — all of which are syn- onyms of one another: Supreme Good — Love — Wisdom — Law. The only alternative to this prop- osition is the theory of a force that is evil in purpose and ignorant in method. Life then becomes chaotic. Which choice commends itself to logic and experience — LAW OR CHAOS? DESIGN OR ACaDENT? There is no middle ground. II. NATURE. II. NATURE. " The threads that were spun are gathered The weft crosses the warp — the pattern is sys- tematic." " Now are we the sons of God." "All things are yours." Having chosen the theory of a universal force governing life we accept the evidence of its intelli- gence and goodness. We find now at every point of experience and study fresh confirma- tion of the power and beauty of its action. We have always considered God, [15 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. Nature and Man as separate entities — one acting upon the other some- times to its advantage and some- times to its hurt. The new thought of the day tends to simplify life by the identification of its forces and purposes with one another. We recognize in chemistry some seventy-four primates. We have reduced them to fifteen in the human body — with the promise of even a simpler classifica- tion. Ninety-eight per cent of the earth's crust can be constructed of the discovered elements in the [i6J NATURE. human body while seventy-five per cent is of oxygen and silicon alone. We find one force contained within another and reducible to another. It is not difficult to perceive that we are working slowly toward the recognition of one primordial sub- stance — a simple primate, or es- sence, which pervades all manifesta- tions of life in every realm we have entered. This one foundation principle we now call God or Spirit. " Nature " is not something apart from this. It is itself the expression of God [17] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. — the music of the spheres — for, as has been wisely said, " Life, to the ears that are not deaf, is not a cry — IT IS A SONG." The law of the single cell, so far as we have ascertained, is the law of the planetary system. When we have analyzed the cell we find the star dust in our crucible. When we understand the cell we shall know the underlying causes of the universe. The life of the tiniest part is the essence of the infinite whole. There is no single drop of water [i8] NATURE. in the ocean but contains all seas in miniature. There is no leaf upon the tree but offers us in its dissection the perfect symbol of the forest. Under the microscope no differ- ence can be discerned in the germs of the oak, the elephant and the man. The human foetus passes through all the forms of fish, reptile and mammal. The human being potentially em- bodies all the elements, all the chemi- cals, all the forces, known to Nature. [19] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. The powers of the tidal wave, the forest fire, the mountain avalanche, the desert cyclone, are contained in Man and all are, doubtless, subject to his control when he shall have recognized his sovereignty. Meanwhile, Man is a Prince at School. These elements of Nature are his books and tutors and the plastic material of his workshop. They are of the same stuff as him- self. His latest and greatest discovery is that Nature is the Expression of [20] NATURE. God and that he is the Highest Expression of visible Nature — the most complex organism yet dis- covered, embodying all and identify- ing him with the governing power. Hence man has his heredity FROM God — and is one with " Nature." His only knowledge of God is in his understanding of himself. All that he has attributed to Deity he finds within himself. All that Nature has disclosed to him is the revelation of his own powers. [21] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. The Eternal Force, Persistency, Intelligence, is his inheritance. "All things have been steadily- employed to complete and delight me. " Now on this spot I stand with my robust soul." Man cannot exaggerate his powers when he thus identifies himself with Nature and with God. Life becomes a matter of glad recognition and unfoldment through diverse experiences — a// of which can help him on his way. [22] NATURE. In God we live. In Man God lives. God is subjective Man. Man is objective God. [23 J III. MAN. III. MAN. " Cycles have ferried my cradle, rowing and row- ing like cheerful boatmen." In the study of individuals and races of humanity we find in opera- tion the same Law of Progression which we have observed in material science. Even in decay it asserts itself and clears the ground for better things. Most thinking men admit, at some period of their lives, that out of all their losses, disappoint- [27] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. merits and troubles they have grown strength, wisdom and contentment. They have discovered that in spite of temporary appearances all things in reality have worked together for their good — that better results have been arrived at through the interfer- ence of mysterious " Fate " than would probably have followed the immediate accomplishment of their own immature purposes. This Power, then, while active in the development of higher forms in nature's material kingdom, appears to work on similar lines for similar results in human character. [28 J MAN. Here, too, judging it by its fruits, we find the Supreme expression of Wisdom, Love and Power. All men agree that the experi- ences of life develop the " formu- lated will " which we call " char- acter." In this we see the results of this occult Energy. We find them in the high- er degrees of power reached through Wisdom — taught of Love — aroused to consciousness through the discipline of life. In the domain of human char- acter, again, we find that this law of [29 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. betterment absolutely governs in every condition, every place, every time, every circumstance. There is not a pin-point of per- sonal experience we can discover that has ever been outside its action. We must logically conclude that our own individual life has been always thus governed, — that it is so governed at this moment and that it will so continue to be gov- erned. A right analysis will show this just as much in our defeats and delays as in what we have chosen to call our " success." C30J MAN. The study of life is simplified by separating in definition the mortal, or personal man from the Immor- tal, Impersonal or Spiritual Self. The Latin word " persona " means a mask — such as was worn by the old Greek actor on the stage — that through which came sound. The personal man masks his higher self upon this stage of life. He is but the child in tutelage, the pupil of that higher self — the Spiritual Man. The great danger in life is not of a failure to accomplish our desires. [31 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. There is every reason to believe that a really persistent purpose never fails of working itself out to final accomplishment — that some- where — sometime — all our real de- sires are fulfilled, even though seem- ing to suffer temporary defeat. Seeming defeat will only strength- en true desire — though it may kill the passing whim or fancy. The danger of failure is in the choice we make of aims and methods. It is from this that spring our disappointments and our suffering through disillusion. [32 J MAN. The accomplished purpose fails to bring the satisfaction we expected — whether in money, fame or love. We find we have overvalued that which we desired. Upon the close inspection which possession brings we find it has lost the glamour with which our fancy had adorned it — and which we mis- took for radiance. Possession seems to cheapen it. It is not exactly what we thought. So do we throw aside one play- thing after another and grasp for something else. [33] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. What lumber closets fill our lives with their fragments of broken toys ! What can satisfy our eager rest- lessness ? How have we missed happiness ? If we analyze our experience with honest care we will discover that oftener than we think our purposes have been accomplished. Sometimes after we have changed and forgotten our original intention it has come to pass, — through the first thought-impulse given it. But because the results have been miscalculated we have retained only the impression of failure. [34 J MAN. We had not chosen the best things. Yet, doubtless, the experience was necessary to teach us the character of that which we desired. We are like children who are not satisfied with what they are told when denied what they want. They insist upon the gratification of their wish and thus they find out for themselves the character of that which they craved. Experience is practically the only teacher in Dame Nature's School. Theory means very little to us [35] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. until it has been confirmed by our experience. We pass from one experiment to another, looking for happiness in " success," in wealth, in scholarship, in reputation, in matters of affection. We try them all : with the inevit- able result of disappointment. The Spirit of Man can never be satisfied with persons or things ex- ternal to himself — so the Personal strives and suffers. Meanwhile, the Spiritual "lies stretched in smiling repose." When the mortal pupil has got [36] MAN. tired of its toys, it says " I will arise and go to the Father." This is the moment of recognition of the higher self from whom it is to learn the secret of happiness. This Spiritual Man knows no " desire " as it knows no poverty. It truly possesses all things and can never experience the sense of gain or loss, success or failure, ela- tion or depression. Its constant life in its calm is sweeter than any delirious hour of the mortal ! The " dead level " of its existence [37] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. is in the breezy uplands, above all lines of fog and areas of storm. No cloud of doubt or fear can drift so high. Its consciousness of power is eternal and complete. Here are the hills to which the personal man now lifts up his eyes. He enters upon the path that leads to them. From this hour he looks not back until the threshold has been passed. The Gates of Gold have opened to him. [38] MAN. The At-one-ment has been made. The real problem of life is now before him — to arrive at full Soul Consciousness in matter. The first step forward is a vow of immediate and entire obedience to his Higher Self. "I am an acme of things accom- plished and I am an encloser of things to be." [39] IV. PSYCHISM. IV. PSYCHISM. " I am larger, better, than I thought, I did not know I held so much goodness." We have defined Man as the highest expression of God in Nature yet known to us. We have found in him two factors — the Personal and the Spiritual. The Personal is the outermost, the least refined, the most material ex- pression of the Spiritual. In a very true sense Man is Spirit. A close analysis of his different [43] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. manifestations shows the subtlest qualities at the core of his being, — the coarsest on the surface of the sense plane. Thus we see in his human body the epidermis, or outer skin, pro- tecting an organ, and the more deli- cate tissue of the mucous membrane lining it, — while both are marvel- lously adapted to their uses. The Personal, or Mortal, Man is the visible expression, or conse- quence, of the invisible Spiritual Cause. We come now to the considera- tion of a third factor which needs C44J PSYCHISM. equally to be understood before we can have any intelligent conception of man's constitution. This is the Psychical, or Astral, Man. It involves a quality which of itself is neither distinctively material nor spiritual. It is at different times visible and invisible. It shares man's double nature and serves as a connecting link between his mortal and immortal parts. This element furnishes a broad and interesting field of study. [45] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. It is just beginning to be recog- nized as worthy the most careful attention of scientists and its dis- covery has resulted in the organiza- tion of various societies of psychical research. Heretofore it has been so little understood that the subject was dis- missed with flat denial or relegated to the fanciful domain of the super- natural. We now know that neither the super, nor the sub, consciousness is the " supernatural," 1^ This word is never used to-day by a truly intelligent mind. [ 46 ] PSYCHISM. The Astral Man appears to be the sublimated duplicate of the Personal Man — composed of finer essences and furnishing the nerve force through which the spiritual acts upon the material. Under special conditions it can manifest apart from the material body, though never entirely released from it except by death. At the death of the body it retains for a time its form and, apparently, a limited_jdegree of intelligence, but finally becomes disintegrated as the Spirit withdraws itself, having no use for it on higher planes. [47 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. As the spirit operator lays down the instruments with which it has worked in matter the coarser body decays quickly — being the least vitalized ; the astral more slowly, — showing more rapid vibrations. The Spirit itself has never yet fully entered into either — else they would be indestructible. We have commonly made the mis- take in our past thinking of imagin- ing the body to contain the spirit, instead of being only its tool — which it has moulded for its uses and lays down at its pleasure. [48] PSYCHISM. Its power is derived wholly from the infusion of the spirit, which is the source of its intelligence. It is always a servant and never master, in spite of all appearances. It possesses no power except that which it derives from the spirit working through the battery of the mind. We are much indebted to both Theosophy and Spiritualism for a more intelligent understanding of ourselves. Theosophy instructs us in the triple and seven-fold constitution of [49 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. man and the analysis of his finer forces. Spiritualism shows these forces active after the chemical dissolution of death and enables us to follow their activities still upon the mate- rial plane but removed from ordi- nary sense perception through their more rapid vibration. The individual is perceived at times after death through the psy- chic faculties of clairvoyance, clair- audience and trance. Communication is sometimes pos- sible — though as yet so little under- [50J PSYCHISM. stood as to require the utmost cau- tion in accepting the results. Spiritualism has greatly widened our horizon, — removed the fears of superstition and acquainted us with many of the immediate conditions into which the mortal passes after the life in matter. It shows us that the change is not so radical as we supposed, — that the individual retains his gov- erning motives and characteristics, with continued but limited opportu- nity of working out unfinished prob- lems on the material plane until such time as he shall choose to fit himself [51 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. for higher activities in more ad- vanced conditions. Thus we see that the body is neither a prison house, nor an en- cumbrance. It is simply, as we have said, a useful tool upon the plane of matter, over which the spirit possesses in reality absolute control. Spirit is supreme at all times and in every place. Upon our recognition of this truth depends the health and happiness of the Personal Man. Recognition and Appropriation are the PASS KEYS of humanity. [52 J PSYCHISM. The Banquet of Life is always spread. " The path is found. Make your- self ready to tread it." " If a man could feel Not one day in the artist's ecstasy, But every day, feast, fast, and working day The spiritual significance burn through The hieroglyphic of material shows, Henceforward he would paint the globe with wings." [53] V. SUFFERING. V. SUFFERING. " Ho, ye who suffer, know ye suffer from yourselves I None else compels. No other holds you that ye live or die." Having outlined the constitution of Man and his relation to the forces of Nature we come to the problem of suffering. What is the cause of pain ? What is its remedy ? A normal life entails no suffering at any point. It is in harmony with all the forces within and without itself. [57] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. On the animal plane we note the general absence of disease under natural conditions. Animalism in man is not to be depreciated. It is a stage of evolution which is good and cannot be omitted. As a further point is reached man perceives his differentiation from the lower orders of brute life. He enters the domain of intellect and awakens to the consideration of soul forces and their relations to himself and others. A mental conflict is aroused [58J SUFFERING. between the habitual desire to pro- mote his selfish interests and the new responsibility for the welfare of those about him. He is involved in fresh adjust- ments to his family and social relations. It is the problem of Egoism and Altruism — Self-love and Self-for- getfulness. He finds that larger power brings with it increase of opportunity and responsibility — to himself and those about him. If he welcomes these new prob- [59] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. lems of existence he gains from them fresh strength and pleasure. He remains in a state of har- mony and has added new octaves to his life. Harmony in music is the vibrant relation of single notes to chords. Discord is an interruption of the unanimity of sound. Health and pleasure are har- monies in human life. Disease and pain are discords. The unawakened man has aroused no inner conflict, [ 60 ] _ " SUFFERING. In the suffering man the conflict is in progress. In the slavery in Egypt the Hebrews had food and care — with bondage. They awoke to a desire of free- dom and the possession of a king- dom of their own. The desert lay between them and the land of Canaan. The experiences through which they had to pass in the change from the slavery of Egypt to the sover- eignty of Israel involved them in the severest discipline of suffering. ' [6iJ PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. This was a necessary education — because of their ignorance and stubbornness. It developed the power of charac- ter in the race which afterward made possible the glories of the Kingdom of Solomon. The Hebrew slave, reared in dependence and fear, was not fitted to rule himself or others. It was reserved for another gen- eration, born in the freedom of the desert, to become the conquerors of the land flowing with milk and honey. If those who came out in the [62] SUFFERING. Exodus had fearlessly entrusted themselves to their great leader who delivered them from bondage and who so repeatedly demonstrated his wisdom and power they would not have needed to be turned back from the very borders of the Promised Land to wander for another genera- tion in the wilderness. They were fearful at every step, impatient at every discomfort, and disobedient to every word of com- mand — a faithless and perverse generation, indeed. Only suffering could eradicate these faults. [63] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. All suffering springs from fear. All fear from doubt. All pain is through resistance. " The doubter perishes." Impatience and resentment are the active elements in every trouble. We cannot overestimate the prac- tical value of such maxims as : " Be strong. Fear not." " Kill out resentment." "Agree with thine adversary (or adversity) quickly," A very necessary part of the actor's education is to learn to fall without hurt. [64] SUFFERING. This is to fall without resistance — to eradicate the impulse which makes him flinch — to learn to let go of himself. The wound of the modern bullet is less serious than formerly because of its greater speed — which allows less opportunity for the involuntary resistance of the body through which it passes. Tesla's greatest discovery in elec- tricity is the high-frequency currents of incalculable power which can be passed harmlessly through the human system. A slower vibration would result [65] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. in instant death because of the resistance which would be aroused. The bicycle rider learns to pre- serve his balance by leaning with his wheel. Thus the most prolific causes of our suffering are : A want of confidence in the underlying principles of life — which results in fear. Impatience and resentment of our seeming helplessness in trouble. Dissatisfaction with the conditions that environ us. What are the remedies ? [66] SUFFERING. Confidence in Being. Settled belief in Good. Dismissal of our Ifs. Cheerful acceptance of every problem in the spirit of the athlete who is glad to test his growing strength by raising heavier chest- weights. Changing the circulation of the blood and nervous currents by strik- ing a different thought vibration. We find this note of buoyancy and gladness in a bolder view of life. We turn persistently from the PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. doubt and depression arising from too great intensity in the considera- tion of personal affairs. Strictly speaking, there is no " adversity " — except in our imagi- nation. We draw all experience to our- selves. We can draw nothing except what we need for the improvement of present conditions. Pain is the alarm bell which shows an interruption in the proper circulation of our mental processes requiring immediate attention. On a dungeon wall of London [68] SUFFERING. Tower we find this inscription, — cut there by a prisoner more than three hundred years ago : "The most unhappy man in the world is he who is not patient in adversity. For men are not killed by the adversities they bear, but by the impatience which they suffer." C69] VI. SELFISHNESS. VI. SELFISHNESS. " Not until the whole nature has yielded and become subject unto its higher self can the bloom open." Selfishness is not essentially a sin. It is the root of all individuality. It is that by which every life per- ceives and seeks the things desirable and necessary to its existence. In the earlier stages of evolution this self-seeking appears to be uncon- scious and instinctive. At a later period it becomes a [73 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. matter of conscious selection and experiment. " Selflessness " is nothingness. It is annihilation. As we grow we widen the range of selfishness as we do with every other faculty of our nature. We begin to discover our rela- tions to others, to develop love and to find pleasure in service. We call this " unselfishness," but it is only selfishness in process of refinement and entering upon new lines of activity. A highly developed nature finds C74J SELFISHNESS. its greatest satisfaction in forward- ing the good of others. It is the natural method of indi- vidual growth and thus assures the happiest results. Selfishness is still the root of its highest impulses — even when it leads to the voluntary surrender of the personal life to gain its ends. It has long since outgrown the phase of conscious calculation. It has become an instinct on a higher plane. It is the result of love in broader action than when applied to self. [75] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. It is the only path to spiritual sovereignty : for, in the highest sense, the servant rules. , Power is strength of expression. Individual life must first express itself in providing for its own wants. Its growth develops larger force — new impulses now appear which utilize this force. Love has been defined as " sur- plus energy." We cannot help another except through strength or wisdom greater than his own. [76] SELFISHNESS. It is necessary that we should acquire before we can dispense. Yet there are always those about us to whom we can minister, because they are less advanced than we in certain lines, while in other direc- tions we may be their inferiors. Every one has something which another wants. In the service of others we gain power — through the employment of our own resources. The one who furnishes the oppor- tunity confers a benefit, and thus we see the law of equity in operation. [77] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. Service is always mutual, although not always understood as such. It is customary for us to consider only the benefit we are receiving or that which we are bestowing. A benefit conferred inevitably re- sults in benefit to the giver. A benefit accepted is equally a benefit conferred. Reciprocity governs life. Life is spherical in all its adapta- tions — rounded and complete. We can get only partial glimpses and so we misinterpret them. [78] SELFISHNESS. Our pride demands that we should not receive a favor. It insists that we should always play the role of giver. A necessary part of our education is to learn helpful acceptance of the services of others. It is as great an unkindness to deprive another of the opportunity of serving us in gratification of his own desire as to withhold ourselves a service which he needs. Only ignorance can wish to be the sole dispenser of bounties. It is a form of selfishness which has no justification. [79] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. There are no " favors " in life. There are only equities and these are infinitely more diverse and nu- merous than we have ever dreamed. Our complex relations with each other can never be understood by considering only the present stand- point. We have been fellow-travellers on a longer road than we can yet look back upon. The journey, at its different stages, has doubtless involved us in many changed relations. The giver of to-day was perhaps the receiver yesterday, or may have [80] SELFISHNESS. to be such to-morrow to learn his necessary lesson : while the recipi- ent may be getting back that which he formerly bestowed, or learning to become a giver. We have no reason to chide our- selves for selfishness, except when we seek good at the expense of others. Expediency — as well as equity — demands that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. If we fulfil this obligation, which is necessary to our highest good, we will employ our largest knowledge [8i] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. in his service the same as in our own. Our interest and his are insepara- bly united. In harming him we harm our- selves. In serving him we promote our own true interests. His good can never demand the sacrifice of ours. Our good can never require the surrender of his. The Universal Life is no respecter of persons. [82] SELFISHNESS. It is opulent in illimitable re- sources. Suffering comes from ignorance of proper adjustment. The highest service we can render is to help our fellows to enlighten- ment — and this, in some degree, is always possible to all. All knowledge comes through faithfulness over the few things — through active use of what we have acquired. Perfect circulation is the great condition of true life. In every case of illness we find [83 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. in psychic diagnosis obstruction in inspiration or expression. The patient needs greater recep- tiveness or greater usefulness. He needs first to be detached from the thought of self and nothing will accomplish this more thoroughly than the service of others. If one has been accumulating he must learn to dispense. If he has been dispensing freely he needs more power of acquisitive- ness. This is equally true in material and spiritual things. C84J SELFISHNESS. The balance must be maintained or disease results. If we have learned the letter A let us teach that letter to a younger pupil in the school of life, though we may yet be studying B. It is not necessary to have acquired the entire alphabet. If we have mas- tered even one of the tables in life's arithmetic we need not wait till we have entered a class of higher math- ematics before we begin to aid our fellows. Service is the law of progress, — is itself progress. Self-forgetfulness is the only rem- edy most sufferers require. [85] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. Hence the necessity of looking abroad and " bearing one another's burdens." But it is better to show another that he has no burdens to bear than to coddle his self-pity by groaning with him under an imaginary load. The " burden " is always a lesson to be learned. The highest selfishness is so boun- tiful in its manifestation of service that we change its name to Love and list it in the virtues. It is the fruit of that wisdom which has learned that " He that loseth his life shall find it" [86] SELFISHNESS. It is through letting go the thought of self that we make it possible for the forces of Nature to mould us on the highest lines of symmetry and power. It is through casting our bread upon the waters that we open our storehouses to fresh supplies of never-failing life. It is in gently leading others through the twilight in which we ourselves are walking that we pre- pare a joyful welome to the growing dawn. Confidence is power. Service is Sovereignty. [87] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. " None has begun to think how divine he himself is and how certain the future is.'' " Omnipotence is absolute liberty — Absolute liberty cannot exist without perfect equilibrium." [88] VII. RESPONSIBILITY. VII. RESPONSIBILITY. " Oh, to be self-balanced for contingencies, — to con- front night, storm, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as the trees and animals do I" We come now to the problem of responsibility. It is in the vexation of this ques- tion that we find the root of much disease — in the anxiety of inde- cision and distress of self-reproach. Much suffering arises from an awakened but uninstructed sense of responsibility. The savage does not suffer to the [91] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. same degree as the more civilized man. His conscience does not con- demn his cannibalism, polygamy or idolatry ; it is not awakened. As life becomes refined its prob- lems grow more complex. When the mind is untroubled by any conscious or unconscious pro- test against its action it can experi- ence no suffering. The proper gratification of a nor- mal appetite can bring no sorrow. The sensualist and the ascetic suf- fer alike when any doubt intrudes itself concerning the wisdom of their lives. [92] RESPONSIBILITY. The sense of responsibility when once aroused can never again slum- ber. The Soul places Reason in the Supreme Bench of its Judiciary and summons Conscience to its bar. It demands justification of all its actions, great and small. Even the criminal must formulate excuses for his crime before he can compel himself to its committal. Conscience can never be drugged. It is doubtful if it is ever really deluded. The ever-present questions in the [93] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. life of one who has begun to think are : What is my responsibility to God — to myself — to my fellow-men ? Our responsibility to God, or Good, is to live in perfect harmony at every point — in mind. This is the lesson of experience. Responsibility to self is fulfilled in the acceptance of the highest law of Being as soon as it is unfolded to us. Responsibility to others is condi- tioned by our opportunities of ser- vice. [94J RESPONSIBILITY. All is summed up in the one word " Harmony." Where there is responsibility there is always power of action. Where there is no power of action no responsibility can exist. It is impossible there should be one without the other. Responsibility comes with oppor- tunity. They cannot exist apart. The demands of equity would not be satisfied. Life is never inequitable — except to our mistaken judgment. We often exaggerate and mistake [95] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. our own responsibility and that of others. We lacerate ourselves most cruelly in consequence, or condemn others most uncharitably in our short-sight- edness and pride of conscience. We sometimes have the power of action, but are blinded, by our self- ishness, to our opportunities and the responsibilities that come with them. When the power of action has been lost and our eyes are opened to what we might have done we suffer for our blindness. Since all real action is in mind and that is within our own domain, [96] RESPONSIBILITY. we can always adjust ourselves to people, events and environment. In this we can plead no limits to responsibility except those set by in- experience and ignorance, and these are subject to our will. The severest storms may rage about us and yet the seas in which we float may be like a waveless bay. No plague can come nigh the dwelling of our spirit — except with our permission. Whatever our temporary environ- ment may be our souls may dwell apart if they elect. In the City Beautiful of the mind [97] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. the gates may always be of precious stones and the pavement of fine gold. We are always responsible for our mental condition. Nothing but our personal choice demands that we shall respond to false vibrations. We have the power to strike and hold any key-note at will. We need not come into another's discord — or be distressed that it exists. We are surely not responsible that our neighbor has no ear for music. It is important only that our own [98] RESPONSIBILITY. notes should sound out loud and clear. No flower can govern the fra- grance of another. No tree can reg- ulate another's fruit or foliage. Each receives the sun and showers for itself and Nature provides for all. It may not be our privilege to cast out the mote from our neighbor's eye. We are never prevented from pull- ing the beam out of our own eye. We cannot help another beyond our power to bestow and his ability to receive. [99 ] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. If they do not accord it is no reason for unhappiness. We are not responsible for the opinion of others regarding either our own conduct or the problems of life. The desire to please, so far as it springs from an undue anxiety about ourselves, is not a proper motive. We need never concern ourselves about our reputation. That is the charge of the Eternal Equities and in due season every true life will have its complete vindication, [lOO] RESPONSIBILITY. We need not lift a finger to secure it, nor give to it an anxious thought. We need frame no excuse or explanation. It is a good rule of conduct never to excuse one's self to or accuse another. A habit of criticism is deplora- ble. The Hindoo maxim should be learned : "TO KNOW ALL IS TO FORGIVE ALL." The spiritual reality is always radiantly beautiful and hangs above the head of every human being. We should not be so easily dis- [lOlJ PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. turbed by the imperfect and unfin- ished portrait in the process of con- struction. Why should its crude condition grieve us if we have any confidence in the great artist Life, or any comprehension of the meaning of Eternity. Let us settle it once for all that we are not responsible for another's task. As Emerson says, "We need not assist in the administration of the universe." It simplifies life to learn this lesson. [ 102] RESPONSIBILITY. We may be very sure that if we have any helpful relation to another the infinite laws will bring demand and supply together without our anxious seeking. This is as certain as the law of polarity that turns every particle of magnetized metal to the pole when it is left to the action of the currents which are always moving through the earth and atmosphere. We hang to our troubles. They neither seek nor cling to us except as we attract and hold them. When we change the vibration [ 103 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. that drew them they drop off and we are at peace again. It is our own hand that is on the lever — always. The force that has seemed to drive us backward will drive us forward with equal power — if we will change its application. We are fitted to meet every re- sponsibility that belongs to us. Let us greet it with cordial wel- come and calm confidence in both our purpose and ability. It is for this that we are here. We will permit no haste and no [ 104 J RESPONSIBILITY. intensity of thought or action — for these come from fear and result in disease. "Write on your doors this saying, wise AND OLD, Be Bold ! Be Bold ! And everywhere Be Bold!" [los] VIII. ADJUSTMENT. VIII. ADJUSTMENT. " When life is true to the poles of Nature the stream of truth will roll through us in song. ' ' The great problem of human life is one of adjustment to environment. When this has been achieved the mastery of conditions follows. We have shown that suffering comes from mental resentment. The first impulse arising from discomfort leads one to resent and resist. As we grow wiser we learn that [ 109 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. antagonism is itself a cause of pain. We have shown that pain indicates a need of adjustment. We have seen that all experience that comes to us we have our- selves invited, — consciously or un- consciously — that it brings a lesson to be learned and so is valuable and friendly. Wisdom welcomes all experience as necessary education. The comfort or discomfort of it is a minor matter. The more uncomfortable we are [no] ADJUSTMENT. the more we realize the need that made it possible. We know that it will pass when it has ceased to be of use, as fruit detaches itself from the tree when fully ripened. No problem can come into any life which is not for that life to solve. There is no difficult situation which has not its pivot of adjust- ment on which, when found, it will swing easily into place. When we have put ourselves in right relations to the present factors, [III] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. suffering will cease and the situation will change. The page will be turned and we shall pass to other lessons with the new strength gained by the experi- ence. We naturally think the pain be- longs to the situation and that the " circumstances " must be changed before it can be removed. If we reverse this reasoning and find our true relation to the circum- stances we will prove it possible to remove the suffering first — and even change it to a pleasure and extract a benefit. [112] ADJUSTMENT. This is the true science of thought- life. It is not a fanciful or moral specu- lation. It appeals to nothing but experi- ence. The first condition of dominating a difficulty is to dismiss all antagon- ism to persons and events. We are then prepared to consider the question calmly — as we would weigh a mathematical proposition. This is impossible to a mind in- flamed with the thought of injustice to his personality. ["3 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. The next step is to search for the cause of the difficulty within our- selves and not without. The final domination is obtained through fresh adjustment. This is always in our power to govern. It is only through such apprentice- ship to Truth that we ever really achieve the mastery of fate. We identify ourselves with causes — and only thus can truly study consequences. The work of the Psychic Healer lies largely in the discovery and cor- ADJUSTMENT. rection of the points of mal-adjust- ment of his pupils and patients in the everyday relations of their lives. Skill in the science of living de- mands of us a prompt and cheerful adaptation of ourselves to existing conditions. This is always a mental process. It is afterwards externalized in a satisfactory environment. It is a waste of time to begin with the material conditions them- selves — for even if the will is strong enough to work a change in the externals the same difficulty ["5J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. will present itself again, perhaps in another form, until the spiritual solution has been recognized and applied. The symptoms will reappear with greater severity and under aggra- vated aspects. It is better that we face our prob- lems fairly at the moment they appear. When we have reached a point in life where it is necessary to learn a principle of action we cannot evade the discipline that follows upon every effort of evasion. It is best to open our eyes and ["6] ADJUSTMENT. ears to Truth and seek, as our main purpose, not to rid ourselves of suf- fering but of the spiritual ignorance which is its cause. We should become indifferent to everything but symmetry of char- acter. This is the only purpose of exist- ence that survives upon all planes. It is the only achievement in life that can be truly called " success." It needs no wealth or earthly ad- vantage as condition of accomplish- ment. ["7] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. It is the "one thing needful." The light and power that make it possible are always within the indi- vidual himself through his relation to the Eternal Energy. When the electric car is " off the trolley" it has lost its heat, light and motive power — yet these were drawn from a very light touch upon the main wire. They employed but a fractional part of the great force which it had been adapted to receive and utilize. When this touch is lost and the circuit interrupted the car can no longer fulfil its purpose. [ii8J ADJUSTMENT. The currents may be all about it, but for want of contact and adjust- ment it is motionless. Such are our relations to the In- finite Life. We can never really separate our- selves from the Great Energy, but upon our right relation to it will depend our pain or pleasure. It makes no difference whether or not we are assisted in this by others. We are not dependent on each other for spiritual good in just the way we have been taught. PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. Our relations to the Supreme Life are most direct. We gain the largest knowledge in the silence, listening to the voice that is soundless. In our relations to one another we can adjust ourselves in our own minds in a spirit of love and helpful- ness regardless of the other's per- sonal conduct toward us. We can at all times hold him in loving thought and actually com- mune delightfully with his higher principle — as one may have pleas- ant interviews with a friend who is C 120] ADJUSTMENT. a parent, even in the presence of a disagreeable child. We make too much of the shadows of the mortal life and too little of the Immortal Substance which is so imperfectly expressed upon this plane of matter. Let us adjust ourselves to Sub- stance rather than to shadow. " Love seeketh not its own." We find our satisfaction in the condition of the mind. By steadily holding the persistent thought of Love we can impress its image and likeness on another. [121] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. " Love never faileth." " It be- lieveth all things." As this is true of the Great Love we receive, it should be equally true of that which we bestow. We cannot truly trust the one without learning at the same time to impart the other. We cannot "be made to suffer" through another if we have learned the secret of adjustment. We cannot miss of happiness through any condition external to ourselves. We must not confound the cause and the occasion. [ 122 J ADJUSTMENT. We govern the cause. Occasion is a consequence. "And I will show that whatever happens to anybody it may be turned to beautiful results." [123 J IX. POWER. IX. POWER. " Nothing can resist the will of man when he knows what is true and wills what is good. " The will of the just man is the will of God him- self and it is the Law of Nature." Peace and Power are inseparably united. We cannot realize one without the other. Peace comes through a sense of power. It may be the realization of our own strength or confidence in that [127] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. of another who is friendly to us and pledged to our protection. The sense of power destroys fear and peace follows. Peace and fear cannot exist to- gether. It is a mistake to think we can fear and love a God at the same time. For " perfect love casteth out fear." As we become acquainted with the laws of Nature we learn how to con- trol and utilize them. We cease at the same time to worship and to fear. [128 J POWER. We neither fear nor worship what we understand. The savage thinks the thunder is the voice of the Great Spirit speak- ing in anger. The electrician can explain the phenomena and harness the electric force which produces it. In the twilight of man's religious life he thought the rainbow a super- natural sign of God's covenant. The scientist now analyzes the light of the solar spectrum and throws the rainbow prism on his screen at will. [ 129 ] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. All disease results from fear through negative conditions. The remedy is in understanding. As we perceive little by little our true relations to the body and recog- nize the fact that it is our own handi- work and under our control we find no room for fear or dread of the dis- ease that has alarmed us. We know that the body is in a continual state of flux and influx, — that its molecules are never quiet, but continually shifting to new poles and centres in obedience to the strongest forces operating upon them. [ 130 J POWER. In eleven months, according to Flammarion, the entire system — even to the hair and nails — will be renewed and not an atom will remain to us of what we hold together now. Mind sets the pattern upon which Nature builds. Every atom has intelligence and recognizes its master. Even poisons can be overcome by the vibrations of positive thought. If we are not pleased with our work we can remodel it as the sculp- tor does his clay. We have been doing this through- out the ages and have doubtless [131 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. served a long apprenticeship in all the realms of matter. Because we cannot trace this course in memory is no reason why we should deny it. Who of us recollects his infancy ? Yet we retain its vaccination scars and embody its experience and growth. When we have arrived at the point where we can profit from the con- scious knowledge of the road that we have travelled doubtless we can read its records easily. But while we are still in bondage to our fears to that extent that we C 132 J POWER. dare not study the near future lest it should reveal some sorrow we certainly would be trammelled by a knowledge of the past. Even now we burden ourselves with regrets as we look over the few years compassed by our present mortal life. Man is a bundle of ignorant fears which have grown up in his years of darkness, — until experience has taught him power. He is reluctant to recognize his true dominion. Yet, step by step, he removes his C ^33 ] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. limitations and finds that they all yield to knowledge of himself. We are already warranted in boldly claiming that we have no limitations except those we have placed upon ourselves. We used to speak of the " unknow- able" in science, and in religion would dismiss all mysteries with the assurance that "we were not intended to know." If these propositions were true, how could we know them to be so ? They served only to excuse our indolence and cowardice. [134 J POWER. The soul cannot grow in the atmosphere of fear. " I will fear no evil " voices the higher self. We must eliminate every particle of the poison of fear from our minds before we can arrive at the perfect peace which cometh through under- standing. " Fear is only indolence of will." " Awake ! Awake ! Put on strength ! " was the cry of the old prophet. We need only arouse ourselves to spiritual consciousness and we find [135] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. that we live amid incalculable forces — which we ourselves control. We do not have to suffer except as we abide in darkness. We are not forced to violent effort to dispel this darkness. We need only let in the light. When we throw open the win- dows of the soul they are flooded with the infinite radiance. We are not the creatures of dark- ness. Light is our native element. We are not ready for power till we have got beyond the wish to use it selfishly. [136] POWER. Spiritual power is not yet under- stood by man — and consequently is not desired by him. Its possession exposes one to mis- understanding and discredit. Human nature is always suspi- cious of what it does not under- stand. It fears and hates at the same time. Distrust is the basic element of fear. And the Unknown is always a land of terrors. Power comes through education of the Will and the control of the Imagination. [137] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. It is a man's privilege to choose and command his life. It his privilege to make mis- takes and to correct them, — to alter- nate between positive and negative conditions till he has found his balance and learned to operate his powers in harmony with their source. The ebb and flow of Will is like the movements of the tides. The sense of weakness and of power alternates in every life, until the negative condition is outgrown through mastery. Then life passes on to other planes in which the process is repeated and [138] POWER. all the forces of accumulated ex- istences are employed in solving higher problems. Let us enjoy the process which yields power as its fruit, and so shall we learn the perfect peace which abides with those whose minds are stayed on GOOD. " Cast thyself into the will of God and thou shalt become as God. " For thou art God if thy will be the Divine will. "This is the great secret — it is the mystery of redemption." [ 139 ] X. FREEDOM. X. FREEDOM. "But the disciplined self moving among sense objects with senses free from attraction and repulsion mastered by the self goeth to peace." Freedom is the recognition and appropriation of power. Through power we deliver our- selves from bondage both to fear and hope, to resentment and affec- tion, and from all the motives and emotions of the personal man which hold him in a condition of unrest. We wing our way into the realms [143 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. of spiritual peace where we find repose without lethargy, activity without effort, love without anxiety, and joy without reaction. We do not fully realize the bon- dage in which we have lived until we have escaped from it. Our lives are tense with expecta- tion of calamity. If we love we have ever present with us the fear of loss. If we enjoy life we sit at the feast with the skeleton of Death beside us. If we are in the sunshine to-day, sheltered by a comfortable home C 144 J FREEDOM. and surrounded by friends, we talk of the rainy day ahead for which provision must be made. Even if we are strong and well we often fear the morrow and shud- der at the thought of growing old. We hold continually the dread of " taking cold " and find but few days in the year that satisfy us in their temperature. We are always thinking how delightful the present might be if some condition of our life were altered. We think we have been handi- [H5J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. capped and crippled through heredi- tary weakness. We are saddened by anniversaries. We shrink from a duty that lies in the path ahead. We cannot bear to think on cer- tain persons and events or visit certain places. We wish to be always " prepared for the worst." The best evidence we have of the real vigor of our lives is that we can continue to exist so long in such a deadly atmosphere of fear. The strongest evidence of will [146] FREEDOM. power is in the pertinacity with which men hang to their diseases, anxieties and sorrows. Many are positively antagonized by any effort to deprive them of their griefs and grievances. "Here I and Sorrow sit" — and here it is our privilege to stay as long as we enjoy each other's com- pany. It takes great weight to hold a substance at the bottom of an ele- ment with heavier specific gravity than its own, for all things seek their level. Oil will rise to the surface of the C 147 1 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. water, gases will mount through all densities of atmosphere. Man's spirit is buoyant and noth- ing can resist our upward progress except our own determination to delay it. " O, to realize Space ! The plen- teousness of all ! That there are no bounds ! To emerge and be of the sky, of the sun and moon and flying clouds, as one with them ! " All the powers of Nature but typify the power of Man. And yet he regards himself as a slave to matter — a prisoner to the body and to the circumstances of his life ; [148] FREEDOM. helplessly subject to disease, to habit, to heredity and to environ- ment. To the uninstructed mind time and space set terrible bounds to life's activities. They are the keepers of the prison house. To the spirit that has realized its power they simply do not exist. " He to whom time is as eternity and eternity as time is free," says the great mystic Boehm. The slave cringes at the lash of the law. So does many an one who fancies law a despot and disease and death inevitable. C H9 ] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. The emancipated spirit is a law unto itself. It masters laws and makes them for subordinate forms of life. We have called ourselves created beings and lived in awe of an un- known creator. We are beginning to recognize the fact that we ourselves embody the creative principle and creative en- ergy and that we have been our own Creators through the power of thought — which we have used unconsciously and are now learning to apply intelligently. What we have already accom- [150] FREEDOM. plished in our climb through matter is nothing of which we need to be ashamed. There is absolutely nothing in the universe to fear — not even our- selves. For as all roads led toward Rome when it was the great centre of Imperial Power, so all things tend to the accomplishment of the Sover- eignty of Man. The only rebel is his inferior self. This rebel will never be subdued by force, but by instruction. For life is not a tyranny, but a [151] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. place of instruction for the education of spiritual minors, preparing them for the administration of their own estates. Let us teach the personal man that his freedom day has arrived when he has willingly recognized the wisdom of his spiritual self and become his own loyal comrade and associate. To enter into freedom we must leave all our whims and prejudices and follow Truth, as it presents itself. The goal is worth the effort to move forward. FREEDOM. The sorest experience of life be- comes indifferent to us when we have had a moment of Revelation. We are apt to think our experi- ences costly ; but that is only before we have had a glimpse of the glories to which they lead. Amid the warmth and welcome of the Alpine hospice the traveller soon forgets the weariness of the road he climbed. When a man has " come to his own " in the recognition of his Divinity he counts all "tribulation" a cheap price to pay for the discov- ery. [153 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. When the successful scientist or statesman has received the honors of an admiring world he recks little of the tedium of the school room in which the foundations of his work were laid. "With a great price bought I my freedom." " But I was born free ! " Freedom itself was the accom- plished fact to both the Roman governor and the apostle. We can never be free till we have thoroughly learned the lesson that we cannot miss our good. "And whether I come to my own [154 J FREEDOM. to-day or in ten thousand or ten million years, I can cheerfully take it now or, with equal cheerfulness, I can wait." No day can come or go without enriching us to the full extent to which we have developed our capac- ity to receive. " As the bird wings and sings, Let us cry, ' All good things Are ours ; nor soul helps flesh more now, than flesh helps soul ! ' " [155] XI. HEALING. XL HEALING. ■' The Astral Light is the key of all dominion. "This great magic agent has four properties: To dissolve, to consolidate, to quicken, and to moderate. " These four properties directed by the will of man can modify all phases of nature." " To affirm and will what ought to be is to create. " To affirm and will what should not be is to destroy." We often hear it said, " I believe the mind governs the body to a great extent and mental treatment is probably good for some nervous diseases." If Mind governs only partially what is the other factor? [159 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. When and where does it appear ? Why does it not assert itself when the departure of the Mind at death leaves the body lifeless and un- governed, except by its lower ele- ments of matter working in disin- tegration. Psychic Science finds that all disease is " nervous " and has its origin in thought. Nearly every sufferer thinks his disease " peculiar." This is flatter- ing to his personal vanity. The classification of disease is very simple. [i6oJ HEALING. First causes are very few. Secondary symptoms may be much diversified. There is a singular correspondence between the mental cause and physi- cal expression. This correspondence often gives us the key to the trouble. Many of our popular phrases suggest this relation. The " fever of impatience " or " anxiety." The " chill of horror " when " the blood runs cold." [i6i] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. The temperature is very mani- festly changed by these emotions. One " burns to revenge " an injury. He is " swollen with pride." He is " narrow " and " small " in selfishness. He " chokes with rage." We speak of " bowels of compas- sion," of a " stubborn " or " tender heart." Heart trouble is often caused by wilfulness — head trouble by temper. We say of an unwelcome experi- [162] HEALING. ence that we cannot "swallow it " or " stomach it." We exhort one another in trouble to " never mind it." We are " bowed down " with grief. We are light of step in gladness. The members and organs of the human body are directly connected with nerve centres in the brain and solar plexus. These centres are governed by the will and operated through the emotional nature. They show the ebb and flow of the currents of feeling in elation and depression. [163 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. The more emotional the tempera- ment the more rapid and violent are the tides of passion and the more marked in their results. Prof. Elmer Gates has analyzed in his chemical laboratory at Wash- ington more than forty different poisons produced in the secretions by unpleasant emotions. He has shown that they are destructive of tissue. He has also found that pleasant mental states develop secretions of a normal character. These construct instead of de- stroying the cell life. C'64J HEALING. The human body is an aggrega- tion of innumerable cells. These cells are of so delicate a nature that they are absolutely governed by the character of the thought. The mind is a battery of incalcu- lable force. When it is in a harmonious con- dition its magnetic currents build and vitalize the body. When it is disturbed by doubt, depression, or anger, its currents are reversed and disintegration follows. We often construct with one hand while we destroy with the other. C165] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. When we have learned our trade as builders we can fashion our dwell- ings as we please in strength and symmetry. Even now we may change the pattern at any time and the body will quickly respond. The necessary conditions are that we should be firmly decided in our own minds what we wish to do and hold an unwavering conviction of our power to do it. When we are ready to build wisely we will not lay our founda- tions on the sands of feeling — where they are swept by the surges [i66] HEALING. of passion with every tide that may ebb and flow. We will build upon the rock foundation of principle. All disease is in the emotional life. It is disturbance of the circulation which proceeds from thought. Hurt feelings leave the body sensitive and sore. Depression lowers the vitality and quickly affects the breathing organs. One draws long breaths and sighs in grief. The pulse is quickened with joy. [1671 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. Pneumonia can be frequently traced to disappointment. Indecision is very apt to appear in the knees — which stand for action. We call an irresolute man "weak-kneed." Excess of conservatism affects the feet — which stand for progres- sion. Dyspepsia and stomach troubles show themselves when we cannot mentally digest the conditions of our life. Liver difficulty results from de- pression. [i68] HEALING. Throat trouble is apt to indicate a want of acceptation. A cough is the natural expression of doubt and worriment. It is often an unconscious appeal for sympathy. Harsh words ruin a voice — as a "sour" temper spoils the features while impatient and bad thoughts affect the complexion. Musical notes express themselves in curves upon the inner surface of a violin. Discord results in angular lines. Impatience always produces fever- ish conditions. [169 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. The meaner passions contract the blood vessels and tend to strangula- tion. Excessive emotion of any kind may kill when balance is destroyed. True strength never expends itself in either fear or enthusiasm. Let us mention a few diseases known to psychic healers. The disease of trying. This is the weariness of effort which results from want of confi- dence in the intelligence and power of Good. It shows itself in a feeling that we [170] HEALING. are carrying "burdens" and have " much to contend with." We need to discriminate between activity and effort. A normal life expresses itself in vigorous and pleasurable activity without painful effort. The right way is always an easy way. If life seems hard the fault is always with our methods of living. Harmony results in doing all things easily that belong to us to do. The disease of intensity. This is abnormal concentration. PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. It blinds the eyes because we strain ourselves to see the way. The vision is dimmed by doubt. The condition is feverish. There is danger in taking life too seriously. The disease of conscientiousness. This comes from distrust of our own spiritual intelligence — which ought not to be lacking if we are made in the image and likeness of God. We need a robust thought. The disease of over-refinement . This results in morbid sensitive- ness. It shows a lack of fibre. C172] HEALING. When we are strong our feelings cannot be " hurt." Why should we be so sorry when the Personal Man is bruised ? If his flesh were sound and whole he could not suffer in this way. If it is unsound we surely wish to find it out. It is not bandages and lotions that we need, but to correct the circula- tion of our thoughts. The disease of apprehensiveness. This includes all anxiety and fear, resentment and ambition. It comes from a thought that we [173 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. can suffer loss or injury or want for something that belongs to us. It melts away in the recognition of our spiritual freedom and power. The disease of suppression. It is not good to narrow our demands on life and contract our purposes at any point. We should apply our force at the other end of the lever. We should enlarge our abilities and increase our resources. We need not live in the fever of "ambition," but we should work with freedom of expression and as [174] HEALING. confident a purpose and expectancy as those that are " ambitious." The disease of indecision. The first point to be 'settled in psychic treatment is whether the patient really wishes to be healed — which involves correction of char- acter — or whether he wishes to be only relieved of his temporary suffer- ing. The latter can frequently be effected without rooting out the trouble. It is only alleviation and does not forward the education for which we have come to this School of Matter, It is the remedy of imperfection [175] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. that should be our chief desire, — not relief from bodily pain or dis- agreeable surroundings. These are consequences only. They quickly yield to altered causes. When we have made a definite choice Nature will work out the pattern we have set — even though it result in growing a tree with branches downward and root upward. But we must choose and not remain in doubtful mind. For inde- cision is disease. Pain is a negative condition. All negative conditions are artificial and [176 J HEALING. temporary and belong to the per- sonal man. When we turn to the positive con- ditions of the Higher Self we find relief and " Strong and content we travel the open road." [177] XII. FULFILMENT. XII. FULFILMENT. God is Love God is Law We are Law. God and Love and Law are one We are Love We are One We are God. — RosiCRUciAN Axiom, " Seek the way by making the profound obeisance of the soul to the dim star that burns within. " Steadily as you watch and wor- ship its light will grow stronger. "Then you may know you have found the beginning of the way. [iSiJ PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. " And when you have found the end its light will suddenly become the infinite light." The old alchemists sought a sol- vent that would turn all base metals into gold and an elixir that would bring perpetual youth. They worked in the material realm and failed. We have discovered both the sol- vent and elixir in the realms of Mind and Soul. They are in the complete accept- ance of the truth that "ALL IS GOOD." [1S2J FULFILMENT. When we have learned to analyze every experience in this solvent we find both youth and treasure. Happiness depends upon our choice of major or minor tones in life — of triumphant or pathetic chords. It is governed by the truths or things upon which we place our emphasis. It lies in the discernment of essen- tials — in the wisdom that reveals to us our true relations to each other — to events — to things and places. [183 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. It is really a science of optics. It is also a science of acoustics. It is equally a science of touch, of taste and of smell. It is the adjustment of positive and negative forces — the mainte- nance of balance between what we receive and what we give. As long as waste and repair of tissue in the human system are equal health and life proceed with- out interruption. Disease and dissolution come when negative conditions in the mind have gained ascendency. [184] FULFILMENT. The same is true in what we call our " affairs " — for environment is but a larger body — a more extended sphere of action. Misfortune and poverty hold the same relation to mental causes as disease of body — and their remedy is found on similar lines. The laws that govern health govern also " circumstances " and "success." We are always in danger when we allow ourselves from any cause to become depressed and pass under the control of negative conditions. [185] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. Spirit is always positive. The negative factors of doubt, anxiety, resentment and impa- tience attach only to the personal man, or what some have called the " mortal mind " or " animal soul." The mental states resulting from them show inflatned and congested thought. They indicate a need of mental lotions and tonics — sometimes even mental surgery — for some thoughts have to be sharply lanced before their virus is expelled. The antidotes are found in bold- ness, confidence and love. [i86] FULFILMENT. They are applied in positive afifirmations of healing truths and in holding clear cut images in mind of perfect standards and propor- tions. It is literally true that thought can be materialized through trained and powerful concentration. The imagination is a marvellous crucible and what we picture there with precision and persistency will be externalized in matter. Whether it be a sound organ of body or agreeable conditions of environ- ment. [187] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. Of this there is abundant evi- dence. We can never affirm too much of our spiritual powers. We have scarcely begun to recog- nize and utilize them. We should never permit the neg- ative" I can't" to enter our thoughts or pass our lips. We know that all things are pos- sible to the truly awakened spirit. The persistent confidence of the old alchemists would have brought the results they sought if they had worked with spiritual principles. [188] FULFILMENT. Let us never say " I have no money." " I have no time." " I have no friends." " I have no power." " I have no opportunities." We should live in the thought of OPULENCE in all these things. There is no work of man but what has been formed first in Mind. A pinched or cramped thought will surely show itself in limb or feature. With equal certainty it will at [189] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. some time manifest itself in the ex- ternal surroundings. A generous and confident thought can be depended upon to produce the opposite results when held per- sistently without a doubt. A want of confidence results in the tense conditions of disease. The first remedy to be always applied is the thought of Peace. A normal man is " self-possessed " regardless of the incidents of the hour. He is indifferent to all appearances about him. [190] FULFILMENT. He does not believe in Good because he is personally comfortable nor think that Good has "turned away its face from him " when his own petty wishes have not been apparently fulfilled. He does not chant a "Jubilate Deo" one day for a victory and dirges and requiems the next for a defeat. He is not fired by the impatience of expectancy nor chilled with fear of disappointment and disaster. Will is the Engineer. The engineer through his intelli- gence builds his engine and repairs [191] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. it — turns on the steam -. — applies and directs the power. He does not use his muscle on the driving wheel. He gently but firmly holds his hand upon the lever which moves easily and sets the great machine in operation. The educated Will fulfills its pur- pose in the choice it makes of aims and methods. We will to lift a foot or finger. We do not need to try. We can, however, make it very difficult by cultivating doubt. [ '92 J FULFILMENT. We then expend our energies in " trying." We often forget our levers and seize the driving wheel instead. Thus life becomes laborious. We need adjustment and equilibrium. The power is always present, but the engineer may desert his post — or need instruction in the handling of the lever. The force and tenacity of the Will is never more plainly shown than in our ability to persist in diseased con- ditions when every one of our mill- ions of pores is opening to receive its atmospheric food and every hair [ 193 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. upon head and body is an electrical conductor of the vital energy em- bodied in us. It is a scientific fact which is be- ing constantly demonstrated through Telepathy that mind can consciously converse with mind. The higher principle of man is often reached in that way when verbal argument would only arouse antagonism. Absent psychic treatment is as effectual as present as all healers can testify from experience. We may be always sure that a thought will reach its mark. [194] FULFILMENT. Whether or not it will be allowed to enter depends upon the one to whom it is sent. We open or close ourselves to any thought vibration we desire. We can protect ourselves from hurtful thought or welcome that which is friendly, as the string of a violin responds only to another in- strument that is tuned in the same key. Psychic Science teaches a trans- fusion of Spiritual Energy as sur- gery teaches a transfusion of the blood. Our great problem is to harmonize [195 J PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. the ideal and the practical — to transmute the ideal into the prac- tical. We need never lower our ideals. We cannot yet begin to conceive the power and beauty of life and its unlimited possibilities to every human being. We need not mourn " shattered ideals " if we will only hold to spiritual standards in ourselves and others rather than the merely " per- sonal." Experience is a mirror that re- veals our interior conditions. We do not like to acknowledge the [196] FULFILMENT. picture when it does not show an agreeable likeness. When Sandow the strong man was magnetized he was given a 50-lb. dumb-bell and it was impressed upon his mind that he was to lift an enor- mous weight. He strained himself with painful effort to accomplish his thought. When afterwards he was given a dumb-bell of 200 pounds and impressed with the idea that it weighed only 50 pounds he raised the heavier burden easily with the same muscular system. There is probably no human being but can do a thousand times more [197] PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY. than he has ever yet attempted or endure a thousand times more suffer- ing and difficulty than he has ever undergone. But this can be accomplished only with a change of thought — of pur- pose — and of method. Let us no longer weight ourselves down and hold ourselves back with the thought of "burdens" — or the desire to rid ourselves of any of our experiences with the wish to arrive at a place of rest. The passing hour brings a special opportunity and privilege to every one of us. [198] FULFILMENT. When we have mastered it another will present itself. Life should be glad activity — robust and radiant. "This day before dawn I ascended a hill and looked at the crowded heaven and I said to my spirit : '"When we become the enfolders of these orbs and the pleasure and knowledge of everything in them, shall we be filled and satisfied then ? ' " And my spirit said : " ' No, we but level that lift to pass and continue beyond.' " [199] DISCOVERY or A LOST TRAIL By CHARLES B. NEWCOMB Author of "All's Right with the World" Price $1.50 Rev. R. Heber Newton: " The thought is clear and strong and sane. The style is epigrammatic to a very remarkable degree." Louise Chandler Moulton : " The book makes me think. It deals with the very problems which are most occupying my thoughts. I feel that it will help me in my pursuit of a solution." Charles Malloy: " The book is full of gems, and is worth a good deal if only for quotation. The author certainly knows what he is saying, and can say it well." Ella Wheeler Wilcox: " I bathed in its beautiful waters of truth, and was stirred by its strength and eloquence." Marie Corelli: " I have received with thanks and admiration the beauti- ful books ' Discovery of a Lost Trail ' and 'All's Right with the World.' I am one with the spirit of their thought and teachings, and strive faithfully to follow the truths which I know are true." Rev. Geo. L. Perin: " No matter where I dip into it I seem to find it full of the same joyful spirit." Hezekiah Butterworth : " It is a notable contribution to the age of new thought." Rev. Charles Gordon Ames: " The book makes me its debtor, partly because it pricks me with rebukes, partly because it broadens while it confirms my own outsights and insights, partly because it makes me aware of our common limitations." LOTHROP. LEE O SHEPARD CO.. BOSTON ALL'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD By CHARLES B. NEWCOMB Author of "Discovery of a Lost Trail" Price $1.50 Horatio W. Dresser: " It has the merit of quickening the reader's mind." Lilian Whiting: " I have seldom found anything so peculiarly helpful as your valuable and thoughtful book." Julian Hawtliorne: " It is a worthy and helpful book, and you may well be glad to have written it." Eila Wheeler Wilcox: " Your book is full of strength, stimulation, and balm." Edna Lyall: " It is a book I shall always value." Prof. John Fiske: " It is a suggestive and thoughtful book." Frances B. Willard: " The very title is an inspiration. I am looking it over with much solace of spirit." Julia Ward Howe: " It is a book which must, I think, have an especial office in these somewhat pessimistic times." Rev. Mjrron Reed: " There is ease and there is light in it. I will place it with my Emerson." J. T. Trowbridge: " I am sure the volume will be found healthful by that large and evergrowing class of readers who confute the assertion that this is a materialistic age." Prof. A. B. Dolbear: "I am reminded of Emerson on nearly every page." Henry Wood: " The human world, which is crowded with supposed ills on every plane, needs just such a practical and optimistic interpretation of life and destiny." LOTHROP, LEE Ci SHEPARD CO.. BOSTON HELPS TO RIGHT LIVING By KATHARINE H. NEWCOMB $1.25 'TpHIS book contains certain principles of the higher spiritual philosophy adapted to the uses of life, its purpose being to strengthen character and insure health through the development of the interior consciousness. Mrs. Newcomb is satisfied to state the law of spiritual development as she has learned it through individual experience rather than from the testimony of others. There is no effort to prove her affirmations of truth by the logic of the senses, or by authority beyond the recognition of a kindred thought uttered by philosopher and poet. Mary A. Livermore: It is vital with immortal truths whose helpfulness can never be outgrown. I shall keep the book on my study table to be taken up and read at odd moments when I need a stimulus or find myself flagging in obedience to duty. Ralph Waldo Trine: The simplicity and directness with which the truths it contains are set forth will aid much, I feel, in making it of great value to many readers. In addition to its bringing a certain peace and tranquillity into their lives it will also aid in pointing out to them the great fact that each can deter- mine and rule the world — his world — from within. New Christianity: No one seeking practical "helps to right living" can glance through the finely printed pages of this book without meeting a thought striking directly to some present need. LOTHROP, LEE G SHEPARD CO.. BOSTON A :tn% "" $^~^'^^^^^^^