The Text - Section 25
Quimby's Method of Treatment
BU E:42
[orig. untitled]
It may be somewhat strange to you to know something of the mode of curing
disease by a person who does not believe in any disease independent of the
mind. I am acquainted with a person who does not give any medicine at all, and
yet he is in the constant practice of curing persons afflicted with all diseases that
flesh is heir to.
He not only discards medicine but disease also, contends that all disease is in
the mind, and that the cure of disease is governed by a principle as much as
mathematics, and can be learned and taught. His ideas are new, not like any
person's I ever heard or read of, and yet when understood by the sick they are as
plain and evident as any truth that can come within a person's senses. His ideas
are compared to that which troubles the sick, not to persons well; for those who
are well need no physicians. He is not a spiritualist as is commonly understood,
believing that he receives his power from departed spirits. But he believes the
power is general and can be learned if persons would only consent to be taught.
He has no mystery more than in learning music or any science which requires
study and practice. It cannot be learned in a day nor in a month, yet nevertheless
it can be learned. He has spent sixteen years learning and yet he has just begun.
I will here state what has come within my observation. A friend of mine by the
name of Robinson, of North Vassalboro, had been sick and confined to his house
for four years, and nearly the whole time confined to his bed, not being able to sit
up more than fifteen minutes during the day. Hearing of Mr. Quimby, for this is
his name, he sent for him to visit him. He arrived at Mr. R's in the evening and sat
down and commenced explaining to Mr. R his feelings, telling him his symptoms
nearer than Mr. R could tell them himself, and also telling him the peculiar state
of his mind and how his mind acted upon his body. His explanation was entirely
new to Mr. R. and it required some argument to satisfy Mr. R that he had no
disease; for he had been doctored for almost all diseases.
His eyes were so swollen that it was impossible for him to see. His head had
been blistered all over, and large black spots came out all over his body.
Therefore to become a convert to his theory was more than Mr. R could do. But
Q told him he stood ready to explain all he said, and not only that but to prove it
to his satisfaction; for, said he, the proof is the cure, and R was not bound to
believe any faster than he could make him understand, and the cure is in the
understanding.
So Mr. Quimby commenced taking up his feelings, one by one, like a lawyer
examining witnesses, analyzing them and showing him that he had put a false
construction on all his feelings, showing him that a different explanation would
have produced a different result.
In this way Quimby went on explaining and taking up almost every idea he ever
had, and putting a different construction till R thought he did not know anything.
"Mr. Q's explanation," said R, "was so plain that it was impossible not to
understand it. Not one of his ideas was like any that I ever heard before from any
physician; yet so completely did he change me that I felt like a man who had
been confined in a prison for life, and without the least knowledge of what was
going on out of the prison, received a pardon and was set at liberty. At about ten
o'clock I went to bed, had a good night's rest, and in the morning was up before
Q and felt as well as ever. Q and I went to Waterville the next day. I had no
desire to take to my bed and have felt well ever since." This is R's own story.
I was well acquainted with Mr. R and know this story to be true. This is the case
with a great many others where I was not acquainted with the parties, and I was
induced to go to Belfast to see if he (Quimby) could talk me out of my senses, for
I thought I had a disease. At least it seemed so to me, for I had had for the last
ten years a disease which showed itself in almost every joint in my limbs. My
hands were drawn all out of shape. My neck was almost still. My legs were drawn
up, my joints swollen and so painful it was impossible to move them without
almost taking my life. I could not take one step nor get up without help. It would
be impossible to give any account of my suffering.
When I arrived at Belfast I sent for Mr. Quimby. He came, and after telling me
some of my feelings, said, "I suppose it would be pretty hard to convince you that
you had no disease independent of your mind." I replied I had heard that he
contended all disease was in the mind, and if he could convince me that the
swelling and contraction of the limbs and the pain I suffered was in my mind, I
would be prepared to believe anything.
He then commenced by asking me to move my legs. I replied that I could not
move them. "Why not?" he said. Because I have no power to move them. He
said it was not for the want of physical strength, it was for the want of knowledge.
I said I knew how to move them but I had not strength. As he wished me to try, I
made an effort, but without the slightest effect. He said I acted against myself.
He then went on to explain to me where I even thought wrong, and showed me
by explaining till I could see how I was acting against myself. In the course of a
short time I could move my legs more than I had for three years. He continued to
visit me and I am gaining as fast as a person can. I have been under his
treatment for two weeks, and I can get up and sit down very easily. I can see now
that my cure depends on my knowledge. Sometimes he asks me if I want some
liniment to rub on my cords or muscles. I can now see the absurdity of using any
application to relax the muscles or to strengthen them. The strength is in the
knowledge. This is something that he has the power to impart. But how it is done
is impossible to understand. Yet I know the knowledge he imparts to me is
strength, and just as I understand so is my cure.
The Quimby System
LC 17:43
[orig. untitled]
The Quimby system is applying a new mode of reasoning to an old mode of
reasoning, by which the former corrects the errors of the latter and shows how
the old philosophy has brought about the evils that man suffers, called disease.
His philosophy shows that matter, of which the body is formed, is created by the
wisdom that controls it, and this wisdom is governed by two principles, right and
wrong or light and darkness. The light is Christ and the darkness Jesus, or
human and divine. All error is human and is governed by human laws. All wisdom
is divine or science is wisdom and not human. He shows how humans create
their troubles or disturbances and how the human is governed by human laws or
beliefs, which is one and the same. So he says, to know one's self is to know that
man, like Jesus, has two natures: one human and the other divine. Then he is
subject to the one that lives, that is his body, for the body is the medium of both.
So to know how to correct an error is to know how to make it.
There has never been a philosophy reduced to a science to cure disease. Men
have philosophized about diseases but never has their philosophy been put to
the test intelligently. Now he professes to show how man makes his disease, as
it is called. Man has never got to the point of progression to admit he is a creative
being and until he is educated up to this point he cannot see that he is his own
creator. He thinks he is made and fashioned by some power independent of his
existence, but this is an error. Man makes himself and is responsible to himself
and no one else. Therefore, anything he may do can't change the divine; so the
human may create and destroy but the divine is not changed. Now to make the
human subject to the divine is to make man know himself.
Religion Analyzed
BU 1:8, LC 5:128
PART 1
The difference between a truth based on an opinion and on wisdom is this.
Wisdom backs itself up by science; opinion gives no proof but someone's
opinion. Here is the difference. Man who is under the wisdom of opinion has no
idea on what his opinions are based. All controversy springs from this error. It is
the basis of all our knowledge. Strip man of this and you leave him a mere
skeleton. All that men talk about is what they know nothing of, only that someone
said so. Look at religion. How often we hear this remark. It is a good thing to
have religion or such a man has religion; I would not give much for such a one's
religion, etc. Everyone hears this kind of talk and yet they never think to analyze
it or see if there is any science to prove it. No, that won't do; you must believe in
religion as though it was something that had an existence independent of man
and he must get it.
Let us see what man gets when he gets religion, for I will admit that he gets
something. It cannot be wisdom, for they say they are willing to be called a fool
for religion's sake. So it must be something to get which they are willing to
sacrifice all the pleasures of the world and become a mean despised being,
laughed at, spit upon, and hated. Now what is it? If you ask one that has it, they
will tell you, You must pray for it; that God will answer your prayers and if you will
comply with certain laws and regulations, break off from your sins and turn to
God, then perhaps you will get it. I will take a sinner or one who wants to get
religion and show you what he gets and how he gets it. You never heard of a
man getting religion who never heard of Christ or the Bible; so religion began at
the commencement of the Christian era.
It seems there was a man called Jesus who the people believed was God, at
least some of them did and some denied it. Like all other phenomena, the people
wanted proof that he was God. So, of course, in all phenomena that appear
which are the invention of man, not of science, opinions spring up. Everyone will
admit that Jesus was a man of flesh and blood. To be a Christian was to believe
he was God. For if men should not believe so, they should die in their sins and
where he went they should never come. So to go to heaven or where Jesus went
was to believe that he was God and then you should be saved. Therefore, a
belief was necessary to get to heaven. At that time, heaven was a place separate
and apart from earth and man's salvation depended on his religion to insure him
a passage to it. Religion, when you get it, is just what you get from any belief that
man invents. At that time, it was a cross to admit such a number of absurdities as
was required of a person to believe, and it was not strange that they should be
called fools. Are not the Mormons and the Millerites called fools? Yet their belief
is not half as absurd as that of the people eighteen-hundred years ago. Now
there never was and never can be a belief that is perfect; it must admit a doubt.
Science holds no doubt. It is that wisdom that proves all things and holds fast
that which is good.
Paul shows the difference between true and false religion. He says if a man
thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing as he ought to because it embraces
a thought or doubt; but if he knows science, that wisdom is known to him. The
above religion is nothing but an opinion. I can take three out of ten and make
them believe in just such a religion as I please and they shall meet with a change
of heart, talked of by the religious or superstitious world.
Right and Wrong
BU 50:24
PART 1
Do the words right and wrong convey to man any true standard of justice? Are
not those words arbitrary and do they not convey to the world the idea that man
is to take some person's opinions in regard to the meaning? The words were
never intended to apply to the leaders of any party or sect. It must be admitted
that they are right and what they say of right and wrong does not apply to them
but to the masses.
Now let us see if it is not so. Take the Bible as a test. We are told that this book
defines the words right and wrong. Now the Bible does not define anything, but
certain men set themselves up as the standard of right and wrong to judge
others, but they do not come within that sphere. In political parties, each party
leader explains what is right and what is wrong for the masses to believe. So with
the medical faculty. The leaders are never reckoned into the progression, only
the masses. Now the idea is so absurd, although the masses do not know why it
is so, it causes controversy, and up spring parties and every party or sect has its
leaders, and every leader has less right and wrong for his followers.
This false way of reasoning can never cure the evil. Enlighten the masses and let
them see, that the answers right and wrong are not to apply to the leaders but to
themselves. Then they will see that one man has no more right to set up a
standard of right and compel others to bow down to it than another man has to
set up a standard for him. Now I set up no standard, neither will I bow to any
person's standard of right, for the man that made the word made it to judge
others and not to be applied to himself.
Here is where I stand. All men will admit that animals protect themselves by their
strength or with some weapons that are given them and they use it and are all
selfish. Now man at first came very near the character of the animal, and he has
got a great deal of the animal about him at this day. Ask a man if he believes
slavery is right and he will say, Yes, and another will say, No. Now I will suppose
that both are honest and both appeal to the Bible. Now I say one is just as right
as the other according to the definition of the words right and wrong. Now is there
some way to get rid of the evil that separates them, for if you can make them
both agree as touching one point the thing is settled. So let the word right go, and
ask them if they would be willing to submit to the slaves to rule them if they
should get the power; let them put it to their own selves and if they say they
would, then they are honest but not intelligent. For every person knows that
whoever is not willing to do another as he would be done by, is not honest.
Now if to be honest is right and dishonest is wrong, then reason out what is
honest, and what is right. Now every man has his own identity which God gave
him and to enslave him because you have the power is doing what you would
find fault with if applied to you.
But if man is enslaved for the good of the community to protect the masses, as
you would chain a wild beast, that would be honest and good. But to admit that
you are not afraid of them and then enslave them for your own good, is not
honest, and is bad. So to enslave man's opinion in regard to creeds or diseases
is as bad as approving slavery.
The Science of Man
BU 106:21, LC 9:296
The greatest good that can be bestowed upon man is a knowledge of himself.
This puts man in possession of a wisdom superior to circumstances. Man,
without this wisdom, is a creature of circumstances, tossed about by every man's
opinion. Religion is what flows from our belief and the misery is its torment;
happiness is what follows our knowledge of God or truth. To illustrate the idea, I
will suppose a case. Jesus took water as an illustration of this great truth or God;
so I will take the same and show how our religion works, for true religion works
by love or wisdom and purifies the heart of man. False religion is like a canker
worm or poison that poisons the whole fountain.
Now suppose you are drinking out of the living waters of life. You drink and are
satisfied and the satisfaction is your religion. The happiness is the fruits of it.
Being ignorant of the goodness of the water or God, you worship it ignorantly. So
where ignorance is bliss, it would be folly to get into an error. But man is a
creature of progression. He is a sort of chemical change. So as he begins to
reason, he gets into error and then he becomes the child of error. So in his error
he calls for water to quench his thirst; but someone that pretends to knowledge
tells him to beware of the water, for there is a slow poison in it. Now talking about
what he knows nothing, he condenses his error into a belief that the water
contains slow poison. Now he drinks with fear. The belief is his religion, his
feeling is his misery, his pains are his torment. So to save him from hell or pain is
to destroy the poison or belief. This is what I do. For I have no belief that God
ever injures anyone, and my knowledge of him keeps me from the torment of a
belief.
Science or Love
BU 67:5, LC 7:120
[orig. untitled]
We all have an influence over each other, and if we know how to direct it, the
effect will be just what we want. But if we are guided by a belief, the effect will be
just what we do not want when our belief is governed by fear, for our fear affects
a person instead of our belief. For instance, a person wishes to influence a
friend. If he is afraid that he will not have the influence he wishes, his fear and
not his desire will affect his friend. Therefore, it is necessary that man should
know himself, for every person is a machine governed by the owner or some one
else. When controlled by wisdom, it cannot go wrong, for error is not wise, while
wisdom is an element of itself. And if our senses are in that, all is right, but if they
are in error, discord and misery follow.
To make it understood how we all stand towards each other, I will again compare
this wisdom which is an element in common to music. Every person possessing it
enjoys the pleasure that flows from a knowledge of it. This represents perfect
love, out of matter; it is harmony without any other character. It is something
outside of every other feeling, having its whole happiness in the development of
mind; therefore it acts upon man, but ignorance takes it for passion. Thus
misconstrued and unappreciated, it becomes timid. Here is where a great
mistake is made. The man that is a little above the brute knows no love superior
or separate from the brute, while there is a love that does not contain a particle of
the animal, the love of the beautiful and wise. This is not appreciated by man,
and when it comes to him to lead him to a higher state, it is met by the brutal
element and a belief formed that it is passion. This cold reception causes a
discord and chills the element that flows from the purest fountain. The mistake
lies in the false idea of love.
Man being progressive is not always to remain a brute; his reason must elevate
him from the brutal element and lead him to see and feel that the purest love that
one can have for another contains no passion nor any of the brutal element. But
man began to reason before he came out from the brute and judged the world by
his own standard. Therefore, to the impure, nothing is pure. But those who have
passed from the error of matter to that of love on which everything lives can see
how it may be misrepresented. The love of parents contains nothing spurious or
animal, but let the parent and child ,be deceived into a belief that they are
strangers and then their love Is changed. Again let one know of his relation to the
other and he, in his wisdom, discards the error of belief, while the other is still
under his brutal belief. Where then is the brutal element? In the love for in the
belief? I answer, In the belief. Let all persons know this and they will understand
themselves and, knowing the animal element in the male and female, will know
their position and safety; then they will subdue the animal element and lead man
into a higher wisdom.
I say it without fear that religious creeds are based upon this low order of animal
intelligence, but as the brutal element is pure, the effect of the belief depends on
the intelligence of the person in whom the animal prevails over science. The
reformation of Jesus was intended to separate man from the brutal element that
he might rise into that state where ignorance would not enter. This wisdom then
will be a light to lead man out of the dark and give him power over all unclean
ideas, and he will become a teacher to those in darkness in whom the light will
spring up. This is the light that Paul saw when f the scale fell from his eyes.
When wisdom becomes common, every one will use it to draw his friend out of
this world into science. It may be asked if this will not break family ties and
destory marriage contracts? Not at all, for these contracts will be carried into
eternal wisdom. Whereas they are now made till death, they will then be made
for eternity. But says one, If I have got to live with my husband or my wife to all
eternity, I shall not believe this doctrine. Let 'me explain. No two persons are
together unless they are agreed; therefore man and wife are not necessarily
together, but most frequently are separate and trying to come together, for as I
have said when two persons agree on one thing, they are together.
The difficulty in cases where persons think they are not matched lies in the
mutual misunderstanding of the parties. One wants to lead or instruct the other,
or the one most advanced in wisdom wants the other to share his happiness,
while the other knows no happiness outside of this world and cannot see beyond
matter. Therefore this party wishes to control the higher. The higher being
capable of receiving the lower reason, it becomes deceived by opinions. And
under this error it mingles with the lower element and both sink below their level
and misery is the result. But cultivate the scientific life, and the lower will become
subject to the higher. When two individuals set out on the road to wisdom, they
will develop each other and their happiness will be one. Then labor will be not
greater than to gather gold without much toil, for this science opens such a field
to the traveler that he cares not to eat or sleep but finds his happiness in
investigating the regions that lay open before him. He who enters this country
must have a partner, for the whole interest lies in overcoming opposition and
developing each other. To be alone in wisdom is like being alone on an island
with no prospect of collecting jewels. That which gives me the most satisfaction is
to develop a mind capable of development. It is like learning music; there is an
interest that gives the operator the greatest happiness. This science is
inexhaustible and the more you have the more you want and you will find this
continually exciting you.
The Senses
BU 27:21, LC 9:96
What are man's senses? The common opinion is that man has five senses and
these are so well defined that it won't be necessary for me to mention them.
According to my theory of this truth, the senses are only a representative of what
man and beast are. When reason enters the child, it is not supposed that he has
more sense. Now if senses are not what is called knowledge, then knowledge
can exist without senses. I make the senses our knowledge, so when our
knowledge is gone our senses are gone for knowledge is what can be destroyed,
but wisdom is what will stand; so the changing of our knowledge is the losing of
our life or senses, but the finding of wisdom is an eternal truth. Then instead of
having senses we are wiser and better. This makes man different from the brute
creation. The brutes have senses and a knowledge, but they have shown no
proof that their knowledge has ever led them to show wisdom over their
predecessor.
Spiritual Communion Between the Living
BU 17:16
[orig. SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE LIVING]
If the fact can be established that a person may know another's thoughts without
that other being aware of it, then you have a starting point to reason from. Then it
will be seen that man is double or has two identities, one seen by the natural eye,
and the other seen by the intelligence which is not confined to any sense or
organ. I call the last the spiritual or scientific man. The difficulty of establishing
the fact of a personal identity outside and apart from the natural man lies in the
fact that error sees no science in anything, for when error sees science, it is not
error. So when the spiritual man knows himself, he is not the same man as
before but another. This makes him one real man and another in remembrance.
And when the child grows to manhood, the man sees himself as a child in
remembrance but attaches his life to it. So it is with man's existence.
Man's life is eternal and is a part of God or wisdom but cannot be seen by the
eye of man, for that sees the medium and only the medium. We call the medium
ourselves, yet there is no more wisdom in ourselves as a medium than there is in
a galvanic battery or any other material. Yet destroy the medium and you destroy
all communication with each other as far as the natural man's intelligence goes.
To illustrate. Suppose two blind mutes are sitting in the same room. The natural
man would reason that their distance from each other was just as far as their
bodies were apart, not having any idea of a sympathy that is mingling, because
ignorance is the sight and the eyes are the medium of his wisdom. But the
scientific man sees that although these two blind mutes are like two stumps to
the natural man, yet there emanates from each an atmosphere which mingles
together and of which the natural man knows not, and all it wants is a medium to
communicate it to each other. Here is where man stands towards himself. The
natural man, or skeptic, is the man who has never been developed at all. So he
thinks he knows himself as he appears. He is as certain of what he cannot see
as of what he can see, for his opinion is as true as sight, and whatever he
believes, no matter how absurd, to him it is true. He denies everything that he
cannot see, and when he sees it, he never investigates but gives his opinion, and
to him, his opinion is true. In such a man there is the seed or child of wisdom
confined in the prison of this earthly man, struggling like all other science to be
delivered from this body of error. From the prison of such an error I have been
laboring for twently years to free myself, and the discoveries I have made I will
give to those who are within the sound of my spiritual voice and can see with
spiritual eyes through the clouds that there exists something besides his opinion
or belief. I will write in the form of a dialogue that it may be seen how far I am
from the world and what I know.
You may call yourself A, and I will call myself B. (B) Will you admit that we can
communicate our thoughts to each other by language? (A) Yes. (B) Will you
admit that I can think of Boston without your knowing it? (A) Yes. (B) Will you
admit that I can communicate the fact to you by language? (A) Yes. (B) Then we
have established the fact that we can think independent of each other? (A) Yes, I
admit that. (B) You also admit that we can by language convey our thoughts by
language to each other. (A) Yes. (B) Will you admit that you know what I am
thinking of without language? (A) No. Do you? (B) That depends on
circumstances. (A) What kind of circumstances? (B) I will tell you. Sensation is
not ideas but is merely a shock, like that of a galvanic battery, and rouses the
person, but there is no language in that. (A) I can't understand. (B) I will try to
illustrate what I mean. Suppose I had never seen nor heard of a steamboat and
you had seen one. You could think of one, could you not? (A) Yes. (B) Could I?
(A) I suppose not. (B) Could not your thoughts affect me? (A) That is what I want
you to prove. (B) I will do so. You know you had a pain in one of your knees. (A)
Yes. (B) Did I not tell you of it? (A) Yes. (B) Do you doubt that I told you the
truth? (A) No. (B) Then you must affect me without language? (A) Yes, for I never
told you. (B) Yes you did, or I never should have known that it came from you.
(A) What way did I tell you? (B) Precisely as though you spoke it. (A) I do not
understand. (B) I know you do not, and I will try to make it clearer. Sensation is
not intelligence to a person till it is associated with some medium. For instance, I
never saw or heard of the steamboat, so of course I could not make one in my
mind and if I did, I should not know for I have no language to express it. But you
have seen one and have language to explain. Your language excites my mind
and you create the boat and attach my senses to a steamboat. So when you
speak of one again, you convey to me the language. (A) You do not make it
plain. (B) You know I told you that you had a pain in your knee. (A) Yes, you said
so. (B) You deny this? (A) No, but I don't exactly understand how you know it. (B)
I thought so. (A) Won't you make it clearer? (B) I will try. If you had been alone
you would have had the pain, you don't doubt that. Then I did not make the pain.
(A) I do not know that I gave you the pain. (B) Suppose you had no pain. Could I
have felt it? (A) No, but that doesn't satisfy me that you might not have a pain in
your knee. (B) Well, what will satisfy you? (A) You see Mr. G. coming along. If
you will tell him how he feels without his saying anything to you, then I will
believe. (B) Well, call him in and I will try.
Mr. G. enters and says, I am sick and want you to tell me how I feel. I sit down
and tell him how he feels and what he thinks and even tell him what he has been
doing, etc., and Mr. G. acknowledges that I have told his feelings better than he
could. Then A says, I will admit that you can tell a person's feelings, without their
telling you. (B) Will you tell me how much you really understand? (A) I
understand that you can tell the feelings of another. (B) How do you know? (A)
Because I know that you told me my feelings. (B) Could you not be deceived? (A)
Not in what you told me. But you might have guessed and if you did you are good
at guessing. (B) Then the real fact of my telling your feelings is a belief in what I
said? (A) Yes. (B) Could you have any stronger proof? (A) I don't know as I
could, but more proof would strengthen my belief. (B) Have you any positive
proof that might not be changed? (A) No, for it may be all guesswork and
deception. (B) What would be positive proof? (A) I do not know. I have seen
enough and if I have been deceived, I should be deceived all the more. (B) That
is so. I can tell you that if you knew one thing then you would have the proof. (A)
What is that? (B) If you knew you could tell my feelings, then you would have the
proof in yourself. (A) Yes. (B) You will now admit that I tell you feelings? (A) Yes,
but I cannot see how you do it. (B) Then your wisdom is based on what I say. (A)
Yes, for I have no better proof than your opinion. (B) Then to you my opinion is
knowledge, but to me it is wisdom and here is the difference between knowledge
and wisdom: knowledge is based on a belief in what we do not know without a
doubt, and wisdom is the science of the thing we speak of. So I think now I have
shown the difference between yourself and me. (A) Yes, I think I can see that
what you know is wisdom and what I think I know is an opinion, so that my
knowledge contained no wisdom. (B) I want you to go with me to the Spirit-
rapping mediums to convince you that all the knowledge comes from man's
wisdom. (A) I do not believe in the spirits at all. (B) Why not? Do you believe it all
a humbug? (A) Yes. (B) Don't you believe that there is another world beyond
this? (A) I do not want to discuss that question now. Wait till another time. Finis.
They agree to go to see the spirits tomorrow.
Spiritualism II
BU 91:1
[orig. untitled]
There is much excitement on the subject of spiritualism, and those who have
undertaken to write against it do not seem to throw any light upon the subject but
rather fan the flame by calling it a humbug and a deception. Now to call it a
humbug is to call all those deceivers who, from honest opinion, are bound to
believe certain facts which come within their own senses. And if persons must
give up their opinions from facts which come within their own knowledge to
persons who cannot give any reason, only that it happens to be contrary to their
own opinion, then man is not a free agent but must have someone to tell him
when or what to believe. This setting up a standard for others to fall and bow
down to, I, for one, cannot do it. The Bible says, Try the spirits and see if they are
right, if so embrace them, if false discard them, but treat your opponent like a
human being, who you think is in the wrong.
I am very far from believing that it has anything to do with the dead, but I think
that a large proportion of its converts are honest but are misled for the want of
some better proof. To explain to them the truth that they have witnessed, if this
can be done in such a way as to come within their senses, they are bound to
believe it, but if it cannot, the fault is not in them; it is in the person who
undertook to lead them.
Now if my explanation does not convince those who may chance to read it, the
fault is in me and not in them, for I believe if any person knows a fact, he can
make it understood if he has the patience to reason with his opponent. But we
often give our opinions and think others must believe them, whether they are
right or wrong. This is asking more of others than we are willing to give
ourselves.
I ask no more of my opponents than they may ask of me. I have been
investigating the subject of the mind for the last sixteen years and, after careful
investigation, have come to the following conclusion which I shall give as follows.
We are all acted upon by early impressions which prevent us from investigating
subjects of this kind without being biased by those early impressions. A large
majority of mankind are taught to believe in a superior being and also in some
religious creed. These creeds all teach the locality of two places: heaven and
hell. It is true that some believe the locality of the latter to exist in the heart, or
mind of man, yet the fruits of the latter belief is left unexplained; if the idea ever
was believed in the locality of a hell and the wicked were doomed to that, then it
would not be strange for persons to believe in evil spirits. This same is true of the
former place; therefore good and bad spirits are believed to have an identity in
this world.
Now with such a belief it is not strange that any development of the mind should
disturb mankind. This belief was what Christ had to contend with; it was not his
belief, but it was the common belief of the people of his day and he condemned it
in all his sayings and doings. These ideas were believed by the Jews and other
nations, only differing in some little variation.
Most all believed in a resurrection of the dead, but it was at the end of the world.
This idea Christ opposed by correcting Martha when she said to him, "If thou
hadst been here our brother would not have died." Christ answered her by
saying, Thy brother shall rise again. She replied that she knew he would rise
again at the last day, at the resurrection, showing that she believed in a
resurrection at the end of the world. But did Christ sanction this belief? No, he
said, I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in me shall never die.
Now where did Christ's belief differ from the rest of the people? In this: He knew
what the people's belief was concerning a resurrection; they believed that the
dead would rise again; he knew that there was no such state as death, but man
continues along and is just what he makes himself. Now here was a difference of
opinion. Their opinion embraced all of the errors of the Egyptian darkness. It
embraced a belief in a located heaven and hell; it also embraced a devil and evil
spirits which were let loose in the world to torment man. It also embraced the
belief in disease and all its bad effects; besides these exist hundreds of other
beliefs which affect the people.
This was the state of the world when Christ commenced his reform, and this was
what he had to contend with. These beliefs were called yokes and the priests and
rulers would not lift their finger to lighten their burdens. Therefore Christ said to
the people, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give
you rest; take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden light.
Now what was Christ's yoke? It was his belief and the burden was truth and truth
condemned all these errors; therefore to take his yoke upon them, the burden
would be in proportion to the yoke. Therefore if they believed in Christ, they
would throw off the Egyptian yoke or burden and all. Now the burden borne by
the yoke or belief was their opinions in regard to a located heaven or hell. This
belief Christ opposed and tried to convince the people that these places were
states of the mind and that there was no such a being as a devil, independent of
the person affected.
Take mankind as they are, believing some in good, some in bad spirits and some
in none at all and it is not strange that any excitement produced by the
development of the mind should disturb mankind. If the people would settle down
on some belief on which they could agree, in a short time they would not be
tossed about by every wind of doctrine; but I shall take the world as it is and
show that all of these developments are the effect of the mind and have nothing
to do with the dead. I will admit all that is claimed by the spiritualists but must
differ with them in their explanation of the facts. Where does the idea arise that it
is the spirits of the dead, from what is said while in this trance? The medium
when aroused from the trance remembers nothing of what he has been saying.
When asked by someone of the company if he was conscious of what he had
been doing, his answer is No. The company are then left to argue the subject
and then adopt a belief.
This arouses all their prejudices in regard to spirits of the dead and at last leave
the scene just about as their former beliefs were. This is the same in regard to
mesmeric experiments. The medium's belief is founded on his friend's opinion
and his friend's opinion is founded on what he said in an unconscious state. This
state is produced in various ways. The oracle of Delphi is an example. The
shepherds while watching their sheep discovered that they would go to a certain
place and hold their heads over a chasm in a rock from whence issued forth a
sort of vapor, this would make them spring, jump and cut all manner of capers.
This fact was made known to the priests, who took advantage of it and erected a
house over the chasm and also placed a stool perforated with holes over the
chasm on which the medium was placed. The vapor would rise and the medium
would be convulsed and at last fall into an unconscious state and then foretell
future events. This was believed by the people to come from the spiritual world.
All persons know that there are certain people affected by religious excitement
and will go into a trance, but very few believe that they get any knowledge from
the spiritual world.
Therefore it is no proof because some persons can go into that state themselves,
nor is it the result of some spirit. See how many ways a trance can be produced
by mesmerism. I can produce it in a great many ways by taking the patient by the
hand and also by giving them a piece of money or some other substance and
also by sending them a handkerchief or glove. I have produced it on a patient at
a distance without their knowing anything of my design of affecting them. I have
for the last ten years produced a state of mind in a person who to all
appearances appeared to be wide awake. It does not follow that persons in a
mesmeric state must have their eyes closed. Some have their eyes open, some
hear, others do not. Some cannot say a word while others can talk. Some can
throw themselves into a trance, others cannot. You can teach nearly all to, if you
please. Therefore the getting into this trance is no proof of its being brought on
by the spirits of the dead. Then where is the difference? I am at a loss to say
where they differ, only in the opinion of the people. I will now compare some of
my experiments with those claimed by the spiritualists.
I profess to be a medium myself and am admitted to be so by the spiritualists
themselves; therefore before I give my explanation, I will relate one little
circumstance to show what confidence they have in their early impressions when
they are not aware of the fact.
I was talking with a friend one day upon the subject of spiritualism. He was a
strong believer in the doctrine. We differed in regard to the explanation of the
phenomenon. He contended it was from the dead; I, that it was confined to the
living. At last I said, Will you admit that I am a medium? He said, "Yes!" And a
seeing medium? "Yes." Well, can you see the spirits, said I? "No," said he. Then
you admit I can see the spirits and talk with them and you cannot. "I do," said he.
Then said I, "I tell you they don't come from the dead." "Oh, you are mistaken,"
said he. Therefore, you see he denied what he had admitted, but this I laid to his
early impressions, and reasoning from false basis, his conclusions must be false.
You cannot reason with persons from the fact that the whole of their theory is
founded on some idea that never had an existence, only in the mind. Destroy the
idea of the spirits of the dead and you destroy their theory. Where is the proof of
the spirits of the dead? I find none but can bring sufficient proof that the spirits of
the living are with us.
I will now explain what I mean by the spirits of the living. The animal spirit is living
matter, acted upon by another power which does not depend on an identity for its
existence, which cannot be seen even by spiritual eyes but is admitted. This
power I shall not undertake to explain, but in all I say, I acknowledge its
existence.
Now as man is animal matter, for some wise purpose he is left to develop
himself. Like everything else, matter cannot develop itself unless there is some
chemical action. So it is with man. Man when excited develops some new
principle which could never have been brought about in any other way.
Jesus was a medium, and through him, that is his natural body, some laws were
developed to man that never had been before. Franklin and Napoleon were
mediums, far above the errors of the age. So it is with all others who show some
knowledge superior to the errors of their own time.
The development of man is to correct some error that exists in the natural man,
for if he did not develop himself, he would be but little above the brute, but the
undeveloped man is full of error, superstition and ignorance. Now to develop
oneself is to unlearn that which superstition and ignorance have bequeathed to
him. Now as this is spurring man forward to develop himself for some wise
purpose, the ignorant oppose it like all other science, calling it by various names.
Some oppose it as the works of the devil, others as proving their old theory of
spirits, etc. Each of these classes only act as a clog to prevent investigation.
I will now try to explain where the error lies. Those mediums who undertake to
explain lose their own consciousness, so how can they then be responsible for
what they say while in this state? Their opinions are founded on the opinions of
others. As for myself I have no opinion. What I see I know; if I cannot believe my
own senses I cannot believe others. One great fault in mankind is this. There are
certain ideas admitted to be true which exist only in the mind, among them the
idea of a located Hell. Now to admit the idea independent of man's mind is to
admit its inhabitants. Admit this and I see no reason for opposing anything they
can bring forward. Their foundation and arguments are good, but I for one cannot
see their reason. I admit the fact and will show that they can be brought about by
the living.
When I first commenced mesmerizing, I often saw experiments that I was not
able to account for in any other way than to believe it came from the dead; but
since I have become a medium I have changed my opinion. I can see where I
was deceived by my early education. I was not aware that man had this power to
create ideas so that they could be seen by another. I had no idea of what was
called imagination, but I found that the word imagination could not cause all the
phenomena. Therefore I was left to find some other way to account for all I would
see and on investigation I found that ideas were something.
The next thing then was to find out what they were. This I did, and found that
ideas when condensed into a form contained a portion of our own natural body. It
is the heat that arises from the fluids of the body under a nervous excitement. For
instance, a lady came to see me who was sick. She appeared like a person who
had the dropsy. I took her by the hand. Her mind then left the body (as it
appeared to me) and I followed it, although it seemed as though I was in two
places at the same time, for I was still sitting in my office and at the same time I
could see a scene which I will now describe. I seemed to follow her some
distance over the water, the wind blew a gale, the water seemed very much
disturbed, the sun looked as though it was near I I o'clock A.M. At last I saw a
brig under full sail; my attention was then fixed on that. I saw a man on the
bowsprit dressed in an oil cloth suit; at last he fell overboard, the vessel hove to,
but the man sunk. This seemed as plain to me as though I had seen it with my
natural eyes. I have asked spiritualists to explain this. They all say it is the spirits
of the dead. My explanation is this: The lady lost her husband five years before.
He was in a brig off the Bahamas and lost as I described. On hearing of the
death of her husband, it produced a nervous shock, producing a chemical action
upon her system, which threw off this heat and in this heat, as vapor, she created
the cause of her trouble. This was to her the remembrance of some trouble which
she could not be reconciled to. This heat is the secret of all the phenomenon that
has heretofore been a mystery to mankind. It shows itself in a thousand ways. It
is the foundation of all superstition and ignorance. Out of this men form images
that frighten them. Persons in fevers create all the scenes that trouble them. It is
the material used to create all the ideas and forms of all our false ideas. This is
taken for the spirits of the dead. This the spiritualists jump over.
I shall give some examples of various kinds to show that the mind can produce
almost any phenomena that can be imagined. I will here show how disease is
created. Take for instance the heart disese. I take this because there are a great
many who think that they are laboring under this disease and as I am a skeptic in
regard to disease independent of the mind, I will show how this heat is used to
bring about this disease.
Ignorance as well as truth has its identity and when an idea is admitted, whether
true or false, it will have its effects upon mankind. Now the idea of disease,
independent of the mind, is like the idea of hell believed by almost every person;
therefore admit disease independent of the mind and you keep man in ignorance
of himself, all his life subject to bondage. Now disease like evil spirits is admitted.
Therefore the priests warn the people to have nothing to do with the devil and the
doctors endeavor to keep the people clear of disease.
Christ denounced both as error and proved it by his works. He showed that evil
spirits and disease were one and the same and that both existed in ourselves, for
when he cast out devils, he cast out disease also and when he cast out disease,
he cast out error.
It may be asked, "Where is disease?" In the mind. I will show how it is in the
mind. I spoke of disease of the heart, that idea is admitted and all the symptoms
accompanying it. The fluids of the body are excited, and the mind creates an
identity corresponding to its feelings and differing from its healthy body. In this
respect it sees itself, that is its spirit with its heart disease, just as it thinks it is.
This to itself is as real as any idea can be; this keeps up a constant excitement till
the natural body becomes changed, so as to be called disease. Now destroy the
idea of disease independent of the mind and evil spirits also, and it will teach
man to look within himself for the evil that troubles him instead of any other
source. The ideas are both founded on error and cause nine-tenths of the misery
of the human family. It is the stepping stone to insanity, for man deceives himself
into a belief that evil spirits are around him, talking to him, spurring him on to
commit some evil deed which he would not do if he properly understood where
the author of these thoughts reside. I shall now give some illustrations to show
how people deceive themselves.
I was called to see a lady who had become insane by this false idea of spirits of
the dead. The lady had been with friends and as usual the subject of spiritualism
came up and as there was a medium in the room, she was requested to try some
experiments. After various experiments were tried, the spirits wrote that Mrs. C
was a writing medium. It is a trick of the trade. It has this effect on the person
whom the spirits select; it makes them nervous and brings their nervous system
into a state to be affected by their own thought. This is the same in mesmerism. I
always found that if my subject pretended that anyone could be mesmerized I
could most always produce the sleep. It is a tendency to excite and as persons
are more or less disturbed by their early impressions, they cannot help being
affected. This was the case with the lady in question. She had lost her husband
some twelve months before. This would naturally excite her and when she
returned home, she thought she would try the experiment. Her father and mother
were present. She sat down by the table and took her pen in hand and waited the
movement of the spirits. In a short time the hand began to shake. This of course
would excite her and she ventured to ask if there were any spirits present?
Answer, "Yes." She asked if it was various persons? Answer, "No." At last she
asked if it was her husband? Answer, "Yes." Are you happy? "No!" By this time
she became much excited, more questions were asked, but no answers were
received but, "Yes" and "No." At last she asked when will you be happy? When
God takes you to heaven. "When will that be?" "Soon."
The father then interfered and broke up the sitting. The lady went to her room
and retired. This was about nine o'clock. About ten she got up, came downstairs,
asked her mother where the matches were. "Are you sick?" asked her mother.
"Yes, and going to die." This frightened the parents and they arose. She seemed
in great distress and her father went for one of the neighbors. When they
returned she was running around perfectly insane. She said if they would leave
her alone for a few moments God would take her to heaven. She pleaded so
hard that they went out, but looked through the window. She went to her
husband's chest and got a large knife. They rushed in just in time to prevent her
from taking her own life. She then became a raving maniac. A physician was
called but to no purpose. She continued in this way for more than a week, when I
was called to see her. After some time I quieted her mind, explained to her the
cause of her trouble and she became sane and has had no more trouble from the
spirits. She is satisfied that she herself was the cause of all her trouble.
I went to see a lady who had cut her throat under the direction of the spirits. She
had become insane and was told to kill two of her children. She resisted and left
them and went to a neighbor's house to stay. She retired to bed, but the spirits
kept telling her to go and kill the children. She arose and tried to find a rope to
hang herself, but could not. She then went to the room where the man and his
wife were and entreated them to protect her and keep her from killing herself and
the children. They rose, telling her to lie down there in their own room. She saw a
pair of scissors, took them and placed them under her apron. She then laid down
with her clothes on and covering her head, cut her jugular vein. Her friends
thought she had gone to sleep. After a short time she threw off the clothes with
her arms and asked where she was. They went to her bed and found her
covered with blood. She asked if she was dead. When told no, she asked what
she had been doing. The artery had closed so that the blood had stopped. A
doctor was sent for and the artery taken up, but the mind was completely
deranged.
I was called to her about a week after the deed was done. She was then laboring
under a strange delusion, feared she would be carried to the insane hospital and
thought I came to kill her. I succeeded in restoring her to her reason and satisfied
her that what she saw and heard was the effect of her own mind. She understood
it and her understanding was the cure.
Now can any person believe that spirits from the dead came to her persuading
her to take the lives of her children? If there is, it is an error of the mind which
should be corrected, founded on some false idea.
Some persons would explain these two cases upon imagination, but that is not
the fact. The things seen and heard are as real as anything that comes within our
senses. Ideas are formed by the mind and as often destroyed before they are put
in force or ever developed to our senses.
Spiritualism and Mesmerism
LC 9:108
Mr. Editor:
Thinking that my experience in mesmerism may give some light on the
phenomena of spiritualism, I will state my experience for twenty-five years. It was
about that time I first gave my attention to the subject of mesmerism and I have
followed it up to the present time and have seen the workings of the phenomena
in all its phases, from putting a person into an unconscious state to the
experiment called spiritualism. It is true that there is a class of persons who try to
show that spiritualism is not mesmerism, but to me they only show their
ignorance of mesmerism. For mesmerism is not confined to one set of
experiments but is the working of the mind under various influences. And as I
have given my whole time to the investigation of the subject, I will relate some of
my experiments and leave the candid reader to decide which is the most
reasonable.
My first experiment was to put a person into an unconscious state called
mesmeric and my ideas about it were these: that I contained more electricity than
the subject and by the power of my will I charged him so full that he came
completely under my will. Now I had no idea that my belief had anything to do
with my subject and myself. But experience proved to me that all my experiments
were governed by a belief and not by wisdom at all. I knew that if I sat down and
took hold of the hand of certain persons they would pass into this state, but the
whys and wherefores I knew not. So to make myself acquainted with the
phenomena, I consulted every author I could hear of to know what to do. There
was a work written by a Doctor Townshend of Europe and I read it but had no
idea that what I read had anything to do with my experiments; but time showed
me that all I ever read or heard gave direction to my experiments.
I will here state what was the common belief at the time and show how the
experiments went to prove it. There were certain conditions that must be
complied with and if they were not complied with, the experiments would fail. But
the failure was never attributed to spirits but unbelief, etc. Among the conditions
influencing the experiments was metal. If I had any steel about me, it affected the
subject. This was my belief, and if it rained, my experiments would fail. This was
also according to the belief in electricity. So there were a great many conditions
of weather and persons necessary. If a skeptic was too near, it affected the
patient. So I went on like all mesmerizers getting into trouble and out. And after
some three years I found I had produced a great many phenomena, but I was as
ignorant as when I began and I have never seen the person that has as yet got
out of the darkness. Yet old mesmerizers are as ignorant about the phenomena
of their days as the new converts and will always remain so till they investigate
the subject with different ideas from what have ever been advanced. As I never
had read any writing upon the subject before I commenced, I only had to get rid
of what I got from reading after I commenced.
It would take me a long time to give a birdseye view of what I have experienced
for the last twentyfive years, but I wish to lead the reader along, so that he will be
prepared to understand me when I come to the phase of the phenomena called
spiritualism. Now I was prepared for the experiments of spiritualism, though not
exactly the way they came. But I was prepared to see matter moved by the
power of man's will, for I had experimented on this idea for months all alone
trying to move an object suspended by a thread. So when I heard of the
Rochester Rappings I was myself trying the experiment. Now why did I try the
experiment? I will tell you. I was trying some experiments with my subject and
they were never better, and I experimented till past twelve o'clock and never
failed. When I closed, I went to the door and found it was raining very fast. It had
clouded up while I was experimenting and if I had known the fact, I could not
have had one experiment. They would all have failed. To me this was a complete
stunner. I retired and lay and thought it all over and came to the conclusion that it
was all my fault. The experiments were in accordance with my belief. I then
determined not to read any more nor take any opinion but launch my barque on
the ocean of thought and be governed by no one's opinion but by the sensations
made on me by my subject. And I have kept my vows and now I will give my own
ideas, not my opinion but my experiments.
I had arrived at that degree that the subject could read the thoughts of persons
and could travel and explain what the person knew, and also see and describe
what the person not anyone else in the room knew. I say I had arrived at that
point. But I was just as ignorant as I was at the first experiment I had so far as
knowing the whys and wherefores. To show the similarity between the
experiments then and now under the socalled spiritualism, I will relate one or two
of the many I used to show. My mode was first to put my subject into what I
called a clairvoyant state and then request one of the company to give me the
name of some individual and boy would find him. I did not care whether dead or
alive. So a name was handed me. I can't remember what it was but I will call it
John Brown, for I think it was that. I passed the name to the boy who was sitting
blindfolded by the committee. He read the name aloud. I told him to bring the
person.
My mode was to make him ask questions so that the audience would lead him
along. So I said, Enquire who he is, a man or boy? He said, a man. Is he
married? Yes. Will you tell me if he has any children and how many? He said he
had a wife and three children. Well, find him. He said he left town between two
days. Well, find him. So he traced him to Boston, and by enquiring, he followed
him to the interior of New York and found him in a cooper's shop. Now all this
was literally true, and I suppose the audience knew the fact, but the boy nor
myself knew nothing of it. Well, what became of the man? He said he was dead.
Well said I, find him and bring him along. Well said he, he is here, can't you see
him? I then reminded him that he was mesmerized, for in that state everything
was as real as in the waking state. So I said, Give a description. He then went on
to give a general description. Now these general descriptions amount to nothing,
for everyone will make it fit their case. So I said, I don't want that; if there is
anything peculiar about the man, describe it. There is one thing peculiar. He has
a hare lip. This was the fact. Now I asked that question so that if there was
anything peculiar the audience would create it.
Now what was the conclusion they came to? Those who believed it was the spirit
of the man, believed he came. Those who believed it was clairvoyance or
thought reading continued to believe so. Some said that I had hired the
committee to give the name. So they all left with their minds just as I had found
them. Now these experiments convinced me that man has the power of creating
ideas and making them so dense that they could be seen by a subject that was
mesmerized. So I used to create objects and make him describe them. At last I
could take persons to all appearance in the waking state and make them see
anything I chose. I found that I could stop persons while walking. This led me to
the fact that I could act on living matter without contact. I could hold people down
so that they could not rise and could keep them from rising. This showed me that
man has an unconscious power that is not admitted which governs his acts. This
is not recognized by his natural senses and this is the mystery that hangs over
the world. I must say a word or two about this mystery.
Words are used to convey some idea of something that can be seen, but if a
word is spoken that should wound another's feelings, there is no language to
explain the peculiar sensation. Now my experiments and investigations have
educated me up to this state that I feel this peculiar sensation that is made on
persons and I feel and know how they feel and convince them of the fact. Now
this is the state that embraces all the phenomena of spiritualism, disease, religion
and everything that affects the mind. So every person's belief affects them. Now
there are persons who are sensitive to this state and are acted upon by the
influences of different beliefs. As there is a certain class of persons who believe
that spirits come back, as it is called, to them they do come back, just as the man
I spoke of. Some persons believe it is the works of the devil, and it is to them the
works of Satan; and as good spirits and bad are believed in, so the experiments
go to prove their belief. Now I know that all of what I have said is true, but it is all
the natural working of man's belief. Convince man that every act or belief that he
embraces has an effect on his body and just as he measures out to another it will
be measured back to him and there is no escape, he will be cautious what he
says. Now I have seen the experiments in spiritualism and I know that they are
the workings of man's own belief and I have proved it to the medium. I knew a
very excitable medium who was very susceptible to impressions. I tried some
experiments with her. I told her I would convince her it was her own belief that
governed the raps. So when the spirits came, I asked certain questions that I
knew she did not agree with me upon, nor indeed any of the company; such as: if
I could be two places at the same time and whether I could make myself known
to certain individuals without their knowledge. All this the spirits denied and said I
could not. I then said I would not trouble the spirits any more. Then I went on to
explain how I could do these things and I knew I changed their minds. So I said I
would come again and convince them that I was right.
So in the course of three or four days I called and found the same company and
said, I will now convince you that I was right. They all laughed and I sat down by
the table and the raps came and the question was asked if the spirits were
present and it rapped, Yes. I then repeated what I said and it rapped; I was right
in every one of my questions. When I asked them what made them give such
answers, they said they were mistaken. Now this is the state of the case. As
people become educated, the ideas change; this keeps the mind all the time
excited. In a short time, the superstition or fear will change and all the
phenomena of today will cease and some new phase will spring up, just
according to the wisdom of the world. And this sort of superstition will keep up till
man finds that true happiness is in true wisdom, and wisdom reduced to a
scientific mode of reasoning will place man where he never was placed before.
To be happy, he must do something. For that happiness that comes from a belief
or ignorance may be blissful; but if the happiness of that man who labors to make
others happy is of no more value that the happiness of one that sits and folds his
hands and says, All I want in this world is to be let alone, so don't disturb me, Let
me be happy, then I agree with the one who said of this sort, If ignorance is bliss,
it is folly to be wise.
Spiritualism and Mesmerism II
BU 2:8, LC 8:14
[orig. untitled]
How does spiritualism differ from mesmerism? The word "mesmerism" embraces
all the phenomena that ever were claimed by any intelligent spiritualists. The
spiritualists claim that they get knowledge from the dead through living mediums.
Do not mesmerizers do this? Surely. Then what is the difference? In the
ignorance of the people.
I will give some facts which have come under my own observation. When I first
commenced mesmerizing about sixteen years ago, the most of my experiments
were of the following kind. After getting my subject in a mesmerized state, I
would try some simple experiment, for instance, imagine some person or animal
which he would describe. I would then put him in communication with some
person of the company, and let that person carry him to some place which he
would describe. In these experiments it would often happen that he would get
intelligence from some person of whom the company knew nothing. At other
times the audience would like to have me send him after someone's lost friend.
This I used to do but tried to make them understand that it was the reflection of
their own thought.
In these experiments I had an opportunity to see and hear the different opinions
and beliefs of mankind in regard to whether he really saw the person that he
would describe or not. I found that my own opinion could have but little effect
upon the mind of the audience. Their opinions would govern in most all cases.
Sometimes, when the experiments would embrace the friend of an infidel, I would
confuse him some; but I found that nearly all persons were inclined to believe just
about as their religious opinions will. I also found that my subjects' religious
opinions were just about like the person's opinions that he was in communication
with.
If they professed religion to the world and were a hypocrite at heart, the subject
would find it out, and the same was true of the subject. I had one subject who
was very religious when awake, but when asleep was just the opposite.
I will here relate an experiment when on the Kennebec. I had my subject in the
sleep. I then requested any of the company to bring me the name of any
individual dead or alive, and the subject would find him. A name was accordingly
handed me. I passed it to the subject. He took the paper on which the name was
written and read the name aloud. At this time the subject was blindfolded so that
it was impossible for him to see with his natural eyes. I then told him to find the
person. I will relate his own story.
He said, "This is a man." "Well," said I, "find him and talk with him." In a short
time he said, "I have found him." I asked, "What does he say?" He answered,
"He was a married man, had a wife and three children, was a joiner by trade; left
his tool chest in a barn, and left between two days, went to Boston, stopped a
time, left for the state of New York, worked there for three years, and then died;
he has been dead three years."
I told him to bring him here and describe him. He went on to give a general
description of a man, and I told him that if there was anything peculiar in his
appearance that differed from all others to describe him. "Well," said he, "there is
one thing in which he differs from anyone else in the room. He has a harelip."
This was a fact.
Now as there is no knowledge among the people of the principle by which this
was done, the people were left to their own judgment. So I left them arguing,
some trying to prove it was the man's spirit, some calling it humbug and
collusion. Others went away and told what they saw and heard.
This kind of an experiment I was trying almost every day for over four years.
I then became a medium myself, but not like my subject. I retained my own
consciousness and at the same time took the feelings of my patient. Thus I was
able to unlock the secret which has been a mystery for ages to mankind. I found
that I had the power of not only feeling their aches and pains, but the state of
their mind. I discovered that ideas took form and the patient was affected just
according to the impression contained in the idea. For example, if a person lost a
friend at sea, the shock upon his nervous system would disturb the fluids of their
body and create around them a vapor like a cloud and in this cloud they create
the essence of their trouble. This cloud being a part of their nervous system acts
upon the body. Now unless the scene can be destroyed, it will destroy the body.
This cloud embraces all the phenomena of spiritualism, mesmerism and all other
excitements differing according to circumstances.
Every person has around them this cloud or vapor and in that are all their ideas,
right or wrong. This vapor or fluid contains the identity of the person.
Now when I sit down with a diseased person, I see the spiritual form, in this
cloud, like a person driven out of his home. They sometimes appear very much
frightened, which is almost always the case with insane persons. I show no
disposition to disturb them and at last they approach me cautiously, and if I can
govern my own spirit or mind I can govern theirs. At last I commence a
conversation with them. They tell me their trouble and offer to carry me spiritually
to the place where their trouble commenced.
I was sitting by a lady whom I had never seen before until she called upon me
with her father to see if I could help her. The lady had all the appearance of
dropsy. I took her by the hand. In a short time it seemed as though we were
going off some distance. At last I saw water. It seemed as though we were on the
ocean. At length I saw a brig in a gale. I also saw a man on the bowsprit, dressed
in an oilcloth suit. At last he fell overboard. The vessel hove to and in a short time
the man sank. This was a reality, but it happened five years before. Now to cure
the lady was to bring her from the scene of her troubles. This I did and the lady
recovered.
I often find patients whose disease or trouble was brought on by religious
excitement. I went to see a young lady during the Miller excitement. She was
confined to her bed, would not converse with any person, lay in a sort of trance
with her eyes rolled up in her head, took no notice of any person. The only thing
she would say was that she was confined in a pit, held there by a large man
whose duty it was to hold her there, and she said to me, "I shall never die, nor
never get well." She had been in this condition for one year, refused all
nourishment, and was a mere skeleton at the time I went to see her. This was
her story when I got her so as to converse. I sat down by the lady, and in about
an hour I saw the man she had created, and described him to her, and told her
that I would drive him away. This seemed to frighten her, for she was afraid for
my safety. But when I assured her that I could drive the man away she kept
quiet. In three hours she walked to the door, and she recovered her health.
I could name hundreds of cases showing the effect of mind upon the body. Some
will say it is spiritualism. Others will say it is not. When asked to explain where
the difference lies, the only answer is, that the mesmeric state is produced by
some other person on the subject, while the spiritualist is thrown into this state or
trance by spirits. Now the fact is known by thousands of persons that this
mesmerizing oneself has been common ever since mesmerism has been known;
therefore there is nothing new in that. So it is with questions put to any
spiritualist.
Let us now examine the proof of its being from the dead. A person is thrown into
an unconscious state. While in this state, the spirit of some person purporting to
come from the dead enters the body and addresses itself to the company, telling
some story which the company knows nothing of. When aroused from the trance,
he is asked if he is conscious of what he had been saying or doing. To this
question they nearly all say, No. The company is left in the same condition as in
the mesmeric experiments. Some call it mesmerism, some spiritualism.
I will now show the similarity between this experiment and spiritualism. A person
sits down and throws himself into what is called a spiritualistic state or trance. He
then commences talking to someone in the audience. When asked what he has
to communicate he replies, "A friend wishes to communicate with Mr. A." Mr. A.
then asks who wishes to communicate with him. The medium replies, "Your
brother." He then asks, "Will you give his name?" The answer is, "John." "Ask
him how long he has been in the spirit world and what was his business while in
the body." The answer, "I was a joiner by trade, had a wife and three children,
been dead six years." This is true. The medium knew nothing of the past before.
The company is left in the same state as in the former experiment. Some believe
it is a spirit of the dead, some believe it is humbug and others it is mesmerism.
My experience explains these two to be mesmerism. After practicing for six years
with a subject, trying all kinds of experiments, I then became a medium myself.
The spiritual medium after going into a trance speaks to the patient thus.
My name is Sarah B, your sister and guardian spirit. I come to communicate
some facts in regard to your health. The medium then goes on to explain the
patient's feelings, describing some located disease and then prescribes the
remedy. The patient asks, "Can you give me some proof that you are my sister?"
A slate and pencil is called for. The medium's hand is then raised by the spirit
and she writes this communication. "You were not aware I left home when I
intended to go, but I took a steamer for Liverpool. Five days out the steamer sank
and all were lost but fifty passengers."
This is looked upon as certain proof that it is from the spirit world. The company
is then left in the same doubt as before. The spiritualists contend it is spirits, but
they can't describe the diseases of the sick; here they fall far short of what they
profess. They all contend that the time will come when diseases will be cured
without the aid of medicine, yet all the mediums I have ever known or heard of
locate diseases the same as any physician and then go on to prescribe medicine,
and this is done nine times out of ten by some Indian who purports to have been
dead some hundred years ago.
I will here relate one instance to show that these communications are in
accordance with their prejudices. I had a patient who thought she had a white
swelling on her knee. This fact was known to certain persons at one of the
sittings. The medium was very much excited and wished to communicate some
fact to the company; it purported to be the name of an Indian. The amount of his
communication was to tell the company that there was one lady at Belfast very
sick who begs Dr. Quimby to come and heal her. Now these are the facts; there
had been a lady here who I had been treating with what was called white swelling
also, and this fact was known to the medium too that she, "my patient," had left
for home three weeks before and she had not the white swelling about the knee
when she left.
As I have been investigating this subject I sometimes try experiments to see if
any knowledge that the medium should get in regard to me would make any
difference when in the trance or under the spirit guidance. As facts are what I
want to get at, I take my own way to collect them.
I had had quite a number of patients sent me by an old German physician who
communicated his knowledge through a certain medium and located diseases
that the patient never heard of. I became rather suspicious in regard to his skill
and I contrived to let the medium know it to see how it would operate on the old
German doctor. And in a short time he found it out, probably by the medium and
like all other persons whose opinions are ridiculed, he ceased to send me any
more patients and became a sort of prophet. The medium, not giving her own
name but assuming the name of another person, said that I was a medium but
was too proud to admit it and the spirits would take the power from me. This was
what I expected. I have tried other experiments with less success. This was
exactly the case with my mesmerized patient; if a person was a skeptic or had
any hard feelings against me or my patients, I could not get him to have anything
to do with him. That shows that the mediums are affected like all mesmerized
subjects. I will here relate an instance that happened while I was in Boston.
I went with a friend to see a medium. I think it was the medium that R. J. Shaw
used to communicate through. When we arrived at the house, we were informed
that there was a gentleman there to be examined who was sick. And as the
gentleman I was with was acquainted with the medium, he asked if we could not
sit down at the same time, and being informed we could, we took seats at the
table. The medium was a young lass, about sixteen years old, a very pleasant
appearing young person but not much knowledge in the medical profession. In a
short time the raps commenced. The doctor gave notice of his presence by loud
raps. He was then asked by the sick man, What was the matter. The lady
medium wrote out the trouble, but as I had my doubts in regard to her skill, I was
troubled for her. This affected her and her hand stopped writing and shaking and
moved towards me. My friend asked what that meant. It was not for me to tell. I
then asked the medium if I was a medium and the answer came, three loud raps.
I then asked what kind of a medium; it wrote, a healing medium, and I then went
on to help the young lady out of her trouble and everything I said to the old man
in regard to his health was backed up by raps or writing. This experiment was
just like mesmerism. I then told my friend that if there was a medium in the sitting
that was a truthful medium I could prove to him I was a healing medium.
We then went to another medium that was a lady who could produce the raps
and was a writing medium also. We sat down to a large table with a number of
others. The questions were nearly all asked mentally. After quite a number of
ladies and gentlemen had got communication from their dead friends, it came to
my turn. I said that I had nothing of importance to ask so it passed to another.
The communications were of that character that affected the ladies very much
and I was very much surprised that the company could not see how exactly it
agreed with mesmerism.
At last it came to my friend's turn; he replied the same as I did. But it was
unsatisfactory to the rest, as he was a strong believer. I then touched his toe to
put him in mind of what I was to prove to him without letting anyone of the
company know that I could see the spirits. He then asked if there was any
medium present. The answer came by raps, "Yes." "What kind of a medium?"
The alphabet was then called for and spelled out "seeing medium." This seemed
to astonish the whole company. He then asked if he was the medium. The
answer was "no," until it came to me. When asked if I was the medium, loud raps
signified, "yes." I then asked if I see you, the raps came "yes." I then said, "If I will
describe your person and dress, will you say to the company whether I am right."
The raps came "yes" to every remark I made in regard to her person or self. The
answer to all was "yes." I then said to my friend, "What do you think of that?" He
replied, "I don't believe you see the spirits." "Do you hear him?" said I, and loud
raps followed. "Do you hear that, my friend?" "Yes, but I don't believe it." The
raps came very loud to prove I really saw the spirit. I then asked my friend to
explain it. He said it was mesmerism. "Well," said I, "so is all the rest." He would
not agree to that. He said, "All the other experiments were spiritualism except
mine."
The Subject of Mind
BU 16:1, LC 4:95
[orig. untitled]
From time immemorial the subject of mind has been a theme of ancient and
modern philosophers. Now if the idea of mind did not embrace all our reason and
philosophy, man would not be all the time trying to investigate its nature.
Mind is always associated with something else. Moses used the word wisdom in
the sense of mind when he said God created the heavens and the earth, which
means mind and matter.
The philosophers of our day separate matter from mind and call matter material
and mind immaterial, so that matter is not under the control of mind and as mind
is immaterial it is nothing. Now can nothing produce something? The
philosophers of our day may answer. Lucretius divided mind from matter in these
words: body and space a void, void being mind. He also called it space and
vacuum, so all philosophers have gone back to matter and tried to trace it up to
that point where it ceases to be matter. Lucretius makes no difference in matter
but calls it all matter. This includes mind, for he says in Book fourth, four-hundred
and forty-first page, "Sound is substance as experience shows, since to the
sense impulsively it flows." Now why all these different applications of the same
term? If mind is matter, what is life? To show that mind is matter we must
illustrate it by something that men will admit. But what is it to man whether mind
is matter or not? I say it is of vast importance to the world, for if it can be shown
that mind is matter, it will be seen that even mind is under the control of a
wisdom possessed by man, so that wisdom acting upon mind changes the mind
and produces another idea. Now if I speak and the sound is substance, it must
come in contact with some other substance or fill some vacuum in the mind.
I will show that matter is a medium for wisdom and when I say matter I embrace
mind in it, so it is not necessary to repeat the two every time I allude to mind.
I will now show that there is no such a substance as weight nor gravitation in
wisdom, that even the earth is not governed by wisdom according to man's
philosophy, for if it was, God could not see all around a globe at the same time.
And if the globe is matter independent of wisdom, then it fills some space. So
that man on the globe is not in the center of space; therefore he must be on one
side and all the planets that are at such great distances from the earth and each
other cannot all be in the center of space.
Let us see how this theory holds out and analyze it. All persons have noticed
when the skies look dark they are nothing but shades. Now as the particles of
matter are set in motion by some invisible power, they are separated and driven
before a more powerful substance; this brings them into a more solid form, so at
last they can be seen by the eye. Then as they are driven against an opposite
power or atmosphere they become more dense till their density is seen and felt.
This is called snow; forced still closer together, it becomes ice. It is now called
matter; this gives rise to a new philosophy. The world has been divided into three
classes of philosophy. The Grecian experience shows that it is dangerous to
search too deeply into science, for as all things must be proved by wisdom, the
invisible things must be proved by the visible. So that although a person's theory
may be true, yet not having the wisdom to put it into practice, only in their own
lives, the ignorance of the world, while it gives to the author the credit of honesty,
sets him down as a fanatic and thus misrepresents him when his very philosophy
is true.
We at this time boast of our philosophy as though it was a late discovery, but
when tested by the philosophy of the Greeks, it vanishes like dew before the sun.
They searched for wisdom beyond the narrow limits of the human mind and
soared above the idea that this world is all there is. And they went on to dissolve
all matter and hold it in solution.
All of this is true but it wants to be brought to the understanding of the natural
man. They went so far as to believe that they had not only discovered the
wisdom that governs all things but they were accused of discovering life itself and
it taught them to apply it to man for his happiness. This required proof to sustain
it and as their wisdom stopped at the fact it gave their opponents the advantage
of them and they were looked upon as visionary theorists. So the wisdom of this
world established new things based on things that could be seen and felt.
As I stand alone, separate from all these things and all theories, I have a right to
introduce a new and more perfect theory based on facts produced by my own
wisdom and admitted by my patients.
This wisdom gives to every theory its just due and condemns all error. It proves
all things and holds fast that which is true. I shall show that the Grecian
philosophers were correct and so was the Copernican system and that all former
philosophies did not believe the earth was flat but they spiritualized all things for
the happiness of man.
Now there are two philosophies that will bear the name of wisdom: one is
founded on the idea of matter, etc. and on the present philosophy of the day, and
the other is the philosophy of wisdom. One admits all that is governed by their
philosophy and looks upon all wisdom that cannot be accounted for as a mystery
or gift.
I shall try to separate the one from the other and show that the philosophy of this
world is based on the phenomena of the scientific world.
The scientific world is in opposition to the natural world. Each world proves its
works but the natural world is the shadow of the spiritual world and is governed
by a lower class of minds too gross to rise to the substance that is attached to
the shadow, so that every truth has its shadow and the two modes of reasoning
prove their works. One reasons out of matter, the other reasons in matter. So the
philosophy that is founded on the basis of matter has the majority, like all other
errors. Every truth is in a minority and is opposed by the majority. The principle of
this world is that the majority is right, and so, of course, as error is always in the
majority, it must be right.
Now let us see if it does not hold good. Is it not so in religion and politics? The
truth is not acknowledged at all as an opposer of error, but a mere balance to
weigh each man's opinion.
Opinions are the substances that are weighed. Truth is nothing but the balances.
It has no existence in this world because it is of the world of wisdom and that is a
stranger to matter. Now these two worlds or philosophies split up the world of
matter, for one reasons in matter and the other out of it. One has laws, the other
has none; one has religion, the other has none. One has the wisdom of matter,
the other the wisdom of God and each proves its science. Now man is made out
of the wisdom of matter, and matter has its God, and all of its laws are found in
matter, and as disease is a transgression of these laws of matter, man is
punished by the laws. Now to punish a man for disobeying a law, is to suppose
the law existed before the offense was committed, for where there is no law,
there is no transgression. So this world's God supposed that man would do
wrong and so made a law in advance. The disobeying of this law was sin. "So by
the law came sin and by sin came disease and by disease came death." So
every one is under the sentence of death, for all have sinned. This is one of the
majority reports, and to get clear is to do something to get rid of nothing. For the
law is the enemy to get rid of and that is made of nothing. It contains nothing, for
the same majority says that where there is no transgression, there is no law.
So then, if there is no act, there is no law. This makes it just as the wisdom of
God makes it. Every act contains the law of action and reaction and that is all the
law that wisdom ever had, but the wisdom of man puts the other construction on
it, namely that the effect comes before the cause. This holds good in all of this
world's philosophy and I shall show that all their philosophy is based on
phenomena that take place in the spirit world or above the natural man, and man
in his ignorance gets up a philosophy to explain his ignorance of the phenomena.
This causes the misery that human persons suffer and is the ignorance of
themselves. Man invents his misery and lays it to God. Being ignorant of God or
wisdom, he sets up a standard based on an opinion.
For instance, how often we hear this saying, "Wrap up so you will not take cold."
Now if you go out in the cold under certain conditions, you transgress one of
God's laws. Now I ask the question if winter and summer heat were not made
before man? All will say, Yes. Will any person stand up and say that anyone
going outdoors alters the weather? No. Then the cold does not forbid a person
going out or have anything to do about it. So if a man goes out, he goes
according to his belief and he is affected just according to it. We will take two
persons: one believes in taking cold, his fears excite him; the other is
accustomed to the cold and never knew anything bad about it. Now I ask anyone
if they think these two persons go out under the same feelings? All will say, No.
Then the one that is always catching cold would be the most likely to be
affected? Yes. Now God made a law that if a person exposed himself to the cold
and he disobeyed this law of health, he must be punished. You may say the
healthy man was not really exposed, for he was not in feeble health. Then the
man in feeble health is the one to be punished or take cold.
Now see how absurd such a belief is. According to this experiment, and this
holds good in every case, the great Father of every good and perfect gift is all
wisdom, knows all things, and sees the effect before it happens, governs all our
acts, not a hair can fall without his knowledge, made all laws for the happiness of
man and had such great love for us that he exposed himself to his own laws and
took the penalty to save us poor sinners. All this is taught by the clergy.
Now listen to me for a short time till I set all this right. This law, it seems, was not
to embrace those that did not catch cold, for they could not have broken the laws;
for if you disobey the law in the least, you are guilty. So the law was for them that
disobeyed it. So it is for the sick, these poor weak creatures that can hardly get a
breath of air without transgressing a law that these benevolent gods have made
and punish all that break them. Now strange as this crazy idea is, it is the belief
of 99 in 100 foolish men! How long will you be deceived by false teachings! It is
just as impossible to disobey God's wisdom as it is to cut your finger with a razor
and say you were ignorant that a razor would cut, when you got it for that
purpose. God cannot have a law, for a law presupposes a disobedience, and if
God was not wise enough when he made all things to know what would be the
end of every act, then he is not the God the Christians claim him to be. And is he
dead? No. Then he certainly has respect for persons and gives preference to the
well, for all the laws that are attached to God by the Christian world are to punish
the sick; for the well are not punished at all. So to keep clear of his laws is to
have nothing to do with him, for the weak flourish under his government like the
green bay tree and the Christian finds it a hard road to travel. And if it was not for
the leaders exciting and driving them on they would all turn back and become as
bad as the rest of the world. Now what infidelity and hypocrisy there is in the
world in this 19th century, yet we boast of our religious wisdom.
If any person can show me one single idea in any creed that ever Jesus
subscribed to I should like to see it. Religion now is just what it was 2,000 years
ago; all the Grecian philosophy opposed it and some were imprisoned and some
killed. Jesus opposed it and they murdered him and destroyed his theory and
kept up the same old theory only as it has been broken in two by come-outers. It
has always been opposed to science. It imprisoned Copernicus and has
persecuted all investigators ever since the pagan philosophers blew it up and
showed its hideous form and bloody bones. It is founded in ignorance and
superstition and is the greatest evil that ever invaded the human mind and were it
not for science the world would have at this time the places of torment.
All of this error is the effect of the philosophy of minds. The wise have never
established their philosophy by experiments. Error has, and so as one is
established, the other becomes the subject. Now establish the truth philosophy or
goodness and happiness, and then you have a heaven on earth. Then Jesus'
words will come to pass when he says, I will create a new heaven or philosophy
and a new earth or matter where there shall not be any darkness but all will be
light. Now this is the new heaven or philosophy that was foretold in the days of
the wise men and repeated by Jesus 1800 years ago. Now I will show you the
new philosophy or Jerusalem that man is destined to enter, where there shall be
no more sickness or death, where old things are done away and all things
become new. Now this philosophy was for man alone, for he had wandered away
in the dark and had become so gross that he could not see anything but gross
matter. So Jesus said to such, "Ye have eyes but cannot see, and ears and
cannot hear and hearts but cannot understand."
Now I shall show that there is a philosophy that has nothing to do with the
common philosophy of the day and that our philosophy and religion causes all
the evils we mortals suffer. Now if man knew the true philosophy, the shadow
could not do any harm; but man worships the shadow and loses the substance. I
shall show this and prove it, for I do not mean to give my opinion when I have the
truth in hand. My object is the good of mankind independent of all religious sects
or creeds. It is a philosophy which, if understood, will make man free and
independent of all creeds and laws of man and subject him to his own laws,
being free from the laws of sin, sickness and death.
Being once freed I know how to teach others, so I will tell you what must follow
this new science, and what it teaches man and how far he is bound. And his
binding is a free offering and cannot be altered it he knows the truth or
philosophy, so that no one shall enter in blindfolded so he will want to retract
before he understands. I will give you my experience as one that believes what
he says and is ready to be judged by his patients, and if the world finds fault, I
will listen to them; and if their philosophy does more good to the sick than mine, I
will consider it and give it the preference. So I will give mine or the philosophy of
health and ask my questions of the world. If words are not sound and sound is
not something . . . for if it is not something it could not produce something. Then
this something in the form of language is something. Now two somethings of the
same kind cannot produce another something, so that one something must act
on another something and then a third something can be produced. So if sound
is something, it does not act upon itself and if it acts at all, it must act on
something else. Now one of these somethings I call God or wisdom. Now as
wisdom is a substance that cannot be changed, it cannot fill any more space than
all space. It cannot act separate from itself, so it is in all and a part of all; it knows
no bounds nor time, it is eternal. Now as every substance throws a shadow, the
shadow must have a background of something and this something I call mind or
matter and as this something acts on matter it does not act on itself. So of course
that that acts is not the same as that that is acted upon, so that that acts is this
substance that cannot change but is under two somethings that act upon the
same something.
As it may confuse you to understand these somethings I will classify them. The
substance acted upon is mind or matter. This I will call No. 1. The substance that
acts upon No. 1 I call essence or God and this I will call No. 2. Now the two
somethings that govern and direct No. 2 I call wisdom and error. Now as wisdom
is all right, it knows no matter, and as error is made of matter, or animal life, it
acts upon itself. So as error excites No. 1, error's light produces a shadow, and
its shadow is its own making. Now the world's wisdom is in No. 1 and the wisdom
of God or the essence is in No. 2. Now there are two directions: one the wisdom
of God or essence, the other the wisdom of animal life or matter. Animal life or
matter is always changing, so science or wisdom's essence or God is always
progressing. Man is in these two somethings; wisdom is the seed sown in matter
or ignorance, and as matter is animal, it is disturbed by the child of wisdom and
tries to get rid of it. Therefore in its ignorance it is excited and this excitement
brings out the child of error, so the children are conceived in the same matter and
grow like the two spoken of in the Old Testament, Jacob and Esau.
"Jacob or wisdom have I loved, but Esau or error have I hated." The same
characters were in the parable of Cain and Abel. Cain was the error. Abel was
the wisdom. So all through the old and new testaments you can trace the two
characters and know their generation from Adam and Eve down to the present
day. Error is the older, science is the younger, so that the error is always before
the truth in this world of matter, but truth is eternal with the fathers of wisdom.
Jesus illustrated these two characters by himself, the flesh and blood or mind
and matter or animal life. The essence or child of wisdom was Christ or God, so
as the Christ grew in the likeness of the father or wisdom, it threw off the error or
natural man and became perfect or wisdom. Yet the Christ used the servant or
earthly body as a medium to communicate to the natural man; but Jesus, the
natural man, knew not Christ, only as Christ made himself manifest in his works.
Now these two characters were mysteries to the natural man, so the natural man
is called the Christ, a power. So it is wiser people often ask if I "can impart my
power to anyone," and when I tell them it is not a power in the sense they mean,
they cannot understand it. So I have to let it go. I have a power and all that call it
a power are in the same state that the people were that were looking for a
second coming of Christ. When Jesus said he was near you, even in your
thoughts, and you do not know it, when I say I can teach this, I mean that there
are a great many persons that can learn this wisdom. And when once learned,
the wisdom is a power; and to put wisdom at the root of a tree or error hews it
down like the axe strikes at the root of a tree.
This wisdom is to error or disease like fire; it burns up root and branch.-PPQ
Thought
BU 1:3, LC 10:1
[orig. untitled]
Thought, like the blossom of the rose or tree, contains all the elements of the tree
or rose. Now as the law of vegetation governs the tree or rose, so the law of mind
acts upon the idea or spiritual tree, known by the name of good or evil. Now
although this tree differs from all other trees in the garden of man, it cannot be
detected except by its fruits, and as the fruits appear pleasant to the eye of the
mind and are supposed to make men happy, it is cultivated without knowing the
peculiar properties it contains.
Now as this tree grows it sends forth its thoughts like blossoms, and as it is
looked upon as a fruit much desired to make one well, it is received with joy and
cultivated in the garden of our minds. Now in the beginning of the creation of man
this tree was a tree that differed from all others in men and was very like the tree
of life. The fruits of this tree have been the foundation of all the philosophy of
man ever since man was created.
Now as man's natural body contains the soil for this tree to grow, as the earth is
the soil for the rest of the trees and herbs and creeping things that have life, it is
the duty of man to investigate this tree and see what its fruits contain. The tree is
to be known by its fruits. This tree is an idea like all other ideas in man, but
differing in one peculiarity, happiness and misery. All the rest of the trees of
knowledge contain right and wrong without any regard to happiness or misery.
This is the difference between the trees.
Now as this tree can bear the fruits of other trees, it is another reason for its
being cultivated, but to understand the tree or idea is to understand its fruits or
thoughts.
I shall now call this tree an idea which contains happiness or misery and also
truth and error. Now as error, like the serpent, is more subtle than any other idea
in man, it acts upon the weaker portion of our thoughts and ideas and engrafts
them into the idea of happiness and misery. Now as this idea grows and sends
forth its fruit, it is conveyed by error to other trees or ideas in others, and thus
spring up false theories, false doctrines etc. Now as this tree or idea sends forth
such a variety of thoughts or fruit, it is like Joseph's coat of many colors, hard to
tell what was the original color or idea. This throws man into darkness and doubt
and he wanders about, like a sheep without a shepherd, running after false
ideas. Being blind, he is not capable of judging for himself and suffers himself to
be led by the blind.
Now as the tree of knowledge of good and evil was an idea of happiness and
misery, it is easy to detect its fruits. All other ideas are spiritual, and the fruits or
thoughts are spiritual and are not perceived till they come within our senses. We
are very apt to get deceived by them, for they come like a thief in the night when
man is off his guard. Now as health and happiness is the greatest blessing that
can be bestowed on man, and this was the original fruit of the tree, it can be very
easily detected from the grafted fruit or ideas. The original fruit is spiritual and
cannot be detected by the eye, for it does not contain even spiritual matter. Its
qualities are sympathy, harmony and peace; the fruit of evil contains matter, and
has form and can be seen and felt.
To the Sick in Body and Mind
BU 4:7
Dr. Q. has been induced by the great number of cases which have come under
his care within the last twelve years to devote his time to the cure of disease. His
success in the art of healing without the aid of medicine has encouraged many
persons who have been suffering from sickness of long standing to call and see
him for themselves. This has given him a very great advantage over the old
mode of practice and has given him a good chance to see how the mind affects
the body. He makes no pretension to any superior power over ordinary men, nor
claims to be a seventh son, nor a son of the seventh son, but a common
everyday man.
He contends there is a principle or inward man that governs the outward man or
body, and when these are at variance or out of tune, disease is the effect, while
by harmonizing them health in the body is the result. He believes this can be
brought about by sympathy, and all persons who are sick are in need of this
sympathy.
To the well these remarks will not apply, for the well need no physician. By these
remarks I mean a well person does not know the feelings of the sick, but the sick
alone are their own judges, and to every feeling is attached a peculiar state of
mind which is peculiar to it. These states of mind are the person's spiritual
identity, and this I claim to see and feel myself.
When there is discord in these two principles, or inward and outward man, it
seems to me that the outward man or body conveys to me the trouble, the same
as one man communicates to his friend any trouble that is weighing him down.
Now all I claim is this, to put myself into communication with these principles of
inward and outward man and act as a mediator between these two principles of
soul and body; and when I am in communication with the patient, I feel all his
pains and his state of mind, and I find that by bringing his spirit back to
harmonize with the body he feels better.
The great trouble with mankind is this. They are spiritually sick, and the remedies
they apply only serve