The Text - Section 6
Another World II
BU 1:29, LC 1:20
What did Jesus mean to convey when he said all men had gone out of the way,
that there was none doing good, no not one? It is generally understood that man
had wandered away from God and had become so sinful that he was in danger
of eternal banishment from the presence of God. And unless he repented and
returned to God, he would be banished from His presence forever. This being the
state of mankind, God, seeing no way whereby man could be saved, gave His
only son as a ransom for the redemption of the world. Or, God made Himself
manifest in the flesh and came into the world, suffered and died, and rose again
to show us that we should all rise from the dead.
This is the belief of most of the Christian world. Its opposers disbelieved all the
above story but death. They can't help believing that man dies and they have a
belief that there will be some sort of hocuspocus or chemical change, that the
soul or spirit will jump out at death and still have an existence somewhere. After
the soul is set at liberty, it can go and stay just where it pleases. Others believe it
goes to God, there to be in the presence of God and be a saint and sing
halleleujas forever.
All the above embraces all of mankind's belief and in this belief they feel as
though Jesus Christ was the author and finisher of their faith. These beliefs
embrace all the horrors of a separation from this world and a doubt whether man
will obtain that world beyond this life.
Now you see no person is in danger of this change but the sick, for if a person is
well he can't be dead and if he does not die, he is in no danger of heaven or hell;
therefore to keep well you keep clear of both. This was just about the same belief
that the people had before Christ began his reform.
I will try to show that Jesus never taught one single idea of all the above but
condemned the whole as superstition and ignorance. He not only condemned the
idea of a world independent of man but proved that there was none by all his
sayings and doings. He looked upon all the above theories or beliefs as false and
tending to make man unhappy.
These beliefs Jesus came to destroy and establish the Kingdom of God or truth
in this world or belief, for the two beliefs are both in ourselves and we become
the servant of the one we obey. And the embracing of the true Christ is the
resurrection from the dead, for the dead know nothing. Therefore to be dead in
sin or ignorance is a separation from God or truth and to know God is to know
ourselves, and this knowledge is in Christ or truth.
Now what is the difference between Christ's belief and the world's belief? Christ
had no belief. His kingdom was an everlasting kingdom, without beginning or
end. It is a science based on an eternal truth. It does not contain an opinion or
belief. It is all knowledge and power and will reign till all beliefs and error shall be
destroyed. The last error or belief is death or ignorance, and truth or science will
reign till ignorance is destroyed. Then the son or law shall be subject to God.
1859
What Is Disease?
BU 152:1, LC 11:1
Disease is what follows the disturbance of the mind; this mind is spiritual matter.
When I speak of disease I do not mean to confine the word to any particular
phenomenon or disturbance of the mind, but that the mind or matter is simply
disturbed like the soil of the earth, ready to receive the seed or disease. This
disturbance contains no knowledge or thought, any more than a house on fire
would disturb the inmates or spirits who flee out, not knowing the cause. It
embraces mind without truth or error, like weight set in motion without direction.
Weight like mind could never set itself in motion, but being set in motion it is
called mechanical power. So is mind set in motion, spiritual power. Both are
governed by laws of truth or error; the fruit shows which of the two powers
govern.
If it is directed by wisdom or God, no bad results can follow; but if directed by
error and ignorance, as ignorance is the mind and error the enemy to truth, the
truth will show which governs. As there is no knowledge in error, it sometimes
follows that some good results follow, as it did in the case of Joseph being sold to
the Ishmaelites. They, it is said, meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Truth
does not work in that way (that is by accident). Truth works by laws, like
mathematics, error like chance.
The answer may come right or may come wrong (in error); in either way, it
contains no law by which the world is any way the wiser. Ignorance is its life and
truth its death. So by error comes disease and death; so by the destruction of
error comes the introduction of truth or science or health; and as error is matter
or mind, it is the instrument of its own destruction. The matter is not annihilated,
but the mind is.
That combined substance that shows itself in persons in the form of an opinion
indicates its character by a peculiar show of wisdom, superior to its followers.
And when disturbed by wisdom or truth, it dies; but when not opposed, its
opinions are sown into the minds of others, like seed in the ground, and comes
forth in some form.
This which follows the disturbance of the mind the doctors call disease. Here is
where all error lies; they take the effect for the cause. We confound the error and
truth together; we take an opinion for a truth, which is an error for what we know
we have no opinion of.
If opinion is knowledge, then there is no knowledge, for every person has an
opinion. Now if opinion is knowledge, then why is reason introduced? This very
fact proves that knowledge is the destruction of an opinion or disease, for what
we know, we have no opinion about. Now disease is what follows an opinion. It is
made up of mind directed by error, and truth is the destruction of an opinion.
These ideas and hundreds of others have been given to explain the effect of the
mind. All of them admit disease as one thing and the mind another. This theory
that mind is one thing and disease another has left the people in darkness and
caused more misery than all other evils put together. It has always been admitted
that a theory that cannot be put in practice is not very good.
The mind is a spiritual matter which, being agitated, disturbs the spirit. This
disturbance contains no knowledge of itself, but produces a chemical change of
the fluids of the system. These disturbances may be produced in various ways,
for instance: by the death of a friend, or by religious excitement, witchcraft, etc.
All of the above contain what is called knowledge, which is communicated to the
spirit and sets it to work to form disease after the from the spirit gives the mind.
The mind being the matter under the control of the spirit, it is capable of
producing any phenomenon.
October 1859
How Does the Mind Produce Disease?
BU 152:8, LC 11:5
This is a question easier asked than answered. It has often been asked but never
answered to the satisfaction of man. It has been answered as far as that the
mind has a powerful effect on the body. Beyond this all is a matter of speculation
wrapped in darkness and mystery as far as is known to the world. No one has
ever penetrated this wilderness of darkness and returned to solve the problem.
Thousands are like Moses who stood on Mt. Pisgah and viewed the promised
land and saw for others what he was not permitted to enjoy. Or like the peak of
Tenerife which saw the rising sun long before it reached the horizon of the
common mind. Then the question returns to our mind, can the question now be
solved? Can man ever penetrate this wilderness and return like the dove that
went out of the ark and brought back the olive branch of peace, showing that the
waters were dried up so that man could go forth and till the ground?
October 1859
How Does the Mind Produce Disease?
BU 152:6, LC 1:4
I will give the symptoms of a person who called on me to be examined. The
upper part of his body above his hips felt so large that his legs were not strong
enough to carry the weight; therefore he complained of weakness in his knees.
This idea of weakness was his mind, for there never was any strength or
knowledge in his knees of themselves any more then there is power in a lever of
itself. If the lever, or legs, had to create its own power, his body would never
move. Therefore, if his body ever moved, it must be by some power independent
of his knees or legs. There is such a thing as pressure, but pressure is not power
for it contains motion, and motion is another element independent of pressure.
These two elements together we call mechanical power, so mind or matter
agitated is called spiritual power. Neither matter nor mind contains any
knowledge. Now as this man's mind or matter was in a state that it contained
motion or error, for error is motion, not knowledge, it was not all pressure. As
health is the enjoyment of all our faculties, any foreign substance trigs the wheels
so as to retard the motion; so error trigs the mind or retards the motion. This was
the state of this man's body. To put this man in full possession of his faculties is
to remove the burden that binds him down. These burdens are the effect of error
having control of the mind or matter. These errors are made of mind or matter
first formed into an opinion, then comes reason, then comes disease or death,
accompanied by all the misery the idea contains.
October 1859
Mind Is Spiritual Matter
BU 1:1
It will be necessary to give the reader some idea of what suggested the following
article, headed Mind Is Spiritual Matter. I found that by the power of my own mind
I could change the mind of my patient and produce a chemical change in the
body, like dissolving a tumor. Now the word mind is not the substance, only the
name of the substance that can be changed. The world makes mind intelligence.
I put no intelligence in it but make it subject to intelligence. The word fire, for
instance, doesn't mean the substance to be consumed but the process of
consuming it. So mind is the name of a spiritual substance that can be changed.
We speak of a cold fire or a hot fire, yet we do not mean that the fire itself is cold
or hot, only that we make it hotter or colder; yet it is fire. Wisdom I do not use in
this piece. I call the power that governs mind, spirit. But you will see that I
recognize a Wisdom superior to the word mind, for I always apply the word mind
to matter but never apply it to the First Cause.
Mind is spiritual matter. Thought is also matter, but not the same matter, any
more than the earth is the same matter as the seed which is put into it. Thought
like the seed germinates and comes forth, like the tree, in the form of an idea. It
then waits like the fruit to be eaten. Curiosity is excited and wants to be gratified;
it tastes and then enquires; the answer comes and the spirit is affected in
proportion to the answer. Illustration: a thought is sown in the mind while asleep
or ignorant; it grows and comes forth. The curiosity tastes; it produces a strange
sensation in the throat. The spirit enquires, the answer comes, Bronchitis. The
spirit is disturbed and tries to rid itself of its enemy. This disturbance is the effect
called disease. Now if no name had been given or fears excited, the idea or tree
would have died of itself.
October 1859
The Symptoms of Disease
BU 152:6, LC 11:4
I will give the symptoms of a person who called on me to be examined. The
upper part of his body above his hips felt so large that his legs were not strong
enough to carry the weight. Therefore he complained of weakness in his knees.
This idea of weakness etc. was his mind for there never was any strength or
knowledge in his knees of themselves any more than there is power in a lever of
itself. If the lever or legs had to create its own power, his body would never
move. Therefore if his body ever moved, it must be by some power independent
of his knees or legs.
There is such a thing as pressure, but pressure is not power, for if it moves it is
not pressure, for it contains motion and motion is another element independent of
pressure. These two elements together are called mechanical power, so mind or
matter agitated is called spiritual power. Neither matter nor mind contains any
knowledge. Now as this man's mind or matter was in a state that it contained
motion or error, for error is motion not knowledge, it was not all pressure. Now as
health is the enjoyment of all our faculties, any foreign substance trigs the wheels
so as to retard the motion; so error trigs the mind or retards the motion. This was
the state of this man's body. Now to put this man in full possession of his
faculties is to remove the burdens that bind him down. These burdens are the
effect of error having control of the mind or matter. These errors are made of
mind or matter first formed into an opinion; then comes reason; then comes
disease or death accompanied with all the misery the idea contains.
October 1859
Is Disease a Belief?
BU 152:19, LC 1:10
[orig. untitled]
I say it is, for a person is to himself just what he thinks he is, and he is in his
belief sick. If I am sick, I am sick for my feelings are my sickness, and my
sickness is my belief, and my belief is my mind; therefore all disease is in the
mind or belief. Now as our belief or disease is made up of ideas which are
matter, it is necessary to know what ideas we are in; for to cure the disease is to
correct the error; and as disease is what follows the error, destroy the cause, and
the effect will cease. How can this be done? By a knowledge of the law of
harmony. To illustrate this law of harmony I must take some law that you admit. I
will take the law of mathematics. You hear of a mathematical problem. You wish
to solve it; the answer is in the problem, the error is in it, the happiness and
misery are also in it. Your error is the cause of your sickness or trouble. Now to
cure your sickness or trouble is to correct the error. If you knew the real state of
things, you would not call on a person who knows no more than you do if you
knew the facts.
November 1859
Is the Curing of Disease a Science?
BU 171:1
[orig. untitled]
I answer, yes. You may ask, Who is the founder of that science? I answer, Jesus
Christ. Then comes the question, what proof have you that it is a science?
Because Jesus healed the sick, that of itself is no proof that He knew by what
means He did it.
If He healed in the manner reported He must have done it under the laws of
science, for there can be no such thing as accident with God. And if Jesus was
the Christ or God, He must have known these laws and the way He performed
His cures under them. When He was accused of curing the disease through
Beelzebub or ignorance, He said, "If I cast out devils (or diseases) through
Beelzebub or ignorance, my kingdom (or science) cannot stand; but if I cast out
devils (or disease) through a science or law, then my kingdom or law will stand
for it is not of this world." When others cast out disease, they did it by ignorance
or Beelzebub, and there i was no science in their cures. The effect produced
was the same, but not knowing the cause, the world was none the wiser for their
cures. At another time when told that one had been seen curing or casting out
devils in his name, he said, "Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is on our
part, but he that is not with us or is ignorant of the laws of curing, scattereth
abroad, for the world is none the wiser for such cures." Here Jesus makes a
difference between His mode of curing and theirs. If Jesus' cures were done by
the power of God and Jesus was the Christ or God, He must have known what
that power or science is and the difference between His science and their
ignorance. His science was His kingdom; therefore it was not of this world, and
theirs being of this world, He called it the kingdom of darkness. To enter into the
kingdom or science is to enter into its laws and thereby remove from us the evils
of this world. Disease is an evil; it belongs to this world of darkness.
To separate one world from the other is to separate truth from error, and as truth
is life and error death, the resurrection of the one is the destruction of the other.
November 1859
Life and Disease
BU 152:20, LC 1:11
[orig. untitled]
True life is health, knowledge and happiness, all in this belief. Death is disease,
error, misery and pain, all in this belief. Each of the above is called our
knowledge, and to believe in one is to disbelieve in the other, for our life is in our
belief. Death is the destruction of the one and the life of the other, or the disbelief
of the one and the belief of the other. Christ came to destroy death or belief and
bring life and immortality to light, and this life or belief was in Christ. They that
lost their life or belief for his sake or belief should find it. Upon this rock or belief I
build my faith and the gates of death cannot change me. Now your life is in your
belief and you are known by the fruits. My life is my belief. Now as I impart my
belief to you, it is your life or health; and as you receive my life or belief, you die
to your own; and my life in you grows to a belief and this belief is your health or
happiness.
November 1859