The Text - Section 7
Mind Is Not Intelligence
BU 152:9, LC 1:5
I told you that mind is not intelligence. Intelligence contains no thought, no
opinion or reason. Mind contains them all. Disease is the off-spring of the mind,
not of intelligence. All the above is the result of a chemical change, to bring about
or develop some scientific law that will put man in possession of a knowledge of
himself so that he will avoid the evils which man is subject to.
Thoughts are like electric sparks. Knowledge classifies and arranges them to a
language nearer to itself so as to use them for a medium to communicate an idea
to another. This is the state of all men. Under this state of mind all the laws of
science have been developed. Every day brings to light some new idea, not yet
developed, but bursting forth to the natural world. During this process, the mind
undergoes some very powerful effects which affect the body, even to the
destruction of the same. But this destruction contains no knowledge; it is only the
destruction of the mind. The knowledge still agitates the mind till its end is
accomplished. Then the mind returns to its quiet state, and the law is understood.
While all this is going on, as in all sciences, ideas come forth and the minds are
affected and try for the prize; for instance, the idea of navigating the air. All minds
are excited. Experiments are tried; accidents, as they are called, happen and
lives are lost to this world of error. But that which governs the life cannot be lost
but must mingle in with the idea of progression, not losing his identity, but what
he loses in weight or matter, he makes up in science or knowledge. Therefore,
accidents as they are called must happen, and we say, woe to them that are
affected; it would have been better, as we think, if they had never been born.
This would be true if it were the end of their existence. Now as these laws
develop themselves, is the trouble in the laws or in themselves? The accidents,
as they are called, are the errors or diseases and correcting those errors and
establishing the truth or science is curing the disease or establishing the law.
I have said that when any new idea comes up, a class of persons enter into the
investigation of it, but very few are ever able to put their ideas into practice or get
the prize, though most all can understand something of the theory. There is a
vast deal of difference between talking a theory and talking about a theory.
Talking about a theory is like talking about a science we do not understand; it
contains no knowledge. Talking a science is knowledge; therefore when a person
speaks the truth, it is knowledge, but when he speaks an opinion, there is no
knowledge in it. Knowledge contains no opinion, nor language, nor selfishness;
and, like charity, has no ill will towards its neighbour, but like the rays of the sun,
is always ready to impart heat to all who will come to the light.
Disease is one of the evil results of coming to the truth or knowledge. You will
understand that to cure a disease is to understand the law by which that disease
was produced. To make it more plain, I will suppose a case. In supposing a case,
the person you address must suppose himself perfectly well. Now as thoughts
contain a substance that is set in motion by error to form an idea, this substance
acts upon another, like a galvanic battery, and keeps up a deposit of thought till
the idea is formed in the mind. These thoughts may arise from different causes. I
will select one. Suppose you become acquainted with a person. The first
impression is a shock from his mind; this shock is kept up until an idea is formed
in your mind. The motive or disease is in the idea of the person from whom you
receive the shock. To you it contains no knowledge. You receive it as a sweet
morsel that you can roll under your tongue. You nurse and foster it in your breast
until it becomes a part of yourself. You form a strong attachment for it, and as it
contains the character of its father, you become attached to the author. When the
idea becomes developed and you find what it contains, you see you have been
fostering a viper that will sting you to the heart. Grief, passion, fear and love take
possession of your mind; reason enters into the combination, and a warfare
commences. Hatred takes the place of love, truth the place of ignorance,
firmness takes the place of weakness and a battle ensues. As truth works
through this error or disease, knowledge and happiness take its place; the evil is
cast out, the author or idea is despised and the mind is changed. You see the
deception. Your knowledge is the emancipation of the error and all that follows it;
the truth sets you free and happy, which is the cure.
Now sensations can be learned before they affect the body or produce disease
so that they fall harmless at your feet. It is necessary that all persons have a
teacher till they can teach themselves. The question then arises, How can a
person believe in one whom he has never heard, and how can he learn without a
teacher, and how can one teach without he be sent?
November 1859
Communication from One Said to Be Dead
BU L:2
[orig. untitled]
"William, will you give me your idea of death?" "I can give you my opinion, but
you would say an opinion is no proof, and therefore is of no force." "Well, tell me
what you think." "Well, if you want me to tell you what I have no proof of and what
is only my opinion, I suppose I can do it if it will be of any use. You remember
when I was sick in bed and one night when you were sitting by me, you know I
was very weak, and you all thought I was worse and I thought so. Mother thought
I would die, and I thought sometimes that I should; but don't you remember that I
told you to put me to sleep?" "Yes." "Well, that was to get rid of that feeling, and
when I went to sleep I felt a little nervous, I suppose, and I had a dream that I
never told of before because it troubled the family and it made them feel badly. I
dreamed that I was dead and you wanted me to go to Bangor and stay till the
trouble was over, and I seemed to go there, but I knew all about it. But as it was
a dream, and the association made me feel so badly, I could never speak of it to
mother, for it seemed they had the same dream, so I kept it to myself." "How long
did you sleep?" "Till the trouble was over, and when I woke up, it seemed like a
reality." "Did you have any sort of knowledge in this sleep of your opinion while
awake?" "Yes, I reasoned I was with you, just as you and I used to be when you
would talk me to sleep before, but I never was conscious before of the idea of
death having so much effect on a person. For I could reason with myself, and I
am satisfied if I had been taught to believe as some people do, my belief would
have governed my dream, and I should have been ten times more unhappy; for
when I woke up it did not affect me so long, from the fact that I knew it was only
an opinion. And you say that is no proof, and I always remembered that. But I
know how to pity those who take an opinion for a truth, for an opinion is as real to
the person who believes it as though it were true.
"As I have reasoned myself into the belief that man never dies, I shall not try to
give myself any trouble about others' beliefs. If people believe that they die and
their spirits come back and talk with their friends, I have no doubt but what they
do. But it is their opinon, and that is of no consequence except to lessen their
belief that here is such a state as death; perhaps it gives them some happiness.
,But as far as I am concerned I am satisfied with my belief." 'Suppose I should
believe that you were dead?" "Suppose that you ,should, would that make it so?"
"No." "Suppose I should believe that you were dead, what would you say to
that?" "I should say, 'if I knew anything, I know I am alive." "Well, can't you be as
charitable toward another as you would like them to be towards you?" "Yes, but I
can't believe that you are dead." "Did you ever know a dead man to speak?" "No,
but you know that we all believe that the body dies and the soul lives." "Yes, but
did you ever see a soul?" "No." "Then why do you believe the soul lives when
you say an opinion is of no force?" "Have you any proof that a person is alive
when you see him dead?" "No, only my belief." "You say that your belief is of no
force, for it contains no proof, is it not so?" "Yes." "Well, suppose I admit that I am
dead, will that make you any better satisfied?" "No." "Well, what shall I admit." "I
don't know, but I wish I really knew that I was talking to you." "Don't you believe
your own senses?" "Certainly, but you don't come within my senses." "Why not?"
"Because I can't see you." "Then because you think you can't see me, I am
dead?" "Yes." "Can you see John?" "No." "How do you know?" "I think he is
alive." "That is nothing but an opinion which you say is of no force." "Will you give
me your opinion about it?" "I have no opinion about it. I know that I am here now,
and that is all I care about it. If I am dead, it is news to me. I don't know any more
about it than Lucius knew when he was asleep, that he was asleep. So if death is
only a mesmeric sleep, it is not much to go through."
December 1859
Disease II
BU 152:16, LC 1:11
[orig. WHAT IS DISEASE?]
What is disease? It is what follows the effect of a false direction given to the mind
or spiritual matter. The body is composed of matter, not mind, but when agitated,
that part which is called heat and is thrown off is mind or spirit. It is not
intelligence but a medium to be used according to the direction given it by a
power independent of itself, like that direction given to mechanical power. The
effect of this direction, call it what you please, on the body, is to destroy itself, for
its life is its own destruction.
December 1859
The curing of disease must be governed by a law. Sin or death is the
transgression of that law, and when there is no law there is no transgression.
Love II
BU 152:21, LC 1:12
[orig. untitled]
What is the strongest feeling in man or woman? Love for the sake of love for
others. For this love they will lay down their lives when directed by knowledge, for
no passion can follow true love. What makes what is called animal passion?
Ignorance or error of ourselves, not understanding the truth. Love contains no
fear; ignorance puts a false construction on love. Here lies all the trouble. Love
and ignorance are the mother and father of all error or disease. Now to know
ourselves is to know the truth of this problem. Love is an element of itself without
any form; it has no length nor breadth, nor height or depth; it neither comes nor
goes; it fills all space and melts all error down that comes within its power. Its
power is its heat, its heat is its love, it is heaven. For this love Christ laid down all
his animal life or passions for mankind that they might understand themselves
and be saved from the endless hell or misery that follows our ignorance of this
power or love. On these two powers, love and ignorance, hang all the law and
the gospels.
The gospel is love, the law is error; therefore when you are under the law, you
become subject to the laws and penalties. When you are free from the law, it has
no power over you. This law of love is that love in mankind that is working in us
or error to bring us to truth and set us free from the law of sin or death. The laws
of love are the destruction of the laws of error, and they make us a law to
ourselves. This law of love has no penalties or prisons, but like the bird that flies
in the sky is not troubled with earthly laws but is a law to itself. Its purity is its
buoyancy; its ignorance is its weight or stupidity. Each is governed by a sort of
intelligence, like science and ignorance. As ignorance and superstition are what
are under the law of error, science and truth are their opponents; and the mind is
the medium of them both, like the telegraph wire, a medium of truth and error.
Love is a substance like food that comes from heaven to feed the soul. Error is
matter and contains reason and all the faculties. Love is the true answer to our
desire; in our desire is our hope, and when we get that which we hope for, it
contains nothing but true knowledge or love-no sorrow, nor pain, nor grief, nor
shame, nor fear.
December 1859
Love III
BU 2:116, LC 1:16
[orig. untitled]
The identity of woman's soul can be compared to a fire which throws an equal
heat on all around. This heat is pure love, containing no knowledge, no
selfishness, but is like the love of a mother to her child. This love is little
understood and causes doubts and questionings. It is an element of itself,
containing no matter and asks nothing in return. Ignorance and superstition put
false constructions on this love and think intelligence is contained in it. Its
language is itself. It speaks not as man speaks, for it contains no error. It
answers our inquiry by an impression which cannot be misunderstood if man
knows himself. This love is what leads man to truth.
When I speak of man, I speak of the errors and ignorance of the world, and the
heat that arises from this error contains the character of its author. When these
two elements meet, which I will call man and woman, then comes the temptation,
and as love never makes war for gain, it knows no evil. As error contains
selfishness, dishonesty, jealousy and disease, it cannot see truth or love in any
element differing from its own. It therefore judges others by its own standard.
This element, when excited by love to lead us to truth, contains all kinds of
disease and error and all mankind embrace both elements, and the separation is
the resurrection from error into truth. As we learn the truth, we discard the error.
True knowledge is in true love. False knowledge is in error. And as God is in the
former, He contains no matter. As man is the latter, he is made up of truth and
error. Now as there is a gradual progression from error to knowledge, our
identities act in the two elements of pure and combined love; for man has two
elements and is subject to the one which he obeys. The question arises, are
these elements capable of separation? I answer, Yes, by the mother to her
infant, but not understandingly. She was that law to herself and did the things
contained in the law without a knowledge of the law.
December 1859
My Theory
BU 1:35
[orig. untitled; extract from a letter]
All effects produced on the human frame are the result of a chemical change of
the fluids with or without our knowledge, and all the varieties and changes are
accompanied by a peculiar state of mind. If the mind should be directed to any
particular organ, that organ might become deranged or it might not. In either case
the trouble is in the mind, for the body is only the house for the mind to dwell in,
and we put a value upon it according to its worth. Therefore if your mind has
been deceived by some invisible enemy into a belief, you have put it into the form
of a disease, with or without your knowledge. By my theory or truth I come in
contact with your enemy and restore you to health and happiness.
This I do partly mentally and partly by talking till I correct the wrong impressions
and establish the truth, and the truth is the cure. I use no medicines of any kind
and make no applications. I am no spiritualist after the manner of the Rochester
rappings and I am not dictated to by any living man but am guided by the
dictations of my own conscience as a lawyer is in pleading a case governed by
the evidence. A sick man is like a criminal cast into prison for disobeying some
law that man has set up. I plead his case, and if I get the verdict, the criminal is
set at liberty. If I fail, I lose the case. His own judgment is his judge, his feelings
are his evidence. If my explanation is satisfactory to the judge, you will give me
the verdict. This ends the trial, and the patient is released.
December 1859
Two Sciences
BU 57:17, LC 1:27
There are two sciences: one of this world, and the other of a spiritual world, or
two effects produced upon the mind or matter by two directions. The wisdom of
this world experimenting, acts in this way: it puts its own construction on all
sensations produced on the mind and establishes its knowledge after the effect is
produced. For instance, a child feels a pain in its head. The child has no idea
what it is, and if the mother is as ignorant of its origin as the child, no effect of
any amount is produced. But the wisdom of this world arrives in the form of a
lady. She hears the account of the pain from the mother, and assuming a wise
look gives her opinion in regard to the trouble, and says the child is threatened
with dropsy of the brain because she shows the same symptoms of another child
who died of that disease. This account excites the mother, whose mind acts upon
the child. The explanation of the wise lady gives direction to the mind, and
presently the work commences to show that she is right. A doctor is called who is
as wise as the lady, and not being willing to be outdone by her, he puts in a few
extras, like congestion of the brain, etc. and says the lady was right but did not
get the whole of the matter. So he has two chances after the child is killed to
prove his superior skill over the lady.
It sometimes happens that a controversy arises between the two parties, each
trying to establish their own opinion so as to have the disease turn their way. In
the meantime the patient is left to her own self and gets well. This is all the
good result I ever saw from such a controversy. The patient is a mere tool in the
hands of these blind guides who attempt to cure her. While this controversy is
going on, seeing that all each party wants is to establish their own way, the
patient sends for me in her dilemma. I arrive and a fire-brand is thrown in
between the combatants. I contend that the child has no dropsy of the brain but
only some slight shock upon its mind, and quieting the child is all that is
necessary for a cure. Here the controversy ends. If the mother employs me I
prove my theory and the child gets well. If they prove theirs, they kill the child;
and an examination is made which establishes their theory, and I am a humbug
or quack. If I take the case and the child gets well, then the child was not sick,
only a little nervous.
December 1859
Your Position
BU 1:32, LC 1:22
[orig. WHAT IS YOUR POSITION IN REGARD TO THE WORLD]
What is your position in regard to the world or the errors of the world? You
cannot embrace both. If you embrace the world you embrace its errors and
become a servant to its laws, and the spirit or truth departs to the God that gave
it. But if you hold on to the truth, the world is in subjection to you and instead of
becoming a servant, you become a teacher of truth to the world and lead other
minds to the truth.
Instead of your happiness being in the world, the world's happiness is in you.
Here is your true position and this is the struggle you will have to go through.
Shall the world lead you, or shall you lead the world? This is the point that is to
be settled in your mind.
Now I will give you the signs of the times. Many shall come in the name of the
truth and say, do this, or do that-music, dancing, and all sorts of amusements.
But truth says, Beware, be not deceived; seek first the truth and all the above will
be a pleasure to you. To know whether you are born of the truth, the truth shall
show just your position in the world. Then you can take the lead and the world
will listen to you. Then the kingdom of this world has become subject to the
kingdom of heaven, for error has become the subject of truth.
This is a trying scene to go through. It seems as though you must leave all the
world's pleasure and seclude yourself from society. But this is not the case; you
will like society all the better. For where the carcass is there will all the eagles be
gathered; so where error is, truth will go to lead the captive free. This will make
you love amusement for the sake of doing good. Then you will rejoice with those
that rejoice and weep with those that weep and your happiness is their
happiness. Then you will be loved and respected for your love or knowledge and
you will draw around you those minds that are in harmony with yours. Then will
the old ideas come and knock at your door for admittance, but the truth will say,
Depart from me, ye cursed, for when I wanted truth you gave me no answer;
when ignorant or naked, you gave me no truth or clothes; therefore depart ye
cursed, into everlasting darkness where ignorance and error dwell.
December 1859