BACK OF THE APPEARANCE IS THE REALITY
HEALING IS NOT CREATING A PERFECT BODY OR A PERFECT IDEA; IT IS REVEALING AN IDEA WHICH IS ALREADY PERFECT. HEALING IS NOT A PROCESS. IT IS A REVELATION, through the thought of the practitioner to the thought of the patient. There may be a process in healing but not a process of healing. The process in healing is the mental work and the time it takes the practitioner to convince himself of the perfectness of his patient; and the length of time it takes the patient to realize this perfectness.
It is necessary that the practitioner realize a perfect body; he cannot realize this unless he has already become convinced that the perfect body is there. If he has come to this conclusion, he must not deny it. There is a perfect heart and a perfect idea of heart; there is a perfect head and a perfect idea of head; perfect lungs and a perfect idea of lungs. The practitioner must realize that back of the appearance is the Reality, and it is his business to uncover this Reality. He does this through a process of obliterating false thought; he must deny false conclusions, bring out the evidence of perfection, and produce the healing. Disease is a fact but not a truth; it is an experience but not a reality.
SEEING PERFECTION
When Jesus said to the man, "Stretch forth thine hand," He undoubtedly saw a perfect hand. Did he see the without or the within as being perfect? If everything is mental, and if he saw an imperfect hand instead of a perfect one, no good result could have come through His seeing, according to the law of cause and effect. This is true of all demonstration in healing. A practitioner does not treat a sick man; if he does, he not only will not heal him, but he might become sick himself. The reason for this is simple; he will have entered into the vibration of the patient's thought, and will, himself, experience the results of that vibration. This is an experience that many have when they first begin to practice; they take on the conditions of their patients. So, from what we know, Jesus must have seen only the perfect hand. Even though He might have recognized the false condition, as far as His word of healing was concerned it must have been a recognition of perfection, else it could not have healed.
We must think of the subjective state of our thought as our atmosphere in the Universal Mind; for we cannot separate ourselves from the Universe. There is but One Mind and we are in It; we are in It as intelligence; It accepts our thought and acts upon it. Destructive emotions, desires or ideas, unless they are neutralized, will grow into some bodily condition, and may produce disease. Disease is thought manifested, no matter what the disease may be. We are surrounded by a Receptive Intelligence which receives the impress of our thought and acts upon it.
HEALING LUNG TROUBLE
Suppose a person comes to a practitioner and says: "I am dying of tuberculosis." What is tuberculosis? It is a belief in lung trouble; but lung itself is a universal idea, a perfect idea; and nothing has ever happened to it. It was, is, and will be; but man, through the creative medium of his thought, has caused an appearance of disorder and disease in the lung. Back of all such trouble is a consuming passion, an unexpressed emotion, a strong desire. Healing will take place to the degree that the practitioner neutralizes this belief and perceives the presence of a perfect lung. He realizes that there is a perfect body, perfect lung, perfect being, perfect God, perfect man, perfect expression; he must bring his own thought up to this perception. The word he speaks is law; it is power; it knows itself to be what it is. It is the law unto the case. He is now conscious that the word he speaks will neutralize and entirely destroy the false thought and condition. He says: "There is one body; this body is the Body of God; and it is Perfect; it is never depleted; its vitality is never lowered. There is no wasting away of substance or burning up of substance; for substance is eternal, changeless and perfect." He goes on until he covers what in his own thought appears to be the cause of the false condition. If he does this day after day, the patient begins to get better; though the practitioner never thinks of his patient, other than that his word is being spoken for him; and he never wonders whether his word is taking effect, because he speaks into Intelligence and lets It act. Perhaps, if it is a case that requires a great deal of attention, he treats morning, afternoon, and evening, each time for a few moments; otherwise ten or fifteen minutes each day should be sufficient.
Never think that a sick person is one who simply has a sick body. If you do you will find yourself treating the body. Why shouldn't we treat the body? Because the cause of the disease is not in the body. The body is an effect and not a cause. KNOW THAT BODIES AND CONDITIONS NEVER MOVE; THEY ARE ALWAYS MOVED UPON. A sick person is one who has a sick thought.
What about accidents? It is part of our belief that as soon as, and to the degree that, our minds become adjusted harmoniously to the Universe, we will be less likely to have accidents.
WE DO NOT SEND OUT THOUGHTS
In practice, we do not try to send thoughts to our patients; for there is but One Mind in the universe. We will say "A" represents a man who is sick; "B" represents a practitioner. "B" thinks into Mind; and whether we say he is thinking within himself or somewhere else does not matter; he is always thinking into Mind, because he is in Mind. "But," one might say, "the patient thinks into his own subjective mind"; yes, but his subjective mind is only his atmosphere in the One Mind. We must get this very clearly, else some day there will be a wall between our thought and its ability to heal some condition, or some person who is at a physical distance.
Both the patient and the practitioner think into One Common Mind; therefore when a patient comes to a practitioner for healing the practitioner does not try to hypnotize him or suggest anything to him; he declares the Truth about him. And to the degree that he brings his own consciousness to a true recognition of perfection—provided there is a receptivity in the thought of the patient—that man will be healed; nothing can hinder it. The practitioner does not try to hold a thought or send out a thought; he simply tries to convince himself of the perfection of his patient. He does not try to make his word operate through his patient but only attempts to know the Truth of what he states. The patient must be receptive to the Truth, and then the Truth will heal him. The practitioner is dealing with Universal Law, backed by Omnipotent Power, which is Divine Principle. This is what Jesus meant when He said: "Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free."
Every time we think, we are thinking into a receptive, plastic Substance, which receives the impress of our thought. When we stop to realize how subtle thoughts are, how unconsciously we think negation, how easy it is to get down and out, we will see that each is perpetuating his own condition. This is why people go from bad to worse, or from success to a greater success.
VISION
Eye trouble is a belief in limited vision; it is a belief in a separated vision. God sees, and His is the Only Mind there is. It is our Mind; consequently, man sees, whether he knows it or not. Do not fear to claim this; because it is the truth. There is no obstruction to vision; there is no near vision nor far vision; there is no false vision; there is no weak vision nor blurred vision. There is One Perfect Seeing, which is Now seeing through and in me.
HEALING CONSTIPATION
Constipation is due to a belief in limitation or burden and is healed by knowing that there is no restriction, no inaction, no limited action, no bondage, no fear, no congestion. Make the thought realize that there is nothing but freedom; that all action is normal, harmonious and perfect.
Very often the word of healing is spoken and does not appear to operate because some obstruction hinders it. Some people are obstinate, resistant, stubborn; and they must be healed of these beliefs. There is no resistance to Truth, no thought anywhere which can hinder consciousness from perceiving the Truth. Whatever the false condition is, ARRAY MENTAL ARGUMENT AGAINST IT IN AN OPPOSITE MANNER. Turn the thought over and over, until, either by reason or by chance, you hit upon the thing that is wrong. Any one can heal if he will do this, just as any one, if he goes into the garden and drops seed into the ground, will cause plants
to grow. Any one can heal who can get away from the effect long enough to perceive a different cause.
In every treatment the thought of fear must always be handled. One should realize that there is no fear, nothing to be afraid of; and that fear cannot operate through man.
DISEASE NOT AN ENTITY
Man is fundamentally perfect; this is our whole premise; Perfect God, Perfect Man, Perfect Being; this is the whole basis of the argument. Always separate disease from the person suffering with it. Declare very frequently that disease is neither person, place nor thing; that it has no location, no avenue through which to express itself, no expression, no one through whom to express. Never locate disease, because thoughts are things, and if located they will operate. Always separate the belief from the believer, for nothing ails the real man; nothing ever did or ever will.
THROAT TROUBLE
In treating throat trouble the thought to handle is sensitiveness. No one would ever have throat trouble if his feelings were never hurt. You heal a person of sensitiveness by teaching him that no one desires to hurt him, and that no one could if he did so desire. When one becomes really individualized his feelings cannot be hurt; for he will feel complete within himself.
CONGESTION
In colds, congestion and like conditions, the thought to heal is confusion. There should be a consciousness of poise, a recognition of peace; and when this comes into the individual's experience he will no longer have colds.
PARALYSIS
People could be healed of all forms of paralysis through the elimination of the belief in bondage. Use the thought that Life cannot become paralyzed or inactive. As in constipation, there is a thought of restriction back of the thought of paralysis; and often there is a very emotional nature to deal with; and often, though not always, a lot of stubbornness and resistance to heal.
GROWTHS
If the thought of false growths can be erased the manifestation can be healed. Declare, "Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." The Heavenly Father is the Reality of Man and is Eternal Presence and Perfection. Dissolve the idea of false growths by knowing that there is nothing for them to feed upon. Erase the belief in your own mentality and you will remove it from the mentality of your patient, and thereby heal his body.
TREATING CHILDREN
In the case of children, remember that the thoughts of the parents influence the child. We will suppose the child's mother is constantly saying: "The poor thing; the poor, little, sick thing!" From the human standpoint this is natural, but it makes the child sick just the same, no matter how loving it may be. This is called unconscious, or innocent, malpractice. It is malpractice, because it is the wrong use of thought; innocent, because it is not intended to harm; unconscious, because she doesn't know what she is doing; ignorant, because she doesn't know the results of such mental action. In such a case the practitioner must realize that there is no mental influence operating through the child, except a belief in perfection.
POWER OF THE WORD
Be specific in treating, be definite and direct in your mental work. You are dealing with Intelligence, so deal with It intelligently. The treatment must realize the patient as perfect; must recognize the word as power; must know that it breaks down every man-made law and casts it out; that it is the law of harmony and the recognition of the Presence of Good; that within itself it is unbounded, and equipped with the power to execute itself; and it must know that it does this. It must know that there is nothing that can change it; that there is no belief which can hinder it; that it cannot be reversed, mislaid, misplaced, neutralized or destroyed by any opposing force; but that it does the thing that it is supposed to do. And it must know that it is continuous and will operate until it does all that it is supposed to do.
Jesus said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away." Isaiah understood something of this when he said: "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void."
NO AGE
There are certain thoughts that should always be handled, such as thoughts of race-suggestion, inherited tendencies, prenatal conditions, environment, and mental influences and suggestion. A treatment must be so formulated as to recognize that there is but One Mind; consequently, no thought can flow through It of depression, fear, or suggestion of imperfection. Man is Birthless, Deathless, Ageless Spirit; and this should be the consciousness of our work. This leaves nothing to be born, mature, decay and die. When this thought shall be made clear in the consciousness of the race, people will no longer grow old. Life cannot grow old; It is always the same.
MEMORY
Locke, in "Human Understanding," defines memory as: "The power to revive again in our minds those ideas which, after imprinting, have disappeared, or have been, as it were, laid aside out of sight." Memory is the ability to remember things that have happened; therefore, if something happened two years ago, of which we are not at present thinking, we can remember it, because it is in our subjective thought. We say that we are getting absent-minded, which means that we cannot recall thoughts. A person may be healed of this belief by knowing that the One Mind never forgets Itself. This Mind is our Mind now.
GUIDANCE IN TREATING
If, in treating, it seems impossible to know just what thought to handle, it is well to be still and know that Intelligence within will tell you what to say and how to say it. By doing this some idea will come and you will find that, by using it, you will reach the case.
HOW TO HEAL
Never say: "Here is a patient whom I must heal"; for, if you see him from this angle, how are you going to heal him? If you see a sick man he will remain sick, so far as you are concerned; you cannot heal while you see sickness. Disease is neither person, place nor thing; nobody believes in it; it has no action or reaction; it is neither cause nor effect; it has no law to support it and no one to operate through; there is no one to talk about it or believe in it.
You have nothing to do with the patient's thought as a personality, for as your own thought clears it will heal him. When you give a treatment, first eliminate all doubt and fear from your own thought. Realize that you are a Divine Idea and that your word is the law unto the thing unto which it is spoken. This is what gave Jesus his power; "For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."
REMOVE DOUBT
Suppose a practitioner is not able to convince himself of the Truth of the statements which he makes; how is he going to bring himself to the point of belief? By repeating the affirmation, dwelling on its meaning, meditating upon the spiritual significance of it until the subjective state of his thinking becomes clarified. This is the only reason for repeating treatments; for one treatment would heal anything if there were no doubts. Repeated treatments induce within consciousness a definite concept of an already established fact, even though the fact may not already have become objectified; this is why mental healing is a science. There is no room for doubt in a treatment.
Realize that you treat with your understanding through the Law. Never say: "I am not good enough to treat." There are no good, better and best; this is a delusion; for one is as good as another in the Truth.
Do not allow yourself to become superstitious; for you are dealing with a normal, natural law in the mental and spiritual world. This law is just as real as any other known law. Don't say: "I am not sure that I have enough power to treat"; you cannot heal with this mental attitude. Say, "As I let fall the forms of my thought they are operated upon by Principles I believe. This is the Law of God, the law of man and the Law of the Universe." Never say: "This disease is hard to heal while another is easy." If you find yourself saying this, at once heal yourself. This comes from a belief that we are dealing with a limited power.
NO FEAR
Suppose when you begin to treat, a great surge of fear comes over you and attempts to tell you that you cannot give a good treatment. The thing to do is to treat this fear as a suggestion which has no p
ower and which cannot convince you that you lack the power to heal. Say: "There is nothing in me which can doubt my ability to heal." This will neutralize the fear and free the effort to accomplish.
How do we know when we have treated a patient long enough? When he is well he will need no more treatments; until this time comes treat every day for a realization of perfection.
Does it make any difference whether or not the patient is taking medicine? Not a bit. If this form of healing gives him any relief, let him have it. We all need all the relief we can get. The patient is healed when he no longer needs medicine. Forget the medicine and heal him mentally and he will no longer take pills.
Some think that they dishonor God when they take a pill. God knows nothing about pills; this is superstition, pure and simple; mostly simple. Discard all such thoughts and give your entire attention to realizing perfection for your patient.
Healing is not accomplished through will power but by knowing the Truth; this Truth is that man is already Perfect, no matter what the appearance may be. Holding thoughts has nothing to do with treatment. If you find, when you begin to give treatments, that the process gives you a headache, know that you are doing your work on the mental plane and not through spiritual realization. A treatment should leave the practitioner in a better condition than before he gave it; otherwise it is not a good one.
One might ask: "Is all disease a thought held in the conscious mind of the patient?" No, not necessarily; it may be a subconscious thought; or it may be the result of many thoughts which, gathered together, produce a definite result.
The Science of Mind Page 12