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Title: The Science of Being Well
Author: Wallace Delois Wattles
Release Date: October 18, 2010 [EBook #33917]
Language: English
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[Illustration:
Very Truly Yours
W D Wattles]
THE
SCIENCE OF
BEING WELL
BY
WALLACE D. WATTLES
Author of "The Science of Getting Rich,"
etc.
PRICE, $1.00
PUBLISHED BY
ELIZABETH TOWNE
HOLYOKE, MASS.
1910
COPYRIGHT, SEPTEMBER, 1910
BY
WALLACE D. WATTLES
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE 5
I. THE PRINCIPLE OF HEALTH 9
II. THE FOUNDATION OF FAITH 17
III. LIFE AND ITS ORGANISMS 27
IV. WHAT TO THINK 35
V. FAITH 46
VI. USE OF THE WILL 56
VII. HEALTH FROM GOD 65
VIII. SUMMARY OF THE MENTAL ACTIONS 74
IX. WHEN TO EAT 80
X. WHAT TO EAT 89
XI. HOW TO EAT 99
XII. HUNGER AND APPETITES 108
XIII. IN A NUTSHELL 116
XIV. BREATHING 125
XV. SLEEP 133
XVI. SUPPLEMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS 139
XVII. A SUMMARY OF THE SCIENCE OF BEING WELL 151
PREFACE.
This volume is the second of a series, the first of which is "THE
SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH." As that book is intended solely for those who
want money, so this is for those who want health, and who want a
practical guide and handbook, not a philosophical treatise. It is an
instructor in the use of the universal Principle of Life, and my effort
has been to explain the way in so plain and simple a fashion that the
reader, though he may have given no previous study to New Thought or
metaphysics, may readily follow it to perfect health. While retaining
all essentials, I have carefully eliminated all non-essentials; I have
used no technical, abstruse, or difficult language, and have kept the
one point in view at all times.
As its title asserts, the book deals with science, not speculation. The
monistic theory of the universe--the theory that matter, mind,
consciousness, and life are all manifestations of one Substance--is now
accepted by most thinkers; and if you accept this theory, you cannot
deny the logical conclusions you will find herein. Best of all, the
methods of thought and action prescribed have been tested by the author
in his own case, and in the case of hundreds of others during twelve
years of practice, with continuous and unfailing success. I can say of
the Science of Being Well that it works; and that wherever its laws are
complied with, it can no more fail to work than the science of geometry
can fail to work. If the tissues of your body have not been so destroyed
that continued life is impossible, you can get well; and if you will
think and act in a Certain Way, you will get well.
If the reader wishes to fully understand the monistic theory of the
cosmos, he is recommended to read Hegel and Emerson; to read also "The
Eternal News," a pamphlet by J. J. Brown, 300 Cathcart Road, Govanhill,
Glasgow, Scotland. Some enlightenment may also be found in a series of
articles by the author, which were published in _The Nautilus_, Holyoke,
Mass., during the year 1909, under the title, "What Is Truth?"
Those who wish more detailed information as to the performance of the
voluntary functions--eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping--may read
"New Science of Living and Healing," "Letters to a Woman's Husband," and
"The Constructive Use of Foods," booklets by W. D. Wattles, which may be
obtained from the publishers of this book. I would also recommend the
writings of Horace Fletcher, and of Edward Hooker Dewey. Read all these,
if you like, as a sort of buttress to your faith; but let me warn you
against making the mistake of studying many conflicting theories, and
practicing, at the same time, parts of several different "systems"; for
if you get well, it must be by giving your WHOLE MIND to the _right_ way
of thinking and living. Remember that the SCIENCE OF BEING WELL claims
to be a complete and sufficient guide in every particular. Concentrate
upon the way of thinking and acting it prescribes, and follow it in
every detail, and you will get well; or if you are already well, you
will remain so. Trusting that you will go on until the priceless
blessing of perfect health is yours, I remain,
Very truly yours,
WALLACE D. WATTLES.
CHAPTER I.
THE PRINCIPLE OF HEALTH.
In the personal application of the Science of Being Well, as in that of
the Science of Getting Rich, certain fundamental truths must be known in
the beginning, and accepted without question. Some of these truths we
state here:--
The perfectly natural performance of function constitutes health; and
the perfectly natural performance of function results from the natural
action of the Principle of Life. There is a Principle of Life in the
universe; it is the One Living Substance from which all things are made.
This Living Substance permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces
of the universe; it is in and through all things, like a very refined
and diffusible ether. All life comes from it; its life is all the life
there is.
Man is a form of this Living Substance, and has within him a Principle
of Health. (The word Principle is used as meaning source.) The Principle
of Health in man, when in full constructive activity, causes all the
voluntary functions of his life to be perfectly performed.
It is the Principle of Health in man which really works all healing, no
matter what "system" or "remedy" is employed; and this Principle of
Health is brought into Constructive Activity by thinking in a Certain
Way.
I proceed now to prove this last statement. We all know that cures are
wrought by all the different, and often opposite, methods employed in
the various branches of the healing art. The allopath, who gives a
strong dose of a counter-poison, cures his patient; and the homeopath,
who gives a diminutive dose of the poison most similar to that of the
disease, also cures it. If allopathy ever cured any given disease, it is
certain that homeopathy never cured that disease; and if homeopathy ever
cured an ailment, allopathy could not possibly cure that ailment. The
two systems are radically opposite in theory and practice; and yet both
"cure" most diseases. And even the remedies used by physicians in any
one school are not the same. Go with a case of indigestion to half a
dozen doctors, and compare their prescriptions; it is more than likely
that none of the ingredients of any one of them will be in the others.
Must we not conclude that their patients are healed by a Principle of
Health within themselves, and not by something in the varying
"remedies"?
Not only this, but we find the same ailments cured by the osteopath with
manipulations of the spine; by the faith healer with prayer, by the food
scientist with bills of fare, by the Christian Scientist with a
formulated creed statement, by the mental scientist with affirmation,
and by the hygienists with differing plans of living. What conclusion
can we come to in the face of all these facts but that there is a
Principle of Health which is the same in all people, and which really
accomplishes all the cures; and that there is something in all the
"systems" which, under favorable conditions, arouses the Principle of
Health to action? That is, medicines, manipulations, prayers, bills of
fare, affirmations, and hygienic practices cure whenever they cause the
Principle of Health to become active; and fail whenever they do not
cause it to become active. Does not all this indicate that the results
depend upon the way the patient thinks about the remedy, rather than
upon the ingredients in the prescription?
There is an old story which furnishes so good an illustration on this
point that I will give it here. It is said that in the middle ages, the
bones of a saint, kept in one of the monasteries, were working miracles
of healing; on certain days a great crowd of the afflicted gathered to
touch the relics, and all who did so were healed. On the eve of one of
these occasions, some sacrilegious rascal gained access to the case in
which the wonder-working relics were kept and stole the bones; and in
the morning, with the usual crowd of sufferers waiting at the gates, the
fathers found themselves shorn of the source of the miracle-working
power. They resolved to keep the matter quiet, hoping that by doing so
they might find the thief and recover their treasures; and hastening to
the cellar of the convent they dug up the bones of a murderer, who had
been buried there many years before. These they placed in the case,
intending to make some plausible excuse for the failure of the saint to
perform his usual miracles on that day; and then they let in the waiting
assemblage of the sick and infirm. To the intense astonishment of those
in the secret, the bones of the malefactor proved as efficacious as
those of the saint; and the healing went on as before. One of the
fathers is said to have left a history of the occurrence, in which he
confessed that, in his judgment, the healing power had been in the
people themselves all the time, and never in the bones at all.
Whether the story is true or not, the conclusion applies to all the
cures wrought by all the systems. The Power that Heals is in the patient
himself; and whether it shall become active or not does not depend upon
the physical or mental means used, but upon the way the patient thinks
about these means. There is a Universal Principle of Life, as Jesus
taught; a great spiritual Healing Power; and there is a Principle of
Health in man which is related to this Healing Power. This is dormant or
active, according to the way a man thinks. He can always quicken it into
activity by thinking in a Certain Way.
Your getting well does not depend upon the adoption of some system, or
the finding of some remedy; people with your identical ailments have
been healed by all systems and all remedies. It does not depend upon
climate; some people are well and others are sick in all climates. It
does not depend upon avocation, unless in case of those who work under
poisonous conditions; people are well in all trades and professions.
Your getting well depends upon your beginning to think--and act--in a
Certain Way.
The way a man thinks about things is determined by what he believes
about them. His thoughts are determined by his faith, and the results
depend upon his making a personal application of his faith. If a man has
faith in the efficacy of a medicine, and is able to apply that faith to
himself, that medicine will certainly cause him to be cured; but though
his faith be great, he will not be cured unless he applies it to
himself. Many sick people have faith for others but none for
themselves. So, if he has faith in a system of diet, and can personally
apply that faith, it will cure him; and if he has faith in prayers and
affirmations and personally applies his faith, prayers and affirmations
will cure him. Faith, personally applied, cures; and no matter how great
the faith or how persistent the thought, it will not cure without
personal application. The Science of Being Well, then, includes the two
fields of thought and action. To be well it is not enough that man
should merely think in a Certain Way; he must apply his thought to
himself, and he must express and externalize it in his outward life by
acting in the same way that he thinks.
CHAPTER II.
THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH.
Before man can think in the Certain Way which will cause his diseases to
be healed, he must believe in certain truths which are here stated:--
All things are made from one Living Substance, which, in its original
state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe.
While all visible things are made from It, yet this Substance, in its
first formless condition is in and through all the visible forms that It
has made. Its life is in All, and its intelligence is in All.
This Substance creates by thought, and its method is by taking the form
of that which it thinks about. The thought of a form held by this
substance causes it to assume that form; the thought of a motion causes
it to institute that motion. Forms are created by this substance in
moving itself into certain attitudes or positions. When Original
Substance wishes to create a given form, it thinks of the motions which
will produce that form. When it wishes to create a world, it thinks of
the motions, perhaps extending through ages, which will result in its
coming into the attitude and form of the world; and these motions are
made. When it wishes to create an oak tree, it thinks of the sequences
of movement, perhaps extending through ages, which will result in the
form of an oak tree; and these motions are made. The particular
sequences of motion by which differing forms should be produced were
established in the beginning; they are changeless. Certain motions
instituted in the Formless Substance will forever produce certain forms.
Man's body is formed from the Original Substance, and is the result of
certain motions, which first existed as thoughts of Original Substance.
The motions which produce, renew, and repair the body of man are called
functions, and these functions are of two classes: voluntary and
involuntary. The involuntary functions are under the control of the
Principle of Health in man, and are performed in a perfectly healthy
manner so long as man thinks in a certain way. The voluntary functions
of life are eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping. These, entirely
or in part, are under the direction of man's conscious mind; and he can
perform them in a perfectly healthy way if he will. If he does not
perform them in a healthy way, he cannot long be well. So we see that if
man thinks in a certain way, and eats, drinks, breathes, and sleeps in a
corresponding way, he will be well.
The involuntary functions of man's life are under the direct control of
the Principle of Health, and so long as man thinks in a perfectly
healthy way, these functions are perfectly performed; for the action of
the Principle of Health is largely directed by man's conscious thought,
affecting his sub-conscious mind.
Man is a thinking center, capable of originating thought; and as he does
not know everything, he makes mistakes and thinks error. Not knowing
everything, he believes things to be true which are not true. Man holds
in his thought the idea of diseased and abnormal functioning and
conditions, and so perverts the action of the Principle of Health,
causing diseased and abnormal functioning and conditions within his own
body. In the Original Substance there are held only the thoughts of
perfect motion; perfect and healthy function; complete life. God never
thinks disease or imperfection. But for countless ages men have held
thoughts of disease, abnormality, old age, and death; and the perverted
functioning resulting from these thoughts has become a part of the
inheritance of the race. Our ancestors have, for many generations, held
imperfect ideas concerning human form and functioning; and we begin life
with racial sub-conscious impressions of imperfection and disease.
This is not natural, or a part of the plan of nature. The purpose of
nature can be nothing else than the perfection of life. This we see from
the very nature of life itself. It is the nature of life to continually
advance toward more perfect living; advancement is the inevitable result
of the very act of living. Increase is always the result of active
living; whatever lives must live more and more. The seed, lying in the
granary, has life, but it is not living. Put it into the soil and it
becomes active, and at once begins to gather to itself from the
surrounding substance, and to build a plant form. It will so cause
increase that a seed head will be produced containing thirty, sixty, or
a hundred seeds, each having as much life as the first.
Life, by living, increases.
Life cannot live without increasing, and the fundamental impulse of life
is to live. It is in response to this fundamental impulse that Original
Substance works, and creates. God must live; and he cannot live except
as he creates and increases. In multiplying forms, He is moving on to
live more.
The universe is a Great Advancing Life, and the purpose of nature is the
advancement of life toward perfection; toward perfect functioning. The
purpose of nature is perfect health.
The purpose of Nature, so far as man is concerned, is that he should be
continuously advancing into more life, and progressing toward perfect
life; and that he should live the most complete life possible in his
present sphere of action.
This must be so, because That which lives in man is seeking more life.
Give a little child a pencil and paper, and he begins to draw crude
figures; That which lives in him is trying to express Itself in art.
Give him a set of blocks, and he will try to build something; That which
lives in him is seeking expression in architecture. Seat him at a piano,
and he will try to draw harmony from the keys; That which lives in him
is trying to express Itself in music. That which lives in man is always
seeking to live more; and since man lives most when he is well, the
Principle of Nature in him can seek only health. The natural state of
man is a state of perfect health; and everything in him, and in nature,
tends toward health.
Sickness can have no place in the thought of Original Substance, for it
is by its own nature continually impelled toward the fullest and most
perfect life; therefore, toward health. Man, as he exists in the thought
of the Formless Substance, has perfect health. Disease, which is
abnormal or perverted function--motion imperfectly made, or made in the
direction of imperfect life--has no place in the thought of the Thinking
Stuff.
The Supreme Mind never thinks of disease. Disease was not created or
ordained by God, or sent forth from him. It is wholly a product of
separate consciousness; of the individual thought of man. God, the
Formless Substance, does not see disease, think disease, know disease,
or recognize disease. Disease is recognized only by the thought of man;
God thinks nothing but health.
From all the foregoing, we see that health is _a fact_ or TRUTH in the
original substance from which we are all formed; and that disease is
imperfect functioning, resulting from the imperfect thoughts of men,
past and present. If man's thoughts of himself had always been those of
perfect health, man could not possibly now be otherwise than perfectly
healthy.
Man in perfect health is the thought of Original Substance, and man in
imperfect health is the result of his own failure to think perfect
health, and to perform the voluntary functions of life in a healthy way.
We will here arrange in a syllabus the basic truths of the Science of
Being Well:--
_There is a Thinking Substance from which all things are made,
and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and
fills the interspaces of the universe. It is the life of All._
_The thought of a form in this Substance causes the form; the
thought of a motion produces the motion. In relation to man,
the thoughts of this Substance are always of perfect
functioning and perfect health._
_Man is a thinking center, capable of original thought; and his
thought has power over his own functioning. By thinking
imperfect thoughts he has caused imperfect and perverted
functioning; and by performing the voluntary functions of life
in a perverted manner, he has assisted in causing disease._
_If man will think only thoughts of perfect health, he can
cause within himself the functioning of perfect health; all the
Power of Life will be exerted to assist him. But this healthy
functioning will not continue unless man performs the external,
or voluntary, functions of living in a healthy manner._
_Man's first step must be to learn how to think perfect health;
and his second step to learn how to eat, drink, breathe, and
sleep in a perfectly healthy way. If man takes these two steps,
he will certainly become well, and remain so._
CHAPTER III.
LIFE AND ITS ORGANISMS.
The human body is the abiding place of an energy which renews it when
worn; which eliminates waste or poisonous matter, and which repairs the
body when broken or injured. This energy we call life. Life is not
generated or produced within the body; _it produces the body_.
The seed which has been kept in the storehouse for years will grow when
planted in the soil; it will produce a plant. But the life in the plant
is not generated by its growing; it is the life which makes the plant
grow.
The performance of function does not cause life; it is life which causes
function to be performed. Life is first; function afterward.
It is life which distinguishes organic from inorganic matter, but it is
not produced after the organization of matter.
Life is the principle or force which causes organization; it builds
organisms.
It is a principle or force inherent in Original Substance; all life is
One.
This Life Principle of the All is the Principle of Health in man, and
becomes constructively active whenever man thinks in a certain way.
Whoever, therefore, thinks in this Certain Way will surely have perfect
health if his external functioning is in conformity with his thought.
But the external functioning must conform to the thought; man cannot
hope to be well by thinking health, if he eats, drinks, breathes, and
sleeps like a sick man.
The universal Life Principle, then, is the Principle of Health in man.
It is one with original substance. There is one Original Substance from
which all things are made; this substance is alive, and its life is the
Principle of Life of the universe. This Substance has created from
itself all the forms of organic life by thinking them, or by thinking
the motions and functions which produce them.
Original Substance thinks only health, because It knows all truth; there
is no truth which is not known in the Formless, which is All, and in
all. It not only knows all truth, but it has all power; its vital power
is the source of all the energy there is. A conscious life which knows
all truth and which has all power cannot go wrong or perform function
imperfectly; knowing all, it knows, too much to go wrong, and so the
Formless cannot be diseased or think disease.
Man is a form of this original substance, and has a separate
consciousness of his own; but his consciousness is limited, and
therefore imperfect. By reason of his limited knowledge man can and does
think wrongly, and so he causes perverted and imperfect functioning in
his own body. Man has not known too much to go wrong. The diseased or
imperfect functioning may not instantly result from an imperfect
thought, but it is bound to come if the thought becomes habitual. Any
thought continuously held by man tends to the establishment of the
corresponding condition in his body.
Also, man has failed to learn how to perform the voluntary functions of
his life in a healthy way. He does not know when, what, and how to eat;
he knows little about breathing, and less about sleep. He does all these
things in a wrong way, and under wrong conditions; and this because he
has neglected to follow the only sure guide to the knowledge of life. He
has tried to live by logic rather than by instinct; he has made living a
matter of art, and not of nature. And he has gone wrong.
His only remedy is to begin to go right; and this he can surely do. It
is the work of this book to teach the whole truth, so that the man who
reads it shall know too much to go wrong.
The thoughts of disease produce the forms of disease. Man must learn to
think health; and being Original Substance which takes the form of its
thoughts, he will become the form of health and manifest perfect health
in all his functioning. The people who were healed by touching the bones
of the saint were really healed by thinking in a certain way, and not by
any power emanating from the relics. There is no healing power in the
bones of dead men, whether they be those of saint or sinner.
The people who were healed by the doses of either the allopath or the
homeopath were also really healed by thinking in a certain way; there is
no drug which has within itself the power to heal disease.
The people who have been healed by prayers and affirmations were also
healed by thinking in a certain way; there is no curative power in
strings of words.
All the sick who have been healed, by whatsoever "system," have thought
in a certain way; and a little examination will show us what this way
is.
_The two essentials of the Way are Faith, and a Personal Application of
the Faith._
The people who touched the saint's bones had faith; and so great was
their faith that in the instant they touched the relics they SEVERED ALL
MENTAL RELATIONS WITH DISEASE, AND MENTALLY UNIFIED THEMSELVES WITH
HEALTH.
This change of mind was accompanied by an intense devotional FEELING
which penetrated to the deepest recesses of their souls, and so aroused
the Principle of Health to powerful action. By faith they claimed that
they were healed, or appropriated health to themselves; and in full
faith they ceased to think of themselves in connection with disease and
thought of themselves only in connection with health.
These are the two essentials to thinking in the Certain Way which will
make you well: first, claim or appropriate health by faith; and, second,
sever all mental relations with disease, and enter into mental relations
with health. That which we make ourselves, mentally, we become
physically; and that with which we unite ourselves mentally we become
unified with physically. If your thought always relates you to disease,
then your thought becomes a fixed power to cause disease within you; and
if your thought always relates you to health, then your thought becomes
a fixed power exerted to keep you well.
In the case of the people who are healed by medicines, the result is
obtained in the same way. They have, consciously or unconsciously,
sufficient faith in the means used to cause them to sever mental
relations with disease and enter into mental relations with health.
Faith may be unconscious. It is possible for us to have a sub-conscious
or inbred faith in things like medicine, in which we do not believe to
any extent objectively; and this sub-conscious faith may be quite
sufficient to quicken the Principle of Health into constructive
activity. Many who have little conscious faith are healed in this way;
while many others who have great faith in the means are not healed
because they do not make the personal application to themselves; their
faith is general, but not specific for their own cases.
In the Science of Being Well we have two main points to consider: first,
how to think with faith; and, second, how to so apply the thought to
ourselves as to quicken the Principle of Health into constructive
activity. We begin by learning What to Think.
CHAPTER IV.
WHAT TO THINK.
In order to sever all mental relations with disease, you must enter into
mental relations with health, making the process positive not negative;
one of assumption, not of rejection. You are to receive or appropriate
health rather than to reject and deny disease. Denying disease
accomplishes next to nothing; it does little good to cast out the devil
and leave the house vacant, for he will presently return with others
worse than himself. When you enter into full and constant mental
relations with health, you must of necessity cease all relationship with
disease. The first step in the Science of Being Well is, then, to enter
into complete thought connection with health.
The best way to do this is to form a mental image or picture of
yourself as being well, imagining a perfectly strong and healthy body;
and to spend sufficient time in contemplating this image to make it your
habitual thought of yourself.
This is not so easy as it sounds; it necessitates the taking of
considerable time for meditation, and not all persons have the imaging
faculty well enough developed to form a distinct mental picture of
themselves in a perfect or idealized body. It is much easier, as in "The
Science of Getting Rich," to form a mental image of the things one wants
to have; for we have seen these things, or their counterparts, and know
how they look; we can picture them very easily from memory. But we have
never seen ourselves in a perfect body, and a _clear_ mental image is
hard to form.
It is not necessary or essential, however, to have a clear mental image
of yourself as you wish to be; it is only essential to form a CONCEPTION
of perfect health, and to relate yourself to it. This Conception of
Health is not a mental picture of a particular thing; it is an
understanding of health, and carries with it the idea of perfect
functioning in every part and organ.
You may TRY to picture yourself as perfect in physique; that helps; and
you MUST _think of yourself as doing everything in the manner of a
perfectly strong and healthy person_. You can picture yourself as
walking down the street with an erect body and a vigorous stride; you
can picture yourself as doing your day's work easily and with surplus
vigor, never tired or weak; you can picture in your mind how all things
would be done by a person full of health and power, and you can make
yourself the central figure in the picture, doing things in just that
way. Never think of the ways in which weak or sickly people do things;
always think of the way strong people do things. Spend your leisure time
in thinking about the Strong Way, until you have a good conception of
it; and always think of yourself in connection with the Strong Way of
Doing Things. That is what I mean by having a Conception of Health.
In order to establish perfect functioning in every part, man does not
have to study anatomy or physiology, so that he can form a mental image
of each separate organ and address himself to it. He does not have to
"treat" his liver, his kidneys, his stomach, or his heart. There is one
Principle of Health in man, which has control over all the involuntary
functions of his life; and the thought of perfect health, impressed upon
this Principle, will reach each part and organ. Man's liver is not
controlled by a liver-principle, his stomach by a digestive principle,
and so on; the Principle of Health is One.
The less you go into the detailed study of physiology, the better for
you. Our knowledge of this science is very imperfect, and leads to
imperfect thought. Imperfect thought causes imperfect functioning,
which is disease. Let me illustrate: Until quite recently, physiology
fixed ten days as the extreme limit of man's endurance without food; it
was considered that only in exceptional cases could he survive a longer
fast. So the impression became universally disseminated that one who was
deprived of food must die in from five to ten days; and numbers of
people, when cut off from food by shipwreck, accident, or famine, did
die within this period. But the performances of Dr. Tanner, the
forty-day faster, and the writings of Dr. Dewey and others on the
fasting cure, together with the experiments of numberless people who
have fasted from forty to sixty days, have shown that man's ability to
live without food is vastly greater than had been supposed. Any person,
properly educated, can fast from twenty to forty days with little loss
in weight, and often with no apparent loss of strength at all. The
people who starved to death in ten days or less did so because they
believed that death was inevitable; an erroneous physiology had given
them a wrong thought about themselves. When a man is deprived of food he
will die in from ten to fifty days, according to the way he has been
taught; or, in other words, according to the way he thinks about it. So
you see that an erroneous physiology can work very mischievous results.
No Science of Being Well can be founded on current physiology; it is not
sufficiently exact in its knowledge. With all its pretensions,
comparatively little is really known as to the interior workings and
processes of the body. It is not known just how food is digested; it is
not known just what part food plays, if any, in the generation of force.
It is not known exactly what the liver, spleen, and pancreas are for, or
what part their secretions play in the chemistry of assimilation. On all
these and most other points we theorize, but we do not really know.
When man begins to study physiology, he enters the domain of theory and
disputation; he comes among conflicting opinions, and he is bound to
form mistaken ideas concerning himself. These mistaken ideas lead to the
thinking of wrong thoughts, and this leads to perverted functioning and
disease. All that the most perfect knowledge of physiology could do for
man would be to enable him to think only thoughts of perfect health, and
to eat, drink, breathe, and sleep in a perfectly healthy way; and this,
as we shall show, he can do without studying physiology at all.
This, for the most part, is true of all hygiene. There are certain
fundamental propositions which we should know; and these will be
explained in later chapters, but aside from these propositions, ignore
physiology and hygiene. They tend to fill your mind with thoughts of
imperfect conditions, and these thoughts will produce the imperfect
conditions in your own body. You cannot study any "science" which
recognizes disease, if you are to think nothing but health.
_Drop all investigation as to your present condition, its causes, or
possible results, and set yourself to the work of forming a conception
of health._
Think about health and the possibilities of health; of the work that may
be done and the pleasures that may be enjoyed in a condition of perfect
health. Then make this conception your guide in thinking of yourself;
refuse to entertain for an instant any thought of yourself which is not
in harmony with it. When any idea of disease or imperfect functioning
enters your mind, cast it out instantly by calling up a thought which is
in harmony with the Conception of Health.
Think of yourself at all times as realizing conception; as being a
strong and perfectly healthy personage; and do not harbor a contrary
thought.
KNOW that as you think of yourself in unity with this conception, the
Original Substance which permeates and fills the tissues of your body is
taking form according to the thought; and know that this Intelligent
Substance or mind stuff will cause function to be performed in such a
way that your body will be rebuilt with perfectly healthy cells.
The Intelligent Substance, from which all things are made, permeates and
penetrates all things; and so it is in and through your body. It moves
according to its thoughts; and so if you hold only the thoughts of
perfectly healthy function, it will cause the movements of perfectly
healthy function within you.
Hold with persistence to the thought of perfect health in relation to
yourself; do not permit yourself to think in any other way. Hold this
thought with perfect faith that it is the fact, the truth. It is the
truth so far as your mental body is concerned. You have a mind-body and
a physical body; the mind-body takes form just as you think of yourself,
and any thought which you hold continuously is made visible by the
transformation of the physical body into its image. Implanting the
thought of perfect functioning in the mind-body will, in due time, cause
perfect functioning in the physical body.
The transformation of the physical body into the image of the ideal
held by the mind-body is not accomplished instantaneously; we cannot
transfigure our physical bodies at will as Jesus did. In the creation
and recreation of forms, Substance moves along the fixed lines of growth
it has established; and the impression upon it of the health thought
causes the healthy body to be built cell by cell. Holding only thoughts
of perfect health will ultimately cause perfect functioning; and perfect
functioning will in due time produce a perfectly healthy body. It may be
as well to condense this chapter into a syllabus:--
_Your physical body is permeated and fitted with an Intelligent
Substance, which forms a body of mind-stuff. This mind-stuff
controls the functioning of your physical body. A thought of
disease or of imperfect function, impressed upon the mind-stuff,
causes disease or imperfect functioning in the physical body.
If you are diseased, it is because wrong thoughts have made
impressions on this mind-stuff; these may have been either your
own thoughts or those of your parents; we begin life with many
sub-conscious impressions, both right and wrong. But the natural
tendency of all mind is toward health, and if no thoughts are
held in the conscious mind save those of health, all internal
functioning will come to be performed in a perfectly healthy
manner._
_The Power of Nature within you is sufficient to overcome all
hereditary impressions, and if you will learn to control your
thoughts, so that you shall think only those of health, and if
you will perform the voluntary functions of life in a perfectly
healthy way, you can certainly be well._
CHAPTER V.
FAITH.
The Principle of Health is moved by Faith; nothing else can call it into
action, and only faith can enable you to relate yourself to health, and
sever your relation with disease, in your thoughts.
You will continue to think of disease unless you have faith in health.
If you do not have faith you will doubt; if you doubt, you will fear;
and if you fear, you will relate yourself in mind to that which you
fear.
If you fear disease, you will think of yourself in connection with
disease; and that will produce within yourself the form and motions of
disease. Just as Original Substance creates from itself the forms of its
thoughts, so your mind-body, which is original substance, takes the
form and motion of whatever you think about. If you fear disease, dread
disease, have doubts about your safety from disease, or if you even
contemplate disease, you will connect yourself with it and create its
forms and motions within you.
Let me enlarge somewhat upon this point. The potency, or creative power,
of a thought is given to it _by the faith that is in it_.
Thoughts which contain no faith create no forms.
The Formless Substance, which knows all truth and therefore thinks only
truth, has perfect faith in every thought, because it thinks only truth;
and so all its thoughts create.
But if you will imagine a thought in Formless Substance in which there
was no faith, you will see that such a thought could not cause the
Substance to move or take form.
Keep in mind the fact that only those thoughts which are conceived in
faith have creative energy. Only those thoughts which have faith with
them are able to change function, or to quicken the Principle of Health
into activity.
If you do not have faith in health, you will certainly have faith in
disease. If you do not have faith in health, it will do you no good to
think about health, for your thoughts will have no potency, and will
cause no change for the better in your conditions. If you do not have
faith in health, I repeat, you will have faith in disease; and if, under
such conditions, you think about health for ten hours a day, and think
about disease for only a few minutes, the disease thought will control
your condition because it will have the potency of faith, while the
health thought will not. Your mind-body will take on the form and
motions of disease and retain them, because your health thought will not
have sufficient dynamic force to change form or motion.
In order to practice the Science of Being Well, you must have complete
faith in health.
Faith begins in belief; and we now come to the question: _What must you
believe in order to have faith in health?_
You must believe that there is more health-power than disease-power in
both yourself and your environment; and you cannot help believing this
if you consider the facts. These are the facts:--
_There is a Thinking Substance from which all things are made,
and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and
fills the interspaces of the universe._
_The thought of a form, in this Substance, produces the form;
the thought of a motion institutes the motion. In relation to
man, the thoughts of Original Substance are always of perfect
health and perfect functioning. This Substance, within and
without man, always exerts its power toward health._
_Man is a thinking center, capable of original thought. He has
a mind-body of Original Substance permeating a physical body;
and the functioning of his physical body is determined by the
FAITH of his mind-body. If man thinks with faith of the
functioning of health, he will cause his internal functions to
be performed in a healthy manner, provided that he performs the
external functions in a corresponding manner. But if man
thinks, with faith, of disease, or of the power of disease, he
will cause his internal functioning to be the functioning of
disease._
_The Original Intelligent Substance is in man, moving toward
health; and it is pressing upon him from every side. Man lives,
moves, and has his being in a limitless ocean of health-power;
and he uses this power according to his faith. If he
appropriates it and applies it to himself it is all his; and if
he unifies himself with it by unquestioning faith, he cannot
fail to attain health, for the power of this Substance is all
the power there is._
A belief in the above statements is a foundation for faith in health. If
you believe them, you believe that health is the natural state of man,
and that man lives in the midst of Universal Health; that all the power
of nature makes for health, and that health is possible to all, and can
surely be attained by all. You will believe that the power of health in
the universe is ten thousand times greater than that of disease; in
fact, that disease has no power whatever, being only the result of
perverted thought and faith. And if you believe that health is possible
to you, and that it may surely be attained by you, and that you know
exactly what to do in order to attain it, you will have faith in health.
You will have this faith and knowledge if you read this book through
with care and determine to believe in and practice its teachings.
It is not merely the possession of faith, but the personal application
of faith which works healing. You must claim health in the beginning,
and form a conception of health, and, as far as may be, of yourself as a
perfectly healthy person; and then, by faith, you must claim that you
ARE REALIZING this conception.
Do not assert with faith that you are going to get well; assert with
faith that you ARE well.
Having faith in health, and applying it to yourself, means having faith
that you are healthy; _and the first step in this is to claim that it is
the truth_.
Mentally take the attitude of being well, and do not say anything or do
anything which contradicts this attitude. Never speak a word or assume a
physical attitude which does not harmonize with the claim: "I am
perfectly well." When you walk, go with a brisk step, and with your
chest thrown out and your head held up; watch that at all times your
physical actions and attitudes are those of a healthy person. When you
find that you have relapsed into the attitude of weakness or disease,
change instantly; straighten up; think of health and power. Refuse to
consider yourself as other than a perfectly healthy person.
One great aid--perhaps the greatest aid--in applying your faith you will
find in the exercise of gratitude.
Whenever you think of yourself, or of your advancing condition, give
thanks to the Great Intelligent Substance for the perfect health you are
enjoying.
Remember that, as Swedenborg taught, there is a continual inflow of life
from the Supreme, which is received by all created things according to
their forms; and by man according to his faith. Health from God is
continually being urged upon you; and when you think of this, lift up
your mind reverently to Him, and give thanks that you have been led to
the Truth and into perfect health of mind and body. Be, all the time, in
a grateful frame of mind, and let gratitude be evident in your speech.
Gratitude will help you to own and control your own field of thought.
Whenever the thought of disease is presented to you, instantly claim
health, and thank God for the perfect health you have. Do this so that
there shall be no room in your mind for a thought of ill. Every thought
connected in any way with ill health is unwelcome, and you can close the
door of your mind in its face by asserting that you are well, and by
reverently thanking God that it is so. Soon the old thoughts will return
no more.
Gratitude has a twofold effect; it strengthens your own faith, and it
brings you into close and harmonious relations with the Supreme. You
believe that there is one Intelligent Substance from which all life and
all power come; you believe that you receive your own life from this
substance; and you relate yourself closely to It by feeling continuous
gratitude. It is easy to see that the more closely you relate yourself
to the Source of Life the more readily you may receive life from it; and
it is easy also to see that your relation to It is a matter of mental
attitude. We cannot come into physical relationship with God, for God is
mind-stuff and we also are mind-stuff; our relation with Him must
therefore be a mind relation. It is plain, then, that the man who feels
deep and hearty gratitude will live in closer touch with God than the
man who never looks up to Him in thankfulness. The ungrateful or
unthankful mind really denies that it receives at all, and so cuts its
connection with the Supreme. The grateful mind is always looking toward
the Supreme, and is always open to receive from it; and it will receive
continually.
_The Principle of Health in man receives its vital power from the
Principle of Life in the universe; and man relates himself to the
Principle of Life by faith in health, and by gratitude for the health he
receives._
_Man may cultivate both faith and gratitude by the proper use of his
will._
CHAPTER VI.
USE OF THE WILL.
In the practice of the Science of Being Well the will is not used to
compel yourself to go when you are not really able to go, or to do
things when you are not physically strong enough to do them. You do not
direct your will upon your physical body or try to compel the proper
performance of internal function by will power.
_You direct the will upon the mind, and use it in determining what you
shall believe, what you shall think, and to what you shall give your
attention._
The will should never be used upon any person or thing external to you,
and it should never be used upon your own body. The sole legitimate use
of the will is in determining to what you shall give your attention, and
what you shall think about the things to which your attention is given.
All belief begins in the will to believe.
You cannot always and instantly believe what you will to believe; but
you can always will to believe what you want to believe. You want to
believe truth about health, and you can will to do so. The statements
you have been reading in this book are the truth about health, and you
can will to believe them; this must be your first step toward getting
well.
These are the statements you must will to believe:--
_That there is a Thinking Substance from which all things are
made, and that man receives the Principle of Health, which is
his life, from this Substance._
_That man himself is Thinking Substance; a mind-body,
permeating a physical body, and that as man's thoughts are, so
will the functioning of his physical body be._
_That if man will think only thoughts of perfect health, he
must and will cause the internal and involuntary functioning of
his body to be the functioning of health, provided that his
external and voluntary functioning and attitude are in
accordance with his thoughts._
When you will to believe these statements, you must also begin to act
upon them. You cannot long retain a belief unless you act upon it; you
cannot increase a belief until it becomes faith unless you act upon it;
and you certainly cannot expect to reap benefits in any way from a
belief so long as you act as if the opposite were true. You cannot long
have faith in health if you continue to act like a sick person. If you
continue to act like a sick person, you cannot help continuing to think
of yourself as a sick person; and if you continue to think of yourself
as a sick person, you will continue to be a sick person.
The first step toward acting externally like a well person is to begin
to act internally like a well person. Form your conception of perfect
health, and get into the way of thinking about perfect health until it
begins to have a definite meaning to you. Picture yourself as doing the
things a strong and healthy person would do, and have faith that you can
and will do those things in that way; continue this until you have a
vivid CONCEPTION of health, and what it means to you. When I speak in
this book of a conception of health, I mean a conception that carries
with it the idea of the way a healthy person looks and does things.
Think of yourself in connection with health until you form a conception
of how you would live, appear, act, and do things as a perfectly healthy
person. Think about yourself in connection with health until you
conceive of yourself, in imagination, as always doing everything in the
manner of a well person; until the thought of health conveys the idea of
what health means to you. As I have said in a former chapter, you may
not be able to form a clear mental image of yourself in perfect health,
but you can form a conception of yourself as acting like a healthy
person.
Form this conception, and then think only thoughts of perfect health in
relation to yourself, and, so far as may be possible, in relation to
others. When a thought of sickness or disease is presented to you,
reject it; do not let it get into your mind; do not entertain or
consider it at all. Meet it by thinking health; by thinking that you are
well, and by being sincerely grateful for the health you are receiving.
Whenever suggestions of disease are coming thick and fast upon you, and
you are in a "tight place," fall back upon the exercise of gratitude.
Connect yourself with the Supreme; give thanks to God for the perfect
health He gives you, and you will soon find yourself able to control
your thoughts, and to think what you want to think. In times of doubt,
trial, and temptation, the exercise of gratitude is always a sheet
anchor which will prevent you from being swept away. Remember that the
great essential thing is to SEVER ALL MENTAL RELATIONS WITH DISEASE, AND
TO ENTER INTO FULL MENTAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HEALTH. This is the KEY to
all mental healing; it is the whole thing. Here we see the secret of the
great success of Christian Science; more than any other formulated
system of practice, it insists that its converts shall sever relations
with disease, and relate themselves fully with health. The healing power
of Christian Science is not in its theological formulæ, nor in its
denial of matter; but in the fact that it induces the sick to ignore
disease as an unreal thing and accept health by faith as a reality. Its
failures are made because its practitioners, while thinking in the
Certain Way, do not eat, drink, breathe, and sleep in the same way.
While there is no healing power in the repetition of strings of words,
yet it is a very convenient thing to have the central thoughts so
formulated that you can repeat them readily, so that you can use them as
affirmations whenever you are surrounded by an environment which gives
you adverse suggestions. When those around you begin to talk of sickness
and death, close your ears and mentally assert something like the
following:--
_There is One Substance, and I am that Substance._
_That Substance is eternal, and it is Life; I am that
Substance, and I am Eternal Life._
_That Substance knows no disease; I am that Substance, and I am
Health._
Exercise your will power in choosing only those thoughts which are
thoughts of health, and arrange your environment so that it shall
suggest thoughts of health. Do not have about you books, pictures, or
other things which suggest death, disease, deformity, weakness, or age;
have only those which convey the ideas of health, power, joy, vitality,
and youth. When you are confronted with a book, or anything else which
suggests disease, do not give it your attention. Think of your
conception of health, and your gratitude, and affirm as above; use your
will power to fix your attention upon thoughts of health. In a future
chapter I shall touch upon this point again; what I wish to make plain
here is that you must think only health, recognize only health, and give
your attention only to health; and that you must control thought,
recognition, and attention by the use of your will.
Do not try to use your will to compel the healthy performance of
function within you. The Principle of Health will attend to that, if you
give your attention only to thoughts of health.
Do not try to exert your will upon the Formless to compel It to give you
more vitality or power; it is already placing all the power there is at
your service.
You do not have to use your will to conquer adverse conditions, or to
subdue unfriendly forces; there are no unfriendly forces; there is only
One Force, and that force is friendly to you; it is a force which makes
for health.
Everything in the universe wants you to be well; you have absolutely
nothing to overcome but your own habit of thinking in a certain way
about disease, and you can do this only by forming a habit of thinking
in another Certain Way about health.
Man can cause all the internal functions of his body to be performed in
a perfectly healthy manner by continuously thinking in a Certain Way,
and by performing the external functions in a certain way.
He can think in this Certain Way by controlling his attention, and he
can control his attention by the use of his will.
He can decide what things he will think about.
CHAPTER VII.
HEALTH FROM GOD.
I will give a chapter here to explaining how man may receive health from
the Supreme. By the Supreme I mean the Thinking Substance from which all
things are made, and which is in all and through all, seeking more
complete expression and fuller life. This Intelligent Substance, in a
perfectly fluid state, permeates and penetrates all things, and is in
touch with all minds. It is the source of all energy and power, and
constitutes the "inflow" of life which Swedenborg saw, vitalizing all
things. It is working to one definite end, and for the fulfillment of
one purpose; and that purpose is the advancement of life toward the
complete expression of Mind. When man harmonizes himself with this
Intelligence, it can and will give him health and wisdom. When man
holds steadily to the purpose to live more abundantly, he comes into
harmony with this Supreme Intelligence.
The purpose of the Supreme Intelligence is the most Abundant Life for
all; the purpose of this Supreme Intelligence for you is that you should
live more abundantly. If, then, your own purpose is to live more
abundantly, you are unified with the Supreme; you are working with It,
and it must work with you. But as the Supreme Intelligence is in all,
_if you harmonize with it you must harmonize with all; and you must
desire more abundant life for all as well as for yourself_. Two great
benefits come to you from being in harmony with the Supreme
Intelligence.
First, you will receive wisdom. By wisdom I do not mean knowledge of
facts so much as ability to perceive and understand facts, and to judge
soundly and act rightly in all matters relating to life. Wisdom is the
power to perceive truth, and the ability to make the best use of the
knowledge of truth. It is the power to perceive at once the best end to
aim at, and the means best adapted to attain that end. With wisdom comes
poise, and the power to think rightly; to control and guide your
thoughts, and to avoid the difficulties which come from wrong thinking.
With wisdom you will be able to select the right courses for your
particular needs, and to so govern yourself in all ways as to secure the
best results. You will know how to do what you want to do. You can
readily see that wisdom must be an essential attribute of the Supreme
Intelligence, since That which knows all truth must be wise; and you can
also see that just in proportion as you harmonize and unify your mind
with that Intelligence you will have wisdom.
But I repeat that since this Intelligence is All, and in all, you can
enter into Its wisdom only by harmonizing with all. If there is
anything in your desires or your purpose which will bring oppression to
any, or work injustice to, or cause lack of life for any, you cannot
receive wisdom from the Supreme. Furthermore, your purpose for your own
self must be the best.
Man can live in three general ways: for the gratification of his body,
for that of his intellect, or for that of his soul. The first is
accomplished by satisfying the desires for food, drink, and those other
things which give enjoyable physical sensations. The second is
accomplished by doing those things which cause pleasant mental
sensations, such as gratifying the desire for knowledge or those for
fine clothing, fame, power, and so on. The third is accomplished by
giving way to the instincts of unselfish love and altruism. Man lives
most wisely and completely when he functions most perfectly along all of
these lines, without excess in any of them. The man who lives
swinishly, for the body alone, is unwise and out of harmony with God;
that man who lives solely for the cold enjoyments of the intellect,
though he be absolutely moral, is unwise and out of harmony with God;
and the man who lives wholly for the practice of altruism, and who
throws himself away for others, is as unwise and as far from harmony
with God as those who go to excess in other ways.
To come into full harmony with the Supreme, you must purpose to LIVE; to
live to the utmost of your capabilities in body, mind, and soul. This
must mean the full exercise of function in all the different ways, but
without excess; for excess in one causes deficiency in the others.
Behind your desire for health is your own desire for more abundant life;
and behind that is the desire of the Formless Intelligence to live more
fully in you. So, as you advance toward perfect health, hold steadily to
the purpose to attain complete life, physical, mental, and spiritual;
to advance in all ways, and in every way to live more; if you hold this
purpose you will be given wisdom. "He that willeth to do the will of the
Father shall KNOW," said Jesus. Wisdom is the most desirable gift that
can come to man, for it makes him rightly self-governing.
But wisdom is not all you may receive from the Supreme Intelligence; you
may receive physical energy, vitality, life force. The energy of the
Formless Substance is unlimited, and permeates everything; you are
already receiving or appropriating to yourself this energy in an
automatic and instinctive way, but you can do so to a far greater degree
if you set about it intelligently. The measure of a man's strength is
not what God is willing to give him, but what he, himself, has the will
and the intelligence to appropriate to himself. God gives you all there
is; your only question is how much to take of the unlimited supply.
Professor James has pointed out that there is apparently no limit to the
powers of men; and this is simply because man's power comes from the
inexhaustible reservoir of the Supreme. The runner who has reached the
stage of exhaustion, when his physical power seems entirely gone, by
running on in a Certain Way may receive his "second wind"; his strength
is renewed in a seemingly miraculous fashion, and he can go on
indefinitely. And by continuing in the Certain Way, he may receive a
third, fourth, and fifth "wind"; we do not know where the limit is, or
how far it may be possible to extend it. The conditions are that the
runner must have absolute faith that the strength will come; that he
must think steadily of strength, and have perfect confidence that he has
it, and that he must continue to run on. If he admits a doubt into his
mind, he falls exhausted, and if he stops running to wait for the
accession of strength, it will never come. His faith in strength, his
faith that he _can_ keep on running, his unwavering purpose _to_ keep on
running, and his action _in_ keeping on seem to connect him to the
source of energy in such a way as to bring him a new supply.
In a very similar manner, the sick person who has unquestioning faith in
health, whose purpose brings him into harmony with the source, and who
performs the voluntary functions of life in a certain way, will receive
vital energy sufficient for all his needs, and for the healing of all
his diseases. God, who seeks to live and express himself fully in man,
delights to give man all that is needed for the most abundant life.
Action and reaction are equal, and when you desire to live more, if you
are in mental harmony with the Supreme, the forces which make for life
begin to concentrate about you and upon you. The One Life begins to move
toward you, and your environment becomes surcharged with it. Then, if
you appropriate it by faith, it is yours. "Ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you." Your Father giveth not his spirit by
measure; he delights to give good gifts to you.
CHAPTER VIII.
SUMMARY OF THE MENTAL ACTIONS.
Let me now summarize the mental actions and attitudes necessary to the
practice of the Science of Being Well: first, you believe that there is
a Thinking Substance, from which all things are made, and which, in its
original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the
universe. This Substance is the Life of All, and is seeking to express
more life in all. It is the Principle of Life of the universe, and the
Principle of Health in man.
Man is a form of this Substance, and draws his vitality from it; he is a
mind-body of original substance, permeating a physical body, and the
thoughts of his mind-body control the functioning of his physical body.
If man thinks no thoughts save those of perfect health, the functions
of his physical body will be performed in a manner of perfect health.
If you would consciously relate yourself to the All-Health, your purpose
must be to live fully on every plane of your being. You must want all
that there is in life for body, mind, and soul; and this will bring you
into harmony with all the life there is. The person who is in conscious
and intelligent harmony with All will receive a continuous inflow of
vital power from the Supreme Life; and this inflow is prevented by
angry, selfish or antagonistic mental attitudes. If you are against any
part, you have severed relations with all; you will receive life, but
only instinctively and automatically; not intelligently and
purposefully. You can see that if you are mentally antagonistic to any
part, you cannot be in complete harmony with the Whole; therefore, as
Jesus directed, be reconciled to everybody and everything before you
offer worship.
_Want for everybody all that you want for yourself._
The reader is recommended to read what we have said in a former work[A]
concerning the Competitive mind and the Creative mind. It is very
doubtful whether one who has lost health can completely regain it so
long as he remains in the competitive mind.
[A] The Science of Getting Rich.
Being on the Creative or Good-Will plane in mind, the next step is to
form a conception of yourself as in perfect health, and to hold no
thoughts which are not in full harmony with this conception. Have FAITH
that if you think only thoughts of health you will establish in your
physical body the functioning of health; and use your will to determine
that you will think only thoughts of health. Never think of yourself as
sick, or as likely to be sick; never think of sickness in connection
with yourself at all. And, as far as may be, shut out of your mind all
thoughts of sickness in connection with others. Surround yourself as
much as possible with the things which suggest the ideas of strength and
health.
Have faith in health, and accept health as an actual present fact in
your life. Claim health as a blessing bestowed upon you by the Supreme
Life, and be deeply grateful at all times. Claim the blessing by faith;
know that it is yours, and never admit a contrary thought to your mind.
Use your will-power to withhold your attention from every appearance of
disease in yourself and others; do not study disease, think about it,
nor speak of it. At all times, when the thought of disease is thrust
upon you, move forward into the mental position of prayerful gratitude
for your perfect health.
The mental actions necessary to being well may now be summed up in a
single sentence: Form a conception of yourself in perfect health, and
think only those thoughts which are in harmony with that conception.
That, with faith and gratitude, and the purpose to really live, covers
all the requirements. It is not necessary to take mental exercises of
any kind, except as described in Chapter VI, or to do wearying "stunts"
in the way of affirmations, and so on. It is not necessary to
concentrate the mind on the affected parts; it is far better not to
think of any part as affected. It is not necessary to "treat" yourself
by auto-suggestion, or to have others treat you in any way whatever. The
power that heals is the Principle of Health within you; and to call this
Principle into Constructive Action it is only necessary, having
harmonized yourself with the All-Mind, to claim by FAITH the All-Health;
and to hold that claim until it is physically manifested in all the
functions of your body.
In order to hold this mental attitude of faith, gratitude, and health,
however, your external acts must be only those of health. You cannot
long hold the internal attitude of a well person if you continue to
perform the external acts of a sick person. It is essential not only
that your every thought should be a thought of health, but that your
every act should be an act of health, performed in a healthy manner. If
you will make every thought a thought of health, and every conscious act
an act of health, it must infallibly follow that every internal and
unconscious function shall come to be healthy; for all the power of life
is being continually exerted toward health. We shall next consider how
you may make every act an act of health.
CHAPTER IX.
WHEN TO EAT.
You cannot build and maintain a perfectly healthy body by mental action
alone, or by the performance of the unconscious or involuntary functions
alone. There are certain actions, more or less voluntary, which have a
direct and immediate relation with the continuance of life itself; these
are eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping. No matter what man's
thought or mental attitude may be, he cannot live unless he eats,
drinks, breathes, and sleeps; and, moreover, he cannot be well if he
eats, drinks, breathes, and sleeps in an unnatural or wrong manner. It
is therefore vitally important that you should learn the right way to
perform these voluntary functions, and I shall proceed to show you this
way, beginning with the matter of eating, which is most important.
There has been a vast amount of controversy as to when to eat, what to
eat, how to eat, and how much to eat; and all this controversy is
unnecessary, for the Right Way is very easy to find. You have only to
consider the Law which governs all attainment, whether of health,
wealth, power, or happiness; and that law is _that you must do what you
can do now, where you are now; do every separate act in the most perfect
manner possible, and put the power of faith into every action_.
The processes of digestion and assimilation are under the supervision
and control of an inner division of man's mentality, which is generally
called the sub-conscious mind; and I shall use that term here in order
to be understood. The sub-conscious mind is in charge of all the
functions and processes of life; and when more food is needed by the
body, it makes the fact known by causing a sensation called hunger.
Whenever food is needed, and can be used, there is hunger; and whenever
there is hunger it is time to eat. When there is no hunger it is
unnatural and wrong to eat, no matter how great may APPEAR to be the
need for food. Even if you are in a condition of apparent starvation,
with great emaciation, if there is no hunger you may know that FOOD
CANNOT BE USED, and it will be unnatural and wrong for you to eat.
Though you have not eaten for days, weeks, or months, if you have no
hunger you may be perfectly sure that food cannot be used, and will
probably not be used if taken. Whenever food is needed, if there is
power to digest and assimilate it, so that it can be normally used, the
sub-conscious mind will announce the fact by a decided hunger. Food,
taken when there is no hunger, will sometimes be digested and
assimilated, because Nature makes a special effort to perform the task
which is thrust upon her against her will; but if food be habitually
taken when there is no hunger, the digestive power is at last destroyed,
and numberless evils caused.
If the foregoing be true--and it is indisputably so--it is a
self-evident proposition that the natural time, and the healthy time, to
eat is when one is hungry; and that it is never a natural or a healthy
action to eat when one is not hungry. You see, then, that it is an easy
matter to scientifically settle the question when to eat. ALWAYS eat
when you are hungry; and NEVER eat when you are not hungry. This is
obedience to nature, which is obedience to God.
We must not fail, however, to make clear the distinction between hunger
and appetite. Hunger is the call of the sub-conscious mind for more
material to be used in repairing and renewing the body, and in keeping
up the internal heat; and hunger is never felt unless there is need for
more material, and unless there is power to digest it when taken into
the stomach. Appetite is a desire for the gratification of sensation.
The drunkard has an appetite for liquor, but he cannot have a hunger for
it. A normally fed person cannot have a hunger for candy or sweets; the
desire for these things is an appetite. You cannot hunger for tea,
coffee, spiced foods, or for the various taste-tempting devices of the
skilled cook; if you desire these things, it is with appetite, not with
hunger. Hunger is nature's call for material to be used in building new
cells, and nature never calls for anything which may not be legitimately
used for this purpose.
Appetite is often largely a matter of habit; if one eats or drinks at a
certain hour, and especially if one takes sweetened or spiced and
stimulating foods, the desire comes regularly at the same hour; but this
habitual desire for food should never be mistaken for hunger. Hunger
does not appear at specified times. It only comes when work or exercise
has destroyed sufficient tissue to make the taking in of new raw
material a necessity.
For instance, if a person has been sufficiently fed on the preceding
day, it is impossible that he should feel a genuine hunger on arising
from refreshing sleep. In sleep the body is recharged with vital power,
and the assimilation of the food which has been taken during the day is
completed; the system has no need for food immediately after sleep,
unless the person went to his rest in a state of starvation. With a
system of feeding, which is even a reasonable approach to a natural one,
no one can have a real hunger for an early morning breakfast. There is
no such thing possible as a normal or genuine hunger immediately after
arising from sound sleep. The early morning breakfast is always taken to
gratify appetite, never to satisfy hunger. No matter who you are, or
what your condition is; no matter how hard you work, or how much you are
exposed, unless you go to your bed starved, you cannot arise from your
bed hungry.
Hunger is not caused by sleep, but by work. And it does not matter who
you are, or what your condition, or how hard or easy your work, the
so-called no-breakfast plan is the right plan for you. It is the right
plan for everybody, because it is based on the universal law that hunger
never comes until it is EARNED.
I am aware that a protest against this will come from the large number
of people who "enjoy" their breakfasts; whose breakfast is their "best
meal"; who believe that their work is so hard that they cannot "get
through the forenoon on an empty stomach," and so on. But all their
arguments fall down before the facts. They enjoy their breakfast as the
toper enjoys his morning dram, because it gratifies a habitual appetite
and not because it supplies a natural want. It is their best meal for
the same reason that his morning dram is the toper's best drink. And
they CAN get along without it, because millions of people, of every
trade and profession, DO get along without it, and are vastly better for
doing so. If you are to live according to the Science of Being Well, you
must NEVER EAT UNTIL YOU HAVE AN EARNED HUNGER.
But if I do not eat on arising in the morning, when shall I take my
first meal?
In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred twelve o'clock, noon, is early
enough; and it is generally the most convenient time. If you are doing
heavy work, you will get by noon a hunger sufficient to justify a
good-sized meal; and if your work is light, you will probably still have
hunger enough for a moderate meal. The best general rule or law that can
be laid down is that you should eat your first meal of the day at noon,
if you are hungry; and if you are not hungry, wait until you become so.
And when shall I eat my second meal?
Not at all, unless you are hungry for it; and that with a genuine earned
hunger. If you do get hungry for a second meal, eat at the most
convenient time; but do not eat until you have a really earned hunger.
The reader who wishes to fully inform himself as to the reasons for this
way of arranging the mealtimes will find the best books thereon cited in
the preface to this work. From the foregoing, however, you can easily
see that the Science of Being Well readily answers the question: When,
and how often shall I eat? The answer is: Eat when you have an earned
hunger; and never eat at any other time.
CHAPTER X.
WHAT TO EAT.
The current sciences of medicine and hygiene have made no progress
toward answering the question, What shall I eat? The contests between
the vegetarians and the meat eaters, the cooked food advocates, raw food
advocates, and various other "schools" of theorists, seem to be
interminable; and from the mountains of evidence and argument piled up
for and against each special theory, it is plain that if we depend on
these scientists we shall never know what is the natural food of man.
Turning away from the whole controversy, then, we will ask the question
of nature herself, and we shall find that she has not left us without an
answer.
Most of the errors of dietary scientists grow out of a false premise as
to the natural state of man. It is assumed that civilization and mental
development are unnatural things; that the man who lives in a modern
house, in city or country, and who works in modern trade or industry for
his living is leading an unnatural life, and is in an unnatural
environment; that the only "natural" man is a naked savage, and that the
farther we get from the savage the farther we are from nature. This is
wrong. The man who has all that art and science can give him is leading
the most natural life, because he is living most completely in all his
faculties. The dweller in a well-appointed city flat, with modern
conveniences and good ventilation, is living a far more naturally human
life than the Australian savage who lives in a hollow tree or a hole in
the ground.
That Great Intelligence, which is in all and through all, has in reality
practically settled the question as to what we shall eat. In ordering
the affairs of nature, It has decided that man's food shall be according
to the zone in which he lives. In the frigid regions of the far North,
fuel foods are required. The development of brain is not large, nor is
the life severe in its labor-tax on muscle; and so the Esquimaux live
largely on the blubber and fat of aquatic animals. No other diet is
possible to them; they could not get fruits, nuts, or vegetables even if
they were disposed to eat them; and they could not live on them in that
climate if they could get them. So, notwithstanding the arguments of the
vegetarians, the Esquimaux will continue to live on animal fats.
On the other hand, as we come toward the tropics, we find fuel foods
less required; and we find the people naturally inclining toward a
vegetarian diet. Millions live on rice and fruits; and the food regimen
of an Esquimaux village, if followed upon the equator, would result in
speedy death. A "natural" diet for the equatorial regions would be very
far from being a natural diet near the North Pole; and the people of
either zone, if not interfered with by medical or dietary "scientists,"
will be guided by the All Intelligence, which seeks the fullest life in
all, to feed themselves in the best way for the promotion of perfect
health. In general, you can see that God, working in nature and in the
evolution of human society and customs, has answered your question as to
what you shall eat; and I advise you to take His answer in preference to
that of any man.
In the temperate zone the largest demands are made on man in spirit,
mind, and body; and here we find the greatest variety of foods provided
by nature. And it is really quite useless and superfluous to theorize on
the question what the masses shall eat, for they have no choice; they
must eat the foods which are staple products of the zone in which they
live. It is impossible to supply all the people with a nut-and-fruit or
raw food diet; and the fact that it is impossible is proof positive that
these are not the foods intended by nature, for nature, being formed for
the advancement of life, has not made the obtaining of the means of life
an impossibility. So, I say, the question, What shall I eat? has been
answered for you. Eat wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat; eat
vegetables; eat meats, eat fruits, eat the things that are eaten by the
masses of the people around the world, for in this matter the voice of
the people is the voice of God. They have been led, generally, to the
selection of certain foods; and they have been led, generally, to
prepare these foods in generally similar ways; and you may depend upon
it that in general they have the right foods and are preparing them in
the right way. In these matters the race has been under the guidance of
God. The list of foods in common use is a long one, and you must select
therefrom according to your individual taste; if you do, you will find
that you have an infallible guide, as shown in the next two chapters.
If you do not eat until you have an EARNED hunger, you will not find
your taste demanding unnatural or unhealthy foods. The woodchopper, who
has swung his axe continuously from seven in the morning until noon does
not come in clamoring for cream puffs and confectionery; he wants pork
and beans, or beefsteak and potatoes, or corn bread and cabbage; he asks
for the plain solids. Offer to crack him a few walnuts and give him a
plate of lettuce, and you will be met with huge disdain; those things
are not natural foods for a workingman. And if they are not natural
foods for a workingman, they are not for any other man; for work hunger
is the only real hunger, and requires the same materials to satisfy it,
whether it be in woodchopper or banker, in man, woman or child.
It is a mistake to suppose that food must be selected with anxious care
to fit the vocation of the person who eats. It is not true that the
woodchopper requires "heavy" or "solid" foods and the bookkeeper "light"
foods. If you are a bookkeeper, or other brain worker, and do not eat
until you have an EARNED hunger, you will want exactly the same foods
that the woodchopper wants. Your body is made of exactly the same
elements as that of the woodchopper, and requires the same materials for
cell-building; why, then, feed him on ham and eggs and corn bread and
you on crackers and toast? True, most of his waste is of muscle, while
most of yours is of brain and nerve tissue; but it is also true that the
woodchopper's diet contains all the requisites for brain and nerve
building in far better proportions than they are found in most "light"
foods. The world's best brain work has been done on the fare of the
working people. The world's greatest thinkers have invariably lived on
the plain solid foods common among the masses.
Let the bookkeeper wait until he has an earned hunger before he eats;
and then, if he wants ham, eggs, and corn bread, by all means let him
eat them; but let him remember that he does not need one-twentieth of
the amount necessary for the woodchopper. It is not eating "hearty"
foods which gives the brain worker indigestion; it is eating as much as
would be needed by a muscle worker. Indigestion is never caused by
eating to satisfy hunger; it is always caused by eating to gratify
appetite. If you eat in the manner prescribed in the next chapter, your
taste will soon become so natural that you will never WANT anything that
you cannot eat with impunity; and you can drop the whole anxious
question of what to eat from your mind forever, and simply eat what you
want. Indeed, that is the only way to do if you are to think no
thoughts but those of health; for you cannot think health so long as you
are in continual doubt and uncertainty as to whether you are getting the
right bills of fare.
"Take no thought what ye shall eat," said Jesus, and he spoke wisely.
The foods found on the table of any ordinary middle-class or working
class family will nourish your body perfectly if you eat at the right
times and in the right way. If you want meat, eat it; and if you do not
want it, do not eat it, and do not suppose that you must find some
special substitute for it. You can live perfectly well on what is left
on any table after the meat has been removed.
It is not necessary to worry about a "varied" diet, so as to get in all
the necessary elements. The Chinese and Hindus build very good bodies
and excellent brains on a diet of few variations, rice making almost the
whole of it. The Scotch are physically and mentally strong on oatmeal
cakes; and the Irishman is husky of body and brilliant of mind on
potatoes and pork. The wheat berry contains practically all that is
necessary for the building of brain and body; and a man can live very
well on a monodiet of navy beans.
Form a conception of perfect health for yourself, and do not hold any
thought which is not a thought of health.
NEVER eat until you have an EARNED HUNGER. Remember that it will not
hurt you in the least to go hungry for a short time; but it will surely
hurt you to eat when you are not hungry.
Do not give the least thought to what you should or should not eat;
simply eat what is set before you, selecting that which pleases your
taste most. In other words, eat what you want. This you can do with
perfect results if you eat in the right way; and how to do this will be
explained in the next chapter.
CHAPTER XI.
HOW TO EAT.
It is a settled fact that man naturally chews his food. The few faddists
who maintain that we should bolt our nourishment, after the manner of
the dog and others of the lower animals, can no longer get a hearing; we
know that we should chew our food. And if it is natural that we should
chew our food, the more thoroughly we chew it the more completely
natural the process must be. If you will chew every mouthful to a
liquid, you need not be in the least concerned as to what you shall eat,
for you can get sufficient nourishment out of any ordinary food.
Whether or not this chewing shall be an irksome and laborious task or a
most enjoyable process, depends upon the mental attitude in which you
come to the table.
If your mind and attitude are on other things, or if you are anxious or
worried about business or domestic affairs, you will find it almost
impossible to eat without bolting more or less of your food. You must
learn to live so scientifically that you will have no business or
domestic cares to worry about; this you can do, and you can also learn
to give your undivided attention to the act of eating while at the
table.
When you eat, do so with an eye single to the purpose of getting all the
enjoyment you can from that meal; dismiss everything else from your
mind, and do not let anything take your attention from the food and its
taste until your meal is finished. Be cheerfully confident, for if you
follow these instructions you may KNOW that the food you eat is exactly
the right food, and that it will "agree" with you to perfection.
Sit down to the table with confident cheerfulness, and take a moderate
portion of the food; take whatever thing looks most desirable to you. Do
not select some food because you think it will be good for you; select
that which will taste good to you. If you are to get well and stay well,
you must drop the idea of doing things because they are good for your
health, and do things because you want to do them. Select the food you
want most; gratefully give thanks to God that you have learned how to
eat it in such a way that digestion shall be perfect; and take a
moderate mouthful of it.
Do not fix your attention on the act of chewing; fix it on the TASTE of
the food; and taste and enjoy it until it is reduced to a liquid state
and passes down your throat by involuntary swallowing. No matter how
long it takes, do not think of the time. Think of the taste. Do not
allow your eyes to wander over the table, speculating as to what you
shall eat next; do not worry for fear there is not enough, and that you
will not get your share of everything. Do not anticipate the taste of
the next thing; keep your mind centered on the taste of what you have in
your mouth. And that is all of it.
Scientific and healthful eating is a delightful process after you have
learned how to do it, and after you have overcome the bad old habit of
gobbling down your food unchewed. It is best not to have too much
conversation going on while eating; be cheerful, but not talkative; do
the talking afterward.
In most cases, some use of the will is required to form the habit of
correct eating. The bolting habit is an unnatural one, and is without
doubt mostly the result of fear. Fear that we will be robbed of our
food; fear that we will not get our share of the good things; fear that
we will lose precious time--these are the causes of haste. Then there is
anticipation of the dainties that are to come for dessert, and the
consequent desire to get at them as quickly as possible; and there is
mental abstraction, or thinking of other matters while eating. All these
must be overcome.
When you find that your mind is wandering, call a halt; think for a
moment of the food, and of how good it tastes; of the perfect digestion
and assimilation that are going to follow the meal, and begin again.
Begin again and again, though you must do so twenty times in the course
of a single meal; and again and again, though you must do so every meal
for weeks and months. It is perfectly certain that you CAN form the
"Fletcher habit" if you persevere; and when you have formed it, you will
experience a healthful pleasure you have never known.
This is a vital point, and I must not leave it until I have thoroughly
impressed it upon your mind. Given the right materials, perfectly
prepared, the Principle of Health will positively build you a perfectly
healthy body; and you cannot prepare the materials _perfectly_ in any
other way that the one I am describing. If you are to have perfect
health, you MUST eat in just this way; you can, and the doing of it is
only a matter of a little perseverance. What use for you to talk of
mental control unless you will govern yourself in so simple a matter as
ceasing to bolt your food? What use to talk of concentration unless you
can keep your mind on the act of eating for so short a space as fifteen
or twenty minutes, especially with all the pleasures of taste to help
you? Go on, and conquer. In a few weeks, or months, as the case may be,
you will find the habit of scientific eating becoming fixed; and soon
you will be in so splendid a condition, mentally and physically, that
nothing would induce you to return to the bad old way.
We have seen that if man will think only thoughts of perfect health, his
internal functions will be performed in a healthy manner; and we have
seen that in order to think thoughts of health, man must perform the
voluntary functions in a healthy manner. The most important of the
voluntary functions is that of eating; and we see, so far, no especial
difficulty in eating in a perfectly healthy way. I will here summarize
the instructions as to when to eat, what to eat, and how to eat, with
the reasons therefor:--
NEVER eat until you have an EARNED hunger, no matter how long you go
without food. This is based on the fact that whenever food is needed in
the system, if there is power to digest it, the sub-conscious mind
announces the need by the sensation of hunger. Learn to distinguish
between genuine hunger and the gnawing and craving sensations caused by
unnatural appetite. Hunger is never a disagreeable feeling, accompanied
by weakness, faintness, or gnawing feelings at the stomach; it is a
pleasant, anticipatory desire for food, and is felt mostly in the mouth
and throat. It does not come at certain hours or at stated intervals; it
only comes when the sub-conscious mind is ready to receive, digest, and
assimilate food.
Eat whatever foods you want, making your selection from the staples in
general use in the zone in which you live. The Supreme Intelligence has
guided man to the selection of these foods, and they are the right ones
for all. I am referring, of course, to the foods which are taken to
satisfy hunger, not to those which have been contrived merely to gratify
appetite or perverted taste. The instinct which has guided the masses of
men to make use of the great staples of food to satisfy their hunger is
a divine one. God has made no mistake; if you eat these foods you will
not go wrong.
Eat your food with cheerful confidence, and get all the pleasure that is
to be had from the taste of every mouthful. Chew each morsel to a
liquid, keeping your attention fixed on the enjoyment of the process.
This is the only way to eat in a perfectly complete and successful
manner; and when anything is done in a completely successful manner, the
general result cannot be a failure. In the attainment of health, the law
is the same as in the attainment of riches; if you make each act a
success in itself, the sum of all your acts must be a success. When you
eat in the mental attitude I have described, and in the manner I have
described, nothing can be added to the process; it is done in a perfect
manner, and it is successfully done. And if eating is successfully done,
digestion, assimilation, and the building of a healthy body are
successfully begun. We next take up the question of the quantity of food
required.
CHAPTER XII.
HUNGER AND APPETITES.
It is very easy to find the correct answer to the question, How much
shall I eat? You are never to eat until you have an earned hunger, and
you are to stop eating the instant you BEGIN to feel that your hunger is
abating. Never gorge yourself; never eat to repletion. When you _begin_
to feel that your hunger is satisfied, know that you have enough; for
until you have enough, you will continue to feel the sensation of
hunger. If you eat as directed in the last chapter, it is probable that
you will begin to feel satisfied before you have taken half your usual
amount; but stop there, all the same. No matter how delightfully
attractive the dessert, or how tempting the pie or pudding, do not eat a
mouthful of it if you find that your hunger has been in the least
degree assuaged by the other foods you have taken.
Whatever you eat after your hunger begins to abate is taken to gratify
taste and appetite, not hunger and is not called for by nature at all.
It is therefore excess; mere debauchery, and it cannot fail to work
mischief.
This is a point you will need to watch with nice discrimination, for the
habit of eating purely for sensual gratification is very deeply rooted
with most of us. The usual "dessert" of sweet and tempting foods is
prepared solely with a view to inducing people to eat after hunger has
been satisfied; and all the effects are evil. It is not that pie and
cake are unwholesome foods; they are usually perfectly wholesome if
eaten to satisfy hunger, and NOT to gratify appetite. If you want pie,
cake, pastry or puddings, it is better to begin your meal with them,
finishing with the plainer and less tasty foods. You will find,
however, that if you eat as directed in the preceding chapters, the
plainest food will soon come to taste like kingly fare to you; for your
sense of taste, like all your other senses, will become so acute with
the general improvement in your condition that you will find new
delights in common things. No glutton ever enjoyed a meal like the man
who eats for hunger only, who gets the most out of every mouthful, and
who stops on the instant that he feels the edge taken from his hunger.
The first intimation that hunger is abating is the signal from the
sub-conscious mind that it is time to quit.
The average person who takes up this plan of living will be greatly
surprised to learn how little food is really required to keep the body
in perfect condition. The amount depends upon the work; upon how much
muscular exercise is taken, and upon the extent to which the person is
exposed to cold. The woodchopper who goes into the forest in the winter
time and swings his axe all day can eat two full meals; but the brain
worker who sits all day on a chair, in a warm room, does not need one
third and often not one tenth as much. Most woodchoppers eat two or
three times as much, and most brain workers from three to ten times as
much as nature calls for; and the elimination of this vast amount of
surplus rubbish from their systems is a tax on vital power which in time
depletes their energy and leaves them an easy prey to so-called disease.
Get all possible enjoyment out of the taste of your food, but never eat
anything merely because it tastes good; and on the instant that you feel
that your hunger is less keen, stop eating.
If you will consider for a moment, you will see that there is positively
no other way for you to settle these various food questions than by
adopting the plan here laid down for you. As to the proper time to eat,
there is no other way to decide than to say that you should eat
whenever you have an EARNED HUNGER. It is a self-evident proposition
that that is the right time to eat, and that any other is a wrong time
to eat. As to what to eat, the Eternal Wisdom has decided that the
masses of men shall eat the staple products of the zones in which they
live. The staple foods of your particular zone are the right foods for
you; and the Eternal Wisdom, working in and through the minds of the
masses of men, has taught them how best to prepare these foods by
cooking and otherwise. And as to how to eat, you know that you must chew
your food; and if it must be chewed, then reason tells us that the more
thorough and perfect the operation the better.
I repeat that success in anything is attained by making each separate
act a success in itself. If you make each action, however small and
unimportant, a thoroughly successful action, your day's work as a whole
cannot result in failure. If you make the actions of each day
successful, the sum total of your life cannot be failure. A great
success is the result of doing a large number of little things, and
doing each one in a perfectly successful way. If every thought is a
healthy thought, and if every action of your life is performed in a
healthy way, you must soon attain to perfect health. It is impossible to
devise a way in which you can perform the act of eating more
successfully, and in a manner more in accord with the laws of life, than
by chewing every mouthful to a liquid, enjoying the taste fully, and
keeping a cheerful confidence the while. Nothing can be added to make
the process more successful; while if anything be subtracted, the
process will not be a completely healthy one.
In the matter of how much to eat, you will also see that there could be
no other guide so natural, so safe, and so reliable as the one I have
prescribed--to stop eating on the instant you feel that your hunger
begins to abate. The sub-conscious mind may be trusted with implicit
reliance to inform us when food is needed; and it may be trusted as
implicitly to inform us when the need has been supplied. If ALL food is
eaten for hunger, and NO food is taken merely to gratify taste, you will
never eat too much; and if you eat whenever you have an EARNED hunger,
you will always eat enough. By reading carefully the summing up in the
following chapter, you will see that the requirements for eating in a
perfectly healthy way are really very few and simple.
The matter of drinking in a natural way may be dismissed here with a
very few words. If you wish to be exactly and rigidly scientific, drink
nothing but water; drink only when you are thirsty; drink whenever you
are thirsty, and stop as soon as you feel that your thirst begins to
abate. But if you are living rightly in regard to eating, it will not
be necessary to practice asceticism or great self-denial in the matter
of drinking. You can take an occasional cup of weak coffee without harm;
you can, to a reasonable extent, follow the customs of those around you.
Do not get the soda fountain habit; do not drink merely to tickle your
palate with sweet liquids; be sure that you take a drink of water
whenever you feel thirst. Never be too lazy, too indifferent, or too
busy to get a drink of water when you feel the least thirst; if you obey
this rule, you will have little inclination to take strange and
unnatural drinks. Drink only to satisfy thirst; drink whenever you feel
thirst; and stop drinking as soon as you feel thirst abating. That is
the perfectly healthy way to supply the body with the necessary fluid
material for its internal processes.
CHAPTER XIII.
IN A NUTSHELL.
There is a Cosmic Life which permeates, penetrates, and fills the
interspaces of the universe, being in and through all things. This Life
is not merely a vibration, or form of energy; it is a Living Substance.
All things are made from it; it is All, and in all.
This Substance thinks, and it assumes the form of that which it thinks
about. The thought of a form, in this substance, creates the form; the
thought of a motion institutes the motion. The visible universe, with
all its forms and motions, exists because it is in the thought of
Original Substance.
Man is a form of Original Substance, and can think original thoughts;
and within himself, man's thoughts have controlling or formative power.
The thought of a condition produces that condition; the thought of a
motion institutes that motion. So long as man thinks of the conditions
and motions of disease, so long will the conditions and motions of
disease exist within him. If man will think only of perfect health, the
Principle of Health within him will maintain normal conditions.
To be well, man must form a conception of perfect health, and hold
thoughts harmonious with that conception as regards himself and all
things. He must think only of healthy conditions and functioning; he
must not permit a thought of unhealthy or abnormal conditions or
functioning to find lodgment in his mind at any time.
In order to think only of healthy conditions and functioning, man must
perform the voluntary acts of life in a perfectly healthy way. He cannot
think perfect health so long as he knows that he is living in a wrong or
unhealthy way; or even so long as he has doubts as to whether or not he
is living in a healthy way. Man cannot think thoughts of perfect health
while his voluntary functions are performed in the manner of one who is
sick. The voluntary functions of life are eating, drinking, breathing,
and sleeping. When man thinks only of healthy conditions and
functioning, and performs these externals in a perfectly healthy manner,
he must have perfect health.
In eating, man must learn to be guided by his hunger. He must
distinguish between hunger and appetite, and between hunger and the
cravings of habit; he must NEVER eat unless he feels an EARNED HUNGER.
He must learn that genuine hunger is never present after natural sleep,
and that the demand for an early morning meal is purely a matter of
habit and appetite; and he must not begin his day by eating in violation
of natural law. He must wait until he has an Earned Hunger, which, in
most cases, will make his first meal come at about the noon hour. No
matter what his condition, vocation, or circumstances, he must make it
his rule not to eat until he has an EARNED HUNGER; and he may remember
that it is far better to fast for several hours after he has become
hungry than to eat before he begins to feel hunger. It will not hurt you
to go hungry for a few hours, even though you are working hard; but it
will hurt you to fill your stomach when you are not hungry, whether you
are working or not. If you never eat until you have an Earned Hunger,
you may be certain that in so far as the time of eating is concerned,
you are proceeding in a perfectly healthy way. This is a self-evident
proposition.
As to what he shall eat, man must be guided by that Intelligence which
has arranged that the people of any given portion of the earth's surface
must live on the staple products of the zone which they inhabit. Have
faith in God, and ignore "food science" of every kind. Do not pay the
slightest attention to the controversies as to the relative merits of
cooked and raw foods; of vegetables and meats; or as to your need for
carbohydrates and proteins. Eat only when you have an earned hunger, and
then take the common foods of the masses of the people in the zone in
which you live, and have perfect confidence that the results will be
good. They will be. Do not seek for luxuries, or for things imported or
fixed up to tempt the taste; stick to the plain solids; and when these
do not "taste good," fast until they do. Do not seek for "light" foods;
for easily digestible, or "healthy" foods; eat what the farmers and
workingmen eat. Then you will be functioning in a perfectly healthy
manner, so far as what to eat is concerned. I repeat, if you have no
hunger or taste for the plain foods, do not eat at all; wait until
hunger comes. Go without eating until the plainest food tastes good to
you; and then begin your meal with what you like best.
In deciding how to eat, man must be guided by reason. We can see that
the abnormal states of hurry and worry produced by wrong thinking about
business and similar things have led us to form the habit of eating too
fast, and chewing too little. Reason tells us that food should be
chewed, and that the more thoroughly it is chewed the better it is
prepared for the chemistry of digestion. Furthermore, we can see that
the man who eats slowly and chews his food to a liquid, keeping his mind
on the process and giving it his undivided attention, will enjoy more of
the pleasure of taste than he who bolts his food with his mind on
something else. To eat in a perfectly healthy manner, man must
concentrate his attention on the act, with cheerful enjoyment and
confidence; he must taste his food, and he must reduce each mouthful to
a liquid before swallowing it. The foregoing instructions, if followed,
make the function of eating completely perfect; nothing can be added as
to what, when, and how.
In the matter of how much to eat, man must be guided by the same inward
intelligence, or Principle of Health, which tells him when food is
wanted. He must stop eating in the moment that he feels hunger abating;
he must not eat beyond this point to gratify taste. If he ceases to eat
in the instant that the inward demand for food ceases, he will never
overeat; and the function of supplying the body with food will be
performed in a perfectly healthy manner.
The matter of eating naturally is a very simple one; there is nothing in
all the foregoing that cannot be easily practiced by any one. This
method, put in practice, will infallibly result in perfect digestion and
assimilation; and all anxiety and careful thought concerning the matter
can at once be dropped from the mind. Whenever you have an earned
hunger, eat with thankfulness what is set before you, chewing each
mouthful to a liquid, and stopping when you feel the edge taken from
your hunger.
The importance of the mental attitude is sufficient to justify an
additional word. While you are eating, as at all other times, think only
of healthy conditions and normal functioning. Enjoy what you eat; if you
carry on a conversation at the table, talk of the goodness of the food,
and of the pleasure it is giving you. Never mention that you dislike
this or that; speak only of those things which you like. Never discuss
the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of foods; never mention or think of
unwholesomeness at all. If there is anything on the table for which you
do not care, pass it by in silence, or with a word of commendation;
never criticise or object to anything. Eat your food with gladness and
with singleness of heart, praising God and giving thanks. Let your
watchword be perseverance; whenever you fall into the old way of hasty
eating, or of wrong thought and speech, bring yourself up short and
begin again.
It is of the most vital importance to you that you should be a
self-controlling and self-directing person; and you can never hope to
become so unless you can master yourself in so simple and fundamental a
matter as the manner and method of your eating. If you cannot control
yourself in this, you cannot control yourself in anything that will be
worth while. On the other hand, if you carry out the foregoing
instructions, you may rest in the assurance that in so far as right
thinking and right eating are concerned you are living in a perfectly
scientific way; and you may also be assured that if you practice what is
prescribed in the following chapters you will quickly build your body
into a condition of perfect health.
CHAPTER XIV.
BREATHING.
The function of breathing is a vital one, and it immediately concerns
the continuance of life. We can live many hours without sleeping, and
many days without eating or drinking, but only a few minutes without
breathing. The act of breathing is involuntary, but the manner of it,
and the provision of the proper conditions for its healthy performance,
falls within the scope of volition. Man will continue to breathe
involuntarily, but he can voluntarily determine what he shall breathe,
and how deeply and thoroughly he shall breathe; and he can, of his own
volition, keep the physical mechanism in condition for the perfect
performance of the function.
It is essential, if you wish to breathe in a perfectly healthy way,
that the physical machinery used in the act should be kept in good
condition. You must keep your spine moderately straight, and the muscles
of your chest must be flexible and free in action. You cannot breathe in
the right way if your shoulders are greatly stooped forward and your
chest hollow and rigid. Sitting or standing at work in a slightly
stooping position tends to produce hollow chest; so does lifting heavy
weights--or light weights.
The tendency of work, of almost all kinds, is to pull the shoulders
forward, curve the spine, and flatten the chest; and if the chest is
greatly flattened, full and deep breathing becomes impossible, and
perfect health is out of the question.
Various gymnastic exercises have been devised to counteract the effect
of stooping while at work; such as hanging by the hands from a swing or
trapeze bar, or sitting on a chair with the feet under some heavy
article of furniture and bending backward until the head touches the
floor, and so on. All these are good enough in their way, but very few
people will follow them long enough and regularly enough to accomplish
any real gain in physique. The taking of "health exercises" of any kind
is burdensome and unnecessary; there is a more natural, simpler, and
much better way.
This better way is to keep yourself straight, and to breathe deeply. Let
your mental conception of yourself be that you are a perfectly straight
person, and whenever the matter comes to your mind, be sure that you
instantly expand your chest, throw back your shoulders, and "straighten
up." Whenever you do this, slowly draw in your breath until you fill
your lungs to their utmost capacity; "crowd in" all the air you possibly
can; and while holding it for an instant in the lungs, throw your
shoulders still further back, and stretch your chest; at the same time
try to pull your spine forward between the shoulders. Then let the air
go easily.
This is the one great exercise for keeping the chest full, flexible, and
in good condition. Straighten up; fill your lungs FULL; stretch your
chest and straighten your spine, and exhale easily. And this exercise
you must repeat, in season and out of season, at all times and in all
places, until you form a habit of doing it; you can easily do so.
Whenever you step out of doors into the fresh, pure air, BREATHE. When
you are at work, and think of yourself and your position, BREATHE. When
you are in company, and are reminded of the matter, BREATHE. When you
are awake in the night, BREATHE. No matter where you are or what you are
doing, whenever the idea comes to your mind, straighten up and BREATHE.
If you walk to and from your work, take the exercise all the way; it
will soon become a delight to you; you will keep it up, not for the
sake of health, but as a matter of pleasure.
Do not consider this a "health exercise"; _never take health exercises,
or do gymnastics to make you well. To do so is to recognize sickness as
a present fact or as a possibility, which is precisely what you must not
do_. The people who are always taking exercises for their health are
always thinking about being sick. It ought to be a matter of pride with
you to keep your spine straight and strong; as much so as it is to keep
your face clean. Keep your spine straight, and your chest full and
flexible for the same reason that you keep your hands clean and your
nails manicured; because it is slovenly to do otherwise. Do it without a
thought of sickness, present or possible. You must either be crooked and
unsightly, or you must be straight; and if you are straight your
breathing will take care of itself. You will find the matter of health
exercises referred to again in a future chapter.
It is essential, however, that you should breathe AIR. It appears to be
the intention of nature that the lungs should receive air containing its
regular percentage of oxygen, and not greatly contaminated by other
gases, or by filth of any kind. Do not allow yourself to think that you
are compelled to live or work where the air is not fit to breathe. If
your house cannot be properly ventilated, move; and if you are employed
where the air is bad, get another job; you can, by practicing the
methods given in the preceding volume of this series--"THE SCIENCE OF
GETTING RICH." If no one would consent to work in bad air, employers
would speedily see to it that all work rooms were properly ventilated.
The worst air is that from which the oxygen has been exhausted by
breathing; as that of churches and theaters where crowds of people
congregate, and the outlet and supply of air are poor. Next to this is
air containing other gases than oxygen and hydrogen--sewer gas, and the
effluvium from decaying things. Air that is heavily charged with dust or
particles of organic matter may be endured better than any of these.
Small particles of organic matter other than food are generally thrown
off from the lungs; but gases go into the blood.
I speak advisedly when I say "other than food." Air is largely a food.
It is the most thoroughly alive thing we take into the body. Every
breath carries in millions of microbes, many of which are assimilated.
The odors from earth, grass, tree, flower, plant, and from cooking foods
are foods in themselves; they are minute particles of the substances
from which they come, and are often so attenuated that they pass
directly from the lungs into the blood, and are assimilated without
digestion. And the atmosphere is permeated with the One Original
Substance, which is life itself. Consciously recognize this whenever
you think of your breathing, and think that you are breathing in life;
you really are, and conscious recognition helps the process. See to it
that you do not breathe air containing poisonous gases, and that you do
not rebreathe the air which has been used by yourself or others.
That is all there is to the matter of breathing correctly. Keep your
spine straight and your chest flexible, and breathe pure air,
recognizing with thankfulness the fact that you breathe in the Eternal
Life. That is not difficult; and beyond these things give little thought
to your breathing except to thank God that you have learned how to do it
perfectly.
CHAPTER XV.
SLEEP.
Vital power is renewed in sleep. Every living thing sleeps; men,
animals, reptiles, fish, and insects sleep, and even plants have regular
periods of slumber. And this is because it is in sleep that we come into
such contact with the Principle of Life in nature that our own lives may
be renewed. It is in sleep that the brain of man is recharged with vital
energy, and the Principle of Health within him is given new strength. It
is of the first importance, then, that we should sleep in a natural,
normal, and perfectly healthy manner.
Studying sleep, we note that the breathing is much deeper, and more
forcible and rhythmic than in the waking state. Much more air is
inspired when asleep than when awake, and this tells us that the
Principle of Health requires large quantities of some element in the
atmosphere for the process of renewal. If you would surround sleep with
natural conditions, then, the first step is to see that you have an
unlimited supply of fresh and pure air to breathe. Physicians have found
that sleeping in the pure air of out-of-doors is very efficacious in the
treatment of pulmonary troubles; and, taken in connection with the Way
of Living and Thinking prescribed in this book, you will find that it is
just as efficacious in curing every other sort of trouble. Do not take
any half-way measures in this matter of securing pure air while you
sleep. Ventilate your bedroom thoroughly; so thoroughly that it will be
practically the same as sleeping out of doors. Have a door or window
open wide; have one open on each side of the room, if possible. If you
cannot have a good draught of air across the room, pull the head of
your bed close to the open window, so that the air from without may come
fully into your face. No matter how cold or unpleasant the weather, have
a window open, and open wide; and try to get a circulation of pure air
through the room. Pile on the bedclothes, if necessary, to keep you
warm; but have an unlimited supply of fresh air from out of doors. This
is the first great requisite for healthy sleep.
The brain and nerve centers cannot be thoroughly vitalized if you sleep
in "dead" or stagnant air; you must have the living atmosphere, vital
with nature's Principle of Life. I repeat, do not make any compromise in
this matter; ventilate your sleeping room completely, and see that there
is a circulation of outdoor air through it while you sleep. You are not
sleeping in a perfectly healthy way if you shut the doors and windows of
your sleeping room, whether in winter or summer. Have fresh air. If you
are where there is no fresh air, move. If your bedroom cannot be
ventilated, get into another house.
Next in importance is the mental attitude in which you go to sleep. It
is well to sleep intelligently, purposefully, knowing what you do it
for. Lie down thinking that sleep is an infallible vitalizer, and go to
sleep with a confident faith that your strength is to be renewed; that
you will awake full of vitality and health. Put purpose into your sleep
as you do into your eating; give the matter your attention for a few
minutes, as you go to rest. Do not seek your couch with a discouraged or
depressed feeling; go there joyously, to be made whole. Do not forget
the exercise of gratitude in going to sleep; before you close your eyes,
give thanks to God for having shown you the way to perfect health, and
go to sleep with this grateful thought uppermost in your mind. A bedtime
prayer of thanksgiving is a mighty good thing; it puts the Principle of
Health within you into communication with its source, from which it is
to receive new power while you are in the silence of unconsciousness.
You may see that the requirements for perfectly healthy sleep are not
difficult. First, to see that you breathe pure air from out of doors
while you sleep; and, second, to put the Within into touch with the
Living Substance by a few minutes of grateful meditation as you go to
bed. Observe these requirements, go to sleep in a thankful and confident
frame of mind, and all will be well. If you have insomnia, do not let it
worry you. While you lie awake, form your conception of health; meditate
with thankfulness on the abundant life which is yours, breathe, and feel
perfectly confident that you will sleep in due time; and you will.
Insomnia, like every other ailment, must give way before the Principle
of Health aroused to full constructive activity by the course of
thought and action herein described.
The reader will now comprehend that it is not at all burdensome or
disagreeable to perform the voluntary functions of life in a perfectly
healthy way. The perfectly healthy way is the easiest, simplest, most
natural, and most pleasant way. The cultivation of health is not a work
of art, difficulty, or strenuous labor. You have only to lay aside
artificial observances of every kind, and eat, drink, breathe, and sleep
in the most natural and delightful way; and if you do this, thinking
health and only health, you will certainly be well.
CHAPTER XVI.
SUPPLEMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS.
In forming a conception of health, it is necessary to think of the
manner in which you would live and work if you were perfectly well and
very strong; to imagine yourself doing things in the way of a perfectly
well and very strong person, until you have a fairly good conception of
what you would be if you were well. Then take a mental and physical
attitude in harmony with this conception; and do not depart from this
attitude. You must unify yourself in thought with the thing you desire;
and whatever state or condition you unify with yourself in thought will
soon become unified with you in body. The scientific way is to sever
relations with everything you do not want, and to enter into relations
with everything you do want. Form a conception of perfect health, and
relate yourself to this conception in word, act, and attitude.
Guard your speech; make every word harmonize with the conception of
perfect health. Never complain; never say things like these: "I did not
sleep well last night;" "I have a pain in my side;" "I do not feel at
all well to-day," and so on. Say "I am looking forward to a good night's
sleep to-night;" "I can see that I progress rapidly," and things of
similar meaning. In so far as everything which is connected with disease
is concerned, your way is to forget it; and in so far as everything
which is connected with health is concerned, your way is to unify
yourself with it in thought and speech.
This is the whole thing in a nutshell: _make yourself one with Health in
thought, word, and action; and do not connect yourself with sickness
either by thought, word, or action_.
Do not read "Doctor Books" or medical literature, or the literature of
those whose theories conflict with those herein set forth; to do so will
certainly undermine your faith in the Way of Living upon which you have
entered, and cause you to again come into mental relations with disease.
This book really gives you all that is required; nothing essential has
been omitted, and practically all the superfluous has been eliminated.
The Science of Being Well is an exact science, like arithmetic; nothing
can be added to the fundamental principles, and if anything be taken
from them, a failure will result. If you follow strictly the way of
living prescribed in this book, you will be well; and you certainly CAN
follow this way, both in thought and action.
Relate not only yourself, but so far as possible all others, in your
thoughts, to perfect health. Do not sympathize with people when they
complain, or even when they are sick and suffering. Turn their thoughts
into a constructive channel if you can; do all you can for their relief,
but do it with the health thought in your mind. Do not let people tell
their woes and catalogue their symptoms to you; turn the conversation to
some other subject, or excuse yourself and go. Better be considered an
unfeeling person than to have the disease thought forced upon you. When
you are in company of people whose conversational stock-in-trade is
sickness and kindred matters, ignore what they say and fall to offering
a mental prayer of gratitude for your perfect health; and if that does
not enable you to shut out their thoughts, say good-by and leave them.
No matter what they think or say; politeness does not require you to
permit yourself to be poisoned by diseased or perverted thought. When we
have a few more hundreds of thousands of enlightened thinkers who will
not stay where people complain and talk sickness, the world will advance
rapidly toward health. When you let people talk to you of sickness, you
assist them to increase and multiply sickness.
What shall I do when I am in pain? Can one be in actual physical
suffering and still think only thoughts of _health_?
Yes. Do not resist pain; recognize that it is a good thing. Pain is
caused by an effort of the Principle of Health to overcome some
unnatural condition; this you must know and feel. When you have a pain,
think that a process of healing is going on in the affected part, and
mentally assist and co-operate with it. Put yourself in full mental
harmony with the power which is causing the pain; assist it; help it
along. Do not hesitate, when necessary, to use hot fomentations and
similar means to further the good work which is going on. If the pain is
severe, lie down and give your mind to the work of quietly and easily
co-operating with the force which is at work for your good. This is the
time to exercise gratitude and faith; be thankful for the power of
health which is causing the pain, and be certain that the pain will
cease as soon as the good work is done. Fix your thoughts, with
confidence, on the Principle of Health which is making such conditions
within you that pain will soon be unnecessary. You will be surprised to
find how easily you can conquer pain; and after you have lived for a
time in this Scientific Way, pains and aches will be things unknown to
you.
What shall I do when I am too weak for my work? Shall I drive myself
beyond my strength, trusting in God to support me? Shall I go on, like
the runner, expecting a "second wind"?
No; better not. When you begin to live in this Way, you will probably
not be of normal strength; and you will gradually pass from a low
physical condition to a higher one. If you relate yourself mentally with
health and strength, and perform the voluntary functions of life in a
perfectly healthy manner, your strength will increase from day to day;
but for a time you may have days when your strength is insufficient for
the work you would like to do. At such times rest, and exercise
gratitude. Recognize the fact that your strength is growing rapidly, and
feel a deep thankfulness to the Living One from whom it comes. Spend an
hour of weakness in thanksgiving and rest, with full faith that great
strength is at hand; and then get up and go on again. While you rest do
not think of your present weakness; _think of the strength that is
coming_.
Never, at any time, allow yourself to think that you are giving way to
weakness; when you rest, as when you go to sleep, fix your mind on the
Principle of Health which is building you into complete strength.
What shall I do about that great bugaboo which scares millions of people
to death every year--Constipation?
Do nothing. Read Horace Fletcher on "The A B Z or Our Own Nutrition,"
and get the full force of his explanation of the fact that when you live
on this scientific plan you need not, and indeed cannot, have an
evacuation of the bowels every day; and that an operation in from once
in three days to once in two weeks is quite sufficient for perfect
health. The gross feeders who eat from three to ten times as much as can
be utilized in their systems have a great amount of waste to eliminate;
but if you live in the manner we have described it will be otherwise
with you.
If you eat only when you have an EARNED HUNGER, and chew every mouthful
to a liquid, and if you stop eating the instant you BEGIN to be
conscious of an abatement of your hunger, you will so perfectly prepare
your food for digestion and assimilation that practically all of it will
be taken up by the absorbents; and there will be little--almost
nothing--remaining in the bowels to be excreted. If you are able to
entirely banish from your memory all that you have read in "doctor
books" and patent medicine advertisements concerning constipation, you
need give the matter no further thought at all. The Principle of Health
will take care of it.
But if your mind has been filled with fear-thought in regard to
constipation, it may be well in the beginning for you to occasionally
flush the colon with warm water. There is not the least need of doing
it, except to make the process of your mental emancipation from fear a
little easier; it may be worth while for that. And as soon as you see
that you are making good progress, and that you have cut down your
quantity of food, and are really eating in the Scientific Way, dismiss
constipation from your mind forever; you have nothing more to do with
it. Put your trust in that Principle within you which has the power to
give you perfect health; relate It by your reverent gratitude to the
Principle of Life which is All Power, and go on your way rejoicing.
What about exercise?
Every one is the better for a little all-round use of the muscles every
day; and the best way to get this is to do it by engaging in some form
of play or amusement. Get your exercise in the natural way; as
recreation, not as a forced stunt for health's sake alone. Ride a horse
or a bicycle; play tennis or tenpins, or toss a ball. Have some
avocation like gardening in which you can spend an hour every day with
pleasure and profit; there are a thousand ways in which you can get
exercise enough to keep your body supple and your circulation good, and
yet not fall into the rut of "exercising for your health." Exercise for
fun or profit; exercise because you are too healthy to sit still, and
not because you wish to become healthy, or to remain so.
Are long continued fasts necessary?
Seldom, if ever. The Principle of Health does not often require twenty,
thirty, or forty days to get ready for action; under normal conditions,
hunger will come in much less time. In most long fasts, the reason
hunger does not come sooner is because it has been inhibited by the
patient himself. He begins the fast with the FEAR if not actually with
the hope that it will be many days before hunger comes; the literature
he has read on the subject has prepared him to expect a long fast, and
he is grimly determined to go to a finish, let the time be as long as it
will. And the sub-conscious mind, under the influence of powerful and
positive suggestion, suspends hunger.
When, for any reason, nature takes away your hunger, go cheerfully on
with your usual work, and do not eat until she gives it back. No matter
if it is two, three, ten days, or longer; you may be perfectly sure that
when it is time for you to eat you will be hungry; and if you are
cheerfully confident and keep your faith in health, you will suffer
from no weakness or discomfort caused by abstinence. When you are not
hungry, you will feel stronger, happier, and more comfortable if you do
not eat than you will if you do eat; no matter how long the fast. And if
you live in the scientific way described in this book, you will never
have to take long fasts; you will seldom miss a meal, and you will enjoy
your meals more than ever before in your life. Get an earned hunger
before you eat; and whenever you get an earned hunger, eat.
CHAPTER XVII.
A SUMMARY OF THE SCIENCE OF BEING WELL.
Health is perfectly natural functioning, normal living. There is a
Principle of Life in the universe; it is the Living Substance, from
which all things are made. This Living Substance permeates, penetrates,
and fills the interspaces of the universe. In its invisible state it is
in and through all forms; and yet all forms are made of it. To
illustrate: Suppose that a very fine and highly diffusible aqueous vapor
should permeate and penetrate a block of ice. The ice is formed from
living water, and is living water in form; while the vapor is also
living water, unformed, permeating a form made from itself. This
illustration will explain how Living Substance permeates all forms made
from It; all life comes from It; it is all the life there is.
This Universal Substance is a thinking substance, and takes the form of
its thought. The thought of a form, held by it, creates the form; and
the thought of a motion causes the motion. It cannot help thinking, and
so is forever creating; and it must move on toward fuller and more
complete expression of itself. This means toward more complete life and
more perfect functioning; and that means toward perfect health.
The power of the living substance must always be exerted toward perfect
health; it is a force in all things making for perfect functioning.
_All things are permeated by a power which makes for health._
_Man can relate himself to this power, and ally himself with it_; he can
also separate himself from it in his thoughts.
_Man is a form of this Living Substance, and has within him a Principle
of Health._ This Principle of Health, when in full constructive
activity, causes all the involuntary functions of man's body to be
perfectly performed.
_Man is a thinking substance, permeating a visible body, and the
processes of his body are controlled by his thought._
When man thinks only thoughts of perfect health, the internal processes
of his body will be those of perfect health. Man's first step toward
perfect health must be to form a conception of himself as perfectly
healthy, and as doing all things in the way and manner of a perfectly
healthy person. Having formed this conception, he must relate himself to
it in all his thoughts, and sever all thought relations with disease and
weakness.
If he does this, and thinks his thoughts of health with positive FAITH,
man will cause the Principle of Health within him to become
constructively active, and to heal all his diseases. He can receive
additional power from the universal Principle of Life by faith, and he
can acquire faith by looking to this Principle of Life with reverent
gratitude for the health it gives him. If man will consciously accept
the health which is being continually given to him by the Living
Substance, and if he will be duly grateful therefor, he will develop
faith.
Man cannot think only thoughts of perfect health unless he performs the
voluntary functions of life in a perfectly healthy manner. These
voluntary functions are eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping. If
man thinks only thoughts of health, has faith in health, and eats,
drinks, breathes, and sleeps in a perfectly healthy way, he must have
perfect health.
Health is the result of thinking and acting in a Certain Way; and if a
sick man begins to think and act in this Way, the Principle of Health
within him will come into constructive activity and heal all his
diseases. This Principle of Heath is the same in all, and is related to
the Life Principle of the universe; it is able to heal every disease,
and will come into activity whenever man thinks and acts in accordance
with the Science of Being Well. Therefore, every man can attain to
perfect health.
* * * * *
THE SCIENCE OF BEING WELL
AND
GETTING RICH RIGHT
Is further elucidated in THE NAUTILUS MAGAZINE, published
monthly for the express purpose of Making The Man And Woman Who
Can Do What They Will To Do. It abounds in practical ideas and
in the bright inspiration that impels you to _use_ the ideas.
Use it as first aid!
THE NAUTILUS teaches and inspires Health, Wealth, and Happiness
in all departments of life.
Wallace D. Wattles who wrote this book teaches Constructive
Science in every number of the magazine. How to think so as to
promote yourself in Health and Success is what you want to know.
He teaches it!
Elizabeth Towne and William E. Towne teach it, too. They are the
editors and owners of THE NAUTILUS, and their success is worth
knowing about and learning from.
There are many splendid contributors to THE NAUTILUS--Ella
Wheeler Wilcox, Edwin Markham, Thomas Drier, Adelaide Keen,
Grace MacGowan Cooke, and Florence Morse Kingsley among them.
Get in touch with Health and Success, and with Happy and
Successful people through THE NAUTILUS.
There is a Family Counsel Department where Elizabeth Towne
answers personal problems for those who ask. In the Success
Department everybody is invited to say his say, and prizes are
given for best letters.
Don't miss Wallace D. Wattles' great new serial story "As a
Grain of Mustard Seed" which begins in an early number of the
magazine.
Send $1.00 for a year's subscription to THE NAUTILUS, with a
copy of "Making The Man Who Can" and "Marital Unrest: a New
Remedy," both by Wallace D. Wattles. Or, send 10 cents for a
3 months' trial, and a copy of "Marital Unrest."
* * * * *
Do you want more books on Health and Success? Read Wallace D.
Wattles' "Science of Getting Rich," and Bruce McClelland's
"Prosperity Through Thought Force," to which Ella Wheeler Wilcox
gave nearly a page of space in the New York Journal; and read
"Health and Wealth from Within," by William E. Towne and
"Practical Methods for Self-Development" by Elizabeth Towne.
Price of these books, $1.00 each, all 4 for $3.50. And don't
you want to read Wallace D. Wattles' "New Science of Living and
Healing," price 50 cents?
Address, ELIZABETH TOWNE,
DEPT. TH, HOLYOKE, MASS.
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Wallace Delois Wattles
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