The Church of St. Bunco Part 12

CHAPTER XVIII.

VARIOUS SCHOOLS OF THE NEW THOUGHT.

Just now, the general cause of metaphysical therapeutics is separating rapidly into various "schools," few of them having much consideration for the pretentious health-trust, "Christian Science."

In the South, for instance--at Sea Breeze, Florida--a Mrs. Helen Wilmans has founded a settlement of houses and lands, souls and bodies, with books, pamphlets, and a weekly press, all devoted, mentally, morally and physically, to psychic dominion over all things. _Freedom_ is the name of the organ that specially spreads Mrs. Wilmans' light and curatives. She has capacity in a comparative degree, and energy, with self-confidence, in the superlative. She proclaims this:

"Intellectual power in the individual comes from concentration of the mind upon an idea until the truth or falsity of the idea becomes apparent.

Likewise the power of the race in the unfoldment of a race problem must come from a concentrated effort to discover a hitherto unfolded racial capacity; and this is the meaning of the movement I am inaugurating here."

The Wilmans' conception of mind-healing has been ill.u.s.trated as follows by a correspondent of _Freedom_, who discusses and admits the curing of disease among devout Catholics, exalted and prayerful, at the shrine of St. Anne in Illinois. It is all natural, he says:

"If with equally strong belief they should pray to G.o.d, Buddha, St. Peter or Paul, Mrs. Eddy or Mrs. Wilmans, or a stump or stone--or should they stand on their heads, or drink water from a certain river, or anoint the sick parts with clay and spittle--the result would be the same. Their mind would cure their bodies. Mind is king."

In some respects, the paper, _Freedom_, is almost as free from "material sense" as the book, _Science and Health_. Mrs. Wilmans has a correspondent who a.s.serts, and probably believes, that, by the concentrated power of her finite female mind, she has "never failed once in five years to avert the fury of severe summer storms." She has "demonstrated," she says, the dominion of mind over material nature, "as clearly as any Mental Scientist has demonstrated it over disease."

And here is an official announcement from Mrs. Wilmans' organ:

"_Freedom_ is the only paper published whose leading and constantly avowed object is to overcome death right here in this world and right now. If you want to learn something of the newly-discovered power vested in man which fits him for this stupendous conquest, read this paper, and keep on reading it."

"The new thought" has traveled West as far as South. It recently had among its organs _The Temple_, of Denver, Colorado, "a monthly magazine devoted to the fuller unfoldment of the divinity of humanity," the editor of which was Mr. Paul Tyner, who afterwards conducted the _Arena_ of Boston, consolidated with _The Journal of Practical Metaphysics_. The purpose of the latter periodical was "the unification of scientific and spiritual thought and the new philosophy of health." The editor was Horatio W.

Dresser, a Harvard graduate, an excellent philosopher of the ontological trend, and a polished writer, reminding one partly of Spinoza and partly of Emerson. Mr. Dresser's books, _The Power of Silence_, _The Perfect Whole_, and others, have given him a wide reputation in his particular field of work, and have const.i.tuted him a center of the most logical and scholarly literature connected with "metaphysical healing." This literature, too extensive for specialized designation, is under the propagandism of the Boston "Metaphysical Club," an active and growing organization.

The Boston "Metaphysical Club" comprises too much exact information and solid learning to accept or countenance the extreme vagaries of "Christian Science," and appears to be acting as a balance-wheel to the whole movement of "the new thought." In a recent leaflet the Club has taken special occasion to dissect and repudiate that most preposterous doctrine of Mrs. Eddy's "science," the absolute nothingness of matter.

The t.i.tle of the leaflet referred to is _Christian Science and the New Metaphysical Movement_, with the added phrase, _An Intelligent Discrimination Desirable_. One excerpt is this:

"Christian Science proclaims the unreality of matter, and of the body. The rational and broader thought, not only admits the validity of the body, as veritable expression, but claims that it is as good, in its own place and plane, as is the soul and spirit. While susceptible to mental molding, it is neither an error nor an illusion. Moreover, it is friendly to its welfare to affirm both its validity and goodness. It is to be ruled, beautified, and utilized in its own order, and not denied an existence.

Even admitting that the whole cosmos is, in the last a.n.a.lysis, but one Universal Mind and its manifestation; even admitting that all matter is but a lower vibration of spirit, and that the human body is essentially a mental rather than a physical organism; still, matter has its own relative reality and validity, and is not to be ignored as illusion."

Of its kind, nothing better than this could be said even by a Hegel. It is exactly the correct statement of the great metaphysical truth.

The leaflet agrees with the criticism of this volume, that "the spirit of Christian Science is autocratic rather than democratic," and says:

"Its polity and ritual, in every detail, are shaped and directed arbitrarily by a single will. There is no room for investigation, liberty of thought, progress, or further revelation. There is no recognition of related physical science or evolutionary progress."

The monograph continues thus:

"The liberal movement stands for freedom of soul, and is in no way opposed to subordinate orders of truth.... It does not ignore the good in existing systems, disparage reasonable hygiene, or deny the place of certain departments of surgery. It is not insensible to the present and provisional uses of simple external therapeutic agencies, at least until individual unfoldment and the recognition of higher law become more general.... While understanding, both from experience and observation, that a systematic employment of mental potency in a rational, scientific, and idealistic manner has a wonderful and unappreciated healing energy, its exponents do not think it necessary to form a new and exclusive religious sect."

The main premise, of course, of all the schools of "mind-healing" is that "the mind can and should control the body." Let us go straight from this premise to the manner of applying it, as explained, for instance, in a little book ent.i.tled _The New Philosophy of Health_, excellently well written, by a Miss Harriet B. Bradbury.

"The healer [says this author] simply holds in mind with great tenacity, for perhaps ten or fifteen minutes, an image of the patient as he should be. This image, by the process known as 'thought transference' is impressed upon the sick man's mind as a possibility, when his own strong desire, seizing it, is able to reproduce it as an actuality. He may be quite unconscious that he has done anything for himself, and when he finds himself well, gives all the credit to the man who, as he thinks, has 'healed' him. Yet the change is wrought by no man, but by the great life-giving force which two wills working in harmony have called into perfect action."

In confirmation of "the law of mental causation," Miss Bradbury says:

"The most significant of recent biological experiments are those which have been conducted at the Smithsonian Inst.i.tute with a view to discovering the physical effects of different mental states. They have proved that the different emotions produce immediate chemical changes within the physical organism, and it only remains to continue the investigation to learn just how each habitual emotion is finally reflected upon the outward frame."

So that "old mesmerist," Dr. Quimby--for this was exactly his view--has got along as far as the Smithsonian Inst.i.tute at Washington. And here let us introduce the names and cogitations of a few authorities so "eminently respectable" that the "very best and most conservative people" need not shrink from becoming acquainted with them.

In a work on _Practical Idealism_, William DeWitt Hyde, President of Bowdoin College, tells us:

"There are certain cla.s.ses of disease for which hypnotic treatment is highly beneficial. Mental healing in all its various forms, in so far as it is valuable, rests on the principle that body and mind are very closely inter-related through the partly conscious but chiefly unconscious control of the vital functions through the nervous system; and that the state of the mind at any given time, and consequently the state of the body, in so far as we know it at that time, is made up of a relatively small presentation of sensation, and a very large contribution of a.s.sociations.

Hence a very slight suggestion through the senses, by speech, or physical contact, or eradication of fixed images, anxieties, and fears, may introduce a new nucleus around which an entirely new set of a.s.sociations will cl.u.s.ter; so that through the renewing of the mind the body may come to be transformed."

Charles Van Norden, D.D., LL.D., at one time President of Elmira College, tells us in his outline of psychology, _The Psychic Factor_, that

"So tremendous is this power of mind over body, that disease may often be cured and ailments caused by a new idea."

"A woman [says Rev. Dr. Van Orden] once came to Surgeon-General Hammond with what he considered an incurable disorder. She sighed as she turned to go away disconsolate, saying, 'Ah, if I but had some of the water of Lourdes!'--for she was a devout Catholic. Now it so happened that a friend had brought the doctor a bottle of the genuine water of Lourdes to experiment with. He informed the patient of this, and promised her some provided she would first try a more potent remedy, Aqua Crotonis (New York City aqueduct water). The woman consented, but protesting that this latter could not reach the case. He then gave her a little vial of the real article, but labeled 'Aqua Crotonis.' When this had failed he gave her Croton water, but labeled 'Water of Lourdes.' The result was a complete cure."

Prof. William James, of Harvard, in the chapter of his _Principles of Psychology_ treating "the production of movement," quotes many authorities and gives various diagrams ill.u.s.trating the effects of sensations and emotions upon the pulse, the respiration, the glands, muscles, and other organs and functions of men and animals. The celebrated Prof. Bain is quoted as saying that "according as an impression is accompanied with _feeling_, the aroused currents diffuse themselves over the brain, leading to a general agitation of the moving organs, as well as affecting the viscera." The conclusion of Prof. James is that

"Using sweeping terms and ignoring exceptions, we might say that every possible feeling produces a movement, and that every movement is a movement of the entire organism, and of each and all its parts."

"The effect," says Prof. James, "of fear, shame and anger, upon the blood-supply of the skin, especially the skin of the face, are too well known to need remark. Sensations of the higher senses produce, according to Couty and Charpentier, the most varied effects upon the pulse-rate and blood-pressure of dogs."

Now if the higher emotions of dogs produce marked effects upon their physical structure, we must naturally infer that hope, faith, joy--all, indeed, of the loftier emotions of human beings--may set up high and healthful movements in the human body, while base emotions set up low, harmful, and diseased conditions. In this claim, anyhow, we have, according to "metaphysical healing," the cause and cure of disease, capped, too, with the ethics of "the new thought."

Thomas Jay Hudson, in his book, _The Law of Psychic Phenomena_, gives this compend of the facts:

"The science of psycho-therapeutics is yet in its infancy. Thus far just enough has been learned to stimulate research. It has been demonstrated that there is a psychic power inherent in man which can be employed for the amelioration of his own physical condition, as well as that of his fellows. When this is said, nearly all the ground covered by present knowledge has been embraced. It is true that many wonderful cures have been effected, many marvelous phenomena developed. Nevertheless, all are groping in the dark, with only an occasional glimmering of distant light shed upon the subject; and this light serves princ.i.p.ally to show how little is now known, compared with what there is yet to learn."

In discussing the conditions necessary to psychic healing, Mr. Hudson affirms that the exemplar and healer of Nazareth, the founder of our Christian religion, always recognized these conditions in the "miracles"

imputed to him. We shall end our quotations, at this point, with one from Mr. Hudson's chapter on "The Physical Manifestations and Philosophy of Christ."

"I do not mean to say that Jesus could not heal in such cases where the mental environment was unfavorable; but the fact that he took infinite pains, wherever practicable, to secure the best conditions, shows that he understood the law and worked within its limitations. Certain it is that he never performed any of his wonderful works outside the laws which he proclaimed, nor did he ever intimate that he could do so. It is true that his biographers do not always relate the details of the transactions recorded; but it must be remembered that they wrote at a later day, and may not have been in possession of all the details. It is, however, a marvelous fact, and is one which const.i.tutes indubitable evidence of the truth of his history, that in no instance do they relate a single act performed or word spoken by him, relating to the healing of the sick, which does not reveal his perfect knowledge of and compliance with the laws which pertain to mental therapeutics as they are revealed in modern times through experiment and the processes of inductive reasoning."

CHAPTER XIX.

AN ADVANCED HEALER OF TO-DAY.

Recapitulating what we have been over, it appears that "metaphysical healing" is simply the suggestion and determination of health--the ideal photograph, as it were, of health--transferred from the well to the ill, in the conviction that Universal Spirit is the principle of all health, which we may receive from its Source by opening ourselves to it. That is to say, the health of the Infinite Spirit, so far as absorbed by a finite spirit, corrects finite errors of mind, and the mind, thus corrected, corrects, or cures, the body. Such, certainly, was the "truth-cure" of Phineas P. Quimby. With him, starting as a mesmerist, it was, really, a kind of normal and sacred hypnotism, by which he endeavored to put his patients under the close, immediate influence and operation of Supreme Life, and Sympathy, and Vigor.

Such treatment should do much for the ailing--how much we must wait to know.

But the effects of it must have limits, and these limits must be the general, the fixed conditions, of what we designate as mind and matter. It may be well to re-state these conditions, but with focal reference to this point--the one vital point of our whole theme.

Metaphysically speaking, we are spirit, and all else is spirit. But what _is_ spirit? What are the const.i.tuents of it, to the extent that man may grasp them?

First, is the universal principle of intelligent conjunctive unity, instinctive and conscious, which, individualized in men and animals, manufactures, or sub-creates, all the unities of their environment, which they take to be "the forms of matter."

Second, is the equally universal principle of subjective (negative) sensibility--the receptiveness of spirit in its forms called "the senses."

Trans.m.u.ted through these senses, ultimate objective spirit--to us "the unknown and unknowable"--furnishes the filling, or contents, of what consciousness and sub-consciousness make up, or unify, into objects.