CHAPTER XXVIII.
"What a great power is the power of thought! And what a grand being is man when he uses it aright; because after all, it is the use made of it that is the important thing. Character comes out of thought. 'As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.'"--_Sir Walter Raleigh._
"MARLOW, October ----.
"Dear Husband: I was just thinking of you all when the letter carriercame this morning and gave me a welcome surprise, for your lettersusually come in the afternoon. It seems too wonderful to believe aboutthe children, and yet I can see it is their implicit faith that makestheir words so potent.
"They are doing their part to help too, for every one in the world,large or small helps in greater or lesser measure to carry out the plansof the invisible Good.
"I dreamed of being at home last night, and it seemed as though you wereall so happy and busy. You did not see me. Even little Jem was busilyengaged in some kind of work. I could scarcely see what it was, but avague white something like an invisible net was spread between you, andthe thought came that you and Anna were weaving something, and even thechildren had a part to fulfill for they flitted to and fro, bringingsomething to you with faces so full of light and happiness, I almostcried out with joy.
"When I awoke I was deeply impressed that this was a symbol of unitedeffort in making the seamless robe of Truth, and the family grouprepresented the members of one body, each with a work to do to perfectthe whole.
"No matter how humble our part may be, no matter how childish andincompetent we feel, by doing the best we know, with the ability wehave, in all joy and earnestness, we shall be serving the Master andweaving the marvelous robe.
"Mrs. Pearl talked of the mighty power of thought in her lecture to-day.
"Every individual in the universe is inseparably connected with everyother individual, and we are, as it were, 'touching elbows' with thewhole world.
"How is it done? Simply by thinking and being susceptible to thought.Every thought of the individual helps to make or mar the happiness andhealth of the world. Every negative thought (and by that I mean oppositethe good, which is positive) sent forth, goes into the miasmatic fog oferror, and whoever believes in error or the reality of these thoughts,attracts to himself this quality of thought, which sooner or later,makes itself manifest in physical inharmony.
"For instance, one who believes in the reality of sickness and thereality of evil is constantly attracting thoughts that make sicknessmanifest, but if a knowledge of how to throw off or counteract thosethoughts were used, the cloud would be dispelled before it turned intoinharmony or sickness.
"This is why we are taught to deny every thought or feeling that is notharmonious or desirable, everything which can not be predicated ofspirit. If this is what makes sickness and sin, truly it is not to bewondered at, for how many are perfectly happy, perfectly unselfish andkind, one single day at a time?
"Suppose one gets up in the morning with a feeling of crossness andimpatience; he goes to breakfast, impresses the whole family with hisdiscomfort, and so through the entire day leaves the imprint of his darkforebodings on every person who sees him, besides the untold influencethat goes forth to the unprotected world, inasmuch as thoughts goeverywhere.
"He retires at night, disgusted with himself and displeased with thewhole world. People were unkind and unjust. Even inanimate objects wereunusually aggravating. He wasted half an hour trying to untie a knot,hunted for a package of papers which were finally found in their properplace, had a vexing ten minutes with his office key, etc.
"Every impatient thought, word or action was an expenditure, not only ofphysical force, but a loss of moral strength, and just as surely as theworld moves, these thoughts, in their revolving circuit, constantlyreturn to the thinker, 'Whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap.'
"Who knows what dark trains of thought his lowering face suggested? Whoknows what headaches and heartaches were brought on by the unconsciousabsorption of his impatience or bitterness? Who can measure the extentof that mysterious burden of depression, so often called 'the blues,'that crept into the consciousness of somebody under the influence of thedark thoughts sent out by this one, of whom perchance they knownothing?
"It is this negative quality of thought that holds the world in bondage.To destroy it is to destroy all inharmony. On the other hand, note theinfluence of the happy-voiced individual, who comes to us so runningover with the joy and beauty of life that we catch the thrillinginspiration of his mood and begin to enjoy the same sunshine, see thesame beauty and feel the same happiness.
"One look or one word may often send us off into the most delightfulreveries, may inspire us to write a cheery letter, vibrating with loveand hope, or prompt us to spend half an hour with one who needs the bathof joy our words may bring. Consciously and unconsciously we lighten thepathway, lift the burdens, sanctify the sorrows of the world by sendingout and receiving this subtle thread of thought, so fine in its essenceand quality, that any one and every one may feel its strengtheningpresence.
"It is the negative or mortal thought that produces disease. See howgrief bends and breaks the strongest constitutions, furrows the cheek,dims the eye, takes the appetite, impairs the mind. See how angercankers everything it touches, how jealousy corrodes the thoughts withpoisoned arrows, until the body is written over with letters ofunmistakable meaning.
"The body is what we may call the thermometer of the mind and registersthe quality of thought. Universal beliefs in error find their commonexpression on the body. Every thought of sickness, sin or discouragementis recorded or bodied forth.
"With all our belief in and fear of evil, sickness and death, we arecontinually subjecting ourselves to false and undesirable conditions,until, as Job said, 'Lo, the thing that I feared has come upon me.'
"Fear is more quickly productive of disease pictures than any other kindof thought. Some one has aptly said, 'if the human race were freed fromfear, it would be free from sickness,' which is verily true. Even themost learned doctors of medicine admit that an epidemic takes hold ofthose first who are most afraid, and frequently leaves the absolutelyfearless unmolested.
"Why is this so? Because fear weakens the power of mental control, andconsequently weakens the body. To leave the doors unlocked, and thenwatch for the thief, is almost equal to having the thief in the house.
"The material scientist says an epidemic has a material cause; theChristian healer says it has a mental cause. Before there is an objectto fear there must be the sentiment of fear. Let scarlet fever appear ina community, and every parent will immediately send out the mostagonizing thoughts of fear. Where will they go? Everywhere, becausethoughts can not be restrained. Their influence goes out in everydirection. To the tender children especially, because particularlydirected to them. All who have left the door open to fear, though theymay be sleeping in their unconsciousness of danger, will be liable toreceive these uncontrolled thoughts, and some day when they least expector fear sickness, it may be upon them.
"So the children, to whom have been directed such thoughts, only provetheir susceptibility to them, by picturing forth fear in the form ofscarlet fever, or whatever may have been the naming of the error.Anybody manifesting sickness without consciousness of fear provespassive or unconscious fear, while those suffering sickness through aconscious recognition and fear of sickness are manifesting active orconscious fear.
"There are two departments of mind sometimes spoken of as the consciousand unconscious. The conscious mind is the conscious thought, which iseasily swayed or changed. It has an immediate or direct influence on thebody as is shown by the blood that rushes to or recedes from the face atsome sudden change of thought. The unconscious mind is the aggregationof past individual and universal conscious thought, and is the characterformed, the second nature or instinct.
"As the flesh and bones are more fixed than the ever moving blood, sothe unconscious mind is slower to receive impressions, and slower toshow them forth. Our bodies
to-day are showing a harvest of the thoughtsof generations or ages of the past. The person manifesting consumptivetendencies is not only expressing his own conscious thoughts, but isveritably the picture of the thoughts of his parents, ancestors and theentire race, concerning a belief in consumption. Year by year thethoughts of this error have been writing themselves in his face, hiseyes, his chest, his very walk and talk and breath. Unless he offsetsthem with thoughts of absolute Truth, they press him out of our sight.He yields to the belief of death, because he never said no to sin orsickness, because he was at one with the world in its false beliefs.
"'The last enemy to be overcome is death!' reads the inspired statementof Paul, confirmed and strengthened by the Master's never-dying promise,'If a man keep my saying he shall never see death.'
"There are certain fixed beliefs inherent in every mind which we calluniversal beliefs. They are often referred to as belonging to theunconscious mind; as, for example, the fear of pain or suffering undercertain circumstances will come to the surface of consciousness, provingthat despite every feeling of confidence and fearlessness it has notbeen destroyed, but sleeps in the unconscious mind.
"These unconscious beliefs and fears of sickness are ultimatelyexpressed on the body in different forms of disease, sometimes given onename and sometimes another. The material scientist calls a certainoutshowing on the body cancer, the Christian healer calls it the pictureof a belief of cancer. In this way disease is always the manifestationof both conscious and unconscious thoughts.
"Special forms of disease are born by constant attention to the thoughtof disease and their symptoms. It has been stated on good authority thatphysicians who make a specialty of certain diseases are apt to beafflicted with what they have especially fitted themselves to cure. In amedical journal a case was cited not long since of an eminent physicianwho read before a great convention of doctors, what was considered to bethe ablest treatise on insanity ever written. 'On going home from theconvention he killed his wife, four children, and then himself, in a fitof dementia.'
"This reveals a startling fact, which might be corroborated by manyothers, that the body ultimately pictures forth the idea. But thethought is not confined to the individual. It not infrequently finds themost striking expression in some member of the family or in any oneunder his influence.
"If one man's thoughts so influence himself, family or friend, think ofthe influence of such thoughts on those who go to him for advice ortreatment, those who deliberately place themselves under his inspectionand allow themselves to be guided both directly and indirectly by hiserroneous opinions. Think of the vast stream of such thoughts going outfrom all medical colleges, students and practitioners. No wonderdiseases increase as physicians increase, as some of the best thinkersof the age declare.
"Not that one class of people is more to be reflected upon than another,for some kind or degree of erroneous thought is held by all classes.Physicians talk sickness and death, ministers preach evil andpunishment, the entire race believe in and suffer for sins.
"It is centuries since it was first discovered that ideas weretransmitted without the ordinarily accepted means of communication, but,to-day it is positively and repeatedly, yes, continually proven thatthought transference is not only possible or probable, but an every-dayoccurrence. To realize that
'Thoughts are things. Endowed with being, breath and wings, And that we send them forth to fill The world with good results or ill,'
is to be mightily responsible for what we think. To know that we areverily our brother's keeper, and that every thought makes misery orhappiness for the whole world as well as for the individual, issomething that should engage our deepest and most earnest consideration.
"All thinking is for the weal or woe of the world that is yet in itsinfancy of knowledge. As consciousness of truth takes the place ofconsciousness of error, thoughts become light and beautiful and truewith corresponding conditions.
"Let us no longer slumber in the arms of indifference and ignorance, butawake to truth and righteousness. 'Better be unborn than untaught; forignorance is the root of misfortune.'"