Excerpts from
"Practical Health"
by Leander Edmund Whipple
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Book Description
This
is a practical manual that outlines the principles of obtaining health
from within by harnessing the power of thought. This very hard to
find
book from the early part of the 20th Century was one of the first
covering the topic of what we now call psycho-somatic illness, and
shows how our thinking largely governs our health. The author of this
book was a renowned authority at the time on mental science and applied
psychology.
Leander
Edmund Whipple was
founder of The Metaphysical Magazine
in the late 1800s. He founded a system of teaching
metaphysics by correspondence, and from this formed The American School
of Metaphysics in New York, as the result of teaching for thirty years.
Mr. Whipple was the author of several books including "The Philosophy
of Mental Healing", A Manual of Mental Science" "Healing Influence",
"Mental Healing", and this one, "Practical Health."
Metaphysics is the science which investigates first
causes of existence and knowledge. It seeks to explain the nature of
being and the origin and structure of the world, uniting man's
physical, mental, and spiritual character into its true nature of
holism.
Through metaphysics, an applied psychology of religion
has developed which has influenced the work of ministers and teachers
in handling the emotional and physical problems of youth and maturity,
and in dealing with the sick and dying. This facilitates a closer
relationship between the work of the psychologist and that of the
spiritual healer. In fact, the Doctor of Metaphysics, or Metaphysician,
binds them into one, so that he is both psychological counselor and
spiritual comforter and healer. The true Metaphysician is a combination
of teacher, healer, and counselor, and espouses universal spirituality.
Contents
1.—THOUGHT ACTION IN SICKNESS
2.—THOUGHT ACTION IN HEALTH
3.—THE SPECIFIC IMAGE
TREATMENT
4.—THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE
5.—THE FOLLY OF WORRY
6.—THE VALUE OF CALMNESS
7.—THE USEFULNESS OF OCCULT
STUDY
8.—HEALING METHODS
9.—CAUSATIVE IMAGES
10.—MENTAL SAFEGUARDS
11.—THE NATURE OF DISEASE
12.—REMEDIES. HOW TO USE THE
MIND
13.—SELF-HELP. MENTAL
PROTECTION
14.—MAN, NATURE AND HEALTH
15.—THE NERVOUS NATURE OF
DISEASE
16.—EMOTION IN SICKNESS AND
IN CURE.
17.—SELF-CONTROL AND HEALTH
18.—CURATIVE THOUGHT
19.—THE
SUPREMACY OF MIND
PREFACE.
One of the most
important topics of the hour is how to use the mind
rightly for practical
purposes in individual life. Interest in the subject has been rapidly
growing
for many years; and the literature of the day shows in many ways a
strong
undercurrent of inquiry as well as a development of knowledge along the
lines
that lead to practical results.
All of
these lines of progress exhibit varieties of the same general
appreciation of
the importance of understanding the finer forces of nature and of our
being,
which are not manifest in sense-action; and of the more subtile
operations of
the mind that are often over-looked while hurrying to and fro in
personal
affairs.
The ideas
advanced on the intricate processes of the higher faculties are not all
of them
sufficiently sound to assure a right judgment. There is however a
certain
degree of truth underlying all the reasonings, and a correct
interpretation
that all may understand is vitally important.
The
prevailing thought of a community affects, in some measure, the minds
of all
the individual members; hence the especial importance that a new line
of
thinking should have a correct start. In no one line, perhaps, is this
necessity more marked than in the application of thought to healing—a
field of
action in which the public is today greatly in need of every genuine
influence
toward healthful conditions, un-mixed with error and without any
avoidable delay.
Since the publication in 1893
of “The Philosophy of Mental Healing,” there has been a
continuous demand for a book that
should present the
principles and ideas therein explained in a more practical form for
every day
use. This need was recognized from the first; but the earlier writings
took the
form of lessons for definite Instruction in the healing art, whereby
the deep
principles involved could be more thoroughly presented and
demonstrated. The
growth of this work has been steady and continuous since its beginning,
and it
is of the utmost importance; but it does not entirely meet the more
general
demand for a book to read and pass along to inquiring acquaintances,
for there
are many such who cannot settle down to a continuous study of a
new subject. The
writing of the present work was undertaken accordingly for the
purpose of
meeting these requirements, to a reasonable extent. The desire today
for
practical knowledge in a concentrated form comes from all directions
and is
expressed by multitudes.
Every
author knows the difficulties attendant upon concentrating the results
of
extensive thinking into the compass of practical expression. In the
present
case there are so many topics which must necessarily include all phases
of both
personal and individual life, that it is not easy to give a clear
explanation
of each without becoming too voluminous or leaving unconsidered some
ideas of vital
import. Also the same laws and principles are so interwoven with all
the
activities of life and health, that while writing under various heads,
endeavoring meanwhile to do justice to each subject independently,
repetition
of expression in word and in thought is almost unavoidable. Experience
shows,
however, that the ideas contained in the philosophy dealt with are
seldom too
well understood and few if any of them can be advantageously
dispensed with;
and repeated statement, in varying phraseology, of a truth that is new
in idea,
sometimes causes its deeper impress upon the understanding, also aiding
the
memory.
The
subject in its entirety cannot be exhaustively treated in one volume.
Other
books, some already written, will follow this one in due time.
Meanwhile the
teaching course which includes the studies and researches of the
past twenty
years and covers the present field of understanding, is open to
all inquirers.
The philosophy is practically unlimited and is entirely unrestricted in
its
application to human existence. So much of it as available space
and the purpose
with which this volume was begun would allow, has been included in
these pages.
The instructions given have been thoroughly tested and proved and
may be relied upon as correct.
LEANDER
EDMUND WHIPPLE
New York, January, 1907.
Chapter
1.
THOUGHT
ACTION IN SICKNESS.
The
question as to whether any action of thought can have an important
bearing upon
bodily conditions, either in sickness or health, is receiving a great
deal of
attention in intelligent communities and converts to its
affirmative theory
are declaring themselves in large numbers almost daily. The unthinking
masses
do not as yet take up the question seriously, and numbers are ready to
jeer at
every advanced idea presented on this and kindred subjects. But
singularly, and
perhaps fortunately, numbers do not count as regards the
establishment of the
truth of any principle, and the negative opinion of the masses, even
when
counted by millions, is invariably upset by the genuine
discovery of the
single inventor. Advancement in all ages has always come through the
efforts
and enlightenment of the few individual thinkers. This may not quite
suit the “majority,”
but it is a fact none can gainsay. It is a case where majority rule
means ruin;
and in any event it means stagnation, which always leads
eventually to an end
of the existing conditions, and a loss of the truth which might be
gained
through active intelligence well exercised.
But, in
the present day, few who think at all, fail to recognize the fact that
with
each person the character of his thought influences his life in certain
ways.
These ways, doubtless, vary with every individual case, but it probably
will be
readily admitted that the laws of action involved may be practically
the same
with all. If so, there may be some feasible ground for study that shall
yield
results in knowledge that must help us in daily life.
If the
fact above mentioned be established then it is easy to consider that
the
thought-action indulged would in some way be likely to affect the body
of the
thinker. This suggestion has led to thousands of tests that have
clearly proved
the existence of a direct relation existing between the mind and the
body of each
person, and that the particular mode of thought-action evolved by any
mind is
reproduced in the physical action of the body with which that mind is
associated. In other words, each one’s own thought reproduces its
action
in his own body. This once recognized as a principle of life-action, it
follows
as a logical necessity that the character of the
thought-action will be
found also in the bodily action, provided we know how to examine and
can
recognize it when seen.
This has
been repeatedly proved. It is a fact that can be tested by any one who
will
exercise patience, study closely the varieties of action under
observation and
learn to trace action from cause to effect, through representative
operations.
On its
face, sickness is a disturbed or abnormal condition of the body.
But back of
this physical condition is always to be found a more or less definite
state of
mind, showing conditions that were established previous to
the
appearance of the physical condition of sickness. The physical does
not, as commonly
supposed, come first and the mental proceed from it, but the
reverse. The
quite common error is the result of incomplete as well as imperfect
observation
of the phenomena involved. The exact character of each element is
seldom
recognized by the untrained mind and the connection is thereby
overlooked. It
exists, however, and failure to properly understand the fact leads
to many
erroneous opinions.
First of
all, the fact that there are involved in personal life two phases
of mental
action, each distinct from the other and both in operation together, is
almost
unknown; yet without this fact of knowledge little can be rightly
understood of
the mind or its forces. These two phases of action or planes of
personal life
are the “conscious” and the “subconscious” mentality. The first
constitutes man’s
conscious and volitional action during waking moments and includes all
those
operations which he knowingly performs with conscious intent or
recognition.
The second constitutes all the action in personal life here which
results in
bodily being, and whatever the mind has known but has passed and
temporarily
forgotten or left out of conscious use. The subconscious is of vastly
greater
moment in all details of life, but because of its nature it is unknown
to the man
during his waking hours, therefore all its movements and
activities are
unrecognized. Here rest all memories, which are records of action
once
consciously known, but later stored in the subconscious realm, to
be brought
forward again to the conscious plane, at will. In this way that which
once was
conscious action becomes subconscious—unrecognized, but still
active—and is
added to the storehouse of knowledge that exists within that subtle
realm.
In such
ways as these every action that is important enough to be stored up for
the
future, and especially that which is sufficiently acute to make a vivid
impression
on the mind, passes into the subconsciousness and mingles with other
phases of
action established there. The nature of the thought will be
exactly expressed
in the action stored up in the subconscious realm. Any conscious
coincidence
arising in future life may serve to bring this stored-up action in a
subconscious memory forward to the physical plane, where the character
of its
action will be reproduced in the reflecting action of the brain and the
nerve-centers. Its first presentation to the conscious mind will
probably be
through the sense of feeling; in this event the nervous system will
reproduce
all the original thought, in nervous sensations that correspond more or
less
definitely to the thought indulged at the time of the original
experience. On
this plane of feeling the relation between the mind and the
nervous system
is most clear to understand and cause and effect can be easily traced.
Here
sickness originates directly from abnormal states of mind. And even
when it
seems quite impossible that mind can have anything to do with the
condition,
the relation and connection will be found most exact, if traced with
patience
and discrimination along the lines indicated. Fear, in its many and
varied ramifications,
is the most common form of “mental cause” of sickness. It is always
negative
and uncertain in its character, distressing in mental quality, and
entirely
abnormal in all its operations. Fear works contrary to all life-forces,
tends
toward weakness and ultimates in destruction or, at least, the thought
of
destruction. If it be acute the thought engendered under it is acute;
then its
reproduction reflected in the nervous system will be acute, and
all the
accompanying sensations must show forth acute abnormal states;
suffering is the
common result. The nature of fear is doubt, distrust, uncertainty
and
distress; therefore its sensations are distressing and necessarily
disturbing
in their action. Under these circumstances the results in physical
function
and organ can only be distressing and the entire evidence becomes that
of
sickness.
The fact
that the majority—of savants as well as of the common people—attribute
sickness
to some physical affair and fail to recognize any connection with the
mind,
does not militate against the argument, for the reasons before recited.
The
fact, which is now undeniable, that hundreds of thousands of tests
of this theory
have been made during the past twenty years with success, many times
when the
savants of science have declared that hope no longer existed, proves
that it is
more than speculation; and the thousands that have received such
benefit raise
a strong voice in favor of the theory which proved a bulwark to them in
time of
dire distress. From the certain knowledge born of these repeated tests
and the
experience thus gained, the statement is unhesitatingly made that every
known
form of sickness, disease, distress or malady of either body or mind
has its
origin in the morbific action of the mind of man, men or nations; and
that in
every such instance where a wholesome mental change can be effected to
the
extent of establishing the opposite condition of thought-action, a full
and
permanent cure can be effected by mental means in natural ways that are
free
from harmful influence.
It is not
difficult for any one who desires the information to obtain proof of
the
statement that disturbed thought-action is followed by a bodily
condition that
accurately reproduces the thought indulged. A careful watch of one’s
own doings
will give the evidence in most cases. One who worries protractedly
soon
develops a lassitude and weariness with more or less marked
disinclination to
physical exertion and a tendency to neglect ordinary duties. A physical
heaviness,
and slowness of movement are often apparent. Food does not digest as
usual and
assimilation soon shows imperfections. Certain forms of headache
may develop
with these tendencies to inaction. If the worry is persistent and
the temperament
at all inclined to be morbid a bilious attack is liable, and in extreme
cases a
bilious fever may develop, sometimes becoming typhoid.
There are
many degrees of these expressions of disturbed action, and in each
case they
will correspond more or less exactly to the mental distress that
started the
worry. The mental act of worry—anxiety about results; uncertainty as to
self-power for accomplishing what seems to be necessary; fear of
loss, or
overweight of responsibility—reacts upon and expresses itself in a
certain part
of the brain, which is the seat of the nerve-force that relates to the
moral
quality of the sense of responsibility. The action once established in
nerve-tissue in this brain center at once reacts upon the liver, which
is the organic seat of responsibility of the human
body, and the
even flow of
executive ability has now become impaired in mind, brain and
liver—mental,
nervous and organic. The entire physical system may soon show this
“loss of
control,” for when the executive head is without natural system
and weak in
control, the entire body follows suit; this is true of any
organization,
personal or social, in business or in politics.
The
current medical system attempts to account for all of these conditions
by means
of supposed physical causes. It makes the LIVER responsible for either
an over plus or an insufficiency of
bile; the BILE must
answer for the existing
condition with the stomach and intestinal tract; the STOMACH, in turn, is
credited with the upsetting of the
brain and nervous system, and the upset NERVES are condemned for
destroying the mental equilibrium. Thus
does materia
medica persist in climbing the greased pole of materialism
backward,
inevitably landing where it started and recognizing little but the pole
itself.
But all of this is dealing with effects, for this entire line of
disturbed
conditions in the body came after the mind was upset by worry,
and the
worry began with the false conception of over-responsibility—an
abnormal idea
with no true foundation in fact. If there had been no morbid view
of responsibility,
no worry would have started on its madcap cavorting around the
midnight
pillow; with no worry the brain and nervous system would have remained
calm and
forceful; then the liver would have continued to execute its functional
orders
in confidence of its executive supremacy over organic action, and each
organ
and part would have attended to its own charge, the quiet attention to
duty
resulting in harmonious interaction of organs and functions
throughout the
entire human economy.
The wrong
action of the mind is alone responsible for this series of
discomforts—often,
alas! vastly more, for in the almost total ignorance of these facts of
human
life, every conceivable experiment is practiced upon the suffering
patient by
the anxious physician (those of one age invariably denouncing both the
theories
and the practice of the preceding ones) in the vain hope of curing the
symptoms
by physical means alone, and without even mistrusting the actual cause.
Such
efforts must continue to fail, as regards the establishing of an
accurate and
reliable diagnosis or a permanent and efficient pathology. Some
will, of course,
recover of themselves, regardless of the medicines taken, and chiefly
because
the mental state has changed, thus giving relief. Others will recover in
spite of the drugs administered, and by virtue of a robust
constitution
that overthrows all physical disturbances as soon as the mind adjusts
its thinking
to more moderate action. Yet others whose mental worry does not cease,
the
causes seeming to be insurmountable difficulties, will continue to
dwindle away
in suffering and torture and finally give up the ghost ahead of the
natural
time, chiefly because so much burden of poison has been added to the
already
overworked organic structure that it can stand no more.
These are
usually called the works of “Providence,” whose mighty power, in these
particular cases, renders the otherwise “great” power of drugs
inoperative, and
for Divine reasons. No fault of the poisonous effect of the drugs, nor
yet of
the fallacious reasonings evolved from the materialistic theory, which
establishes effects as supposed causes, can be attached to the
failure;
certainly not! One success—proof positive of the scientific status of
the
entire system. Two failures––Divine intervention; this also proves the
“accuracy”
of the system that has failed. Verily! A fine combination. No
grease needed
here. The self-appointed savant doesn’t even need to climb; he slides
merely up
and sits on the top of the pole crying, “Long live Materia Medica!” But how many of us are
satisfied with the dose of “Divine intervention”?
This has
been going on for thousands of years and yet medical art is today no
nearer to
scientific grounds than when it began. Claims that drug medication is a
science
are groundless, and we shall continue to suffer while we believe and
trust to
them. More sick people recover without drugs than with them, and it is
safe to
venture the opinion that the majority of those who die before their
natural
time, as do so many of the sick who have the very best available
medical
attendance, die because of the drugs taken rather than from
the
virulence of the disease itself.
These
statements are honestly believed to be true. They are given here, not
for
aggressive purposes, but in an appeal to sound thinking rather than the
usual
unthinking state of blind belief in the materialistic man of science
and his
theory of belief only, in whose wake goes the angel of death and beside
whose
door always sits the undertaker waiting for the job that he knows full
well
will soon be his.
We claim
here that if the theory of “mental causation through thought-action” be
examined with sufficient care it will be found to contain the
“Balm of Gilead”
in this dilemma, for every disease has a mental cause due to the action
of the
afflicted one himself or of others who dominate his mentality; to the mind
of
the community, the nation or the race; and continued thought finally
becomes a
settled conviction, which transfers from one to another, passing from
age to
age, and from race to race, thus establishing conditions that seem
so
permanent as to be considered fixtures in the universe.
The writer
offers in evidence twenty years of intelligent recognition
and belief in
medical science, with constant failure and repeated mistakes by those
to whom
he trusted, with the consequent suffering, danger and
personal fear, followed
by nearly as long a period of study and practice of the thought theory,
enjoying perfect health meanwhile, and with unqualified success in
all ways.
During this time thousands of cures of otherwise hopeless cases have
appeared
to verify the truth of the theory. Success is so nearly universal, when
favorable conditions can be secured, that it seems as though the best
minds of
the world should be engaged in serious investigation of the
subject. No
greater boon can come to mankind than a genuine healing art that can be
relied
upon for scientific results, and be it physical, mental, moral, or
spiritual,
the writer would hail its advent with the utmost enthusiasm.
This, it
is believed, is to be the portion of “Mental Healing” when it shall
receive
adequate recognition and be thoroughly examined on its own scientific
ground.
Its system admits of as accurate experiment and test as does that of
any
materialistic method, provided the test be made under the natural
laws of
action involved in the system; we might even say more so, because, the
faculties dealt with are of a higher order and all operations are
capable of
more exact dealing.
The one
mental cause cited, i. e., “Worry,” is only an illustration;
all mental
states affect the bodily organism because every thought expresses
itself in
the nervous system, which is the mind’s instrument for action. A
discordant
thought can only produce nervous disorder and every discordant thought
reproduces
itself in some degree of nervous distress. Exciting thoughts will
excite the
nerve centers and over-stimulate the nervous system; if there is fear
associated
with the excitement, an excited agitation will be set up in the
nerve-action,
which will readily develop fever, and any of its attendant phases may
become
established, according to the impelling influence of the original
thought-action.
Every form of fever is a reproduction of some phase of excited
thought-action
in the human mind. Without a mind the condition is impossible. It never
appears
in a dead body, neither does it continue for an instant after death
occurs. Nor
does it appear in the body of the idiot.
These facts give food for
reflection; they should no longer be ignored.
The reasoning faculties have in the past been too much exercised under
the
influence of the external senses, and erroneous conclusions have been
the
result. Through right thinking there are remedies at hand for all the
errors of
superficial reasoning. Much of the causation of disease rests in
the
subconscious department of the mind and this must be well considered in
evolving any theory. Health for the body is at hand, but it must come
through
knowledge of the mind which builds and controls it, else the body
will be
defective and correspondingly weak. The mind is dual in its action,
though a
unit in element; and every transaction has both its conscious and
its
subconscious phases of action. Both planes of action of the mind must
be
considered in order that the term “Mental Cause” may be comprehended.
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