NOTE: The entire ebook link can be found here. https://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=c_stAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA116
This is only Chapter 8. I just love that this was written in 1920!. That sure knocks down a lot of contemporary pride!
Health is the normal state, intended by an all-loving Father. Man, made in the God-image, is naturally well and strong. His body instinctively obeys the law of well-being. When properly safeguarded, this temple of the living spirit reveals physical concord. Jewish Science instills faith and spiritual life so that health is maintained as the natural outflowing of divine harmony. Sickness is unnatural. This truth is not understood by many who wilfully throw away good health and then question the ways of God. Spiritual Science is received with skepticism by those who have ruined their bodies and yet expect “miracles” to occur in the restoration of their strength. Jewish Science will be received with doubt by the very men and women who do not demand of the physician immediate relief. Such skeptics will deny the law of mental healing because it often is not demonstrated in a few days or weeks. Though the body has been abused for years, doubters demand almost immediate results.
It is better to realize that Jewish Science teaches that by correct understanding and application of the laws of mind; disease may be gradually cured. But in keeping with the spirit of the Bible it offers the message of Life, so that by faith and right living health may be fostered and “the diseases of Egypt” avoided. Sickness, accord ing to Scriptural authority, is the result of wrong thought and action. Irreligion and immorality bring in their train bodily discord and material disturbance. Health is the prod uct of Divine Wisdom or Science. The man who believes in the living God and actualizes his faith insures long life. Morality spells well-being and goodness has its practical re ward. This life rather than the future state is emphasized. Worldly compensations are promised in the fruitage of the field and overflowing prosperity. True worship which im plies intelligent knowledge and understanding of the spirit, is recompensed. “If thou wilt hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all His com mandments the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations. And all these blessings shall come upon thee; if thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God.
Blessed shalt thou be in the city and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the young of thy flock. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.” — Deut. 28:1-6. Such are the earth-blessings, promised by the Torah. They are positive assurances of divine grace. They point the way to harmony of body, mind and affairs. Similar expres sions may be found in the chapter, “Healing in the Bible.” The trend of these references is in the direc tion of prevention. They are not so much prescrip tions for maladies as fore warnings of the possibility of disease through lapse of faith. Jewish Science announces the same note that modern medicine is sounding, the prevention of sickness by adequate knowledge of the laws of life. Time was when medical leaders were concerned largely with the study of sickness, rather than its prevention. The effort was to find the sources of disease and the various antidotes or anti-toxins for their cure. This negative ten dency has been modified in late years by the propaganda to promote public health by instruction in the simple laws of hygiene. The fight on tuberculosis is largely preventative. The value of fresh air — a God-given element — is being stressed. In our times, we have realized that there is no dan ger in breathing pure air, even in the sleeping hours. The divine, healing power of the ether has been re-discovered and the old fallacies of the past generations exposed. Uncleanliness, the violation of divine law, is proved to be the fertile source of much sickness.
Jewish Science insists on the prevention of disease by Hygienic Mind Laws, manifesting in health and well-being. It recommends not only the mental processes of heal ing but practical methods of health and hygiene. All means that build up the body are states of consciousness. to be actualized by will and suggestion. Such useful methods are physical exercises, that reveal mind at work on matter. Health is a psychic state. The body or muscles in themselves have no strength or ability. If you could by some magic get outside of your own body, you could not lift the very weight that it represents. Yet, by your mind-power, you can direct your body to perform any task. You can compel it to walk indefinitely or to move in any direction. You can cause your arms, fingers, legs or any other part of the body to obey your slightest suggestion. You are the complete con troller of all your physical powers. Whatever strength you have, is primarily mental or spiritual. The Proverb : “As a man is, so is his strength,” is an exact law of mental and physical life.
For this reason, Jewish Science approves all methods to strengthen the body and to avoid sickness. Natural exercises may, if desired, form a part of this health-program. The psychic point to be remembered is that these exercises should be performed with attention to the mind-element. The prin ciple of concentration is as important as the exercise itself. The mind must be the main part of the activity. Put your full attention on what you are doing. Make each exercise a mental act. Think strength, power, health, vitality, enthusiasm and you will add the all-important factor to your physical work.
A cognate element in the health-process is good, regular breathing. This too is a mental or psychic function. The ether in its natural state contains healing elements. It is the pure ozone, made in the vast laboratory of nature. It has positive influence for good and carries the exhilarating cur rents of life. Proper breathing may be made a habit of the Sub-conscious mind. Get away from the crowded streets and find the magic touch of pure air. Remember that you can contact cold, heat, draught, and all natural changes without the least harm if you make up your mind that no outside element can injure you. Do not coddle yourself. Believe that you can meet any natural circumstance by the subtle law of mental adaptation. Put your mind-force into your body and build up the power of “Resistance” by which you can count eract so-called disease-bearing germs. Have faith in your ability to meet changing outward conditions. Lose your fear of cold, heat, draught, and all temporal states. Know that you are inherently well and nothing from without can harm you. You are just as you think. Your well-being depends largely on your mind- view. You reflection your body just the states that you image.
Resistance is the sum total of the Sub-conscious process of opposing sickness. It is strictly a mind-relation, that rests on a law, recognized by the medical school. According to the bacteriological theory, every germ or bacillus that enters the system carries not only its destructive principle but at once proceeds to create a counter-force or anti-toxin to neutralize the poison that has been generated. The quality of the opposing forces depends on the general condition of the person, so attacked by the disease-germs. Analyze this thesis and it agrees with the claim of Jewish Science that there is a natural curative process. This is the power of Resistance. This power exists in various degrees in all persons. Otherwise, we could hardly survive the in finite number of bacilli that we contact in our food, breath ing, and all forms of life. Take a microscope and examine a drop of so-called pure water. You will be astonished at the myriad micro-organisms that inhabit this tiny drop. You will wonder how it is possible to swallow such liquid without succumbing to the deadly elements that it contains. That we survive at all the attack of these infinite number of germs, seems a mystery. Yet, most of us manage to live through all these destructive invasions. Even in the worst pestilence, many men and women prove to be “immune.” These “immunes” cannot explain how or why they avoid the general contagion. The truth is that this class possesses either by heredity or cultivation the power of Resistance. This is a peculiar blend of the physical and mental but the mind plays the bigger role. Jewish Science suppliesthe methods by which Resistance may be built up. Cul tivation of faith and mental power will lead to increase of powers of resistance. Faith will drive away fear, the parent of much sickness. Faith will stimulate all functions and introduce harmony and life into all organs. The joy- sense of life is a tonic that thrills the body. Regular exercise, breathing fresh air as much as possible, simple, wholesome food, normal sleep, avoidance of excesses assist in this constructive work. Coupled with this bodily activity shouldbe the directing mind-element of health and harmony. The complete psychology of Resistance is yet to be formulated for it is a comparatively new phase of healing-science.
The Sub-conscious mind plays the dominant role in all systems of healing, medical or spiritual. This mind is the real builder, creator and sustainer of the body. Since it is subject to impression, it can be influenced to externalize whatever suggestions are impressed on it. Accepting without question the dictates of the Conscious or Objective mind, it proceeds to incarnate them in the actual organism. The belief that drugs or material remedies are curative, forms the real basis of medical science. The theory of medicine is valid. It acts logically in keeping with the belief that materia medica is helpful. The healing power of medicine is, therefore, most useful for those who do not realize or understand the deeper spiritual power of creative thought. The mistake made by many exponents of the medical school is to assume that there is no better method of healing. The remedies employed by physicians are fundamentally chemical agencies and their power is more positive than the diseased states they change or cure. The spiritual scientist applies a direct or positive thought-force to the Sub-conscious mind of the sick person and through this mind acts on the body.
The physician, however, applies a drug — a negative form of energy — to the body from which it reacts on the mind. One oper ates on the positive plane and the other on the negative plane, and each gets results according to the degree of intelligence that is employed. Drugs are therefore limited in their working because the Sub-conscious mind is only stimulated to apply the power of the drug to the body. In spiritual healing, the thought that it is itself the fountain of never-ending Life, Light and Power, sending out direct currents of health and renewal to all the sub-centers and ganglia. In other words, the physical assumption of medicine is embodied by the under-mind in the flesh and body, whereas the spiritual belief is made to act by the hidden-mind on the deep mind-centers in back of the mere physical frame.
There is no antagonism of purpose between the enlightened physician and the spiritual scientist. Both desire to create peace of mind and body. The difference is in the methods of reaching and affecting the imperial mind which is the builder of the body. The two methods may be combined and har monized. However, the physician, as long as he confines him self to human knowledge and skill must be limited. The Divine Spirit is the only limitless source of help and healing. When man rises to the highest plane, where he lives perma nently in spiritual consciousness, he finds that those who wait on the Lord can renew their strength without recourse to material means. “They can run and not be weary, they can walk and not be faint.”