William Atkinson - The Complete Works of William Walker Atkinson

MANY PERSONS are under the impression that the healing of disease is the main object and underlying principle of The New Thought. And it is probable that the majority of persons who become interested in this great movement have been attracted, originally, by this particular feature. The person whose attention is attracted by this feature, however, soon sees the deeper phases of the thought and begins to investigate them and before long the mere healing of disease, as important as it is, sinks into comparative insignificance. Many begin by taking treatment from some practitioner of mental healing (or spiritual healing, as some prefer to term it) and then work into the higher phases, while some become interested in the higher truths, and find themselves becoming stronger physically, without any special effort on their part.

I do not purpose going into the theory of mental healing, or the influence of the mind upon the body, and can do no more than to merely touch upon the subject in a general way. There are many books treating fully upon this subject, and the majority of my readers know from personal experience of the success that has attended this method of the treatment of disease. Each particular school of mental healing seems to have its own pet theories, and manner of giving treatments. Some prefer personal treatments, others prefer what are called “absent treatments,” wherein the person giving the treatment may be many miles from the patient, the healing thought being communicated telepathically. Personally, I believe that all these different forms of treatment are but different forms of calling into operation the same force—the wonderful power of the mind over the body. I believe that the best plan of treatment is to educate the patient to recognize the wonderful powers of his own mind in healing himself, and I also believe that no permanent cure is effected, and future disease prevented, until the patient grows into a recognition of this fact. But, as one must crawl before he can walk, so is it often necessary for the patient, grown weak in body and mind, and distrustful of his own powers, to receive assistance in the shape of some form of treatment from outside.

We hear a great deal of the claims of the several schools and cults, each of which seems to think that its way is the only way, and that all other methods are erroneous, or, at least, not quite the real thing. Some of this reasoning is very plausible and convincing, until we look around and see that all the schools and cults are obtaining great results, and a little closer investigation will show that the percentage of cures is about the same in each case, notwithstanding the claims of each particular school or set of practitioners. I know that they all obtain results, but, as I have already said, I believe that the best permanent results are obtained by those practitioners who, while giving treatments, gradually educate their patients to help themselves and to stand upon their own feet, and assert their God-given power to manifest health.

I believe that the several practitioners of Christian Science, Mental Science, Suggestive Therapeutics, Faith Cure, Divine Science, and all the rest, are using the same great force, the only difference being in the method of application. And I know also, from personal experience, that it is quite possible for a man to realize the healing power within himself, and by applying same to bring about a complete restoration of health and energy without the assistance of any one else.

I believe that the healing power is latent within the individual, and that, when he is treated and cured by another, the cure has been effected by the practitioner calling into life and activity that healing power. This awakening of the power within may be accomplished by any of the various methods of personal treatment or by absent treatment. In the latter case the positive thought-waves of the practitioner beat upon the mind of the patient (on the sub-conscious plane) and awaken the latent force therein, and the cure results. The effect of the mind of the practitioner, whether conveyed by verbal suggestion or telepathy, acts just as does the powerful and repeated auto-suggestion, or affirmation, of the patient himself. Both reach the sub-conscious plane of the patient and restore the normal condition of that portion of the mind having charge of the physical functions. And the mind, thus restored to normal action, sends the proper impulses over the sympathetic nervous system to the affected parts, supplying such parts with an increased nerve-current and circulation of the blood, thus repairing the worn-out and broken-down tissue and cells and causing the organ to function properly.

In other words, I believe that the real work is done through the mind of the patient—through the healing power called into force in one of several ways and working through the brain, or brains, and nervous system of the patient. Every man or woman has within him, or her, dormant in many cases and inactive in many others, a certain recuperative power capable of restoring lost function and strength to diseased organs and parts. This power may be aroused by the mental effort of the practitioner, his suggestions, treatments, ceremonies, remedies, etc., and also by the will power or faith within the patient himself. But it is the same force awakened in all cases and the same power that does the healing work. I, of course, recognize that it is possible for one person to transfer what has been called “vital force” from his organism to that of a weakened patient, but this vitality so transferred is but in the nature of a “tonic,” and merely adds strength to the patient to carry him along until the mental forces do their work. In the case of a patient very much weakened it is impossible for the mind to send correct impulses to the body, because the brain has become weakened by the waste of power, and it becomes necessary for the patient to avail himself of the assistance afforded by the practitioner’s highly developed vitality, until he regains enough strength to carry on the work himself.

In many cases of sickness, particularly in cases of functional disorders, the recuperative force of the patient is neutralized by the mind of the patient being full of Fear thoughts, which act as a cause of disease in many cases, and also prevent the patient from using his own recuperative force given him by Nature for that purpose. Fear is a poison that has killed millions, and Worry is its oldest child, who is striving hard to reach the record established by its parent.

I have always held, in spite of the opposition of other writers, that a large percentage of the cures effected by New Thought healing has been accomplished, not by the doing of any special thing toward a cure, but simply by inducing the patient to refrain from worrying and fearing and harboring negative thoughts. When the patient “takes off the brake” that he has imposed upon his own recuperative mental forces, these forces start in at once to do their work and a cure ensues. It is on the same principle that it is not necessary for one to take a shovel and start to work to shovel out the darkness from a room—all that is necessary is to open the windows and “let a little sunshine in.” When the windows are opened and Hope and Courage are allowed to flow in, Fear, Worry and the rest of the monsters of the darkness flee, and the sunny thoughts soon destroy the microbes that have been infesting the mental room.

There is no special mystery about the way New Thought cures are effected. Nothing miraculous or astonishing, when one learns something about Nature’s processes. When the recuperative forces are aroused, or when the brake of Wrong Thinking has been raised, Nature proceeds to send an increased nerve current to the affected part. This work is done along sub-conscious lines, over the great nerve centers and sympathetic nervous system. This nerve current is like a current of electricity being sent to the parts from that great dynamo— the Brain. This nerve current vitalizes the organ or part, and also causes an increased circulation of the blood to the part. Nature builds up bodies by means of the blood, which, flowing through the arteries, carries liquid flesh and nourishment to every part of the body—to every organ and part—building, repairing, replenishing, restoring, replacing and nourishing. The blood on its return journey to the heart, through the veins, carries with it the broken-down tissue, waste-products and other garbage of the system, which is burned up and destroyed by the oxygen taken in the lungs and to which the blood is exposed on its return journey. No part of the body—no organ— can be properly nourished and stimulated unless it has a normal nerve-current and a proper supply of blood. And when a man’s mind is filled with negative, worrying, fearful thoughts, or thoughts of Hate, Malice or Jealousy, it is impossible for him to send the proper nerve-current to the parts of his body, and, the circulation becoming affected, he begins to manifest what we call Disease. When normal conditions of the mind are restored normal conditions of the body follow.