The
Principle of Health is moved by Faith; nothing else can call it into action,
and only Faith can enable you to relate yourself to health, and sever your
relation with disease, in your thoughts.
You will
continue to think of disease unless you have faith in health. If you do not
have faith you will doubt; if you doubt, you will fear; and if you fear, you
will relate yourself in mind to that which you fear.
If you
fear disease, you will think of yourself in connection with disease; and that
will produce within yourself the form and motions of disease. Just as Original
Substance creates from itself the forms of its thoughts, so your mind-body,
which is original substance, takes the form and motion of whatever you think
about. If you fear disease, dread disease, have doubts about your safety from
disease, or if you even contemplate disease, you will connect yourself with it
and create its forms and motions within you.
Let me
enlarge somewhat upon this point. The potency, or creative power, of a thought
is given to it by the faith that is in it.
Thoughts
which contain no faith create no forms.
The
Formless Substance, which knows all truth and therefore thinks only truth, has
perfect faith in every thought, because it thinks only truth; and so all its
thoughts create.
But if
you will imagine a thought in Formless Substance in which there was no faith,
you will see that such a thought could not cause the Substance to move or take
form.
Keep in
mind the fact that only those thoughts which are conceived in faith have
creative energy. Only those thoughts which have faith with them are able to
change function, or to quicken the Principle of Health into activity.
If you
do not have faith in health, you will certainly have faith in disease. If you
do not have faith in health, it will do for you no good to think about health,
for your thoughts will have no potency, and will cause no change for the better
in your conditions.
If you
do not have faith in health, I repeat, you will have faith in disease; and if,
under such conditions, you think about health for ten hours a day, and think
about disease for only a few minutes, the disease thought will control your
condition because it will have the potency of faith, while the health thought
will not. Your mind-body will take on the form and motions of disease and
retain them, because your health thought will not have sufficient dynamic force
to change form or motion.
In order
to practice the Science of Being Well, you must have complete faith in health.
Faith
begins in belief; and we now come to the question: What must you believe in
order to have faith in health?
You must
believe that there is more health-power than disease-power in both yourself and
the environment; and you cannot help believing this if you consider the facts:
There is
a Thinking Substance from which all things are made, and which, in its original
state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe.
The
thought of a form, in this Substance, produces the form; the thought of a
motion institutes the motion. In relation to man, the thoughts of Original
Substance are always of perfect health and perfect functioning. This Substance,
within and without man, always exerts its power toward health.
Man is a
thinking center, capable of original thought. He has a mind- body of Original
Substance permeating a physical body; and the functioning of his physical body
is determined by the FAITH of his mind- body. If a man thinks with faith of the
functioning of health, he will cause his internal functions to be performed in
a healthy manner, provided that he performs the external functions in a
corresponding manner. But if a man thinks, with faith, of disease, or of the
power of disease, he will cause his internal functioning to be the functioning
of disease.
The
Original Intelligent Substance is in man, moving toward health; and it is
pressing upon him from every side. Man lives, moves, and has his being in the
limitless ocean of health-power; and he uses this power according to his faith.
If he appropriates it and applies it to himself it is all his; and if he
unifies himself with it by unquestioning faith, he cannot fail to attain
health, for the power of this Substance is all the power there is.
A belief
in the above statements is a foundation for faith in health. If you believe
them, you believe that health is the natural state of man, and that man lives
in the midst of Universal Health; that all the power of nature makes for
health, and that health is possible to all, and can surely be attained by all.
You will believe that the power of health in the universe is ten thousand times
greater than that of disease; in fact, that disease has no power whatever,
being only the result of perverted thought and faith.
And if
you believe that health is possible to you, and that it may surely be attained
by you, and that you know exactly what to do in order to attain it, you will
have faith in health. You will have this faith and knowledge if you read this
book through with care and determine to believe in and practice its teachings.
It is
not merely the possession of faith, but the personal application of faith which
works healing. You must claim health in the beginning, and form a conception of
health, and, as far as may be, of yourself as a perfectly healthy person; and
then, by faith, you must claim that you ARE REALIZING this conception.
Do not
assert with faith that you are going to get well; assert with faith that you
ARE well.
Having
faith in health, and applying it to yourself, means having faith that you are
healthy; and the first step in this is to claim that it is the truth.
Mentally
take the attitude of being well, and do not say anything or do anything which
contradicts this attitude. Never speak a word or assume a physical attitude
which does not harmonize with the claim: "I am perfectly well."
When you
walk, go out with a brisk step, and with your chest thrown out and your head
held up; watch that at all times your physical actions and attitudes are those
of a healthy person. When you find that you have relapsed into the attitude of
weakness or disease, change instantly; straighten up; think of health and
power. Refuse to consider yourself as other than a perfectly healthy person.
One
great aid - perhaps the greatest aid - in applying your faith you will find in
the exercise of gratitude.
Whenever
you think of yourself, or of your advancing condition, give thanks to the Great
Intelligent Substance for the perfect health you are enjoying.
Remember
that, as Swedenborg taught, there is a continual inflow of life from the
Supreme, which is received by all created things according to their forms; and
by man according to his faith.
Health
from God is continually being urged upon you; and when you think of this, lift
up your mind reverently to Him, and give thanks that you have been led to the
Truth and into perfect health of mind and body. Be, all the time, in a grateful
frame of mind, and let gratitude be evident in your speech.
Gratitude
will help you to own and control your own field of thought.
Whenever
the thought of disease is presented to you, instantly claim health, and thank
God for the perfect health you have. Do this so that there shall be no room in
your mind for a thought of ill. Every thought connected in any way with ill
health is unwelcome, and you can close the door of your mind in its face by
asserting that you are well, and by reverently thanking God that it is so. Soon
the old thoughts will return no more.
Gratitude
has a twofold effect; it strengthens your own faith, and it brings you into
close and harmonious relations with the Supreme. You believe that there is one
Intelligent Substance from which all life and all power come; you believe that
you receive your own life from this substance; and you relate yourself closely
to It by feeling continuous gratitude. It is easy to see that the more closely
you relate yourself to the Source of Life the more readily you may receive life
from it; and it is easy also to see that your relation to It is a matter of
mental attitude.
We
cannot come into physical relationship with God, for God is mind-stuff and we
also are mind-stuff; our relation with Him must therefore be a mind relation.
It is plain, then, that the man who feels deep and hearty gratitude will live
in closer touch with God than the man who never looks to Him in thankfulness.
The ungrateful or unthankful mind really denies that it receives at all, and so
cuts its connection with the Supreme. The grateful mind is always looking
toward the Supreme, and is always open to receive from it; and it will receive
continually.
The
Principle of Health in man receives its vital power from the Principle of Life
in the universe; and man relates himself to the Principle of Life by faith in
health, and by gratitude for the health he receives.