, 1888-09-27
THE MIND CURE.
WHAT IS ASSERTED BY THE APos-
TIES OF THIS OPTIMISTIC CREED.
The System Held fn High Esteem at
Anciont Auhens-JIind and sIsttSr.
Esrvousnc>s and !Ey.teria-~A. Hopeful
signssSclni-fuV:,litFS

Anciont Auhens-JIind and sIsttSr.
Esrvousnc>s and !Ey.teria-~A. Hopeful
sign-Scmi-Inv:lids
Shakespeare, the Universal, scerls to
have FORMULATED the theory of the new
school of healing when he makes Hamlet
S1y hat There IS nothing either good "a
tgll hUt thinking makes - SO P,rii&rs
We should not speak Of That system a.
''ncw" tl3at would appear To have i.cen
III high esteem at ancient Athens, EUl I:I;5 {
had an extraordinary vogue III tho east at
the beginning Of our cTa. At first th0Ught
the present interest end excitement i'll the
subject seem unreal and anacAr0niStic
But, after al, IS it not natural aiiG fitting
that the mind should bc must easily and
absorbincly occupied by matters pertain
Ing To- the mind itscIf2
To accept the doctrine Of the mind cure
as we understand it, is 10 believe that
health, sanity and virtue are the normal
attributes, the birthright possession, OF
man. Disease, Gemcntia, sin, are negative
conditions which il i weak, d!shouurabie
and sinful 70 haIilor. Refuse 10 believe
IN illness, deny Iiain, resist weakness, "
say the apostles Of this optimistic creed,
land Illness, pain and weakness vanish,
because they exist only in your thought
OF them. Suffering IS simply that state Of
mind that makes you imagine that you
suffer. Hou have only To get above suf-
fcring."
The influence Of mind over matter
hardly needs assertion. The old illuStra-
tions of the moral philosophers alone are
proof enough. The miner dying of fright
on finding his sustaining rope too short,
in the pitch dark mine, with lis feet in
reality six inches from the ground; the
d.
that lie was bleeding to death, when only
warm water was trickling down his arm;
the workman undergoing the horrible
manifestations of cholera because he was
told falsely that Il cholera victim had Just
died in the same bed-Show the effect Of
belief The madness of the insane, which
is but 4 perverted and eXaGgerate ed will
power, gives them the strength of dozen
sane men. And quite lately the shock OF
the earthquake in the Riviera reused q
bedridden woman to rush down fOI1
flights of stairs TO the safety OF the street
WHAT TIE LANCET SAYS.
Even The London Lancet, which is
nothing if not conservative, asserts that
IN some cases mind has such an effect
upon an organic disease as to c9use new
and healthy formations. This, 1t will be
seen, goes far beyond the old admission
subject to mental influences. There is nc
doubt that the tendency of the medical
profession has been decidedly material
istic, and that any leaning toward spirit
ual methods, as shown in INA; ;netism, ="
"hypnotism,n ''clairvoyance'' and their
like, has been made ut once diSreputable
80 that any germ of truth they may have
possessed was smothered out of sight.
Yet the little we know of the potency Of
the mind over the body shows us that
there must be an illimitable field for its
action, if we could but find out how to set
it at work. And it would seem that our
help must come chiefly from within, not
from without. "'Tis in ourselves that
we are thus or thus"
1t appears to us n hopeful sign Of n
more wholesome life that large classes of
women take time and spend money to
hear this theory OF the reality of spiritual
existence eXpounded. After the poet,
they are discovering that 'soul is form,
and doth the body make" They are
semi invalids. They have suffered. They
have allowed their thoughts TO dwell
upon their pains and Limitations until
these have come largely to fill their men
tai horizon. Their talk is OF sickness.
Even young girls, among tho we'll to do
and idle classes, compare symptoms and
suggest diagnoses as staple topics of con-
yersation. Nothing could be worse, 1t
seems to US, on the score of good taste or
OF good health. AS dwelling upon ones
griefs magnifies them, so dwelling upon
ones pains magnifies them. II the mind
cure can be made 10 work upon these
subjects it must restore to activity ener-
gies worse than wasted; 1t would save
time and money; it would make a May
world into joyous one; it would multi
ply past calculation the sum of human
happiness Bazaar