The Redwood gazette., 1910-03-30

OSOpny. lL is r0DOunu 1TOm Tie
materialistic philosophy whichmould-
ed the intellectual and spiritual life
| in the middle of the last century in
the hands of such great men as Dar-
win. Tyndall, Huxley. Haeckel and
Spencer. The new idealism empha-
sises the power of mind over matter,
the relation of mind to mind, the
wonders of consciousness and the
power Of self. The faiths of mater
ialistic nineteenth century were pes
simistic and negative; the faiths of
new idealism are optimistic and posi-
tive. Il do not know" and Il can
not" are superseded by Il know"
and II will"
THE NEW IDEALISM.
The world was weary of the old
materialism and the revolt to ideal
ism has been marked and strong.
1t has deeply effected both religion
and medicine. The Churches had
grown materialistic in a measure.
but are now turning rapidly to the
new idealism, When men and wo-
men wanted the spirit Of the new
idealism they sought it, rightly or
wrongly, outside the church. They
fiocked in their tens of thousands to
such sources as Dowieism, Quimby-
ism, New Thought, Divine Healing,
Faith Cure, metaphysical Healing
and such cults. Men followed blind
ly any movement which had in it
spark of the new thing their souls
craved. At the foundation of all
the cults named, the same general
principle lies, namely, the power of
mind over body. and in all of them
there is recognition of the need of
a philosophy that will cover the wants
of body, mind and spirit.
In 1906, in the Emanuel Episcopal
Church, Boston, the new therapeutic
was given to the English-speaking
world. The Emmanuel Church min
listers. DR.. Wooster and DR.. Mac
Comb, saw that the time was come
when the Church must enter more
deeply into the personal lives of the
people and make freer use of the
means modern science and the Cos
pei of Christ placed at her disposal,
if she was to have ordinary success.
Acting upon this thought, the En-
manuel Church turned to the heal
ing Of the physically and mentally
sick. They argued that Christ had
commanded his disciples to heal the
sick on Sabbath day, and why should
the Churches of this day have aban-
doned such important work? Former
ly, the doctor drugged and the sur
geon cut impartially for all sorts of
diseases. The Emmanuel Church
idea was, not to attempt superseding
the doctor, but to apply mental
methods to the healing Of functional
disorders, leaving organic diseases
in the hands of the doctors, though
they believed that by physical means
organic troubles even could be great
helped.
Those ministers took into co-opera-
ton half dozen Of the best medical
specialists in Boston, to whom. when
they believed that patient had any
thing organicalIy wrong with him,
they sent the patient. If the doctor
declared that the trouble was func-
tional only, one Of the ministers took
him in hand and treated him psy-
choterapeutically; that is, they ap-
piled to him the Mind Cure. Psyche
therapeutics is the technical name
which French and German doctors
have gived this method to distin-
guish it from such methods as were
formerly adopted under the name of
Mind Cure. The difference between
the new therapeutic of Emmanuel
Church and the old therapeutic Of
the mental variety, is in the applica-
ton of the principles which underlie
them all.
MAN AND HIS MIND.
The new theory is that man pos
sesses in his consciousness a poten-
tiality that is seldom used. Con-
sciousness may be compared to a
lamp burning over a great oil tank.