A Common-Sense View of the Mind Cure

IT is impossible to state at this moment just what the limitations of mind-cure are. It has been little more than half a century since the subject was lifted out of the realm of the occult and placed upon a scientific basis, tho for most persons it still possesses a mystic character. Much has been learned, but there is undoubtedly much more to learn; we are still merely "nibbling around the edges."

Less than fifty years ago there were few physicians who believed that disease could be cured by mental influence; to-day there are clinics in many European cities, and leading physicians of America are using it in one form or another. At present the medical fraternity takes the ground that only mental, nervous, and functional disorders are amenable to mind-cure. Its future, therefore, seems to hinge upon the distinction between functional disorders and organic affections. On this point Dr. Schofield, of London, says in his "Force of Mind" that the more we examine this distinction, the more it tends to disappear; while another authority says: "There is no disease which does not involve organic change somewhere " — which seems reasonable. For we know that no organ can perform its functions if the nervous action is weak, and the lessened blood-supply impairs nutrition. Would not cellular degeneration finally ensue ?

If this process could be arrested in its incipient stage, and functional action and nutrition improved by a combined medical and mental treatment, or by the latter alone in the manner already indicated, the probability is that the parts could be built up.

Dr. Gayer, of New York City, at the head of a new movement looking toward further investigation, claims that under hypnosis several cases of organic affection have been cured recently — if we are to trust the press — and also a severely burned arm healed.

The latter does not seem surprizing when we remember that under hypnosis French physicians have raised blisters on various parts of the body, have caused drops of blood to exude from the skin and even the name to appear, written in letters of blood upon the arm.

Dr. Carpenter, in "Mental Physiology," describes a cure of warts by simple "suggestion," and the daily papers report that there is living to-day in a Boston suburb a man who cures such excrescences by simply passing his hand over them. Corns have also been cured by suggestion.

As regards structural changes, it is an open question. The distinguished Frenchman Camille Flammarion asserts that the entire body may be caused to undergo change within a year; the softer portions yielding in from one to three months, the harder portions requiring eleven months.

Where poison has entered the blood, the out look is not encouraging. Yet Professor Gates has shown by his "Wonder-Bottle" that emotional states change the character of the blood, and it is almost too well known to mention that grief, fear, despondency, and disappointment turn the hair white.

It is not generally known that the Yogis of India possess a remarkable control of the body. They have the power to annul pain, and practised feats of levitation, walking on water, etc., centuries before the time of Christ. One of their number who visited Europe and America about five years ago demonstrated to physicians in both countries his ability to stop his heart's action for five seconds at a time — at least so the papers stated.

This, however, has been paralleled in the West. Dr. Brown-Sequard, of Paris, relates that he had a student in one of his classes who could diminish or accelerate his pulse at will. And Dr. Tuckey in "Psycho-Therapeutics " gives, on the authority of Dr. Cheyne, an account of the experiments of a Colonel Townsend. This gentleman, in the presence of physicians, diminished his heart-action until it ceased entirely, and the physicians, after the usual tests, decided that the experiment had been carried too far. But as they were about to leave the room, signs of returning life appeared, and not long after, the heart was beating in a normal manner.

And thus we begin again at the beginning; we do not yet know to what extent the mind may control the body. Because a certain thing has never been done is no reason for assuming that it never will be done. Back to prehistoric cave-dwelling man, rude and unlettered, fashioning his rude implements of clay, is a far cry; and compared with it the civilization of which we boast seems a wondrous thing. Yet it has been compassed solely by the developing brain and mind of man. He has dominated the lower orders of living creatures; he has girdled the earth; who doubts that he will navigate the air ? He is harnessing the forces of nature and bending them to his service.

It seems hardly probable that if man can thus control forces external to himself, he is to remain forever subject to forces at work in his own organism. We can not assume that he has reached the climax of his powers — the goal of evolution — and if not, then he will continue to develop mentally.

And this development must certainly give greater self-knowledge and self-command. At the present the average man regards himself as a purely material being — of his mental life and power he has little cognizance. But when he awakes to this self-knowledge, there will follow inevitably an increase of mental power. And thus one may venture to prophesy that through an ever-growing consciousness of power may man find his way at last to an absolute spiritual dominion, not only over nature but over self.

Mind-cure has been traced to Epidamus, an Egyptian priest, who flourished 500 years before the Christian era. Following him came the Hebrew prophets, who, it is said, also raised from the dead. Then came Jesus and His apostles, whose practises were followed by the priests of the Greek Church until the eleventh century.

The cures effected by the metallic tractors in England, the "Shriners" of London, "Dr." Cullis of Boston, and the Mormon Elders are comparatively recent; while the miracle, faith, and prayer cures, hypnosis, Christian Science, and New Thought are current history.

A study of these various forms of cure discloses two facts: First, that practically every known disease has been cured by one or another, or so claimed. How permanent such cures were we have no means of knowing. And, second, that all such cures were effected by "a change in the mentality" or a change in the "state of mind." Without this, the cure could not have been wrought.

Every sensible person knows that there is no healing virtue in the bone of some long-defunct saint (even if it can be proved that the bone was once a part of the anatomy of the saint!), but if the sufferer believes that touching it or kissing it will cure his disease, the cure takes place. And if he believes that he is cured, then the disease must have been mental. And if all diseases have been cured by some such means — that is, a change in the mental state — then all disease must be mental.

Let us look at this. St. Paul said, "Man has a natural body and a spiritual body"; but this is equivalent to saying that man is a two-sided phenomenon, both mental and physical. Yet mind and body form a unit, ' ' indissolubly associated," so far as this life is concerned, and because of this unity constantly reacting each part upon the other. So that not only do mental states affect the physical, but the converse ; and this unfailing and inevitable interaction brings about, in case of disease, what has been termed "a vicious circle."

The medical fraternity says that we are constantly taking into the system from the air, water, and food millions of poisonous germs, which, immediately they have gained entrance into the blood, set about to destroy us. But just as a nation maintains a standing army to repel invaders, so nature provides for this contingency by maintaining in the blood millions of other small bodies which attack and destroy the invaders. So long as the vitality or vital force is at par, they do their work well; but if the vital force is lessened by any cause (and bad sanitation among other things will do this), they are no longer equal to the contest and the germs gain the victory. The blood then becomes poisoned, the nutrition of the brain is impaired, and disease follows.

So whether the cause be mental or environmental, the result is the same, as has been said. Therefore diseases which result from unhygienic conditions or the violation of nature's laws can not be said to be mental, or so it seems. But since all disease affects the mental state, it would seem to be closer to the fact to say that all diseases have a mental element.

This is the position taken by a leading London physician and author, and, if true, then all diseases are to some extent amenable to mind-cure. And this would explain why such diseases as consumption have been cured by a "change in the mentality," if it can be shown that such cures were authentic.

In chapter first it was pointed out that the organized or classified ideas which constitute the mind are constantly reacting upon the body through the brain and nervous system, thus tending to bring about a mental and physical correspondence. Then if a ''change in the mentality" or mental state is all that is necessary to cure disease, the problem is simple enough. One has merely to change his ''state of mind," uproot pernicious, and transplant therapeutic, ideas.

But, it may be objected, this is a very slow process; it takes years for the habit of thought to write itself upon the body. This is perfectly true. One may "right about face " in his thinking, strive to ignore pain, divert his mind, and still have ample time to die of the disease before appreciable results are realized. Such a method of self-help presents a fine example of moral courage, will-power, and self-control, all fundamental and necessary; yet in serious or chronic cases it appears to fall short of the mark for these reasons.

In the first place, a persistent effort of will must be made to control the thinking, lift oneself out of the "slough of despond," and ignore pain. It demands unusual self-control, hence such a disciplined mind and will as few persons possess ; and, unhappily, pain by its very nature tends to unbalance the mind, thus weakening the power of self-control.

And again, will, like every other mental and moral faculty, has a physical basis. To put it into operation, therefore, requires both moral and what we are accustomed to call physical stamina. But if the brain is in a state of exhaustion, its reaction upon the mind will be feeble, and hence sufficient energy will not be set free to carry out the behest of the mind. It is, of course, possible to whip up the brain by force of will; but it is like whipping up a jaded horse — his little spurt of energy is followed by a still greater exhaustion.

Evidently, then, the slow physical realization of a changed habit of thought and of maintaining the correct mental and moral attitude in really serious disorders gives the problem a disheartening aspect. But when we take into consideration the physical side of the phenomenon called man, we get another point of view. If man were a disembodied spirit, then certainly the cultivation and exercise of his mental and moral faculties should keep him immune to disease. But he has a "natural body," played upon like all the phenomena of nature by natural forces, upon which he reacts; and the manner of this physical reaction is of vital importance. We have already seen that it is effected through the brain and nervous system; but the integrity of the nervous system depends primarily upon the integrity of the brain; hence there must be a normal condition of the brain if we are to obtain the best possible physical reaction. A carpenter can not build a house with faulty tools nor a pianist give an artistic performance upon a decrepit piano; and just so the finest, strongest mind can not manifest if its medium, the brain, is debilitated, disorganized, or diseased.

Rational mind-cure, therefore, is of a twofold character: the mental state or mode of thought must be reformed, and the brain must be built up, or brought to the normal standard. Since the fundamental essentials of health are "a sound brain [cortex] and a buoyant mind," we are justified in assuming that those diseases which are not of subjective or mental origin, or due to the entrance of poison into the blood, may be traced to some organic change in the brain structure. For we have it on high authority that "the surest way to check disease is to stimulate the brain [cortex] and increase the mental energy."

The first step in rational mind-cure is unquestionably to change the mode of thought ; but it is not enough to stop thinking depressing thoughts — a, positive attitude must be taken in order to render the mind buoyant. And this may be done in several ways: