HOW TO HEAL ONESELF & OTHERS. William Walker Atkinson
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composing the body. The combination of the cell-groups into organ groups of cells is so complete and thorough that to all intents and purposes each organ of the body may be regarded as a living creature, having a mind of its own. This is no flight of imagination, but is a cold scientific fact of biological psychology. Each organ has its own mind and uses it in its activities. When that mind becomes impressed with erroneous ideas (if the term may be used in this connection) it begins to manifest abnormally; and, likewise, when it is restored by properly directed mental treatment it resumes its normal functioning. These are proved facts of Mental Therapeutics and experimental psychology as may be seen by reference to any late work on these subjects.
Professor Haeckel, the eminent scientist, who cannot be accused of any leaning toward metaphysical theories, he being a leading advocate of the "materialistic" school of philosophy, says in one of his works: "The 'tissue soul' is the higher psychological function which gives physiological individuality to the compound multicellular organism as a true 'cell commonwealth.' It controls all the separate 'cell souls' of the social cells-the mutually dependent 'citizens' which constitute the community. The human egg cell, as soon as it is fertilized, multiplies by division and forms a community, or colony of many social cells. These differentiate themselves, and by their specialization, by various modifications of these cells, the various tissues which compose the various organisms are developed. The developed many-celled organisms of man and of all higher animals resemble, therefore, a social civil community, the numerous single individuals of which, are, indeed developed in various ways, but which were originally only simple cells of one common structure."
To those to whom this collective mentality of the cells composing an organ of the body, or the greater combination composing the body itself, may seem unthinkable, we would suggest a study of the action of collective mentality in the various forms of life. For instance, observation reveals the fact that a great school of fish seem to move by a common impulse, as if under the action of a collective mind; the same phenomenon being noted in the case of flocks of birds, herds of larger animals, and even in crowds of men as we shall see presently. The actions of the bees in a hive show such a close co-ordination that the animating spirit moving them has been called "the spirit of the hive."
Students of human psychology have noted the characteristics of the psychology of human crowds, audiences, congregations, mobs, etc. It is a proved fact of psychology that the various individuals composing a crowd of persons think, say, and do things when in the crowd that would be foreign to them as separate individuals. There is a strange "contagion of thought" among the individuals of a crowd. Each individual in a crowd loses a certain degree of individuality, and acquires a greater degree of collective mentality; he becomes a member or part of the "collective mind" of the crowd; at the same time the crowd itself takes on a being of its own, which disappears when the crowd is dissolved.
Le Bon, the great psychological authority on this subject, in his work entitled "The Crowd," says: "The most careful observations seem to prove that an individual immerged for some length of time in a crowd in action soon finds himself in a special state, which most resembles a state of fascination in which the hypnotized individual finds himself. The conscious personality has entirely vanished, and will and discernment are lost. All feelings and thoughts are bent in the direction of the hypnotizer. An individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of sand which the wind stirs up at will."
All of the above leads us to the inevitable conclusion that the same general principle of "collective mind" manifests in the case of the various organs and parts of the body. Every fact of physiology seems to sustain this idea, and the idea itself is based upon the soundest foundations of biology and psychology. The liver has its collective mind; the heart likewise; the stomach likewise; the kidneys likewise; the nervous system likewise; and so until every great department of the body is included in the list. Each of these collective minds has its own peculiarities, characteristics, and qualities, as we shall see as we proceed. And, all combined in collective mental co-ordination, compose the entire body itself, with its Corporeal Mind.
But, it must be always remembered that the individual cells are the units of which the whole body is built up. All corporeal mind is, in its elemental form, merely cell mind. And so, at the last, all disease must originate in the cells, and all cures must be directed toward the cells—the cell minds of course being the soul and spirit of the activity of the cell.
The best therapeutic theory today holds thatall disease is a failure of the cells to function properly, i. e., to do their full work, to repair waste, and to eliminate waste matter. This improper functioning may be the fault of individual cells, or it may result from a failure of cell-groups (large or small) to co-operate properly, and to work in harmony and unison. Sometimes there is manifested an actual rebellion of the cells or cell- groups. These failures of the cells to do their appointed work properly results in either local or elose general conditions of disease or ill-health. Naturally, it follows that the diseased condition may be cured only by restoring the cell activities to natural functioning.
Nature often performs this curative work by bringing pressure to bear on the mind in the cells or cell-groups, but sometimes the Corporeal Mind itself seems to become obsessed with the delusion of disease, and in such cases it must be restored to normal condition by means of treatment from outside. Here is where Mental Therapeutics performs its great work. By reaching the mind in the cells and in the cell-groups the abnormal condition is neutralized and destroyed, and the normal condition restored. Even in cases in which there exists a material or mechanical cause for the disorder, proper stimulation of the mind in the cells and organs sets up an increased resistive and combative power, and the forces are rallied and directed toward the removal of the existing obstacle.
So, you see, Mental Therapeutics is not necessarily bound up with metaphysical, philosophical, or theological theories. Instead, it is based upon the combined discoveries of biology, physiology, and comparative psychology. There is a biological and psychological basis of cure underlying the theory and practice of Mental Therapeutics which is too often lost sight of by the over-insistence, on the part of some of its advocates, upon the acceptance of the metaphysical theories, philosophical hypotheses, and theological dogmas which they have attached to the general subject of mental healing.
But the student should ever remember, that, no matter how far away he seems to get from the cell and its mind, the basis of the system is to be found in the presence of mind in the cells of which the human body is composed. By holding close to this fundamental idea, one never can go very far wrong; nor wander far away from the path of solid scientific fact. Otherwise, beware the quagmires and swamps which beset the road.
LESSON V
THE SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
Nature, or the Power that is behind Nature, has built up an intricate system of nerves, nerve centers, and nerve connectives, by means of which the Corporeal Mind is able to perform the manifold and complex activities and functions of the body which is composed of cells and cell-groups as we have seen. The greater part of this work is performed by a part of the nervous system of which but comparatively few persons have ever heard, much less have become familiar with.
We are so in the habit of thinking of the Cerebro-Spinal Nervous System, when we speak of "the nervous system," that we ignore the existence of the great Sympathetic Nervous System which performs all of the unconcious, involuntary activities of the body, such as the action of the heart, stomach, liver, kidneys, etc.; and which also attends to the important processes of secretion, nutritiion, climination, excretion, reproduction, etc.
The term "sympathetic" was originally applied to this great system of nerves and nerve centers by reason of the fact that there is a reciprocal action of the different cell-groups and parts of the body, one with another, in an apparent "sympathy" with each other. A disturbance in one part of the body sets up a disturbance and activity in other parts. The whole body suffers in sympathy with an injured or diseased part or member. Thus, a wound will produce feverishness; stomach trouble or indigestion will produce headaches, etc., etc. The secretions of the body respond quickly in "sympathy" with conditions