4 -* v ^v •- * V ^ ♦* ^ W *«?. /* v^> <.-* \;™v ^r> f>^ • • • , *S. > .• J>% "W o u**/^^ •i^L'. *> '«. ••TS* ' V V »'••» <3, ».,-.•* A 0° ^**#i?'*«3 ^..^'. «> v v I* . Jl^ # ^ \* W *P* ++**?&' °-^ •••«•• 4< ^ -J > 9 V^\** °o**WV v^\* r ^o^ <^ ^>. .**."•. ^. % 4° • ►*..•!.•• *c *. % >. \^' :M 'V^' -* >^ Mental and Physical Ease and Supremacy Being a Practical Adaptation of LEAV- ITT-SCIENCE to Individual Use -BY- Author of The Art of Healing, Leavitt-Science, Etc. 14 W.WASHINGTON STREET CHICAGO. ILLINOIS & V A t>v Copyright 1914 by C. Franklin Leavitt, M. D. Published Sept. 1914 OCT 30 1914 # I** CU388167 PREFACE In adopting the letter form of treatment for the presentation of the important subject of self-help, I have thought to bring writer and reader into closer personal relationship, and thus reduce the subject- matter more easily to the level of the lowest compre- hension. The letters themselves deal mainly with facts rather than theories. Even in the warmth of ex- hortation I have aimed to keep well within the lines of demonstrable truth. The subject is one of tremendous importance. Humanity is waking to a consciousness that it is en- dued with power. The innate forces of the Ego are greater — far greater — than the ordinary conception of them. But energy has to be set into action along right lines, and it is astonishing to see how this is sometimes done. One may have no proper concep- tion of the power he has until, on some occasion, he runs across another soul in whom there is a glow of enthusiastic faith and achievement from whom lie takes on stimulation as by a happy contagion and is suddenly set going in the right direction. To many who take up this volume in a casual way the whole matter will seem puerile. Their per- ceptives are dulled by materialism, or their assimi- latives are not in trim for this kind of thing. To many others the book will come as a message from the skies. I have aimed to keep back no knowledge calculated to aid the seeker after health, and yet I am perfectly conscious that there are many who will find it impos- sible so to rally their strong forces as to overcome their physical disturbances without getting into closer relations with one who, by the power of his psychic energies, can bring them to a condition of mind in which they shall be able to control their own forces. On the other hand, there are many who will be able, under the guidance and inspiration of these letters, to rise to high levels of health and efficiency. I have aimed to make the way as clear and easy as possible. 14 W. Washington St., Chicago. July 30, 1914. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION * 11 The Question of Self-Healing 13 Leavitt-Science Cures Other Than Imaginary Ailments 15 Some Valuable Data 17 Cures at a Distance 20 LETTER I. A MORE DIRECT WORD 33 Other Than Psychic Means Sometimes Required 25 LETTER II. THE MYSTERY OF CURE 27 Medical Fallacies 28 The Healing Entities 30 The Healing Mysteries 31 LETTER III. THE BASIS OF CURE 33 Deductions Regarding Cure 37 LETTER IV. THE RATIONALE OF CURE ?,9 The Curative Energies 39 Influencing the Unconscious 42 The Special Field for Leavitt-Science 45 LETTER V. NATURE AND CAUSE OF DIS- EASE 48 The Author's Methods 48 Hereditary Influences 51 A Glance at Disease Development 53 Emotional Causes of Disease 55 Extrinsic Causes of Disease 56 LETTER VI. THE THREE MENTAL ATTRI- BUTES 57 Loss of Balance Between Will, Intellect and Feeling 57 Examples of This Unbalance in Certain Disorders 58 Hysteria 59 Neurasthenia 60 A Health Guaranty 63 LETTER VII. DIRECT PERSONAL INFLU- ENCE OF THE PHYSICIAN 65 Unction 66 Persuasion 67 CONTENTS— Continued Page LETTER VIII. EDUCATION OF THE PHYSI- CIAN 70 Environment 71 Self-Mastery 72 Mental Attitude Toward Sex 73 LETTER IX. INSPIRATION BY THE PHYSI- CIAN 75 The Stimuli 77 LETTER X. SUGGESTION BY THE PHYSI- CIAN 80 Hypnotism 80 Suggestion Without Hypnotism 81 LETTER XL COMMAND BY THE PHYSICIAN 84 The Question of Self-Help 85 Another Glance at Jesus' Method 86 LETTER XII. PSYCHOANALYSIS BY THE PHYSICIAN 88 Theories and Methods 88 Suggestion Produces the Effect 89 Freud's Dream Theories 90 LETTER XIII. TELEPATHY IN THE TREAT- MENT OF DISTANT PATIENTS 93 Unrecognized Telepathy 93 Curative Telepathy 95 Telepathic Curative Methods 96 LETTER XIV. ALL CURES ARE SELF-CURES 104 LETTER XV. SELF RE-EDUCATION 107 LETTER XVI. SELF PERSUASION ill Dissociation of Parts 112 Auto-Suggestion 114 LETTER XVII. AUTO-SUGGESTION 116 Manner of Giving Auto-Suggestion 118 Results 122 Autosuggestions 123 LETTER XVIII. PSYCHOANALYSIS BY THE SELF . 126 An Example of Its Application 128 CONTENTS— Continued Page LETTER XIX. COMMANDING THE SELF 133 Self-Commands 136 LETTER XX. HOLDING THE IDEAL 139 LETTER XXI. DEEP BREATHING 143 Abundance of Air Essential 143 Special 111 Effects of Lazy Breathing 144 The Suggestive Effect 145 Exercises in Deep Breathing 146 LETTER XXII. PHYSICAL EXERCISES 150 Exercise Charts 163 LETTER XXIII. THE MATTER OF HEREDITY 223 Heredity Represents Tendency 223 Regulating the Habits 224 Diet Tables 229 LETTER XXIV. ACTION AND REACTION.... 232 Action and Reaction in Disease 233 LETTER XXV. THOSE OVERWHELMING FEELINGS 237 A Preliminary Consideration 237 Direct Attack on Feelings Inadvisable 238 Controlling the Feelings 240 LETTER XXVI. ANOTHER WORD ABOUT FEAR 242 Peace, Be Still! 242 Dissipating Fear 243 LETTER XXVII. THOSE NERVES 248 Charts Covering Sympathetic Nervous System.. 253 LETTER XXVIII. THOSE NERVES— Continued 265 Hypothetical Cases. Case One 266 LETTER XXIX. THOSE NERVES— Continued. Case Two 272 LETTER XXX. THOSE NERVES— Continued. Case Three. 279 LETTER XXXI. THOSE NERVES— Continued. Case Four 284 CONTENTS— Continued Page LETTER XXXII. THOSE NERVES— Continued. Case Five 289 LETTER XXXIII. THOSE NERVES— Continued. Case Six „ 296 LETTER XXXIV. PSYCHO ASTHENIA , 303 Autosuggestions 310 LETTER XXXV. UNSETTLED RELIGIOUS FAITH 312 Autosuggestions > 318 LETTER XXXVI. FINANCIAL WORRIES 321 Autosuggestions 323 LETTER XXXVII. THE ADVANCING YEARS. . 331 Prolonging Life 332 What About Motive Power? 334 Giving Life Signification . . . 336 Senility an Illness 338 Autosuggestions 345 LETTER XXXVIII. ORGANIC LESIONS 351 Leavitt-Science in Organic Disease 352 LETTER XXXIX. ACUTE DISEASES 356 Inefficiency of the Old Methods 357 Psychic Treatment of Acute Troubles 359 Autosuggestions 361 LETTER XL. DISORDERS OF THE CIRCU- LATORY SYSTEM 364 Causes • 365 Self-Control 368 Autosuggestions 369 LETTER XLI. WOMEN'S DISEASES 372 Autosuggestions 376 LETTER XLII. ACCIDENTS 378 Autosuggestions 381 SUCCESS. THE LAWS FEW AND SIMPLE.... 384 The Environment 385 The Covenant 386 The Process 387 Attainment 389 : (P'C&juu&L cy(c a^fy Mod. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY INTRODUCTION Cures have undoubtedly been made in all branches of medicine and by an endless variety of means, but the real curative factor has not always been the drug, the manipulation or the operation employed. The more meager one's knowledge, the more dogmatic one's opinions. In reflecting upon a cure with a view to determining its causes we too often forget that the majority of ailments pass away spon- taneously. How to cure those that do not is the im- portant question. In analyzing psychic methods of cure I am con- vinced that I am arriving at a broadly rational solu- tion of the general curative problem — I am not aware that anyone has gone about the study of this impor- tant subject from precisely my angle. Leavitt-Science Psychotherapy, upon which Leavitt-Science is in part built, is now in the third of the three stages through which all radical improvements have to pass : it is being accepted with the cheerful assurance that its truth has never been questioned. And yet even the 11 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY profession is densely ignorant of its worth. In ac- cepting certain of its features they think they are accepting all there is in it of value. To most prac- titioners of medicine it still stands mainly for hyp- notism, though many of its up-to-date exponents use hypnotism only in exceptional cases. Suggestion without hypnotism, re-education, persuasion, com- mand, psychoanalysis, telepathy and idealism are to them hardly known. Psychotherapy in its incipiency is expressed in a common belief long ago uttered in the confession that what one confidently expects is very likely to happen. It is a patient's faith that makes him, whole, and the greatest concern of the physician should be to keep alive a saving confidence in the minds of those he serves. Give men a working formula for health which commends itself to their credence, then contrive by various means to keep alive their faith in it, and the barriers of disease are the more easily broken down. Unqualified confidence in the development of the de- sired effect, accompanied by energetic turning of the forces of the whole organism towards the accomplish- ment of it, is strongly compelling. In obstinate cases, 12 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY and especially in those wherein it is impossible for the patient to mobilize all his forces, the aid of an- other, possessed of large faith and positive mentality, contributes strongly to the probability of cure. Why all this is so I do not pretend to know. The fundamental action is out of sight, and about it, as about all life action, there is a cloud of impenetrable mystery. The usual laboratory tests are too coarse to elicit the necessary reactions, and other facilities for its study must be mainly psychological. The Question of Self-Healing Readers of psychotherapeutic literature are al- ways asking, "To what extent can we act as our own healers V 9 In every case it is the patient's own forces that work the cure. The psychic mechanism of each of us is able to cope with whatever may arise if only it be set into right action. And yet failures arise among those who appear to be qualified by knowledge and practice to succeed. In such instances I believe the fatal defect is to be found in an absence of right emo- tional tone. The fire, the spirit, the gumption, the enthusiasm, the courage, the faith which constitutes 13 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY the motive power required to operate the mechanism is wanting. The very passivity which lies like a spell on the whole organism inhibits energetic and persist- ent action. There are faint and pathetic risings of purpose, and there are spasms of energy, but they are again lost in inertia. Thus things remain until some day the ailing one gets hold of an inspiring book, or comes in con- tact with another personality that stirs him to the core and awakens a spirit of life and energy within him. The one thing lacking is thus mysteriously sup- plied, and the whole organism is quickened into ac- tivity. I have so often witnessed such phenomena that they have become common ; and yet I never cease to wonder at them. The physician who proves to be a true healer of disease is always one who is capable of supplying this quickening energy to his patients. He intuitively divines the root of the disorder and restores the suf- ferer to health and tranquillity by his very presence. What is the precise nature of the operation I do not pretend to know. It is still one of nature's myste- ries. The ultra scientist insists that the disorder was fanciful and the cure a mere reaction to an ignorant 14 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY masquerade ; but his terms do not fit the case. Some day these very scientists mil insist that these truths are as old as the hills — as they really are — and that they have never doubted them. Leavitt-Science Cures Other Than Imag- inary Ailments Medicine has always followed the practice of smiling increduously at whatever could not be inter- preted after its own formulas. It repudiates all that comes to it from irregular sources, but is open-hearted and open-armed to recommendations from its recog- nized workers, no matter how inane, as witness the bones of its credulous victims which strew the course of practice throughout the years. Why should it be said that a pain is imaginary because, forsooth, it has been relieved by psycho- therapy ? Is thought, which is doing so much in the world to-day, to be reckoned an interloper when it enters the medical field ? And are those who use it to be dubbed quacks and charlatans because it has not yet been added to the armamentarium of the regu- lar physicians? Pain is pain wherever found, tho fn some people it is more easily developed than in 15 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY others. In any case it is the sensibility of the suf- ferer that must settle the question of its presence or absence, and his testimony is as likely to be reliable in one instance as in the other. One can suffer most excruciatingly without the confirmatory evidence of a lesion. "It should never be drummed into a patient," says Dr. Moll, "because he has no organic lesion that his malady is consequently imaginary. Folks fre- quently make such remarks, but a psychologically trained doctor should scrupulously avoid anything of the kind at all times. He should know that the ex- pression "imaginary pains" has been excellently com- pared with hallucinations. Now we say that the hal- lucinatory object is imaginary, but it is false to say that the perception is imaginary; it has a central cause, whether the object is imaginary or not. Simi- larly, a pain that is felt is the result of a definite central process. It is a matter of indifference whether the central process is caused by a peripheral one, such as a prick, or through suggestion by a spontaneous act. The pain exists in both cases, and is not imaginary. If in the latter case the patient were to refer it to an external stimulus, he would be wrong. But the doc- tor must take the pain the patient says he feels as real. To combat and remove such pains is just as 16 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY much the duty of the physician as the healing of a wound. A doctor may be able to detect and explain the functional nature of a pain, and even trace it to its mental origin, but he should never say it is imaginary." It is possible for certain people who have their psychic forces under good control to do some most marvelous things through the exercise of the will, and among them is the inhibition of pain. You will read- ily agree with me that this power, when acquired over physical sensibility, does not prove that all suffering is imaginary. The only spurious pains I am familiar with are those that a woman sometimes has as a pre- lude to real labor, and they are spurious only in the sense of being valueless to the parturient act. Some Valuable Data A quarter of a century ago Dr. George M. Beard, of New York, made some elaborate experiments in one of the large public institutions of that city to determine the power of the mind — and more espe- cially the patient's mind — over physical conditions, or as he puts it, "in order to determine, as accurately as possible, how far it is possible to cure disease by mental influence alone." 17 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I continue to quote from his record. "In these experiments, which were kept up for many weeks, no medicine of any real value was used, but simply what are called placebos, to act upon the minds of the patients, and induce them to believe that they were taking or doing something that would surely cure them. A favorite device was to tell the patients that they would get well at a certain day and hour. I would say : 'Take this, and you will be well on Thursday afternoon at three o'clock.' 'Take a drop of this mixture just as you are half through dinner, and in half an hour your pain will leave you.' In the majority of the cases — though not, of ourse, in all — these predictions were literally fulfilled. The patients did get well on the time appointed, and many and profuse were the thanks that I received for my success. a In these experiments were proved absolutely, and beyond all question, that it was possible to re- lieve in this way, not only imaginary functional trou- bles, but also genuine and organic diseases, although the results were more certain and more permanent in functional than in organic disease. It had pre- viously been denied by physicians that organic dis- 18 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY eases could be affected through, the mind. "What astonished me most was the permanency of the cures in many of the cases. They not only got better, but they kept better, and, in some instances, recovered entirely." Dr. Beard a little later goes on to say in italics: "What patients confidently expect to happen will be very likely to happen." When I tell you that the physician who con- ducted these experiments was one of the most emi- nent specialists in America, was a professor in the University of !New York, and a man whose word no physician of standing would for a moment question, it will be evident to you that the testimony here pro- duced is positive, unequivocal and wholly reliable. The experiments not only established the validity of the claims made by many equally honest men to the value of psychotherapy in the treatment of func- tional ailments, but it places the stamp of approval on the contention of a small number of trained and experienced medical men that its curative virtues are not restricted to those diseases not yet in the organic stage. To me this is the most valuable part of the 19 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY testimony, for it is upon this rock of contention that the friends of mind-cure in the medical ranks have split. Pure skepticism is the only thing that keeps the conservative ones from bestowing all the benefits these methods are capable of bringing. Leavitt-Sci- ence does cure organic disease. Cures at a Distance Several years ago I began experiments to deter- mine the true value of what has been termed "absent treatment." I acquired patients in various parts of the world who were suffering from ailments of all sorts, entered into correspondence with them so as to learn the peculiarities of each case, and then ap- plied to them the principles of treatment herein set forth. I did not attempt to do so by mere thought power, as do the Christian Scientists and many of the New Thought healers, but I educated my patients to think wholesomely, to hold the attitudes of confi- dence and authority, and to develop as masters of their own forces. They were told to lay aside fear and doubt and discouragement, and to cultivate all the ennobling, the uplifting and the commanding graces. I got into close touch with them, established 20 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY a rapport that gave weight to my words and thoughts, assured them of my support, of the power of the suggestions I gave and of those they were instructed to give themselves, commanded them to diligence and perseverance and otherwise brought to their aid psychic energies in their various forms. This work I am still doing and the results have been so encour- aging that, by means of this book, I am now putting myself into rapport with a host of people in need of various kinds of help, supplying in it what they need to bring them back to health of body and peace of mind. Distant patients are asked to accept these as personal letters, and to make the instruction and inspiration they contain their daily stimuli. There is rarely an excuse for protracted illness of a slow and dilatory type. The well can stay well if they will, and the ill can get well. These letters contain a Gospel of Health full of potency. There are some who will find themselves unable to accept the message I send, and these are the very ones who are most likely to protest their inefficiency; but to those who bring to their perusal a spirit of honest seeking, of sincere desire and a modicum of faith, making the letters a daily study and their precepts 21 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY a daily practice, they will be sure to prove "a savior of life unto life." Let the serious reader of these pages take to heart all that I have here set down as conclusions derived from long and patient research. I do not hesitate to commend them to the needy everywhere. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter I A MORE DIRECT WORD Dear Header: Are you nervous and restless ? Are your spirits depressed ? Are you filled with fear ? Are you sleepless? Are you continually studying your feelings ? Are you indifferent to those you ought to love? Are you weak? Are you prematurely old? Are you in mental or physical distress ? Have you lost your grip on yourself ? Do you have to drive yourself to useful action ? Have you been bereaved ? Do your finances worry you? Does the thought of age oppress you ? Has life lost its color ? Does the thought of death rise like a spectre be- fore you ? Do you sometimes wish to die ? 23 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Have you been told that you have organic disease ? Then the letters which follow are just what you need. Among other things, they will teach you That your source of power is within ; That you ought to trust yourself; That trials are not enemies; That you should be master and not servant; That you have authority over yourself; That your moods can be controlled; That heredity can be overcome ; That your fears can be dissipated ; That you can sleep; That you can be strong ; That you can be of service, though old ; That you can recover your grip; That your interest can be awakened; That your grief can be driven away ; That you can recoup your losses, and That you can overcome your physical ailments. But do not misunderstand me. I do not say that an application of the instruction contained in these letters is sufficient to cure disease in all its forms; but I say it will prove of high value in all ailments, and will cure many of them. 24 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY This means that Leavitt- Science is the most ef- ficient of all single means of cure; and that for func- tional nerve disturbances it is the only cure. Other Than Psychic Means Sometimes Re- quired It must be further understood that the amount of positive energy in one who is ailing is not always sufficient to bring about the desired result without aid from another who knows how to meet the require- ments of the case. If in your case an appeal has to be made to a physician for help, be sure to choose one whose practice is tinctured with the New Psy- chology, for the old-time notions to which most physi- cians are wedded are liable to prove more harmful than helpful. I do not mean to inveigh against the many physicians in every city of our land who are doing splendid work along lines of their own choos- ing. Most of them are doing their work nobly and honestly. That it does not prove more effective is the fault of its materialism. But you are not likely to require additional aid if you catch the full meaning and spirit of the letters. 25 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I shall not be surprised to learn that you have suc- ceeded far beyond your expectations. Now, let me go a little farther and tell you that you cannot expect to get well and remain so if you continue unwholesome ways of living and thinking. The mission of this book is to point out the way to health, and then to give you a strong push in the right direction. At the same time remember that : You will have to do the walking ; That the way leads up hill ; That in places it is very steep and difficult; That the course you have been following is easy — so easy that you can toboggan most of it; but it takes you to mental and physical disaster; That there are no easy cuts to the goal. There are short cuts for intrepid feet, but I do not recom- mend them. Take the longer course, as it gives you time for development and brings you to the end with- out weariness or ennui. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter II THE MYSTERY OF CURE I have often denied that there is any mysticism about the sort of curative science I shall outline. I have insisted that the only requirement from the pa- tient is the acceptance of plain, practical truths, sueh as would or should appeal to the good sense of any- body. I say: "Here is a rational proposition, and one you cannot decline." Yet some do decline it. Others accept it intellectually without pronounced benefit, while others take it in, without a word, find- ing relief. And then I begin to think there is at least a mystery about the process of cure. The physician in general practice who follows orthodox methods has a similar experience. There are some people who can almost uniformly be raised out of their troubles with but little effort and with- out a painstaking consideration of precise methods. Opening his case of simple remedies, the physician can dispense his medicines, give the directions, and go away without a doubt that he shall find the patient 27 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY better at his next visit. A single call is often suffi- cient to set the organic machinery in order, even when the symptoms have looked menacing. About the visit itself there seems to lurk a mysterious in- fluence which serves to set things going aright almost at once. In this way organic as well as functional troubles are sometimes disposed of as if by magic. On the other hand, symptoms of slight disorder quite as frequently give a world of trouble. Again and again does the doctor return to find that the patient has made no improvement, or has even become worse, when the case had given good promise of speedy re- covery. Remedies upon which the doctor has learned to rely produce no apparent effects. I have talked with hundreds of my confreres on the question and have had identical admissions from them. Surgeons, too, have been brought into the symposium with harmonious testimony. Medical Fallacies The history of medicine is full of marvelous cures made by earnest men whose successes led them to believe that they had found nature's secret regard- 28 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY ing healing agencies. Their cures were doubtless gen- uine and their enthusiasms were built upon substan- tial results, and yet after a time their confidence was lost and then their house of cards came tumbling down. That greatest healer of all, the serious-minded Mazarine, when He returned to His own part of the country and undertook to work His wonders, found His charms inert, for it is recorded that He was un- able to do many marvels there. Among His success- ors there were for a time some wonderful cures, but by degrees the power to work them failed and the church accepted the dictum of the clergy that the day of miracles was at an end. A century and a half ago Mesmer set the French capital wild over his successes with all manner of dis- eases, and for years he was regarded with the ad- miration accorded to all great healers. But after a time he was robbed of his power and sank into oblivion. In our times innovators spring up, do marvelous things, catch the eye of the public, raise high hopes and then drop out of sight. In some of the exploited MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY remedies there is a modicum of virtue remaining as an accretion of truth, and tending, along with others, to lift the load of suffering humanity. Men are looking for specifics and panaceas with indefatigable zeal and persistency, but thus far they have looked in vain because they have looked in the wrong direction. The Healing Entities When we reflect that what we can expect from the outside in the work of putting this physical house of ours in order does not bulk very large, but that the forces within us are the healing entities, the ad- visability of choosing our helps with discretion be- comes evident. The unexpected often happens under particular conditions. In the very thick of a warm fight for supremacy the sturdy powers of the organism some- times receive reinforcements from unexpected and mysterious sources, enabling them to win a quick victory. We look on with wonder and see a sick man get well promptly when we had expected a long fight to cure him, and ask ourselves what it was that saved him. No vaunted remedy was used; the usual rou- 30 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY tine was followed, and yet all at once the patient took a turn in the right direction and got well quickly. The Healing Mysteries Say what we will, the fact remains that about every cure there is an element of mystery. The true physician is a priest at a holy altar. Healing virtue is not to be found in the remedy itself, but in an unction which carries to the organic centers that won- derful something which works the cure. By such action the life forces are encouraged to get about their work with renewed energy and with increased intelli- gence. Like all the energies that we know anything about, this one stands wrapped in mystery. Its subtle elements do not react to our gross chemicals ; its true nature does not disclose itself at our coarse bidding. We are as puzzled as is the schoolboy by the magi- cian. One who is ill, having tried all the vaunted reme- dies without relief, picks up an idea or two from the teachings of another, which, joining the general content, set in motion new and efficient forces. An- other consults the same source of power without get- ting a particle of help. The doctor uses his powers 31 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY upon a patient today with surprising effect, and on another tomorrow with no effect at all. The first goes away to sound his praises and the second to proclaim his inefficiency. There is mystery about the whole problem of cure, behind which only a few have yet had a discerning glance. Medicine proceeds in its blundering and bluffing way, while the people look on with mixed emotions of hope and fear. What is to come of it all ? The effects of disease and the means of recognition are being exploited. Here and there one declares that he is on the very verge of a great secret of cure, while others of larger credulity naively affirm that they have already found it. Nature does most of her work under cover; her forces and processes are invisible. How, then, can we expect to learn her secrets if we study the physical side of the problem only ? Our most delicate instru- ments of precision are too coarse. We must catch the emanations from the mysterious depths, and to do so we have to search more carefully amongst the mental and spiritual phenomena. It is of the re- sults of such research work as this that I am about to speak. 32 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter III THE BASIS OF CURE An Analysis of Phenomena Let us now analyze the phenomena mentioned in my last letter, to learn, if we can, their meaning. One step at a time. Take first the susceptible patient who for some reason is so quick to respond to almost every form of treatment used, provided it be administered by his own physician or one in whom, for some sentimental reason, he has learned to have confidence. If the true potency of the remedy were in the drug, the vaccine, the electricity, or whatever is employed, the results should be substantially uni- form, no matter what the patient's mental attitude, and the treatment should win its way against the in- nuendoes, the sarcasms and the denunciations of the patient and his friends. Even tho the physician forced his way into the house and insisted on curing the patient nolens volens, he would be able to do so. But, says my critic, there is great resistance offered to the curative action of the remedy by the adverse 33 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY mental attitude. Mental opposition is able to anti- dote the good effects of the remedy, no matter how precious its values as a curative agent. But let us suppose that there is no opposition, the mental atti- tude being one of mere indifference. The patient may take the ground that the medical attendant is not able to effect progress one way or the other. There is neither help nor hindrance offered the earn- est doctor who is trying his best to set up an action in his patient which shall result in his cure. With a neutral state of mentality in the patient, it seems as though the curative means and measures ought to be able to produce their good effects if they carry energy of the necessary kind. In a series of such in- stances the patients might all recover, just as they might should no remedial agent be used, for the nat- ural forces are the great factors in cure under all cir- cumstances, the remedies used doing nothing more than support and stimulate the life forces as they are marshaled to the contest. But it is not in such in- stances that the physician's efforts reach a high de- gree of efficiency. The results obtained are indiffer- ent. Patients are apt to feel that their own physi- cian becomes so well acquainted with their physical peculiarities that he knows best what remedies are 34 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY suited to them. There is some truth in the suppo- sition, but it is not so large as is commonly believed. The familiarity which gives the regular attendant his advantage is chiefly an acquaintance with the mental constitution of his clients, and he reaches them mainly through their minds. Let us now turn to the phenomena accompanying the introduction of new remedies and analyze them in an equally brief way. When we look at the flat failures of nearly all the vaunted remedies for stubborn ailments which have been introduced during recent decades, we are impelled to suspect the honesty of the men who intro- duced them. There is no doubt that some innova- tors, recognizing the credulity of the public, have dreadfully imposed upon it. Their loud claims were sure to turn the confidence of many into curative channels and, it was assumed, the successes obtained were sufficient guaranty of the promoter's sincerity. When cures of refractory forms of disease have fol- lowed the administration of a remedy, it is impos- sible for one to sustain a contention of its lack of curative energy, and so the introducer of it escapes without legal, or even moral, rebuke. Besides, it is 35 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY a moot question whether the resulting cures made under such conditions are not an adequate justifica- tion of the action of the introducer, even though he well knew that his cures resulted from psychic impres- sions rather than from the virtues of the remedies themselves. In all forms of practice there is a simi- lar action going on, and the most conscientious con- sider themselves justified in encouraging it within limits. Only a short time ago a physician of large experience, in the course of a conversation regarding curative measures, said to me under his breath: "Doctor Leavitt, the practice of medicine is a great big humbug." To this characterization I do not yield, though I am sure that there is much in medi- cine that passes for what it is not. Medicine deals in symbols without knowing it, and uses media that do their work in the curative field by virtue of the men- tal reactions they set up. A large part of medical practice is like that of Moses when he lifted up the serpent of brass before the eyes of smitten Israelites with so astonishing effects. The smitten ones looked and lived, not because of any healing power in the brazen serpent, but because of the tremendous psychic action thereby excited. Had dissension been awakened, and had a man of penetrating mind stood 36 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY before them declaring the impotency of the symbol, the marvelous effects would perhaps have ceased, and even those who thought themselves healed would have fallen a prey to a recrudescence of their physical lesions. We are just beginning to recognize the mar- vels mind is able to work. Innate substances when administered with convincing assurances of relief have, in my hands, wrought most astonishing results. Set up the right mental attitudes, and the physical, which always takes its cue from the mental, is sure to respond. Everything goes to show that the heal- ing entities are mental, and that, outside of chemical and mechanical actions, even drug action is dependent for its results very largely on the mental states. The most orthodox of my medical friends will deny this only by refusing to attribute the curative processes set in motion by the drug to mind instead of brain, they holding to the materialistic theories, while I firmly believe in the immaterial. Deductions Regarding Cure There is no mistaking the fact that the problem of cure resolves itself into that of establishing the right mental attitudes. Old medicine denies the psychic element the place to which it is entitled, and 37 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY that is why progress has been so slow in the direction of reform. In the departments of the physical sci- ences, such as chemistry, physiology, pathology and diagnosis, remarkable advance has been made, and in that way the efficiency of disease prevention has been tremendously augmented. But when it comes to the question of cure for the disorders it has learned to recognize with so great skill, medicine remains mute. It is always on the heels of wonderful cures, but it does not overtake them. It has endorsed the ultra scientific view, and since psychology is still in the nascent stage and cannot be made to divulge its secrets to tests designed for physical experimentation, it is ruled out of the laboratory. 38 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter IV THE RATIONALE OF CURE Having given you a glimpse of the phenomena associated with the processes of cure when accom- plished through the use of different means, and hav- ing shown how they plainly point to an underlying agency or medium of a mental nature as that by which the problem is worked out, let us learn what we can of the characteristics and methods of this agency. The Curative Energies They are spoken of as "Nature," "The Vital Force," "The Unconscious," "The Subconscious," "The Subliminal Self," "The Subjective Mind," etc. The nomenclature is not important; it is enough for us to know that they make up that hidden part of ourselves which supervises our interests, and looks after that department of our affairs, mental and physical, which we are not consciously familiar with, and concerning which we are kept in conscious igno- rance, most likely because the work can be done in 39 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY better form without the intermeddling by which it might be embarrassed. It should be regarded as the larger and wiser part of the mind. We really do but little conscious thinking, the known self having the power to turn its searchlight whither it will, the various features of things showing up here, there and elsewhere. The stream of consciousness is extremely narrow and is curiously constituted. This unconscious, subconscious or superconscious — it being variously designated — is probably the vast Universal Mind, the Primal Substance, the Stuff, the essence of all known things, of which we and all intelligent things are but dippings or digitations. This means that man shades off from his conscious personality into the infinite All. I mean that man is a differentiated part of the Great Mind, just as my hand, my fingers, my nails, my blood vessels, my nerves, and even my tiny physical cells are parts of me. And just as my several parts have their own characteristics, functions, rights, privileges and authorities within the scope of their peculiar action, so man — you and I — have autocratic authority within our particular domain. As parts of a whole, we have a right to draw on the resources of the 40 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY whole for everything needed to make us comfortable and useful. I have made this long story very brief, as it is not my purpose here to enter into details, but enough has been said to give an idea of what I mean when I tell how substantial a biological basis psychotherapy has. In this practical age it becomes us to deal as much in pure speculation as a rational comprehen- sion of the causes and cure of disease demand, and no .more. In this place I am dealing with the prac- tical features of the health topic, and shall clothe my theories in as few words as lucidity will allow. From what has gone before it will be seen that the mind of man has two distinct phases of content and action, namely, the conscious and unconscious. I do not need to adduce proofs of the existence of the former. The latter is shown in the intelligent activities of the organism which do not rise to the threshold of consciousness, such as those of growth, metabolism, repair of injuries, adaptation to life vi- cissitudes, struggle with physical disorders, the men- tal tendency to forget unhappy experiences, to aspire to higher and broader planes of action, to realize 41 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY the ideal, and so on through a long list of particulars. It is plain enough that there is a side of the mind in which originate the remote causes of conscious physical disturbance, and this is therefore the side to be reached by our efforts at prevention and cure. To deal with initiatives less remote is merely to con- cern ourselves with secondary factors — with effects and complications rather than causes. Influencing the Unconscious Having thus rapidly cleared the ground, it at once becomes patent that the chief est 'problem in cure is so to influence the subjective that we shall secure a return to concurrent, harmonious action of the or- ganic functions. A little further on I shall attempt to elucidate to your satisfaction the etiology of dis- ease according to this mental hypothesis. On this occasion I shall merely indicate the various methods by which those who have recognized, either fraction- ally or fully, the necessities of the case have sought to accomplish this result. The orthodox medical practitioner, who must have a side view of the truth, despite his materialistic tendencies and his theories of functional activities 42 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY through reflexes, cannot escape the impression that his remedies have an influence on the organism above and beyond that of chemical or other affinity. The covert and inexact action of the remedies shows him that there are biological as well as physiological — some of them say psychological — elements concerned in the product. In his own hard and blundering way, too, he aims to utilize them in administering his varied forms of treatment. But he is so hopelessly involved by his gross conceptions of life and its processes that he cannot do so to a large and grati- fying extent. Among neurological specialists there has grown up a psychic form of treatment calculated to give good results upon the theory of the dual phases of mind; but so far it has been limited strictly to neu- roses and psychoses of the classified types. What are termed "organic" diseases are put into a class by themselves and emphatically denied the possible bene- fits of psychic treatment. A few advanced practi- tioners, like Dubois, have sought to find for them a minor place in the scheme of psychotherapy, but it has not yet been accorded by those who give regu- lar attention to the general diseases afflicting human 43 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY kind. It is likely to be a long time before medicine in general will consent to use with system and intel- ligence the potencies resident in mind, even as adju- vants, for the cure of acute and chronic disorders. In a subsequent letter I shall show how all or- ganic changes are preceded by psychic and functional changes, and that what we suffer in physical change is but a stage in a process beginning away back in the brain and mind centers. But in the treatment of nervous and mental dis- orders the regular specialists are making progress. Their formulas now include hypnotism, suggestion in the waking state, reeducation, persuasion, command and psychoanalysis. That there is something supe- rior to these, adding to their power, though not neces- sarily displacing them, they have not yet learned. The step already taken is a most important one, and will be followed by others. Besides, they are already suspecting that even with what are termed pure neuroses and functional disorders there is a subtle physical modification at some point in the mech- anism of which subsequent organic disturbances are but elaborations and extensions. From the treatment of mere symptoms those who 44 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND 3UPREMACY practice psychotherapy will surely grow into a knowledge that in all forms of human ailments the individual — the patient himself, rather than particu- lar symptoms — needs attention. In the organism a great variety of phenomena are devoloped from the action of similar causes, the peculiarities of the in- dividual determining the nature and form of the output. The Special Field for Leavitt-Science Leavitt-Science is peculiarly suited to nervous and mental disorders — psychoneuroses as they are called — and these it cures with a good degree of uni- formity. But in painful diseases of every kind, and especially in ailments wherein complete recovery can- not be expected, it is of great service in removing irritability, suffering, sleeplessness and all allied dis- comforts, thus soothing the restless, cheering the faint-hearted, inspiring the discouraged, and other- wise benefiting. In many desperate cases it has turned the tide of life afresh into organic channels, and haa thus led to unexpected recovery. No one should be allowed to die without having been given the chance to live offered by it. It can be applied in connection 45 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY with other treatment, thereby making up for deficien- cies, overcoming some of its unwholesome effects, giv- ing point and efficiency to well-chosen remedies, main- taining the spirit, removing fear, purifying the men- tal atmosphere and otherwise doing much to promote recovery. Inasmuch as under its salutary application the individual is inspired to self-mastery and there is improvement in the whole mental and physical tone, success along any line of action is gratifyingly pro- moted. By means of mental therapy ambition can be awakened, courage inspired, confidence assured and the whole mental and physical organism tremendously quickened. Those who have lost spirit through any kind of misfortune, those bowed down by grief or op- pressed by fear, those whose mental strength has waned and whose forces have been dissipated, find in the mental, moral and physical aid thus given the very help required. Acceptance of its aid involves no necessary change of faith or conformity to irra- tional opinions. Leavitt-Science rests upon a basis of demonstrable truth; its principles are few and easily comprehended; and its methods of application, while demanding in the physician a large degree of 46 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY human sympathy and the skill of the expert, are sus- ceptible to self-adaptation by those who put them- selves en rapport with one who even through his writ- ings shall act as their instructor, companion and guide. The personality of the physician — the weight of the man behind the gnn — is a large factor in the production of cure. The patient's forces have to be quickened and set into corrective action, and this al- ways has to be done by another, either through per- sonal aid or by means of the written word. This is the solution in general terms of the various phe- nomena attending upon treatment mentioned in the early part of this discussion. The rapport of the patient with his helper, designated as "transfer" by the nerve specialist, is the secret of success in the treatment not only of neuroses, but of disease in general. 47 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter V NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE Having given an hypothesis of subconscious mind by which the bulk of our thinking is done and in which processes are worked out, our next step shall be to learn what we can, in the light of psychol- ogy, concerning the nature and causes of disease. The Author's Methods It must be plain to all that I do not occupy com- mon ground with Christian Scientists and other simi- lar cults. I assume that disease is what it purports to be, a disturbance of mental and physical rest and peace. I can see no advantage coming from denial of a patent disorder. The wise thing to do is, to recognize it and then take proper steps to correct it. I am equally at variance with the orthodox con- ceptions of the nature and cause of disease. While not denying the structural changes found by a study of pathological states, morbid tissues and fluids, I am compelled as a non-materialist to look upon these as 48 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY results of causes which reach back into mental bias and disturbing mental attitudes and processes. I reckon bacteria, exposure to unwholesome environ- ment and such like things as occasions rather than causes. There is a pathology of mind underlying physical expression to which medicine has not yet affixed a tag. My theories are entitled to no standing unless I can make clear the modus through which disease comes into manifestation, a thing which I shall now attempt. The unconscious side of mind, whatever its na- ture and its relations to consciousness through the physical brain and nervous systems, has been shown by the phenomena of hypnotism and such like actions to exercise marvelous control over the nervous, vaso- motor, circulatory and other systems. Take the case of a patient who comes to me in great distress of mind and body. He complains of pain from which he has vainly sought relief. I quiet his conscious agitation and give him strong assurance of speedy comfort. He soon becomes calm in mind and body. Eelief is complete. Another patient complains of pain and soreness on the back of the neck. On examination I 49 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY find every appearance of a developing carbuncle, with the attendant heat, redness and swelling. The pa- tient has not rested for a period of thirty-six hours. I put him into a passive state of mind and body; I touch the spot gently and assure him that there is power in the sympathetic touch to dissipate the con- gestion and pain. It seems like a simple thing to do, and yet in some subjects it is . effective. A woman with severe headache calls me to relieve her suffer- ing. I find a temperature of 112° (this is a real case) and am startled by it. I apply various means of cure without avail. The same temperature and headache persist for twenty-four hours, and then, having put her into hypnosis — though I rarely resort to such treatment — I suggest immediate relief and the temperature falls to 100° within thirty minutes. To me such cases show the astonishing power of mind over physical states. The truth is that a belief that a certain thing is about to happen is quite sufficient to change the physical action in any part. No close student of psycho-physical phenomena has failed to observe evidences of this kind of action. I mention these examples as a mere introduction to a brief study of the development of pathological states. 50 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Hereditary Influences I know of no better way of elucidating my theo- ries regarding the nature and origin of disease than to take a typical case of chronic disease and trace its evolution. We shall begin by recalling to mind the influ- ence of hereditary constitutions and tendencies, since it is deeply impressed on every human being who comes into the world. The tendency varies widely, as we know, not only in families, but in the several members of a family There is an impression of gen- eral traits, and of particular ones as well, some of which create a peculiar proneness to certain phys- ical disorders. This feature of etiology has received much attention and its power has been freely ad- mitted. But it has been regarded as something re- lated wholly to the material man. The mental as- pects of the situation have been ignored. To me it is plain enough that mere matter can possess no ten- dency. The inborn disposition must reside in some unknown mental or spiritual essence. To me it is plain enough that physical conditions are but echoes of mental traits. Behind a weak body is a weak, perverted will. Intellect or emotion — the one or the 51 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY other — is dominant. Back of every feeble and vi- tiated physical organism lies a want of balance be- tween the various mental attributes, expressed either consciously or unconsciously. In inborn vicious tendencies of mind and body we find a fertile soil for the growth of various dis- orders. Upon such a parent stem pathological states of great variety are easily grafted. These are the po- tent factors to be considered in our study of disease etiology, and unless they are recognized in the adapta- tions of curative ministrations we shall obtain but a small degree of success. Though these considerations are of vast importance, they do not constitute all that lies behind organic dis- turbance, for we cannot forget that the subject is continually establishing modifications, that the sub- consciousness is being stamped with fresh impres- sions which in their turn create an influence on psychical expression for good or ill. This work is continually going on as the organism reacts to envi- ronment, habits of thought and character of action, and all usually without the patient's conscious knowl- edge of his power to give it wholesome direction. In the absence of self-discipline and resolute 52 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY direction, is it any wonder that heredity precipitates one into many forms of mental and physical disorder ? A Glance at Disease Development Upon a mental and physical background like that just given, disorder frames its fantastic figures. Let us see how the work is done. One may have been able to avoid serious disturbances up to a cer- tain point, and then disorder is precipitated by some particular occurrence — it may be an accident, an un- hygienic environment, contagion, mental strain, or something else, occasions of disturbance in great num- ber existing among all of us. But between the pre- disposing heredity or acquired bias and the real out- break of disease there is a period of incubation, or hatching, during which the only pathological modifi- cation is in the mental and nervous centers and prob- ably for the time quite hidden. In acute disorders this prodromal stage may last only a few hours, or, at most, a few days, while in chronic disorders it may extend over a period of weeks, months, or even years. But what I want you particularly to observe is that there is always a stage like this during which the disorder is of a purely psychical nature, and that, too, of a moderate type. 53 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I have spoken of the period of mental and nerve disorder as the prodromal or functional stage, but it is important for our purpose to divide this stage into two, the first being that of mere mental modifica- tion, wherein the disorder is a true psychosis, the second being the succeeding one of mental and nerve disorder constituting a simple psychoneurosis. It will be understood that the original psychosis marking the beginning of the disorder which may ultimately become a complicating and menacing or- ganic disease, manifests in the subconscious rather than in the conscious mind. That we do not know the true character of the bias, or what constitutes the ensemble of its mental symptoms, is no proof of its nonexistence. It seems unfortunate that it cannot be subjected to scientific investigation with the same ease as the grosser pathology of the organism. In the etiology of much disease there is not only the psychic background of heredity and acquired sus- ceptibility, but also an immediate or exciting cause — more properly occasion — of disease, of an objective or discernible nature, in the form of injurious emo- tion. 54 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY The evil effect of certain emotions has been ob- served by every physician, and medicine has long sought to proscribe such baneful influences. Many a child has been made ill by nursing the breast of a mother who was under the spell of a depressing or highly exciting emotion. Emotional Causes of Disease It must be understood that the effect of emotion of an unregulated, riotous, highly disturbing charac- ter is not limited to the immediate action on the or- ganism. It also reduces the system to that vulnerable state in which serious functional and organic diseases can the more readily make one their prey. That dreaded disease, cancer in its various forms, as we are well aware, rises out of its nidus when the sub- ject is under the spell of mental depression far more frequently than when he is in the resistant state, cre- ated and sustained by emotions of a different type. Those under the power of mental depression seem also peculiarly liable to fatal attacks of pneumonia. The emotions in question are largely those of the conscious mind, but their effects are obtained by the influence they exert on the subconsciousness which 55 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY has general and special charge of the administrative affairs of the body. Extrinsic Causes of Disease There is one feature of the subject to which I have not thus far adverted, and one, too, which ama- teur psychologists are quite apt to overlook. I allude to the effect of physical disturbance on the mind in both its conscious and subconscious phases. The best balanced mind is liable to become temporarily upset and drawn down by adverse influences proceeding from physical experiences of an unwholesome nature. Severe accident is enough to unsettle the mind for the time, no matter how well fortified it may be, and the same may be said of serious crises. Even Jesus reached a point in His experience where He cried out in agony : a My God ! My God ! Why hast Thou forsaken me?" There is no mind so strong that physical suffering cannot reduce it to a dangerous negativity, at least for a time. 56 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter VI THE THREE MENTAL ATTRIBUTES Loss of Balance Between Will, Intellect and Feeling I have said that the prime cause of disease of all sorts is to be found in mind, and very largely in the subconscious. Now let us examine this claim a little closer, for it is new and startling to the aver- age man. The physician who has given the matter but little thought is willing to admit that certain diseases of a nervous type find their source in mind, but is very quick to deny such an origin to other ail- ments. The claim is contrary to all medical teach- ing, and yet, my reader, I believe it to be literally true. I have shown how all organic disturbance is consecutive upon a train of mental modifications ex- pressed in functional disorder. Even contagious dis- ease has its period of incubation, during which period the disorder is in its mental and nervous stage. It is only when disease has progressed beyond this point 57 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY that we find its indications exact and convincing. But why do not all fall under the power of disorder when the exposure is uniform ? Because the resist- ing powers of some are able to neutralize infection. But upon what does this resistance depend ? I reply, it depends on a tone communicated by the mind in both its conscious and subconscious phases. The springs of weakness and susceptibility are found in the relative loss of strength and balance of the three attributes of mind, namely, will, intellect and feeling. Examples of This Unbalance in Certain Disorders While I have not worked out to my satisfaction the character of this unbalance in all forms of phys- ical disorders, I have done so in a few. For example, with will and emotion both plus, we are able, soon or late, to find evidence of delusional insanity, hys- teria, or such like disorder. In the former the delu- sion may not go to an extent necessitating the usual restraints, but merely to the development of psychical conditions whose existence and persistency depend on the strong suggestion found in the nature of the delusions. In many forms of chronic disease we 58 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY find more or less evidence of such a trait, but the condition is most marked when engrafted upon a psychotic or neurotic base. Hysteria, in its protean forms, shows a similar action. Feelings are given precedence in authority, and are allowed to carry the subject into remarkable manifestations of psychic dis- order. Intellect may be keen enough, but its domi- nance is overpowered by feeling. Hysteria In hysteria we come up against a will of large volume, but a will set in a wrong direction. Such patients are stubborn to the last degree. Ordinary coercion only aggravates them, and argument is lost on them. To cure them, one emotion has to be played against another until such time as the set order be- comes broken. Having thus gained a foothold, we can lead these stubborn patients out of the snares set by their emotions, through appeals to reason. They can be persuaded by one who has come into rapport and in whose loyalty and strength they have confi- dence. I say we must set one emotion against another, much as hunters use trained animals and decoy fowls 59 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY to capture their game. But these emotions have to be of an inspiring nature, in general, though fear may sometimes be introduced with good effect. In any case it is necessary to guard against allowing the new emotions to run away with the patient and thus de- stroy the good effects aimed at. As an illustration of what I mean by the kind of treatment mentioned, I shall allude to the con- trol which can sometimes be exercised over an hysteric through threats, or by strong command. Nervous outbursts have often been averted by the menace of a hot iron. As the erotic sentiment is strong in this class of patients, the finding of a responsive object of love is frequently attended with positive relief of the pathological symptoms. The development of re^ ligious fervor is capable of producing a similar effect. Neurasthenia In neurasthenia we have an example of will minus ; intellect normal in quality, but minus in ex- pression ; and emotion, as in hysteria, plus. The neu- rasthenic is ruled by his feelings, but unlike the hys- teric, his will is not normal in volume, and there- fore he does not sink into ruts from which he refuses 60 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY to be dislodged. The judgment is more easily con- vinced, and he responds better to suggestion because intellect is not depressed below the standard. He is carried away and held in captivity by his weaknesses. The more profoundly he has sunk in subjection to his emotions, the more riotous do they become, until he reaches a state of veritable slavery to his anxieties. I have had cases of psychoneurasthenia who were so obsessed by fear as to live in continual terror in their own homes and in the midst of their families. Owing to gradually growing subserviency to their anxieties and depressions there is an augment- ing tendency to move in lines of small resistance, which course finally reduces them to a state of abject and impotent prostration of all strong and noble sentiments. In such cases, will being the relatively weak and diminishing attribute, relief can be had only through strict attention to its cultivation. It is useless to seek relief in drugs. Sometimes an ocean voyage or a radical change of residence or occupation restores temporary tranquility by waking strong and divert- ing emotions; but the lack of mental balance and the existing wrong conception of protective princi- 61 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY pies are very certain to bring the patient into the original state again. Neurasthenia is sometimes induced by a mental state in which will is normal, but intellect and emo- tion being plus make it relatively weak, while the plus intellect serves, when thus associated with plus emotion, to maintain a state of unrest quite unbear- able. Such a state of unbalance is usually associated with a weak physique, and sometimes with a ten- dency to tuberculosis. This particular form of neurasthenia is more apt than other forms to end in serious organic trouble when left unchecked. I shall not go farther with this phase of the dis- cussion. My purpose was chiefly to give you an idea of the relationship of cause and effect existing between mind and body when interpreted in terms of pathology. The materialist will deny the force of my thesis. He could not rationally do otherwise. I am not a materialist and accordingly can accept a theory of the mental organ of disease, which I have found of the greatest value in practice. With an etiology not going back of what responds to re- 62 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY search conducted in the ordinary laboratory I am not surprised that medical treatment has been alto- gether inefficient. A Health Guaranty It must be clear from what I have said that the surest guaranty of physical health is an even balance between the three attributes of mind, namely, will, intellect and feeling, as they are allowed to find expression in mental attitudes and physical action. Not a thought engages the intellect, not a vibration sweeps through emotion, not a question is settled by will but it finds an echo in some form of physical modification. The concrete self as it exists in mind is con- tinually being stamped on the physical organism, so that what we really are in our essential ego is to be read in the body. 63 PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC MEANS USED BY THE PHYSICIAN OR HEALER MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter VII DIRECT PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF THE PHYSICIAN Before attempting to set before you the available means of self-help it will be well to take a glance at the methods of psychic aid at the disposal of the physician, for in obtaining help without his direct aid it will still be necessary for one to bring to bear the very influences used by him. The value of a coefficient idea depends on the standing it finds in the mind of the one to whom it is addressed. The force of an idea depends in good measure also on the energy with which it is launched. The mind that is acquainted with the nature of the power to be used upon it, and has an exalted opinion of the agent through whom it is to come, is in the fittest possible state to be deeply impressed. It may even await with breathless ex- pectation its arrival, with a degree of confidence that guarantees its salutary effect. If in addition to this 65 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY the agent proceeds to the task with assurance and courage, the desired results are almost sure to fol- low. The charlatan is not a stranger to these truths and is often very clever in their utilization. Unction Most valuable of all is what I shall call "unction/' which every successful physician carries to his patient. It is the power of his own soul and per- sonality going out freely and effectively towards the object of his concern. To this I have already made some allusion, and I shall not here dilate upon it. It is a yearning, much like that which a mother has for a child — a heartfelt desire to help and bless, to strengthen and uplift. Under the power of such a feeling he takes up the treatment of a case, examines it, studies its com- plexes, senses the state of consciousness presented by it, and the measure of confidence it brings. He weighs it in the delicate scales of his own sensi- bilities, and the degree of reaction it sets up in him he thoughtfully estimates. In coming to a physician for help the patient brings into immediate contact two personalities who look into each other's lives and 66 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY begin to study the latent harmonies in them — the possible harmonies not hitherto awakened. The re- lationship of physician and patient is a holy one, and only those appreciating its values are able to extract them. In ordinary practice a different state of affairs prevails, and the wretched failures characterizing it are the natural outcome. The patient must lie next to the heart of the physician if the ministrations of the latter are to prove availing; and the patient, for his part, must feel that he has committed his in- terests to an earnest, honest, reliable guide. A patient who is nothing but "a case" to his physician would better seek elsewhere for aid at the earliest moment. Persuasion You will be surprised to learn that persuasion is one of the most valuable means of help in "the new medicine.' ' The patient has really to be persuaded to bring to bear upon the disorder all the force of his psychic energies. He may have thought that he had been doing so all the time, but it will not take long to show him that he has not. In spite of him- self he has been wavering and eccentric. At no time 67 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY has he been "fully persuaded." There has been a paralyzing residuum of doubt. But now enters the strong helper, and supplies the stimulation till then lacking to give point and efficiency to the patient's powers. And, first of all, to his will. The will to be well, and not to be well on some distant and un- certain day, but right away, has to be mustered. So now the personality who has come to the patient's aid, and with whom he already feels a working harmony, brings out and organizes this will, and then gives it the initial push in the right direction. Up to this point in the history of the disorder the patient's will has not been laggard from want of purpose to set it moving; but it has lacked the neces- sary feeling tone to fire it into efficient action. The patient has tried, and tried, and tried; but all his efforts have been in vain. His most desperate at- tempts to extricate himself have given rise to mere floundering. He has made little or no progress; he has been "beating the air." The old philosopher de- clared he could lift the earth could he but find a suitable fulcrum for his lever. When a patient has enlisted the aid of one who knows, and who is big enough and strong enough to command his confi- 68 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY dence, lie has found a stable fulcrum, and the lever of his will can then lift the burden. The patient has to be persuaded to unite all his energies with those of his adviser and helper, freely following his directions and resolutely refusing to interpose obstacles to progress. This is a hard thing to do, and yet it must be done in order to insure suc- cess. It amounts to a full abandonment of one's own ideas to those of the physician that brings suc- cess, just as it is the giving of one's full confidence to a guide that brings the lost one safely out of the labyrinth. He who has made the study of ways and means of cure the business of his life is entitled to that measure of confidence which the exigencies of the case demand. The physician s power is con- ditioned by the patient's faith in him, and in the outcome. Much persuasion is sometimes necessary to hold the patient to a continued effort, as the tendency towards discouragement in those who are ill is so overwhelming. He must be persuaded to hold on in the face of every discouragement, under the assur- ance that the crown belongs only to the faithful. €9 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter VIII EDUCATION BY THE PHYSICIAN The educational side of psychotherapy is large. Ignorance is responsible for most of the illness afflict- ing humanity, and it is an ignorance which can find no relief in the schools as their curricula are now arranged. That may be a startling dictum; but it is absolutely true. Men and women need to be told how to adjust themselves to environment; and they require to be told again and again that the only way to escape the ills that afflict them is to quit strug- gling with environment that is obstinate and inflex- ible, and to adapt themselves to it. Instead of doing this, most of the wretched ones are beating the hard walls about them in hopeless desperation. Broken Laws I do not say that all features of environment are hard and fixed beyond modification. On the con- trary, in every instance of suffering there is plainly discoverable some evidence of ignorant infraction of 70 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY law. People do not keep the middle of the road, but are induced to wander into byways and hedges beset with danger. Despite all our declarations of inde- pendence we are undeniably under the power of re- strictions. Our energies have their limitations. There are certain practices inimical to health of body and peace of mind regarding which we can learn all that is necessary for our safe guidance if we will but open our eyes and ears to wisdom; but most of us go on blindly until we get a good jerk from a snubbing post, and then it may be we open our hearts to the knowledge which has long been knocking for admission. Environment The patient has to be taught to discriminate be- tween environments which cannot be materially modi- fled and those that are of their own making and there- fore subject to change. For example much of the illness afflicting men springs from emotional conflicts between reason and feeling, between fact and fancy, between their caprices and another's obstinances, be- tween the strong emotions of one and the stony in- differences of another ; between tactlessness and sensi- tiveness. This opens up a large field of operation 71 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY for the physician and one in which there is ample opportunity for the display of pedagogical wisdom and skill. Thwarted purposes, wounded feelings, hurt pride, hot anger, hysterical emotions have to be given relief in the main through instruction which discloses to patients the remedial situations they have built up. When people learn that they are causing their own troubles by not being masters of their own forces they are usually willing to make a change. Self-Mastery They need to be taught the possibility and the advantage of self-mastery. And when once they are convinced of this need, they have to be shown how to proceed successfully with the undertaking. Of the meaning of self-mastery such people are com- monly ignorant, and they need not hope to learn from a physician who himself is the very opposite of an adept. It is too commonly supposed to be little more than hard and arid self-denial, and for this reason people are averse to acquiring it. Life is hard enough they think without encumbering it with un- called for austerities, and why should they go from one state of wretchedness to another? They do not 72 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY realize that they have authority over their bodies, and are quite ready to confess the power of disease over them. They have not come to a consciousness of power. And so they have to be told these things, not once, but repeatedly, for men are slow to learn the principles of wholesome and joyous living. Mental Attitude Towards Sex They have to be taught the meaning of experiences such as they come up against in life, and the mental attitudes to be assumed towards them. They need to know themselves better, their nature, the relations of mind and body and the influences exerted by the one upon the other. The relation of physical func- tion to the harmonies of life require to be appre- hended in, a way not taught in the schools. They have to be set right on certain points regarding sex matter. As a matter of fact a good share of the chronic disqualifying ailments have their origin in the sex sphere, and no permanent relief is to be had from a course which does not take these into account. Through ignorance of fundamental truths regarding the sex relationship the quota of nervous ailments is being continually augmented. Yet here stands a 73 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY great taboo, and it is left for the wise and skilful physician to become an instructor to clients made up of those who have already fallen under the cruel hand of ignorance. Ah, what he now tells them ought to have been communicated in advance, as a wholesome prophylaxis. Then there are the degenerate, the defective, the perverted, all of whom require reeducation along lines of thinking and acting tending to supply de- ficiencies, to correct tendencies and to open up new vistas. It is when such people are under the suffer- ing incident to their several constitutional dyscrasias that their minds are most open to wholesome instruc- tion. It will be understood that this is a mere glance at what can be done for sick people by way of edu- cation, but it will suffice for present purposes. 74 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter IX INSPIRATION BY THE PHYSICIAN I have already indicated that the deep and potent source 4 of the physician's healing virtues lies in the wealth of his personality, and that his success with the ill is graduated to the degree of his ability to make this power available. There are many patients Avho prove refractory to the best directed and most energetic influences which can be brought to bear upon them ; and yet it is also true that the percentage of failures varies according to the potency of the per- sonality dealing with them. The reason for this is plain when we reflect that each one of us is positive to all below him in point of character, and of course negative to all above. It is the positive, strong, big, wise and admirable who exercise the greatest in- fluence over each of us. I have said that physicians of this type do the best work in the direction of persuading their patients into strong resistance to the various morbific influences in their environment. Their arguments are accepted by their listeners as 75 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY unanswerable and all compelling. Now I want to tell you that the physician is called upon to furnish his patients also with a flood of inspiration. One usually conies to a physician in a state of mental depression due to the mental and physical disorders which oppress him. Many of the sufferers in the waiting rooms of every doctor are in a state of deep dejection, out of which they are looking for an uplift; and who but the doctor is to supply it? The attention of such sufferers is fixed upon their troubles. Their bad feelings have become the domi- nant features of their experiences. The mind nat- urally turns towards whatever is most conspicuous in environment; and, when the mental powers are untrained and there is little in the emotional side of life spontaneously to furnish the stimulation required for stronger thinking and acting, one instinctively dwells upon the dark features of every scene that presents. To the relief of this situation the physician has to turn his attention. These mental attitudes have to be changed, and the feeling-tone of the patient has to be improved in some way, or the other means of relief will be overweighted by them. If the doctor 76 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY is full of life and good cheer, if his whole expression is optimistic and reassuring, the patient will catch more or less of the influence from the repeated con- tacts furnished by his visits. Then, too, the thought- ful physician who appreciates the value of a lighter emotional complex always takes particular pains to inject into the mental atmosphere of his patient as much brightness and crisp vigor as he can. The Stimuli It is not a part of my present purpose to give any detailed instruction regarding the best methods of doing this, but only to indicate as clearly as I can the nature of the stimuli required. And first, since such patients are characteristically introspective, diversions of various sorts are of prime importance. To one suffering the effects of an acute nervous break- down, change of surroundings, such as is furnished by travel, does much for his relief. Where one can- not avail himself of such an adjuvant, smaller diver- sions are of much help. But to depend upon such aids for radical cure of the disorder is always an error. It amounts to a mere begging of the case; for, since the patient himself has not been radically changed in his mode of thinking, the good effects 77 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY cannot be enduring. Under a renewal of the mental and nervous strain incident to the usual and essential modes of living, there is a renewal of the disturbance in an aggravated form. It is of the utmost importance for the sufferer to get a larger and more cheerful outlook upon life. Going to Europe for a season, or to any other part of the world, will not suffice. His mental and moral nature require development, that he may be saved from the disorganizing and dissociating effects of life lived, as it commonly is, in its superficial and thoughtless phases. And so the physician has to be- come more than a diagnostician, more than a student of anatomy, physiology, pathology, chemistry, bac- teriology and general therapeutics; he has to be a friend, an adviser, a teacher, an inspirer. He has to draw near enough to learn the patient's problems and to enter into a sympathetic, cooperative and often long-lasting effort to solve them. He has to point out again and again the delights and advantages of living on a high plane of thought and action, and to use his warm efforts to turn the patient's view away from the narrow, the sordid and the dark aspects of life, towards the high places, the pleasant 78 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY situations, the noble purposes, and the bright points ahead. The success with which he can do these things is the measure of his value as a healer of men. What I have just said with regard to nervous dis- orders applies with equal force to ailments of what are called an organic type. It may require even more time and a closer analysis to deal successfully with them, for they have proceeded further on the pathological way; but we have a right to expect equally good results from our efforts in the long run. At any rate I do not think we are justified in setting limitations to the power of rightly directed thought energy, for I do believe that there is greater hope of ultimately obtaining uniformly good results in these ailments, some of them presenting serious lesions, from psychotherapy than from any other means of cure. The latter will live and flourish when the serum and drug therapies of today remain only as memories. 79 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter X SUGGESTION BY THE PHYSICIAN Hypnotism Suggestion and hypnotism have so long been inter- changable terms that it is now hard to divorce them. I use but little hypnotism in my work, and still most of the patients sent to me by my confreres have been told that what they need is hypnotism for their relief and that I am the man to use it. The truth is that hypnosis is merely one of the phenomena of suggestion. It is one of the evidences of the potency of suggestion, just as is natural sleep. In hypnotism the person is put to sleep by the assurances of the physician that he is sleepy; in sleep which we term normal a similar effect is produced by the recumbent posture — after suitable preparation for rest — a lower- ing of the lights, closure of the eyes, an easy posi- tion and an expectant attitude. In both cases the somnolence which ensues, by frequent repetition, be- comes a sort of habit. It is true that psychotherapy as a systematic prac- 80 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY tice has its beginnings in hypnotism; but experience has demonstrated the value of other forms of sugges- tion and other psychic formulas that give results sometimes more satisfactory in their duration and more agreeable to the patient. Suggestion Without Hypnosis In a broad sense the efficiency, not only of all forms of practice, but also of the various forms of psychotherapeutic procedure, rests upon suggestion in various guises. It may not astonish you to be told that the factor of suggestion is so uniformly to be found in every therapeutic measure, surgery in- cluded, that, were it possible wholly to eliminate it, the fabric of medicine would crumble. It is the very warp and woof of psychotherapeutics. What would persuasion, inspiration, command and psychoanalysis be without it? Education itself depends in large measure upon it. I know this dictum will be hotly repudiated by most orthodox practitioners, and yet it cannot be logically overthrown. But it is to the systematic practice of suggestion by the physician that I now call your attention. In my own work it occupies the place of honor. In my esteem there is no other therapeutic measure that 81 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY reaches its level. In this respect my position is unique. Dr. Boris Sidis is of the opinion that in- direct or larvated suggestion is most effective. With some patients this may be true, but I do not fail to get good results from direct oral suggestion given in the form of a quiet talk made as impressive as I can make it in manner and substance. Such a talk may easily become offensive to a patient, and one has to be a good judge of human nature to avoid making himself ridiculous. What takes with most patients is a vocabulary graduated to the comprehension of an ordinary mind, but always warm from the ex- perience of the speaker ; sentences that start a multi- tude of helpful images, and that abound in the con- crete and specific, each talk depending, for theme, on the patient's immediate condition, upon events immediately preceding, or on some suitable topic of conversation. This is the kind of suggestion, made to the patient while he is in a passive mental state and usually in a supine physical attitude, based upon the physician's estimate of the aptitudes of the sug- gestions to the needs of the listener, reiterated at daily or bi-daily intervals, that proves most effective. The deep organic processes do not respond to sug- gestions until the subconsciousness has become fully MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY convinced that they do not express the mere caprices of the patient and his helper, and it is not so credu- lous as to accept oral directions that are not supported by consistent demeanor and lively expectancy. But when there is undeniable earnestness, hearty co- operation between physician and patient, and an un- wavering confidence on the part of both in effects, there can be no total failure. It often happens, how- ever, that such a degree of cooperation between pa- tient and physician cannot immediately be obtained, and then the certainty of results is diminished. In- deed this is quite liable to be the situation at the start, and in that case the physician has to urge the suggestions that shall contribute to more ideal con- ditions as best he can, and at the same time cultivate in silence that earnest longing to be of service, which is a prevailing asset, under the hope that the looked- for rapport shall ultimately become established. In making his suggestions the physician resorts to all the devices of the orator. He has a great advan- tage over an orator in that his audience is small, has sought him out, is solicitous, and cannot well be in- attentive. Under such circumstances an earnest, en- thusiastic speaker has every opportunity to make a deep and lasting impression. 83 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XI COMMAND BY THE PHYSICIAN It may surprise you to learn that command has a place in the practice of psychotherapy. It has a very conspicuous one. In truth when we come to study the details of the marvelous cures wrought by the Great Physician it at once becomes apparent how large a place command was given in his scheme. So pronounced was this feature of healing that the emissary sent out by the Jewish authorities to find evidence upon which to convict Him reported that "He spoke as one having authority." The best equipped psychotherapist always feels his authority, and why should he not assert it whenever the exi- gencies of the case call for vigorous handling ? Jesus said to the lame, "Rise and walk!" to the sick, "Arise!" to the obsessing evils, "Come out!" and to the threatening waves, "Peace, be still!" In this spirit of authority He went throughout that country commanding away the disorders that beset those poor people; and, whenever he found faith in them suffi- 84 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY ciently strong to insure the right reaction, He spoke with effect. It is well to use persuasion, and there are certain cases in which it offers the best hope of success; in every case we have to deal out large measures of in- spiration; in most instances there has to be a good deal of education ; in all there is call for suggestion ; and over some there has to be exercised positive authority, — weak wills being unable to carry the needy ones to the goal. So utterly inert have be- come the volitionary energies of some sufferers that they have to be taken literally, as well as figuratively, "by the collar" and made to do the things their judg- ment commends, but to the doing of which they are unable to muster sufficient moral courage. In many of these instances the desire to do is present; there is not positive opposition to doing; but purpose falls down ere the necessary step has been taken. The Question of Self-Help I should like to illustrate this feature of practice but I refrain from doing so. The benefits of mental and spiritual therapy should be within the reach of every intelligent person, just as are those of religion. 85 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY In going at some length into a discussion of the salient features of the practice as it is conducted by physi- cians my purpose is merely to make the reader famil- iar with the fundamental means of cure, as this is essential to an intelligent application of the cure to one's self. Another Glance at Jesus' Methods In Jesus' day the popular ideas of pathology were not at all like those now prevailing. There was a common idea that evil spirits took possession of peo- ple in some instances, and the phenomena of epilepsy and insanity were supposed to be due to such causes. Whether Jesus Himself accepted this view or not, He tentatively endorsed it, and His commands were issued to those obsessing demons. The formula He followed cut no important figure in the cure, except for its effect on the patient. Had He employed any Other there would have been a fatal lack of faith on the part of the patient and multitude. The psycho- therapist sometimes addresses himself to the subcon- sciousness of the subject as though it were a separate entity, or even to particular organs or systems of the body, though he may not believe in the existence of 36 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY two distinct minds or the possibility of independent action, at will, of the organs or systems addressed. When I come to discuss the methods of self-help I shall instruct the reader to confer with himself — with his deeper self — and the several functions Re aims to influence. In passing I may say that this personification of particular parts of the organism is fully justified by the facts of the case. In concluding this part of the subject let me add that we have not given as great importance to this feature of practice — command — as the results of ex- perience fully warrant. The forces which have in charge the organic functions mock at those trembling, respectful souls who set themselves up as healers with- out attempting to enforce obedience. 87 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XII PSYCHOANALYSIS BY THE PHYSICIAN For a few years the psychic treatment of nervous diseases has been given over in large measure, by the regular specialists, to psychoanalysis. The leaders in the movement have been Freud, in Europe, and Boris Sidis, in this country. Their methods have differed in some respects, the former devoting his efforts largely to the analysis of dreams which he believes express the action of the subjective mind, and when rightly interpreted disclose certain psychic repressions that act as provoking causes of the nerve disorders. The latter puts his patients into a state bordering on hypnosis and follows the clues furnished by spontaneous thoughts to the repressions or psychic scars which Freud seeks more particularly in the dreams. Theories and Methods The methods are most ingenious, and one cannot doubt that they often prove effective. At the same 88 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY time the accepted modus of the therapeutic effect is as doubtful as the processes are tedious. Moreover, the opinion that a psychic scar which has been long absent from the conscious memory is the cause of the chain of unpleasant symptoms found in the patient is on a par with the belief that the efficient causes of nervous disorders are uniformly to be found in a physical lesion. It has not yet been conclusively shown that the disappearance of the symptoms is proof positive that the theory is true. It is impos- sible to exclude from the result the factor of sug- gestion. Suggestion Produces the Effects Let us go a little further and analyze the methods so highly vaunted. In the first place I shall assume that comparatively few patients fall into the hands of these specialists without knowing something of the methods commonly employed by them as well as the results of treatment in other cases, so that we have a right to assume that the patient's mind is usually prepared in advance to accept the physician's statement as final and authoritative. To those who have no such previous knowledge they are made clear 89 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY enough as the analysis proceeds, for it must be under- stood that the course is usually long and the seances usually of an hour's length. The fishing process adopted doubtless becomes most interesting, and in the eager expectancy is found a favorable soil for the rapid germination of the implanted suggestion. When it is considered that an hour a day for many consecutive weeks is often given the study, and the minds of both patient and physician are kept con- tinually on the alert and highly expectant by the nearer and nearer approach to what is regarded as the real cause of the nervous disorder, we cannot be surprised to learn that the results are sometimes most excellent. In truth it would be difficult to plan a better stratagem to produce the effects of suggestion. I applaud the acumen that developed it. At the same time I deny that the mere exposure of some incident which had long been lost in mental rubbish is the secret of the effect. The latter would be just as pronounced whether a real relationship existed be- tween the incident and the development of the neu- rosis or not. Freud's Dream Theories I should like to digress from the explicit purpose 90 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY of these letters to give you at some length my ideas concerning the dream theories of Freud. In some re- spects I regard them as most grotesque and far- fetched. He would lead us to see in the phantas- magoria of every dream the symbolic fulfillment of a wish. That certain dreams may be thus inter- preted I do not question ; but that they ought always to be is claiming too much. Freud also insists that all dreams have an erotic base, and that all nervous disorders spring from some erotic abnormality. Here again I shall say that he errs only in making the law so comprehensive. It is true, as every close student of nerves has learned, that the erotic sense enters into a large proportion of such cases as a dis- turbing element. It is a factor always to be reck- oned with. 91 TREATMENT OF PATIENTS AT A DISTANCE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XIII TELEPATHY IN THE TREATMENT OF DISTANT PATIENTS What can be done at a distance needs now to be told, and to a consideration of this part of my subject I invite the closest attention. Unrecognized Telepathy We have good reason to believe that on the sub- conscious plane we are really aware of much that never comes to recognition. Through the subliminal we come into intimate relationship with all cosmic activities and are able to tap the common reservoir of knowledge at will. This being admitted, it is fair to suppose that our springs of thought and action are supplied by knowl- edge and suggestion drawn from sundry widely- separated sources, and that to such supply we are indebted for what we commonly regard spontaneity. A farther fair presumption is that subconscious- ness, being in such intimate relationship to all that 93 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY the cosmos holds, is able, on occasion, to draw from any and every source whatever information it may deem desirable. The truth is that we do not expect enough: we do not demand enough. The more responsibility we throw upon ourselves and the more confidence we give ourselves the greater our returns on the plane of consciousness. There is an infinitude of knowledge open to us on the unconscious side of our being, con- ferring on the deeper, the truer, Self an ability to act with hitherto unrecognized intelligence, and we ought to demand better service. Mankind has be- come so accustomed to regard itself as a dependent that its meager expectations are not astonishing. / believe myself fully justified in saying that thought-transferrence on the side of the subliminal is the rule rather than the exception, and that the chief problem awaiting solution is how to establish facile communication between the conscious and un- conscious phases of mind. But there is another phase of unrecognized thought- transferrence which concerns more directly the con- sciousness. I refer to that of which communicated courage, fortitude and enthusiasm are examples. 94 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY There is a contagion of good things as well as bad. In the ordinary practice of medicine there is much of this action exemplified. To it is also attributable a good part of the "influence" exerted by one upon another. Curative Telepathy Having shown the possibility of telepathic com- munication between minds we have established a re- liable scaffolding from which to build up faith in the possibility of psychic cure of disease at a distance. It must be evident that he who admits the possibility of thought-transferrence has no ground left for deny- ing the possible transmission of curative thought. There can be made no rational distinction in the nature of the transferred thought, every explicit sentiment being freely communicable. Accordingly, if I can send to another a suggestion concerning busi- ness or domestic affairs, I can just as surely send a suggestion of health. As a matter of fact, it will be seen that the ad- mitted possibility of telepathic communication be- tween minds narrows the controversy to the one gen- eral question respecting the efficiency of mental 95 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY suggestion with its sequential stirring of the patient's curative energies. It follows that, as it is not a part of my present purpose to recite the evidences of the possibility of disease cure by psychotherapy, I shall assume that such action is a fact established beyond the possibility of rational denial. So many psychic cures have been wrought within recent years that the question of cure by this means is not longer debatable. Telepathic Curative Methods My idea is that in establishing the possibility of telepathy npon a substantial basis we are not obliged to lug into the case conditions essentially different from those already known to constitute the framework of what we term physical phenomena. It is not at all likely that thought can be transmitted from one person to another without a medium of communica- tion. We know that it can be transmitted by means of objective entities, such as letters and telegrams; but it transcends probability that it can travel through a vacuum, and such a supposition is not essential to a rational hypothesis of action suggested by the phe- nomena. What, then, is the medium of communication? 96 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY The pulsations of the wireless telegraphic message are dependent upon ether ic and electric media for their transmission, and it requires no great stretch of the imagination to accept the same medium for the direct transmission of thought. But the electrician has not succeeded in sending his messages either over the wire or on "the wings of the wind" without establishing a circuit. He forms a connection which serves to both carry away and bring his messages, this being accomplished by means of a ground wire, the earth thus being made to furnish one part of it, while the strung wire, or the universal ether, furnishes the other. Now I sug- gest that a similar circuit is necessitated in the mechanism which we provide for successful telepathy. The individual could not dispatch his mental mes- sage to another but for his ground connection with the Universal Mind, of which the human mind is but a differentiated part. But our knowledge of both physics and metaphysics is still so meager that our theories are usually vague and unsatisfying. It is very certain that our best-formed hypotheses are far from being dependable and final. They are bound to change. Present opinions are but steps in the process 97 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY of mental and spiritual evolution, the finality of which will never be reached. The media of communication being hypothetically established, we should turn our attention to the modes of procedure which have been adopted by suc- cessful experimenters. I should say, first, that it is advisable to make the conditions of absent treatment correspond as closely as possible with those of 'present treatment. In any case the appeal is to the subconsciousness, and our chief concern should be to make the appeal when that subjective self is as little hampered and hin- dered by the consciousness as it can well be found. Could a patient be thrown into a profound hypnosis at a distance his subjective mind would then be put into an ideal receptive attitude. But this cannot often be done and I have no reason to regard the hypnotic state as eminently desirable for prolonged and oft-repeated treatment, even though it could be secured. Natural sleep is a state of receptivity, and one to be chosen when possible for most efficient work. There appears to be a unanimity of opinion con- cerning this point of detail. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY When the hour of sleep cannot well be chosen, a definitely agreed-upon hour may be arranged, during which the patient should place himself in a receptive state by retiring into silence and divesting himself of thoughts that could divert the incoming sugges- tions. Some healers prefer to keep the patient in igno- rance of the hour of treatment, fearing that his prag- matic consciousness may unwittingly interpose obstacles to a free access of the transferred impres- sion. Certain operators deem it preferable to commission their own subconscious selves to do the work while they themselves are asleep. It is important for the physician to choose an hour when he will be least prone to disturbance and when he can uninterruptedly concentrate upon the work in hand. The more the sender is able to lose himself in the suggestive effort and the more vividly he can bring the ideal patient before his mental vision, the more 'pronounced the effect. During the deep loss of one's self in the mental concentration of an absent treatment the re- ceiver has been able to see the form of the sender as though his real self had been projected to a distance, having gone to do its assigned work. 99 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY The set formulas for distance treatment usually prescribe perfect quiet on the part of the transmitter, but I have not found this always advisable. Most frequently I stand or walk while giving such treat- ments, speaking aloud to my patient as though pres- ent. When giving self-suggestion I also find this method most satisfactory in its effects. Following Hudson's plan, a good but not always convenient method is that of giving explicit direc- tions to the subconsciousness just before going to sleep, in the belief that the True Self will better do the work while the objective consciousness of both are stilled by sleep. In bringing my telepathic methods as close to the character of present treatment as possible I have learned to place great reliance on certain adjuvants. In addressing one in our presence it should be re- membered that the thought is not only transferred from mind to mind independently of sense impres- sions, but we call to our assistance the aid of the ears, by means of which sounds expressing ideas are received and recorded, the record thus remaining in memory as a continual reminder. In distant treat- ment that aid is lost and we are deprived of the 100 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY energy and perspicuity of the impression on the con- scious mind. To overcome in part the loss thus sus- tained should be our aim in absent treatment, and that it can be done I have demonstrated. But how? The methods of the various correspondence schools of the country serve our purpose very effectually. The healer should either keep up a regular corre- spondence with his patients at a distance or he should place his reliance for supplementary aid on printed lessons carefully prepared. I have thus far regarded it as far more satisfactory both to myself and patients to carry on a lively correspondence. To many healers this would be a most onerous task, but to me it is a real pleasure. This method keeps me in closer touch with my patients and reveals to me the flaws in their progress. I give and require at least one letter a week. I beg you not to be startled by my confession of a belief that the letters passing between people are charged with the thought energy of those who write them. If this is true the peculiar value of such means of communication between patient and physician at once becomes evident. Says Prof. John William Draper : 101 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY "Upon the walls of our most private apartments, where we think the eye of intrusion is altogether shut out and our retirement can never be profaned, there exist the vestiges of all our acts, silhouettes of what- ever we have done." He might have added : "They also bear the records of our very thoughts." Admitting the truth of this, we cannot escape the conviction that things we handle and wear take on from us deep impressions. It is because of this entanglement of one's very atmosphere in the texture of these objects that the psychometrist is able to read from them so faithfully the character of those who have been associated with them. 102 SELF-HELP MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XIV FOREWORD Dear Eeader : — We are coming now to the features of LEAVITT- SCIENCE which these letters are intended specially to elucidate. I have gone over the aspects of cure from the side of the physician with sufficient detail to give you a fair insight into the means at the phy- sician's command for the psychic healing of his pa- tients. It was essential for me to do so in order to bring out the diverse features of the process of cure, in a manner to convince you that, at their best, they are mere adjuvants to the real personal struggle which the ailing one has in every case to make. Now, in due order I shall show you how the principles can be made effective for self-help. All Cures Are Self Cures Let me say again, to obviate all chance of being misunderstood, that the curative process in every instance is wrought by the patient's own forces. The conflict takes place in the field of the patient's mind, 104 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY and the energies brought into action are his own. Just as in war it is the common soldier who does the fighting, while it is the part of the general in charge to see that the soldier's energies are all en- gaged, and that they are given wise direction and encouragement, so in this conflict with disease it is the part of the patient to wrestle with the enemy, and that of the physician to see that every move is well taken and properly sustained. The physician of a superior type trains his clients in the art of attack and defense, but he supplies no large amount of energy beyond that of his personality. It is said that one of Napoleon's opponents admitted that his presence in battle was equal to 40,000 men. Not that his physical strength, or even his indomitable courage and skill counted for much except as stimu- lants to wise and efficient action on the part of his men. No army can make a successful fight without a leader, and it is also true that no patient can make a winning fight without an efficient director and helper. In both instances there has to be an author- ity, and I shall not be foolish enough to encourage you to believe that you or anybody else can wage a 105 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY successful warfare against a strong foe without such a guide, teacher and advisor. But I hasten to assure you that the personal pres- ence of that leader is not essential in this struggle, as in the case of military strife, for the struggle is out of sight. It is in the depths of the soul, where communication does not depend altogether on sensory media. These letters, warm from experience, BASED UPON MUCH OBSERVATION AND RESEARCH, FULL OF PERSONAL MAGNETISM, AND CHARGED WITH THE ENTHUSIASM OF SUCCESS, WILL HAVE TO TAKE MY PLACE, AND YOU WILL FIND THEM DOING SO IN A MOST EFFECTIVE WAY. So now to a detailed study of self-help. 106 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XV SELF RE-EDUCATION School education is so defective in matters pertain- ing to personal, social and business life, that a vast amount of re-education has to be done to make one strong, self-reliant, considerate and energetic. Our present school system is developing young men of the feminine type, and our business system is producing young women who partake too freely of masculinity. Women teachers for boys and masculine trainers for girls is doing regrettable educational work. What the ultimate social effect will be I shall not here attempt to predict, but I am sure that the effect on health — especially the health of men — ris already per- nicious. To me it is clear that the biological require- ments are best met by making men rugged, resistant and resolute after the type of the ideal man, and by producing in women the counterparts of these male characteristics, so that there shall thus be suitable reenforcement of the essential male elements, and a completion of the whole man. Each sex plays its appointed part : the woman is first destined for man, 107 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY and man is destined for society. Woman owes her- self to one, man owes himself to all, and each obtains happiness and health only as he or she recognizes this law and accepts this sex equipoise. The ideal sex characteristics must be maintained, or degeneracy will ensue. As soon as man, a people, an epoch becomes feminine in type it sinks in the scale of things. Boys ought to be trained by men in every mascu- line attribute, and to the absence of such training is in large measure attributable the prevalence of neu- rasthenias and other asthenic ailments and predisposi- tions. The push and struggle of modern business proves too much for underdeveloped men who try in vain to sustain their resistance and endurance by recourse to nerve stimulants of various kinds. In consequence of all this it becomes necessary for us to supply ourselves with a supplementary educa- tion and a liberal reeducation which shall give us the essentials of healthful living. Under former medical methods education and reeducation by the physician went no farther than prescribing hygienic rules of direct physical import; but now a few are attempting to go beyond this and supply instruction bearing indirectly on the physical, but concerning 108 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY itself also with the psychical. In any efficient system of therapeutics the latter feature must take first rank. It is therefore evident that an application of the principles of psychotherapy includes the educational requirements. I beg you therefore not to attempt to administer your own treatment without first making yourself thoroughly acquainted with the conditions upon which success can safely be predicated. I am endeavoring to put into these letters all the essentials, but am doing it in so concise a way that you will have to read them more than once or twice. They ought to be consulted every day, so that the ideas they contain shall become indelibly impressed. The ma- terial supplied by them requires not only to be pre- sented to the mind, but it has to become incorporated into the habitual mental processes. I have been interrupted while writing this by a six-foot, ruddy-faced, intelligent man from the Pa- cific coast who called to tell me how much these prin- ciples of self-help had done for him. From being an ambitionless, ailing, inefficient man he has become transformed within a few years into an earnest, aspir- ing, well and prosperous one, and all without the aid of aught besides the written instructions obtained from my writings. 109 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY We have to learn how to cope with the difficulties and dangers of onr mental and physical life, and, having once learned, then we have to proceed with purpose and courage to do what is required, no mat- ter how onerous the task. To those who follow so wise a course the door of attainment stands wide open. no MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XVI SELF-PERSUASION Those who study morbid phenomena carefully do not fail to remark the evidences of intelligence be- hind the symptoms. This is more especially true of those symptoms due to mental or nervous disturbance, and is most noticable in those phenomena termed hysterical. There are traces of the same thing in all forms of disease manifestation. In certain nervous states which present no evidences of true insanity, the patient experiences a sense of duality. There is a feeling of "another fellow" within him who some- times aims to retain the primary self under his power, and who puts forth all sorts of arguments to contro- vert the patient's hope of emancipation. On one side of his nature the subject may be convinced that he ought to follow a course which he has reason to be- lieve will bring him relief; then something within him takes an opposite view and tries to dissuade him from following it. The dispute sometimes waxes warm, until one side or the other is temporarily silenced. Every hysteric is conscious of such a dual- Ill MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY ity. She recognizes her peculiarities and is aware of her deceits and sophistries, but feels herself un- able to resist them. The other self takes possession of her will and bends it to other doing. Until some stronger emotion has grown dominant and stimulates her to consistent action she may be so under the power of the spell that she makes but little resistance to it, so useless does a contrary course seem to her. In his treatment of nervous disorders the physician is a witness of the clever way in which symptoms appear and disappear, often masquerading in a manner cal- culated to deceive the most astute and alert. Dissociation of Parts To some keen observers it has become evident that these phenomena are due to a dissociate action of con- crete groups of brain and nerve cells, or in certain marked instances to an independent action of certain organs or functions. These split-off sections of the composite self assume roles of intelligent personali- ties, the symptoms being less pronounced than in ex- amples of secondary personality, though of the same general character. In the latter instance the split-off segment embraces a large enough mass temporarily to usurp control of the consciousness. 112 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY This is a startling revelation to those who have no knowledge of the composite nature of both mind and body. Every human being is made up of a large number of lesser selves which are allied into a sort of federation. There are the individual cells, each of which is a little intelligence. These cells are grouped into organs and systems wherein they become differentiated according to the character of the work to be done by them. In the brain and nervous sys- tem, the cells of which have been trained for the high- est order of service, there is a still finer differentia- tion, making possible the performance of the most remarkable intellectual stunts. So now you can see, as well as I, that, in such a complex association of intelligent parts, in the absence of the strongest sort of control at the great center of authority in the brain, splits may occur and fractional action be set up. And this is just what does occur in morbid states of the human organism. We are safe only when there is unitary, coordinate, concurrent action of all the parts, and it should ever be the problem of medicine to reestablish and maintain the integrity of this com- posite organization. So then, looking at disease from such an angle, you can see that, when it is the purpose to accomplish 113 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY the object just named, persuasion has an important part to act. The subject's problem is to bring back into loyal action that part of himself which has seceded, and, since consciousness is not suspended or seriously modified in the minor instances of dis- sociation, he is in a position to argue the points at issue and to use to advantage his most artful persua- sions. Like a loyal official, he appeals to the recal- citrant's sense of pride in the proposed reorganiza- tion, and to his sense of duty. He holds before his perception the advantages to be derived from unity of action, and otherwise labors to accomplish the de- sired purpose. Auto-Suggestions In doing this he summons to his aid suggestions like those which follow. The most encouraging feat- ure of the effort is the fact that good results do not appear to be dependent on the reliability of the theories upon which they are sought. No matter what the interpretation of the modus by wMch effects are produced there is usually a response to the oft-re- peated suggestions offered. I insist that this whole organism shall operate as a unit. 114 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I refuse longer to be queered by the dissociate action that has been going on. Every cell of my brain and nervous systems shall do its work in perfect harmony and coordination with every other cell. My demand is that the various organs and systems of my body shall work as a unit in response to the sundry demands of the brain and nerve centers. I shall tolerate no faction, no schism anywhere. Just how such a result is to be accomplished, con- sciously, I do not know. But I know subconsciously, and insist that the necessary changes be made to bring it about. I have gone over with myself the disadvantages of a divided organism, have seen the need of unitary action as a condition to health, happiness and effi- ciency, and I now deliberately press upon my efficient subconsciousness the demand for aggregate and co- ordinate action. This attitude is not due to a whim or caprice, but to a settled conviction from which I shall not recede. United I stand; divided I fall. I am sure that I shall receive a complaisant re- sponse to my persuasive efforts. 115 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XVII AUTO-SUGGESTION Auto-suggestion is far more comprehensive thai) is commonly supposed. It is a term which has come into use during recent years, and its full significa- tion is not generally understood. Every thought, every idea, every concept, in a Broad sense is a self- suggestion. How could it he otherwise in view of the fact that every thought, and idea, and concept tends to embody itself in some form of physical ex- pression ? That it does so is now held to be a funda- mental psychological truth. You are not surprised, then, when I say that the value of systematic auto-suggestion is very great. In a general way it is popularly known to be of service, and at the same time its practical benefits are neg- lected. It can be made of greater service as a means of cure than anything else in our whole psychological armamentarium. To show yourself something of the power of mental suggestion, make the following experiment: Stand 116 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY erect with the eyes closed, your feet close together and the mind in a state of detachment from absorb- ing thought, and then deliberately say aloud to your- self, "I am falling forwards ! I am falling forwards !" or "I am falling backwards !" and you will find your- self swaying in an indicated direction so that you will have to catch yourself by some exercise of your will. One who is peculiarly sensitive to suggestion would better practice this in a sitting posture so as to avoid a possible fall, as the effect is often pro- nounced. This experiment is only an illustration of the power of auto-suggestion. In the same way many people can put themselves into the hypnotic state. Insomnia can often be overcome by the sufferer say- ing to himself before retiring, "I shall go asleep promptly tonight on going to bed." This ought to be repeated a number of times in a quiet way. Then, on getting into bed and composing himself, he should say, "Wakefulness has lost its power over me. I am going asleep right now. There I go! There I go! I am going asleep. I am going asleep. Fast asleep. I am going a-s-1-e-e-p." Try this. It can do you no harm. You need not fear to put yourself asleep at any time. If you designate the length of the sleep in advance you will find yourself obedient. We can 117 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY do almost anything with these bodies of ours by operating in this way through the energy of sugges- tion. It is a means of self-help to be practiced in- telligently and faithfully. The subjective energies are conservative. They yield only to iteration and reiteration. Whims and caprices are given no heed. It is only when it becomes evident to the authorities in charge of vital action that we are determined to have a change in the operative details — it is only then, I say, that they set themselves to make them. To get the best effects it is important to be as solitary and serious as one is about one's private prayer. He should "enter into his closet/' and it is only when he has done so, literally as well as figura- tively, and has "shut the door," that he should pro- ceed to deal suggestively with the problems and de- sires he has borne thither. And then it should be as though the true self — the real entity, that self not embraced altogether between one's hat and shoes — were being addressed. For it is that deeper self that is in charge of all the organic processes. Manner of Giving Auto-Suggestion The attitude ought to be positive, rather than nega- lis MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY tive, in giving the suggestions. It is the attitude of authority. We do not have to beg for what we want. We have been set up by the Larger Authority for a purpose, and it is perfectly becoming in us to issue our orders and make our requisitions. In this respect the act differs from prayer, as commonly made. There are times when we rightly assume the negative atti- tude and open our hearts and minds to an infilling; but this is not one of them. And this negative atti- tude ought not to be assumed towards anything but the Great Mind. We have a right to assume author- ity over all the activities of our organism. The body is our servant and not our master, and ought to be treated as such. For these reasons we need not fear being too strenuous or insistant in our demands. There need be no vociferation, no wild gesticulation, for these indicate an emotion bordering on fear; but there must be the deepest earnestness, and no harm can come from assuming the physical aspects and atti- tudes indicative of resolute purpose and positive power. The frequency of these interviews with the self will be governed by the urgency of the case and the 119 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY nature of the situation. A concerted and relentless assault is some times in order. Under ordinary cir- cumstances of chronic disorder it is well to have two such periods daily, lasting fifteen or twenty minutes each. And here let me caution you against spasmodic enthusiasm. It is useless to look for good results from unsteady and purposeless treatment. Do not get the idea that the true state of your conscious mind is unknown to the subconscious. You may deceive your conscious self, but you are well known to that Deeper Self to which you are making appeal. You would better not undertake treatment at all than to begin it as a mere experiment. Be fully persuaded of its advantages before beginning, and, having once begun, stay by until you win. And you will have to do something more than sug- gest twice a day. Much time must be given to study of the things which make for development of your mental and physical powers. The temper of the mind has to be sustained by quiet reading of litera- ture bearing upon high and strong living. Much of the E~ew Thought literature is mere twaddle, and many of its authors are meaningless personalities. 120 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY On the other hand, among authors there are men and women of character, real stalwarts. Feel at liberty to ask me for a list of books of the kind I allude to. If you are into this undertaking in earnest, prove it by your resolute conduct. I want to save you from the influence of certain utter failures who pose as advisors, and from physical wrecks who presume to point out the way to health. Young men who have not yet begun a serious struggle with physical beset- ments, and who are ignorant of physiological facts, masquerade as teachers of the way to live forever. There are "healers" in the psychic field whose pa- tients all told could be counted on the fingers of two hands. Shun the teachings of such and pin your faith to men and women of large observation. In making your suggestions remember that it is the repetition of the suggestion again and again, and, if possible, with growing earnestness, that brings the results you seek. At each treatment repeat it several times over, with strong and increasing emphasis and tension. Focus on the act all your mental powers. Aim to give the suggestions in tones that can be heard, for there is an advantage in this practice not at first apparent. Your success may depend on a 121 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY concentration of your forces. It is desirous to im- press the conscious as well as the unconscious self. When you utter the suggestions they are recorded in the auditory memory, and if you read them over they become fastened in the visual field of memory, where in both instances they remain as continual reminders to the subconsciousness. Results Now a word as to results. I advise you to go about the undertaking with a resolute spirit, and to regard it as no experiment. Avoid a disposition to give a treatment or two and then look for marvelous effects from it. You may get them, but if you do they are very sure to be but temporary. The hind of effect that stays is that which comes slowly. Remember that the changes you seek are usually radical. The whole man has to be changed. It is a regeneration. Then, too, instead of getting agreeable effects at once, you may get disagreeable ones, arising from an attempted breaking up of old, established conditions. The organism resents innovations. Besides, you will find the natural rise and fall, the action and reaction, becoming more noticeable, and you may get a re- action at the very start. But do not be discouraged 122 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY by such symptoms. They are indicative of good. You will be better and worse for a considerable time, but on a gradually rising plane of experience, until, at last, if you are faithful, you will arrive. Be strong and of good courage ! Let your motto be, "I can and I will!" Auto-Suggestions Here are a few suggestions of general import : I believe that the very desire for health burning within me is a guaranty of its realization. It can- not be that I am longing so strongly for something I cannot have. While I believe that all I need is obtainable, I realize that it will not be thrust upon me. I must rise and take it, and this I purpose doing with energy and perseverance. It is only through faith that I can appropriate, and I accordingly stir my slumbering confidence and reach out boldly. I am aroused by a flash of the will that can. Have I pain or other physical distress ? Am I carrying about a body that troubles and disconcerts ? 123 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY This need not be so, for it is only as these things get possession of my attention that I fall under the power of them. I mean now to demonstrate that I am master. I refuse to he under the power of anything. I shall go about my work and play as though there were nothing to trouble me. By thus ignoring my would-be distresses I shall conquer them. They are but strengthened by recognition. I shall only dignify them by fighting them. So I shall fight merely to make myself act as though they were not in my vicin- ity. I am really on my way to victory. I shall surely triumph. Faith is not only a mental conviction, but it is an emotion. Emotional faith is all-compelling. For this reason I stir up my energies, my ambitions, my feelings, my purposes. I go forth to storm the King- dom and to bring back what I need. I am trusting as though all depended on God, and acting as though all depended on me. It is easy to say, "I believe"; but that is not enough. I must believe so fully that every act shall harmonize with my affirmations. I must show my faith by what I do, and then there shall be no nega- tive or inharmonious note in the chord. 124 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Does faith seem dead from lack of emotional life ? Then my only hope of getting more of either is through use of all of it I have. Development can come in no other way. So now I go about the effort with renewed courage. I can and do erect about me, by my very faith, a wall of protection against unwholesome influences. No harm can come near me. I appreciate a need of present faith. It is not enough to say, "It will be done." Accordingly I assume the attitude of present possession. At the centers the necessary changes have been wrought. It may take some time for them to work out into ex- pression, and that time will be long or short as my attitudes are inconsistent or consistent. I do believe! I do believe! I shall no longer question. I shall walk by faith and not by sight. 125 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XVIII PSYCHOANALYSIS BY THE SELF While psychoanalysis as employed by the special- ists is inapplicable to self-treatment, it can be made to do good service by adopting some modifications. i Before explaining its use let me clear the ground by calling your attention to the fear which induces nervous, apprehensive people to hold their minds aloof from their distresses, and to avoid meeting the ques- tion of the nature of the disorders, and the excuse for the existence of the distresses from which they suffer. They dread all allusion to the topic; and cannot endure to give attention to a recital of the experiences of others, unless assured in advance of the encouraging nature of the incident to be related. Like children they bury their faces and close their eyes for fear that they shall see some frightful object. We have learned that the strong way is always the best way, and it will soon become the comfortable way for those who follow it resolutely ; and that this general principle of action applies with peculiar fit- ness to the treatment of disease. As long as one is 126 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY acting a negative part, dodging about like a startled rabbit before every freshly awakened fear, the dis- tresses incident to the disorder will continue in full force. We have to learn to face our fears with cour- age if we expect to rout them. One more preliminary consideration and then I shall bring to you the practical features of self -treat- ment by psychoanalysis. It concerns the recognized fact that an analytical study of anything removes in large measure its formidable or forbidding aspects. It is the vision of an object in its composite form, with no knowledge of the particulars of its structure, that gives it awe-inspiring powers. Even a new science, when seen as a whole, looks hard. Its terms, and phrases, and involved statements, and explana- tions make its comprehension look doubtful; but when we take it up in parts, studing it analytically, there is no serious difficulty met in its mastery. In a somewhat similar way are we impressed by our disorders, and in like manner may we break down their formidability. So it is to an analytical study of your distresses of whatever sort that I shall now introduce you. I shall encourage you to take them up one by one, turn them over, look at them 127 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY from all sides and then pick them to pieces. Your fear is what has clothed them with terrors that do not belong to them, as you will see when once you apply to them analytic treatment. By the law of association of ideas, objects, locations, persons, colors, hours, seasons, and even ideas have become tinctured with a peculiar suggestive power, so that at every turn you are reminded of your distresses. Over these you are to go with your analytical thought at inter- vals until they have lost their power to distress. In short, you will courageously take up and so unrelent- ingly deal with every aspect of your mental and physical ailments that they shall lose their ability longer to make you afraid. An Example of Its Application Then let us make a practical application of this process. We shall suppose that you are suffering from one of the psychoneuroses so prevalent in these days of diminished mental and physical vigor, and that one of your most distressing symptoms is in- somnia. This is one of the common and distracting complaints of nervous people, and yet one that can be relieved with the greatest certainty. Look at it first from the historical side. It has 328 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY troubled you at intervals for several months, and your anxiety has increased as the weeks have passed. You lie awake for an hour or two at a time, or you waken so often that it seems as though you hardly sleep at all. Ask yourself how many hours at a time you have slept during the previous week. You find the nightly totals differ considerably, but that your tendency is to take the minimum periods as examples of the general average. But you set resolutely at work to figure up the totals. On the first night, when you come rationally and resolutely to make an accurate computation, you find that you probably slept six hours. On the second you did not do so well. Altogether your estimated naps make a total of only five hours. But even that is more than you supposed. On the third you slept seven hours, though you lay awake for at least an hour towards morning, with your mind full of thought. On the fourth you dropped back an hour, sleeping only six hours. On the fifth you had one of your fairly good nights, the total being eight hours. 129 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY On the sixth you got six hours, and On the seventh only five, and, possibly, a half. The total for the week amounts to forty-three and a half hours, or an average of more than six hours a night. A T ow you reflect that, had some one asked you to state how many hours a night you had slept, the feel- ing-tone accompanying the situation is so strong that you would have said, "Oh, not more than three or ( four hours." "Six hours or more a night," you now say to your- self. "That's not so bad, after all! I'm surprised." And then you go on reasoning with yourself, "There are many getting less sleep than that who look well and happy. There is Edison, who never sleeps more than five hours a night, and yet he works much harder than I do. I have often heard that sleep is largely a matter of habit. I may have slept more than was necessary in the past. Anyhow, I don't feel sleepy during the day, as I naturally should were I not get- ting enough sleep. It must be that I've grown a bit morbid over this thing. I read in a very sensible book the other day that the greatest harm done by short 130 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY hours of sleep is the fear of harm which they engender." Then you take up the distress side of the wakeful- ness. "Why should I be distressed?" you ask. "Is it such a dreadful thing to be alone with one's thoughts? Why should I dread the wakeful hours so much ? Am I not making a foolish bugbear out of a harmless experience ? Am I a coward ? Should I not welcome a quiet period of thought? I am not willing to admit that I am not master of my thought — that I cannot manage my own mind. I may not be having very happy experiences during these days, but it makes them worse to think so much about them. Hereafter I shall look without dread on these wakeful moments, but will turn them to good account when they come. I am told that it is fear of not sleeping that keeps me awake, and I believe it. I shall no longer fear. Why not take a sensible course ? !Now that I come to look at the matter from a rational viewpoint I am resolved to worry about it no more." This is only a simple example of what may be done with any symptom. In all nervous troubles there is an hysterical exaggeration of all the suffering. We 131 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY may not see it at the moment, but it is there. There is not a situation in life which cannot be relieved of much of its distress by means of a thoughtful and honest analysis. I know how hard it is to bend the mind to the task, as we are so filled with self pity; but I am now addressing those who are earnest enough to do whatever task is set before them in order to get their freedom. 132 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XIX COMMANDING THE SELF If the body were only a machine of the automobile type, as some appear to regard it, it would be absurd to speak of self-command. But the theorem I hold regards the physical as a mere instrument of mind — a mode of demonstrating energy that cannot be fully expressed in material terms. The hidden nature of this energy, and the startling character of the phenomena to which it gives rise, have so mystified and awed men that they have hesi- tated even to attempt to give this remarkable force direction. The church has pronounced it a sacrilege. But men are growing unafraid. In recent years science has led the way into fields theretofore walled in by a great taboo, a thing it would not have dared to do had not a few intrepid men, brushing aside all traditions and restraints, pushed resolutely onwards, rasolved on penetrating the great unexplored. This kind of work has its imperfections. It seemed necessary for these students, that they might carry 133 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY out their purposes, to assume a materialism which has clung to science more or less tenaciously to this day. But a spiritual element is entering whieh is bound to open up broadly the unseen and intangible side of life and raise man to an exalted place in the universal order. He is possessed of power over himself and things, of which we have not till now had more than an intimation. Evidently it is a knowledge of this that aids in turning the thought and faith of the people from the church which has always been a drag on inquiring minds and an opponent of innovations in their early stages. Surely man is coming to his rightful place in the world, the place of master. He has been subjugating the material world to his needs, and now he is study- ing the terra incognita of self with a view to making it, with all its princely powers, subject to the direc- tion of his conscious will. I have told you how these mental energies are being turned by a small number of physicians to the healing of physical ills, and have adverted to command as one of the important meas- ures ; and now it is my purpose to show you how you can utilize command in the practice of self-help. You can command your own body in a way to 134 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY insure orderly behavior of all the functions and thus insure to yourself the health for which you have longed. It is the highest order of therapeutic help, and one to which you can expect to attain only as the result of prolonged psychic development. There are some who unconsciously have been ripening for such experience, but they are exceptional. You may be one of them. There is now and then a master mind to be found among the untrained. There are a few with faith so large and unequivocal that they need only to be awakened to a truth and given a word of instruction regarding its application to make them facile in its use. Then begin at once to see what you can do for your- self in this direct way. Proceed to order out the devils of disorder by which you have been obsessed. They are there only because you have been ignorant of them or afraid to try your powers on them. They have remained through your suff ranee, and they must remain no longer. You shall have to speak as one having authority. Remember that you are ad- dressing a high order of intelligence and one capable of recognizing insincerity, caprice and subterfuge; that you are seeking to break up an order of action 135 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY established by long years of habit ; and that the sub- conscious forces, while amenable to suggestion and command when the conditions are right, are inattentive to innovators who do not present reliable credentials. Should your early essays fail, this is no occasion for discouragement. What you have un- dertaken is radical, and for a hearing of so unusual a nature you may find it hard to obtain an audience. But if you are persistent, as was the applicant in the parable of "The Unjust Judge," you cannot fail. Storm the portals of the subjective realm and do not give over until you obtain the assurance you seek. Make your demands and issue your orders. Be not weary in well doing. Insist, and insist again, until the number reaches "seventy times seven," if need be. Such assaults are irresistible. How few make them the millions of earth's wretched ones clearly witness. Self-Commands Let me give you a few sample commands. You will observe that the object of the authoritative com- mand is sometimes the self and at other times the disorders. Give them seriously, earnestly, and faith- fully. I refuse longer to endure the suffering incident to 136 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY disorder, and I therefore demand that chaos become cosmos. This is my body. Why should the master of the house submit to these disagreeable invasions I I shall not. So now, my disturbers, I resolutely show you the door. I have patiently endured my suffering in the past under the supposition that I was helpless. But I find that I have ample authority, and so I demand that discomforts cease. At one time, Pain, I owned you in control. Xow I deny your authority and bid you begone. You smile at my credulity ? Smile if you will, but I have power. "All things are possible to him who believeth." You have felt very much at home ? Well, I shall no longer give you entertainment. You have worn out your welcome. Let us part. Suffering, you look more serious. You begin to understand that I am very much in earnest. I am. Body, you are mine. I am in authority over you. The real I is not visible, but is powerful. You are 137 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY my servant. Then why should you be so self-assert- ive ? I demand obedience. You have been behaving badly. You have given me great inconvenience and discomfort through your lax ways. Now ginger up and do your work well. Quell this disorder. Stop this frantic pain. Cease blocking the channels of life. I flood you with energy. I let in the light. I stimulate your drooping energies. I whip up your lazy functions. I equalize the distribution of your fluids, and give your emunctories more life. Let us have a new order of things, for your good and mine. You need more efficiency. You should better express me. I want to find in you a perfect instrument ; and I shall. How I am and what I am I know not; but I feel the spirit of Life stirring within me. I sense my authority. I have come to realization. I am one with the Cosmos. Having given your orders, expect obedience. Mag- nify every sign of improvement and minimize every indication of aggravation. Be not discouraged be- cause obedience is not immediate and complete. In- sist, and insist again. At last you will succeed. 138 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XX HOLDING THE IDEAL IsTo matter by whom treated the ailing one's prog- ress is bound to be indifferent until the imagination is called into the case and forms in the mind of the patient a picture of himself as he would like to be. The power of an ideal cannot be overestimated. "The secret of mental alchemy," says one, "may be stated as consisting, first, last and always, of the art of Mental Imaging, reinforced by the will." See your- self as you wish to be. See others as you wish them to be. See conditions also as you wish them to be. Then around these visualized ideals the material realities will form and crystallize. It is in this way that everything worth while comes into being. It is born first on the immaterial plane, after which it comes into form in a way impressive to the senses. One who is ill lives with his discomforts so con- stantly that they become a part of every state of con- sciousness and enter into the details of every view of self. Imagination is supplied with colors for every picture it paints, taken from the palette of somber 139 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY nuances. Doubt, discouragement and pain find free expression. The sufferer's fancy always represents him as the very antithesis of what he longs to be, and the operation of psychic laws aggravates rather than ameliorates his condition. The intricacies of the complex become more pronounced; and, as the case progresses, they create a bewildering tangle. In order to overcome the tendency to deeper in- tensity and hopeless entanglement set up by such a situation, special effort and unremitting vigilance are required to keep the mind's picture, gallery so well censored that its specific effect upon the disorder shall be reformative. Any such effect is sure to grow monotonous and requires to be resolutely followed until the necessary modifications have been made. It must not be thought that a few moments a day given to this visualizing ought to produce marked and immediate effects. This subself of ours is highly con- servative and cannot be induced to institute radical changes in our physical condition by a brief and luke- warm reform campaign. And yet it is quick to catch the spirit of improvement from a consciousness giving promise of a hot, a vigorous, and an unrelenting purpose. 140 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY It is by such a process of repeated and clear visual- izing, conducted under direction of the will, that the mind at last is so ordered in its constructive tendency that it instinctively recalls to the consciousness the ideal which has been laboriously formed. ~Not till that stage has been reached are the radical and last- ing innovations brought to maturity, though the power over the patient of the distresses associated with the morbid state will much sooner have yielded to the molding and refashioning process going on. The imagination is more active in one than in an- other. The true artist is able to see his mental crea- tions in their details, and all he has to do is to trans- fer them to his canvas, or to chip away the marble and release the imprisoned figure, and thus bring into sensible expression the creations of his genius. In forming the ideal self the man or woman whose imaginative faculties are strongest has a certain ad- vantage over his or her fellows. But in every one the power to form ideal figures is great enough to serve a sufficient purpose. Much of the work can be done to advantage by bringing to your aid the descrip- tive power of language. Credit the ideal with every trait that you would like to see developed. Give it a cheerful countenance with a flush of health, a bright 141 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY eye, an erect and well-formed figure, a noble, graceful and strong bearing, with accompanying agility, con- fidence and poise. Describe yourself under the vari- ous conditions of life and in the kind of environment you most desire. The practical value of such work as this cannot well be overstated. 142 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXI DEEP BREATHING There are many good reasons for the practice of deep breathing, a few of which I shall mention. Abundance of Air Essential Abundance of good air is as essential to health as are food and drink. This is a truism, you say ; and so it is. Under ordinary conditions we probably get it; but it will be remembered that we are now con- sidering conditions that are extraordinary. The nor- mal man is able to adjust himself to the various vicissitudes of life, and in this power is displayed the abundant life that fills him. But this is not true of one in whom the natural forces have become dis- turbed. In such an one there is a loss of balanoe between the functions, and the organism may suffer from deficient supply of the essential elements with- out the fact appealing directly to his consciousness. One may be getting too little Mood aeration without knowing it. Having learned from research work that the supply 148 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY of oxygen in abundance is essential to health, we have jumped to the conclusion that oxygen supply is the chiefest need met by the respiratory action. Of course it is known that the exhalations bear away from the body certain end products of organic metabolism, as, for example, carbon dioxide, which would otherwise poison the system; but, reasoning from analogy, we cannot escape the conviction that there are important chemical elements, of which we have no definite knowledge, taken in and carried out by the process of breathing. There are those who teach that there are certain subtle ethers supplied to the organism in inspiration which no chemist will ever be able to detect, but which are of the highest value to the finer functions of the organism. Special Ill-Effects of Lazy Breathing Functional activity of a part brings to it increased supplies of the life-giving elements. Lazy breathing not only fails to give the blood in general its adequate supplies, but it tends to weaken the energy of the pul- monary structures themselves. The chiefest reason why the subject of incipient lung tuberculosis finds help in the higher altitudes is that the rare atmos- 144 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY phere necessitates more frequent respirations and deeper breathing, which of themselves tend to stir up greater life in the lung structures. In the ill organism there is a spirit of indifference set up which is a potent cause of further disturbance, and this indifference shows its effects primarily upon the great life functions of digestion and respiration. I mention this only to make clearer to you the need so often found in disease states for a much larger supply of atmospheric air. The Suggestive Effect The systematic practice of deep breathing is to be encouraged for still another reason, and that is related to its suggestive effects. Whenever we do anything with the thought that it is a serviceable act we derive a pronounced psychic benefit. The character of thought accompanying an act always settles its effect upon the organism. Thought is the energizing prin- ciple in the practice of exercises of all sorts. The assuring thought of developing strength which goes with rightly-conducted physical training is of greater value than the mere muscular contractions. It is even possible to think strength into the muscles by merely imagining muscular action. 145 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Exercises in Deep Breathing For the practice of deep breathing choose a place where there is an abundance of fresh air. If the sitting position is chosen, sit erect, and, unless very weak, have the back free from support. If confined to the bed, take the back position. Those who sleep in the open air can take their exercises to advantage in bed, after retiring and before rising. The amount of deep breathing practiced should be regulated by the patient's condition. The only harm to come from overindulgence arises from the physical exertion involved. One who is very weak should pro- ceed with caution, taking only a few deep breaths at a time, and giving long intervals of rest. In any case the practice is likely to accelerate the heart action, as the extra air supply is stimulating, and the exertion will naturally produce more rapid heart pul- sations. When the practice is first undertaken by sensitive people there is sometimes produced a slight giddiness owing to the augmented supply of blood to the brain. In such a case frequent rests between breaths are advisable. One effect of the exercises to be given is the induc- tion of a habit of better breathing. Whenever the 146 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY mind recurs to the subject an effort should be made to encourage the habit so as to make it at last a part of the ordinary life action. In explanation of the significance of the alternate use of the nostrils and of the varying periods of in- halation, retention and exhalation, about to be recom- mended, I shall only say that the practice tends to favor concentration on the act, develops self-com- mand, and serves a good purpose in other ways. But there are said to be other good reasons for strict at- tention to such details — reasons of an occult sort. I am disposed to lay considerable emphasis on the details. Patients will therefore be sure to follow the exercises in every particular. Exercise 1. With a timepiece before you, inhale a breath lasting for ten seconds, and then exhale it for a period of fifteen seconds. Use this exercise alone for the first day, and give as much time to it as the physical conditions justify. If a timepiece is not at hand, count the seconds mentally as nearly as you can. Exercise 2. Inhale for a period of fifteen seconds and exhale for ten seconds. 147 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY This will answer for the second day. Exercise 3. Inhale for ten seconds, hold the breath for five seconds, and then exhale for ten seconds. This will suffice foi the third day's work. Exercise 4. Inhale for ten seconds through the left nostril, the other being held, and exhale for fifteen seconds through the right nostril. Take the second breath through the right nostril and exhale it through the left. Alternate backwards and forth throughout the exercise. This will do for the fourth day. Exercise 5. Inhale for ten seconds through first the left and then the right nostril, holding the breath for five seconds in every instance, and exhale through first the right and then the left nostril. This will answer for the fifth day. Exercise 6. Inhale for eight seconds through first the left and then the right nostril, hold the breath for ten seconds, and exhale through first the right and then the left nostril. Let this answer for the sixth day. 148 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Exercise 7. Inhale for eight seconds through first the left and then the right nostril, hold the breath for fifteen seconds and then exhale through first the right and then the left nostril. This will be all for the seventh day. Having thus completed the first seven-day course, go over the same exercises in the same way for an- other seven days, and so on. Practice the exercises indefinitely, or at least until you have fully recovered. The tendency is to become remiss after a few days or a few weeks, but remember that your very pertinacity of purpose will add much to your whole mental tone. 149 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXII PHYSICAL EXERCISES There is no mental or physical power that we can afford to neglect. Continued strength of a part is conditioned upon its exercise. Let it fall into desuetude and it will soon lapse into weakness. If we would be well we must keep active at every point. It is true that exercise of our powers does not need to be up to their limit of endurance one day after an- other for protracted periods, and it is equally true that exercise of one part should not be out of all pro- portion to others, as it is of great importance that due mental and physical balance be maintained. The secret of most effectual rest is found in diversity of exercise rather than in much exercise of certain parts and then complete rest of all. There is no doubt that the amount and character of exercise should be conditioned by a variety of circum- stances, such as age, sex, temperament, hereditary tendencies, state of health, and previous manner of living. Youth can endure muscular strain far better than age because it is in the daily practice of much 150 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY greater activity and its tissues are better able to react to stimulation. At the same time there are certain forms of exercise admirably calculated to develop and hold in functional health the physical structures which can be used to advantage by all who are not suffering seriously from the effects of some grave lesion. One may have to begin very moderately, but by doing so even the aged can gradually build up a good degree of physical endurance and vigor. In the exercises which follow I have aimed to introduce nothing that to those to whom these pages shall appeal can prove other than helpful. As it would be inadvisable for a patient to under- take all the seventeen exercises in a single day, I recommend that the full list be gone over every week, giving three exercises to each week day, except the first. During the first week go through each exercise once; during the second week, twice; during the third, three times, and so on till the number reaches ten, where it may be held as a daily limit. Get the movements committed to memory before beginning the exercise. Put thought into every movement, and along with it lots of courage, interest and ginger. 151 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY When the practice grows monotonous, instead of giving it up, go right on, resolved to follow out your original purpose to the end. Such an exercise of the will is sure to produce a good effect on the physical disorder for which you have undertaken the practice. If you are neurotic you will be beset by fears of all sorts before you have gone very far. Your weak, dissociate consciousness will hatch up excuses of all sorts as a reason for discontinuance of the innovations thus introduced; but you must turn to all such sug- gestions a deaf ear. Do not be induced to give over your wholesome practice. It will of course be understood that the exercises should be taken where the air is fresh, and with the body lightly clothed. Direct drafts are to be shunned, especially when perspiration covers the skin. Among my readers there are doubtless many who are already taking about as much general exercise in the discharge of their ordinary duties as their strength will justify, and it will be understood that, from among these 'exercises, they should do no more than select a few which call into action those parts of the body neglected in the usual routine, and employ them moderately so as to even up and better dis- 152 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY tribute the physical activities. There are others who are too ill to take up this part of the treatment, and some are otherwise disqualified. Let such read over the exercises in the order recommended and think out the movements in detail. The accompanying illustra- tions will aid them materially in doing so. From faithful use of the imagination — seeing themselves in fancy going through the various movements — they will derive much benefit. Exercise One Stand erect, shoulders well back but the body in- clined slightly forwards so as to throw the weight towards the ball of the foot. 1. Eaise the arms from the side to a horizontal position, with the palms turned downwards. Then raise them above the head, bending the forearm and touch the top of the head as shown in Figure 3. In executing this movement the elbows should be kept well backwards. 2. Raise the arms upwards in full extension and then slowly bring the palms together over the head. In lowering the arms force them backwards as far as you can. 153 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Exercise Two Assume the same position prescribed for Exercise One. 1. Raise the arms to a level with the shoulders, as in Exercise One. Then swing the arms forwards, without lowering them, so as to touch palms. 2. Extend the arms, as before. Then swing them directly backwards, and slightly downwards, as far as possible. Then swing them forwards and back- wards several times, bringing the palms together in front and then approximating the backs behind as closely as possible. (Study Figures 5 and 6.) Exercise Three Take the position of Exercise One. 1. Raise the arms to the horizontal. Then de- scribe a circle with each arm, keeping the arms as far backwards as possible. Begin slowly and gradually increase the movement. Make the circles as large as you can without bringing the hands in front of the body line. Exercise Four Take the position of Exercise One. 1. Keep the upper arm horizontal and bend the 154 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY arms so as to bring the hands close to the head, the tips of the fingers resting lightly on the shoulders. 2. Eetaining the general position, bring the elbows as closely together in front as yon can. Then carry them to the rear as far as possible. Mbve them thus forwards and backwards several times. (Con- sult Figure 8.) Exercise Five Assume the position of Exercise One. 1. Put the arms into the position illustrated in Figure 8, but at first with the hands unclosed. Then suddenly close the fists firmly, and then open the hands as widely as possible. 2. Eest a moment, and then continue the opening and closing movements several times, making the movements as strong as you can. Exercise Six Take the usual position. 1. Separate the arms a little from the body, and bend the forearms so that they shall point directly upwards. Then, without moving the elbows, bring the palms of the hands together in front of you. 155 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY 2. Starting from the last position, push the arms forwards to their full length with the hands upturned and looking directly forwards. Kepeat these exer- cises several times. Exercise Seven Same position as in the other exercises. 1. Raise the forearms to a horizontal position, so that they shall he at right angles to the vertical line of the body. Then thrust the hands and arms for- wards, keeping the forearms horizontal, the full length of the arms. Follow with a reversal of this movement, carrying the elbows as far backwards as possible, but keeping the forearms in the horizontal position. Repeat. (Consult Figures 14 and 15.) Exercise Eight Assume the usual position. 1. Place the hands on the hips, as shown in Figure 16, fingers forwards and thumb backwards. Keeping the head well up, bend the body forwards at the hips (Figure 17). Then bend backwards as shown in Figure 18. Repeat the movements. 156 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Exercise Nine Take the usual position. 1. Place the hands on the hips, as in the last exercise. Then bend the trunk of the body as far to the right as possible, and afterwards to the left, and repeat. Keep the legs straight. (See Figure 19.) Exercise Ten Take the usual position. 1. Place the hands on the hips as in the previous exercise. Then swing the trunk to the right, as in the last exercise. Prom this point carry the bent trunk around until it has made a half circle and the trunk is left bent to the left. Kest for a moment after restoring the body to the upright position. Then bend the trunk again to the left and from that point circle the bent trunk around forwards to the right bent position. This is a difficult exercise to do well, and should not be repeated more than once for the first two or three times. I repeat my charge concerning the mental attention and energizing thought to be put into each effort. 157 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Exercise Eleven Take the usual position. 1. Raise the arms in an extended position over the head, the palms of the hands forwards, as in Figure 21. Lower the arms and bend the body for- wards at the hips and touch the floor with the tips of the fingers. You may not be able to do this at first, but come as near to the floor as you can. The knees must not be bent during the movement. Return to the original position and repeat. Exercise Twelve Take the usual position. 1. Extend the arms forwards as in Figure 15, the hands touching. Bend the body forwards at the hips as far as you can while at the same time you swing the arms backwards and upwards, as shown in Figure 24. Keep the arms and knees stiff and straight. Return to the original position, and repeat. Exercise Thirteen Take the usual position. 1. Place the hands on the hips as in Figure 16. Keep the heels together, and close to the floor, but 158 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY separate the toes, bend the knees and separate them as widely as possible, thus lowering the trunk of the body into a squatting posture, with the back straight and the head erect. Return to the original position and repeat. Exercise Fourteen Take the usual position. 1. Hands on the hips as in the last exercise. Go into the squatting posture, as in the last exercise, only instead of keeping the heels close to the floor, throw the weight onto the balls of the feet. The trunk must be kept straight and the head up. Bepeat. (See Figure 26.) Exercise Fifteen Assume the usual position. 1. Place the hands on the hips as in the last exer- cise. Throwing the weight of the body on first one leg and then the other, carry the free foot as far for- wards and backwards as you can a few times. (Figures 27 and 28.) This drill in balancing the body on one foot is excellent exercise for both the motor and sensory functions of the spinal cord, as well as the develop- ment of the will. 159 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Exercise Sixteen Take the usual position. 1. Hands on the hips as in the last position. Raise the legs, first one and then the other, as high as possible, while balancing on the opposite leg. Be- gin these movements slowly, but aim to increase the speed by practice. (See Figure 29.) Exercise Seventeen Take the usual position. 1. Keeping the heels together, raise the body onto the toes, as shown in Figure 30. Return the heels to the floor and repeat several times. In order to impress upon the reader's mind the relative uselessness of these exercises without the ac- companying thought of purpose and healthful ex- pectation, I want to say again that he must concen- trate upon every movement. To practice in a per- functory manner is to destroy the effect. 160 THE FOLLOWING ILLUSTRATIONS OF PHYSICAL EXERCISES were posed for by MR. ALFRED BIGNEY, Physical Expert. Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. Figure 5. Figure 6. Figure 7. X Figure Figure 9. Figure 10. Figure 11. Figure 12. Figure 13. Figure 14. Figure 11 Figure 16. Figure 17. Figure 18. Figure 19. Figure 20. Figure 21. Figure 22. Figure 23. Figure 24. Figure 25. Figure 26. Figure 27. Figure 28. Figure 29. Figure 30. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXIII THE MATTER OF HEREDITY The prime predisponent to disease is heredity. We come into the world with life's stage set for a drama of a certain sort, and we play that drama according to the lines given us, unless meanwhile we revise our tastes and tendencies. Those who observe us remark on the likeness in figure, move- ment and feature to our parents. We discover in ourselves mental traits that are much like those of father or mother, or perhaps of both. Like father, like daughter; like mother, like son; thus do the sexes most frequently cross in the generative course. Heredity Represents Tendency But heredity represents tendencies only; and those tendencies are not imperative. If a large enough emotion come into your life to make a certain line of conduct desirable in your eyes you can inhibit and direct your course accordingly. In the absence of such an emotional stimulus the drama is very likely to be played as originally outlined. 223 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY The impelling emotions ? Ah, there is the rub. Man in general is driftwood on life's sea. To be anything better implies struggle with strong forces, and the weak emotions prevail. The man who does things in this world is the man who either has had a vision or feels endowed with a mission. An ex- ample of the former is a man who suddenly breaks from evil habits and forever after climbs towards the heights, recreating himself in mind and body con- formably with an ideal of which he had caught an impressive view. An example of the latter is the man who from his youth on has felt an inexplicable urge which has given him no rest, and which still impels him to equip for earnest work. The driving emotions cannot be created at will, but they can be solicited. They come to those who want them badly enough to keep them in mind, and not to the thoughtless and frivolous. When a man senses a strong need of health and strength he can so essentially modify all his ways as to obtain them. But to do so he must regulate his habits. Regulating the Habits For one thing he must take good care of his diges- 224 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY tive system. But do not get the idea that this means giving hesitating, doubtful, suspicious attention to the matter of diet. Like the science of therapeutics, dietetics is still in its infancy. Food experts are such mainly in name, and their dictum is not to be taken as the final word. The truth is that most of the well prepared foods commonly served at the table of the ordinary family are wholesome enough in themselves, and no one need hesitate, no matter what his chronic ailment — unless it be an organic lesion involving the digestive organs themselves — to eat them, provided he do so in a moderate way, and in the spirit of confidence. The same may be said of the drinks commonly served. A single cup of tea or coffee a day — not both — is admissible. A little good wine or beer at meal time, and never between meals, is probably harmless, though I myself take none. A single cigar after dinner is also probably harmless. But to eat voraciously, and to drink and smoke more than I have indicated is pernicious. The well man may bear his bad habits for years, but an ailing man should resolutely cut them out. It is advisable to keep the bowels active, and if there is a vicious tendency to constipation, the use 225 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY of mild laxatives, or of enemas, is preferable to per- sistent inactivity. But a systematic use of sugges- tion, and the cultivation of confidence in a faithful response to your demands for activity, is amply effec- tive in most instances, especially in the young and middle aged. Indeed, psychotherapy for constipa- tion rarely fails. The nervous system, which will here include the brain, is more directly offended by defective hygiene than is any other system of the organism. Strenuous emotions send their vibrations to every nerve fibre in the body, modifying its tone and often disturbing the physical functions supplied by it. Pernicious habits of eating, drinking, smoking, sleeping, breath- ing, thinking and exercising have a bad effect on it. Loss of faith in ourselves favors the development of unsteady nerve action and the creation of a state of uncertainty throughout the body. Allowing fear to assert its power over the mind is a prolific source of nerve disorder. A calm trust in the eternal good- ness of things is the best sedative anywhere to be found; and it is a state of moral consciousness pa- tiently and perseveringly to be sought. Nerves do not fall into disorder as long as there is a good director MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY at the head of affairs. For this reason we ought always to preserve our poise, — a thing not easily done, but one which can be done when we set our- selves faithfully to the task. Then if nerves represent the cause of our chiefest distress, it is essential to preserve, and, when lost, to regain, our self-command. To do this ought to be one of our chiefest concerns. It is when the nerve impulses which are sent out from the centers are regular in their flow and bespeak a wise self-com- mand, that order and harmony, and hence mental and physical health, are to be found. There are no medicines that by their true action exercise a curative action upon nerve disorders. Many of them have a sedative effect; but when a sedative is used the psychic resistence is diminished and the cure is thereby deferred. Unless the symp- toms are extreme it is far better to fight out the bat- tle with the clamorous senses, with courage, and have it over. The volitionary energies awakened and exercised by a struggle of that kind will carry one rapidly towards the goal. Nervous symptoms are always irrational in their 227 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY expression. The sense of extreme prostration is an example in point. You wake after a good sleep feel- ing weak and fatigued, when you ought to have a sense of rest. You dread the duties of the day, feel- ing unable to discharge them. But as the day wears on and lively feelings would naturally begin to tire, yours grow stronger. On another occasion, after a sleepless night you have a day of unusual strength and courage. With a nervous person it is feeling, feeling, feeling, and the real conditions are not what they seem. Now that you see the fallacies encouraged by nerves, and the unreality of the conditions they sug- gest, I shall expect you to cut out the indulgencies of which you have hitherto been guilty and clear the ground for an effective management of the situation. This strong handling of ourselves is the only basis on which good health can be safely predicated. This, together with a rational management of your habits of eating and drinking, sleep and exercise, will provide all that is required beyond the psychic prin- ciples of right living which I am now ready to bring more directly and specifically before you. 228 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY "3 <0 W ' »-.T3 «j (U (U o I tS 2^ « ^MMQONONCOHOOONNHCOOHO«>00 2 +a^ Oj ~3 UHHOHHHNHbooddrHHHNMddN e a. ^a § *|J C S w _ ttentio st the i compo Foods V * glNCOHOiONiOMNOOiOIN^ifJOJOCOON ^COI>.b^<^^OOCOo6eOi-Ht^» OS CO cm © co **» ^oooocioowoow^dddoJ^NH^ u 59 "2 C <£S OS O O Seot^Tt^^cdi-Hcoco'-iooc CM CM i-« CM i-H CM CM i-t CM better e to ch quest n of f o ical C | Qu .%%«£ g ^ 2,3 w 0) While in general ii are times when it is desii of the system and in sue tion and rapidity of dige The Ch 2 ^^ < 52 u H < Q 1 CU 0) 2-^x CD 0"~ X) ^3 b. •ast Turkey icasseed chicken. , ioked bluefish . . nned salmon esh oysters aled eggs , ttter £ a CJ r3 1 n T3 CC a +j £ c cut: • d ca cu -d 2 * 1 cr a S CO +^ c 03 O aJ C U L, C OfePQPQ J O & ^pq cci C PQ< PQ s- c Pw 229 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY The Classification of Foods ORGANIC PROTEIDS (The Tissue Formers) Source — Found in animal and vegetable tissues. Composition — Carbon , hydro- gen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur — the proteid mole- cule being very complex. Physical Properties — Amor- phous, solid, liquid or semi- liquid, of variable solubility, coagulable by heat and acids and easily decomposed. Types or Varieties — Egg- Albu- min, serum-albumin, casein, globulin, fibrin, peptones, albuminoids, etc. Common Forms — Lean meat, eggs, milk, cheese, peas, beans and the various cere- als supply bulk of proteids. FATS (Heat Producers) Source — Found in animal and vegetable foods. Composition — Carbon, hydro- gen and oxygen. Physical Properties — Solid, semi-solid, or liquid, easily saponified or emulsified. Types or Varieties— Stearin, palmitin and olein. Common Forms — Butter, fat meat, bacon, lard, olive oil, cream, chocolate, and cer- tain nuts. CARBOHYDRATES (Energy or Work Producers) Source — Almost entirely ob- tained from vegetable world. Composition — Carbon, hydro- gen and oxygen. Physical Properties — Polymor- phous, occurring in crystal- line, granular, powder, liquid or semi-liquid form. Solu- bility very variable. Starch changed to sugar (maltose and dextrose) by diastasic ferment. Types or Varieties — Amylose (starch, glycogen and cellu- lose), dextrose (levulose and galactose), saccharose (lac- tose and maltose). Common Forms — Potato, rice, corn starch, arrowroot, many grains like wheat and oats, the various sugars (cane, beet and milk), maple syrup, molasses, honey, etc. INORGANIC The main inorganic foods are water and common salt. 230 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Approximate Time Needed for the Digestion of Certain Foods Beef, boiled 3 hours Beef, roasted 3 to 4 hours Fish, boiled \y 2 to 2Y 2 hours Oysters, raw 2 hours Lamb 2 x / 2 hours Mutton, roasted 3 to V/ 2 hours Milk 2 hours Ham, boiled 2 to 3 hours Pork, roasted 5 hours Poultry, boiled or roasted 2% to 4 hours Goose, roasted 4 to 5 hours Tripe 1 hour Veal, as prepared in the British Isles 4J^ hours Eggs, raw 2 hours Eggs, fried or boiled hard 3 to 3J^ hours Cheese 3 to 4 hours Apples 3 to 4 hours Cabbage V/ 2 to 4 hours Potatoes 23^ to V/ 2 hours Turnips 3J^ to 4 hours Rice ) ( 1 to 2 hours Sago / if completely cooked ... < 1 to 2 hours Tapioca ) ( 1 to 2 hours Wheaten bread 3 to 4 hours An ordinary meal is usually completely digested in 4 to 5 hours. 231 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXIV ACTION AND REACTION One of the best recognized laws of life action is that of rhythm. "Everything moves to and fro in rhythm, between its poles," reads an old aphorism. "Everything rises and falls in rhythm, within the limits of its nature. Everything advances and re- treats in rhythm, within the limits of its power/' Emotion, including feeling in general, ebbs and flovvs like a tide. On one day we are sad, and all the beauties of nature are seen through amber lenses. We are discouraged, and even despairing. The aims and ambitions which had been bewitching in their forms and hues are plain and dull; our aspirations have lost their uplift. We may put on a good front from a sense of duty or a consideration of advantage, but it has no spirit in it. Then on the morrow we wake as new men and enter upon our duties with a relish born of more abundant life. Strength has been renewed, energies have been quickened, senses have been given fresh relish and all life rings out a better tone. 232 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Peculiar phenomena characterize the oscillations from one pole to the other when the movement is left to itself. Following deep depression is a period of sublime elation ; and then again we are plunged into deep despair. The movement does not cease at the half-way point ; but the pendulum swings to its fullest reach and then as surely returns. Backwards and forth, to and fro, up and down, is the ever restless and resistless emotional swing. Sundry things may occasion delays, making the oscillations unequal in point of time, but there is no obstacle, under normal conditions, able to arrest them. Action and Reaction in Disease Into this to and fro action of the natural forces of the organism morbidity enters as a disturbing element. The rhythm never wholly ceases, though it is often greatly retarded; but more frequently it is at first much exaggerated. Feeling becomes in- tensified to the point of distress, and the depression moods drive the consciousness to low levels. There is disorder everywhere. And then, in the processes of cure, the patient passes through a renewal of the well-marked rhythmic 233 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY action. On one day, or on a series of days, he is borne upwards again on the bosom of the sensory sea, only to be let back a little later to the low levels. And so the see-saw movement goes on as the process of cure follows the gradual ascent of a tilted plane, finally bringing him again to a normal level. This life rhythm is a phase of environment to which we have to learn adjustment. Those who make no serious attempt at it live in a state of alter- nate heaven and hell. They enjoy much, they suffer much; and they get nowhere, unless, indeed, they gradually move down the decline towards utter fail- ure and loss. To the sensitive sufferer these up-and-down move- ments are peculiarly distressing. It may be that the disordered oscillations begin at once to respond to the treatment, showing a resumption of more orderly action, and especially disclosing a disposition to pursue their movements on a higher plane, when, without appreciable cause, the patient experiences a reprecipitation to depressed levels. Then it is, if there be an absence of sustaining appreciation of the normal rise and fall of sensory and emotional tides, and of their usual exaggeration in morbid states, that 234 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY the ailing one becomes discouraged to the point of utter abandonment of effort. But one like you who has a knowledge of all this, should enter upon an analysis that will clearly expose the nature of the experiences and make you able to say to yourself, "This slump is no more than is common in the ex- perience of all who are on the rise out of low mental and physical states, and it is sure to be succeeded by an ascent that shall carry me higher than I have yet been, provided I maintain my mental poise and courage." And so you fortify yourself against de- spair and raise your courage to the prevailing point. The rhythmic motion must not be left to itself. When some cause of disturbance has been sufficiently potent to create atypical movements, it needs a cer- tain amount of aid from the conscious will to cor- rect its inequalities and eccentricities. It ought also to be said that, even in normal states, whenever the oscillations of emotion and feeling tend to become exaggerated, as they do in all nervous temperaments, they ought to be taken in hand, studied in detail, and their extreme swings restrained. The wise course is to forbid great elevations and deep depressions. It is a movement over which the will has control, as it has over every mental and physical function, but in 235 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY this instance, as in many others, the control is in- direct and therefore not prompt. The swing must not be allowed to run high, and it must be forbidden to dip low. But how is the movement to be restrained? Ex- perience appears to show that to attempt to take con- trol of an emotion or feeling is immediately to in- tensify it. It thrives on attention, and one is de- feated in his purpose to defeat it by direct attack. As this letter is long enough already I shall tell you how to proceed at another time. Of course we could go on with our analysis but I have sufficiently illustrated the process. The idea is to look at the trouble from every side, without fear; to pull it apart and study its constituents, applying as we do so the various principles of psychotherapy for relief. You may be tempted to say, "I cant;" but you can if you will. You can't do anything worth while without an effort. Why be under the power of things when you can get on top by a good strenu- ous effort? Scatter your ailments by facing them down and dissecting them; and, as you do so, feel assured that you are mastering them. Pick up each component and shake the vitality out of it. Use on it your persuasion, your suggestion and your com- mand. It is up to you to do your task well. 236 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXV THOSE OVERWHELMING FEELINGS My last letter was already too long to allow me to tell you in it how to take control of exaggerated rhythm, which when left unrestrained is so apt to produce the usual effects of harsh and violent action. Besides, since its elucidation involves a statement of one of the fundamental features of self-help, and one, moreover, belonging to the phenomena of emotion and feeling in general, it may well form the subject matter of an entire letter. I want you to give close attention to what follows, for you will make poor headway in the direction of self -cure if you do not follow the course I am about to mark out. A Preliminary Consideration That emotions are something more than mere states of mind, does not militate against the opinion that they are states of mind. The only channels through which they can reach normal consciousness are those of the physical senses. A thought is something more 237 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY than a mental action: it produces certain physical effects, though not always of a sensory nature. A thought is also more than a cold mental action, for it is always fathered by an emotion. Then turning to the physical side of the phe- nomena it is at once discovered that there is a move- ment from the body towards mind, as well as from the mind towards the body. It is doubtless true that in certain instances "we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble," as some of the academecians insist; but there are many as sensible psychologists who posit that far more frequently we cry because we are sorry, strike because we are angry and tremble because we are afraid. It is the same old claim that all mental disorders, and all nervous disorders as well, have a primary physical cause. And it is upon this theory that the medical teaching refuses to put organic affec- tions in the eatagory of diseases amenable to psycho- therapy. Direct Attack on Feelings Inadvisable As another preliminary let me recall what I said in my last letter regarding the futility of combatting emotions, feelings and sensations in a direct manner. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY It is true that an adept in self-control may venture to attack disorders as such with good success; but a novice like you would be sure to fail. You must pro- ceed by an indirect course, availing yourself of strategy. In an aggressive movement it is a bold and confident commander who attacks the enemy by direct approach. If, therefore, emotion, feeling and sensation are well entrenched in consciousness and are supplied with conveniences for defense, a strategic expedient most commendable is in some way to turn their flank ; or, best of all, being confident of victory in an open fight, to march boldly into the enemy's country leav- ing their defenses on one side and making for the heart of their possessions. In other words it is always wise for you to choose your own fighting ground. If they have thrown up defenses at a cer- tain point within the lines of your territory, you do not need to attack them there, but get at them in the rear and you will soon have them on the run. This recommendation is more than a theory. It is the only sure way to success, as I have found in num- berless instances. Ignore the immediate situation and proceed to establish one of your own which shall give you an advantage. 239 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Controlling the Feelings Let us see how this works out in practice. You have experienced a digestive upset, we will say, and your fears come trooping in. Having reached middle life, we will assume, your feelings begin to whisper suggestions of age effects, and to make you believe that the period of functional breakdown has prob- ably arrived. They wave red flags at you and de- mand a halt. They suggest more rest, a curtailment of alimentary supply and a close scrutiny of diet. The emotion of fear tries hard to bring you under its power, and, if it succeed, the organism will soon be found defective in other functions. It may be true that you have been indiscreet, and I should not advise you to ignore the warning in toto. Review your manner of living and eliminate from it whatever is plainly enough deliterious. This can be done as a matter of reasonable prudence without your falling under the power of an irrational fear which would wreck your health and happiness. Keep your good sense always in evidence. Reflect that fear-thought turned to any part of the body is disorganizing, and that even doubt and distrust are expressions of fear. Remember that ailments due to physiologically fail- ing powers do not often develop rapidly to a trouble- 240 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY some degree and remain seriously to complicate and annoy, provided confidence in one's powers retains one's integrity. Drum up your courage, study your resources, and then act a strong part. Having re- mobilized your forces, resolve to go on as though noth- ing had happened to unsettle your faith or distinctly modify your campaign of aggressiveness. The common course differs materially. Progress comes to a standstill; the signals of danger are al- lowed to paralyze vigorous action; the warnings are taken too seriously; fear is allowed to control func- tion, and then the victim wrestles and struggles with his adversary in a vain effort to destroy it or to drive it out. My reader, if you are already in such a predica- ment as I have described, cease your direct antago- nism and recover your energies for a fresh advance without regard to doubts, misgivings, and the memo- ries of past defeats to which you will give a cold shoulder as you pursue your way towards the goal of your desires. Ignore the menaces and loud warnings of your frantic emotions, and go on your way with a prudence from which fear has been eliminated, and with a courage in which there is a dash of daring, or even recklessness. The strong way is always the best way. It is the coward who draws the bullets. Be strong! Be Strong! BE STKONG! 241 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXVI ANOTHER WORD ABOUT FEAR I have discussed the emotions in general, and have had something to say about fear, but as this emotion takes so prominent a place in the development and maintenance of physical disorder, and nervous dis- turbances in particular, it deserves more detailed con- sideration. Peace! Be Still! So long as you are under the agitation of fear your mind is unable to reach that state wherein it can ap- propriate what it most needs to restore physical har- mony. It is unwise to set upon any important under- taking when beset by doubt and alarm. The first thing to do is to calm yourself. "But that's the very thing I've been trying to do all the time," you ex- claim, and I do not wonder that the condition seems prohibitive. But it is not. It may require in you some preliminary training. You may need to use some influence stronger than persuasion. It is more than likely that you will have to rise and in the dig- 242 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY nity of jour immortal self command silence, as did Jesus when He spoke to the turbulent sea of Galilee. By persuasion alone you may be able to quell the nervestorm raging within you. All that is required is to set up a different state of consciousness, and this is not so difficult for one who has accustomed himself to seeking the soul's center, where dwells the true ego to which the agitations of life do not penetrate. There is such a center, and from it you can view your conscious situation as a thing apart. You can look on as though the experiences through which you are passing were those of another. Dissipating Fear If such an experience is still beyond your reach, for it comes only to those who have industriously sought it, you can at least apply the principle of analysis and scatter your agitations to the four winds. Ask yourself the meaning of all this anxiety. Are you afraid that some vastly unusual experience of a most direful kind is impending ? Consider for a mo- ment: Have not your fears nearly always proved groundless in the past ? Have you realized one-tenth of the dreadful things featured in your apprehen- sion? Have you not assured yourself more than 243 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY once, after witnessing the bursting of jour fear-bub- bles, that you would never fear again \ But what if the worst of your apprehensions should be realized ? Are you afraid to die ? You have professed a large degree of trust in the Eternal Goodness, and here you are foolishly quaking with fear. Are you will- ing to be called a coward ? Last evening a man who allows his weak fears to dominate him was again re- hearsing to me his groundless apprehensions over the 'phone. "Why, you foolish fellow," I said, "if you had an infant child who acted as you do over noth- ing, you'd give him a good whipping. Behave your- self ! You are acting like a child." As I write he has called me up to say that my stinging words had aroused him to a different state of consciousness, in consequence of which he was feeling much better. By thus pulling your fears to pieces and studying them in parts, you reveal their utter lack of reason for existing. This of itself may be enough to dissi- pate them so that any real ailments you have can be dealt with by themselves, but the chances are that your supposed ailments will themselves disappear when you become calm. But now let us suppose that your attempts to break 244 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY the force of your fears have been futile. Even then you are not to give over to despair. No! No! Set to work with your suggestions. If you cannot reach that center of calm to which you would gladly hie, at least assume the airs of one who can. Say in as calm and confident tones as you can : "I am at peace. My agitation ceases. There is calmness and confi- dence settling into my soul to which I have long been a stranger. I — my real self — do not fear. I have no occasion to hold my nerves in tension, and I — let — go." But even this is not all you should do in a suggestive way. Act the part as well as speak it. Give constant physical expression to what your words have been affirming. Smile a smile of confidence, not only at the moment, but on all suitable occasions. .Refuse to let your countenance and actions betoken doubt or fear. See how good an actor you can be, and continue to play the part. If you do this faithfully and persistently, the time will come when you will feel such authority over all your weaknesses that you can order them away and find yourself master of the situation. The man or woman who has acquired command over the physical expression of fear will not fail to 245 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY gain a victory over the fear itself, for it is a well- established psychological law that an emotion rigidly denied expression dies ont. Atrophy overtakes every part of the organism and every function of it, which long remains motionless. I cannot consent to close this letter without call- ing your attention to the immense benefits of the whole self growing out of the self-command thus ac- quired. He who has attained to mastery of his own forces has become a member of the royal order. He has reached the height of human attainment. Hence- forth the weaknesses so common to humanity have no power over him. He walks as a king among men. 246 SPECIFIC CONDITIONS REQUIRING RELIEF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXVII THOSE NERVES To those not familiar with the anatomy and physi- ology of the nervous system, and especially what is called the "sympathetic system," it is not clear how a trouble in one part of the body can create pain and disorder in various other parts. It is still more puz- zling for them to understand how at the site of the lesion there may be no conscious disorder, while in other parts the disorder may be extreme. This class of phenomena has been given the name "reflex," since the symptoms are reflected from one part to another. Let me illustrate how this comes about. The phys- ical organism is a concrete whole, into the formation of which there enter a large number of distinct parts. First, there are the individual cells with plain evi- dences of intelligence of their own ; then come organs capable of conducting their peculiar industries, and then systems, such as the conduits for the fluids and wires for the purpose of intercommunication. There are also stations like the great pumping station in the center of the chest, the brain, the solar plexus and 248 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY the various ganglia of the body, as well as that great tunnel into which are gathered the trunk lines for protection of the processes of communication with various parts of the organism, so arranged that mes- sages can be given out at various stations on the way from one extremity of the body to the other. I have introduced some delicately-made illustrations in order to make this important feature of disease phenomena clear to you, and I hope you will study them with care. You will see that into every part of the body nerves and blood vessels are distributed, so that from every cubic centimeter of the organism messages can be sent to every other part with the greatest facility. These messages go first to the station with which the part is directly connected. If the trouble is simple, it will not be necessary for the knowledge to go any further. But if the disturbance cannot be handled at that station, the news is transmitted to the next sta- tion higher up and from there onwards to the great brain center if necessary. Now the idea is that from any point on the way the assistance of correlated parts and functions can be called upon to aid in the re- quired action, showing what a remarkable solidarity is here established. But now if the trouble is great, the whole organism is aroused and there is always 249 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY danger of the great brain center being overwhelmed with the frantic calls made upon it. Particularly is this true in certain forms of nerve disorder, in the symptoms of which anarchy is plainly to be discerned. Study of the Charts a Part of the Patient's Education Begin your study with Chart I, which shows the under side of the brain and the mechanism by means of which every part of it can be held in the closest relation to every other part, and from which lines of communication are established through the nerves to every region of the body. The stumps of these lines are plainly shown. Follow this chart with the others in their numerical order and you cannot fail to get a good conception of the mechanism by means of which the thousand and one parts of the organism are united in action into one complex whole. Upon the outer surface of the brain convolutions is a thick layer of grey matter, over which is spread a delicate membrane to give the mass greater solidity as well as to protect it from outside shocks. This serous membrane forms one side of a closed space separating the brain matter from the inner side of 250 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY the skull. A similar sack space surrounds the spinal cord all the way down. This grey matter is the local seat of consciousness, and for this reason the most important part of the human structure. In pointing out to you these physical characteris- tics I charge you not to forget that these delicate physical structures are nothing more than the instru- ment by means of which the Universal Mind finds consistent expression. Do not for a moment believe, as some teach, that thought is merely a secretion of the material brain, as bile is of the liver. Look at this subject through the eyes of a larger faith and you will find more abundant life coming into your consciousness. 251 CHART Xo. 1 Base of the Brain Terminations of supratrochlear \rof infratrochlear ^\ ^ of nasal. CHART No. 3 The nerve trunks of the scalp, face and side of neck The above cut will clearly illustrate how through sympathetic action symptoms of disorder can be carried to any part of the face or neck. Superior cervical Middle rrrvicnl Inferior cervical gang! Pharyngeal branches' Cardiac branches Deep cardiac plexus Superficial cardiac plexus. Hypogastric plexus Sacral ganglia •< [ Ganglion impa CHART No. 3 The sympathetic nerve with its larger branches, ganglions and plexuses CHART No. i Branches of the Spinal Nerves Note what a network of large nerves there is in connection with the spine. Through reflex action the entire trunk of body can become upset through an irritation of some one nerve remotely situated, cr a general negativeness of the entire nervous system THE BRACHIAL PLEXUS. .External anterior thoracic. ■Internal anterior thoracic. Musculo-culaneous. CHART No. 5 Trunk nerves of the left upper extremity Neuritis is cften mistaken by some for rheumatism on account of reflex action and the irritated nerves causing pain or soreness in muscles \ V in CHART No. 6 Nerves of the lower extremity (posterior view), showing Great Sciatic Nerve MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXVIII THOSE NERVES— Continued It is impossible to isolate nervous disorders from general functional disorders. Functional action is de- pendent on the nerve impulses conveyed to and from the various organs and coordination between the va- rious parts is obtained by means of the reflexes trans- mitted from one function to another. For this rea- son we may safely say that all functional disorder is due to a disturbed nervous action. While this statement is true, it must not be sup- posed that in every instance the anomalous action is attributable to a diseased state of the nerves them- selves. In certain disorders of a nervous sort there are changes which pathologists have been able to dem- onstrate in the composition of the nerve structure, some of which are evanescent, while certain others are of a more lasting nature because of a more pro- nounced organic character. In the psychoneuroses the energy granules of the neurons may be changed 265 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY in number and appearance, but there is nothing to indicate that there is any true structural modifica- tion. For this reason there is no support for the in- ference so commonly made that the nerves in cases of the kind mentioned are suffering from malnutrition and need more of this, that and the other element to restore their integrity. When the impulses emanat- ing from the centers are feeble and irregular, the de- fect does not often lie in the nerves themselves, but is found in the diminished volume of nervous im- pulses emitted from the great centers. I premise thus so that your mind may be detached from the old idea that the origin of these functional disorders is in the material organism. Psychoses and neuroses are not due to physical changes, but it is quite true that physical changes, when they have once been established in consequence of primary func- tional changes or otherwise, react unfavorably on the functions. Hypothetical Cases While it is so difficult to isolate certain disease complexes and dub them "nervous" to the exclusion of others, there are particular phenomena which for 266 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY study purposes may be so designated. Of these, in the hypothetical cases I am about to recite, we shall undertake to make a study with a direct view to eluci- dating the kind and degree of self-help which it is possible to give. Case One Here is a young woman of, say, twenty-six years, of a nervous temperament. As a child she was deli- cate, high-strung, petulant and hard to control. In school she was bright, learned readily and always had good marks. But the physical side of her organ- ism was often in disorder. Her appetite was fitful and capricious ; she had many of the lesser ailments peculiar to children, and digestive disorders in par- ticular. As she came into womanhood her restless- ness increased. She had numerous beaux, had small love experiences, but was so easily piqued, was so exacting in her demands, and so variable in her fan- cies that they were not of long duration. Her pres- ent condition is pitiable. She is nervous, restless, dissatisfied ; has difficulty in getting interested in se- rious occupations; eats little, is depressed, and is sleepless, or is disposed to sleep overmuch under the 267 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY impression that she requires more sleep than most people. This woman is representative of a large class. The symptoms vary more or less, but the fundamentals are substantially as given. The salvation of such a woman depends on her getting interested in some distinct life purpose. On her sensitive organism, in which there is always an erotic tendency, love and marriage would have a most wholesome effect. But the man of her choice needs to be of a vitalistic temperament, full of both strength and tenderness, and otherwise well suited to domi- nate her with the potent influences of a large, manly soul. Under the power of such an overshadowing presence a woman of this makeup can develop into good health and a happy life. She will be most try- ing to her husband at times, owing to the repletion of her caprices, but if he be of the nature described he will bear with her peculiarities and overlook her petulances until such time as she has come into a larger and happier life. But she may not at once find the man for whom her nature pines, and in that case her creative ener- gies must seek other outlets. Art, music, literature, 268 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY teaching, settlement work, a commercial pursuit, or some other occupation in which her pent-up energies can find relief, is to be taken up with spirit and every attempt made to develop a commanding interest. A woman of this nature who long continues inactive and disinterested, unless she fall under the influence of some great emotion of a restraining kind, is sure to be a distress to herself and her associates. I do not suggest the foregoing expedients as abso- lute cures for the unpleasant symptoms which cling to such natures with the greatest tenacity. At the best they have much to overcome, and their struggle proves to be unremitting. They could soon bring their vagrant feelings under fair control when once the way has been shown them, but for their natural instability of purpose. They make a resolve, attack with vigor, and end in mere flounder. To hold them- selves to a purpose seems impossible. The will is overwhelmed by the violence of their emotions. It is for these reasons that women answering the description I have given need to find some way of receiving daily, and almost hourly, help from some other person. Their success is dependent on repeated instruction, inspiration, persuasion, suggestion and 269 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY command. These helps can be had through the me- dium of these letters, and all the helps herein found should be utilized to the largest degree. These needy ones must go over the various features of self-help herein contained and thus keep in touch with their source of aid. Much thought and effort are required in order to do this well. Their tendency is always towards inertia. It is hard for them to hold their attention to an effort into which enthusiasm is not flowing with a steady stream. The strong forces of their being have to be revived daily and self-sugges- tion and command have to come into frequent requisition. Let such an one make the various features of self- help set forth in these letters so familiar that they shall readily fall into order and be promptly mar- shaled to the hard tasks imposed upon them. It is the only way out. To be sure, it involves effort, and effort of the most strenuous sort. The demand is in- exorable. One must either follow directions implic- itly or drift into a state of wretchedness most intolerable. My dear reader of this type, there is help for you. You can attain if you will. Resolutely put your 270 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY mind into a positive attitude and keep it there. Cease fighting your emotions, and cease humoring your weaknesses. Don't say: "I have inherited these feeble tendencies and am not responsible for my be- havior." You can overcome your inherited tenden- cies and, therefore, you are responsible for your acts. Use every rational expedient to acquire self-mastery. Refuse longer to drift. Do not confess your inability after a mere meaningless effort accompanied by posi- tive failure, but reaffirm your sufficiency. Grow away from the little, the immature, the cowardly, the help- less, and become big, womanly, courageous and strong. In these letters you will find the helps to such a development. 271 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXIX THOSE NERVES— Continued Case Two Now let us take that same nervous girl and assume that she has been married to a man of the average business type. He is virile, coarse, generally kind, but inattentive in his ordinary domestic life. He likes his club, his cigar, his drink, at times going to excess in his indulgences, all of which grate on her sensitive nerves, and despite her efforts to bear it patiently, brings her at last to a state of profound depression or hysterical excitement. It soon becomes evident to both parties that a change of some kind is necessary. She is not in- clined to let herself go in the same directions that his inclinations are carrying him, but she came to him an uncontrolled, spoiled girl, and the environ- ment into which she has been plunged is as bad for her as it could well be. She tires of his disposition to find his largest satisfactions away from her, and he feels that no man, however rugged, would long 272 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY be able to bear her fretfulness without diversion. So there they stand looking at one another, wholly at a loss to know what to do. He suggests a sanitarium for her under the conviction that she is ill, and she willingly accepts the proposal under the conviction that rest and treatment may be able to tide her over what has become an emergency. The sanitarium gives her temporary relief, but her return home is attended by an early recurrence of the old troubles. The physical attentions received have not reached the source of her distresses. It is not anemia, nor malnutrition that has put her into the dreadful condition in which she finds herself, but the anemia and malnutrition are now contributing to her stay there. Doctors are quite disposed to get the rudder at the bow, which makes it so hard for them to get their patients safely into port. This poor girl had her troubles before she was mar- ried, but they were not so hard to bear. At that time they were shared by the other members of the family, whose sympathy and indulgence she had. Now a fresh cause of trouble has been introduced, and it is related to that emotional sense which lies nearest the trouble center of both men and women, 273 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY namely, the erotic. The husband is full of red- blooded virility. He means to be kind and consid- erate, but she is shrinking and sensitive. He goes at the sex problem as he does at business — in a reso- lute, positive way, minus all the frills which appeal so strongly to the sensibilities of a delicate woman. He cannot understand her lack of ardor, and in- wardly threatens to go elsewhere for his pleasures. She is equally at a loss to know how he can find de- light in such coarseness. Her ideals have been wholly shattered. At the same time she revolts at the thought of his going to others in search of what a man should find at home. In extenuation of her fail- ures to make a happy, helpful wife, she pleads her ailments. She confesses herself never quite well. And thus the domestic craft drifts slowly onwards to certain destruction. Her natural mother instinct has been sadly chilled, and she is in despair lest the physical and mental distresses incident to motherhood be thrust upon her. This is a common type of nervous womanhood. The husband honestly declares to the doctor his willingness to do almost anything to better the situa- tion. But what can the doctor do, with his material 274 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY remedies? He searches again for hidden traces of physical cause for the wife's condition. He finally resorts to surgery. And still the mystery thickens. He does not question that the trouble lies in the nerv- ous system, but he cannot believe that the moving cause of the condition lies in mind. And so he blunders on. In such a situation reeducation can do more to re- store harmony and health than anything else. The husband needs it as much as does the wife. He needs to be told some very plain truths. Both require a series of "therapeutic conversations." He may re- sent an upsetting of his know-it-all ideas even more disdainfully than she. The conditions may be such that he has to be left out of the deal altogether. While this is unfortunate, it is not prohibitive of good, for I have found that when a wife comes by well-ordered steps to a high level of psychic experi- ence, the husband is not able long to escape the effects of her high and orderly thinking. An effect soon begins to show itself in him. He seems more consid- erate and pliable, until at last a crisis is reached, as the result of which he becomes affectionate, subdued and teachable. 275 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY The early stages of the psychic subjugation of self undertaken by the unhappy wife are full of hard- ship. Greater is she who rules her own spirit than he who takes a city. The struggle is a hard one, and the more so for one of so delicate a nervous or- ganization. But the reward is ample, even though it comes at the end of months of earnest effort. When one is up against an environment which cannot be materially modified by direct attack, the part of wisdom is so to change one's self that the effect is equal to a change in the environment itself. It is useless for a woman who finds herself in the predica- ment described to plead and fret and grieve over the situation. To do so is to aggravate it. Self-adjust- ment is the only rational procedure. It is a task fit for a Hercules, but one within any woman's range of accomplishment, provided she is willing to spend her energy on self-modification rather than on the hopeless task of changing her husband. It is the same old problem of self-mastery to which she must come if she hopes to escape the distresses incident to self-indulgence and moral weakness. The disorder of her nerves is in great measure dependent on the loss of her emotional balance and consequent failure to put her dynamic forces under the rule of reason, 276 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY and she cannot hope to regain her health and com- posure until she has acquired ascendency over their erratic expression. To accomplish such a purpose involves a use of the various therapeutic measures for self-help explicitly set forth in other letters. It is a triumph not easily achieved, to be sure, and yet is a very certain one to those who industriously seek it. Women are more nervous than men (1) because they are more sensi- tive, and (2) because they are more distinctly under the dominance of their large emotions. They find self-help less effective than men, owing to a deficiency of volitionary energy. The exceptions prove the rule. I have told you, my dear girl, how hard it is to win, so that you will adjust your efforts at the very start to a good hard campaign. There is a lot of work to be done in you, and it will take time and patience to do it. If you well understand this before you begin, but know equally well that the results are sure if rightly sought, you will not get so easily dis- couraged. My little patient, if you will be strong and full of courage, here is my hand to aid you to the end. There are doubtless some cases in which the mis- 277 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY mating is so decided and the hope of agreement so baseless that permanent separation is essential to mental and physical health. Whenever this is the case, either the patient must be resolute enough to insist on dissolution of the nuptial agreement, or must cheerfully submit to the husband's initiative without letting it plunge her into fresh distresses of either mind or body. 278 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXX THOSE NERVES— Continued In the two preceding letters I have given you sit- uations under which women develop aggravated forms of nervous disorder, and which if left uncor- rected are sure to lead to pitiful invalidism. The symptoms were those of neurasthenia or nervous weakness, but it must not be supposed that the symp- toms given include all those met with in such states. I shall now give you some cases presenting symptoms of a like kind, but differing in some respects accord- ing to the temperaments and physical as well as mental states of those in whom they develop. Case Three Here is a woman who has always been headstrong and self-assertive. She is of a vitalistic nature, well nourished, full of ambition and resolution. She has married a man whom she loves as well as she is ca- pable of loving, as it would seem, though I do not mean to give an impression that there is in her a lack of sincere affection. She loves him well, but 279 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY she loves herself better. This young woman, with two children, the last of whom is still in arms, has been irritable, sleepless, restless, dissatisfied and taci- turn for a year or more. She has lost but little flesh, though during gestation she had found herself stouter than ever before; but she has unusual pallor, and her expression is that of mingled vexation and grief. She occasionally weeps, much to her chargin, but her moods are not those which elicit pity from her friends, as she is uneasy whenever given sympathy, and finds a world of fault with her husband and all who seek to temper the keenness of her sufferings. The physician declares that a small rent in the neck of the womb is the offending lesion, and its re- pair is effected without relief to the symptoms. The insomnia has become distressing and fear of many things has taken possession of her. Remedies and expedients are employed without avail. There is growing nerve and muscle tension which threatens convulsive action. She tightens every fiber of her mental and moral being with an idea that she is put- ting up a stout resistance, without which she should long ago have reached the explosive point. She tells the doctor and her friends on how many occasions 280 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY she has shown most astonishing courage and, to make the impression more profound, she is betrayed into clear enough exaggerations. She affirms her faith in a happy outcome of her troubles and refuses to acknowledge that she is in need of remedial attention. She smiles at the credulity of her auditors and espe- cially when relating her experiences to a physician. She discounts every statement made and every opin- ion expressed. She has diagnosed her own case and defends her opinions against all comers. And this she does with an astonishing air of satisfaction. She parries with exceeding skill every assurance given her that she is about to recover, and acts as though such a result were not a thing devoutly to be wished for, since it signifies a state that others hold as ideal. There is something dramatic in her manner. She strains at effect. Her affection is not easily gained. Her loves are capricious. She inclines to those who believe as she does and denounces those who disagree with her. And yet she can be rescued only by one who has pierced her subterfuges and torn off her mask, which, strange to say, she herself is scarcely aware of having. If you, my dear reader, find in this picture some 281 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY of your own symptoms, I want you to let me say a word of plain speech to you. You very well know that I know what all this means. RTo one else need know. I am frank to tell you that there is a peculiar perverseness about you, of which you are vaguely con- scious, that is proving your destruction. You have a sense of living in a hazy, unreal state. Things look unnatural, and you react to impressions not accord- ing to your good sense, which is ample, but according to a bias which you yourself cannot understand. To will something better is present with you, but to do as your reason dictates seems beyond your power. Now take my hand and let me rescue you from this unnatural condition. Join me in a hearty effort and you shall succeed. Let me be to you a real pres- ence for the time, to encourage, to inspire, to com- mand you to better living. Resolutely cast off the spell that rests upon you. Disengage yourself from the entanglement. Affirm your noble birth and avail yourself of your birthright. You can and must be set free. It is your strength and not mine that can avail. Use it ! Use it ! And when once you have wrenched yourself free, just write me a line to that effect and give me your explicit promise to do all that I here ask you to do. 282 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY And you, too, my dear woman, who may not be in this precise environment, but find the symptoms befit- ting your state, remember that these words are ad- dressed to you. I pray you to let them sink deep into your consciousness and arouse you to strong action. You shall have a personal word of encouragement if you need it. 283 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXXI THOSE NERVES— Continued Case Four Here is a woman who has passed the third decade of life without marrying and is moving on towards that age dreaded by every sensitive woman, since it marks the close of her period of fresh beauty and bounding spirit. She is not too old to marry, and she must not consider herself so until she has turned sixty. So far as her feelings go she can discover no change. Indeed, she sometimes feels waves of more abundant life sweep through her organism as they never did before. And yet she reacts to the reflec- tion that the years are clambering over one another and life has neglected to assume its full significance. She has had much experience, but there are ehords in her nature which have never been struck. There is a slumbering song that no musician has yet awak- ened into tuneful melody. And this saddens her. Many a wakeful night has it come home to her with a sickening sense of reality. From such a woman the goal towards which she 284 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY has. looked with expectant eyes — the goal of a happy and useful domestic life — is fading from her hope. That is the root cause of the nervousness which re- cently has become a dominant state of consciousness. I do not blame her for feeling disappointed, for a woman must have an object upon which she can pour out her love as a sacred oblation, an altar at which she can offer the sacrifices of a sincere devotion. It is a period in a woman's life when she turns to serious contemplation. Until then she may not have considered with the same interest the various prob- lems which soon or late are thrust upon us all. For this reason it is a period when a woman with an in- quiring mind finds a new interest in those studies that bear upon the nature of man and his relations to others, the nature of God and man's relations to Him, and in pursuing them she is liable to learn some things which unsettle her former opinions and for a time set her more or less adrift. Other women of smaller mental caliber and shallower thought are caught up by some wave of enthusiasm and carried into the thrall of religious fanaticism. Whichever course is followed is settled by a kind of determinism rather than by deliberate purpose, and each bears 285 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY fruit after its kind. The wisdom that ought to guide us in all our deliberate acts is not always in imme- diate evidence, and yet one can think and act only according to the character of his mental content. What we already have determines our power to assimilate new ideas. My dear woman, though there is much in your environment to give you cause for self-felicitation, you pass it all by and continue miserable. So far as pleasure is concerned, you are in a better situation than the woman who is married to one she does not love. Far better. You do not know the grief of a sensitive nature who in marrying has missed union with a true mate. The door of life is still wide open for you. By winding way your own may be ap- proaching you at this very moment, and I want you to be sure that your faith is the magnet that shall draw him to you. But then while you are waiting and hoping — and you must not cease to do so while life lasts — that very faith, with its many fountains of joy, can make you one of the happiest of women. And then, too, the trial of your faith will spur you to deeper thinking and stronger acting. This life is but a day in your larger life, and if today sinks into 286 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY the arms of somber night while your realization still lingers on the way, you may be sure that not later than the morrow can its coming be deferred. So your lot is not so hard as it seems to casual view. You are being fitted for a realization that rises superior to anything you have fancied, if only you are giving yourself up without a murmur to the mellowing forces acting upon you. Make the hard experiences your aids to a larger life. Learn to love them. See in every trial an opportunity for advancement. Finally, make good use of all your opportunities to serve. I would not have you do for others what they would better do for themselves, but there are many minor services you can give and in giving them you will find both pleasure and profit. There is a deep satisfaction in finding that we are filling a useful place in the world. Do not think that I have wandered far afield in thus encouraging you to stronger and more servicea- ble living as a measure of relief from your nervous distresses, for I assure you that to do what I have advised will calm and tone your nerves and establish your mental poise. 287 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY You have felt as though you were in a cul-de-sac and could go no further. The joys of life have been shut off. The future has no promise of satisfaction in it. These are delusions, as you shall find if you follow the course I have marked out for you. It leads along the bright hill tops of life, where play the richest hues of the mellowing day. So, now onwards with the sunlight gladdening your face ! 288 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXXII THOSE NERVES— Continued Case Five There is nothing more disconcerting to a woman than to find herself bereft of her husband upon whom she had poured out her heart's best love. If death comes to him at the end of long weeks or months of illness, during which time life has been ebbing slowly and painfully, she receives at the end a legacy of fatigue and nervous exhaustion that plunges her into an acute neurasthenia. If the demise comes with startling suddenness, the attending shock is liable to overthrow all courageous resistance and level every bright hope. This is one of life's appalling tragedies. Though the thought of death may not appall, there is not one who remains unawed in the presence of dissolution. That Death will be sure to come our way, late or early, we know, but the divertissements of the present shut out our thoughts of his coming and make life livable. But when he comes to rob us of those who 289 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY have become a part of our lives, no wonder we are shocked and stunned; that we are left bleeding and languishing. If there are children left to the grief -stricken one, a dreadful sense of responsibility falls on her, and there is no one to share it with her. Friends always do what they can to lighten the burden, and from these kind offices the mourner derives a real but tem- porary support. Then follow the details of business readjustment, the clamors of creditors, some of them demanding, like old Shylock, the pound of flesh, the awakening, it may be, to startling financial situations attended by the red tape and delays of the law. But women suffer most at such times from their psychic wounds. Everything pertaining to their love- life is changed on short order. The whole organic program is for the time disarranged, and it is not any wonder that the nerves fly off at tangents. There "is no denying that much of the distress at such a period is inseparable from the catastrophe. In our condolences we urge the sufferer to be brave and strong, but one who deeply loves cannot be wholly so. Nor do I believe she should aim to be. A burst of grief is not only to be expected, but it ought to be 290 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY wisely encouraged. The most violent storms are soon- est past. Let grief have its time and place, but when it has spent its force, let the tears be dried, let the smile return, let the readjustment be made, and let a strong life be lived. I make no quarrel with early and temporary griefs, for these are normal. I can- not blame one for falling when he is stunned by a blow. It is only when one remains felled over long, yielding to the inertia of feeling and declining to rally his strong forces that I begin to scold. Such a situation as I have described is not often as desperate as it for the moment looks. The woman is still young, hope of a new alliance, even if it spring up early, is not to be denounced. Life is not long at the longest, and they are unwise who continue to sit and idly mourn over conditions that can be much mended. Only the unwise and the weak consent to remain useless and helpless under the power of sor- row. Sorrow should endure for a night, but let joy come in the morning. The social convention which puts a ban on perennial hope and shuts out life by artificial and meaningless taboos is to be ignored. Due respect is to be shown the memory of the de- parted, but all that is fictitious and formal, all that 291 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY savors of disability and uselessness, all that is disin- tegrating to life and suffocative to well being ought to be put aside. "When I go out to sea," and am safely past "the bar/' I want those who truly love me, and whom I have loved, to lay aside their griefs and with the light of the morning in their faces go forth courageously to meet all the difficulties, the dangers, the joys of life, and to do so with a song upon their lips. And now to you, my dear patient, I want to ad- dress a few direct words of good cheer and strong command. Your days of profound grief ought now to be past. You have your life to live, and whether it be long or short, it will require the co-operation of all your strong forces and the support of all that goes to make life worth living. It is your duty to make your life effective. This you are now failing to do. Do not think me unfeeling because I urge you to cheerful action. You have my profound sym- pathy, and it is in a spirit of sympathy that I speak as I do. It is always mistaking to be ruled by our emotions. It is true that without them life would be colorless. They are an essential part of existence. We are all the better for running the gamut of feel- ing. But to remain long under the effects of a de- 292 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY pressing emotion is devitalizing. So if you love your children, to whom you owe a motherly duty, if you love your friends, whose cheerfulness you have no right to chill, if you regard your usefulness in life, and have a desire to retain your sanity and poise, then break away from this gloominess. This you say you would be glad to do if you only could. Ah, it is a lurking false pride and a sense of shame that you defer to. You think it would be wanton disregard of love to break from your grief. You have arrived at such a conclusion from falla- cious reasoning. You can become interested in life if you are willing to. Don't say that you cannot till you have at least tried. If you mock at these words, if they irritate or annoy you, then they are not for you. They will be welcome to those who are really trying to rise out of the ashes of their sorrow. You may plead that your lot is singularly hard. The years may have silvered your hair and furrowed your face. You have no children to care for, as they have married and you are left alone. It is a hard lot, but it offers you a great opportunity. I knew one just like you, and let me tell you what she did. She assumed a part of the struggle of another poor woman who had small children, giving her little 293 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY respites, cheerful counsel, inspiring suggestions such as I am giving you. She interested herself in cur- rent problems — political, domestic, social — and kept herself in the swim of life. Today, though still alone, and old, she is an inspiration to many lives and a welcome guest wherever she goes. She radiates sun- shine wherever duty or pleasure leads her. Her life was never so useful, her experiences were never so satisfying. As one thinketh so is she. Keep this truth before you. If you cannot control your mind as you would like to, set about acquiring the power. You can make your efforts fruitful by using the measures of self- persuasion, suggestion and command given in other letters of this collection. Enter into the spirit of modern life; keep up to date. These things mean much to one like you. To these should be added what you can never afford to ignore, the influence of a well-held ideal. See yourself as you would like to be, and insist on holding such a view whenever thought has occasion to return to self -contemplation. A well-held ideal has tremendous potency in it. A word to you also, aged one, who have been wid- owed when the years had begun to grow heavy. The 294 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY children now have their own interests, into which you are not expected to enter very deeply. You are thought out of date in your ideas of life, and it may be you are. You have been too free with your allu- sions to the good old ways of doing things. It has been hard for you to enter into the spirit of the new times. I do not wonder that you have thought yourself more or less "on the shelf." You need to brighten up a bit. Show the young people that you are still of their set — in spirit. I know it is hard to do so, but you will find things harder still if you do not do so. I fancy you have already found them so. Read and adopt the newer ideas. Why, I know a woman between ninety and a hundred years old who, finding herself getting fossilized in mind and body, resolutely turned over a new leaf about ten years ago and began her life record on a fresh page. She just drank in everything new that had uplift and spirit in it. In consequence her health and strength have much improved, her mind is clear, her heart is light and she is the brightness and good cheer of the household. She says she didn't begin to live until she made this change in her mental attitude. 295 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXXIII THOSE NERVES— Continued Case Six Here is an invalid. She has been unable to be about like other women for years. She spends most of her time in bed. She is weak, distressed, discour- aged. Whenever she gets on her feet and begins to walk, and usually when she even sits up for a few minutes, her distress is increased. A sense of pros- tration is continually with her. She has little appe- tite, her food often gives her pain, and the bowels are obstinately constipated. There is also much distress in the pelvic region. She attributes the cause of the disorder which has brought her low to a period of overexertion.' She had never been very strong, but was fairly comforta- ble until her mother's long sickness, during which she was obliged to act as nurse or assistant. She had succeeded in maintaining her poise and self-command so well that encomiums were heaped upon her, but at the close of the siege she was a wreck. That was 296 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY several years ago, but she is still suffering the effects of what she then passed through. Or, instead of this she was subjected to a dreadful shock occasioned by finding that her husband, whom she had trusted and loved with all her heart, had been unfaithful to her. In consequence she was plunged into the very depths of despair, chagrin and anger, and she is now sure that she can never wholly recover from the ef- fects of the horrid experience. Or, again, it may be that she lost a lover on whom she had centered her affection and has been a mourner ever since, or her son or daughter went wrong; her husband became a bankrupt and she had to give up her happy social life. Nearly all these invalids attribute their phys- ical downfall to some special experience that shocked their emotional nature to its very center or that drained them of all their vitality. While this is a common history of invalidism in general, it should be known that the events acting, as it is believed, as the moving cause of the over- throw are such only because they found the organism in a peculiarly susceptible state and all ready to be seriously disordered by them. In other words, one whose resistance is normal would come through such an experience somewhat fatigued or worried very 297 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY likely, but would soon become readjusted and stronger than ever because of the reaction excited at the centers. The causes of susceptibility are to be found chiefly in heredity and early training. Chil- dren of nervous temperaments, instead of being sub- jected to a rigorous discipline and inured to the ad- versities of life, are inordinately loved and petted by their parents, protected from contact with the un- pleasant features incident to early environment, and encouraged to move in lines of small resistance, with consequent underdevelopment of hardy qualities. Many of them are only children whose lives are spoiled by coddling indulgence. A singular feature of these people is that they uni- formly think, or pretend to, that they were treated in a most unfeeling way. They insist that nothing was ever done for them, in the very face of the fact that they were surfeited with kindness. So now when a rigorous regime is established, as it must be in order to rescue them from their wretch- edness and inefficiency, they rebel most energetically. It is difficult to secure their hearty co-operation. They aver that their natures are intolerant of author- ity, insist on being treated with the utmost softness 298 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY and on being allowed to have their own way. It is true that they cannot be driven into health. In some way their affectional natures must be reached and their confidence obtained. When that has been done they will submit to every essential rigor and cooperate to good advantage. In the application of self-help like that outlined in these letters, if they are once won to the reasonableness and power of the treatment, then by making these letters their guide and compan- ion, their counsel and support, it will be possible for them to make a successful application of the prin- ciples set forth therein. But it may require a strong hand to break the power of the morbid spell encasing them and bring them to obedience. A friend may be able to do this — one full of love as well as resolution. This having been done, the same strong hand will be needed to sustain and that same loving and resolute heart to inspire and encourage the faltering one and bring her to safe ground. In most instances of chronic invalidism the ailment is primarily and essentially a 'psychic one. The le- sions, if there are any, are consequent upon the orig- inal nerve derangement and will yield to a rational psychotherapy if faithfully applied. 299 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY And now, my dear patient, a word directly to you. Your day of deliverance draws near. You have been an invalid long enough. Let the incredulous smile if they will, but I mean what I say when I assure you that you can get well if you are only determined to. Believe it with all your heart, act up to that be- lief, and you shall see. You have unwittingly acted an irrational part. You have done so through igno- rance, and I have come to give you saving knowledge. It will be hard for you to accept it, for you are full of your own notions and the false ideas given you by some of your well-meaning but unwise physicians. These notions have brought you where you are, and you ought to be ready to part with them. You have your theories of possible cure, but they have not done much for you, have they ? You are under the power of your own body, which was designed to be your servant and not your master. Deny its authority! Affirm your power. Kise to authority. You do not need to lie in bed another day. Your feelings, your sensations, your emotions have you spellbound. The chances are nine to one that you are being outwitted by them. As organized complexes they are intelli- gent and cunning. In truth, they are acting an inde- pendent and disorderly part as seceders from the 300 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY authority of your aggregate self. You will elsewhere find what I mean by this dissociate, this factional action. It is a split in your personality, and it is playing a subtle and delusive trick. Break from its power by recalling it to harmonious union with the other parts of your composite organism. You have authority to do this, and all you have to do is to use it with confidence, intelligence and unwavering firm- ness. Will you do it ? Will you now rise and declare your right to health in defiance of all your fears and distresses? Begin to make your powers obey. Command them. Insist upon acting the part of a well woman. I do not advise you to get up and go shopping the first day, for your muscular system has become weak through lack of exercise. But " arise and walk" — not very far the first time, but progressively further. You can do it if you will, I say, and you can get well unless it is some malignant disease that has brought you low. The chances are, I insist, as nine to one that you have no disease that need confine you to your bed. If you have pain on rising, "read the riot act" to it, and then walk all over it. This lying abed for months and years be- cause it hurts you to rise is subordinating your god- like powers to the domination of mere feeling. 301 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Do what I tell you to with courage and resolution and confidence for a few days and then write me the results, telling me whether you are still resolved to go on or not. A written pledge will steady your purpose and confirm your courage. 302 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXXIV PSYCHASTHENIA When neurasthenia develops in one of a pro- nounced nervous temperament it is usually attended not alone by the ordinary stigmata of the disease, such as fatigability, sensibility, insomnia and such like expressions, but is characterized also by aston- ishing phobias or fears of various kinds, which sig- nify a weakness of the will and derangement of other psychic functions. The condition has therefore been called psychasthenia. One thus afflicted finds that he dreads to do certain things and to put himself into certain situations. For example, he finds himself beset with the physical sensations of fear, many times of a most overwhelm- ing and paralyzing intensity, whenever he ascends to a height, rides on a swift-moving train, or even looks out upon broad expanses of space. In our cities such a patient can sometimes scarcely be prevailed upon to ride on the elevated roads, and some of them have become so enthralled by fear that they dare not 303 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY go far from their homes. They avoid the current news of the day for fear of waking some new fear or of aggravating an old one. They are without con- fidence in themselves, depreciating their powers and influence to the last degree. These phobias are recognized by them as most irra- tional. Even with their eyes closed, they may go almost into hysterics over a consciousness of being on an upper floor in a large building, though unable at the moment to get an outside view. The conscious- ness of being there itself is enough to distress. Such an one is not afraid he will fall and upbraids himself for his foolishness. He is distressed by the mere sensations which have associated themselves with par- ticular states of consciousness. Merely to look up- wards at a high building from the sidewalk makes him shudder. In riding on a swift-moving train he does not fear an accident. He may even confess that to be killed would be a relief. He merely dreads the sensations which certain things evoke. He is clear- headed and capable, as a rule, but fears to trust his own judgment or to undertake responsibilities. As a consequence, such patients are continually moving in lines offering small resistance, and gradu- 304 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY ally lose their strong qualities. Their state thus be- comes most pitiable. For example, I was at one time called to see a man who gave a most harrowing ac- count of his experiences. He had been in a psychas- thenic state for about eight years, and as a result of an increasing weakness of will he had abandoned business five years previously. By degrees he had grown worse, so that for three years he could not be persuaded to go any distance from home. His resi- dence was only five or six blocks from my own. In the course of the talk I explained to him my aversion to visiting patients at their homes, and sought to ar- range for his coming to see me for a series of treat- ments. The colloquy, which was most amusing, ran something like this : "I don't see how I can go so far, doctor," he pro- tested. "It can do you no harm to go that short distance. You can easily walk it in ten minutes." "You don't seem to understand. I know the phys- ical exertion will not hurt me, but I'm afraid to get so far from home. That may sound foolish to you, but it's true." 305 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY "Then take your wife with you for company. If you dislike to walk all the way, take the car at Forty- seventh street." "Ride on a car?" he exclaimed in consternation. "Why, yes, of course. Why not ?" "I can't ride on a car." "Then call a cab for the first time or two." "Man alive, nothing would induce me to get into a cab." Taking him by the arm I said in stern tones : "This nonsense must stop. Come with your wife in the morning without another word. Do you think I shall spend my efforts on a man who won't do that much for himself?" He came, and ultimately became a useful and happy business man again. But when he appeared on that first occasion he looked like a frightened hare. I want to assure you, my reader, who may be suf- fering in a similar way, that you are being dread- fully imposed upon by your foolish fears. There is really nothing to fear. You suffer those nervous sensations which you translate into fear because of the law of association of ideas. There is no neces- 306 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY sary connection between the thing you do and the thing you feel, except that automatically and psychically established. But you have been doing nothing hard for so long that your weakened will does not hold you. You have lost your grip on strength and must have the assist- ance of the kind of help to be found in these letters for a time to hold you to the task of self-extrication. So keep this book near you. Study it much. Sleep with it under your pillow, if you like. Make it a close companion — a fetish. You cannot overcome without a long and hard struggle, so don't be looking for magical deliverance. Now don't turn away and protest that I discourage you. I do not ; I'm telling you the facts in the case and you may as well face them. You can get well, but you will have to become a man in doing so. You can't play infant any longer. But remember I do not hesitate to assure you of full success if you follow my directions. You don't need to go into details to convince me that you are a great sufferer. You do not have to assure me so often that your trouble does not grow out of the imagina- tion. I am better aware of this than many who have not laughed at your distresses. Psychasthenia is just 307 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY as much a disease as is smallpox or scarlet fever. It it merely up to you to be a strong man, or to remain a poor, worthless, despicable weakling. "But the doctors tell me," you say, "that the trouble is an organic one, and requires something more than psychic treatment. They say my nerves are in a state of malnutrition, and that I must rest a good deal and favor myself in every possible way. Doctor, you don't know how weak I am." Oh, yes, my dear fellow, I know all about it. I know, too, that to follow the advice those well-meaning doctors give you will be worse than useless. The ailment is essentially psychoneurotic, and the sense of ex- haustion and the other feelings are consequent on the loss of mental stamina. The more you favor yourself, the more you will have to. What you must do is to assume control of your whole organism and enforce upon it normal behavior. There is no use in warring against the fears and sensations by direct assault. They thrive on attention, and the more you dignify them, the more insistent will they become. You must ignore them. What I mean by that is that you must resolutely refuse to let them exercise authority over your action. You must act the part 308 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY of a normal man, irrespective of the feelings. You may think that an easy thing to do, but you will find it exceedingly hard. So don't be overconfident of quick success, as that might lead you into despair. I do not believe in setting limitations to the action of curative energy; L merely recognize that the cure must progress according to law. If the trouble were wholly imaginary, the situation would be very differ- ent, but you have a real pathological condition to overcome, and it will have to be controlled according to law. It is a psychoneurosis and does not present organic complications or changes, but it is a disease just the samej and has to be treated as such. It is, however, a disorder amenable only to mental means of cure. Argue the points with yourself, but be sure to take the side of self-command. Bring before your con- sciousness repeatedly the irrationality of the feelings and the violence you are doing your moral nature in submitting to their domination. It will be necessary to do this times without number in order to get per- manent results. These phobias and other aberrations are deep seated and their channels are well worn, so that rapid changes of a permanent kind are out of question. But they are none the less certain, pro- 309 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY vided the efforts continue unrelaxed. Above all, you must bring to bear the full force of your will to main- tain a consistent and defiant manner towards these fears. Like a good soldier, you must be willing to suffer when by so doing you can win. The feelings, since they represent dissociated parts of your own in- telligence, will resort to all sorts of expedients to hold your morbid attention and make you susceptible, so there exists all the greater reason for your being stoical and inattentive. As soon as you can acquire a spirit of indifference to their attacks you will pass from under their power. Autosuggestions Now for some autosuggestions which you are to use faithfully every day. I fear not. These weak feelings and tense tremors cannot harm me. My impulse is to run, but I restrain myself; to avoid doing certain things, but I do them ; to shrink from bearing certain responsibilities, but I bear them. Come what will, I intend to command my actions. 310 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Let the sensations come, let the feelings arise, let the emotions sweep over me, I shall not be disconcerted by them. I am bound to be master. I see myself strong, well and fearless. I will not doubt my ability, my health, my courage. My will has fallen into a state of denutrition, but it comes to my relief, and I shall use it to the limit. My reinforced courage has already made it stronger. I am resolved to maintain this strong attitude to- wards my fears and ill feelings. My success in self- recovery depends on this. Though relief should delay indefinitely, I shall not waver. I am going through on this line, no matter what may oppose. I am fully persuaded that success shall crown my efforts at last. Again I resolutely cast aside my fears, and I do so with a smile of confidence. I do not expect to attain at a single stride. I am willing to struggle since (1)1 know that success shall attend my efforts, and (2) I am assured that this severe trial shall develop my faculties. 311 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXXV UNSETTLED RELIGIOUS FAITH Into the lives of all who think and read there come periods of serious religious and philosophical reflection. The various stages of physical life, such as those of puberty, of motherhood and of the climac- teric, are attended in most people by a more or less deep consideration of human relationship to the Un- seen Power that appears somehow to shape events. In close relationship to that phase of thought, and also demanding serious consideration, is the question of social relationship." The two go hand in hand. It has been clearly enough shown to those who give at- tention that there is also a close relationship between religion and sexuality. At puberty both boys and girls grow more serious and reflective. Creative im- pulses begin to stir within them, prompting them to' question life's phenomena and to learn something re- garding "how" and "why." Then again in the re- productive period, when two unite their energies in creative action and the cherished fruit thereof is be- fore them, they both ask, "What does all this mean V 9 312 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Finally, when sexual energy diminishes, and the cre- ative faculty wanes, a more prolonged and profound consideration of these subjects becomes uppermost. It is observable that the religious impulses are not so likely to be heterodoxical in character as are the sexual. It is when one has attained to age and ex- perience that one asks for the solid truths and the substantial facts of life. Occasionally one does so at an earlier period and becomes much concerned about them. Ideas of God are apt to change mate- rially. The God of later life is not often the God of earlier years. Life itself in consequence has a different meaning. The free thought of the times favors this change. People are doing more independent thinking than ever before. Religious dogmas have not the author- ity they once had. The old statements of faith fall on skeptical ears and touch unresponsive emotions. And yet there are enough of the old impressions left in the minds of those religiously inclined to keep one who is advancing along the newer lines a bit "at sea" for a time. The revulsive effects of such a mental turmoil as is often set up are unsettling to the nerves of sensitive people. I recently had under my care one of the leading theological teachers of the country 313 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY who had become badly unhinged nervously by the conflict between conviction of truth and his relations to the public as a teacher and leader. His faith in the old tenets had so crumbled that he was troubled to discern his proper course. He feared the effect on certain weak minds of a frank avowal of his con- victions, while the spirit of truth was crowding for utterance. Many people are in a similar situation. I, myself, went through similar mental stress with respect both to medicine and theology before arriving at solid ground, and therefore can sympathize with those who are in transit. It is mental conflict that creates nervous disturb- ance, and this can be subdued only by mental and spiritual means. One has to grow strong enough to follow truth wherever it leads in order to escape the thralldom of nerves. There is a large residuum of weakness abroad, and those who share it are sure to get hurt. One's greatest safety lies in the direc- tion of mental strength and courage. A temporizing policy is always disintegrating in its effects. Neu- rasthenia not infrequently finds its immediate source in these religious and moral conflicts and they have to be settled as a condition of relief. It is for this reason that the psychotherapist finds it necessary to 314 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY discuss with most of his patients religious, social and domestic questions. In many instances the sex ques- tion is the disturbing one, and until it is put upon a firm basis of conviction and the conflict thus ended, relief of the nervous symptoms cannot be expected. And now a more personal word to needy ones. You are seeking to know the truth, believing that the truth shall make you free. Free from what? From the domination of fear, under the spell of which you, in common with the great bulk of hu- manity, are held. The world goes groaning under the distresses proceeding from these demoralizing emotions. You want to ally yourself with the con- trolling forces and thus find protection, and so in the past you have cried frantically into resounding space for help and have sometimes found it. But the rationale of the thing has not been clear to you, and therefore you have been seeking a better theology and a more explicit understanding. In your search you have reached a point where the old opinions look puerile; you are unable longer to accept them as reasonable. On the other hand, you are told that your puny reason cannot expect to apprehend the truth, since truth is "spiritually dis- 315 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY cerned," and so you have hesitated until you have momentarily lost your confidence and fallen back into the old beliefs. But you could not rest there and the see-saw has been kept up until your nerves are in high tension. Then, too, you have found that a relaxation of your faith in scriptural inspiration of a plenary sort sets aside the authority of ethical codes and allows you possible liberties not hitherto even contemplated and this startles you. You reflect that you cannot afford to live under the limitations set by human authority if they clip your wings and forbid your far flights, and you fear that they do just that. You find "a law in your members" which resents the re- straints laid upon you by religious dogmas, and are unwilling to believe that + here can be- enmity between the physical and the spiritual, from which you de- duce that someone who claims to know must have erred. At any rate, you question. These seem like momentous matters, and your mental perturba- tion is in proportion to your estimate of their im- portance. So there you are, wretchedly unsettled. The natural impulses, representing a vital urge, in- crease in force and you are at your wits' end. 316 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I shall not hope to settle jour questions for you. I can only give you the general principles upon which they must be settled and aid you to apply them. "Be fully persuaded in your own mind" — that is of para- mount importance. But I shall assure you that no fatal errors can be made while you are following the way which opens before you, provided you make your actions match rules of reason. One may wisely fol- low intuitions, and be governed by tenets that tran- scend reason, but never those which controvert it. This is a nice distinction that I want you to get. Then I bid you cease worrying about your course, for you cannot get into inextricable trouble in fol- lowing the guidance of your own good sense. You may meet trials and adversities of all sorts, but if your faith waver not, you will surely come at last into the coveted "broad place." Anxiety only com- plicates matters, for it keeps your nerves on edge and moves you to pernicious action. Do not get dis- couraged. Keep your purposes good. Aspire to larger and better conditions and expect them. God is always on the side of courage. It is the weakling who gets hurt; the fearless come through unscathed. Remember that the strong way is always the best way. Settle all life's problems by the rule of reason. 317 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Keason always takes the rights and interests of others into account. You have no right to harm another, though you may sometimes hurt their feelings. The best of us sometimes suffer in pride and selfish love with decided benefit. Bitter draughts now and then do us good. Do whatever your larger self leads you to do. Whatever enlarges, uplifts and tones us in mind and body, whatever stimulates us to energetic doing, can't be wrong. Neither can 'it do anybody true injury in the final accounting. Settle your questions for yourself. Don't go about asking promiscuous advice. Be earnest, be honest, be sincere, be resolute, be open-minded and be posi- tive. Act from conviction. Do nothing that you re- gard as wrong and then plead inability to have done otherwise. You can control your actions. Let each one of them, then, be full of thought and purpose. Do things in this way and your positive attitudes will bring those nerves into good order and your whole life into a state of strength and comfort. Autosuggestions Select what you need from the following sugges- tions and affirmations. Add to them some of your own: 318 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I fear nothing. I dread nothing. My courage is equal to every emergency. I have been following the light of truth. Then why should I falter ? Let darkness and doubt come at times if they will. Through them I shall go to better things. My soul hungers and thirsts after wisdom, truth, knowledge. I have broken from the faith of my earlier years because it grew weak and childish in my eyes. It failed to feed me and I was driven to seek nourish- ment farther afield. I am sure that my feet are in the right way. I have not yet attained, but am pushing onwards. Sometimes I weep as I go, but at least I "shall come again with rejoicing, bringing my sheaves with me." There is often "the cry of the flesh" in me. I feel the stirring of strong life. I wonder. I bate my breath and wait. Is it life ? I believe it is. So I 319 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY welcome it, heeding only to make sure of its place and accompaniments. "He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must ex- plore if it be goodness." "It is only as a man puts off all foreign support and stands alone that I see him to be strong and to prevail." MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXXVI FINANCIAL WORRIES Women are thrown into mental depression and nervous disorders most frequently by impingements of adverse conditions on their love nature. Unre- quited, spurned, or betrayed love, faithlessness in a lover, or his death, are the commonest causes. A mere suspicion, sometimes without sufficient excuse, is enough, in certain women, to set up distressing ner- vous states. Not so with men, save in rare instances. In them the immediate cause of such states is re- lated more or less directly' to a different emotion, namely, pride; and the wound of their pride is in- flicted by sudden losses or by persistent failure to make a good business showing. In women, love is the leading feature of life, while in man it is busi- ness. Women cannot live happily and healthily with- out love, and man cannot without an encouraging business. Just as there are some women without love, so there are some men without financial ambition and pride ; but in both cases they are exceptional. 331 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Here is a man who has been a hard worker from youth up. After spending twenty years in hard service in the business world, accumulating money and acquiring a good trade, the money market gets close at a time when his collections are slow and uncertain and the bulk of business has fallen below normal for a twelve-month. He finds himself in need of more money to meet current demands, and is not only refused it by the banks, but a demand is made for a reduction of his present line of credit. This marks the beginning of a rapid business decline which ends in a crash. His pride suffers so severely from the rebuff that he loses all hold on his courage and self-reliance and cannot muster enough force again to enter upon active business. He is ashamed to assume a position in another house, and dares not again resume activity on his own account. He is only fifty-five, but he well knows that his associates pity him and predict his inability to come back. He probably could, but he has not the confidence to try. And so he stays about the house with the family, with nothing important to do. After a time his daughters get business situations and assume the support of the family. He is too proud to reappear among his business friends, but he is not too proud to let his 322 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY daughters toil hard to humor his want of moral courage. I have seen many such men, on some of whom my words of reproof and encouragement have had no appreciable effect. Their moral courage has all run away. They are shells of men out of which the real man long ago perished. The situation is full of pathos. To the idle man who has any pride left in him I want to say a word. I have seen many men much like you, to some of whom it seems useless to make an appeal; but you have not yet reached that stage. I am sorry to know that you have shown so little spirit ; that, while sound in mind and body, you loaf instead of working. You say you can't get a place suited to your ability, and in the same breath you declare that you will take nothing less. Oh, what weakness and folly ! You are assuming a very wrong attitude. For heaven's sake do something, if it be nothing more than soliciting life insurance. There are many honorable things you can do for fair pay if you are willing to do them. I assure you anybody would consider it far more manly for you to get busy. Redeem your reputation before it is too late. Autosuggestions Use the following suggestions and hammer them in. You will need the stimulation they give. 323 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I am ashamed of the indifference, the tameness, the weakness and inefficiency which have character- ized my course. My pride spurs me to action. Why should a man in good enough health give way to mere feeling as I have been doing ? I was badly thrown, to be sure, but that is no excuse for my remaining down; so now "I will arise." Strength and courage characterize a real man. They shall characterize me. Make a note of what I say. I can find some useful labor, and I will. I am master of my forces. The minor ailments, the nervous sensibility and irritability, the sense of fatigue, the sleeplessness are due to my lack of self-command and will leave when once I become a useful man. I have been getting my just deserts. ISTow I am crowding out fear with faith. Mistrust of my powers has held me down. Now I believe. I want to die with my clothes on. When again I become useless and meaningless let me die. 324 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY More abundant life is coming in. These resolutions are not the caprices of the hour or day. They have come to stay. I am renewed in the spirit of my mind. There are many men who allow the fear of failure to paralyze their effectiveness. So solicitous are they that they repel those who would otherwise become good customers or come into other profitable relations to them. Worry is fear, and fear is our worst enemy. Go on worrying, my dear fellow, and you will make a fine mess of your business. Be energetic and confident, be strong and courageous and you will suc- ceed. Let a prospect get an idea from your manner that, while you should be pleased to interest him in what you have to offer, that your business success is assured without his aid, and he will be far more eager to ally himself with you. Act as though you have no axe to grind, and then grindstones without num- ber will be offered you. Customers run when you appear too eager to catch them. So turn down your fears and put plenty of ginger into your thinking and doing, along with a bunch of confidence and courage. 325 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Autosuggestions Tell yourself many times a day, I fear nothing. I dread nothing. Industry, enthusiasm and determination can make a success of me, and these I am full of. In my fancy I see myself surrounded with the evi- dences of success. This ideal I am resolutely and confidently holding. Business is not what it ought to be; funds are running low ; but my needs shall be met in some way. Should I lose in one direction I shall gain in others. Compensation shall be established. My confidence is supreme. All is well, and all shall continue well. Financial loss falls with peculiar weight on a man's selfish pride. Out of the large number who suffer heavy loss there are few who greatly fear being brought to serious want. In this day of immense activity and enterprise a man who has a will to work can always find employment at sufficient compensa- tion to provide the necessaries attached to plain liv- ing. But the injury to one's standing in the eyes of 326 I MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY others — the humiliation of having others look on with pity mingled with a sense of superiority — this is what galls. Yet the pathology of all of us is such at certain stages in life that a dose of this bitter medicine of failure is needed for our purification and regulation. "But see what hardships it puts on my family!" they exclaim. "I wanted my son to go through college, and my daughter to have the advan- tages of a school for young ladies; and I shall be unable to send them. Oh, wretched man that I am !" It must be that these dear men have forgotten how many times they have boasted of what they were com- pelled to do for themselves, and how wholesome had been the effect. "What's worth while in a boy," they have maintained, "is always best brought out by adversity" ; which is notably true ; and now they are mourning because what is worth while in their chil- dren may have a good opportunity to come out. Here is some good moral buckram from Emerson : "And yet the compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappoint- ment, a loss of wealth, a loss of friends, seems at the moment unpaid loss, and unpayable; but the sure 327 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY years reveal the deep remedial force which underlies all facts. The death of a dear friend, wife, brother, lover, husband, which seemed nothing but privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius, for it commonly operates revolution in our life — terminates an epoch of infancy or of youth which was waiting to be closed, or a household, or a style of living, and allows formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character." My dear fellow, you are suffering the acute pain of a recent calamitous financial loss. All suffering "seems for the moment grievous." It is always hard to bear. To many a loss like yours seems worse than death. Indeed, you have felt since this blow fell that you should like to die. But that is a weak and cowardly thought, and you must put it aside with the flat of your strong hand. Should you like to win the admiration of all your friends and acquaintances, so as to turn humiliation into triumph? Then de- mean yourself like a man — a strong man. Let no one see from vour actions that the blow has reached your spirit. Avoid a long face, but do not avoid your friends. Meet them with a smile and make no allusion to your loss. If you are compelled to make 328 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY some changes in your mode of living, make them with the air of a man who is acting from motives of advisability, rather than necessity. Eemember that your creditors and your bankers are attentively watching the effect of this reverse upon you. If they see you standing calm and self-possessed and confi- dent, as the smoke clears away, you will inspire them with trust in your ability to "come back," and they will be ready to lend you a helping hand. You can make good if you will. Autosuggestions Use these suggestions and avail yourself of the other means of help applicable to those whose organ- isms need support to be found in other letters. A man is not really defeated until he confesses himself defeated. "No one attains to the heights without setbacks, hindrances, adversities and calamities. Over and through them one must go to success. I have had a stunning fall but I shall not sit here and rub my bruises any longer. My bones and my spirit are not broken. 329 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Keep your eye on me, you who have smiled, half glad, when I fell, and see where I land. "My head is bloodv, but unbowed." I'll not be thrown in the same way again. I have had my experience. Yours may not be far away. I merely ask my creditors for a good chance to demonstrate my ability. I shall make good. I have just begun to fight. ~No unnecessary delays. I shall begin again on the morrow. 330 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXXVII THE ADVANCING YEARS As people grow older they begin to look for the changes and infirmities that commonly go with age; and if their imagination is large and active, as imag- ination is apt to be in those who are alarmed or anxious, they will be sure to find them. The thought that one is entering a period of life in which there commonly is dwindling physical energy is not a pleasant one, and it is not surprising that a certain degree of suspicion insensibly attaches itself to every disturbing symptom, especially if it be disposed to become protracted. Failing eyesight carries consternation to some sensitive persons, and an interruption of the menses brings home in a dis- heartening way to women the fact that they are reaching the years of lapsing generative power. There are doubtless reminders enough of accumu- lated years for those who are passing the mileposts of middle and later life to keep them advised of oncoming loss of vigor; but such people do them- 331 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY selves a wrong in attributing diminished vision, the climacteric, and lessened endurance to a decay of energy. As in youth the body undergoes certain changes in form and structure, in spirit and strength, to fit it for the physiological requirements incident to the restless activities of early life, just so does the body change in form and texture as it feels the vital activities relaxing their demands. What I mean is that these changes do not necessarily indicate dis- integration, but rather adaptation to a change of re- quirements. The movements of a man are slow and limited as compared with the movements of a romp- ing, quick-eyed boy. Function determines demand. Prolonging Life That it is possible to modify a physiological ac- tion of this kind and thereby protract the period of one's vigor and activity is as positive as that it is possible by mental and physical cooperation to hasten the development of mental and physical energy. It is a poor rule that will not work both ways. Let me tell you how this is to be done. That it cannot be done to an extreme degree in every case I am free to admit, since there are some organisms of MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY so inferior texture, others so loosely and unskillfully woven, and still others so weakened and broken by misuse that no stable rallying ground can be found. It will then be understood that what I am about to say concerning the preservation of physical health and strength in what are commonly known as declin- ing years, has reference to an organism which is in a fair state of endurance and resistance. Minds and bodies rust out oftener than they wear out. If not positively lazy, we are apt to become indolent as we get older. Coming into repeated con- tact with the serious and difficult things of life has a tendency to make us sedate, — to rob us of a willing expression of youthful feelings which would other- wise adhere to us. All of us are younger in spirits than in expression. There is a convention which says that we should become more deliberate in manner as we grow older, which, if indulged, is sure to reduce our energies. There is no doubt that, were we to continue our childish activities, were we to romp and play with all the enthusiasm of youth, till seventy or eighty, we should find the signs of diminished vigor which usually set in at forty-five or fifty de- ferred to a point much nearer the century mark. Hereditary tendencies have a mighty compelling 333 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY power over us, but the action of human volition, rightly exercised, is capable of successfully combat- ing them. Let the mind and body be trained to persistent activity. Let the spirit continue strong. Let the motto be, "Over the graves, forwards !" It is in- dividual achievement that should be sought, and he who pauses to mourn overmuch because of any human misfortune is liable to be caught in the maelstrom of decadence and go down. What About Motive Power? But what about motive power ? Men and women fail because their spirits flag. How can drooping spirits be sustained? The requisite is abundant life; and life abounds where there is persistent activity. A life of ease is not conducive to longevity. The period of useful- ness and the period of greatest enjoyment are co- existent and coextensive. As soon as an individual or a nation finds its greatest eagerness to be for mental and physical delight, just that soon does it begin to decay. Let him beware who says, (C I have been a hard worker these many years, and now I am 334 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY going to settle down to enjoy life." Senility of the worst sort awaits all such. There must be a healthy balance between work and play up to the last. It remains for me more plainly to indicate how waning interests can be awakened and sustained in old age, and then I shall desist for a time. Here is the rule: Get out of the ruts. Start something new. Be willing to assume fresh responsibilities and to take on new enterprises. Dont say, "I am old." Those who have lived the longest and happiest are those who have cast aside all thought of age and have acted as though they expected to live forever. Waken new ambitions; find new loves; form new alliances; associate ivith those who are active and well instead of sitting round with the old folks who are disposed to live in the past; refuse to think of death, no mat- ter what your pious friends may say about preparing for the end. The best preparation for death is the living of an active, strong, cheerful life, in which there are few of the old-fashioned religious hymns of the "I would not live always," and "Only waiting for the boatman" type. In short, if you don't want to go into a senility which flows in rapid stream towards death, be reso- 335 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY lutely young in thought and action, no matter if you can't see quite as well as you once did, and no matter if your legs are not quite as limher as they once were. Giving Life Signification ? Tis life of which our nerves are scant; More life, and fuller, that we want. From the viewpoint of the individual, human life is a state of consciousness. Each brain, with its aptitudes and subtle complexes, is a study. Life differs in its essences as individuals differ. Marcus Aurelius said, "Nothing matters.' 7 Emerson called the world "divine." Schopenhauer said it "smells of grave-mold." Spinoza declared, "Nothing shall disturb me." Pyrrho affirmed that "nothing is true ; nothing is untrue." George Meredith thought life like a comedy by Moliere. Life is to us what we make it, and so long as we make it strong and pur- poseful and delightful it will be so. The forces at work in us and about us cause it to conform in the main to our ideals of it. This creative, sustaining, reconstructive energy we call life is a flux rather than a thing, and it will throb in us to the heartbeat of the Universal Life according as we ourselves man- 336 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY age the intake and the output of it, and it will do so irrespective of age. Physical Changes of Age The essential changes incident to old age are physiological rather than pathological. But it is a period of testing. At that season in one's life what one really is mentally and physically is being deter- mined. His hereditary tendencies, the modifications he has made in them, the elements of strength he has introduced, the bad habits and weaknesses he has introduced, the general and special resistances he has established, all these figure largely now in the daily balances being made. Leaving out complications set up by mental and physical modifications peculiar to individuals, there is no occasion for serious dis- tresses in the closing years of life. Uncomplicated natural processes are not accompanied by pain. Dis- tress in any case arises in large measure from con- scious mental attitudes incited by contrasts which the mind instinctively draws between what now is and what was. Much of the elation of youth pro- ceeds from similar contrasts, as one becomes con- scious of the improvements going on at so marvelous a rate. The reversal of this process very naturally 337 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY demands a good degree of mental resistance in order to escape the induction of melancholy. The failure of so many to resist this tendency is the prime cause of physical suffering. In consequence of this, he who does not give himself the mental discipline essential to calmness and self-command when the physical powers are gradually waning, and does not act the part of a courageous warrior who knows he is fighting his last battle, will find himself in a most wretched mental and physical state as he ends his days. Senility an Illness These reflections prompt me to treat the subject of senility as an illness and to point out the details of its prevention and cure. That I can do so effec- tively for many who shall enter into the spirit of self-treatment I do not doubt. There are others, however, whose prejudices are so rooted and whose mental attitudes are so set that what I suggest will have no influence. I shall not attempt to persuade such, as fossilization has gone too far to give hope of restored ductility. In truth this appeal is prima- rily to those who have not yet reached the period of true senility, and secondarily to those who have 338 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY already had glimpses of the truth and are only wait- ing for further knowledge to guide them to high ground. For those who have ears to hear I have good news, and to that vast army of human beings moving on towards advanced years I can offer a promise of self-protection they cannot afford to ignore. In a general way let me first urge upon you the advantages growing out of moderation in eating and drinking. But so much has been written on this phase of right living that there is danger of its being carried too far. The less we eat the less we shall want to eat, until the appetite is liable to become so discouraged that the system suffers from wasting, without raising a cry for food. Writers on these topics appear to forget that the appetite is as open to suggestion as any other craving. I accordingly in- sist that the supply of nutritive food shall always re- main ample. The exercise of great good sense is here loudly called for. Secondly, I want to insist that the bowels be not neglected. It is far better to resort to laxatives and enemas, if necessary, than to allow them to become constipated. 339 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Thirdly, as to exercise, if you are feeble I advise you to avoid strenuous or prolonged exercise. I mean if you are really feeble. If you are only feeling weak, owing to sensitive, complaining nerves, as is often the case, you need not be so careful. The mere fact that you are sixty or seventy years old is not sufficient reason for your being inactive. Think of Weston who, when above seventy, walked from ocean to ocean at an average speed that few young athletes could even approximate. To be sure he had been walking all his life; but the ordinary physician will tell you that one who has lived a strenuous physical life has worn out his energy, and should be more careful than others. Their rule, you see, does not always apply. Be sure to get a fair amount of exer- cise every day, and let it vary but little in its measure. Don't let the doctors scare you with the bugbear of "hardened arteries." You would better take some risk of sudden death, with the chances largely in your favor, than to become a helpless old man or woman forever in the way. If you begin moderately and keep up your exercise daily you can develop your muscular strength, and along with it your health, provided you practice the precepts I am giving you. Now a word about sleep, and only a word, for I 340 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY must be brief. On some other occasion I may enter upon a discussion of the various phases of age at greater length. The amount of sleep you get is far from being so material as many would lead you to believe. Don't worry about it, for you will surely get enough. During your sleepless hours do not lie and worry, and, what is about as bad, do not wander about the room in a restless way. Command your- self. You can't go to sleep while walking; so root your head into the pillow and think as little as pos- sible about anything. You will be sure to sleep enough. So stop all worry on that score. Heaven help those people who have gone through life without obtaining the toning effects of self-dis- cipline. If you, my reader, are still in middle life, or younger, make haste to do the sensible thing. To all such, whether they be in marts of trade, in the activities of professional life, or in the dust and heat of domestic duties, I say, as I point to the hills along whose tops burn the hues of a declining day, "Lift up your eyes." Forget the hard side of your toils and cares in the thought of the greater liberty and the broader opportunities that you may usher in if you will. You can do more than Joshua did, you can 341 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY turn back the sun in its course, to all intents and pur- poses, and live a fresh new day. When you feel the most like sighing, burst into song and go on with a smile. Impress the uprushing wish upon your en- vironment, with confidence. Bring out all the strong forces of your nature. Inaugurate fresh activities and push them with all the courage and strength God has given you. Those who do this will shortly find themselves already in the cheerful hours of a new day To those of advanced years who may read these pages let me say, with all the emphasis at my com- mand, away with moodiness, with repining, with re- grets, with self-condemnation. Away with fear, and doubt, and helplessness. Be ashamed to be less in your own eyes than you ever were. Dont talk about the helplessness of age, and the vanity of life. If you can see failures and unhappy experiences as you look back, — if life has been one long struggle, count it all helpful. Remember that you have been in training for better things, and rejoice. Refuse to be other than a comfort and an inspiration to those about you, so that age may become adorned with all the beauties which rightly belong to it. Make cheer- ful your nights of trial with song. Hold no regret 342 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY of the years that come and go; they mark out only a little space among the aeons which are really yours. Get a cosmic view of life, and all the things over which you have worried and fretted so much will sink into nothingness, being lost among the greater things crowding into the field of attention. Remember one is about as old as he allows himself to feel. I have seen some men old at forty or forty- five, and I have seen others still young at seventy- five or eighty. And why should it not be so ? It is the spirit that quickeneth. A man is truly old when he ceases to be useful. When he begins to think he is too old to act a part of value, he is getting near the ragged edge; and if he go beyond that point and account himself as really ready to drop, it is time for him either to reform or absolutely to let go. It is true that one has a good deal to contend with in the form of evil suggestion as he advances in years, not the smallest of which proceeds from those who love him. Suggestions of a parent's uselessness are often thoughtlessly dropped by children. The father ought to be encouraged to fill his place in the busi- ness world as long as it is possible for him to get to 343 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY his business place, and even afterwards; and the mother ought to be left in charge of domestic affairs as long as she is willing to be. It is no mark of 'kind- ness to humor the inclinations of parents to let go. Let those who love them brace them up with strong words of assurance. Because parents now and then get a cold or have an attack of indigestion children have no business to jump to the conclusion that they are suffering thus from the effects of age. Infants and adolescents are far more subject to such attacks than those who have passed the limits of three-score. One who has gone beyond middle life seems much older to the young than he really is; but when the fleeting years have brought those once-young people to that same age, they dye their hair and resort to cosmetics, vociferating their youthful feelings and declining to accept suggestions of senility. When you hear a man of age persistently proclaim that he is sick and tired of life's opportunities and achieve- ments and that he longs for rest, be sure that it is really time for him to change his ways or move out. Let those who love their parents cease to remind them by word and act of their advancing years. If their lives are worth preserving they will resent the 344 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY very intimation of helplessness. Let the old pass out amidst the activities and joys of life. Do not be sorry for them even though the strong hand of necessity hold them as toilers to the last. Life is earnest ; life is real ; and we should hold a keen in- terest in its affairs to the last. Let the old who have been content merely to exist get reasonably active again. He who will not work has no right to eat. There is always something use- ful to be done; then let all do it, no matter what their age. Men mistake in thinking that, by former activities, they have earned a right to sit by in idle- ness and let the remaining years run to waste. To all who breathe God's pure air and bask in his delightful sunshine , I say, still do your part of what is to be done, and enjoy your part of what is to be enjoyed; for this is the road to health and happiness. Autosuggestions From among the following suggestions those who need them will be able to select those that fit their particular cases. They should be used like all auto- suggestions, day after day, for a long period of time. It is iteration and reiteration that brings results. 345 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I fear nothing; I dread nothing. The future does not look menacing. Death has lost its terrors. I have lived many years exposed to it, and why should I have any fear of it now ? It is only when one has put the fea^ of death behind him that he is a free man. In truth I look upon death as a friend, especially when it comes in the ripeness of age. Besides, no matter what my age, since I am still in a fair degree of physical health and strength, my end may be long delayed. In spirit I am as young as ever, and there is no reason why I should not enter with keen relish into the joys of living. I shall do so today and every day. I despise a coward, and so does everyone, and I shall not be one. What I have to meet I shall meet with courage. I am heartily ashamed of the moods which have been allowed to paralyze my efforts. There are many helpful things for me to do, and I shall do them with right good cheer. If my moods remain obstinate I shall go on in 346 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY the strength of a purposeful and resolute will. If I must fall I shall fall in the lines. Clear grit shall mark my conduct if my sustaining emotions prove recreant. I want to live as long as I can serve, and no longer. If I am an aid or comfort to anybody, so that I still have a place in life, I can live on with courage. I am not yet old; there are many who have lived ten, twenty, thirty, or even forty years longer. I have no morbid dread of age, for I expect to be well and happy. Age does not need to bring suf- fering. In truth I shall take pleasure in showing myself and others how one can grow old gracefully. I shall not be irritable or petulant, but shall be patient and enduring. My mind is clear and strong, and shall so remain. My heart is light; I sing as I go. My sleep shall be good; my digestion fine; my excretions ample. My endurance shall be equal to every demand; my sexual function shall continue normal ; my spirit cheerful. 347 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I am much alone, and I sometimes feel deserted; but I am not. As long as I am friendly I shall have friends. I shall no longer look for trouble. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. On the contrary, I shall look for good things. I have been thinking too much about the end of life. Now I shall think about more abundant and long continued life. I'd rather die than merely live, and I shall at once get busy and keep busy about useful things. I have my eye on a mark and I shall keep it there. I've been thinking too much about myself, and have doubtless been too unmindful of others. I sup- pose I've been most unlovely at times. So now I shall sweeten up and become a benediction wherever I am. I shall no longer think of myself as infirm, and wasting, and "only waiting." Eternal autumn shall henceforth be mine, with all the hues that bespeak strong life and feeling. I shall keep in mind the colors characteristic of autumn, with its brilliant 348 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY days, calm, cool atmospheres, its nuances of shadow, hue and tone. There are amber, saffron, gold, sul- phur, yellow ochre, orange, red, copper, aquamarine and amaranth. As it is in nature, so shall it be in my life. I shall be interested in people and things. With- out being childish and frivolous I shall be bright and cheerful. I shall radiate an influence so inspiring, so cheerful, so stimulating that those with whom I am associated shall seek my company. I shall be master of mind and body to the last. Thoughts of death shall be banished. Life shall flood my being. Energy and Enthusiasm shall go with me as con- stant companions. When the end shall come, as it must come at last to all, I shall respond with a smile, a Here am I; and all is well." I mean to be no fossil; but to the last I shall be active, energetic, uncomplaining, kind, cheerful and loving ; a man among men, — a woman among women. 349 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY The fear of being without means to provide the necessaries and the ordinary comforts of life some- times obsesses me ; bnt I repel it and resolutely trust the Spirit of Life so to direct my affairs that I shall lack no good thing. I have an unwavering faith in guidance by a Power that is infinite, an Intelligence that is absolute, and a Love that is far reaching and never failing. Good- ness and mercy, peace and prosperity, health and happiness shall ever be mine. 350 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXXVIII ORGANIC LESIONS When a disorder has gone on to the development of a change of a threatening nature it would be manifestly unwise for the sufferer to pursue its treat- ment without the personal attention of one competent to judge from the symptoms of the seriousness of the situation and the complications liable to ensue when following its natural course. The single ex- ception to such a rule of conduct is furnished by cases wherein competent physicians have declared the situation unamenable to treatment and have marked out a protracted course for the disorder, should it proceed without complications. Modern orthodox medicine, though at its best unable to do very much in the way of cure, has attained great proficiency in diagnosis, and is able to predict with some degree of certainty the natural course of many of the chronic disorders when uninfluenced by treat- ment. The opinions expressed by it are deeply tinc- tured in most instances by pessimism, being based upon the negative results ordinarily obtained under 351 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY regular methods, and should not be allowed to depress and dishearten the patient to whom they are given. In this particular one is safer to fortify himself against possible harm from the very source to which he goes for advice. Leavitt-Science in Organic Disease Elemoving then from consideration bad cases of organic disease, and ruling out all the acute diseases which set in with chill and fever, severe pain, sudden prostration, convulsive or paralytic indications, or unconsciousness, the advantages to be derived from a faithful application of the kind of psychotherapy set forth in these letters far outweigh the possibilities of harm likely to arise from limiting the treatment to self-help. But the self-reliance must be hearty and positive in order to be effectual. This leaves a vast field of disease manifestation clearly within the scope and design of the form of psychotherapy elsewhere given in detail. I do not need to designate the ailments by name, for diagnosis is not of much value as a preliminary to psychic treatment; indeed, it is often a positive harm owing to the unfavorable prognoses which are commonly 353 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY attached to symptoms of certain kinds. Faith, cour- age? good-cheer and resolution are fundamental fac- tors in treatment of the sort I recommend, and these mental states must not be unnecessarily subjected to negation. The more ginger, snap and gumption you' can put into the effort the more likely you are to win. Comparatively few symptoms are seriously menac- ing in their incipiency, and that is the very time at which to begin in earnest to get command of the situation by psychic means. An ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure. One ought to be eternally vigilant, but never anxious; the ideal atti- tude is that of the inspector of machinery who looks daily to every part, without solicitude, but yet with sufficient interest and thoroughness to discover what- ever may be imperfect. The human organism, with all its delicate parts and actions, ought to be inspected every day with a critical eye but with a mind well assured of its ability to correct whatever flaws may be found. Attention to one's self given in that spirit will never degenerate into the morbid self-scrutiny and censorship which characterize the psychoneurasthenic state. Attention bestowed on yourself or others in the spirit of confidence is con- structive in its effects; but that given in a spirit of 353 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY distrust and fear is destructive. The mental attitude has a positive control of the effect. Accordingly I advise you to take yourself in hand at the earliest possible moment, and give yourself the kind of help which I have tried to make plain to you, so as to turn aside menacing symptoms and save your- self from getting under the power of disorders which might otherwise follow. That we are able thus to guard ourselves from many serious attacks there can be no reasonable doubt. If disorder has chanced to slip in unawares, or if this letter finds you already in the toils of disease, whatever is done should be undertaken with confi- dence ; and, no matter whether the physical situation is such as will admit of self -treatment alone, or has to be undertaken in connection with the efforts of a physician employing the ordinary methods, large measures of benefit can be secured. While the best results are not to be obtained from simultaneous use of two distinct forms of treatment, one of them administered by an unbeliever with his material remedies and the other by yourself with psycho- therapy, I want you to know that still much aid can be afforded. I therefore advise you to exercise the 354 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY best sense at command, and to do so with assurance of getting a due proportion of benefit out of whatever is undertaken. We all have to creep before we can walk, and we have to walk before we can run. 355 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XXXIX ACUTE DISEASES That the psychic principles of cure apply with equal efficiency to the acute diseases, the very nature of psychotherapy makes evident. That this method of treatment has not yet made a startling record in this department of practice is due mainly to two con- siderations, (1) the pathetic confidence of the public in the efficiency of drug medication, notwithstanding its flat failures, and (2) the moral and possibly legal responsibility, in the present state of opinion, re- quired to be assumed by both the physician who employs it and those who allow its use. In case the termination chance to be unfavorable there is still likelihood of public, and possibly legal, condemna- tion. In the same connection it must be remembered that there are but few licensed physicians who have yet had the courage to give the practice its proper place, and the public know scarcely anything of its virtues. Thus far "healers," with little or no educa- tion in the fundamentals of medicine, such as anat- omy, physiology, pathology and chemistry, have been 356 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY almost the only practitioners in the field. But the day is not distant when psychotherapy in the treat- ment of acute diseases will be the vogue. Inefficiency of the Old Methods The following quotation, taken from the preface of a leading medical text-book recently published, reflects the feeling of therapeutic helplessness per- vading the dominant school of practice, and should prove as instructive as it is frank and pathetic. "He [the physician] may in a measure influence some diseases by his directions for the general care of the patient, but, as a rule, the patient dies or re- covers irrespective of his therapeutic efforts, in so far at least as these efforts are based upon ancient em- piricism. Typhoid fever patients still pursue the same course, which was so well described by the physicians of the medieval ages; our pneumonia death rate is still what it was when the earliest records on the subject were kept, and is virtually the same for the millionaire in his marble palace, surrounded by doctors and nurses, as for the tramp who is cared for by the roadside by his brothei- tramps. The Virulence' of an epidemic of scarlatina 357 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY or measles may vary, but our death rate, in the long run, is virtually the same. When actual progress has been made in the treatment of disease, such prog- ress has been due, not to our therapeutic interference by means of drugs, but to a recognition, be it ever so slight, of those factors by which nature herself, un- aided and at the same time unhampered by empirical drug treatment, seeks to accomplish that end. For, after all, the very thing which physicians have sought to accomplish in all the countries that have passed, viz., the cure of disease, that very thing nature has accomplished by herself before our very eyes, count- less millions of times. * * * The fact that nature does not cure all cases would of course be interpreted as an indication that the means at nature's com- mand are, after all, not perfect. This is naturally a debatable point. So much, however, seems certain that nature's ways, so far as we have become familiar with them, are the only specific ways, along which progress seems possible, and that drug treatment, if it ever shall become of value, must start from a dif- ferent basis!" What is thus so frankly confessed is an opinion to which individual physicians give utterance in private conversation and occasionally in medical 358 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY meetings. Were it untrue what possible excuse would there be for the introduction of drugless methods, some of which, while having no more than a grain of virtue in them, obtain a degree of efficiency and favor as a prot3st against the inefficiency of old methods ? Psychic Treatment of Acute Troubles But can psychothex'apy really offer anything bet- ter? It is not fair to take away the people's faith in the methods now in vogue without substituting something more effective in their place. There is a popular supposition that, while psychotherapy has certain advantages over other methods in the treat- ment of diseases following a protracted course, it is too slow-acting to be trusted in the treatment of those diseases that run a rapid course and rise to their dangerous climaxes with a bound. I admit there is force in the opinion, especially when viewed from the side of psychotherapy of a kind which does not permit the use of adjuvants so simple in character that they cannot do the patient harm should they fail to do him good. The psychotherapist has as good a right to employ simple aids, and even surgery in suitable cases as has the practitioner of any other 359 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY method. The concurrent use of any means whatever by one whose main reliance is upon the mental im- pressions produced and the new states of conscious- ness set up, is perfectly legitimate; and this is one of the advantages that the educated physician has over the layman. It must indeed he admitted by all acquainted with the facts that there is some virtue in carefully chosen drugs; and when the purpose is to make the mental therapy fill the chiefest place in cure, as it ought to, the few drugs administered are far more likely to be chosen with care and continued no longer than the circumstances demand. The stability of the new practice requires great good sense in its practitioners, and they must not at any time part company with reason. And now as to the advisability of relying on LEAVITT-SCIENCE in the self-management of acute cases. I realize that there are so many expedi- ents which the layman cannot intelligently handle, and so many significant features he could not recog- nize, that, in all but simple and evidently unmenac- ing conditions, he would act wisely in calling in a physician. If in your community there be one who understands the principles of the new practice, he should be preferred, other qualifications being equal. 360 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY At the same time there is a wide field for self- help in dealing with acute symptoms. If indications of disorder are taken at their incipiency they can usually he controlled, whereas if they are left un- noticed or are wholly ignored, they may prove to be the forerunners of mischief. This, I assume, is a wide enough field for the layman to occupy in the treatment of acute troubles either in himself or others. But provided a physician be called, still a wise use of helps can do much towards bringing about a speedy and sure cure. The sick, by employing the various means mentioned in these letters, and especially auto- suggestion, are often able to insure a happy termina- tion of what would otherwise have been a serious, if not a fatal, outcome. Cooperation is far better than indifference. The mental aid of a few believing friends at such a time is also most valuable. Autosuggestions Make use of such suggestions as those which follow. I affirm my belief in the power of my mind over my body. I do not doubt that I have been remiss in my ex- 361 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY pressions of faith — that my affirmations and actions have not been consonant. I have not been as vigilant and firm as I might have been. I have left the door ajar and disorder has stolen in. Indeed, it may be that I have been living in almost total neglect of the higher and stronger forces of my being and abundant room has been left for the en- trance of faction, schism and general disorder. But now all this neglect shall cease. I am driv- ing out the intruders; I am repairing my broken- down defenses; I am restoring order and establish- ing discipline. The ailments from which I suffer shall be short- lived. I do not acknowledge their authority; I do not intend to show them any leniency. They must away. I am suffering some distress, but it shall not last. My organic forces are in vigorous action ; my mental and physical energies are doing good service. The heat of the strife may give me some unusual tem- perature for the time being and after that I shall have the calm of re-established rule. 362 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I am not anxious or worried. The suffering is grievous for the moment, and yet I have a feeling of exaltation in anticipation of victory. At times my mind is dull, and a lethargy is upon me, but these shall not last and they do not. For the time being I rest and then I pull myself together. I restore my lines; I fight; I win! The helps that are being used I re-enforce by the energy of my will. There is unity of action all around. Every needed aid shall be given. I trust the Intelligence, the Power, the Love manifesting in in and through me for guidance and support. There shall be no failure, no error. All is well! 363 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY. Letter XL DISORDERS OF THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM The circulatory systems are not always well treated. By the designation circulatory "systems" I mean the blood system and the lymphatic system, the one being about as important as the other, and both being influenced in large degree by similar causes. The heart, being the great motor organ of the blood system, features prominently in our consideration of the conditions tending to influence the circulatory ac- tivities. Second in order of importance are the arte- ries, and thirdly the veins. The vaso-motor nervous system has control of the muscular action of the ar- teries by which the caliber of these vessels is increased and diminished, and the great sympathetic and cere- brospinal systems have the general, as well as spe- cific, movements of the blood, according to varying needs, under their control. The flow of blood to- wards the heart through the veins and of the lymph through the lymphatic circulation are influenced by muscular action. The heart beats rapidly or slowly, 364 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY with great energy or small, according to needs, and the needs are determined by the degrees of muscular, mental or other organic activity With such a situation before the mind it is easily seen that defective or excited nervous action, ineffi- cient mental control, too little and too much muscu- lar exercise, are capable of disturbing the healthful balance of the circulatory systems. To put excessive demands upon its resources is to overburden the en- ergies of the heart and to overstrain nerve action, while to lay insufficient demands upon its resources is gradually to sap the mental and physical energies. Causes Among the disturbing customs and habits giving rise to disordered circulation are the immoderate use of nerve stimulants — like those in common use — overeating, excessive muscular exercise and also neg- lect of it, prolonged and insufficient mental activity, and the recurrence of violent emotions. Temperance in all things, or at the most only occasional outbursts of excesses, are the prudent rules of life action. Among my readers are many who have what they call "poor circulation," citing cold hands and feet 365 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY as evidence of their unenviable state. These are chiefly people who are suffering the effects of nervous disorder. Their cold extremities are often due to the incoordinate action of the vaso-motor nerves, the blood supply to those parts being diminished, but not because of an essential failure of the general cir- culation. There is inefficient control of nerve action at the large centers, and the psychic energies in gen- eral are not giving proper service. The defect is es- sential in nature and is central, the disturbed condi- tion being only symptomatic. This is only one ex- pression among many, all pointing to a state of non- self-control, and the patient needs attention rather than the cold extremities. True circulatory failure of a chronic type is commonly dependent either on heart inefficiency or a loss of elasticity of the arteries. In such cases we have organic lesions to deal with. But the condition is not so grave as the patient often infers. Besides, symptoms are often erroneously in- terpreted by both patients and physicians as conclu- sive evidences of such states. Do not fall into de- spair because you have a diagnosis of serious heart lesion or of hardened arteries, for many errors are made. And then, even if the heart lesion exists or the arteries are more or less hard, the compensative 366 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY action of the intelligent forces of the organism are such that serious danger can be averted and the com- plexities of the case reduced to a minimum, provided you preserve your confidence and courage. Because you suffer this, that or the other symptom you are not hastily to infer that it springs from the organic lesion of which you have some knowledge, for we know that distresses and disabilities of all sorts owe their origin to functional disorder which has no di- rect relation to lesions of that nature and prove ephemeral if not taken too seriously. Among the symptoms thus wrongly interpreted are (1) inability to lie on the left side with comfort; (2) sudden at- tacks of vertigo, especially on making sudden move- ments, on lying down or on turning in bed; (3) pal- pitations of the heart, intermissions and irregularity of rhythm of the pulsations, and (4) weak, faint feelings. The first of these is often a notion, easily broken by resolute assumption of the position and its fearless maintenance. The second most fre- quently proceeds as a reflex from the digestive sys- tem. Pressure of firm feces or gases on certain areas of the large bowel is able to produce this in sensitive subjects. Gases in the stomach will also occasion it. At other times it comes from a minor autoinfection. 367 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY The third are occasioned chiefly by upward pressure of gases in the stomach or the transverse colon in those whose nerves are peculiarly responsive. They rarely indicate much evil. The fourth is usually due to disturbed nerve tone and a prevailing oversensi- tiveness. Self-Control Small expedients are usually available for their control. Fear will aggravate and encourage their continuance and it must be put aside. Alternate ex- pansion of the chest and abdomen, so as to exercise the diaphragm, kept up for a minute or two at a time, will aid to start the gas. A liberal enema of tepid water is a good expedient. But by training the body to obedience, the reader will find that the func- tions can be kept in peaceful activity so that symp- toms like those first mentioned will rarely arise. Con- fidence in your authority over function is the ideal mental attitude to insure relief. The will to be well can avail much for you in ac- quiring that command over your forces so much needed. Insist on being in authority. But this must be done in that spirit of calm confidence that sig- 363 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY nifi.es an entire absence of fear. Bring to your aid the kind of psychoanalysis we have studied. Pick the symptoms to pieces and thus the better show your consciousness the futility of fear. The process itself has a wholesome effect upon the morale of the symp- toms. But your best help will come from the use of suitable self-suggestion. The following formulas are adapted to the different conditions found in the disorders. Autosuggestions Having sought seclusion, read slowly and thought- fully the suggestions. They may not all fit your par- ticular case, but from among them you will be able to select certain ones for daily use. These tissues of mine derive their nutrition from the blood that is carried outwards from the heart, where it has lost its deleterious elements and taken on oxygen, and in thought I see it going to every part in health-giving streams. I fancy I can feel the blood coursing everywhere, with an even, steady flow. There is no undue pressure at any point, but each part is receiving its due share and no more. 369 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY The headaches, the pains and the other disagree- able sensations that some people suffer as a result of uneven supply of the life-giving fluid shall not be mine. My hands and feet are being warmed by the gentle heat it carries. My heart, as a pumping organ, is doing its work well, and the blood vessels into which the blood is forced by its contractions are sufficiently elastic to receive the output with comfort and pass it on in a steady stream. There is good action in all the circulatory mech- anism. The valves close with precision and accuracy, so that there is no lost energy, and the heart rhythm is sustained. At one time there were some defects which are now passing. My arteries may not be quite so elastic as they were when I was a child, but they are enough so to do their work well. I have no fear of harm coming suddenly Or stealthily upon me. My trust in the resources of my organism is explicit and implicit. 370 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Whatever may have been wrong in my mind and body is being set right. I am confidently looking for full health and strength. Thoughts' of age, inefficiency and deteriorating fac- ulties find no place with me. My strength is being renewed, my energies are unfailing, my natural force is unremitting — I am on the gain. I am resolved to be master of my forces. I refuse to be servant. My body shall be a faithful exponent of my mind and character. My ideals are admirable, and as the result of holding them faithfully and clearly, I ex- pect to realize them in my life. If you are uncertain as to the methods of using these suggestions, or are unconvinced of their effi- ciency, read again the letters on Autosuggestion in preceding pages. 371 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XLI WOMEN'S DISEASES Medicine continues to reap its richest harvest from women suffering from ailments peculiar to their sex. That many of the disorders are due to a misinter- pretation of emotions and sensations, and occasionally even to mere fancy, we know. And then, too, physi- cians themselves are sometimes responsible for the aches, the pains, the sensations of weight and pressure in the pelvis, as well as serious lesions, superinduced by wrong diagnoses and the disordering effects of the fears thereby engendered. To women, the organs embraced within that bony pelvis are a great mys- tery, and since the strongest emotions and those most concerned in the making of their weal or woe bear some direct or indirect, recognized or unrecognized relation to those organs, it is not any wonder that they should become the seat of many disturbing sen- sory experiences. And so they are. A woman can have a pain in the head of a most agonizing char- acter, lasting for indefinite periods, without arousing any suspicion of a brain lesion in the mind of either 372 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY herself or her physician, but a pain somewhere in the vicinity of the ovary is very apt to be inter- preted by both as meaning some lesion of the organ, and should it be persistent, as demanding surgical intervention for its relief. If not the ovary, then it is declared to be the uterus that is involved, and if, perchance, in either instance the slightest anom- aly is found it is at once pounced upon as the un- doubted offender and either prolonged treatment sug- gested or some sort of surgical work. And then, when once the mind of the woman is turned with suspicion to this part of the body, and some of the common pains or other distresses be- come inseparably associated with the pathology said by the physician to exist, permanent relief by any of the methods proposed is rarely to be had. In a large percentage of such cases the abnormal sensa- tions resulting from surgery serve to perpetuate bad feelings, even when the primary disturbances have been removed through action of the strong suggestion furnished by the operation. So that in many of these cases the end is worse than the beginning, owing to the unskillful and sometimes stupid way in which such troubles are handled. 373 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I do not voice the opinion of a novitiate when I say that there is no class of disorders so juggled as those peculiar to women. The average doctor knows but little of a rational pathology of pelvic disorders, though he assumes to be well informed. In truth, pelvic etiology and pathology are archaic any- how. They still teach, among other absurdities, that a movable organ like the uterus, weighing in a nor- mal state not to exceed two ounces, is able to give rise to the most serious symptoms when tilted backwards to an unusual angle, or when lying a little lower in the pelvis than it is in the average case. And so doc- tors recommend all sorts of formidable devices and operations for correction of the malposition, which — for such is the irony of medicine — often fail to correct. So-called "female weaknesses," which have made invalids of hundreds of thousands of women, are most frequently feelings or sensations proceeding from a state of general weakness, or special sensa- tions arising from or perpetuated by fears which have in some way been awakened in the sensitive sub- ject. There are thousands of women — doubtless tens of thousands of them — in America today who are utilizing but a fraction of their efficiency and are enjoying but a modicum of what is rightfully theirs, 374 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY who could easily be made well and happy and sur- prisingly efficient by a few weeks of psychic treatment of the right sort. They are held by their false no- tions in a slavery as absolute and as demoralizing to themselves and those about them as the poor "white slave" upon which we are now bestowing so much deserved and undeserved pity. It is time that women were delivered from this bondage to fear and mis- trust which professional chicanery and ignorance have laid upon them. The first thing to be done is to obtain the opinion of a capable, an unbiased, and an honest physician. The second is to accept his assurance of freedom from any serious pelvic disease, despite the recurrent dis- tresses experienced. The third is to go about self- emancipation through use of the means furnished by these letters and pursue it to a finish. These ignor- ant sufferers should throw physic to the dogs; lay aside their devices and expedients; cultivate strong, happy, healthy thinking and confident acting. There is no occasion for invalidism from any pelvic dis- ease except cancer (or other malignant development), suppurative inflammation in subacute stage or some such unquestioned and easily demonstrated lesion. 375 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Pain in the pelvis, when chronic, if disconnected with a true lesion, is positively amenable to cure by psy- chotherapy and should not be allowed to destroy a woman s happiness and usefulness. Most of such cases are dependent on psychoneurotic disturbance and will require treatment addressed to the general condition as well as the special. You will accordingly read the letters on nervousness in its various phases and use the self-helps therein offered along with the special suggestions which follow. Autosuggestions I believe that in a large and important way mind rules the body. My fears have been too much in evidence. I have distrusted my physical integrity without sufficient cause, and now I resolutely put doubt aside. I believe that physical conditions are in great meas- ure amenable to conscious thought and will, so that, even though there be some minor physical ailment, it will yield to the power of right thought and demand. Believing that it is not unreasonable or improbable that, in response to my volition, my subconsciousness 376 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY is already at work restoring physical and mental health, I am resolved to exert my will to that end as fast and as far as I know how to do so. To this end I am resolved to expel all fear from my mind, to break the pernicious images of disease and weakness hitherto held, to look to the future with hope, and to base my actions on hope rather than fear. I shall no longer fear to exert myself to any rea- sonable degree, to act like a well woman, to cast off all sense of morbidity and live a strong, active, nor- mal life, no matter whether the old sensations con- tinue or not. I do believe. My faith rises and says, "I shall prevail." I call upon my subconsciousness to rectify all wrong or imperfect action, to restore harmony, to expel all intruders, and to make me perfectly sound in both mind and body, and I believe it will do so. To this mental attitude I shall resolutely hold until these things are accomplished. 377 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Letter XLII ACCIDENTS As an exciting cause of physical disturbance, acci- dent fills a prominent place. Concussion and compres- sion of the brain and spinal cord; fracture of verte- brae, of arms, of legs, of pelvis, of ribs and of shoul- der; sprains, strains, contusions and displacements of various parts; lacerations, cuts and punctures of important structures, all these and many other forms of accident are to be reckoned with. While injuries of various kinds leave their marks in tissue, temporarily disorder functions, give rise to much suffering and sometimes permanently disable those who suffer them, the mental and nervous effects of a lasting kind are far more numerous. There are certain organizations that seem to be standing in wait for some such excuse to be completely thrown out of balance. The country is full of invalids and semi- invalids who attribute their downfall to causes of this kind. An accident operates on a sensitive organ- ism, especially one that discloses pessimistic traits, 378 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY as a powerful suggestion. Fears are set going and thereafter every discomfort is attributed to the one cause, and the cumulative action engendered becomes disabling and even destructive. Now I venture to affirm that not 10 per cent of all the symptoms commonly interpreted as remote effects of accident are really such, save in a psychic sense. Nervous people have a logic of their own by which they arrive at conclusions prejudicial to their whole after lives. Characteristically stubborn, capricious and perverse, it is an Herculean task to convince them of the erroneous inferences they have drawn from accidental and incidental phenomena. There are natures that pride themselves on remark- able experiences. Primary facts and sequential sensations are enlarged upon, not with an intention to deceive, but in response to a penchant which makes them honest malingerers. To many such I hope this message will come as an awakener which shall put them on the way to normal states. To you, my reader, who have supposed yourself a victim of the enduring effects of accident, I want to address a few words of advice. In reading the pre- ceding observations you have been piqued, and yet 379 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY you have read on out of curiosity. You may not be- long to the 90 per cent who are misinterpreting the action of efficient causes, but the chances are that you do. Now don't be vexed at my frankness. I have no other wish than to do you good. I want you to get well. If you are eager to recover your health and agility, listen attentively to what I say. That nervous system of yours is liable to play you most surprising tricks, and it probably has done so in this instance. The physicians whom you have consulted may have made some concessions to your opinions, but I do not doubt that some of them have expressed serious doubt of the reality of the apparent situa- tion. Nervous disorders always present some irra- tional features which a discerning physician at once detects. Let me make you a proposition, if you really want to get well. It is this : Lay aside your own notions for the time and enter upon an earnest adoption of the treatment by autosuggestion which follows. But you must do so in the right spirit if you hope for good results. If you say to yourself, "Now I'll prove to him and to my friends that I am right and they are wrong," why, of course, you will get what you seek. 380 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY But be earnest and honest. Enter with enthusiasm into the effort. Hope, sincerely hope, that you have been in error and affirm your belief in the possibility of an immediate dissipation of the evil complex and a sure restoration to health. The thing to get rid of is the conviction that there has been set up, as a result of the accident, structural changes that a re- vival of confidence and a development of good self- control will not cure. Throw into the effort all the strength of your na- ture and the chances will be very largely in your favor. You will see disability and discomfort giving way before your psychotherapy. Autosuggestions Use faithfully and persistently the following sug- gestions. See how much spirit you can put into them. After you have done so for a month, write me. I may be able to give you a push over the line, if you still need one. Beneath surface discouragements I have felt all the time that I should find relief, and now I believe the expected moment is at hand. 381 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY My spirit is aroused within me. My faith in a favorable outcome has grown large. My will is stirred. I am determined to succeed. This body has been masquerading in a way cal- culated to deceive me. I do not doubt that I have misconstrued many of my sensations. Emotion has played a most specious and subtle part. But now I intend to take full possession of myself and be master. I have been acting the part of a servant long enough. Feeling shall no longer domi- nate my action. I have entered upon this treatment with deliberate intention to carry it through to a successful issue. I am resolved to triumph. I can now see that troubles of various kinds have been invited by my negative mental state and my passive attitudes. Henceforth I shall be positive, positive, positive. I shall command the situation. What is more, even though a certain measure of structural change has been induced by my accident, 382 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY I shall overcome it all and be fully delivered from my disability and distress. It shall not remain. My faith in the efficiency of subconscious action thus set up is unwavering. I do believe. So now I begin to use my forces more energetically. I shall be prudent. My system is probably soft from its moderate exercise and I shall proceed with pru- dence. But should I now and then overdo, the un- pleasant effects will not be lasting. I expect some reactions, but they will be followed by a more ener- getic movement. ~No long interruptions of definite progress shall there be. And, finally, for the sake of the motive thus to be gained, I again promise myself to be faithful and persistent in my endeavors, giving time daily to the specific work involved in the undertaking. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY Success With mental and physical adjustment which I trust you have procured through the help offered in the preceding pages, there is no good reason why, with a fair understanding, you should not gain a far greater degree of financial success. That you may know the way, I herewith address to you, my reader, a letter on this all-important subject. The Laws Few, and Simple The laws of success are few and simple. They are made so clear in the following pages that he who runneth may read. These laws are not conditioned by the ethical in- tent of the individual any more than are the laws of electricity, of heat expansion and gravity — a fact worth remembering since there are those who would have it otherwise. Ethical standards are of social origin, and they can modify the laws of the mind 384 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY only by destroying self-reliance and the spirit of con- fidence which is the strongest guaranty of success. In other words, the laws of success are available to all. It is true that success is far more commendable which has for its ultimate object the good of others besides self, but a selfish man is far better than none at all, and in all our incentives there is, anyhow, a large measure of self-gratification. The principles of success along any line of human endeavor are identical, whether applied to the ac- quirement of wealth, the establishment of health or the liberation or salvation of a nation. The Environment Here, to my mind, is a solution of the action by which we draw to us the helps and comforts we desire and are fitted to receive. Let us suppose that we have a darling object in view, something toward which we have been moved, as we believe, not by considerations of mere satis- faction, but by subconscious action representing mo- tives hidden in the depths of our true nature. It 385 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY may be an ambition to excel in music, in sculpture, in literature, in trade, in law, or it may take on higher qualities, as a desire to make known a great truth calculated to elevate and gladden humanity. Look- ing ahead, we see many obstacles in the way. We are hampered and held by unfavorable environment. We are compelled to keep at the grind of uncongenial labor to provide for ourselves and those dependent on us. The skies look leaden. Our rational vision can see but a small ray of hope. With all this against us, how are we to attain ? The very implantation of the burning desire is said to be a promise of possible gratification, but the mode of attainment lies hidden. The Covenant In such a strait the first and chief thing to do is to arrive at an understanding with the Ego that all the energy of our nature shall be put into the effort and that we just WILL believe attainment already potentially ours. In other words, we enter into a compact with ourselves to put forth every exertion to secure the prize and to realize as best we can "the substance of the things hoped for." At this point we cannot see the way, and it is un- 386 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY wise officiously to make one. The thing left for us to do is to lay hold of ideals in detail and exhibit them again and again to the mind, stoutly affirming our faith in their development. This is to be unfal- teringly done day after day until the ideals have been realized in expression. After a time, and in good time, too, the way will be sure to open more and more and most likely directly through immediate en- vironment. There should be no looking for ravens to feed us, nor for bread from heaven. If the region is barren, it is very certain that we have strayed. Holding the right thought and doing with might what our hands find to do, the rarest opulence embraces us at all times. In following such a course an aura is created for us well calculated to catch helpful vibra- tions. One thus becomes an organ with differentiated faculties for seizing upon and utilizing that which is fitted to his requirements. Do you understand? Until that point is reached, one cannot absorb the necessary nutriment from surrounding media. All that we need, though it be near us, avails not as long as we are not fitted to recognize and utilize it. The Process But having thus become fitted to functionate, one 387 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY begins to receive and work over the abundant sup- plies which have continually environed him. With respect to the environment, it may be said that we ought to be positive to* all but Infinite Mind. In the silent moments alone should we be negative, opening our minds to superior influences and cor- dially welcoming whatever comes. It is our moment of inspiration and growth. In the arena of active life we are to hold ourselves in perfect faith and reso- lutely to urge our way onwards. It is thus that we establish conditions most favorable for guidance. The craft that waveringly hoists and lowers sails, not dar- ing to trust the winds, will fail to reach its des- tined port. On the other hand, under a conviction that the winds, though adverse, are the very source of energy, a craft with sails steadily set can be safely, surely and expeditiously guided into the desired haven, since under such conditions it best responds to the helm. Eternal wisdom hidden in our mental depths easily directs energetic, "going" souls. Time is not to be squandered in idle waiting. Those who continually tarry for orders do not go far and do not accomplish much. With an eye keen to recognize divine signs 388 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EASE AND SUPREMACY and an ear open to catch divine whispers, keep mov- ing and you will make a journey not unattended with trial and hardship, but one whose close will prove most gratifying. Attainment A' point of importance is that one should merely utilize opportunities as they come to him, just as the mill wheel uses the water that flows through it, and the more faithfully and fully he uses what presents, the greater will be the supply. Using to the full the little he has, soon the volume of helpful conditions be- comes greatly augmented. PEOPLE, AND BOOKS, AND ORDERS, AND OFFERS, AND DOLLARS WILL PRESENT AT OPPORTUNE MO- MENTS TO BROADEN HIS IDEALS, TO MUL- TIPLY HIS LABORS AND TO SWELL HIS RESOURCES. Remember the laws : ( 1 ) Adjustment is requisite to make us clear seeing and receptive; (2) we must utilize our opportunities to their full measure; (3) we must hold the hoped-for thing, through idealism, as though in actual possession. 389 RD-201 Jfcr sK °^J?*£?P* 4» *^<4» • ^2! ES^ * $ ^v °»Vt$$>§** <* ' r^V/^s^v o V^* f \/ v #T ^"'4°° ^ o t% ^** :* ** A* ^ - • # * -