^foe Xaw of flatutal Dealing &s Cbatles %. ©ifeon, m, », Book ^^ Copyright N" COPYRIGHT DEPOSm trbe Xavo of IRatural Ibealing By CHARLES L. GILSON, N. H THE EMBODIMENT OF A THEORY AND A PRACTICE WHICH ARE COMBINED INTO A SYSTEM OF DEVELOPING THE BODY, THE MIND AND THE SPIRIT OF MAN THRO' THE AGENCY OF THE FORCES WITHIN HIMSELF v< v< v< n« ve "Know Thyself, Then Help Thyself WORCESTER, MASS. ^be Ibamllton ipreea MCMV. T^^. LIBRAHY of OO^IGKESS Two Copies rteceiveu UOPY B. Copyright, 1905 By CHARLES L. GILSON. TO MY MOTHER who knew my aims and my hopes: who believed in me and my work, this book is reverently dedicated. CONTENTS. Chapter page I. The Source of Healing Power 9 II. Preparation for Treatment 16 III. General Methods 20 IV, Auto-Suggestion 27 V. Absent Treatment in Theory and Practice . . 33 VI. Subjective Methods 37 VII. Acute Conditions 42 VIII. Some Popular Misconceptions 47 IX. How TO Succeed 50 PART II. I. Diseases and Their Treatment 57 II. Nervous Derangements 66 III. Subjective Suggestions 71 IV. Asthma 75 V. Epilepsy 80 VI. The Root of IVIany Ills 83 VII. Paralysis 87 VIII. After Effects of Injuries 94 IX. Heart Irregularities 100 X. Gastritis 107 XI. Some Notable Cases 112 XII. Bright's Disease 117 XIIL A Variety OF Ills 123 XIV. Breathing the Best Hygienic Precaution . . 135 XV. Some Suggestive Expedients 140 XVI. Teachability of Success 146 XVII. Conclusion 151 PREFACE. IN preparing this series of lessons upon the art of Natural Healing, I have entertained no intention of entering into abstruse discussions of the laws of mental or psychic phenomena. These laws have long since been adequately formulated and discussed by such eminent writers as Dr. Hudson and others, and I have no need to speak of them except to illustrate and make clear the harmony that exists between my own work and the great principles of natural law. I wish most emphatically to state in the beginning that I claim nothing outside the rigid and fast-fixed boundaries of definitely understood psychic phenomena. There is nothing supernatural, nothing transcending Nature's immutable law, in what I have done. I have but applied laws and reaped the beneficent results of abiding within the law — no act of mine has for an instant controverted or opposed the great, simple, unchangeable statutes that Mother Nature has written in indelible characters for the guidance of her universal creation. Any man who claims powers outside these laws, or any man who claims ability to set them at naught with impunity, may be set down unhesitatingly as ignorant or an impostor. Nor have I any intention of entering into any campaign against any now-established theory or system of treating or healing the sick. I believe that all systems of healing have some substance of truth and do a certain amount of good, else they could not exist. The world has seen innumerable systems of theology, philosophy and sociology, each with its partisans convinced of its complete infallibility. Some of these systems have been so choked with error and absurdity vi PREFACE. that today we merely laugh at their vagaries, yet unbiased inspection of their principles will almost invariably reveal a kernel of unalloyed truth at the bottom. The wildest theory man ever evolved probably had in its inception some minute revelation of immutable law, perhaps disclosed only as is caught a glimpse of some far-away shining mountain peak, never before seen, though dimly and intuitively believed to exist, but instantly swallowed up again in impenetrable cloud and mystery. So it is only the narrow and the self-sufficient man who denies that his neighbor has even glimpsed the summit, when he himself claims to be gazing from another angle at its fully unveiled effulgence. Truth is always potent, and a very little infusion of it '^leaveneth a whole lump" of error and misconception. It is only to be regretted that so many modem systems of healing are hampered and choked into comparative uselessness by a cumbersome mechanism of tradition, dogma, etiquette, prejudice and narrowness. I claim only to have cast off these irksome bonds which hamper so many conscientious workers in the great field of alleviating human suffering and pain, and by so doing to have used the truth and discarded the dross. I have ever aimed to get back close to Nature — to use her methods and to give unquestioning obedience to her laws. That is why my system of Natural Healing, as I have always preferred to call it, has proved itself so efficacious as it has. It is Nature's own way and therefore is not a man-made system at all, not the creation of my brain or any other man's, but simply a right system of doing Nature's own bidding. I have formed and co-ordinated the plan of healing and made it available, but I could no more have created it than I could create the universe. This, then, is my reason for offering this book to the public — that all may freely know of the results I have obtained PREFACE. vii in a long practice full of seemingly miraculous curative successes; secondly, how I have obtained them; and lastly, that all who will, may learn to attain like results themselves. I claim that, with the assistance of this volume, any person of suitable physical, mental and moral make-up, may heal the sick and banish pain without medicine or surgery, as easily and efficaciously as I have been doing it daily for years. THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. CHAPTER I. MOST POWERFUL SERVANT — HELP IS FROM WITHIN — THE SUBJECTIVE MIND — KNOWLEDGE OF ITS FUNCTIONS PREREQUISITE TO HEALTH — CONCEPTIONS OF FAITH — ''KNOW THYSELF, THEN HELP THYSELF — AND OTHERS^' THIS book is calculated to teach the principles of Natural Healing. I do not anticipate that every person who reads it will be able to cure disease. Any person who reads it and assimilates its contents can do so if he choose, but very many will not. That is always to be assumed with reference to any subject of instruction. Very many students annually matriculate at the various institutions of learning throughout the world, and very few actually become experts in the subjects they elect to study. One has to look but a short distance in his own vicinity to find some one who has acquired all the book knowledge of a profession, or all the theory of a science and yet is neither able to apply his knowl- edge practically nor to teach it to others. Such knowledge is not, however, acquired in vain, for though the person may not "benefit himself or others in a material way by what he has learned, still the very fact of his knowing is helpful to him. Particularly is the above true with reference to knowledge acquired along the lines of mental phenomena. A right under- standing of the principles which govern mental therapeutics cannot fail to be of benefit to any student, no matter whether he studies to know and apply his knowledge or merely to know alone. So I claim that a careful perusal of this volume 10 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. will be helpful to any person of intelligence, whether he aims- simply to help himself or if he has the higher ambition of helping his fellow men. The first and most essential prerequisite in the study of this book is that the student should know whence comes^ the 'power with which he deals and by means of which he works. Without such knowledge, the student is manifestly entirely at sea and all his efforts entirely futile. So it may fairly be said that the remainder of this chapter contains the absolute first essential to an understanding of the subject, and should be carefully assimilated by the reader regardless of the object with which he approaches the study. There is just one thing always to be kept rigidly in view^ namely, ^^The mind is the source of all curative power. ''^ An 'Y understanding of this dictum is the key to the art of Natural Healing. The human mind is, without any question, a dual entity.- It consists of two distinct elements each essential to the other and to life. Each has separate and well-understood functions, and each may act entirely independently of the other. These two halves of the mental entity are called: I. The Objective, or conscious mind; II. The Subjective,. or subconscious mind. The Objective mind is that portion of the human mentality^ through which we are cognizant of exterior facts. It is that- portion of the mind which perceives, through the medium of the five senses, the conditions and events which go on out- side ourselves, and by which we are conscious of their effect upon ourselves. It is also the reasoning mind and possesses-- the power of logic or the power of reasoning from cause to effect and vice-versa. The Subjective mind, on the contrary, is the portion of the mind which controls all the sensations, emotions and func- THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 11 tions of the body. It cannot reason, but it is gifted with infallible memory. It is the indelible record upon which is written down every experience of life. It is the absolute master of every atom of the physical being of man. It is the spirit. All that man needs to acquire perfect mastery over him- self is the power to make the Subjective mind his servant. Of course this sounds to the uninitiated an impossible require- ment, but in reality it is the simplest. All we need to realize is that The power which regenerates, the power which makes us whole, is within ourselves. "^Tj^Qg) IS WITHIN us, not far away in some inaccessible Heaven where only the elect may hope to climb, but His Spirit is within every one of his living creatures. We have only to assert our real selves to become Godlike. How strange a thing it is that so marvellous a truth should have been lost and ever sought after, now and again half regrasped only to be lost again, throughout the ages! Ever has man sought far afield for the power to overcome disease and death, while all the time it lay within the confines of his own being. It is like the allegory of Hawthorne in which the peasant boy waits patiently his lifetime for the fabled poet to appear, only to find at last that he himself is the chosen one. Within every man there is the absolute power of con- trolling his own destiny, within reasonable limits, and this applies first of all to the control of his physical existence. It is self-evident that if the Subjective mind controls the functions of the body, it is simply necessary to control the Subjective mind in order to dictate the perfect working of the body. The Subjective mind is to be likened to the careful house- keeper, who, when her activities are properly directed, so 12 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. orders the domicile that every factor of life moves smoothly within it, and makes it an ideal dwelling-place. The Subjective mind, when properly directed through the medium of the will, co-ordinates the functions and keeps the human temple a dwelling-place fit for its divine tenant, the Soul. In no way is the beautiful simplicity of divine law more notably shown than in the relation of mankind to the power which he possesses within himself. The Subjective mind is without question the spark of divine life in man. Yet it is entirely within his power of control. Subtle and mysterious as the Subjective entity is, it is ever amenable to Objective suggestion. Reason, which is, contrary to the often repeated dictum of the poet, not the divine attribute of man at all, but merely a human one, is capable of directing the Subjective mind through the medium of the will. The Objective mind, which depends for its acts upon reason, which vanishes with consciousness and which dies with the physical body, can compel the undying spirit to do its behests. In a single word. The Subjective mind is always amenable to Objective suggestion. The will is the connecting link between the two entities. The Subjective mind, being incapable of reason or logic, acts upon every thought of the Objective mind, that is, upon every suggestion given it. ''As a man thinketh, so is he,'' is absolutely a statement of fact. Now right at this point some students will say, ''Why, this is simply 'Faith cure,' and as I could never have faith enough to cure either myself or others, this method will be of no advantage to me." There could be no greater mistake than that. Faith is essential to the cure of disease, no matter by what means it is attempted. Nothing in the world can be done without Faith. The man who does not believe in him- THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. self can never do anything or be anything worth while. It makes no difference what the natine of the belief is, a belief of some sort is essential to success in the most trivial thing as well as in the greatest activity of life. We could not even breathe if we did not have faith that our lungs would fill them- selves so many times a minute without effort on our own part. A man carries a potato in his pocket to cure rheumatism, but it is his faith and not the potato that effects the cure. The great trouble with those who decry so-called Faith cure is that they know only Objective faith. They wholly disregard Subjective faith, and it is Subjective faith that cures disease. Objective faith directs the curative power, but Subjective ^ faith is that power. Here again is illustrated Nature's wonderful providence of an infallible remedy for man's ills. Faith is an essential requisite, but man cannot always command reason to have it — that is, he cannot always have Objective faith. So then, Natm"e provides the possibility of Subjective faith, independent of anything but mechanical means. In other words, repetition will create Subjective faith regardless of reason. It is only necessary to repeat a suggestion, either for good or evil, to the Subjective mind and it will act upon it, no matter whether the conscious mind believes it or not. The repetition of a suggestion is an infallible creator of Subjective belief and y- consequent action, for the Subjective mind acts upon every suggestion which it accepts — that is, in which it gains faith. If Objective faith were the basis of '^ Faith-cure'^ so-called, ''Faith-cure," mental healing and Natural Healing would all alike be fallacious. It is a deeper, more spiritual quality that we mean when we say that faith is essential to healing. It is not the faith of logic or of reason, but the faith of the spirit which cures. 14 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. When the Saviour said "The Kingdom of God is within you," he referred to just this fact, that the power which makes man Godlike rests within himself, and is his by divine birth- right, the power to surmount the weakness of the flesh by the inherent attributes of the spirit. So when He further said, "Except ye become as a little child, ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven,' ' He emphasized the need for recognizing Subjective faith and its basic Naturalness, rather than for depending upon the evanes- cent attributes of the Objective entity. The one is Natural and infallible because it is spiritual and immortal, the other is complicated with constant possibility of error because it is physical and mortal. Briefly to sum up, then, the student must first gain a true conception of the fact that he has within himself a power which needs only to be applied in order to overcome all physical obstacles. The limits of accomplishment are determined only by the student's own personal ability to grasp the theory of Subjective force and to develop and apply the forces of his own being. Understand first that you have within yourself the key to power. Determine that you will develop that power. Believe in yourself. Know that you can do and be what you will, within natural limits. Remember that you have the most wonderful force in the universe within yourself, and that you need only to know how to apply it to become master of disease. Suggestion is the lever which controls the current of vital force. Practice is the only thing needful after theory has been acquired. Cultivate faith in yourself and you will instil it into others. Learn to distinguish between the Objective faith which reason teaches that you may well have in the THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 15 -constant operation of Natural laws, and the Subjective faith which you will need to cultivate by means of repeated sugges- tion in the subconscious mentality of your patients. ''Know )^ thyself, then help thyself — and others/^ With each succeeding day of practice in controlling the Subjective mind by means of suggestion, you will find new power and strength becoming your own. There is no limit to your possibilities if you will determine to he yourself. In succeeding chapters I will endeavor to describe practical appli- cations of the grand law of suggestion, but first let the student Joiow that in his own breast is the secret of all power. CHAPTER II. Preparation for Treatment. operator self-trained — confidence in self and confidence of patient — methods of implanting faith — methods of suggestion — expectant attention. IT is of course to be assumed that previous to attempting the healing of the sick, the student will have thoroughly mastered the theory of suggestion as the foundation of all curative power. He will have trained his own Subjective entity to control the functions of his own body, and he will by long practice have accustomed himself to think always in terms of Natural Science — that is, he will have reached a state of mind in which the Subjective and Objective minds act together in accordance with the principles heretofore laid down. He will always know that in himself is the one agency which can overcome material obstacles, and he will have gone beyond the stage where doubt is possible because he knows there can be no doubt of the Subjective power. Assuming then, that the student is ready to apply his knowledge to relieving others, he should first of all consider the element of confidence. The operator should first have complete confidence in himself, or rather, in the power that is within himself, and secondly, he should aim to secure the confidence of the patient. Too much stress cannot be placed upon the importance of making an initial good impression. Everybody knows how essential a good first impression is in any affair of life. First impressions may not always be reliable, but they are generally the most influential. THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 17 I have already discussed the need of faith in order to heal. Securing Objective faith is the easiest method of assur- ing Subjective faith. If you believe in yourself, and show it by an air of quiet strength and confidence, the patient also will believe in you, and the moment he does so, you can be sure you can cure him. The reason for that is simply that the Objective faith which he conceives in you, engendered by your strength of personality, induces in him Subjective faith, or in other words, you are yourself a most potent suggestion to the patient. You will never induce faith in a patient by telling him that he must have it in order to be cured. Such a procedure would be an adverse suggestion that you might never after- wards be able to overcome. But if a patient is manifestly skeptical, it is your business to overcome that prejudice as your own best judgment may dictate for each individual case. Of course it is in this respect that each student's own personal tact and ability will determine his success. Some patients may be argued with, others can be won to belief in you by a gradual process of securing their friend- ship and others must be shown cases parallel to their owti -^ where the result has been beneficial either through your own efforts or those of other mental practitioners. Each patient must be handled carefully and the student's own tact and ^' skill in handling people," as the expression is, will determine the measure of his success. Suggestion is always the basis of Natural Healing, but suggestion takes various forms, and skill and judgment must x always be used in selecting the right form to apply to each individual case. Various methods will have to be used with different patients. ^ With some it is best to place the hands upon the affected parts, 18 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. with others simply the glance accompanied by appropriate suggestions is all that is required, while with others various mechanical expedients may be employed as suggested by the experience and ingenuity of the operator. All that is necessary is to obtain the attention and hence the co-operation of the patient. It is always to be remembered that all mechanical expedients are but forms of suggestion and have in themselves no virtue whatever except as they assist in attracting the Objective attention and thus influencing the Subjective entity. It is well known that it is only necessary to fix the atten- tion firmly upon a portion of the body in order to affect its physical condition. Thus it is perfectly possible to slow down or to accelerate the pulse by fixing the attention upon the heart. Many nervous persons can so affect their heart action as to produce fainting merely because they expect they are going to faint. The phenomena of expectant attention are many and varied. There are scores of well-authenticated instances in which constant dwelling upon the fear of disease has produced it in due time. This is especially true with reference to cancer, hydrophobia, tuberculosis and other diseases of more or less obscure nature which from their malignancy are particularly objects of popular apprehension. A very recent case reported in the newspapers occurred in Chicago. A young man named Johnson, about six months previously to his death, had owned a small dog which was bitten by another animal and died of rabies. Johnson was never bitten by the animal nor was he ever reaUy in danger from the affair, but he constantly brooded upon it and finally began to exhibit all the symptoms of hydro- phobia. He finally died in the utmost agony, though it was perfectly well known that he could never by any possibility THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 19 have contracted the malady from any exterior source. This was a typical case of expectant attention resulting in actual simulation of disease. His constant Objective fear reacted upon the Subjective mind until the actual condition of disease was produced. Every New England born person can, if he lived in the country, look back to his childhood and remember being told that poison-iv>^ would injure only those who feared it. There is excellent reason for believing that this is the fact, for many cases have been observed in which people touched the plant without knowing what it was until some time afterward, and received no harm whatever, while in other cases the first symp- toms of poisoning followed shortly after learning the nature of the plant. In exactly the same way, many an instance has been recorded of people being practically frightened to death by the bite of some reptile which they thought venomous but which really was not so. In some instances the discovery of the innocuous nature of the creature was made in time to cause a laughably quick recovery from apparently imminent dissolution. So when the attention of a patient is brought to a portion of the body by repeated suggestion, it is possible to affect the status of that member in a great many ways. If there is inflammation, the attention is directed to the part, and the suggestion given is that the blood is receding from it, that '^ there is a marked decrease in the tension there, that a feeling of coolness and relief exists and that the tissues are losing the superabundance of blood supply. On the other hand, where there is restriction of the circulation, such as occurs in paralysis of some kinds, the reverse process is employed, and in response the circulation will be quickened, the tissues fiUed with fresh blood and thus renovated. CHAPTER III. General Methods. TONING UP general SYSTEM — IMPORTANCE OF SOLAR PLEXUS IN SUGGESTIVE TREATMENT — HOW TO STIMULATE CIRCULATION AND DIGESTION — EFFECTS OF GENERAL TREATMENT — WHEN NAUSEA IS AN ENCOURAGING SYMPTOM — SUGGESTIVE USE OF WATER — MAGNETIZED WATER — ADAPTING TREATMENT TO IN- DIVIDUAL CASES — VITAL NECESSITY OF CO-OPERATION BETWEEN PATIENT AND HEALER. AVERY good method to use in treating cases of a general nature wherein it is desired to tone up the whole system and thus aid nature to restore the normal tone to the whole body, is as follows. It is well to seat the patient in a comfortable chair or allow him to recline with the head and shoulders slightly raised. You may then spend a few minutes in talking quietly with him, explaining that the treatment you are about to give him will cause his circulation to become better, the nervous energy to be increased and the general system toned up. Here again the operator must use his skill and judgment in determining what to tell the patient. The operator must use his personal knowledge of his patient and adapt his explana- tions to the patient's normal intellect and ability to understand, as well as to his present condition. Sometimes patients are in such a weakened or debilitated condition that too much talking of any kind is hurtful to them. Tact alone can deter- mine the course for each individual case. When you have secured the attention of the patient, look fixedly at him, meeting his eyes and holding his attention THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 21 without staring at him. Place the right hand upon the pit of the patient's stomach, calling his attention to the fact that ^ it is the location of the solar plexus, which is considered to be the seat of vital energy. It is the most important nerve plexus in the body and it is believed that it governs the sympa- thetic nerve system and the organic functions almost entirely. Tell the patient that this is the case, and that you are impart- ing to the plexus a stimulation which will cause it to resume • activity. It will thus increase the secretions of the stomach, the liver and the intestines, the bile will flow more freely, the processes of digestion will go on normally and the colon will be lubricated so that movements will be normal. The kidneys will also be stimulated to activity. All the time that these explanations are being given in a quiet, firm tone, in language suited to the patient's condition and understanding, the operator's hand should be slowly describ- ing a rectangular path upon the abdomen, following the course of the colon. A vibratory motion may also be given gently over the seat of the solar plexus, at the moment when it is stated that the object is to stimulate that organ in its functions. This treatment, you may proceed to say, will correct all digestional troubles and will thus give Nature a chance to make new blood and tissue to replace the ravages of disease. In cases of nervous debility, this treatment may be supple- mented by seatmg the patient in such manner that his spine can be easily reached, and then placing the left hand upon the back of the patient's neck at the base of the brain, while the right hand is used to make passes slowly along the spinal column. In all cases the treatment should conclude with appropriate suggestions to the effect that improvement will be noticed immediately in the digestive and other functions, ajid that pain, if any exist, will disappear. 22 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. The treatments described above are of course general ones and should be in addition to special treatments for local disorders. The seat of pain, if any exist, must always be treated locally, in addition to general treatment, and if pain is severe, attention will of course be given to relieving it before anything else is done. It has often happened in my practice that patients treated in the general manner I have described will complain that within a few hours after the first treatment, they experienced unusual discomfort and in some cases violent nausea. This I believe to be caused by the stimulation of the nervous system and the stirring up of the abdominal organs together with the effort thus made to throw off stagnant secretions and impuri- ties. I have always found that patients who experienced this phenomenon were the quickest and most completely cured, and I always make use of this fact as a potent suggestion to aid their further progress. Naturally some patients are much discouraged by this sudden turn for the worse, as it seems to them to be, and if the operator has reason to believe his patient may be one liable to this experience, he may warn the patient in advance not to feel worried, as it is exactly what is desired and looked for. It is a fact that I have found it a most favorable and desirable indication of recovery. I have noted the same phenomenon in cases of neuralgia and sciatica, where a tremendous paroxysm of pain followed the first treatment within a few hours — and then never reappeared in any form, the patient being completely ciu*ed. I have found the use of water very valuable in many ways. Of course liberal drinking of pure water is a hygienic precaution that a great many people neglect, and the student will often find cases where all the patient requires is to drink a needful supply of pure water daily. Many a $100 fee has THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 23 been paid to specialists on digestional diseases for the simple advice, "drink water/' But in addition to this, water may be made to serve real curative as well as preventive purposes. In cases of dyspepsia, constipation and allied troubles, the operator may draw a glass of water and call the patient's attention to it, not neces- sarily in words, but by giving the impression of much importance attaching to it. Set the glass upon the palm of the left hand, and place the right over its top, imparting a vibrating motion to the hands in such manner that the patient sees you are doing so. If thought proper to do so, the suggestion may be given that you are imparting magnetic or nervous energy to the water for the patient's benefit. In some cases it may be well to breathe slightly upon the surface of the water, but in any event, the object is to give the suggestion of its efiicacy to the patient. Then have the patient drink the water, giving the needful suggestions as to the effect it will have. I have seen constipation of long standing relieved by one such treat- ment and cured in a few more. In exactly the same way, too great activity of the bowels is relieved, the suggestions only being varied to meet the case. It will depend, as I have said, only upon the personality of the operator, as to how potent he succeeds in making his suggestions. I have had patients declare the water I prepared for them to be as '^ prickly" in taste as vichy, while others could feel a thrill like that imparted by a galvanic battery, whenever I laid my hands upon them. These were by no means among the least intelligent of my patients, but they were among those most easily benefited. They were those in whom Objective faith was easily implanted and they did not, like others, have to be given a long coiu"se of repeated suggestions in order to create Subjective faith. 24 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. The operator ought always to remember that each indivi- dual patient may be expected to exhibit new peculiarities of physical and temperamental make-up. No two patients will react in exactly the same manner and what may benefit one, may have no effect upon another. Neither is it possible to generalize as to the outcome of cases. I have seen in my practice two cases of the same disease which seemed almost identical as to nature and progress of the malady, age and general condition of the patient, etc., yet one might be cured in a single treatment and the other not till after several weeks of constant attendance. Why this should be so cannot be explained except upon the ground of difference in temperament, and obscure subjective phenomena. So it is never well to make prophecies as to the length of time necessary to cure a patient nor to attempt to generalize from special cases. It must not be supposed that failures do not occasionally oc- cur in Natural Healing as well as in all other human endeavors. No matter how infallible a law or a theory may be, human application of it is always fraught with the danger of failure. One of the greatest obstacles to imfailing success is the diffi- culty of securing positive co-operation between operator and patient. The patient must co-operate or he cannot hope to be cured. One of the most vital differences between Natural Healing and so-called ^' faith cure'^ is that the latter implies a miraculous cure of disease in answer to prayer or to objective faith. It implies that a petition to God can induce Him to change His immutable laws in a given instance. It implies that God, instead of being unchangeable as He has Himself declared He is, is really vacillating and capable of being induced to change the whole course of universal law in answer to the petition of an individual. In other words, if ''faith cure'' THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 25 were a tenable proposition, every manifestation of it would be a miracle and a revocation of Natural law. So then, it often happens that a patient is found who looks for an immediate and magical recovery. He wants to be rid of a condition in a minute that it took months of abuse of Nature to produce. He shuts his mind to the operator's explanations and suggestions and waits for some magical hocus-pocus to restore him to youth and strength instantly. Needless to say, such an event does not occiu*. Then he gives up the treatment in a fine scorn and disgust of such '' quackery. '^ Natural Healing requires more than the swallowing of a drug or a potion. It requires knowledge. Some patients unconsciously oppose their whole wills to the operator's efforts. They subconsciously determine that nothing whatever shall be allowed to controvert their own particular set habits of thought. They may assure the operator that they place themselves unreservedly in his hands, yet, perhaps unconsciously to themselves, they are set in the pur- pose to let nothing combat their own creeds, dogmas and iabitual beliefs. Such patients also shut their minds against helpful suggestion and knowledge and cannot be helped so long as they maintain this attitude. In all such cases, to use the language of Natiu^al Healing, they defeat your suggestions by stronger adverse auto-suggestions. But if a patient will open his mind to knowledge, and faithfully comply with mental laws, good effects are impossible to avoid for they follow in natural sequence. Oftentimes there are subjective causes which will aid or retard progress, but these can only be dealt with individually. The mind tainted with selfishness, covetousness, avarice, sensuality or jealousy shuts itself to help. The relations between operator and patient should be made as intimate as can be accomplished, without the loss of 26 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. dignity on the part of the operator. Too much familiarity- breeds contempt is as true in regard to the relation of healer and patient as it is in any other application to earthly affairs. The operator ought to strive to gain the respect, esteem and confidence of his subject, and the only way in which this can be done is by being worthy of such respect and esteem. You can never do a patient good unless you approach his case with a sincere desire to benefit him, not for the effect it will have upon your own fame or purse, but because of the good you are going to do him. If you approach each case in your practice with an earnest effort and intent to help the patient for his own sake, you will gain success, but otherwise you will not do so to any such extent as will the man whose heart is filled with pity and love for suffering humanity. Love for one's fellow men is absolutely necessary in order to get the best results by Natural Healing methods. In no other way than by a sincere and unfeigned sympathy with suffering fellow mortals can you really secure their confidence. The evidences and sentiments of compassion cannot be simu- lated without ultimate detection. You may not be conscious that your affectation of sympathy is detected, but the results will show themselves unfailingly in your practice. The more a healer gives out to his patients, the more good he himself receives. It is the true interpretation of the saying that '' virtue is its own reward.'' The more good you give out, the more good you yourself receive. It is the true law of compensation, and the healer whose heart overflows with sympathy and love for the suffering will find his good thoughts and deeds returned to himself in ten-fold measure. CHAPTER IV. AUTO-SUGGESTION. CO-OPERATION SECURED BY SELF-GIVEN SUGGESTIONS — MAKING TREATMENT CONTINUOUS — HOW SUBJECTIVE FAITH IS BEST SECURED — WHEN AUTO-SUGGESTIONS SUCCEED BEST — SIMPLE SUGGESTIONS MOST EFFECTIVE — METHODS OF ADMINISTERING SELF-HELP. SUGGESTION is the basis of Natural Healing. It makes no difference what the suggestion is nor from whence it emanates, it will control the subjective mind, if not controverted by stronger suggestion. So then the student must in the beginning furnish suggestions to himself before he begins to treat others. It is by the suggestions he gives himself that his own subjective mind is controlled, so it is obvious that he can instruct his patients how to help themselves in the same manner. The need for co-operation between patient and operator has been emphasized before. There is no way in which such co-operation can be better secured than by teaching the patient the principles of auto-suggestion. If the patient practices auto- suggestion systematically under right guidance by the operator, he makes his treatment a continuous one and the efforts of the operator are supplemented in a most effective manner. It has been stated that subjective faith is generated by repetition of suggestions, hence the value of auto-suggestion cannot be overestimated in this connection. The most difficult cases of objective opposition to cure by Natural means, can be overcome by auto-suggestion if persisted in. 28 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. The operator, having secured the attention of the patient and gotten him interested in the treatment, may tell him that he can aid in his own recovery by a few minutes' treatment daily. The operator can then explain the necessity for govern- ing the subjective mind by appropriate suggestions and may dictate some suggestions to the patient to be repeated at •certain intervals during the day. Most patients will grasp the idea immediately and proceed to arrange suitable sugges- tions for themselves, and by applying them will hasten their recoveries by many days. It is obvious that the patient who depends solely upon the operator for the good he is to receive will not progress as rapidly as the one who trains his own subjective mind to a continuous, though subconscious, process of self-help. Auto-suggestions may be given helpfully at all times, though they succeed best when given regularly and syste- matically. Suggestions are to the mind what exercise is to the body, in this respect. It has, however, been shown by repeated experiments that suggestions are most potent when given just before the patient falls asleep. The objective mind vanishes, to all intents and purposes, when unconsciousness comes. So far as the objective mind is concerned, sleep is as conclusive as death. But the subjective mind is even more active during sleep than during waking hours. Suggestions given just before sleep is induced seem to repeat themselves mechanically during sleep and thus acquire their very fullest effect. The subjec- tive mind is left unhampered during sleep by the possibly adverse suggestions of the objective mind, and it also has the greatest effect at that time upon the functions, especially those of circulation and digestion. If it is strongly suggested just before going to sleep that these functions are to be greatly THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. 29 strengthened during the ensuing sleeping hours, it will be found almost infallibly that just that effect will be obtained. So if the patient gives himself proper auto-suggestions each night when composing himself to rest, he will do as much for himself as the operator can do for him. Some patients cannot use auto-suggestion as successfully as others, of course, but here again temperamental differences and limitations come in and must be recognized as factors in the progress of the cure. With some patients it might not be well to try to use auto-suggestion for the reason that if they were skeptical in the first place, they might misunder- stand your explanations and become more skeptical. So many people have become accustomed to swallowing some sort of drug when sick and relying entirely upon that to effect a cure, that they are suspicious and distrustful the moment you suggest any self-help. The nature of auto-suggestions to be given in cases where it seems advisable to use this method must depend upon the individual and upon the disease. Patients suffering much pain will be less likely to make good use of auto-suggestions ' than others, though in cases where they are fully convinced of the efficacy of the method, self-given suggestions at the moments of most intense pain, will be found very helpful. The simpler suggestions are, the better. Short and epigrammatic sentences are most effective. The patient should ' be given three or four of these to be used at the hours prescribed by the operator. They should be simply short, definite affir- mations of improvement. Auto-suggestions to be used upon retiring at night might be something like this: ''I am going to sleep soundly"; ''I shall wake up much stronger '%* '^The pain will disappear"; ''Such and such a symptom will trouble me no more.'' 30 THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING. Similar suggestions may be used at meal-times if digestional disturbances are feared or at any other time of day when desirable. The operator must use his own judgment in dictat- ing the suggestions to be used. One excellent method of using auto-suggestion is in con- nection with water drinking. It has been stated previously that attention should be given to seeing that the patient drinks the needful supply of water each day. Very many people suffer from nothing so much as the effects of too little water taken internally. Patients may be instructed to drink three or four glasses of water daily at stated times, not too near meals, and the act of drinking may be made the occasion for very valuable auto-suggestions. Tell the patient to drink the water slowly, with each swallow or sip repeating appropriate statements like the foregoing, but having special reference to the water that is being consumed. The thought should be that the water is going to stimulate the digestive functions, remove the causes of disease and tone up the system generally. Under proper instruction from the operator, patients will derive great benefit from this method. In the preliminary examination of each patient, the operator ought to learn all possible about the habits of eating, drinking and sleeping formed by the patient; and when he detects any- thing that should be corrected, he should use the corrective means as a vehicle for suggestion. Nine patients out of ten will be found to err in the matter of taking too little liquid and taking it at improper times. The less liquid taken with meals the better, and the more pure water taken at other times, within reason, the better. The method for a patient to use in giving himseff auto- suggestions varies according to different authorities. Some regard it as only essential to repeat the suggestions ^'parrot- THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING, 31 like/' as it might be expressed, a large number of times. The advocates of this theory believe that the repetition is all that