Daniel A.

Simmons
 R

BF 636 S592p 1921

00650400

NLM DSDD4bTl 1
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

SURGEON GENERAL'S OFFICE

LIBRARY.
Section

No. 113,
W.D.S.G.O. 3—613
PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY
BY

DANIEL A. SIMMONS
44
Author of The Science of Religion"

SECOND EDITION

Published by
BOLTON PUBLISHING COMPANY
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
1921
 1

V9XJ

Copyrighted 192

5y Daniel A. Simmons
All rights reserved

AUG lb I92H

©CI.A6240
 Dedication
This book is and tenderly ded-
lovingly
icated to Rose Ella Burleson Simmons,
sweetheart of my boyhood, wife of my
youth, sharer of the joys and cares of my
manhood, my fellow-searcher after the
liberating truth, and my co-laborer in the
great work the cardinal principles of
which are herein presented.
 AN EXPLANATION
It is apprehended that this book will, in ad-
dition to a wide general reading, be largely used
as a text-book by the various psychological
clubs, classes, societies and schools now so rap-
idly multiplying throughout the country. In
such cases it will become the intimate personal
possession of the student, and he will most
probably want to keep a permanent record of
the striking thoughts that will come as the
great truths of life unfold before him. Many
students, and even general readers, use the
margins of the pages for such notes; but this
method of annotation is unsatisfactory, and
mars the appearance of the book.
Therefore, we have inserted four blank
pages at the conclusion of each chapter, upon
which any desired notes may be penciled neatly
and intelligibly.

The Publishers.

4
 CONTENTS

Page
Dedication 3

An Explanation 4
Chapter I Introductory 7
Chapter II The Universal Mind 13

Chapter III The Sub-Conscious Mind_ 25

Chapter IV Mind and Body 39
Chapter V The Twiligkt Zone 47
Chapter VI Sending the Message 59
Chapter VII Health and Healing 77
Chapter VIII Success 105

Chapter IX The Finest Thing in the

World 131

.Chapter X Psycho- Analysis 165

Chapter XI The Source of Wisdom__ 185

6 CONTENTS
Page
Chapter XII Accusation and Commen-
dation 205

Chapter XIII The Fountain of Youth— 221

Chapter XIV All in One and One in All 245

Chapter XV Psychology and Christian-

ity 265

Chapter XVI Spirit and Morality 279

 INTRODUCTORY
I

In this very first paragraph of the intro-

ductory chapter the author makes the follow-
ing covenant with the reader : You can be
well ;
you can be happy ;
you can make your
life a supreme success.
You will observe that this covenant contains
no limitations and makes no exceptions. It
matters not what your physical condition may
be, you can be well. Regardless of any pres-
ent mental distress or gloomy prospect, you
can be happy. Even though you may now be
the most dismal failure in your community,
you can make your life an abounding success.
You are now about to enter upon a considera-
tion of infinite wisdom and power; and the
infinite knows no limitations, is subject to no
conditions. The infinite wisdom and power
abide in you. The kingdom of heaven, with all

its riches of health, happiness and success, is

within.
These great truths cannot all be laid before
you at once. It will be necessary to unfold

7
8 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

them, explain them and apply them one at a

time; and you should take them and compre-
hend them in the same way. Each phase of
the subject will be taken up in its proper se-
quence, and should be thoroughly understood
before taking up the next one. If you are not
so fortunate as already to have obtained a ful-
fillment of the covenant here made, you are
now beginning the most important undertaking
of your life. No amount of time necessary for
its full accomplishment is too long. You have
all the time there is, and if it so be that you
shall lay hold of and apply the great funda-
mental truths here under consideration, the
length of your sojourn in the physical flesh
will be a matter largely within your own con-
trol:

Practical psychology, while new in name, is

not new in principle. It is the best part of age-

old religious teachings, blended with
and glori-
fied by the modern discoveries of that branch
of science dealing with the human mind.
Briefly stated and practically applied, the
new psychology lays before the student the
tremendously important and oft demonstrated
fact that he has in his own mentality all the
 INTRODUCTORY 9

implements for building perfect health, su-

preme success and unstinted happiness — right
here and now in this present life.
The message of this new system of thought
the same message that Jesus delivered to the
is

world during his ministry

—"The kingdom of
heaven is within you." But the new system, by
laying hold of the accumulated store of human
knowledge, is able to point out the very why
and how of the matter, and to give simple and
concrete formulae for developing the kingdom
and possessing its rich rewards. The aim of
this book is to discover the inner kingdom and

its boundless treasures to each reader in such

simple fashion that he cannot fail to compre-
hend them, and to point out, simply and in de-

tail, the means of making these treasures his

very own.
No attempt will be made to cite authorities

nor to quote authors. Such a bibliography

would be long, tedious and useless. It is n6t
amiss to say, however, that the work and findr
ings of many great men and women have been
drawn upon in gathering material, and the aim
will be to assert as facts concerning any par-
ticular field of the subject only those things
10 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

that are settled and accepted by the workers

in that particular field.

The author has had recourse to the work

and findings of such general psychologists as
Hudson, Munsterberg, James and Jastrow; to
the work and findings of such sub-conscious
psychologists as Troward, Sheppard and
Olston; and to the work and findings of such
medico-psychologists of the subjective realm
as Freud, Jung, Bleuler, Riklin, Brill, Jelliffe
and White. Furthermore, he has enjoyed a
measure of association and colaboration with
nearly all the practical psychologists of na-
tional reputation now in the field. This list is

not all-inclusive; it is a mere indication of the

author's preparation for the work here in
hand, and excludes vastly more than it in-
cludes.
It seems in order, therefore, to say, at the

conclusion of this brief introductory chapter,

that Practical Psychology is an exact science,
and that it employs simple and specific meth-
ods of getting results that may be accurately
predicted from the beginning. Such is the new
science of mind that brings the promise of
health, success and happiness. It is not an or-
 INTRODUCTORY 11

ganization. It is not a religion, nor does it

conflict with any religious belief. It deals ex-

clusively with life and conditions here and

now. Its sole purpose is to abolish individual

sickness, misery, hate and failure, and to es-

tablish in each life that it touches abundant
health, happiness, love and success and ; it goes

about the accomplishment of this purpose

through the application of practical common
sense to the practical problems confronting
practical men and women in this practical age.
STUDENT'S NOTES
 II

THE UNIVERSAL MIND

Mind is everywhere. It fills all space and
acts upon everything. If a bit of liquid is cast
into space, it assumes the form of a globe, be-

cause it is according to the purpose of univer-

sal mind that all free-moving plastic bodies
shall assume that form. So it was that the
suns and worlds came to be globes, their form
having been assumed while they were still in
a molten condition.
The snow-flake is always a six-spangled
star, because it is according to the purpose of
universal mind that snow-flakes shall take that
form. The details of the star are modified
by different atmospheric conditions, but al-
ways and everywhere it is a six-spangled star.
Instances of the omnipresence and operation
of mind in the vegetable kingdom might be
compiled into a volume many times as large as
this one. In the animal kingdom they are even
more numerous, and in many instances more
remarkable. But this is not a treatise on bot-
13
14 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

any and zoology, and the mere references here

made seem to be sufficient for the present pur-
pose.
The point is that mind is everywhere, mani-
festing in all and filling all
created things
space. Wherever there is any substance to be
aoted upon, mind is found in action. This
means that, ultimately and in the last analysis,
there is but one mind, and that individual
minds are but different manifestations of it;
because if one mind fills all space, then there
is no room for separate individual minds.
This isnot only sound logic; it is literal truth
—the most important truth with which stu-
dents of practical psychology have to deal.
The human mind can never get its bearings,
and work out the problems of individual life,
until it comes to an abiding knowledge that

it is not a separate entity, or power, but only

a manifestation of the all-pervading mind
which shows forth one expression of itself in

the stone, another in the plant, another in the

animal, and another in the man, with varia-
tions of expression in the different individuals
of each of these groups.
 THE UNIVERSAL MIND 15

Bare intellectual comprehension of this

great truth is not difficult. The difficulty

arises when we attempt to make it a permanent

and constant part of consciousness an atti- —
tude of mind. In other words, and to adopt
an ancient similie, it is easy enough to know it
in the head, but the heart learns more slowly.

And it iswhat we know in the heart that

counts. So long as we merely accept a thing
as true whenever it is brought specifically to
our attention, we may never act upon it; but
whenever it sinks down into the deepest re-

cesses of consciousness, it becomes a part of

us, and we constantly, even involuntarily,

shape our lives accordingly. The truth which

we have thus inwardly realized constantly di-

rects us and enters into the solution of every
problem.
It is in this inward fashion that the student
must realize his mental oneness with every-

thing else. And when he comes to this deep

and abiding realization, his redemption from
sickness, sorrow and poverty is at hand. For
the further realization quickly comes that the

one mind of which he is a part is not only

everywhere present, but is manifestly all-wise
16 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

and all-powerful. It follows that he is with-

out beginning of days or ending of years, and

that all things are possible to him.
The Moses to lead
voice that commissioned
the Israelites out of Egypt, when questioned
as to its identity, answered, "I am."
.
Jesus once said to some Jewish questioners
that he knew Abraham. "What!" they re-
torted, "You are not yet fifty years old, and
yet you say you knew Abraham?" His an-
swer was, "Before Abraham was, / aw." He
realized, as perhaps no earth-dweller ever had
realized before, that all mind is one mind, and
that all existence is one existence. He recog-
nized the universal "here," the everlasting
"now," and the timeless "I am." This con-
sciousness on his part enabled him to transcend
nearly all recognized human limitations, to
perform miracles, and to speak "as man never
spake before."
The inward realization of the I am will not
immediately convert the student into a worker
of miracles. But it will take him to the very
source of all wisdom and power, and when he
learns to partake of that source, his limitations
will fall away and all things become possible
 THE UNIVERSAL MIND 17

in just the measure that he comprehends and

partakes. A full comprehension and a full
partaking would, of course, bring the individ-
ual to what is known in practical psychology
as "the God-Consciousness," to which no one
on this plane of existence has ever dared to
aspire. But the "Christ-Consciousness" is as-
pired to, and Jesus held out hope of attaining
it when he said to his apostles, "The works
that I do shall ye do also, and even greater
works than these."
But, while mind is limitless in extent, wis-
dom, and power, the average individual is

much more interested in being young, well,

happy and successful than in the performance
of miracles. And it is better so. Infinite
mind is expressing itself here and now in a
plan which has for its purpose the establish-
ment of a happy, successful and love-inspired
humanity, and the individual's highest duty
and greatest happiness are to be found in
working out that plan and achieving that pur-
pose. Therefore, the practical psychologist
applies himself to the task immediately at hand,
and seeks to work out his salvation and estab-
lish his heaven here and now, with assurance
2
18 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

that if he makes good use of the present oppor-

tunity the future will hold no terrors.
The practical application of this great truth
to the problems of present life is the work
upon which the student is now setting forth.

When he has learned to say, and to feel, deep

down in the innermost recesses of his con-
sciousness, "I am," the next question that pre-
sents itself for answer is, "I am what?"
The answer to this question rests with the
individual. The words "I am" are written at
the top of a blank page of his life, and he may
fill in whatsoever he wills. This statement is

not made lightly. Every word is carefully

considered and written in full understanding
of the author's moral accountability. Its

truth has been demonstrated time and time

again.
The student will not, of course, be able to
stop here and say "J am king of England," and
thereupon be transported to Windsor Castle
and the throne. In the first place, he would
not believe it if he said it —not even in his
head, much less in his heart. And the prime
essential is that the one who makes the declara-
tion shall believe it with all the fervor of his
 THE UNIVERSAL MIND 19

whole nature. It is, therefore, often necessary

for the student to interpose the words "able to
become" between the "I am" of his declaration
and the thing he desires, thus "I am able to:

become one of the happiest men in town," or,

"/ am able to become the loveliest woman in
my community," or, "I am able to make my
life a supreme success."
These declarations state living, vital truths.
Methods and details will be dealt with in sub-
sequent chapters, it being the present purpose
only to emphasize the fact that the individual
mind is not a spark thrown off from the uni-
versal mind, nor a creation of the Supreme
Intelligence, but is merely one expression of the
universal mind, imbued with all its wisdom
and potency, and limited only by failure to as-

sert itself.
The student who comes into this state of
consciousness begins immediately to make dis-

coveries which otherwise would be impossible

to him. One of the first of these discoveries
is that all other individual things are but dif-
ferent expressions of himself. He will look

upon the stone and realize that it is merely an

expression of the mineral wisdom, of the uni-
20 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

versal mind which also builds the stone-like

bony structure of his own body. He will con-
template the twining vine reaching for its sup-
port, and know that it is merely manifesting
another phase of the same intelligence which
enables him to comprehend, and to reason
what action his own welfare demands. And
so he will proceed through the whole list of
created things, with constantly increasing
wonder and amazement, and an ever deepen-
ing conviction that each is but an expression of
the one mind of which he also is but an ex-
pression. Then for the first time he will really
understand what is meant by the brotherhood
of man. He will realize that, whatever the
distinctions of race, learning or environment,
each human being is mentally a very part of
himself, maybe outstripping him, maybe
stumbling and falling on the road over which
he, too, has stumbled and fallen, but insep-
arably bound up with himself in such way that
the two are mentally one.
This oneness is in the realm of the sub-
conscious mind. The infant is born with the
sub-conscious mind unencumbered. But as he
begins to sense his surroundings, he also begins
 THE UNIVERSAL MIND 21

to receive impressions from them, and the ob-

jective mind, or every-day working mind, is,
at any subsequent stage of his mortal exist-
ence, made up of the sum total of these im-
pressions and the conclusions he draws from
them. Such of these impressions as become
intensified into settled convictions sink down
into the sub-conscious mind, which thereafter
orders all the affairs of the individual's life as
though they were true, regardless of whether
they are actually true or not.
Having thus briefly considered the one su-
preme mind and its wisdom and power, let us
proceed, step by step, to consider the ways and
means whereby the individual may bring this
wisdom and power into the solution of his
problems, and employ them in the attainment
of health, happiness and success.
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 Ill

THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND

Just what is the chemical process used by
the liver in the manufacture of bile? or by
the kidneys in separating toxins from the
blood ? or by the super-renal glands in the pro-
duction of adrenolin?
Anatomists and chemists say that such ques-
tions are unanswerable. And yet, the simplest
village idiot performs these wonderful feats of
chemistry every day.
These bodily functions are not performed
by the objective mind, which operates through
the upper and frontal portions of the brain,
but by the sub-conscious mind, which operates
through the lower and back portions. The ob-
jective or work-a-day mind knows nothing
about them — is not even aware that they are
going on —because its knowledge is gained ex-
clusively from observations and deductions,
and since it never has observed nor in any
other way sensed them, it cannot know any-
thing about them. But the sub-conscious mind
25
26 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

knows all about them and constantly works

them out. Incidentally, it knows a great deal
else, and certain phases of this additional
knowledge will be treated as we proceed. The
sub-conscious mind is born in the human in-
fant. During the first month of existence and
growth the foetus is builded by the sub-con-
scious mind acting solely through the brain of
the mother, and no embryologist can determine
its sex —not because it is sexless, but because it

is double-sexed. Then the determining factor

enters.Another phase of intelligence seems to
come upon the scene, and this incoming phase
of intelligence is either male or female in its
nature. If it is male, the female organs of sex
immediately cease development and become
atrophied, while the male organs are rapidly
developed. If the incoming phase of intelli-

gence is female in its nature, then the opposite

development and atrophy occur.
This Well known fact of embryology makes
it mind manifest-
clear that the sub-conscious
ing in the infant knows how to build and
maintain a body, even from the first moment
that it begins building operations. And why
should it not? It is but an expression of the
 THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND 27

one all-powerful and all-wise mind —an incar-

nation of the ultimate I am of all existence.
The infant body is not always perfect, be-
cause its building is injuriously affected by ad-
verse mental and physical conditions of its

parents and of the race. In other words, the

sub-conscious mind often works with poor
materials under adverse conditions, and the
result is an inferior product.
In the processes of body building and main-
tenance the mind uses the brain as its base of

operations. The objective mind occupies the

upper and frontal portion of the brain, and
from that point sends out its messages direct-
ing and controlling the voluntary activities.

The sub-conscious mind occupies the lower and

posterior portions of the brain and spinal cord,
and from these points sends out its messages
directing and controlling the involuntary activ-
ities. The force used in both instances is

nervous energy,which is a form of electricity

sometimes called animal magnetism, and this
force is transmitted over two elaborate sets of
nerves strung through the body like the com-
plicated wire net-work of an electrical system.
The mind grows weary and rests,
objective
but the sub-conscious mind is tireless and
28 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

sleepless.During sleep the objective mind is

"out of commission," and all the voluntary
movements are stilled. But even during the
profoundest sleep the heart keeps on beating,
the liver and kidneys continue their functions,
the thyroid and super-renal glands are busy
and all the other involun-
in their laboratories,

tary processes go forward even with increased

facility. In dealing with the subject of health,
the relation and interaction of these two nerv-
ous systems will be considered in some detail,
the present purpose being merely to call atten-
tion to their existence and the purposes they
serve.
The average man and woman take it for
granted that in some mysterious way God cre-
ated their bodies and continues to sustain
them, the wonderful wisdom involved being
thus accounted for by supposing it to come
from; a mysterious source without. If the
universal mind be accepted as God, then this
belief is half true, and its only fallacy is the

supposition that the wisdom and power come

from, some source outside the individual.
They are in the sub-conscious mind, which is
 THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND 29

but an expression of the one mind which is

everywhere and in everything.

While this sub-conscious mind is limitless

in extent, the individual may truthfully refer

to it as "my sub-conscious mind," and may
proceed as though he were the sole possessor
of it. Therefore, we may assume that each
human being has a sub-conscious mind all to
himself. This is not literally true, but it is true
in principle,and the more limited conception
puts the matter in such form that average men
and women may the more easily grasp it. This
conception of an individual sub-conscious
mind is of the same kind as the thought car-
ried by the words "my breath." So much of
the atmosphere as fills the individual's lungs is

indeed his breath, but the one atmosphere of

which that breath is but a part extends out-
ward and upward around and above the

whole earth and everything upon it.

Therefore, it will be assumed, for the sake
of easy understanding, that each human being
has a separate sub-conscious mind all his own,
which springs from and is a part of the uni-
versal mind, just as the wave springs from
and is a part of the ocean.
30 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Although the sub-conscious mind is all-wise

and all-powerful, there is one point at which it

is vulnerable to attack by the objective mind.

That vulnerability is its absolute credulity. It

accepts as true, withoutargument and without

question, anything the objective mind tells it.
The difficulty lies in communicating with it at
all. It is separated from the objective mind by
a twilight zone of consciousness called the sub-
jective mind, and this zone is not crossed by
every mere passing wish or whim. To put the
same truth in another form, it is insulated
from the objective mind by a stratum of con-
sciousness called subjective mind, dream mind,
or hypnotic mind, which is resistant to the
passage of objective thought, so that commu-
nication between and sub-con-
the objective
scious minds can be accomplished only under
proper conditions and by the employment of a
high mental pressure.
It is important that this difficulty be fully
understood and appreciated, for lack of under-
standing and appreciation of it accounts for
nearly all the failures to get full results.
Let us suppose a block of metal to be
charged with negative electricity and lying
 THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND 31

upon a glass table. And let us suppose another

similar block of metal, charged with positive
electricity, to be lying upon the first one, but
separated from it by a thin sheet of hard rub-
ber, which last named substance resists the

passage of electricity. The lower block being

negatively charged, and the upper one posi-
tively charged, the tendency is for the upper
block to discharge its electrical energy into the
lower one until their charges become equal-
ized. But the insulating sheet of rubber pre-
vents the passage of the electrical charge,

thereby also preventing any communication

between the two blocks. The rubber cannot
hold back an electric current under very high
pressure, and if the charge in the upper block
be raised to a high pressure (or voltage), it
will pass through the rubber and into the lower

block.
The sub-conscious mind is in the position of

the lower metal block, and is normally passive

or negative to the objective mind, which latter
is in the position of the upper block. But the
thin stratum of subjective mind lies between
the objective and sub-conscious minds, in the
position of the sheet of rubber, and under or-
32 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

dinary conditions prevents any communication

between them.
But the resistence of the subjective mind can
be broken down under concentrated effort of
the objective mind, and during such periods of
concentrated effort the objective mind can send
a message to the sub-conscious mind. The
message thus transmitted is unquestioningly
accepted as true by the sub-conscious mind,
and it immediately brings all of its wonderful
wisdom and power into play to carry the mat-
ter to its logical conclusion and sequence.
If one who is the victim of disease can es-
tablish the proper conditions, and can send
through the simple message, "I am going to
get well," it will be accepted as true, and all
the wisdom and power sustaining life and
growth in every form will immediately be cen-
tered upon the manifestation of that truth in
his physical body. This is the method em-
ployed by Jesus in his work of healing, as will
more appear by later references to his
fully
recorded work and quoted teachings. In fact,
it is the fundamental principle underlying all
super-physical healing.
The method here under consideration is not
 THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND 33

limited to the treatment of disease, but may be

employed with equal facility and certainty in

the attainment of success and happiness. For

instance, if one can put through the message,
"I shall succeed in my business," all the wis-
dom and power requisite to success in that
particular business will immediately be cen-
tered upon it, and success will promptly be
realized.
The question that is burning at white heat
in the reader's mind is, "How can I send the
message through?" This question cannot be
answered in a sentence, nor even in a para-
graph. But the answer will be unfolded step
by step, until it stands forth in such clarity
that it cannot be misunderstood, and in such
simplicity that there can be no mistake in its

practical application to the affairs of life.

Then, to use the vernacular, it is up to the stu-

dent. If he is willing to do the work involved
in the application, his life will be enriched and
glorified beyond his fondest hope. And,
strange as it may seem, many students drop
out after they have thus come within sight of
the castle of their dreams. Many have gone
the whole distance, scaled the castle walls, and

3
34 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

come into possession. Many others have over-

estimated the difficulty, and turned back into
their former lives of half-hearted drudgery,
sickness, unhappiness and failure.

The arch-mistake of those who turn back is

this over-estimation of the difficulty. Its

greatness, if apparent at all, is only apparent.

The indwelling / am is calling today as clearly
as it called when Jesus gave it voice nineteen
hundred years ago "Come unto : me all ye
and are heavy laden, and
that labor I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me; for my yoke is easy and my burden is

light."

The process of sending a message to the

sub-conscious mind involves no technical dif-
ficulty. It is an intelligent form of prayer
that always gets results. All that is required
is a clear understanding of the relations and
functions of the objective, subjective and sub-
conscious phases of mind, and a measure of
simple training in the practical application of
this knowledge to the practical affairs of
everyday life. Nor is any sacrifice required;
quite to the contrary, the rewards of this study
and application are rich from the very begin-
ning.
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 IV

MIND AND BODY

The student is quite naturally and reason-
ably anxious immediately to press forward
with a consideration of the ways and means
of sending messages to the sub-conscious mind.
But certain preliminaries are of prime impor-
tance, and no further progress can be made
until they have been worked out.
There can be neither happiness nor success
without perfect health; and in order to at-
tain perfect health the individual must needs
understand some of the fundamental laws
governing the relation of his mind to his body.
It has already been said that the sub-con-
scious mind operates from the lower and pos-
terior portions of the brain; that the objective
mind operates from the upper and frontal por-
tions of the brain and that the two minds send
;

their messages to the various parts of the body

over separate nerve systems, employing nerv-
ous energy, or animal magnetism, as the trans-
mitting force. But the nerves of the two sys-
39
40 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

terns are strung close together, so that a cur-

rent of nervous energy passing along one
nerve-trunk will cause an induced current of
the same kind in another nerve-trunk lying
closely parallel to it.

Any kind of energy moving along a conduc-

tor goes forward in the form of vibrations or
waves. So moves electricity over a wire, and
so moves energy over a nerve. The universal
mind also expresses one of its phases in the
form of vibrations moving constantly through
the ether of space. These ether vibrations lit-
erally lash the atoms of matter into the vari-
ous created forms, and are the motive power
behind all life and growth. If the reader is
interested in the scientific side of this subject
of vibration of the atoms, he is referred to a
book entitled "The Science of Religion," by
the author of the present volume, in which
that phase of the subject is treated at length
and in detail.
The atoms composing the healthy physical
body are vibrating in harmony with the vibra-
tions of the universal mind-force, and so long
as there is no interference from without they
will continue so to vibrate, thus maintaining
 MIND AND BODY 41

perfect health. But the harmonic vibration is

subject to interference by the objective mind,

and such interference is effected through in-
duction between the two nervous systems. Let
us illustrate this point and make it a little

clearer.
Telephone wires are sometimes strung- along
railroads on the same poles with telegraph
wires, and when these telephone wires are used
for long distance conversation the "rat-a-tat-
tat" of the telegraphic messages can be plainly
heard in the telephone receivers. This means
that the electric flashes passing over the tele-
graph wires are inducing similar flashes in the

parallel telephone wires. In just the same way

the currents of nerve energy sent out from
the brain by the objective mind over its system
of nerves induces similar currents in the sys-
tem of nerves over which the sub-conscious
mind sends its messages.
So long as the currents sent out by the ob-
jective mind are in harmony or rythm with the
currents sent out by the sub-conscious mind,
all is well. But different kinds of thoughts in

the objective mind send out currents of differ-

ent vibratory rates, and some of these rates
42 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

are discordant to the currents sent out by the

sub-conscious mind. For instance, the sub-
conscious mind is sending its rythmic messages
to the heart, commanding, "Contract-expand-
contract-expand ;" when suddenly the objective
mind, alarmed at some real or imaginary dan-
ger, begins sending over its system of nerves
the "rat-a-tat-tat" message of fear. The dis-

cordant energy flashes used in sending this

message of fear induce similar flashes in the
nerve leading from the sub-conscious brain-
center to the heart, so that the rythmical mes-
sage is interferred with, and away goes the
heart, "Rat-a-tat-tat."
While the heart, liver and super-renal glands
respond more promptly to these discordant in-
duced currents than do any other parts of the
involuntary system, yet all the organs of that
system are affected, and a continuance or con-
stant repetition of them will eventually result
in malfunctioning, and finally in organic dis-
ease. The medical profession now realizes
that many organic diseases, notably heart dis-
ease and chronic nephritis (or Bright's Dis-
ease), may be caused by dread, worry and
other destructive states of mind.
 MIND AND BODY 43

This chapter is purposely brief, because the

fundamental principle of which it treats is of

such vital and tremendous importance that it

demands the clearest, briefest and most concise
presentation that can be made. If the student

does not fully understand its contents, it

should be carefully read again.

STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 V
THE TWILIGHT ZONE
Reference has been made to that phase of
consciousness known as the subjective mind,
sometimes called the dream mind or hypnotic
mind. It now becomes necessary to consider
it a little more carefully.
The subjective mind is the twilight zone be-
tween the objective and sub-conscious minds.
It is the state of consciousness in which the in-

dividual functions when he is neither awake

nor asleep —
which he is mentally neither
in

naked nor clothed, shod nor bare-footed. It

is a realm of shadows —
grotesque and fanciful
shadows that weave themselves into all sorts

of illusions. Its impressions are unreliable.

Its substance is the filmy, misty stuff of which

dreams are made, and of which the hypnotic
subject and the paranoiac fabricate their ridic-
ulous hallucinations. It is the realm of for-
getfulness through which the individual passes
upon awakening after functioning solely in the
sub-conscious mind during profound sleep. It
47
48 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

is also the store-house of individual memo-

ries, but this phase of the subject will receive
fuller consideration in the chapter devoted to
Psycho-Analysis.
'

The subjective mind, like the sub-conscious,

is utterly credulous as to any message con-
veyed to it by the objective mind. When the
hypnotist tells his controlled subject that he is

a poodle dog, the subject accepts it as true, and

immediately begins to act like a poodle dog; or
if the subject is told that a certain article

placed against his flesh is red-hot, he imme-

diately begins to writhe in the agony of a se-

vere burn, although the article may in fact be

no warmer than his flesh.
Hypnotism is the process of stilling the ob-
jective mind and controlling the subjective
mind through suggestion. It is not satisfac-
tory as a means of healing disease, because the
subjective mind, although utterly credulous to
suggestion, has neither the wisdom nor the
power to do constructive work. In those cases
in which some measure of healing has been ac-

complished the process has been mixed with

true suggestion, through co-operation of the
subject, either voluntary or involuntary,
 THE TWILIGHT ZONE 49

whereby the sub-conscious mind was reached.

Many cases of insanity mean merely that
the process of mentation has become entangled
in the fanciful, grotesque and unreasoned il-
lusions of the subjective mind. These illu-

sions blend with the impressions of the objec-

tive mind, causing the victim to imagine things
to be true that the normal person knows to be
untrue, and we say thathe is insane. This
condition is sometimes superinduced by physi-
cal causes, but in many instances no physical
cause can be found. Insanity which has no
physical cause behind it is called psychosis by
the medical profession, which declares it to be
progressive and in most cases incurable. As-
suredly, it is incurable by physical means, but
the practical psychologist knows the cause and
counsels hope.
Ordinary dreams are merely recollections of
impressions received from the subjective mind
during the transition between the objective and
sub-conscious minds in the process of going to
sleep or awakening. Hence, most dreams
seem to be a loosely woven fabric of pure non-
sense, and the dreamer usually imagines him-
self to be doing foolish things, or even vicious

4
SO PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

things, which he would not do if he were

awake and sane.
Therefore, the subjective mind is not only
the dream mind and the hypnotic mind, but is

also the insane mind. So it is that we all have

"a streak of insanity." And yet, this same
subjective mind is necessary to our present
state of evolution. The objective mind never
could have worked out the achievements of
modern science and invention without separa-
tion from the sub-conscious mind. On the
other hand, if every whim and passing belief
should sink down into the sub-conscious mind,
thus becoming a part of its working plans, the
orderly processes of health, growth and evolu-
tionary unfoldment would quickly degenerate
into bedlam and chaos, and the world would
become a mad-house and a morgue. There-
fore, the subjective mind is interposed as a

separating stratum.
A story-teller whose name the author does
not now recall once wrote a beautiful story
about an enchanted island called Ilvernia, ly-

ing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in the

steamship lane between New York and Liver-
pool. Every ship passing that way, according
 THE TWILIGHT ZONE 51

to the story, put into the harbor of this won-

derful and the crew and passengers
island,
went ashore for a few hours to enjoy its riches
and splendor and to commune with its happy
people.
But a zone of forgetfulness encircled the
island, and when the ship had sailed out of
that zone no one on it remembered anything
about Ilvernia. A ship's physician gave the
writer of the story a potion to relieve neural-
gia just before the island was reached, and this
potion had the effect of causing him to remem-
ber, even after passing through the zone of
forgetfulness.
Let the island of Ilvernia represent the sub-
conscious mind. Let the zone of forgetfulness
represent the subjective mind, and let the out-
side world represent the objective mind. The
simiiie is so apt that it needs no comment. Even

the mythical potion which enabled the writer

to remember has its mental counterpart, and
before the end of this book is reached it will

be prescribed.
The subject here under consideration is a
sinister one. Subjective mentation, or insan-
ity, is a stubborn fact to which our crowded
52 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

hospitals for the insane bear unimpeachable

witness. Another equally stubborn fact is that
much of this insanity is purely mental, the vic-

tim being caught between the objective and

sub-conscious realms "like a pig under a gate,"
and unable either to go forward into the one
or backward into the other.
While the great majority of dreams are only
the distortions and illusions of the subjective
mind, this is not true of all dreams. Many
people of advanced mentality experience occa-
sional dreams of remarkable clarity, and in

some instances they are composed of, or con-

tain,memories of actual experiences in the
realm of sub-consciousness. One school of
occultism takes advantage of this possibility,
and endeavors to cultivate the faculty of bring-
ing back into wakefulness a memory of all

the sub-conscious experiences during sleep ; but

this book is a practical treatise of a practical
subject in its relations to present well-being,
and these speculative and exploratory methods
need only be noticed in passing. However,
sleep presents a great opportunity for con-
structive and practical psychology, and the
 THE TWILIGHT ZONE 53

subject will receive more detailed considera-

tion in a subsequent chapter.
Let the student be reassured that no dangers
lurk along theway upon which he is now set-
ting forth. Such dangers as exist are in the
by-ways, and he will not encounter them un-
less he consciously and deliberately turns aside.
Rather, it is a glorified way, a king's highway,
leading onward and upward to light and lib-

erty and more abundant life and happiness.

STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 VI

SENDING THE MESSAGE

We come now to the most important funda-
mental principle involved in the entire realm
of psychology. We are about to consider the
ways and means of sending a definite message
to the sub-conscious mind in such way as to
call forth an unfailing and abundant response.
A clear presentation of the principles and
methods involved is not without difficulties,
but the subject will be treated in the simplest
possible way. The student is invited to come
to full attention, and to strive to understand
the thoughts of which the printed words are
merely the emblems and shadows.
The sub-conscious mind is possessed of all
wisdom and all power. This is a repetition,
but it is a repetition of a truth that cannot be
learned too well. This wonderful phase of
consciousness can be intelligently approached
only by those who are aware of its power and
wisdom, and its response will be in exact pro-
portion to the amount of this awareness. He
59
60 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

who comes to know that it has thewisdom and

power to give him health, but who has doubts
of its ability to give him success, may, through
application of the methods here under consid-
eration, be freed from every disease; but he
can never achieve complete success in his busi-
ness or profession until he comes also into
knowledge that it can give him success as well
as health. Therefore, to the extent that the
sub-conscious mind is reached and understood,
it becomes a mirror, reflecting back into the
objective world the individual's settled convic-
tions concerning himself. Jesus expressed this
same truth in a slightly different way when he
said,"As thy faith is, so be it unto thee."
Assuming that the student realizes the abil-
ity of the sub-conscious mind to work out at
least some of the things he desires, he must
next learn to concentrate his objective mind
upon a single thought to the exclusion of
everything else. This is much easier said than
done; in fact, it is one of the most difficult
feats in psychology. Its importance is incal-
culable. It is one step in the process of rais-
ing the potential or voltage of the objective
mind, so that it may discharge a clear-cut
 SENDING THE MESSAGE 61

thought through the subjective mind and into

the sub-conscious.
Up to this point the student has been pass-
ively learning, but here he must bend his neck
to the yoke, and henceforth it will be necessary
for him to work as well as learn. The work
begins with this single thoughtedness, or fixa-
tion of attention.
The first experiments should be simple, and
should be conducted in some place that is rea-
sonably free from sights and sounds that
would force themselves into attention. Hav-
ing selected the time and place, the student
should place before him some small and sim-
ple object, such as an orange, a flower, or a bit

of statuary. The attention should first be

fixed upon the object as an entirety, and the
focus of thought gradually contracted, from
experiment to experiment, until it is centered
upon some small part of it. Many people are
able to close their eyes and see clear mental

pictures of such objects as are clearly in their

minds. One possessing this faculty may em-
ploy it instead of the actual objects, and his
practice in the art of making these mental pic-
tures will be of much help in his later work.
62 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

The mental pictures should not be substituted

for the physical objects unless they can be
made clear and distinct in every detail.

There is no charm in the object thus under

contemplation. The only thing to be gained
by this feat of mental gymnastics is facility in

concentrating the mind upon one single thing,

the physical objects or mental pictures being
merely means to that end. It may be said in
passing, however, that the ability to make clear
mental pictures is a very useful talent in an-
other way, but any detailed consideration of
that phase of the subject must be reserved for
consideration in a subsequent chapter.
When a fair degree of proficiency in this
method of fixing the attention has been ac-
quired, efforts to hold single abstract thoughts
should begin, which method should be grad-
ually substituted for contemplation of the ob-
jects or mental pictures. Let the student say,
for instance, "I am omnipresent mind," and
then contemplate himself as merely a point in
the all-ensouling consciousness. Or let him
say, "Above everything else, I desire to be
well and then let him contemplate that burn-
;"

ing desire as laying hold of the one mind of

 SENDING THE MESSAGE 63

the universe with a cry for help. Or let him

mentally contemplate some internal organ of
his body which seems to be diseased. If he
does not know the approximate size and the
general characteristics of the organ, he should
consult some work on anatomy which will
teach him these things, so that his contempla-
tion may be intelligent. If he suffers from
stomach disorders, for instance, he should
mentally get down into his stomach and go
over it carefully, inside and out, as if he were
looking for the diseased condition. No ob-
jective results will come from any of these
mental exercises. They are merely exercises
preparatory to real work, just as the finger ex-
ercises prepare the student of music for play-
ing the piano. Many other similar experi-
ments will occur to the student as he proceeds,
and once he comprehends the principle in-
volved, he will be able to work out a system of
his own which will be better suited to his needs

than any that could be prescribed for him.

The whole aim and purpose and end of these
simple exercises is to cultivate ability to think

about a single thing to the exclusion of every-

thing else. This will not be easy at first. The
64 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

mind that has not been trained in this class of

work is inclined to flit from thought to
thought with the lightness of a butterfly flit-

ting from flower to flower, and this in spite

of the strongest determination that it shall not
do so. Proficiency comes only through prac-
tice, but it comes surely to all who persist.

When the mind flits away after some tru-

ant fancy of the subjective realm, or to an at-
tempted solution of some practical problem, it

should be brought againupon the to focus

chosen object or thought, and again and again,
just as often as it becomes truant, until finally
it will "stay put" as long as it is so com-
manded. The length of time required for at-
taining this final triumph depends upon the in-

dividual. It may be weeks, or it may be

months, all depending upon the earnestness
and perseverence brought into the work, and,
in some measure, upon previous mental train-
ing. But it is worth any amount of time re-
quired —and a thousand-fold more. In any
event, the rewards are not all deferred until
after full accomplishment. The very work it-

self is broadening and ennobling, bringing new

 SENDING THE MESSAGE 65

faith and hope, new and better friends, and

more abundant joy of living.
The next step after fixation of attention is
concentration, or intensification. A measure
of proficiency in concentration is acquired in
practising fixation or singleness of attention,
but it should be further cultivated. This atti-

tude of earnest intensity is largely an abstract

proposition, requiring only a practiced deter-
mination that the thought, having been made
single, shall be burning and intense. Never-
theless, the process may be assisted somewhat
in its early stages by the employment of physi-
cal objects.

If physical helps are found necessary, either

or both of the two experiments described be-
low may be tried.

Let the student carry into his room a small

potted plant, and after first assuring himself
against molestation, let him sit down facing it,

and make it the sole object of his thought.

Having proceeded thus far, let him intensify
the thought with the will and effort to see the
fluorescent radiation which emanates from all
living plants. This radiation is what Moses
saw, at his spiritual awakening, when the road-

5
66 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

side bush seemed to be full of fire without be-

ing consumed. The student probably will not
see it, but in the employment of earnest desire
and determined will to see he will begin to
form the habit, or, rather, to acquire the fac-
ulty, of concentration.
Another experiment similar to the one al-

ready described is to fill a large-mouthed clear

glass bottle with moist earth, and then put in a
sound grain of corn with the germ side next
to the glass, so that it can be clearly seen
through the glass from the outside. A glass
tumbler may be used instead of the bottle, the
purpose being to submerge the grain of corn
in moist earth and yet leave it open to observa-
tion. The grain of corn should be allowed to
absorb moisture for about twenty-four hours,
at the end of which time the experiment may
proceed. The student should sit near the ves-
sel containing the planted grain, under the
same conditions named for the experiment al-
ready described, and should first fix his mind
singly upon it, to the exclusion of everything
else. Then he should will that the stimulating
force of his mind be centered upon the grain
so as to force it to germinate sooner than it
 SENDING THE MESSAGE 67

would of its own unaided efforts. He should

endeavor to drive a pointed shaft of mind-
force right into the grainnot with tense mus-
;

clesand contracted brow, but with physical re-

laxation and high-keyed mentality. This
should be repeated once a day until the corn
pushes its leaves up into the air above the glass.
The grain of corn may or may not show an
accelerated growth; but this is a matter of no
importance here. Proficiency in concentra-
tion is aimed at, and not a study of the
the end
phenomena which may come as by-products.
Any kind of quickly germinating seed would
serve for this experiment, but the grain of corn
is easily obtainable everywhere, and is pecu-
liarly adapted to it.

These experiments are not intended to be

exclusive. They merely point the way of con-
centration and make clear the principle in-
volved. Will is the concentrating force. At-
tention being once fixed, it may be concen-
trated and intensified through the practice of
abstract determined will that it shall be so.

Desire being a powerful stimulus of both

fixation and concentration of thought, it is
better always to select some subject-matter for
 :

68 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

fixation of attention concerning which there

is a strong desire, and to practice concentra-
tion by intense willing that the desire shall be

accomplished. This latter suggestion applies

particularly to thought in the abstract, where
no physical objects are employed as aids. For
instance, suppose one to be possessed of the
faculty of making clear mental pictures, and
to have a keen desire for a home. Let him
make a clear mental picture of just the home
he wants — so clear that its every detail will
stand out as though he were looking at the
reality. When this is done the attention is

fixed, and it can be intensified and concen-

trated by intense desire and determined will to
have just that home.
This coupling together of will and desire
through fixation and concentration will not
send any message to the sub-conscious mind.
These conditions being accomplished, one
other thing is necessary, and that one thing is

suggestion. Know, then, the magic formula.

Here it is
Fixation of attention plus Concentra-
tion plus Suggestion equals Sub-Con-
scious Mentation, and Sub-Conscious
 SENDING THE MESSAGE 69

Mentation equals everything the soul

DESIRES.
The formula is thus given in its technical
form. The student cannot be expected at this
point to understand just what it means. Even
this entire chapter will not advise him fully

what "suggestion" is, nor teach him just how

to accomplish it. But the various parts of the
formula will be treated again and again as we
proceed until it all becomes clear and easy of
application. The formula, however, should be
memorized.
When the objective mind is at attention and
concentrated solely upon one thing, the sub-

conscious mind is also at attention and waiting

for any statement that may be made to it.

Making that statement is the function of sug-

gestion.
If the student really understands that the
one all-pervading mind is able to do all things

needful for his perfect health, success and hap-

piness, and that his own sub-conscious mind is

merely an expression of the one mind, he

knows that the power to do all things actually
resides within him, his only lack being the abil-
ity to call that power into action. And when
70 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

he comes to fixation of attention and concen-

tration, this wonderful power is at his call.

He has only to say "I am well," or "I am suc-

cessful," and all the wisdom and power of the
universe are at once set to work to make the
suggestion a reality in the physical and ob-
jective realm. The suggestion is unqualifiedly
accepted as true by the sub-conscious mind,
and its working plans are made in accordance
with it. It reasons thus: "He is well; there-
fore, all diseased conditions must be removed
and replaced with healthy conditions." Or
thus: "She is successful; therefore, all the
evidences of failure and poverty must be taken
out of her environment, and she must be sur-
rounded with the things that go with success."
If the beginner is not able to key his faith
and courage up to the point of saying "I am
well," or "I am successful," he may commence
by suggesting "I shall be well within three
days," or "I shall immediately succeed." This
latter method, however, recognizes a limitation
and involves a lack of settled conviction; and
it shall be unto him only according to his faith.

If he knows that he will be well within a few

days, or that success is in the immediate fu-
 SENDING THE MESSAGE 71

ture, and if he will convey this message of

faith to the sub-conscious mind under the pre-
scribed conditions of fixation and concentra-
tion, then health or success, or any other con-
dition thus asserted, will most assuredly come
at the appointed time.
If these statements seem to conflict with the
stubborn realities of the work-a-day world, in
which there is poverty, and misery, and dis-
ease, it is only a seeming. The one mind is

king and master of all these conditions, and its

wisdom and power may be invoked to their

destruction through employment of the meth-
ods here described. The principle involved
has been successfully wrought out in human
affairs from time immemorial. Jesus em-
ployed it in his ministry. His apostles em-
ployed it after his death. And the early Chris-
tians employed it in curing diseases, giving
sight to the blind, and remedying deformities,
for at least two hundred years.
And, after all, the stubborn realities of
everyday life are not as stubborn as they
seem. Physical Science has found that all

physical things are composed of separate and

separated particles called atoms that the atom ;
72 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

is, in turn, composed of points of electrified

ether called electrons; and that the ether is an

unparticled substance filling all space, the vi-
bration of which causes the atoms and elec-
trons to dance into the groupings which mani-
fest to our senses as matter. All physical mat-
ter is thus traced back to an intelligent, impal-

pable root-substance called ether, which, con-

sidered from the purely physical standpoint, is

no-thing, and which might logically be consid-

ered as the very substance of universal mind:
Physical Science thus not only explains mat-
ter, but, to borrow a phrase from one of its

foremost representatives, explains it away. So

it is that, whether we begin with mind or with
matter, we come at last to inscrutable intelli-
gence, manifesting itself in whatsoever forms
it wills, and moving through the universe in
all the majesty of omniscience and omnipo-
tence. Such is the real "I" behind each human
personality, imbued with all wisdom and
clothed with all power. / am.
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 VII

HEALTH AND HEALING

Practical psychology is very practical. It

seeks to stand firmly upon the ground, and to

understand and use the common-sense meth-

ods of this common-sense, practical age. It
follows that in dealing with the problem of
health, as well as with all other problems con-
fronting the individual in his quest of happi-
methods of solution must be practical,
ness, the

and must be presented in such form that they

can be comprehended by people accustomed to
doing things in a practical way.
Nearly all forms of disease are immediately
based upon physical causes, however remote
in the realm of mentality the first moving
cause may be. Rheumatism springs immedi-

ately from an acid poison in the body.

Bright's Disease comes directly from a chronic

irritation of the kidneys. Typhoid and mala-
rial fevers, syphillis and diphtheria are imme-
diately caused by living organisms in the

blood ; while boils, tonsilitis and infections are

77
78 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

produced by local invasions of similar organ-

isms.
Modern objective scientists have become
wonderfully wise in objective mentality, and
the trained diagnostician can find and remove
many of these objective causes. There is an
inelegant though widely used saying that there
are other methods of killing a dog than chok-
ing him with butter. And this metaphor is ap-
plicable to the problem of the discovery and
removal of objective causes of disease.
Granted that a sore and aching boil, or a burn-
ing infection, may be successfully treated by
the exercise of mind alone; even so, the sur-
geon's lance, or the application of a little an-
tiseptic, as the case may be, is immediately ef-
fective, thus leaving the mind free to establish
conditions under which the infection cannot
recur. Why choke the dog with butter? It
is better to hit him on the head with a hammer.
Especially is this so until such time as the stu-
dent shall have become absolute master of his
body, and when he reaches that point he will
no longer suffer from infections.
One of the mistakes that have been made in
the practical application of psychology is the
 HEALTH AND HEALING 79

effort to reach the goal at a single bound.

Whatever else may be said of the individual
human being,
it is certain that he is manifest-

ing objective mind in an objective world; and

until such time as he can, like Paul, make him-
self immune to the viper's poison, or, like the
three faithful Israelites, walk unsinged through
a fiery furnace, he cannot wisely ignore the
laws of the objective world, nor refuse to em-
ploy the remedial means to be found in it.

This book is addressed to those who must yet

awhile keep away from snakes and out of fire,

and who may otherwise profitably employ the

means immediately at hand. Those who are
already freed from these limitations need
neither books nor personal instruction, for
they abide at the very source of all wisdom and
all power.
If this practical discussion is creating the
impression that the student must indefinitely
continue the use of these physical helps, let that
budding impression die here and now. The
goal of deliverance from them lies yonder; but
the path to the goal lies here, and is cumbered
with stones and debris that may better be cast
aside by the brawny arm of physical force.
 :

80 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Broken bones should be set by a surgeon. Dis-

placed organs should be put into place by a
hand skilled in such things. Abscesses should
be opened. Infected areas should be disin-
fected. Diphtheria should be treated with
serum.
It is realized in advance that certain readers
will object that disease is only a delusion of a

mind out of tune with the Infinite. But a

disease is no less real than its known physical
remedy. If malarial fever is a delusion, so
also is quinine. If syphillis is a mere figment
of the mind, then salvarsan also is a myth

the one is as real as the other. Since all mat-

ter is probably a mere localized manifestation
of mind-force, it may be that, in the last ab-
stract analysis, both disease and medicine are
mental; and if this be true, the administration
of quinine for the cure of malaria is merely
the opposing of one manifestation of mind
against another.
While this abstract conception of mind as
the remote beginning of matter probably is

correct, the objective mind entertains it with

difficulty, and if the same results may be ob-

tained by accepting things for what they seem,

 HEALTH AND HEALING 81

any present attempt at the more difficult con-

ception might better be foregone. At the pres-
ent moment we are considering the objective
mind and its relations to the objective realm.
As the secret societies say, we are working in
the first degree, or removing the rubbish from
the door of the temple. Therefore, we are tak-
ing it for granted that things are what they
seem, and making the best use of the means at
hand.
At the same time that the diseased person
begins to use the physical means that are obvi-
ously suited to his case, he should also take
charge of himself mentally. The first step in

this mental process is a full realization of the

truth, already so persistently urged, that in the
deep and hidden recesses of his sub-conscious
mind he is a manifestation of the universal

mind, possessed of the wisdom and power to

make his body just what he wants it to be.
The next step in the process is to bring the
mind to exclusive fixation upon the diseased
part or condition, with an earnest desire and
aggressive will that it shall be remedied. This
process brings together a consciousness of the
necessary power, a desire that it may be ap-

6
82 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

plied, and the will that it shall be applied ;

this

knowledge, desire and will being closeted in

an inner chamber of the mind from which

every other thought is excluded. When the
requisite power, desire and will are thus
brought together, what will happen? Only
one thing can happen. The desired result will

be accomplished. If a man standing on one

side of a street has the power, desire and will
to get to the other side, he will go across. If

the sick person possesses the power to make

himself well, accompanied by the desire and
will to do so, he will get well. These are sim-
ple matters about which there can be no doubt
and no argument.
When power, desire and will are brought
together under these circumstances, the sub-
conscious mind is standing at attention. It is

listening for the command to turn on the

power. And the most imperative command
that can be given it is to say: "I have the
power. I have the desire. I have the will.

It is done. I am These words need

well."
not be spoken audibly, the clear-cut thought
being all that is necessary. In fact, any audi-
 HEALTH AND HEALING 83

ble speaking is liable to break the fixation of

attention and weaken the force of will.
The sub-conscious mind accepts this mes-
sage as true, without argument or question. It
immediately gets into communication with the
organ, or organs, at the seat of the trouble and
begins setting them right. Thenceforth the
work of the objective mind consists largely of
co-operation, and taking care that no conflict-
ing message shall unwittingly be sent through.
This involves a number of details, some of the
more important of which seem now to demand
consideration.
The sub-conscious mind is a prompt and
courteous correspondent, and will soon reply
to any message sent to it, by sending a mes-
sage back to the objective mind. In truth, it

probably will send a number of messages.

These reply messages will deal with the sub-

ject-matter of the original message, and will

point out different ways and means whereby
the objective mind may co-operate.
Soon after the message is sent through to
the sub-conscious mind, the individual will be-
gin to feel "impressions" or "intuitions" that
he ought to do certain things, or leave off cer-
84 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

tain habits, or maybe both. He may also find

his tastesand appetites changing, so that cer-
tain foods which he has thitherto eaten will
become distasteful, while certain others that he
has not eaten will begin to be desired. If he
has been using any kind of a stimulant or nar-
cotic, he will begin to be impressed that he
ought to stop it. Or it may be that some kind
of a medicine, or some system of exercise, will
begin constantly to be thrust upon his atten-
tion, with a feeling that he ought to try it.

These impressions are sent by the sub-con-

scious mind during sleep, or during waking
periods of relaxation and mental passivity.
No voluntary effort should be made to get
them until such time as the student is prepared
to communicate with the sub-conscious mind at
will. This subject of voluntary communica-
tion will be treated in a later chapter. Any
effort to get messages from the sub-conscious
mind by one not familiar with the principles
involved would most likely bring foolish mes-
sages from, the subjective mind, and if they
were followed, would result in the doing of
silly and useless things. The real messages
 HEALTH AND HEALING 85

will come through clearer and stronger if they

are unsought.
One of the most effective aids the sick per-
son can give the sub-conscious mind in making
him well, and one which is always beneficial
in any case, is the elimination of all meat from
his diet, and a large increase in the amount of
his drinking water. This word "meat" has
reference to all animal products, including
cheese, fish and eggs, but not including milk
and butter. The average human body is lit-

erally choked with surplus food elements, and

with poisons generated by over-eating; and
the most prolific source of this excessive sup-
ply is the flesh of animals. This choked and
poisoned condition is not confined to the stom-
ach and intestines, but extends to the blood,
the arteries, and the very substance of the
brain. Total abstinence from all forms of an-

imal diet for a few weeks is always helpful,

and in some cases it works wonders. The
drinking of more water should be forced until
it becomes a habit. A pint should be drunk
before breakfast, and at least two quarts more
during the day — this in addition to a quart or
two of sweet milk or fresh buttermilk.
86 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Most people balk at the pint of water be-

fore breakfast, but it is very beneficial. A
quart would be better. After the pint or quart
of water has been poured into the empty stom-
ach, it should be churned and splashed about
by punching and pushing from the outside un-
til it begins to flow into the small intestine.
Then the abdomen should be manipulated in
the same manner, beginning at the upper por-
tion and gradually working downward to the
pelvic bone. Finally, the large intestine should
be manipulated in the same way, beginning at
the lower right side of the abdomen, working
upward, then across just under the stomach,
and down on the left side in a curve to the pel-
vic bone. The stomach is thus given a morn-
ing bath, the intestines being at the same time
aroused for their work and partially flushed
for the process of elimination. The blood and
kidneys also are flushed, and accumulated poi-
sons washed away.
Proper exercise is another important item in
the process of co-operation. No attempt will
be made here to prescribe a course of exercises,
this being a matter requiring personal instruc-
tion or carefully prepared charts. There are
 HEALTH AND HEALING 87

many good systems, and the student can easily

find one that seems suited to his needs.
Whatever system is selected, the exercise
should be taken after drinking the water and
manipulating the abdomen. The resulting
perspiration should be washed away by a bath
in any form that may be convenient or prefer-
able. A plunge in cold water is better, unless

it leaves a too prolonged chilliness, in which

latter case warm or tepid water should be used.
All systems of calisthenics include breathing
exercises. In addition to this periodical
breathing exercise, the habit of deep, full

breathing at all times should be cultivated.

Oxygen is a vitally necessary element in all

the processes of life, and very few people get

enough of it, although it is abundantly free.
It kills germs cleanses the blood and builds
; ;

strong, healthy tissues.

These matters of proper eating, drinking,
exercising, bathing and breathing are only aids
to the —
main process important and powerful
aids, it is true, but still only aids. The master
builder and great physician is the sub-con-
scious mind, imbued with all wisdom and
clothed with all power —ready, willing and
88 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

waiting to receive the message and to make it

a reality.

It has already been said, in a previous chap-

ter, that certain states of the objective mind
interfere with the buildingand sustaining pro-
cesses of the sub-conscious mind,and that this
interference is accomplished by the induction
of nervous energy from the nerves of the ob-
jective system to the nerves of the sub-con-
scious system. The sub-conscious mind, be it

remembered, operates from, the lower and pos-

terior portions of the brain, and constantly
sends its messages over a system of nerves
going out from those portions. Let it also be
remembered that the objective mind operates
from the upper and frontal portions of the
brain, sending its messages over another sys-
tem of nerves going out from those portions
and lying closely parallel to the nerves of the
sub-conscious system.
An instance of the effect of fear upon the
heart was noted in a previous chapter, and the
process of cross-interference by induction be-
tween two nerves was described and explained.
Let us make the instance a little more concrete
and give it a wider application. Ordinarily,
 HEALTH AND HEALING 89

the sub-conscious mind goes quietly about its

business of body building and maintenance, in

a slow and deliberate fashion, and with the
functions of each organ nicely adjusted. The
heart beats slowly and rythmically. The liver
gives up just enough of its store of sugar to

produce the normally required amount of heat

and energy. The super-renal glands turn
loose just enough adrenolin to keep the blood-
vessels up to the standard of flexibility re-
quired by the usual heart-beats.
But sudden danger looms up within the com-
prehension of the objective mind, and it re-

alizes that it is necessary to run, or to fight,

or otherwise to put forth unusual exertion.
The sudden danger immediately produces fix-

ation of attention by crowding everything else

out of the mind, and the resulting fear causes
concentration, or intensity. Then comes the
desire and will to run or to fight, or to employ
some other violent form of exertion. The
frenzied message of fear is immediately
flashed over the nerves of the objective mind.
This message, passing by induction onto the
nerves of the sub-conscious system, is flashed
back to the sub-conscious mind, which in-
90 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

stantly sends out its messages to the sub-con-

sciously controlled organs commanding their

co-operation. And the response to these com-

mands is instantaneous. The liver begins to

pour sugar into the blood, so as to produce ex-

tra energy. The super-renal glands also emp-
ty their store of adrenolin into the blood-
stream, so as to tense the blood-vessels and
make them more resilient. The heart begins
pounding like a trip-hammer, so as to drive the
blood rapidly through the body for distribu-
tion of the sugar and adrenolin. And the
breathing becomes more rapid, so as to furnish
an increased supply of oxygen for consuming
the abnormal amount of sugar and converting
it into energy.
The net result of all these accelerated sub-
conscious processes is that the individual can
immediately perform feats of strength and
endurance which he could not even approxi-
mate under normal conditions. And when the
paroxism is past he will be utterly exhausted,
because his reserve supplies will have been used
up.
Worry, anxiety, foreboding and dread are
merely milder forms of fear and these phases
;
 HEALTH AND HEALING 91

of objective consciousness send out impulses

of nerve energy that are discordant to the im-
pulses sent out by the sub-conscious mind.
This discord passes from the one nerve sys-
tem to the other, thereby producing a constant
interference. The results of these discords are

not so marked as are the results of sudden ter-

ror, but they are of the same general nature,

and their effect is gradually to undermine the
health of him who entertains them.
While the doctors do not know much about
the cause of diabetes, they are reasonably cer-
tain that theyhave traced the origin of a num-
ber of cases to prolonged paroxysms of fear.
And this may well be correct. It may logically

be deduced that under the sustained irritation

of fear the sub-conscious mind gets the fixed

impression that an abnormal supply of sugar
is necessary, and that the liver is thereby

caused to manufacture it and pour it into the

blood.
Anger, hate, jealousy, envy, vanity and
greed are all phases of objective consciousness
that help to make and keep the individual sick,

because all of them are discordant to the build-

ing and sustaining processes of the sub-con-

92 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

scious mind. They ought all to be discouraged

and eliminated.
Such phases of consciousness as kindly feel-

ing, forgiveness, patience, charity, humility

and love are in harmony with the sub-con-
scious mind, and are conducive to health.
Each and every one of these phases of con-
sciousness springs from the individual's con-
ception of his relation to the other things in
the universe. So long as he conceives himself
to be something apart from other people and
an idea
things, just so long will he entertain
and happiness must be
that his rights, welfare
defended against encroachment by others and ;

it is in his plans of defense against such en-

croachment that the hurtful phases of con-
sciousness find place. But when he comes to
a deep and abiding realization that he is merely
an expression of the one perfect mind of which
all other individual things are merely expres-

sions, all these mental strivings and bickerings

and fears will fall away, and he will find the
peace that passeth all understanding; for he
thereby comes to know that he has the power
to make his life what he wants it to be, and
that no one can encroach upon his rights.
 HEALTH AND HEALING 93

When the objective mind comes to this un-

derstanding of oneness, the desires and emo-
tions are purified, and all the outflowing
streams are pure. Realization of the bound-
less and indivisible / am is the great funda-
mental achievement. Once this realization is
attained, all the affairs of life will come to or-
der and work together for good. If the stu-
dent has not comprehended the tremendous im-
portance of this realization of the limitless and
all-powerful I am, he has missed the author's
principal aim and purpose. It was stated and
explained in the first chapter ; it has been con-
stantly insisted upon in all subsequent chap-
ters ; and it will be urged at every opportunity
right down to the very last page and para-
graph.
We come now to consideration of a phase
of psychological work that cannot be accom-
plished by one who has not come to a settled
and final conviction of his mental oneness with
others, and of the power of that one to accom-
plish in the individual whatever task is set be-
fore it. That phase of the work is the healing
of other people.
94 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

One who is able to send the message of

health through to the sub-conscious mind is by
that same token able to heal himself, and sick-

ness is conclusive proof that the message has

not been sent. Failure to send the message
may be due to any one or all of a train of men-
tal conditions, running from utter ignorance
of the principles involved to mere lack of the
will to send the message through after the in-
dividual knows how to send it.

In case the diseased person is ignorant of

the underlying laws and principles, it will be
necessary for the healer first to ascertain the
degree of his ignorance, and then to enlighten
him concerning these fundamentals in such
way as to reach his understanding. A full ex-
planation to him is not necessary. The objec-
tive mind is not hostile to these great funda-
mental truths; in fact, one is often surprised
which they are grasped,
to note the ease with
and the readiness with which they are ac-
cepted, even by people who never have given
them any particular thought.
This preliminary work requires common
sense, tact and initiative on the part of the
healer. He must be able to diagnose different
 HEALTH AND HEALING 95

types of mentality, and to choose methods of

approach that are suited to the particular case
in hand. If he should chance to make an er-
ror of judgment in this matter, he must have
thecommon sense to realize it and the tact to
withdraw before arousing hostility. In case
of such an error and withdrawal, he should
choose another line of approach, and yet an-
other, if necessary, until he finds the vulner-
able point.
If this preliminary work is properly done,
an attitude of hope and expectancy will be cre-
ated in the patient's mind. The next step must
be taken by the healer. He must first come
to a full realization of his mental oneness with
the patient. If he is qualified to undertake
this class of work, he will be able to come to
this realization in a flash ; for he already
knows it, and has only to think of it. Having
come to this consciousness of the / am, he
should transfer the focus of that consciousness
from himself to the patient, so that for the
time being he will mentally become the patient,
realizing the abundant ability of the sub-con-
scious mind to heal. Then should come the
desire and will to send the healing message
96 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

through. Finally, when all these conditions

have been established, he should touch the pa-
tient and say, "Be made whole," or "Be
healed," or "You are well," at the same time
putting forth the mightiest effort of will that
this suggestion shall be singly fixed in the pa-

tient's objective mind and thus passed along to

the sub-conscious mind.
In some instances the resistance of the pa-
tient's objective mind is so stubborn that no
satisfactory results can be obtained during full
wakefulness. In such cases the patient should
repose upon a couch or bed, and the healer
should sit beside him, quietly stroking his brow
or his hand during the preliminary work.
Then the healer should suggest sleep by say-
ing, "You are drowsy, and a few minutes sleep

will do you good," at the same time gently

placing his hand upon the patient's head and
letting it remain there. From this point the
work of cognizing the indwelling power, com-
ing to fixation of attention and concentration,
and making the suggestion, is the same as that
already described, except that the suggestion
should be made just as the patient seems to
have gone to sleep, and should be gently
 HEALTH AND HEALING 97

spoken close to his ear so as to arouse him just

enough to hear it.

The sleep-benumbed objective mind is not

inclined to question, nor to object, but accepts
the suggestion as true, and for just an instant
holds the thought conveyed by it to the exclu-
sion of every other thought. It is during this
instant that the concentrated desire and will of
the healer drives the message down into the
sub-conscious mind, where again it is accepted
as true and made a part of the working plans
of the patient's body.
When the patient is a child too young to rea-
son, or to understand even the fundamental
processes involved, all that is necessary is to
realize the one indivisible and all-powerful /
am; to gain the child's confidence and arouse
in him an attitude of trusting wonder; and

then to pass the suggestion under the tension

of fixed and concentrated desire and will.
Children are peculiarly amenable to sugges-
tion just as they are going to sleep, or upon
being partially aroused from sleep, and under
these conditions no spoken words are neces-
sary, the power of thought being all-sufficient.

7
98 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Any one who advances to the point of

worthiness to be a healer of others will de-
velop a passionate love of children, and the
work of healing them may be aided by a con-
centration of this love, and by fondling them,
so as to bring their bodies into the strong and
healthy magnetic field, or aura, of the healer's
body.
While this chapter has gone to considerable
length in covering pages, yet it has been neces-
sary to confine it to a consideration of general
principles only. In actual practice the student
may find it necessary to vary somewhat from
the prescribed methods and formulae, or even
to substitute methods and formulae of his
own, all of which is perfectly proper so long —
as the fundamentals are not violated. The
thing of paramount importance — the ingredi-
ent essential in any and every formula or
method — is a full and abiding knowledge that
the sub-conscious mind is merely one phase or
manifestation of the all-pervading mind, and
that it is limitless in both wisdom and power.
The methods of attaining fixation and con-
centration of thought, and of passing the sug-
gestion at the psychological moment, may be
 HEALTH AND HEALING 99

varied to suit the needs of the individual, but

consciousness of the oneness, wisdom and
power of the sub-conscious mind is a fixed
quantity in all equasions, for which there is no
substitute, and of which there can be no varia-
tion.

/ am. Whatever variations the different

expressions of myself may present tc the
senses of the objective mind, / am one, indi-
visible, limitless, and eternal. / am the very
mind, and soul, and life of the universe. / am
able to make every bodily expression of myself
perfect, for / am perfection in both wisdom
and power.
The affirmation embraced in the last preced-
ing paragraph is a perfect expression of that
phase of mind known as the healing conscious-
ness. Until such time as the student can at
least approximate it, he is not equipped for the
work of healing others. His ultimate success
will depend, primarily, upon the extent to

which he can make this consciousness a part of

his very self. If he can attain to it, and is

willing properly to train himself in fixation of

attention, concentration and suggestion, all

things in the realm of healing are at his call;

100 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

measure of this consciousness is

for the full
phase of the
none other than the healing
"Christ-Consciousness."
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 VIII

SUCCESS
Next to health, in the scale of things impor-
tant to the individual, stands success. Happi-
ness is the ultimate goal, so that both health
and success are merely means. But they are
indispensible means. Neither he who is sick,

nor he who is a failure, can be happy.

Even though one be possessed of robust
health, he cannot be happy unless he can also
succeed in his undertakings ; for if his plans go
wrong, and his hopes come to naught, it means
that he and his loved ones must lack the neces-
sities and comforts of life, and that he must
constantly be harrassed with the problem; of
getting food, clothing and shelter.
The prime requisite to success, viewed from
the psychological standpoint, is a consciousness
of the oneness and power of the sub-conscious
mind. All real success is based upon some
kind or degree of sub-conscious co-operation.
Here, as elsewhere, practical psychology is
very practical. The student should first set
105
106 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

things right in his objective environment.

Above all else, he should decide, once and for
all, just what he wants to do. Personal fail-

ure is nearly always due to lack of interest in

the work that has been undertaken. There is

no such thing as laziness, in the generally ac-

cepted sense of the word. Accomplishment
through agreeable work is a desire of every
normal human being, and when one shuns his
work, or loafs on the job, it may be taken for
granted that he has "missed his calling."
Either he has accounted himself incapable of
doing the work he would like to do, or else he
has felt that there is some impassable barrier
across his way. The impassable barrier is usu-
ally a fear that he could not obtain a living
wage for work he wants to do, and this
the
fear impels him to undertake something that
promises more immediate and satisfactory re-
turns. The feeling that he is unable to do the
thing he would like to do is also a phase of
fear. And fear is the arch-enemy of the hu-
man race. It is the only thing to be feared;
and when the individual realizes that the only
thing he fears is that he will be afraid, the sit-

uation becomes so obviously ludicrous that

 SUCCESS 107

even this last lingering fear of fear will be

laughed away.
Therefore, the individual should first find
his work by consulting his sincere desire and
preference. Then he should come to a realiza-
tion of his ability to do it, and to make an
abundant success of it, financially and other-
wise. If he is engaged in uncongenial work,
while the work he would like to do is left un-
done, and if he feels that he is technically pre-
pared to do the preferred work, he should do
the thing he is most afraid to do —he should
quit the uncongenial work, and do the work
that is congenial. So long as he remains at the
distasteful work, just so long does he remain
the prisoner of Fear, and each passing day
leaves him more embittered and brings him
nearer to the death of his hope. He should
brain his jailer with the first weapon he can
find, and go out into the sunshine of liberty

and the open air of opportunity.

If the fear is that his loved ones will suffer
before success can be attained in the new work,
he should reduce expenses to the lowest mini-
mum, and stay in the present work just long

enough to save the means of sustenance for the

108 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

known period of unproductiveness in the new

work. Even then his deliverance is begun, for
this planning and saving will bring the glad-
ness of expectancy into the old work, and the
time of waiting will be a joyous time.
If the individual feels that he is not properly
trained for the work he wants to do, he should
devote every spare minute and spare penny to
the acquirement of the needed training. The
difficulties in the way sometimes seem to be

very great, and the sacrifice too heavy; but

here, as elsewhere, the difficulties and sacri-
fices are more apparent than real. When one
sets up his ideal, and starts out resolutely to
attain it, a marvelous supply of thitherto un-
suspected resources come within his reach.
Especially is this true of him who starts out
with a realization that the wisdom and power
requisite to success abide within, only awaiting
his call to action. His judgment and reason
will become clearer and keener; helpful sug-
gestions will come from many sources he will ;

make new friends who are able and willing to

help him; and loving, eager hands will assist
him in carrying his burdens.
 SUCCESS 109

The road to real success is not a lonely road.

There good fellowship along the way, and
is

blessings and pleasures abound at every turn.

It is only the start that must be made in lone-

liness. There is no real comradeship in the

prison-house of fear and doubt, but comrades
are just outside the gate.
Assuming that the individual is already en-
gaged in the work of his preference, or that

he is about to engage in it, and that he is aware

of his sub-conscious power to achieve success,
he should come to fixation of attention and
concentration, and pass the suggestion, accord-
ing to the method described in the Sixth Chap-
ter. Then, as in the cure of disease, he should
be guided by his rational impressions as to
what he ought to do, or ought not to do. Af-
ter the foundation is thus laid, there are a
number of ways which the individual may
in

assist in building the superstructure, some of

which are now in line for detailed considera-

tion.

One important method of co-operating with

the sub-conscious mind begins with making
the mental pictures heretofore suggested
purely as a mental exercise, and one possessed
110 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

of the ability to make them can employ this

method with remarkable success. Let us sup-

pose, for instance, that one who has done the
preliminary work wishes to possess himself of
a home; and let us suppose, further, that he
is ablemake clear mental pictures. He
to
should make a clear mental picture of the
home he wants, first of the outside of it, and
then of the rooms and all inside details, his
aim being to make the picture clear, and to fix
his mind upon it to the exclusion of everything
else.

Having thus viewed the picture-house from

the outside and the inside, the student should
come again to the point of view from, without,
and should make this final picture clear and
distinct in every detail, in which process he
will come to perfect fixation of attention.
Next, he should bring his desire and will to
focus upon the picture, with a basic confidence
that his sub-conscious mind is abundantly able
to gather the resources and assemble the mate-
rials needed in its building.

If these instructions are followed to this

point, there will be assembled a clear picture
of the house, a knowledge of ability to possess
 SUCCESS ill

it, and a desire and will that it shall be pos-

sessed, these things occupying the objective
mind to the exclusion of everything else. At
this point the student should say, in earnest
and intense thought, "It is mine; I have built
it, and shall occupy it."

The plans and specifications of the house

are thus handed to the sub-conscious mind,
and it immediately begins the preliminary
work of construction. Of course, the house
will not spring up like a mushroom, but will
have to be built in a practical way, of real lum-
ber and brick and mortar, and by real masons
and carpenters and all these things will have
;

to be paid for with real money. But the

financing and building are mere details, in
which the picture-maker must co-operate, to
be sure, but in the working out of which the
sub-conscious mind will experience no diffi-

culty.

The students of mysticism say that this pic-

ture-making is work in the "pattern-realm,"
where all objective things are first wrought
out, and that the patterns made in this way
will draw unto themselves the material neces-
sary for objective manifestation. This mysti-
112 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

cal conception comes merely from looking at

the matter from another viewpoint. Psychol-
ogy prefers the simpler and more nearly cor-
rect conception that the formula gives the sub-
conscious mind a picture of the thing desired,
and passes to it the suggestion of present pos-
session, whereupon it proceeds in a practical
way to make the picture an objective reality.
Jesus fully understood the importance of
passing to the sub-conscious mind the sugges-
tion of present possession of the things de-
sired. Here is his formula : "What things so-
ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye
receive them, and ye shall have them." And
it is truly a wonderful formula. It begins by
removing every limitation to the exercise of
choice. Then it prescribes desire; then fixa-
tion of attention and concentration through
the process of fervent prayer; and, finally,
suggestion to the sub-conscious mind, by be-
lief amounting to realization, that the thing
desired is already possessed. Then it ends as
it began —by removing every limitation—"and
ye shall have them." We say it a little differ-
ently in this twentieth century, but the princi-
ple is the same. The law is the same. The re-
 SUCCESS 113

suit is the same

— "believe that ye receive them,
and ye shall have them."
The house is put into this formula merely as
an example. Any other desired thing may be
obtained in the same way. The sub-conscious
mind is infinite in both wisdom and power,
save for the limitations put upon it by the ob-
jective mind. Paul called the objective mind
the "carnal mind," and said it was at enmity
against God. A certain modern sect of Chris-
tianity calls it "mortal mind," and says it is at
enmity against Divine mind. Both of these
conceptions are correct — that is, if the one
universal mind is to be deified.The objective
phase of consciousness, whatever name may be
applied to it, is inclined to place limitations
upon the universal mind, and may, therefore,
be said to be at enmity against it.
The objective mind is an evolutionary prod-
uct of the physical realm. A study of the re-
mains of pre-historic man leads inevitably to
the conclusion that at one time the human be-
ing did not have that portion of the brain
through which the objective mind operates:
hence, he could not have used an objective
mind. He had a voluntary nerve center, so

8
114 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

that he could move about and appropriate the

things his appetites and desires called for, but
he was utterly incapable of inductive reason-
ing. As the objective mind gradually devel-
oped, there came also a desire and will to ex-

ercise itself more freely. This desire and will

were, from time to time, fixed and intensified
by the changing vicissitudes of life, so as to
become suggestive to the sub-conscious mind,
and it has responded to the suggestion by grad-
ually building an addition to the brain through
which the faculty of objective reasoning can
be more fully exercised. This evolutionary
mentality called the objective mind has always
functioned in a realm of limitations. All of
its calculations are made with reference to
time and space, so that it has no real concep-
tion of time without end and space without
limit. Its observations have been of things
that have beginnings, run a certain course, and
come to an end. It has been confronted with
limitations at every turn. Certain things could
be known, but certain others had to remain un-
known. Certain things could be accomplished,
while others were impossible of accomplish-
ment. Certain things could be prevented, but
 SUCCESS 115

certain others were unpre veritable. So long

has it been schooled in this idea of limitations
thatit experiences great difficulty in compre-

hending an infinity of power and wisdom to

which all things are possible.
These objective conceptions of limitation
have been passed down to the sub-conscious
mind in the form of suggestions, and have
been accepted by it as true, at least so far as
the particular objective mind and its affairs are
concerned. In this way the objective has
placed limitations upon the sub-conscious — the
finite has circumscribed infinity. This may
seem paradoxical, or even absurd. But the
paradox and absurdity will disappear if we
view the matter from a slightly different
standpoint.
Let us imagine the white sunlight as stand-
ing in the place of infinity. Nevertheless, one
may shut himself up in a house with red glass
windows, and thus get only the longer rays of
light manifesting to the sense of sight as red.
The white light is flooding his house on the
outside and pouring on into space for many
hundreds of millions of miles, but his windows
shut out all the rays except the red ones. He
116 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

is thus prevented from doing anything in that

house requiring white light. Among other
things, he could not make a photograph, be-
cause a photographic plate is not affected by
red light.
The conceptions of limitation entertained by
the objective mind are like unto the red glass
windows, and are interposed against the in-

flow and operation of infinite wisdom and

power. mind can but realize
If the objective
the infinite wisdom and power of the sub-con-
scious mind, the obstruction is thereby re-
moved and all limitations fall away. Jesus
expressed this same great truth in a slightly
different way when he said, "All things are
possible tothem that believe." Obviously, this
statement means that all things are possible to
them that believe all things to be possible.
This objective realization of the limitless
wisdom and power of the sub-conscious mind
is the indispensible thing in all practical appli-
cations of psychology. That is why it is so
often and so variously stated, and brought for-
ward again and again at every opportunity.
Some readers may have comprehended it as
set forth in the second chapter, while yet
 ;

SUCCESS 117

others may not fully comprehend it even now.

To present this greatest of all truths in such a
variety of ways that each one will accept it,

and make it a constant part of his conscious-

ness, is the principal purpose of this book. A'
bare realization of it would not amount to
much in the accomplishment of practical re-
sults. But the bare realization will not remain
bare very long. Formulae for applying it are
being given from time to time as we proceed
but if the reader should come to this realiza-
tion,and it should chance that none of these
formulae are suited to his needs, he will find
others that will be suited to them. Having once
come into possession of -this priceless secret,
there will be no more rest for him until he
finds the ways and means of using it.
If the student is not gifted with the faculty
of making clear mental pictures, he may ac-
complish the same results through the practice
of holding abstract thoughts of the things he
wants or wishes to accomplish. Although he
may not be able to make a clear picture of the
house, for instance, he can at least form and
hold a mental conception of it, and go over all

its details, inside and outside. He can also fix

118 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

his attention and concentrate his desire and

will upon this mental conception, and then pass
the suggestion of present possession to the
sub-conscious manner already de-
mind in the

scribed. This process is more laborious and

painstaking than is the making of mental pic-
tures, but it is just as certain in results; in
truth, the very difficulty of it tends to bring
the objective mind to more perfect fixation.
The method of obtaining things is thus
briefly stated. But sometimes that which is

desired is a condition. And conditions are

just as tractable to the sub-conscious mind as
are things. If one desires social position, for
instance, he should first decide just what kind
of position is wanted. Then he should bring
his mind to fixation upon it, and pass the sug-
gestion to the sub-conscious mind.
The effort should be to imagine himself as
the actual recipient of the preferment desired,
and, if possible, to picture himself as already
enjoying it. Then, having fixed his mind and
concentrated his will and desire, he should say :

"I am now entering into this position, and

henceforth it is mine —beginning even from
this very moment." If this suggestion is made
 SUCCESS 119

with the proper conviction, and under the pre-

scribed conditions of fixation of attention and
concentration of desire and will, the remainder
of the process is merely a matter of co-opera-
tion in details. The
wisdom and
infinite
power of the sub-conscious mind will take
care of the main task. New opportunities will
immediately begin to present themselves, and
invitations to attend and take part in various

social functions will begin to come from

sources whence no such invitations have come
before. The individual's part in the process
of becoming consists of taking advantage of
these new opportunities by making himself
worthy and agreeable.
There is no hidden charm or mystery about
this process. It is very practical work, done

in a scientific way, through the employment

of definite forces, and leading to a certain re-

sult that can be accurately predicted before-
hand. The sub-conscious mind is one mind,
and any suggestion made to it touching the af-
fairs of the objective mind making that sug-
gestion is passed along to other individuals.
This suggestion, therefore, becomes a part of
the sub-conscious mentality of every one who
 :

120 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

is acquainted with the person making it. In

very truth, it becomes a part of the sub-con-
scious mentality of the universe, but we are
dealing now with its practical workings, and
practical results will have to come through
practical means. In other words, the Prince
of Wales will not cable the social aspirant,
whose objective personality is entirely un-
known to him, urging that he cross the ocean
to attend some affair of state. But Mrs. Jones,
who is objectively acquainted with the as-
pirant, will, at some early day, sit at her writ-
ing-desk wondering just what last name she
should add to the list of invitees to some party
she is arranging. While she is in this state of

mental abstraction, the sub-conscious mind

will rise to suggest something like this

"What about Mrs. Smith? She has not been

much in society, it is true, but she is affable,

and attractive in a way, and would fit in nice-

ly." Thus the list will be completed, and the

social aspirant will set forth upon the way of
attainment.
Social position is used merely as an illus-

tration. Political preferment, and clientele for

professional men and women, may be wrought
 SUCCESS 121

out same way. A repetition of the

in the

formula in each case would be both useless and

tiresome. It is always the same recognition —
of the unlimited power of the sub-conscious
mind; fixation of attention upon the desired
condition to the exclusion of every other
thought; concentration of desire and will that
it shall be attained ; and then a flash of realiza-
tion that, these conditions having been met, it

must from that instant be an accomplished

fact, which flash of realization is a suggestion
to the sub-conscious mind.
If anything that has been said touching the
acquirement of things and the attainment of
conditions has fostered an idea that through
the employment of these processes one may
become a vampire and a sponge, that idea
might as well be eliminated before it gets root-
ed and begins to grow. Real success can be
attained by the individual only through giving
a just equivalent for everything he receives.
The sub-conscious mind, once its power is in-
voked, will provide not only the things desired,
but also the means of payment. But the in-

dividual is the paymaster, and if he defaults

or absconds he will be apprehended and pun-
122 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

ished. Or, turning from the metaphor to a

more form of speech, he will, by his
practical
failure to make payment, set up within his ob-
jective mind a chain of mental processes which
will totally destroy his power of achievement.

He will soon realize his unworthiness, and

this realization will raise doubts and misgiv-
ings that will not only unfit him for making
an effective suggestion to the sub-conscious
mind, but will frustrate his efforts even to
come to fixation of attention.
Sometimes the desired condition is personal
beauty and attractiveness. And here, again,
the student is enjoined to begin, proceed and
end in a practical way. Broken noses and
hare-lips should first have the attention of a
surgeon. Bow-legs should be spring-splinted.
Disfiguring moles and black-heads should be
removed by a dermatologist. Saggy and
wrinkled skin should be treated with massage,
vibration and skin tonics. Faded and dimin-
ished hair should be stimulated with scalp mas-
sage, vibration, and the frequent application of
non-alcoholic hair tonics.
All these things should be done after pass-
ing the proper suggestion to the sub-conscious
 SUCCESS 123

mind. They should be done joyously —even

reverently — and with full assurance that the
desired result is accomplishment.
certain of
Their doing should never for a moment be-
cloud the realization that they are merely
means of co-operating with the master builder
within. And in those cases to which no co-op-
erative methods can be applied the student
should live in constant realization that the sub-
conscious mind is actually at work, and that in

due time the desired result will be achieved.

Building, repairing and reconstructing bone,
and and tissue, and skin, and hair,
cartilage,

is a part of the normal daily work of the sub-

conscious mind and its wisdom and power in

;

this line of work, as in all other lines, is limited

only by the limiting conceptions of the object-
ive mind.
"As thy faith is, so be it unto thee." "What-
soever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."
These were the ancient teachings. In practical
psychology we say that the soul's expectation
is always fulfilled —not the soul's wish, or

hope, but its expectation. All these teachings

are as scientifically sound as is the proposition
124 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

of chemistry that H0
2
equals water. They all

mean thesame thing, namely that when the

:

objective mind is made single upon one desired

thing, with an unwavering expectation that
from that moment the desire will be fulfilled,
the expectation will become an objective real-
ity. All of these teachings are merely differ-
ent methods of saying, "Fixation of Attention
plus Concentration plus Suggestion equals
Sub-Conscious Mentation, and Sub-Conscious
Mentation equals everything the soul desires."
One desiring to become more beautiful of
face and form should first find his ideal or
pattern. Particularly is this so when it is de-
sired to change the form of the body. In
other words, he should decide definitely and
finally just what change he wishes to make,
and just what he wishes his body to be when
the change has been effected. This ideal body
should be fixedly contemplated and mentally
pictured until its every line, curve and angle
are just as familiar as are the lines, curves and
angles of a carefully studied piece of statuary.
Then, if at all practical, he should place a full

length mirror in his bed-room, and each morn-

ing before taking his exercises should stand
 ;

SUCCESS 125

nude before the mirror, carefully studying his

present body and noting the particulars in
which it comes short of the ideal.
And while thus standing before the mirror,
with his ideal clearly in mind and the present
reality before him, he should go over his body
with his hands, coaxingly, gently, lovingly,
reverently, telling each part just what he wants
it and to do, and suggesting that it is even
to be
now becoming the ideal. That which appears
to the senses as being a single part or organ is
in fact a grouping of hundreds of millions of
little living animals called cells; and these lit-

tle animals respond to this loving treatment as

readily as would a litter of pet kittens. They
glow with warmth and comfort and appre-
ciation, and set to work to accomplish the task
assigned to them by the suggestion. This lit-

tle exercise assists in fixation of attention and

the concentration of desire and will, and passes
a suggestion which is localized and focused at

a particular point.
Bones, cartilages, sinews and skin are slow
in their processes, and the student who is here
learning the first steps of the way of life can
hardly expect to transform his body in a day
126 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

but the ultimate results are absolutely certain,

and their beginnings will become manifest
soon after the practice begins. He who is will-
ing to do the work of learning fixation of at-
tention, concentrationand suggestion, and who
is open-minded enough to realize that there is
no wisdom and power of the sub-
limit to the
conscious mind, can make his physical body
just what he wants it to be.
The student will experience some difficulty
in understanding the method of making a sug-

gestion to the sub-conscious mind. Average

men and women are not able readily to evolve
a state of mind in which they believe them-
selves to be possessed of something they act-
ually do not possess. In the formula pre-
scribed by Jesus, the words "believe that ye re-
ceive" are used. Practical Psychology says
"realize that you receive." The two words
mean about the same thing, but "realize" is a
little more workable.

Let us suppose that the student is not en-

gaged work he wants to do, and is, there-
in the
fore, not making a complete success. And let
us suppose, further, that he would like to own
and manage a millinery store. First he should
 SUCCESS 127

come an abiding realization that he has the

to
necessary wisdom and power to get just the
store he wants. Then m his quiet hour he
should begin to make a mental plan of the
store. This plan will naturally be rough and
general at first, but he should keep working
at it from day to day until he gets it just like
he wants it, including all the fixtures and the
displayed stock. Nothing should be left out.

And after the mental plan is completed it

should not be changed. Any desired changes

can be made in the store after it comes into
physical manifestation, but the completed
mind-picture should not be tampered with.
Now, supposing the mental plan to be com-
plete and satisfactory, the next step is to visit
the store every day, during a quiet period of
thought, to go over all its details, enjoy the
possession of this mental thing, and realize that
it will soon become a physical reality. These
mental visits will gradually work fixation of
attention, and soon there will come a time

when just for a moment the student will forget

where and what he is, and will imagine himself
to be in actual possession of the physical real-
ity. This flash of realisation may be ever so
128 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

brief, but it will pass the whole plan to the sub-

conscious mind as swiftly as an instantaneous
photograph may be made. This is a simple
method of making a "suggestion." It is the
psychological equivalent of "believing that you
receive," and the sub-conscious mind will im-
mediately bring all of its wisdom and power to
bear to build a physical thing in accordance
with the mental plan. The student himself will
be the principal actor in this building, but the
work will bring him great joy, and the sub-
conscious mind, by its promptings of him and
others, will be his infallible guide.
The millinery store is named merely for the
purpose of illustration. The law is that in this
way one can get "what things soever he de-
sires." In the same way he can get health and
happiness —by appropriately changing the
mental plan, of course.
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 IX

THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD

No treatise on practical psychology is com-
plete without a consideration of love. In a
broad general sense, psychology is love; for
he who comes knowledge of his oneness
to a
with all other individual things, and of the be-
nign and loving wisdom behind all manifesta-
tion, becomes immersed in the very essence of
love, so that ever afterward it is the ruling
passion and pole star of his life.

But this chapter will be confined to a consid-

eration of the love relation between man and
woman. Every normal human being en-
thrones this relation high above everything else
in life. It is the mainspring behind nearly all

human action. Man braves hunger, cold, dan-

ger, and even death, in order to attain fame or
accumulate a competency; but deep down in

his heart he desires these things in order that

he may bestow them, upon a woman who will

appreciate them, and reciprocate by a bestowal

of her love.
131
132 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Woman works and plans to make herself

beautiful, and to learn the arts constituting a
good home-maker, because she hopes that
these accomplishments will enable her to win
and keep the ideal man.
There are all kinds of apparent exceptions
to these general statements. But behind these
apparent exceptions usually lurks the supreme
desire for an ideal love relation —maybe held
prisoner by a willful determination to work
out a "career," or thwarted and discouraged by
some unfortunate experience, but living, and
pulsating with hope deferred, and ready to
spring to the fore as soon as there is a prospect
of fulfillment.
All this is so because the love relation be-
tween the male and female is a fulfilling of the
law of life. Love is the highest activity of the
mind, and the exclusive individual love rela-

tion is its fullest expression. Sex is not merely

a physical device for reproduction. Cupid is

not "a malicious little god who ties two people

together and then leaves them." Sex is a soul
manifestation designed by universal mind, ul-
timately as a part of the evolutionary scheme,
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 133

and for the immediate purpose of making men

and women supremely happy.
While love is psychological, it is also physi-
cal, and any intelligent consideration of it must
recognize this duality. Therefore, the present
chapter will deal with the physical phase of
the subject, as well as with the psychological
phase of it. But the term "physical phase," as
here used, means something more than the
word "physical" usually implies. It means
vastly more than the physical sex differentia-
tions. It means physical reactions to psycho-

logical stimulii; that is to say, it means the

physical effects of certain states of mind or
phases of consciousness.
The one universal mind is dual in its nature,
and all of its individual expressions are like-
wise dual. If we follow the scientist in his
search for the ultimate substance composing
physical matter, we come at last to the whirl-
ing electrons composing the atom. These elec-
trons are minute points of electrical energy in
the omnipresent ether of space, and some of
these points of energy are electrically positive,
while others are negative. This difference in
polarity produces attraction between the two
134 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

kinds of electrons, and they are thus held in a

group composing the atom.
The atoms also are divided into two kinds,
the one positive and the other negative, and
the resulting attractions cause two or more
kinds of atoms to group together to form the
molecules of the different kinds of matter.
For a simple instance, a molecule of water is

produced by the union through attraction of

one positive atom of oxygen and two negative
atoms of hydrogen. And so it is throughout
the entire mineral kingdom: whatever the ap-
pearance may be, all mineral objects are com-
posed of different groupings of atoms through
the mutual attraction between positive and
negative.
In the vegetable kingdom the duality of pos-
itive and negative, or active and passive, is

manifest to the unaided senses. The male and

female blossoms usually appear on the same
tree or plant, but some kinds of plants —nota-
bly the date-palm —are individually divided
into male and female.
Throughout this dual manifestation of male
and female in the vegetable kingdom we find
the female cell stationary, passive and recep-
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 135

tive; and we find the male cell mobile, active

and moving through the air, or
aggressive,
through water, or even burrowing through the
earth, in search of his mate. In short, the fe-
male cell is negative, and the male cell is posi-
tive.

Individual sex is fully manifested in the ani-

mal kingdom, and reaches its highest earthly
development in the realm of humanity. In the
mineral kingdom the electrons and atoms mate
blindly and indiscriminately, merely because
one is and the other negative. In the
positive
vegetable kingdom the attraction of opposite
polarity still prevails, but the rudiment of
choice appears —the vegetable mates only with
its kind. In the animal kingdom the element
of choice becomes more manifest, and mating
runs the gamut from almost absolute promis-
cuity to monogamic life-matings. In the realm
of humanity the element of choice is vastly en-
larged and becomes the dominant factor.
Human beings of opposite sex are attracted
to each other merely because of opposite polar-
ity. But this general attraction is not love,
and any marriage based solely upon it will end
136 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

disastrously. What is the solution of the

enigma thus presented?
Every human being is a living magnet. An-
imal magnetism, or nervous energy, constantly
flows through the body, carrying the messages
of the objective and sub-conscious minds, and
otherwise assisting in the vital processes. And,
like any other magnet, the human body is im-
mediately surrounded by a "magnetic field;"
in other words, the animal magnetism not only
fills the body, but radiates from it in all direc-
tions, the extent and character of the radiation
varying in different individuals.
The existence of the magnetic field around
a steel magnet is well known and
demon- easily
coming
strable, because a piece of iron or steel

into this field is immediately attracted. But

animal magnetism is a finer and more subtle
force than mineral magnetism:, and its pres-
ence is not so easily detected by physical de-
vices. Nevertheless, its presence in and
around the human body is known to the physi-
cal scientists, and some measure of success has
been achieved in photographing the radiant

magnetic field. It is easily observable through

 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 137

a flat-sided glass container filled with a solu-

tion of the coal-tar dye called dicyanin.
This same radiating magnetic field around
the human body solves the riddle of individual
love relations. The radiation is not alike in all

cases ; in fact, it is as varied in different indi-

viduals as are other personal characteristics.
Radiating magnetic energy, like radiant
electricity, heat and light, consists of waves in
the ether. A number of candles could be made
up with mixtures of different substances so
that one would give a green light, another a
red light, another a blue light, and so forth.
These different colors mean merely that one
candle-flame would agitate the ether into one
length of waves, while another would agitate
it into another length of waves, just as the dif-
ferent strings of a piano agitate the atmos-
phere into different wave-lengths. The atmos-
pheric waves caused by the piano strings pro-
duce in the ear the sensation of different tones,
while the ether waves caused by the candles
produce in the eye the sensation of different

colors.
The magnetic waves radiating from differ-
ent human beings are far more diversified and
138 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

complex than could be produced by any mix-

ture of chemical substances in a batch of can-
dles, and the character of this radiation is de-

termined by the physical condition and mental

attitude of the individual.
When two people whose magnetic radiations
are harmonious are brought into close proxim-
ity, so that their respective magnetic fields

come into contact, each feels that he is in

pleasant company. If they happen to be of

opposite sex they will fall in love with each
other. But if two people whose magnetic radi-
ations are discordant are brought into close
proximity, each feels that he is in unpleasant
company and even though they be of
; different
sex, and hence naturally attractive to each
other, there will be no love.

It is not necessary that the magnetic radia-

tions be exactly the same. If the dominant
wave-length of one is such that it will strike a
harmonic with the dominant wave-length of
the other, the law of harmony is thus complied
with, and love will result, just as music results
from a harmonious blending of different
tones.
 —

THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 139

Some people probably will resent this lab-

oratory analysis of love, but it is better that
we know and reckon with the simple facts
especially if by doing so we may the more
firmly place our feet upon the road to happi-
ness. Vague idealistic conceptions are proper
enough in their places, but we are now dealing
with practical things in a practical and com-
mon-sense way, and in order to proceed intelli-

gently it is necessary that we know and con-

sider the facts.
If any one feels that this plain statement of
the plain facts belittles the finest and best of
the human emotions, he is asked if it is not a
more aesthetic conception than is the postulate
of the evolutionists and religionists that sex
is nothing more than a physical device for re-
production. The ideal love relation between
man and woman is indeed the finest thing in
the world, but, like every other super-physical
force, it can manifest in the physical realm
only by employing physical material and com-
plying with physical laws.
Every normal human being is capable of
evolving and enjoying a perfect individual
love relation. It will be observed that this
140 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

statement contains no limitations and makes

no reservations. It ignores all present condi-
tions. It applies to married people and unmar-
ried people alike.
He who is unmarried can enter into the
ideal marriage, and he who is unhappily mar-
ried can wrest happiness from his misery.
Practical psychology recognizes no limitations
— bound by no conditions. The sub-con-
is

scious mind is possessed of all wisdom and

power, and the tragedies that break human
hearts and wreck human lives are to it as cob-
webs in the path of a giant.
He who recognizes within himself the desire
for a perfect love relation, whether he be mar-
ried or unmarried, should come to fixation of
attention upon just the condition he wants,
and this fixation should, as in other instances,
be so perfect as to exclude every other thought.
During this process he should hold fast to the
realization that the sub-conscious mind is able
to fulfill his desire to the uttermost. Then he
should will, with all his power of willing, that
the idealized condition shall be his very own.
He thus brings together the power, the desire,
and the will, and when these three things are
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 141

present at the same place and time, the desire

is always accomplished. The final step is to
assert this certainty by saying, "I have the
power; I have the desire ; I have the will;
therefore, it is accomplished : the ideal love
relation is mine, and in due course it shall come
into actual possession"
The words of this affirmation need not be
literally repeated. All that they convey may
be mentally realized in a single flash of
thought. If the prescribed conditions are met,
this affirmation passes to the sub-conscious
mind as a suggestion, and it immediately goes
to work to make the suggestion an objective
reality. And its work is done not only thor-
oughly and well, but it is done in such a way as
to do full justice to all concerned, and to com-
ply with every whit of the law of morality.
If the individual who thus comes into a
working knowledge of his power chances to
be unhappily married, the fulfillment of his
desire may come through either of two chan-
nels. If there are children of tender years in-
volved, the chances are many to one that the
fulfillment of his desire will come through a
new love relation with his present spouse.
142 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Many lonely and heart-broken husbands and

wives will pause here to exclaim, "Impossi-
ble!" Jesus fully answered this exclamation
when he said, "With man it is impossible, but
with God all things are possible." And we are
here considering the very highest conception
of God, namely: the all-wise and all-powerful
mind of the universe manifesting in the sub-
conscious mind of the individual human being.
A recognition of the possibility of building
a new and immeasurably better and happier
love relation upon the apparently hopeless ruin
of the old one, coupled with a little reasoned
co-operation, will usually work wonders. This
statement pre-supposes that the proper sug-
gestion has already been passed to the sub-
conscious mind. In the great majority of such
cases the task beyond the power of the ob-
is

jective mind. There was not a perfect har-

monic relation to begin with, and the passing
of time and the changing vicissitudes of life
have wrought such divergent modifications
that the one small note of discord has risen to
a screaming crescendo of utter detestation and
hate.
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 143

Society knows of many cases of this kind,

but the great majority of them are unknown,
even to the intimate friends of the unfortunate
couple. Such cases are utterly hopeless, so far
as the objective mind is concerned. Even if
one of the parties should steel his will to be-
come reconciled, and to establish a new love-
relation, his every gentle act of kindness would
be misunderstood, and even derided; all his

good motives would be construed as utterly

bad, because in the estimation of his spouse
there is no good in him.; and his caresses would
be received with terror and anger, and spurned
in utter hatred and disgust.
This terrible picture is not overdrawn. The.
author knows just what he is talking about,
and a part of his qualification for discussion
of this matter is the experience acquired dur-
ing many years of presiding as judge of a
court having jurisdiction of all the divorce
cases in a large city. And if there are no
young children involved, the divorce court fur-
nishes the simplest solution of these distressing
cases.
If young children are involved, as is usually
the case, divorce is not so simple and efficient.
144 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

They are entitled to rearing under the joint

care of parents who love them and love each
other. Moreover, their custody is involved
in the divorce proceeding, and no normal par-
ent can be separated from his children without
a lasting pang of sadness and regret. But in
the deplorable case just considered, the chil-
dren are so handicapped at the very beginning
of life that their future chances of success and
happiness are negligible, unless the situation
can be remedied. It were better for children
so environed that they be turned over to The
Children's Home Society, and adopted into
homes where there is love. And unless a
reconciliation can be effected, and love re-es-
tablished, simple justice and common honesty
demand that the parents separate, so that the
children may at least be removed from an en-
vironment embittered by hate. If their cus-
tody and maintenance cannot be mutually
agreed upon, then the matter should be settled
in court. All these things entail temporary
suffering and humiliation in various degrees,
but the shirking of a plain duty will ultimately
bring even greater suffering and humiliation.
The plain truth of the whole business is that
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 145

one who has come to the desperate state of

marital unhappiness here under consideration
has made a mistake in his marriage, and a nec-
essary part of his co-operation with the sub-
conscious mind is a calm, big-hearted and char-
itable effort to correct the mistake and to rem-
edy its evil results. As was pointed out fur-
ther back in this chapter, a full reconciliation,
and the evolving of a new and better love rela-
tion between the estranged parties, is entirely
possible to the sub-conscious mind. But in
some cases the individual will be unable to
bring together the requisite consciousness of
power, desire and will for the accomplishment
of this seeming miracle. In such cases the
door of the divorce court stands full across the
way to happiness, and the sub-conscious mind
will, sooner or later, bring the individual to
that portal, perhaps with an ache in his heart,
a choking sob in his throat, and tears in his
eyes. Then it will lead him through the som-
bre hall within, and out into the sunshine of
happiness beyond, doing full justice at every
step, righting a wrong at every turn, and
finally leaving a benediction of more abundant
peace and happiness with everyone concerned.

10
146 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Some people are unalterably opposed to di-

vorce under any and all circumstances, because
they subscribe to some creed that prohibits it.

Psychology's advise to such people is brief,

plain and pointed. It is this : Don't get a di-

vorce. The individual should do nothing that

he believes to be wrong; because by doing
something that he believes to be wrong he will
mentally condemn himself and establish a state
of mind that will be a snare and a pit in the
way of his advancement.
Beyond giving this advice, psychology is not
concerned with creeds. Some of them it finds
to be entirely sound, some partially sound, and
some altogether fallacious. Moreover, it seeks
to avoid giving offense to any one. Therefore,
it deals with the facts as it finds them, leaving
the creeds to shift for themselves — as most of
them are abundantly able to do. It finds no
natural law that is opposed to divorce in those
cases for which there is no other practical solu-
tion, but in cases involving young children it

counsels a thorough trial of other methods be-

fore resorting to it, for nothing short of this
will satisfy the individual conscience touching
the duty owed to those children, and a guilty
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 147

or doubting conscience is the worst kind of

psychological company.
This practical discussion of the sordid prac-
of unhappy marital relations is a
tical details

momentary turning aside from the main prin-

ciple involved. But if we are mentally to
stand flat-footed upon the ground, as distin-
guished from "going up into the air," it is nec-
essary to make a full survey of the situation,
and meet and cope with the conditions as we
to
find them. This is the only way in which psy-
chology can be made practical. However great
or high the force invoked may be, or whatever
the ultimate result, the means employed for
obtaining practical results must be practical,
and individual co-operation must be given in a
practical way.
In order to drive home the importance of
this practical co-operation, let us consider a
hypothetical case. Suppose a certain man to
be unhappily married, and to have three or
four small children. Let us suppose, further,
that he has the necessary consciousness of
power to evolve a happy marital relation, and
the ability to come to fixation of attention, ac-
complish concentration, and pass the proper
 ;

148 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

suggestion to the sub-conscious mind. Finally,

let us suppose that he should retire to an upper

room of his home, and there remain from day
to day, and month to month, constantly apply-
ing his formula, resolved never to leave the
house until his desire should be fulfilled, thus
totally neglecting his business affairs.

What would happen in such a case? We

can only conjecture. He would get his happy
marital relation; that much is certain; but the
price he would have to pay for it probably
would be rather high. It might be that the
sheriff would close up and sell out his busi-
ness; that The Associated Charities, the juve-
nile court and the Children's Home Society
would combine to take his children; that his
wife would obtain a divorce on the ground of
non-support, marry a better and more provi-
dent man, and bring the children back into a
home where they would be surrounded with
love and tender care ; would force him
that fire
out of his house and destroy that he would
it;

go forth, penniless, half clad and hungry, in

search of a hand-out at some kitchen door
and that in this quest of food he would meet a
most charming cook, to whom he would get
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 149

married, and with whom he would live hap-

pily ever afterward.

If the various parts and ending of this sup-

posed case should happen to appeal to any un-
happily married man who chances to peruse
these pages, he might try it out, passing the
proper suggestion to the sub-conscious mind at
each step. If he is of a romantic turn of mind,
and something of a connoisseur in the matter
of feminine charms, he might even make a
mental picture of the cook, including the color
of her eyes and hair, and even her dexterity in
turning flapjacks.
This formula may be used with equal cer-
tainty of results by unhappily married women,
only that some of the details would have to be
slightly modified.
Of course, no definite prediction could be
made would be employed
as to the details that
by the sub-conscious mind in working out the
problem for the foolish man or woman who
might adopt this impractical method. The
means employed would be different in each
always they would be the best means
case, but

of bringing to the particular individual a ful-

fillment of his desire.
150 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

This humorous hypothetical case is cited for

the practical purpose of making it clear that

while the sub-conscious mind always makes an
objective reality of any suggestion made to it,
the individual may so demean himself that it
will have to demolish many of his idols, and

put him to excessive cost. To state the matter

in another practical way, when the individual
makes a psychological suggestion that a certain
thing is a reality, or is upon the verge of be-
coming a reality, it is better that he objectively
recognize that the reality is bound to come,
and that he intelligently arrange his affairs ac-
cordingly; for such affairs as would conflict
with the reality, or stand in the way of its ac-
complishment, will get smashed.
The unhappily married person should first
come to perfect fixation of attention upon the
thought that he and the estranged spouse are
sub-consciously one, and that his real trouble
is that he is at strife with himself. This is lit-
erally true, and the thought should be held in
fixation until the objective mind finally ac-

cepts it without question or reservation.

Then he should come to a full realization
that the sub-conscious mind is able to recon-
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 151

cile them and make them abundantly happy in

a rejuvenated love. This realization should be
followed by the formation of a clear idea of
just what kind of a reconciliation would be
necessary in order to bring the coveted happi-
ness, including a general outline of the differ-
ent ways in which the other spouse should
manifest the new love.

The very process of forming this idea makes

it a desire, thus accomplishing the first step
toward the final suggestion. There are many
cases in which the creation of this desire will
be the most difficult part of the formula.
There are spouses who have so long and
grossly sinned against their mates that the
very thought of a reconciliation will be dis-
gusting. But when innocent and trusting lit-

tle children are involved, even these apparently

hopeless cases deserve an honest trial.

Whatever the sins of the offending spouse

may be, he is not altogether bad. In fact, his
and it is only
virtues vastly outweigh his vices,
the blurred mental vision caused by long nurs-
ing of grievances that prevents this from be-
ing seen. Nor are all the faults on one side.
Many sweet, gentle and loving wives have been
152 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

transformed into veritable hell-cats merely by

neglect and indifference, and oftener than oth-
erwise this neglect and indifference was unin-
tentional on the part of the husband. Woman
is naturally inclined to be both suspicious and
jealous, and at the first sign of indifference on
the part of her husband comes the terrible
spectre of "Another Woman." She may be
big-minded enough to lay this spectre and end
the apparent indifference by manifesting a lit-

tlemore love and judiciously bestowing a few

more caresses. But in the great majority of
cases she, too, draws away and begins to man-
ifest indifference —even to the attentions that
are actually bestowed upon her. This is the
beginning of the road that leads to disaster.
And many a loyal and loving husband has
been transformed into a faithless, vengeful
and sullen beast by the nagging and groundless
accusations of his wife. In some instances
this conduct on the part of the wife also can
be changed by a little more show of love and
consideration, and a little heart-to-heart talk.
But the woman who employs these tactics usu-
ally is not amenable to reason, and she looks
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 153

upon any unusual manifestation of love as a

hoodwink and deceive her.
studied effort to
Therefore, the spouse to whom the very
thought of reconciliation is intolerable should
first discover his own fault in the matter.
Then he should seek to recognize the many
good and lovable traits of character in his es-
tranged mate, and to bring these traits to-
gether into a composite personality that also
will be lovable. All this will require time and
effort; but it is worth the trouble, even if no
reconciliation is effected, because the very ef-
fort makes one nobler and better fits him to
enjoy a happy love relation. The probability
is that the end of these efforts will bring him

to a conviction that a renewal of the love of his

youth, as a shield and protection for his other-
wise defenseless children, would be the hap-
piest love relation he could have, and that it

will arouse within him a desire that his prob-

lem, should be solved in that way. If at the
end of all his resources the requisite desire still

eludes him, then passing the suggestion of a

happy love relation to the sub-conscious mind
is equivalent to walking straight into the door
of the divorce court.
 :

154 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

We will assume, however, that the necessary

desire has been created, and the preferred con-
ditions of its fulfillment all carefully thought
out. We come then to the familiar formula
Fixation of attention; concentration through
desire and will and suggestion to the sub-con-
;

scious mind by affirmation that the desired

condition is, or is about to become, an objec-
tive reality : with the constant basic knowledge
that the affirmation is unqualifiedly true.
This principal formula may be greatly has-
tened in its operation by the employment of a
secondary formula designed for reaching the
estranged spouse's objective mind during his
sleep. This may be accomplished by sending
some such telepathic message as this "I love :

you. Whatever mistakes you have made, you

are still noble, and sweet, and good, because
you are one expression of the universal mind
of which I also am an expression. And you
love me. Beneath the bitter memories of all

our unhappy yesterdays lies buried the treas-

ure of love you cherished when we were young
and happy and full of hope. And I am worthy
of your love. Whatever my mistakes may
have been, and however deeply I may have
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 155

wronged you, I am still inherently good, and

noble, and pure; for I am one expression of
the universal mind of which you also are an
expression."
If the relations between the parties permit
it, this secondary formula may also be spoken
audibly to the estranged spouse during wake-
fulness. But in the great majority of cases
any such advance would be met with sneers
and reproaches, and probably would end with
a tirade of abuse — especially if the party so
approached should be the wife. The telepathic
method is more certain in its results, because
it takes the objective mind unawares at a time
when its grievances are temporarily laid aside,
and this advantage compensates for the diffi-

culties involved in its use.

This use of telepathy involves the sub-

conscious mind, and involves a phase of its ac-

tion not yet considered. Two objective minds

being involved, the sub-conscious mind acts as
a reflector, upon which the message from the
one impinges and is reflected back to the other,
in the same general way that a ray of light
may be so reflected by a mirror. Therefore,
the message should be sent with an earnestness
156 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

and will amounting to fixation and concentra-

tion.

The telepathic message sent in this way al-

ways reaches its mark and registers its impres-

sion. The one to whom it is sent will awake
the following morning with a sense of having
experienced a pleasant dream, even though the
supposed dream cannot be remembered. The
message should be repeated night after night,
and all the while the one to whom it is sent
will begrowing gentler and more considerate
because of the romance of the forgotten
dreams; for it will be realized that these sup-

posed dreams have to do with a marvelously

happy love affair. Sooner or later the sender
of the messages will become involved in these
dream-like impressions, and the recipient of
them will subjectively realize that the dreamy
romance is a return of the love of his honey-
moon.
In the meantime, the reflected suggestion
will be doing its insidious work in the objec-
tive mind to which it is reflected, and the es-

tranged spouse will begin to wonder why he

has so long overlooked his mate's lovable qual-
ities, and so long harbored hatred and jealousy
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 157

that were so poorly founded. The first un-

mistakable sign of this change of sentiment
should be encouraged in practical ways. But
it is better not to push the new suit with any
marked degree of vigor. Advances will come
from the other party in due time, and success
comes more surely and swiftly by a gentle and
considerate response to them.
The radiating magnetic field around the hu-
man body fluctuates with the changing modes
of thought, and any permanent change in the
mental attitude also works a permanent change
in it. It is true here, as elsewhere, that as one
thinks in his heart, so is he. Therefore, as the
estranged husband and wife begin to assume
the same mental attitudes, the vibratory rates
of their radiating magnetic fields begin to ap-
proach, and finally strike, a harmonic. Thus
the love that first sprang from an imperfect
harmonic relation, and was, therefore, itself
imperfect, is re-establishedupon a perfect har-
monic relation, and is thereby made perfect.
Some sage has said that two people who think
alike are alike; and so it is here.
The student who has learned to fix his at-
tention and concentrate his mind may thus step
158 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

into the ruins of his love and happiness, and

build them again upon the bare foundation of
desire.

One who is unmarried may come into a per-

fect marriage relation through employment of
the processes already described, with slight

changes in some of the details. Young people

who are seeking mates should place the highest
value upon spontaneous love, for this means
that the two people involved are magnetically
suited to each other; but advice to such as
these is useless —they will get married, as in-

deed, they ought to do. After they are mar-

ried, they should endeavor to be mutually in-
terested in the same things, and to think along
generally similar lines, so as not to evolve
away from each other.
The one soul-pit against which young people
should be fore-warned is marriage without
real love. When marriage is based upon any
other consideration than real love, it is fore-
doomed to disaster, unless the young people
happen to be expert psychologists and willing
to work out a harmonic relation after mar-
riage. The young man who is considered "the
best catch of the season" usually turns out to
 THE FINEST THING IN THE WORLD 159

be the very poorest catch that the girl who gets

him could have made. No matter what charms
or accomplishments a young woman may pos-
sess, she will be vastly worse than no wife at
all to the man who does not really love her.
Even this long chapter deals only with the
general outlines of the great subject under con-
sideration. The purpose has been to present
the general principles involved, with only such
illustrations and details as seemed useful to
that end, thus leaving the student free to work
out his own case in his own way. Let it be re-
membered again that the working out of a
happy love relation, however much it may
mean in its own realm, is only one element or
ingredient in the formula of happiness.
And let it be remembered also that the de-
tails considered in this chapter are only details,
entirely worthless unless the student shall first
establish fixation of attention and concentra-
tion of will and desire, and pass the suggestion
to the sub-conscious mind. Objective mental-
ity has long idealized the perfect love relation,
but it has never been able to solve the problems
connected with its failure. Only the sub-con-
scious mind is able to deal effectively with this
160 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

phase of the subject, and unless its aid be first

invoked, these instructions for objective co-
operation are of no value.
But the sub-conscious mind possesses all
wisdom and all It knows how to
power.
evolve a perfect love affair, and it also knows
how mend a broken one so that
to it will be
when it was new. It
better than not only
knows how to do these things, but it has the
power to do them, and will do them whenever
the proper suggestion is made to it. If the
student knows the statements of this para-
graph to be true, he is ready for the triumph-
ant love affirmation with which the chapter
will be concluded.

/ am an individual manifestation of perfect

and never-failing love, and am able to exem-
plify it by an individual love relation of such
ecstasyand happiness as the world has always
worshipped but seldom known. I also earn-
estly desire such a love relation, and power-
fully will that it shall become an objective
reality —even as it is already a sub-conscious
reality. Having the power, the desire and the
will, it is accomplished! The perfect love re-
lation is mine, and I await its coming with
confident expectancy and great joy.
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 X
PSYCHO-ANALYSIS
It was said in the Third Chapter that the
subjective mind is, among other things, the
store-house of individual memories.
The one simple fact so stated is the founda-
tion upon which is builded the new science of
Psycho-Analysis, of which we have heard so
much during the past few years, and which
many scientists regard as a veritable mental
Moses which shall not only lead the human
race out of bondage to fear and worry, but
which shall also cure many physical ills and
well nigh depopulate our insane asylums.
This new science, which is in reality only
one small phase of the science of Practical
Psychology in general, finds that the individ-
ual never forgets anything. Things that seem
to be forgotten are merely laid away in the re-

mote recesses of the subjective mind, and un-

der proper stimulus may be brought into cog-
nizance by the objective mind. It also finds
that all the unfulfilled wishes, tendencies and
165
166 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

desires that the individual has ever abandoned

as impossible of realization, or put away as
improper or immoral, are also still alive, im-
prisoned in the subjective mind, with "Con-
science," or "the psychic censor," acting as
jailer. Some of these prisoners have been so
long confined that they have undergone
marked changes, just as would be expected of
any prisoner who had been in long continued
confinement. And, as is true of other prison-
ers, one of them sometimes escapes.

These escaped prisoners are responsible for

a great variety of human ailments, both men-
taland physical. For instance, the repression
and subsequent escape of a strong love may,
and often does, result in a "nervous break-
down." The repression and subsequent escape
of a violent disposition to fight may result in a
form of mental and physical disturbance called
"neurosis." The disease called "shell-shock"
furnishes a striking example of what may fol-
low the repression of a marked sense of fear.
The brave soldier in the midst of the perils of
battle experiences a flash of keen desire to get
out of danger — that is, the primal instinct of
self-preservation momentarily asserts itself.
 PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 167

He reprobates himself for this "cowardice,"

and presses forward —he represses the strong
fear impulse and its accompanying desire to
run. The impulse to run is a strong impulse,
and its repression is, therefore, violent —so
violent, in fact, that it is thrust through the
subjective mind and back upon the true sub-
conscious. And desires reaching the sub-con-
scious mind are always fulfilled. In this in-
stance, the sub-conscious mind meets the sit-
uation and fulfills the desire by making the
brave soldier temporarily blind, or temporarily
paralyzed, or temporarily demented. In this
manner it not only takes him out of the dan-
ger, but does it in such a way that he cannot be
reproached, by himself or by others. The
symptom thus manifested is called "shell-
shock," because before it was understood it

was supposed to result from, the concussion of

a high explosive shell.

The repression of any strong desire or emo-

tion will sooner or later make trouble. Those
emotions and desires most closely related to
the love-life of the individual are more often
repressed than any others, and their repression
works graver consequences, for two obvious
168 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

reasons, these namely : ( i ) The emotions and

desires clustering about the sex-life are more
primal and inherent than any others; and (2)
The conventions of Society and its codes of
morals have thrown more restraints around
them, so that they are more often the subjects
of repression than any other group of emo-
tions and desires. The fact that so many hurt-
ful repressions are thus related to the individ-

ual love-life has furnished occasion for the ig-

norant and prudish to criticise Psycho-Anal-
ysis for dealing too much with "sex."
The true psycho-analyst seeks first to learn
if there really is a repression, and if one be
found, then to learn the nature of it. One ex-
ample will suffice to show the situation in
which he often finds himself. There may
come to him a patient harrassed by an obsess-
ing fear of impending disaster — in that state
of mind which lies behind the great majority
of suicides, and which Psycho-Analysis calls
"Anxiety Neurosis." The psychologist knows
that anxiety neurosis is always the result of a
repression of some phase of the sex-life, and it

is only a question of finding the particular re-

pression in this particular case. Analysis may
 PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 169

show that the patient's trouble all springs

from a sudden cessation of a long indulged
sex-gratification. If the psychologist tells his
patient the truth, and makes him understand
it, he will thereby be cured, and the psycholo-

gist may be criticised by others for dealing in

such a matter-of-fact way with sex. If he
conceals the truth, the patient may end his ca-
reer in an insane asylum, or be buried in a
suicide's grave. What is his duty in such a
case? Should he save his tormented brother
or sister? or should he make a human sacrifice
modesty and prudery?
to false
From what has already been said, it is ap-
parent that many harmful repressions are of
passions and desires not related to the sex-life;
but the simple fact remains that the love-life,
in the broad sense included under the Greek
word "eros" and its English derivative
"erotic," is the most prolific source of such re-
pressions.
It might be argued that food-hunger is just
as primal and just as insistent as love hunger,
and that it furnishes no repressions. There is

evidence to the contrary of both propositions

of this argument ; that is to say, it is not at all
170 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

clear that food-hunger is as Impelling as love-

hunger, and a number of mental and physical
disturbances seem to be traceable to erroneous
ideas concerning food. But we will assume
for the moment argument is altogether
that the
sound. Nevertheless, hunger for food has
very rarely, if ever, been regarded as a "lust

of the flesh" or a "prompting of the devil."

In other words, Conscience has never been
trained to regard normal hunger for food as
immoral; hence, it never represses and impris-
ons it in the subjective mind.
It is the repression that does the michief
to mind and body, and not the thing repressed.
An analysis of a very common form of insan-
ity will make this point clear. The form of
insanity here referred to is paranoia. The
paranoiac is the person who imagines that he
is being spied upon, conspired against, and
otherwise harrassed by people who are seeking
to injure him, or to gain some advantage over
him. All of us number one or more paranoi-
acs among our acquaintances, because there
are many of them. Sometimes they attempt
violence against the supposed conspirators and
spies, and must be restrained in an asylum.
 PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 171

But many of them endure this torment for

years without attempting actual violence, and
finally become resigned to life in a world
which they conceive to be populated largely by
spies, conspirators, and people in disguise.

Paranoia springs from a repression in the

realm of the love-life. There are many men
and women in the world who prefer love af-
fairs with one of their own sex. If they recog-

nize this abnormality, they are merely inverts

—or "manifest homosexuals," as they are
sometimes called. These inverts never become
paranoiacs. But many people are latent homo-
sexuals. They have a tendency to love affairs
with people of their own sex, but this tendency
lies dormant until lashed into activity by some
person who exerts over them a wild love-at-
first-sight fascination. This active fascina-
tion lasts for only a moment. The individual
thus affected realizes the abnormality and
enormity of his passion, and is horror-stricken
to find himself possessed of such a possibility.
Conscience immediately carries the offending
tendency into captivity, and the individual
proceeds with his normal life.
172 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

But the prisoner is not dead, and in the sim-

realm of the subjective mind the
ple, childish

captor and the captive carry on a dialogue

something like this: (The repressed tend-
ency) "I love that man." (Conscience) "You
don't." "I do." "You don't." "I do." "You
don't."
This dialogue requires no reason. It exer-
cises no faculty of the objective mind, and the
individual in his waking state is, therefore, not

aware that it is But sooner or

going on.
later, in the process of going to sleep or awak-

ening, the objective mind overhears it, and in-

jects into it a question requiring a reasoned
answer, viz: "Why do I not love him?" Con-
science answers: "Because you hate him."
"But he has never done me an injury," insists

the tendency. "True," answers Conscience,

"but he is planning your injury. He is spying
upon you, conspiring against you, and plotting
your ruin."
This reasoned argument brings the individ-
ual into full wakefulness, and raises his un-
holy love again into the realm of objective
mentality —only it is now transmuted into

hate, and a reason for the hate fabricated.

 PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 173

The paranoiac's arch-conspirator is thus

evolved; but by a system of transference not
necessary to be dealt with here the conspiracy
spreads until nearly all the people of the suf-
ferer's acquaintance are involved in it.

While the word "man" has been used in the

example here given, it should be said in passing
that women also become paranoiacs, and in ex-
actly the same way.
This discussion will convey to many minds
the idea that Psycho- Analysis is lax in its

morals, and that it counsels giving free rein to

one's evil tendencies. Such, however, is not
the case. A Chinese sage said : "One cannot
prevent birds from flying over his head, but
he can prevent them from building nests in his
hair;" meaning that evil thoughts will come
unbidden, but that the individual is not there-
by compelled to translate them into actions.
So long as the "birds" are permitted to fly
there is no repression it is only when they are
;

snared and taken into captivity that they be-

come trouble-makers.
If the individual finds anything in his ten-
dencies which seems to him to be evil, he
should frankly face it and reason the matter
174 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

out. If at the end of this reasoning it still

seems to be evil, he should place it under sur-

veillance and exert his will that it shall not

dictate to him. It should not be denied. He

should not reproach himself for it, but rather
look upon it as an interesting phenomenon, to
be studied, understood, and, if possible, direct-

ed into constructive channels. For instance,

the prostitute is usually endowed with a rich
love-nature which, if it had been properly un-
derstood and directed, would have brought her
a very great happiness. There are some sordid
exceptions to this rule, but in the great major-
ity of cases it may be said : "She loved not
wisely, but too well." But her rich sexual na-
ture, being misunderstood and misdirected,
brings her to degradation, and sets her on the
way to misery and ruin. On the other hand,
if same nature had been
the promptings of that
looked upon by her in shame as a "wicked lust
of the flesh and the devil," and thereupon
"crucified," or forcibly put out of her object-
ive mind, the chances are many to one that she
would have become a psycho-neurotic individ-
ual,and might have finished her life in the in-
curable ward of an insane asylum.
 PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 175

This simple illustration makes it apparent

that there are two wrong methods of dealing
with an evil tendency. One of these wrong
methods is to give it free rein, and the other
is to repress it. There is one right method of
dealing with it, and that is to admit it, con-
front it, and so direct it as to give it con-
structive value in building success and happi-
ness.
The sole aim and purpose of Psycho-Anal-
ysis is to help the individual who is suffering
from a repression to discover what it is he
has repressed; for, happily, such a discovery
abates the symptoms, be they mental or physi-
cal. Full many a psychopathic individual has
made this discovery in the office of the psycho-
analyst, often in mortification and tears, and
gone out sane. Many others who were tor-
mented with physical ailments have likewise
made the discovery, and have thereby been
healed.
Anything like a comprehensive presentation
of even the simple fundamentals of psycho-
analysis would require a separate volume, and
this chapter can be nothing but a very brief in-
troduction to this phase of the subject of prac-
176 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

tical In very fact, Psycho-Anal-

psychology.
ysis is not, as yet, in such a state of
perfection

as to be widely practical. Very few people out-

side the ranks of those physicians who have
specialized neurology and psychiatry are
in

fundamentally equipped for its mastery. This

does not mean that no one but a physician can
become a proficient psycho-analyst but it does ;

mean that such proficiency can rest upon

nothing less than an equivalent of the physi-
cian'sknowledge of the human anatomy and its
pathology, with an added knowledge of the
subject of psychology in general.
It must be confessed that there are very few
really proficient psycho-analysts in the world.
The great physicians who are engaged in that
field of work are bound by the Freudian
School dogma that "the unconscious mind, like
the conscious, is finite and limited." To them,
there are but two phases of mind —the con-
scious and the unconscious. The present wide-

spread interest in practical psychology has

caused some of them to discard the word "un-
conscious" for the word "sub-conscious ;" but
thischange of words has, with few exceptions,
been merely a change of words. They have
 PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 177

never gone beyond the subjective mind, and

since it is finite and limited they conclude that
the same is true of everything back of the ob-
jective mind — or, as they term it, "the con-
scious mind." Of course, they cannot account
for the infinite wisdom and power manifested
in the building and operation of the body, and
assume this to be a matter beyond the ability
of finite intelligence to comprehend. This is
not literally true of all of them. One of their
number has very recently written of "indica-
tions of marvelous wisdom in the profounder
phases of the unconscious mind."
Nothing here written should be construed
as an unfriendly criticism, of the great physi-
cians of Psycho-Analysis. They stand in the
front rank of Humanity's benefactors; but
their science is still in its infancy, and can
never attain its growth
until it compre-
full

hends the one universal omnipotent and om-

niscient mind as the basis of all lesser mani-
festations. To put the same thought into an-
other form, they have evolved a marvelous
subjective psychology, but it is subjective only,
and takes no account of the all-wise and all-

powerful sub-conscious mind. Therefore, it is

\
12
178 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

incomplete, and must leave many obvious men-

tal and physical phenomena unexplained.
Practical Psychology has sparedno reason-
able effort to know the fundamentals of this
newest branch of mental science, and is fairly

familiar with the work of practically all of its

great men who have seen fit to make their

knowledge public. This chapter is written in
the light of that knowledge and familiarity,
and in all the reverence due to great teachers,
pioneers and public benefactors. The author
takes pride in the fact that a few of these great
physicians are his friends, and two or three of
them his pupils and co-workers.
Sooner or later, Psycho-Analysis will be
merged into the larger realm of practical psy-
chology. Such merger is even now taking
place. The practical psychologists are rapidly
becoming psycho-analysts, and the psycho-
analysts are becoming practical psychologists.
The principal obstacle in the way of such a
merger has been that Practical Psychology has
had no very definite literature which it could
use as propaganda. And such literature as
has been available has not always been calcu-
lated to inspire the confidence of the very prac-
 PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 179

tical doctors who are evolving psycho-anal-

ysis. Very few books have been written, and
too often have the writers belittled their sub-
ject by injecting into its discussion a mass of
inspirational jangle, spiritualistic teachings
and religious dogmas.
This loose method of
presentation and discussion has served a good
it has met an intuitional response
turn, in that
minds of thousands of good men and
in the
women who were wavering in their allegiance
to the old methods of thought and yet were
unable to comprehend the new. But the doc-
tors are, as a rule, not included in the ranks of
these thousands. Life, to them, is very prac-
tical, and disease and death very real. They
are too much absorbed in their study of bones,
and muscles, and arteries, and nerves, and
glands, to give much consideration to a lot of
inspirational prattle, however well founded it

may be in ultimate truth.

One of the secondary purposes of this book
is to present the message of Practical Psychol-
ogy in such a way as to win the confidence
and arouse the interest of these good men and
women.
180 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

There will speedily come a time when the

practice of medicine will embrace the applica-
tion of practical psychology, including psycho-
analysis. And even the most fleeting glimpse
of what may be accomplished by this alliance

appalls reason and staggers imagination.

STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 XI

THE SOURCE OF WISDOM

In one of the earlier chapters it was said
that the sub-conscious mind is utterly credu-
lous as to anything told it by the objective
mind. There was no other way in which the
truth could have been so aptly stated to the
student at that time, but it now becomes nec-
essary to give a little fuller consideration to
this matter of credulity.
Credulity, as the word is usually understood,
implies weakness. We think of the credulous
person as one who is weak enough to believe
almost anything he is told. But the credulity
of the sub-conscious mind is not that kind of
credulity. It will be remembered that fixation
of attention plus concentration plus suggestion
equals sub-conscious mentation. Sub-con-
scious mentation means thinking with the sub-
conscious mind, and under the conditions pre-
scribed in the formula it is thinking a thought
sent over by the objective mind.
The sub-conscious mind cannot think any-
185
186 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

thing that is untrue, because the very fact that

it thinks makes it true, even though up to
it

that time it had not been true. It builds by

thought in what we call the natural realm, and

by hand in what we call the artificial realm.
That is to say, it thinks a rose or a horse or a
world into existence, but when it sets out to
build a house or an automobile it uses hands.
When it thinks a thing to be true, that very
thought makes it a reality, whatever the means
required to bring it into objective existence.
This is why it is utterly credulous as to any
message sent by the objective mind. Its cred-
ulity is not a dull and impotent credulity. It
is the acceptance of an abstract thought which,
by that acceptance, becomes an objective en-
tity. Since it is possessed of all wisdom and
all power, and since its thoughts concerning
the objective realm all become objective real-
ities, it follows that when it thinks of a thing
or condition as a fact, that thing or condition
thereby becomes a fact.
This infinity of thought is not easy to ex-
press in a language built up of words designed
to express finite things, even as it is not easy
of comprehension by the finite objective mind.
 THE SOURCE OF WISDOM 187

Perhaps an illustration will help, and for this

purpose an actual occurrence will be cited.

There once came to a friend and fellow-stu-

dent of the author a lady who had been almost
totally blind for forty years. When she was
nine years old her eyes became infected with
trachoma. An unskilled doctor cauterized her
granulated lids,and a terrible inflammation set
in. When this inflammation had subsided,

her eyes were white with the scar-tissue char-

acteristic of thatform of blindness. She could
distinguish daylight from darkness, but could
not see to do any kind of work, nor even to get
about except by feeling her way as all blind
people do.
The lady had been in that condition for
forty years, her case being utterly hopeless
from the medical standpoint. Then she came
to the psychologist,and he made her under-
stand the wisdom and power of the sub-con-
scious mind. He personally directed her in
coming to fixation of attention and concentra-
tion, and in passing the suggestion to the sub-
conscious mind. The suggestion was: "I
shall recover my sight within the next month."
188 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Any eye specialist would have said that this

suggestion was a preposterous lie which could
not deceive anyone but the weakest kind of a
credulous dupe. Nevertheless, the sub-con-
scious mind believed it. Was it thereby de-
ceived and duped ? No. When the thirty days
had elapsed the lady's eyes were clear, and her
sight was so keen that she was reading the
children's stories that had been lost in the
darkness since she was nine years old. Judged
from any angle of objective mentality, this
suggestion was utterly false and impossible of
accomplishment. But when the sub-conscious
mind accepted it as a fact, it immediately be-
came possible, and was accomplished within
the time prescribed. This is only one instance
among thousands which Practical Psychol-
in
ogy has "performed miracles." It is not cited
to convince the reader that such things are pos-
sible,but merely to illustrate a point.
If the psychologist had possessed the Christ-
Consciousness, he could have gotten the same
result within thirty seconds just as well as with-
in thirty days. Jesus often gave sight to the
blind, and the record indicates that he
nearly
always got immediate results. In the great
 THE SOURCE OF WISDOM 189

majority of the accounts of his miracles only

the ultimate facts are given; but the record of
one case of blindness goes into details, and we
see the clever work of the master psychologist.
The blind man was first made to know beyond
doubt that Jesus had power to restore his
sight. Then Jesus spat upon the ground, and
with the dusty clay thus moistened he anoint-
ed the blind man's eyes. This very un-
usual and wholly unexpected procedure pro-
duced fixation of attention —that is, every-
thing else was crowded out of the man's mind.
At this stage of the proceeding the blind man
knew that the healing power was present; he
desired to be healed; and his objective mind
was occupied exclusively by the thought that
was then about to be accomplished.
his healing
Two other steps were necessary, namely: to
put his will into operation, and to pass the sug-
gestion to the sub-conscious mind. "Go wash
your eyes in the Pool of Siloam," commanded
Jesus, and the man went toward the pool with
assurance that when the clay was washed from
his eyes he could see. By the very act of going

to the pool he set his will in motion, and when

he lifted the handful of water to his eyes with
190 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

assurance that it would give him sight, he

passed the suggestion to the sub-conscious
The was what has been
mind.
and ever
result
will be in such cases
it
—always
"he came see-

ing."
Even the most advanced psychologists are
circumscribed by self-imposed limitations. As
a rule, they are not able fully to free them-
selves from the idea that restorative healing
must wait upon the process of cell changes,
elimination and substitution. These processes
require time, and any suggestion they pass to
the patient is tinged with this idea that time is

an essential element. But Jesus, clearly func-

tioning in the sub-conscious mind, realized that
the cells, molecules and atoms are composed
of energized sparks of universal mind (now
called electrons). This realization enabled
him to go directly to the source of the trouble,
by passing a suggestion of immediate healing
which went back of the cell, the molecule and
the atom, and acted upon the very substance
of the universal mind itself. This is the
Christ-Consciousness. Psychologists some-
times attain to a temporary flash of it under
the stress of dealing with a peculiarly difficult
 THE SOURCE OF WISDOM 191

case, and in these instances they always per-

form miracles.
Some of the things said here probably would
have been more appropriate in the chapter on
Health And Healing. But we are here about
to enter upon a consideration of the ways and
means of drawing wisdom from the sub-con-
scious mind, and it is necessary to understand
that its credulity is not based upon weakness
and ignorance, but rather upon omnipotence
and omniscience.
We have heretofore considered the ways
and means of sending a message to the sub-
conscious mind, but we are now about to con-
sider the means of getting messages from it.
The latter process is, in some respects, the ex-
act opposite of the former. Its prime requisite
is what the mystics call "going into the si-

lence."
He who would receive a message from the
sub-conscious mind must first make his ob-

jective mind a blank — that is, if he is seeking

general knowledge. If he is seeking knowl-
edge upon a particular subject, he should first

come to fixation of attention upon the thing

he wishes to know, or, rather, upon his desire
192 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

for the particular knowledge, and then go into

the silence. If he wishes to become generally
wise, he should make his mind so blank that
he will be utterly oblivious to all his surround-
ings, with theaim and purpose that the sub-
conscious mind may thereby be given an op-
portunity to assert itself.

The messages will come in the form of im-

pressions, and the first responses will be mere-
ly the fanciful imaginings of the subjective
mind. In other words, when the student
passes down from the realm of objective men-
tality, he will next come to the twilight zone
of subjective mentality, through which he may
eventually pass into the realm of sub-con-
sciousness.
The process of going into the silence re-
verses the normal polarity of the objective and
sub-conscious minds, so that the objective be-
comes temporarily passive to the sub-con-
scious. This state of abstraction is often at-
tained by accident, and those who thus stumble
into it become the world's geniuses. An in-
telligent mastery of the art produces super-
men and super-women who succeed in their
 THE SOURCE OF WISDOM 193

undertakings, attain happiness, and leave the

stamp of their character upon the race.
The advanced student, who can become to-
tally oblivious to his environment, will do well
to sit with a pencil in his hand, and with his
hand upon a writing-pad. When he comes out
of his abstraction he may find wonderful wis-
dom written upon the pad. This is the better
kind of automatic writing, but not every one
can do it. The usual result is that the seeker
after wisdom and knowledge merely comes out
of the state of abstraction knowing things he
did not know before. Even in this case, it is
better immediately to put the new knowledge
into writing, so that the pencil and pad are
useful in any event.
Going into the silence is com-
as difficult as
ing to fixation of attention. But one who has
disciplined his mind through fixation of atten-
tion will encounter but little difficulty in com-
ing also to this perfect state of abstraction.
If one desires knowledge of a certain thing
or subject, he should first come to fixation of
attention upon that desire, and then "listen"

with all the five senses, repudiating the silly

suggestions of the subjective mind, and again

13
194 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

"listening" more intently that he may catch the

real message.
The acquirement of any marked degree of
proficiency in getting messages from the sub-
conscious mind requires earnest and patient
persistence ;
but, here as elsewhere in the realm
of psychology, there are many rewards short
of full accomplishment. The results are worth
more than all the effort possible to be put forth
in their attainment.
Sleep presents another opportunity for get-
ting messages from the sub-conscious mind.
It is really a very great opportunity, for the
objective mind is then unable to interfere. Of
course, the objective mind is not dead during
sleep; for if it were, the sleeper would never
awake. It is asleep, and for a time has en-
tirely quit thinking. And when the objective
mind no longer interferes, the sub-conscious
mind performs its work of restoration and re-
pair of the body. So active is the sub-conscious
mind during sleep that it has been said "sleep
is the daytime of the soul."
Fixation of attention is a prerequisite to the
sleep method. The first step of the formula
depends upon the thing desired to be accom-
 THE SOURCE OF WISDOM 195

plished. If the student desires a general

broadening and deepening of his store of wis-
dom and knowledge, he should go to sleep
holding a quiet but fixed and single determin-
ation to awake with a recollection of some of
his sub-conscious experiences. In other
words, he must come to fixation of attention
upon that desire, and hold it single until the
last lingering spark of objective consciousness
is gone. This will not be very difficult to one
who can come to fixation of attention during
wakefulness.
Upon awakening there should be an earnest
effort to remember. If any fragments of
memory come, they should be carefully noted,
but with caution that no breaks are filled in

by the imagination. A repetition of this for-

mula each night and morning for a few weeks
will bring some astonishing results.

The sub-conscious mind is universal in its

scope,and is always conscious of everything
everywhere in its realm. The objective mind
is not conscious of any separate functioning in
the two sides of the frontal brain. Nor is the
sub-conscious mind conscious of any separate
functioning in different geographical localities;
196 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

because it is the one and indivisible mind of

the universe, just as the objective mind is the
one and indivisible mind of the upper and
frontal portions of the brain. This is the se-
cret of true clairvoyance. When the clair-
voyant is in a state of trance, he is functioning
in the sub-conscious mind, and is thereby en-
abled to describe people and transpiring events
at great distances. Of course, his sub-con-
scious mentation is not perfect; otherwise, he
would entirely lose objective consciousness,
and would be unable to speak. Therefore, his
descriptions of his sub-conscious observations
are not always perfectly accurate.
This universality of sub-consciousness fur-
nishes the experimenter with memories of un-
familiar places and strange people, and as he
mentally roves the universe he grows in wis-
dom and knowledge. Each conscious passage
across the twilight zone of subjective con-
sciousness serves to blaze the trail, and ulti-

mately he acquires the ability to function in

either realm of consciousness at will. This is
called "Cosmic Consciousness," and it is one
of the most priceless treasures possible of pos-
session by the individual. Perfect cosmic con-
 THE SOURCE OF WISDOM 197

sciousness apparently never has been attained

by any earth-dweller —with the possible excep-
tion of Jesus. Such perfection would put the
individual into conscious possession of all the
wisdom and power in the universe. This
would enable him to think worlds and solar
systems into existence, and otherwise to exer-
cise the prerogatives and perform the func-
tions of the universal mind. In other words,
he would measure up to the highest conception
of a personal God.
It is not the province of Practical Psychol-
ogy either to assert or deny that there is a per-
sonal God, nor to enter into any discussion of
the problem of personal continuity after death.
Its province in this realm is to bring the in-
dividual to the very source of all wisdom and
knowledge, thus enabling him to get the truth
first-hand. It may be suggested, however,
that the sub-conscious mind always fulfills

every widespread and persistent desire.

At one stage of evolution the duck's foot
was not webbed; but several thousand years
back he decided to live in the water, whereupon
he began to desire, and eventually evolved, a
foot adapted to swimming. The crane got his
198 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

long legs because he wished to wade. The

beaver developed his broad trowel-like tail be-
cause he wished to erect a dam. Man got his
hand because he wished to become a builder,
and his frontal brain development because he
wished to become a thinker. These instances
might be multiplied into thousands. In fact,

the distinguishing characteristics of all living

things have come as the result of a desire for
those characteristics. Whenever the desire has
become insistent enough to reach the sub-con-
scious mind, it has been fulfilled.

Therefore, if personal immortality had not

been a part of the original plan, it probably
would have been evolved long ago by the uni-
versal desire for it and expectation of it. If
the spiritual body had not always been a part
of the human being, it probably would have
been created in response to the insistent de-
mand for it, just as the webbing of the duck's
foot was created.
This discussion of personal immortality is

very vitally interesting; but it is entirely with-

out the scope of practical psychology. Some
things that have been said might be construed
by certain people as antagonistic to the idea of
 THE SOURCE OF WISDOM 199

personal immortality, and these few remarks

are thrown in merely to assure such people that
no such antagonism is intended.
If one desires wisdom or knowledge of a
certain specific thing, and prefers the sleep
method of getting it, he should practice going
to sleep with his mind singly fixed upon that
desire, with a sense of assurance that the sub-
conscious mind will fulfill it.

It is advisable, in practicing the sleep meth-

od, to keep a penciland paper by the bed-side,
or even under the pillow. Sometimes the flash
of thought from the sub-conscious mind will
come with such force as to awaken the object-
ive mind, and in such case it should be re-
corded before going to sleep again ; otherwise,
it may be partially or even altogether forgot-
ten before morning. Some students even for-
get doing the writing, and are amazed when
they awake in the morning and find it.

In the quest of knowledge, as in other psy-

chological activities, the student should be
careful not to despise the means. When he has
once registered his desire for knowledge upon
the sub-conscious mind, every minute holds the
possibility of its fulfillment. The desired
200 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

knowledge may come through impressions di-

rectly from the sub-conscious mind, or it may
come in any one of a thousand casual ways.
It may come from a book, a magazine article,

a newspaper, an advertisement, or a casual

conversation. Solomon, the wise man of the
Bible, said: "Despise not the day of small
things." This maxim is just as applicable to
learning as it is to work. Once the student has
set his feet upon the way of life and happiness,
he no longer accounts anything small or insig-
nificant. All things become of large import,
and each minute brings a new opportunity.
Whatever method the student may elect to
follow in his efforts to obtain wisdom and
knowledge, he should not permit the details of
the formula to obscure his realization that he
is striking at the very source of all wisdom and
all power, and that his earnest and persistent
efforts will most surely be rewarded.
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 XII

ACCUSATION AND COMMENDA-

TION
It has already been said that the sub-con-
scious mind is like a mirror, reflecting back
into the individual's objective environment his
settled convictions. Our harsh judgments of
others recoil upon ourselves. Therefore, the
master psychologist said, "Judge not, that ye
be not judged."
The psychological law of accusation and
commendation is based upon this same prin-
ciple. Simply stated, it means that people and
things become to the individual just what he
conceives them to be. The individual human
being does not always actually become the
thing he is accused of being, because his own
objective sense of what is right sometimes in-
terposes effective resistance. But if the ac-
cused and the accuser are intimately associated,
and if the accusation is persistent, the tendency
to become "guilty" is very strong.
This phase of the law is often demonstrated
205
206 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

in the marriage relation. For instance, the

wife falsely accuses the husband of infidelity
to his marriage vow, and almost constantly re-
peats the accusation. The thought behind this
accusation is that her husband is bestowing his
affection and caresses upon another woman.
He may protest his innocence for a long time,
and if he is of strong character he may indef-
initely resist this constant suggestion, coming
direct from the wife's objective mind, and in-
directly, by reflection, from the sub-conscious
mind. But in the great majority of cases he
will eventually "fall." In the small minority
of cases the constant accusation will result in
estrangement, terminating in divorce and the
remarriage of the husband. So it is that in
any event the law of mind prevails, and the
husband bestows his love and caresses upon
another woman.
There is a psychological maxim that is ap-
plicable here. It is this : "The confident ex-
pectation is always realized." The word "ex-
pectation" should not be confused with "wish"
or "hope" or even "fear." One may wish for
a thing, or hope for it, or fear it, for an in-
definite length of time without getting it; but
 ACCUSATION AND COMMENDATION 207

if the hope, or wish, or fear grows to be an ex-

pectation, the thing will ultimately come into
objective being. We often hear people ex-
claim, when some untoward thing befalls them,
"Just as I expected."
This law of expectation has been demon-
strated many times, even to the very extrem-
ity of death itself. There have been many in-

stances of "premonition of death" in which

the premonition came true, almost to the min-
ute. An individual sometimes comes to a set-
tled conviction that he will die at a certain
time. There is no apparent reason why his
demise should occur at that particular time, but
by some queer mental turn he confidently ex-
pects that it So he makes all his prepa-
will.

rations for death. At the appointed hour he

bids his friends and loved ones good-bye, and
then lies down and dies.
The supposed premonition in such a case
amounts to nothing. It might be rejected, and
the individual continue to live for years. But
when it is accepted, and believed to the point
of confident expectancy, a suggestion is passed
to the sub-conscious mind, whereupon it trans-
forms the expectation into a reality.
208 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

It is reported that the effect of confident ex-

pectation of death has been elaborately demon-
strated by certain European psychologists and
physicians. One instance will suffice to illus-

trate the point. A condemned criminal was

visited by the psychologists and physicians, in
company with the warden, and was told that
volunteers were being sought among con-
demned men for experiments with a painless
death by bleeding. The condemned man vol-
unteered, and was told that his execution
would take place at a certain fixed time.
On the appointed day the man was taken to
the operating room of the hospital, and, after
having the different necessary steps explained
to him, was blind- folded and placed upon the
table. One physician stepped forward with a
sharp piece of ice, and drew it across the vic-
tim's arm for the alleged purpose of severing
an artery. Another one opened a hose and
turned a small stream of blood-warm water on
the supposed cut, so that it would flow around
the arm and pour audibly into a vessel on the
floor.

Then the experimenters began feeling the

man's pulse, listening to his heart-beats with a
 ACCUSATION AND COMMENDATION 209

stethoscope, and so forth, all the while audibly

commenting upon the rapidity with which he
was bleeding, the weakness of his breathing,
and the decline of his pulse. Finally one of the
physicians said, "He is dead." The man's
pulse immediately subsided, his breathing
ceased, and he lay limp in death.
Certain hard-headed doctors said the man
was "scared to death." But, whatever name
may be applied to the process, the student will
readily perceive that he died as the result of a
suggestion to the sub-conscious mind, passed
under the most ideal conditions for fixation of
attention.
The author cannot vouch for the truth of
this and similar reports that have been current
in psychological circles for several years. The
very nature of such a case would make it dif-
ficult to get details; for even scaring a con-
demned murderer to death, would be man-
slaughter, at least, in the eyes of the law, to
say nothing of prison scandals and investiga-
tions. But there can be no doubt that such a
proceeding, if properly arranged and carried
out, would actually result in death.

14
 210 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

If the accusation of a person is not voiced,

but merely mental, it is still potent, but its only
means of reaching his objective mind is by re-

flection from the sub-conscious, and in most

cases its effects will be slower in manifesting.
Nevertheless, men and women usually are
quick to sense suspicion and lack of confidence
• on the part of their associates, and the ob-
jective mind soon verifies the sub-conscious
impression. In short, it is almost impossible
to suspicion evil of an associate and keep him
in ignorance of it.

Probably the thing most sinned against by

accusation is food of different kinds, and this
accusation is responsible for nearly all the
chronic indigestion in the world.
We often hear people say, "Oh, I dare not
eat that !" or "I like that, but it does not agree
with me." Of course, the article of food so
accused disagrees with its accuser. For one
reason or another, the accusation has become
a settled conviction, and has passed over to the
sub-conscious mind, which has accepted it as a
fact and arranged the processes of digestion
and assimilation accordingly. And when the
accused food comes into the alimentary canal,
 . ACCUSATION AND COMMENDATION 211

there is immediate trouble. Millions of people

are actually starving in the midst of plenty, be-
cause they have placed the ban of accusation
upon one aritcle of diet after another until the
remainder of the available menu is insufficient
properly to sustain the processes of life.

Many other people accuse drafts of air of

making them ill, and go through life "stuffed
with cold," with sore joints, cricks in their
necks, and similar ailments. In fact, it would
be impossible to compile anything like a com-
plete list of all the things that are accused by
different people, because the list would have to
include nearly every thing and condition in the
world. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred
these accusations are the rankest kind of bunk.
The objective results are real enough, but if

the accusations should cease, the results would

disappear.
Obviously, the wise thing to do is to leave
off accusation and cultivate commendation. If
one suspicions that another who owes him a
duty is false or delinquent, the suspicion
should be killed at its birth, and all the avail-
able evidence of loyalty and fidelity should be
gathered into a mental and verbal commenda-
212 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

tion and expression of confidence. This is

the best possible method of keeping husbands
and wives faithful and loving.
Every human being possesses many good
qualities, and one who cares for him may
easily and quickly redeem him from his bad
qualities by discovering his good qualities and
commending him for them. Many good hus-
bands and wives are lost by failure of the other
spouse at just this point. The normal human
being likes commendation as a cat likes strok-
ing on its back, and responds to it just as
warmly and generously. On the other hand,
nothing will make an individual so miserable,
or so effectively destroy his efficiency and use-
fulness, as the feeling that he is not appreci-
ated, or that he is wrongfully suspicioned or
accused.
The husband or wife who fails to recognize
these fundamental truths of human psychol-
ogy, is inviting a disaster that never slights an
invitation. The aggrieved or suspicious
spouse is inclined to stiffen his mental neck in
pride, and ignore these truths. The wife, for
instance, is inclined to say: "I can see my
husband's faults as well as I can see other peo-
 ACCUSATION AND COMMENDATION 213

pie's faults, and if telling him of them will de-

stroy his love, then he does not love me to be-
gin with. And
must constantly be patting
if I

him on the back, and telling him what a good

and noble husband he is, in order to retain his
love, then it is not worth having."
All this argument may sound well to the
wife; but there are millions of other women in
the world, and sooner or later some one of
them will discover the good qualities in that
accused and miserable husband, and commend
him for them. This commendation may be de-
signing, or it may be perfectly innocent and
spontaneous; it may come from; a woman
either more or worthy than his wife; but
less

the effect is the —

same it is a shaft directed at
a vulnerable spot, and unless the husband is of
unusually strong character, he will succumb to
it. If he does succumb, then the sequence de-
pends upon the strength of character of the
other woman. If she is strong enough to avert
the disaster, it is merely deferred until the
coming of another woman who is not so
strong.
All that is said about the wife in this hypo-
thetical case is equally true of the husband.
 —

214 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Women dislike accusation as much as do men,

and they are just as susceptible to the influence
of commendation.
One who suffers from indigestion should
first pass the healing suggestion according to
the formula given in the chapter on Health
And Healing. Then he should train his object-
ive mind to know that all wholesome foods are
beneficent, and resolve to eat in moderation
whatever his appetite demands.
One who takes cold in a draft should come
to an objective realization that plenty of fresh
air is good form in
for him, whatever the
which it may come. Then he should open his
doors and windows, and revel in the abund-
ance of fresh, life-giving air that flows in
making sure that his lungs get their full share.
These formulae are simple and easily fol-
lowed, but they are all-sufficient. All forms of
accusation of things and conditions may thus
be eliminated. They are all bad, and always
entail suffering by the accuser. One who is the
victim of this deplorable habit should constant-
ly endeavor to face about in his mental atti-

and meditate upon the good-

tude, so as to see
ness and wholesomeness in everything. Of all
 ACCUSATION AND COMMENDATION 2i5

the gloomy failures in the world, the cynical

fault-finder is the gloomiest —and the most
miserable.
The seeking out of the good in things and
people will create a mental condition that
will soon impress the sub-conscious mind, and
the things that were theretofore only relatively
good become absolutely so, because its power
to evolve good is unlimited. "To the pure, all
things are pure." This was Paul's conception
of the psychological truth here under consid-
eration. He might also have said that to the
good, all things are good, for such is the law
of the sub-conscious mind.
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 XIII

THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

While the human body appears to the senses
of sight and touch to be one single living thing,
it is in fact made up of hundreds of millions of
little living animals called cells. This is, of
course, an elementary and well known fact of
human anatomy, but it is stated here in order
to bring it pointedly to the student's attention.
The living cells of the body are so very
much alive that they continue to live long after
the bodily functions cease in death. For in-
stance, a piece of artery, or a piece of bone,
may be taken from the body of one who has
recently died,and grafted into the body of a
living person, where it will continue to live
and function as it did in the body from which
it was taken. In fact, many kinds of bodily
parts and tissues may be transplanted in this
way, but our only interest here is the fact that
the cells are alive with a life separate and dis-
tinct from what we call the life of the body.
When a body cell attains its full growth and
221
222 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

maturity, it reproduces its kind in the way pe-

culiar to all cells : it elongates itself, gradually

constricts its middle, and finally breaks apart,
thus forming two young cells. For illustra-

tion: If the cell is round, it first takes the

form of a capsule, then of the figure "8," and

finally breaks into two young round cells.
These young cells then come to maturity, and
go through the same process.
This system of cell reproduction is geomet-
rical progression, and if all cells should con-
tinue this round of growth and reproduction
every few days, the human body would soon
grow to prodigious size. But these same cells
are the very fuel of life, and millions of them
are consumed every day in the various bodily
processes. One of the minor chores done by
the sub-conscious mind consists of allotting the

proper amount of food to the cells to cause

them to mature and reproduce in just the right

number, and to burn just enough of them to
keep the bodily temperature at 98.4 degrees,
regardless of whether the outside temperature
is100 degrees above zero or 30 degrees below.
Poisons of different kinds sometimes get into
the blood, and it becomes necessary to raise the
 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 223

temperature in order to burn them out. This

increased temperature we call fever. In case
of death from old age, the fuel gives out, the
temperature goes down, and the life processes
diminish and fail. Cases of death from this
sheer senility are rare, because some fatal dis-

ease usually intervenes before complete ex-

haustion of the cell energy; but occasional
cases do actually occur.
All the cells composing the soft tissues of
the body are rejuvenated in the course of a
few months. Anatomists and biologists are
not agreed among themselves as to just the
length of time required to renew all the bony
cells, but seven years is the maximum estimate.
Therefore, each human being gets entirely new
flesh every few months, and entirely new
bones every few years. Why, then, does the
body grow old ?
The body of the new born child is largely a
liquid body. Even its bones are so elastic that

they may easily be bent without causing it any

inconvenience. But as soon as the infant body
commences its independent existence it begins
to fill in its bones with mineral matter — in

fact, with limestone. This process of mineral-

224 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

ization is comparatively rapid until the body

reaches maturity, when it slows down, and,
thus slackened, continues until death.
This process of mineral accumulation dur-
ing adult life is not confined to the bony
structure, but extends to the entire body, being
particularly marked in the walls of the arteries.
It is the immediate cause of old age. The doc-
tors say a man is no older than his arteries.
The mystics say that "when the soul comes
into a physical body, it begins striving to sink
as deep as possible into heavy mineral matter,
and continues this striving until its body be-
comes so laden with minerals that it can no
longer function."
The tendency to mature, to reproduce, and
then to die, is manifest in every realm of life.

In many kinds of plants the very nature of the

individual is such that it is irrevocably bound
by this sequence. The stalk of wheat fur-
nishes one instance of this kind. The stalk de-
velops the miniature pattern contained in the
grain, and when this pattern is developed there
isno point from which further life and growth
can spring, except from the new grains of
wheat. Other annual plants seem capable of
 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 225

very prolonged growth, but frost cuts them

off.

Ascending the scale of vegetable life to the

tree, we find in it a possibility of immortality.
If the individual tree upon its original
is left

stem, or trunk, the growing crown is ultimately

starved to death because of inability to draw
food through the long reach of hardened and
mineral-laden wood. But the branches are
stillyoung and virile, and if newly rooted, or
grafted upon a young trunk, will themselves
grow to be vigorous young trees. If it were
possible occasionally to remove the hardened
trunk, and re-root the entire crown, the tree
would never die of old age. One of the He-
brew prophets foretold a time when the age of
a man shall be the age of a tree.

In the animal and human kingdoms we come

again to the apparently inexorable law of old
age and death. This law of sequential matur-
ity, reproduction and death, harsh as it may
seem in the statement of it, is in fact a benign
law, through the operation of which the vari-
ous forms of life are constantly being refined
and brought to perfection. The mating of
positive and negative entities tends ever to re-

15
226 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

fineand evolve the offspring, and the appar-

ently harshlaw here under consideration re-
moves the older and coarser entities to make
room for the new and finer ones. Were it not
for its operation, the earth would still be en-
jungled with the crude and grotesque vegeta-
tion of the Carboniferous Age, and would be
teeming with dinosaurs, mastodons, ape-men,
and other monsters of pre-historic times.
Here, as elsewhere, we wondrous
discern the
wisdom of the sub-conscious mind, which has
directed these things from the beginning until
now.
The law of evolution through mating, re-
production and death, has dealt with the vari-
ous living entities as though they were puppets
and automatons — and such they have been,
and are still. But through all these eons of
time the sub-conscious mind has aimed at the
ultimate evolution of a living entity who would
not be a puppet. It has purposed finally to
produce an individual who could come to intel-
ligent knowledge of itself, and thereby assume
charge of his own destiny and work out his
own perfection. Man is the product of that
purpose. At the end of all these countless
 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 227

thousands of years he stands forth —not yet

perfect, but far outstripping every other form
of individual life, and now closely approaching
the goal.
The human race, considered as a whole, is

still far short of perfection, but the heart of

Humanity is a-quiver with expectancy of the
dawn of a new day in which such strides shall
be made as were never made before. In fact,
the gladsome day has already dawned, and
men and women everywhere are coming to
knowledge of the overcoming truth that the
reins of their destiny are in their own hands.
Already the forces and fastnesses of the earth
have been conquered. The sea has been con-
quered. The air has been conquered. The
strongholds of ignorance, poverty and disease
are tottering. "And the last enemy that shall
be overcome is death."
This New Testament quotation seems to
contain a suggestion that immortality of the
flesh is a possibility which may ultimately be-
come a The one thing above all others
reality.

which now stands squarely in the way of this

reality is lack of immortal desire for immortal
flesh. Social and economic conditions may
228 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

eventually become such that the individual will

wish to tarry here indefinitely, but that time
is not yet. Many great psychologists have set
out to attain physical immortality, and some
of them have remained young long after the
age at which most people are old; but in each
case the desire for the attainment finally
failed, and the individual voluntarily relin-
quished his efforts.
The individual who comes to such a state of
sub-conscious mentation that physical immor-
tality might become possible to him comes also
to a realization that the event of death means
an opportunity for greater liberty and happi-
ness. Then one by one his friends and loved
ones pass on, and although the younger people
with whom he is him all due
associated render
respect and homage, they are inclined to re-
gard him, with awe and reverence, rather than
as a comrade; the net result of all of which is
that he longs for companionship not possible
to him and his desire
in the physical realm,
turns toward the portal beyond which are his
treasures.
It is evident, therefore, that the question of
the immortality of the flesh is a debatable one.
 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 229

But one thing is certain beyond debatability

and to the exclusion of every doubt the indi- :

vidual human being who masters the work set

before him in this volume will thereby become
able to prolong his youth and retain his facul-
ties far beyond the usual span of life.
Since the sub-conscious mind is the builder
and renewer of the body, and since it makes an
objective reality of any suggestion passed to
it by the objective mind, it is obvious that an

occasional suggestion of ever-recurrent youth

will absolutely stay the approach of senile age.
This is a simple statement of a simple fact
about which there can be no doubt and no ar-
gument, —
except by such people as doubt or
deny that the sub-conscious mind may thus be
influenced.
In dealing with the problem of youth and
age, as in dealing with all other human prob-
lems, practical psychology is painstakingly
practical and intensely human. However high
may be the conception of the principle in-
volved, or however fine the force with which
the principle is to be wrought out, the objective
results are practical, and must come into be-
ing through the application of practical means.
230 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

If the proper suggestion is passed to the sub-

conscious mind, it will ultimately attend to all

the practical details, but the result may be has-

tened, and the final cost reduced, through in-

telligent co-operation of the objective mind.

This is forcefully true of the indivdiual who
has already begun to grow old; and, in the
very nature of things, this chapter will make
its strongest appeal to students of that class.
Those who are young and strong are much
more interested in other things than in the
problem; of old age. To them, old age seems
afar off, and they turn their attention to the
immediate and pressing problems of love, hap-
piness and success. It is only after senility
comes, unbidden and all too soon, that they
awake to a realization of what it means.
The young need no teaching concerning the
subject-matter of this chapter other than to be
made to understand the importance of main-
taining a consciousness of ever-renewed youth,
and of occasionally passing this consciousness
to the sub-conscious mind in the form of a
suggestion; and this phase of the subject has
already been treated. Therefore, the remain-
der of the chapter will be devoted to a practical
 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 231

discussion of the ways and means by which the

aged or middle-aged person may cast off his
accumulated age and come again into the
strength and virility of youth.
It has already been said that the immedi-
ate cause of senile old age is the accumulation
of limestone in the body. But if the individ-
ual is intelligently to co-operate in his rejuve-
nation, it is necessary that he should under-
stand more about this matter than he can get
from a mere statement of it. The stony de-
posit is most evident and most damaging in the
walls of the arteries. This statement also
means more than the average student will get
from a first consideration of it, because one
usually thinks of his arteries as being merely
the large blood-tubes leading to different parts
of his body. The real truth of the matter is

that the large artery leading from the heart

branches and sub-branches many millions of
times, and fills the body so full of these small
branches that there is no place at which even
the finest needle may be inserted without punc-
turing one of them. This complicated arterial
system is the exclusive means of supplying
food to every cell in the body, whether the
232 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

cell The stomach

be of soft tissue or of bone.
and food
intestines digest the and pour it into
the blood-stream which flows through the ar-
teries to the hungry cells. Even the walls of
the larger arteries themselves are filled with
the minute arterial branches, and the cells com-
posing them are fed in the same way.
The blood flows rapidly through the large
arteries, but slows down in the small branches,
or capillaries, and the liquid food carried by
it oozes through the walls to the cells. The
accumulation of limestone in the arterial walls
in old age extends to all the small branches.
The result
is, that the food carried by the
blood cannot ooze through the obstructed ar-
terial walls to the cells in sufficient quantities

for their proper nourishment, and the ensuing

famine stunts them and retards their reproduc-
tion. The muscles lose tone and become
flabby the skin loses its snappy resilience and
;

becomes ashen and baggy the functions of the

;

glands slow down and their secretions are di-

minished; the senses of perception are dulled
and benumbed; and all the life forces wane.
This is senile old age. There are sporadic
cases of old age in which there is little lime-
 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 233

stone in the arteries, their walls being merely

thickened and toughened. The doctors call

this "fibroid schlerosis." But these compara-

tively rare cases also respond to the treatment
here suggested, so that they require no sepa-
rate consideration.
The two most prolific sources of limestone
in the body are over-eating and under-drink-
ing. Through excessive eating the entire body
becomes gorged with useless food, the cells
thus becoming literally immersed in digested
and partially digested food which they cannot
absorb. Lack of sufficient water causes this
liquid food to become gummy. Then disin-
tegration of the surplus food sets in, whereby
various toxic poisons are released to play
havoc with the delicate tissues of the body.
Liquid lime is always present in the blood-
stream, and when an organic substance de-
composes in the presence of liquid lime, it so-

lidifies and fills in the interstices caused by the

decomposition. Many of the fossil remains of
pre-historic plants and animals are merely
limestone casts thus filled in as the original
entity decayed.
234 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

One who has developed symptoms of old

age should first come to a full realization of
the power of the sub-conscious mind to rem-
edy the condition and restore his youth. He
should next come to fixation of attention upon
this power, muster the necessary desire and
will,and pass the suggestion that thenceforth
—
he will grow younger all with full assurance
that the suggestion will be faithfully carried
out.
Then he should strike a co-operative blow
at the very root of the trouble by eliminating
all food and going upon a prolonged water-
drinking spree. He should use distilled water,
or rain water, if practicable, and better results

will be obtained if a little lime-juice or lemon-

juice is added. Whatever kind of water is

used, and regardless of whether or not the cit-

rus juice is added, he should drink like a
thirsty ox, morning, noon and night. The fast

should continue for several days, and until he

becomes shaky with weakness. The drinking
of large quantities of water should become a
habit and be continued indefinitely. This
fasting and general body flushing will give the

cells a chance to absorb all the surplus food

 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 235

around them, and will cause the limestone in

the arteries to begin to crumble.

The fast should be broken with grape-juice
— fresh from the grapes, if obtainable. If the
fresh grapes are not obtainable, then bottled
grape-juice should be used. If the grape-juice
is not obtainable in any form, almost any other
fresh fruit-juice may be substituted; but
grapes contain an acid which has a powerful
solvent effect upon precipitated lime, and this
acid is taken into the blood more freely than
any other.
The fruit-juice diet should continue for sev-
eral days to the exclusion of everything else
except water. The total period of combined
fasting and juice-diet should extend over at
least a week, the two processes each covering
about the same length of time. Ten days
would be better. Fresh buttermilk should be
the first addition to the fruit-juice diet; be-
cause it is a substantial article of food, and the
lactic acid in it holds the naturally heavy lime
content of milk in solution. It also acts as a
solvent of the solid lime in the arteries. At
the time the buttermilk is added to the diet,

there may also gradually be added ripe fruits,

236 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

nuts, cereals with cream and sugar, beans,

peas, potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots, let-
tuce, celery, onions, and all sorts of leafy vege-
tables. Fats should be used sparingly for sev-
eral months, but olive oil, butter and cream
may be used in moderation, and fat bacon or
pork may be cooked with the vegetables. In
fact, a dish of turnip-greens, cabbage, beet-
tops, or collards, cooked with a generous slice

of bacon, and served with corn-bread and but-

termilk, makes a pleasant and wholesome meal
for any normal person, and is peculiarly suited
to one who is trying to unload the lime from
his body. Tea or coffee may be used in moder-
ation; but cocoa should be avoided, because it

is rich in rock-forming material. All kinds of

bread may be used, but yeast-raised bread is

preferable, because the slight fermentation

tends to hold its lime content in solution. The
leafy vegetables are peculiarly beneficial, be-
cause they are not only low in lime content, but
contain many rare mineral salts that assist in
the processes of digestion and elimination.
At the same time the student begins his diet-
ing and water-drinking, he should also begin
a vigorous system of physical exercises de-
 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 237

signed to limber up his body and cause a full

and free circulation of the blood. Regardless

of his age, he should never be satisfied with
his limbering up exercises until he can stand
stiff-kneed and and pat the floor
flat-footed
with the palms of his hands, and then, still
standing in the same position lean to right and
left and touch the floor on each side with the
tips of his fingers. Furthermore, he should
practice high kicking until he can stand flat on
first one foot and then the other, and kick at

least as high as his head.

He should also practice deep breathing by
inhaling all the air his lungs will hold, retain-
ing it for five seconds, and then slowly exhal-
ing. At least twenty of these breaths should
be taken at each exercise, and the exercise
should be repeated three or four times every
day. The extra supply of oxygen thus taken
into the blood literally burns out many of its

impurities, and fans the fire of life in every

cell. The habit of general deep breathing
should also be cultivated, and when he walks
in the open air, he should go with head up,
shoulders back, chest out, abdomen drawn in,
238 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

and with a full consciousness of his victorious

power over his infirmity.
The invading enemy is thus attacked from
every point. It is ordered out, starved out,
washed out, burnt out, drowned out, and lit-

erally kicked out. It is a strenuous warfare,

but the invading enemy is none other than
Death, and he comes uniformed and accou-
tered with the cerements of the tomb. To be,

or not to be ; that is the question : to surrender,

or to fight!
It is realized that many people are so situ-
ated that they cannot carry out the complete
fast as prescribed, and that many others will
be unable to remain so long upon an exclusive
diet of fruit-juice; but the underlying reasons
for each step have been given, and he who
cannot comply with the formula may modify
it in such way as to make it conform to his
situation —seeing to it, of course, that the fun-
damental principles are not violated.
It should be steadfastly remembered that the
detailed methods here prescribed are merely
means of co-operation. When once the wis-
dom and power of the sub-conscious mind are
invoked, it will find the ways and means; but
 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 239

intelligent co-operation by the objective mind

will materially hasten the final result, and may
save much intermediate suffering and incon-
venience. Furthermore, there is joy in the
very doing of these co-operative things, and
they help to sustain the mental attitude that
lays hold of the sub-conscious mind.
The simple psychological truth presented in
this chapter means that the individual may
tarry here as long as he so desires, and finally
go forth voluntarily and gladly, instead of
coming down to a feeble and whimpering old
age and being forced out by an unwelcome and
untimely death. Nor will his tarrying be in
senility and weakness, but in youth and vigor,
and when he is gone it may be said of him, as
was said of Moses after he had voluntarily
withdrawn from his body at the age of a hun-
dred and twenty years, "His eye was not dim,
nor his natural force abated."
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 XIV

ALL IN ONE AND ONE IN ALL

In each chapter there has been some kind of
a presentation of the great central thought that
all-wise and all-powerful mind is everywhere,
and that all the separate manifestations of in-
telligence are but different phases of the all-
inclusive one. Nevertheless, many students
will come to the beginning of this chapter
without fully comprehending this fundamental
truth. Therefore, another effort will be made,
in the light of all that has gone before, so to
present it as to end all doubt and make it ob-
vious.
First, we will choose an example from the
vegetable kingdom. The example will be a
thistle, a plant found in nearly every part of
the world.
Like every other annual plant, the thistle

—
was once a seed an insensate bit of physical
matter, and most assuredly without any very
high degree of intelligence. The seed fell upon
moist ground and began to grow. It put out
245
246 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

tiny rootlets in search of food, and pushed up

two small leaves. It could get from the earth

small quantities of nitrogen, potash and phos-

phoric acid, all of which were useful to it; but
the principal food it wanted and must needs
have was starch, and there was no starch in
the ground. Now, starch, in its last analysis,
is composed of carbon and water, and these
ingredients were present in the soil; but the
carbon to be found in the soil is too coarse and
crude for plant food. Consequently, it had to
seek this necessary element in another direc-
tion. It found available carbon in the atmos-
phere, occuring in theform of a trace of car-
bon dioxide gas, given off by animal breath-
ing, fermentation, decay and combustion.
And so it set traps for the carbon gas. These
traps are little green cells having a powerful
attraction for carbon gas, and it put them in
its leaves.
The carbon gas thus trapped mixed with
is

the water in the leaves to form carbonated wa-

ter, such as is used at soda-fountains. Then
it so colors the upper surface of its leaves as
to let through just the right rays of the sun-
light to shake this carbonated water up and re-
 ALL IN ONE AND ONE IN ALL 247

combine the carbon and water in such a way as

to make formaldehyde. Again it changes the
color of its leaves so as to let through the rays
of sunlight that will break up the formalde-
hyde and change it into glucose, which latter is
the sweet element in Karo syrup. In this same
way it proceeds, step by step, to change the
glucose into sugar, and the sugar into starch,
thus finally producing the food that it needs.
What would happen to the sugar market if
some human chemist should duplicate this trick
of changing carbon gas and water into sugar?
But no human chemist is able to do it. And
yet, it is one of the first comparatively simple
things done by the young thistle —and by all

other plants and trees.

Having thus solved the problem of getting
food, the young plant next begins transform-
ing its food into cells, and of these cells it

builds its roots, and stems, and leaves. And

since its succulent leaves are tempting morsels
to grazing animals, it covers them with prickly
spines as a means of self-protection.

Reproduction of its kind being one of the

principal objects of the thistle, it must devote
a wonderful lot of wisdom to that phase of its
248 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

work. To that end, produces a number of

it

female cells and places them at the lower end

of certain of its flowers. It also produces
flowers containing a vastly greater number of
male cells in the form of powdery pollen. And
in order to make certain a full blending of male
and female cells, it manufactures a small
amount of honey and places it deep down
among the flowers, thereby attracting bees and
other insects. The hairy legs of these insects
gather the male cells and carry them to the
female cells. And the blending of a male and
a female cell results in the production of a
seed capable of producing another thistle.

And since would not be to the best inter-

it

est of future thistles to have a large number

of seeds dropped in a single cluster, the plant
rounds out and finishes its work by producing
a considerable quantity of down, a small para-
chute of which it attaches to each seed, so that
the wind may scatter them afar.
We thus see manifested in a simple plant a
wisdom so profound that the greatest biolog-
ical chemist cannot even remotely comprehend
it. Did the little seed know how to do all these
things? An affirmative answer to this ques-
 ALL IN ONE AND ONE IN ALL 249

tion would carry the mark of its folly upon its

face.

Suppose we should gather three seeds from

a single thistle, and carry them to widely sep-
arated places, planting one upon a plain of
western North America, another on a heath-
ered slope of Scotland, and the third in a vale
of the Malay Peninsula. Each of the three
would, barring accidents, repeat the processes
of the parent plant. Whence comes the mar-
velous creative wisdom involved?
The thistle seeds are merely bits of physical
matter set in tune with one phase of the all-

wise, all-powerful and all-pervading intelli-

gence which stands behind all manifestations

of life and intelligence, and since that intelli-
gence is everywhere, it acts upon all the seeds
in exactly the same way, regardless of the dis-
tances that may separate them. The same
thing is true of all kinds of seeds.
Having thus considered a humble specimen
of the vegetable kingdom, and having traced
its marvelous wisdom to its source in the uni-
versal mind, let us go to the other extreme of
individual life, and consider a few of the far
250 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

more complex and elaborate processes involved

in the growth and maintenance of a man.
The human body, like the thistle, begins
with the blending together of a male and a
female cell. The new cell formed by this
blending together soon divides itself, thus
forming two cells ; then these two divide, form-
ing four; and so forth, in geometrical progres-
sion; so that within a very few days there are
millions of these cells enclosed in a delicate
membranous pouch. Then some of the cells
begin to change their character, and the rudi-
ments of a brain and nervous system appear.
At the end of four weeks the two blending
cells have thus evolved a fairly well developed
human being about three or four inches long.
The miniature human body, at this stage of
its development, has all the organs of sex of
both the male and female. But at the end of
about thirty days some of these organs cease
development, while the others go forward. It

is thus that sex is determined, monosexuality

being evolved out of bi-sexuality. Thencefor-
ward and from birth until matur-
until birth,
ity, further development is largely a matter of
growth. This is the process of evolution and
 ALL IN ONE AND ONE IN ALL 251

growth of the human body in all races and

countries of the earth.
In the adult human body we see manifested
a wisdom and power immeasurably greater
than are manifested in the thistle. Within it

there is carried on an elaborate system of

chemistry of such wonderful delicacy that it

cannot be approximated in any chemical

laboratory; in fact, the objective mind cannot
even comprehend it. We also find within it a
system of communication, conducted from the
brain over the two nervous systems, which is

equally incomprehensible to objective intelli-

gence. While we may observe the results of
these and a large number of other bodily pro-
cesses, we know almost nothing about the ways
and means employed in working them out. A
few of these processes were described in an
earlier chapter, and the present purpose is

merely to call attention to them. They are ex-

actly same in the Anglo-Saxon college
the
president and the Australian Bushman, which
fact makes it clear that they are not controlled
by objective intelligence, education, training,

nor any other faculty or power outside the sub-

conscious mind.
252 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

It thus becomes obvious that the human

body, like the thistle, is merely a bit of physi-
cal matter set in tune with an all-wise and all-

powerful mind which is everywhere. The cre-

ative wisdom and power of this universal mind

lays hold ofand occupies the lower and back
portions of the brain, and from that center
conducts the intricate processes necessary to
life. Some hypercritical doctor may object
that there are nerve centers outside of the
brain from which some of these sub-conscious
processes are conducted. But these outside
centers are merely sub-stations that soon go
out of commission when the cerebellum is in-

jured. In this connection, all scientific men

and women who chance to read this book
should realize that its statements of scientific
facts must necessarily be of the most general
nature. The details of each subject would fill
a volume or more, and this is merely one small
book devoted chiefly to an application of a
very few cardinal principles of psychology.
Having thus given some consideration to in-
dividual expressions of intelligent life at its

extremes, let us briefly consider an example

 ALL IN ONE AND ONE IN ALL 253

from the middle ground. Let us make an arbi-

trary choice of the mallard duck.
If we should go to the breeding-grounds
of mallard ducks, we might be able to take
three eggs from the nest of a certain pair. If
we should break one of these eggs and exam-
ine its content, we would find a little cell ad-
hering to the yolk. The cell would really be
a blending together of a male and a female cell.

Such a cell would be the beginning of a new

duck. The egg content outside of this cell is

merely building material.

Can it be said that the small cell thus placed
in the egg knows how to build a duck? Does
the entire egg possess any such marvelous wis-
dom and power? Each of these questions
must be answered in the negative. We all
know that a duck-egg possesses no intelligence.
Even a little child could tell us that "it has no
sense."
But suppose that instead of breaking one of
the eggs we should send the three of them in

different directions to the uttermost parts of

the earth, there to be incubated under fowls
of different kinds, or in machines. Whatever
method of incubation might be used, the result
254 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

would be the same. The one cell would rap-

idly multiply into many. The outlines of the
nervous system would appear, and would be
builded into a double-sexed duckling. Certain
of the sexual organs would atrophy, and cer-
tain others would develop, thus determin-
ing the ultimate sex. Then would come a
period of rounding out and development, and
at the end of twenty-eight days from the time
incubation was begun the young duck would
break the shell and scramble forth into real
duck life.

If we should chance to hatch three ducks of

the same sex, they would all be exactly alike,
and would act in precisely the same way.
Moreover, in the autumn they would fly south-
ward, and in the spring they would come back.
All this creative and directing wisdom ap-
parently comes out of an unintelligent, un-
thinking egg. But this seeming is only a
seeming. The cell in the duck-egg, like the
thistle-seed and the human reproductive cell,

is merely a bit of physical matter set in tune

with one phase of the all-wise and all-powerful
mind that is everywhere. The great universal
mind manifests many phases, and some one
 ALL IN ONE AND ONE IN ALL 255

of these phases evolves and sustains every

form of individual life.
Here we come to the profoundest truth that
was ever grasped by the human mind. It is
this : The particular phase of the universal
mind that evolves any particular form of intel-

ligent life may be impressed and modified in

its action by the group habits, desires and set-
tled convictions of that particular form of life.

For instance, Archeology has found that ducks

have not always had webbed feet. But when
they betook themselves to the water almost ex-
clusively, they evolved a desire for paddles,
and the duck-phase of the universal mind
changed its duck plans to include paddles. Be-
fore man became a builder his thumb was
merely a fifth finger, but when he began using
his making things he felt the need of
hands in
a powerful grasping hook to compensate the
grasping force of the other fingers; where-
upon the human-phase of the universal mind
changed its man plans to include thumbs as
we know them today. Scores of changes thus
wrought in the human body might be enumer-
ated from the known facts of evolution, but

this one simple instance is sufficient for the

256 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

purpose of illustration. In fact, such is the

simple fundamental law of evolution in all

realms of life.

Not only have desires and needs thus been

wrought out, but racial beliefs have in a simi-
larway become realities. Many of the evils
and infirmities that are accepted as the com-
mon lot are in fact the common lot only be-
cause they have been commonly accepted as
such.
The one mind of the universe not only re-
flects back into the objective life of the indi-
vidual his settled convictions concerning him-
self; but it reflects back into the objective life

of the race the group convictions of the race as

a whole. The task lying immediately at the
hand of the practical psychologist is to rise
above the race-convictions concerning sickness
and poverty and misery, and to cultivate an
individual conception and conviction of health,
success and happiness, which shall be reflected
back into his individual life as a reality.
A very ancient people thought of God as
manifesting both the male and female phases
of intelligence. They wrote His name Joh-
Vah, meaning Father-Mother. By a series of
 ALL IN ONE AND ONE IN ALL 257

changes and corruptions this name eventually

became Yeve, the name of the Jewish tribal
god which the modern translators changed to
Jehovah. Therefore, the name of the Deity
as it appears in our modern Old Testament is
very similar to the original hyphenated word
meaning both father and mother.
If we concede the correctness of this ancient
conception, we can readily account for the al-
most equal division of all living things into
male and female. Of we would expect
course,
the male and female phases of the universal
mind to be delicately balanced and compensa-
tory of each other. This delicate co-operative
balance would mean that the beginning of a
livingbody would manifest the work and aims
of both phases. This would account for the
early bi-sexuality. During the further prog-
ress of the work one phase or the other would
forge slightly ahead, or gain the ascendency.
This latter process, if it took place, would ac-
count for the fact that the female is mentally
different from the male, as well as physically
different. And if in a certain instance the as-
cendency of the one phase over the other was
not complete, we would expect just the linger-

17
258 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

ing influence of the outstripped phase that we

find in homo-sexuality, or inversion.That is
to say, if the male phase of universal mind
should gain just barely enough ascendency
over the female phase to determine the physi-
cal development, we would expect the evolu-
tion of a man whose half-subdued femininity
would predispose him to love affairs with an-
other man; and vice versa if the female phase
of intelligence gained only a slight ascendency.
There are a few sporadic instances in which
neither phase seems to have gained sufficient
ascendency over the other even to determine
the development of the physical organs, and in

such a case the individual remains all through

life what he was in the beginning —a bi-sex-
ual, or Hermaphrodite.
So it is that the science of Practical Psychol-
ogy gets back, through its fundamental con-
ception of the oneness of all and the allness
of one, to the beginnings of things, and brings
the student to his source in the common source
of all things else. Without disputing any
other conception of Deity, it frankly confesses
that this universal intelligence is the only God
it knows or can find; and it finds this God in
 ALL IN ONE AND ONE IN ALL 259

the fullness of wisdom and power abiding with-

in each human being, ready to spring into any
manifestation desired as soon as it is properly
moved upon by the objective or reasoning
phase of mind. It apprehends that this is the
God the finding of whose kingdom Jesus said
would solve all other problems and provide all
other needful things.
Incidentally, the miraculous power of Jesus
sprang from his clear conception of this same
oneness here under consideration. He con-
stantly strove to make the people understand
that his power did not spring from the object-
ive personality of Jesus the Nazarene carpen-
ter, but from "the Father" manifesting in that
personality. So often did he emphasize this
one of his Apostles once asked him as
fact that

a supreme grace to reveal the Father. He

turned to that Apostle, and asked: "Philip,
have I been so long a time with you, and yet
you have not known me? He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father; for I am in the
Father, and the Father in me. The Father
and I are one."
This is the very fullest and richest possible
expression of what Practical Psychology calls
260 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

"The Christ-Consciousness." And the same

super-man who gave voice to this realization
of oneness with God also said : "He that be-
lieveth in me, the same works that I do shall

he do also."
This conception of unity with the omnipo-
tent and omniscient universal mind is not dif-
ficult as a mere feat in mental gymnastics.
But it requires earnest thought and practical
effort to make it such an abiding and constant
realization as it was with Jesus.
Christ-Consciousness and Christ-Works!
This is the high ideal ever before the student
as a possibility. The road to its attainment is

straight and narrow —and open. It is a con-

stant indwelling realization that he is nothing
less than the God-Mind of the universe mani-
festing in the flesh.
The Father and I are One.
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
STUDENT'S NOTES
 XV
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHRISTIANITY
The English speaking people are Christian
people. They are not all affiliated with or-
ganized Christianity, nor do all of them ex-

emplify the and teachings of Jesus, but

life

they are all more or less imbued with the spirit

of that religion, and are guided, in the main,
by its precepts.
It is but natural, therefore, that the great
majority of the readers of this book should
ask: "What is the attitude of Practical Psy-
chology toward Christianity?" The author
has been confronted with this question thou-
sands of times in his lecture work, and so have
all the other workers in the field. It is the
purpose of the present chapter to answer that
question, as best it may be answered without
encroaching upon the field rightfully occupied
by Religion.
Practical Psychology occupies a very much
narrower field than does Christianity. It con-
fines itself exclusively to life and conditions

265
266 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

here and now, and aims at nothing else than to

bring its students into health, success and hap-
piness, by teaching them the truth which shall

make them free from sickness, failure and

misery. It does not pretend to know anything
about individual human destiny before birth
nor after death. Many of its individual stu-
dents feel that they know much about these
things, but as a science it has nothing to say
about them, deeming it best to leave such
problems to the churches.
Those at present responsible for the work of
Practical Psychology feel that it never can be,
and never should be, organized. If chemistry,
or botany, or the science of had been
electricity,

organized, then creeds and dogmas would have

sprung up, and the great men and women who
have blessed the race with new ideas and in-

novations would most likely have been ex-

communicated, anathematized, and discredited,
whereby their work would have been undone.
Organization into affiliated societies is well
enough in some fields, but it is bad for any
branch of science.
So far as this present life is concerned, Prac-
tical Psychology is decidedly Christian, in the
 PSYCHOLOGY AND CHRISTIANITY 2ti7

sense that nearly all of its fundamental hold-

ings are to be found in the recorded work and
teachings of Jesus. Its system of thought and
was not built upon his teachings, but rather
life

upon the settled findings of modern science.

Nevertheless, afterit was fully established and

in operation, was discovered that Jesus had

it

taught and done the same things in a strikingly

similar way. Enough of his teachings have al-
ready been quoted to make this point apparent
without further elaboration here.
Many good people have marveled that while
the mid-week meeting in their church was at-
tended by less than a score of people, some
practical psychologist, lecturing a few blocks
away, had his great hall packed to capacity.
Of course, there is a reason for this situation.
It does not merely chance to be so. What is

the reason?
Christianity, as we know it today, is very
and educational or-
largely a social, charitable
ganization, and a propounder of moral pre-
cepts. All of these activities are highly com-
mendable, and contribute largely to the wel-
fare of the race. In addition to them, there is

occasional reference to life after death, exhor-

268 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

and a promise of future happi-

tation to faith,
ness as a reward for righteousness here. But
no one seems to know much about the nature
of that future reward, and those who profess
to know something about it are anything else
than agreed as to what it is.

In the meantime, the words of Jesus have

constantly proclaimed that his followers
should do the same works that he did, and that
entry into the kingdom of God would bring
not only peace and happiness, but would bring
also a solution of material problems by giving
the individual whatsoever things he desired.
For some reason which Christianity of today
does not explain, it is not doing these works,
nor are these promises usually fulfilled in the
lives of its votaries. This is not the fault of
Christianity. It is really the fault of no one.
Humanity is just emerging from a grossly ma-
terialistic era, in which such strides have been
made and invention as the world has
in science

never seen before. And while we have been

thus engrossed with these marvelous and very
necessary physical things we have somewhat
lost touch with the finer things usually called
"spiritual."
 SPIRIT AND MORALITY 269

Christianity, along with all other religions,

has felt the touch of this materialism, and to-
day it comes dangerously near having the form
of godliness without the power. This is not
intended as a harsh criticism, but merely as the
statement of a condition which has been
evolved naturally, sequentially, and irresist-

ibly. Now, however, the hour has struck when

it behooves us to get back to our source, and to
re-vivify our faith with works.
The author of this book is a Christian of
long standing; now, and for many years has
is

been, a member of a Christian church; and

feels that eventually the liberating truth now
taught by Practical Psychology will go to the
hungering and thirsting millions from the pul-
pits and chancel-rails of Christianity.

Jesus said : "And I, if I be lifted up, will

draw all men unto me." That is the secret of
the drawing power of Practical Psychology.
It up before a pain-racked, sorrow-bur-
lifts

dened and dying humanity the healing, re-

deeming and life-giving Christ. Through an
application of the same immutable laws of
mind applied by Jesus it heals sickness and in-
firmity, and works deliverance from misery
270 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

and failure. Without making any claim of be-

ing religious, it does at least some of the works

that the founder of Christianity said the ex-

emplars of his teachings should do; and wher-
ever its voice is raised the people come by thou-
sands and tens of thousands.
Probably every reader
of this book has
heard of Isaiah Cudney, the mysterious old
man whom the world knows as "Brother
Isaiah." He is totally and frankly ignorant,
so far as the lore of books is concerned. His
speech is crude and provincial. And yet, the
bare mention of the fact that he has arrived
in a city throws the population into a tumult.
No building enough to contain the
is large
multitude that presses around him, so that he
has to work in the open, and even the parks
are too small.
Brother Isaiah is merely an ignorant old
preacher — grossly ignorant when judged by
But he lifts up the heal-
the usual standards.
ing and liberating Christ.
That is the differ-
ence between him and hundreds of other ig-
norant old preachers who could not induce a
dozen city people to listen to them. But it is

no small difference. It is sufficient to make

 PSYCHOLOGY AND CHRISTIANITY 271

Isaiah Cudney the most popular preacher on

the American continent. Many years ago he
conceived the idea that God had delegated to
him some of His power, particularly the power
to heal the sick and infirm, and throughout the
intervening time he has lived and acted in
strict accord with this conception.
For several years the author of this book
read the Associated Press reports of this old
prophet's work, just as millions of other news-
paper readers have done, and talked with many
people who had seen him. Then at last he saw
him personally, being one of a throng of fif-
teen thousand people that surged about him
while he gave sight to the blind, made deaf-
mutes hear, healed disease, and sent the hope-
lessly crippled away walking, and shouting,
and praising God. Occasionally he would
pause to say, "Not I do these works, but God
that dwelleth in me."
In other words, he has evolved a phaze of
the Christ-Consciousness, and dares to pro-
claim it and exercise it. There is not a
preacher in Christendom but could do the same
things if he would learn the simple law, and
exercise the confident faith which his Master
272 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

prescribed for him. He himself did these

same things,and many others equally as won-
derful. Moreover, he said "He that believ- :

eth in me, the works that I do shall he do also."

Again he said "Only believe
: all things are :

possible to them that believe." And yet again

he said that if one desires a certain thing to be
accomplished, and will command it to be ac-
complished, "and shall not doubt in his heart,
but shall believe that those things which he
saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatso-
ever he saith." These are only a few speci-
mens of his teaching. He said the same thing
many different times, and in many different
ways.
Brother Isaiah is merely applying the prin-
ciples of practical psychology, as set forth in
this book, and as taught by the few workers in
the field. Many of his methods of operation
are ideal for bringing his subjects to fixation
of attention, and passing a healing suggestion
to the sub-conscious mind.
And Practical Psychology does the same
things —though not in such a spectacular man-
ner. But its workers are few and only
partially trained, and it seems to them vastly
 PSYCHOLOGY AND CHRISTIANITY 273

more important to teach the liberating truth,

thereby enabling tens of thousands to heal
themselves, than to devote their time to the
healing of a few. But to anyone who feels in-
clined to do the same work that Brother Isaiah
is doing, it opens the way, and expounds the
law whereby proficiency may be achieved in
much less time than it has taken him to stum-
ble into it. The life of Jesus points the way,
and his teachings expound the law.
The four Gospels are the greatest treatises
on Practical Psychology that were ever written.
Science has merely discovered their depth and
beauty, and put them into modern language.
Such is the attitude of Practical Psychology
toward Christianity. Most assuredly, it is not
a hostile attitude. But some of the ministers
of Christianity are decidedly hostile to Prac-
tical Psychology,They resent its meddlesome
intrusion into what they consider their exclu-
sive realm. They resent its popularity and
drawing power. They warn their people
against it. They brand it as an ism, a cult, a
heresy, a blasphemy. Of course, this hostility
is based upon lack of knowledge of the facts.

On the other hand, many ministers welcome

18
274 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Practical Psychology, study it, and incorporate

its teachings into their sermons. Incidentally,

their churches are filled to overflowing. Many

of them are calling for special lecture work in

their churches, and in a few cases such work

has been done. Thus the ancient faith is be-
ing gradually revived, and through this revival
there will come to the churches a restoration
of their primitive glory. The new psychology,
wrought out largely by great Christian psy-
chologists, is willing and anxious to help in
any way that it can but at the present time its
;

trained workers are all too few to cover the

great and inviting field now so white unto har-
vest.
STUDENTS NOTES
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STUDENT'S NOTES
 XVI

SPIRIT AND MORALITY

Many good people will come to this final
brief chapter with a sense of disappointment
that so little has been said about the realm of
spiritual matter and individual life after death.

Many others will be disappointed that so little

has been said about morality. It is hoped that

the explanation here to be given will reconcile
such good people to these omissions.
In the first place, practical psychology is an
exact science, which deals with well known
facts, and operates through the application of
well established principles; while spiritism is

still far back in the realm of speculation, and

deals with a mass of facts which may mean
other things than what they seem to mean.
The author has long been associated with the
English Society For Psychical Research, and
has also done considerable independent occult
research work. The facts seem reasonably to
warrant the belief that the human body is

really two separate material bodies interblend-

279
280 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

ing, one being of vastly finer material than the

other, and referred to by St. Paul and other
great religionists as "the spiritual body."
Such a body would be utterly imperceptible to
the physical organs of sensation.
If the spiritual body be a fact, then death
means merely that the personality drops the
coarser instrument of expression, and there-
after continues to express itself through the
finer instrument, in a realm of finer material.
The discovered facts indicate the existence
of the spiritual body and the spiritual realm,
and many of the world's greatest physical sci-
entists are convinced beyond doubt that they
exist. However, many other great minds are
able to explain the facts away upon theories
that do not include the spiritual body and the
spiritual realm. Therefore, any attempt to
include a treatment of this subject in a work
dealing with established and indisputable facts
would be to introduce an element of uncer-
taintyand disputation into that which is other-
wise certain and undisputed.
What has been said about the spiritual body
and the realm of spirit is in a large measure
true also of the subject of morality. There
 SPIRIT AND MORALITY 281

are in the world many widely divergent and

complicated differences of opinion as to what
is moral, what is immoral, and what is un-
moral, these divergent opinions being depend-
ent largely upon the viewpoints of different
individuals. Any attempt to gather, classify
and analyze the different codes and creeds of
morality would run through a large volume,
and at the end of it, as at the beginning, the
matter would be involved in confusion and dis-
pute.
Therefore, practical psychology deals with
morality only to the extent of pointing out
certain phases of mentality that are degrading
and destructive, and certain others that are re-
fining and constructive. It knows and teaches

that hate, anger, greed, selfishness, lust, van-

ity, and fear, are destructive and degrading
attitudes of mind, and that any one or more of
them will hold the individual back from the
achievement of his hopes. It also knows and
teaches that love, kindly feeling, temperance,
unselfishness, purity, humility, and cour-
ageous assurance, are constructive mental at-
titudes, and that they urge the individual along

the way of achievement.

282 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Practical psychology also urges the individ-

ual to live and act, each day, each hour, and
each minute, right up to his very highest con-
ception of what is right; because a violation of
his conception of righteousness creates within
his mentality an attitude of self -accusation

that becomes a snare and a pit upon the way

of and happiness. Therefore, the individ-
life

ual's conscientious moral code is psychologi-

cally binding upon him, whether scientifically
well founded or not, and if he would be well,
happy and successful, he must comply with it
to the uttermost.
But the student of practical psychology is
given something immeasurably better than a
code of morals. He is led to the very fountain
of all wisdom, from which he may draw the
material for his own code, in the very working
out of which he will find a supreme happiness.
When he thus learns for himself the laws of
life and action, he comes into real liberty and
sets out upon a life of unstinted joy.
He comes to knowledge of an immor-
also
and more splendid than is
tality vastly fuller

any possible conception of continued mani-

festation through an individual body, regard-
 SPIRIT AND MORALITY 283

less of whether or not such continued individ-

ual existance is a fact. He comes to know
himself as the one life and mind of the uni-
verse, manifesting in such individual forms as
he wills; possessed of the power to continue
this individual manifestation as long as he so
desires, either in a physical form or a spiritual
form and abundantly
; able to crown each indi-
vidual human manifestation with perfect
health, unlimited success, and supreme happi-
ness.

/ am. Worlds may come into existence, run

their courses, and fall into chaos and ruin;
suns may blaze forth in the heavens, exhaust
their energy, and sink back into darkness; but
so long as time and space persist, and if these
must have an end, then after time and space
—
are gone even from everlasting to everlast-
ing —/ am. I am in all things. I am over all
things. I am all things; for I am one, undi-
vided, indivisible, omnipresent, omniscient,
and omnipotent, manifesting in whatsoever
form I will so long as I desire. I AM.
STUDENT'S NOTES
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 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION
By

Daniel A. Simmons

It has sometimes been supposed that the findings

of modern physical science have discredited religion.

In this book Judge Simmons meets science upon its

own ground, and puts it to rout with its own weapons.

"The Science of Religion" is not a book on prac-
tical psychology. It is a powerful scientific defense
of the Christian belief in life after death, and in an
all-wise God; and its weapons are the findings of sci-

ence itself. It embraces a masterly treatise on Evo-

lution, in which it is made clearly to appear that the

story of Creation told in Genesis is the same as that

evolved by science. It has been elaborately commended
by the leading scientific and religious publications of
the world. It is a thoughtful book for thoughtful
people, written in simple language and pleasing style,

and ought to be read by every thinking man and woman

in Christendom.

This book was originally published by Fleming H.

Revell Company, of New York, but it has now been
taken over by us.

Bound in rich cloth with gold title-lettering. Price

$2.10 postpaid.

BOLTON PUBLISHING COMPANY

Jacksonville, Florida.
-AUG 3 ! 1921