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Wallace D. Wattles Ultimate Collection — Chapter-92: Mind Cures
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- PDF pages: 382–387
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- Note: Work: New Science of Living and Healing, section 5 of 9.
MIND CURES. Table of Contents IN THE SECOND CHAPTER I asserted that nothing can repair, restore, heal or renew the body or any part of it but vital powers—the energy which is stored in the brain during sleep. Nothing but brain power, conducted to it over the “motor” nerves, can make a heart beat; and nothing but brain power can “strengthen” a weak heart. Nothing but brain power can cause a liver to secrete bile; and a “torpid” liver is one to which the brain power is imperfectly conducted or applied. Nothing but brain power can cause a movement of the bowels; the only power which can cure constipation is that which is stored in the brain during sleep. This is pretty hard for you to believe, if you have been taking medicines to “strengthen” your heart, “act” on your liver, and “move” your bowels; but it is a demonstrable scientific fact nevertheless. How much medicine will it take to make a dead man's heart beat, his liver act or his bowels move? Can medicine move heart, liver or bowels when the brain is not charged with life? The most that can be said of medicine it that it (or the belief in it,) causes the brain power to be applied to certain parts of organs. You must understand that your liver like every other organ of your body is built and planned to be operated by brain power; it cannot be operated by medicine, or by anything else, any more than an electric motor can be made to run by turning a steam jet against it. The electric motor is only built to be run by one kind of power; and the same is true of the liver. There is not the slightest evidence that there is any “remedy” which can “act” on the liver, or cause the liver to act; and this is true of all the viscera. How, then, do we get effects from medicine? Let me show you. Suppose I begin to write here a detailed description of things good to eat—fried chicken, lemon pie, strawberries and cream—yum, yum! You read a little way, and you notice an increased flow of saliva into your mouth; it “makes your mouth water.” How can
the thought of strawberries and cream cause the saliva to flow? Only by causing the brain power to be turned on; nothing but brain power can cause the salivary glands to act. Tickle the inside of the mouth with a straw and the saliva will flow; why? Because the afferent nerves carry the irritation to the brain and cause the power to be turned on. The power is turned on to the whole digestive system by the thought of eating; and it is withheld by anxiety, or the fear of indigestion; but that is another story, which I will tell you a little farther on. Suppose, instead of strawberries and cream, I tell you of something horrible and disgusting,—say a dead cat. Pretty soon you begin to be nauseated; and you may even vomit How can the thought of a dead cat cause vomiting? Only by causing the brain power to be turned on to the stomach with that intention; and that is the only way an emetic can produce its effect Nothing but the brain can cause vomiting; an emetic introduced into a dead man's stomach lies inert and powerless. Some emetics act through belief only; others, perhaps, irritate the sensory nerves of the stomach in such a way as to cause the power to be turned on; but it is always the brain which really empties the stomach. Of course there are medicines which act directly on the parts with which they come in contact—corrosive chemicals which affect the lining membranes of the alimentary canal. These ought never to be taken, and the ignorance which prescribes them is homicidal. Irritation of the sensory nerves, in any part of the body, causes the power to be turned on in that direction. That, as I have mentioned in a previous chapter, explains the action of all “strengthening,” “soothing,” “healing” and other applications. A mustard plaster has no power to increase action in the parts beneath it; but its irritation causes the brain to act. Liniments, etc., cannot overcome morbid conditions; but by reflex action or by the patient's faith, they may cause the direction of an increased amount of brain power to the affected part And there is not the slightest evidence that medicines do or can “act” except as described above. What I say of medicine applies also to massage and exercise. Massage may shake and work loose the obstructions to the circulation in a congested tissue; and it may cause the brain power to be turned on. It cannot increase “local action” because, strictly speaking, there is no local action; all action is from the brain. Shaking and pounding a torpid liver, loosens the morbid matter in the ducts and channels and draws power from the brain to move the matter on; but it does not cause the liver to act, for the liver never acts; the brain acts through it. This ought to be understood in applying massage: That there are two things to
accomplish, the thorough loosening of the tissues and opening of the channels, and the turning on of power of the brain. Massage cannot “build up” a weak or defective part; only brain power can do that. This is also true of exercise. Exercise does not strengthen weak parts; the brain does that Exercise does not make big muscles; the brain does that also! Don't fly off the handle, you physical culture enthusiast; let me explain. How do you build up a weak part by exercise? Flex and relax the biceps muscles vigorously for a few moments; the quantity of blood flowing to it is greatly increased, and the blood carries the food; the muscle is fed more just in proportion as it is used more, and it grows larger and thicker. The benefit of exercise is that it turns the brain power to the part you wish to build up; and with brain power goes an increased blood supply, which carries the nourishment. So it is the brain which makes the big muscles, you see. Exercise really tears a part down, and the brain restores it. And let me give you a gentle hint right here. If the above is true— and it surely is—all exercise is not beneficial to a sick man, but only those movements which direct the power to the afflicted part. If your back is weak and you take arm and leg exercises, you are drawing power away from the part you wish to help; that is the reason why “physical culture courses” under the guidance of pugilists and ex-champion wrestlers are as apt to do the sick harm as to do them good. For a weak back, take ten minutes night and morning of exercise which uses the muscles in the weak place; and do not neutralize the effect by going through other movements which draw the power to other parts of the body. Remember that ten minutes twice a day is worth more than two hours at irregular intervals; what you want to do is to regularly, systematically and continuously demand of the brain that a little more power and nourishment be sent to the weak part. That is the way to exercise scientifically for curative effect. Ask, and keep on asking, and ye shall receive. That is you will receive if you put your mind into the demand. And now we are at the crux of this whole healing business. Neither medicine, massage nor exercise can produce effect if opposed by the mind of the patient. I hope you will read and consider carefully what follows. It is the most important of all, so far. Let a person be laid on his back on a bed, accurately balanced so that the head and foot may swing up and down; now let him be asked to perform severe mental labor, and the bed's head will tip down, because of an increased flow of blood to his head. Let him go through a series of leg exercises and the foot of the bed will tip down, because of the increased flow of blood to the legs, and mark!
Let him think out the leg exercises, without moving a muscle, and the foot will go down, showing that it is the intention to move which sends the blood to the legs; and if the intention is formed in the mind, the power goes whether the movement is really executed or not. It is the thought of exercise, and not really the exercise which sends the blood to the muscle; and if the thought be withheld the exercise accomplishes next to nothing as a building process. That is why exercise which is taken under compulsion, which is a drag and a task, does no good. That is why mere muscular toil and drudgery rarely make strong men and women, but generally make weaker ones. Work or exercise to be beneficial must be done freely, joyously and confidently; if it be mechanical and automatic it is useless expenditure of power, and tears down instead of building up. And if the positive thought of action can send power and nourishment to the muscles of the legs, it necessarily follows that the same must be true of all parts and organs of the body. The firm, steady concentration of thought upon the “torpid” liver with the positive will and purpose to make it “go” will certainly cause action where action is possible at all. This is true of all cases of arrested action, unless there is some mechanical obstruction which requires massage, manipulation or surgery. If there is a part of the machine which isn't working, turn on the power by steady, concentrated, purposeful thought; understand that you possess at all times the power to control and direct your own vital power. And if there is a thought that turns on the power, so there must be thoughts that shut it off; and this we find by experiment to be true also. Fear or anxiety instantly arrests action. If you think of your liver with fear you shut off the power from it; if you think of your stomach with anxiety you deprive it of energy; if you think with fear or anxiety of the bowels yon paralyze them. In most cases of constipation the cause is entirely in a habit of mind or thought which withholds power from the bowels. All cases of indigestion are greatly aggravated by anxious thought about the digestibility of foods. When you begin to worry about what you shall eat you begin to have dyspepsia. Don't think about the values of digestibility of different foods; eat what tastes good to you, but only eat from one-fifth to one-sixteenth of what your friends would like to have you eat. That is all that is necessary to cure stomach trouble. We hear it said of melancholy people that they have the blues because their livers are bad; that is generally the reverse of the truth; their livers are bad because they have the blues. Remember that the calm, confident, purposeful thought of faith sends the life power flowing out; and the fear thought locks it in. And can we cultivate power
to think the thoughts of faith and cheer, and avoid those of anxiety, fear and discouragement? Yes, and that will be the subject for a subsequent chapter of this series.
Every man has experienced how feelings which end in themselves and do not express themselves in action, leave the heart debilitated. We get feeble and sickly in character when we feel keenly, and cannot do the thing we feel. —ROBERTSON The flighty purpose never is o'ertook, Unless the deed go with it; from this moment The very firstlings of my heart shall be The firstlings of my hands. No boasting like a fool; This deed I'll do before the purpose cool. —SHAKESPEARE, “Macbeth”