HOW TO HEAL ONESELF & OTHERS. William Walker Atkinson

      There is no need for extending this recital, for an entire book might be filled with instances of this kind. The one principle which is illustrated in all of these cases, and all like them, is this: That the Corporeal Mind which has control of the functions of the physical body, from great to small, simple to complex, is amenable to suggestion or insinuated ideas-either those of other persons, or those which are "picked up" by the conscious mind of the person himself. The suggestions or insinuated ideas, once accepted, tend to manifest it in action and outward expression, and thus cause to appear in physical form and conditions that which originally existed in the mind alone.

      From this it is seen that the real cause of many cases and forms of physical disorders and disease is to be found in these suggested or acquired ideas or thoughts which have been accepted by the Corporeal Mind, and subsequently manifested into objective forms, states and conditions.

      Consequently, the practitioner of Mental Therapeutics must always seek for these mental causes of the diseases which he is called upon to treat and heal. While, of course, he must direct his treatment to the physical conditions as they exist at the time of the treatment, he must also at the same time strive to reach and remove the original erroneous idea or thought which has really caused the whole trouble. In this way he discovers and removes the roots of the trouble, and does not content himself with merely treating and removing the consequences, effects, and results thereof-the symptoms, in short.

      In Lesson II we have seen that the Subconscious Mind (of which the Corporeal Mind is a phase or aspect) will continue to harbor and manifest these erroneous ideas and thoughts until the following things happen, viz.: (a) The idea is neutralized, cancelled, and replaced by a sufficiently strong opposing idea or suggestion; or (b) the accepted suggested idea is traced back to ;ts birth in the mind of the person, and is thereupon shown to be erroneous, based on wrong premises, and therefore untrue; in both of which methods the erroneous and harmful idea is wiped from the tablets of the mind, and ceases to exist-or to express it otherwise, the erroneous idea is painted over by the new and true idea, and ceases to appear in the mind, or to manifest in form and action.

      This point of practice is worthy of special emphasis, and of careful thought and remembrance, for it goes right to the root of the trouble and eradicates the seed of the foul mental growth that is causing the trouble. Too often, the mental healer, like his brother, the medical doctor, contents himself with treating and removing the outward symptoms of the internal trouble. Try to discover the root of the trouble, and manage to kill it out at the same time you are remedying the manifestations arising from its presence in the mind of the patient. This, and this alone, is true and complete mental healing of disease.