The Science of Being WellWattles, W. D. (Wallace Delois)
Science
The Science of Being Well
Wattles, W. D. (Wallace Delois)
Health; Mental healing; New Thought
Not only this, but we find the same ailments cured by the osteopath with
manipulations of the spine; by the faith healer with prayer, by the food
scientist with bills of fare, by the Christian Scientist with a
formulated creed statement, by the mental scientist with affirmation,
and by the hygienists with differing plans of living. What conclusion
can we come to in the face of all these facts but that there is a
Principle of Health which is the same in all people, and which really
accomplishes all the cures; and that there is something in all the
"systems" which, under favorable conditions, arouses the Principle of
Health to action? That is, medicines, manipulations, prayers, bills of
fare, affirmations, and hygienic practices cure whenever they cause the
Principle of Health to become active; and fail whenever they do not
cause it to become active. Does not all this indicate that the results
depend upon the way the patient thinks about the remedy, rather than
upon the ingredients in the prescription?
There is an old story which furnishes so good an illustration on this
point that I will give it here. It is said that in the middle ages, the
bones of a saint, kept in one of the monasteries, were working miracles
of healing; on certain days a great crowd of the afflicted gathered to
touch the relics, and all who did so were healed. On the eve of one of
these occasions, some sacrilegious rascal gained access to the case in
which the wonder-working relics were kept and stole the bones; and in
the morning, with the usual crowd of sufferers waiting at the gates, the
fathers found themselves shorn of the source of the miracle-working
power. They resolved to keep the matter quiet, hoping that by doing so
they might find the thief and recover their treasures; and hastening to
the cellar of the convent they dug up the bones of a murderer, who had
been buried there many years before. These they placed in the case,
intending to make some plausible excuse for the failure of the saint to
perform his usual miracles on that day; and then they let in the waiting
assemblage of the sick and infirm. To the intense astonishment of those
in the secret, the bones of the malefactor proved as efficacious as
those of the saint; and the healing went on as before. One of the
fathers is said to have left a history of the occurrence, in which he
confessed that, in his judgment, the healing power had been in the
people themselves all the time, and never in the bones at all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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