PROFESSOR SIDNEY A. WELTMER, began the study which developed into his lifetime work, from borrowed medical books, which he read at night and at every other available moment he could spare from his duties as the oldest son of a family trying to dig a living on an eighty acre farm in Central Missouri.At the age of nineteen he was almost qualified to practice medicine but was advised by the kindly country physician, lender of the precious medical books—to give up his ambition to become a Doctor and devote his energies to checking the rapid course of the disease from which he was suffering. The advice was sound and practical, but was given without a ray of hope, for according to the highest medical knowledge of that day his ailment would undoubtedly prove fatal.
Being of a religious temperament and seeing an outlet for his ambition to serve, he naturally turned to the study of the Bible. In those teaching he received the inspiration and instruction which restored his health.
He had been exhausted by the continual coughing and the hemorrhage which followed that day a crisis was reached. He seemed all quiet and alone as he sat and read.
The clouds rolled away - the world was beautiful - he was again a part of it. His path to recovery seemed so clear that he wondered why he had ever been ill.
SEARCH: From that time forward he sought in every direction for that which would define and explain the principles underlying the scriptural healing, as done by Jesus and the Disciples, to the understanding of the modern man.
TRUTH: "How can I heal the sick as Jesus did?" was the question, and the answer came without hesitation.
"Lay your hands on the sick and try it as Jesus did."
Surely this simplistic answer could not contain the principle of the great truth he had sought. Yet was it so extremely simple ?
FAITH THE VITAL PRINCIPLE
Faith had been the one thing exacted in all the cases laid out in the Bible and in all the other healing works of the Master and his Disciples. Success seemed to depend upon the amount of faith exercised by the healer and his patients. His own restoration had been the result of his unquestioning belief and faith.
THE CALLING
He endeavored to heal all who applied for treatment and kept a true record of all the cases he treated.
Soon he discovered that something was lacking in those with whom he failed. No response rewarded his efforts to relieve them and be was led, naturally, to compare his successes with his failures. This analysis brought out, with unmistakable clearness, the necessity of teaching the Philosophy as well as practicing the art of healing.
His researches led him far into the fields of Biology, Physiology and Applied Psychology. In these branches of learning he found that thought is basic in all physical expression of any kind whatever; that the healing power is intelligent; is within the patient; and must be the final dependence, no matter what the remedy. All his experiences had pointed this way, and here was positive substantiation of all his conclusions.
The mastery of his own mind as well as the experiences with patients provided the foundation which Suggestive Therapeutics and Applied Psychology is based.
The “Weltmer Method” (aka “Weltmerism”)
“…a system of suggestive treatment aimed at bringing mind and body into harmony…” (Source: 5th Edition of the American Illustrated Dictionary, 1910)
suggestive therapeutics,
n.pl philosophy developed by Sidney Weltmer according to which mind and the body are equal determinants of good health. A faltering belief by the mind can lead to lowered resistance to disease and physical discomfort can influence the person's thoughts, both of which result in the state of disease.
Mosby's Dictionary of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. (c) 2005.
Next: THE REWARDS FOR HIS EFFORTS.
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