"Be still, and know that I am God" ~ No pain, No shame, No Regrets.

It was P. P. Quimby who introduced the distinction between the "scientific man" with the wisdom of Christ to draw upon[Divine Mind] and the "man of opinions," always changing, subject to errors, fears, and other false beliefs[Carnal Mind or EGO]. Dr. Quimby's silent realization consisted in making a clear-cut separation between the two minds. All later disciples of the silent method have made an equivalent separation in their own terms. The mind that is swayed by opinions is the "carnal mind," and to be "carnally minded is death." It is this carnal-mindedness which Dr. Quimby sought to banish by affirming the reality of the truth which makes men free, the truth we possess when we have the mind of Christ. No one can make much headway in this field without drawing this distinction.

Dr. Quimby also emphasized the importance of knowing what the life is before one could rightly adjust the thoughts. Not primarily concerned with theological matters, Quimby approached the subject of man's relation to God in a purely practical way. Laying emphasis on the Divine presence as Wisdom adequate to meet all occasions and all needs, he acquired a method of practical realization or silent spiritual healing, and used this method in the healing of disease because this was the work given him to do. He saw that healing included the life, and that it was necessary to change one's idea of God if the idea was ecclesiastical rather than practical; but his province was to make sure that people saw the connection between the Divine presence and healing, since this was the vital application of Christianity which the world had overlooked for eighteen hundred years. The method of realizing the Divine presence which was original with him could be applied with equal value to man's life as a whole.
It was in accord with our practical age that Quimby should bring the psychological elements of this realization into view. Quimby drew a fundamental distinction between the outer man or "man of opinions" and the inner mind which can know the Christ-truth. He believed that by absenting himself from the outward world with its opinions and errors, its notions about disease and suffering, one could unite in spirit with the Divine life ready at hand to guide the way to freedom. To enter vividly into realizations of the Divine presence is to banish every influence to which man is subject through opinion, including hereditary influences and those coming from the world. To "realize" is to become open to the Mind which never changes, whereas the mind of opinions is always changing. Quimby developed these realizations into an effective method of silent or spiritual healing which applied, as he believed, to all kinds of disease and trouble in the world.

If, for example, I misjudge a painful sensation due to inward pressure which might be explained by indigestion and attribute my pain to a disordered heart, not to a disordered stomach, I proceed to develop my misinterpretation according to my first error. I then entertain corresponding fears and other exciting emotions, enlarging upon my pain and describing my symptoms to other people. This is what Quimby calls "inventing a disease." But if I had been able to trace the disturbance to its right source, physically speaking, I should at least have avoided the initial error. I might then have proceeded to overcome the disturbance. But my indigestion might have been a mere expression of nervous tension and haste. Behind this there might have been one condition after another. At length I might come to the more interior state which was a prevailing cause of such disabilities. In any case very much depends on the opinion which I associate with my pain. There is a difference between removing the pain for the time being, for instance, by denying its power to cause disease; and endeavoring to live from the higher level so as to avoid all troubles of this sort.

MANY years ago Dr. Quimby remarked that the time would come when people would once more be healed by word of mouth as in the case of the remarkable healings wrought by Jesus and the apostles. How is such healing possible and when may we expect "the greater works" promised by the Master?

The keener the insight, the more sharp would be the separation made through the Christ-consciousness between the spirit of the patient and his former malady.

Dr. Quimby used to say that "the explanation is the cure." By this he meant the penetrating truth which struck home and touched the real cause of disease, whatever appearances might be. Strictly speaking, the cure was wrought by that insight, and if the patient grasped it, the cure was immediate, so far as the inner life was concerned. For we either see a thing or we do not. What leads up to it is preliminary. When the insight really comes, nothing more need be said. Hence Quimby very suddenly and convincingly spoke to some of his patients that illuminating word which carried the most far-reaching results, results affecting not only the health but the religion, business, mode of life and happiness of the patient.

PEOPLE do not like to have their diseases connected with their life as a whole. They approve of the artificial separation which Christians have made for centuries between sin and sickness, in the face of the fact that Jesus identified the two and sought to establish spiritual health or wholeness. They wish to be cured of their illnesses as things apart, that is, as bodily maladies susceptible to physical remedies only, that they may go on gratifying their favorite desires as before. They wish to keep such intemperance or excess as may please them, according to the conventional life they lead; and they refuse to classify these excesses as sins or diseases. Nearly everybody objects to any sort of teaching, whether urged by the Church, by physicians, by science, or by social reformers of any school, however liberal or radical, which traces human ills and evils down to selfishness and bids man master himself.
No rule for putting the mind into this illumined state at its best can be given. One can only say, Cherish it when it comes, observing the conditions which invite its coming that you may encourage their recurrence. By such an experience one learns in part what it means to "think with the spirit" rather than with the external mind. Thus one has a clearer idea what the spirit is.

. . .

MANY devotees of mental healing believe there is a shortcut to the curing of disease through the practice of denials. The word "denial" is not to be understood in the Christian sense of self-denial, losing the self that one may find it, but in the sense of a declaration that any alleged enemy, error or evil does not exist. The first proposition about life in general is, "All is good," and the next, "There is no evil." Radical believers in this method deny even the existence of the body and the natural world. While on the face of it such denials seem absurd, we may well ask ourselves what is the value of this method from a practical point of view.
The theoretical basis of these denials is as follows. Man has two selves or minds, the spirit which is never sick, which never sins or errs; and "mortal mind" or the consciousness of error, the intellect or false mind, always in process of change, essentially external and dependent on information gathered through the physical senses. These senses are discounted as giving misinformation merely, since "there is no intelligence in matter." It is in this false or mortal mind that all error resides. Disease, being an "error of mind," its cure consists in denying not only its alleged power over the flesh but even its existence.
The use of denials is that one may realize "our oneness with God." Otherwise stated, denials are for the sake of affirming the reality of the true self, which is pure spirit, never afraid, never disturbed, never selfish, never at fault. . . .
TO turn away from the violent emotion and connect with the stream of peace-energy is to feel a different mode of motion and to give forth a different kind of vibration. Here is the process in barest outline. You may call it either transmutation of energy, transfer of attention or upliftment of spiritual consciousness, as you will. The essential is to gain this power in some measure, then to increase it. When you win it you will have a basis in actual experience on which to build.

The impetus is on us to go WITHIN, connect with our source of strength.

It’s WITHIN.

Excerpts from:
SPIRITUAL HEALTH AND HEALING
By HORATIO W. DRESSER. Ph.D. [1922]

“Discover the Power Within You” ~ Eric Butterworth

Cherish it when it comes.

Observe the conditions which invite its coming so that you may encourage their recurrence.