BF 636 B978p 1922 NLfl D5DDMb3b =1 NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NLM050046369 30 KrH ^PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE BY DAVID V. B[USH ' dsn. "5>\- WORKS of DAVID V. BUSH Cloth Novelette Practical Psychology and Sex Life—General....................$25.00 (To Class Members) 6.00 Will Power and Success..................2.50 $4.00 Applied Psychology and Scien- tific Living............................ 3.50 4.50 The Psychology of Grit and Gumption...............................50 1.00 Inspirational Poems........................ 1.75 2.50 Soul Poems and Love Lyrics........ 1.50 2.25 Poems of Mastery............................ 1.50 2.25 How to Make Love and Be Mar- ried—Sex Force.................... 2.50 3.50 DAVID V. BUSH, Publisher 3401 Franklin Avenue St. Louis, Mo. §)C!.A661611 DEDICATION This book is lovingly and gratefully dedicated to the thousands of "Right Thinking" students who have taken my Advanced Course in "Applied Psychology and Scientific Living." —D. V. Bush. THINK RIGHT. By David V. Bush. Think smiles, and smiles shall be; Think doubt, and hope will flee. Think love, and love will grow; Think hate, and hate you'll know. Think good, and good is here; Think vice—its jaws appear! Think joy, and joy ne'er ends; Think gloom, and dusk descends. Think faith, and faith's at hand; Think ill—it stalks the land. Think peace, sublime and sweet, And you that peace will meet, Think fear, with brooding mind, And failure's close behind. Think this: " I 'M GOING TO WIN!'' Think not on what has been. Think "VICT'RY"; think "I CAN!" Then you 're a " WINNING MAN!'' —From Inspirational Poems. Copyright, 1922 DAVID V. BUSH S The Lincoln Press, 8401 Franklin Ave., St. Louis, Mo. David V. Bush. Publisher, 8401 Franklin Ave., St. Louis, Mo. toA; i i ib22 / TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. Sex Life .......................................................................... 15 Physical Mating; Proper Conception; Pre- determination of Sex. II. The Subconscious Mind .............................................. 63 How to Go to Sleep—How to Awaken. Deny Oneself—"Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me" III. The Subconscious Mind—Continued ....................... 71 How the Subconscious Mind Will Accomplish Anything That You Want It to Do. How to Put It to Work. IV. The Subconscious Mind—Continued ....................... 77 How to Make it Work for You During Sleep. What It Will Do for You. V. The Subconscious Mind—Continued ....................... 85 How It Works for Us—Producing Health and Proficiency. VI. The Subconscious Mind—Continued ....................... 95 Suggestions for Child and Adult during Sleep. Til. The Subconscious Mind—Continued ....................... 103 How to Help Children and Adults by Sugges- tion During Sleep, Concluded. Adolescence.—Practical Application. Teach- ing a Child Auto Suggestion. VIII. The Subconscious Mind—Continued ....................... 115 How the Children Help Themselves During Sleep. IX. The Subconscious Mind—Concluded ...................... 123 How to Cure Insomnia. X. Psychological Salesmanship ...................................... 131 By the Law of Attraction—Not Force. Loyalty to the Customer or to Anyone Who Deals With Us. XI Psychological Salesmanship—Continued .............. 141 Loyalty to Your House or Anyone with Whom You Deal. XII Psychological Salesmanship—Continued .............. 149 Loyalty to Yourself. XIII Psychological Salesmanship—Concluded .............. 169 Psychology and Business Success.—Loyalty to God. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page XIV. How God Speaks to Man ............................................ 175 Intuition—Hunch—The Conception in Genesis —God Speaks to Adam. How God Speaks to Man—Continued...................... 185 Intuition—Hunch. Some Modern Illustrations. How God Speaks to Man—Continued...................... 189 The "Hunch." God Speaks to Abraham, Isaac and Elijah. Intuition, Instinct—"Hunch"— 199 In the Light of Modern Knowledge Among the Lower Animals. How God Speaks to Man.............................................. 211 By Nature. God's Voice to Man—Continued................................ 223 Mental Telepathy.—By the Law of Vibration —"Hunch"—"Intuition". How God Speaks to Man—Continued...................... 231 Mental Telepathy.—"Intuition"—"Hunch" Mental Telepathy—Continued .................................. 241 "Hunch"—"Intuition". Spiritual Communication—Concluded .................... 247 Conscience, Nature, Vocation, Life. The Human Aura.......................................................... 255 How to Cleanse the Aura............................................ 261 The Practice of the Chemistry of Emotion............ 267 Scientific and Rhythmic Breathing.......................... 277 How to Electrify the Body. Vibration and Health.................................................... 289 Vibration—Continued.................................................. 297 Healing Uses of Music. Vibration—Continued .................................................. 307 Music as Insanity Cure. Former Kansas City Pianist Obtains Remarkable Results. Moissaye Boguslawski s "Musical Therapeutics" Opens New Field in the Work Among Persons Suf- fering Mental Ills. Vibration—Continued .................................................. 315 General Effects of Music—Positive Thought Currents—How to Get What You Want Psycho Therapeutics ................................................... 331 Mental Healing—Testimonials from the Med- ical Profession. Psycho Therapeutics—Continued ............................ 341 The Power of Mind over the Body.—Scientific Healing. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXTII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page XXXIII. Psycho Therapeutics—Continued ............................ 357 The Power of the Mind over the Body.—Scien- tific Healing, .i*''*] XXXIV. Psycho Therapeutics—Continued ............................ 361 The Power of Mind over the Body. XXXV. Psycho Therapeutics—Continued ............................ 367 The Power of the Mind over the Body. XXXVI. Suggestive Therapeutics—Continued ...................... 375 Repetition of Suggestion. XXXVII. Mental Therapeutics—Concluded ............................ 383 The Dangers of Operations—Cancer. XXXVIII. Scientific Prayer .......................................................... 395 XXXIX. Dreams and Their Meaning........................................ 401 XL. Mental Stimulation ...................................................... 407 How the Brain Cells Are Stimulated into Greater Activity. XLI. Vocational Guidance .................................................... 423 "Get Happiness Out of Your Work, or You Will Never Know What Happiness Is." XLII. Vocational Guidance—Continued ............................ 435 America Aping Europe. Injustice to Pupils and Teachers. XLIII. Vocational Guidance—Continued ............................ 441 Public Schools Should Teach Something Be- sides College Entrance Curricula XLIV. Vocational Guidance—Continued ............................ 447 School System Cause of Perverts. XLV. Vocational Guidance—Continued ............................ 453 Manual Training Versus Common Sense. XLVI. Vocational Guidance—Continued ............................ 461 Following Your Bent. XLVII. Vocational Guidance—Continued ............................ 467 Raising Tomatoes. XLVIII. Vocational Guidance—Continued ............................ 473 What Our Public School System Should Be. XLIX. Vocational Guidance—Continued ............................ 479 How to Find Your Work. L. Vocational Guidance—Continued ............................ 485 Never Too Late. LI. Scientific Feeding ........................................................ 491 The Old Versus the New. Seeds. LII. Scientific Feeding—Continued .................................. 501 Scientific Tests. LIII. Scientific Feeding—Continued .................................. 509 A Man Is What He Is By What He Eats and Thinks. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page LIV. Scientific Feeding—Continued .................................. 521 Over-Eating. LV. Scientific Feeding—Continued .................................. 533 The Menu. Water Cure. The Bath. Constipa- tion Cure. LVI. Scientific Feeding—Continued .................................. 549 Live Foods and Their Value. LVII. Concentration ................................................................ 559 What It Is. Three Methods to Develop Con- centration. Memory Training. Practical Ex- ercises. LVIII. Concentration—Continued .......................................... 581 My Father Runs the Trains. LIX. Visualization .................................................................. 613 How to Meet Obligations and Raise Money. LX. Visualization—Continued ............................................ 623 Just How to Visualize. For Position—Love— Education—Author—Inventor—Mines—Return of Lost One—Salesman. For Visualizing Health—See Healing Section. LXI. Scientific Exercising .................................................... 639 How to Keep Fit on Eight Minutes a Day. LXII. Silence .............................................................................. 657 Vibration. LXIII. Silence—Continued ....................................................... 663 Scientific Explanation and Operation of the Vibratory Silence LXIV. The Vibratory Silence—Continued............................ 671 How to Enter and Practice the Silence. LXV. First Healing Lesson.................................................... 685 Suggestive Healing. LXVI. Vibratory Healing—Lesson II.................................... 699 Tell How Seated. LXVII. Hetero Suggestion........................................................ 713 Lesson Three. LXVIII. Electrical Healing ........................................................ 719 Lesson Four. LXIX. How to Heal by Visualization.................................... 725 Lesson Five. Recapitulation of Healing Meth- ods. LXX. Voice ................................................................................. 733 LXXI. Affirmations.................................................................... 739 LXXII. Blessings......................................................................... 777 I PREFACE "Practical Psychology and Sex Life" is a text book, the outgrowth of the author's "Advanced Course in Applied Psychology and Scientific Living." It is the result of many years' of study and practice in the realm of psychology and right thinking. The science of this right living and thinking has not only been demonstrated in the life of the author but in the lives of thousands of other human beings who have applied the principles herein outlined. Right thinking and right living will bring into the life of each person that which he or she desires; in fact, we give, as you proceed in the study of this work, an abso- lutely scientific and psychological demonstrable way of getting anything in life which you wish to get, pro- vided your wish be constructive. If you want money, this book tells you how; if you want friends, compan- ionship, love, power, health, position, vocation, happi- ness, joy and peace, the secrets are herein unlocked. An application of the principles herein outlined will produce your life's desire. For over twenty years the author has been a most busy, rushed, pressed and overpressed worker, but at no time has he been going at a more rapid pace than during the weeks that this book was being prepared for the Press, in the midst of strenuous campaigning, speak- ing to from forty to sixty thousand people a month, con- ducting both "Advanced Courses," "Healing Classes" and innumerable consultations for the healing of the PREFACE sick, the comfort of the discouraged and the encour- aging of the heartbroken. This book has been most hastily prepared—the demand has been so great and so urgent for an early edition that the requisite time for the proper preparation of the manuscript was im- possible to take. We felt that the need was more important than a careful preparation from a literary standpoint. The book, therefore, wants to be read in the spirit of receiving, by the reader, the help, encour- agement and consolation that has uplifted the "con- sciousness" of thousands of people who have taken this "Course." We do not send it forth as a literary master- piece but as a messenger of health, prosperity, abund- ance, love, joy and peace. To the real seeker after truth this book will be invaluable when interpreted in the light and spirit of one who understands that the author would rather give his time to heal the sick, encourage the discouraged and uplift the weakened, than to spend his time "Polishing" the Message herein contained. To the pure all things are pure, to the seeker after truth all truth is acceptable. —David V. Bush. CHAPTER I. SEX LIFE.* Physical Mating; Proper Conception; Pre-determination of Sex. This is not a stereotyped chapter on sex or social disease: it is the practical side of the art and science of the proper care of sex relationship—how, when and where sexual intercourse should be practiced; how a boy or girl may be conceived; how strength can be given to both wife and husband during cohabitation and after; how the mother should conduct herself during gestation. Sexual intercourse is spiritual as well as physical: if you have not so considered it, this chapter explains. Every function of life is pure until man's mind makes it impure: refer to the flower kingdom, we never think of sex or perversion here. Man is the "Temple of the Living God"—there is nothing more beautiful than the human body; if we consider it immodest or immoral, thinking has made it so. "Sexuality is a science and cohabitation is an art, which, if properly understood, would raise our moral and physical standard more than anything else. Not ONE MAN IN A HUNDRED knows HOW TO HAVE •Every happy marriage should be consummated, by har- mony of both sexes, in five planes. For a complete knowledge of this and further scientific selection and marital bliss, see the Author's book, "How to Make Love and Marry—Sex Power." 16 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE A PERFECT connection without injury to both parties and not one in fifty knows how to get one-half the pos- sible pleasure out of cohabitation. Idiots, sap-heads, imbeciles and all mediocre children result from such ignorance and ninety-nine out of every hundred com- plaints occuring in wedlock are the direct result of im- proper copulation. An eminent physician who was for some years a court representative in Iowa is responsible for the statement that sixty-eight out of one hundred divorce cases, coming under his notice, are charged by the complainant to have originated from indiscretion committed on the first night, which error might have been avoided if the parties had had a knowledge of scientific sexuality. "In a large percentage of marriages, love is turned to disgust two weeks after marriage, simply because both men and women are ignorant of the means of per- fect unison of the sex. A perfect sex union is strength- ening and a source of joy to both and a perfect inter- course twice a month is worth more than half a hun- dred half-way masturbating cohabitations which weaken, disgust and debauch both. The enjoyment of sexual intercourse lies in the exchange of sex mag- netism between the male and the female and the fail- ure to give and receive both of the currents ruins the tempers and nerves of both and the effect on the sys- tem is almost identical to that of masturbation." Cohabitation should last from one to two hours; if you don't know how, I will tell you. Sexual intercourse should be enjoyed alike by man and woman and, if one has been the only recipient of the pleasure and the practice, both can—no matter how SEX LIFE 17 long there has been the wrong practice—if you will follow the instructions given below. We are told that every great civilization of man, beginning with the earliest known—away back in Egypt, coming down through Chaldea, Babylonia, Assy- ria, Persia, Greece, Rome—all fell because of social diseases. We are not, however, going to discuss that phase of it in this chapter; suffice it to say that we are also told that eighty per cent of men, in this day, have been or are infected by one or more of the social dis- eases—a larger percentage than in any other time in the history of man. It, therefore, appears that if the present civilization is to be saved from crumbling into the dust to join the dead ashes of Nineva, Tyre and Sidon, we must soon begin to push back the tidal wave of sexual perversion and this is only going to be done by education; by enlightenment; by removing the cloak of secrecy which has, from time immemorial, been thrown over the sex question and the sex life. Our boys and our girls are going to get their edu- cation in this line, whether we will or no; and, if they do not get it from the proper source and in the proper place and in the proper way, which will prevent the flood of perversion to engulf the race in destruction, they are going to get it from somewhere else. If we do not give it to them intelligently and scientifically, they will get it in secrecy—immorally. If we do not educate our boys and our girls as intelligent human beings, they will get their education in the street, in the gutter, in the haymows and in the water-closet. This secrecy has caused an unnecessary amount of curiosity to be aroused in the consciousness of the ris- 18 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE ing generations to such an extent that they think there must be more in life than there really is or we would not be so persistent in our ignorant secretiveness. Tell a boy he can't have anything and that is the time he wants it. Refuse to tell a girl about the real art and science of life—her body and how to care for it —and she will learn more about the misuse of the body than the science of protection. This has led to the result that it is said that seven boys out of nine are mastur- baters and five girls out of eight also practice self- abuse. The notion that the sex question is something to be covered and hid and talked about in secret—as it often is— has come down to us through the teachings of religion: not only the Christian religion but all others. The foolishness of the privacy of the sex question has been handed down from generation to generation, until we are saturated, inoculated and permeated with the false notion that the sex question should be kept in the dark. Every religion, going back to the phallic worshipers, where the sex organs of woman were worshiped, coming down through the ages to the modern interpretation of some Christian denominations, has emphasized the false idea of sealed lips about what ought to be the most openly, frankly and intelligently discussed question of the whole human race. There is nothing as important to man as the proper understanding of sex life; yet we have been nothing less than prudes—a little short of criminals—in our silence about this matter. This has all come to us by the teachings of relig- ions : we are not casting any stones at religions in gen- SEX LIFE 19 eral; or any in particular. It is just a matter of taking up the analysis of the situation—saying why we have been afraid to open our mouths in this most vital ques- tion. No one church is to be particularly censured and no one generation is to be particularly condemned: it is only a matter of analyzing what is before us. The Christian religion following the foot steps of others has emphasized the foolish secrecy about sex. Certain denominations have claimed a spiritual experi- ence termed "sanctification." When this is reached by the "holy-minded spiritual man," he is supposed to get beyond any knowledge of sex. The teaching says he is in a spiritual plane—he is sanctified beyond the carnal appetite of sex. One of the leading branches of the Christian Church, for many decades, has prevented their minis- ters from marrying: showing to the world that a spirit- ual-minded man—a holy man— gets above the natural plane of physical existence; or, at least, should reach that state where he has no natural gratification for the sex hunger—where he has no physical craving for the sex gratification—where he is not conscious of any sex urge. One of the great recent movements, which has its members into the hundreds of thousands, used to teach (although I understand the leaders of that institution have now changed their mind) that the SPIRITUAL should be developed to such an extent that the "carnal" is swallowed up in mental ecstacy of spiritual rapture. This has all been conducive, through the centuries —and emphasized in modern times—to approaching the sex question in not only a delicate but a blind-folded and 20 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE muzzled manner. This, in turn, has produced a race of masturbaters and a generation of disease-infected men. This foolishness of privacy, if continued, will still prevent us from teaching our boys and girls as we ought, making no better a generation to come than our own. We continue this because our ideas are tinctured with the notions of the past. It ought to be just as normal and just as decent; just as refined and just as holy; to talk about the greatest function of life, as it is to talk about the things we put upon our table. When the sex urge is understood properly, we would see that the sex desire is just as holy as any other func- tion of life; but, if we are going to stand aloof and think that we can thwart nature by talking in terms of '' sanc- tification " or " spiritual plane;" of the nullification of the sex among good, decent people; what would be the logical outcome? Just think for a moment what would be the natural sequence if the good people in the world would follow to a logical conclusion this nullification of the sex power: it would mean that the "good" people would become "better" and, BECAUSE THEY WOULD NOT REPRODUCE THEMSELVES, die and be blotted from the face of the earth. It would mean that the good, honest, upright and respectable people would no longer reproduce themselves. It would then be left to the thieves, the liars, the crooks, the outlaws and the murderers. What a lovely jungle of human beasts the two-legged race would then be. The time to begin the proper education of the sex life and its function is before the child reaches the age of puberty; before the child is aware of the sex life. SEX LIFE 21 The consciousness of the child should be embedded with the purity of the sex question so that, when it grows into puberty, it will accept the sex life and all of its relationship with open-minded frankness: an under- standing that will prevent the child from being led into immoral paths; forming a habit which may follow it for life. The child might easily understand when it is prop- erly told. If we tell the youngster that his baby brother was found "under a cabbage head;" or "brought by the Doctor;" or "left on the door-step by the stork;" and the boy finds out through other channels that he has been misinformed, mislead, deceived; that his par- ents cannot be depended upon; he immediately thinks that there is something more in life than the knowledge the parents have imparted and secrecy will only stimu- late his curiosity and this curiosity will not stop short of having been stimulated by outside agencies. If the child is properly instructed, there will be nothing any more secret about the life of man than about the life of the flowers; there will be no more immorality in the mind of the child in regard to the sex force than in explanation of the pollen, the stamen and the pistil. There could be nothing so holy as creative thought which we call passion. It is a mis-application or a mis- interpretation of sexual science. All creative energy is sex energy; all growth is an expression of sexual desire. This is true in the floral, fish and lower animal king- dom, as in the kingdom of man. As true in the floral kingdom! The beautiful flow- ers, that carpet the earth and exalt the soul and refresh the mind, are an expression of sexual life—yet we do 22 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE not consider the reproduction of the pansy or the daisy, of the lily or the orchid, as impure. Man's opinion about sexual impurity is a matter of the mind. There can be nothing impure about the sex life of man unless thinking makes it so. The stigma of secrecy and the silence of knowledge has been productive of a miscon- ception of the great life force. As long as we padlock our mouths and throw the key away, on sexual science, man will continue, by the darkness of sexual secrecy, to consider the sex relationship as immoral. "The sex principle is the life principle—it is both generative and regenerative." The life protoplasm is the same in the floral, fish and lower animal kingdom, as in the kingdom of man. No scientist has yet been able to analyze the life fluid from any of these kingdoms of nature and tell which belongs to man and which belongs to the flowers and which belongs to the oak tree or which belongs to the fish. There should be no more immodesty or immorality in the proper generation and control of the life fluid in man than in the flowers, unless our thinking makes it so. This protoplasmic life fluid is not given for sexual gratification only but for creative purposes. The pro- creation of the species is not the only use of the gen- erative organs or sexual science. Sexual intercourse is for health, strength and the procreation of ideas as well as the propagation of the species, when it is properly and rightly understood. It is also for the highest de- velopment of the spiritual. Both the minds and the bodies should be properly prepared so that the mind will correlate with the physi- SEX LIFE 23 cal and the two produce the highest state of the spirit- ual. Miller says that when sexual science is properly practiced, there comes also the one supreme truth that its greatest crown of honor consists in its conducing to the highest and noblest spiritual development. Not only is it the intermingling of the physical and the mental with the mind in supremacy (controlled dur- ing sexual intercourse) but through the desire of each of the participating parties to consider the best good for the other. Those who seek only sexual pleasure therein are likely to be disappointed every time. But those who resolutely lift their thoughts to the spiritual plane at this time will experience thrills of spiritual rapture which they can experience in no other way. "Every soul has a dual nature, the masculine and feminine; intellect and wisdom characterizing the male, intuition and affection the female. These exist to some degree in every human being. Grindon says: 'All that belongs to thought, understanding or mind, is mascu- line; all that belongs to will, intuition, affection of heart, is feminine.' "When one acts immediately from the intellectual principle, manliness is foremost, when from the will principle, womanliness. The most consistent, perfect personality is that in which both the male and the female principles are harmoniously developed. Since sex is of the soul, is it not possible that, as spiritual unity develops, thought may be procreated? That would mean a procreation on the spiritual plane of ideas and theories to be practically developed for the good of the world. 24 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE "The physical relation may or may not be of value for this higher procreation. It has been proven, how- ever, that with control during cohabitation, the crea- tive principle becomes active in both husband and wife. While the spiritual senses are thus attuned to the finest perception in soul vibration, ideas of great moment are conceived. It is within the power of men and women, interested in the operation of spiritual law, further to demonstrate the validity of the theory. "Newton says: 'It is important to know that there are other uses for the procreative element than the gen- eration of physical offspring, far better uses than its waste in momentary pleasure. It may, indeed, be better wasted than employed in imposing unwelcome burdens on toil-worn and outraged women. But there should be no waste. This element when retained in the system may be coined into new thoughts, perhaps new inven- tions, grand conceptions of the true, the beautiful, the useful; or into fresh emotions of joy, and impulses of kindness and blessing to all around. This is, in fact, but another department of procreation. It is the pro- creation of thoughts, ideas, feelings of good-will, intui- tions of truth—that is, it is procreation on the mental and spiritual planes, instead of merely physical. It is just as truly a part of the generative function as is the begetting of physical offspring. It is by far the greater part; for physical procreation can ordinarily be par- ticipated in but seldom, while mental and spiritual pro- creation may and should go on through all our earthly lives—yea, through all our immortal existence.' " Our children should be taught, while young, that the difference between the handsome stallion and the SEX LIFE 25 scrub gelding is a difference of castration. The stallion has been left intact as nature gave him birth—the tes- ticles have not been removed and the life fluid has had an opportunity to be generated and pulsate all through his body. The difference between the big massive stal- lion and the ordinary gelding is a difference of this life fluid. The stallion is always a larger horse with a more massive mane, thicker neck, bigger hips and a sleeker coat and filled with more life than the castrated horse. This is all due to the life fluid. The same thing is true with all other animals in- cluding man. The difference between the ox and the bull is the difference of castration. The difference be- tween the cock and capon is the same. The difference between the ram and bell-wether sheep is the same thing. One has been allowed to remain natural with the life fluid generating and surging through its body, while the other has been mutilated so that the natural func- tioning of the generation of the life fluid has been prevented. This is true in man as well as in the lower animals. The eunuch is never the same type of a man as the one who remains natural. The office of sex life is not only for the propagation of the species; but for health, life, power, strength and brains and there should be, a proper control of this life fluid in both sex if they are to reach the maximum amount of success and efficiency. The control of this life fluid will engross our attention for some consider- able time in this chapter. By the control of this we are not going to take away from either man or woman one iota of life's ex- perience; but, quite to the contrary—it will add more 26 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE to the joy and pleasure of the sex life than the lack of this control. This control is going to be practised by married people just the same as the unmarried. This will not lessen the sex relationship, but will add to it. This is not going to prolong the agony for the woman, if sexual intercourse has been repellant to her; but will remove the difficulties under which she has had to per- form the sexual act—a perfunctory manner prompted by her "duty" for the marriage vow. Sexual inter- course should be so controlled and practiced as to con- tinue for one to two hours or more, and then it is not necessary for the life fluid to be spent. This, however, we will explain a little later. It seems to be the teaching of the centuries that man, different from woman, should, at a stated time, have an occasion to spend his life's protoplasm. It is popularly, but mistakenly, supposed that the generative fluid is an excretion which man needs to get rid of periodically. But the reverse is the truth. "The male (generative fluid)," says Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, a well-known nervous specialist of Chicago, "is an acknowledged tonic, ready prepared for absorp- tion into the system." Every expenditure of genera- tive fluid means a loss of nerve energy. Instead of its being thrown forth upon the slightest emotional provo- cation, it should be reabsorbed through the lymphatic vessels which are so abundant in the walls of the vesi- culae seminales and the vas deferens, in order that it may circulate in the blood throughout the entire body, nourishing the vocal organs which make a man's voice deep and masculine, nourishing the roots of the beard, building up brains and nerves, and intensifying his SEX LIFE 27 virility and manly bearing. Noirot says: "The resorp- tion of what Dr. Le Camus called a mass of microscopi- cal brains is a source of vigor and longevity." Sir Isaac Newton has been considered one of the five great intellects of the world. He was asked, by his physician, upon his death bed, what, in his opinion, con- tributed to his intellectual brilliancy; and he said, so far as he knew, that a drop of the semen had never left his body. We have been reared under a false teaching, and this generation, as also the ones past, have a notion because of this false education, that it is quite the proper thing to spend the life fluid. Indeed, in select circles as well as associations, tradesmen and business men, it seems to be the right thing and the proper thing for a young man to boast that he has had connection, illic- itly, with some woman. This has been augmented by the teaching that intercourse makes him a man. A young man contracts gonorrhea and laughs about it and tells others that he has a "cold." This is all due to the fact that we have put the stamp of approval upon the expen- diture of the life force. If our girls and boys are properly instructed before the age of puberty, they will go through the adolescent period absorbing, into their blood and body that which gives them strength, power, prowess, agility and brains. We will be taking nothing away from them but we will be adding more to their living and, what we are teach- ing the young, we will practice, ourselves, as adults. It is a matter of the proper training, at an early age, to make a better race and eliminate the great suffering which follows in the wake of the social diseases and illicit sexual practices. 28 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Our young people ought to be instructed that it is a good thing for them to know that they have sex life: that this means growth physically and mentally, if properly understood and controlled. This is one reason why I am in favor of co-educa- tion—allowing the opposite sex to associate with one another in social intercourse so that the bodies are polarized from time to time and the life current gener- ated, but with a proper teaching of control during these years. A boy who is raised away from the association of girls will grow up with less brain development—dull and loggy. The same may be equally true with girls. It is the way of life and we, as wise beings, should, in every way possible, work in conjunction with the natural laws of life—whether they be sex laws or domes- tic science laws. Both sex are better when they have been magnetized and polarized: But this life fluid ought to be brought up to the brains and there used, after it has been allowed to circulate thoroughly throughout the body. But, there is a time, however, in my opinion, when no girl ought to go onto the dance floor in close proxim- ity to the opposite sex. The time differs with different women. With some women this may be two or three days after menstruation. With other women five or eight days and some may not be conscious of this even once a year. But, for the normally-sexed woman, there are times when there is a particular attraction toward the opposite sex, when she will accept the advances of a man sexually more than at other times. If she has had no false excitation—not practiced masturbation—not unduly excited the sexual organs, she may be conscious SEX LIFE 29 of an attraction, toward the opposite sex, which she can- not explain. This is a physical attraction occuring, in the normal woman, usually, after her menstural period when she does not know what is the matter and natu- rally attributes it to love. Of course, if she comes into close proximity to a man's body, the attraction is stimu- lated and she may think that she is falling in love— that she has found the one Lochinvar to make her happy —when the only thing that is happening is the physical excitement or attraction, which she does not understand. I know of a young man who went automobiling with a young lady, during the time she was attracted toward the opposite sex. As they traveled in his big limousine, she cuddled over to his side and laid her head upon his breast. He was as unsophisticated as she. She did not know just why, more than thinking it was love; and he did not know how man is constituted—he had never been told that at such a time when the woman will take the advances of a man, sexually, that he will respond. As her head touched his shoulder he was in a state of ecstacy and he, too, thought it was love; but it was only physical. This ended at the marriage altar with a sequel that, in six years, with three children, she left her home and husband; both, in their ignor- ance, interpreted the physical attraction as love and both, in their ignorance, are reaping the harvest of their unsophistication. If these young people had been properly informed and instructed, they would have known what the matter was and, before pledging themselves in bethrothal, would have had a chance for the physical mating to pass and they could have talked the matter over in a logical, 30 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE scientific, physiological and psychological way, when they would have discovered their mistake. I have a friend who is a wonderful teacher of psy- chology. He tells of this incident in England: A young man studying for the ministry fell desperately in love with a beautiful young woman. After the betrothal they thought they had the license of physical electri- fication. He would go to her house, night after night, when they would spend hours in fond embracing. He would leave while both were sexually excited. He did not know what he was doing but he did the right thing for him. He had no place to go but to his studies, so he would go to his books and thus bring the life fluid up to his brain. She, likewise, knew not what she was doing and, in fact, did not do anything that was con- structive to save herself. A woman, becoming excited sexually, may have a conjestion in her back which leads to paralysis and that is what happened to this wonder- ful fine young woman. When she was stricken with a stroke of paralysis and left an invalid, the young fellow met someone else. Of course, he had a future before him—he had a career to carve, a name to make—so he gave up the girl he had, in his ignorance, ruined; and married another woman! That young man went to a distant country and became one of the leading pul- piteers—but the girl, for life, has been an invalid. Is it not more sensible, manly and womanly, as well as more humane, to let our young people know of the benefits of the sex life and the dangers and pitfalls as well. In my opinion, any woman—I care not what may be her station or position in life—would thank any man to gently tell her, upon leaving, if he has an inkling SEX LIFE 31 that she may be sexually excited, that she may develop strength of body and brains by reading, conversing, playing music, writing, painting or anything else where the brain may be used. Nearly every case of hysteria is the result of sex hunger. And the same may be said of a goiter; namely, unsatisfied sex desire. These may be overcome and prevented by proper distribution of the life fluid, when it is generated by contact or by the particular natural occurrences. If the mind is used at this time so that the life fluid is absorbed into the blood, body and brain, there will be no danger of a harmful physical aftermath. Use the mind in any way by constructive thinking or mental exercise and the many dangers of sexual excite- ment will be prevented. There should be no more delicacy about the dis- cussion of Eugenics—the proper "breeding" of children —than the discussion of the eugenics of horses, cows or pigs. We have no hesitation in sitting in the parlor and telling how we should cross animals in order to produce a better breed. We do not consider it immoral or immodest to discuss the breeding of the lower ani- mals so that we may have the highest type possible; but, when we mention the proper conception for a baby —the highest of the species of God's creation—the blood mantles our cheek crimson and our lips become pale, our knees tremble and we slink out of the room with our eyes toward the floor as though we are ashamed that we, ourselves, have ever been born. This foolish mock-modesty has brought untold agony to the human race. We will clatter along, rambling as fast as our 32 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE tongues can wiggle, explaining how to cross bull-dogs to get a certain type: with a certain cross we will get their front legs to bow outward and with another cross we will get their front legs to bow inward; with another cross we will get a bull-dog whose teeth become tusks which project outside of the upper lip. We consider no immodesty here, no immorality, no indelicacy; but, when it comes to speaking of the eugenics—breeding— of a baby, we think it is something which should only be found out through ignorance and, in our ignorance, the human race has suffered untold centuries of physical and mental agony. Most of the social diseases are thrust upon us because of ignorance and WHO PAYS THE PRICE? Why, woman—she always has in every walk of life. Most of the burdens of mankind have been heaped upon the backs of woman and, when it comes to the agonized results of our "modesty" about sex relation- ship and its conduct, the women again pay the price. When a man has contracted a case of gonorrhea, it so little affects him that he laughs about it as he tells his friends that he has a cold; but it is no laughing matter when it comes to a case with a woman and the unborn child. Most cases of blindness at birth are due to gon- orrhea. The woman and the baby pay the price of our padlocked mouths of "immodesty" and "indelicacy." With syphilis it is practically the same—the woman pays the price. The agonizing sufferings of a dying syphilitic woman has but few equals in the realm of physical torture. The woman reaps the harvest of the man's "wild oats" sowing. Yet, we continue in our blind ignorance and mock- SEX LIFE 33 modesty, to let the wild oats be sown and the women garner the harvest of suffering, agony and death; while the unborn child comes into the world, facing a lifetime of handicap because of this ignorance. I suppose that ninety per cent of good married women have not yet gotten over the idea that sexual intercourse, is immodest. This, of course, as stated above, is due to the centuries' wrong teachings. We are going to learn one of these days that life is a tessellation of diversified experience, among which cohabitation has its place; but the place ought to be and must be right, proper and fitting. If we are going to make it possible for women to save themselves, it is time we talked openly about this great question and throw the search- light of TRUTH upon the second biggest problem con- fronting the human race. Sexual intercourse is not only a matter of the propa- gation of the species but it is pro-creation of ideas, as well. It is a practice which brings health and strength to both man and woman, if properly understood and practiced. Sexual intercourse is the blending of the physical with the mental, creating the highest spiritual development and, until this is understood and practiced as it ought to be, the cohabitation is little more than masturbation. Because woman has been wrongly taught, that this is immodest and immoral, she fails to put either her body or mind in the proper attitude for the practice of the act. We cannot blame any particular race of men or any particular century for this ignorance: we have all become the inheritors of this dark-covered, misun- derstood practice. If a woman thinks she is doing her 34 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE marital "duty" in submitting passively to the conjugal embrace, forcing herself to lie still and even openly re- sisting what passion might be exercised, she is working an injustice to both herself and her husband. This the poor soul does because she has been taught that sexual intercourse is immodest, immoral and ought to be prac- ticed only for the propagation of the species. More physical ailments follow in the trend of this kind of false modesty from women than records will ever show. Nervousness, hysteria and other complicated organic diseases come from resolutely trying to resist any answer to the throb of nature's call for sex gratification and then we sometimes wonder why some men resort to illegal practice with a harlot. I am making no plea for a man to force himself upon his wife—no marriage certificate gives any man a right to rape the woman who has taken him for better or for worse. It is a matter of both understanding the other and both, in turn, knowing how the proper practice of the sex rela- tionship should be conducted. This mock-modesty, both about the act, itself, and the generative organs, is the cause of most of the female troubles. It has been said that 80 per cent of divorces can be traced to the first night of cohabitation. This is due to a mismating of the sexual organs. Are we going to continue to let our daughters and our sisters be dashed upon the marital rocks of disaster, ship-wrecked and wounded for life through our ignorance? Which is the more sensible, to explain to a woman before she is married how to mate sexually or wait until after she is married and she finds it out through her suffering and sorrow, when there is no retracing the fatal step she has taken? SEX LIFE 35 Are we going to close our eyes in ignorance and stop our ears in mock-modesty and let our daughters and sisters rush over the marital precipice to their own dis- aster through sufferings and divorces, just because it is "not modest" to understand nature's way of physical mating ? Ignorance BE GONE! Foolish mock-modesty avaunt! Enter more light, common sense, wisdom and intelligence and let us know the TRUTH. If a young woman who is filled with life, with a bright future before her, is to be ruined the first night she has had sexual intercourse with her husband, are we going to stand by—criminal participants in her physi- cal wrecking—just because we consider it immodest to discuss, talk about or understand, one of the great functions of life ? Would it not be a thousand times better to tell our daughters that we can know, by looking at a man's hand, whether he is mated sexually for her or not? If we are married on the five planes in which we ought to be married—or in the subconscious mind—there will be no physical mismating: but we are not always mar- ried scientifically, physiologically and psychologically— the divorce courts prove that. We should not only know that a couple should marry opposites, both in the color of hair and eyes, lining of the mucous membrane of the mouth, etc. (which the writer discusses in his book on "How to Make Love and Be Married"); but a woman should know that a man who is not mated to her physically will bring her to a marriage bed of suffer- ing instead of a bridal chamber of happiness. Why not tell our daughter that she can tell, by looking at man's hand, whether he is too large or not 36 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE for her. Then, before the billing and cooing, preced- ing physical marriage, the wedding day would not be set because of an understanding that, when a couple is mismated physically, they are not mated on the other planes to have a healthful and happy experience. The length of a man's sex organ is determined by twice the length of his middle finger or let the middle finger turn over on the palm of the hand as far as it can extend; noticing its extent or the length as it bends over onto the palm, then straightening the fingers out again, will determine the length. The length will be from the tip of the middle finger to the place on the palm of the hand where the middle finger bends and touches. When the middle finger is turned over on the palm of the hand, as far as it can reach, you have determined the length of the sex organ. The same thing is true of the sex organ of the female. It is as plain as a black cat on a white fence, that if a woman with a small sex organ marries a man with a large one that physical trouble is going to ensue and all of the pent-up emotional bill- ing and cooing of an ignorant courting will never rec- tify the physical mistake that may happen. The nearest thing to it is, if there has been a mismating physically, a cushion made in the shape of a doughnut, which will slip over the penis and rest upon the pelvic bone; thus preventing the full entrance of the man. We have kept still about these subjects, it seems to me, quite long enough; when we understand that so much suffering comes by not understanding sex life, sex organs and sex relationship, surely we are going to be big enough to want to have all the light that knowledge and experience can throw upon this great SEX LIFE 37 question and profit by our past mistakes and our present knowledge. I understand that perhaps ninety per cent of mar- ried women consider sexual union immodest and im- moral and that the sooner the act is completed the more satisfied the woman is—that is she thinks she is—be- cause she considers this act immoral and immodest: she has not allowed her body or her mind to be in the proper preparation for cohabitation, therefore having received no help by sexual intercourse. She neither has a pleasurable experience nor has she added strength or health to her body. Sexual intercourse is usually prac- ticed without the woman participating in the health- giving and strength-giving pleasure and this produces nervousness and many other physical ailments. Many women, who subject themselves to this act through "marital duty" with a mind of repulsion and a body aquiver with fear, unknowingly are bringing upon themselves no end of physical ailments. Many cases of womb and female troubles come from the bodies and minds of women not being in tune or in sympathy with the conjugal act and they contract, by their mental repulsion, the organs which should be at liberty and in perfect freedom, during cohabitation, and this contrac- tion of the organs produces female troubles. Therefore it is most essential that all married peo- ple or unmarried people, who expect to become Fathers and Mothers, should know that sex union is not only natural but quite necessary for the highest development of the physical, mental and spiritual and that this act is not to be looked upon as immodest or immoral or freighted with fear, repulsion or reversion and, not 38 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LD?E until the false education of the past is superceded by the scientific, physiological and psychological education of sex life, will the human race come into its own. Sex union must be preceded on every occasion by proper mental and physical preparation and just in pro- portion as the minds and the bodies of the participants are properly prepared—polarized and magnetized—so shall the bodies and minds be given strength, health and spiritual development. It is well known that the greatest percentage, in proportion, of great men have been bastards. This is easy to be understood when we know the scientific way of eugenics. The woman has probably come in contact with a man in that period when she would take the physical advances of the opposite sex and he, re- sponding to her physical condition, forces his attentions upon the woman who would rather resist than comply with the call of nature; but the man, perhaps, being stronger of mind and magentism, than the woman, con- tinues his advances by embracing the woman, kissing her, arousing within both the sex desire. This may con- tinue for hours, until the woman, finally, against her own wishes, allows herself to be a participant in the sexual union which results in the conception. Because the bodies have been properly polarized and, in the course of the embracing the minds, likewise, in unison with the physical, reaching a high state of spiritual ecstacy, the result of the conception has been a bastard but an outstanding man. No married couple should ever give conception to a child until the bodies have been properly prepared, not only during the time of Bexual union but for months before. SEX LIFE 39 I appreciate that this is a most serious question with a great majority of married women. Again this is due to erroneous teaching of the past. This single illustration will suffice to demonstrate, however, how the most modest and erroneously taught woman may change her mind when copulation is properly under- stood. This particular woman was over forty years of age, had been married fifteen years and considered sexual intercourse immodest and immoral; had always entered into the act against her own desires, which, in her ignorant way, had never given her any pleasure but rather, to the contrary, much discomfort. She had been the victim of a marriage certificate which gave her husband the right to expect that his wife should perform a marital duty in regard to the sex relation- ship. Her husband heard this lecture, then went home to tell his wife the contents of it but didn't get very far. He had no more than broached the subject than his wife became indignant and said "Oh, that is what you spend your money for, is it; that's what you go out to listen to? Well, I don't want to hear anything about it and what's more I am past the breeding time any- way and it doesn't interest me in the least." Well that man was a wise fellow, he knew that his wife had a mind of her own and he knew that when she told him to be still it was a good thing to be still but, he also thought that curiosity would get the better of her; therefore instead of trying to persuade her to listen to the whole context he went about his way rejoicing. It was not long, however, before curiosity got the better 40 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE of her sensitively-trained, womanly modesty and she wanted to know the rest of the lecture. In due time he was able to explain and demonstrate. You will remem- ber this was a woman over forty years of age, reared in the old school of sexual ignorance, who had been mar- ried for fifteen years and who, according to the testi- mony of her husband, had never, more than on one or two occasions out of the fifteen years, been in a mood for cohabitation. She was a woman who had told him that her "breeding days" were over, that sexual inter- course was for nothing but the propagation of the species and that she was through with it and didn't want to know anything about it. Bearing this in mind, the words that follow make it all the more emphatic and demonstrate the fact that she, like ninety-eight per cent of married women, do not understand how this act should be performed. Elsewhere I have given you the expression of another woman in another part of the country and it tallies, identically, with that of this woman: viz., she said to her husband, "Isn't it won- derful?" More divorces are granted between the tenth and twelfth years of married life than any other time and this is due to the ignorance of the practice of copula- tion. The average woman, the ordinary way that this is practiced, finds no pleasure in the act but, rather, has to "submit" to the marital "duty." Because of this, it becomes inrksome and repulsive and, at the end of ten or twelve years, she cannot or does not give the satisfac- tion to her husband that he thinks he ought to have, with the result that there begins the estrangement. Sexual intercourse is usually approached when the SEX LIFE 41 bodies are not properly prepared and, when this is done, it is nothing more than masturbation for both of the participants; and, after this has been continued for a number of years, the man loses his strength and vitality, his ambition and power and the connection between his lost strength and inefficiency is rightly accredited to the sex act. After it is performed, there is no satisfaction, the man is weakened and, in his endeavor, not having something that is satisfying and gratifying, he becomes disgusted and thinks: "Oh, what's the use anyway?" Yet there is something within him that is urging him on to sex practice. He then connects this loss of vitality and strength with the sexual act and, finally, his wife seems repulsive to him. Love is no longer tugging at his heart strings with the cords of affection but the love ties are being severed by mispractice and, when love is no longer nourished, it is killed or dies and the divorce court follows. If sexual intercourse is properly practiced, it will bind the husband and wife together in bonds of love that nothing can ever sever and this can be done even though there has been a mispractice of sexual intercourse for fifteen or twenty-five years. Instead of a man feeling his vitality lessening and his strength weakening by the act of cohabitation, he should, just to the contrary, feel strength, buoyancy and power. This is determined by the length of time taken to prepare the bodies for the act, as well as by the control during cohabitation. There should never be a contact until the bodies have been polarized and magnetized for at least twenty to thirty minutes and the length of the contact deter- 42 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE mines the strength of the body. Without a proper preparation of twenty to thirty minutes and without a long period of cohabitation, both the man and the woman in time are worn out, fatigued and tired and, morever, if directions are followed as given here, the man will not come to his wife so often and a love will spring up between the two that can never be marred. The bodies should be put in preparation during these twenty to thirty minutes by the stimulation of certain nerve centers which get the bodies in proper condition, as well as the sex organs. While preparing the bodies, polarizing and mag- netizing them, the hands should be held and fondled— there are nerve centers here which are stimulated to produce sex excitation. We often laugh at the idea of young people holding hands but, in some cases, it turns out to be no laughing matter; for, the normally- sexed young person, even though he or she may not know it, while holding hands, are exciting the sex desire. While preparing the bodies prior to sexual union, the man should look into the eyes of the woman and vice versa. To do this, of course, cohabitation must not be practiced in the dark. Here again comes in our ignorant teachings of the centuries past, when women considered it so immoral and immodest that the lights must be turned out. Not only should the couple gaze fondly into each other's eyes, but the man should gently touch and caress the woman's head; his fingers coming in close contact with the hair and the woman doing the same. This creates a personal magnetization and electrifica- tion which, in turn, stimulates the sex nerve centers. SEX LIFE 43 The sex organs should touch but not contact. There should be no clothing between the bodies. " 'In right marital living, the nude embrace comes to be respected more and more and, finally, reverenced as a pure and beautiful approach to that sacred moment when husband and wife shall melt into one another's genital embrace, so that the twain shall be one flesh; and then, as of old, God will walk with the twain in the garden of bliss 'in the cool of the day,' when the heat of ill-regulated passion is no more.' " In the intimate affectionate converse of the mar- ried, far too little is thought of the subtle and sympa- thetic influence or perfect contact, by which the out- ward physical senses share and interpret the inward spiritual unity. Too much insistence upon the climax of unions has thrown into the shade the fine minor modes of loving expression. The truly married, who realize the infinite charm of being together—absolutely close, in loving union—resent the suggestion of the in- terposition of apparel, as the lover would resent being compelled to touch the lips of his adored through a veil or a Turkish yashmak. "True love tolerates nothing between." Again I know what this means to the average, erroneously-taught woman. I am giving you the scien- tific and psychological way of proper copulation. If you have a wife who is sensitive and who has been the victim of wrong teaching, some of the things which are suggested may never be practiced. In this act, as herein outlined, both the man and the woman must be big enough to have consideration for the other's temper- 44 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE ament, training, education and feelings and, just as no marriage certificate gives a man the right to rape his wife, so should the woman be big enough to want to play team-work and any woman will do this who wants to bring strength and health to her body, happiness to herself and peace to the family. All through this re- education for a proper and scientific sexual intercourse, it is a matter of co-operation and team-work. With some women, to fondle the breasts is very obnoxious while, with other women, it is sexual stimula- tion. As the bodies are being prepared, the lips should come in contact and a prolonged kiss ensue which pro- duces a sensation that is never experienced in any other way. The man should touch and press his fingers on the neck of the woman, just at the base of the brain— at the Medulla Oblongata—and the woman should return the same. Especially does this want to be done when the couple have decided that a conception for a child is to take place and then—at the consummation of the act—orgasm. A great mistake is made by both parties to allow themselves to come into the genital union without proper physical loving. It is the approaches and prepa- ration to the sexual act, as well as cohabitation, which constitute the charm of the relation between the sexes. Neither one should hasten the act or the approach to the act. This is a lesson that both must learn and, with- out which, there cannot be a strong tie of love between the couple; and, as well, there is the loss of pleasure, strength, vitality and health. " Comparitively few men realize that, while a man is a sexual animal, a woman is not; but is a maternal SEX LIFE 45 animal. The normal woman desires to mother the man she loves—to hold him in her arms, close to her bosom, and to caress him thus, without genital contact. She likes, also, to be held in her husband's arms; to be caressed by him, and to exchange sexual magnetism with him on the affectional plane, without genital con- tact. For there is a secondary sexual centre, near the heart, possibly at the solar plexus, so that the husband and wife may, in one another's arms, without genital contact, interchange sexual magnetism which will re- fresh, soothe and uplift. Men usually imagine, when a woman evinces desire for affectionate caresses in her husband's arms, that she is ready for contact at the genitals. Never was there a greater mistake. The woman cares, at that moment, only for the interchange of tender affection. And for a husband to display unequivocal evidence of a desire for genital contact, then, does not attract her; it simply repels, and often disgusts her. It is, however, quite possible that, if her husband behaved with consideration and self-con- trol and it were the right time in the month, "he might eventually manifest a passion, that same night, which would amply satisfy him. What she needs is to be gradually aroused by the right sort of treatment. Hus- bands, like spoiled children, too often miss the pleasure which might otherwise be theirs, by clamoring for it at the wrong time."—C. H. Mullin. "Once in twenty-eight days, Nature prepares a woman for creation; and the menstrual flow which mani- fests at that time is the outward indication of the com- ing on of the creative mood. This creative mood may manifest in the longing to create a child; or in the 46 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE creation of a poem or a picture; or plans for the spring house-cleaning; or in the designing of a new dress; or in the exchange of creative, magnetic strength with her husband. Whatever a woman especially cares to do, she can usually accomplish with effectiveness during her creative time. With most women, this time comes on the days immediately following the menses. I know of one exceptional case where it comes two weeks later; and of a few other cases where it comes just before. But, whatever the time in the month when this creative mood is on the woman, it is the time of all times to seek sex union. "But for the woman who has not passed the child- bearing age, her monthly love-time is all-important. And this time should be prepared for, on the husband's part, by days and days of tender love-making each month. "It usually requires from twenty minutes to a half hour of affectionate caressing upon any given night, to arouse a woman to the point of desiring genital contact. If, at the end of a half hour of tender and reverent love-making, she shows no signs of desiring genital union, her feelings should be respected."—Stepping Stones to Wedded Bliss." "Most men are too quick for their wives. In get- ting ready the woman MUST HAVE AN ERECTION as well as the man. The lining membrane must be prepared by its being pre-heated with an excess of blood and sex magnetism, so that the nervous system SEX LIFE 47 will be ready for the pleasure. If the woman is ready, immediately upon entrance the penis discharges a pale, amber-colored fluid from the prostate gland which oils the vulva. If the female is not ready there is no dis- charge from the penis. This results in considerable irritation which causes great strains on the nervous system and is one of the most potent causes of leu- chorrhea, ulcers and lost manhood." "Whenever you feel depressed after cohabitation, it is a proof that you have cohabited improperly. The lower animals coax and tantalize each other until they work themselves up to the proper pitch before they attempt copulation. Human beings should cuddle, fondle, kiss and pet each other for half an hour before they undertake to cohabit and should NEVER until the woman is ready and anxious for it."—Prof. Kirchway. All of this, being new to the couple, should be woven into their life's experience by a consideration for the other party. To a great extent both must con- sider the feelings and wishes of the other. When we reach the spiritual plane that proper cohabitation develops, if one will have that considera- tion for the other, they will bring into the lives of the participants a physical and mental satisfaction they have never known before. Just as no man has a right to force himself upon his wife, so no woman has a right to always repel her husband, just for the satisfaction of being cold toward him. She probably has had rea- sons for this because of years of mal-sex-practice; but 48 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE when once the woman has experienced what nature in- tended she should have—a pleasure in the act—and the husband, as well, by having a satisfaction he has never before known, the both will reach that plane of con- sideration that neither one has understood before. The husband will not come to his wife so often and the wife, following the instructions above, will be able to respond. The two, working thus for the consideration of the other, will produce a mental, physical and spirit- ual ONE-NESS that they have not known before. Any woman who has ill-health, female troubles, nervous attacks, mental strain or domestic inharmony, will try at least to follow the instructions above when she knows that these difficulties will be removed to a great extent, if not wholly, by proper sexual one-ness; and any man, who has manhood enough to call himself a man, will be as lenient and as careful about the con- sideration of his wife's feelings as a man can be, when he knows that she is endeavoring to do team-work with him in this regard. The woman, who has had nothing but repulsion and torture in the sexual experience, is not going to have this repulsion and agony continued by the length of time, as below stated, in sexual intercourse, but rather the repulsion and the agony will be eliminated. A woman who had not married until she was thirty- nine years of age, so that there was no physical attrac- tion which prompted her wedding, had lived with her husband for a number of years, who expected the per- formance of copulation from his wife at short periods of time—although this was far from pleasurable to her in fact, agony—and she then had left him on this SEX LIFE 49 account. She had said to her husband many times that if there was anything in married life that she was not getting, that she would surely be sport enough to try it once. She had tried to respond but had long since given it up and only performed the act as a matter of "duty." She was on her way to get a divorce because of the torture of the marital bed, when she saw the writer and told him what he has related above. This woman—who had spent many years perform- ing her "marital duty"—at last found, when these instructions were followed, that there was something in her married life that she had never had; so, this is a matter for both husband and wife, after the knowl- edge has been gained, to practice, in consideration for the other's feelings. One of the first things to overcome is this "pseudo notion of immodesty and immorality" which produces dread and fear, for every semblance of fear must be eliminated from the mind. Intercourse should never be practiced in any way, whatsover, where a single fear thought can creep in, especially the fear of pregnancy; for, every time a woman cohabits with her husband, in fear of pregnancy, or otherwise, she is injecting into him fear thoughts which lesson his vitality and curtail his efficiency. This, in turn, reacts upon his physical and mental condition so that he feels a repulsion towards his wife. This is another reason why sexual intercourse should never be practiced in the dark. Not only should there be no fear, in the mind of the woman, but there should be no weight upon her body and this can be prevented by the position herein out- lined. Not only should the bodies be polarized, twenty 50 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LD7E to thirty minutes before the contact, but the act itself should not be completed under one to two hours. Sexual intercourse should be so practiced that both have had a bodily satisfaction and gratification—a com- plete satisfying of the sexual desire—and when this is done as we shall explain, there will be less frequency of the act desired by the husband; thus giving the wife more time to respond as well as giving her strength and life and health. Nature gives to both sexes a lubrication and the act should not be performed until both are aware that the organs are in proper lubricated condition. This will be noticed if the bodies have been properly polarized; then the woman should lie on her right side and the man on his left and the entrance should be made gently and slowly; and then stop. We are told that only ten per cent of both sexes can practice control at first; but that should be the ultimate goal of both parties who desire to get from the marriage state what nature in- tended they should have. We are going to teach our boys and girls, while they are young, how to control the life fluid so that they will build stronger bodies and more brains and what we teach to them we are going to practice ourselves and we are not going to allow our- selves to spoil the pleasure and to weaken our bodies and break up our homes because of a momentary satis- faction which we think we cannot control. All of the blessings which we have mentioned at different times, in this chapter, which accrue from sexual intercourse, come from the time spent in the preparation of the body, the length of the act itself without reaching a climax. SEX LIFE 51 There should be no orgasm or consummation of the act except for the propagation of the species. This act is for spiritual and mental development—for procrea- tion of ideas—for health and strength and this can only be obtained by conservation of the generative fluid; and the danger of finishing copulation under two hours is past after the entrance has been made. Therefore the entrance wants to be made slowly and gently and then stop. The minds want to wander off into other avenues of thought—not on the physical but in any way where the minds are taken off of the act at hand. And, after a time the motions may con- tinue; but again stopping before orgasm. One must inform the other that it is time to rest and during each rest period the minds want to be developed. Here is where great ideas are conceived, stories written, music composed, art planned and business schemes formulated. In fact, it is during the time of sexual intercourse, when the brains have been stimulated to their highest functioning, that the greatest thoughts can be produced as the minds are lifted above the mere physical to a mental and spiritual plane. This is the highest of creative moments. The person who thinks that this is not possible to accomplish has not yet begun to live and, while only ten per cent can practice it at the beginning, everyone who will can have this control of sex practice until years may pass, without ever reaching orgasm or spending the generative fluid. As the time lengthens during the act, the bodies are made stronger; the life fluid flows all through them, is absorbed into the blood and the tissues of the bodies. 52 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE When sexual intercourse such as this has been practiced for two years; namely, strengthening of the bodies by the absorption of the generative fluid; and the minds lifted to a higher and nobler plane; then the bodies are in proper condition to give conception to the offspring and when this is planned the mind should think about it for weeks ahead. When the couple have decided that they want to be blessed by the greatest of God's guests, "a baby in the home," the minds should be so blended to this one purpose and the bodies be so strong and healthful that the child, being conceived under the most auspicious conditions, will become an outstanding person. Of course, thousands who have been handicapped by improper blending have overcome their handicap by the application of psychological laws of mental development; but, in my opinion, any couple who will recklessly give conception to a child, just for the mere gratification of a momentary, passing, so-called pleasure, is nothing more or less than criminal in action. In fact, to me, it seems to be the most flagrant criminal act. No couple has a right to bring a child into the world without having laid the best mental and physical preparation, for the advent of the child, that science and psychology knows. TALK. Every marital embrace should be the occasion for the exchange of intellectual ideas in conversation. Think and talk during the nude embrace and also at intervals during the sexual embrace, of good books, pictures, statuary, music, sermons, plan for benefiting other people, noble deeds, spiritual aspirations. Do not SEX LIFE 53 speak of people against whom you cherish resentment, unless it be to throw out feelings of love toward them. Do not tell indelicate stories. Do not select this time to worry over your household economies or business troubles. Shut out the world, with all its business, all its impurity, all its struggles for a livelihood and let this be a time for the interchange of delicate, poetic sentiment, pure affection, playful or merry thought, and lofty religious ideas. So strangely are human creatures constructed, that intellectual blending at this time is, by a psychological law, one of the most effective means of welding the natures of husband and wife into a beau- tiful and perfect one-ness. "Not until the habit of self-control and aspiration to the highest, throughout the embrace, has been firmly fixed in the relation between the two, ought they to start in to create a child. The function of creation affiliates them to the Almighty and should always be a religious sacrament. (God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.)" While the act is being practiced the caressing of the hands, of the hair, the pressing of the medulla oblongata, kissing and fond-looking into the eyes, wants to be continued. Proper copulation not only prevents private dis- order but the exchange of sex magnetism is positively beneficial and health-giving to both participants. On the other hand, improper intercourse, as indulged by suffering humanity, is almost as weakening and demor- alizing in its effects as the loathsome habit of self- abuse—no better than masturbation. 54 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE "Although Nature's love-time is the period of the monthly creative mood for the woman who has not reached the climacteric, yet, after change of life, the sexual feelings and sexual attractiveness of a wife need not cease, if she has been properly trained in the exer- cise of her love Nature." "As to how frequently genital union should take place, no hard and fast rule can be laid down. The one safe guide is the after result to the husband and wife, mentally and physically. If the union take place according to the method herein set forth, and be not practised intemperately, there should be no sense of de- pression at the close, nor should there be any feeling of nervous irritation; but, on the contrary, both husband and wife should feel soothed and tranquilized. And the next day, they should feel serene and more than usually clear-headed; they should feel as though they walked on air and as though the world were full of brightness and joy. "Nature has so made woman that it takes her from a half hour to an hour, after contact has begun, to come to her orgasm. This is Nature's indication that the man ought to wait for the woman and not to hasten through the act, as is too frequently the case. A man who gets through in from three to ten minutes after contact, not only misses the most intense form of pleas- ure but also fails to satisfy his wife properly. Her genitals being thus irritated, without being soothed by the discharge of her own sexual magnetism in exchange for his, a con jested condition of the internal parts is SEX LIFE 55 frequently set up, which results at length in her having to be placed under a physician's care. Many a case of lifelong and hopeless invalidism in a wife is trace- able to the husband's habit of hasty termination of the sexual act."—Stepping Stones to Wedded Bliss. The love function may and ought to be exercised periodically in order that both husband and wife may have a healthy, well-balanced physique and mentality. To the ordinary couple who have passed fifty years of age, sexual intercourse, as herein outlined, can be practiced once a week until they are a hundred years of age. Many more, however, will have a gratification so that they will not think about this for weeks at a time. As mentioned above, there can be no hard and fast rule in regard to the frequency of the act; that depends upon the individual couples. All young girls should be taught the necessity of the cleanliness of the vagina. Many girls become mas- turbaters because of the uncleanliness, creating an itch- ing sensation and, in their effort to allay the itching by rubbing, the habit is formed. This should be given to the child as soon as it reaches puberty, or before. During cohabitation strength will be given both parties, if they are not active at the same time. The man should be active while the woman is passive; for she, then, is likewise giving strength and power to the man; but, both active at the same times takes from the other a certain amount of magnetism and strength, which is not lost if they interchange their motions. 56 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE As we have already said, orgasm should not be reached. After one or two hours or more, there will come a time when the man will withdraw without ejaculation. As the rest periods come during the prac- tice, in time the rigidity will recede; but at one motion, from either party, it will return. After this has been practiced many times, without reaching the climax, or ejaculation, and both parties have been thoroughly satisfied, the rigidity will recede, at which time the man wants to withdraw, without spending the generative fluid. No woman should bear more than four children. She should be in the pink of physical and mental con- dition and this cannot be done if a woman has to have one child after another. The body will not be able to recover the strength from the first birth; nor can it have time to be properly polarized and magnetized and strengthened by proper genital embracing and by sex- ual intercourse; for two or three years or more before another child is conceived. In fact, four or five years between each child would give the mother a better physical and mental condition for producing offspring. For this reason no couple should give birth to a child until they have been married two years or more. They must first learn the art of control and then take the time to generate this life fluid and have it absorbed into the blood and tissues of the bodies, for at least two years before conception takes place. When the time arrives that the couple want to have a child the day should be set and, if a girl baby is desired, conception wants to take place the first seven days after menstrua- tion, with the man active; that is, in motion during SEX LIFE 57 sexual intercourse, while the woman is passive. If a boy is desired, the conception should take place from the ninth to the fourteenth day after the menstrual period is over. If a boy has been decided upon, the mother may eat well for the first thirteen weeks and, after that, starved, almost, for the day of the big bouncing eight and twelve-pound baby boy is passing. The dietetics during gestation—while the mother is carrying the child—will greatly determine the size of the child. A baby ought not to weigh more than three pounds. Neither one of the babies in the family of the writer weighed more than three pounds and yet they grew just as fast and developed as well as your boasted twelve- pound baby. If the baby is to be a girl the mother may eat more during the whole time of pregnancy, but the diet should consist of vegetables, fruit and milk. The raw diet as outlined elsewhere in this book is, for the ordinary per- son, an ideal diet to follow during gestation. If the baby is small at birth it usually grows faster than a big baby. All well-born children should resemble the opposite. A girl should resemble the father and a boy resemble the mother. Especially well-born girls will look like the baby's grandmother and especially well-born boys will look like the grandfather. When a woman knows that she is to become a mother—the highest office that God bestows upon the human family—she should be sure that she works in conjunction, a co-laborer with God, to bring forth the very best child possible. If time has been taken to 58 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE properly prepare the bodies and time taken to properly give conception, the child has a winning chance to be- come the most successful child; but this should not be counteracted by wrong thoughts of the mother during pregnancy. Now science refutes the notion that a mother can change the mind or talent of the unborn child, by the thoughts she entertains during gestation; but this is a later decision of science. We have thought for genera- tions that pre-natal influence has a great deal to do in the life of the unborn child; but that is no longer accepted. It is now believed that, at the moment of conception, all the child's talent has been created and all of the thinking in the world of the mother, dur- ing gestation, will not change the talent or the bent of that particular child. While this is true, there is also a deleterious effect that the mother would have upon her child's life by holding the thought that it is going to be an artist, a painter, a musician or a poet. This wrong effect—by the mother suggesting to her own con- sciousness what she intends her baby to be—would be fostered and forced upon her child during its childhood and adolescent period. A strong will of a mother—con- tinually suggesting to the boy that he ought to be some- thing that, God did not intend he should be—may force him to take up a kind of vocation that God never in- tended he should follow. No mother is wise enough to try to interfere with the natural God-given tendencies of her child's talent. The proper think for a mother to do, during gestation, is to hold the thought that this is God's child and, whatever God wants it to do, that he will do; and, when that thought is entertained, the SEX LIFE 59 mother, herself, will be in the proper frame of mind to follow the bent of the child's vocational desires so she will spend her energy to the utmost to lead and guide her child to do the thing that nature intended that he should do. In this way the mother is a co-laborer with God, in mapping out her boy's career. Then, when the advent of the baby comes and home has been blessed—the greatest way that God knows how to bless mankind—the mother should be careful that she never nourishes the baby in any emotional state, whatsoever. In the author's book "Applied Psychology and Scientific Living," under the chapter of "Chemistry of Emotion," we go into great detail, explaining that every negative or emotional state pro- duces a chemical action in the blood, which creates poisons of various and different kinds, according to the emotional state. Therefore, if a mother is worried ,fret- ful or over-anxious her thoughts produce a chemical poison which, in turn, is fed to the child through the breast. If she is temperamental and should have a mind filled with hatred, jealousy, envy, sorrow or tinctured with disappointment, grief and depression; she is cre- ating actual poison which she will pass on to her little babe. Therefore, if anything should occur, which brings into her life some discordant or negative thought, before the babe is nourished, she should follow the direc- tions as given elsewhere in this book of how to enter the silence and how to cleanse the aura and thus get her mind and body in a relaxed, peaceful condition; and then, in the silence, nurse her baby. If this is done after there has been the proper conception, the mother 60 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE is doing the best that modern science and psychology knows today for the development of a super-man. By going into the silence, as we have taught you, the menstrual period will return—even though the change of life has been fifteen years previous. This, of course, means return of life and youth and vigor to the woman—eternal youth. Spinsters, who have passed the menopause may likewise have the menses returned, by going into the silence. This will arouse the creative energy and, if properly used, send it up to the brain where it will be of value, and she will know youth forever and ever. The menstrual period will be returned by bring- ing the consciousness into the sex organs while going into the silence and, if for any reason a woman pre- fers not to have the menopause returned, she may bring her consciousness to the other parts of her body, omit- ting localizing it in the sex organs. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER II. THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND.* How to Go to Sleep—How to Awaken. Deny Oneself— "Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me." Your vibration, your success, your happiness of tomorrow depends upon the thought you entertain in your Conscious mind tonight. And the thought which you have in your Consciousness tomorrow depends mostly upon the thought which you give to your Subcon- scious mind tonight and upon the first thought which enters your mind upon awakening in the morning. Your thought upon awakening in the morning will be the same thought, if it has been properly suggested to the Subconscious mind, as you had upon going to sleep at night. What are your thoughts on awakening? Much will depend upon what they were when sleeping. If you are going to have a wholesome, harmonious, happy, successful tomorrow, determine first of all that your thoughts upon going to sleep tonight shall not refer to today's troubles, failures, mistakes or shortcom- ings ; but that they shall be centered upon the glorious opportunities of the new day. Too often the cares and troubles of yesterday come trooping back, as we slowly emerge from Dreamland *For a preliminary foundation study of the Subjective Mind, see "Applied Psychology and Scientific Living" by th« Author. 64 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE and, if our mind is filled with the cares of yesterday and the worries of the night before, we start the day with the wrong mental attitude, wrong vibrations, wrong spiritual balance. Therefore we will be weakened in mind and body and we are not prepared to meet the new affairs that we may have to face. Therefore, if we are going to begin tomorrow right, we must learn how to make preparation the night be- fore. Then, we must awaken in the morning with the thought of the goodness of man and not of the mean- ness of man; we must think of the wonderful possi- bilities within us, of the great opportuntites which are ahead of us and with thanksgiving and gratitude that we have the power, with Omnipotence, to solve every problem; to overcome every handicap; to rise above every mistake; to forget every failure; to sur- mount every obstacle and cope with any situation. If we would begin the day with a few minutes of inspired, hopeful, courageous and victorious thoughts— what a difference it would mean through the whole day! Our awakening thoughts, according to Psychology, ought first to be those of gratitude and thanks- giving; and these ought surely to include some recog- nition of the divine protection and guidance that con- stantly surrounds our lives. Those that lead us into paths that are right, prosperous, peaceful and joyful. That father who makes it a point to be at the bed- side of his little boy when he awakens every morning, has the right idea to teach his son Divine Parental Pro- tection. The idea is that, as the boy comes back to consciousness, after sleeping, it is far better for the child to see his father at the bedside than a hired serv- THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 65 ant. The boy's first impression upon awakening is one of protection that the father can give his child. He awakens, surrounded by love and faith thoughts, that there is a human divinity who will care for his •very need. We older children, awakening in the morning, ought to have the same faith and consciousness that in the Universal Life there is a "Divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we will." We ought to have the consciousness, as we awaken in the morning, that the All-Wise, All-Gracious, All- Loving, Spirit of God is Ever Present and where that spirit is there can be no anxiety, no worry, no doubts, no troubles and no fears. If we can begin each day with such a confidence in the Divine Being at our bedside, as the boy who can see his father at his side, we have purged our minds of all negative thoughts which so often cramp, limit, frustrate and weaken our powers of accomplishment. No one can ever do his or her best who is obsessed by worry, fear, anxiety or limitation. Therefore, to know how to awaken in the morning with a mind that is free from the corroding care of yesterday, is one of the great things for man to under- stand. Follow the directions below and you will have a day with 50% to 75% more efficiency. First, the mind must be clarified, emptied, of all negative, harmful, uncontrolled, despondent or dis- cordant thoughts, as I have told you in our chapter on "The Human Aura;" and, if we do not have our mind thus clarified, purified, expurgated and emptied, we may not have our desire granted. 66 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE That is what Christ meant by "Deny yourself and follow me." How often Scripture has been mis- translated and the wrong interpretation laid upon the shoulders of the Master of Galilee. When Christ is quoted as saying, "If any man will follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross," by "denying," He meant emptying. What a difference! God or Christ never intended that man should be so foolish as to deny himself of the joys, of the opportunities and suc- cesses of life. God never has and never intended to give the impression that to live a righteous life, one must ex- pect to bear a "cross." What the Master meant was that if we were to follow Him in his teachings—to try to live his kind of a life—'' which brings Life and brings it more abundantly,'' we must empty our minds—elimi- nate every false notion, every preconceived idea about God and religion, every false conception of Truth here and hereafter, every wrong idea of what God is and what the future may reveal! Rid your mind of every negative, harmful, uncontrolled, despondent, despair- ing or discordant thought. When the mind is empty of preconceived notions and all negative thoughts, only then is it in a position to follow Christ: that is, to accept his teaching, to understand his conception of God and to understand his greater conception of living. Just as Christ meant that we should empty our minds instead of denying ourselves, so, when He said "take up your cross," He meant that his cross is like the sail to a boat; wings to a bird and a yoke THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 67 to the oxen, it makes our burdens lighter—His teach- ing, His way of living, His life. Therefore, if we take up His teachings of love, His simple, unselfish way of living, and His example of Life, we are going to have a more successful, happy and peaceful experience in the flesh. So His cross of right teaching, right living and right life is as the sail to a boat, guiding us into the harbor of safety; like wings to the bird, making our journey easy, joyful; like the yoke to the oxen, making the load and the burden of Life easier to pull. To put chains around the neck of the oxen would make the oxen's load impossible to draw. His teaching of the way of living and Life takes the place of the old chains of misguided superstitious notions of God. Living His Life puts upon our shoulders, padded by Divinity, the "yoke" that makes our heavy-laden wagon easy to draw. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. To "empty" ones self is to realize this. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER III. SUBCONSCIOUS MIND—Continued. How the Sub-Conscious Mind Will Accomplish Any- thing That You Want It to Do. How to Put It To Work. The Subconscious Mind will absolutely do any- thing you want done in life, if you will command it in the right way and be persistent in the repetition of your wishes and commands. There are two periods when the subconscious mind works the best for us—gets in its best licks—first, while we are asleep and, second, just as we awaken in the morning. There is a semi-wakeful consciousness, just as we are emerging from the sleep state to con- sciousness. This is the palace door to the Chamber of Wonders. This period of semi-consciousness lasts but a very few minutes, with some a little longer than others; this is the time when the subconscious mind performs wonders. Whatever thought enters this semi-wakeful state will usually be the predominating thought during the day and the thought, which we have suggested to our sub-conscious mind at night, will be the thought which enters this semi-conscious state in the morning. So it is most important that the subconscious mind be given the right suggestion at night. 72 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Remember that the subconscious mind is like a soldier—it wants to be told what to do—it wants to be commanded. The first preparation to be made at night, in com- manding the subconscious mind, is to take proper exercises. (See Chapter on Exercises.) Then after we have completely emptied our mind of all negative and discordant thoughts (as mentioned in the last chapter and chapter on "The Aura," to get the absolute, best results from commanding the subconscious mind to do that which we want done, is to enter the "Silence" as we have told you. (See Chapter on "The Silence.") As you enter the silence before retiring, make your affirmation for that which you most desire, the same thought which you are going to suggest to your sub- conscious mind as you go to sleep at night and as you awaken in the morning. After the "silence" retire, lying flat on your back, without a pillow.* Take your Rythmic Breathing; then, bringing the consciousness up to the forehead, suggest to your subconscious mind the thought that you held in the silence—that which you most desire—repeating this a number of times, without tension or weariness, fatigue or tired expression, until you drop off to sleep. Let the last thing that enters your mind be that which you most desire. Nod, your subconscious mind, after it has been trained, has taken the suggestion that you have given to it and, while you are asleep, it is working on this sug- *If lying flat on your back causes you to snore, you may overcome this by suggesting to your subconscioua mind tho affirmations as given in the next chapter. THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 73 gestion continuously. As the last thing which you thought about at night will be the first thing which enters your consciousness in the morning, you will see the great efficacy in the proper suggestion and com- mand to the subconscious mind at night. As you have started the day, the best possible way that it could be started—suggestion to the semi-wakeful state, this state in which we are neither asleep nor awake, the "Threshold of the Palace of Slumber," which is fraught with unlimited possibilities—so as a rule will the rest of the day be directed; and if you will during the day often continue the same suggestion which you had given the night before and again took as the thought upon first awakening from slumber, you will be surprised to see the wonderful and often quick results which follow if the mind is thus properly commanded at night and again in the morning. We should continue the suggestion or command to our subconscious mind at night, and in the semi-wakeful state in the morning and during the day until we see a perceptible change, either mental or physical, toward the desire for which we are working. If you are accustomed to sleeping with a pillow and should awaken; after you have dropped off into sleep, with your head flat on the bed and seem restless, it will be all right, until you become used to sleeping without a pillow, to let the head rest comfortably on a pillow for the rest of the night. Contrary to the old notion that we should sleep on our right side, is the physiological truth that to lie upon the back is the proper way. The body consists of two trough-like arrangements (right and left) into 74 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE which the organs on either side rest in their natural position when we are lying on the back. If you wish to prove this for yourself, lie flat on your back for ten or fifteen minutesc, perfectly relaxed; then get up and note the better tone of your voice, which means strength and vigor in the body and alert- ness in the brain. Recapitulation: To get the best results from the functioning of the subconscious mind, adhere to the following directions: 1. Exercise. 2. Empty the mind of all negative, discordant and inharmonious thoughts, etc. 3. Practice the Silence. 4. Upon retiring, lie flat on the back, without a pillow. 5. Take Rhythmic Breathing. 6. In this position, again take the affirmation held in the Silence. 7. When the mind is absolutely emptied of all dis- cordant thoughts, repeat, without stress or strain—a number of times—without being fatigued or wearied, your desire, whatever you want in life. 8. As you enter the semi-wakeful, semi-conscious state in the morning, repeat the same affirmation as at night. 9. Exercises. 10. Music—either by yourself or someone in the family singing or playing; piano player, or victrola. (See Chapter on Music, its healing effect.) NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER TV. SUBCONSCIOUS MIND—Continued. How to Make It Work For You During Sleep. What It Will Do For You. In the last chapter we have told you that the best results by auto-suggestion are obtained during the som- nolence preceding sleep and accompanying the awaken- ing—immediately before sleeping at night and imme- diately after beginning to awaken in the morning; that the half-asleep, half-awake or "Hypnagogic State" is most favorable to success. This state can be induced at other times but the suggestion may have to be made over and over again, not with a sense of stress or strain but calmly and with quiet assurance. Auto-suggestion must be persistent and systematic. Do you want to change your position? Subcon- scious mind will do it. What do you want most? Command the subcon- scious mind, as directed in the last chapter and it will bring it to pass. Do you want to be proficient in your work? The subconscious mind will do it. Would you have initiative ? The subconscious mind will accomplish your desire. Would you be beautiful? Leave it to the subcon- scious mind. Would you always remain young? The subcon- scious mind will give you youth. 78 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Do you want to raise money for any particular project, to pay debts or to be used in any way to fur- ther your life's ambition or business? The subcon- scious mind will be your promoter. Would you have judgment? To give you judgment is the province of the subconscious mind. Would you be happy in your domestic relationship ? The subconscious mind will be the adjuster. Would you have knowledge, without High School or College training. The subconscious mind will direct and give you original knowledge. Are you in any way fearful, afraid in the dark, afraid to plan larger things, afraid of success? The subconscious mind will drive out all fear. Are you timid or self-conscious ? The subconscious mind will eliminate all weakness. Would you be liked by everyone? The subcon- scious mind will turn the trick. Would you have health? Leave it to the subcon- scious mind. In short, anything that you want the subconscious mind will do for you. As an illustration, to get a position or change your vocation: In a certain city, where I conducted a cam- paign, lived a young man who was unhappy in his partnership relation—conditions were becoming worse and more unpleasant until the man was almost dis- tracted. He, not knowing what to do and not being able to get out of his dilema, finally gave the solution of his problem to the subconscious mind. In less than one month that man changed his posi- tion—went into work for which he was better fitted, THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 79 which brought him more happiness, more business, and incidentally a bigger income. Within thirty days from the time he had first commanded his subconscious mind to change his business relationship, he had that which he wanted—and more—for it was not long before one of the leading daily papers printed an article over this man's signature, every day of the week. Indeed, the subconscious mind will perform any task. Here is an affirmation that will direct you to your vocation—that will find for you and lead you to that work in which you will be happy, successful and pros- perous. "My Subconscious Mind, I desire and command you to direct me in my life's vocation, where I will be successful, happy and prosperous." Notice in this affirmation, given above, we include "be successful, happy and prosperous." A man may be, in his vocation, successful and pros- perous and yet not be happy. He may be, in his vocation, successful and happy and yet not be very prosperous. But, if we take an affirmation that is broad enough to incorporate all that we need, there is no limitation put upon the Law and it will bring to us, by virtue of "no limitation," everything instead of a part. If we should ask our Subconscious Mind to direct us to our life's vocation—we might become a lawyer, in debt; happy but not successful. Or, we might become a successful lawyer and not be happy in our business surroundings or home life. Possibly, we may become a happy, successful lawyer—as the world may view us—and still not be 80 PRAOTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LD7E prosperous. We may be successful in collecting money for others but not in collecting it for ourselves. I have known many lawyers—successful—who could not col- lect or attract money for themselves. Suppose we are filled with fear for launching out in another vocation; fear for money investments; fear for business success. Suppose we are afraid in the dark. Then let us take an affirmation such as this: All Nature is lovely and kind to others and me. All Life is permeated and filled with Love. Spirit is Abundance, Prosperity and Success. God is everywhere, Omnipresent—and where God is, there can be only His Guardian Presence, Abundant Love, Prosperity and Success. Knowing this, I am filled with Courage, Hope, Faith, Abundance, Health, Life and Success. The above affirmation on fear covers: Fear in gen- eral, Fear of the dark, Fear for poverty, Fear for suc- cess. Bear in mind, in making affirmations, it is always best not to make one in the negative. Although many, many people can demonstrate by negative affirmation, it must of necessity be a round-about, longer way. For instance, if I say: "I shall not fear" ... I am keeping fear in my consciousness by the repetition of the word "Fear;" and if I say: "I am not afraid in the dark" ... I am, by repeating the phrase "Afraid in the dark," keeping the "Fear" thought in my mind. Our aim should be to make an affirmation just the opposite to that over which we are demonstrating, with- THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 81 out using the word or phrase itself. When we are mak- ing our affirmation—saying that we will have no fear of the dark—it would be better to say: "All Nature is lovely and kind to others and me." We suggest here just the opposite of Fear in the Dark. If I have fear thoughts of sickness or business and say: "All Life is permeated and filled with Love," I am taking a thought which crowds out Fear of any- thing in Life, putting Love in its place. If Life is filled with Love, there can be no ill-health, or harm come to me in the business world. If I am afraid of a position, or filled with fear of Poverty or fearful lest I shall not be a success—I should not want to take an affirmation suggesting poverty, or fear of success, but take some other thought which will crowd these fear thoughts out of the sub-conscious life. Therefore, to say: "Spirit is Abundance; Spirit is Prosperity; Spirit is Success;" I am putting into my Subconscious Mind the stronger, positive thought of Spirit, which crowds out all Poverty, Lack and Failure thoughts. When I say "Spirit is Abundance," I am bound to have a quicker result than were I to say: "Spirit is not Poverty." By expressing Abundance to my mind, I have completely crowded out the poverty thought; while if I say '' Spirit is not Poverty,'' I know it is not Poverty but it will suggest the word "Poverty" to' the subconscious mind. Going back to being afraid in the dark: If we say, "God is Omnipresent and where God is there can be only his Guardian Presence," there can be nothing to be afraid of. Also remember that the subconscious mind enter- 82 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE tains only one thought at a time and if we oan substitute some thought in our mind, the opposite of that wrong thought which is obsessing our subconscious mind, we have easily solved the problem. Timid? If I say, "I am not timid," I still say "timid" and by saying "timid," I am still suggesting timidity to the subconscious mind. Mark you, how- ever, we can overcome by using these negative sugges- tions, but not as quickly. So if I am timid, I take such a suggestion, "I am strong and courageous, Filled with Life and Power and able to meet all conditions and circumstances with a victorious attitude." Another one, "I like to meet peo- ple ; mingle with folk; talk to men; and they, in turn, enjoy and appreciate my presence and conversation." You readily see the virtue of making an affirma- tion the opposite of our negative thought, without any suggestion whatever of the weakness, which we may want to overcome. For more affirmations, see Chapter on "Affirma- tions." NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER V. SUBCONSCIOUS MIND—Continued. How It Works For Us—Producing Health and Proficiency. All health demonstrations come by the power of suggestion. There may be a thousand and one ways to have a healing demonstration by suggestion. The mind working for our health while we are asleep is a sure way of obtaining health. The body, remember, is composed of cells. These cells are re- solved into atoms, molecules and electrons; these cells are filled with intelligence. The body is rebuilt every eleven months, so that the cells which we have today will be completely replaced by other cells eleven months hence. Thought affects the cells. The intelli- gence in the atoms, molecules and electrons respond in a most wonderful way to the suggestion given through thought to the subconscious mind. One illustration, I am sure, will suffice to illustrate the great power that can be exercised by the subcon- scious mind: There is a man in Indianapolis, a successful insur- ance man, now walking the same as any other person and yet, when he was a boy, he was stricken with a disease that the family doctor had pronounced fatal. To emphasize his belief in the fatality of the disease, which had made a deformed cripple of the little boy, the doctor said that his own child had died from this 86 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE same trouble and that there was no known cure in the world for this disease. The mother, in her despair, through her tears, said to the family physician: "Well, Doctor, if you were I, what would you do?" And he replied with what any mother would want to be told: "I would fight as long as there is life." So the mother began, with the boy, the practice of Mental Suggestion and this is the suggestion or affirma- tion that the child used: "I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, har- monious and happy and what I am and have, I desire and wish for all living creatures." That deformed, crippled child is now a normal, suc- cessful man. (For an even more wonderful example, see "Will Power and Success," by the author, page 227.) [For more health affirmations, see Chapter on Affirmations.] Any disease known to man can be produced by thought and what thought produces thought can also erase and the best time to help yourself to help your thought is while you sleep. You may just as well set your mind to work for you—to produce health or more proficiency in business —than to let it ramble along aimlessly. The subjective mind is always working—it never rests—and, if we do not give it something to do, constructively, it is going to ramble along unguided, wasting energy and losing time for us. The subjective mind, if not put to work, goes aimlessly about—like a madman with no direc- tions or like an army with no general or like a herd of cattle without guidance. That is the reason of our THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 87 dreams (but for more on this, see Chapter on "Dreams and Their Meaning"). It is very essential, upon retiring at night, that the subconscious mind be given some definite work to per- form: If you want health, give health suggesions; if more proficiency, then command it to make you pro- ficient; as, for instance (I am quoting Mrs. Warner) : " 'If you desire to become proficient in any line of work, just say to this wonderful sub-mind Avhen you are going to sleep, 'Soul, I desire to have now, while my con- scious mind is in abeyance, all the wisdom and knowl- edge that I can make use of in this conscious work that I am doing and I thank you that you do always respond to my needs.' " If you do not see results from suggestion, if you fail in your undertakings, it is because you have not given sufficient force or energy to your suggestion or you have not repeated it enough. By "force," we do not mean loudness—we do not have to speak even audibly—but we mean CONCENTRATION, FREE FROM STRESS OR STRAIN. That is the kind of "force" that gets the best results and, by all means, remember that, if you do not have the results you want, it is due to lack of force, energy and REPETITION. For more proficiency, we should learn how to write letters without any negative thoughts. For instance, we should never say we are "sorry"—it is not well to write letters "we are sorry thus and so"—for, each time that we say we are "sorry," we bring up "sorry" to our consciousness and to the one to whom we give the expression and, instead of forgetting the past and eliminating the condition for which we are sorry, we 88 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE still keep that in our consciousness, producing more things to be "sorry" for. If you are a business man and some customer has been disappointed in getting an order that was promised and you should get a pert letter from the customer, complaining that the order had been delayed, it is not well to answer that customer by saying "I am sorry that your goods have not been delivered, etc." It would be much better to say, "I am glad to inform you that the goods will go forward at an early date." In trying to build up your health and make your- self more efficient, have no regrets for the past and do not live over the mistakes which you have made— let the past dead bury the dead and live for the NOW and the FUTURE. No one can regain health speedily and increase his efficiency if he is going to continually brood over the past. You never have any results by making resolutions in a remorseful state. You might just as well spend your energy thinking in a constructive way as to waste your energy making resolutions in remorse. In the dim days that are gone, many milleniums ago, when in our country we had an institution known as the "saloon"—which some of you people have read about in ancient history—we had "habitues" who, after coming out of a "spree"—with splitting headache and mouth burning from the effects of the aleohol— would place their hand upon their heart and their mind upon the Bible and swear never to drink again. But no one ever made a resolution in such a condition or in any state of remorse and kept it. If you are not well and are having poor results, THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 89 it may be that you are not suggesting to yourself with enough force and energy or are not repeating your affirmations enough or it may be that your conscious mind is not strong enough to impress your subconscious mind; therefore, it is well to get others who will sug- gest to you the same thought which you are holding yourself. This can be done in a room with two or three others, with a half dozen or more, or you can do it in class where you have several hundred minds thinking on the same theme. For this, you could take any of the health affirmations which are found in another part of this book, if you have a number of other people with you, take this simple, strong, positive affirmation, which we use in our class demonstration: "HEALTH, LIFE, LOVE, GOD." This may be enhanced by suggestions of motion. Let the operator stand behind the chair in which the patient is seated and with the hands a few inches above the head, let the hands pass over the head, down the sides of the head, over the shoulders, down the sides of the patient, in rhythmic form—much as a hypnotist uses gestures in putting his subject to sleep. This, in no way, whatsoever, has any hypnotic influence over the patient but ADDS to the suggestion of the affirmation besides producing a magnetic and electrical vibration which, alone, often will heal a person not well. We may have our subconscious mind heal us while we sleep—by the Law of Visualization, which we speak of in another chapter in this book. As well as taking your affirmations for health, if you will picture in the subconscious mind the organ or part of your body, which is not well, in its normal state; and if then you will drop off to sleep with this picture vivid in your sub- 90 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE conscious, this picture becomes a blue-print or design which, in turn, becomes a DIRECT COMMAND to the cells of that part of the body which is not normal. Many people have results with this kind of "visualizing during sleep'' better than in concentration by thought. You may also practice self-treatment by speaking aloud to the cells of your body—remembering that these cells are intelligence and that they respond to the thought impressed upon them. For example, you talk to your stomach—which is not functioning well—in this manner: "The cells of my stomach are well, whole and complete and are readjusting themselves to pro- duce a perfect, harmonious and normal-functioning organ." Talk to your stomach or any organ of your body with as much attention and precision and direct- ness as you would talk to an individual. Anything which reaches the subconscious mind becomes a suggestion to it—it makes its imprint or impression. The subconscious mind is imprinted in the cells of the physical body so we find that mental in- fluence becomes a direct command to the cell structure of the body and, inasmuch as these cells have intelli- gence, whatever suggestion we can get to the cells— either by affirmation, concentration or visualization— will change the structure of the cells, which, in turn, will change the structure of the body. If eating is followed as outlined elsewhere in this book you will never have constipation, but if you are treating someone who has constipation you can, by the law of suggestion, bring about regular bowel movement and often do so within a few hours. The best time is to give the suggestion to the sub- THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 91 conscious mind upon retiring for the night. If it is for a patient, thoroughly massage the stomach and abdo- men by circular movement, for ten minutes, taking this affirmation: All of the Organs of Your Body Are functioning normally, And your bowels will move in the morning. This may be enhanced by two or more taking the suggestion with you, as we have mentioned at other times in this book—hetero suggestion. You may even set the hour when there may be a regular movement, if you have the patient well enough under control and it is not a too stubborn or chronic case. You could even take a patient at twelve o'clock noon and at five o 'clock in the afternoon there would be a movement. WHEN YOU WAKE UP, GET UP. A certain salesman, who took our course and who had a line of goods which required him to be on the road but for a small part of the time, always awakened about six o'clock in the morning, but—when he was not traveling and had nothing in particular to do except to "kill time"—would turn over and go to sleep; and, after thus awakening, turning over and go- ing to sleep a number of times, would finally get up at nine o 'clock in the morning. "WHEN YOU WAKE UP, GET UP" began to be practiced by this salesman. These three hours, which he had been losing—for part of the time—for many years, were now put to valuable work for him and his effici- ency much increased. There are many things that a man can do when he is not calling on trade: he can 92 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE improve his time; he can enlarge his vision; he can work toward a greater goal; he can develop his mind for more efficiency. WHEN YOU WAKE UP, GET UP. Remember to awaken slowly so that the semi- wakeful consciousness will be able to impress its thought upon the subconscious mind and THEN: WHEN YOU WAKE UP, GET UP! NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER VI. SUBCONSCIOUS MIND—Continued. Suggestions for Child and Adult During Sleep. Dr. James J. Putman, of Harvard, one of the lead- ing neurologists of the country, in a recent lecture on "Nervous Breakdown" gladdened the hearts of anxious mothers and also increased their responsibility, by say- ing that "the nervous child can be changed, through adequate training, the pursuit of suitable ideals and the discipline of living, into a useful, tranquil and self- controlled adult." The greatest result in this respect may be accom- plished during sleep. While suggestion during sleep has its best results before the child is twelve years of age, yet it is true that older children and adults can receive great help and succor, in fact, many adults will receive just as beneficial results by suggestion given to them by others while they sleep, as children may receive. You will remember that we have said before that the subconscious mind will hold but one thought at a time, and that the best time for most beneficial results is during sleep and just before consciousness in the morning. The best method, perhaps, in suggestion dur- ing sleep is to sit by the bedside as the child goes to sleep and, after breathing has announced that he 96 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE is asleep, begin speaking to him in tones that are natural; or, after the child has gone to sleep you may come into the room gently and naturally, without being afraid of awakening him and, after taking a few steps toward his bed or crib, pause for probably three or four minutes until the child becomes used to your presence, after which walk again toward his bed and pause once more and then, as you reach his bedside again, pause until the child's consciousness has thoroughly become accustomed to your presence. Then you may either sit by the bed or stand and speak to the child. Some may have better results by making a few passes of the hand about six inches over the body of the child as you say something like this: "I am going to speak to you. You shall hear all that I have to say but shall not awaken. You are going to enjoy having me here and helping you in things that are of importance for you, but you shall not be conscious of my presence or that I am speaking. You will have no recollection of my being here but will remember what I have told you and will on the morrow perform these little acts of loving service, of manly traits and habits, with cheerfulness of spirit and jubilance of heart. I am now going to help you to have your subconscious mind help yourself so that life's duties and privileges of work and service, of social hours and associations will be most helpful and pleasant to you.'' Continuing speaking in this manner, the child will hear all that you are saying and it will stay with him long after you have ceased talking—and during the hours of sleep. What you suggest to him will be taken THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 97 up by the subjective mind and woven into the child's character. On the morrow it will change his view of things, his decisions and actions. You may see results in one night or it may take weeks of suggestion like this but results are bound to follow if you are persistent in your repetition. You may likewise go to a friend or person of any age, while he is asleep, and sit or stand by him for a few moments, in silence, until his consciousness becomes used to your presence. You may make passes over him with your hands about one foot above the body, more or less, from the head downward, from three to five minutes, saying, in a natural and very low tone, phrases some- thing like these: "You are sleeping soundly." "You are sound asleep." "You are asleep." If the child or adult should show any signs of awakening, cease for a time and then resume. You may lay your hand on his hand or head and say: '' You are sleeping soundly,'' "You are asleep." "You are sound asleep." "You will hear all I say and do all I tell you but you shall not be disturbed or awakened." Then you may talk to him about morals, health, position, temperament, or anything which you wish to see manifested in his life, and he will respond to these suggestions and carry them out, not knowing why, other than the inward impulse to do so. Should you want to see in a more definite way the real results of the subjective mind respond to sug- gestions—if you should be skeptical as to the faculty of the subconscious being able to take a suggestion and respond thereto—you might, before giving him any suggestions, tell him that you want to talk with him 98 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE and that you want him to converse with you, assuring him that he can talk and carry on a conversation but that he will not awaken. Then ask him if he is not resting well; or suggest to him that he smells a flower and ask him if it is not fragrant, repeating these ques- tions until he answers you. Continue your talking, assuring him that he will not awaken. When he begins answering you, you can ask him for any opinion, bear- ing on his actions that have puzzled you and you will receive the correct understanding. You can ask him to co-operate with you in anything that you want him to do and he will promise to carry it out. It is not necessary, by any means, to have this conversation with a person and yet, in some cases, it is quite helpful. Therefore if you do not get the results that you should like to have, by suggestion, without the person answering, it may be that his mind can be reached better by first having him carry on a conversa- tion with you, as above mentioned, before you give the suggestions that you should like to see carried out in his life. And, always before leaving him, leave the sug- gestion of health, mental or moral improvement, so that it will rest on his mind and, as you leave him, assure him that he will not recollect anything about it in the morning; and he will not, although he will do what you have told him. Bear in mind that during the sleeping state, as we have suggested in this chapter, the very best results may be obtained for health; but health is not all. As already mentioned, you may suggest anything and the THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 99 subconscious mind will be the weaver of your health and destiny. Any person may help himself in any way whatso- ever by auto-suggestion, as we have mentioned in a pre- vious chapter but, should you not receive the beneficial results within a reasonable length of time, it is well to have other minds to suggest to you as we have men- tioned elsewhere. The philosophy or science in this respect is that two minds are much more powerful than one and six minds all concentrated on the one theme or the one affirmation to one person often is quite neces- sary for beneficial results. This kind of suggestion (hetero suggestion) is explained in detail under the Healing Section in this book. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER VII. SUBCONSCIOUS MIND—Continued. How to Help Children and Adults by Suggestion During Sleep, Concluded. Adolescence. Practical Application. Teaching a Child Auto Sug- gestion. A subject under hypnosis may be told by the operator that tomorrow at four o'clock he is going to try to climb over a stone wall and, not knowing why, tomorrow at four o'clock he will attempt the feat sug- gested to him. The action of suggestion during sleep of the child or adult works much upon the same principle when we tell the child during sleep that tomorrow he will enjoy the practice of music; that at 4:00 he will go to the piano and be happy in preparing his lesson. By the practice of suggestion during sleep the child will act upon your suggestion, in time. In a former chapter you have learned how to give suggestion during sleep. Now what would you like to have your child do? Does your child have a temper and would you like to have this temper under control? Very well. After you have entered the room or talked to the child, until he has become accustomed to your presence and your voice and you have told him that 104 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE he will hear what you have to say and not awaken; that he will do what you want him to do but will not remem- ber your presence; then you may take such a suggestion and affirmation as this for the mastery of his temper: "You enjoy peace and harmony and loving fellowship with your playmates and friends, always having peace and poise; you are filled with the desire to have com- mand of yourself always.'' If your child is backward in getting his lessons in school, suggest to the child that he is normal, natural and capable of doing anything that man can do, that he not only enjoys getting his lessons but that he will be most pleased at better grades and at the congratulation of his teacher for being well prepared in his lessons. If a child is selfish or has any bad trait or evil habit, if constructive suggestions are given to the child in the sleep state, he will overcome these weaknesses. If your child is not pleasant and seems to be morose and far from cheerful, complaining about life and its surroundings, it is very easy, perhaps in one night, to have the child change his mind. But, of course, in suggesting to children during sleep it is the same as any other suggestion—auto-sug- gestion, as we have carefully outlined in a previous chapter on hetero suggestion (suggestion by others) ; repetition is what brings the speedy and permanent re- sult. If your child does not come down tomorrow, cheer- ful, after he has been "grouchy" for many months, the suggestion should be continued for a number of nights. If a child sucks his thumb or has bad dreams or lack of control of himself at night, all of these mav THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 105 be overcome by affirmations covering the opposite thought, without any negation. This is the time that you can instill into your child, confidence in himself and his future success; courage and grace; hope and power; success and prosperity; joy and peace. One of the short-comings of the human race is the lack of being positive. Here is the time that we can suggest to our child that, in all of his actions, in all of his thinking and in all of his transactions, both in moral and business associations, that he will be positive; decisive and helpful. If you will take time to suggest to your child positive-ism, when he reaches adolescence and manhood, he will have already developed the char- acteristic of the positive man which will mean so much in his life's success, Here is a time when you can put a wall of pro- tection around either a boy or a girl for immorality during the adolescent period, as well as manhood and womanhood. The subconscious mind, as I have outlined in "Applied Phychology and Scientific Living," will accept no immoral thought. (The author's book, "Ap- plied Phychology and Scientific Living," chapter "Sub- conscious Mind.") Therefore, if we make the sug- gestion strong enough so that the child's mind will become impregnated with the suggestion of purity and cleanness, he will not respond or succumb to divers temptations and the many pitfalls and ensnaring traps of the world—of immorality. (For affirmations on immorality and purity see chapter on "Affirmations" in this book.) 106 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE You can suggest to your child strong enough so that he will not listen to obscene stories; much less will he repeat them. He will not stay where immoral sug- gestions are being exploited, nor listen to indelicate conversation. By infusing the subconscious mind with affirmations of purity, the child will unconsciously re- fuse to listen to obscenity or stay in the presence of any one suggesting or committing immoral acts. He will leave, not knowing why. The subconscious mind is his protector. If a parent will be patient enough and give enough time to suggest to the child during sleep, that parent or friend is giving to the boy or girl the greatest means of helpfulness for a moral, clean and happy life that any child of all the world could possibly receive. By following out affirmations, as we give them in another section of this book, on immorality and purity, and making your own affirmations, as we are teaching you to do, the child of course may be conscious of the sex life but will have such a saturated subconscious mind for purity that the conscious evidence of the cos- mic urge will not be a matter of battle with the tenden- cies of passion but a matter of manly and womanly cognizance of life, which will with joy be conserved and saved for the development of brain and brawn. (See first chapter in this book.) Of course we are going to be wise in helping the law to help the child and give careful instructions to the child, explaining the way of life and what it means to conform to the right laws of living. Every child ought to be in frank, confidential rela- tions with some older, wiser person, the parent of THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 107 course preferred, to whom he can and will freely turn during the ten years or so before maturity. Nature of course has many ways of its own to safe- guard against temptation. Many of the very best quali- ties of the human body and mind are built more or less on the basis of sex—manners, dress, ornament, loyalty, devotion, the classic friendship, sentiment of honor, the nobler, purer love and religion itself. Hence, it is plain that whatever strengthens these does most to divert, normalize and spiritualize sex. Here belong first the ideals of body-keeping, physical perfection, strength, agility, skill, beauty, de- velopment of shoulders, chest, arms, legs, a ruddy cheek, clear eye, love of exercise, cold water, of nature afield, of contest and competition involving victory and defeat, the legitimate ambition of being a splendid animal with a strong, flexible voice, defiance of wind and weather, a normal appetite, sane, regular sleeping habits, hearty, free, open manners, laudable passion to excel, a love of rhythmic movements as exemplified in the periods of history when dancing was the most varied and vigorous of all exercises and did most to cadence the soul to virtue and to perfect it for religion. Thus, to know, feel and do these things is developing one of the most effective checks and correctives of every kind of aberration. It is vastly harder to attain these results than to give a few lectures on dangers but it is as much more effective as it is harder. It is in these things that those early corrupted are crippled. This being so, then every introduction of a motor ele- ment in place of the old sedentary modes of training makes for chastity. 108 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Again, the intelligence of youth is normally keen, alert, curious, sprouting with eager, spontaneous inter- est, grasping out for new facts, trying new-found powers of reason, ambitious for the summit like the hero of Longfellow's "Excelsior," often having amaz- ing spells of rapid growth and crises of perseverance, shooting ahead by leaps and bounds in a rapid, intuitive way, possible only for youth. Now every intellectual interest is also a sedative or an alterative of the sensu- ous side, while on the other hand merely formal school topics, dull teaching, listless routine, zestless attention are themselves temptations to passion which always presses for entrance into unoccupied minds and mo- ments and, wherever there are unused functions, tends to satisfy them. Here then lies, too, one of the chief arguments for making education more occupational. The Sensations of Youth. Thirdly, young people need to tingle with senti- ments and the appetite for excitement and sensation is at its height in the teens. Here is where the prin- ciple of vicariousness gives the teacher one of his chief opportunities and resources. Excitement the young must have, for feelings are now their life. If they cannot find it in the worthy, they are strongly pre- disposed to seek it in the grosser forms of pleasure. Hence, every glow of aesthetic appreciation, every thrill aroused by heroism, every pulse of religious aspiration weakens, by just so much, the potential energy of pas- sion, because it has found its kinetic equivalent in a higher form of expression. It is from this point of view that some of our German co-laborers have even THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 109 gone so far as to advocate a carefully selected course of love stories, chosen so as to bring out the most chivalric side of the tender passion at this age, when it is most plastic and capable of idealization; while others have advocated theatre-going to selected plays, palpitating with life, action and adventure, that emotional tension may be discharged not merely harm- lessly, but in an elevating way. Dr. Boyd says: "After years of experimenting, I affirm with a certainty of actual knowledge that you can, by suggestion during sleep, remedy almost any ill of childhood and mature years and, when you have learned the secret of suggestion, you can give sugges- tion in the waking state with equal effectiveness." While we have spoken with special reference to the effectiveness of suggestion during sleep in child life, it is no less potent in the lives of adult people and the same method may be used, by some sympathetic friend, as in the case of children. "But any intelligent man may take his own case in hand and produce the desired results, by giving the suggestions himself, and he may do so either during his waking hours or on going to sleep. Take any feature of your life, physical, mental or moral, that you wish improved and, upon retiring, give yourself suggestions for that purpose and you can work marvels. Call up your unconscious mind which has the direction of your vital forces, and talk to it as your best friend. Tell it firmly and repeatedly just what you want it to do, and trust it to carry it out. Go to sleep with these ideas in mind, or at least without letting any counter- suggestions enter the mind and, while you sleep, the 110 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE forces within will be at work carrying out your wishes. Equally effective will be found suggestions given in our waking, working hours.'' But, if you are going to try to suggest to others during sleep and they are not in perfect accord and harmony with psychology and suggestion or mental therapeutics, be sure that you do not tell others that you are going to practice on them. That gives them an opportunity to be in a negative state so that your effectiveness will be much lessened and your suggestion would have to be repeated for a much longer time. So, don't give an inkling or any intimation that you are going to try the law of suggestion to help them to help themselves, in any way whatsoever. I have a friend who was so interested in learning the great power of the law of suggestion that she could not wait until she told her husband—who was not sympathetic toward mental help. She told him that now she had found something that would cure him of his smoking habit; but the man did not want to be cured of a smoking habit—much less learn something about the law of suggestion—but the dear wife, out of the good- ness of her heart, confided to her husband the way this could be practiced and, after she THOUGHT he had gone to sleep she quietly went into his room, as directed elsewhere in this book; and, after she thought she had allowed him plenty of time to become used to her pres- ence, she began suggesting to her husband in the terms of her own individuality, telling him that he would no longer want to smoke and, after she had continued this for twenty minutes or a half-hour, the man__who had not been asleep—could hold in no longer so he THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 111 turned over and said, "Oh, Thunder! that is not going to do me any good." Best effects cannot be produced where conditions are negative. Keep to yourself your scheme of help- ing others and I should add, perhaps, that if anyone in your home or your circle of friends or your acquaint- ance has not yet come into the realization of the help of the psychological law, do not try to force your opinion and belief upon them. Let them get the light gradually. By continually trying to persuade them to see life from your angle, especially the great mental laws, you only put them on the defensive so that their negative minds may become more negative and you thus make your efforts of much less effect. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER VIII. SUBCONSCIOUS MIND—Continued. How the Children Help Themselves During Sleep. Children like the imagery put into suggestion and in teaching our young children six years of age or so, how to use the subjective mind for themselves during sleep, we might explain to them that the cells of our brain are like little men or little soldiers and, just as soldiers like to be commanded, these little soldiers of our subconscious mind are waiting to receive orders and are very anxious to carry them out. One mother, on a vacation, who had three children drenched in a torrential rain, found herself in a camp- ing situation without any change of clothing for the children and in a most unsatisfactory outing cottage to make the place comfortable for kiddies, wet to the skin; so she tucked the youngsters under the covers of the cot and told them that they should command the little soldiers to protect them during the night. She ex- plained to them that they would not have a cold; that these little soldiers would be on duty all night so that, even though the children were wet and chilly, the little soldiers would see to it that they would awaken in the morning perfectly well, healthy and harmonious. Of course the children had a good time suggesting to their little soldiers to take care of them and be on guard to protect them during the wee hours of the night. 116 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LD7E In this way the child may be taught to overcome his own weaknesses in anything in any way whatsoever. Perhaps some children should like to call these little cells of the subjective mind servants and the children would like to play house and be mistress or master of the house and command the servants to be watchful for their health, welfare, peace, happiness. Be sure to bear in mind that any negative sug- gestion which may be given to the child, unconsciously though it be made, has its effect upon the youngster for time and eternity. Never tell a child that it is slow, dull or backward. That suggestion would make the child just what you suggest. I have in mind one of my patients, nearly forty years of age, who had never been able to accomplish very much in life; in fact, had always been considered backward and defective. This had all been due to the fact that the mother and family had always an idea that Willie could not do things as other children. Willie was not as active when a baby as were the other children of the home—which is a perfectly natural thing for some children—but the mother in comparing her other children's activities to those of Willie, had an idea that her baby Willie was not normal. Filled with fear and terror and trembling because the little baby would lay motionless while her other babies had always kicked and cooed and showed signs of much activity, she nursed her child with these fear thoughts. Of course, she had poisoned her own system by wrong thinking and the nutrition which she was giving to her own little Willie was tinctured by a chemical action THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 117 of thought and she had virtually nursed poison into little Willie. This, together with the thought in her mind that Willie was not normal, gave him a handicap as a baby and then as he grew into boyhood the family was all very careful to not give Willie an opportunity to do things as other boys could do them. They were con- tinuously saying that Willie was not like other children; that Willie could not do things that other children could do. They went to such an extreme that Willie was not even allowed to turn the grindstone, because Willie was not like other boys. This continual sug- gestion to Willie, of course, weakened the perception of Willie, weakened his mentality, broke his spirit and ruined his future. When Willie was nearly forty years of age the family was calling him "Willie" instead of calling him "Bill" or "William," which has the vibra- tion of courage and faith and hope and the confidence of a man, a full-fledged, they were still keeping the man, Willie, in a defective boy's class. The author had not been treating the boy-man Willie two weeks before the family and friends saw a great change in Willie. Of course one of the first things he did was to tell the family never to call him Willie any more; but to call him Bill or William. Then we gave strong, courageous, confident affirmations that he could do anything that man can do and having found out that he had often thought of being a master mechanic, we suggested to Willie-Bill, that he some day would be a mechanic, just as useful to the world as £,ny other man and, now, Bill is a man. Do not say that Johnnie is "such a dull boy" be- 118 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE cause Johnnie, by suggestion, will think that he is dull and the brain cells for study and evelopment will atro- phy. Not John's fault, not the fault of the Creator (for God never makes any defective children. Man does that), but the fault will be wrong suggestion. Tell a boy that he is a dunce and he won't know any better than to accept your '' sage,'' unwise suggestion. Herein is where psychology is not only of such importance to Johnnie, but to the great majority of adults. All we have to do is to either have the suggestion by some one else or suggest to ourselves that we are normal, courageous, filled with life and spirit and wisdom—a masterpiece the same as everyone else—and what others have done, we can do. By such suggestions a man is made a man. By the opposite suggestions man born man may be made a defective. If your boy is inclined to killing birds and bugs, quarreling and fighting: do not tell him that he is a little savage, that he is cruel; but rather tell him that he loves his playmates, that he treats them kindly, that he enjoys protecting dumb animals that are not able to protect themselves. Tell a quarrelsome boy that he is the last one in the world that you would expect to see get into any trouble. Give him the suggestion not of a prize fighter, or of a man-eater, of a cannibalistic tendency, but the suggestion of the opposite—that he loves peace and harmony, good will and kindness, and the greatest joy of his life is helping to protect others. Thomas Parker Boyd says, "Men owe more than they can ever know in this life to the sweet old hymns that mother sang and the stories she told, as they were crossing to the land of dreams in childhood. Those THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 119 simple classics of love and truth, of courage and hon- esty, from the lips of her who served in a thousand holy ministries in the hey-day of our childhood moments of life. They acted as potent suggestions, filling and holding the mind during all the hours of slumber with noble ideals that were woven into every fibre of the child's being. Not one of the tender, endearing words of mother to the sleeping prattler can fail to enlarge his affection and fidelity to her in after life and it is per- fectly logical that out of any fifty songs reflecting such influence forty-nine of them are inscribed to the mother and one to the father. Now, if the mother only knew that here lies the secret of binding her child to her for all after-life; to create in him all noble ideals and purposes; to shield him from evil influences and safeguard him from temptation; to cure him of any bad habits he may form or tendencies he may develop; to build up his physical health, a new race of men would be on the face of the earth." You can, during the sleep state, re-make the tem- peramental and characteristic features of your child. You hold within your power the balance of your child's success and accomplishment. You can teach the child to help himself, and you, in turn, can help the child. The positive, pure, courageous, successful, pros- perous and happy future of your child is held in the palm of your hand by the law of suggestion, and by applying the law, by using much patience and repe- tition, your children in time will rise up and call you "blessed." NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER IX. SUBCONSCIOUS MIND—Concluded. How to Cure Insomnia. After we have clarified our minds of all negative, discordant and inharmonious thoughts of every descrip- tion, after we have emptied our minds as Jesus taught that we should, we are in a preparatory state for the night's complete rest, composure and sleep. When Jesus said, "If a man will follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me," he meant by "deny" to empty one's self. (See Chapter II.) Before one is ready to cure himself of insomnia, the mind must be emptied of every ill thought, unkind vibration, unpleasant memories, unwholesome practices, and discordant thinking. When we have thus clarified our minds we are ready then to prepare to eliminate insomnia, to bring forever a restful sleep. After we have eased our minds as Jesus taught (see Chapter II), and after we are at rest, knowing that his cross is our burden bearer, that his teachings are from God, that we are hid in God's love, mercy and tenderness; there are no ill winds but that he can soothe, no storms but that he can abate, no disasters but that he can prevent, no worries but that he can eliminate and no anxiety but that he can dissolve; then we are ready to lie down, take the following position and forever banish insomnia. 124 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE After the mind has thus been emptied of all nega- tive, discordant, inharmonious and wrong thinking and opened to the influx of the peace, of the protecting care, of the God of Christ—and we know that the great Master is bearing the burden and dissolving all wor- ries—then go into the Silence. Next retire, lying flat on the back without a pillow, taking rhythmic breathing. Then hold an affirmation that "All is good, God is love and spirit meets every care." After charging the sub- conscious mind with this, cross the right foot over the left, putting the left hand upon the right hand over the abdomen or chest and then spray all of the brain with your consciousness; and you will sleep. The bug- bear "insomnia" has crept out of the back door and the Angel of Peace has entered the front gate. If this does not produce sleep proceed as follows: 1. Exercises (see chapter on Exercises in this book). 2. Empty the mind (see chapter on "How to Cleanse the Aura and how to Charge the Subconscious Mind" in this book). 3. Take the Silence, using this affirmation: I am peaceful and calm, And at rest in Divine Love. 4. Sit in a chair, all ready for retiring and take the same affirmation as you had in the Silence for ten minutes, with the following addition, viz.: I am peaceful and calm, And at rest in Divine Love. I am drowsy, drowsy, drowsy, I am sleepy, sleepy, sleepy. THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 125 As you repeat the "drowsy, drowsy, drowsy, and sleepy, sleepy, sleepy," say it with all of the expres- sion of one who is really drowsy and sleepy. This will add materially to the suggestion of sleep. 5. After you have been seated in the chair for fif- teen minutes, having taken the affirmations as men- tioned above, get into bed and lie flat on the back and take rhythmic breathing (see chapter on rhythmic breathing in this book). 6. Still lying flat on the back, without a pillow, the right foot crossed over the left and the left hand crossed over the right resting upon the abdomen, take again your affirmation: I am peaceful and calm, And at rest in Divine Love. I am drowsy, drowsy, drowsy, I am sleepy, sleepy, sleepy. Repeat this many times, then add to the affirma- I am sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. In a few minutes drop the first part of your affirma- I am peaceful and calm, And at rest in Divine Love. And say only as sleepily as you can give expression: I am drowsy, drowsy, drowsy, I am sleepy, sleepy, sleepy, I am sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. One half hour to three-quarters of an hour spent as outlined above will bring sleep to most anyone. 126 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE But should it be a most stubborn and obdurate case use hetero suggestion. That is, while sitting in the chair, have one or more take the suggestion with you Then, upon retiring have one or more repeat aloud the suggestion with you. While seated in the chair and lying in the bed the suggestion may be enhanced and augmented by some- one making passes over the head and shoulders and sides; as well as elsewhere, as outlined in this book, and then with the hands touching the forehead gently, the fingers meeting in the center of the forehead and mov- ing back over the temples and the hair, meeting at the back of the head. Also have the hands on top of the head at different times with the fingers meeting in the center at the top of the head. In both these positions let the hands just touch the forehead and the hair gently as the hands move while taking the affirmation. Then as you lie in bed have someone continue touching the forehead and temples and hair with the hands gently as you make your suggestion. Also, if you have four or six helping, let them stand on either side of the bed and, in rhythm, both in the words and the motion of the hands, let the hands pass over the body, beginning at the head and going down toward the feet about six inches above the body. Repeat the affirma- tion as the hands in rhythm make the passes over the body. The patient may not always be asleep when the operators leave the room but they have suggested to the patient and the patient continuing the suggestion of THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 127 I am drowsy, drowsy, drowsy, I am sleepy, sleepy, sleepy, I am sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. will soon drop off into sleep. The author has had cases of insomnia of twenty and forty years' standing and has never failed to get the patient to sleep from four to six and seven hours the third night of treatment. Usually the first and second night of treatment produces sleep. We have had most stubborn chronic cases of thirty and forty years, where the patient has finally resorted to opiates and where they have not been able to sleep more than an hour or two without resorting to narcotics. The object in crossing the right foot over the left and the left hand over the right as mentioned above is a physiological closing of the upper and lower magnets in man. Man has two magnets, the first magnet from the head to the abdomen and the second from the abdo- men to the feet. By placing the right foot over the left the lower magnet is closed. By placing the left hand over the right on the abdomen the upper magnet it closed. We want the left hand over the right whether we are left handed or not because man gives out with his right hand and therefore when he wants sleep to come into his life, he wants to retain instead of giving out his mind and his energy. When the hands and the feet are crossed we are not so susceptible to receive outside impressions or pass- ing thought waves. We have closed our bodies and minds to incoming currents. 128 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE This is so evident that if you go into a sick room, even where there is contagious disease, and will stand with the feet closed together, or better, with the right foot crossed over the left and the left hand over the right on the abdomen, you will not contract the disease; nor will you feel the lessening of strength which often is felt by those who remain in a sick room for any length of time. The crossing of the hands and the feet, closing both the physiological magnets, clos- ing out thought currents present, prevent you from contracting the disease of the sick. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER X. PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP By the Law of Attraction—Not Force. Loyalty to the Customer or to Anyone Who Deals With Us. There are four underlying principles of salesman- ship. These four foundation stones comprise the basis of all structures for business and selling. The law can be applied in selling anything, whether it be the actual goods from a sample case, whether we want to sell our personality, whether we want to sell religion; whether we want to sell and, by selling, keep love or domestic happiness; whether we want to sell our friendship and, by selling friendship, get more friends; or whether we apply it in a social or business way; these four fundamental principles can and must be used for selling anything. First. Loyalty to your customer or to anyone who deals with you. Second. Loyalty to your house or anyone with whom you deal. Third. Loyalty to yourself. Fourth. Loyalty to God. LOYALTY TO YOUR CUSTOMER. The old method was to get the other fellow before he got you. The new method of business, under the law of psychol- ogy is: Win the other fellow and you will always have him. Let the other fellow win you and you will always have each other. 132 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE The old method of salesmanship, which a lot of people are still practicing by the crocodile method of swamps and jungles, is to set your mind on selling a certain man and sell him whether he needs your goods or not. Never do this again. It is not good psychology in business to start toward your day's sales saying: "Here are five men I am going to close with today." Never say—if it is a love affair: "Here is the one woman; I am going to get her, whether or no." (See Chapter on "Visualiza- tion Applied" in this book, and see Chapters on "Vis- ualization" in the author's book "Applied Psychology and Scientific Living.") Never set your mind on a particular position or job with the determination that you are going to get it; and never determine on selling any thing—any place or any how—without having first applied the Law of Attraction, which we shall explain below. To go back, never say: "I am going to sell these certain people, whether or not;" never try to sell your- self—your love—without the application of the Law of Attraction and Vibration. For instance, if you have dress-goods to sell, there is always someone who wants dress goods. For, bear in mind, there is always a supply before your demand. If you have love to sell, there is, in that, always a supply before the demand. There is always someone who needs the love which you can bestow or there is always a position for you when you are in need of a position. Therefore, to get the best results, you want to be sure that you have not PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 133 short-circuited any of the psychological laws, so that the results may be limited. You want to be so attuned and be such a positive sending station that the dealer who wants the dress- goods will catch your vibration and, by the power of constructive thinking, you will be directed to that particular dealer. Or, if you have love to sell, never set your mind on a particular person that you are going to "land," but be such a positive, wireless, mental sending-station as to send out into the Universal Mind your selling vibrations of love so that someone who is' intended for you and can make you happy will be the receiving station for the love that you have to sell; and again, if it is a position, be so in rapport with the Universal Intelligence that you, in this line (the same as in any other) will be able to project your mind by thought into the Universal Ether so that the customer needing your particular services will be di- rected to you; and so that the one who needs your love will be attracted to you; or the position which you can fill will be opened to you. If this kind of salesmanship is followed, the law is never limited and greater things will be accomplished than if we operate the Law of Force and get the sale by dogged will power or fixed determination of "land- ing" someone in a love affair, by setting out to do the "landing" without being in tune—which attainment would never bring permanent happiness—or by seek- ing a position without being directed to it. The old law of selling goods, the Law of Force, is now superceded by the higher law of Vibration and Attraction and when these laws are operated there will 134 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE be no mistake in getting our customers or our life com- panion, in getting our position or any other desired boon of life. Therefore, if we have—by concentration, vibration and attraction—drawn to us a customer; that cus- tomer not having come by force, but by his wants, will be one who will be easily kept as long as you may have that particular kind of merchandise to sell. Then first: To be loyal to your customer or to any one who deals with you, you must operate the Law of Vibratory Attraction and then, having thus been secured, it will be easy to maintain his patronage or support. Then, after you have made your sale, in anything whatsoever, you must be just as true to yourself and loyal to your customer, or to anyone who deals with you, by being sure that you appreciate the patronage. For instance, a certain manufacturer who buys a great deal of paper, while the unstable war prices were fluctuating, put in a large order of stock. He, like other business men, was in a quandary how much to buy; whether the market was going up or going to drop; whether he was going to be able to buy more when the present supply was gone. After laying in his stock, unexpectedly the market began to drop. Lots of paper in the warehouse; drop- ping market meant thousands of dollars dropped. But he did not drop them—only a few! The sales- man who had taken the order for this large amount of paper called on his customer and asked if he had any paper in stock. "Have I?" said the manufacturer, "I have a warehouse full!" "Do you want to sell any of PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 135 it ?" asked the salesman. '' Sell it! Lead me to the man and I will give half of it away, if you will pay me some cash." "All right," said the salesman, "I know of one man and will find others who need paper and, to protect you from the falling market price, I shall dispose of your surplus quantity just as quickly as I can get in touch with the men who need paper." I do not need to tell you that that salesman has a continued customer in that manufacturer as long as the man who buys paper is still in the business and the salesman has paper to sell. Any modern, up-to-date, progressive, business con- cern, that intends to enlarge its influence and patronage has now what is known as the "one-price system," but it was not always thus. The old way, sixty years ago, and which is some times maintained by smaller business men today, was to buy, barter, argue and dicker until the original price asked had shrunk considerably before the purchase was made and, of course, the dealer who had much more experience, in bartering, arguing and dickering, than his customer, always came out ahead. It did not matter what price you were asked for a cer- tain commodity or what price you gave, the purchaser, as a rule, came out at the "little end of the horn" and paid much more than a reasonable profit to the mer- chant. Mrs. Jones would come into the store of Mr. Smith, the dealer, and pay $7.00 for a skirt; Mrs. Jackson, the same afternoon would come to the same dealer and for the same skirt might pay $11.50. A. T. Stewart, as clerk, had learned the lesson that it always pays to be loyal to the customer. While 136 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE working for one of these misguided dickerers, a ship- ment of dress goods was put on the shelves and the clerks, among whom was young A. T. Stewart, were instructed to sell the goods as all wool. Young Stewart asked the merchant if the goods were all wool and the merchant, told him that that was not his affair—his business was to proceed to sell the customers these goods as all wool. A woman came in and examined this particular piece; the proprietor was standing behind the woman as she faced young Stewart, the clerk. She said to him, "Is that all wool?" and the young clerk, whose daily bread depended upon his clerkship behind that counter, looked past the woman at his employer and then look- ing squarely into the eyes of the customer said, "No, ma'am, it is not all wool, but it is nearly just as good." As soon as the woman had left the proprietor called his young clerk to the desk and Stewart was dismissed without a moment's notice. He had some hard strug- gles obtaining work, but he was convinced that he was right; that loyalty to the customer was the first essen- tial of salesmanship and successful business, so when he became a merchant himself—for that kind of a man is bound to come out on top—he said, "This is not a square deal to the customer." In other words, it was a question of psychological salesmanhsip and A. T. Stewart announced that he was going to establish a one-price system, meaning that every customer rich or poor who came into his store, whether from the East side or the West side, whether from the North or the South of New York, would be treated alike—one price to all. PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 137 Of course, the old-school merchants, bargainers, barterers and dickerers, said that Stewart was "bark- ing up the wrong tree"—that he would never make a success in conducting business on such a sentimental scale as that—and, in order to make money and to enlarge his fortune, he must gouge from one woman where he lost on another and that he must cheat one man where he was equalled by some other. But, the other merchants were wrong. Stewart was right and, upon this basis of the "one-price sys- tem," A. T. Stewart, who began life as a poor clerk, dismissed for being loyal to his customer, rose to be the greatest merchant of his generation and he did it upon the "one-price system"—upon loyalty to those who dealt with him. I knew a great sales-manager, at one time one of the leading sales-managers in the country, who broke in all of his salesmen by the Law of Force—that is by selling goods to a merchant whether the merchant had use for the goods or not and whether or not it was wise to buy as much goods as he was sold. To illustrate his point to a novitiate, the sales- manager went to a certain merchant and, after enlist- ing his interest in the line of goods the manager had to sell, finally persuaded that merchant to go out into the warehouse and there, sitting upon a competitor's order of baking powder—enough to last the grocer five years —the sales-manager sat with the merchant, upon his competitor's five years' supply of baking powder and by the Law of Force, sold the merchant another five years' of the sales-manager's brand, on top of what the grocer already had! Ten years' of baking powder sold 138 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE by the Law of Force to a merchant who ought to have had some of his money to turn over into other goods. "That" said the sales-manager to the novitiate, "is salesmanship." It was! But it was the wrong kind of salesmanship; it was the salesmanship of force, which is fast being relegated to the ash-heap—Ishmael- itish-business-method of dog-eat-dog system. Of course, the man who practices daily the decep- tive arts of disloyalty to his customers, is going to have the same stripes of disloyalty woven through the fabric of all of his mental dealings and disloyalty to his own house is bound to follow. It did in this particular case, for the sales-manager was never with a big house controlling the big sales affairs for any length of time. He had to keep on moving. Loyalty to your customer begets loyalty to your house; loyalty to your house begets loyalty to yourself; loyalty to yourself begets loyalty to God, and loyalty to God begets loyalty to everyone; and loyalty to everyone begets Universal Brotherhood where no one will take advantage of any one else. Then the economic system will be changed and every one will get a square deal for it will be unpsychological to take advantage of a single soul. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XL PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP—Continued. Loyalty to Your House or Anyone with Whom You Deal. The second stone in the foundation of psychological salesmanship and business is: Loyalty to your house or anyone with whom you deal. You cannot be loyal to your house unless you are in love with your work; for unconsciously you will be slighting your work here and there, thus lessening your worth to your house and, in the end, eventually cheating your employers. If we are not in love with our work, this slip-shod habit which will be contracted, of slighting our work here and there, will in turn develop disloyalty to others with whom we deal. In "Will Power and Success," I discuss this at great length but I want to add this illustration here, for, without a complete understanding that we must be loyal to our house and to everyone else with whom we deal, we will not have the maximum amount of success, pleasure or happiness. Two little barefoot country boys, poor as poverty, drifted to great cities. After many years the two boys, grown to manhood—and both traveling salesmen—by chance met on the street of a large city in the East. Childhood reminiscences were renewed as they went 142 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE to lunch together. The "old swimming-hole" and fish- ing excursions were revived and the days of by-gone struggles were recalled. One of the salesmen was not so much interested in reminiscences as he was in the article which he was handling in the commercial world. He may have lacked some of the sentiment of the other man, but it illus- trates our point of liking one's work, for any man who could pause in the midst of conversation on boyhood experiences after a lapse of fifteen years, to talk about the goods he was selling, demonstrates why he became the manager of a branch office for his great concern. As he branched off from the conversation of by-gone days and began talking Underwood Typewriters to his boyhood chum, the first thing he said was: "Dave, if you don't like your goods, don't sell them;" and then and there he explained the wonders and merits of the Underwood as compared with other machines. Some ten or twelve years passed and the other salesman had come to that point in his career when he needed a typewriting machine. No other machine was given consideration. He did not even try any other typewriter; but, because of the sales talk that his chum had made at the luncheon table many years before, the man bought an Underwood Typewriter. No wonder the typewriter salesman became a great sales-manager. If we cannot exploit our goods and revel in telling the virtues of our wares, it would be better for us to turn our sample case over tomorrow and seek another job. Loyalty to our house and to everyone with whom we deal must be understood and practiced, not only in PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 143 the game of salesmanship or business but in the bigger game of living, of friendships, of domestic happiness and of civic righteousness. In a preceding chapter I mentioned a sales-manager and I should like you to get another chapter in his life. We may for a time seem to "prosper as the green bay tree," although we are disloyal to customer or to house; but, no matter how shrewd we may be or how keen our intellect or how large our sales, disloyalty is a flaw in the construction of our life's career; the crumbling will begin and the crash follow. A certain salesman, known in the language of busi- ness as a "specialty salesman," was "tearing up the turf" in his line and was sent out by this particular sales-manager to introduce a new line of goods to the grocery trade. There is no more difficult task in the selling game than that of the "specialty man" calling on the retail grocery trade, introducing "a new line." This young salesman was in love with a very charming, beautiful and lovable girl back in the city where his goods were made and being "on the road," he did not have the pleasure and the happiness of as much courtship as most men; so he was ever awake and alert to find some excuse to get back to the city and back to his house; but mostly, back to his girl. One day he sold a very large order of his goods to a merchant, without any concessions whatsoever; sold it clean-cut, to be delivered through the wholesale dealer. This was an unusually large order and he knew it would command the attention of his house, so he "hopped" on the train and started for Philadelphia. 144 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE When he went down to the office next morning, he was met by this sales-manager who was much sur- prised to see the young man and greeted him with the query,'' What are you doing here ?'' The young travel- ing man replied, with a twinkle in his eye, that he had an order and that it was so large that he thought he had better come down and give it his personal atten- tion, as the company would not be able to ship it out without his presence. As the sales-manager took the order and noted the size, he also smiled and, knowing what brought the boy home, said: "Well, I hope you and Miss Brown have a delightful visit." Some ninety days after, when the traveling sales- man was making his customary rounds, he went to the wholesale house from which the big order was sold and was much surprised to see his goods piled to the ceil- ing, in greater quantity than usual and thereupon asked the shipping clerk: "How's this? Where do all these goods come from?" The shipping clerk replied, "Why these are the goods Mr. Blank returned." "But," said the salesman, "he can't return these goods; he bought them clean-cut, squarely, and signed the order." Now the shipping clerk had often come in contact with "Smart Alecs," "specialty" salesmen who tried to get the better of his customers, and such trickster drum- mers had no sympathetic heart-beats from that ship- ping clerk. So when the order was returned and the shipping clerk saw the sales-slip, he chuckled under his vest to see that this particular salesman "was beaten at his own game," namely a "trick" order not accepted by the merchant—goods returned! So when the young PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 145 salesman told the shipping clerk that this order was signed, the shipping clerk stepped to his desk and, get- ting out the order slip, gleefully showed it to the sales- man. The original order had been signed by the mer- chant. The order the shipping clerk had was unsigned by the merchant and the salesman noted with dismay that it was a bogus order, for the order he had made out had the signature of the merchant, as well as his own; while the order the shipping clerk handed to him had not the merchant's name on it, and the name which appeared on the order was not the name of a traveling salesman but that of the sales-manager! The sales-manager had torn up the original, bona fide order which the salesman had given him, signed by both the merchant and the salesman, and made out another order, subscribing his own name on the order slip, which, of course, not having the buyer's signature, gave the buyer a loop hole and he returned the goods. Loyalty, to your customer and to your house and to those with whom you deal, is absolutely essential for a continuous, joyful, prosperous business career. This sales-manager had such confidence placed in him by his house at one time, that he had unlimited checking accounts for use at any time that his good judgment seemed to dictate the expenditure of money. One of his salesmen came in from the road one day and the manager greeted him with: '' Say, the boss is going to talk to you and you may get a raise. Now I broke you in to sell; I gave you a chance; I opened the way for your successful selling career, and I just thought I'd tell you, before you went in to see the "old man," as it might help in talking over your future 146 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE salary; I have been making five dollars a week on you, during the past year." The salesman had received his pay each week by the "personal check" of the sales- manager, who had charged the house five dollars a week for the salesman's services! That was not Psychological Salesmanship. That was not loyalty "to the house" or "to those with whom you deal" and the psychological result of such unpsychological salesman- ship was manifested in the life of the sales-manager— just as it does in the life of any other person—namely, a weak stone in the foundation of the salesmanship structure. A little time and the stone is crushed and the structure falls! It was not long afterward that this sales-manager—once the head of a great selling force— was "carrying a grip" and making his living by the sweat of his own efforts in carrying the sample case, instead of, as in his former deceptive way, by the sweat of the other salesmen. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XII. PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP—Continued. Loyalty to Yourself. The third foundation stone in the structure of salesmanship is loyalty to yourself. One of the very first principles that cements a man's own loyalty to himself is loyalty to his religious faith, training or belief. The second strongest passion of the human race has been and always will be to find God, and man has found his quest by divers ways and means. If we have been raised in any particular church and our inclina- tions are in that direction or we are a member of any particular sect, we will never be loyal to ourselves— which means loyalty to our house and loyalty to our customer—unless we are open and aboveboard, full- heartedly declaring and living the religious life which we have espoused. We no longer, among thinking people, condemn a man's ability or limit his chance of advancement be- cause he is a Catholic, Jew or Gentile. All we want to know now is that, whatever faith that man may have, he is loyal and true to that particular faith, for if he is disloyal to his religious convictions—this being the second strongest passion in the human life—he will not be loyal to lesser conditions and affairs of life, if he is not loyal to the strongest of the strong. 150 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE It is easy to be seen that if a man is disloyal to the strongest urge within him, save one, he is going to be disloyal to his friends, to his concern, to his cus- tomers and to himself. For a man's outward living is the reflection of his inward thinking, religious and philosophical. There is no gainsaying that statement and if a man's religion is not of enough importance to him to make him loyal to his God, to whom he owes more and for whom he has more respect and gratitude than he can possibly have to any human individual; if he is not true to his convictions concerning Deity and religion, he will not be true and loyal to himself. Any man who is not loyal to himself never can be loyal to his house or to his customer. Therefore, if you are a Catholic, don't be afraid to tell it (Catholics, as a rule, are not). If you are a Methodist, don't beat around the bush and stand on first one foot and then on the other, making some excuse about your religious affiliation for, if you are first going to stand on one foot and then stand on the other foot in regard to your religious convictions, this will gener- ate the same spirit of vascillation and desire to practice duplicity until, when it comes to selling your concern's merchandise, you will stand on first one foot and then on the other foot vascillating as to the quality of the goods, the people who are back of the concern, etc. Your outward living of loyalty to your customer and to your house depends upon your loyalty to yourself; your loyalty to your religion. Stephen Girard became the first millionaire of America. In those days a millionaire was considered PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 151 more than a multi-millionaire of today. Girard made his money by the export and import trade as well as other business. He had always been a little bitter toward churches on account of an early love affair. He fell in love with a very beautiful girl, as also did a young minister and, in the matrimonial race, the preacher came under the wire with the bride at his side. Since then Stephen Girard never liked preachers. Perhaps that is the reason he was more emphatic about his demand that a certain number of his employes be on duty one Sunday morning to help unload a vessel and make ready for re-loading, for its trip back to the Orient. One young man, who was detailed to appear that certain Sunday morning, came to Mr. Girard and told him that he would rather not report for duty, inasmuch as he was a Christian and working on Sunday was against his religious convictions. Perhaps Stephen Girard had the picture of the preacher in mind, who "cut him out" and the church he represented, when his young employe told him that he would rather not be forced to work on the Sabbath. Whether he remembered that particular preacher or not at that particular time we cannot say. Mr. Girard. like many great men, was very positive inhis orders and, when the young man begged leave of absence on the Sabbath day because of his religious faith, Mr. Girard very promptly told the young man that he would either appear Sunday or lose his job. True to his convictions, the young man did not report for duty Sunday and, true to his threat, Stephen Girard dismissed the young man from his employment. 152 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE The ex-employe had but little money saved and found it very difficult to secure a position. Every place he made application he was asked where he had been employed last and the reason for dismissal. Of course he had to answer that he had been discharged. In those days there were not so many Christians in pro- portion as now. The fact that the poor man was foolish enough to disobey orders from the fountain- head, in order to nurse a pet religious notion, did not have much encouragement from the world of employers. He finally came to the "end of his rope" when he was tendered a positon. After he had lived up all the little savings he had accumulated and, unable to secure employment, he had reached a state in the experience of the non-employed that only those who have gone through can appreciate. You will notice that always "the darkest hour ap- pears just before the dawn." This young man had looked, while searching for another position, with envious eyes upon many a job of no more importance than the little position he had with Stephen Girard, before he was dismissed. He would have been glad to have taken anything small and un- influential, provided it would have paid the rent, put a little bread in the larder and bought shoes for the baby. The man who tendered the position to him was President of a new bank about to be opened in the city of Brotherly Love. The President, calling upon the young man, said that this new bank about to be opened (which became one of the leading institutions of its PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 153 kind in Philadelphia) had a very important position it wanted to fill and that they had spent some time in trying to locate a man for the place. The President said, "You have been recommended very highly as a young man of Christian character and integrity, and I should like to offer you the cashiership of our new bank." "But," said the young man, I know nothing about banking or the cashiership." The President re- plied that he was quite aware of that; that he was not asking him his knowledge of the business, but asking if he would accept his offer? Would be accept?! Would he ?! He would accept anything that would bring bread and butter to the family, but he was too dazed to accept a position like the cashiership of a big bank, and so he said. "Why, there must be some mistake. Who could have recommended me?" The President replied, "Stephen Girard." After he had made a careful search for the right man and not finding the one for the place, Mr. Girard was asked if he knew some one whom he could recom- mend. Girard replied, "Yes. There is a young man whom I dismissed from my employment because of his religious convictions. He would not come to work on Sunday and," said the great financier, "any young man who is loyal enough to his church and to his God to refuse to work against his religious convic- tions, is the young man who has the sterling character, the Christian grace and the loyalty of business with whom you can trust your money; the man who trusts his God, you can trust." A young salesman who had been in school all of his life and who had over-taxed his physical energies 154 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE and reserve by over-work, making his way through school, had to drop his studies because of ill health. He walked the streets of Philadelphia for thirty days asking for a job. He was only offered two jobs during that time. One paid seven dollars a week and the other nine dollars. The young under-graduate had his mind set on having a family of his own, and although he had not yet made proposal of the proposition to any living woman, there was one on whom his eyes were centered. Nine dollars! He did not see himself sailing very far on the matrimonial sea, furnishing a house and keeping a family, upon nine dollars a week, so he continued his search. Finally, through a friend, he was led to a sales-manager and "the boy" was given a chance as a "drummer." This boy was raised in a most-orthodox church and believed that to travel on Sunday, even in a street car, was a gross sin. You will remember that he was in need of work and it was a matter of sinking or swimming, a matter of eating or starving, when he finally landed his chance to demonstrate his willingness to sell goods. The sales-manager came to him, after he had been on the force for two or three weeks, and said, "Now, Monday you are going to be in Scranton. If you do not leave until Monday morning you will not be able to do any business all that day,inasmuch as your train does not arrive until late in the afternoon. So, to save time and effort, it would be well if you would go up Sunday night," to which the young salesman replied that he needed a job, he knew it; and was going to want one next week and he knew it; and he had difficulty in securing one and he knew it; but that, PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 155 to travel on Sunday was against his religious con- victions and faith, and that, if he could not make a living six days out of the week, he would not try to make his existence working seven. The sales-manager did not ask again to have that salesman travel on Sunday. He respected the man's religious loyalty, although the sales-manager was not a particularly religious man himself. That salesman was never ap- proached again to travel on Sunday although he made that same trip many a time afterwards. A sales-manager, who understands psychology, knows that if a salesman is loyal to his God to such an extent that he would rather lose his job than to dis- obey a tenet of his church, that man's loyalty would be manifested in all of his business transactions. He could trust his money with that kind of a man. If we are going to be loyal to ourselves we must keep physically fit and always in trim. We cannot be up all night attending parties, dances and "shindigs" until the wee hours of the morning and expect to keep in the pink of efficiency. Therefore, to be loyal to one's self in health, we should keep regular and stated hours. We have no objection to parties and places of recrea- tion, provided we are temperate in all things. While young, we may overtax our physical energy, in which case we are drawing on the bank of life's good health. We cannot continue this and be at par physically- keeping one hundred per cent proficient. To be loyal to one's self we should have regular exercises, proper diet, stated hours for spending our recreational time in wholesome atmospheres, free from 156 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE all negative, discordant inharmonious, suggestive or immoral suggestions.* To be loyal to oneself one should know every- thing pertaining to the position one fills and, more than that, he should know many things pertaining to other sections and departments of the business in which he is employed. One of New York's greatest bankers entered a bank, when a boy, in the capacity of errand boy and helper to a bookkeeper. After he had completed the re- quired duties, he would ask the bookkeeper if there was anything else that he could do—always anxious to do more than was expected of him. The bookkeeper finally gave him a little responsibility in adding fig- ures, because the boy was so anxious to be of service. From this on, the boy had more responsibility given to him; but the more work that was given to him, the more responsibility he had, the more work and respon- sibility he asked for, until he was moved from that department to another department with more pay and advance in position. Here he did the same thing as when errand boy and roustabout to the bookkeeper—always doing the work that was expected of him and more— begging for more work to do. This spirit, of course, pushed him further up and he soon went into another part of the bank with more responsibility and more pay. He continued to nose around, getting informa- tion that was not particularly a part of his duties; but, being eager to serve in a larger capacity and, being willing to work more hours than was expected, *See chapters on "Exercise" and "Scientific Feeding" in this book. PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 157 this young man attracted the attention of the officers of the bank. Because of his capacity for work and for more work and his willingness to do more than was expected of him, according to his own confession, greater positions opened up for him and, today, he is one of New York's leading bankers. Why? He did not believe in adhering to the Union scale of hours. If one cannot throw his whole life and soul and spirit into his work and do more than is usually expected, he is not true blue and loyal to himself so far as greater efficiency, more money and a higher position is concerned. A young girl, who had a mother to support, without any other visible income had secured a position as stenographer during the rush season in a big concern. When the rush was over, because she was the last one employed, she was the first one to be dismissed. She had been told that Saturday would be her last day. During that week the department seemed to be a little busier than usual. Orders kept coming in and her work piled up. Not only was her work more burden- some but the work of the other stenographers who officed with her were taxed more than usual. But the taxing did not bother the other stenographers. When five o'clock came—quitting time—their desks were closed and they "vamoosed," but this little girl re- mained. Remained! And yet she was to be dismissed Satur- day night while the other girls were to remain on the pay roll. Saturday night, no job, mother to keep and no money in the bank, but she was paid for that week's work so when orders came in late which needed 158 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE her attention, instead of closing her desk promptly at five o'clock, as did the others, she remained until everything was cleared. She might have said, "I do not have to do this. I am only paid for five hours, the other girls don't stay and I am not going to do any more than they do. Anyhow this is my last week and what do I care. If the boss does not think enough of me to let me remain, why I will do just as little as I can to "get by." She might have thought this and acted upon her thought, but she did not. As she was loyal to herself, loyal to her employer, she was willing to do more than was expected of her—to do more than she was asked to do. For several nights she had remained until after quitting time, until the end of the week came. It was Friday night. Friday night, five o'clock and all the office force gone. Five-thirty and the girl was still at her desk, typing. The only visible light in the room was the one single incandescent shin- ing above her typewriter table. The door opened in the darkness and a man stole behind the chair of the over-time working girl, looked over her shoulder and said, "Why, Miss Blank, don't you know that tomor- row is your last day with us? Don't you know that you are to be dismissed Saturday night?" The girl looked up into the face of her employer and said, "Yes sir, I know tomorrow is my last day, but this work really ought not to be delayed and I am trying to finish it that I may get it out on tonight's mail." The employer, who had been watching this girl all week and who, of course, knew that she had been working over-time without any expectation of extra PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 159 pay or continuation of a position, was so appreciative of a discharged employee being so loyal to herself and to her employer, that he put his hand upon her shoulder and said, "Miss Blank, will you do me the honor of remaining upon my pay roll?" The one who does all he is asked to do and a little more is the one who is going to be kept on the pay roll and whose pay envelope is going to be fatter next year than it is this. If we are working in a department store we should not only only know everything connected with our own department, every little detail that most of the others know nothing about, but, after we have mastered every little detail within our own department, we should look for more knowledge and more understanding in some other department. But you may say, "I am not paid to do that." No, but you will pay yourself in doing it by opening a better position. If we know everything about our department and something about the department next to us, it is more than most of the clerks know and, one of these days when the head of our department or some other de- partment of which we have minutest knowledge is on a vacation, sick or detained from business, the boss may come through and want to know something. You will be the one to impart the information while the others stand with their mouths open in ignorance, stammering excuses for not knowing or saying, "It isn't my business to know that. The others know noth- ing about it and why should I?" The boss will see that 160 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE you have been on the job all the time and you will be headed for the position above. Never think that you are to do only the work that you are paid for. We ought to do the work we are paid to do and more on top of that, if we are going to be so loyal to ourselves as to lift ourselves by our own boot straps to the job above. The fellow who says, "I am not paid to do that. I am doing what I am paid to do; it isn't my business to move out of these tracks or to cross this divisional line of my department," is not the fellow who is going to get the job that is above; therefore, we are going to improve every moment of our time, getting knowl- edge about our work until we know it like a book and can read every paragraph backwards and then, seek more knowledge, still. All knowledge is useful. You may have become familiar with every item and detail of your department and think that it is useless to know anything else about some other department or some other business, but, by improving your time in gaining knowledge, the way will open some time for you to make use of the knowl- edge that you have gained. Therefore, let no grass grow under your feet in improving your time to gain knowledge. The average person living in the city can secure a liberal education in five years by reading while he goes back and forth to work on the street car. You won't get that liberal education if you spend all your time reading about the boxing bout and the ball game (we believe in the wholesome American ball game, but not to excess), the latest murder or the last gossip. PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 161 Only by reading constructive literature and books of useful information can we rise to nobler ideas and edu- cation. Many years ago on one "vacation time" some students from the West Point Military Academy went to Georgia for a good time. They were on a vacation and vacation was no time to study military tactics. Vacation to all of those boys, except one, was a rous- ing good time—which meant carousal, dissipation and waste of energy; but one of this group believed that he could have a better time by roaming over the hills of Georgia with his books and maps, making a study of the mountains and the valleys, the rivers and even the country roads which make up the wonderful state of Georgia. So, while his companions spent their time in idleness and dissipation, wasting strength and time, this young man was acquiring knowledge and having a better time than his companions. At that time he had no more inkling that the United States of America was going to be pitted against itself, in the struggle for the maintenance of the Union, than we now think that the North and the South could ever again cross swords. But the young man was studying military tactics, in order to have a better knowledge, so that he could best prepare himself should the time ever come when he should be in command of a company, a regiment or an army—his '' good time'' was spent in gaining knowl- edge. The young students returned to West Point and, in due time, they graduated. Years passed and they became grown men and past maturity. Then, like a shot out of the blue sky, Fort Sumter was fired upon 162 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE and the bugles—both North and South—rallied their armies to the colors and, what hadbeen peaceful, glori- ous and harmonious United States of America, was now the battle field for the deciding of a Union—'' one and inseparable, now and forever." In the course of the struggle, one side seemed to be uppermost, then the other side seemed to be the stronger. The South had been wise in the selection of the great Robert E. Lee for its Commander in Chief, but the North had had trouble in finding the General who could lead its forces to victory and there came a time when some one was needed to break the spell; to make his way through Georgia, to the sea, and the Northern forces might be filled with fervor and enthusiasm and the cause of American Union receive the support it so sorely needed. Where was the man who had the preparation and who was strong enough and able to lead his soldiers successfully in a triumphant march through the enemy's country down to the sea? Where was he? He had already been preparing many years ago, on a vacation time in Georgia. The man—who had improved his time; who was ready when the door of opportunity began to swing open; who had refused to carouse but had found joy in improvements—was given the command of the forces; and "Sherman's march to the sea" has become im- mortal. Sherman, the West Point boy who had im- proved his time, not only helped to save the Union but gained eternal fame because he had learned to use his time to the best advantage. Not only should one be loyal to his religion; be PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 163 anxious to keep physically fit and do more work than is required of him—as well as to improve his time; but, in order to be loyal to himself, he must save. The time is coming when we will not need savings accounts, savings banks or money bags. The time is coming when the present economic condition of the world will be superceded by a more common sense method; when we will think no more of money than we do of water; when everyone will have all he needs for himself and family and, to be a hoarder of the filthy lucre, will be as immoral as to spend his time in riotous living. But that time is not yet here and while we are in Rome we must do as Romans do. The wise person will have a savings account—if he is loyal to himself. It may be that your savings will consist of actual cash; or possibly, through time and effort, consist in building up a better physical body; in marrying at an early age and putting your investment in a family; or, in taking the last dollar from your pay envelope to buy a book to gain more knowledge in order that you may be more efficient in your particular vocation; to buy your home through a building and loan association; or to pay for your furniture on the installment plan; but, whatever method you may use, the basic principle of saving—the habit of methodical investing—is neces- sary that one may be fully loyal to one's self. I know a preacher who began at a salary of fifty dollars a month; and—when he was not making more than eighty dollars a month—used money to buy books, instead of buying food for the table and clothes for the family. For fifteen years money was spent for books, 164 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE books, books. No investment was made in real estate, oil wells and building loans or in bank savings ac- counts; but all his investments were made in books. Many other preachers who began with no more money, had no more influence and no larger parish, are today plodding along in the same old rut—with the same old pay in the same old way—while the other fellow has become one of the world's famous platform orators because of his investment in books of knowledge. His books became his tools. The other men had, in no systematic way, invested in anything that would bring larger returns; and so we find that there is such a thing as saving money and still having, in that saving, a poor investment. The man who wants to be a carpenter, who would place one dollar in the bank instead of buying a saw and using it, in construction, together with his hands and his head, may be making a poor investment instead of an investment for his greatest good. Two brothers in a city in the East had different ideas of "saving." One had married early in life. He had invested in a large family and, as the children came one after another and the man reached the age of thirty or thirty-two, he did not have enough money ahead to say he was worth one hundred dollars. He was a mechanic and blacksmith. The automobile industry put him out of the blacksmithing business, so he naturally gravitated to a place where he could work with his hands and use his mechanical ability. After a num- ber of years of service with a great automobile concern, he still had no money ahead. It was only by careful skimping that his wife could make both ends meet in PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 165 their effort to care for their growing family. The young mechanic, who really knew so much about the business that the firm trusted him in starting branch houses, finally got up enough spunk to ask for a five dollar a week raise. Thirty-five dollars a week did not give him, with all of his family for which to provide, much of a chance to save; but, by investing in a family —which meant regular hours, home ties, good habits and pleasant surroundings, he had as good an invest- ment as the man who puts his hard cash in a hole in the ground or in a bank. When he asked for a raise from thirty-five to forty dollars a week and was refused, the young man was so wrought up that he was amazed at himself and chal- lenged his employer by the startling assertion that, if the boss did not want "to raise him five dollars" a week, he would go into business for himself. His employer knew that he had neither money nor influence and was unsophisticated in the methods of high financing; so, when he threatened to go into business for himself, the boss only laughed at him. This young man had a brother who likewise was a mechanic and who likewise was a saver; who, also, was wise in being loyal to himself. He was unmarried and, having no family in which to place his investment, had put a few hundred dollars in the bank. So, when the brother approached him with the idea of their going into business for themselves, the two young men— surprised almost beyond degree, with the courage of their convictions—set up a business. Within three years they had the largest establishment of its kind in one of the greatest cities in the Union. In five years 166 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE their stock was all paid for; each had his own auto- mobile and money for other luxuries. When Liberty Bonds were being sold to "help save the world for democracy," these young men bought Liberty Bonds in five thousand dollar chunks. You may have a method different than that of some one else; but, above everything, have a method to save—if you are going to be loyal to yourself. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XIII. PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP—Concluded. Psychology and Business Success. Loyalty to God: The fourth and last corner stone in the foundation of psychological business success is, if anything, the most important—namely, our loyalty to God. If a man has no faith in any power greater than himself, he is handicapped at the very beginning, for man is mortal; man is finite; and only the immortal and the Infinite can have the greater power and, if a man does not have a faith or a belief that he is in some way or other a part of, or linked to, the Divine Creative Principle of all life, he is like a bucket of water as compared to the rolling sea. The bucket of water may sail a toy celluloid ship while the sea can carry the monsters of the deep and the dreadnoughts of the mighty ocean. Man himself can do much, but man linked with Divinity can do anything. The Scriptures tell us there is nothing impossible to God, so far as man's activity, success and achievement is concerned, in the realm of mundane accomplishments. Man and God, in this material realm we call life, can do anything that crea- tive principle can do; but, if we do not believe that we are a part of this creative principle, if we have not faith that Divine energy is in us and we in it—that there is a power not ourselves, that "There is a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we will"— 170 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE if we do not believe that, then we are limiting our force, our strength and our accomplishment. Man is man, but man is man-plus, man is man plus God. And any person who cannot believe, that in him or back of him is a greater power than himself, is like a ship without a rudder. He wanders aimlessly upon the sea of life, swept by the storms that beat, the tide that flows; and without the "inner light" of the Divine Pilot to guide him to his harbor of success and his haven of rest. It is in this course of psychology that many of us have found God—found this power within, this Infinite Well-spring of Dynamic Energy that we did not know we possessed. Many of us have misunderstood because of the teachings of old (old and yet they are still being taught), that God is a far-off personal being, as far from man as the East is from the West; but God is not up in the heavens alone—a personal image. God is in the heavens and on the earth and in man and about man. When we believe and understand that God is in us—that we are a part of God, then we are fired with the spirit of faith in our own powers, in the possibilities of our own talents, in the understanding of the unfold- ment of our own potentialities, until we reach the sublime heights where we know ourselves as masters and all we need is to work in conjunction with this power within to accomplish our maximum success. It is God within us and the faith in this spirit within—this "world within"—that enlarges the horizon of our ambition; that spurs us to the mountain tops PSYCHOLOGICAL SALESMANSHIP 171 where we can look over into the promised land of our own great achievement. Man is "man" only as a man, made of the dust of the ground which is here today and gone tomorrow, who is as grass that groweth up and withereth in the sunlight. That kind of a man is living only for the moment and incapable of grasping the understanding of his own greatness within and, until we know we have this "great within," we are bound to be second- raters who chug along on one cylinder and finally end up in a side-tracked garage where some other master mechanic will try to piece together our shattered hopes. Man must have faith in the "power within" so that, when his hopes are shattered and his plans miscarry, his judgment seems faulty, his strength fails, his friends desert him and the storms beat—(man needs at that time a great faith that through clouds the sun is still shining and that the power of the Creative Principle, Divine Force, Spirit Within, God, is still his co-laborer, his partner, companion, guide, friend and inspirer)—in the darkest hour God's spirit, with him, shall hew the way to daylight and success. When we are lost in the jungle of despair, in the storms of sorrow and in the forests of defeat, we are doomed to travel a small trail and never break through to the broad highway of life, if we have not faith in Divinity—a Divinity that is within ourselves. When man understands this then he must be loyal to that spirit, to that world-within, to that Divinity that is his own, to that creative principle—God—aye, more loyal to God than to himself. Man may lose himself in his unbelief and lose his greater and larger 172 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE success, but man can never lose God. God will always be there within him, about him and above him but, if man is not cognizant of God's presence, he is as a bird with but one wing, as a ship without a sail and as a boat without a pilot. To know this God—this power within—and to be loyal to it, is absolutely an essential requirement, the chief cornerstone in the arch of achievement, which all psychologists come to understand and realize, to know and experience. God is not a God of war, nor a God of hell, nor a God over-ruling fiend, nor a God far away in the heavens, but God is the spirit of love, the Father of the race, the companion of outcasts, the comforter to the afflicted, and the inspirer to the fallen. God is all in all. The same yesterday, today and forever; is part of the universe and is the universe; is part of man and is man; is part of you and is you. To be loyal to yourself is to be loyal to God and to be loyal to God is to be loyal to all mankind; loyalty to all mankind means peace on earth, good will toward man. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XIV. HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN Intuition—Hunch—The Conception in Genesis—God Speaks to Adam. God dwells with man. As we think over these chapters on God speaking to man, we will see how the human mind has grown in its conception as to how God dwells with man, speaks to man and is in man. In the first books of the Bible people had no doubt but that God could make himself visible and audible to man. We read of the primitive story of Adam and Eve, in the garden, meeting God, in the cool of the evening, and talking face to face with Him. Of course, this is merely an infantile conception of the Almighty, taking on some form in which the father and mother of the race could speak to Him face to face. While the story is primitive, the underlying truth is there and, doubt- less, God did speak to Adam and Eve but not with an audible voice as the story would seem to indicate. That the progenitors of the race might meet God any time upon the highway, is not only told in the story of the Garden of Eden but we read that He came to Abraham, to Lot, to Elisha and to other patriarchs of old. You are right in your belief that these represen- tations—of God being in such close relationship to the patriarchs—are childish. They are, no doubt. But 176 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE the essence and the real meaning of God's presence or influence or voice, was true then and is true now. It is a matter of understanding and interpretation. The Greeks had a similar story to that of the Garden of Eden, where Zeus walked in the Garden of Hesperus. The daughters of Hesperus were sisters of Hercules in this fable. This garden was in Africa, where grew golden apples. To slay the dragon, that guarded the garden and to steal these golden apples, was one of the labors of Hercules. The parallel of the two stories is very evident. These stories are childish but in the good sense, as Sir Oliver Lodge says: ' " When we remember that the first few of the books of Genesis are a poem and not biological, scientific, zoological, geological or botanical treatises, we then understand the poetical modes of expression and that 'God spoke to Adam and Eve' was but another way of expressing the feeling, the impres- sion, the intuition or mental-telepathic communication from the source of Divine Mind.' " Surely, from a beautiful garden, the Deity is not absent. It is merely a matter of interpretation or un- derstanding. To communicate with God has been one of the quests of the ages. This has been accelerated by the great war. That there are more ways than one, to understand God's communications, is evident; and to understand that "still, small voice" to differentiate it from primitive interpretation—is the purpose of these chapters on "How God Speaks to Man." HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN 177 A few of the efforts to understand God's speaking to man, may be summed up in the following Divina- tions: APJTHMOMANCY: Using figures to get an under- standing of God speaking to man. AEROMANCY: Divining by air; the flight of birds; the movement of clouds and the direc- tion of the wind. CAPNOMANCY: Direction of smoke; sacrifices of ani- mals, birds and beasts. The direction of smoke and the offering of the sacrifices all had their meanings whereby man thought that Deity was speaking to him. CHIROMANCY: The art of palmistry. HYDROMANCY: God speaking to man by the move- ments of water, the water location, etc. PYROMANCY: Deity making known His mind and wishes through fire. BELLOMANCY: By the shooting of arrows; their direction through the air, the place of alighting and how they travel. NECROMANCY: In this knowledge, it was presumed, God spoke to man and man secured secrets from the invisible world. RODOLOGY: From the way rods would fall. LIVER AND INTESTINES OF ANIMALS: There were many and divers ways that the 178 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE entrails of slain animals would reveal— by their position, motions, etc., all hav- ing their respective meanings by which man could be assured—that God was speaking to him in this most crude, un- couth, child-like manner. WITCHRAFT : There was no end of interpretations by witches, movements of charmers and the lives and actions of snakes, which all spoke, in their primitive way, interpret- ing God's voice to man. When we compare the story told in Genesis about God's speaking to Adam, we notice that it has been refined and put upon a much higher plane than any of the other stories by other primitive peoples, childish as it may seem. This beautiful idea was later corrupted by priests in the history of the Jews. Consecrated from childhood by purification and other ceremonies, they were supposed to have knowledge of holy writings. They claimed to see the future and to have had direct communications from God. Thus we see the ups and downs of man's quest after a way of communication with Deity. Childish, crude, ignorant, superstitious—but withal going up- ward—in our conception of a God who works with and through man. It is this upward-climbing of man to understand and communicate with the Divine Source of all Life, that raises man from the level of the beasts and puts him on a plane all by himself. HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN 179 To better appreciate the present idea of the God who works and toils and dwells with and through man, suppose we recall a few present-day ideas held by the uneducated. You will see by these that we do not have to go back to Adam for this primitive idea of God talk- ing to man and man talking to God. Back in 1750 lived a man who was a great thinker and, in answer to the statement of many people that, if some were to come back from the tomb, they would believe in a hereafter, in order that he might give such proof of a life to come to the people who sought such evidence, he claimed to have lived with the angels for thirteen years. He came back to tell us about heaven and about hell and that, if we would read his writings and accept his view-point, we would have everything there is to know about the great beyond. He claimed that those in the Church, who have "denied the Lord" and who have acknowledged the Father only, are not in heaven; and, being unable to receive any influx from heaven, lose the ability to think, and eventually lose the ability to speak; they talk stupidly, rambling about with their arms swinging and dangling as if loose at the joints. That was an absurd, silly way of telling the world that God spoke to man. In the days of the circuit riders when ignorant preachers roamed over the country and talked on hell fire and brimstone, they often came to the cross roads, on horseback, and having no plans as to future meet- ings, they would open the Bible and the first verse their 180 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE eyes rested upon would indicate God's choice, directing them how and where to go. The revival that swept over the country in 1734, known as the "Great Awakening," had a leader, Rev. James Davenport, who, Whitefield said, "walked closer with God" than any man he knew. He spent his time denouncing preachers, dividing the churches and split- ting up congregations. He claimed to have impulses and impressions. Anyone expounding a different phil- osophy, he condemned. At one time he obtained priestly garments, books and other valuables, from a church of a different faith, built a fire and burnt their effects. As the flames went upward, he consigned to hell all the authors of the books, that differed from his ideas. He claimed that God told him to do these absurd things. I believe in a God, or a spirit of Truth who dwells in man and works through man, communicates with man and directs him, but I do not believe that He works through any such methods as these. We credit or discredit to God a lot of things to which He never had any claim whatsover. Pschychology calls such fanatics Psychopaths. Theirs is a mental disease and we have blamed God for physical diseases as well as mental diseases but, because there have been many misguided, mentally-diseased psychopaths, is no reason for discrediting the scientific, logical, psychological, spiritual communication between the Creator and man. If such fanatics arise as Emma Goldman or Berg- man, and the hosts of reds which threaten our demo- HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN 181 cratie institutions, we do not say Democracy ia a fail- ure! So, if we have had mentally-diseased, misguided, fanatical psychopaths, who have claimed absurd com- munications with Deity, we should not condemn the scientific, logical, psychological method of spirital com- munication. The telescope has given us information about the constellations and a greater conception of the heavens; but we do not condemn the earlier attempts to under- stand the science of astronomy, absurd as they were. The telescope has given us an enlarged idea of that science. So, scientific understanding of the laws of vibra- tion, mental and spiritual communication, must not be scoffed at, because of earlier declarations of Psycho- paths. This picture of God walking in the "Garden of Eden" may assist our understanding of scientific com- munication between the Creator and His Creation, if we take it in a symbolical sense. It is not stated that Adam and Eve saw God but that they "Heard the voice of God." "The sound," says the marginal reading and the thing to be noted is, that somehow, God found his way directly to their consciousness; so it was not that they met God face to face but that at this time it was because of some misconduct, some psychological change, so that God impressed His spirit, or His presence, upon their con- sciousness, in such a manner as to make them cognizant of their wrongdoing. 182 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE But, the wonder is, after their wrongdoing, that they could hear! In like manner, by impressions, feelings, or what- ever we may term it, God can and does speak to man today. That is, the God of Love, of whom Jesus came to tell us and not the God of the seventeenth century, who lived apart from His creation, as a great tyrant, con- suming multitudes of His creation in a fiery furnace for- ever and forever! NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XV. HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN—Continued. Intuition—Hunch. Some Modern Illustrations. Henry Drummond, one of the greatest intellects of the 19th century, the great preacher, and next to Moody, the greatest religious speaker of his day, was guided from first to last by an inner light—the still, small voice. Henry Ward Beecher, one of the world's great preachers claimed that he knew God "more intimately, more convincingly than eye or hand or ear." He knew the God who guides. Man is not crossing a jungle filled with unseen enemies! Man is in an orderly universe, where angels of goodness surround him and are encamped upon his right hand and upon his left hand. Man does not go forth, not knowing where, but there is an invisible guide that protects the pilgrim on his life's journey! A modern financier, who was always guided by this inner light—the still, small voice, intuition—said that, if a proposition "felt good or bad," he could always tell whether a business deal was right or wrong. Just another way of Infinite guiding the Finite! What is the difference between these feelings, im- pression and oracles from the voice in the Garden of Eden? That is what we shall endeavor to make clear. 186 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE God's dealings with the world and with man did not end two, four or eight thousand years ago, nor is there any reason why his truth should not come in instalments as the evolving human brain gets more fitted to receive it. Whether it be God walking in the garden in the "cool of the day" as children may understand it; by a pillar of fire or cloud in the sky, as primitive peoples understand it; or the intellectual Henry Drummond having "light," as he understood it; or Henry Ward Beecher with a "language," as he understood it; or a modern financier with feelings "good or bad," as he understood it; it is the same spirit today—the guid- ing Creator manifesting Himself to His Creation—and it is this guidance of God, spiritual communication, intuition or "hunch," which we will study further. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XVI. HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN—Continued The "Hunch." God Speaks to Abraham, Isaac and Elijah. We read in Holy Writ that God spoke to Abraham. When we read this story and compare it with the story of Adam and Eve, speaking with God in the Garden, we see that the intervening centuries had brought a wonderful advance revelation to Abraham, for that time. The record tells us that God spoke to Abraham nine times— "The Lord appeared unto him;" "The word of the Lord came unto him;" etc. God's revelation to Abraham, in all probability did not take the definite form of articulate speech, without having passed through many preliminary stages of surmise, doubt and mental conflict. We have been prone to think that God spoke in more intimate terms with the patriarchs of old, and showed himself in more wondrous ways in ages past, than to us. But if that be true, I would have very little to do with that kind of a God. If He showed himself to people in the days that are gone and withdrew His guiding spirit from His creation of today He would not be the kind of a God that I could respect and reverence. 190 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE If man ever needed God's guidance to direct him, he certainly does so now. For the last two hundred years have brought on a congested, complex, scrambling civilization, with economic pressure at every turn: the landlord, waiting on the front steps for his rent; the butcher and the baker and the candle stick maker at the side door; and the tax collector at the back entries; all clamoring for money. Abraham, wandering from one country to another, living in tents, knew nothing about rents, grocery bills or taxes. If he wanted anything to eat, he got it from the fields nearby. If his appetite craved meat, he could turn to his own sheep-fold or send into the wilds, in the countries in which he traveled, to bring back game. Verily, if anyone needed direct guidance in the way to go and deliverance from economic pressure, it was not Abraham, the friend of God. It is the man who lives today, it is the one who must pay rent double what it ought to be (some times), who has to buy beef- steak at thirty-five cents per pound and must pay for shoes at many times their par value, with each dealer wanting his money and wanting it right now. Indeed if the God who spoke to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and who led Moses and his slaves through the wilderness, cannot speak to the sons of Adam now, in just as audible terms, with as plain a message, with as clear an articulation, then we do not want anything to do with that kind of a God. The difference is not in the experience but in the way of describing it. HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN 191 So you see that Christ was one of the many prophets and teachers, sent from God, who understood this law of communication with the Father. In the garden, when he was seized by the rabble, armed with swords and staves, we read that Peter whipped out his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest. Jesus said unto him, "Put up again thy sword into its place; for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matt, 27-52, 53.) He knew that he could call "legions of angels" for his succor and protection. How? By thought currents, mental vibrations or spiritual communication; or men- tal telepathic communication. A man, living near the shores of a lake in Minne- sota, was trying in mid-winter to make his way across the lake, in an ordinary boat, when the ice was break- ing up. In his effort to paddle his way amidst the cakes or blocks of floating ice, his skiff was rammed by an ice cake. He went down with the boat. Com- ing up, he was able for some time to cling unto and swim between the cakes of ice but, as darkness had de- scended, he was unable to locate his home and, after battling around dodging the ice floes, his strength weakened by the cold, frightened because he had lost his direction and not knowing whether he was swim- ming toward or away from his home, he lost faith and, losing faith, he lost his strength; and, losing his strength, he began to sink. 192 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Just then his little daughter came down to the edge of the lake, for the mother had discerned that some danger menaced her husband or he would have returned sooner. And so the little girl was sent to the edge of the lake with a lantern, with instructions to call for her father and wave the lantern. The sinking man heard the cries of his daughter, who called across the expanse of frozen ice cakes, from the banks of the lake near his home: "Papa, Papa!" waving the lantern meanwhile. This put new life and vigor into the man and hearing the voice of his beloved child, he struck out again, drawn in the direction of the sound, and there saw the light of the lantern as the little child swung it in space. By the power of new faith and the strength of hope, the man made his way, in time, safely to the shore! So Nature, Life, God, Universal Intelligence, has a voice and way to call to us, to guide us safely to the shore of Life's Experience. After Elijah reprimanded the King, Ahab, for illegally seizing his land, Queen Jezebel—the Lady Mac- beth of the Old Testament—swore that she would get the life of Elijah before the sun set. Elijah the mighty, Elijah the fearless stickler for the truth, fled for his life. He went down to Mt. Sinai, where the children of Israel camped for thirty-nine years and, going into a deserted cave, despondent, discouraged and down- hearted because a mere woman was seeking his life; he wanted to die. He thought that there was none left in the whole Kingdom to fight the battle of right- HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN 193 eousness, but there were, at the time, three thousand others who were brave and courageous and willing to keep the sword of righteousness unsheathed. Thinking that he was alone and deserted by everyone, he thought at least that he would in a way like to have God speak to him before he died. So, when the wind and storm came, he listened to see if God would not speak to him from the storm, but God was not in the storm. Then the earthquake broke the crust of the earth and Elijah thought surely God would be in the earthquake; but He was not there. Fire followed the wind, storm and earthquake, but God was not in the fire—where was God? Elijah ready to die and no God near, he thought; but lo! When his depressed mood was over and the reflex action of his mind strain came, Elijah listened for God and lo and behold He was not in the storm, cloud or earth- quake; but God was within—the "Still, Small Voice." That "Still Small Voice" comes to every Child of Creation, men of the past and men of today; but perhaps the difference is not in the experience, but in the' way of describing it. We read in Biblical stories, in the quiet hours of the night, God spoke to Abram, Samuel and David. On three occasions, that so impressive was the voice of God to Samuel that the boy thought Eli, the priest had spoken. But God is just as near, just as audible, to us today as he was to Samuel. It is a matter of describing the experience and understanding the "Still, Small Voice." If we expect a bugle blast or trumpet call to come, 194 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE very likely the same "Still, Small Voice," that Elijah finally heard and understood, will be far distant; you must not expect a blast, but a feeling, impression, something unexplainable, but you will know it when it does come. The record tells us that "for nine times God spoke to Abraham." How many times, beside those nine times, the spirit tried to impress Abraham, we do not know. Undoubtedly God tried to make his impression upon the consciousness of the Father of the race dozens of times before Abraham understood. Undoubtedly, Abraham, even as you and I, heard that "Still, Small Voice"—impression or feeling—but did not heed the call or understand the voice. Doubt- less this impression or feeling, that we have not yet understood, has come into our lives countless times but we have not known what it means. Have we not time and time again done something against our own impulses? Have we not gone some- where, said something, performed some act that the call of the soul rebelled against ? We have known this distinctly as no other thought or action of our life. But we have not yet given recognition to the fact that it was the voice of God—intuition—hunch—oracle— feeling—vibration of the Infinite mind trying to impress the finite mind. Up in Wisconsin was a boy in swimming, who had a "feeling" to leave the lake and go home but, boy-like, he wanted a little more time in the water and, in swimming around, he finally came to shallow water and stood up. In standing he put his foot on some broken HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN 195 glass and badly cut his foot. Certainly this "feeling" was Nature's intuitive way of trying to lead the boy from a place of danger, just as every other misstep and action of man's life is.preceded by a hunch—feeling or impression—call it what we may; it is God trying to impress Himself upon the consciousness of man. The cut on the boy's foot was not a punishment but a perfectly natural consequence of violating an intuitive lead; just as many grown-ups, violating the unction of the soul, make a mistake and know it. It is this feeling, impression, intuition, which Elijah had, Abraham had, Samuel had; surely God speaks to man today in as clear-cut tones as he did in times that are gone. It is a matter of understanding this "something" within us; this feeling for God is the impulsation of Divine Life, trying to make contact with man, to succor, to bring happiness and prosperity and peace. Rosenis had some doubts about his religious life and decided that, if he could get a sign from Heaven, his doubts would be scattered forever. In trying to demonstrate this "sign" he decided that he would cross his father's farm blindfolded and, if he could reach a certain point on the other side of the farm, it was a "sign" that would dispel his doubts. So he allowed him- self to be blindfolded and turned around and around, he then started toward what he thought was the direc- tion of the given point on his father's farm. While mak- ing his way blindfolded he had an odd feeling, a strange, wrong feeling, an impression—some might call it the Voice of God; others might say it was a hunch— 196 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE but he instantly stopped, tore off the bandage and lo! He was standing on the edge of a deserted well. One step more and he would have fallen to destruction. This feeling or impression which came into his con- sciousness was just another way of interpreting the Spirit of God in trying to impress him, to reach him, to save him from danger. This impression comes to all—you may know it just as well as others. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XVII. INTUITION, INSTINCT—"HUNCH"— In the Light of Modern Knowledge Among the Lower Animals. Animals—every animal has instinct which tells it of impending danger. Before the San Francisco earthquake, birds huddled together in groves in the parks and made strange and wierd outcries and noises —instinct—of impending dangers, that were very mani- fold. Not only in danger, but in other movements of the lower kingdom, are animals guided and directed. If Evolution—Nature—God or Universal Mind can direct and guide animals, surely the same power, that puts the instinct for self-preservation within the conscious- ness of the lower creation, could do the same with us. The cat knows when a change of weather is about to ensue—it will show much uneasiness and rub its fur. It is possible that electricity plays an important part in the significant behaviour of many animals, on the eve of a storm or in atmospheric change. For instance, the cat will rub its fur with its paw, telling of atmos- pheric, electrical change in the weather. Geese are weather prophets for foul or fair weather. If they rub their feathers smoothly—fair weather. If they keep away from water, look out for rain. And, if they cry in a frightened manner, you will know that a storm is brewing. Perhaps they detect 200 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE something in the atmosphere which escapes our notice. We say this is instinct, but is God none the less a guide and protector by instinct as He would be by intuition— impression or feelings—to man ? Electricity runs the trolley cars, makes the incan- descent light and turns the turbine, each a different function but none the less marvelous—one as unique as the other. If God can guide the cat for protection one way, the fowls another way and man by still another way. His way of guidance and protection is none the less marvelous. It is the same wisdom, it is the same power and indeed, is it not more marvelous than though He guides man, bird and beast, by the same way—atmos- pheric; electrical. Before a storm all barnyard fowls make unusual noises; horses neigh; cattle low; sheep bleat and stray around the barn yard instead of going out. Swine grunt, asses bray, birds utter harsh cries, swallows fly low; bees stay in their hives. If this is instinct, or the way that God has of preparing the fowls and animals to protect themselves, surely we can expect that the same power of the Creator is in some way guiding and protecting man. In animals we call it instinct; in man we call it intuition—hunch. One day out on the prairie, in the dug-out of my old shack, as I looked up from my study in the one window of the little room, I saw my horse, Polly—a prairie raised animal, about thirty rods away and com- ing to the outside of the gate; she put her head over the gate in an inviting way to be admitted. It was a INTUITION, INSTINCT—HUNCH 201 strange thing for a prairie horse to do, but I gave it no cognizance and turned to my study and in half an hour saw that a blizzard had suddenly swept upon us; then I realized why Polly had stopped at the gate. Although she was a prairie born and prairie bred horse and did not like to be inside of the barn during a blizzard, yet she had enough common sense—horse sense —to know that if she could get inside of the fence and behind the barn she would have more protection from the great blizzard of the plains than if she were out in the middle of the prairie. So I tied a rope around the knob of my door for, by this time, the snow was being whirled at such mo- memtum that you could not see five feet away and, tak- ing the rope in my hand I made my way to the fence, reaching the fence, I tied the rope around the post and then, calling for Polly, I started south, keeping my direction by now and then touching the fence. I knew that all animals of the prairie went with the storm and that Polly was gradually going south as the northern blizzard swept onward. My voice carried easily by the wind; of course, Polly heard it and, long before I could see the form of the horse, I heard a neigh and whinny—she had come back to be admitted so that she could get behind the barn for protection. What was it that brought Polly to the gate to ask me to let her through for protection from the driving blizzard of the plains? I detected no storm brewing; I had not the least idea that a blizzard was then upon us, but Polly's instinct told her what man's reason did not. 202 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE If God thus protects the animals and birds, surely He can protect and guide man. "Let us see how akin are instinct and reason. The discovery of the Genesis of Ideas from instinctive and habitual types of activity is one of the most fruitful and revolutionary achievements of modern psychology. It was formerly customary to say that animals are guided by instinct and man by reason, with the impli- cation that the terms instinct and reason are mutually exclusive. But modern psychologists do not insist upon such a radical difference between animal and human intelligence." All animals have instincts that storms are coming: Swine grunt; asses bray; birds utter harsh cries; swal- lows fly low; bees stay in their hives. Instinct, Good: But if God thus protects the animals and birds is it too much to expect that he can protect and guide us? "Are ye not worth much more than many spar- rows?" Today God comes to man, not as one who makes the mountains tremble; His voice is not the voice of thunder; His searching eye is not the lightning. "To the pilgrim He comes to be a guide in dark- ness and danger; to man, chilled by life's cold, He comes as warmth and gladness; to man, smitten by life's great heat, He comes as a Shadow of a great rock." He comes to heal the wounded, forgive the sinful and save the lost. "In some great and holy hour, God shot through man, as it were, the lightning of His own mind.'' Why INTUITION, INSTINCT—HUNCH 203 then can He not keep this mind of His children in tune with His? Aye, when man started on the voyage of the humaa race and launched upon the sea of time, God did not leave him without a compass. And this thought, which we are discussing, has made more than a ripple on the surface of Public Thought. Let us take a glimpse of the great intellectuals, who have declared their belief, with rock anchored faith, that they have had the guidance of the Divine, and you will note that many of them were before Christ and some who have not sworn their allegiance to him. That is the beauty of the modern psychologi- cal man; he no longer thinks that all of the blessings of the race have been vouchsafed to us; but that God, throughout the ages, has loved His creation and cared for them as best He could, until Christ came to lead us into a more perfect knowledge of the Father. Zoroaster, Isaiah, Daniel, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Irenious, Origin, Cyprian, Constantine, Torquato —all— were men who understood that still, small voice. Tasso saw visions; George Fox heard voices; the Wesleys heard strange foot-steps and strange mysteri- ous sounds, attributable to spiritual causes. Savon- arola, Bruno and Roger Bacon are in this class. Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, Theo- dore Parker, Prof. Lombroso, Sardon, and William James were convinced of a direct intercourse between the world's visible and invisible, as also were Sir Alfred R. Wallace, Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge. So this subject, which has taken on new impetus 204 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE since the War, has not been wrapped for six thousand years in the shroud of silence. Man's instinct verges into reason, more than ani- mal, no doubt, and just as he has more intricate prob- lems to solve than the peacock, barn yard fowl or jungle animal, so God can guide us in a greater, higher way than He can the lower animal. To know and under- stand this is one of the soul's greatest prizes. So, don't wait until you are about to go under the ice-blocks of mistakes or upon the operating table of experience—to cry out to an unseen power for help and succor; but learn to fellowship with that spirit now. Don't chloroform the still, small voice—be it instinct, consciousness, mental telepathy, impression, conviction, impulse or metaphysical touchstone. During the great war, Guy Empey, under a heavy barage in No Man's Land lost his direction. Lying flat on his stomach so as not to be seen by the enemy, he crawled a great distance to what he thought was safety and, after he reached the line, thinking he was among his own comrades, he was about to stand up when something within him kept him from arising. He "froze" to the earth, listened, and Lo! He heard the gutteral sounds of the enemies' voices. He had lost his direction and had gone to the camp of the enemy instead of to his own comrades. What was "that little something within" that prompted him not to arise—do you think that it was the solicitous guidance of Satan ? No. It was the direct voice of God speaking to him. Ask the soldiers who went through similar experiences and they will tell you, perhaps vaguely in their expression but vivid to them- INTUITION, INSTINCT—HUNCH 205 selves, that there in the trenches—on No Man's Land, on the shell-torn earth and the gas-heated heavens— they had an experience. Something came into their life—they called it "It." Some would have called it the "Inner Light;" some would say it was "Spiritual Guidance;" some would say you might call it "Intu- ition" or "Hunch" and others might call it "God." Suppose God's voice is instinct? Is it any less providential ? Is it any less wonderful ? Is it any more to be ignored? If it is instinct which guides us, do we not want to try to understand better—this instinct? But, psychology says this Power is all one and, if it is—as the modern psychologists say—instinct allied with reason, is it any more to be desired? If it does the same work, functions the same, what does it matter what we call it? We may call it intuition, a hunch, oracle, or voices What you and I need, as we wend our way through this jungle of man power, is a compass which will always bring us out safe and sound on the other side of our journey. We must not throw dust and gravel in our mental machinery so that we cannot hear that still small voice. Empires may rise and wane; systems come and sys- tems may go; but the laws of God are Eternal as the Heavens. To know those laws, to work in harmony with those laws, is the supreme quest of man. Some children were playing on a flat-car, in a quarry up in the mountains of New Hampshire. As they were runing about and having a good time on the flat-car, one of the children, playing with the brake, 206 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE loosened it and the car, being on a down grade, started to move. The children, unmindful of their danger, con- tinued to play as the car got more momentum on its downward pitch. Just a few minutes before, the switchman, who had gone home at his usual hour for eating, arose from the table and told his wife that he had a strange feeling— an urge—that he must go back to the switch house. He did not know why but the "urge" was there. Some- thing prompted him to leave in the midst of his meal and start at once. As he neared the switch-house, where the brakes controlled the switch from this side- track leading up to the quarry in the mountains and to the main line, the switchman saw the great danger of the children. Down the incline came the flat-car, laden with its human freight. It came rushing at a terrific speed. The children were trying to put on the brake but just enough to make a friction so that the sparks shot upward. Down below, on the main line, swept the lightning express train. As the switchman saw the situation, he was able to rush to the lever controlling the switch which was open so that the freight car would have come on to the main track just in front of the express train, causing a wreck and loss of lives of not only the children but of many in the train. He rushed to the lever and pulled it just in time so that the freight car, instead of dashing onto the main line in front of the express train, was switched to a siding which led up to the other side of the mountain. The express train shot by. The freight car rushed up onto the siding at the side of the mountain, where men, working near by, were INTUITION, INSTINCT—HUNCH 207 able to board the car, put on the brake and save the children. What prompted the switchman to leave his meal and be back at his post of duty? The same thing which prompts and guides everyone when we understand and listen for the guidance of the still small voice. Was this "something"—this "feeling"—mental telepathy ? What we call it does not matter—to understand it is most important and you will know it when it comes. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XVIII. HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN By Nature There are mental laws which we do not under- stand any more than a child understands the lan- guage of maturity. Is God then the far-off, unspeakable one? It may be said that no poet, philosopher or stu- dent, through his books, has spoken his mind and heart as has the great God Spirit. God speaks to man in nature and then nature makes the sharp pain to punish the child for his gluttony and the throbbing brow for riotous living. God speaks to the children of men in the realm of prosperity by his language in the seasons, which in turn produce grain for man's sustenance, flowers for his enjoyment, air for his life and sunshine for his health. The waving grain fields and the beautiful flower gar- dens which embroider the lap of the earth are God's direct way of speaking to man of plenty and abundance.* When a man has become intemperate in any way whatsoever—say, for instance, drinking—he often makes a resolution that he is never again going to be so *For fuller discussion of abundance so that no person should have lack, see our chapter on "Law of Abundance" in "Applied Psychology and Scientific Living." 212 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE foolish in this particular weakness. This is prompted because of the reflex action of the erring man's expe- rience. As he comes back to himself he sees that he has been out of harmony with natural laws and natural way of living and the ill effect is another way that nature speaks to man and tries to impress upon him that life ought to be lived in accordance with natural laws. Every downward step that youth takes is accompa- nied by sharp warnings from nature. If one is thirsty, it is an automatic signal directing that the tissues need water, to guard against inflammation. All sins are automatic bells that peal out warning and alarm. God is never silent when it comes to wrong doing. A very well-known financier of the Middle West, a leading layman in his church, who had amassed a great fortune, was startled by the "inner voice" say- ing, "What would you be worth if you lost all of your money ?'' This sound, practical, shrewd business man believes that this "impression"—"audible voice" of the spirit —was God trying to impress upon him the emptiness and uselessness of a life surrounded by money bags and servants, greenbacks and flatterers, bank stocks and sycophants. As this voice continued its call he finally decided that there was something more in life than clipping coupons and began to give his talent to the service of humanity instead of to a god of gold and so he went out as a Christian layman, spreading the gospel as he understood it, like the men of Galilee; and not only did his business prosper but it continued to HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN 213 grow, even though he was not given all of his selfish time to its supervision. Every person who has made his one quest that of money and power, as well as everyone whose sole effort is to keep the wolf from the door, at many, many times has had this "inner voice"—"impression"; "intui- tion"; "guidance"; and hunch." It is a matter of knowing what the impression is and following the leadings of the hunch. Whittier, a Christian of Christians, at one time said: " Of one thing I feel sure and that is, something outside of myself speaks to me, holds me to duty, warns, reproves and approves. It is good, for it requires me to be good. It is wise, for it knows the thoughts and intent of my heart. It is to me a revela- tion of the heart, a revelation of God." When General Robert E. Lee, the beloved leader of a losing cause, one of the greatest strategic militarists of all history, finally made his way toward the North and crossed the Mason and Dixon line to meet the enemy on its own ground at Gettysburg, all thoughtful people North and South realized that this was the great turning point in the cause of a united nation. The battle raged for the first day, with all indi- cations that the Southern army was tending toward victory and, as the second day advanced, there was no time when the Union cause trembled in the balance so much as then. General Sickles, whose great valor and courage made him an immortal and who lost a leg at Gettysburg, afterwards asked Lincoln: '' Were you not alarmed during the days at Gettysburg?" Lincoln, 214 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE who always believed that there was a higher power within him to direct and guide him and to shape the destiny of his life and cause of the Union, said: "No, not one moment's anxiety," for he had gone into his room, closed the door, got down on his knees and told the Lord that the burden of carrying on the cause in which he so firmly believed was greater than he could bear and that Omnipotent Power must guide and direct to make successful the "great Union" cause. Lincoln said that when he had finished his con- fession of man's limitation and established his faith in the power of Omnipotence, there came within his soul a peaceful assurance that all was well and, although the news kept coming from Gettysburg of one Southern advance after another, of the weakening of the forces of the North, yet he was not disturbed for one moment —had no fear or anxiety—for God had spoken to him just as clearly as he had to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Explain it as we may, to Lincoln it was a reality. One of the most outstanding instances of spiritual guidance was the "voices" which Joan of Arc, the obscure, uneducated French peasant, heard as she finally won the consent of the king to lead France's armies to victory, against the overwhelming odds of the English. Joan of Arc, who has been immortalized, was as sure that she heard "Heavenly voices" and had direct spiritual communication as she was sure that she under- stood the voice of her parents speaking to her in their happy little home. In a former chapter we have enumerated some of HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN 215 the leading intellectuals who have understood, in a marked degree, the leadings of "intuition," the "hunch." Among the immortal philosophers no one stands any higher than Socrates. Socrates, the intel- lectual mountain peak of the human race, always was guided by this "inner light" of the spirit. When he was condemned to death because he had taught his system of philosophy, which was not then fully appre- ciated or understood but which since then, has brought light, comfort and peace to countless thousands of thinking humans, he had a rich friend who came to his cell and offered to help Socrates to make his escape, and who was very glad to furnish him with enough money to let him live, at least, in a foreign country. In short, the rich man planned the escape and was willing to "pay the freight," but Socrates, rather than accept his friend's aid to go into banishment or try to avoid the sentence which the state had pronounced upon his life, said he would rather drink the hemlock which the law demanded, thus taking his own life by the com- mand of the government, than to live any longer. His reason for this was that he had always been guided by an " inner voice'' and he said that whenever this "feeling"—or "impression"—spoke to him that it came for his own good, and, now that he was facing death, the voice came to encourage, to inspire and to uplift so that he said, "What has happened to me has been a good thing." Long before Christ overcame death, Socrates said that the pronouncement of death upon his life had come to show that there was no dread or fear of death as had been commonly supposed. 216 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE This voice which inspired Socrates to pursue his course, inspired Elijah and Whittier to do their duty and led Abraham and David into paths of influence and prosperity, is the same yesterday, today and for- ever, so that it may direct, teach, instruct and inspire you to greater work, more influential living, abundance in life and happiness in experience. Baron Edward Herbert, public servant, philoso- pher and historian, for many years had been in a quandary as to whether he should publish a book or not. After many years of study and of careful thought, a voice, the like of nothing on earth, which he took for an answer to his petition, spoke to him and he made no mistake in the publishing of his book. We who are making twentieth century re-study of the universal mind, will see that this thought which was in the consciousness of Baron Herbert all of those years had been as a seed-bed in the universal subcon- scious mind and in due season the answer came. Or, in other words, he had been thinking and working along this line, sending out into the universal ether the ques- tion of publishing a book, and this strange voice was the reaction upon the universal subconscious mind. A constructive thought which is placed or sent into space—universal mind—the great subconscious mind of God, had its natural reflex action when the opportune time came for the production of its answer. Every constructive thought which we are sending out into universal ether for plans of the future, for work that we want to accomplish or for ideals that we have been dreaming, will, at the proper time, if we HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN 217 continue sending our constructive thoughts into the universal mind, have its natural reflex action which brings the correct answer to our wishes. That is the reason that we are so desirous that you will not limit the law in any way whatsoever; but will send out your thoughts free from any limitation, without any anxiety or stress or strain with them. The author of "Little Women," Louisa May Alcott, while in Europe, had a strange feeling. This '' feeling''—'' impression " or " inner voice''—impressed itself upon the consciousness of Miss Alcott until she caught the vibration, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, that her sister was not well. At first she thought this might be the condition of her nerves for she had overworked, because publishers were clamoring for more copy, but this "peculiar feeling" had never mis- led her before and she knew, before the message reached her, that her sister was passing out. What shall we call this peculiar feeling ? It is the same today as in Biblical times. It is not so much what we call this, as to understand that it is and that it never makes, a mistake; that it is God's voice to his children, guidance to the sons of men and help in the time of trouble. One evening a doctor who had retired after mid- night suddenly sat up wide awake. He had a "feel- ing" that he must get up out of bed and go some- where. He was not sure he knew where he was going, but this "inner voice" or "feeling" urged him to move, so not knowing why or whither he was bound, he hur- ried to the bath room, saying, "There is no time to 218 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE waste," and just as he finished his toilet the telephone rang for a very urgent call. This "voice"—this "feeling" or "hunch"—can guide us in similar ways of life. It is the same as the talent for writing or the talent of the mechanic. It must be cultivated and nurtured. The writer becomes a writer by writing, the blacksmith becomes a black- smith by blacksmithing, the baseball player becomes a baseball player by playing, a virtuoso becomes an artist by practice; and a man comes into a close under- standing of "spiritual guidance"—"Divine leading"; "the inner voice"; "impression"; "intuition" or "hunch"—by developing a mental attitude and soul poise so that he can understand when the "still small voice" speaks with authority. There was a Godly man living in the East who always prayed in the morning for guidance during tha': day. As he was in the midst of his usual morning devo- tions the "inner voice" spoke to him to delay his trip to New York. He had planned on going on the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. So well had he developed this spiritual communication, so well did he have his mind attuned to be a receiving station for universal mental wireless waves, that he had a feeling not to leave that day for New York. The train on which he had planned to go was wrecked and many lives lost. Shall we say there is nothing to this guiding voice even though, as yet, we do not understand it fully; or shall we have open minds and receptive hearts that the "still small voice" may make its impression upon HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN 219 us, so that we shall understand as Abraham did and as so many of the great souls of earth have likewise understood? Our forefathers said that there was no such thing as traveling by steam, as talking by telephone, or flying in the air. Shall we not be wiser than our forefathers? Trapeze performers understand this "little some- thing" within them as well as a man understands his mother's voice. They will tell you it is a "feeling," that it is something akin to fear, but it is not fear. It is just something—a "warning," "feeling," an "im- pression"—yes, yes, a "feeling" and that is all—but, when it comes, they recognize what it is the same as anyone else. Take Danny Ryan for instance, who in 1896 invented a parachute leap which had never been done by another performer and which was considered one of the most difficult feats ever attempted in the air. After he had performed this feat hundreds of times in midseason, suddenly he did it quite badly, then a little worse; later he fell and finally he began to be afraid of it and left it out of his act entirely. Acrobats shake their heads when you ask them for an explana- tion of a thing like that. They cannot explain the dread of this thing. Danny Dunham, the greatest performer in the world on the high bars, was one of these men who had this strange feeling. He gave up the profession en- tirely. He could have asked any salary. But when a man feels "that way about a trick," he said he had better quit it for awhile or he may get hurt and prob- 220 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LD7E ably killed. So Dunham went out of business. He had had the "warning"—the "hunch." A young fellow once joined a show out West to leap over elephants. He got along very well leaping over two elephants but when it came to the third he became shaky. Some of the boys told him he had bet- ter stop but he said he'd try to learn. He was such a nice, modest fellow, working so hard, everybody wished him luck. But it wasn't any use. One day he tackled a double over three elephants and came down in all sections, with his right foot on the mattress and his left foot on the ground. That was his last leap, poor fellow, for the ankle bones snapped, as his left foot struck, and a few hours later he lay in the dressing room tent, pale, with the doctors bending over him. His comrades never for- got the look he gave them as they came in. He was game all right, but his eyes were very pathetic. '' Well, boys," said he, "here I am. I did the best I could." It turned out he had tried it for a sick wife and little baby. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XIX. GOD'S VOICE TO MAN—Continued. Mental Telepathy By the Law of Vibration—"Hunch"—"Intuition" In my chapter on vibration in "Applied Psychol- ogy and Scientific Living" I have explained that man is akin to a wireless sending and receiving station. Our minds are constantly, although unconsciously perhaps, sending out thoughts into the universal ether, and these thoughts lodge into the consciousness of other people no matter how far away they may be, who are in rapport with our minds—in the same mental state as we. Our minds also are receiving stations for thoughts sent out by others and, it is very easily understood, that if we are concerned about our family, about our business, about our happiness, our peace or our joy, that other people who can bring us these boons of life will get their message to us; either that we may share these boons or be warned that they are being hindered. Messages are vibrated through the air continuously, but only the stations in tune can understand. In the story of Jesus and the centurion, as outlined in the last chapter, the centurion was in tune with the thoughts of Jesus; and his servant, lying sick many miles away, also being of the same mind and in the same spirit, was a perfect receiving station for the healing thoughts which Jesus spoke to the centurion for his sick servant. 224 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Is not man of today the same? Must not he be in tune with the spiritual power house, which sends the mental messages? If so, what is it to be in tune? For, as I have already shown, many there have been who testify that they have had Divine Guidance or knowledge of the "hunch" who have not confessed to be Christians. The skeptical may say that, not until the sun sets where it rises and the East becomes the West, will we have any knowledge of a communication between the visible and the invisible. I have already mentioned the fact that man can be guided in the most trivial affairs of life. I know a woman who has such a complete understanding of her "impressions" or "feelings" of right or wrong that she may have a luncheon engagement with a celebrity and, when everyone else would think that her future reputation as a civic worker was at stake if she were not on time at the luncheon, often times would never go. She has a "feeling" that it is not necessary and invariably there was a hitch in arrangements and the woman was not needed at the luncheon or place of appointment. There is a woman who so well understands this law of "intuition"—"hunch"—being guided in the small- est affairs of everyday life, that one day while shop- ping for ribbons, she saw a black ribbon that she needed—just what she wanted. From all appearance her reason was right that that ribbon should be hers, but this little "hunch "or "feeling "directed her not to buy the ribbon. Some time after that, she was going GOD'S VOICE TO MAN 22b through the same store and, by chance, saw that this ribbon which had been on sale at 35c per yard was now on a bargain counter at 5c. The same 35c ribbon for 5c. Trivial indeed, but in an orderly universe, where God is logical and scientific and psychological, this spirit which has made the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that in them is, has the same power to direct and guide each human life by a natural law, just as well as the life of the lower animals may be guided. In Vermont was a boy whom the doctor was watching most anxiously, for he had diagnosed the case as diphtheria and was attending the boy for this malignant disease. The boy did not improve and, the doctor, who was a most conscientious practitioner, was most perturbed to think that the ordinary sure way of treating diph- theria was failing with the young lad. That kind of a doctor, you see, would be a good receiving station for any positive, helpful, mental waves that may be flying through universal ether. Many friends of this boy were worshiping at the Baptist Tremont Temple in Boston at their regular weekly prayer meeting. Friends of the family of the boy made a request that the congregation pray for the life of the lad. Allowing for the difference of time, at the very moment these people began praying—being sending stations and sending their mental wireless mes- sages into space—"it occurred" to the good doctor in Vermont to again look into the throat of the boy. You will notice "it occurred" to the doctor. Indeed it 226 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE occurred to the doctor at the exact time that the people were praying, charging the Universal mind with their S. 0. S. call. Now it is not customary for a diphtheretic patient to have tacks in his throat, but, at the identical time that the congregation was praying for the boy, "it occurred" to the doctor to examine the boy's throat again—that something had found lodgment in the throat and perhaps he did not have diphtheria. Following his "intuition"—"hunch" or "wireless mental" messages which the congregation had sent to him—the positive mental receiving station—the doc- tor examined the boy's throat, more carefully, of course, than before and found that the boy had not diphtheria but that he had swallowed a brass tack. The lodgment of the tack in the throat had created an inflammation. The inflammation very much resembled that of diphtheria and the doctor had pro- nounced the case diphtheria. "It occurred" to the doctor. Was this incident of occurrence not spiritual guidance, soul communica- tion, mental vibratory telepathy? In my judgment this power of mental communication or telepathic com- munication, or whatever we may choose to call it, was used by Christ in many instances of healing—as per the illustration we have given in our last chapter from the eighth chapter of Matthew. Our demonstrations of absent treatment and heal- ing are the proof of this same law of vibratory men- tal thought transference. It is just as easy, if a patient is in accord, rapport or attuned with the send- GOD'S VOICE TO MAN 227 ing station, to be healed across the continent or around the globe as to be healed by the spoken word in the presence of the one who speaks. Therefore, guidance in our everyday affairs of business, social, domestic, civil, national and interna- tional life, is just as scientific and just as logical as any of the laws of Euclid. It is for us to understand that man has within him the unborn, natural God-given mental sending and receiving station and, that what we commonly call the "hunch" is the mental or spiritual impres- sion from the Infinite to the Finite, to lead man in paths of safety, surety, success, prosperity, abundance and happiness. If we use our heads only for hat racks, we may never be able to get a spiritual wave which is beating with all the force of a Texas Norther upon our "pates." Psychology teaches us to have an open mind— that our brains are for thinking, our heads are for service and our mind is a part of the Universal Mind —God—and that this mind can always be in tune with the God Mind and understanding; that the "in- tuition"—"hunch"—becomes a part of our daily liv- ing and we can never go wrong in morals, business, vocation, prosperity or happiness. God speaks just as clearly, as audibly and as plainly to the men of this generation as he spoke in the days that are past, to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XX. HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MAN—Continued. Mental Telepathy "Intuition"—"Hunch" In the eighth chapter of Matthew we have the account of Jesus healing the nobleman's son. "And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him and saying, "Lord, my servant lieth in the house, sick o? the palsy, grievously tormented." And the Lord saith unto him, "I will come and heal him." And the centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof; but only say the word and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers; and I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goeth; and to another, 'Come,' and he cometh; and to my servant,'Do this,' and he doeth it." And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled and said to them that fol- lowed, "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." And Jesus said unto the centurion, "Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.'' And the servant was healed in that hour. In a former chapter we discussed a little about the instinct of animals in self protection and its close kinship to reason in man. 232 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE We asked ourselves if it were not reasonable to think that Deity could guide man, the highest of creation, who has many more intricate problems than the dumb brute creation. It is not too much to expect. It would be a very little God who couldn't do it. Soldiers tell of detective feats of animals, dogs, cats, pigs, geese and even insects along the Western battle front. It is averred that these animals often give warnings of the approach of aeroplanes and of trench raiders, long before the slightest indication of what is coming reaches the senses of human watchers. It has been assumed that some subtle form of vibration, acting upon nerves especially keyed to respond to it, is at the bottom of such phenomena. There are two scientific explanations for this: 1st. There may be super-sensitiveness of the regular organs of sight, hearing and touch, such as the Indians have, who live out on the plains and accustom their eyes to look at a great distance and, who have a much better developed eyesight than white people who are cramped and circumscribed in towns, hamlets, villages and cities. 2nd. There may be special sense organs not pos- sessed by human beings. It may be that both of these conditions are, in fact, fulfilled. It may be that man had senses or "branches of senses" which he has lost, which might be brought back if conditions warranted it. If war had continued indefinitely, he might have developed the same. MENTAL TELEPATHY—INTUITION 233 Human organism would be readjusted backward, so to speak. If science thinks that under given conditions we may gain a new sense or "branch" of sense, or bring back some senses already lost, is it not as feasible to think that we can, the more readily, develop the faculty which is now within us, although it may be somewhat dormant—the faculty of understanding that "still small voice"? Perhaps we have lost our better instinct, our ability to understand how God guards and guides us both as a race and as individuals. The Dowsers—or water finders—found water for the troops at Gallipoli when all other means failed. by use of "divining" rods. "This," says Sir Oliver Lodge, "is a power that some people have and others have not." He would venture the guess that this power is a survival from a previous state of evolution when it was the common property of all individuals. There is a woman spiritualist in Texas who has made a fortune in locating oil wells. She has accred- ited her faculty for the location of oil to the discern- ment of spiritualism; but what she has really done has been by the same way as did the Dowsers at Gallipoli. She can walk over the surface of the earth vvith a rod in her hand and, by a super-sensitive sense, probably which, however, all the rest of us have, but undeveloped, she has a "feeling" or an "impression" that oil may be located where this "sixth sense" directs. If animals can "feel" or "sense" danger or 234 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE impending calamity, why is man not as wise as the brutes ? But isn't he? In the business world we have plenty of evidence that men are led to certain transactions of business— in fact most of the leading financiers know by a "feeling" whether they should undertake a business enterprise, place an investment or conduct business transactions. Not only do the leading financiers have this "inner light"—'"hunch"—but it is evident to every one, as we have mentioned in our previous chapters. It is only a matter of our discernment and knowing what this "impression," "feeling," "intuition" or "hunch" is. A certain lady who took my course, after she had heard me explain the "hunch," went out the next day to develop it. She was a saleswoman and she followed her "leads" to prospective buyers, in- stead of taking the old way of trying to get all orders by law of force. She followed the better way of listening to the "still small voice"—the "hunch" —and in that one week she made more money than in any other three of her best weeks of selling. This is how she did it. As she would start to follow her "leads" to a prospective buyer, she paused, listened and waited for a "feeling," an "impression," a "hunch." She never made a mistake. Instead of wasting time on some one who did not want her wares, or who ought not to have been solicited, she MENTAL TELEPATHY—INTUITION 235 was able to conserve all that time and go to the people who needed and wanted what she had to sell. In fact, this is the modern psychological method of salesmanship; not selling by the law of force but attracting, by the law of vibration, people who want your goods. This is discussed in our chapter on "Psychology and Salesmanship." As animals can "feel" or "sense" danger or im- pending calamity; so man has an "impression," "feel- ing," or "still small voice." Is it mental telepathy? I have a friend who has a home in Utah and one in Pittsburgh, who travels across the continent a number of times each year. He may be at the ex- treme end of the continent, his family at the other side, and know, by a "feeling," something is wrong at home. His wife has been an invalid for many years and he is always able to tell before a telegram reaches him the condition of affairs of his loved ones. A minister, who lived in Louisiana was traveling in Mexico, so he told me, and, during his sojourn there he had a " feeling " that something was wrong at home. So definite was this impression he "sensed" that he was not surprised when, a few hours after- ward, a message reached him that his child was dead. Some people have this sense of "impression," "intuition" or "hunch" so highly developed that they are directed in the smallest, most trivial affairs of life. For instance, I know a woman who is in the printing business and she often has a "feeling"— "hunch"—to get out and bestir herself and she in- 236 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE variably is attracted by following her intuitive lead to the very man who wants urgent printing done. In my own ministerial experience of some nine years, I always carefully prepared my sermons. I never trusted to the Lord to "fill my mouth if I opened it." I rather believed I was a worker with the Lord and that, if I tried to get something into my head, the Lord would fill my mouth with some- thing better than wasted air and often, after careful preparation, while standing in the pulpit and pro- claiming my message, I would stop in the midst of my discourse and change the current of my thought. I could tell that I was saying something that I ought not to say: of course, the Lord was then "filling my mouth," but he was "filling the mouth" of a man who was not lazy, one who had used brain sweat; and when the current of my thought was changed, I never knew of one instance where I had made a mistake. If there is anyone who has a conglomeration of diversified and heterogeneous minds to keep in tune, it is the minister in a little country church where his congregation is mostly made up of uneducated, doe- trinally-trained minds of small development. The proverbial Ladies' Aid Society—being a gos- sip-grinding machine of the town—has much founda- tion and many an educated, bright young minister finds himself in the midst of a congregation whose ringleaders and "spiritual advisers" are adepts only in doctrinal warfare, denominational differences and gossip mud-slingers. In that kind of a congregation MENTAL TELEPATHY—INTUITION 237 there are many times when a minister feels the nega- tive cross currents of trouble makers, when they are about their nefarious " Christian duty "of stirring up a hornet's nest for the minister to swarm and extract the stingers. I could always tell when something was wrong among the congregation and, invariably, by putting on my hat and preparing to go, I knew not whither, I would be led to the person or the place of discord. Some people may think that in the realm of spir- itual guidance—"hunch," "feeling," "impression"— that men are confounded, as in the days of the build- ers of Babel; but there are plenty of men and women who are as sure that they are guided just as wisely and just as tenderly and just as safely as are pigs, geese, mules and barnyard fowls. It is only a matter of understanding that this— "impression," "feeling," "voice"—is an effort of Divinity, trying to impress the finite. When our souls are beaten on the anvil of grief and our hearts are melted in the blasts of common danger, is it not reasonable to expect that God can guide us as well as he can guide dumb brutes? It should be as natural for us to understand the voice of God calling us into paths of safety, as it is for a swallow to seek her nest. Perhaps it is; but we are like a chick in a shell trying to pick its way out, but not quite ready to break the shell. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXI. MENTAL TELEPATHY—Continued. " Hunch "—" Intuition " In the light of modern science there are some who say that telepathy has now become a pure science; it has gotten out of the region of supersti- tion; it has advanced to where it can be demonstrated beyond the province of science. Others say that it is a spiritual science and lies beyond the province of science. The proper thing to say, perhaps, is that, with all of the evidence in its favor, we may not say that such a thing as telepathy is non-existent, but that its existence has not been scientifically proved. One of the great intellectual, lovable and God- fearing men of his day was Professor Agassiz of Harvard. When he was teaching in Harvard, he would often stop while conducting his classes and say "Let us pray and think over this." A professor in a modern semi-skeptical university saying, "Let us stop, pray and think over this!"* He would explain to his class that prayer often opened to him views that seemed to be unobtainable in any other way. One day when his pupils asked ♦See chapter on "Modern Prayer" in this book. 242 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE him about his habit of prayer he said: "Newton prayed over that apple before it fell." Morse prayed again and again over his telegraph and an entirely new thought came to him and, when he sent his first message from Washington to Balti- more, a distance of 44 miles, the message was: "What God hath wrought." Not, "What we have done." Perhaps a pause with the mind in the attitude of prayer makes a channel through which thought waves can pass. Is there a common carrier for thought waves? I think so—ether. Ether is the one all permeating substance that binds the whole of the particles of matter together, millions of times denser than lead. Just as fame can- not be hemmed in by any state lines, neither can spiritual life and thought be confined in one precinct. Sir Alfred Russell Wallace says that: "At a certain epoch in our life, when the body is ready to receive it, there is an influx of the spirit and, our existence in the future depends very largely on how we adapt ourselves to this new condition when it comes before us." We may say that we know just about as much about spiritual guidance as a nun knows about mar- riage; but we will never get any further if we do not seek and try to know. Washington Gladden testifies: "Transforming forces come into my life as the consequence of keep- ing the mind open to the influences above that might flow into it." Emerson in his essay on "Influx of the Spirit" says practically this same thing: that there MENTAL TELEPATHY—INTUITION 243 is a time in the life of man when he is susceptible to the influx of Divine Mind, spirit and power. Some may say that we will find a way to com- municate with the Divine if Gabriel delays blowing his horn long enough, but right now there are men who do have such experiences. Goodyear, who invented the vulcanizing of rub- ber, walked seven miles in a snow storm to borrow $5.00 to feed his perishing family. A voice called across the drifting snow and was repeated and repeated, telling him what to do with the sulphur—superstitious im- pulse, do we think? Not at all, but natural law. Is this mental telepathy? Thinking on these lines so long, channels of the spiritual were opened and they, being in tune, were able to catch the wire- less when it flashed into their minds. So we see that not only the sifted utterances of the chosen prophets have drawn from the source of mental supply the power for their needs, but we have many present day experiences to point the way for others to try and understand. It is psychologically true that when a man's mind is open, unshackled from past prejudices, teaching or experience, he receives from that other world or that other life; from universal Intelligence, Force, God; an "influence"—a "feeling," an "emotion"—that gives him new thoughts, new desires, new hopes. In other words, he becomes a new creature and, because a man's mind is untrammeled from negative thoughts, is open to the "influx of the spirit," he is putting himself in harmony to be hooked up with the Divine 244 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Power House that has the current which guides us and can lead us. The Divine power house—the sending station—is always operating. It is only that man shall under- stand this and, by placing himself in a receptive atti- tude, make his mind the receiving station for the constructive, guiding, intuitional "hunch" thoughts which Divinity sends to shape the lives of men. You may be assured of your material guidance just as surely as sap comes in the spring-time and the dawn precedes the day; whether we call it spiritual com- munication, mental telepathy, wireless soul messages, subconscious impressions, mental currents or vibrations. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXII. SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION—Concluded. Conscience, Nature, Vocation, Life We may say that there are as many different ways of interpreting the "still small voice" as there are human beings, but whenever the "impression," "feeling," "vibration" or "vision" comes, the indi- vidual is bound to know it, provided he is a receiv- ing station—"in tune with the Infinite." The desideratum is to know that voice when it speaks to us. The twin problems of food and shel- ter are no more important than the twin problems of life and our relationship to God. We may say that it is instinct; we may say that it is mental telepathy; or some may say that it is conscience. Whatever it is, we will know the "feeling" when it comes. When Theodore Parker, the great minister, was a little lad, he was traveling in the company of boys who were "young Indians" in their attitude toward the treatment of dumb animals. He had seen other boys torture animals and thought they must find sport in so doing, so when he saw a tortoise slowly making its way, he picked up a stone, raised his arm to throw it, but he suddenly stopped. Something inside of him stayed his arm. He threw the stone down 248 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE quickly and ran home to his mother asking what that was and his mother very wisely counselled and said that some people called it conscience and other people called it God. There was a mania for a while among a certain type of criminally inclined men to put merchandise on board ships, get a big insurance on the merchan- dise, then place an infernal time-machine on board the ship, set to explode when the ship had gone out to sea. This was a very profitable "easy money" game, but of course it meant the loss of many lives. One man, who thought he would make his "pile" by an infernal machine, sent his cargo and machine to sea and when the ship was blown up and the lives lost, the man's conscience was so stricken that he spent the rest of his life, insane, searching for the people whom he had drowned. Nothing came back to soften his pillow of memory. He lived in a world of vision, of fear and of hallucination. The mind had regis- tered so impressively, by imagination, the murders he had wrought, that he became insane. Some of the decisions of our conscience are so solemn and peremptory that it would be absolutely correct to say "Thus saith the Lord." When a man is treading the slippery paths of vice or sliding on the thin ice of indecision, verily the voice of God comes as an automatic signal to guide the weary pilgrim through the maze of life. Russell says: "Sometimes this voice is the call of duty." In Flanders Field where poppies bloom and the SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION—HUNCH 249 soil is wet with heroes' blood and mothers' tears, God spoke to millions of crusaders for democracy and righteousness. But just as our temperaments differ, so do God's ways of reaching us differ. One man has to be corrupted and gangrened to the very core before he can pause to hear the voice of God or conscience; and sometimes it is in the silence of our souls, such as "I had a feeling"; "I could not get away from it"; "I could not get it out of my mind." These suggest the compulsion of a Divine Imperative. Sometimes it is a feeling or impression which comes from reading a book, a biography—and espe- cially the Bible. Sometimes it is by looking at God's handiwork in the sky, field, land or sea, all woven in symmetrical life and action by the hand of Divinity. Just as sometimes God's voice is the call to duty, so sometimes it is the tug of love. We do not have to be pitchforked back and forth, on surging tides of a sinful sea, but God speaks to us through the heart, the soul, through the subconscious mind, through the metaphysical and psychological laws, as well as the moral laws. God calls to us by a "Hunch"—an impulse. He speaks to us by intuition and in dreams— sometimes! God talks to us through our vocational inclina- tions. It is just as scientific, psychological and sacred when He speaks to us by a vocational bent as it is 250 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LTFE when He speaks to us by reason, instinct, feeling, impulse or impression. No eagle is left in doubt as to whether it was meant to creep, to walk or to fly. The beaver builds its dam. The bee makes its cones, the bird its nest, without a doubt as to what God intended them to do. So man has inclinations for one kind of work or another and this attraction toward a particular kind of work, this "bent," is another way God speaks to the sons of men, letting them know that by their industry they shall have their homes as well as the beaver, the bee, the bird and the eagle. The joy we get out of our work and the happiness we find in following the same is the joyful voice of God speak- ing in this way to the children of His creation. God speaks to men by the lives of great souls. We read the life of Abraham Lincoln. Our souls are stirred because of his troubles, his sufferings, his heartaches, his mistakes and his failures and there is something within us that responds and we too feel something within urging us not to quit; urging us to continue; urging us to overcome our sorrows, our struggles, our misfortunes, our mistakes and our heartaches. God speaks to man just as clearly by impulse, through the lives of the prophets, the teachers and human companions, as man can talk to man. It is a matter of understanding that God is evident everywhere; that His language is universal. The man on the continent, the man on the island, the oriental and the occidental, all know this language of the Creator by way of the "still, small voice," intu- SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION—HUNCH 251 ition, impulse, impression, oracle, vision, bent or inspiration, from the lives of fellow travelers. God has spoken to the human race in a no more marvelous way than He has through the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. Millions of people's lives have been inspired, their souls uplifted, their tears dried, their sorrow quenched and their grief swallowed up in victory, because God spoke to man through the life of Jesus Christ. The crux of the whole matter is not whether God guides us by instinct or reason; whether it is mental telepathy or spiritual communication; whether it is intuition or hunch; whether we may call it feeling or impression. The main thing is that we know this "still, small voice" and that we may have no theological quibble or philosophical hair-splitting definitions; but that we may have souls that will be in tune—in rapport—with the Infinite Universal Men- tal Sending Station, so that we will be recipients of the messages which the Great Universal Father— God—is sending hourly, aye, every second, to the children of His creation. God guides the lower creation, animals, by in- stinct. He guides man in a dozen different ways and to me this is all the more wonderful. Surely it is far better that God can speak to each individual life in divers and numerous ways, rather than just one way as He speaks to the brute creation. Surely that is a far better way than having to go to each one of us in some unknowable, unexplainable, primitive, miraculous way as, we have been taught to believe, 252 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE He came to Adam, to Abraham, to Samuel, to Elijah, to Isaac and Jacob. Believing that God can guide us, vaguely wonder- ing if He can or openly doubting His Omnipotence, I feel constrained to say that, whether we know it or not, our attitude toward this voice or vision may determine our success materially and spiritually. The blacksmith develops his muscle by exercise, the musician becomes a virtuoso by practice and man knows God by "listening." Paderewski can tell, when he does not practice eight hours a day, that he is below par; so we must get ready to practice our spiritual muscles if we are to fully understand God and His laws of guiding man. We have not yet come to the mountain top; we cannot yet see the promised land of the future but, trusting, our Maker will guide us into our own, there can be nothing to doubt, nothing to fear but all to gain. God's voice will come to you and you will know when Intuition speaks. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXm. THE HUMAN AURA* The human aura is a radiation coming from the body and Each individual is surrounded by an invis- ible, egg-shaped radiation known as the aura. This is the temple which is not built with hands. It is a subject that has been written upon and discussed since antiquity. It is an atmosphere, a radi- ation or emanation coming from the human body. The body, as we know, gives off a certain emanation from the cells and glands of the skin and perhaps the aura is this odorous enveloping atmosphere surround- ing the human body. The aura is invisible ordinarily to the naked human eye, although there are people who have devel- oped the faculty of seeing it. As Dr. Walter J. Kilner says in his book, "The Human Aura," "The human aura is composed of three parts. First we have the etheric double which is a dark space surrounding the entire form of the human body. It is a dark band without any striation or granules adjacent to the body and quite distinct from the aura proper. "Then we have the inner aura which lies just out- side the etheric double. As a rule the breadth is •See page 261. 256 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE uniform all over the head and trunk and, generally but not always, slightly narrower down the limbs. The inner aura is striated as if brushed out with a camel's hair brush. "We then have still another aura—the so-called outer aura—which envelops both of the other auras as may be noted from our illustrations. The outer aura commences on the outside of the inner aura and varies in size. When the whole aura is observed, without the intervention of any screen, the two latter divisions appear blended together, but the part near- est the body looks the more dense. "The human aura is now supposed to be an ultra- violet phenomenon. The human body is normally a heat engine and a furnace, giving out a certain amount of heat. We know that heat changes the ambient atmosphere, as does everyone who has looked across a hot stove plate, when ordinary air, invisible before, becomes plainly visible, by a sort of refraction effect, popularly' called boiling. Objects seen behind the plate suddenly seem to become distorted. That heat has something to do with the human aura seems to be borne out by the fact that no aura has ever been seen on a corpse after a subject has died. The aura in all cases vanished within a few hours after the death of the subject." The human aura is of different colors according to the health and the thought maintained by the person. If a person is entertaining constructive, cheerful, happy and good thoughts, the aura takes on" a lighter hue; if the thoughts are negative or im- THE HUMAN AURA 257 moral, the aura will be dark. Those who are able to see the aura can tell the mental or moral state of the person. I have a friend who has made a great study of psychology and her faculties are very highly devel- oped. She was once introduced to a man whose aura was so dark in color that she was unable to recognize his features. The next day that man committed murder. As Mr. Gernsback sets forth: no two auras of any two individuals are the same. The aura of a male subject is entirely different from the aura of a female subject; the aura of the female is larger than the male aura. The male aura seems to be narrower. The aura of children also varies but for children of both sexes, up to the age of thirteen or thereabouts, the auras are of about the same general formation. Illness, hysteria, diseases, etc., all affect the aura, while various illnesses affect the auras in different ways. There is now a device, called the dicyanin screen, the invention of Dr. Kilner, by which the human aura can be seen. The screen is composed of two pieces of flat glass, separated by means of rubber or glass or any other suitable substance, and the space between the two plates is filled with an alcoholic solution of coal tar dye, dicyanin. The aura can only be seen satisfactorily when certain conditions are fulfilled. The light must not 258 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE be too bright. The requisite amount of light has to be determined at each observation and experience is the only guide;, some being able to perceive the aura only by light which is much too strong for others. Dr. Kilner, the inventor of the dicyanin screen, is of the opinion that the human aura is due to ultra- violet rays but, in commenting on the phenomenon, Mr. Gernsback says: "Dr. Kilner had tried at times to photograph the aura but had never succeeded and for this reason it seems that the phenomenon can hardly have much to do with ultra-violet rays as a whole. If it had, the photographic plate should be able to register the effect as most photographic plates are sensitive to ultra-violet rays." He simply thinks the aura is nothing more nor less than the chemical emanation exuding from every ani- mal body and that what Dr. Kilner has done by the aid of the dicyanin screen is making visible the odors of the human body. Figure 1: The aura of a healthy young woman; Figure 2: a perfectly shaped aura of average width; the color was blue-gray. Figure 3: The aura of a healthy woman, with a rare phenomenon of "rays," extending from various parts of the body. The subject was about twenty-five years of age. Figure 5: Health has much to do with the aura. Figure 5 shows the aura of a hysterical woman; note the bulge at the back. The above is the aura of a healthy, strong man ; the color of his aura was blue with a little gray: the etheric double will be noted lying close to the body—it measured about one-fourth of an inch broad. The subject was an athlete about thirty years of aire. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXIV. HOW TO CLEAN THE AURA As we come in contact with other people we are unconsciously taking on their conditions—absorbing their aura. If we go into a room where there is discord or inharmony, not only has the mind caught the dis- cordant vibrations—which cause a low, depressing, discordant effect upon our minds—but we, also, absorb the discordant auras of those in the "inhar- monious" room. When we go shopping and come in contact with dozens of other people, we come in contact with dis- cordant thoughts and inharmonious vibrations and we, also unconsciously, absorb the auras of others in our social intercourse. As the aura is an emanation of the human body, created by the mental condition of the people, we are affected both mentally and physically by the auras of other people which have blended with ours. We say, when we have been shopping or meeting many people, that we are tired out and exhausted and feel "limp as a dish rag." This physical and mental condition is accelerated by the auras of other people. When I was pastor out on the plains, with no other minister within 300 miles west of me and 60 262 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE miles north or south, my "pastoral calls" were made not in the homes but in pool halls, saloons and gam- bling dens. I usually took one day a week in which I made the rounds of the town, meeting all kinds of discordant and immoral minds. It generally took two days to get back to my normal physical condition, having been so exhausted after spending my time in places of immorality. I used to say that I could feel the mental condi- tion of the saloons weighing upon my mind and sap- ping my strength (I termed this—in the language of Orthodoxy—loss of spirituality) and I felt also that I lost much of my spiritual atmosphere and, to a degree, I was right. But what really affected me was, not only the discordant, inharmonious, evil atmos- phere of the saloons and gambling dives, but also from my absorbing the auras of the habitues of these places of immorality. There is a way to cleanse the aura so that our physical strength may be revived and our mentality quickened, so that we may in a very short time come back to normal and out of the lassitude or "limp as a dish-rag" state. When we have been in any environment that has lowered the condition of our aura, both in color and vibration, wash the hands and arms up to the elbows; face and neck, with soap and cold water and then rinse, likewise in cold water, and wipe' partially dry with a towel. In many cases it is much better not to use any towel whatsoever. Then relax mentally and physically, as is our custom upon entering the silence; empty your mind HOW TO CLEANSE THE AURA 263 of any negative and discordant thoughts and then, standing with the weight upon the balls of the feet, with the heel of the right foot next to the instep of the left, at an angle of 45°, take this affirmation: "I cleanse myself of all negative thoughts." It should be repeated three times while facing to the front, with both arms extended forward parallel to the shoulders. Then with the palms of the hands turned downward, bring the hands back toward the chest in a circular motion, up past the face, and then continue the circular motion back to the original position—both hands extended forward, arms parallel with the shoulders. This motion should be repeated three times, tak- ing the affirmation each time the movement is com- pleted. Turning to the left, repeat the affirmation and motion three times. Turning to the back, the same thing, three times. Turning once more to the left, repeat the same affirmations and motions. After you have completed these exercises, you will be surprised to notice that there is an imaginary substance, coming from the ends of your fingers, much like molasses. Your aura has been cleansed. NOTE: Another affirmation which is splendid is as follows: "I am. I know that I am, and there is nothing greater than 'I am'." If there has been any striking, discordant per- sonality that has conflicted with your poise and vibra- tions—if anyone "has gotten on your nerves"—you must be sure, in emptying your mind of all discord- 264 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE ant thoughts, that you send out to such a person, happiness and love thoughts, remembering, as we have said elsewhere in this book, that we can love everyone—we must love everyone—although our love may be of a different degree. Only upon a complete emptying of the mind and the total relaxation of spirit and body, will you have the best results in cleansing the aura. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXV. THE PRACTICE OF THE CHEMISTRY OP EMOTION Every discordant thought—anger, regret, grief, sorrow, misfortune, reverses, envy, greed, selfishness, jealousy, etc., should and can be dismissed from the mind without a moment's hesitation. Everyone, who has experienced the physical sen- sations which follow such discordant thinking, should be able to dispel these kind of thoughts instantly and so completely that no "feeling" will follow the recog- nition of the incident. We may so train our thinking that, finally, by habit thoroughly established, we shall have no more discordant thoughts about anything which may come into our life than we have about those which hap- pened thousands of years ago. We ought to so train the mind and have it in such complete control that we will be able to meet all incidents, which affect us personally, so that they can be instantly relegated to the ash-heap of forget- fulness. We now have psychological methods and instru- ments of exact science which can trace and register our emotions. There is a balance device on which a man can be placed, with the man evenly balancing the machine. Then, by requesting the man to concentrate on a 268 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LTFE particular subject, the blood or consciousness—rush- ing to the head as he thinks—will dip the balance board downward. So exact is the operation of this invention that a man may concentrate and drop the balance board; then, allowed to smoke a cigarette and given another period of concentration, the board will not drop down as far as at first; given another period of rest, an- other smoke and another time for concentration, the board will not drop as far as the second time—thus showing the weakened effect of the brain in its power of concentration by cigarette smoking. Thus do we see the minute details of the power of thought and the chemistry of emotion. The psychologist can indeed register the symp- toms of inner excitement and, more than that, can show the effects of feelings and emotions where the mere practical observation does not give us any trace. Yet, even the subtlest detective work, of the psycho- logical instruments, refers only to the same bodily functions which make us visibly blush in shame, turn pale and tremble in fear, shiver in horror, weep in grief, perspire in anxiety, dance in joy, get hot and clench the fists in anger. Everywhere the blood ves- sels contract or dilate, the heart beat changes, the glands increase or decrease their activity, the muscles work irregularly, but the instruments enable us to become aware of almost miscroscopic changes. "The unintentional movements may become symp- toms of feeling in still a different way. The thing which awakens our feeling, starts our actions toward PRACTICE CHEMISTRY OF EMOTION 269 the interesting object. All muscle reading or thought reading works by means of such a principle. The ouija board of the spiritualist is a familiar instrument for the indication of such impulses and, if we want a careful registering of the unnoticeable movements we may use an aulomatograph—a plate which lies on metal balls and thus follows every impulse of the hand which lies flat on it. The plate having an at- tachment by which the slightest movements are regis- tered on a slowly moving surface. If the arm is held in a loop, which hangs from the ceiling, the hand will still more easily follow the weakest impulse, without our knowledge. Ask your subject to think attentively of a special letter of the alphabet and then spread cards, each with the letters thereon, a half circle a'nout him; his hand, on the automatograph, will quickly show the faint impulse towards the letter of which he thought, although he will remain entirely unaware of it. If a witness or criminal in front of a row of a dozen men claims that he does not know any of them, he will nevertheless point on the automatograph towards the man whom he really knows and whose face brings him thus into emotional excitement." An eastern traveler met the plague one day; whereupon he asked the plague, "Where are you going"? "I am going to Bagdad to kill 5000 people," was the reply. A few days later, so the story goes, (he same pilgrim met the plague returning, and said: "You told me you were going to Bagdad to kill five thousand people but instead you have killed fifty thousand." "No," said the Plague, "I killed only 270 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE five thousand, as I told you I would—the other forty- five thousand died of-fright." Fear can paralyze every muscle in the body. Fright affects the flow of blood, likewise the normal and healthy action of all the life forces. Fear can make the body rigid, motionless and powerless to move. Fear changes the chemistry of our mind and body. Likewise, every other negative or discordant thought—inharmonious thinking or anxious living— produces a deleterious chemical action which, in turn, has its effect upon one's health, strength, courage, prosperity, happiness and success. The student of Psychology ought instantly to be able to change his mind from discordant thinking to constructive thoughts. Every discordant thought, every inharmonious thought, every fear thought and every emotional thought has its antidote. It is a matter of under- standing the antidote and placing into the subcon- scious mind, by instant thinking, the antidote or oppo- site constructive thought. And, just as one chemical, coming into contact with another chemical, and the two, amalgamating instantly, form a third; just so constructive thinking will act upon a negative thought as an antidote and instantly change the chemistry of emotion. For instance, if we should harbor hatred in our heart, we have learned that it creates a chemical action, making a poison that circulates throughout PRACTICE CHEMISTRY OF EMOTION 27i our whole system. By changing our thought of hatred to lovo, the love thoughts act as an antidote and in- stantly change the chemistry and the normal healthy circulation and health is restored. The antidote for fear would be hope: courage, power, strength. For anxiety: peace, poise, contentment, joy. For envy: kindness, love, fellowship, blessings. For jealousy: trustfulness, brotherhood, love, faith. For worry: calmness, faith, hope, courage. For covetousness: generosity, abundance, plenty. For despair: hope, faith, at-one-ness, courage. For imperfection: perfection, completeness, one- ness. For gloom: joy, peace, happiness. For sickness: health, life, spirit. For lack and want: abundance and plenty, etc., etc. When anything has gone wrong in any way; when the mind is beset by any kind of discordant or inhar- monious thinking, take the antidote for the discordant thought seven times. For instance, if hatred should be in your bosom, repeat the antidote—love—seven times and if result is not obtained the first time repeat the antidote seven times seven. Or if you are disturbed or worried, take peace or the antidotes for worry seven times and if peace does not come, repeat the antidote seven times seven. For any discordant state of mind which you want to overcome, you will be sure to have the result if you 272 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE will eonscientiously repeat the antidote seven times or seven times seven. If we have been raised in an orthodox church, where scripture has been quoted or memorized, there could be no better antidotes for fear, worry and anx- iety, etc., than the recollection and repetition of sacred lore or writings. (See General Affirmations—this book.) We should remember and practice the antidotes until they become second nature to us and, should the cry of "Fire" be raised, instead of becoming startled and fearful, we should instantly hold our poise and composure and equilibrium by thinking and realizing the antidotes: "safety, peace and shelter are ours and no harm can come; harmony reigns, etc." So apparent is the power of thinking that its effect upon the human body is to change, instantly, discord into harmony, peace and poise; and that any- one—no matter how temperamentally constituted, no matter what the environment or surroundings—can have complete control of his thoughts to such an extent that, no matter what turbulent waves of dis- cord may come to his outer consciousness, the oppo- site affirmation can be held so that "Peace, Poise and Power" will reign supreme. If you would like to see how powerful the trans- ference of thought is, take a person's hand and send a thought from your right hand through his whole body; but if you clasp both of his hands with your two hands, you may send a thought from your right hand through his body, he feeling warmth along the spinal column and PRACTICE CHEMISTRY OF EMOTION 273 down through his right side, back through his left side and again back to his left hand. There is a law that supersedes the "Law of Com- pensation." It is the "Law of Transmutation." By its use you can transmute any seeming evil into actual good. It is simply higher chemistry than the world in general has comprehended but, for all of that, it is no less "Law." Since your "Word" is power, impelled by the "Life Urge," which is creative, try its power by pro- nouncing the statement: "All is good," over any ad- verse condition and see the adversity of it melt away as does the dew before the sun. All seeming reverses and misfortune, trials and temptation, tribulations and grief, sorrow and discord can be changed by the chemistry of thought into just the opposite condition—by holding the affirmation: "All is good" or some similar affirmation. For instance, whatever may befall you as a seem- ing misfortune, instantly hold the thought that "All is good"—"My own will come to me"—and the pois- onous chemistry of weakening, negative thoughts will each find its antidote in these affirmations. Demon- strate at once and the chemistry of the positive, con- structive thoughts will take the place of the poisonous ones and harmony will reign. In fact, the practice of the "Chemistry of Emo- tion" is the power to supersede negative or inhar- monious thoughts by just the opposite. The effect of negative thoughts upon other people of our acquaintance, friendship or home is very evi- 274 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE dent and a single illustration may suffice: A young man, in love with a very charming girl, had been refused because of an evil habit he had formed. She gave the young man a certain length of time to over- come this habit, which, if mastered, would cause her to change her decision. During this time of probation both the mother and the girl held fear thoughts for the young man. Of course, he was susceptible to such negative suggestions which made his struggle all the harder; he felt their fear thoughts and was affected by their mental attitude. We can do much to change the chemistry of others' emotions by holding positive, faith-giving, con- structive thoughts. Or, in other words, we can by our constructive thinking help someone else and enable him to exercise "The Law of the Chemistry of Emotion," so that he can—with our help—demon- strate, by the power of thinking, his own antidotes. We can help ourselves—we can help others. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXVI. SCIENTIFIC AND RHYTHMIC BREATHING How to Electrify the Body. When we have control of our mentality and an understanding of the law, we are able to breathe in from the universal mind, not only health, but most anything we desire.* Diaphragmatic and abdominal breathing must become a part of your natural self. All children breathe normally. Watch any child, any baby, and you will see that it breathes without any exertion or movement of the lungs and that the diaphragm and abdomen move outward as the breath is inhaled. In our natural breathing the chest should never be held up and the diaphram or abdomen contracted inwardly. The chest should never be held up by the exertion of the lungs as though we were taking deep breaths. In breathing we should never be conscious that we have a pair of lungs. The lungs are not made to hold up the chest or the torso, because the lungs have been so constructed as to need, them- selves, to be supported. The lungs are like bellows and, if they supported themselves instead of being the supporter of our chest and torso, they would be open and free and ready to •For breathing affirmations, see affirmations in this book. 278 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE receive the inrush of the air as we naturally breathe; the same as bellows may be filled by pumping the air into them. We are never conscious of the action of our lungs if we are breathing properly and scientifically. There is a part of our anatomy below the lungs and above the abdomen shaped much like an umbrella and known as the diaphragm. When the diaphragm functions normally it is like a raised umbrella and this raised- umbrella-like organ is the supporter of the lungs. When the diaphragm is in its normal functioning con- dition, namely, in its raised-umbrella-like condition, the lungs are then freely supported like bellows; so that when we take a breath and throw the diaphragm out, the lungs are, naturally, in a wide-open condition and the air rushes in and fills them completely. When, upon the other hand, we are breathing from our lungs and raising our chest as we breathe, only the upper parts of our lungs are open and the lower parts are not receiving the oxygen. In all breathing therefore, we should learn to use the diaphragmatic breathing, pushing the diphragm out arid thus leaving the lungs open to be filled with the in-rushing breath. Of course, by taking a deep, long breath, striking the diaphragm out, the lungs will naturally open wider—like an open channel, or like a hole in a house where a draft can rush through i—and, the deeper we breathe, the greater will be this rush into the lungs and the greater will be the draft rush of fresh air into the remote parts of the lungs. The lungs are made for the purpose of breathing RHYTHMIC BREATHING 279 and not to carry a load. Therefore you must learn to breathe from below, from the diaphragm, that the lungs will be free from burden-carrying, free from stress and strain; open bellows to receive the draft of air which shoots into the lungs when we take a deep breath with the diaphragm striking out. Some years ago the British government trained its soldiers in India to stand erect, throw out the chest and contract the diaphragm, thus putting all of the burden upon the lungs of carrying the upper part of the man from his waist up. These soldiers were not only taught to stand in this position, apparently making their lungs larger, but, in reality, enlarging the upper part and decreasing the lower part, with the added work of carrying the torso of the men. The British soldiers in India could not endure the hardship of marching, nor the fatigue of drilling and, it was finally decided, officially we understand, that it was due to the position of the chest, the over- working of the lungs and the lack of abdominal support. To prove to yourself that this is not theory, but fact, just take five minutes only in which to inflate your lungs; draw the diaphragm in; chest up, then breathe heavily and walk real briskly and, at the expiration of five or ten minutes vigorous walking in this position you will feel fatigued. Then, try the breathing that we shall give you below and notice the difference. Instead of being fatigued, you will feel refreshed and enervated; you have taken the weight, the work and the stress from the lungs 280 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE and the chest and placed it where it belongs, upon the diaphragm and abdonmen and you have been able to breathe the in-rushing draft of air until the lungs have felt it in every crevice and been refreshed by the contact of the oxygen. Before we take the exercises below, remember that the normal way to breathe is, of course, through the nostrils, with the diaphragm striking out. Al- ways in breathing and in conversation, in public speaking and in singing, the diaphragm should strike out. In walking, as you go to your daily tasks and your business duties, the diaphragm should always normally press outward and, if you will watch the baby or child as it lies on its back, breathing with the diaphragm out, you will see the illustration of our point. As you take your breathing exercises and as you go about your daily routine, the diaphragm should strike always out, keeping the lungs resting, as bellows, wide open, ready at all times unconscious- ly to receive the in-rushing draft of air. These exer- cises can be made a part of your very existence and, unconsciously, after you have practiced them for a few weeks, you will be taking deep breaths with the diaphragm striking out and the lungs resting upon it, giving them the full sweep of your breathing. If we will take affirmation as we are tak- ing our breathing exercises, the same as we use af- firmations in physical exercises, we will get so much better results. For instance, as we take our deep breathing, say: RHYTHMIC BREATHING 281 "I am breathing into my body, health, life vigor and strength," or "I am breathing into my being prosperity, abundance, success and plenty," or "I am breathing into the depths of my soul, peace, poise, rest and love," or "I am breathing love, harmony, joy and hap- piness from the Divine Source of the Universe," or "I am a part of the Divine Life and I am breath- ing into my being the very soul of Divinity." At first you may have to breathe through your mouth and take a sudden gasp or catch for breath in order to get the diaphragm and abdomen back to their normal way of functioning. Therefore, we are go- ing to give you the following exercise. This, re- member, is only exercise. You are going to learn later to breathe through the nostrils, with your mouth closed and, always, with the diaphragm strik- ing out; not in, as we are now going to practice it. Pushing the diaphragm in, as we are now going to take it, is just to let us know that we have a dia- phragm, being conscious that it is not working in its normal way of functioning and that, by drawing the diaphragm in and squeezing it with our hands, we are bringing circulation, arousing muscular action and stimulating the proper functioning. Pushing the diaphragm in, as you are now going to do, is simply an exercise and not the normal way of breathing. Standing with one foot in advance of the other, with the right heel almost touching the left instep at an angle of 45 degrees, place the thumbs upon the 282 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE hips and press the fingers of the hands into the sides of the abdomen. In this position exhale (breathe out) every bit of air you possibly can elim- inate from the lungs. You will have better results in this by rounding the lips, making as small an opening as possible, and pushing hard in on the dia- phragm with the fingers. After you have exhaled every bit of air you possibly can, suddenly catch the breath and the diaphragm will naturally strike out- ward. If you practice this and fail to have the out- ward stroke of the diaphragm, it is well to rest, not thinking of the way of breathing, for by keeping our consciousness strained, wondering if we are going to breathe properly, we are liable to bring just the opposite effect, namely—be so conscious of our lungs that we will work our lungs instead of our diaphragm. Try it again, standing in position as above. Hands on hips, fingers pressing diphragm in with all your force, lips rounded, exhale. Blow out every bit of air and, after you have emptied your lungs of every drop of air that you possibly can, count three—one, two, three—and inhale quickly, opening the mouth as if gasping for breath, with the dia- phragm striking out. You will find that this exercise will be more than profitable if taken lying on the flat of the back, without a pillow and, after exhaling all the air you can, through the smallest opening of the lips that can be made, if you will insert a pipe stem you will be surprised to see how much more air you can RHYTHMIC BREATHING 283 breathe out of your lungs. Then again catch your breath as though gasping. Should you still have difficulty in not getting the action of the diaphragm, put a belt around the waist and draw it very tightly until you know it is there. Leave this belt on for a few moments. In lime the diaphragm will be tired of being pinched and squeezed by the belt and, it will, of its own voli- tion, want to have freedom and will push against the belt. Then, suddenly remove the belt, catching the breath and the diaphragm will move. Try this a number of times if you are not successful at first. Of course no one wants to wear a tight belt all the time but this is only a matter of exercise until you become accustomed to the action of the diaphragm. And, just as no one should wear a tight belt all the time, neither should "women wear corsets, especially in taking the exercises. The time is coming when we are going to look upon corsets as barbarous, just the same as wo now consider dueling, which was an art in the days of "civilized" savagely. Above everything, in trying to get this natural breathing, if you are not able to get results from the exercises, be sure to see that the corsets are removed. That may be a big stumbling block. If you still fail to get your diaphragm to strike outward, stand against a wall and have some one put his hand or fist against your abdomen and, with all his weight, force your diaphragm in as you exhale and, after you have exhaled all you can, with the person still forcing your diaphragm in, by the 284 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE fist, suddenly catch your breath as though gasping and you will get the required result. Still, if you are having difficulty to get the dia- phragm to function properly—strike out—continue to stand against the wall with someone pushing in your diphragm and then take five ha, ha, ha, ha, ha's; then take ten ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha's; then fifteen ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha's, and now indefinitely without counting until you have really laughed. If the person who is helping you can generate a laugh with yours without taking all of these ha, ha, ha, ha's, the result will be just the same. The object is to laugh while you have the diphragm pressing inward. The laughing exercise as given in Chapter Sixteen of "Applied Psychology and Scientific Living" by the author, will absolutely develop the right kind of diaphragmatic breathing if conscientiously followed. In breathing, as in suggestion, the success and the joy of exercise comes by repetition. Rhythmic Breathing After we have complete control of our dia- phragmic breathing, then take our standing position. With the right foot in advance of the left, the heel almost touching the instep of the left foot, at an angle of 45 degrees (or vice versa with the left heel pointing toward the right), rise on toes while you count four; then, while resting on the toes, hold the breath while you count eight; then exhale, coming down onto the heels, counting four again. Rest in your normal standing position and breathe naturally HOW TO ELECTRIFY THE BODY 285 while you count eight. Repeat this three times and you have learned rhythmic breathing. It is not necessary to rise on the toes as we take our breathing and counting. We may sit, lie or walk while we inhale, counting four; hold while we count eight; exhale again counting four and breathe naturally and normally while we once more count eight. Repeat three time for rhythmic breathing. How to Electrify the Body Just as all life is vibration, we are now begin- ning to understand that all animated life is elec- tricity or has the composite elements to either gen- erate or feel the sensation of electrical vibration. We now have an invention which can see rays of electricity shooting from the finger tips of man. The body is electrical and subject to electrical gen- eration. If you should like to get a shock put a bath towel in the bottom of the tub (the towel to prevent too great a shock) then run water in the tub, lying flat on the back and, just as the body is about cov- ered with water, lean forward and touch the tips of the toes with the fingers. It is possible to electrify the body after which you will feel stronger and filled with vigor. The average person, however, should not do this more than two or three times a week. To electrify the body take your rhythmic breath- ing as outlined above, but this time, as you rise on your toes, inhaling and counting four, bring the arms up- ward with the count, until they almost touch above th^ head; then, bending them at the elbows, wrists down- 286 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE ward, touch the hair gently with the tips of the fingers. In this position hold your breath while counting eight. Then, as you exhale, counting four, let the arms take their natural position at the side of the body, returning from the tips of the toes to the heels. Breathe naturally while you count eight; repeat three times for electri- fication. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXVII. VIBRATION AND HEALTH* As we have seen that all life is vibration, there- fore, the way to health, as well as prosperity, poise and happiness, is founded on the law of vibration; vibration is the basis of all science and this law is brought into operation by the mind—by the "world within.'' Scientists have dissolved matter into molecules; these molecules have been dissolved into atoms and atoms into electrons. Our bodies are made up of molecules, atoms and electrons. Electrons would forever be electrons unless they were directed where to go and how to be assembled into atoms and molecules, and this director is the mind. "A number of electrons revolving around a cen- ter of force constitutes an atom; atoms unite in abso- lutely regular mathematical ratios and form mole- cules and these unite with each other to form a mul- titude of compounds which unite to build the Uni- verse." The electrons, atoms and molecules control the ♦For more on Vibration see "Applied Psycholgoy and Scientific Living" by the author. 290 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE human body and are directed, assembled and united by the same director—the mind. These molecules, atoms and electrons have intelli- gence and thus they can be directed and assembled —they respond to the suggestion of the mind. Their intelligence acts upon the suggestion of the mind, therefore whatever the mind thinks the molecules, atoms and electrons in turn think and, as thoughts are things, the power of our thinking impressed upon the intelligence and accepted by the intelligence of the molecules, atoms and electrons constitute health or sickness, prosperity or lack, abundance or limi- tation—"created by the world within." The body is completely renewed every eleven months and, as these atoms which constitute our bodies have intelligence and will respond to thoughts suggested, it is plain to be seen that we can, by our thoughts, renew our bodies physically and men- tally every eleven months. Of course, the power of thought if strong enough, if properly understood and exercised, would renew our bodies instantly and change our mentality imme- mediately. "Verily, whatever a man thinketh in his heart so is he." Thus, we see all causes have their origin in the mind and appearances are the result of thought and, since they are produced by thought, they can be erased by thought. If you cut your hand, immediately thousands of cells would begin their health healing processes— VIBRATION AND HEALTH 291 thought, intelligence in the cells of your body would immediately set to work with their healing power. Intelligence of the cells does the healing. If you break a bone in your body the doctor may set it but all the doctors in the world cannot weld it. We say that the bone begins to knit— nature takes its course, but back of this knitting is thought—intelligence. Intelligence in every part of the body. Intelli- gence—thought is in the stomach. And by the size of some stomachs, judging by the way some people eat, there ought to be a lot of intelligence. Suppose you swallow poison, thinking that you are taking something pleasant to the taste and whole- some to the body, your stomach instantly differen- tiates between the thoughts which you have in your mind and rebels. You become instantly sick—intelli- gence in your stomach—you think in your stomach and the way some people gluttonize you would judge that they had done a whole lot of thinking in their stomachs. Suppose we are standing on the street corner on the Fourth of July and great crowds gathered there to see the boys march by to celebrate the glorious day that gave the world its first independ- ence. The crowd is anxious, restless, moving. When all of a sudden the Stars and Stripes come into view and the crowd instantly comes to attention, hats are doffed and a reverent attitude assumed as the troops and the flag pass by. As soon as the strains of the Star Spangled Banner or Dixie are struck up by the 292 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE band, you feel this surge, patriotic-sensation run- ning up and down the spinal column; you have felt the thrill of patriotic vibration. What thrilled you? The troops? The flag? The band? No! It was the power of thought, intelligence, which brought the vibrations of patriotism. Thought vibrations which permeate every mole- cule, atom and electron of the body; healing wounds and knitting the bones are just as real and just as vibrant and just as thrilling to the human body as the vibrations of patriotism. Therefore, by right thinking, communicating health and life to every atom of our being, we set up healing vibrations of the Universal Mind and Intel- ligence. You are healed by thought vibrations. You are made strong by thought vibrations: courageous, pros- perous, happy vibrations and you become peaceful by the same token—vibrations. "Physicians are employing music more and more because of its wonderful healing properties. There is nothing like music to cheer up and enliven the home and to drive dull care, blues and melancholy away. "Music tends to restore and preserve the mental harmony. Nervous diseases are wonderfully helped by good music. It keeps one's mind off his troubles and gives nature a chance to heal all sorts of mental discords." "At a recent meeting of a Music Teachers' Asso- ciation, Dr. H. W. Richard said that many of the VIBRATION AND HEALTH 293 diverse ailments of these days, which were so freely discussed and constantly met with in children, could to a great extent find their palliation, if not their cure, in singing classes. Nothing was so invigorat- ing and health-giving as singing. It taught the great art of breathing properly, prevented adenoids and sore throats, stimulated digestion and generally gave better health and greater staying power." There is much virtue in singing lullabies at the bedside of the child. Of course no modern mother will any longer rock the baby while putting it to sleep. Lullabies, crooning songs, telling rhythmic stories and poems to the drowsy and sleepy child will prevent nervousness, fretfulness and temper and develop a good disposition. It is an established fact that sounds make chil- dren cheerful, honest and healthful. We often have severe headaches by reason of having heard certain discordant sounds.* ♦For a more complete study of this, see "Applied Psychol- ogy and Scientific Living" by the author. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXVIII. VIBRATION—Continued. Healing Uses of Music It has long been said by the people of the coun- try that lightning and thunder showers sour milk. There are millions of people who believe that to be the truth, although, like many doctrines in theology, they cannot give a reason for their belief. But re- cent discoveries show that such is not directly the case. Conwell says the encyclopedias of science have lately said that the theory is no longer accepted and some state that there is no connection between the electrical current and curdling of milk. A short time ago, in Leipsic, they were building great oil tanks, 35 feet in diameter. Those of you who have heard hammering on the inside of a loco- motive boiler know how discordant the sound is. The effect of the sounds on the people who worked on this great boiler was such that they had to use relays of workmen every two hours. One of the workmen took his dinner pail and a glass of milk inside the tank at lunch hour and another workman, to surprise and startle him, took a heavy sledge ham- mer and struck the outside of the cylinder. The workman inside the tank took up his glass of milk and found it was sour although it was fresh that very morning. With German pertinacity, the next day, they tried the experiment again and they found 298 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE that two blows with a sledge hammer curdled the milk every time. Then we go back to the souring of the milk in the dairy of the farmer and find that it is doubtless caused by the sound of the thunder, by the waves of sound passing through the particles of matter in the air and milk. The state of the atmosphere probably aided the transmission of sound vibrations. Thus far we have gone safely and scientifically. You must begin to appreciate what suggestion is to the thinking mind. In the human system we take milk, ordinarily one of the best and most nutritious of foods. But there are some persons whose stomachs are in such a dyspeptic state that the acids of the stomach immediately curdle the milk, causing it to form a very undigestible hard lump. It was also found, in the experiment on this great tank, that the pounding on the outside of the tank would curdle sweet milk inside a man's stom- ach if the man were inside the tank. Now does not that mean much? It means very, very much, because around us are sounds all the while influencing our bodies, influencing our thinking, influencing our characters in ways which we have not understood. But there is a time rapidly approaching when we shall understand the uses of various sounds, in the various sciences, and also the healing of disease. It is to this thought that I now wish to direct my remarks. There was a young woman who had been struck by a train and who had been brought into the hos- pital very nigh unto death. There were many broken bones and a fractured skull. The family were gathered HEALING USES OF MUSIC 299 around what they thought was her death-bed. But today she lives in strength and beauty, in complete health, so far as one can judge, and I think it was the hymn "Jesus Lover of My Soul" sung to the tune, "When the Swallows Homeward Fly," that brought her back to life. For two weeks she lay in an unconscious state, returning at last to partial con- sciousness, sufficient to enable her to recognize her father and mother when they leaned over their daugh- ter and bade her bood-bye, as they thought she was dying. One Sabbath morning a section from the Christian Endeavor of the church came into the hospital. The physician asked the soloist to sing this hymn. She sang it to the tune of "When the Swallows Home- ward Fly." She sang at the far end of the hall. There were many rooms between her and the sick girl. Although that girl had for two weeks been out of her mind and had not responded to opiates, she went off into sound sleep in the middle of the solo and did not hear the second verse. The next Sun- day this fact was told to the singer and she was asked to sing the same hymn again; but she used the tune of the old church music which all love so well. But before the singer had reached the second bar the young woman began to scream, went into hysterics and they had to call a halt on the music. The doctor, seeing the effect of the music upon the girl, asked the singer not to sing that tune in the hospital again. During that same week we asked the soloist to come to the hospital and again sing the secular tune, 300 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE while two physicians and two nurses observed the effects. Before the second verse was begun the girl sank down like a babe into a peaceful rest. The second verse was sung and she slept on. Later the church music was again sung and the girl asked to have the door shut and cotton was put in her ears to keep out the sound. A cousin of the girl, from West Philadelphia, later on was permitted to visit her and she often sang the song, "When the Swallows Home- ward Fly." It always had a beneficial effect. In the hospital, where these experiments were made, the doctors objected to their publication on the ground that it would bring about a great deal of criticism from their brethren in the profession. But one day this hymn, "Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me," was sung with solemnity. There were 19 patients in the ward and 18 nurses, who were to watch the effects of the music on the patients. The singers were too far away to permit the words to be heard. But of course, church people would associate the music with the words, and hence this in itself may not be such a strong argument in favor of the influence of the music alone. However, taken with other things, it is strong cumulative evidence of the power of music. All the patients who had been asleep awoke; those that had been moaning in their pain ceased their moanings; the wild ravings of the maniac ceased. One young man, of an excellent fam- ily, had been injured on the head while working in his shop. The blow had caused an abscess to form on the brain which had not been absorbed, making HEALING USES OF MUSIC 301 him insane. We had sent to the asylum for blanks to be made out by the family so that he might be removed from our hospital to the insane asylum after sufficient proof. Before the music started he had been swearing, something he never did in his right mind. But the ravings of insanity made him profane, so much so that it had been necessary to give him morphine to quiet him. Two of the great- est physicians in our state were present to see th? experiment on that young man, and as soon as the music commenced he became silent; then he began to weep; tears ran down his face; then according to the notes of the nurse, his lips trembled; his eyes twitched, then his whole form shivered. When the music ceased he continued to shiver as though cold. They covered him with coverlets and gave him warm drinks. At last he whispered intelligently "Music." So they sang the hymn a second time, then, in his right mind, he asked for water. When he was re- moved to his private room, however, he again sank into his former state and the doctor said he thought we had done him more harm than good. Later on his sister called and we explained to her that music was the only thing that had kept him quiet and she herself sang that hymn, "Rock of Ages." With trembling lips he said to her, "music," and reaching out his thin hand seemed to insist that she sing again. When she had finished the hymn he turned to her with a look of intelligence and said, "Mamie, I knew your voice." The young man went on for months and months and finally left the hospital 302 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE cured and a few months ago was still healthy and strong, engaged in a mercantile business in West Philadelphia. I believe that music saved his mind. It is founded upon experiments but all science is founded only upon experiments. The head nurse was standing next to the bed on which lay a young woman ill with typhoid fever. She had reached the stage where there were hem- orrhages of a severe kind, generally believed to be a fatal stage, and there seemed little more that could be done for her. Her temperature was stationary at 102°. But she began singing this hymn, in the second line, with the quartet, and soon one patient after another and then the nurses took up the tune. This young woman asked for water, that she might moisten her lips and sing better and then her voice came out sweet and clear. We were afraid it would do her harm and tried to get her to refrain from singing but a little later the pulse and temperature were taken and the evidence of the turning of the fever for the better was clear. That young woman recovered and is now in Los Angeles, at the head of a nurses' training school, although she was not a nurse when in this hospital. The author believes music was responsible for the turning of that fever. The doctor said he was not ready to say that it was positively the case; doctors are very conservative in such matters. But we have tried that tune many times since and always with beneficial results. Similar re- sults have been had with it in two hospitals in New York and one in Boston. HEALING USES OF MUSIC 303 In this ward, at that time, was a little boy six or seven years of age, ill with a dangerous form of ton- silitis, which doctors thought might be contagious, it was so nearly like diphtheria. The nurses could not keep him quiet. He would remove the bandages from his throat; he would scream out when they applied cold and heat and, altogether, was a very difficult case of manage. He had no mother, his father was out of the country and his sister had to work to support the boy and herself. And, desiring to see what effect the music would have on this little boy, the author asked the quartet to sing a song that Christian mothers have hummed to their children. The effect was almost miraculous. He quieted down and they had no trouble in getting him to take his medicine. He ceased to scream at the application of cold and heat and his whole disposition seemed to have changed for the better. Later on he became the pet of the hospital. He left it entirely cured.—The Temple Review. Inasmuch as musical vibration has much effect upon our temperaments, our health and our state of mind, Ave all should have some kind of music or rhythm in our homes every day. That is the reason I impress upon you to read some poems—to have rhythm, to tune your mind and body to rhythmic metre. We raise the rate of our vibration by rhythm and musical metre and harmony. Every home ought to have some kind of music every day—if it is just "canned music." If there are no musicians in your family—in your home—no one who plays any mu- sical instruments nor anyone who sings, you ought to have a Gramophone, Victrola, a player-piano, or 304 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE some other kind of automatic musical instrument— something that will produce musical vibration and thus raise the rate of your own vibrations. Many large concerns are now having music at stated intervals while their employees rest or relax. This is going to be the regular routine of every business house of any magnitude, within a very short time. Have music in the home. Have rhythm in your home. Put music into your work—put rhythm into your work—and get more out of your home and more out of your work. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXIX. VIBRATION—Continued. Music as Insanity Cure Former Kansas City Pianist Obtains Remarkable Results Moissaye Boguslawski's "Musical Therapeutics" Opens New Field in the Work Among Persons Suffering Mental His (From the Milwaukee Journal, copied from the Jour- nal of the American Suggestive Therapeutical Association.) The announcement from Chicago that music is being employed as a cure for insanity is not as start- ling as it is a cause of wonder that it has not been tried before. The fact that the cure is termed "mu- sical therapeutics" only makes it sound intricate, until it is explained that musical therapeutics is merely the playing of music to the insane and vary- ing the theme for each individual case. After two years of research Mossaye Boguslaw- ski, former Kansas City pianist now living in Chi- cago, claims remarkable results from music in insan- ity cases. For the last few months he has been con- ducting a series of experiments at the State Hospital for the Insane, near Chicago. 308 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE His work is being closely watched by psychia- trists of the Chicago Department of Health as well as the most prominent alienist in the Middle West. Dr. D. B. Rotman, of the hospital staff, has been tak- ing voluminous notes on the results so far accom- plished and is preparing a technical article for dis- cussion by American medical men. In his playing Boguslawski endeavors to awaken in the gnarled brains of the patients some remem- brance of their childhood or rational days through the medium of music. He claims that in many cases a patient will respond almost unconsciously to rhythms and his thought will be led from darkness of insanity to light in a manner which science ar yet cannot explain. i Working On Emotions "Every musician will tell you how he has toyed with the emotions of an audience—brought back ten- der memories of an old home, through some simple strain; brought tears and laughter through some trite or light selection," explained the pianist. "Mu- sic has a way of finding its way into the minds of people and directing their thoughts in a manner of which they are thoroughly unconscious. "By playing a certain piece the listener is all attention whether he wishes to be or not. If it is a march he feels a thrill, if a dirge he feels sad. He cannot help it. Music is subtle and its melody and rhythm conjure up thoughts and emotions over which the individual has no power. MUSIC AS INSANITY CURE 309 "Why not, then, develop by the same means a mental purge for the insane? It is because their sick minds are gnarled and tightened that physicians have been unable to effect a cure. "Music will creep into dark corners of these brains and allow the light to shine in. The question, of course, is just what sort of music for each indi- vidual. All humans are attuned differently." The Result of Experiments. The experiments have been conducted at the state insane asylums, Saturday afternoons. Different classes of patients have been brought into the room where the pianist sits at a piano, and in many cases it is during his playing that the first response has been received from stuporous patients. One of the striking examples of response from the pianist's efforts was the case of an Italian woman. She had become insane at the birth of her baby and had shown the greatest indifference to it since that time. In fact, she was excited to frenzy when it was brought to her. She was placed in a chair several feet from the piano. Boguslawski, watching the face of the pa- tient, as he always does when playing, allowed his fingers to wander over the keys, shifting from one piece to another. He received only a blank stare from the woman, who sat motionless in her chair. Then the pianist played an adaptation of the in- termezzo of Cavalleria Rusticana. 310 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LD7E The woman started forward in her chair as though moved by some unseen spring. Her face lighted up with an expression of understanding. Her eyes brightened. She smiled and hummed the tune in cadence with the piano. The pianist, noting the changes in the patient, played the piece through and then began it again. Soon the woman stopped humming. The smile faded from her face. Tears came to her eyes. She covered her face with her hands and sobs shook her frail figure. The nurse bent over her, and remarked: "She says: 'Oh, my baby! Baby needs a mother. When am I going home to my baby?' " Song of Childhood This was the first emotion the woman had shown concerning her baby since its birth. It is believed that this intermezzo had been sung to her when a small child by her mother. The minute the musician stopped playing the woman sank into her melancholy reserve and was unmoved when certain other pieces were played. Another case studied was that of Mary K., an Aremenian refugee. She was made insane through war horrors. She witnessed the slaying, by Turks, of her father and mother. She was not a violent patient but one who appeared unmoved by anything that went on about her. The musician tried numerous soothing melodies. Finally, when he struck the chords fom Chopin's Fu- MUSIC AS INSANITY CURE 311 neral March the woman fell to her knees and mur- mured a prayer. Then she sobbed. It is believed that she had never before heard this particular piece of music. But there was some- thing about it that found its way into her otherwise listless brain and stimulated it. Then there was Ollie S., a young German woman. She had not spoken for three months, attendants said. The musician played the "Blue Danube" waltz and the woman began to talk. She told, in a sudden rush of words, about her girlhood days in Bavaria, days when she danced to this waltz of waltzes. The next case was not as difficult of diagnosis as it was pathetic. The doctor and the nurses were acquainted with the history of Marie Therese L., the petite madamoiselle who had been brought to the hospital shortly after her arrival from France. Dur- ing the war she had been forced to live in Lille while the Germans were in possession of the city. Her sweetheart was an adjutant in the French army who was killed in the first battle of the Marne. Reacted to "Madelon." Her hatred of the Germans was intensified by their treatment of herself and other women during their occupation of Lille. Her bitterness had devel- oped into monomania. She thought of nothing else and had never been known to smile. All this the doctors had learned, bit by bit. The pianist was told of her case and played a few strains of Madelon. Instantly her face lighted 312 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE up, her fingers tapped the arm of the chair in time to the music. Then came the stirring notes of the Marseillaise and she was unable to control her emo- tions. Waving her arms triumphantly, she cried, "Vive la France." Her hatred and melancholy had been replaced by the fires of patriotism, only tempo- rarily, it is true, but it was a beginning. "These ex- periments are the first of their kind in the U. S.," said Dr. Rotman. "They are highly interesting. There is universal potency to music; it appeals to the subtler elements of the mind. Patients long considered dull are aroused to the expression of emotional display." NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXX. VIBRATION—Continued. General Efiects of Music—Positive Thought Currents —How to Get What You Want In great emergencies, in sweeping national catas- trophies, music has always been employed to encour- age the people, to stimulate them to renewed effort, or to appeal to the sympathies of the more prosper- ous citizens. Illustrating this point, the sons of that patient, optimistic music teacher all remember when that mother returned from her first trip to Europe. They eagerly gathered around her as she told of the voyage on a sailing vessel and how, at a port where the ship had stopped en route, the sailors were kept hard at work for ten hours unloading a heavy cargo. At evening, a breeze had sprung up, and the captain was most anxious to get the sails set and take advan- tage of the favoring wind. All hands were conse- quently ordered on deck to loose the great mainsail. The weary men, who had been handling cargo all the day, came from their hammocks and, upon learning what was expected of them, flatly refused—a mutiny was imminent. The passengers stood in frightened groups on the after-deck, while the captain and mates took up their station beneath the great yard- arm. The bo'sun joined them, but the sailors were obdurate, and stood with folded arms behind the 316 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE big dark-browed, weather-beaten mariner who was the ringleader. The third mate, a jolly, rollicking sailor, with a mass of yellow curls beneath his nautical cap, stepped forward, threw off his coat and, laying hold of the "main sheet," began to sing a favorite sailors' chorus: "Who stole the boots? Who stole the boots? Who stole the boots? Paddy Murphy, Oh." The bo'sun promptly fell to and helped pull and the men passengers followed and before "Paddy Murphy, Oh" had died away, every sailor was pull- ing with might and main, except the sour-faced leader, who spent the night in irons; "with no music in his soul,"—mother said. The music teacher was quick to see in this inci- dent the power of her favorite art, even on sailors who were so weary that, for the moment, they forgot that the welfare of the passengers depended on them. In after years she often said that if the stirring re- frain of a sea-song, mingling with the swish of the waves and the howl of the wind, could subdue a mutiny, what might not music accomplish in the uplifting of humanity and the soothing of vexatious national discord—for waves of melody have a com- pelling power to dissipate discontent. In the history of every nation the power of music has been demonstrated. There was a time when the "Marseillaise" had to be suppressed in HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT 317 France, because the people went wild at that stirring hymn. At one time the singing of certain old na- tional airs was forbidden by law in Ireland, and in Scotland the "Bonnie Prince Charlie" songs were placed upon a ban, in the hope that the kind "o'er the water" would be forgotten. The power of music is ever growing and a time may come when all things vexatious can be subdued by waves of harmony, as David exorcised the evil spirit from King Saul by the sweet melodies he drew from his harp. Music is itself the very type of peace and harmony. Observe a great orchestra; every wave of the baton means something; there must be absolute unity of purpose and no instrument must deviate by a single note, for each is essential to the harmony of the whole; even the lark notes of the piccolo would be missed by the leader—it is a per- fect example of many people working for one grand common purpose. The development of music has a sociological aspect for, when this nation finds expression in a distinctive national music, then will it understand how to harmonize conflicting elements gathered within its boundaries. No other art can amalgamate so many widely differing races. The foreigner will be- come truly American in thought and habits when he can come to our shores and find here a music that has in it the heart-glow of a young and pros- perous nation, syncopated in merry or sad planta- tion songs and the deep minor wails of the red man of the forest, carried on to perfect harmony in the 318 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE sweeping chords that tell of the wide plains and the canyons where the winds echo; where the very heart of a nation responds to the master hand, in sweeping the harp-strings with the tail of its achievements and dreams, its remote and mysterious past. The lavish gifts of the Creator to this land can never be ex- pressed in words, but that Supreme Generosity and the appreciation therefor may be rendered in music with rich, sweeping chords and sweet minor ca- dences.—"The Happy Habit." Music hath power to expel diseases, it is a sov- ereign remedy against despair and melancholy, and will drive away the devil himself. Canus, a Rhodian fiddler in Philostratus, when Appollonius was inquis- itive to know what he could do with his pipe, told him "that he would make a melancholy man merry, and him that was merry much merrier than before, a lover more enamored, a religious man more de- vout." Ismenius the Theban, Chiron the Centaur, are said to have cured this and many other diseases by music alone, as now they do those, said Bodine, that are troubled with the St. Vitus Bedlam dance. Tim- otheus, the musician, compelled Alexander to skip up and down and leave his dinner. Who hath not heard how David's harmony drove away evil spirit from King Saul? And Elisha, when he was much troubled by importunate kings, called for a minstrel, "and when he played, the hand of the LoTd came upon him.'' Censorinus reports how Asclepiades, the physi- HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT 319 eian, helped many frantic persons by this means. Jason Pratensis hath many examples how Clinias and Empedocles cured some desperately melancholy, and some mad, by this our music.—Burton's Anatomy of the Melancholy (1621). The virtue of musical vibration is not only mani- fested in healing but in every walk of life; in every profession and in every business. Mary Lyon, walking the street of Newburyport one Sunday morning, having been refused the half promise of help towards her philanthropic scheme for the education of American women, for the first time in all her effort, became completely discour- aged. The minister in the Congregational Church had given out the opening hymn, the organ struck up in vigorous tones and, as Miss Lyon stood on the sidewalk and listened, the choir sang: "Ye faithful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy and will break With blessings on your head." It was a message from the great unseen strength, from tho power which could foresee, and it filled her soul with hope. Many on the inside of that church were also filled with hope, as they joined in the morn- ing hymn. How often has a preacher, when his church has become weak and disheartened or when some seem- ing calamity has come to the community, looked out upon his congregation to see only sad faces and glis- tening tears. Then he has taken that hymn, and 320 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE with courage placed it before his people and as they sang, hearts grew lighter, the future brighter and God came nearer. They went out from the Church full of hope to change the whole sentiment of the village and, never again, perhaps, to despond as before. Russell H. Conwell, pastor of the largest Prot- estant church in America, gives us this instance of the power of musical vibration over a man who was slipping downward. Only a very few weeks ago a man stood in this Temple who had come in from the street and who stood back there in the cor- ner without accepting a seat offered him by the ushers. When the string quartette played the Largo and Professor Twaddle struck in with that sweet ac- companiment by the great organ that was so full of the beauty of music, as he told me afterwards, he felt a hand sieze his shoulder and it reminded him so much of the hand of his father that he turned around as though half expecting to see his father standing behind him. He said he could not believe it was anything more than the fact that he remem- bered that his old father so loved to hear his children play the Largo. (Three of them played instru- ments and this young man was one of them.) And when he heard it he felt the sweet impetus of that strain and he said, "Whether my father's spirit was there or no I cannot tell, but someone laid his hand upon me." Whether it be his father's spirit or whether it be all his imagination, still Christ's hand was laid on that young man's shoulder; for he re- turned to ways of righteousness, to the way of his HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT 321 father and I have not had a more beautiful letter from a man for the last two years than that which was written by him to me from London. Having wandered into the Temple accidentally and heard that music, Christ's hand was put on his shoulder just as distinctly now as in that olden day. Conwell gives us this instance of the Power of the Mind over the Body. A few weeks ago a man and his wife came to the Church; they held up their hands for prayer. Afterward their little child was taken ill, and two or three weeks ago, on a Sunday night, the wife came to Church by permission of the husband as he said he would stay with the sick child until she returned from Church. When the doctor came in to prescribe for the child, he said to the father, "I fear that child has no chance to recover; the heart is failing, I can scarcely detect the slightest flutter." The wife was found in the Church and was hurried home to the side of the dying child. She had asked for the prayers of this Church for her child and, when she reached home and saw that face, so deathly pale, she said, " 0! what is the use of praying ? There is no power in prayer if God robs me of my child after I have tried to serve Him." The husband said, "Yes, wife, it is a terrible thing, but I am the one to blame if God takes the child; I am the one to blame for I have not served the Lord. I have not tried to do it and I am ashamed of it and now perhaps the Lord is taking our child away, all on my account and for no other reason. I have not tried to live a Chris- 322 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE tian life." He flung himself across the cot where the sick child was lying and cried "Lord save my child! Save my child." 0! he was almost in the Kingdom; he loved his child so much, he was willing to give himself, suffer himself for the sake of his child, he was almost inside the pearly gates of the ever- lasting home. As he flung himself so violently across the bed, his cries to God for mercy aroused that child and the child began to move as though it was returning to activity. It took hold of the little finger of the father's hand and said, "Papa, I am going to stay with you; I'm going to stay with you, don't cry, papa!" That child was so weak that its heart had almost ceased beating. But when the father threw himself over the bed with such terrible screams as to arouse the child, the change for the better came. The doc- tor tells me that he thinks he can account for it by the natural influence of the child's mind over the body. The father's screams so frightened the child as to cause the heart to beat more actively in con- sequence. When that man threw his hands across the bed and called on God, he was not far from the Kingdom of God and, when the parents looked on the eager face of the child and, when the father felt that the child was going to be well, he sur- rendered all and was altogether in the kingdom. It was nothing other than the law of vibration from the scream of the father which had its reflex action on the mind of the child, which, in turn, acted upon the child's heart beat. Vibration changed HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT 323 the father's life and saved that of the child. Vibra- tion is the great secret of many a man's whole life, success, prosperity and happiness. What do you want most? Write on a piece of paper that which you want to come to pass in your life and, by thinking—concentrating—upon this rightly, whatever you want you may have. You will get this by raising the rate of your vibration, by constructive, courageous, hopeful and faithful belief. Perhaps you need a thousand dollars to put life and courage into you, as did Carrie Jacobs Bond. If you want a thousand dollars, begin right now to claim it. Then, have faith and conviction that what you want is yours. Then, make this affirmation a part of your being: "Mine own will come to me; it is mine now." Probably you have not thought in big enough terms; don't be afraid to plan large and make your "Castles in Spain" big. Not everyone wants an automobile; if I had to take care of one you could not give it to me and pay me to run it. It is a good deal easier to let the other fellow take care of the car; but, if you like to spend your love on an automobile, that automobile will respond to care and love; I don't have time in the first place and in the second place I don't care for that particular kind of pastime—that particular kind of love. You may not want an automobile: we are taking this just as an illustration; whatever you want, ask for it now in the way that we have told 324 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE you to charge your subconscious mind, at night, and you will get it. I know a woman, whose husband was out of work, whose little savings were all spent and who, herself, had to get a job to fill the larder. She stood on the street corner one day as a friend of hers swished by in an automobile and she said to herself: "Within a year I am going to own a car." And she did—car all paid for. I don't demonstrate that way; maybe you won't. But, if you are careful and have properly prepared your mind for concen- tration, whatever you want you may have. There was a woman, over sixty years of age, with- out funds or collateral, but, for a number of years, as she passed a certain building in her city, she had said to herself that some day I am going to own that building. Remember, she had no money—no particular social standing or prestige, but she had her heart set on that building. After she had thought about it and concentrated until she was thoroughly con- vinced that that should be hers—had raised her rate of vibration until she vibrated courageous wave meters, she told some one that she wanted to pur- chase this particular location. It was a business man who thought he knew about real estate and other investments and he said it would be financial suicide for her to take that property. But she was so confident and so courageous in her persuasion that she talked the man out of a Two Thousand Dollar loan for the building. In this building she started a printing HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT 325 plant. Within five years her investment on the bor- rowed capital of Five Thousand Dollars had grown to over Ten Thousand Dollars—pretty good for a financial suicide's location. She wanted that building; she had concentrated for that building; she had visualized for that build- ing; she had vibrated for that building and she got that building. When you begin concentrating for whatever you want, there must be no doubts but that what you want is yours now. Make this affirmation a part of your being: "I have the faith and the con- viction that I can have what I want." Carrie Jacobs Bond, the author of "The End of a Perfect Day," I suppose is one of the "big four" song writers of her generation, yet she was not always thus; she lay in a hospital, discouraged nigh unto death, was ready to die and, expecting the hour was near, she had a friend come to her bedside to arrange her affairs. An inventory was taken, of what seemed to her but a pittance, includ- ing a few copyrighted songs. As her friend saw the emaciated features of what had been, to her, a wonderful soul, she struck a vibratory chord that Carrie Jacobs Bond needed. Looking at the poor author who had "thrown up the sponge," ready to "shuffle off this mortal coil" and to "die," she shook her finger at Mrs. Bond and said, "You are not going to die, what you need is a thousand dollars." That was just what Mrs. 326 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Bond needed; it was the vibration of courage and faith and hope that revived the spirits and saved the life of the great song writer—a thousand dollar vibration; a thousand dollars to Mrs. Bond was more than a hundred million to Rockefeller and when her friend exclaimed that she wanted a thousand dol- lars, with the intimation that she could have it, Mrs. Bond responded to the vibration and began to mend. Her life was saved; her talent given to the world; because of a hopeful, courageous friend who was able to raise Carrie Jacobs Bond's vibration from that of thinking on death to that of thinking abun- dance. The world will never know how many people are giving up, both in health and success, because they need a little money; just a few dollars, dumped into our lap when the flood tide of opportunity be- gins to roll over our heads, would push back the tides and give us a swimming chance to win. If you want money, know right now that it is yours. Charge your subconscious mind at night, as we have elsewhere directed and see what happens. What- ever you want, know that your own will come to you but you must remember this: concentration is not to be followed by any doubts and you are likewise to be grateful for what you have and wish others the same blessings that are yours. To get what you want right this minute, put down the book and write that which you would prefer above everything else; than fold the paper containing your HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT 327 solemn pledge to yourself and put it safely away. Then take this affirmation: No. 1. I have the faith and the conviction That I have what I want. Repeat it, learn it, make it a part of your con- sciousness, as the rest of the instructions which follow. No. 2. I shall not doubt. No. 3. I have faith and confidence. No. 4. I am positive that mine own will come to me. What I want is now mine. The vibrations of hope and faith which you send out into the universal mind will reach the like receiving stations and, just as thought produces thought and like produces like, your thoughts will be produced in kind. Whatever you want and ask for, believing that all that the Father hath is yours, right now your wants are met by the unlimited store- house of the Divine. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXXI. PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS Mental Healing Testimonials from the Medical Profession: Wm. S. Sadler, M. D., is reported to have said in the Ladies' Home Journal that "at least ten million Americans now employ some form of mental healing." He might also have added that many noted specialists in the medical profession die from the very disease they specialize. They think that disease, they talk that disease, they prescribe for that disease, they live a mental atmosphere of that disease and finally, by thinking, contract that disease. Many people think that they have a disease and they get it. Many people think that they need a medical adviser and, by the power of that think- ing, of course, feel the symptoms of the disease for which they think they need a doctor. If well-edu- cated and well-trained minds, as great medical spe- cialists, can bring into their own lives diseases on which they specialize, it is not difficult to under- stand how the laymen may, by thinking on diseases, contract the diseases they worry about. But if the medical profession had been a suc- cess, there would be no occasion for ten million of 332 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Americans now being treated by mental practi- tioners. The medical profession, the same as the church, has fallen down—failed in eliminating ills and sicknesses from the human race. It is said that ninety per cent of American people are suffering from some form of physical ailment. Approximately one-tenth of the people in the country are now using some means of getting relief and healing by mental suggestion. The great work of the Master was far more outstanding than any other and, especially, the most spectacular was his cure of the deaf and the blind, the lame and the halt. This was practiced by his disciples and followers for two hundred years after his death and then the art of healing was lost and, although we have had in each century great mental healers, call them what you may, it has only been within the last half of the last century that the movement again began to grow. Now it has reached such proportions that nothing in the world is going to be able to stop it. Even the medical profession is getting behind it and pushing it along. In fact, when we can get such testimonials as below from the lips of men who rank high in the medical profession, we are get- ting the best endorsement that the orthodox-trained drug-surgical public could have, proving the virtue and efficacy of power of mind over matter. For instance, Dr. George I. MacLeod, one of Scotland's great medical authorities, is responsible for saying: PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 333 "The number of prescriptions written by phy- sicians today is very much smaller than it was eight or ten years ago. I believe that in about fifteen more years the writing of any prescriptions for medicine will be a very rare occurrence." "What," I inquired, "is going to take the place of drugs?" "Well," replied this observant student of events as well as of human health, "the use of serums and other means of warding off disease will do the work and, what they cannot do, physicians will know that ordinary drugs will be unable to accomplish." A drugless world! Just think to what we are coming and cheer up! Dr. Clouston, the eminent Scotch physician, says in his enlightening book on the "Hygiene of the Mind"; "Certain diseases of impaired nutrition, from warts up to internal tumors, from scurvy to dropsy, have unquestionably been cured by mental influences. This is perfectly explicable from what we know of the relation of the brain to the blood supply of the body. Through the vaso-motor brain function it can shut off, or give an extra supply of, blood to almost any part of the body if the proper stimulus is applied, and, thus, cure diseases which are due to excess or too scanty a supply of blood, to any particular part. Imagination, expectation, faith, joy, hope, fear, suggestion, may all cure certain diseases.'' Below we are giving extracts from a lecture by the Dean of the Vermont Medical College, re- 334 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE ported in the Journal of the American Health Soci- ety, in which he says: "We are sick because we know not how to be well; we are weak because it has never entered our minds that we might be strong. "It is not then, let me say, physicians as now educated and employed, or medicines as now used, that will give us health. What we need is instruc- tion; not so much of new things as new ideas of common and familiar things. Man, health, disease and medicine are common words. They must be invested with new or, at least, right meanings. "The perfect way is science, not pseudo-science, the mere opinions of fallible men, but science capable of demonstration, like mathematics. "As to the cause of disease, physicians seem to know very little, and if we say specific cause, they know almost nothing; indeed it is a question that admits of grave doubt, whether they know the specific cause of any form of disease whatever. We speak not of the individuals, but of doctrines of the schools. . . . Now, if the people really knew that a certain course of life would always bring pain, sickness or premature death, they would not pursue that course. No one purposely and under- standingly injures himself. To know and under- stand the cause of disease and the conditions of health is to be well. Self-knowledge is life-knowl- edge. Man is mind—whatever that may be—indi- vidualized by degrees of culture and also by the human organism which we call the body. The body PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 335 itself is not the cause of anything, it is an effect, an instrument only for the soul. Now, bacilli are material and cannot therefore be the cause of dis- ease. Disease is always the result of the misconcep- tion of truth. "But the schools of medicine are still searching in the material realm, with microscope and scalpel, to find the cause of disease. It is not there. It is in the mind and to the mind we must go for final relief from sickness. Poisons may kill, but they can- not make alive; and narcotics may deaden pain, but they cannot bring health. The vital force, the heal- ing power is invisible. It belongs to the mind. "The interests of people are safe only in one way—in understanding. They must know for them- selves. We do not advise them, however, to study medicine as it is today, but logic, philosophy and common sense rather. Disease is a unit and has no plural. It is discomfort, or uneasiness, always and everywhere. It is nothing else, and nobody is any wiser or better for the many hundreds, yea, thou- sands of comparatively useless terms found in medi- cal books. What more does the patient know when told that he has paresis or locomotor ataxia? These terms do not reach the cause of the disease; they serve only to conceal ignorance. What we want to know is the cause and cure. If we, as mental beings, do not listen to the report of the sensory nerves, we feel no pain. Culture alone will fortify the soul against disease and fortitude belongs to mind, not to drugs. Drugs teach us nothing. Doctors also, aa 336 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE now educated and employed, generally teach us little. They are pill venders, prescription writers, often poisoners, not by intent directly but by cus- tom, by servile submission to fallible book authority. "To preserve the body in health is a religious duty. The health of the body is necessary, not only for our own happiness, but for the happiness of others. The divine art of living, and the art of healing—for the two are one, a double art—can be more perfectly taught, not to a few only in medi- cal colleges, not from a hundred volumes of books, but to all; and, by use of a single volume, or at most, only two or three. Truth is simple, and the healing power is always present. The Power that heals all wounds and all diseases is not some pill or powder, nor any material medica-ment as many suppose, but is an invisible force. "It is not yet twenty years since it was known that the circulation of the blood is governed by sym- pathetic nerves. Through them the soul—the seat of emotions—controls the circulation. This is new in science and leads properly and directly to mental healing, or didactic medicine. A healthy emotion is a remedy far better than digitalis. The doctor of the future will be the teacher as of old. "The drug system is tottering to its fall and legal enactment, even, cannot long prevent the people from finding out a better way. "The trout in the brook, the bird in the air or the tiger in his native haunts, never becomes PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 337 infirm with age. Why should man? Is the added gift of reason the curse that follows him and makes him an invalid and cripple? To think that is to impute folly and even malevolence to the Creator. Man was made to be well and youthful always. The Avork of the Infinite is perfect. It is the hand oi man alone that mars." Those who are familiar with hospitals know that it makes a great difference what kind of a nurse you get. It makes a great difference what kind of a doctor you have. Some doctora would kill a patient anyhow, even if they knew all there was to be known about science, and the doc- tors who have the least skill and knowledge are often successful. Of course, you never heard of an unsuccessful doctor, whether he was able to cure anyone or not. He has the reputation of doing it, because, when you stop to think, we get well 150 times where we die only once. And if we become well in spite of the doctor, the doctor gets the reputation of having healed us 150 times. So that almost any doctor who puts his sign up will have the reputation of having healed people, because they persist in get- ting well. When we see outstanding men in the medical profession so confident of a drugless world in fifteen years, so confident that all is mind, so confident that certain diseases, from warts up to internal tumors, from scurvy to dropsy, have been cured by mind, 338 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE there is plenty of reason t cent of the people in the upon mental practitioners instead of upon prescript and surgical wizards. ' see why nearly ten per country are now calling for healing and health, 3n writers, drug mixers NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXXII. PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS—Continued The Power of Mind Over the Body Scientific Healing Many years ago, when a traveling salesman, Mrs. Bush used to travel with me. One day, sitting at the same table with us, was an elderly man accompanied by a beautiful woman. When we had left the dining room, I asked Mrs. Bush if she noticed the bride and groom opposite us (we had been married only a month or so ourselves) and she said, "Why, no, how do you know they are bride and groom?" I said, "She asked him if he would have sugar in his tea," and it didn't take any Sherlock Holmes to deduct that if they had been living together for any length of time, she would have known whether he used sugar in his tea or not. The next time we met in the dining room we began a conversation. He proved to be a noted specialist from New York City—evidently on his honeymoon, although he did not divulge that secret ■—and he told me that many people think they are sick when they are not and employ doctors just because they think they need doctors to keep them well. 342 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE To illustrate his point he told me of a certain woman in New York who had nothing the matter with her so far as he could see, but she was in such a mental condition that she thought she was sick and, that she thought she needed his attention at least three times a week and so he called at her house every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. One week he missed his Monday call, due to the rush of his practice and did not get there until Tuesday. As he was leaving the rich woman's home he met another noted doctor coming up the steps. They stopped and my friend accosting the other doctor said, "What are you doing here?" The doctor replied, "I am calling on my patient." The other doctor then said, "What are you doing here?" He said, "Why, I just called on my patient." The two doctors looked at one another with understanding and my friend said to the other one, "What are you doing for your patient?" He replied, "Nothing." And then asked, "What are you doing?" "Nothing," said my friend. The woman's life could only be saved because of her mental condition, by regular daily calls of her doctors. Needless to add that as long as she thought she needed doctors just so long would the doctors have to come and this the doctors knew. It was the power of mind over the body making that woman think that she needed doctors.* *In "Applied Psychology and Scientific Living," by the author, we give some most striking illustrations of this phase of the mind over the body. They are in chapter under "Sug- gestion." PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 343 About sixty years ago, or thereabouts, a little girl was visited in France, so she said, by the Virgin Mary, who told her of a spring which came out of the mountain side at Lourdes, among the hot springs of that region, that it was a sacred spring and that whosoever dipped in that stream should be healed of his disease even as in the days of Christ. The story was often repeated and circulated until the priest of the local cathedral believed it, circulated it and preached about it. At first the Catholic Church did not give much cognizance to this but, in time, the church authorities, after appointing a commit- tee to investigate, came to the Lourdes, heard of the wonderful cures that had happened there and were so convinced that they accredited them to be true. The great Roman Catholic Church adopted this as truth and it became a great sacred spring under the protection of the Catholic Church. If you want to know something of the power of prayer— mind over matter to heal diseases, go to the Lourdes. Whether there is any virtue in the hot springs that come from the mineral sources of the moun- tains, whether God is there in presence any more than any other place, whether the surroundings or location has anything to do with making this spring any more miraculous than any other, we will leave that to your own good judgment; but, that countless numbers of cures have been effected, that thousands liave come from all over the world with all manner of diseases and have gone away without pain and have left their discarded crutches behind, is as true and accredited as the battle of San Juan Hill. 344 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE A friend of mine who visited this spring a num- ber of years ago, as a newspaper reporter, merely, and not as an investigator or one inclined to believe in the miraculous—in fact he is an ardent advocate of the limitation of the Christian Science Church— says: " 'I remember at the little hotel where we stayed, there was a man who came in with his limbs drawn up close to his body, so that it would seem that he never could walk. He was thus born and we watched him as they took him down to the spring three times. He did not recover suddenly as he had hoped and they told him he had not faith enough. He seemed to pray deeply and sincerely but they said to him, 'You must have faith!' And while I did not see it, one morning he arose and said, 'I have faith 1 I have faith!' And triumphantly they car- ried him out to the spring and dropped him into that running stream and they told me that two hours later he arose with strangely straightened limbs and, while he limped at first, because he had not been able to use them before at all, he was able to walk to the hotel from the springs without the use of his crutches. " 'We were glad to get out of Tarbes; we were glad to get a conveyance, although it was a very poor conveyance and in it there were all manner of diseases. We did not know how many of them might be contagious. There were many of the people with deformed h/.nds and with necks turned to one side, in fact, a gathering of the worst cases that could be imagined. It was a very disagreeable, PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 345 very hard journey. I know that on each side of me sat an invalid—a man and a woman. The woman was hardly able to take her breath and had to be brought into the conveyance and the man was suf- fering so with some rheumatic difficulty that he was unable to speak so that he could be understood by those who understood French language. There were two Spaniards in that conveyance who had come over from Grenada and how they got across those mighty Pyrenes with their ailments is a mir- acle. But they were seven or eight miles from Lourdes and you should have seen their faces and you should have heard them talk. 'Why,' they said, 'if we can but reach Lourdes, we can regain our health; we can get our strength again; we shall be happy again.' One man who had gone on crutches for twenty years said, 'I am going to walk home! I won't carry these crtuches home with me; I'm going to walk, I am sure of it.' And he did. "There is no denying the truth, that there ar3 piles of the crutches discarded by those who went away cured, in the thousands who have come from all over the world with all manner of diseases and who have gone away without a pain. When we stayed in Lourdes for ten days and observed the marvelous things, we were filled with superstitious awe and we were led to the belief that God was in the conditions somewhere with power." It was reported in 1920 that some statues in Tipperary, Ireland, had been seen to bleed, shedding tears of blood for suffering Europe and it was her- 346 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE aided broadcast that these "bleeding statues" had power to heal the sick. So fast did the news travel and such faith did the people have in the efficacy of the "bleeding statues" that, for a time, thirty thousand people a day came to Tipperary from all over the world, not only to see the wonders of the bleeding images, but to kneel before them or to be touched by them to be healed. The blind, the lame and the halt, thronged Ireland from distant parts of Europe to see the miracles of the "bleeding statues" at Tipperary. There are four statues: Virgin Mary with the child Jesus; the Crucifixion; the Virgin Mary; and St. Joseph. It is reported that these four statues had dropped tears of blood from sightless eyes. Two rows at a time the pilgrims entered the house of Thomas Dwan in Templemore, Tipperary, to kneel and pray before the statues, to be touched by them and many of the pilgrims on rising announced that the ills of which they asked to be cured had dis- appeared. This is scientific and psychological, not miracu- lous. It is purely the poAver of mind over the body —suggestion. These people had been told that miraculous cures had been effected and they had come there with their minds all prepared to be instantly healed. They had suggested to their sub- conscious minds for weeks and, probably months, that when they could reach the wonderful, miraculous "bleeding statues" of Tipperary, that they only needed to pray to the statues, touch the statues, or have the PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 347 images placed upon them, for their physical troubles to be healed. The same law was in action in the cases at Tip- perary as mentioned previously at the Lourdes spring. The man in question from Spain had sug- gested to his subconscious mind for years that if he ever could get to the wonderful, miraculous heal- ing waters of the Lourdes, that he would be healed. The water had nothing to do with it, in my opinion, in effecting his cure, nor has the touch of the images in Tipperary any power within itself to heal the suffering pilgrims. It is their own power within, the condition of their own minds which have been susceptible to the law of suggestion, that when they are there they will receive their healing. You will notice how akin are the healings today at Tipperary with those of centuries that are gone. All through the centuries, suggestion has cropped out in one form or another—in the use of amulets; in the healing power by touching the king's gar- ments to cure certain diseases; in the antic practices of "medicine men" among the savage tribes and among our own North American Indians; in the method of Mesmer and in hundreds of other ways too numerous to mention. Suggestion is as old as human nature. In the hazy dawn of history we find Egyptians and their contemporaries making use of suggestion and we learn, from excavations, of the miraculous cures at Epi- daurus, in the time five hundred years before Christ, which were doubtless effected by suggestion. From the inscriptions it seems certain that the cult of 348 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Aesculapius at Epidaurus was based upon the mirac- ulous working of the demagogues, involving sugges- tion more than upon the crude medical art that was then understood and practiced. You will follow through the preparation of the mind—purely suggestion to these patients, who came to this wonderful cult, where the power of the gods might make them well. The patients first cleansed themselves with water from the holy well, brought sacrifices and, after other ceremonial rites had been performed by the priest, all adding awe, super- stition, and wonderment, finally culminated in the dark, ignorant, absolute faith of the cure about to be effected. After the preparation of cleansing them- selves in holy water, offering sacrifices and religious rights performed by the priest, the patients were then caused to fall asleep. During this sleep—un- doubtedly as a result of suggestion—the son of Apollo was supposed to appear in a dream to the sufferer, attend to his ailments and, by elaborate superstitions, sacrificial acts which he carried out, would restore the patient to life. The god also asked large sums of money for these cures, some- times specifying the amount in a dream. We, who have been reading suggestion, either in "Applied Psychology and Scientific Living" by the author, or from other sources, can easily put two and two together and see that the wonderful cures which are recorded as having been effected by this most famous of all ancient cults at Epidaurus, was merely and purely suggestion—the holy water and the cleansing, the sacrifices and the sleep, at which PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 349 time the son of the god Apollo appeared in a dream to heal the sufferers, were all the proper stage set- tings for the supersitious minds, which could not reason, could not deduct, could not read, much less understand an explanation of any natural law of suggestion psychologically or scientifically. They, the ignorant, could have been cured only by some similar stage setting of suggestion and not by any explanation of the natural workings of the psycho- logical law of suggestion. The law of suggestion will work for the igno- rant as well as the educated. In fact, it is often the person who has had no education who obtains the quickest results. This is easily understood. The man who is educated and who has lost his old inher- ited and youthful-taught formulas, creeds and dog- mas, as actual fact, and has found that he can no longer live in the mental moulds made by his ances- tors; and the man who has come from one plane of light to another and from one atmosphere of en- lightenment to a higher, is more inclined probably to want to have things reasoned out and in his mechan- ical effort to reason "this," "that" and the "other" may have still in his consciousness some preconceived notions that he is not able to eliminate from his mind and these preconceived ideas may be so nega- tive that the power of suggestion must be doubled in order to effect a cure. In other words, a man who has thought for him- self, thought through the jungles of superstition up to the plateau of reason, may yet have not thought himself through the forests of mental suggestion. 350 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE He may have thought himself far enough as to believe that suggestion is purely superstition or "bunk" and there, stop. He has stopped a wee bit too soon. He has stopped before he has taken the next step to understand that all mental healing is purely and simply a natural operation of a very simple yet wonderful law. Indeed, suggestion of late years has become a subject of scientific study. As already stated in the preceding chapter, the power of mind over the body —mental therapeutics—is now receiving the attention of learned, scientific and medical men. The inter- relation of mind and body and the influence of sug- gestion are now granted as psychological facts, while psycho therapeutics is coming to be considered one of the essential parts of medical practice. Physi- cians have always made use of suggestion in healing their patients—though, for the most part, uncon- sciously—but today any leading, up-to-date, well- informed physician, I believe, is conscious that he uses more mental suggestion than he does pills, pre- scriptions or medicine. The faith that we have in our family physician more than in any other physician, we know is the same kind of a faith—although, I will grant you, probably of a higher degree—as the faith of the people who cross Europe to be touched and healed by the "bleeding statues" at Tipperary. The faith, that our doctor understands our case and knows our needs, is purely suggestive and just about as primitive as the faith of the people who travel to the Lourdes spring. PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 351 When the physician in whom you have utmost confidence, who "understands your case," comes to your bedside with his smiling, jubilant and con- tagious personality, gives you his usual look-over and announces that you will be well in a day or two and wisely writes a prescription in a dead language that you do not know or understand, it matters very little whether the prescription reads "Flour in a capsule" or "Water with bitter herbs in a bottle." It is not that medicine one-half as much as his encouraging assurance that, in a few days you will be well and out about your daily duties. In fact, I am sure, that ninety-five per cent of all calls of the physician and his cures are purely suggestive, on the patient's part that he must have a doctor and the suggestion on the doc- tor's part that the patient is going to become well. A doctor enters a room and prescribes for a patient. He may prescribe the very best medicine and yet may drive that patient into fever that will be certain to destroy his life, simply by his manner. He may come in roughly and grouchy or he may scold at the nurse and at the people in the house and he may be a curse to the whole house. A distinguished doctor made an address to the nurses at the Samaritan Hospital and, in the course of his remarks, he said, "Never trust yourself in the room with a patient if you believe that patient is going to die. If you have convinced yourself of the belief that that patient is really going to die give up the case, never go to that room! Don't trust yourself there again." They are teaching now 352 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE in all the great nurses' training schools of the coun- try that a nurse must keep her faith and her belief that the patient is going to get well, to the very last breath. How very important it is! The value of suggestion as an adjunct of sur- gery is now generally recognized. The most suc- cessful surgeons are beginning to appreciate the importance of mental preparation of their patients for operations. By the calming and stilling of the patient's natural fear of the operation and by direct suggestion, some of the worst effects of ether and the knife can be avoided or reduced to a minimum. The moral shock can be eliminated. This is espe- cially to be remembered in the case of nervous and timid persons and diseases which tend to disturb the mental and moral faculties. I understand that Mayo Brothers engage psychological experts to pre- pare the nervous patient's mind for the operation. To reiterate, all mental healing is the operation of the psychological law of suggestion. There has never been a cure and, never will be, without this natural, simple application, consciously or unconsciously, of the law of suggestion. There are, though, some people who heal only by the power of the name of Christ arid, I am told, that perhaps the best-knowTn leader in this way of healing does not know why better results can be obtained by such a statement as "You are well in the name of Christ." That is very simple—very easily understood. Although we are not all mem- bers of a Christian church, we are living in what is called a Christian nation and we have come more PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 353 or less under the influence, in our childhood days at least, of the personality, teachings, life and death of the wonderful, lovable, "miraculous" character of Jesus and, of course, the consciousness from childhood has been obsessed with the belief that Jesus had more healing power than any other per- son, which, undoubtedly, he had, but it is the early training and belief in our consciousness that makes us stand in a little more awe-stricken condition, bol- stered by a greater amount of faith—suggestion— in the name of Christ, when used in connection with a demonstration of healing. Especially if we were raised in a Christian church and, as children, went to a Christian Sunday School, where we learned, as we did in the last generation, of the miraculous power of Christ and his miraculous life, coupled with his miraculous healings; it is very evident to be seen that that kind of a person, whose consciousness is still filled with the miraculous power of Jesus, would have much better results if the practitioner uses in his demon- strations—"You are healed in the name of Christ." I always tell my classes if they have been raised in an orthodox church, that scriptural quotations are the very best affirmations they could take and, that their expression of Deity would mean more to them if couched in the language of God and very frequently in my own demonstrations I not only use "God" but I use the name of "Christ" also. Either way, or any way, it is all suggestion. Mental healing is not miraculous. There is no suspension of any natural law when producing cures 354 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE by mind. Every healing that was ever effected, whether by Jesus, his Disciples, the early church or today, is in accordance with laws just as natural as the law of tide, gravitation or the law of "2+2 equals 4." NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXXIII. PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS—Continued The Power of the Mind Over the Body Scientific Healing "A strong motive to live positively keeps some people alive," said a noted Scotch physician. Undoubtedly the mind exercises a great influ- ence over the body and, when sufficient will power can be generated to banish fear and nervousness, cures are often effected. It has been said that "will to be well," strictly speaking, is the mind cure, but this is too unscientific and not psychological enough. No doubt many people have become well by simply saying, "I will to be well," but mere determination to be well will not always help everyone. The better way is to have an understanding of the law of sug- gestion. Instead of using our will to be well, if we would use our will to give us faith in a belief in a natural operation of the law of suggestion, then our will power is of service to us. For instance, we should will to understand the law and continue the practice of the law until we are well, whole and complete. We may use our determination, often miscalled "will power,"* to overcome certain ailments and yet ♦For a thorough understanding of "will power" see "Will Power and Success," by D. V. Bush, Chapters II, III and IV. 358 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE be absolutely wrong in our healing and after-results of the same. For instance, Napoleon had very little to do with his physicians although, of course, he had the best physicians of his day. He said that anything that was the matter with him he, himself, could cure—his method was to go to the ex- tremes. If he had not had enough sleep (as he could ride in the saddle day after day with only three or four hours' sleep—but then there would come the great reaction) he would sleep for twenty-four hours or more without awakening. He was an ex- tremist personified, and his idea was to have enough "will power" so that he could go to the extreme in some excess in opposition to the usual habits. The shock, he said, brought on good results. To go hungry for a day or two was, in his opinion, the right way to cure stomach trouble and then, after his hunger-spell, he would over eat. So Napoleon abused his stomach by dealing with it too masterfully, by too much "will power," making it subservient to his caprice and convenience and the cancer that killed him was, no doubt, invited by himself. To say "I will be well"—and not operate the natural laws—may make the second state of the house worse than the first. By re-reading chapters on "Mental Therapeu- tics" and especially, "How to Cure Insomnia," "How to Cleanse the Aura" and the first few para- graphs under healing, you will have an understand- ing of the workings of the law governing health. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXXIV. PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS—Continued The Power of Mind Over the Body You have heard many times of people who had great sorrow, or grief, or misfortune, whose hair turned from its normal color to white over night. What does this? The grief, or the sorrow, or the misfortune? No! It is the mind that has been affected by the grief, sorrow, or disappointment. No sorrow, no grief, or disappointment can have any affect upon you unless you let it, and you have the power within to counteract any caprice of fate, trouble from reverses, or pang of disappointment. A man leaving Chicago on a Pullman train was caught on the step on the outside and compelled to hang on as he rushed over the country. Chilling and freezing, he could not make the porter hear, nor could he open the door. In this position he ran from Chicago to Galesburg, and when he reached Galesburg his strength was completely gone and he dropped onto the platform at the depot. The man's hair was white. When he left Chicago, it was black. What did it? Was it the storm, the freezing, the railroad, or the speed of the train? No! It again was the mind. Other people have been cold, other people have traveled just as fast, other people have had their foot caught but, in this particular case, with this particular man, his hair turned white 362 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE because of the fright. It shows the power of mind over the body. It was not because his feet were pinched or that he was riding in a snowstorm. It was the fear of his condition acting upon the mind, which produced the change in the color of his hair or, in other words, his mind being frightened changed the color of his hair. There was a woman in Philadelphia who had four children die the same day from diphtheria. Four children to die in one day from diphtheria would affect most anyone. This woman walked the floor, groaned, wrung her hands and pulled her hair. The next day her hair was streaked with white and, within one week, when her neighbors saw her, they did not recognize her as the same woman. Her fea- tures were so changed from her suffering and sor- row, that she could not be recognized as the same person. One week of suffering, of sorrow, of agony, to change a person until she is unrecognizable! What did it—diphtheria? No! What did it— the deaths? No! for diphtheria had not been con- tracted by the woman nor had the woman been nigh to death's door herself. It was the result of diph- theria upon her mind and the reaction of the deaths likewise upon her mind, which brought about the change in her features. Diphtheria and death did not do it, but her thinking about the results of diphtheria and her thinking about the loss of her children, in death, changed her whole features. Power of the mind over the body. A soldier in battle, possessed by excitement and desire for victory does not feel wounds that at an- PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 363 other time would make him faint with pain. The excitement of the occasion—again the mind's power over the body. A person may be sitting at a table, enjoying the jest and humor of the after dinner speaking artist, and receive a telegram, giving bad news, and in- stantly turn pale, his countenance change, the laughter subside and even digestion be impaired for a day or longer. In fact, there is on record a woman who suddenly received bad news while eat- ing, so that the gastric juice of her stomach ceased flowing, the digestive movement stopped and she died from congestion of the stomach—lack of digest- ing the food. What did this—the message? No! the message had no power of itself. Was it the food? No! for she had eaten lots of food before; but it was the effect of the message upon the mind and her mind, in turn, upon the body—the mind's power over the body. We do not need evidence of the power of the mind over the body. Men have been stricken blind instantly because of some great excitement. On the other hand, there are persons who for years have been blind, so aged as not to expect ever to see again, who, at the cry of "fire," rushed out of the house in such excitement that their eyesight was completely restored. They could see to read with- out glasses after that night of the fire. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXXV. PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS—Continued The Power of the Mind Over the Body John L. Sullivan, who, for a quarter of a cen- tury was the world's greatest boxer, won his world's championship title in a bout of over eighty rounds. In those days boxing gloves were unknown and men fought to the finish bare-handed; and they did not play around the ring tapping one another with padded gloves for two or three rounds and call it a prize fight, but they fought eighty rounds and more. John L. Sullivan probably fought as many fist battles as any man who has ever lived and he is responsible for saying that he never felt a blow received in the ring. Just as soldiers often receive wounds while fighting and, under the tension of the excitement, never know of their wounds, so Sullivan received hundreds of poundings in the face and body and was never conscious of the blows What did it? Mind over the body—too much inter- est in the game of the ring to be cognizant of a blow. Many years ago two little boys gave a magic lantern show for the benefit of the poor people. They sold tickets at two cents apiece, gave the show in a room of a residence and made over $8.00 clear. Tickets at two cents each and $8.00 clear—a big 368 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE sale of tickets—four hundred. When the money was in their possession the next thing was to know what to do with it. Knowing no one who was con- nected with any institution that cared for the poor, they got the happy thought that perhaps the mayor of the city might know where poor people's money could be spent, so they went to the municipal hall to find the mayor. One of these boys came from the country and he knew something about the m-a-r-e, mare, in the horse kingdom. He did not know anything about a m-a-y-o-r, mayor, of the city, and so, after making their way through the city hall and not being able to see any m-a-r-e, they returned. They had been directed to an office which had over the door "Mayor," but of course that did not spell the same kind of a "mare" as they had expected so the call on the mayor that day was postponed. You might say it was a horse-mare postponement. When they got back to their neighborhood and told some one their predicament they were directed to a lady who lived in their vicinity who had been sick for over seven years. To this woman they immediately went and on the altar of her sick chamber they placed their week's work—Magic Lantern—eight dollars. This woman lived upon the gifts of her friends. She had explicit faith in God's protection and care for her and, while she had no stated income and no relative who could support her, she depended wholly upon little gifts of charity, yet her house rent of $8.00 a month was always met; the sister PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 369 who cared for her had enough to eat, which to them was evidence that their faith in God's protecting care was not misplaced. After this $8.00 visit one of the boys often went to the home of this particular woman. She told him many times that some day God was going to speak to her and instantly heal her, then she would get up and walk. She had been in this bed for over seven years, unable to care for herself and had to be lifted out by others when the linen was changed, then carefully lifted back again. The little boy found out that she was a member of a near-by church and went to see the minister to suggest that perhaps the church might help this God-trusting invalid. The minister knew her and said that so far as he was concerned there was no aid coming from the church, because the woman was a fake, that she took that method of preying upon the unsuspecting public—a child of charity—to get her living. One day this woman, after seven years of inva- lidism, received some kind of a message that she was to be healed; that God was going to speak to her; that His spirit would touch her and she would get up and walk. The day came and the woman's faith was strengthened, for the law of suggestion had brought about the effect and instantly this woman got up and walked and thereafter was a well woman. If you put your arm in a sling for seven years you would have some idea of what it meant for this woman to have had no use of her legs, during all 370 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LTFE of those years in bed, and yet she was able to instantly walk. Mind can do anything if we understand how to use it. The medical profession is fast discovering that we are mental creatures, with mind as the origin and the basis of everything—that the body is simply an "objectified expression of mind," and that harmony or discord, health or disease, depends upon the condition of mind. The first thing that the modern physician will ask a patient is, "Have you worried about any- thing?" "What particular trouble have you re- cently had?" "Are you anxious or worried over your business affairs?" "Have you had any grief or disap- pointment, sorrows, or reverses, of late?" "Do you sleep well?" etc., etc. Indeed, nothing is better established in medicine than the fact that mental depressions and disorders caused by fear, worry, anger, shock, temperamental emotional passions, jeal- ousy, envy, and hatred, produce correspondingly bad disorders. A London hospital physician tells us that he has seen tuberculosis spring into its deadly stages in persons mentally depressed. • It is a well-known fact that the lowering of the vitality of the stomach, through constant mental worry, will in time develop cancer, ulcer or other stomach troubles. "Worry," says Dr. Goodal, a well known English physician, "when added to other unfavorable conditions, is one of the most common causes of general paralysis." There is scarcely a functional disturbance which PSYCHO THERAPEUTICS 371 the mind cannot produce and anything mind can pro- duce it can erase. When we understand that every disease that man knows can be produced by thought, and that as thought produces diseases they can be eliminated by the same process, it behooves us not only to knoAV how to think right thoughts, but to extend out influence and our power to spread abroad to others the great benefits Avhich they may derive by the power of Psycho Therapeutics—Mental Healing. You hold within the palms of your hands your life or death sentence. Just as you have the power within to remain young and keep youthful spirits and never to grow old, so you have the poAver within by a proper understanding of mind's poAver over matter, to keep health, joy and happiness. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXXVI. SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS—Continued Repetition of Suggestion A certain woman whose husband would begin to sneeze every morning, which seemed to settle down to a cold in his head, and whose eyes Avere red, and he felt "stuffed up" all the time, tried suggestion on her husband during sleep, as Ave have told you in a preceding chapter. She took this affirmation after he was asleep: "Charles, AArhen you wake up tomorrow morning, you will not sneeze and you will like to sleep with the window open." This was somewhat of a negative affirmation but it did the work just the same. She repeated this every night for several weeks and seeing no change she discon- tinued the treatments. Some time after she had stopped treating her husband the mother said to her, "Have you noticed how much better Charlie is?" The Avife had not noticed it. Then the mother said that for several mornings she had not heard him sneezing and that his eyes looked much better. That very night Avhen he went into his bed room he snuffed as if stifled for breath and said, "Hew! It is close and stuffy in here. Let's raise the window." He had been healed of the sneezing, the red eyes, and the habit of sleeping with the Avindow closed; and the symptoms never returned. 376 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE The basis of your success in mental healing and suggestive therapeutics is, as I have said before— Repetition. "If at first we do not succeed, try, try, again," is surely neeessary to be borne in mind in practising suggestive healing as well as suggestion in anything else. You will often be healed, after you have re- peated your suggestion for weeks, and not be aware that you have been healed. One woman, who had been sick for fifteen years and Avho had been treated by many specialists and practitioners, Avas healed by the writer instantly, as she had Avanted, and yet it was some two or three days after the healing before she came to the realization of her wonderful cure, and then she did not realize it until some one said, "I have seen you now for three days and you have not once mentioned the pain in your legs." You may be healed either by others or by your- self and yet revert—go back to where you were before—unless you continue the practice of sug- gestion. Of course in time you are going to be strong enough so that you Avill not use suggestion for that particular healing, but will use your mind and your efforts for something else. But above everything if results do not come today, or tomor- row, or next week, remember that they will come and that repetition is the one essential thing for your salvation. If you have been healed or if you have over- come any mental trouble, do not make a practice of SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS 377 telling this to others. Do not talk about your ailment nor allow anyone else to talk about it to you. It is always well, if you are taking mental treat- ment, to keep your own counsel. By so doing you will not be inviting adverse criticism; you will not have nearly as many negative minds to over- come and your demonstration will be easier. The world is full of Doubting Thomases Avho will ques- tion any cure by any means other than the one pre- scribed by the regular and accepted way. Even one healer, who is not as broad as healers ought to be, may tell a patient who has been cured by some other practitioner, that there may be some doubt as to a perfect healing. Why practitioners do this I am not explaining, but that they do it is true and, therefore, for your own growth and develop- ment, be sure that you are not carrying your heart on your sleeve. The writer had one patient, an outstanding demonstration of cancers, who had been given up by doctors. An incision had been made and the cancers seen by the surgeons. No guess work, no X-ray, no external diagnosis, as they had cut her open and had seen the cancers, then sewed her up and told her she was already dead. She had a wonderful demonstration of healing and in less than two weeks did not further need my personal attention, but yet she was much disturbed and unsettled, as other practitioners offered the suggestion that they had the real method of healing and that they would like to take her for a sure cure. 378 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Aside from delaying our convalescing and growth, there is the great reflex action in our OAvn minds of continuing to hold in our consciousness the very thing we want to eliminate, by always talking about it to others. If we have had any kind of mental trouble, sorrow, grief, misfortune, reverses or sickness, and we tell others about it continually, we are bringing up the past; we are stirring aneAV the things we want to forget and, instead of over- coming, we are keeping the picture in our conscious- ness, which we want to forget. A certain captain of a sea-faring ship was dying from scurvy and the one who told the story said that he had seen scurvy enough to know a deadly case. An old scar on the captain's body was a running ulcer. The witness to this testimony said that he never saw such a bad case, either alive or dead. Men die of it, he said, long before they are as ill as the captain was. The sailors aboard the ship were already talking of mutiny as soon as the captain was dead. A friend of the captain ran down and whispered in the dying man's ear, "Mutiny, Captain, Mutiny." The old sea dog was able to ask in his fainting breath to be lifted up. He then ordered all of the sailors to be brought in front of him. "Set me up," he said, "and order these fellows before me." As the men gathered around him the scurvy-dying sea captain was able to muster enough strength to order punishment and, from that very moment, the tide turned and he convalesced. Power of mind over body. In all of this study of mental therapeutics we have to learn to work out our own salvation. SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS 379 One day a policeman passed a man on a bench in the park. As he made the rounds of his beat he passed him again and again and still the man sat there. He had a strange, distant expression in his listless eyes and, finally, the policeman asked him where he was going, to which he replied "home." The policeman said, "When are you going?" He said, "Oh, by and by. I am waiting to fly there." He was waiting for some unseen force to lift him up and spin him through the air and set him down on his own door step, without any effort of his own. The first thing is to understand the law and the second thing is to have enough spirit within to help the law to help yourself. You must do your part. It is a wise person who completely forgets the past and presses toward the goal without talking about his troubles and his ailments and his sick- ness. Talk health, prosperity, joy, happiness and peace and abundance. The thing that you talk about is yours. Job said, "The thing that I feared has come upon me." "Don't be a "Job." Fear noth- ing, love all. Think health, prosperity, success, abundance, joy and peace; and the thing which you think, by the law of attraction and vibration, will be yours. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXXVII. MENTAL THERAPEUTICS—Concluded The Dangers of Operations—Cancer That there are honest, God-fearing surgeons who really want to render service to humanity, and eliminate sickness and disease, I have no doubt, but many an honest person is often misguided and wrong. The Mohammedan believes in getting con- verts—get the converts, no matter at what extrem- ity; and then, if the converts are not "getable," cut off their heads. The Mohammedan is honest in his conviction that it is his duty to win the heathen to his faith and, if they do not accept his faith, he is spurred on to lust, rape and murder, by his honest, religious convictions, expressed in the phrase "kill the infidels." We do not doubt the sincerity of the Mohammedan but we surely do doubt his method of getting converts. We do not question the sin- cerity of great surgeons, but we do question the advisability of great surgeons' methods. One of my dearest friends is a physician and connected with a hospital and, surely, if he did not have faith and belief in the surgeon's knife, he would not have had his own family upon the operat- ing table to be cut open and to be sewed up; and to be sent away. 384 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Before the surgeon's knife ever rips open my anatomy, I am going to try every other thing in the world. The only way the surgeon will ever cut me will be when I am a corpse and then I don't care what he does to me. But that there are unscrupulous men who com- mercialize surgery is just as evident as that the pro- fession is followed by honest men. I know to my certain knowledge of a man who called upon a doc- tor and this doctor called in another doctor for consultation and, during the confab, there was only one question that was raised and that one question was: "Has he any money? If he has, we operate, if not, a prescription." I know of a certain little town in the Middle West of not more than 900 population, which is in close proximity to two cities. A railroad connects both of these cities with the little town and, I am sure that dozens of people could testify, nearly every woman in that village, whose husband could afford to pay the bill, had been in a hospital, in one city or the other, for an operation. I understand that each hospital gave a commis- sion to the physicians for sending patients for oper- ations and it seemed, for awhile, to my knowledge, that one hosiptal was running a race with the other to see which could get the greater number of patients and, as long as the men were able and willing to pay the bill, the race seemed to be one of "nip and tuck." Some doctors in that town were getting their commission from one hospital, we were told, and some from the other and in both together, MENTAL THERAPEUTICS 385 the women had operations galore—if their husbands could afford it. I know in another town where a doctor inher- ited a splendid practice from his father, but he had the mania for surgery—"mania" probably is the exact word to use. When a soldier is aroused by the sight of blood to fighting spirit, the smell of blood only spurs him on to more gore and butchery. I wonder if that was the effect upon this doctor? This young doctor, in a town of less than 2,000 people, erected a hospital two stories high and, from the time the hospital was ready for business, the thing was filled and always that doctor had enough patients to come in when others were going out. He got most of his patients from this little town of less than 2,000 and the territory adjacent thereto. So contagious was his propaganda of suggestion for operations (we are not accusing the man fcf being a charlatan); but his mania was so contagious that he was able to persuade people to come to his hospital to be cut open, so that the thing was always full and, in less than five years, a third story was added to this hospital, in a little town of less than 2,000 population. The peculiar thing about an operation is that it very often leaves the patient in a worse condition than before. And another peculiar thing you often notice, if a person has money, that one operation leads to another. In a former chapter we have told you, from the mouth of a leading medical authority, that medical men do not know the cause of diseases, so the mania for operating has another chance to spread. When 386 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE they do not know Avhat is the matter with the patient, a good way to try to find out, in their opinion, is to operate. Not long ago I had a patient. The doctors had confessed they did not know what was the matter with him and, before I was called, they had partially made arrangements Avith a hospital to take him there immediately to slash him open and see if they could find out what Avas his trouble. When you are thinking of an operation there is one good rule to follow. "Don't." I am giving in full below A PHYSICIAN'S PRO- TEST AGAINST OPERATIONS FOR CANCER, an article from the Current Opinion for May, 1921: "Heretofore the single thought of the physician has been to turn the cancer patient over to a sur- geon. This is in accordance with the prevalent notion that an operation affords the only possible hope for such a case. Operative removal has thus far failed to check the rising mortality from cancer. Surgeons agree that mortality attends ninety per cent of all cases once affected. The general physician fails to advise careful and complete medical treatment, al- though this shows a very much lower mortality and is attended with far more comfort to the patient. Secondary operations on recurrent cancers shorten life." "It is a little curious," adds Dr. L. Duncan Bulk- ley, of the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital, in The Medical Record, "that the surgeon, because he is a surgeon, whatever his experience, is supposed to know all about cancer and that these cases belong exclu- MENTAL THERAPEUTICS 387 sively to him. As a rule, the surgeon does not think along constitutional and 'metabolic' lines. He con- fines his attention largely to the knife and, more re- cently, to radium and the X-ray. Those attack cnly the local products of cancer. The constitutional con- dition which first produced the local lesion is left un- changed and it Avill pretty certainly reproduce the neoplastic growth in or near the original site. '' The X-ray is certainly of great value in the cure of epithelioma of the skin, if properly used, and I have employed it very satisfactorily in scores or even hundreds of cases. Radium is also very effective in these cases, but is out of reach of most patients. Radium, also, has been reported on most favorably by certain skilled experts, with large supplies of the same, in certain cases of cancer of mucous surfaces, on the lip, tongue, inner cheek, and cervix uteri. But for cancers of deep organs little, if anything, can be done with this agent. Personally I have had little ex- perience with it, but have seen many cases Avhere it has been tried in vain and, also, some patients Avho are loud in their attestations that the disease has been much worse, since it was tried and many cases of very serious and rebellious burns from X-ray and radium have come under my observation and treatment. The X-ray is lauded by many physicians and surgeons as an adjunct to surgery, both before and after operative procedure and as of value in checking and removing metastatic deposits in lymph glands. But it is a delusion to trust to either X-ray or radium in real internal cancer; their action is but local, like surgery, possibly causing a local lesion. to diminish 388 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE or disappear, but they cannot affect favorably the basic, constitutional causes of the disease, and so can- not effect a cure." "There need be no mystery in regard to cancer. Everything has a definite cause and cancer is no excep- tion. It is no extraordinary or sudden invasion by some occult outside agency. All observers are agreed that it is not parasitic and that it is not contagious. The accu- mulating evidence points to a cause working from within, resulting from systematic errors, even as are gout, rickets, obesity, arteriosclerosis and many other maladies, which are more or less successfully overcome without our being able to point to one single cause for any of them. Definite lesions afterwards recognized as cancer are but the product of a preceding long-con- continued error of life, a culmination of faulty living. The mass which we call cancer is the departure of pre- viously normal body cells slowly augmenting in number until that mass is recognized for what it is. It begins gradually with a single cell or several cells. Some one had likened the whole thing to a mutiny in army or on shipboard, beginning with one or two persons who, resenting a faulty quality or quantity of food, were able to make the discontent spread until large num- bers were similarly infected. "The real problem of cancer, therefore, is to dis- cover and rectify in each individual the wrong ele- ments in life which led up to the faulty condition of the blood current. Experience shoAvs that this remedy can be made effective without recourse to surgery. A family physician should know his patients so thor- oughly that he can foresee when they are drifting MENTAL THERAPEUTICS 389 toward the cancer maelstrom, by their habits of life, overeating or eating wrongly, self-indulgence, indo- lericej etc. For- it has been clearly shown that cancer is more thari twice as prevalent among the well-to-do; self-indulgent" and indolent' class in the richer districts of London, as among the general average in the whole land. While cancer has been shown not1 to' be heredi- tary, there is no question that, if caricet hass beeti prevalent in a family, the same customs or habifs of- life, which have been more or less handed down, can and will sometimes cause the disease to occur in descendants." Lyman Abbott, the eminent editor of the Outlook, and the worthy successor of Henry Ward Beecher, tells the following incident: "I was once asked to call upon a sick lady whose physician had sent me word that she could not re- cover. Overwhelmed by a sudden and a great sorrow, she Avas dying of a broken heart. As I entered her room she met me with a submissive smile and said, 'I hope I am resigned.' My reply to her was, 'You have no right to be resigned. You have no right to die. It is wicked for you to die. It is your duty to get well; your duty to your husband and to your chil- dren. You have no right to leave them. The shock startled her, gave her a new view of the situation, aAvoke in her a sense that it was w.orth while for her to live and aroused in her a purpose to live. Less than two Aveeks later I met her at the seashore in re- covering health and she lived for ten years or more thereafter. I did not suspend the operation of any physical law and yet I was the means of her recovery. 390 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE If a human spirit can do this for another human spirit, why shall I doubt that the Divine Spirit can do as much or more. The notion that we cannot pray to God because he will not set aside his laws to grant our request, if carried to a logical conclusion, Avould prevent our calling in a doctor in case of sickness or asking a friend for counsel in case of perplexity." This mania to operate sometimes reaches what seems to me a criminal stage. I had a friend who was experimented upon by a "successful" surgeon. The surgeon operated and cut my friend's bladder. I am not a surgeon but I just bet my good common sense would tell me, before I would ever put a man flat on his back and take away his senses by etheriza- tion, to slice open his bladder, that I would not get that bladder put back together again to be worth any- thing to him or to anyone else. But this mania-roving surgeon delighted in "deli- cate operations" and my friend was the experimental station. Of course there was no chance for the poor man to ever regain his health and, as he lay languish- ing in a hospital and I made my tri-weekly visits, he was an object of pity and source for sympathy—if a psychologist ever has any sympathy to extend or any source for pity. After the bladder had been cut open there was such a crystallization of the urine, which wanted fre- quent passages, that it came out of the poor man in hunks of crystallized urine as large as a pea, rough, scratchy and tearing. It Avould take ten to twenty minutes for the passage of this crystallization, with such agony and suffering, that even the surgeon's MENTAL THERAPEUTICS 391 heart was touched, so that he inserted a tube between the two sides of the wound in the bladder. It is bad enough to have your bladder cut open without having a stiff tube stuck inside of it to irritate the walls of the wound and to prolong and intensify the agony. In a few weeks my friend would no longer respond to opiates and then for days, until he died, the poor man agonized and groaned in an effort to find peace and comfort and rest from the butchery of the "delicate" city surgeon. The "operation Avas successful" but my friend died. There is just one safe rule to folloAV. When you think of an operation—Don't operate. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXXVIII. SCIENTIFIC PRAYER "The great Omnipotent is Spirit and is the Cre- ative Principle of the Universe. Consequently the response to prayer is the reaction of spirit and is the operation of a natural laAV." Mind is spirit. Spirit is creative. Every thought we think goes out into the Omnipotent Spirit and, having creative poAver, this thought creates that which is pictured in the thought. If we think love, love is created; love thought goes out into the universal mind—creative energy—and the love thought creates or produces love. The same with any other thought; if we think thoughts of prosperity, prosperous thoughts, likewise, go out into the Spirit Mind or Creative Principle and this prosperous thought, reacting upon spirit which is creative, pro- duces prosperity. Every thought, indeed every action, is prayer. Concentration, thought, action and the Silence are therefore prayer; or, concentration, thought, action and the Silence are synonymous with prayer and, every time Ave concentrate, we are, by thought, creat- ing what we desire, by this thought reacting upon spirit. If we think health thoughts, health thoughts re- 396 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE act upon the universal spirit and health is produced. The response therefore to your health thoughts is the reaction of spirit upon spirit; mind upon mind; and is the operation of a natural laAV. To hold hate thoughts is to pray a hate prayer and just as thought reacts upon the universal mind and produces its kind, so by making a prayer of hate thoughts, hate is pro- duced in our lives. Or, if we hold thoughts of peace and poise, these thoughts of peace and poise likewise react upon the universal mind, spirit, and peace and poise are the product. The reason that the orthodox prayer is so often not answered, in spite of the fact that it is ended with "Thy will be done," is because the mind is not properly prepared before concentration; before send- ing out our thought desires. This is what the scrip- ture means by "praying amiss." If we pray for abundance and prosperity, the natural result would be the reaction of mind upon mind which would be abun- dance and prosperity; but, if Ave concentrate or pray for abundance and prosperity and we are doubtful whether we are going to have abundance or not, we are praying amiss; just as the prayer for abundance acting upon spirit would bring abundance, so a prayer of abundance followed by doubt and wondering as to where the abundance is coming from and Avonder- ing whether prosperity will be ours, will likewise reap a harvest of abundance less the prosperity, for the doubt and wondering as to where the abundance and prosperity is coming from, is likewise a reaction upon SCIENTIFIC PRAYER 39T spirit and we reap our doubts and our wonderingS> which prevents the abundance and prosperity fooma becoming ours. Therefore, if we pray for prosperity and if we3 pray for abundance, there should be no doubts as; to when the prosperity is coming or where it i&? coming from; knoAV that it is coming; knoAV that itt has come; know that it is already yours. So the dif- ference between the silence, as Ave teach it—concen- tration and visualization for our heart's desires—and! the orthodox way of praying, is the difference of first emptying our minds of all negative and discordant ill will or emotional thoughts, as outlined in how to) cleanse the aura and Iloav to charge the subconscious; mind at night, in this book. When the mind is prop- erly emptied free from negation, worry, anxiety,, doubts or fears, then the positive thoughts which Ave send out into the universal creative principle will have the positive reaction upon the universal spirit and the reward be the ansAVer, Prayer is mind acting upon mind; thought acting upon universal mind. It may be likened to a ball attached to a string of rubber. Throw the ball into the universal ether, hang to the string or rubber and it will rebound. Thought rebounds by thought; mind re- bounds by mind. Therefore, the word which Ave speak into the universal ether rebounds the same as the ball attached to the rubber. Or it may be more easily understood to liken it to the old phrase of "whatever goes up must come down 398 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE on your head or the ground." Whatever goes up does come down and whatever thought goes out from the universal mind does come back, laden with its kind. Prayer is thinking—is the action of spirit upon spirit and we can only hope to have our prayers answered, whether we call them concentration, silence or action, in proportion as we have our minds in the proper preparation for positive prayer thoughts. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XXXIX DREAMS AND THEIR MEANING All dreams are in the subconscious mind. There are three kinds of dreams, namely: two kinds which we may call intuitional dreams which, like intuition or the "hunch," no one can explain but when they come they are understood by the dreamer, provided the dreamer is a receiving station for intuitional dreams—provided he is in tune with the Infinite. These intuitional dreams may be interpreted by tha dreamer so that he will be guided as he is guided by intuition. Sometimes he understands this dream to be fulfilled as it has appeared to him; sometimes the fulfillment may be just the opposite to the dream, but Avhether it is one way or the other, the person who understands intuitional dreaming knows what the dream may mean. The third kind of dream is an aimless, haphazard, misconnected, nonsensical, useless, rambling effort of the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind never rests, it always works, it is always busy, it is always on the go and therefore if the subconscious mind is not directed to work FOR you, it is going to work anyway. If you do not put it to work constructively, it rambles along like a madman in a crazy house; the necessity of putting the subconscious mind to work each night, therefore, is obvious. 402 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE If the subconscious mind is given the suggestion as we have elsewhere outlined, before going to bed at night, it will act upon that suggestion construc- tively for you during the night; otherwise, without any direction, it may get you into all kinds of out- landish situations, in dreamland. A person cannot be as fresh in the morning after a night of foolish, haphazard, frightful dreaming as though the subcon- cious mind had worked constructively, solving life's problems while you sleep. Remember the subconscious mind will do any- thing, absolutely; any problem of life can be solved by commanding the subconscious mind upon retiring at night, with the mind, of course, in the proper con- dition as we have outlined in the chapter on the sub- conscious mind. If you want to be led to your life's vocation, put your subconscious mind to work at night and get it to stop dreaming, or, if you want to be more efficient in your work, do the same thing or, if you want money, influence, position, own your own business, have love, peace, happiness, joy, abundance, change of work, friendship, courage, faith, hope, charity, or anything, charge your sub- conscious mind with the desire and when the sug- gestion has reached the subconscious mind, you will stop dreaming. If you have nothing else to charge your subjective mind, if all of your life's problems are solved then ask your subconscious mind to give you wisdom, initiative, judgment, for none of us Avill ever have any too much of these qualities. The ordinary haphazard dreaming is much like a motion picture film: the subjective mind always being DREAMS 403 at work is recalling continuously, whether the con- scious mind is aware of it or not, Avhat you have seen or Avhat has taken place in your life. Usually your dreams come from some thought, picture, act, or deed of that day; your Avhole day's experience, travel and fellowship, is being rehearsed in motion-picture-reel style in the subconscious mind and some things are seen more plainly than others; sometimes this subcon- scious motion picture reel breaks and the pictures are disconnected; that is why it is that you may dream tonight that a dog bites you—the probabilities are that during the day you saw a dog and someone saw you eat a sandwich and suggested that you took a pretty big bite and the subconscious mind in reeling off the day's pictures passes the dog and connects your sandwich bite Avith the dog bite and the sub- conscious mind rattles along, giving you the dream that the dog bit you. Thus we may continue for hours; the misplaced, haphazard pictures in dreaming is the action of the subconscious mind, rambling along without definite constructive work. Put your sub- conscious mind to work and stop its rambling. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XL. MENTAL STIMULATION* How the Brain Cells Are Stimulated into Greater Activity. "The education of the will is really of far greater im- portance as shaping the destiny of the individual than that of the intellect." "Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can." "In some sense and in some effectual degree, there ia in every man the material of good work in the world; in every man, not only in those who are brilliant, not only in those who are quick, but in those who are stolid, and even in those who are dull."—Emerson. You are no small potato. After you have read this poem, I'll show you the medical profession says so; the phychologists say so; Jonah says so; and "CurfeAv Shall Not Ring Tonight" until you say so—if you will. Of course, if you would rather be a scrub "spud" and not a big "murphy," it Avon't make much difference whether the curfeAv rings or not—come to think of it, it won't hurt you, any way, and may help the potato crop. When you finish this poem, say, "I will not be a small potato," and you Avon't, if you properly prepare the soil of service, plant the seed of determination, cul- tivate the field of will, and kill the potato bugs of pes- *From "Will Power and Success," by D. V. Bush. 408 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE simism and "I can't" by the physiological Law of Stimulation as well as the psychological Law of Sug- gestion: Then will you harvest your crop of big tater —yourself—in due season, without fail. Here is the poem, the name of which is "The Man You Ought to Know." "Young man, the books will bid you read the seers from Kant to Plato— But get acquainted with yourself—you are no small potato. And though you swing a blacksmith's sledge, or dig within the trenches— Hold up your head with those who eit upon the highest benches. O read the sages of the world and let their wisdom win you, But get acquainted with yourself and find what you've got in you. In modest arrogance of soul, make you your calculation, Then slowly make the sluggard world accept your esti- mation. Go get acquainted with yourself before your leaf is yellow— You'll find the man beneath your hat is something of a fellow. Then stir him out and prod him up, before his power has fainted— Go get acquainted with yourself, then make the world acquainted. Then trust the man beneath your hat, and, when you come to knoAV him, You'll find a fellow fit to grace a novel or a poem. Go get acquainted with yourself; you'll find that very few are, For tasks for which they are designed, a better man than you are. Young man, the books will bid you read the seers from Kant to Plato— But get acquainted with yourself—you are no small potato." The author of this poem isn't a pill pusher or a drug mixer, but he was as near right as doctors gener- ally are, when he Avrote the above poem. STIMULATION 409 Now just to shoAv you I have nothing against the doctor and his advice (when he doesn't charge too much), I here give you verbatim from Dr. Stephen Smith. This is one of the Smiths you read about. He is over ninety years of age, proud of it and still grow- ing older. '' The cells, estimated to be upwards of two thou- sand millions in the human brain, are implanted before birth in a rudimentary form and undergo an evolution from the cell of the loAvest animal life to the complex cell of the human brain. Though at birth the cell has been perfected, so far as regards its structural adapta- tion to its special future function, yet it will remain in an inert state and undergo no further change or development until excited to activity. Each cell has its own special function to perform and hence has its own special stimulant; the cells of the auditory center are stimulated by sound, those of the ophthalmic cen- ter by light, those of the olfactory center by odors. '' The protoplasm of the brain cells is so extremely sensitive that by proper instruments a change can be detected in its substanee when a cloud passes over the sun;, also a thermometer Avill detect a rise of its tem- perature during any great mental effort; and, again, delicate scales Avill Aveigh the amount of blood Avhich rushes to the excited brain cells for their nutrition when a person in a recumbent position has sudden mental excitement. i You have enough brain cells to make you success- ful if you will only develop and use them. "Physiologists believe that in the human brain there are large numbers of nerve-cells that remain 410 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE undeveloped because never excited to functional ac- tivity, and also that at any period of life, cells hitherto inert may receive their proper stimulus and become active. They assert that if to the born-blind there is no world of light, and to the born-deaf there is no world of sound, may it not be a fact that Avorlds exist around us other than those revealed by the five spe- cial senses; worlds which we do not recognize because the special nerve centers for that purpose have not as yet been stimulated to activity? St. Paul hints at that opinion when he declares that spiritual truths cannot be discerned except the spiritual (cells) sense has been awakened, and Haeckel now asserts that the soul is the output of the functional activity of 'Soul Cells.' Along the same line of conjecture may we not suggest that many strange mental phenomena—dreams, tele- pathy, hypnotism—find their proper explanation. "Cells, like other tissues, are constantly under- going change in the act of nutrition and oAving to their extreme susceptibility to impressions, their functions are easily disturbed by the food Ave eat, the fluids we drink, the condition of our digestion, in addition to the infinite number of impressions which they daily re- ceive from causes internal and external to the body. For this reason our mental moods are constantly changing; we are not the same this year that Ave were last year, this month that Ave were last month, this evening that we were this morning. It folloAvs that any change in the constitution or structure of the cell must be attended by a derangement of its function that would find expression in the mental acts of the individual.'' STIMULATION 411 ' "Traced to its true source it will be found that the want of opportunity to apply the greater number and variety of stimulants to the brain through the special senses—seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smell- ing—accounts for much of what we call degeneracy. The farm laborer toiling alone has none of the intelli- gence and vivacity in conversation of the village tailor, cobbler or blacksmith, though equally endowed mentally. The farmer has few brain stimulants, while the latter are abundantly supplied through constant contact with customers. A schoolboy rated as defi- cient saw an older scholar sketch a horse on the schoolroom door; he Avas so profoundly impressed by the picture (that is, his art nerve-centers were so stim- ulated) that he devoted himself constantly to sketch- ing and became the most distinguished portrait paint- er of his time. Sir Isaac NeAvton states that he 'stood very low in his class,' but the sight of a falling apple aroused his dormant brain cells Avhich revealed to the world the law of gravitation and made him forever famous." ' When James Whitcomb Riley Avas twenty years of age he was a loafer and had no ambition in any direc- tion whatsoever. Just a drifting, ordinary loafer. He eked out a lazy existence by folloAving cheap minstrel shows and painting signs. He was stimulated into be- coming a poet by painting these two lines from Maud Muller: "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: It might have been." He did not know Avho Avas the author but thought it Avas Burns. He then took a volume of "Bobby" and 412 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE in reading the poems his brain began to move and think in rhythm and the "Hoosier Poet" was born— his brain cells for poetry stimulated. There is somewhere in every brain the energy which Avill lift the possessor out of a rut and put him or her upon the mountain peak of success. We mean the average man and not the genius. You are a genius. You have stored within you the undeveloped brain cells, the making of a genius, if when the stim- ulus comes to stir up your talent, you will fan the spark until it becomes a flaming torch in the sky line of achievement. You have the brain capacity to climb over the fence of "Impossible" into the fruitful meadow of success. No man gets over the fence by just wishing himself on the other side. He gets over by climbing. You can climb. You have as much brain power, will power and talent as any one else for the particular kind of work which nature has fashioned you to do. The question is whether you will respond to the stim- ulus and will pay the price by work, concentration and application to the God-given talent Avithin. The gasoline in the engine of an automobile doesn't move the car until the spark comes to explode the gasoline. So with the mind of man. You need the spark. Stimuli are coming your way every day in various ways. When your brain cells say, "Here is where we can work for you," do not discourage them but turn on the power—work. There are thousands of men at fifty and sixty who are running along in the same old rut, who could be counted in the ranks of the successful if they but had STIMULATION 413 the spark to explode their energies; if they responded to the stimuli. John B. Gough was perhaps the greatest platform man of his generation. He stirred two continents into a temperance movement Avhich eventually put America "Dry" and yet was such a dejected drunkard, with not a rap of hope for the future, that it Avas not a question of whether he should take his own life but how. After signing the pledge he drifted into a little meeting Avhere he felt an urge Avithin—the stimulant —to say a feAv words. He buttoned his seedy over- coat to conceal the ragged clothes beneath and began to give his experience, which proved to him a delight as well as a pleasure to the hearers. There he found himself. The stimulant came and from thence he went out developing the stimulant until he became world famous. You have the germ of greatness, the kernel of suc- cess within your brain cells. Look for the stimulant. Develop the talent. Climb up to the top. In chapter four of "Will Power and Success" re- member we told you that you naturally have a strong will but that it was smothered, choked and crowded out by some danger or fear thought. So when you make positive affirmations such as Ave gaAre you on page fifty one of "Will PoAver and Success," you are re- moving the stimuli of fear and danger and adding the stimuli of faith, courage and will. Not only does the laAV of stimulation unlock pent up reservoirs of latent talent but it has action and re- action upon every class and strata of society and civic advancement. 414 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE "History is replete with incidents of the sudden aAvakening of hitherto unstimulated brain cells of per- sons accounted defectives. Can we, therefore, wisely and justly determine the mental capacity of any liv- ing being, man or animal, until Ave have given the op- portunity for development? But hoAvever handicapped by heredity or disease, or environment, science teaches Avith unerring certainty that, unless their organic properties are destroyed by accident or disease, cells promptly respond to such curative measures as are adapted to relieve them of their disabilities. "And wherever these cells are found, whether in the brain of man or beast, fish or fowl, insect or creep- ing thing, they only aAvait the skill, the cunning, the patience of the expert educator or animal trainer. "The most interesting and practical feature of these cells evidently is the absolute control that we may exercise over their functions. They enlarge and become active when we stimulate them, and atrophy and become passive when we withhold stimulants. As each cell, or group of cells, has its own special func- tion to perform, we can select the group that will accomplish the object we have in view, and stimulate it to the degree necessary to reach the desired result. Or we may reduce an active group of cells to their rudimentary state of quiescence by withholding its proper stimulant. "The treatment of the criminal class on the physiological or humane system strikingly illustrates its value compared with the punitive methods still practiced. It is interesting to notice the conclusion of the last meeting of the International Prison Con- STIMULATION 415 gress, which Avas to the effect that no criminal is hopelessly bad and incapable of reform. " 'Socrates replied to an Athenian who inquired as to the best method of correcting the vicious and criminal tendencies of his son, 'Remove from him all conditions which invite to vice and substitute the allurements of virtue.' In physiological language he said, 'Cease to stimulate the vicious brain cells which are now excited and govern his thought and they will Avaste and cease to influence him; stimulate the virtu- ous cells and they will enlarge until they control his acts. " 'When you pass through the gate to this place, you have left your past life behind you. I do not wish to have you ever refer to it; my only concern is as to what your future life will be, and to determine that question you are here.' Such was the reply which the superintendent of a prison for convict wo- men made to the threats of homicide of a young woman Avho was declared by a Boston judge to be the most desperate criminal ever known in the courts of that city. She boasted of having been in every prison in Ireland and in many of this country. The treatment was physiological; all incitements to vice and crime were removed and every possible stimulant to virtue substituted; the cells of the former wasted while the cells of the latter grew and became domi- nant. Today the priest of her parish in Ireland Avrites that she is the most helpful person he has in his Avork among the vicious classes. " 'Try me,' said a prisoner to the sheriff who asked him if he would work for wages. These two 416 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Avords reformed the management of a Vermont prison and made it a school for the making of useful citi- zens. The prisoners go out to work in the city of Montpelier and command by their conduct universal respect. They are seen on the streets on holidays without attendants; they receive wages for their work and thereby support, not only their families, but the prison itself. They leave the prison prepared to lead the lives of good citizens and few fail to meet that test of true reform. " 'I am going to make men and not brutes of these fellows,' said Governor West, of Oregon, when he began his famous prison reforms. "His 'first trick' with a convict, it is reported, stirred the state from the lowest to the highest. He requested the warden of the prison to give one of the most desperate prisoners a dime and direct him to call at the executive office. The warden replied that to give Jim Baggs a dime and his liberty meant that Jim would soon be scarce in Oregon. He, however, complied and the prisoner soon appeared at the state house; he was in prison dress, but was very proud, informing every officer who he was and that he came on the Governor's invitation. A position was found for Jim Baggs on a farm where he did good service and the Governor made him his first 'honor man.' This reform in prison discipline resulted in the release of prisoners on parole 'in droves,' who found situations outside and earned their living and became respectable citizens. It is stated that, when one of his 'honor men' broke parole, the Governor went out himself and captured him. Since that time the other convicts have made that STIMULATION 417 prisoner's life miserable. The Governor sent a crew of forty convicts, without prison dress and unat- tended, to a distant town to work on a road. He says, 'Oregon won't need a penitentiary at an early date.' " 'Arizona State Prison, a School for Developing Manhood,' is the startling headline of a daily paper. Governor Hunt's policy in the management of prisons is physiological. He says, 'Shall we go on making penitentiaries schools of crime, or make an effort to build up the man's character, restore his self-respect, strengthen his weakness, and cultivate in him a proper appreciation of his relation to others, and to society in general? You can never do these things by continually reminding him that he is a criminal, by submitting him to small humiliations or to cruelties.' "The result of management based on these prin- ciples is given by a prisoner: 'The Governor thinks we are worth saving and he is willing to let us come back. He has taken aAvay all of our useless humilia- tions that kept before us our condition. The Gov- ernor trusts to our honor to obey the prison laAvs and there is not an English speaking prisoner, at least, who would do anything to bring discredit on the GoA^ernor's policy. You have no idea already of the difference of the men among themselves. We used to have fights every day. Oh, it was hell! Now, although we are restless and every man longs for his liberty, we are at peace.' "Other states are adopting the humane policy, and converting their prisons into schools of reform and Avith marvelous results; prisoners of all grades 418 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE respond to the influences which remove from their thoughts the incentives to vice and crime and yield to the allurements of virtue. The punitive or savage policy in treating convicts is generally dominant and the result is that prisons are schools of vice and a dead weight of taxation." While we are on this stimulation thought let us consider this John Smith descendant a little further in seeing what he has to say about Nikola Tesla's "Electrified Schoolroom to Brighten Dull Pupils." The 130-nth cousin of Pocahontas' John says: "It is well known that eminent experimental psycholo- gists believe that the high-frequency current intensi- fies cerebration; that it is a mental stimulant like alcohol but, instead of being harmful to the brain cell as is alcohol, the electricity is harmless and confers lasting benefits." Mr. Tesla's attention was attracted to this sub- ject by noticing the effect of electricity on one of his assistants who, while making certain high- frequency tests, was very stupid in carryng out instructions concerning laboratory adjustments, equipped with a coil generating high voltage cur- rents. After a time Mr. Tesla noticed that his assist- ant became brighter and did his work better, but supposed the change was due to his becoming more familiar with his duties. On observing the actions of the man more closely, he concluded that his assist- ant's increased aptness and alertness was due to a much deeper cause than mere experience; that the elements of "mental life"—the brain cells—had been stimulated to greater functional activity. This new, STIMULATION 419 novel and practical method of awakening to activity dormant brain cells, has been subjected to trial on a large scale in Stockholm, Sweden. Two sets of fifty children each, averaging the same age and physical condition, were placed in separate classrooms, exactly alike except for the concealed wires in one of the rooms. The regular school work was pursued and the test lasted for six months. "The results recorded were as follows: The children in the magnetized room increased in stature two and a half inches, those in the unmagnetized room increased one and one-fourth inches; the former also showed an increase in weight and physical devel- opment greater than the latter. More remarkable was the difference between the mental development of the two classes, viz.: Those exposed to the electric rays averaged ninety-two per cent in their school work, compared with an average of seventy-two per cent of the children in the other rooms; fifteen pupils in the electrified room were marked a hundred, and nine in the other class. It is stated in the report that the electrified children appeared generally more active and less subject to fatique than those not electrified and that the teachers experienced a quick- ening of faculties and an increase of endurance. "The method of applying the electricity is thus stated: Carefully insulated wires will be inserted in the walls of the experimenting class-room and the tests will be carried on without the knoAvledge of either the teachers or the pupils; the air of the room will be completely saturated with incalculable mill- ions of infinitesimal electric Avaves vibrating at a 420 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE frequency so great as to be unimaginable and capa- ble of measurement only by a most delicate volt meter." I have adduced these remarkable illustrations of mental stimulation to encourage us in the belief that Ave have this faculty of power within to do our best, Avhich Avill mean success. The most necessary faculty to be stimulated is will. Let that be stimulated to do and to dare and you'll not be put out at "first." So you have the psychologists Avith you, the doctors with you, Jonah with you, and Avhat more do you want? All you have to do is to go out and conquer the Avorld—and you Avill conquer most anything you tackle if you say I will! I can! "Pike's Peak or Bust!" Who said you are a small potato? Don't hit him in the eye—that would almost prove it—but go out and take the bull by the horns and matador all circumstances and conditions and shoAv 'em your crop of taters—your successes—are just as near par as theirs. Of course, if you don't want to take a bull by the horns, take anything that comes your way, that needs taking, to put you out of the small potato class. When we desire to make a will, to have a victori- ous slogan to do our best; Ave put into operation the physiological laAV of stimulation; Ave set in motion undeveloped brain cells; into activity those Avhich have been dormant. Also the psychological laAV of suggestion. So you have enough laws with you to do almost anything, and all you need is to do it, and with the spirit of "Pike's Peak or Bust," you will. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XLI. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE. "Get Happiness Out of Your Work, or You Will Never Know What Happiness Is." Hundreds of thousands of American employees are misearable failures and don't know that the reason is because they have not found the work they like to do; or, have not made themselves like the Avork they have to do! Dr. Matthews says: "To no other cause, perhaps, is failure in life so frequently to be traced as to the mistaken calling." Verily! Blessed is the man avIio has found his work! Hearken to the voice within that calls you to your work; that voice is the "bent" of one's talent—the thing that he really likes to do; the joy that he gets out of his vocation. "You cannot long fight against nature. If you attempt to do what she has forbidden you to do in the very nature of your being, if every drop of blood and every nerve cell in }rou protests against what you are doing—no matter AAThat your will power or determina- tion—you will be a practical failure. You may possibly earn your bread and butter, but that is not success." Shakespeare says: "To business that we love we rise betimes and go to it Avith delight." 424 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Charles Edison writes of his father as follows: "Father spends all day and most of the night on his machines and problems. But, for all that, I don't knoAV that he ever really 'works.' He is simply having a good time." If Ave are having fun in our work Ave know that we are in the vocation that will let us accomplish the most in life, provided we pay the price of preparation and work; if we will "labor" and "sweat." If work to us is drudgery, we may know that we are fighting against nature; and anyone Avho is fighting against nature is fighting a losing battle. Edison says that he has never spent one moment in drudgery; and he attributes the success of his genius to his love of Avork. His phrase that '' genius is ninety-eight per cent perspiration and two per cent genius" has become the current coinage of our speech. Indeed Edison says that any other man could do what he has done, if he were determined to know, as he Avas determined to knoAV, and would Avork as he works ; and, says the great inven- tor: "with such determination, some might have learned more, but none Avould have learned less." If you do not like your work, as the SAviss Shepherd likes the Alps, you may be assured that you are not Avhere you Avill have your maximum success. All work should be made play. If Ave are not play- ing in our Avork—we ought to be. When I Avas in my teens I began the collection of material which, after tAventy-two years, Avas the foun- dation of the author's inspirational book "Will Power and Success." I Avorked out my own system of read- ing, clipping and filing, and had these well under Avay VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 425 before I entered the theological seminary. When my health failed twice, because of over-work and strenuous studies at school, and I Avas forced to go out into the commercial world and on the stage, those years were made happy by reading, collecting and filing material— playing with papers, as my family calls it. Any minister of a metropolitan church has a job Avhere he puts in non-union hours, to say the least. If there is any man whose time is demanded and whose strength is taxed, it is the man in a busy city church; so when I became pastor of a church in the city, having a church Avith many activities, I seemed crowded to the limit for time. Whenever my family Avould want me to go to the theatre, picture show or some social engagement or some important luncheon outside of my oavii business circle of activities, I had no time; and my daughter would say, as she and her mother Avere leav- ing: "Oh, Papa wants to stay home and play with papers!" When in addition to all the demands of the city pulpit a man has three or four addresses a Aveek to prepare, he has to have a little time to play with papers—but it was the joy of playing with papers, getting up addresses and gathering material for the books, that made it possible for the greatest amount of influence, and personal enjoyment to the full. " 'Select work that you enjoy—that is half the battle; and then keep on enjoying it Avhen you find that it is real work and that nothing worth having can be gotten easily. "It is useless asking Avhy a young man is not successful, once you knoAV that he doesn't like the work 426 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE that he is doing. The words 'I don't like it' answers every question. "The Russian scientist proved that if you put a little asafetida on good meat so that the dog didn't like it, he couldn't digest it in thirty hours. If a man doesn't like his work he can't digest it in a life-time.' " So your success is in your mind and your mind must be trained correctly. Follow your "bent;" love your work; make it play—"play with papers." "Do something that vou can enjoy as your life's work, that you can make your vocation, play." If there is any "unkindest cut of all" it is "fate" (which of course psychology does not accept) that forces a man to have his courtship on paper instead of in the happy company of a SAveetheart. In the days, when our love answer was in the balance, I was called upon journeys lasting from six to nine months. The first place I went upon reaching a town was the mailbox where I received one letter for every day that I was gone and, in turn, one letter went back East each day, if not two. Some times the letters contained more than missives of love and faith; sometimes expres- sions of the language of the heart were sent in other tokens but, after having traveled all over the country and sending back souvenirs from nearly every State, I had about exhausted my search for something new. To be in San Antonio, Texas, with my sweetheart in Philadelphia, the chances for the other fellow were a little better than if I myself had been there, and so I wondered what would be a nice token to show that my heart Avas beating in the same place, for the VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 427 same cause, Avith the same palpitating love throbs as of old; to shoAv that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and to prove to the little girl that I "was just the same as ever." I scoured the city for some Avorthy memento commensurate to the ardor of my affection: so after traipsing the city and Avondering what would be the thing to prove to that little girl so far away that time nor distance ne'er could sever our love, I decided I had found it; I kneve I had the very article that would show her that my love was the same today, yesterday and forever—I bought her a twenty-five cent cactus. Upon my return after nearly a year I was led to the same cactus; not the same, and yet it Avas; it was the same little twenty-five cent cactus, but it had grown to be a large plant of the prairies—say, a couple of dollars worth any way. Upon receipt of the cactus the little girl gave it to a friend whose heart was in the kingdom of flowers. He was working for a small salary in a great corpora- tion, but his heart was not in that corporation and his spirit Avas not in his work for, when he would come home at night his odd moments were all spent in plant- ing, cultivating, caring for and loving flowers, for the growth of grain and flowers will respond to love just as much as heart will beat in unison with heart. This man loved flowers so much that he had all kinds of flowers in different parts of his house, but the basement was really his conservatory—his hothouse. With his own hands he had remodeled the basement of his home and put in glass windows and steam pipes so that he could at will make any temperature that his 428 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE knoAvledge of the plant life and his love for their care prompted. In this basement the cactus was placed, and with the same love that he Avould care for a lilly, he spent on this wild looking cactus, and Lo and behold! the cactus "blossomed like a rose." Noav this man has passed middle age, still working on a very modest salary for a great corporation. He has raised his family and I suppose has a little—a very little—laid away for a rainy day. This man has never, and never Avill, get the most out of life. If years ago he had determined that the talent he had for the caring for and raising of floAvers was going to be spent entirely in that as a vocation, that man today, if he had worked as Edison Avorked, might have the largest floral establishment in the City of Brotherly Love. The joy of his Avork Avas the call and, when he refused to ansAver the call, he lost the greatest bless- ings that could come to man. If he had, twenty-five years ago, although he had to fight death and overcome environment, set his teeth against "fate," fighting what might have seemed to him a losing game, gone on Avith the love for his flow- ers, this very love and this joy in doing the thing which he liked—if he had developed his will—might have made him Philadelphia's greatest florist. If we are going to get the most out of work Ave are, most of all, to love our vocation. We should never choose a vocation simply to make money but the logical and psychological sequence of making work your play is a larger income and a greater influence. When we follow a line of work that is not joy, in VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 429 which Ave do not find happiness, we stab our better nature and jeopardize our future. Ray Chalk is considered one of the greatest catch- ers in baseball and perhaps has caught more games than any other one in the business. Because of the strain behind the bat the catcher is often given a rest; and when Chalk's manager Avould take Ray out of the game and put him on the "bench," he Avas so inter- ested in the success of his Club that he would slide up and down the bench and, in his anxiety, be covered with perspiration, Avondering Avhether the other catcher and the rest of the players Avould do their level best. In his anxiety on the bench Chalk expended more energy than he did in the actual game. Chalk asked to be put back into the game, not to be released, and said that if the pitcher would pitch, he would do the catching; and his manager found that Ray Avas more successful working every day than having his periods of rest. Chalk is the great Chalk because he loves the game; he loves his work and Avithout this love no one can do his best. In "American Problems" the Great Psychologist tells us: " 'In those colleges Avhere the choice of a course is left to the student, it is always interesting to inquire into the motives that guide the preference. Of the hundreds who flock to a course in history, or economic, or chemistry, or literature, certainly there are many who know that they have chosen the course that they need and the one that will be most profitable for their inner development. 430 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE But there are others and those others are far too many. Some students select a course because their friends are taking it, others because they have heard it is a 'soft snap.' Sometimes a course is chosen because the lecturer is well known for his witty remarks, sometimes because the lecture hour conflicts least with the training for athletics and again because the lecture room is conveniently located down stairs or because the books needed for the course are small enough to be carried in the pocket. "On the whole this situation also pictures the methods by which the American youth chooses his life work. The overwhelming majority must enter upon a bread-winning life when the graded school has been passed. Here also a large number cer- tainly have an aim and a goal, and with firm step they enter the chosen path. But a discouraging number of boys and girls are drifting here and there from haphazard motives and most trivial causes. The hasty advice of a competent friend, a chance advertisement, a liking for some surface features of a calling without any knowledge of its real duties, a vague illusory idea as to the great rewards of a line of work, push a boy in this or that direction. As he has not been trained for any definite thing and has neither a conscious prefer- ence nor sufficient knowledge of the social world with its openings and its opportunities, he is glad to slip in anywhere. "All this repeats itself, not very differently though on a somewhat higher level, with that VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 431 smaller part of the population that has passed through the high schools. To be sure, those four additional years have given to many a boy a wholesome opportunity to find himself and to discover his aptitudes and interests. But, if we watch the further development, we witness the depressing sight of the same haphazard selecting of a practical career, the same ignorance, the same valuation of petty circumstances, the same drifting. The most important step in life is often taken with hardly more deliberation than many of those boys Avould use in selecting a new suit of clothes. "The student who recklessly chooses his lec- ture course in college may lose the highest gain, but the result will not be serious harm.' " Anyone selecting his life's work should most cer- tainly count the cost and weigh very carefully and be able to say: "This is the profession of my choice and the business of my heart's desire to do or to die. I enter it for the love of the thing.'' And your love will never be misplaced. Select the work you like, be happy in your work, follow your "bent" and you will make no mistake. Work and be happy. Be happy and work. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XLII. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE—Continued. America Aping Europe. Injustice to Pupils and Teachers. The greatest injustice to the American youth today is the common public school system. Our educational system came from England and the continent, not from democratic America. When the founders of our Repub- lic dedicated this country to freedom and to liberty, they unconsciously wove into the texture of this liberty and freedom the artistocratic, snobbish educational sys- tem. We aped the continental system and we aped it well. The educational systems of the continent had all been to make "gentlemen." To make "men" was not in their thought. And what is a "gentleman?" A "gentleman" to the notion of the educational system of Europe, is some kind of a two-legged, masculine gender of the human species, who comes from an upper caste, who has better blood flowing through his veins than the "common herd" and who is educated to believe that he is a better animal than the sons of the poor. Within the last few years one of the big universi- ties of the continent refused to let their crew compete with one of the universities of America, upon the grounds that the men in that university were "gentle- 436 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE men" and the "gentlemen" could not deign to row in competition with men out of their class. So then, our educational system comes from Europe, comes as an off-spring of the high brows' places of learning for human clay of royalty, that considers itself better than the human clay of democracy. Our public school system is obsessed with the same false notion that we inherited and aped from the old country. Education, in my opinion, should not be to educate white shirts, kid-gloved, "I am better than thou" humans, but the first object of our public school system should be to teach men and women how to take care of themselves. How to provide for them- selves and others. Herbert Spencer tried to sink this into the grey matter of the human consciousness, but it has not gotten very far yet—especially with the high brows. But any educational system which keeps boys and girls in the school room until they are eighteen, tAventy, twenty-two and twenty-four years of age, without send- ing them out into the world well prepared and equipped to battle against the tides of life, to be their own home- makers and, their own life-savers, is an educational system that ought to be pitched out of the back window into the rubbish heap of by-gone aristocracy. Just as America outdoes other countries in any- thing she tackles, just so has she outdone in education the other countries that she has aped. If Ave are going in for commercial purposes, we go in to prove to the world that the Yankee and the American can do it just a little better than the others. When we went into the great war with our American lads, not trained in mili- VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 437 tarism, raAv recruits fresh from farms, the Avork shops, the accounting rooms, the school houses and the ma- chine shops, we trained them in three months into the best of the soldiery, who, Avhen they once got on the trail of the enemjr would not turn back: So Avhen we set out to have a public school system aped from Europe, Ave surely did the aping up brown for the average boy and girl of America, who have to go through the grades and the high schools, have to spend from two to three years longer to be turned out in life, or moved up into college, than the boys and girls on the continent. We have gone Europe one step better by making our boys and girls to conform to an in- efficient school system which takes them two or three years longer of wasted time for life's preparation than the people Avhom we have aped. Not only is our public school system an injustice to the average American boy and girl, but it is a gross injustice to the teachers. The Avorld is only moved for- ward by education. We can only maintain a democracy by the way of the school house the ballot and religion. Man's upward climb toAvard the light has always been as Buckle says, educationally, not morally or religiously. Therefore the most important person, in our whole democratic institution of democracy and the civilization of the twentieth century, is the school teacher, and yet, no one, saving the minister, gets as little thanks and as little pay for work that he does as the school teacher. The school teacher ought to have just as much income as the bank president, or the railroad magnet, or the corporation lawyer. It is far more essential to have big men and women teach our children the proper 438 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE way of life and living, than to have lawyers to divorce them. And yet, when there is a movement on foot to increase the teachers' pay a wee little mite, we have to carry on compaigns, sing songs, make speeches and wave the American flag to try to get a pittance increase in the salaries of the greatest benefactors of the human race. Injustice to pupils and teachers belongs to by-gone days of ignorance, not present-day democracy. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XLIII. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE—Continued. Public Schools Should Teach Something Besides College Entrance Curricula. The average curriculum in the American public school is for college entrance and not for a democratic country. About ninety per cent of the boys and girls Avho go through our grades never need or intend to take a college education. Now for the man who is going into a profession, where it is necessary to have a "classical education" or a "Latin scientific education" or a "scientific education," it is all right, but about ninety per cent of our boys and girls do not go through our schools to prepare for college entrance. Most of our boys and girls need training and not cultivating. We are ardent advocates for education, for the higher education, for classical education, for high brow edu- cation—for the fellow Avho needs it, but, most of our boys and girls do not need it. A certain man called upon a psychological expert to see if he could discover what was the matter with his son. The father said no position suited him; that he had secured several for the boy since he graduated from high school but he could not keep any. He was always discharged. Nothing seemed to please him. Nothing appealed to him, and the boy was indifferent, just drifting from one position to another. Said the 442 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE father, "I should like to know what is the matter with my son. I want to know if he is a fool or not." The psychological expert told him—as he did others—that the boy was no fool, but that it was the foolish school system, which was well on its way to ruin the boy. That boy is just typical of thousands in America unfitted for life and for work by the high brow "gentleman" course and curriculam. That kind of a boy needs training, not cultivating. Send him to college and he would be worse. Everyone cannot make a living by the use of his brain alone. If we could, who would till the soil, build our houses, run our mines, conduct commerce and build forges. If nature has intended that a boy should use his hands with his brains, it is nothing less than criminal to tie his hands in a high school recitation room while he fights a losing battle with his brains. If nature intended a boy to make a living by his hands, to get his education with his brain and his hands, no public school educator or educational system is going to be greater than God, to educate the boy to be a successful producer while his hands are tied and his spirit broken. Here is a typical case of a boy having gone through the high school, no preparation to make a living and not able to hold a job. When the psychological expert asked the father what the boy liked to do when he was a youngster, the father replied that the boy's whole heart and soul, mind and hands had been in the build- ing of boats. Then, said the psychologist, "Your boy ought to be put in a machine shop, or a carpenter shop where he could use his hands with his brain." The VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 443 father replied that he had, two years before, when the boy was in the sophomore class, wanted to let him go into a machine shop, the desire of his heart, but the mother and the sister objected. They wanted the boy to have a "gentleman's education" where he would not have to work in overalls, where his hands would be clean and his shirt unsoiled. There was such a pro- test from the mother and sister that the son was dis- couraged and, being kept in the atmosphere of snob- bery and false notions of what really makes a man, the boy, after the flush of ambition to enter a machine shop was over, could not be induced to turn his mind in that direction, because he had been under the false training, both at home and in the school room that it was ungentlemanly to be a mechanic. The boy would have been mentally contented and physically balanced in a machine shop, but continu- ing his associations in the school room, where false pride was stimulated and fanned at home, he could not now be persuaded to follow the bent of his talent— useless, and hopelessly flung upon the tide of life to become a derelict because of our public school system. It is an injustice to most of the American boys to let them receive their education in a high school where girls have reached womanhood and are established in physiological life, while boys are just adolescent. Here, because of the physiological differences, the boy is con- tinually being compared by the teacher unfairly. This lowers his morals and saps his spirit and, being a boy, in the company of women, he is again discouraged, until there are about three girls to one boy in the 444 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE average high school, the second year of the high school course. If it were suggested that you send your boys to girls' schools you Avould be shocked, and yet, this is just what we are doing in the average American public school. You are sending your boys to a girls' school with girl teachers and the great majority of the boys cannot thrive mentally, morally or spiritually in that kind of an atmosphere. We have all respect for teachers. We have already said they are the great light-bringers to the race and women teachers are absolutely essential; but, when a boy reaches high school, he ought to have a man teacher. The women as a rule cannot understand a boy and the boy, in turn, reflects the misunderstanding of the teacher and both together make a sorry ending for the boy. We should be able to pay men enough salary to teach in our public schools so that they will make it a life vocation, not a convenience, to help them tide over until they can fit themselves for something else. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XLIV. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE—Continued. School System Cause of Perverts. Statistics have been filed to show that eighty per cent of sexual perverts come from the so-called edu- cated class. This is easy to be understood. By the time the boy enters manhood and should be thinking of having a home of his own, with a life companion, who will be his inspirer, his guide and his help, he is not enough prepared to care for himself, let alone another and a family to come, so, by the time he has entered the period of home buildings, seeing no chance for his family in the future and his home ties that he so much desires to have, he becomes careless, indif- ferent, then lax in sex purity and finally—a pervert. The American public school system ought to train our boy to be a home provider by the time he is eighteen years of age. Then, if he wants to branch out into anything else and take a longer preparation, or delay in starting his home, which most of them do, it is his own choice, but he will be happy in the reali- zation that he is fitted to care for himself and others, should the responsibility be his. Our old excuse used to be, if we give a boy a high school and a college education, that he has had good mental training. This is mostly "bosh." He has had good mental training for these certain lines, but not, in the majority of cases, the training for his life's work. 448 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE It is now an established fact in psychology that the brain cells which are stimulated and developed for mathematics have nothing to do with the brain cells for dentistry or carpentery. Each brain cell must have its own stimulation and development and we may give the boy who wants to be a shipbuilder a thousand col- lege courses in the classics without developing his brain cells for his chosen life's work, or giving him a start in the thing that he wants to do. Jack London, the great story writer of his genera- tion, was a very poor speller. You might have given him a dozen courses in spelling and he would have finally mastered the rudiment of spelling, but that would have done nothing toward stimulating his brain cells as a writer. He folloAved the wiser course to develop his brain cells for writing and hired some one to do his spelling for eight dollars a week. The average American high school course goes under the assumption that every boy's brain has a potentiality capable of development under a universal curriculum. That is false; it is wrong, it is criminal. There will be each commencement season thousands of boys and girls entering our high schools with but very little choice of what they want to study. We try to run thousands of boys and girls through one mould expecting them to come out at the other end, fitted for life's duties, talents and aspirations—a success. That is as absurd as it is criminal. Each boy and each girl has a talent and, if that talent is to be of the greatest service to the human race, it ought to be guided and developed during the school years. We ought to know what our boys and our girls want to do by the time VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 449 they enter the high school. We should have such a system, as I shall outline later, so that by the time they finish the high school they are equipped for the duties of life and the necessary financial obligations which such duties entail. Oh! I know we have a few electives and a little manual training. But when you have said a " a little'' you have said it all. The average manual training course gives a boy just about enough manual training to teach him to know the difference between a tooth pick and a ten-penny nail. We use common sense when it comes to other things except ourselves and our children. We know that in our flower kingdom we cannot raise all kinds of flowers in the same atmosphere. We give different flowers different surroundings and, verily, is not a boy worth much more than many flowers ? We use common sense and judgment in raising stock. We would not think of hitching a draft horse with a trotter, expecting them to do good work, as we know we would spoil both the trotter and the draft horse by mismating them in harness; but, when it comes to our boys and our girls, we try to harness all into the same shafts to pull the same wagon of education, with the result that most of the boys balk and the cart gets mired. But our boys must come up to a certain standard in all high school subjects, no matter how unfit they are mentally and temperamentally. Then if the boy rebels he is punished in a thousand and one ways, and after he has been forced to finish the high school against his 450 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE natural inclinations and his own good common sense, Ave wonder why he can't keep a job. We should teach our boys that there is no aris- tocracy of brains in America; that there is just as much honor in being a good mechanic as being a preacher behind the sacred desk. Indeed, it is far better to be a good blacksmith than to be a policital clerk, who has a high school diploma, but is dependent upon the political ward boss for his sporadic jobs. Many high schools will have to throw out of the win- dows Latin and Greek text books, English History and Poetry, but not the English language nor the Avay to write it. In place of books we must have forges, carpenter benches, drafting instruments, simple and practical laboratories. With so many misfits ground through the public school system we must take time to help our oAvn children now, to correct the evil for the future. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XLV. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE—Continued. Manual Training Versus Common Sense. We teach a little manual training but not enough to learn the dignity of labor. When we are in the midst of war fever, we can work ourselves up into all kinds^ of patriotic passions to arouse the young blood within the veins of all normal men, who love home and country, until they will rush to the colors and recklessly give their lives that the world might be saved for democracy; and yet, when the war is over and the world has been saved, the fever has subsided, our passions have cooled and our boys return with empty sleeves, with halting step, with blind eyes and ruined lives, we soon forget that they fought for de- mocracy. A few months after the war was over we, as a country, at least as a Federal Government, forgot all about the glorious thrills that we gave ourselves when we put on our Liberty Loans and our recruiting cam- paigns, to get money and men to ship across the seas to save the world for democracy. Our city was no worse than any other—probably typical of all others. St. Louis had a government hospital that could accom- modate seven hundred or more soldiers who had re- turned, from across the seas, physical wrecks. In a few months after hostilities had ceased, the city forgot its fervor and the boys were neglected. It was easy 454 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Avhen the Avar was on to give entertainments to the boys, to feed them ice cream and cake and to give them automobile rides, but after they had been to France, had seen deadly service where they had been wounded, shell-shocked and gassed, we could not get up enough enthusiasm to give them an entertainment once a week. When those boys have nothing to do but to sit around or lie in a Government hospital thinking of the past, living again the war scenes of yesterday and unable to plan for the future because they are human wrecks, it is the time—if ever a man wants the comfort and solace and inspiration of the church—that he ought to have it. Of course the Catholic Church looked after its membership. They always do. They are wiser than the Protestants. It would be well if the Protestants would learn a lesson from the Catholics. The Catholics had their church services every Sunday at the Govern- ment hospital, but, in a feAV months after the world was saved, there was not a single Protestant Church, except the one Avith Avhich I Avas connected, that carried any religious message whatsoever to the thousands of boys at the hospital. I used to go out myself during the week and Sun- day morning, as busy a preacher as I was, to round up the fellows, get them into autos, bring them down to service and furnish autos to take them back again. For many weeks there was one bright, honest, typical American lad who always had a group of fel- lows that he had rounded up before I got there Sunday mornings, ready to fill a car or two to go to our services. He had become my right hand "bower" at the hospital. MANUAL TRAINING" 455 Many months later, when my campaign made it impossible for me to be in the city enough to look after the interests of the boys at the hospital, I received a letter from a young felloAv who was in jail. He told me that he had no friends in the city except me; that he had gotten into trouble, but just why he did it he did not know and would I not come down to help him get out of jail. Upon my return to the city I hastened to the parole officer who was a gentleman with fatherly spirit and kind heart, but who had refused to let this young man out on parole because there Avas a financial depression. Jobs were hard to get and he said if the boy was on the streets, without money and friends, he Avould only be tempted to do again what he had done and soon be back in the work house. "But," said I, "I should like to be sponsor for the boy. He has a place to go. Let him come to my home," whereupon the parole officer replied that, if the young man could live with me, he Avould try to get him out, which he did, and gladdened the heart of more than one. It was not hard for me to understand why the boy had made a mistake. He Avas a typical American, filled Avith love of country and of home, as only a lover of democracy is filled. He had volunteered as soon as his country needed his services. He was in the first contingent across the seas and had been in many battles. He had been wounded, gassed and shell- shocked. It Avas not very difficult to understand why the boy might have made a mistake. If we had been wounded, gassed and shell-shocked, then back to our 456 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE native country, without work and without money, we might have done things that even we could not explain. That is easy to be understood. As we traveled toward home I asked the young man what was our next step. What would he like to do? He said that he had had manual training when he was in high school; that he had always had a notion that he would like to be a cabinet-maker. So strongly was this imbedded in his consciousness that a year before upon his return from the front he had made application to receive Federal vo- cational training but, in the usual routine of a country that worships Mammon and forgets the deeds of their heroes, his application was pigeon-holed. Con- gress was dickering, wavering, retarding and hold- ing-up legislation which ought to have gone through over night for the help of our boys and, while Congress marked time, this young man was losing heart and would have been pushed down and down to only God knows where, if he had not had a friend. Yes, this young man had had a little manual training but, mark you, "a little." He had graduated from high school; was not twenty-two years of age; would have to have two more years of training before he could hope to make a living by his chosen vocation. His father had been a typical Methodist minister on starvation wages. This young fellow's mother had sacrificed everything that mothers can sacrifice to squeeze their meager income so that the boy could be kept in school. What for? Why, to be given a smell at a kind of work he would like to do and then go starving the rest of his days on the whiff of the smell he had had. "MANUAL TRAINING" 457 Twenty-four years of age, just getting through manual training, just getting a job, is too late in the life of any young man who is thinking of making cabinet-making his life's work. That kind of a boy ought to have been trained to have been a full-fledged cabinet-maker by the time he was eighteen years of age. Then there would be no mistakes, no jail, no years of languishing in poverty's back yard, no added weight to the burdens of the minister's Avife, because her son had not been trained. Away with our aristocratic public school sys- tem of snobbery and enter a democratic system of preparation and fitness! NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XLVI. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE—Continued. Following Your Bent. Back in Philadelphia was a widow who took in boarders to help keep the family together, so that her two boys might receive an education and a fair start in life. One of these boys seemed to be slow and easy- going—not studious—and to keep him in school was the trial of his mother's life. The public school system had nothing which interested this boy who wanted to work with his hands as well as with his brain. The mother was herself a college graduate and believed in the necessity of a classical training for her boy and yet she used lots of good common sense—mother sense. She encouraged her Johnnie the best that she could to attend school, thinking that it was necessary for him to get the fol-de-rol rubbish of a formal education into his brain. He was a genius in embryo but which, the public school system was not developing. The mother was extremely wise when she let Johnnie tinker around the house with electrical wires, mechanical apparatus and inventors devices. She very wisely concluded that it was much better for Johnnie to be at home monkeying around the house— even if some parts of the house were topsy-turvy because of his monkeying—than for him to be out run- ning the streets, gadding with other boys who, like 462 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE himself, would have nothing to do but to get into mis- chief. So Johnnie stumbled along in school and was not considered very bright and, whether he ever finished high school or not, I do not know, as meanwhile his mother had died, but I think Johnnie quit the high school. But, be that as it may, his mother had given him the right start. If you had come into that home you would have been surprised to have noticed in dif- ferent parts of the house the ear-marks of the young genius in the shape of mechanical devices, electrical wires and numerous contrivances. If you Avere lucky enough to get into Johnnie's room and tried to sit on one of the chairs he had in his den, you would have only tried, for, the moment that you came in contact with the seat of the chair, you would have bounded up into space. Johnnie had the chair electrified. Door knobs in the house were also electrified and many an unsuspecting visitor received a shock, much to the de- light of little Johnnie, whose mother had always been patient, encouraging and hopeful. Johnnie was barely thirty years of age when the great war was on. Our government had offered an award of some Ten Thousand Dollars to the man who could invent some kind of a device so that the pilot in a flying machine could talk to the mechanic. Owing to the roar of the engine, communication between the two men in the airplane was impossible. Johnnie heard of the award that was offered and rushed to Washington, D. C. He got there about twenty-four hours before the award was to be made— the next day—and some inventor would be the lucky man. FOLLOW YOUR BENT 463 Johnnie met the committee that had this in charge and told them that if they would give him twenty-four hours more that he would bring the very device they Avanted. They had not yet had one presented that met requirements and so "little" Johnnie was able to per- suade the committee to allow him twenty-four hours' grace. At the appointed time, Johnnie, the slow high- school boy, AAras back to see the committee with some- thing that looked like a cigar box. In this was the in- vention, that his mechanical brain cells—Avhich Avere stimulated by his hours of play in his home—had per- fected, and which received the prize from the Govern- ment. Not only did Johnnie get his Ten Thousand Dollars and the honor of winning against all the other con- testants but, soon, a big manufacturing plant, Avhich uses inventive geniuses to perfect inventions they sell to the public, heard of Johnnie's talent and offered him a permanent position with them at Ten Thousand Dol- lars a year. What had the public school system done for Johnnie? Not a thing, except to retard his progress, break his spirit and stamp him as a boy unfit to travel in the same company with the other mental-contestants in dead languages, poetry and the classics. Many years ago the Success Magazine printed an article in which it said that ninety per cent of the men, who made application at the Y. M. C. A. Employ- ment Bureau of New York City, were college graduates. The injustice of keeping ninety per cent of our boys in high school and then forcing them to take a formal, classical or general, college education until they are 464 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE twenty-four or twenty-six years of age, only to send them out upon the tide of life like boats without rud- ders, ships without sails and human derelicts without hope! Our public school system, I repeat, should prepare every boy and every girl for his or her life's work and they should be so well grounded in that which they want to follow that, at the age of eighteen, they are prepared to make a living, set up a home and plan for the future. Little Johnnie was more fortunate than was our soldier from overseas, of whom we spoke in the last chapter, in that he had been guided by a wise mother. Our public school system must meet the needs and the requirements of every boy and every girl who enters its sacred portals. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XLVII. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE—Continued. Raising Tomatoes. While conducting a campaign in the Middle West, I was trying to recline at ease in a barber chair, but alas! A-lack-a-day! there was no ease for me because I had one of these talkative barbers, for Avhich I was profoundly thankful, when he had finished his story. It was in the spring time and the barber's mind was not particularly in my whiskers but it was sailing in joy across the fertile valleys of Illinois beneath the blue vaulted heavens above. His feet were itching to get on mother earth. His fingers longed to get away from rubbing the lather over my Avhiskered chin, to the heart of mother nature. As he told me about his desire to get away from the barber shop a little earlier that he might have time to fuss around in his garden, he spoke like a boy aa-1io expected a vacation time next year and could not Avait until the time came. With Avhat gusto and Avhat lightness of spirit and Avith Avhat joy he told me of his triumphs of the seasons that AArere gone! He was a born horticulturist and lived in the state of ecstacy when he was tramping mother earth and fondling the loam of mother nature. He told me that last year he had raised a big patch of tomatoes which had had the careful attention of his hands and mind and love. 468 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Of course we know All is mind and man can raise tomatoes in his mind, by his mind and with his mind. A man can love flowers into being and tomatoes into growth, just the same as a man can love his children into obedience and his family into respect. In fact, no man can be a successful farmer, horticulturist or florist unless his fingers radiate the vibration of love, as he tenderly cares for his crops, for his gardens and his flowers. This man had put so much love into his work that the ground had been impregnated with his fraternal spirit until the tomato vines, which filled this great patch, had nothing less than forty tomatoes on a vine and not a single tomato weighing less than a pound. The barber was a good barber and the world needs good barbers, goodness knows—if you have a face like mine to shave—but the barber would have been a better agriculturist. His talent was buried in shaving lather and growing whiskers when it should have been planted in the heart of God's great garden loam of beauty and wealth, which would have brought him a much better living, more happiness and a bigger bank account. What had the public school system done to help that barber be a better producer and thus a better citi- zen for the country? Not a thing. It only kept him ill at ease, like a fish out of water, all of the years that he spent cramming down his throat dead lan- guages and higher mathematics. If a boy has talent to raise tomatoes, or if a boy has 1#lent to monkey with electrical wires, that boy ought to be guided by our public school system in such a manner that his education will all tend toward the development of that FOLLOW YOUR BENT 469 talent and guide him into the path of his chosen life's work. Any public school system that does not discover, guide and perfect our boys and our girls, in their respective talents, is a public school system that is falling far short of the mark. In the language of the theologian, that system sins and, any) system that sins, according to theology is a system that is criminal. The average public school system, as perpetrated upon the American youth today, is performing a criminal act upon about ninety per cent of our young Americans. This generation must stop it. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XLVIII. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE—Continued. What Our Public School System Should Be. Every city and every county—every center of edu- cation, no matter what it may cost—should have such a system as we outline below. That this is practical and is of great service to our boys and girls is evidenced by the places where such systems, under higher edu- cational institutions, are now in vogue. After I gave the commencement address, in one of the great colleges in the Middle West, a number of years ago, I had occasion to visit the different depart- ments. This was a state college where money had been wisely spent and common sense in educating the American youth was far above par. As I was piloted from one part of the great institution to another, I was shown departments that taught nearly everything that a boy or a girl would follow as a life's vocation: here you were taught how to raise pigs, geese and chickens; here you saw forges, blacksmith shops and a dozen and one trades; here everything was taught from milinery on up through the arts for women, to the great professions, law and medicine. I was told that, when a student comes to this institution, the first year very few know the life's vocation he intends to follow. At the expiration of the first year thirty per cent or more have found their work. At the end of the second year over fifty per 474 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE cent and, at the end of the third year, fully seventy- five to ninety per cent of those students had gratitecl by the natural law of attraction, the result of coming in contact with the particular kind of work that nature responded to and had settled upon their vocation. If you Avill again read the chapter in this book on Stimulation you will readily understand how this happened: The boys came from all over the state, from all walks of life —most of them from very small towns and during all of their lives they had been only in narrow and circum- scribed conditions. They had not seen many trades, had not come in contact with the fundamentals of the pro- fessions and many of them knew very little about busi- ness but here at this great institution—where nearly everything was taught that man wants to knoAV—they Avere draAvn as by a magnet to the particular kind of Avork Avhich they liked the best. By seeing the connec- tion of the various Avorks or profession, by observing how the respective vocations were developed, their brain cells Avere instantly stimulated and they felt "the call" within, the intuition for labor—the "inner voice" of their talent. Here was a place where the barber could have learned hoAv to raise tomatoes, where Johnnie could have developed his electrical genius and nearly every other boy and girl could have followed their respective calls, bents and ambitions. And just as this great institution had courses for preparation in these many, divers and various voca- tions, so should each public school center have the same thing. Every city, every county—and, in more sparsely settled communities, every school center—should be on WHAT OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM SHOULD BE 475 such a large, great plan that every boy and every girl would have his or her talent developed. If there is only one boy in the county who AArants to learn how to raise tomatoes the public school system ought to teach that boy, guide and lead him, to make a great citizen, a great producer and a great man, because of the proper leading, guidance and development. We do not lead the public school educators up to- the bar of condemnation of public opinion and plant upon their brow a crown of thorns for the system that we now have; but rather, Ave—the public—must face the charge of injustice, ourselves, for it is my convic- tion that most of the leading public school educators of today are anxious to put in such a system, modified perhaps as I have outlined (but that takes money) and when American pocket-books are touched for a little tax—when we think we are going to be called upon to foot the bill—Ave go on in our ignorance, alloAV- ing our boys and our girls to suffer under such a sys- tem as I have outlined in previous chapters. Not at the feet of the educator shall Ave lay the blame but upon the shoulders of the average American citizen who pays poll tax that our public schools may be maintained. Give our educators the money and then be wise ourselves, to folloAV their lead; and Ave can change the public school system within a generation. Can we do it? We can! Shall we do it? We shall! Will Ave do it? We will! NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER XLIX. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE—Continued. How to Find Your Work. There are three ways in which we may know whether we are in our right work or not and, if not in our chosen vocation, how we may know what we should select. Some of us will understand one of these ways, some may need two of them and some, perchance, may apply the three. Use that one which best appeals to you. The first thing to do is to fly back in memory to childhood and recall what you Avanted to do when you were a boy or a girl. Did you want to build a Avater boat? Then you must follow some vocation where you can build boats or use your hands. Did you want to play in the ground and raise tomatoes? Then you must follow the bent of the agriculturist or horti- culturist or the florist. Did you like to fuss around chickens, take care of horses, or feed animals? Then your life's work must be where you can let these desires be gratified. Did you like to play with electric wires ? Then you will never be a maximum success nor have the joy to the full in life's work unless you plan to be located some where, some how, so that you can give vent to your ambition with your electrical appli- ances and wires. Did you like mathematics? Then you should follow some course where you can use your brain for mathematics—some engineering course or otherwise—astronomy, for instance. Did you like to 480 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LD7E recite poems or declaim at school? Then the one thing you should do is to follow some work, some profession, where you can allow this talent to be exercised. Did you like to make dresses? Then you should allow yourself to be so engaged that you can follow the bent for the art of the modiste. Whatever your mind recalls that you liked to do when a youth, that above all things do, no matter your age, no matter your lack of training, no matter your environment or handicaps. Break loose from your old moorings and branch out, on the sea of life, full of confidence and courage because you are going to de- velop the talent that God has given you and that you, in conjunction with Him, will open the way so that the law will bring you a greater remuneration, more happi- ness and a wider influence. Before you say you cannot do this, owing to your family, your age, lack of funds or what not, you must read the chapter that follows. The second way, in knowing what you should do as your vocation, is to follow the outline given in the previous chapter, namely: if you cannot visit some great state institution of learning where all things are taught, that you may have your brain cells stimulated, by coming in contact with the work to which your mind will be drawn, then go to every kind of a manufacturing plant, business house, store, office or factory and, in vis- iting these institutions you will have your brain cells stimulated by seeing what other men are doing and you will be drawn as the steel to the magnet, as you come in contact with the various vocations. The great Henry George left an only son who was HOW TO FIND YOUR WORK 481 not a business man and unable to carry on the great business his father left. He was practically a fail- ure as a draftsman. In hard times he was laid off where he was working for the great steel mill at Johnstown, Pa., and, although he had received a good education and had had the advantage of associat- ing with his wonderful father, he was unable to keep his position; and, finally, to prevent his family from starving, he offered his services, was rejected and, then, actually begged the superintendent to give him a chance to work as a day laborer. In time, an old friend of his father's brought George to New York where he was being piloted through a manufacturing plant. As Mr. George came into the moulding room where the artists were manipu- lating the clay with their hands and moulding it into various shapes and forms, the brain cells for the artistic were stimulated and, Mr. George said to the one who was piloting him through, "Why, here is some- thing I should like to do." The man left Mr. George all by himself with some clay in his hands and told him to model something. Upon the man's return Mr. George shoAved wonderful talent as a modeler and, the man who had been unable to keep his family, because the school system had not properly educated him and trained him, found here the greatest joy of his life and a vocation which brought him great honor with all the attendant rewards. If you do not find your brain cells responding to clay modeling, go to the dress goods counter. If the stimulation does not come there, go to the machine shop and from there to the accounting room, from 482 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE the accounting room to the law office and from the law office to the drafting room, etc., until you feel that "call within" responding to the call without. The third and, perhaps the most wonderful of these methods, is that of charging your subconscious mind as you go to sleep—as outlined in a previous chapter— to guide you to your life's vocation. If you will take the affirmation given below, you are taking one that gives no limitation to the law whatsoever. A person may be a successful lawyer and yet not prosperous. I know of a lawyer who can collect money for others, but not for himself—a successful lawyer, but not prosperous. A man may be a prosperous lawyer and not be happy, so we want to take an affirmation that will not only make us successful (an artist in our line of work) but also, one that will make us pros- perous, in surroundings where we will be happy; therefore such an affirmation as follows is one with no limitation, which, if carefully and diligently prac- tised, as we have outlined in a previous chapter, of how to charge the subconscious mind at night, you will be guided to your life's vocation just as surely as the sea gull is guided across the trackless deep. The affirmation: "My subconscious mind, I desire and command you to lead me to my life's vocation where I shall be happy, successful and prosperous." If the first way does not appeal to you, nor the second, try the third. If the third way does not appeal to you, nor the second, try the first. If the first and the third do not appeal to you, try the second. One of these ways is bound to lead you to your goal. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER L. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE—Continued. Never Too Late. Ella Wheeler Wilcox said, "If I were one hundred years of age, I would not hesitate to undertake a new enterprise." Ella Wheeler Wilcox Avas right and, if you have not the courage to undertake a neAV enterprise now, read "Will Power and Success" by the author and, if there is a spark of grit or gumption in you or one little flicker of dead embers of ambition, it does not matter how old you are, you will launch out upon your new en- terprise by finding your work and making the maxi- mum success. In a city where I conducted a campaign, there is a Avoman who is very successful as a drugless prac- titioner. I think I would be safe in saying she is the outstanding doctor in her line in that city. When she Avas a child she always wanted to be going to some one who was not well and giving her care and attention in a sick room. She always wanted to be a doctor but, she married and, alas! married a man who did not share in her ambition. This woman had received little education as the formal school system of America stipulates. In fact, she had little educa- tion of any kind, I think, not having gone through the eighth grade. This desire to become a doctor, where she could relieve the sufferings of humanity stayed 486 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE with her during the early years of her married life and she would frequently dream of being in a posi- tion where she could devote all of her time to the alleviation of suffering humanity. At twenty-nine years of age she announced to her husband that she was going to take up a medical course. Her husband laughed at her, ridiculed her and said, "Why, with your little preparation you would be the laughing stock of your class." Just as many a husband has misunder- stood his wife and many a wife has not been able to live in the clouds with her husband; just so this woman's ambition was stunted. She was laughed out of court; she was snubbed into defeat. Sixteen long weary years dragged slowly by and the woman reached the age of forty-five. Forty-five, with little or no preparatory education and ambitious to become a doctor. Forty-five and with her family raised. Forty-five and under the domination of her husband. That woman, today, is a most successful practi- tioner. When she finally, like a bird beating against a cage, broke out into freedom and had taken her course and was about to go before the State Board to be examined, her son, now a mature man, still continued a negative attitude and said, "Why, mother, you are not foolish enough to think of trying to pass the State Board, are you?" But she passed and, she practiced and, she prac- tices and she will continue to practice, receiving the honor, the pleasure and the income of a most successful doctor. It is never too late to begin a new enterprise. If NEVER TO LATE 487 I Avere one hundred years of age, I would not be afraid to attempt my life's vocation. There is no one reading these pages who is too old to decide right now to fol- low nature's bent—to follow your talent. A number of years ago in a small town in the Middle West, a man told me that his father, at the age of sixty- five, had some brain cells stimulated that made him a fortune. He had lived in that town all his life, had never been successful, had no one A\rho believed that he was worth a farthing, no one who would loan him money: no one would bet on him and he was considered just like an every-day ne'er-do-well. But, at the age of sixty-five, without a penny to his credit and without any reputation behind him except the reputation of a "no account," this man dickered and bargained and made a few dollars. The joy in the bargaining was so exhilerating that the man became young again in spirit and he took the few dollars that he had made in this deal, invested in another little deal and put that through with the same joyfulness that he did the former. He continued de- veloping his talent for bargaining—business dealing— until this "no account, ne'er-do-Avell country-town loafer," before he was seventy-five years of age, had amassed a fortune of One Hundred Thousand Dollars. Surely there is a chance for you if there was for him. This man folloAved his bent. This man discovered at the age of sixty-five a liking for dick- ering. Probably if he had gone back into his early boyhood days he would have remembered that he liked to play store and, that he got great delight in 488 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE selling, to imaginary customers or to his playmates, or to his parents, sugar that was sand, loaves of bread that were stone and bars of iron that were pins. In another town a man told me that his uncle, over sixty years of age, was a "down-and-outer;" but he turned the grey matter over inside of his cranium, raked it with a fertile thought of invention and sowed the seed of a "floor cleanser" (a chemical dust to put upon the floor to exhilarate the effort of the sweeping of the broom). He had enough money to make only a few pounds of this floor chemical cleaner at a time and, so he peddled this floor cleanser until he sold the few pounds he had. Then he peddled a little more and, continued to peddle it until, finally, he was selling it in barrel lots and that man made a quarter of a million by the time he was seventy-five years of age. Too late to begin to find your life's vocation? Never! You are too old to start now? Not a bit! You are bound down by environment, handicaps? You are wrong! If you are one hundred years of age it is not too late to begin your life's enterprise. Begin noAV and success will crown your efforts. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LI. SCIENTIFIC FEEDING. The Old Versus the New. Seeds. With Scientific Feeding comes the freedom for women—freedom from the kitchen. Hereafter it is going to be a very simple matter to feed the house- hold—no more hot stoves, no more hot kitchens, no more drudgery. From now on your living expenses will be less, as scientific feeding appeals to both sides of the house- hold—to the woman who saves labor and cooking and to the man who saves the coin in buying. "There is nothing more laborious and nerve-de- stroying than the preparation of the alleged good dinner. "Nothing is easier nor more delightful than the preparation of an uncooked meal. Aside from its ad- vantages for health and long life, an important feature is that it promises to solve the servant question for women. "Instead of being the queen of a home, a woman is a mere vassal. She must stand over a miniature fur- nace to cook the meals and breathe the poisonous odor of boiling flesh, the grease and slime of pots and dishes; instead of spending that time walking in the life-giving sunlight and drinking in nature's purifying air. The home, of Avhich she has dreamed, has laid 492 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE upon her a confinement and labor but little lighter than that which society puts upon the criminal who has violated its laws. "It is simply impossible for a Avoman to spend six hours out of twelve in the dense and smoky kitchen, over a roasting fire, breathing air laden with the fumes of burning flesh and steaming foods, and give her progeny those beautiful faculties which are their birthright. "Nearly every step in civilization has been taken in the lightening of human labor, except the art of pre- paring foods. This has been many times doubled and laid upon the frail shoulders of Avoman."—Tyler's Raw Food. Says Upton Sinclair, author of "The Jungle," in Physical Culture Journal, October, 1910: "I have become a believer in the simple diet. * * * While living alone out in California last winter I tried out the raw food idea. I never worked harder in my life and yet I was never so well. I have suc- ceeded in converting my family to the idea and so the domestic problem is done away with, so far as we are concerned. * * * Out in California I met a lady who was, for many years, a bed-ridden sufferer, but who cured herself by a long fast. I was the means of intro- ducing her to the raAV food idea and she and her familj have followed it with the greatest success." Who taught you to cook, anyway? Your mother. Who taught your mother? Why, your grandmother. And Avho taught your grandmother ? Why, your great grandmother. And who taught your great grand- mother? Why—we won't go back any further—that's SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 493 quite far enough. In our style of cooking we are much like we are in politics. We cook the way our mothers taught us and we vote the way our fathers voted. If we live in Norway we have one style of cooking, if we live in Sweden we have another, if we live in China we have another and if we live in Lapland we have another. The Eskimo likes his whale blubber and oil. That doesn't appeal very much to the man on Broadway. If we lived in China we probably would think we were having a good time eating chopped-up rats but a rat menu does not appeal very much to the man on Fifth Avenue. Why? Difference in our training, that's all; and the difference of our eating is like our birth place and our religion—a matter of accident of birth and the way we have been taught. The menu we are going to offer beloAV may be entirely new but you are going to enjoy it more, feel better and save money so that, in time, you would not go back to the old method for anything in the world. Within three days you will feel more spritely and lighter in the head (of course some of us are light enough in the head as it is). It is easy to grow brains if you know hoAv to eat. Considering the brains of some of us it is plain to be seen that we have had pretty poor eating for quite a spell. Take potatoes for instance. About the chief end of potatoes, so far as their value to the human body is concerned, is the production of gas and rheumatism. Of course, if a person Avants to eat to produce rheuma- tism and gas, I would recommend to continue potatoes. Otherwise, eliminate the little starch you get out of 494 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE potatoes for all the good they do to you is to fill your stomach with sour, yeast-foam-like fermentation which, in turn, clogs the alimentary canal tract. If you should like to see what potatoes look like inside of your stomach, take some of your ordinary cooked potatoes and leave them some summer day in the shade when it is about 90° F. Your nice cooked potatoes, in a few hours in this atmosphere, will spoil, and the stomach is about the same—90° F., therefore the only difference between the spoiled potatoes under the shade tree and inside your stomach is the differ- ence of location. Go back and look at this yeasty, foaming, sour stuff, in the shade—the fermentation of your one-time potatoes and say, "My dear friend, this is what I have inside of me when I eat you, instead of leaving you out where dogs can eat you." Potatoes are a mighty good thing if you want to line your alimentary canal with refuse or if you want to become a chronic rheumatic or a human gas engine. I know what it means to be a potato-eating lover (of course you may prefer some other kind of a lover to the potato-eating lover) for, if anyone liked potatoes, I was that one. But I wouldn't eat potatoes now even if my grocery bill for one year would cost me no more than a 5-cent piece that is worn so thin that you could see a flea under a potato bug wing as you looked through the worn out nickel. Why, I used to have to have pota- toes three times a day and without my potatoes I was a ruined man—so far as my eats for that day w«re concerned. The first time I went South, Avhere very few Irish potatoes are used, I though my liberty had been taken away from me, because they did not crowd SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 495 the menu with mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, pan- fry potatoes, German-fry potatoes and escalloped pota- toes. Down South where they serve rice, very wisely, in place of potatoes, I had a prejudice so aroused, be- cause potatoes had been taken from the menu and rice put in their place, that I refused to try to eat rice. If there is one Southern dish I learned to like it was cur- ried rice and gravy. But oh, whew! when they took my potatoes away from me and told me that rice and gravy were better, I refused to listen to their counsel and not until my prejudice was overcome, by mere starvation for "murphys," did I condescend to even taste rice and gravy. Potato eater—no two-legged corpse devourer was ever a more ardent potato gulper than I—and you good people, who have had your lives hanging in the balance by potato or non-potato eating, have my ten- derest and heartiest wishes in overcoming the fermen- tating-potato habit. For many months after I took up my new diet I had to go back and have a taste of the old sour potato, but now—if you put a cooked potato in front of me, no matter how daintily it is prepared— I not only see the sour fermentation but I can taste the spoiled, spungy, yeasty, decayed "murphy" be- fore it touches my tongue. What's the use of stuffing our stomachs with a lot of old spungy, sour, "spuds" to clog our alimentary canal—producing rheumatism and gas, just for "old times' sake"—just because our fathers liked to plant potatoes and our mothers were taught to cook them? Now that you understand that potatoes have no virtue and you know their detrimental effects, you will 496 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE no longer overwork your stomach and clog the diges- tive organs by dumping more refuse into the human seAverage—by Avay of your appetite and early training. While we are talking about refuse, digestive organs and alimentary tract, it may be well to pause and emphasize not only the virtue but the necessity of eating lots of fruits with seeds, to help keep our alimentary tract in a healthy condition. Sour pota- toes and beans and all kinds of cooked foods, which lie soggily in the twenty-five to thirty feet of the ali- mentary tract, are ordinarily not completely cleaned out except by cathartics or physics but would be natu- rally disposed of by the natural process of elimination, if we ate plenty of seeds. When you good women make your salads, which we will mention a little later, be sure to leave the seeds in the salads, as well as the parings. You see, when you cut out your potato eating, what work you save—labor from lugging the potatoes home, labor from washing and labor from peeling them and labor from cooking them—what a labor-saving device for housewives is Scientific Feed- ing. Besides the labor saved from not paring potatoes, again what labor we would save by not paring our apples. Never pare apples as the nutrition and proper- ties in the parings are very essential for man's health. Apple parings and seeds, leave in your salads. You are afraid of Appendicitis ? Tommyrot! No one ever had appendicitis from seeds. Twenty-five or thirty years ago when the appendicitis craze struck the unsophisticated consciousness of the laity, the mis- information spread broadcast that seeds lodged in that part of the human anatomy called the appendix and SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 497 you had to have the appendix cut out to re-discover the seeds or to save your life. Just as gossip spreads like prairie fires and a spark can be fanned into con- flagration, so the erroneous notion—of seeds lodging in the appendix—covered the whole of America and we all began to stop eating seeds. Why, in my own home they were scared half stiff because I insisted on eating grapes and the seeds therein. I was cautioned that I should suck the grape from its skin, cut the pulp open with my teeth and spend much time and effort in dislodging the seeds and spitting them out. But I didn't want to eat grapes that way for the taste of the grape was spoiled for me by chewing the pulp. It had an acidy sour taste which was more like medicine than fruit. But, my dear reader, no one ever had appendicitis from swallowing grapes and their seeds or any other kind of seeds. Appendi- citis, like all other physical troubles, is mostly in your mind. You want to eat seeds every day and when you drink your orange juice or eat your orange, as we tell you a little later under Scientific Feeding, do not be afraid to swallow the seeds. They will do you good. Seeds act as little rakes, scraping the inside of the alimentary canal tract which, otherwise, especially by wrong eating, is lined with refuse. Eat seeds and save on Epsom Salts. NOTES. » NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LII. SCIENTIFIC FEEDING—Continued. Scientific Tests. The dietician says, "A man is what he is by what he eats.'' The dietician is partly right. A man is what he is by what he thinks, plus Avhat he eats. We only have to go to the Cannibal Islands to see the type of man the human flesh has produced; or go to the North American Indian and see the type of a man wild- animal feeding will produce. Or go to the laboratories of scientific men and see what scientific eating will produce. Verily it is, that whatsover a man thinketh and whatsoever a man eateth, maketh a man. No wonder we have so many two-legged pigs run- ning around with their selfish grunting and their fleshy bristles, when we see how much pork is consumed by them. Eat whales and you are whale-y. Eat beans and you are beany. Eat human bodies and you are cannibalistic. Eat pigs and you become piggy—in mind as wel las in action. We talk a great deal about meat and strength but meat does not necessarily mean strength. You do not have to eat meat to become strong. Horses used to do most of the farm hauling before the days of the gas engine but horses never eat meat and a horse will do more work than a considerable number of humans when it comes to tugging a ploAV or hauling a reaper, or dragging manure. There is an animal called the elephant, he Avalks on four legs and has a tail behind 502 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE and a trunk in front. This fairly-good-sized animal has more strength than three or four men put together when it comes to brawn. All the old fellow has to do when a train gets stalled or a big circus wagon sticks in the mud is to put his head next to the load and begin to walk, pushing the freight in front of him. Yes, an elephant is quite a "strengthy" piece of flesh, yet you couldn't feed an elephant meat if he was starving to death. Men do not need meat to become strong any more than a horse or an elephant. "It is all in your mind." Endurance represents the most valuable character of strength. Many of the long distance runners have eliminated meat from their diet, because they are con- vinced that they possess more endurance when they avoid meat. Dr. Horace Fletcher, the great exponent of "Fletcherism"—thorough mastication of food before swallowing—after telling of a number of endurance tests that Avere given—to meat-eaters versus non-meat- eaters—all in favor of the non-meat-eaters, gives his OAvn endurance tests. "MY ENDURANCE TEST AT YALE." These are merely typical cases of distinguished and measured improvement. How the movement went on, from step to step, others have told and I need not follow it further here. Two years after I began my experiments, my strength and endurance had increased beyond my widest expectation. On my fiftieth birthday I rode nearly two hundred miles on my bicycle over French SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 503 roads and came home feeling fine. Was I stiff the next day? Not at all and I rode fifty miles the next morning before breakfast in order to test the effect of my severe stunt. When I was fifty-eight years of age, at the Yale University Gymnasium, under the observation of Dr. Anderson, I lifted three hundred pounds dead weight, three hundred and fifty times, with the muscles of my right leg, below the knee. The record of the best athlete then was one hundred and seventy-five lifts, so I doubled the world's record of that style of tests of endurance. The story of this test at Yale, when I doubled the "record," about which so much has been Avritten, is this: Professor Irving Fisher, of Yale, had devised a new form of endurance-testing machine, intended to be used upon the muscles most commonly in use by all persons. Obviously these are the muscles used in walk- ing. Quite a large number of tests had been measured by the Fisher machine but it was still being studied with a view to possible simplification. I was asked to try it and to suggest any changes that might improve it. I did so and handled the weight with such seeming ease that Dr. Anderson asked me whether I would not make a thorough test of my endurance. This I Avas glad to do. The Professor Irving Fisher Endurance Testing Machine is weighted to 75 per cent of the lifting capac- ity of the subject, ascertained by means of the Kellogg Mercurial Dynamometer. The lifting is timed to the beats of a metronome. When I began, Dr. Anderson cautioned me against 504 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE attempting too much. I asked him what he considered "too much" and he replied: "For a man of your age, not in training, I should not recommend trying more than fifty lifts." So I began the test, lifting the weight to the beat of the metronome, at the rate of about one in two seconds, and had soon reached the fifty mark. "Be careful," replied Dr. Anderson, "you may not feel that you are overdoing now but after- wards you may regret it." But I felt no strain and went on. When seventy- five had been exceeded, Dr. Anderson called Dr. Born from his desk to take charge of the counting and watch- ing to see that the lifts were fully completed and ran out into the gymnasium to call the masters of boxing, Avrestling, fencing, etc., to witness the test. When they had gathered about the machine, Dr. Anderson said to them, "It looks as if we were going to see a record- breaking." I then asked, "What are the records?" Dr Anderson replied, "One hundred and seventy-five lifts is the record; only two men have exceeded one hundred; the lowest Avas thirty-three and the average so far is eighty-four." In the meantime I had reached one hundred and fifty lifts and the interest was centered on the question as to whether I should reach the high-record, one hundred and seventy-five. When one hundred and seventy-five had been reached, Dr. Anderson stepped forward to catch me in case the leg in use in the test should not be able to support me when I stopped and attempted to stand up. But I did not stop lifting the three-hundred-pound weight. I kept right on and, as I progressed to two hundred, two hundred and fifty, three hundred and, finally, to double SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 505 the record, three hundred and fifty lifts, the interest increased progressively. After adding a few to the three hundred and fifty, I stopped, not because I was suffering from fatigue, but because the pounding of the iron collar on the muscles above my knee had made the place, so pum- melled, very sore, as if hit a great number of times with a heavy sledge hammer. I had doubled the record and that seemed sufficient for a starter in the compe- tition. As I stood up, Dr. Anderson reached up his arms to support me. But I needed no support. The leg that had been in use felt a trifle lighter but in no sense Aveak or tired. Then I was examined for heart-action, steadiness of nerve, muscle, etc., and was found to be all right, with no evidence of strain. A glass brimming full of Avater was placed first in one hand and then in the other and was held out at arm's length, without spilling any of the water. Next morning I was examined for evidence of soreness, but none was present. There was the normal elasticity and tone of muscle. Later in the same year, at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School at Spring- field, Massachusetts, I lifted seven hundred and seventy pounds, with the muscles of the back and legs—a feat that weight-lifting athletes find hard to perform. And I did these stunts eating tAvo meals a day, one at noon and the other at six o'clock, at an average cost of eleven cents a day. Still another examination at the University of 506 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Pennsylvania resulted in my breaking the College Record, of lifting power, with the back muscles. I do not cite these instances as feats of extraordinary prowess but just to show the difference in my con- dition then and twenty years before. All this I have done simply by keeping my body free of excess of food and the poisons that come from the putrefaction of the food that the organism does not want and cannot take care of. As to myself, I am now past sixty-four. I Aveigh one hundred and seventy pounds, which is a good weight for my height. During the many years of experiment I have ranged between two hundred and seventeen and one hundred and thirty pounds, but have "settled down" to my present quite convenient figure. I feel perfectly well; I can do as much work as can a man of forty—more than can the average man of forty, I believe. I rarely have a cold and, although I am always careless in this regard, my work is never delayed. I do not know what it is to have "that tired feeling," except as expressed by sleepiness. When I get into bed I scarce ever remember my head striking the pillow and, after four and one-half hours, I awake from a dreamless slumber with a happy waking thought in process of formation. I usually find it agreeable to court supplemental naps, to be followed by more pleasant Avaking thoughts; but these are pure luxury. I can do with five hours sleep if need be.—Horace Fletcher. Meat doesn't make a man strong any more than it does a horse—have "horse sense" and eat right. Eat right and be strong. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LIII. SCIENTIFIC FEEDING—Continued. A Man Is What He Is By What He Eats and Thinks. We hear a great deal about the passion of man. No wonder—he is such a brute eater. Watch the growth of a young bull for instance, from the time he is 18 months old he begins running around the barn- yard and the pasture, bellowing and tearing up the turf with his front feet. The bull has only one ambition in life. The ambition is the first great primal urge of all life, but the bull—not being able to go to school and to cultivate his brain for other purposes—makes the bull's chief end, passion. Man eats two or three pounds of beek-steak a day, cut from the hind quarters of a bull and no wonder there are divorces and no wonder beef-eating man has some other aim in life than the cultivation of the brain. "We are what we are by what Ave eat and what we think." Eat right and think right and we stay all right. Seeing that we are what we are by what we eat and what we think, no wonder a lot of two-legged men walking around the streets are "dead" ones—when they live on corpse. What is your meat diet except a corpse diet? When we fill up our insides with a lot of dead, decayed, degenerated corpse, no wonder we don't have very much life. The next time you sink your teeth into that nice juicy bull-beef-steak, imagine what 510 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE a nice old corpse that thing is for you to digest and assimilate; and, the next time you chew up your fat pork chops and swallow some hog—because it is dead hog and corpse hog—you will see why it is that you may be fat and lazy and lifeless as the barn- yard grunter. About the only difference between some two-legged ones and some four-legged ones is the place where they live. Eat corpse and you become a corpse. Eat hog and you will —well, if you don't become a pig, you may become a "dead one." Two or three days after one of our Scientific Eating lessons, I was seated at the banquet table by the side of a doctor. I have found out by experience that the way to enjoy a banquet is to eat before you go. The ordinary banquet, where you pay your nice $1.50 to $5.00 a plate, or more, often consists of about enough real digestible food to keep a canary bird six months on half rations. At one of these "banquets," you usually get, yes, a piece of corpse, some Avhite-bread roll that probably was fresh two or three days before Columbus discovered America, a little piece of butter and a side dish of cold potatoes—potatoes that were warmed once but, now, potatoes that were about as warm as though they had been used for a footwarmer by an Eskimo in a Texas blizzard. Then, of course, at this banquet, after you have had that indigestible menu, you can expect some coffee that might have been made from coffee kernels but usually tastes as though it had been made from brown peas run through a peanut roaster. That is an ordinary banquet for you. At one of these banquets, as I say, sat a Doctor next to me. Well, as I had been to these banquets SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 511 before and as it was my custom, I ate before I went. If I eat my own menu I know what I am eating and I am sure of it. But if I go to one of these Hotel Banquets, I don't know how old the corpse is and I am not exactly sure if I am going to get much or not. The good Doctor who sat next to me had a nice big hunk of bull corpse served to him. He cut this one-time-warm but now cold-clammy, icy, bull corpse with his steel knife. The beef steak had been held over a fire, held there just long enough to let you smell of the fire, but not to see any effects of the cooking. It was a "rare," example of a "rare" beef-steak corpse. It was such a "rare" corpse that when the thing was cut in two the blood squirted to the sides of the plate. Nice bloody decoration to add to the last remains of the bull corpse. When the blood oozed out from the cold, clammy corpse, the Doctor felt of his stomach, took a deep gulp and looked back at the corpse, closed his eyes and sniffed the air. He seemed to be sniffing for fresh air to save a fainting spell. Of course, he did not know I was watching him and when he could get his stomach under control again and the "sea- sickness" passed, he took another look at that bleed- ing corpse, then glanced at me, once more closed his eyes, pushed the plate away and, leaning back in his chair for breath, he said, "Do you know Doctor, I can't eat meat after what you said the other night." I told him I congratulated him. He did not enjoy that banquet; after he had pushed aside "the biggest part of the banquet," the discarded corpse, there wasn't much of the banquet to feed on; the potatoes were cold, besides he no longer cared 512 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE for potatoes; the bread was hard and stale and he had false teeth; the butter was part oleomargarine and part rancid hog-lard covered by chemicals; and the coffee was a little too cold for drinking. But then, that was just as good, for he didn't need the coffee anyway and his stomach needed a rest. Most of our stomachs need a rest. Most of us eat too much. When you go into a slaughter house Or I should use the refined term of "packing plant"—they take great delight and gusto in showing you, as a visitor, how pigs are killed. After you have been ushered through some of the more polished departments of the canned goods corpse factory, you are ushered up on to part of the slaughter house which is like a big platform, it may be two or three stories high and here, by look- ing over the railing to the seene below, you see how pigs are butchered. Standing on this upper deck of the butcher plant and looking over the railing, you see a big wheel revolving. This wheel is probably 24 or 30 feet in diameter and is boarded solidly inside and, around the rim of this wheel, at every few feet, is a hook or snap. This wheel is run by power and revolves slowly and continuously. Near this wheel is a door or gate through which a drove of hogs are driven every few minutes into a big pen, through which this wheel revolves. In this pen with the big number of hogs are two or three men. As the wheel turns around the men grab a pig and quickly catch its hind foot into the snap on the revolving wheel and the pig is soon lifted by his hind leg up into space "squealing like a pig" and, if you don't know what "squealing like a pig" sounds like and you want to know, you surely can SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 513 get a full understanding of this pig-squealing stunt by attending a pig slaughter-house. For, as I have said, there are a number of snaps on this revolving wheel and, if there is anything that can make a more blood-curdling squeal than a pig, it is twenty-five pigs squealing all at one time. There are two or three men among this drove of hogs and, as fast as men can work, they grab a pig by the hind leg, snapping him into this hook, then the second and the third and the fourth and so on, by the hind leg, rising them higher and higher as the wheel revolves, squealing louder and louder at each turn of the pig-carrying wheel. As the hog slowly goes up into space by its hind leg, kicking and squealing, accompanied by two dozen other kicking and squealing hogs, it moves up towards the apex of the wheel and then begins to make its descent down toward a two- legged pig with a knife in his hand and, as the cloven- hoofed pig makes his descent, squealing and kicking towards this human pig (who is encased in rubber boots all the way up toward the place where his legs join his body and all covered with pig blood), the man is spattered and bespattered by the hog's blood, for his business is to stick a knife into the throat of the squealing, defenceless hogs, as they make their descent. As this red, bloody man jabs his long knife into the throat of the squealing hog, more blood squirts all over him and, as the hog is stabbed, his hind leg is mechanically transfered to a pulley on a mono-rail a few feet above the ground and at the stab- bing the hog squirts his life's blood all over the butcher, then it gives its final squeal to the hog-killer as it 514 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE travels doAvn the mono-rail where the next butcher takes the bleeding hog to perform some other act pre- paratory to getting the blood and manure washed off and the bristles scraped from his back and the swill cut out of his stomach. What a nice, "lovely," beautiful" slaughter-pen your "fresh pork" comes from. The hog walloAvs in filth, it revels in swill, it roots in the slimiest kind of slop and eats the dirtiest rub- bish, sour and decayed, that your lap dog would refuse even to smell and Ave, in turn, after all of this slop has been turned into pork, eat this same menu by way of pork chops and pork loins, pork sausage and pork steak. But, even though these slaughter plants take great pleasure in showing visitors through their many depart- ments, among which is the ordinary killing-scene, they will not let you witness the butchery of sheep. You may stand on a platform and see the beefs knocked on the head and so on; but the sheep, hanging up by their hind legs and being stuck behind the ear or somewhere, are so far aAvay that you cannot see the actual killing. The reason is, I suppose, that sheep have such an inno- cent, shuddering quiver as they are stabbed that the scene is too much for the ordinary human being. The dying, trembling, quivering, innocent, noiseless little sheep has too much effect upon the nerves of the ordi- nary butchery-visiting person, to allow the scene to be enacted nearby. The next time you eat mutton or lamb think of the quivering and shuddering of the innocent little woolly creature who Avould not harm a child, who is being SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 515 slaughtered for your "stomach's sake." It was killed without a protest, without a bleat, it was butchered without a murmer; innocent and tender, that your table might be ornamented and your stomach might be clogged with mutton and lamb. I have a friend who is a great hog-raiser and every year it is his cutom to have one pig as a pet. He told me of one particular pet pig which wound its way into the heart strings of his affection, more than his other pet pigs. By careful attention, love and extra good feeding this pig outgrew all the other hogs on the ranch and became the best "porker" of all of his herd for that year. As is the custom of most farmers and ranchers, my friend, in the Fall, usually killed some hogs and beef to put away for his own family and hired helps' use and, because this pig was espe- cially prime, my rancher friend decided that this pig should be the choice meat for the coming winter; but he thought so much of this pet hog he was unable to kill it himself, so he called in a neighbor to do the killing for him. The neighbor jumped into the pen but couldn't catch the pig and, after having a merry chase he told my friend if he wanted the pig killed he would have to help in catching it. So my friend, who had trained the pig as a pet dog would be trained, to come to him at the snap of the finger, jumped over into the pen and called to the pig. Whereupon the sleek porker turned his nose, grunted and came up to my friend like a little trained shepherd dog. As the pig came to my friend, expecting more good things to 516 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE eat, the rancher grabbed the pig and, with his help, they threw the "hog" on to its back, the neighbor quickly straddled the pig and stabbed the porker in the throat. The pig, lying flat on its back, being betrayed by its friend and unable to defend itself, looked up into the eyes of his owner, as the blood was gushing from the slit in its throat, as if to say with its dying expression, "And you, my owner, in whom I put such trust, have betrayed me into the hands of a butcher. You, whom I loved and honored and trusted, betrayed my con- fidence and slayed my life. I didn't expect that you would be guilty of this. Good bye." My friend said that after that experience he never could eat pork for, every time he looked at meat, he saw that pet pig's glassy eyes pleading with him for mercy. I know a little girl who thought that tongue was the most delicious thing in the world to eat and she seemed not to get enough to satisfy her craving for tongue. She had particularly requested her father to bring some tongue home so she could have tongue for dinner and, as the dinner was being served, in a most disappointed way she asked why they had no tongue and the father said he couldn't get any. They lived in a small town where every butcher usually does his own killing and the father said the butcher had not "killed" that day and there was no tongue to be had. In astonishment the little girl asked what butcher- ing and a meat shop had to do with tongue. Where- upon the fathefr told her that tongue cajne from a cow and that as the butcher had not killed any cow that day there was therefore no tongue. The child was amazed, SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 517 she couldn't understand, it had never before dawned upon her where tongue came from. To think that the tongue came from a butcher shop! So she had to ask her father a second time if it was pos- sible that the tongue she liked so well really came from a cow's mouth and, when the father was able to again explain to her, the poor little thing turned pale and said, "Oh, my tongue that I have liked so much comes from a cow's mouth, ohl never give me tongue again" and, from that time on, she never ate any more tongue. Speaking of corpse, in general, we should not for- get the fish corpse in particular. The idea that fish is food for brains is all exaggeration and imagination. Fish corpse is no better for brain development than any other kind of corpse. If you want to grow brains and muscle don't grow them by corpse, grow them by live diet. Don't be a "dead one"—be a "live one." NOTES. NOTES. '~ j NOTES. CHAPTER LIV. SCIENTIFIC FEEDING—Continued. Over-Eating. "Most of human ills come from overeating."—Dr. Wiley. "Those who have not experimented with diet to any extent, cannot understand this dietetic extreme. We are much inclined to belittle and look down on the lower animals but, if you will take a drop of blood from the average cur dog that you meet on the street and compare it with your own, in many cases it will be better and purer. Why? Because the average cur dog is not overfed. Over-eating, over-feeding, is the bane of the world. It carries us down to sickness, disease and death. Remember each one of us gives from ten to forty years of our lives simply for the privilege of eating all we can, instead of all we need.'' In a previous chapter we have mentioned the dan- ger of unscientific eating, which lines the alimentary tract, preventing daily natural elimination, which leads to what some authorities in the medical profession now are using as a cure for nearly all kinds of diseases, namely, rectal operations. There are surgeons now who claim that nearly every disease that man has can be cured by an operation of the rectum. The reason is obvious, too much eating, too much wrong kind of eat- ing, too much refuse in the alimentary tract and too much clogging at the source of elimination. Every 522 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE person should have one or two or more natural bowel movements a day. If you do this there will be no surgeon who Avill be able to inveigle you on to an operating table to cut you with a knife and take out defecation and dead tissues, causing no end of physical ailments. It is recognized by medical men that nineteen out of twenty of the ordinary acute kinds of diseases will, Avith careful attention to diet, hygiene and nursing, recover without medicine. The dietician is partly correct in stating that a man is largely what he eats; that disease is caused chiefly by wrong diet and that poverty, crime and the deterioration of social standards are more due to wrong eating and drinking than to all other causes. As you begin to change from your old menu to the new I surely understand the difficulties that you are going to encounter and the real job it is going to mean for some. We thrive upon our given diet whether we are Norwegians, Chinese, Indians or Americans, in their respective ways, because our intelligence has been appealed to, therefore, in changing our diet, we will have our intelligence re-educated and this is not an easy matter for some. I knoAV whereof I speak. For fifteen years before I took up Scientific Eating, as Ave are outlining in this book, I tried to become a vegetarian, but I couldn't do it. I did not know why then but I do now. I had been a big meat-eater and, changing my diet, from bull corpse and pig carcass to just plain cooked vegetables, was more than I could bear. I did not knoAV then that all diet wants to be raw diet SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 523 and I did not know that if we will eat nuts in the place of meat we can change from the old to the new, much more easily. When you eliminate your meat diet, substitute nuts and cheese. These substitutes for meat, in conjunction Avith live foods, will make it possible for you to change without feeling a weaker effect. Now, Avhen you begin your neAV eating, which according to Dr. Wiley is the cause of most of our ills, you will notice that there is something the matter with your stomach. You will recognize a sinking feel- ing probably—an "all-gone inside of you" feeling. This is not because your live diet is not giving you sufficient nourishment but it is because you have over- worked your stomach so that, when the poor thing is not bulging out by over-feeding, it thinks there is something Avrong Avith it (you remember Ave told you that your stomach has intelligence). The ordinary person eats and eats and stuffs and stuffs until the poor stomach is so croAvded and so jammed and so stuffed that it is SAA'elled up like an inflated balloon and then, about the time the gastric juice and the digestive process begins to move some of this overloaded, useless, jambed-mixture out of the way and the stomach is allowed to recede to what would be its normal condition, we have so educated the stomach, to think this receding calls for more stuffing, that we think we are hungry. When the stomach has been inflated from over- eating, its sides pushed out to the capacity of its elas- ticity, it has been so educated that, unless it is strained to its maximum capacity, we think that there is some- 524 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE thing wrong with us when it wants to begin to settle back to its normal position. In other words, we have exercised the muscles of our stomach to such an extent that the stomach is enlarged muscularly and otherwise and, when we begin a scientific menu and the stomach begins to fall back to its normal size and position, we think we have a sinking feeling and we think we are hungry and we think that we must right away get busy and jam and stuff our stomach and push the walls of it out like an India rubber ball. We think all of this, you see—so, what we are, we are by thinking. Our stomach is full or empty, so to speak, according to the way we think. Ninety per cent of things we buy at the grocery store and carry home in cans and tubes and sacks and cartons are absolutely unnecessary and useless for our nutrition. In other words, we eat nine times as much as we have to eat, in order to keep "in order" our bodies and our souls. We eat nine times more than we ought to eat because we do not eat all things that are nourishing and sustaining. What is the use of eat- ing two pounds of beef steak for nourishment if a little handful of nuts will give us the same amount of nourishment? What is the use? Well I suppose the "use" is just because we are "used to it" and we have a lot of fun rolling it over and under our tongue and "chawing" it with our jaws and getting the meat stuck between our teeth in the taste thereof, that we might overload our stomachs. "In the adoption of uncooked foods, great care in selection is required for, in the process of cooking, mix- SCIENTDjTC feeding 525 ing and dressing, the real quality and flavor of the articles become changed. "Inferior foods can be cooked and artificially flavored—as they generally are—and still satisfy the taste. "In all public eating places the special duty of the chef is to use left-over foods; they are hashed and flavored, spiced and peppered, until the smell from the fermented and decayed portion is so concealed that they cannot signal the olfactory nerves; the most inferior and unhealthful articles can be used which could not be done if a raw-food diet were adopted." Take wheat bread for instance, the ordinary, nice- looking "snow-flaked flour" white bread. This has been put through a process to produce a good looking bread, instead of good nourishing bread. The hulls, which are worth more than the polished kernel, have been taken off, the ordinary white bread has had ex- tracted from the flour 87%% of the nutrition, so you have to eat 87%% times as much of the ordinary white bread as you would bread made from whole wheat. "Bread is often called the 'staff of life;' but, according to our standard it might be called the 'staff of death.' It is not only subjected to the devitalizing process of baking, but it is infected with a germ that converts a large amount of the nutritive value of the grain into carbon-dioxide poison." And the jams we carry home, filled with glucose and substitutes and colorings, are more for the purpose of giving us a good sensation in eating and stuffing our stomachs to a balloon-like size, than for nutrition. 526 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE We stuff ourselves and over-eat because we like to—because we get joy in eating, that is the whole truth of the matter. We are a Nation of over-eaters and over-stuffers, because we like to be. We have one big object when it comes to our dietary and that is the "pleasure" of eating. Yes, WE LIVE TO EAT, WHEN WE SHOULD EAT TO LIVE. Before I give you the menu, I want to impress upon you and extend to you my heart-felt personal experi- ence for the efforts you may have to expend to become a Scientific Eater. You may be interested to see what I have come from—my breakfast now is a glass of orange juice, or three oranges. Whew! I can see your jaw fall and your countenance lose its color, your heart sink and your hands fly up in holy horror. To think, "Is that all I am to get for breakfast?" Yes, my dear reader, that is all you are going to get—nearly all—if you are really going to be a Scientific Eater. I traveled so many years, paying high prices for my meals that I suppose I thought I was going to try to eat to "get my money's worth;" and it took a whole lot of practice, believe me, and a whole lot of exercise of the stomach to eat enough to pay for the prices I had to give in the American plan of hotels. Therefore, when I sat down to breakfast, here is about what I had. Orange, apple, pear, peach, grapefruit, or something in the fruit line—or two or three; Next a bowl of oatmeal or cereal; This was followed by beef steak or pork chop; SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 527 Tavo or three fried eggs; A big dish of potatoes and side of prunes; Then another order of potatoes and probably an extra slice of corpse, with a cup of coffee; This was followed by a stack of pancakes, about six inches high, smothered with oleomargarine butter and sorghum molasses or syrup; Of course an extra cup of coffee to top off on. This was just a starter for the day. My lunch of course was more than my breakfast and my dinner was the biggest meal of the day. All you have to do is to use a little imagination and you will see what my dinner Avas. I am only introducing you to myself—what I used to be. I will later show you Avhat I am now, in eating. But to continue the analogy of our over-eating, suppose we return to our dinner. This is a dinner, at home you see, where company has come and the wife has spent all afternoon getting the big "spread" ready and then will have to spend several hours after the "feed" to carry away the remains of the carcasses and useless stuff Ave were not able to "chaw," before she can partake of the social enjoyment of the evening. First course is served: Soup. Second course comes on: If not a "spring" chicken, that was born five years ago and so tough that it would dull a saAV to digest, we would probably have some meat, equally as leathery and as hard to digest, offered us several times. After Ave have had our second and third helpings to the corpse, we proceed 528 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LD7E to fill up on potatoes, beans, tomatoes, sauerkraut, cab- bage, corn, peas and a few other vegetables I have forgotten—it has been so long since I ate that way. Well, after we have just about stuffed until we can't crowd down any more corpse, or sour potatoes, we sit and talk and tell a joke or two, waiting for our stomach to stand one more inch of inflation; then the pie comes on. After we have eaten the pie and our stomach is not only full but our throat is filling right up to the larynx, we are just about too full to talk; then we remember that perhaps our belt is a little tight so we let out a hole or two in it and the elasticity of our stomach expands and we are able to gasp a few times, swallow some oxygen, after which procedure the throat is partially emptied and we are ready for the ice cream. Of course we once more breathe heavily as we let out another notch in our belt, cramming down the ice cream. Now we know we are full, because we "can't swal- low any more." Even a "dummy" would know that much. So we are ready to quit; we quit because we are jammed up to the nozzle. But a few more rounds of rollicking jokes and laughter and then the coffee is brought in. I was an inveterate tea drinker, so I always had tea. And, as the stomach is jammed and the throat crowded, we begin to sip our tea. It used to be after I was full up to the neck that I could begin then drinking my three cups of tea. You wonder, I suppose, after I was so full, how I made room for three cups of tea? Well that is easy. You see my SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 529 stomach was filled with meat and potatoes and all kinds of junk—including white bread and pie, Avhich lay upon one another in the stomach as cord-wood is piled on the sidewalk, with little crevices between the hunks and chunks so that the tea, as it was sipped and gulped, was forced down, could, gradually, if you give it enough time, be able to percolate and make its way in between the crevices of the hunks of undigested food. Then after the last little crevice has been stuffed with colored water—tea or coffee—and we are not able to get any more down, even by the use of a suction pump, we think it is about time to leave the table and the strange thing about it is we are still hungry! Why ? We have already told you the stomach has been over- worked so long that its muscles are now so stuffed and pushed to their extremity that they are unable to do their work yet the appetite is not satisfied. Eat live food and we rise from the table satisfied and we are not hungry until it is time to eat again. Over-eat—stuff ourselves—and we always are hungry. Then, after we get up from the table and are able, by the help of our neighbors, to be led into the drawing room or parlor, the conversation stops—"we are too full for utterance;" then, that poor ovenvorked stomach with its muscular action trying to churn all of the conglomerated "Dukes Mixture," tries to get the gastric juice suctioned in and out between the hunks and chunks of food but our last cup of tea has so filled the crevices of the stomach that, when the gastric juice is finally created and it begins to move, it has no place to go except up and so, we "belch" and, 530 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE with this "belch," up comes the rising gastric juice, filling our mouth with bitter bile—'' The perfect end of an over-eating day." Don't live to eat, but eat to live. Eat live food and be a live one. Eat corpse and "be a dead one." NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LV. SCIENTIFIC FEEDING—Continued. The Menu. Water Cure. The Bath. Constipation Cure. Man uses common sense in about everything else except himself. When it comes to eating we know how to feed animals but we don't know how to feed ourselves. Before I began Scientific Eating in the dead days that are gone—the dead gluttonized-days that are buried—I often thought how glad I Avas that I Avas not a horse, to have my rations measured out to me; but I could eat how I pleased, I could stuff if I pleased, I could jam if I pleased and I could gulp in my agony, if I pleased. I often, very often, thanked my lucky stars that I Avas a man and not a horse. We know how to feed horses, we know just how much a particular kind of horse should have, we don't feed a draft horse the same as a trotter, or a race horse the same rations as a Avork horse and yet the horse thrives. They thrive because they are scientifically fed. Man blunders along and, through over-eating, ninety per cent of his ailments are caused. Indeed authorities of the medical profession tell us that, if we would cure constipation, Ave would eliminate ninety per cent of our diseases. We feed horses to get horse results. We feed man Avithout horse-sense—to get con- stipation and disease. 534 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE This feeding business among the lower animals that man has so carefully carried out has been resolved into very fine scientific proportions. We feed chickens to get eggs, we feed hogs to produce fat, we feed horses to get work, we feed coavs to produce milk and butter; we feed man to produce constipation and dis- ease. But my, think of the fun we have in over-loading our stomachs, in getting diseases! Not only do we know how to feed animals scien- tifically, but animal's instinct conserves their right diet. When once most animals have become used to a certain diet it is hard to change that animal's diet. It desires, its system craves for the same thing it has been eat- ing and the same should be with man. Man should become used to one diet instead of having a thousand and one dishes. We do not change the food diets of our domestic animals when once we learn the best results from that diet. For every kind of food we put into the stomach, the stomach has to produce a different combination of chemical fluid for its digestion. Some chemicals will mix but not amalgamate. Some will amalgamate and produce a totally different chemical, while others pro- duce an explosive. It is plain to be seen, if we have a dozen varieties of foods introduced into our stomachs, that we are over-taxing that organ and soon Ave are going to have trouble. CHEMICAL FLUIDS. "Nearly every article of food known, as bad as some are, will agree with the stomach if eaten alone SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 535 or with a few other articles whose chemical properties harmonize. The question of combination is important in cooked foods, because the tendency is to mix an innumerable number of things and pour over them con- diments, sauces and dressings that are composed of dozens of other ingredients." Therefore, we want to become used to one kind of a diet—raw diet—so that the stomach will be used to producing the chemical fluids without being compelled to change every time we take a mouthful for the main- tenance of the "inner man." Before we give you the Menu we Avant to be sure that you precede the day's eating Avith plenty of water. Everybody should drink at least two quarts of water a day in order to carry away through the digestive organs the accumulated poisons, so as to provide for the secretion. Without enough water a person is subject to one or two or more so-called "filth ailments." With- out drinking enough water the eye becomes dull, the skin muddy, the breath foul and the brain inactive. Catarrh, constipation, colds, indigestion—auto-intoxica- tion—rheumatism or fevers, which are knoAvn as "filth ailments" may be contracted; because once the poisons, Avhich should be eliminated through the sewerage sys- tem of the body, are absorbed throughout the blood, they combine with the moisture on the skin, saliva in the mouth, the digestive juice in the alimentary canal and tears in the tear glands. We should be clean both inside and out and there are plenty of good, honest, scrupulously outside-clean people, who, if they were as dirty on the outside as 536 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LD7E they are in the inside, they would not be permitted to associate in good society. Speaking of water both inside and out, we should be sure of bathing and the proper kind of bathing, as well as the frequency of the bath, which of course should be every day. But when it comes to bathing, I hope we will use more sense than we have used in our eating. We have had all kinds of fads in the last half century and the fad of jumping into ice cold water is just about as idiotic a fad as my old-time fad of over-eating. There are systems so constituted that to plunge into real cold water is too much of a shock. That per- son ought to use his or her own judgment about the temperature of the water. Usually speaking we should take our bath in tepid water and never in real hot water more than once a week, it has a too weakening effect upon the ordinary system. If we like a cold bath, we may change the temper- ature of the tepid water by running cold water into it until we have the desired temperature; for a cold bath, to those who can stand it, is very refreshing. The morning is preferably the time for the daily bath. A friction rub should accompany each bath for the best results. This may be with the Chinese Vege- table (Loofa Sponge) or brush or the salt towel. Take the ordinary bath towel, dip it into a solution of two quarts of water into which one cup of salt has been dissolved, then thoroughly soak the towel removing it from the salt water, rinse it gently and put it away to dry. In drying there will be enough salt left on the towel to produce healthy friction on the body, so SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 537 that the skin will have a ruddy glow. The body should be thus rubbed, until a nice ruddy glow of the skin is produced, from the face to the feet. We would not want to leave the water part of our living Avithout first recommending A\That is known as "the water cure." This is a sure cure for a cold if taken just as the cold is being contracted. When you feel that you are "catching a cold," go to a spigot or hydrant and drink water; then drink some more water and then drink some more water; then drink a little more water and on top of this continue to drink some more Avater. Drink lots of Avater and do not eat and you can break up a cold in a very feAv hours. When we say "drink Avater," we mean "drink water." Don't "guess" that you have drunk it and, to be sure of this, you had better draw it in a pitcher and drink glass after glass until you have SAvalloAved a quart or two at one time. Then, after you have drunk every- thing that you possibly can drink, go back to the pitcher again in ten or fifteen minutes and repeat the same thing. Drink water, all that you can, when you are catching a cold and you will drive away the worst cold that ever Avanted to locate in your "cold region." Do not eat until the cold is broken. After the cold has a thorough grip upon you, you may prevent it from reaching its worst climax but, of course, to prevent the cold, you must drink the Avater when you are conscious of "catching the cold." Now you are going to enjoy this menu after you become used to it, more than the old way of eating, besides you are going to feel so much better, both in mind and body, that no one could persuade you to go 538 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE back to the old one, not even by using a club. We counsel you, however, to use good judgment and wisdom in learning to live on this new diet. Some of you may not be able to do it right away: If not and you think that you must continue to gobble down corpse and to suck tea and coffee, which are only stimulants, then do so, but do not drink or gulp as much next week as you are gulping and drinking today. In other words, if you are not able to immediately SAvitch to the new diet and you have that sinking feel- ing and that hungry sensation, of course partake of some of the old-time food but do not do this any longer than you have to. As already mentioned, tea and coffee are only stimulants, water is a thousand times better. But, if you are an inveterate tea or coffee "toper," you may have headaches if you break off immediately; there- fore, we want you to use your own judgment—but break off and break off just as soon as possible. If you will drink one quart of water before you take your orange juice in the morning, you will cure the most stubborn case of constipation. Besides, if you will follow this menu as outlined, the worst chronic constipation will be cured within three days. Notice, I say "if you will follow this menu." A week after I had given my class Scientific Feeding, a man met me very much distressed and asked me if I would give him a cure for constipation. "Follow our diet," I said— He said, "I am." I knew there was a "nigger in the woodpile" somewhere, so I very innocently asked him what he had for brelakfast! He was lost for a moment, then put his finger next his temple, screwed it around SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 539 three or four times, squinted his eyes apparently in deep thought and then said, "Breakfast? Oh yes, let me see what did I have for breakfast? Well, I had dough- nuts and coffee and a plate of pancakes and syrup." After you read the next few pages I leave it to you if that man Avas following our menu. Here is a dish that children will enjoy as much as candy: Take equal parts of raw oats, wheat, rye and pea- nuts, add seedless raisins to suit the taste (do not use seeded raisins, as they are too sticky) ; run this through a meat chopper a feAv times, then, Avithout cooking, mould into a loaf, slice and you have a delicacy that the children Avill like as much as candy, with far more nutrition. Of course in all of your eating you are going to Fletcherize: that is, cheAV and chew and chew and then chew some more. Masticate your food thoroughly be- fore swallowing. Now I knoAV for some of you that this is not going to be an easy menu to tackle and conquer and you may not be able to put it into thorough practice the first Aveek, but you can in time and then nothing can force you back to the old diet. Use fruits of all kinds and, when they are not ob- tainable—not in season—the next best are those canned, Avithout adulteration, by the good housewife; and, especially, the syrups on your canned fruits will be most valuable and delicious. When I Avas getting "broken in" on this diet, my orange juice did not last me very long in the morning and, in an hour or tAvo after my orange juice, I would 540 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE sneak down to the cupboard and get a banana or even an egg and go back to my work—but you will remem- ber I was used to a big hunk of beefsteak and two or three eggs, besides an outlandish portion of potatoes, hotcakes, tea and bread, so that with the new menu, when my stomach began to become normal, I would think I was hungry and would sneak doAvn and get something to tide me over until lunch time, Avhen Mrs. Bush and my daughter, both with a big sense of humor, would come up to my study and lead me down to my "fodder." Humor has a saving grace and, when you think you cannot get along without cooked vegetables and corpse, go to your "fodder" like a well-trained domes- tic animal and enjoy yourself. Fill up on "fodder" and smile. "Fodder" and smiles are worth more than corpse and constipation. BREAKFAST. One pint orange juice, or three or four oranges (as I usually take). If your stomach will not receive the orange juice it is evident that you have had wrong eating so long and produced so many different chemical fluids, needed in the process of digestion, that your natural stomach has been weakened. The normal stomach should enjoy orange juice; but if you have overAvorked the chemical fluid's production by too great a variety of foods, you may take some other breakfast diets, as we mention below but, by this Scientific Eating, your stomach will gradually come back to normal. SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 541 Some orange juice or grape fruit for breakfast or beat a raw egg and put this on slices of oranges and it makes a very good breakfast. LUNCHEON. Fruits and salads, the ordinary salads that all good housewives know hoAV to make, celery and lettuce and apples. Fruits (but don't forget to leave your apple seeds in;) a few raisins on the plate of salad are very good and the salad should have mayonnaise dressing made out of lemon juice instead of vinegar. This mayonnaise dressing, together with lots of sour milk, buttermilk and whey, will be helpful in cleaning out the alimentary tract and prevent a menag- erie from growing inside. Cheese sandwich with whole wheat, graham or rye bread—whole wheat, of course, preferred and a few nuts. Generally speaking, one pound of nuts in the shell for three persons. Eggs if you choose. If pimples should appear on the flesh anywhere, it is evident that you are eating too many nuts to begin with and you should drink more milk. DINNER OR SUPPER. The dinner should be the same as the lunch with, perhaps, the exception of more nuts and eggs, any way you prefer them; you may go a little heavier on the cheese at dinner, the ordinary variety of American, Holland or SAviss cheese, as well as the home-made cottage cheese. Yes, cheese and nuts are, ordinajily, hard to digest; they are but, with this menu of raw foods, that is just 542 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE what you want. If you are going to fill your stomach with cooked, soggy vegetables and meats—hard to digest—then cheese and nuts are hard to digest—too hard, in fact, with the stomach full of meat and cooked vegetables; but, with the new menu, the nuts and the cheese, being hard to digest, make just enough of the muscular action to the stomach and intestines to give them the necessary exercise to keep them fit and in trim. The natural tendency of uncooked foods is sim- plicity. A delicious taste will be developed by eating fruits and nuts together, care being taken to masticate the nuts before the fruit is put in the mouth. Nuts, one of the best articles of food known to science, are by many people the most misunderstood. They are generally used as a confection, to finish off the alleged good dinner. They are charged with mischief for which they are not responsible. Many believe nuts to be harmful and we quite agree with them, when they are eaten number twenty-one at a "swell course dinner." "When eaten as they should be, they are a healthful and harmless food. Their nutritive elements are almost perfectly proportioned; a normal body requires so much water, proteids, carbohydrates, mineral salts, and fat, to sustain it healthfully twenty-four hours. In nuts, these elements are found more correctly proportioned, according to the requirements of the body, than in any other article of food. They lubricate the joints of the body and do great good in cases of inflammation and irritation of the kidneys. They should be thoroughly masticated, as all food should be. The food element is SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 543 better proportioned in the pecan than in any other nut. They are the natural substitute for meats and are much more pure and cleanly."—Tyler's Raw Food. Rice is splendid, provided it has not been polished. All kinds of fruits, dates, figs, etc., should make up your menu. Raw carrots and radishes and onions should be unsparingly served. ICE CREAM, of course, is good and pure candy if eaten with meals is likewise good. BANANAS should not be detached from the stalk until they are to be eaten. They are the second best article of food and should never be used as long as a green spot is on the skin. DATES, figs and raisins constitute a group of the best foods known to dietary. They contain about 75 per cent of carbohydrates, which is often called the "power of the system." The process of evaporating the water from fruits so they can be kept from season to season is of great importance. Prunes are one of the best of these, also dried peaches and apples. Add lukewarm water to them, allowing them to stand over night, and they are ready for use. The juice of the pineapple, which contains much hydrochloric acid, is one of the best remedies for diphtheria. Juice of a lemon is a rational substitute for vinegar. RAISINS are urged as a substitute for meats. They are a part of every scientific dietary. They are a part of the pemmican of the Arctic and of the emergency ration of the army. They are the pocket lunch of the 544 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE mountain climber, the very center of Fletcherism, the mainstay of endurance contests and Marathon races. CEREALS are of little account, practically of no more good than for "stuffing" and you would be just as well off without taking them. GREEN CORN cut from the cob, seasoned to taste and flavored with the squeeze of a lemon is most palat- able and wholesome; or the corn can be made into a vegetable salad by using any of the succulent vege- tables. CABBAGE or other like vegetables (HEAD LETTUCE, CRESS, etc.) not only occupies the same place in the human diet that hay does in the diet of a horse or cow, giving a sense of fulness, but it also contains other valuable food properties, among which are lime or iron in organic state in greater percentages than in any other natural food product. For this rea- son it is considered an excellent blood purifier. It tinges the cheeks, and improves personal appearance. It should be used generously. Eating the Wheat or Honey Nuts with it will cause the cabbage to digest perfectly. HONEY, the sweet esteemed by the ancients and used by people, long before cane sugar (granulated sugar) was thought of, is the most wholesome of all animal products and should be used whenever sweet- ening is required, especially on fruit. OLIVE OIL, internally, externally and eternally, has been used from ancient times to ward off old age. All condiments, stocks, sauces and dressings, VINEGAR, MUSTARD, PEPPER, SALT possess no constructive properties and are harmful. SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 545 Picture a dainty table in a quiet corner, covered with spotless linen and laden with milk, cream, pecan- meats, walnuts, almonds, grapes, grape-fruit, bananas, pears, apples, dates, figs, raisins, luscious red melons and golden cantaloupe, lettuce, cucumbers, olive oil, celery and a dozen other delicious things—all of which being natural, satisfy hunger, furnish the highest form of nutrition, quickly appeal to and excite the highesc sense of taste and enjoyment. REFINED CANE SUGAR is a starvation food. Consider then, what must be the condition of those who live largely on white bread and other flour prod- ucts, sugar in various forms and meat, rarely eating raw foods of any kind. The most prolific source of the organic salts is to be found in RAW GREEN STUFF, especially GREEN LEAVES, such as LETTUCE, CABBAGE, WATER- CRESS, etc. Some of this food, also raw fruit, should be eaten daily. Millions of so-called "civilized" peo- ple go through life as miserable, melancholy wrecks, be- cause their nerves are half starved, while yet they may be eating two or three times as much food as is neces- sary, thus over-burdening the digestive organs and fur- ther exhausting the depleted nervous system. Eating is like exercising and every other applica- tion of physical and mental laws; much depends upon the condition of mind. Just as exercising should be accompanied by thought, with the mind free from anxiety and worry and just as concentration must like- Avise be free all negation, all anxiety, all doubts and wonderings, so should eating be accompanied by the right attitude of mind. 546 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE A woman, seated with her family around a happy dinner table, one day received a telegram bearing bad news. It came with such a shock that in twenty-four hours the woman died because of lack of assimilation. The shock came so suddenly and was so strong that all action ceased—the digestive organs were paralyzed, the gastric juice was prevented from being secreted, so that her full stomach became a cake of undigested food, causing death. The old adage of "Smile while you eat, laugh and help digestion" is as scientifically true now as ever. Smile and drive worries away, laugh and kill King Gloom. Smile and kill disease germs, laugh and pro- mote digestion. Any kind of a conversation at the dining table which carries any thought of sorrow, disappointment, grief, gloom, anxiety, reverses or worry, is a conversa- tion that wants to be mauled in the head by right thinking, dragged to the dining room window by smil- ing and pitched out into the ash can of forgetfulness by laughing. A man is what he is by what he thinks and what he eats. Smiling and laughter at the dinner table helps man to think right and live right. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LVI. SCIENTIFIC EATING—Concluded. Live Foods and Their Values. Our menu should be live foods, not cooked. We take the life out of vegetables by cooking them. Ordi- narily speaking you should eliminate all cooked foods from your menu. See, ladies, the labor you save. All you have to do is to set him down before a salad, raw fruits, glass of milk or buttermilk and throAV him a carrot and tell him to go to it—enjoy himself while the eating is good. "We eat a large part of our food uncooked and it is best that we should. It has been found that animals are better nourished on uncooked than on cooked cereals. It is doubtful if anything is gained by cooking except to destroy germs in half-spoiled food and in softening the food (which takes away the natural sup- port of the teeth) and, in bringing out seductive odors, which lead to over-eating. I have also found that one tends to eat uncooked food more sloAvly than food that is cooked. Firing food is comparatively neAv. An infant cannot live on boiled milk. Fresh, uncooked food does not ferment so readily as cooked cereals. Well masti- cated cereals and nuts are easily digested Avithout cook- ing, when the system becomes adapted to the change, and there is always a decided gain in health and endur- ance from adopting such diet, avoiding incompatible mixtures. These principles land their practical applica- tion to the improvement of health and efficiency is obvious. 550 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE "All competent authorities are agreed that man's structure—face, eyes, jaws, teeth, nails, body and in- ternal organs—all prove him to be naturally a fruit- eating animal. In chemistry, however, we find the strongest argument in favor of raw foods. "Cooking brings about great changes in the nature of food. There are four classes of food stuffs: proteids, carbohydrates (starches and sugars), fats and salts. Some of the proteids are so changed by cooking as to be coagulated and cannot be digested. Another effect of cooking is to make the starch foods too digestible— so that the system becomes overloaded with them, re- sulting in obesity and other disorders. Salts in the uncooked material are in such chemical state as to be readily assimilated by the human system. When the temperature is raised, however, beyond a certain point, these salts, by far the most valuable of the food ele- ments, are so changed as to become quite useless in the body. * * * Raw food feeds; raw food is palatable; raw food requires little or no preparation; raw food means the emancipation of women from the thraldom of the kitchen and cook stove. It means cleanly, beau- tiful, inexpensive food; no heat, no haste, no worry, no garbage; and a pretty, contented Avoman instead of a haggard, tired, irritable drudge at the foot of the table. It means added years of life to every member of the family, except the mother—to her it means added de- cades. "The only way in which you may obtain the various minerals needed by the body is in food. In other words, all the medicine that man needs may be found among the fruits and vegetables. SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 551 "It is my firm conviction, based on years of prac- tical experience and observation, that hundreds of people who are suffering and dying with so-called tuberculosis are suffering from enervation and wasting away of the tissues, for want of proper nourishment, which is supplied at once on the adoption of live foods. "We cannot have a clear brain Avithout a strong stomach. Thousands of people are barred from suc- cess in this world by their bad health. They may be business men in responsible positions but, because their stomachs are out of order, their brains become muddled and they cannot master their OAvn affairs. "Live foods not only supplies the necessary ma- terial to keep the teeth in a sound, normal condition, but, the food itself compels the necessity of using the teeth freely and the pressure on the gums is one of nature's ways to cause flow of saliva, to help digest the food; also, the gums need this very exercise to keep them healthy. "The digestion of the African Negro is perfect, his food is of the plainest kind and is eaten as it is found Avith but little preparation—being raw or natural it contains phosphates and other materials in their organic state to make repairs and supply the Avaste in the teeth and for that reason he has beautiful pearly teeth, clean, Avhite and perfect, Avithout a flaAV, even in old age. The moral is obvious. "If high degrees of heat are applied to many food cells they are coagulated, as the white of an egg is Avhen boiled. No one Avould try to exist upon thor- oughly cooked eggs, as an exclusive diet. 552 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE "The value of the cells is destroyed and the ash which remains is poisonous. "The fibrous or woody element of food is changed from its natural condition by cooking. The fibrous portion corresponds to the tough portion of steak. It gives definite shape to the complete articles. All foods contain more or less of this and it is not intended by nature to be absorbed in the human alimentary canal. It is intended to pass through and act as a broom to sweep the canal clean. "If this matter is cooked it loses its broomlike quality and becomes easily soluble by the liquids of the human organism. The inorganic elements enter the blood, circulate through the system, settle in the arteries and veins and deaden the nerves. "The body loses its flexibility; the arteries lose their pliability; the nerves lose their power of carrying their impressions; the spinal cord becomes hardened; the tissues throughout the body contract, and the human being becomes prematurely old. "In other cases it accumulates as concretions in one or more of the internal organs, finally accumulat- ing aound the valves of the heart. "By applying heat to the living cells of food they are destroyed, causing the starchy matter to be more soluble; the fatty matter becomes a local irritant; the fibrous matter is changed from its natural state to a poison; the inorganic elements of food are reduced from an organic combination to an inorganic condition. "The inorganic or chemical portion does not occur in food in a free condition but always in conjunction with other elements. SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 553 "It is better to take food as nature created it, because there is an organ in the body to handle every element found in food; but this is not true Avhen it is cooked. RaAv food can be found in a uniform condition all over the Avorld. "The cooked product varies in each house you enter. The raAv food can be produced easily and is cheap. The cooked element is hard to procure, expen- sive and Avithout nutriment. "The food question is a science. "Why is disease so common and perfect health so rare? "Animals who live upon natural food, live from five to seven times as long as it takes them to develop. Man, Avho is fed upon cooked food, does exceedingly well if he lives three times as long as it takes him to develop. He matures at about tAventy-four years of age; he ought to live to be 200 j^ears old, but he drops into his grave at 35, while in his youth. "The reason must be in consideration of the ma- terial from which his body is constructed. He must be Avhat his food has made him. "The kind of material by which man is kept in repair and fed, will determine Avhether he is sick or well. "As compared Avith cooked foods it only takes about half the quantity of uncooked to sustain life. "Animals in their native state instinctively reject that Avhich is harmful and accept food which is good for them. Man seems to have appropriated everything he could lay his hands on. The only true func- tion of food is the growth and support of life. The 554 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE needs of the human body are limited. All the nutritive elements can be found in their purest form in less than half a dozen different articles, which in a natural and healthy being should be selected by the demands of the system, expressed by hunger. There is no common sense in feeding upon the innumerable and endless mix- ups that are served upon the average table. "The health of the lower animal is good, as a rule; ill-health, the exception; the reverse is true of man who seeks to change the characteristics of his food by fire or chemicals, resulting as it does in mental and physical wrecks on every hand. Seldom do we behold a perfect specimen of man as we do of the wild animals who subsist wholly and entirely upon raw or nature cooked foods. Dare we hope for an evolution of the race to a higher plane so long as this condition exists? "Foods that have been ripened and brought to a state of maturity by nature, should not be called 'raw.' "Think of applying this ugly word to a luscious bunch of purple grapes, swinging to and fro in bowers of green; or to a hickory-nut that has been ripened at the top of a mountain tree, where life-giving proper- ties have been filtered through a hundred feet of clean, white wood; or to a delicious apple or peach, reddened, ripened and finished—nursed in the lap of nature, rocked in her ethereal cradle, kissed from the odorous blossoms of infancy on to maturity by the soft beams of the life-giving sun, the parent of all light and life. "These things are furnished ready for use; they are perfect, they are not raw;'they are done; and AAdien they are cooked they are undone. SCIENTIFIC FEEDING 555 "If there were nothing else to recommend the use of uncooked foods except simplicity and economy, it would be enough."—Tyler's Raw Food. "You have a happy surprise in store for you if you are troubled with a bad complexion. As day after day goes by, you can look into the mirror and observe the clarifying process going on. No woman who eats 'raw' food diet will have any further use for face-pow- der, rouge, enamel or complexion beautifiers of any kind." Dr. Chas. H. Mayo, the great surgeon of Rochester, Minn., says investigation shows 33 to 37 per cent of cancers are in the stomach; and the late Dr. Senn, of Chicago, who in his day visited the Pigmy and other tribes in Africa, declared that he found no evidence of cancerous affections among these wild men. They eat "raw" foods. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LVII. CONCENTRATION. What It Is. Three Methods to Develop Concentration. Memory Training. Practical Exercises. Concentration is purely a subconscious condition; concentration is a desire. This desire may be mani- fested consciously for constructive success, health or happiness or it may be partly an unconscious mental attitude of failure, ill-health, lack, limitation, or in- harmony. I mean by "unconscious" that we may attract to ourselves by imperfect thinking, longing and desiring, ill-health, lack, limitation and inharmony. The subconscious mind will take a wrong suggestion as well as a constructive suggestion; therefore, Ave may be concentrating on debt and weaving the web of poverty a little tighter by worrying over our debts, concentrating how they may be paid instead of con- structive concentration and visualization that they are paid. In the dead—saloon—days that are gone, there was a man who had made a fortune in the saloon business. While he was becoming rich, he said that everything he touched turned into gold. This continued for many years until he became a very rich man but one time his enthusiasm ran away Avith his better judgment. He still superstitiously believed that anything he touched Avould turn into gold; he therefore bought a drove of hogs which Avere infected Avith cholera; he believed that 560 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE his Touch-of-Gold Power would heal these hogs and he could turn them into pork gold—but the hogs were not golden hogs, they were cholera-infected hogs and, one after another, died. He had not lost so very much money but it was enough to change his line of think- ing. He had had faith for many years that everything he touched would turn into gold but, when the choleric hogs began to die, he lost this superstitious faith in the alchemy of his touch and, from that time, he began to lose on every deal he made. Why? Wrong concentra- tion, absolutely. When he Avas concentrating on success and believed in prosperity and had faith in the magic of his gold touch, he, of course, made money. He was concentrating properly, he never had any doubt but what his judgment was right and, of course, mind—free from debts—could give good judgment; but, when he bought those hogs, doubts began to arise and when, one by one, the hogs dropped dead and he could not raise a copper on them, let alone turn the deal into gold, he lost his faith in himself as a good dealer. Con- centration turned into a channel of destruction so, as he had his doubts, he impaired his judgment until all the fortune he had made he likewise had lost. Whatever we concentrate on, we get—if we con- centrate on a fortune and will be strong enough in our concentration, free from negation, we get our fortune. If we concentrate on doubts, as to our ability, judg- ment, future success, or choleric hogs, concentration brings those results. The law is the same. Concen- tration brings like results. Concentrate on happiness or success or power or joy or peace and that is what we get. Concentrate on doubts, wondering, fail- CONCENTRATION 561 ure, disappointment, sorrow, choleric hogs and that is what Ave get. This chapter is teaching you the right way to con- centrate, to have happiness, peace and poise. "The power of attention is called concentration; this poAver is directed by the will; for this reason we must refuse to concentrate or think of anything except the things we desire. Many are constantly concentrat- ing upon sorrow, loss and discord of every kind; as thought is creative, it necessarily follows that this con- centration inevitably leads to more loss, more sorroAv and more discord." How could it be otherwise? On the other hand, when we meet with success, gain, or any other desirable condition, Ave naturally concentrate upon the effects of these things and thereby create more, and so it follows that much leads to more." So, we see, concentration is much misunderstood; we may be unconsciously in the subconscious mind, concentrating for just the opposite to what we desire. Constructive concentration is not conscious effort or activity but rather just the contrary. Sending out a desire, Avithout effort, stress or strain, letting our desires, so to speak, be lost in the great Universal Mind- Soil. A great actor loses himself in the portrayal of his character; you should be so interested in your thought and so taken up Avith your subject as to be conscious of little else but this does not necessarily entail stress or strain. Concentration is losing one's self in the subject of thought at hand but, in a state of passivity rather than stress. It is thus that mind becomes a magnet to attract to it the things which we desire, so you see, 562 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE if we are a magnet, thinking (concentrating) on debt, we get more debt; on abundance we get more pros- perity; on health we get health; on happiness we get happiness and on peace we get peace. Whether Ave concentrate for position, success, prosperity, happiness and peace; or, whether we con- centrate unwisely, without conscious knowledge that we are concentrating, on lack, failure, ill-health, inhar- mony or turmoil; is all a matter of suggestion to the subconscious mind; therefore, concentration is a sub- conscious mind condition. Concentration should be accompanied by control of the physical, mental and psychical being; it is bring- ing all of our physical, mental and psychical being in attention—focused toward the one thing at hand. The success of concentration depends upon con- structive repetition. By repeatedly concentrating on a given object, subject or desire, we are able to impress the subconscious mind until it spends its time and energy, effort and power, attracting to us by the law of attraction and vibration that which we want. All great men have been concentrators, consciously or unconsciously, in business, art or music. If we are going to be a successful business man we think on business and its many phases and if we are going to be a successful artist or a musician we will think, live, move and have our being—practice—in the subject at hand. "Let there be no conscious effort or activity associated with your purpose, relax completely, avoid- ing any thought of anxiety as to results; remember that power comes through repose. Let the thought dwell CONCENTRATION 563 upon your object until it is completely identified with it, until you are conscious of nothing else." If you wish to have health, eliminate thoughts of disease and ill-health and concentrate upon health and perfection; if you wish to stop worry concentrate on peace and poise; if you want abundance, forget lack and concentrate on prosperity; if you want friends, concentrate on friends; if you want a position, elimi- nate timidity and fear of not being prosperous;—con- centrate on business, position, harmony and groAvth. Our results depend upon how well we can sink this thought into the subconscious mind, free from worry, doubt, or anxiety. When once you have concentrated, don't be like the child who plants a seed and then goes out twice a day to dig up the soil, turn over the seed, to see if it is sprouting; A\Then you have once dropped your concentrated desire into the universal sub-soil, go in peace, without turning over in your mind the thought planted to see if the result is coming. Most of us have monkey minds; Ave are not able to keep our minds on one thing long enough to send a constructive thought into the universal ether. If you go to a monkey cage, notice the monkeys, one after the other or all in unison, continuously picking them- selves—their minds are busy and active but their minds are busy and active on picking or scratching—that is the monkey mind. A man's "monkey mind" is a mind that jumps hither and yon—a monkey mind could not concentrate five minutes on abundance, prosperity, health, joy or peace; don't be a monkey, be a man. There is one safe way to change your monkey mind into a good mind of concentration; this is the law: 564 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE whatever you do, do with an eye single to that one thing. Whatever you do, do; if it is tying a shoestring, tie it and have your mind on the shoestring and how well you can tie it—not on the baseball game, the fash- ion plate or your pay envelope; have your mind, so to speak, on your feet; but don't keep your mind there, forever; you might get a "foot mind" and that would be as bad as a "monkey" mind. If you are going to tie your shoestring—tie your shoestring. Whatever you have at hand to do—do it with all your might; this is the simple rule of concentration and, after this has been followed, and we have become good concentrators, we will be able to do many things at one time. But we first must conquer the one thing at hand. Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well —the many-sided Edward Everett attributed his being able to do so many things well to his early habit of doing even the least thing thoroughly; he used to say that he prided himself upon the way he tied up the smallest paper parcel. When you begin the day tomorrow, ladies, begin by practice of concentration—as you make your toilet, do not let your mind be down in the kitchen. Of course, it is going to be easy to get his breakfast from now on, following our raw food menu but, if you have water boiling to give him an extra egg, don't comb your hair with your mind in the boiling water—keep your mind in your head and on your hair combing. Don't stick a hairpin in the "whatnot" of your hair and at the same time wonder if the water is boiling over on the stove—it would be better to keep your mind in the "whatnot," it is nearer at hand than the boiling water. CONCENTRATION 565 When you comb your hair, COMB YOUR HAIR— Avith an application of your mind on the thing at hand; whatever you have to do, DO THAT ONE THING; there can be no better rule to get out of the "monkey" class, than this. Never read a neAvspaper and "gulp" your break- fast at the same time—if you are going to read, have your mind on what you are reading; if you are going to eat, have your mind—a happy, jovial mind at that— on your eating. There can be no quicker way for the ordinary person to become a good concentrator than having the mind always on the one thing at hand. Concentration is "singleness of thought to the point of realization"—focus your mind on the one thing at hand. The sun's rays, scattering and spread- ing its warmth all over the globe, is still the sun's rays but, focus those rays through a lens on to a given spot on the hand and we can burn this focused spot; scatter the rays and Ave feel just the Avarmth of its gloAV. The mind is like the sun's rays, scatter the mind and our forces are scattered and our power is shattered; focus the mind on one thing and our poAver becomes col- lected, intensified and effective. If you Avant something to come to pass in your life, form a mental picture of Avhat you desire and build in your subconscious mind a perfect picture of your heart's desire; concentrate, bringing all of your men- tal faculties upon this one need or desire and results will follow. In business or success, concentrated energy means everything for ultimate triumph. 566 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE "The weakest living creature," says Carlyle, "by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accom- plish something; whereas the strongest, by dispersing his thought over many objects, may fail to accomplish anything. The drop, by continually falling, bores its passage through the hardest rock. The hasty torreni rushes over it with hideous uproar and leaves no trace behind." "He was always just going to do something, but never did it. 'Coleridge is dead,' wrote Charles Lamb to a friend, 'and is said to have left behind him about forty thousand treatises on metaphysics and divinity— not one of them complete.' "Every great man has become great, every suc- cessful man has succeeded, in proportion as he has confined his powers to one particular channel. "Hogarth would rivet his attention upon a face and study it until it was photographed upon his memory, when he would reproduce it at will. He studied and examined each object as eagerly as though he would never have a chance to see it again; and this habit of close observation enabled him to develop his Avork Avith marvelous detail. The very modes of thought of the time in which he lived were reflected from his works. He was not a man of great educa- tion or culture, except in his poAver of observation. "With an immense procession passing up Broad- way, the streets lined Avith people and bands playing lustily, Horace Greely would sit upon the steps of the Astor House, use the top of his hat for a desk, and write an editorial for the 'New York Tribune' which Avould be quoted far and wide. CONCENTRATION 567 "One unAvavering aim has ever characterized suc- cessful men. " 'Daniel Webster,' said Sydney Smith, 'struck me much like a steam-engine in trousers.' "As Adams suggests, Lord Brougham, like Can- ning, had too many talents; and, though as a lawyer he gained the most splendid prize of his profession, the Lord Chancellorship of England, and merited the applause of scientific men for his investigations in science, yet his life on the whole was a failure. He was 'everything by turns and nothing long.' With all his magnificent abilities he left no permanent mark on history or literature and actually outlived his OAvn fame.' " Before Ave have a demand there is a supply. This is ahvays true; therefore, if you have the desire— demand—for abundance, health, happiness, joy, peace, friendship, there is a supply at that very moment for whatever you need. In fact, the desire is the thing itself. Mrs. Warner gives us a simple illustration of this law: "My husband being a member of the legislature, this Fall we decided to reside at our capital through the session and it seemed necessary to find a good, faithful couple to live in and care for our home while Ave were away. In the hurry of packing for our absence Ave nearly became anxious about the matter as, in this neAV country, it is not easy to find (in the old sense) just the ones we needed. We soon awoke to the fact, hoAvever, that Ave were not treating the case as Ave kneAv hoAv to do; so avc said, Ave will hunt no more but trust it AA-holly to the LaAV and just KNOW that 'the desire is the sure prophecy of fulfillment.' We did so, and 568 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE in a few days just the ones we needed came and asked for the place and had they been 'made to order' they could not have suited better. Had we allowed ourselves to have become anxious and wor- ried, we would have searched and found a couple per- haps, though they might have fallen short, a long way, of being the RIGHT ones. Repeated experiences of this kind have proven to our satisfaction that it is SAFEST to TRUST DESIRE. This has become a habit with us and it is seldom that we so far forget ourselves as to turn our backs upon this source of Avisdom that NEVER FAIL US." Whatever we want there is a supply right now in the universe for our demand. Concentration is not a habit of begging for this supply but knowing that the supply is ours and all we have to do is to lay claim to that supply. By holding a thought that the supply is ours, we attract to ourselves what we need. We don't have to beg the sun to shine, it gives of its rays. We do not have to beg the Infinite Spirit of Supply; it is the nature of the Ever-Present, Abundant, Health-Giv- ing Spirit to give to the Children of Men—it is a matter of our belief that what we need is in the Universe and is ours now. The old conception of "begging" in prayer, com- pared to the new conception of "concentration"—de- sire—is the difference of KNOWING THAT THE SUPPLY IS ALREADY OURS; all we have to do is to TAKE IT. We used to beg for it and then Avonder if it was ever coming. If we have the desire for a given object and make our demand upon the Universal Bank of ALL-SOURCE, CONCENTRATION 569 we are going to help ourselves to this supply by un- bounded confidence that what Ave want is ours and this confidence, VERY OFTEN, must be BACKED UP BY WORKS AND BY DEEDS. When the harvest is planted, Ave know that the supply will be abundance, provided the seed is taken care of, the ground properly prepared, the stock and roots cultivated and the harvest garnered; Ave get the harvest but we work for the fruit; we get our supply but we work to bring about the supply. It would be the act of a madman to expect that fertile seed left in a bin—not put in the soil and cultivated—Avould bring about a harvest. It is equally as inconsistent to con- centrate for some things if Ave do not back up our con- centration by work. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" and "What the Father hath is Ours" but, Avhen the Father hath given us the grain, Ave have to garner the harvest; and, Avhen the Father hath given us a talent to bring about a supply for our demand, our concentration for that supply ought to be backed up by the cultivation of our talent. Concentration works but we have to help Avork concentration. Professor William James avers that " 'the faculty, of bringing back the wandering attention over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character and will. "Activity is not energy any more than motion is progress. A man may be incessantly busy and yet never advance. Misdirected effort is only a Avaste of activity. "The marksman must steadily aim at the bull's eye in the target and not shoot away his powder in 570 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE wabbling movements. What is done must be clone at the right time and for the appropriate object. " 'This one thing I do,' will compel one's vagrant activities to travel the royal road to success. The young scholar finds this singleness of aim a difficult thing to attain. He must be oblivious of distracting sights and sounds to master his lesson. When he can thus fix his gaze upon his book or slate, not conscious of other students about him, he has gained the master key of knowledge and success. He must use the key all through his life. He must think and pay attention to the thinking; he must act and pay attention to the action. "I know that such a course of voluntary compul- sion may be very difficult. When attempting to rivet attention on one mental object numberless others may intrude. But fix the gaze upon it. If the look wavers or is deflected, bring it back again and again. Each effort adds to your controlling force. You will be able at last, just as surely as gravitation has its grip upon the planet, to hold it in the focal point and pour the light of every straggling ray into one combined and continuous flood upon it.' " We can take a very practical hint from Pro- fessor James for the cure of mind-wandering while reading or listening to a discourse. He says: "Experi- ence shows that the habit of reading, not merely with the eye, and of listening with the ear, but of articu- lating to one's self the words seen or heard, deepens one's attention to the latter. Repetition of this sort does not confer intelligence of Avhat is said, it only keeps the mind from Avandering in other channels. The CONCENTRATION 571 intelligence sometimes comes in beats, as it were, at the end of sentences, or in the midst of words which were mere words until then." There are three outstanding methods to develop concentration and memory: First the association of ideas: that is, when we are introduced to a man by the name of "Smith," to remember his name we associate him with a "black- smith;" or a Mr. "Brown" Ave associate with a "brown house;" or, any way that we Avant to remember a new place, condition or object, we associate the immediate thing with something else of the same kind. Fifteen minutes a day of this kind of practice will, for some people, develop a strong poAver of concentration. In a relaxed position, recall in the mind some incident, object or thing and associate this Avith something else of the same kind; and let the mind go from one object to another, always concentrating to a like object. Another second great method is that of association of ideas while reading a book. In this manner: read one line or one sentence in a book, then close it and recall to memory something Avhich that sentence sug- gests; the suggested sentence will, in turn, recall another suggestion. In this way the mind will have the power of association of one suggestion Avith another until hours may be spent in recalling associated sug- gestions ; the object of this is to keep the mind centered on one train of thought. This also exercises the memory by recalling the associated object or substance or thing. The third method for deATeloping the poAver of attention Avhich is concentration and memory is that 572 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE of "picturalization." In reading a book, read one paragraph, close the book and then, in the mind's mental picture gallery, SEE a likeness or picture of that which you have read. After you have made a complete picture of that which you have read, you are ready to take the next paragraph. After you have read the second paragraph, close the book; again construct in your mind a picture of that AAdiich you have read; be careful to put in all of the details—do not leave the pic- ture half finished. Then, you are ready to read the next paragraph; again close the book, imagine upon the mind's gallery plate that which you have read, to the very least detail. At first it will take some effort and some time but, after you have practiced this well, you will be able to instantly complete in your mind's picture gallery the whole thing which you have just read. After you have practiced this for some time you Avill be able to read one paragraph, two paragraphs, three paragraphs, a AAdiole page before you Avill have to stop to make your mental picture; in other Avords, you will soon be able to read a whole page and to close the book and instantly construct a picture of what you have read. I repeat there is no exercise of concentra- tion or memory that is equal to this if it is carried out in detail; that is because Ave have used the sense of "seeing" by reading and the sense of "sight" as we read and the sense of "sight" again in our mental imagery; as Avell as the sense of hearing; for, in mak- ing these pictures, either one paragraph or a page, we should not only construct in our mind what we have seen, by picturalization, but we should hear the sounds which make up the condition surrounding the picture. CONCENTRATION 573 Thus, we have used four senses—all focusing our atten- tion, A\rhich is the basis of concentration. Russell H. Conwell's secretary told in his class of "Psychology" that many years after Conwell had writ- ten the "Life of Garfield" he wanted, for some reason or other to recall a certain illustration in Garfield's life. I think it Avas the "NeAV York Sun" that wanted this illustration and, Conwell's edition of "Garfield's Life" having been exhausted, "The Sun" was not able to lo- cate the incident it wanted in the President's experi- ence ; so, Comvell was asked to forAvard Avhat they wanted. Sometime late at night, after he had retired, the great preacher called his Secretary and asked him to take dictation. When he had finished he said: "There, I believe I have given every Avord on that page relative to this incident"—he sat with his eyes closed and brought back to his mind the picture of what ho wanted to recall. Conwell preaches Avith his eyes closed a great deal and he sees by mental imagery the picture which he tells his audience—his great method of preach- ing is by illustration. There could be no better method to practice atten- tion, concentration and memory than this picturaliza- tion; but, there are many Avho like to have more practical exercises. Therefore I Avould suggest the following (they are from "The Why and the Hoav of the Emanual Movement" by my good friend, Dr. Thomas Parker Boyd). Will-poAver is not exercise in that straining effort of the body and nerves that notifies every one that you are making a great effort, but rather the calm, quiet, forcible way that "speaks, and it is done." The rules 574 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE for the development of the will are to begin with the easy things first, and practice them until you can do them perfectly. Exercise is as essential to the strength of the will as it is to the body. First. Practice holding the eyes open for a minute without winking and, as you acquire the power to do it without fatigue or injury to the eye, increase the time. This exercise will both strengthen the will and give you control of your eyes. Second. When sitting in an assembly or riding in a car, determine that someone sitting ahead of you shall look back. Then concentrate your gaze on the nape of the neck, willing the person to turn and look. At first the percentage of your success may be small but persistently practice it and your power will increase until you seldom fail. Below are given a series of directions for exercising the will. Begin with the simpler ones, persistently practice them and you will acquire a power that often needs not to speak, but sends out its silent, invisible force to sway men and assemblies. 1. Select some part of the body, a foot or hand, with the idea of HEAT. While holding the mind in this attitude, breathe deeply and steadily and, in from one to four minutes, you will feel the warm glow com- ing to the foot. In this way you can soon master the entire body. Begin with the sense of feeling. If there is an itching of the body, make it stop by the force of your will. In from three days to three weeks you can stop the itching sensation at will. Then try the habit of sneezing; stubbornly resist the inclination to sneeze and you will soon have the mastery. Now try CONCENTRATION 575 your Avill on coughing. When the tickling sensation comes, stop it by the exercise of your will. You can soon master it. Next try it on pain. When you feel a pain in the body, instead of rubbing on liniment, rub in a little will-power; soon it will ease your pain as if by magic. With the fingers of one hand rub the skin on the back of the other hand, stroking toward the elbow and willing that all feeling shall disappear. In from one to three minutes take a needle and you can stick it through the skin on the back of the hand without pain. You may have to try it a dozen times, but persistence will bring success. Having mastered the sense of feeling, take up that of hearing. 2. It may seem impossible at first thought, but you have seen people so absorbed in what they were reading or thinking that they heard nothing, although you addressed them directly. They are simply ab- stracted from all else and are thinking of one thing to the exclusion of everything else. They entered this state of abstractedness unconsciously. To do so inten- tionally, you go by the law of indirectness. For in- stance, take sight; concentrate your vision and your whole attention upon some object, real or imaginary, until soon the sense of HEARING becomes dormant. A little practice will enable you to study, think or sleep, regardless of noise. 3. Having mastered hearing, begin on SIGHT. You have known people who walked on the street, looked at you and passed by without recognition, although they knew you well. A person deeply think- ing on some subject, neither sees nor hears but uses the mental sense entirely. The method is to let the eyes 576 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE be open, but concentrate the thoughts on hearing or feeling. 4. After getting control of your sight, take up the TASTE. Take some tasteless thing on the tongue, abstract the mind to something else until the taste be- comes dormant. Then take something with more taste to it, abstracting the taste, until by this gradual process you can make the sourest pickle sweet. 5. Finally take some light odor, and hold it before the nostrils, abstracting the attention away from the sense of smell, by hearing or seeing, etc., until by prac- tice you can pass through the foulest odor without inconvenience or notice. Now, when you can control the five senses at will, you have a Avill-poAver that is well nigh invincible and, at the same time, you have entered a new world of experiences. You can hold the senses dormant and the sixth sense, that of intuition, will operate untrammeled. This opens the door of eternity's store- house of knowledge, from whose divine resources the prophets wrote and spoke. Once here, and you can read the thoughts of people at a glance. You can, in a moment, take hold of the subjective minds of those about you and compel them to do your way. You have here, also, the medium through which you can send out your thought force at will to those about you, produc- ing the thrill and exhilaration of health. First master yourself, then the fullness of peace, of power and of plenty is yours. You have only to send out your thought forces, in connection with your occupation, and command whatever you desire. CONCENTRATION 577 Ib concluding this chapter, I give a few very simple devices for exercising the attention and strength- ening the will. The reader will think of others better suited to his condition which he may substitute and practice. Sit or stand absolutely motionless, except your breathing, for one to five minutes at a time. Do this often. Practice closing each finger in rotation; then, when all are closed, open one at a time very slowly, keep- ing the attention fixed on what you are doing. Keep all the other fingers still, save the one you are exercis- ing with. Inhale gradually for ten seconds, then exhale in the same way and time. Look steadily at some point or object for a minute without winking the eye, keeping your attention fixed on the object. Look at a picture critically, then close your eyes and mentally reconstruct it. Close your eyes and construct the face of a friend, feature by feature. Fix your attention on a hand or foot, hold on it the idea of heat and continue until the hand or foot feels warm. Then try cold; then try pain. Will that the person in front of you shall turn around or put his hand on his head or neck. Hold your hand on some one in pain and say, "I will the pain to depart." Repeat till the pain goes. We should be diligent in our exercise and by our diligence we may become strong concentrators, without which few men—if any—have ever acquired great- 578 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE ness. There must be a singleness of purpose, permeat- ing our very life, from which Ave will never sAverve if we are to do the thing which we have dreamed. If we plan on being a banker, then all of our efforts must be held at attention—single to the purpose of banking and its many ramifications; if we are to be a laAvyer, then our mind must be trained to concentrate on laAV and its ramifications; if we are to be an artist, a musician, a writer, teacher, professional man or busi- ness manager, our whole mind, thought, desire and attention must be focused tOAvard the preparation and practice of those qualifications necessary to the fulfill- ment of our desired vocation. If we find that we are not able to focus our minds toward the single goal of our life's ambition, these exercises—given above—will strengthen our will and help develop our poAver of attention. Always remem- ber that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong but victory to the courageous soul who will never run up the flag of white—who does not know the word "surrender" and who, despite the caprices of cir- cumstance or environment and "fate," can plod on with a mind centered and concentrated upon the given object of the heart's desire. Your success depends upon your power of concentration and the spirit of "Pike's Peak or Bust"—never to give up. NOTES. NOTES. N CHAPTER LVIII. CONCENTRATION—Continued. My Father Runs the Trains. Concentration is much misunderstood. There should be no stress or strain, anxiety or worry Avhen we concentrate. Elsewhere in this book (under Scien- tific Prayer) we have told you that every action is a prayer as well as every thought and Avhether Ave call a rose by any other name, it smells just as sAveetly. There are many different Avays of concentrating, in this chapter we are leading up to the concentration so that we will be able to overcome anxiety, fear and worry. It was probably in the early nineties that Mr. Hudson Taylor conducted some meetings in the city of St. Louis and in the church of which the late Dr. James H. Brookes was the beloved pastor. He had been in the city a good many days and great interest in the work of the China Inland Mission had been manifested through large gifts and through the establishment of centres of intercession for the work in China, while he was the guest of Dr. Brookes. After his meetings in our city, he was booked for a small town in Illinois, where he was to give an address at eight o'clock in the evening. In order to reach the town, he was to leave St. Louis by an early train on Monday morning. Dr. Brookes was most punctilious about meeting all engage- 582 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE ments promptly. He therefore ordered his coachman to have the carriage at the door at quite an early hour. The hour arrived but the coachman did not. As it seemed there was still an abundance of time, they awaited his arrival with little concern. But at last Dr. Brookes became much concerned, and they started out to catch a street car. It was in the days before telephones were much in use. On the way to the car they met the coachman with the carriage, entered it, and bade the coachman drive as quickly as possible. Dr. Brookes watched the time and was much con- cerned about missing the train. But Mr. Taylor was quite at ease and said quietly, "My Father runs the trains, and I am on His business.'' Upon reaching the station, they found that the train had gone and were told that no other would leave for the toAvn mentioned before evening. Dr. Brookes expressed great regret and concern but again Mr. Taylor reminded him that "My Father runs the trains." Just as they turned from the ticket office a man rushed up to Mr. Taylor saying, "Oh! I Avas so afraid that I had missed you. I want to tell you how God has used you to bring a blessing to me." As he turned away, he slipped an envelope into Mr. Taylor's hands, Avhich was found to contain $75.00, marked, "For your per- sonal use." Mr. Taylor said to Dr. Brookes, "You see that my Father has just sent me my railway fare." Dr. Brookes was amazed, and asked: "Did you not have your railway fare?" He replied, "I told my Father." And he added, "I never use money except such as is marked for personal use." CONCENTRATION 583 Then Mr. Taylor Avalked leisurely to a man stand- ing among outgoing trains and asked if he knew of any Avay by which he might reach the town in Illinois that evening. The man replied that a train would be leaving soon which passed through Springfield, 111., and that a train from Chicago passed through Springfield en route to the toAvn mentioned. But he said that the Chicago train would pass through Springfield an hour before the train from St. Louis was due in that place. To Avhich Mr. Taylor said, with great assurance, that the St. Louis train would reach Springfield first that day. So he bought his ticket and boarded the train, bidding Dr. Brookes to be comforted, as his Father certainly did run the trains. For the first time in one and half years, the Chicago train Avas an hour late: Mr. Taylor stepped from one train to the other, reached his destination in good time and Avired to Dr. Brookes, "My Father runs the trains." On the next day the papers reported a Avreck of the train on which Mr. Taylor had purposed to journey. "According to your faith, be it unto you."— Christian Workers' Magazine. God runs the train and He will bring each indi- vidual safely to life's terminal over the track of divers experiences; but we must be good passengers on this train; Ave must not block it by our negative thoughts, by Avrong concentration. We must not thrOAV sand in the gearings by negation. John Wesley says, "I dare no more fret than I dare curse and SAvear," and the person who is fretful, over-anxious and Avorried is throwing the switch to 584 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE run his train on the sidetrack land make it harder for God to bring him safely to the terminal. Anxiety does not empty tomorroAV of its sorrow but it empties today of its strength and the man who is over-anxious cannot concentrate efficiently, whether that concentration be for health, business projects, domestic entanglements, love misunderstandings, pros- perity, wisdom or knowledge. Your concentration after you have learned that it is neither stress nor strain, neither squinting or knitting the eyebrows, but a posi- tive attention of the mind on a given object must never be followed by any anxious or worried thoughts. The worries of today are the jokes of tomorroAV. Look over your past life. What are the incidents that you find funny now? Every one of them was a worry at the time it happened. You laugh as you look back at past worries. Well, why not laugh at the worries of today and tomorrow as well? Worry doesn't get you anything or anywhere. There's no use worrying about things that are past. Whatever has happened is right or it would not have happened. The whole great Universe is run in har- mony. Don't be conceited enough to suppose that any- thing you have done is out of harmony with the Uni- verse. If it was, the whole world would soon get out of kilter. There's no use worrying, either, about what's going to happen. Nobody knows that. Remember, too, the worst never happens. AnyAvay why worry now? You either can help or can't help what you are worrying about. If you can help it, go ahead and do CONCENTRATION 585 it and stop worrying. If you can't help it, what good does worrying do? "But," you say, "I just can't help Avorrying." Hoav absurd! Of course you can. Try this plan. Sit down calmly and ask yourself Avhat is the very worst result that can come from your present trouble. Look it in the face boldly. Square your shoulders and say to yourself: "Well, if that's all, I can face that. Lots of worse things have happened to millions of other people and they have survived. I guess I can." Most worries are over mere trifles. Probably George Washington's Avife used to Avorry Avhen he got home late for dinner but v/hat difference does it make to either of them noAV? Get a Avorry book. Put doAvn in it today every- thing that Avorries you. Look at it a Aveek from today. The longer you keep a Avorry book the shorter will groAv the entries. Don't worry. Just laugh. A sense of humor Avill save you many a doctor's bill. Trust in God and laugh at your Avorries. After the long Avinter of troubles comes the glori- ous summer of happiness. Back in the East, Keene, NeAV Hampshire, in 1819, there lived a widoAV who had been comfortably cared for but who woke one morning to find herself in pov- erty. Her husband had died and left her a glass fac- tory which would have cared for her and raised and educated her children, but Congress reduced the tariff on glass and destroyed the glass industry, and thus threw the woman, once in comfortable circumstances, into poverty. So dire Avas the situation that the chil- 586 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE dren had to be "bound out"—torn from their mother, separated one from the other, the family broken up. One of the boys, who was then about thirteen years of age had to go way west (Ohio Avas West in those days of coach trains and ox-carts). His mother was forced to send him to Ohio to live with an older brother of hers. Before he went an old farmer, near the glass factory, came to see the boy before parting, perhaps forever. The old man had no money to place in the hands of this little fellow, who later became one of America's great men, but the old man had something better than money, he had good, sound advice to give. Said he, this old friend, to the little homeless, orphan boy: "It is not so great a matter that you have lost much and that your mother has lost much, for, my boy, remember, that where there is a Avill, there is a Avay. You can find your way up. You can get back all that your father lost and more, if you will. My boy, remem- ber my last advice." The boy went to his uncle in Ohio. He had been a wild and petted boy, disobedient to his mother, as he afterward said, yet, Avhen he reached Cincinnati, he determined that some day he would take care of his mother and himself; and get back all that his father had lost; and the continual in- spiration of his life was the motto Avhich he folloAved to his death, "where there is a will, there is a way." Time sped by, our country was in the throes of a civil war, Lincoln was at the helm, he had surrounded himself Avith the best men our country had. During those extremely stormy days the cabinet Avould meet; and poor, great-hearted Lincoln! He needed money to carry on the war; he needed friends to stand by him. CONCENTRATION 587 When they thought they could raise no money in New York; Avhen they thought they could get nothing to carry on the Avar any further; this little boy, now a friend and advisor to the great Lincoln, Salmon P. Chase, arose and confidently said, "Mr. President, Avhere there is a will, there is a way," and he ahvays found it to be true. (From Will Power and Success by the author.) The pilot does not lose heart Avhen he cannot see his way. He turns to that mysterious compass which sees as plainly in the fog, and guides as faithfully in the tempests, as Avhen the sea is like glass. We are in touch with a PoAver greater than any pilot, a PoAver that can extricate us from the most desperate situation. A certain minister, who had a number of people in his congregation complaining about the burdens of life and the cares and worries they were carrying, preached a sermon one Sunday after which he invited all of his congregation to Avrite on a slip of paper their Avorries, then to come forward and put their "worry papers" on a table in front of the Altar. After every- one had come forAvard and deposited their Avorries he shuffled them around and told his good people to pick up the other persons' Avorries and take them home, and not a one responded. No one cared to take the Avorries of someone else. If Ave are honest Avith ourselves we would be like those dear worried folk. We wouldn't change places Avith anyone else if we had a chance. We think that our troubles are worse than others; we imagine our Avorries are greater than the worries of other people; 588 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE we think that we are carrying more burdens than any- one else but if we would be real down-right honest with ourselves and "toe the scratch," we would see that our life is not as bad a risk as the other fellows and we would go on our way rejoicing. Just as one shower chases another across the field and the sun comes out to shine after each storm, so the glorious sun of our experiences blazes forth at high- noon in our mind's mental picture gallery AAdiich pro- duces a radiance in our life if Ave drop the notion that we have worries; if we quit the habit of fretting; if Ave ditch the custom of anxiety; if Ave eliminate all nega- tive thoughts and trust our life in the hands of the Father AA'ho runs the trains. Micah says that "at the thought of this wail and howl, I go stripped and barefoot, I Avail like the jackal and roar like the ostrich." What about? Why, the same as the rest of us; in our mind. You have been in worse straits than now and you have gotten out of your troubles and the sorroAvs of yesterday have be- come the comedies of today. Why not be Avise and psychological, knowing that the straits you are in noAV you will clear tomorrow and the troubles of this minute will be your comedy next week. Why not laugh noAV and turn your drama into comedy. Although grief has streaked your hair Avith silver and sorrow has furroAved your broAv Avith Avrinkles and misfortune has broken your spirit of yesterday, your worst troubles have never come and they never will except in your mind. CONCENTRATION 589 TROUBLES THAT NEVER CAME. The bridges that I've often crossed Before they came in sight, Have been of many, many kinds; Been grey, or black, or white. I fancied many brutish ones, And many could not name; I've had my many troubles, but The worst ones never came! When squirrels get their nuts for food, They gather for a year, And do not worry 'bout the next, For that they have no fear, But man is not content today, He lives with troubled aim; A-thinking 'bout the troubles past, And those which never came! Some people build their mounts of care Of many sorts and kind, Which like the bridges that they build, Are mostly in their mind. Though sun's ablaze and sky is clear, They think of lightning's flame, They had their many troubles, but The worst ones never came! Noav God is in the universe, The birds and squirrels know, They worry not, nor do they fret, For what we reap we sow. 590 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE If we sow deeds they'll bear their fruit, For God will hear our claim; If we trust Him then we can say, The worst ones never came! —From "Inspirational Poems," by D. V. Bush. Like quartz going through the refining fire to come out gold, so the soul that is tried in the fire of adversity and conditions, comes out a golden character trium- phant over all. Worry is like a rocking chair, it makes a tremen- dous amount of agitation, but it doesn't get anywhere. My Father runs the trains. His time-table of Life's experiences will get us to the terminal, on schedule, but we must be good passengers. Although you are beaten by cat-o-nine-tails, in the hand of need, your life's train may run on schedule time, provided you do not worry and you are not over-anxious. Remember the great law of concentration can only be operated free from negation. You may read Marie Corelli, Hall Cain, Harold Bell Wright, etc., but you will find no flights of the Novelists' imagination to exceed this little bit of human history, Avhere Provi- dence—the law—was not interfered with by Avorry or anxiety. It is difficult for the ordinary person, in any walk of life, to understand Avhat it means for a minister to be excommunicated. It is easy for a man who has lost a carpenter job to get another; it is not a difficult thing for a grocer to go to another city and begin business; it is easy for a chiropractor to land in a strange town and soon get a practice; but, when a Minister has been excommunicated, ousted—discredited CONCENTRATION 591 by the "Brethren"— it is no easy matter for him to get another church. He is "done for," forever. If his OAvn communion sees fit to debar him from preach- ing, Avhy other denominations are going to steer shy of the "heretic." More blood has been shed and more human veins ripped open by the cry of heresy than history has recorded. There is no warfare as deadly as Ecclesiastical warfare and, when a minister has been run through and disemboweled by an ecclesiastical SAvord, there is little or no chance of him getting another church. Coupled with this anxiety of having no livelihood as an ordinary layman, there is the awful knowledge that he no longer "can carry on" with his life's am- bition. After I had gone through hell-fire and brimstone to prepare to preach; after my health had failed twice by overAvork; after I Avorked fourteen hours a day and had gone to night school, when my classes closed at 10:30 p. m., and I would walk five miles back to my humble quarters to save a nickel; after I had been forced into the commercial world because of ill-health; after reaching a place to be envied by most young men—told that I Avould be a rich man if I stayed in commercialism; then, after again going to school, draw- ing on all of my savings, running in debt while in the seminary—with my Avife and I often going to bed hun- gry ; I, at nearly 30 years of age, began to preach on a Fifty-Dollars-a-month salary and you may have some slight understanding of what it meant to be excom- municated the very first year of my ministry. 592 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE But your Father runs the trains and, although the most deadly warfare is ecclesiastical and although one of the biggest machines in the world is ecclesiastical and although the ecclesiastical authorities have un- clothed you with the certainty that you never can preach again, God runs the trains and no power or combination of powers can thwart the Providence of God, if Ave are the right passengers on His train. It is only ten years ago when a sermon of Church Federation was something new and novel. Today, among thirty-nine or forty of the leading Protestant denominations, there is nothing that is more favored than the Church Federation movement. And what is Church Federation? Why, simply a closer fellowship and co-operation between the various sections of the so-called Christian churches. Ten years ago in some places excommunication was the "punishment" for the man who would proclaim, from his "sacred desk," fellowship with a brother minister or sister church. My church was unable to understand my attitude when I proclaimed, in my sermon on Church Federa- tion, Avhich caused my excommunication, that there should be brotherly love and spiritual fellowship not only between the Protestant Churches, in our little burg, but the Catholics as well. That was a new kind of a gospel for these old Orthodox Theologically- trained church members. It was not good form to sug- gest that the Methodists might sing Congregational Hymns with the Baptists in Heaven and it was not good form to consider that the Catholics had any chance of getting their noses inside of the Pearly Gates or their heads past St. Peter, the Watchman. CONCENTRATION 593 This Avas a..............Church but the..............leaders of this particular State Avere not the same ................ in other States I am sure and the .............. in other States are not to be condemned because of the.............. of this particular State. There are plenty of.............. laymen as Avell as members Avho would have been glad to en- dorse the notion of felloAvship but I didn't happen to be near those brethren nor in a congregation of such broad type. This is not to condemn the .............. any more than any other denomination but the story will lose its flavor, as you will see later, Avithout mention of the particular demonination. (You may fill the blank spaces with a denomination to suit your taste.) This sermon on Church Federation—Church fel- loAvship and co-operation—Avas so neAV and novel and unecclesiastical and undoctrinal that the whole town Avas wrought up over the neAV minister's message, the temperatures of some not only Avent up to 102° but brought their blood to boil—fire and brimstone temper- ature—in the little burg AA'here a............minister so far forgot his Theological training as to intimate, much less proclaim from the Holy pulpit, that the Methodists and Congregationalists, as Avell as the Catholics, might be sitting side by side in Heaven—Avherever that is—Avith the Baptists. I should have been doctrinal enough, goodness knows, for I had been in one of the most conservative seminaries on the Continent; but, behind the narrow doctrinal training Avas my spirit of religious liberty, under Avhich man Avas allowed to Avorship God accord- ing to the dictates of his OAvn conscience. If I had been in some other denominational church, I Avould have known hoAV far I could have gone and 594 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE what were my limits, for, in some Protestant Churches today, they have not endorsed the Federation move- ment. But the .............. Church, as I understood it, stood for liberty of conscience and expression. In fact I had left the Methodist Church to get aAvay from the Bishops where man's mouth was more or less muzzled by the bishopric. But I had evidently jumped out of the frying pan into the fire for the "Brethren," who controlled the..............denomination of this State, used as much or more power, so far as I have been able to understand, than most Bishops in a Methodist Church would dare to usurp in this enlightened day of the Twentieth Century. My sermon had so aroused the little community that the editor of our paper asked that he might have the sermon for publication in his journal. This gave the message publicity in our State and it Avas not long before the "Brethren" were up in arms and demanded of our local "Bishop" that he get on the warpath im- mediately, scalp me and return to the Wigwams of the "Brethren" with my scalp, dripping with blood, hang- ing from his belt. And so, the State Superintendent war-whooped for me to come to him; but, we did not smoke the pipe of peace—it was Indian-chew-Indian pow wow. When I was "called up on the carpet," the super- intendent, of course, blamed it on the "Brethren," saying that I was a young man in the ministry and that they knew more Avhat the..............Church wanted than I and that they were very much incensed at my undoc- trinal proclamation. They believed, as I had been taught in the Seminary, that the..............Church would CONCENTRATION 595 Federate, but, "when all the other churches come our way.'' It was their business to proclaim salvation by their doctrines and I was not to Avaste my time talking about nonsensical, impracticable, sentimentalism in federation—there Avas only one Avay of federation and that would be their way. So I Avas told to go back and desist from church- federation-claptrap—silly "brotherhood"—and stick to doctrinal sermons. I was very "Avisely" advised by my superior officer to go back and preach a series of doc- trinal sermons. If you don't happen to be accustomed to the church parlance I might mention that these doc- trinal sermons meant that I should preach on certain principles that are taught and believed in, in thac church, which principles, of course, the church had got- ten three or four hundred years before. That meant that I Avas to no longer try and preach a message to help man of today but Avas to preach medievalism— binding our modern feet in the quagmire of the Six- teenth Century, theology. When I explained that it Avould be impossible for me to be true to myself to refrain from mentioning brotherhood and fellovrship between sister churches, I Avas told to go home and think it over. To which I replied that I had "already done my thinking" and for a Avhole day I was cajoled, pressed and nearly threatened excommunication if I did not return to my church and preach Avhat the authorities Avanted me to preach. I said there Avas no use for me to go home to make by decision; I had already made my decision that all great reform movements must have leaders and mar- 596 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE tyrs; that I believed the Church Federation was the next great movement among Protestants and that, if someone had to pay the price championing the cause, I might just as well be that one as others and, if it meant decapitation, they could cut off my head right then and throAv it into the ecclesiastical waste basket; I had made my decision, namely: "Truth and Justice, Brotherhood and Fellowship, for one and all, now and forever.'' Of course the Lord Mayor of ecclesiasticism did not expect I should be such a fool as to allow the doc- trinal authorities to guillotine my ministerial cranium and sever it from the trunk of my denomination and future career, so I was sent home "to think it over." As I had already done my thinking, in a very short course of time I was called upon officially either to retract Avhat I had said or promise to not do it again or else be relieved of any further duties as a pastor— excommunicated. The "Brethren" were trying to use diplomacy with me as well as their threats. This Avas about the 15th of January, I owed several hundred dollars of debts in town, besides other debts which had been hanging over me for a long time. No money in the bank, coal Ten Dollars a ton and a stranger in the West in a strange land, away from kith and kin or anyone who might have sympathy or interest in my case should I lose my job. So during the bombarding, barraging and shell-fire of the committee's ecclesiastical fireworks, when they saw I had no intention of changing my mind or retracting my utterances, they told me my services would end and right then; and "right then" meant CONCENTRATION 597 no more pay. All kinds of debts and no chance to get a church anywhere in the world. They told me if I refused to act upon their suggestion I could never preach again in any church in the country and, espec- ially, they emphasized my own State. But, Avhen they told me I was to quit right then and there, I came back Avith some of that old-time fireAvorks of my OAvn and I shot them through with such a determined look and emphatic voice that "they could do Avith me Avhat they wanted to but I was going to preach in that church until the first of the month." There Avas method in my madness, tAvo Aveeks more Avith pay at Eighty Dollars a month meant Forty Dollars. Forty Dollars, Avith AAThich to pay all debts and keep my family for the rest of our lives. I Avas so determined in my shell-fire that the committee agreed it Avould be all right for me to stay until the first of the month. But that did not do me any good so far as the money end of it AAras concerned for when the end of the month came and my salary was due I didn't get a cent of it. The church treasurer Avent about the toAvn to see Avhat debts I OAved and tried to spread those feAv dollars all over my credi- tors' ledger books. I had been getting groceries from a member of my OAvn church and he refused me more credit. He got most of my two Aveeks salary, I think. No money, out of a job, coal Ten Dollars a ton, none in the coal house and the larder empty. But there Avas one fine NorAATegian Lutheran grocer AA'ho had been one of the spectators during the Avhole fracas, Avho very kindly gave my family credit and so Ave did not starve right then. 598 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE When the committee was through scalping me, with the threat that I never could preach again, with their "good-night," they left me, all save the big "Mogul." You remember that I Avas noAV officially ousted. The big chief remained behind after the rest had left. You remember they had said I never could preach again but, when the others did not know it, he remained be- hind and said, "Now look at this from my angle, I will take care of you.'' I asked what he meant by that and he said, "I will see that you get a church." To which I replied that he did not have any church that I would take—I would be a man before I Avould be a minister and, if I couldn't be a man in the ministry, I would be a man out of the ministry. You will remember that I am only giving you inci- dents as they have occurred. I am neither condemning nor criticising anyone; but only giving you this as an illustration, which you will never forget, as you pro- ceed AArith the story of "Hoav your Father runs the trains." As I was black-listed and "Avarning" had been sent to all .............. Churches by their chief organ, I received, in due time, a letter from the dean of the Theological Department of the University where I studied, in the East, before I had entered the conserva- tive Western theological seminary. The dean had known me for many years, had always called me David and when I had to leave school, because my health had failed due to ovenvork and study, he had told me time and time again that I must come back and finish my course. He said that every week he discouraged young men from entering the ministry but had not given up CONCENTRATION 599 hoping that I would some day put Elizabeth, my fiancee, whom he knew as well as myself, into a manse. Excommunicated, thrown out upon the ecclesias- tical shore, AA'here my bones Avere expected to bleach in the blazing sun forever the dear old dean wrote to the effect that I must tell him all. He had read in our church organ about the difficulty; I was to tell him all and "come back to your friends." I AArrote a long letter in ansAver to the dean and, after I had Avritten it, I had that feeling that I had before had, many another time in my life, that I was making a mistake—"intui- tion," "the Hunch." The hunch had been trying to guide me all my life but I did not understand it. This time I did. I had come to the most critical time in a minister's career and "the still small voice" this time Avas understood. I tore up the letter and threAv the bits into the waste basket and said: "God knoAvs A\rhere I am, he knows what I can do and if I am to preach, nothing can stop me. He will open the way." Of course you people who are snugly cared for and firmly established in your business and never knoAV AA'hat it means to be Avithout money Avill have to stretch your imagination somewhat to see Avhat it meant for a discredited minister to be without funds or without a place to lay his head—and don't forget the family, too. At this critical time, when the grocery bill Avas running up and nothing seemed in sight, one of the most prom- inent laAvyers of the State told me that he could get Twenty Thousand Dollars for me in a libel case; that, in this "black-list AArarning," which had been circulated throughout the country, their statements against my character, if taken into court, would give me a nice 600 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE little fortune and besides it Avould give me much pub- licity, so that I could "clean up" a fortune by lectur- ing. Now I had needed money before and I needed it then and I have needed it since but I have never needed money badly enough at any time to stoop to dragging through the courts a ministerial scrap and ecclesiastical mud-slinging caricature of followers of the sweetest character that ever trod the globe, Jesus of Nazareth. I told the laAvyer that, if I had to get money that way, I would never have any; the church had trouble enough of its own without me adding any weight to its burdens. By the help of a friend of mine I was able to scrape together a few dollars and, by someone on the road selling me as a Lecturer, start out again. Business was really good, engagements were coming in and life seemed brighter than it ever had been; two or three hundred dollars' worth of lecture days a week looked mighty good to an excommunicated minister whose Avater-mark salary had been Eighty Dollars a month. So, kissing the family good-bye with the great hope of sending back money to cancel our debts, we boarded the train for our first engagement. We boarded the train and got to the town, but that is all we did do. My denomination had said that I could not preach and they meant to keep their word for, town after toAvn, where my engagements had been made, they Avere can- celed before or as soon as I got there; there was a repre- sentative of my ex-denomination, either in person or by communication, telling the committee what a bad egg I was and so well did they depict my bad-egg smell that the committees refused to let me speak. There was just one committee that let me speak and that committee CONCENTRATION 601 was made up of one man and that one man Avas a Catho- lic. When they tried to persuade him that I Avas a black sheep and a bad egg and that he ought not to listen to me, he had spunk enough in him to say that he didn't care Avhat reports said about me, he Avanted to hear me talk for he thought that there must be something in the young man or the denomination Avould not fight him. I got Twelve Dollars for that night's lecture but TAvelve Dollars doesn't go very far in traveling your advance agent and yourself and it Avas not long before all the dates were cancelled and no more could be made—we had no more money to travel the advance agent—Ave had gone to the end of our rope. Excommunicated, discredited, black-listed, bank- rupt and broke. Of course it is easy for a plumber, barber, doctor or a business man to get another job or a neAV practice or another business location but, Avhen you are an ousted preacher Avith one of the biggest denominations in the world having its eagle eye watch- ing each movement that you make and holding over you the ecclesiastical club with a threat that you never can preach again, it is an altogether different propo- sition. .They were making their threat good. Shortly after I had had torn up the letter which I had written, explaining, to the dean, I received another letter—from a Avoman this time. This Avoman had been my Sunday School superintendent in the "most Avicked toAvn in the NorthAvest." There Avere no church mem- bers in this toAvn and no man had enough spunk to act as superintendent, so Ave had this Avoman. One of the most godly Avomen I ever kneAv. She had left this "most wicked tOA\rn," crossed the Missouri River with 602 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE her family and taken up a homestead on the Cheyenne Indian Reservation. They had located near the little town of Faith. This town was far ahead of the rest of the world—in one respect at least—and that was when this little mushroom town's business men put their heads together and said: "Let us have one church here instead of three or four like so many of the other little towns in the "New country." Their object was effic- iency and economy. Why have three churches when one should do? Why have three ministers, when one ought to minister? Why have expenses of three build- ings when one would seat all who would go to church ? With this broad idea in view a committee Avas appointed to draw up "Articles of Federation," these "Articles of Federation" had the same idea that I had preached, which called for fellowship of all denomina- tions instead of doctrinal teachings. Why not all Christians in this little toAvn worship in the same build- ing for, some time, they were all going to go to Heaven and would have to live together anyway—maybe! When these articles were printed in their little local pa- per my ex-Sunday-School-Superintendent cut out the articles, wrote a letter to her OAvn pastor back in Iowa, intending to enclose the Articles of Federation but some- thing told her not to. This something was the "hunch" and, as clearly as the voice of God to Abraham, she Avas told to send this to "Brother Bush." Now she didn't know any more that I needed a church than the reader now thinks that I need a Fifty- Dollars-a-month job. But, true to her hunch, which Avas well developed in her, she wrote to me sending the Articles of Federation. CONCENTRATION 603 When the letter was received I was in the midst of the cancellation of my lecture dates and I wrote back immediately that I was a candidate for the pulpit. As I traveled from one toAvn to another, blocked in my "lecturing tour" by the Denomination that was seek- ing my downfall, I wondered Avhy it was I did not get a reply to my letter to Mrs. Bradbury. Alas, I had gone as far as I could. I had finally come to a little toAvn in Minnesota, the last date that I had and the com- mittee refused to let me speak. The soles of my shoes Avere worn out, I was walking on the bare pavement, I did not have enough money to get home. But that would not have helped any, because I Avould not have had any money if I had gotten home, I would only have had my creditors to face. As I remember it now I did not have enough money to pay my local hotel bill, I had gone as far as man could go. But don't you know that is the best place in the world to go? "As far as man can go"—for, Avhen you have gone as far as you can go, then something is bound to happen, it is always darkest just before the dawn. And, when you think the enemy has you backed up against the stone wall and is going to fill you full of lead, that is just the time to breathe and know that you Avill get new life to strike out and battle again. With no money to get out of toAvn, nowhere to go, I wandered again back to the hotel, Avhen the clerk handed me a letter, the letter Avas very much defaced, it had been scratched and my address Avritten several times. The letter came from the pulpit committee at Faith, inviting me to preach for them. The letter had been chasing me from toAvn to toAATn and because I had 604 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE not enough money to get out of town the day before, I got the letter. If I had had a few dollars to leave I perhaps never would have had the letter and this chapter never would have been written, so you see the Universal Engineer runs the trains and Avhen we think we have run amuck or jumped the track and are unable to turn a wheel, our Father does the rest. I never could have been more happy than when I opened that letter and saw the opportunity to go to Faith and one reason I was so happy was because I had gone so far without the light. If you have never known what poverty is you never knoAV how to enjoy riches; if you never knoAV what tears are you may never know what it means to smile; if you never knoAV what sorrow is, you may never knoAV how to laugh. Your experience just now, your hardships, your handi- caps, your tears and your sobs are all indications that if you concentrate properly without fear or worry, anxiety or doubt, these Avill all be changed by the alchemy of God's love into a most glorious time of sunshine. This little boom down town was away off from the main branch of the railroad, the buildings were only half up, the train got in a 5 o'clock Sunday morning and ten minutes after five I was asleep in a room, in the little hotel in Faith where there was nothing but lath on the walls, they were not yet plastered, the windows were not in, and the doors were not hung. I retired at 5:10 o 'clock in the morning and at 8 o 'clock I awakened and on the foot of my bed sat a..............minister. They had said I would never preach in the State and they were making good their threat. This man had CONCENTRATION 605 been sent out to warn the pulpit committee of the dan- gerous man they had invited to preach and had sent a real good brother to preach in my place. This brother sat on the foot of my bed and told me that the com- mittee had invited him to preach that day (the com- mittee told me later that they did not knoAV they had extended him that invitation). I told him that Avas all right with me, that if he Avas going to preach, why I would be out to hear him; that I wished he would have a large audience and I knew the people Avould have a good time. This rather disarmed the fighting parson. He expected I Avas going to put up a fight, I suppose, and when I shoAved no intentions of scrapping and only the spirit of love-wishing he rather unlimbered and ran up a flag of truce. He finally said: "Well, sup- pose I preach once and you preach once," of course he said that the people expected him to preach in the morning when they had the biggest croAvd (maybe 40) and that I could preach at night. I told him that was perfectly all right Avith me, anything he Avanted to arrange would be satisfactory. I said to myself that if God wanted me to have the pulpit it did not matter AAdiether I preached or not. Mine OAvn Avould come to me. The next day the pulpit committee invited me to meet them in a little real estate office at which time they extended to me the pastorate of their little church. A church Avithout a member. Tavo or three other min- isters had been called to this Federated Church but had all refused the call because they were afraid that their denominations Avould excommunicate them. Ministers Avere to preach for their own individual churches not 606 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE for the broader spirit of Christian unity. I was already excommunicated so I didn't have to bother about that. When the committee extended the invitation to become their pastor I, of course, thanked them the best way I knew how but added that I was under a cloud with my denomination and that I could not accept the pastorate but I should be glad to supply the pulpit for the time being, for two months, which would give them time to look up my record and see if the church still thought I was the man—and give me time to decide if I wanted to remain their pastor. At this suggestion, one person on the committee spoke for all. He sat over in the corner, wore blue glasses and a beard covered his face. He was an intel- lectual giant, the son of a Baptist minister and had come out on the prairies for recuperation. When I told the committee that I was a theological black sheep, this man asAvered in a few words which settled the ques- tion and his words were these: "Well, Mr. Bush, we all like a frank man.'' That was all that Avas said. Our Father runs the trains. You will notice the trend of Providence or psychological law running through this story for who do you suppose this man with blue glasses was? He Avas a Baptist preach- ers' son but that is only saying half, he was the son of one of the most respected ministers in the State, who had held the best pulpit of his denomination in the State and who knew all about my affair and who had written to his son about the ecclesiastical machinery steam-rolling one, David V. Bush, and the old Baptist minister wuote to his son saying it was the most dis- graceful, unbrotherly act that he had ever seen. CONCENTRATION 607 My Father runs the trains. He makes all stops, he knoAvs every curve, he knows where each switch is located, and he knows how long Ave should run on the siding, he knows when the signal should be given to stop and when the sign is safe to go ahead. He runs the trains and there is no power in the world and no set of men or no combination of circumstances that can combine to keep each individual life on God's train from running on schedule time and reaching life's terminal. God runs the trains. He runs YOUR train. It was not long before, with the help of my church and the loan of money, I got a Government home- stead; so you see what I lost was gained and much more. I got more salary in Faith than I would have had in the other town and a fine piece of land besides and, more than that, I proved to myself and, I hope, this has proven to you that Avhen God is alloAved to run the train, with no negation on our part, no worries, no anxieties, that He runs our affairs better than we can plan for ourselves. Not only my denomination now kept on my trail but, having a Federated Church, I Avas blocking de- nominational schemes from erecting two or three churches in this little toAvn. That meant that church superintendents and overseers would not get the credit for erecting another church in Faith, while I was there, and so other denominations joined my own to undo me. My salary was contributed by the merchants of the little toAvn and I Avas dependent upon the community entirely to foot the bills; no church department to back me up; no denominational exchequer so, when the happy scheme was concocted by church leaders to starve me, 608 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE they thought they "had me on the hip," so emissaries were sent to this little town, who called individually on the merchants who contributed to my support and told the merchants what a bad actor I Avas; but they did not get very far for the merchants believed in me, they thought I rang true and moreover they did not like the underhand-workings of cheap ward political duplicity that was being planned off against me by Christian leaders; so, when the merchants were called upon and told of my unfitness to preach and that if they would just withdraw the support from me, I would be starved out, there was not a single merchant in the town Avho withdrew a cent from my salary but, on the other hand, they were those willing to double their subscription if I would remain their minister. Ousted, discredited, black-listed and threatened, never to preach! But they had not figured that God runs the trains. I preached in that very State for over five years and left the State a minister in good standing. For over three years on the prairies I was a minister of the Federated Church, without any ecclesiastical stand- ing whatsoever in the eyes of the denominations; I was an outcast but, to my little flock on the prairies, I was their pastor; and, after three years, with no ministerial standing, the great Congregational denomination took me under the shelter of its wings and licensed me a Congregational Pastor. When the representatives of the congregational domination called upon me relative to taking a Con- gregational Church, they said: "In looking up your record, there was just one thing Avhich prompted us to invite you to become a Congregational Minister." CONCENTRATION 609 Of course if my old denomination had anything against my character or could have found anything to mag- nify their statement that I Avas not a man, in any Avay Avhatsoever, I never would have preached; but, after the congregationalists had looked "into my record," all the ................church could say was that I was not doctrinal enough, but that would not have reinstated me. The ministers said that the one thing that persuaded them to extend to me a Congregational Pastorate Avas that, during all of my hounding, they could not find where I had said one unkind thing about my denomination or the particular leaders who had sought my downfall. Thus you see, as you have read the chapter on Scientific Prayer, that all thought is prayer as well as every action is a prayer and that prayer and concen- tration are synonymous—one and the same thing. Therefore when we concentrate to be lifted from life's entanglements or to overcome lack and limitation; or concentrate for love, friendship or business; this con- centration must never be folloAved by negative thought —not a doubt, a question or anxiety. To get results from concentration, it is a matter of sending out our thought knoAving that, if Ave are in harmony, our Avish shall become a realit}'. "Mine own will come to me." During the darkest days following my excommuni- cation I had no doubts or Avorries and I used to laugh Avhen the family seemed doAvncast, saying that some time it Avould all clear up and that Ave Avould be able to say that Ave had championed such a movement as the Church Federation. 610 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE My Father runs the trains. Your own will come to you, but there must not be anxious or worried thoughts. The better you concentrate without anxiety or worry the quicker your problems will be solved. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LIX. VISUALIZATION. How to Meet Obligations and Raise Money. More mistakes are probably made by misapplying the law of visualization than any other one laAv, unless it is the application of negation in making affirmations. Be sure, in visualizing, never to limit the laAV. If you Avant to pay a debt, for instance, do not visualize the debt being paid in any one particular Avay for there is more than one way for the debt to be canceled. Never visualize money in the transaction, remember. If you want a debt cancelled, visualize the debt paid, Avith the receipt or the cancelled note or obligation in your pos- session and it is not necessary, by any means, to visu- alize the particular person handing you the cancelled obligation, although that may be all right. For instance. A young man asked me if I Avould not demonstrate money for him "by Saturday" and he offered me a good commission. Now I have no objection to people setting a date for demonstrating money, to be materialized at that particular time. There are some people AA?ho are much better demonstrators for prosperity than others, there are some Avho can visualize money quicker than others. I do not claim any particular talent in visualizing another man's debt paid on a certain day. This young man had paid a psychologist many months before Thirty-five Dollars for demonstrating money and the psychologist did it. 614 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE I would rather, however, teach the man how to demon- strate for himself; so, I asked him what he wanted to visualize and he said he had a note at the bank that must be paid by Saturday. He said that he had been visualizing that people would come in to his office and business would increase so that by Saturday he would have the necessary funds. Now it is all right to visualize more business—to work for more business and to expect more business— but it is a limitation of the law to visualize that any particular business will bring in the necessary funds to cancel a particular obligation. What that man wanted was this note cancelled and he should not have been too much concerned just how the note was to be cancelled; because, by visualizing one particular way only, he limited the law. I told him to visualize the note cancelled and in his possession and to never mind how the note was met. With this in mind he began working the law so there was no limitation. Saturday came, no money for the note and the young fellow, contrary to good psychological teaching, began to worry and wonder what was going to happen when he strolled into the bank. He had remembered that I had told him he must send out courageous thought currents and vibrations always and so, as he went into the bank, as he charged his subconscious mind with courageous, brave, confident thoughts, the worry imme- diately left his mind and, while standing in the bank, not knowing just what was going to happen next, con- trary to all previous experiences, the President came up to the young chap, passed the time of day and asked VISUALIZATION 615 what he could do for him. The young fellow was dumbfounded for he was new in the business world and had never been in the habit of having the Bank President asking to render him service; so, in his con- fident, courageous Avay, he began talking to the Banker, sending out courageous vibrations; he told the Banker that he was unable to meet the note that day. The Banker said, "Why that is all right, Ave will be very glad to give you more time." You see the obliga- tion was met. We don't have to Avorry whether we have the cold cash today to pay for the note, provided the Banker doesn't worry. Don't worry about your debts, let the other felloAV do the worrying. This young man's note was met and he walked out with it cancelled But, more than that, the extra rush of work that week brought in plenty to pay the bills and he learned something that was worth more to him than the Five Hundred Dollars cash, namely, that he had credit at the bank. If he had continued to visualize wrongly, had lost his nerve and had sent out vibrations of timidity, the note would not have been extended and the young fellow would not only have been greatly embarrassed but might have lost his phychology, business foreclosed and faith lost forever. Now, you want your notes cancelled, don't you? You want your debts paid but you don't want to visual- ize how it is going to be done. If you think tne only way of meeting your debt is through your personal business, you are limiting the laAV and, Avhile the debt may be paid by your business, you should not bind the operation of the laAV. You, Avhen your note comes due, 616 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE want it met legally and honestly but don't visualize people coming into your office and giving you orders. You may get money in some other way for there are many ways that your note might be cancelled besides through the returns from your own business. Bankers under normal conditions would rather have their money out draAving interest, than not. If you OAve a note and are keeping up with the legal requirements of your State, by paying a little, you can often have the balance extended. When the time comes there Avill be a way to pay it or to secure an extension. You want your obligations met and you Avant them met in a way that will be satisfactory to everyone. Never plan the way you want a debt met. You are visualizing only one way to meet it when there may be dozens of ways to cancel it. This young man thought the note had to be paid or he would be a "goner." He told me that Avhen the Banker informed him the note could be extended, he Avas a neAV man—he simply 'Svalked on air" to think the Banker would give him a little more time. He discovered he had a reputation in that town and not only would the note be extended but he could get more money if he wanted it; so, in visualizing your debts paid, here is the way to do it! Take, for instance, a grocery bill: You Avill visual- ize that you have the grocery bill in your possession, marked paid, but don't visualize that you are paying it out of your pay envelope or an insurance policy that has come due or that an uncle is going to die and leave you money. Never visualize hoAV that debt is going to be paid but visualize that you have the grocery bill receipted and in your possession. The same with a VISUALIZATION 617 note at the bank: Never visualize how you are going to get the money but visualize the note taken care of and cancelled. If you have ever had a note renewed you Avill knoAV that they put a stamp "Paid" on it and have you make out a neAV note. Visualize the note paid and cancelled and returned to you. A Avoman did not know Avhere she Avas going to get money to take our course. She sent out the "Avord"— concentrating—visualizing that she would take my course. Someone telephoned this lady the next da}', "I Avant a special kind of Avork done and you can do it. What Avill you charge?" No limit to her visualizing— she wanted the course—she got it. There was a woman Avho had once been in very good circumstances but later had some trouble and divorce. After one of my free lectures on poverty, that woman Avent home singing and as she sang she said: "Money will come to me. I have abundance, health, plenty for all of my needs" and before 12 o'clock a man came to her door and said "I Avant a particular kind of work done. I knoAV you can do it. Name your price and I Avill pay it." You Avant your obligations met. Suppose this Avoman had visualized she Avas going to clerk in a store and from her pay envelope get her money. She Avould have sent out a thought current that Avould have separated her from the man Avho came and offered her Avork particularly to her liking. Visualize your obligations paid, cancelled and in your pocket. Maybe you have bought some oil stock twenty-five years ago and something turns up that you get returns out of it. 618 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE I know of a certain school teacher who had taught nearly forty years when the time came that he was compelled to resign in favor of some younger teacher. He had devoted all of his life in the school room—had lived only from the small salary of the school teacher. Just prior to the time when he should be asked to resign because of old age, he had a siege of typhoid fever during which time he spent his life's savings. All of his efforts, life and strength spent in teaching school, old age coming, no job and all of the earnings of his many years of work now gone: But, that man does no longer have to "depend upon a job" or the "School Board's Pay Envelope" for many years before he had dropped a seed when he encouraged a little fellow—the target of unwise teachers who had misunderstood the "boy" and kept him from progressing. This seed, dropped thirty years before, had been sprouting all these years. Today the seed is a sturdy oak with pro- tecting branches of monthly checks to take care of this wonderful school teacher as long as he lives. If you are a school teacher or any other salaried person, do not visualize your pay envelope meeting all of your needs; visualize that your needs are met for there are more sources in the world for abundance to pour from than the "pay envelope of the School Board.'' Never visualize money; the Universal Supply, the Divine Source for all our needs, is ever-present and abundant and our needs will be met for us in more ways than the "pay envelope" if we do not limit the law. Do you get my illustration? You have dropped a seed in your life somewhere and it is going to bear VISUALIZATION 619 fruit. Don't think your pay envelope is going to meet your needs. Though this teacher may never have put any money in the bank, he has an accumulated principle of kindness and gratitude which will bear interest for years to come and that man, so long as he lives, will have all his needs met and he will never have to worry for one minute. The thing I am trying to impress upon you is don't visualize money. Visualize all your needs as met and the law will take care of the rest. There is a banker in South Dakota. When I was excommunicated and had no place to preach and didn't have anything in the world to give as collateral, that banker loaned me eight hundred and twenty-five dol- lars—just on my "face"—and what a face it is! There is a friendship between us nothing could ever buy. I had to meet it a little at a time, twenty-five dollars or ten dollars. I never in the world could have gotten eight hundred dollars together to pay that man when it came due. Don't be afraid if you don't have the cash when your obligation is due. That banker would rather have that money out at interest than to hava had me pay the eight hundred dollars. Don't visualize money any time—no matter hoAV you have been taught—visualize your obligations as met. Visualization is imagination-plus. Visualization is imagination sunk doAvn deep in the subconscious mind so that we in the subconscious mind see what we want to accomplish. It is the imagination put to work in the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind does ninety per cent of everything done by man. 620 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE MONEY. Never visualize money for anything. Maybe lots of people Avill have "shoes" put into their possession, that will not cost them any money. If you need a pair of shoes you don't knoAV who is going to come along and say, "Here is a fine pair of shoes." If you visualize money for shoes you are always limiting the supply. DEBTS PAID. Money is only a medium of exchange. Money is not the "big thing." If you want your debts paid, don't ever visualize money paying your debts. If you have a debt to be paid don't visualize the money that is going to pay it, cancel the note or pay the mortgage. If you visualize money you are limiting the law. Visualize all debts; the receipt in your posession. All notes cancelled and returned to you. All your needs met. Remembering that there is an abundant supply before your demand; that you are concerned, not so much in cold cash to meet your demands, but only con- cerned that the law will take care of you. Do not limit the law and it Avill take care of you. All things are in Divine Order, are working for your good, this minute, and with the proper visualization your supply will speedily come. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LX. VISUALIZATION—Continued. *Just How to Visualize. For Position—Love—Education—Author—Inventor — Mines—Return of Lost One—Salesman. For Visualizing Health (see Healing Section of this book). Finally, again let me urge you to make your visual- ization large; make your pattern big. Before the con- tractor starts on a great skyscraper, the architect has carefully made the blueprints. Visualization is the blueprint of the mind and, just as there is unlimited source—of abundance of health and happiness and power—in Omnipotent Spirit, so there is unlimited possibilities for the person who can visualize big things. If the contractor follows the blue prints of the architect and the architect has made a small dwelling blueprint, that is what the contractor will build. The same thing is true of the mind. If in the mind we make our blue- prints small, the construction will be small. Don't be afraid of making a big blueprint and the structure that will be materialized from the mind's pattern will follow very closely that which the mind has drawn. There- fore, take time, be methodical, systematic and careful that the pattern—blueprint—may be made in the very •For a more scientific and understandable treatise on visualization, see "Visualization" in the author's "Applied Psychology and Scientific Living." 624 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE choicest manner. Incoherent, inadequate, slipshod visu- alization can only result in incoherent and inadequate form. Two women drove up to a farm house one day to inquire the direction. While the lady of the house stood near the car, a man was approaching Avhose cos- tume bore scant resemblance to anything usually worn by mortals—there was a difference in the size of the trouser legs, the shape of the coat, the sleeves looked more like bags than sleeves and the vest was the shape of a gunny sack. In fact, it AAras a make-up that few mortals have ever seen and one woman asked respect- fully of the farm lady: "Who made your husband's clothes?" to which the woman replied: "I made them;" and "Where" said the lady "do you get your patterns?" "Patterns," said the farm Avoman, "AAdiy, I don't use patterns. I just look at John, I take the scissors, I cut and then I seAV it up." If we, just in the same indifferent, slipshod and careless manner, weave our pattern in the mind, the result will be most disappointing—if indeed, there is any realization at all. Make the blueprint large, the pattern careful, and the manifestation of your projected thought will be in kind. The biggest difficulty in the understanding of the laAv of visualization is the limitation of the law, which so many people unconsciously do. We should so visualize that there will be no "step- ping on the hose" of mental visualizations. There are just a dozen and one ways that we may limit the law. For instance: here is a Avoman who is most desirious that VISUALIZATION G25 her boy shall attend college and she is visualizing that her divorced husband, the boy's father, will send the money to put him through school. Now that mother is limiting the Liw. There is more than one way of getting through school. There is some other way than having one man furnish the cash, so when that woman visualizes that her husband (Avith whom she no longer lives) shall send her son to school, she is absolutely limiting the laAV. What she Avants ti the boy in college and the particular Avay he gels through college, ought not to be her concern so much as just the fact that he Avill get through. Instead of visualizing one man supplying the money, she should visualize something else, for there may be some other man than the husband Avho would be glad to help her son or, if the son is throAvn upon his oavu resources and has to help himself, it may be the best thing in the world for him or, by applying himself so, he may Avin the favor of some one in the toAvn or some one in the college, so that he could make extra money to get through school; but this Avoman, in visualizing her husband sending the boy, is limiting the laAv. She is making it possible for only one Avay, avMIc, if it is left to the law, the law might open a dozen Avays. What she should do is to visualize her son on his way to college; visualize her son matriculating, Avalk- ing over the campus, attending classes, enjoying his recitations; mingling Avith the students, in the chapel and, finally, Avith the diploma in his hand. That Avould be proper visualization without limitation of the laAV. Any physician Avould tell you that, for a Avoman to have a cancer on her breast for thirty years, it is impos- 626 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE sible, yet I know of a woman who for thirty years has had a cancer on her breast. You, AArho folloAV me through this course, realize, understand and appreciate that every case of mental healing has come by the law of suggestion. This woman went to John Alexander Dowie to have him pray that her cancer would proceed no further; and it did not. It remained, did not leave, but became no larger. She had the answer to her prayer, the ansAver to her visualization. The law of suggestion stopped the cancer so that it did not spread but neither did it disappear. Before she went to Dowie and leaving, she visual- alized her breast with the cancer no larger than it was. She limited the law. If she had visualized a normal, well, healthful breast, she Avould have seen the cancer disappear. Another woman in one of our classes had an obli- gation of nearly $10,000.00 to meet. She thought there was one of three ways that the obligation could be taken care of, when due. She was away from home and telegraphed her banker the three Avays that obligation might be met, but neither one of the ways was success- ful. In despair she sat down to think the matter over, when Lo! and Behold! a telegram came saying that the obligation had been met. Some unexpected person had advanced the money to the banker. Never visualize any particular way that an obligation is going to be met but visualize that it is met; that you have the receipt in your pocket. If you have a home or property to sell, never visualize that a particular person is going to buy that property or a particular real estate agent selling it VISUALIZATION 627 but visualize some one inspecting it, looking at it Avith much pleasure and joy of having the privilege of oAvn- ing it and, in visualizing some one, do not visualize a particular type of person, neither large nor small, neither light hair nor dark hair but just some one, inspecting the property, who expresses delight; and visualize the transaction consummated and the papers in your possession. Never select a certain person to whom you are going to sell your property. Never say: "There is the man who ought to have it," or: "I am going out today and find some one aat1io Avill buy this property." Let the law do that for you. The law never makes a mistake. In visualizing a position, never visualize being connected Avith a certain concern. For instance: here is a man AAdio had been visualizing that he might go West with a particular Company, in a particular capac- ity. At the same time he was visualizing for another position to open and, if it was not right to get one position, that he might get the other. He is a man Avho was visualizing two definite positions. He had not de- cided in his mind A\rhat he wanted to do as a life's voca- tion. He thought either one of these tAvo jobs Avas worth seeking and getting. So, instead of visualizing that he Avould have a position where he was happy and successful, not a particular place or not for a par- ticular concern but a position where he Avas happy without visualizing East or West—that Avould have given the law a chance to operate for his benefit; he visualized two particular jobs and almost simultane- ously both of them were offered. 628 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE He accepted one and Avent to another part of the country but Avas never happy in it. What had he done ? He had limited the law. He had visualized a certain job, in a certain city, instead of visualizing work where he would be happy and successful. Another instance: a certain school teacher had been told that she should expect to be removed, from the school in Avhich she was teaching, to another part of the city. She thought she did not want to leave where she Avas so she "held the thought" that she would not be moved, instead of visualizing that she would be happy v^herever she was and thus letting the law take care of herself, whether she was to remain there and be happy, or go somewhere else and be happy; she visualized herself remaining there and the power of thought, which is scientific and powerful, by her wrong application did prevent her from being moved, but it was not long afterAvard that she found that she was not happy. Some other Principal came to that school Avhich. made her teaching there not as harmonious as before and she then could see that, if she had allowed the law to work for her, the law would have taken care of her needs better than herself. Always remember that psychology teaches thanks- giving and gratitude and honesty of purpose and never visualize the sale of property or any transaction, what- soever, that may have mixed with it on your part the evidence of trickery. Remember that the power of the spoken word leaves your mental sending station and that evil comes back as a boomerang. Lo! the evil you thought for others comes back to strike your own bosom. VISUALIZATION 629 One night after class a Avoman very hurriedly in- sisted upon having an intervieAV and said that it Avas very urgent and necessary. She would pay me Avell for it, if I would visualize that she could sell her automobile tomorroAV; I suspected that there Avas some- thing wrong Avith the machine or she would not have been in such a state of agitation and I said "What is the matter Avith it?" and, of course, refused the aid. She had a car that Avould not run for herself, an added expense. She had a prospective buyer and Avanted mo to visualize that that buyer would pay doAvn his good money for a car that he thought Avas a good car, Avhen he was being duped. Never use any psychological laAv in any Avay whatsoever to harm some one else. In visualizing a life's companion he sure you do not visualize anyone in particular. Just scores of peo- ple tell me they are visualizing that they shall marry a certain man or a certain Avoman. That is the wrong application of the law. For instance, one woman came to me for a private intervieAV and Avanied to know if I thought her fiance loved her and then she told me that they had had the Avcdding set twice and she had bought a trousseau for each occasion and, neither time, did the groom appear; that now he Avas away and, when he did come to the city, he never came out to see her and she heard that lie was loving another woman. Then she asked me if I thought lie still loved her and if she should not visualize that, the next time the wedding Avas set, he Avould be there. It did not take a psychologist to tell her the man did not love her. Circumstances ought to have proven that but, 630 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE the point is, she had her mind set on that particular man and, all the time that she was visualizing that particular man, she was limiting the law and preventing other men, Avho would make her more happy than this one, being attracted to her. If Ave concentrate—visualize—for the particular man, Ave are sending out cross currents and mental- meter-waves of negation, Avhich will cross-circuit the natural laAvs of love and attraction so that the real one Avho could make us extremely happy is not attracted to us. Don't try to marry a woman Avho belongs to some one else. If you think you cannot get along Avithout the love of this particular person and, indeed, if 3rou have been, for the time being, happy in his presence, you will never make a mistake by putting it in the hands of the laAV. Charge your subconscious mind, as I have told you in another chapter, that it will take care of your love affairs and visualize some one making you happy, not the particular person on whom your heart is centered. You may be attracted to him on one of the five planes, instead of on the five planes and, by visual- izing him, you are preventing attracting some other one Avith whom you could vibrate on the whole five planes; instead of this one person who cannot vibrate on more than one of your planes* No matter how urgent the moment may be for you to make your choice, do not say: "I am going to get that man;" but forget that man in your visualization. *To know hoAV to be married on the five planes to avoid matrimonial mistakes—see the author's "Hoav to Make Love and Marry—Sex Power." VISUALIZATION 631 Do not let him appear in your consciousness in any Avay Avhatsover, but visualize some man Avho can make you happy. If you had your heart set upon some particular man, have often entertained him at your home or have been accustomed to go to certain places of amusement Avith him and you are at a loss to knoAV Avhether he is the one you should marry or not, then visualize going to some other places of amusement with some one else Avho is making you happy; strolling doAvn some street Avhere you have not been accustomed to go; visiting some park or homes Avhere you have not been going Avith this other man and, above everything else, do not visualize the home in Avhich this other man may have spent time with you. The science of this, of course, is to be assured that you in no way use any visualizations Avhich Avill give you the surroundings of Avhere you Avere in com- pany Avith the other man. If you AArant to collect a debt be just as careful to put no limitations upon the operation of the law. Again, do not visualize money. The person avIio OAves you a debt may, at this particular time, not have cash on hand, but can give you payment in some other Avays, as stocks, bonds, property or other collateral; therefore, visualize the debt canceled, the papers re- ceived. Visualize the debtor, or his representative, meeting you in a happy mood and settling the account, Avithout visualizing the particular stack of money. You are making it possible for the debtor to meet his obliga- tion by Avhatever means are at his command. He may give you oil stock, farm land, or real estate, Avhich in time Avill be worth much more than the ready cash uoav. 632 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE If you are going to visualize an oil Avell or gold mine, I Avould be just as scientific in this visualization as I Avould in love making or paying debts. In the first place it would be much better before visualizing oil to be sure that you are not going to visualize an oil Avell in any particular location. All the visualizing in the Avorld may not sprout an oil Avell in your back-yard. The same as in everything else, in visualizing make no definite concrete picture of time or place of your visual- ization, but alloAV it to be broad and large—aye, un- limited. If you are going to visualize oil or gold, the better Avay Avould be to visualize the oil being used all over the country by people AA'ho need that commodity and, if it is gold, that people all over the country are receiving and spending gold cr its equivalent. Ahvays visualize the people happy in the transaction. It would be well not to put too much limitation upon your oil well or gold mine, because you may be able to make a gold mine Avith your brain instead of by prospecting or by investing. Visualizing for natural resources is a most delicate application of the law, therefore, if you are visualizing for oil or gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc et cetera, the one safe and sure Avay Avould be to visual- ize these commodities being used by people throughout the country, bringing prosperity and happiness to them. If you are an author or ambitious to become an author, you should not visualize any particular peri- odical or paper, accepting your manuscripts, but visual- ize your manuscripts being sent to editors all over the country and that they are pleased to read what you have Avritten; see them Avriting letters of acceptance VISUALIZATION 633 and finally be sure to visualize the public reading your articles or books, making your visualization large. Don't visualize one State or locality reading your articles or books but visualize people all over the country getting inspiration, help, comfort, joy and peace from your writings. If you have an invention you want to market, then the same thing would be true Avith this, as with writ- ing. Visualize the particular invention you have being sold all over the world; people happy in using this invention, bringing them more comfort, ease and pleas- ure. If it should be a heating plant, visualize homes more comfortable by your heating apparatus and see these heaters in homes all over. Do not visualize money coming in, in particular, from the heaters but visualize orders coming in and being filled, Avhile the people are joyfully seeing the heaters installed and enjoying the comforts of the same. If it is a household utensil, do the same thing; namely: see orders coming in, orders being filled; the particular commodity in the possession of the house- Avife; she happy in the use of it in her kitchen. Remember when I say "see," I mean a mental pic- ture sunk into the subconscious mind.* If you want to visualize someone returning home after an absence of years, visualize the person return- ing Avith an elastic step, joyful spirit and happy expres- sion, to greet you in a fond embrace. Ahvays visual- ize the person coming to you and not you going to •For a full explanation see the author's "Applied Psychol- ogy and Scientific Living," chapter on "Visualization." 634 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE the person. Then, after you have visualized, be strong in your faith and courageous in your thoughts that this person will return. By proper visualiza- tion, with no doubts and Avorries,. you will send, by the law of vibration, your thought currents through the universal ether Avhere they Avill be received by this lost one's mental-receiving-station and the person's face will be turned homeward, by the laAV of attraction. If you visualize someone coming home, do not take a steamer to cross the ocean to find him. By this you are, first, showing your doubts that he aauII not return and, second, he may return home while you are absent. I know of one mother who, after twenty years' absence of her son—she, most of this time, visualizing his return—missed the return of her son because she became so anxious that she boarded a steamer to go to Europe to find her boy. While she was going to Europe, he was returning home. The two ships "passed in the night" and the delay of seeing her boy was many years. So anxious Avas she to find this son that she cross- circuited her visualizing by taking two trips to Europe in the hope that she Avould be able to find him. In my class I explained to her that her anxiety had prevented the constructive, sure, strong thought cur- rents from being generated so that her doubts produced like doubts in the mind of her son wherever he was. The fact that she made two trips to Europe Avas proof: that she was not sure her visualization would bring about the return of her son—her heart's desire. I told this woman that she should visualize the son re- VISUALIZATION 635 turning home as mentioned above and then not to cross- circuit her wireless messages by her overanxiousness. She followed directions and within six Aveeks that son returned to his mother. If you are a Sales Manager and you Avant to visual- ize business, hold your subconscious imagery to a men- tal picture pattern of salesmen, covering their territory, interesting business houses in their goods, shoAving their samples to a pleased prospective buyer, then the trans- action closed and the shipments on the AAray, as Avell as in the store of the purchaser. Be sure and understand that the more you con- centrate—visualize, without stress or strain and with- out any anxiety—the sooner and better the law will operate for you. WHILE VISUALIZING AND AFTER VISUAL- IZING YOU SHOULD HAVE NO "WORRIED" THOUGHTS, BUT THINK AND KNOW THAT YOUR OWN WILL COME TO YOU. You may be wondering Avhy you do not seem to have an answer to your visualization and it may be the same in visualization as it is in concentration, as it is in the silence, you are limiting the laAV again by being over-anxious and Avorried. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXI. SCIENTIFIC EXERCISING. How to Keep Fit on Eight Minutes a Day. Dr. Woods Hutchinson, the eminent physician, teacher, writer, etc., says: "No cure of any duration can be made by drugs; but only by food, fresh air, exer- cise, cleanliness." There is danger in a calling which requires great expenditure of vitality at long, irregular intervals. He who is not regularly, or systematically employed incurs perpetual risk. "Of the thirty-two all-round athletes in a New York club not long ago," says a physician, "three are dead of consumption, five have to wear trusses, four or five are lop-shouldered, and three have catarrh and partial deafness." Dr. Patten, chief sur- geon at the National Soldiers' Home at Dayton, Ohio, says that "of the five thousand soldiers in that institu- tion fully eighty per cent are suffering from heart dis- ease in one form or another, due to the forced physical exertions of the campaigns." Paul Von Boeckmann, the noted Physical Culturist, says: "How true my ediction was, can be better real- ized when I state that only one of the noted athletes of the last generation died at a reasonably old age. On the other hand, the others died while still comparatively young men. "I recall to your memory Pennell, the famous "Hercules;" the Jap, the celebrated wrestler; Prof. 640 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Dowd and Prof. Winship, the well-known physical cul- turists; Dempsey, Peter Jackson, George Dickson and Joe Gans, the great pugilists; Kennedy ,the man Avho lifted over 4,000 pounds a few years ago in Madison Square Garden; Nick Murphy, the Avorld's greatest long distance pedestrian; and Hanlon, the world's greatest oarsman. "I could mention scores of less noted athletes who died at an early age. Very recently, within a short space of only a feAv months, Frank Gotch, the champion wrestler; Bob Fitzsimmons, the great prize fighter, and John J. McCullough, the former amateur champion skater of the world, fell victims to what our physical culturists term "scientific physical exercise." In view of these statistics, can anyone doubt that excessive physical strain undermines the constitutional powers, and when it can wreck a robust athlete, is it not logical to assume that a man or Avoman with less strength is even in far greater danger of undue strain from physical exertion? Some Physical Culturists, in an attempt to defend their unwise system of physical training, have stated that the early death of athletes is due to excesses, also to over-development of the lungs, the latter theory being based upon the fact that most athletes die of tuberculosis and pneumonia. It is not true that athletes practice excesses except in a feAv instances only. They certainly do not abuse themselves more than the average man who outlives them. The terms "over-trained" or "gone stale" are well known in athletic circles, and nearly every SCIENTIFIC EXERCISING 641 athlete has experienced the great mental and physical depression that results from severe physical exercise. That trainer of athletes is the most successful one, who can bring his charge to the highest point of physical endurance and yet not endanger him by bringing him too close to the point of being "over-trained." Let us assume, however, that strenuous physical exercise does not overtax the vital powers. Can any- one question the truth of the fact that it stunts the development of the brain? Is it not a well-known fact that our noted athletes, even those in our colleges, are not over-burdened with brains? Furthermore, the instinct of race preservation is directly dependent upon a vigorous and normal nerv.ous organization, especially the Internal (Sympathetic Sys- tem). Statistics show that few of our physical marvels marry and, when they do marry, they have no children. Does this not indicate that their nerve powers have been semi-paralyzed or suppressed for some reason? What can be more logical than the assumption that, when the blood is drained of its last bit of nourishment for the development of muscle, there Avill be nothing left with which to build brain? It is true also that intense brain exercise depletes the blood so that the muscular system is deprived of nourishment and cannot develop normally. The facts presented are not new. They have again and again been expounded by medical men and others who have studied the subject. It is for this reason that in some of our colleges, the more strenuous sports have been discontinued, especially rowing. 642 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Arthur Brisbane, the keen observer and phil- osopher, who probably commands the highest remuner- ation paid to any writer in America, in commenting upon Col. Theodore Roosevelt's serious illness shortly before he died, says: " 'If the Colonel had not recently overdone the business of exercising, putting himself in the hands of a former prize-fighter to be 'trained,' running up and down the road in heavy sweaters, taking off twenty-five pounds quickly and violently, weakening his heart and reducing the quality of his blood, this attack probably would not have come upon him. . . . Many a man has been killed by 'cures' in which ignorant trainers over- look the importance of the heart and blood.' " Geo. M. Beard, A.M., M.D., the noted American authority on Neurasthenia and author of many impor- tant books on the subject, in discussing the value of gymnastics and the effect upon the nerves, says: "Nervous people weaken themselves by trying to make themselves strong with dumb bells, rowing and other forms of exercise, not because these exercises have not a place in hygiene, but because where the quantity of nervous force is limited, there is the great- est danger possible of drawing too heavily upon it; and especially is this true AAdiere there is an ambition of one to do what another cannot do. If either extreme is to be chosen, it is well, on the AAdiole, to err on the side of rest, rather than on the side of excess of physical exertion. It is not safe to advise a person who is some- what broken down, to practice gymnastics indiscrim- SCIENTIFIC EXERCISING 643 inately, especially in the case of natives of the United States. "Almost daily in my correspondence, I hear of cases where physical culturists have caused a nervous breakdown or injured the nervous system through in- judicious physical exercise. The following cites an example: "When I was nineteen years old my nerves began to bother me and, believing that greater physical strength would overcome the weakness, I wrote to a teacher of physical culture, who assured me that my nerve weakness could be readily corrected through his system of physical exercise. To cut a long story short, I broke down completely and was sent to .... Sani- tarium, where my case was pronounced neurasthenia, brought about by physical training." Exercise that demands intense conscious effort, as is necessary when exercise is derived from one set of muscles being tensed against another set; or apparatus that demands intense mental concentra- tion ; is especially injurious, as it places a great tax on the nerves. The more CONSCIOUS exercise is, the greater is the nerve strain. Hence the reason that "play" is the best form of exercise. "As Dr. Beard very wisely intimates, physical exer- cise has its value as a curative agent, but it must be practiced Avithin reasonable limits. Most teachers of physical exercise, however, do not know the meaning of judicious exercise. Because they developed their physique through strenuous training, they assume that the same means, possibly slightly modified, must accom- plish the same results in every case and thus they 644 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE proceed to prescribe physical exercise for every possible Aveakness. "Be it understood, I know well the great benefits that may be derived from physical exercise, having had vast experience in this work for years. Furthermore, no one is a greater admirer of a beautiful physique than I am and I believe it is a sacred duty of every man and woman to attain the highest possible physical strength and beauty that Nature will permit; and, had I to live my life over again, I Avould strive to attain the power- ful physique I have today, though, of course, I would avoid certain criminal errors I made through ignor- ance. I, too, have over-trained and over-taxed my constitution. On one occasion I rode a bicycle 1,600 miles in 16 days (1903), establishing an American Road Record, with the result that for eighteen months thereafter, I was physically and mentally stagnant and, had I not adopted proper means to rebuild my nerve forces, perhaps I should be a broken-down man today. "From the foregoing facts it is evident that phyi- cal exertion is a decided drain upon the vital forces. Therefore, persons with deficient Nerve Force should be very careful not to exert themselves beyond their power of nerve recuperation. As suggested by Dr. Beard, it is better to err on the side of safety than to overdue things. "Rapid walking is a very common form of nerve strain, and should be avoided by those Avho lack nerve capital. It is a double strain, because rapid walkers are usually tense mentally when they walk. They race along with their hands clenched, muscles tense, and even the mind tense. SCIENTIFIC EXERCISING 645 "Though walking is considered the Avorld over as an excellent form of exercise, I consider that it is not an exercise in the true sense of the word, that is, a 'health exercise,' one that will improve the functions of the vital organs, especially the lungs, as is so often stated. Few people have the endurance and strength to walk rapidly enough to cause sufficiently vigorous deep breathing to bring about a development of the lungs. It is the heart only that is taxed to any decided degree. "On the other hand, slow Avalking in the open air, especially when augmented by conscious breathing, is decidedly beneficial, in that it is an important form of mental and nervous relaxation. It soothes the nerves, and induces gentle fatigue Avhich leads to restful sleep." No life insurance company Avill insure a college coach or professional athlete. Modern athletics make for anything but a well-developed symmetrical body. Forty-five years is the average life of a college athlete. The sports of today in our educational institutions have run riot—Avild and crazy—in over-straining. How many of our boys in the high schools of the country have developed an athletic heart, to say nothing of the professional athletes! An athletic heart in a youngster before he has finished high school is not the right kind of a heart for any school system to develop and yet that is the practise perpetrated upon many unsus- pecting American youths avIio are ambitious to demon- strate their proAvess above their class mates. I have a friend, sixteen years old, in a high- school in one of our largest cities, who won the pennant 646 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE for running against all contesting high-schools. He won the pennant but developed an athletic heart—over- strained. He over-did the running game. The family physician cautioned the mother that if her boy ever ran another race it would be extremely detrimental. In spite of this, the next year, the prinicpal of that high-school, who evidently had more interest in the running pennant prize than in the interest of the future of his students, urged this mother to allow the boy to run that next year, because this high-school wanted to carry off the honors—the "cost" of the honors was no concern of his. That is not common sense, much less "horse sense" in the training of a human body for life's career. Overstrained muscles are not conducive of brains, much less a symmetrical and developed body. Physical culture should have but one purpose; namely, to make a healthy, symmetrical, beautiful body Avith a clear, efficient brain. An over-worked, muscular human has spent so much energy in making muscles that he has neglected the brains. Any exercise which does not incorporate, with the muscular movements, brain power and development, is an exercise that is but partially beneficial. The business man who hurriedly gulps down a lunch, rushes to the Y. M. C. A. and hastily goes through some exercise—with his mind back in his office or on his business affairs—might just as well have stayed off of the gym floor, so far as beneficial results are concerned from his exercising. If he pulls the weights and, at the same time, is wondering whether. his stenographer is looking after his mail, if the ship- ping clerk is getting the orders out or if the clerks are SCIENTIFIC EXERCISING 647 on the job. It would be better for that man to be back where he could see the stenographer, talk to the ship- ping clerk and watch the clerks, instead of wasting his time trying to build up his body at the Y. M. C. A.—"goodness knows" it is not the Y. M. C. A.'s fault and not the fault of the apparatus but it is the fault of the man's mind. This leads us to remember that all exercise wants to be accomplished by thought. Therefore, every exercise should be taken with an affirmation. With this in view I shall give you a few affirmations which may be taken, as you scientifically exercise and keep your body fit, on eight minutes a day. AFFIRMATIONS: Health, Life, Vigor, Strength; Youth, Purity, Growth, Joy; Health, Harmony, Poise, Peace; Health, Youth, Plenty, Success; Health, Youth, Strength, Prosperity; Health, Joy, Youth, Happiness; Health, Youth, Strength, Vitality; Purity, Growth, Life, Success. As you take the following exercises repeat one of your affirmations. Do not alloAv your mind to drift, scatter, jump; or be anywhere except on your exer- cising. HAIR: Give a vigorous rubbing of the scalp, fol- loAved by a strenuous pulling of the hair. Catch the hair in between the fingers or Avith your hands and pull it and shake it at the same time until the scalp moves and the blood is brought in profusion to the 648 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE roots of the hair. This may hurt at first but after a few days of this kind of exercising you will be able to pull the hair with greater force, Avithout being con- scious of a semblance of pain. In any of the exercises do not over do. Don't pull the scalp off or uproot your crown, by too vigor- ous exercising. As you exercise take your affirmation. HEAD AND NECK: Stand erect always. Let the head fall toward the chest without bending the shoulders or without bending at the waist; bring the head back to your erect position and then bend it as far back as possible without over-straining. After this is done repeat three times. Then, with head erect, bend it to the right as far as possible without strain- ing; back to the normal position; then to the left. Repeat three times. Head erect; let it fall forward toward the chest and then roll the head in a circular movement, begin- ning toward the right, until a circle has been completed. Repeat three times, then reverse the circle. EYES: Standing erect, head likeAvise; roll the eye balls upward, downward, to the right, to the left. Repeat four times. Turn eye balls upward, make a complete circle four times. Then turn eyes to the left, to the right, then reverse, turning to the left. Turn the eye balls to the upper right hand corner of the eye, then downward to the left hand corner of the eye. Repeat four times; upper left hand corner looking upward, right hand corner looking downward. RISING ON TOES: Stand erect, place hands on hips; take a deep breath and rise on the toes—inhal- SCIENTIFIC EXERCISING 649 ing more as you rise. Return to the heels, exhaling. Repeat four times. ARMS: Hands folded into a fist. Fists on chest. Let the right arm strike out directly in front; back to the chest. Repeat four times. Left arm four times. Left hand the same, then alternate. Same position. Right hand strike out to the side as far as possible. Back to the chest. Four times. Left arm the same. Alternate, four times. Same position. Right hand strike upAvard as direct as possible. Back to the chest. Repeat four times. Left arm the same. Alternate, repeat four times. Stand erect, arms loose at the sides, hanging doAvn- Avard, lift the right arm forward and, raising it at the same time, make a complete circle raising it upAvard, backward, 4own> aH the Avay around. Repeat four times. Left hand the same. Reverse each arm, then draw a complete circle with both arms together. SHOULDERS: Standing erect, both arms hori- zontally even Avith the shoulders, palms upward. With- out raising the arms or shoulders, draAV a complete circle with the shoulders, arms remaining stiff. Same position. Raise the arms upAvard to an angle of 45 degrees, palms doAvmvard; draAV a complete circle Avith the shoulders Avithout lowering the arms. STAND ERECT: Hands on waist, knees stiff. Bend forward as far as possible, then back to normal position; bend backward as far as possible. Repeat four times. STANDING ERECT, hands on hips, knees stiff, bend to the right side as far as possible. Bend to the left. Repeat four times, then vice versa. 650 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE STANDING ERECT, hands on hips, knees stiff, bend forward, then to the right, back to the left, front, drawing a complete circle Avith the body. Repeat four times. Reverse the circle, four times. STANDING ERECT with the tips of the fingers touching at the base of the brain, elboAvs bending back- ward as far as possible, try to push the head forward with the fingers, at the same time the head pressing backward to prevent it from being pushed forward. In this position take your affirmation four times. STANDING ERECT, fingers at the base of the brain, as above, bend fonvard at the waist, knees stiff, Avith the head upward, looking forward at a given spot ahead about 6 inches from the floor. Back to standing position. Repeat four times. STAND ERECT, both arms at side, knees stiff; bend the body at the waist to the right as far as pos- sible, right arm and wrists stiff, reaching as far down on the leg as possible, while the left hand and arm bends over the head, the fingers almost touching the right ear. Reverse. Repeat four times. STANDING ERECT, arms at the side, cross the right leg over the left with the right leg stiff; touch a given point on the floor with the tips of the toes, as far as you are able to cross the right leg over the left, then draAV a circle to the right with the right leg, keeping the leg stiff until the right leg comes to the front; then to the right side and back until it comes directly back of the left leg. Then, bending both knees, let the body come toward the floor until the right knee almost touches the floor. Rise on the left knee, bringing the right leg back to the right, completing the SCIENTIFIC EXERCISING 651 circle toward the left until it crosses the left leg again and the right toes touch the imaginary spot to the left. Reverse, the left leg crossing the right, draAving the circle, going down on both knees and returning as before. STAND ERECT. Bring the fists up under the arm pit. Throw the shoulders back as far as possible, likeAvise the head. Repeat four times. Standing erect bring both arms forward parallel, upward as far as possible directly above head. Then with the arms stiff, begin to draw a circle, letting the hands come down in front at the sides, down to the sides and then back as far as possible. Return to the perpendicular. Repeat four times. STANDING ERECT, arms straight above the head, hands clasped, keeping the arms straight and the legs stiff, bend the body to the right as far as possible, then to the left. Repeat four times, and reverse. STANDING ERECT, knees stiff, bend forward at the Avaist as far as possible, touching the tips of the fingers on the floor. Back. Repeat four times. MILITARY SQUAT: Standing erect, feet about 8 inches apart, lower the body by bending the knees, arms extending horizontally even Avith the shoulders, go doAvn as far as possible, keeping the heels from touching the floor. Repeat four times. Standing erect, both arms even with the shoulders, extending to the front of the body, parallel, keeping the arms stiff, bend the body at the Avaist, at the same time bringing the arms doAvn to the side and back as far as possible. Repeat four times. 652 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Walk on the balls of the feet, imagining that you have a hook in your breast which is suspended by a rope and a pulley above and that this hook is lifting you off of the ground when you Avalk. Relax by shaking arms, fingers and feet at different times as you practice the exercise. Lying on the flat of the back, bring the right leg up to a perpendicular, keeping the legs stiff. Repeat four times. The left leg the same. LYING FLAT on the back, put the toes behind the bed railing and, keeping the knees stiff, raise the body to a sitting position. Repeat four times. LYING flat on the back, imagine you are riding a bicycle, giving the legs a vigorous exercise. In all your exercising you are still taking your affirmation, using your head and developing brains, as well as a symmetrical body. CONSTIPATION: Lying flat on the back, mas- sage the stomach and intestines, with a circular move- ment. Standing erect, let the weight of the body rest on the left foot; raise the right foot by bending to the left at the waist, keeping the right leg stiff. Repeat four times. Reverse. Weight of the body on the right foot, right leg stiff, raise the left foot by raising the body at the waist, bending to the right, legs stiff. Re- peat four times. VIBRATE INTERNAL ORGANS: Take a deep breath and vibrate each internal organ. This is done by placing the consciousness in the particular organ which you want to vibrate. Breathe deeply. Take your consciousness to the liver. Think strongly and SCIENTIFIC EXERCISING 653 breathe more. Breathe more and more Avith the con- sciousness in the liver and the liver will be vibrated. Do the same Avith the spleen, kidneys, stomach, solar plexus, bladder, appendix and ovaries. STANDING ERECT, take a deep breath and bring the consciousness, as you breathe deeper, to the apex of the right shoulder. Reverse to left shoulder. Re- peat four times. Taking a deep breath, bring the con- sciousness to the base of the lungs, breathing deeper and deeper, while focusing your consciousness there. Relax by shaking the arms or legs. Again STANDING ERECT, take a deep breath. Bring the consciousness, under the shoulder blades, back of the lungs. By placing your hands back of the head, this exercise may be more effectively practiced. NASAL BREATHING: Take a deep full breath, expel all the air from the lungs, one-third at a time, through the right nostril, making a noise as the air is expelled—crowded through the right nostril. Reverse, eroAvding the air through the left nostril. EARS: Open the mouth as far as possible, then move the lower jaw, by a jerking exercise, down as far as possible. Open the mouth as far as possible, then throAv the jaw to the right, then to the left. Repeat four times. Then try making a circle Avith the loAver jaAv, starting Avith the right side, coming doAvn and then to the left. Reverse. The results from exercise depends upon how well you use your brain—hoAV Avell you concentrate as you exercise. These exercises are not merely suggested— they are for practice. Exercise on paper Avon't do you 654 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE any good. Exercise can be converted into actual brain and muscle by practice. The great comedians, Webber and Field, had a farce staged in a gymnasium. Webber had bought some dumb-bells. A few days later Field asked him if he was getting any stronger, to which Webber replied "Oh, not much." Field said, "Do you use your dumb- bells?" and the Comedian retorted, "Oh! Do you have to use them?" You have your exercises now. Be sure to use them. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXIL SILENCE. Vibration. Sir Oliver Lodge says that we are living in air which is a thousand times denser than water. We can see waves made in Avater when the pebble is thrown into the lake. Just so with thought. Thought creates a disturbance in the etheric atmosphere which we breathe and these thought disturbances form Avaves in the universal ether. Scientists tell us, if we throw a stone into the middle of the ocean, this stone starts a circle of waves in the water of the ocean, which never stops. Scien- tists also tell us if we wave our hand, Ave start waves in the universal ether which likewise never stop. This is also true of thought. Each thought that is given expression starts a disturbance in the universal ether— thought waves—which likewise never stop. These thought waves travel around the globe, going on end- lessly, forever and forever. It is this new understanding of thought Avave— vibration—which is attracting the attention and focus- ing the minds of thinking people, as perhaps no other one subject is now engrossing their attention. These thought wave vibrations are the foundation of success, prosperity, joy, peace, happiness and health. When the Centurian's servant was sick and Jesus healed the servant, "at that same hour" by the spoken word, 658 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE it was done by vibration. The spoken word of the Master started disturbances in the universal ether which went as a wireless message until it reached the sick servant who was in rapport with the Centurian and Christ, thus making a perfect receiving station for the thought currents which Jesus sent. In our campaigns we very frequently hear of peo- ple who never attend our lectures or classes, but whose relatives or friends do, who are instantly healed at home. This" is very simple. Just as simple as Christ healing the Centurian. The people at home, not well, having been given up by doctors, have no recourse except healing by mental forces. Thus, while our classes are in progress they sit at home, a receiving station for the vibrations of the class and the SILENCE. We often hear of people at home who are not in accord, or at least who apparently pretend to have no faith in mental healing, who are instantly made well while our classes are in session. This, of course, is the same law which Christ used—which anyone can use; the law of mental healing done by vibration. Thoughts create disturbances in the ether which are carried to the patients who are good receiving stations. Just as people are healed by silent thoughts, creat- ing a disturbance in the atmosphere and traveling the same as wireless messages, so all kinds of business, domestic and individual problems may be solved by the same method. All great minds seek solitude fre- quently. Jesus very often went out on the "mountain to pray." It is recorded that he went forty days in the wilderness, after he had been baptised by John the Baptist. Pythagoras, Epictetus, Socrates, Plato, Aris- SILENCE 659 totle, Marcus Aurelius, Washington, Lincoln, Edison, Astor, Morgan, Robert E. Lee, Queen Victoria, Tesla, Flagler, were men Avho sought solitude, who took time to meditate, who went by themselves and, in the silence of their souls, worked out life's problems. For this reason most successful business men have an office or a room where they may meditate, thinking on their problems without disturbance. If Ave are not able to have a private room, we can at least have some place, somewhere, where we can be alone each day to concentrate, to meditate: to develop the latent powers within, so that Ave may attract to ourselves friends, prosperity, joy, and health. We can take time—in fact we must take time—if we are going to develop the maximum amount of talent—to enter the "SILENCE" each day. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXIII. SILENCE—Continued. Scientific Explanation and Operation of the Vibratory Silence. Remember the degree of your success is measured by the nature of your desire, concentration—thought— if you are able to make your desire strong, your con- centration steady and your thought powerful, you will, by this, create disturbances in the universal ether AA'hich go out from you into the universal mind—continuously traveling—until these thoughts shall lodge in the minds of other people Avho are thinking along the lines of your desire, so that your desires will be ansAvered. Their minds, like your oavii, in tune Avith j'ourself, become the receiving station for your strong desires. The stronger your desire, the stronger Avill be the mind which you attract and the more perfect your concen- tration; the best mind will be your receiving station; and the more constructive thought power Avhich you are able to generate, the greater Avill be the mind Avhich receives your forceful thoughts, for thoughts attract like minds. A Aveak thought attracts AA-eaker minds, a strong thought, a stronger mind. The weak thought travels until it comes to a receiving station of like mind. A strong thought travels until it comes to a like mind— a stronger receiving station. "When Ave bring our personal vibration, our men- tal atmosphere into harmony Avith our higher self, 664 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE when our vibrations are in tune with the Infinite so that we feel at-one-ment with the One, we shall taks on infinite power; we shall feel the thrill of divine energy flowing through every atom of our being." There is no place and no way where we can put ourselves into tune with the higher forces of nature and the law, in tune with the stronger minds of the world, than in the method which we practice in our vibratory silence. In this silence we become relaxed, free from all negation, in harmony with all life, in love with all nature, in rapport with God; that makes a perfect send- ing station for our desires. By preparing our minds and our bodies as we teach in the next chapter, we keep our bodies and our minds in tune with the In- finite. Just as every Avireless sending and receiving sta- tion has to be constantly kept in repair, in harmony and in tune, so the human body, the instrument through which the universal mind acts, must likewise be kept in harmony and tune, and our mind which controls this body must likewise be in tune and in harmony with itself, with the body and with the universal forces; and this is done by freeing our minds from all nega- tive thoughts, AAdiich we have mentioned in other chap- ters: "How to Cleanse the Aura," "What is Prayer" and the chapter to follow. All matter including the human body is composed of twelve octaves, the same as the twelve octaves in music. Indeed, scientists tell us that all things are music; not only all kinds of sounds; but feeling, tex- ture, color, electricity, are music. SILENCE 665 Someone has called the world God's Great Orches- tra. All the discordant sounds which you hear on the street—the rattle of the wagons, the honk of the auto- mobiles, the clang of the street car bells, the grinding of the trolley wheels, the screech of the whistle, the shrill call of the news-boy and thousands of other dis- cordant street sounds, all become harmonized in a plane above. There can be no outlandish, inharmonious sounds known to man's mortal ear, but what become harmonized in this plane above. All life and all matter is composed of twelve octaves of music. As we enter the Silence and intone, Ave start musi- cal vibrations in the universal ether which re-harmonize our discordant thoughts, either about life's problems or health, so that very frequently we instantly are made well, both in mind and body. This is scientific and practical. The intoning starts vibrations in one of the chords of the twelve octaves and, just as the piano A will vibrate when the same sound is struck by another instrument on the same key, so the chord in man which may be out of tune, will instantly be re-harmonized and brought back to normal by the strong vibratory intoning of A by another person. As we have nearby several tuning forks among which are two of the same key and avc strike one A tuning fork, the other A tuning fork nearby will vibrate so that frequently you will hear in the naked ear, the tone of A. The human bodies act the same as the tuning forks. One body that is well, free from nega- tion, may intone; another body near, out of harmony, and out of tune, either physically or mentally, will respond to the same key of the human intoning. 666 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE I am told of a teacher of music who had a tun- ing fork which he called an outlaw: This outlaw tuning fork, as the name implies, was out of harmony with all other tuning forks and the wise teacher thought that this outlaw could be re-harmonized and made perfect, just the same as a magnet which has lost its electrical power of attracting steel may be re-electrified by being rubbed against another magnet which is charged with electricity. A boy has a five-cent magnet and goes running around, picking up pins and other pieces of steel, until all the electricity has been used in the magnet. The magnet is out of tune—it has lost its electrification— so the boy goes to another magnet, rubs his unelectri- fied magnet against the live one and his useless magnet is again charged with electricity and has the power of attracting steel. The teacher thought that it would be just as scien- tific to re-harmonize this outlaAv tuning fork by having it come in contact with perfectly harmonized forks, just as easily as a dead magnet could be re-electrified by coming in contact with a live one. The teacher was right. This outlaw tuning fork was placed on a table nearby other perfect instruments. The perfect tuning forks were struck, one after another, causing them to vibrate in their perfect musical key. The outlaw did not respond for some time but after five or six perfect tuning forks had been caused to vibrate their perfect tune, another harmonized tuning fork was struck and, as it sent its sounding vibration through the ether in the room, the outlaw responded in a like humming key. The outlaw had been instantly re-harmonized. SILENCE 667 Thus it is with the human body; intonations gen- erated by a mind free from all negative thoughts, posi- tive in its thinking, sends out vibrations which instantly re-harmonize other bodies and other minds that may be out of key or out of harmony. The thought currents of the intoner create sensa- tions in the human recipient, bringing about a re-har- monizing of the defective key in the human body. These sensations are electrical—they are like the positive and negative forces in an electrical wire. We have put little credence upon the North Ameri- can Indian's Pow-wow, or incantations around the sick Indian. We have looked upon the intonation of the Hindu medicine man as superstitious and have given no credit to the healing poAvers of either the Indian or the Hindu, Chinese magical Avork or Afghanistan charm- ers; but many healings have taken place during the intonations and incantations of the Indian, the Hindu, the Chinese and the Afghanistan. These healings, of course, have been scientific: namely, the superstitious incantations, and intonations started health vibrations in the universal ether which instantly re-harmonized the sick "heathens." The law operates for the "hea- then" as well as for the civilized man. The law oper- ates for the believer as well as the skeptic oftentimes; therefore, if you are civilized or heathen, a skeptic or a believer, if you enter the Silence as outlined in the next chapter, you may be instantly healed of mental worries or physical ailments. Of course the chance for your healing, either from mental disturbances or physical disabilities is much greater if you are not skeptical—if you believe in the poAver of vibration to 668 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE heal, if you have faith. The stronger your faith, the sooner may be your healing. This, however, is not always true. Therefore, whatever may be your frame of mind, enter the silence, knowing that the practice thereof is scientific, logical and psychological and you are in accord and operate a law just as natural and just as scientific as the law which controls the flow of the tides. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXIV. * THE VIBRATORY SILENCE—Continued. How* to Enter and Practice the Silence. The silence is complete relaxation of mind and body. It is the "chamber of learning, where we are face to face with God." Before entering the silence, after having sung or repeated a chant or hymn, see that you are in harmony Avith everyone in your home, in your circle of acquaintances and in the world. You may not be able to "like" but you—can and must—"love" everyone. There are different degrees of love and we must reach that mental, spiritual and psychological plane where we can love everyone. We do not love our child in the same way or degree as Ave do our mother, and the love we have for our mother is of a different degree than that we have for our wife. We love the man or woman in Asia or Europe in a dif- ferent degree than we love our friends and neighbors, but there must be freedom from all negative thoughts toward anyone as we enter the silence—love for all. We must be in harmony Avith love thoughts, although in different degrees, toward all. If you do not get immediate results from the "Silence," you will later. You will, during the inton- *The scientific, pathological and psychological explanation of "The Silence" will be found in "Applied Psychology and Scientific Living," by D. V. Bush. 672 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SBX LIFE ing, feel, at different times, in different parts of th« body, a tingling, vibratory sensation. That is as you want it to be. Every time you feel a vibration or tingling sensation from the intonation, it means tha: you are being put in tune, in harmony—physically, men- tally and spiritually, as well as hopefully, courageously and confidently. If perchance you feel no tingling or vibratory sensation, your system, nevertheless, is being tuned up, or keyed up, in harmony, without your conscious knowl- edge, just the same as the loose wire in the piano makes no audible sound when first being stretched in tuning; nevertheless, the wire is being tuned and the vibration in time is heard as the wire becomes more tense. So with the body, the vibration is having its effect, although you are not conscious of it. By the continual practice of the Silence and In- toning, you may be so re-harmonized, or kept in har- mony, that you will have no physical ailments or men. tal moods of depression or discouragement. Not only should we be in harmony with every- one, but we should have our minds cleared of every negative thought. There must be no negative thoughts of anxiety, worry, depression, failure, sorrow, grief, reverses, selfishness, coveteousness, envy, fear, jealousy, etc., etc. The mind must be free absolutely from any discordant or inharmonious thoughts against life, pros- perity, happiness, abundance, or health. By raising the rate of our physical vibrations we bring rest and peace and poise to the nerves and by a still higher rate of vibration, we reach that place where no diseases can come. How to Enter and Practice the Silence 673 By raising the rate of vibration Ave overcome death. When Jesus, on the cross exclaimed: "Eliohim, Elio- him, lama sabachthani?" "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He used the greatest Avord in all languages for intoning. In raising the rate of vibration to "Eliohim," Jesus over-came death. POSITION. In a room darkened, or with soft lights so that the mind may be more receptive to "Silence" and "At- One-Ness" with the Father, we are in a better environ- ment and mood to participate in the great benefits of "The Silence." Sit erect, supported by the spinal column, not leaning against the back of a chair, Avith hands rest- ing gently and relaxed in the lap, palms upAvard and the head slightly raised, take such a thought as: "I am still." Pause for a few moment's silent relaxation. Then sing or repeat: "We clothe ourselves safely round," or any other chant or hymn that will close out the Avorld and put the mind in a receptive attitude for the communication Avith the Greater Life, Creator, Spirit, God. TAKE RYTHMIC BREATHING Inhale, Avhile counting four. Hold the breath, Avhile counting eight. Exhale, while counting four. Breathe naturally and normally, AA'hile counting eight. 674 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Then take the affirmation: "God is Omnipotent," mtaning God is all powerful. Repeat the rythmic breathing and follow by the affirmation: "God is Omniscient." God is all wise. Again repeat the rythmic breathing, after which take the affirmation: "God is Omnipresent." God is everywhere, even in the smallest cell of your body. After breathing normally again, you may, if you so desire, let the arms fall to the side and shake your arms or body, bringing relaxation to all parts of the body and again take your sitting position. In this position, both feet should be squarely on the floor, sit- ting erect, supported by the spinal column and not resting against a chair, with head erect and raised a little. Breathe naturally and normally. (If at any time during the silence, the body should become tense, see that you instantly relax.) Take the affirmation such as: "The Father and I are one," then bring the consciousness to the forehead. Repeat the affirmation again: "The Father and I are One." Listen to the pulsation in the brain . . . even though you feel other sensations in the body, listen to the pulsation and BE in the brain. Repeat: "I am still in my brain.'' Listen until you feel a sensation and pulsation in the head and brain; at the same time hold your affirmation: '' The Father and I are One;'' if at the same time you are able to do so, hold your affirmation and concentrate as you direct your con- sciousness to the different parts of the body. (If any time during the silence you find the body becoming tense, instantly relax. Do not strain the mind in directing the consciousness or holding the How to Enter and Practice the Silence 675 affirmation but let the mind be in a state of complete peace, rest, poise and relaxation.) Bring the consciousness into the ears. "I am still in my ears." Listen to the pulsation at the ear drums or fancy an imaginary line drawn from ear to ear and in the center of this line, listen to the pulsation; or, imagine a line draAvn from ear to ear and, beginning at the right ear, follow the pulsation on this imaginary line, traveling from the right to the left ear and then back again. "I am still in my eyes." Listen to the pulsation around the rim of the sockets. Again, feel warmth and life sensation or pulsation in the eye balls. Again, imagine the eyes are Out of their sockets and you are peering out into space. Then eyes normal. Again, listen to the pulsation around the sockets. (By "Listen to the pulsation," I mean: Feel the pulsation or sensation of warmth or life or circulation of blood.) "I am still in my nose and nasal cavities and cheek-bones." Listen to the pulsation at the cheek- bones; or again listen to the pulsation at the bridge of the nose; for hay fever or cold, listen, not tense, to the blood going to those parts and the vibration will follow. Again, listen to the pulsation at the ends of the nostrils. Ahvaj's breathe naturally and normally. "I am still in my mouth, throat, tongue"—lower jaAv relaxed, teeth slightly apart, the tip of the tongue gently against the teeth of the lower jaw—listen to the pulsation in the tongue or again at the roof of the mouth or in the lower jaw. 676 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE "I am still in my neck and shoulders." Listen to the pulsation in the shoulder blades. (Always taking your affirmation as you direct your consciousness, if you can, concentrate on both affirma- tion and the location of your consciousness.) '' I am still in my arms and hands." " Listen to the pulsation at the tips of the fingers. Bring the consciousness back to the shoulders and then, let it again rush down to the hands and fingers; concentrate the consciousness in the palms of the hands; then in the thumbs; back to the wrists; slowly up the forearms to the elbows; slowly to shoulders and back to the tips of the fingers again. (You may not always direct the consciousness from finger tips to palms, thumbs, wrists, elbows and shoulders, but this is a general direction. You may direct the consciousness in different ways, at different times.) Bring the consciousness into the lungs and heart— "I am still in my lungs and chest." Listen to the beat- ing of the heart. Again, feel the pulsation—Avarmth in the lungs. "I am still in my stomach and solar plexus." (The solar plexus is a glandular mass back of the stomach, near the backbone.) Listen to the pulsation at the pit of the stomach. "I am still in my liver, appendix, or ovaries, or bladder, or spleen." "I am still in my abdomen and kidneys." Listen at the small of the back. "I am still in my groins and generative organs." Bring the consciousness into the loins and hips. Hoav to Enter and Practice the Silence 677 "I am still in my thighs and knees." (Keep your affirmation as you direct your consciousness, provided you are able to concentrate on both at the same time.) "lam still in my legs and feet.'' Listen to the pul- sation in the feet or feel the sensation of life, conscious- ness, circulation coming from the arches of the feet into the toes. Listen to the pulsation at the tips of the toes. Bring the consciousness again back to the forehead and then flood your Avhole being Avith your conscious- ness. Feel it passing through the head, mouth, neck, shoulders, arms, torso, legs, feet. (It may take quite a while but you will learn in time to flood your Avhole being Avith your consciousness.) * # # # * (Provided Ave have more than one physical dis- ability or more than one desire to be fulfilled; it is usually better to concentrate upon one physical dis- ability or one desire at a time; but we know many, many instances where one concentrates upon one Aveak- ness of the body and then another during the same silence and results are obtained: Ave may just as Avell be Avholly healed as only partly healed.) (And this is the Avonderful practical operation of the Law namely, Ave may have five physical disabilities and concentrate upon one and find that another dis- ability has been healed as Avell; or, Ave may concentrate and find all are healed. Ordinarily it is better to con- centrate upon the weakest part first; or to ask for the most urgently desired boon.) * # # * * 678 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Now, bringing the consciousness to that part of the body not functioning well, concentrate—without stress or strain—for a few moments. (If you are not inton- ing yourself and have no one intoning for you, you will also concentrate on the part not functioning Avell, have someone intone for you.) Listen—at place of physical trouble to aid the mind in sending help there. If you are normal physically, bring the conscious- ness back to the forehead and ask for that which you most desire (concentrating without tension or strain). You may concentrate for a feAv moments without in- toning, or while you intone or someone intones for you, either individually or in groups. After a period of concentration bring the conscious- ness back to the forehead and ask for wisdom and Di- vine illumination and thank the Spirit, your Creator, Force, God, that you have now, that which you desire. You may again take your affirmation or not, as you choose. Some will gradually come back to consciousness slower than others. A splendid way to return to full consciousness is to take some familiar song or chant or hymn, such as "Where He Leads Me, I Will Follow." (See Chapter 65.) Should you, at any time, go to sleep while going into the Silence, you may know that this is the natural rest which the body needs and there is no harm done, for there could be no better place or time where one can find rest, peaceful, quieting and invigorating sleep, more than in "The Silence." It is evident that the body needed rest and to get rest and relaxation in mind and body, as practiced in "The Silence," brings about the best possible results, How to Enter and Practice the Silence 679 "The Silence" may be practiced at different times of the day or night so long as Ave do not do it with so much frequency as to become tired or tense while "in the Silence." For those who work in an office or business place, house-work or anywhere, where an extra amount of nerve force, energy or strength is expended, the practice of the "Silence" during the middle of the day will bring rest and relaxation and strengthen the spirit for the rest of the day's work, as nothing else can do. If anyone should be intoning while you sit in the "Silence" and the body seems a little too sensitive to place the consciousness, with the intoning, it is not necessary that you tax jrour nervous system or your attention to follow in the silence if you feel this too keenly. It may be that you will feel no sensation, tingling or vibration, during the silence but you will have had great beneficial results, nevertheless, the body will have internally responded to the vibrations Avithout your particular knoAvledge. Many of you Avho do not feel the vibrations now, will, in time to come, by practice. The subconscious mind entertains only one thought at a time; but it can be so trained that it will change from one thought to another instantly. When you have been working on one thought such as prosperity, peace, health, joy, etc., and you have received the desired effects, you know that the subconscious mind has become subject to your suggestions and then, if you do not maintain a negative attitude, doubtful or questioning, the subconscious 680 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE mind Avill be under your control so that you majr take one affirmation before retiring at night; another affir- mation upon arising in the morning; another one at noon; another one in the afternoon and so on. Each time you take another affirmation you croAvd out the former. But, until you have control of the subcon- scious mind—that is, until the conscious mind is able to impress the subconscious mind so that it Avorks for you—it is better to hold one thought only. Hold your thought for peace, for joy, for health, for happi- ness, for tranquility, etc., until you have had that come to pass in your consciousness and living. AFFIRMATIONS FOR THE SILENCE. The following affirmations are just a key, which may lead you to select your own affirmations Avhile in the Silence :* "The Universal Abundant Spirit supplies all my needs." "In Him we live and move and have our being." "The Father and I are One." "Be still and know that I AM GOD." "I am at peace with all the world and am filled with Harmony, Joy and Peace." ♦Prosperity, Position, Happiness, Peace, Harmony, Friends, Domestic Tranquility or anything that you may desire, in your Life's Affairs. You may make this stronger by saying: I am Happiness; I am Harmony; I have Attraction; I have Domestic Tran- quality; or I have attraction in Love affairs; I have Success, I have Prosperity. See Affirmations in back of this book. How to Enter and Practice the Silence 681 "Abundance is now flowing to me and I am filled with Joy and Prosperity." "I am Health, I am Life, I am PoAver, I am Pros- perity." "Peace, Joy, PoAver, Life, Health, Position are mine now and always." "I am Harmony, I am Success, I am Abundance." "I am Spirit, Life, Health, Peace, Power." "The Peace that passeth all understanding, is Mine, Noav." "God is Love; I am Spirit; I am Love. Love fills this room; permeates my thinking and is dispensed by me to all living things." "I am bathed in Infinite Peace and Love. I am at Rest." "I am at Peace." It is better to set aside a certain time each day to go into the Silence. To be sure, results will be obtained if this course is not strictly adhered to but a regular, methodical practice is the best. NOTES. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXV. FIRST HEALING LESSON. Suggestive Healing.* It is ahvays best in our healing classes for better vibrations to sit close together. Let there be no empty chairs betAveen those who are in the class. Do not spread out but all come together. Have an even num- ber of rows so that each patient Avill have someone standing behind him or her as a demonstrator. If you have ten people in the first toav then you should have ten people in the second toav, etc., keeping the number even. To me, this is the most interesting and joyful part of our work; it is the hardest, but Ave see so many Avonderful demonstrations. People trying to get Avell Avho have not been able to regain health and, Avhen Ave see these demonstrations, which Ave ahvays have in our classes, it is the most satisfactory angle of Applied Psychology to me. Let all move together, filling up the vacant seats— one chair directly behind the chair in front of it— Avhen we come together in a body Avithout vacant chairs Ave Avill have a better vibration. There is one important thing regarding health demonstration, more important than anything else for our HEALING and that is that Ave have no negative thoughts in our mind. We must get our mind just as clear and as empty of all negative thoughts—every fear *A stenographic report at one of Dr. Bush's classes. 686 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE thought, every worry thought, every anxious thought and every illness thought; if we have any thought in our mind of ill will, we must get rid of that. You may be holding negative thoughts in your OAvn mind or you may be letting some other one's thoughts come into your mind; hoAvever, no one can harm you unless you think they can harm you. Some one may have a thought that we catch and thus they may send us the negation but, whether we got it from some one else or whether it is a part of ourselves the very first thing for us to know is to know that Ave have no ill-will toward any one. There must not be a thing in our life that shows temperament or emotion that is negative. We want to make the coast clear. It does not matter how hard we work, ourselves, or how much we may try to help the other person, if we have not our mind absolutely free from all ill-will or other discordant thoughts we will have difficulty in operating the law to meet our need of healing. A young man was becoming blind; he came to me for help and, after questioning him a moment, I said, "Now, you have had some emotion in your life that has affected you very much?" He denied it but I said "Come across, be a good scout, it is going to be for your own good." I could tell by his features just what was wrong. He was then in the hospital for the blind and was gradually becoming more blind; when he talked to me he could not distinguish the outline of a person. I said "Now, I want you to tell me what there is on your mind—I punched the spear right through him. No one else can help you if you do not try, yourself, to get it out of your mind. He said there was a man whom SUGGESTIVE HEALING 687 he hated. He told what kind of business he was in— they had used him as the "goat," they got his money. The law did not apprehend them. It Avas a shabby deal and the other man got the money and absconded with it. I asked if that was all and he said "No" and then began to unwind and let go. He said "I have been hating someone ever since I was fifteen years old. I began to hate my parents; in fact, I have never known what it is to be without having a hate feeling for someone." When we begin to change our mind, we are going to change the chemical action of our blood and bodies. I said "Now you are going to stop hating and begin to love—" but he interrupted "I have been trying to change my thinking since I heard you speak on love. It is a mighty battle but I am going to conquer." Your negative thought may not be hate, it may not be jealousy, it may be just something in your consciousness wherein you cannot forgive some one else. Anything in your mind of a negative nature may prevent a healing. That is the reason we do not know whether a per- son is going to be healed or not—it is all up to the patient. We teach you the law and then you have to apply it for yourself. The fellow who is worried is just as bad an animal as the fellow who hates someone. It may not be that we, ourselves, have been hold- ing some negative thought. I have already told you about a woman who had rheumatism for years, all because she had a negative 688 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE thought, thinking that God Avas punishing her for her husband. Free our mind from all discordant thinking and all ill-will; then the next thing is to be sure that we have no doubts. I give up case after case, Avhere they want me to give personal treatments; it is up-hill work if you have doubts. Noav, in the healing class we do not have time to make any explanations; the thing is: TO KNOW that OTHERS HAVE BEEN HELPED and as they have been, then you, too, can be. I do not know whether you have any religious faith or whether you have none—that does not matter for THIS is the GREAT THING—is going to be the largest thing in our evolution. We do not care whether you call it God, "Evolution," "Force," "Nature," "Divine," or what. Back of all is Creative Principle. Back of all this law, something keeps things in place. If you have been raised in the orthodox church, then call it God. If not, we do not care what you call it but it is all principle, all law, and back of this law is SOMETHING —call it whatever you choose. If you are orthodox, then catch the idea that God is doing the work. If you are analytical or "practical," think it out for your- self but KNOW it IS ALL PRINCIPLE—what is the difference whether we call it God or Principle—the same thing works for everyone. This is where we are differing from so many other movements of the day and it is going to make this the great understanding move- ment. Christian Science will treat no one who is a Catholic. I have not been raised in a Catholic Church but, if I Avas lame or blind or suffering from rheuma- SUGGESTIVE HEALING 689 tism, I surely Avould think it Avas unchristian if anyone of a different faith would not give me the light or who would not try to heal me. In one of my classes Avas a Soldier Boy Avho Avas born in Egypt, raised in Athens and served in the French Army with the Allies; he had a great scar across his forehead from a shot Avound Avhich had paralyzed his Avhole right side, his hand Avas all crippled up and he Avas unable to use his arm. The first day the boy began to move his hand, the second day the hand Avas under control he Avas able to move his fingers and stretch his arm. Now, this boy Avas not raised in the Christian Church but, bless your hearts, the Great God, AAdio has put the Egyptian, the European and the American in tho Avorld, thinks just as much of one as he does of another and hoAV anyone could folloAV in the footsteps of tho Nazarene and then say to the Egyptian that he could not be healed unless "he accept our creed," 1 cannot under- stand. If you do not have the Christian faith, you are a child of the Almighty just the same. If you do not have a philosophical mind, you are just as near to God as the children avIio have been raised in the Great Mother Church. The LaAV will heal the Egyptian just as Avell as the Christian; the Catholic just the same as the Protestant. It does not matter what Ave want to call it, but the laAV will operate in Egypt, the United States or British Columbia just the same as anvAvhere. Natural LaAV, scientific universal force, Avhatever you want to call it. Call it God; or, where you have heard the name of Jesus, of Christ, then use that. After the great Avar, after Ave have understood that the French can fight Avith the English, the Belgian with 690 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE the Egyptian; and the American can fight with them all; we are beginning to understand that there ought not to be any divisions in the way God takes care of us. On the battlefield, when the boys wanted spiritual help they did not consider whether they were Jews, Catholics or Protestants. We have hundreds of people who have been healed without mentioning the name of Jesus and then again we have other people who could not have been healed without mentioning the name of "Christ"—their re- ligion teaches that and they could not have got the vibration of healing if the name of Jesus Christ was not used. The principle is the same as Jesus used in Naza- reth two thousand years ago. Christian Science, Divine Science, Unity—all use the same principles that every one uses that has ever been healed; there are just cer- tain laws, call those laws what you will. Different healers use different explanations of the one law—it is all suggestion. Now, no negative thoughts, no worry, no doubts and we are going to proceed. THE CLASS SUGGESTION. All chairs filled—no vacant seats between chairs. Alternate rows, sitting and standing—chairs directly behind each other; first row seated, second row stand- ing ; no matter which position you have if you are well and the person treating you is not well, each will get the benefit much the same—do not worry about that for the power of thought will help one another. Now, I am going to give you the suggestion. Some will have much more power in healing by just letting SUGGESTIVE HEALING 691 the hands pass over the patient than in touching them in any way whatsoever. We are going to take this affirmation: All is mind, all is God, all is universal energy; I am part of creative force. The best way is not to have the feet crossed when you are taking your affirmation—place the feet squarely on the floor. (With feet or hands crossed, we are not getting as good results—Ave are not as open for knowl- edge and help.) All together, with the hands of the demonstrators resting on the shoulders of the patients, repeat the affirmation three times out loud; then three times silently. Place hands above the head just a few inches from the body and pass the hands over the head and down the arms at the side; then to the front and back from the top of the head doAvn- ward—not touching. Continue this Avhile saying the affirmation; repeat the affirmation three times out loud then silently three times; continue with the hands downward from the top of the head to the sides, then— front and back—this time carrying the vibration on doAvn to the floor. Repeat the affirmation out loud three times then silently three times. Now, place the hands on the shoulders; repeat the affirmation silently three times then out loud three times. Change places—all change—first row remain seated and second row stand and so on alternating. Concentrating just as hard as Ave can, without straining: "All is mind, all is God, all is universal 692 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE energy; I am part of creative force." Repeat out loud three times. The scientific part of this is: All of us are send- ing out electrical currents of positive health thoughts; and, as we are doing this we are the positive and the patient is the negative. We all have more or less electricity and just the fingers of the hand, going around the patient—the positive and the negative com- ing together—brings health and life. In addition to that, all of our minds, together creating a stronger cur- rent thought AAThen Ave are working by ourselves. While the hands are passing over the head; down the sides of the body, a feAv inches from the patient, the patient very often will feel the personal magne- tism or electricity of the operator shoot like little rays of electricity from the hands and fingers of the opera- tor to the different parts of the body where the hands are passing over you. While demonstrating, I have given you the rhythm three times silently and three times out loud which is, ordinarily, a good way to proceed. But, sometimes, you may have better results by taking your affirmation out loud a dozen times before you take it silently. At another time you may have better results by keeping a silent affirmation for fifteen or twenty minutes without taking it out loud at all. After the rhythm has been started and the classes are in unison, by holding the affirmation in silence it very often is more effective. In time you can usually tell which is the better Avay to proceed, especially if you are leading the class in the demonstration or are Avith a private patient. "All is mind, all is God, all is universal energy; SUGGESTIVE HEALING 693 I am part of Creative Force." Repeat three times out loud then three times silently; out loud; silently; out loud ; silently. Then you may hold the thought silently as long as your good judgment dictates. We must all be sure that Ave are going to have no negative thoughts and no doubts—that Ave are going to have the result that avc are looking for. Noav, as Ave enter the SILENCE: Be relaxed, Avithout any stress or strain—but sit Avith the back away from the chair; feet flat on the floor; head up just a little. It is not particularly necessary, but probably better, if Ave let our hands rest in our laps with palms up: avc are sure then that Ave are Avaiting and Avilling and anxious to receive. SONG: We clothe ourselves safely round, Avith infinite love and wisdom, Avith love. Avith love, Avith in- finite love and wisdom. (Repeat in unison.) God is Omnipotent. Breathe, count 1, 2, 3, 4; hold 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; exhale 1, 2, 3, 4; breathe normally, counting 8. Breathe, count 4; hold 8; exhale, counting 4; breathe naturally, counting 8. (Repeat in unison.) God is Omnipresent. Breathe, count 4; hold 8; exhale, counting 4; breathe naturally, counting 8. Noav, bring our consciousness up to the forehead and take our affirmation: All is mind, all is God, all is universal energy; I am part of creative force. Spray our consciousness all over the brain and take the same affirmation. Bring our consciousness down into the ears, holding the same thought; 694 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Down into the eyes and feel the pulsation around the rim of the sockets; Into the nasal cavities and cheek bones. Listen to the pulsation at the cheek bones; Bring our consciousness into the mouth—lower jaw relaxed, the tip of the tongue next to the teeth of the lower jaw; Down into the neck and shoulders; Bring our consciousness doAvn into the arms and the hands and listen to the pulsation at the tips of the fingers. (If you feel yourself becoming tense anyAvhere, be sure you relax.) Bring our consciousness into the lungs and heart and listen to the beating of the heart; Into the stomach and solar plexus; into the liver; into the abdomen and kidneys; into the generative organs; into the hips and groins; down into the knees; into the ankles; the feet; and listen to the pulsation at the tips of the toes. Now, bring your consciousness back to that part of the body not functioning well; or If we are physically normal, back to the forehead; and ask for that which we most desire. Now, concentrate while I intone: (Intoning—out loud—many notes of different pitch.) Bring our consciousness back to the forehead; ask for Wisdom and Divine Illumination; take our affirma- tion again; and thank God that you have now what you desire. SUGGESTIVE HEALING 695 SONG. Where He leads me, I will follow, Where He leads me, I will follow, Where He leads me, I will follow, I'll go Avith Him, with Him, all the way. I '11 go with Him, in achievement, I '11 go with Him, in achievement, I '11 go with Him, in achievement, I '11 go with Him, with Him, all the Avay. I claim Health and Strength and PoAver, I claim Health and Strength and PoAver, I claim Health and Strength and PoAver, And He gives me, gives me, Health and Life. I'll go with Him in the Silence, I'll go with Him in the Silence, I'll go with Him in the Silence, I '11 go with Him, with Him, all the Avay. Remember to make this affirmation a part of your life. As you go to bed at night be sure that you folloAV full directions; get the mind absolutely empty and clean; then lie flat on the back, without a pillow, and take your affirmation as you drop off to sleep. If you do that you will charge the subconscious mind and it will help to bring you health. If you happen to wake up and are tired Avithout a pillow, then slip the pillow under your head for the rest of the night. 696 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE When you feel the vibrations: it is like tightening the string on the piano—a little tighter and a little tighter until, finally, it becomes in harmony and we have the demonstration. When Ave get our minds work- ing avc haA'j/ Avonderful demonstrations. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXVI. VIBRATORY HEALING—LESSON II. Tell How Seated. •Dr. Bush: '' Now, some of you who want to become practitioners will be demonstrated on by those who are not well—but you will get the understanding even though you may not feel the need of a treatment and those who want to be healed, who may be giving the treatment, by taking other people for patients, may become well while healing others. "Many of you who want to become demon- strators don't have to wait until you are Avholly well— you can go out and do that work and, by making other people well, you will become well yourself. "There may be some of you who think you are not well Avho Avill be a demonstrator this morning; don't let that bother you—you have the action of the mind and if you Avill put your whole soul into the demonstration you Avill be benefited and have the demonstration yourself as Avell as helping others." Testimonial of a class member: " 'Friends, I am very pleased to do all I can in this Avork, the first thing this morning I said 'Oh, God, if there is anyone going to this class that feels there is no hope for them, just let them remember that God Avill heal them as he has healed myself. I had this ♦Reported in shorthand at a class meeting. 700 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE awful, strange thing about my shins—if I Avould press them they would dent, just great big places all dented flat; I have had this for years and the dents would stay there for tAvo hours some times. I think—some- times when I felt lazy and did not Avant to Avork—I Avould show this to somebody and of course they would say 'Well, you had better rest. This thing greAv to be a horror to me. Physicians said it was a sort of scurvy and that was terrible to me for I am particularly clean about my body. I asked if scurvy did not have scabs but they said 'Oh no, this is scurvy in the blood' and that horrified me of course. Now, when I came up for the treatment in the class, instead of thinking about my asthma, which was very bad, I thought of this and I thought 'I wanted to be healed of this any- hoAv'—you see others do not know about it and I did not get the sympathy that the case deserved; others could not tell that I had it like they could my asthma; so, when the time for concentrating came, I said 'Oh God, I want that horrible thing to go away and I Avant everyone to realize that this is a real demonstration and I knoAV it Avill go aAvay.' This morning, I began to press to see how it was going to be and it was all gone; I was so glad I had to show it to someone else that they might share my joy. And, I said 'Oh God, I thank you'—I forgot to thank Dr. Bush. Then, I thought, 'maybe it will come back' but quickly said 'No, it won't.' This morning I thought I would try once more and now I am just like other people. It is all wonderful and lovely. I thank you Dr. Bush." Dr. Bush: "Now, friends, she has the right idea in that gratitude. You will always notice in our Silence VIBRATORY HEALING 701 affirmations that we thank God—it is the power behind all. You don't have to thank me or anyone else except for the fact that they brought the knowledge to you. "This morning you must look for and expect that you are going to have the demonstration that you need. (Dr. Bush demonstrating on blind woman:) "We frequently have instantaneous sight restored. I had forgotten, at ................ a very wonderful young woman, about twenty-four or tAventy-five years of age, Avho had not seen for years and years, Avas instantly healed. "A patient who had a cast—crooked—eye and also blind in this eye, regained complete sight on the second or third day demonstration. "Now, I am sure of this, that if this patient does not have instantaneous healing today, Ave knoAV she is going to get it and at least today she Avill get the un- derstanding. "Many of you may not have your healing while we are here but keep working for it. This class should organize and have a meeting once a week; keep your vibrations going; there is no reason Avhy you cannot have healing continually as your minds are all in unison, of one accord, ahvays willing to offer gratitude. "This morning we are going to take vibratory heal- ing. Some of us will have much healing poAver by touching the patient, others may not. "Noav, when we come to the eyes, take the tips of the first two fingers, but don't press to hard—it may hurt the patient. Vibrate around the rim of the sockets before beginning to touch the eyes. "We had better not have our glasses on or hats. 702 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE One row standing behind another row—one patient standing behind another. Let the hands of the demon- strator rest gently upon the shoulders of the patient. Take our affirmation three times out loud: "Health, Life, Love, God." Then silently three times. Both hands resting gently on the head of the patient. The tips of the fingers meeting together on the top and middle of head; take our affirmation out loud three times. It is always wise to begin with the hands on the shoulders and then to the head for the contact of the hand and hair create a stronger generation of magne- tism. The current of magnetism Avill become stronger probably as the contact of the hands and hair lengthens. The head, the forehead and the temples ought always to be vibrated before we pass to that part of the body not functioning well; this, for the same reason: namely, for the generating of magnetism. Hands again on the shoulders; affirmation out loud three times. Hands on the head; affirmation out loud three times. (Be sure you tremble or vibrate your hands, as the patient is touched.) Remember that, with your hands vibrating, you are creating the personal magne- tism. Place the tips of the first two or three fingers on either temple, with the thumbs meeting at the base of the brain; while repeating the affirmation three times. (You may take the affirmation out loud or silently as many times as yqur good judgment dictates.) If in class you have a long affirmation, you may want to repeat this affirmation in rhythm, out loud, more than three VIBRATORY HEALING 703 times; repeating it six or seven times until the affirma- tion is memorized. Some of you in your private practice will have better results by taking the affirmation out loud and some will have better results by taking it silently; but while in class you all want to think and speak in rhythm. If you take the affirmation out loud it wants to be three times. If silently, an equal number of times; someone leading so you will know when to begin. But, for your private practice you may articu- late out loud or silently, according to your own temper- ament and conditions. We have had our hands on the patient's shoulders, head and temples, taking our affirmation out loud or silently in unison. Now place the hands on the fore- head of the patient, the tips of the fingers meeting in the center-front of the forehead; repeat affirmation three times. Place the first finger of each hand into the ears, the thumbs meeting at the base of the brain—the great nerve center. This is where the greatest amount of life centers. Vibrate the patient's ears, repeating the affirmation three times. At the end of the affirmation suddenly pull out your fingers. (Be careful not to press the ears too hard or to vibrate too hard.) Let the palms of the hands be opposite either ear, about four or five inches from the head; then tremble or vibrate the palms, taking the affirmation three times. Place the palms of the hands tightly over the ears; vibrate as you take the affirmation. Then, as you finish the affirmation, let the palms of the hands press tightly against the ear and then suddenly remove the hands, making a suction. 704 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Let the first two fingers of each hand rest on the edge or rim of the eye sockets. Do not press too hard, to hurt the patient; but, in this position, vibrate the eye sockets. Let the fingers move from the outer side of the sockets toward the end of the sockets, near the bridge of the nose; repeating the affirmation three times. Then with the first two or three fingers resting on or near the bridge of the nose, let a finger or two press gently upon the eye ball, with the palms of the hands resting gently on the temples and repeating the affirmation three times. Let the tips of the fingers meet at the middle of the chin, with the palms of the hands holding the jaAv bones and vibrate—tremble—the hands—all the while repeating the affirmation. Let the tips of the fingers meet together in front of the throat Avith the thumbs meeting at the base of the brain; repeat the affirmation. Place the left thumb at the base of the brain and the right hand over the forehead; repeat affirmation and vibrate the hands. Reverse the hands. (During a treatment this may be repeated many times.) Particularly for nervousness and for many other ailments the spinal column should be vibrated. Place the right hand on the forehead; the fingers of the left hand at the base of the brain; then vibrate every ver- tabrae, down to the end of the spinal column and back again, repeating affirmation. Reverse the hands; repeating affirmation. To do this the patient Avill want to sit sidewise in the chair. Now that the magnetism has been well generated, VIBRATORY HEALING 705 we are in position to have the best results by vibrating that part of the body not well; so, if it is convenient in class, ask the patient what organ is not functioning properly and vibrate that particular organ. It is always well to keep one thumb pressing against the base of the brain while the other hand vibrates the organ. There should be as little clothing as possible and for the best and speediest results there should be no clothing over the organ not well. For a person who is despondent about domestic or business affairs this vibratory treatment (without vibrating any particular organ but spending most of the time vibrating the top of the head, the temples, the forehead and shoulders) will bring most beneficial results. Your own good judgment will tell you how long to continue vibrating the part of the body not functioning properly. Sometimes by a long treatment a patient becomes well. At another time, with very short treat- ment, the patient is instantly healed—time and the con- dition of the patient will regulate that. SECOND SECTION. Let the first row go back of the last row and again take our positions, one behind the other. This has changed our demonstrators and may change vibrations beneficially for some in the class. If, however, you find someone who is having good results with a patient I would not change demonstrators. This time, as we vibrate the different parts of the patient, we will rub our hands before making the vibra- tion. This helps to create with some people, a stronger 706 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE magnetic current. In class, be sure that all rub their hands at the same time. Take the affirmation out loud in unison or silently in unison. You may rub the hands between each placement or each time you change posi- tions of the hands; or not, just as you choose. In your private practice do this any way you please; but in class, all rub hands in unison so as not to spoil the vibration; and all take the affirmation in rhythm to- gether, whether audibly or silently. By putting vaseline on the palms of the hands before rubbing them, some people will be able to gen- erate a greater amount of magnetism. Take affirmation three times out loud. Health, Life, Love, God. Place the hands on the head at the side; repeat affirmation out loud three times then silently three times. Rub hands together again; place the hands on the forehead, finger tips meeting in front; vibrate the hands and affirm silently three times. Rub hands together again and vibrate hands at the side of the head. Rub hands together again all the time affirming silently. Place the palms of the hands on the ears, pres^ and concentrate as strongly as you can. "Health, Life, Love, God;" repeat three times. Rub hands together again. Place the finger tips on the temples, thumbs meeting at the base of the brain at the back of the head. Affirm silently. Place the forefinger in the ear and vibrate gently; thumbs meeting at the base of the brain; now again and this time take the fingers out quickly—all think- VIBRATORY HEALING 707 ing aloud: Health, Life, Love, God; fingers out sud- denly. Place the hands on the forehead and affirm silently; rub the hands together. Vibrate the eye sockets Avith the finger tips, above and below the eyes, all the way across. Affirm silently. Lay the hands gently on the eyeballs and vibrate, affirming silently. Rub the hands together and vibrate Avith hands on the head. Rub hands together and vibrate the throat; place the thumbs together at base of the brain. Affirming out loud, if it is convenient for you, vibrate the organ of the patient that is not well. Rub hands and continue vibrating the part that is not well; affirm silently; then affirm out loud, ahvays three times at least; affirm silently and then out loud, alternately. Rub the hands together, then place one hand on the part that is ill and, Avith the other hand, hold the patient's hand, your thumb.on back of patient's hand, just above the knuckles. Do this with each part that is not well, all the time affirming silently. Repeat the affirmation three times on each organ being treated; then change to some other part. Place the hands on the shoulders and affirm silently. Let the children help you, they catch this much better than grown folks and often are good demonstra- tors. Encourage them to help themselves and others. While intoning, some feel the vibratory sensation much more than others. Some people will vibrate or feel the sensation for hours afterwards and even may 708 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE retire and go to sleep; then awaken, still trembling or vibrating. There are no harmful, deleterious effects; but, quite to the contrary and quite beneficial. Do not try to stop these vibrations but let them continue and thank the life that is that you are having such treat- ment, it means a complete healing. You may intone beginning with middle "C" or lower "C," according to the range or pitch of your voice and going up the scale in the treble clef: do, ra, me, fa, so, la, te, do; then back again. Then you may begin at middle "C" or lower and intone downward in the base clef. Or, begin anywhere and take any sounds in inton- ing that suits the pitch of your voice. SILENCE: We must clear our minds and close out the whole outside world; take our position, sitting erect; feet flat on the floor; do not lean against the chair. Bring our consciousness up to the forehead and take the affirmation that we have just used: "Health, Life, Love, God," I am still in my brain. I am still in my ears. Imagine a line drawn from ear to ear and, in the center of this line, listen to the pulsation. Now, bring our consciousness into the eyes. Feel the eyeballs pulsating with life. Into the nasal cavities and cheek bones and listen to the pulsation at the cheek bones. Into the mouth, th© lower jaw relaxed, the tip of the tongue next to the teeth of the lower jaw. Bring the consciousness into the throat and VIBRATORY HEALING 709 shoulders; listen to the pulsation in the throat; on either side of the throat. Bring our consciousness down into the arms and hands, listen to the pulsation at the tips of the fingers. Bring our consciousness into the lungs and heart and listen to the beating of the heart. Into the stomach and solar plexus. Into the liver. Abdomen and kindneys. Generative organs. Into the bladder. The men to the appendix and the women to the ovaries. Into the hips and groins. Into the knees; listen to the pulsation at the knee caps. Down into the ankles and feet; listen to the pulsa- tion at the tips of the toes. Now bring our consciousness back to the forehead and flood our whole being with our consciousness. If you feel yourself tense anywhere, relax. Now bring our consciousness back to that part of the body not functioning well; if we are normal, back to the forehead; and ask for that which we most desire; concentrate without stress or strain; without Avorry or anxiety; without any doubts or fears, just perfect faith and trust, while I intone: INTONING: (By Dr. Bush, many different notes of varied pitch.) Noav bring our consciousness back to the forehead; ask for divine illumination; thank God that you have AAdiat you desire—it is now yours. 710 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE SONG: Where He leads me I will follow. When you become well, some of you may not care to come back but you don't want to forget that at one time you also had pains and should try to help some other person who is trying to regain health. Tomorrow morning I would like to have you meet in groups—before 12 o'clock—and take this method or the method we used yesterday. We don't care what method you use but, so that we don't cross our cur- rent or don't have contention, each group will work together in the same way, following the leader. You can meet in three different groups in three different places in the hall. If you are organized in a class and meet once a week at least, then you keep up the spirit of each other. You will have, yourselves, such wonderful demonstra- tions from time to time that you won't want to quit. Now, let us rise, for our blessings: BENEDICTION. And now this power that is all health, all life, all love, all joy and all peace is now making you well, is now making you healthful, is now giving you joy, is now giving you peace. This power is within you and you are now well, you are now healthful, you are now filled with joy and you are now resting in peace. This love and health of God, the Father, be with you forever and forever. Amen. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXVII. HETERO SUGGESTION. Lesson Three. We are going to take a third method of healing, namely, "Hetero Suggestion"—more than one person suggesting to a patient. You may have two, three, four, five, six or more. With the number of demon- strators chosen, form a semi-circle or half moon around the patient who is seated in a chair. Do not let the semi-circle, however, come together in front of the patient. The object of Hetero Suggestion is to have the number of minds strong enough, by thinking the same thought, to charge, the subconscious mind of the pa- tient, who may not have power herself or himself, to make a suggestion strong enough that the subcon- scious mind will take the thought. When a patient has had a fear thought, a sick thought, discouraged thought or any negative thought, for some time, it may be so deeply imbedded in the subconscious mind that the patient himself may not be able to muster enough strength into the conscious mind, through suggestion, to open the little trap door so the subconscious mind will take up the suggestion. Therefore, many minds together will bolster the pa- tient's spirit—add power to his conscious mind and strength to the suggestion so that the little trap door will be opened and the subconscious mind get the suggestion. 714 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE This is the reason why we often have such won- derful demonstrations in a class—many minds, of course, can generate more mental power, personal mag- netism and human electricity than one mind. This is the reason why this healing class should be organ- ized and meet at least once a week—every mind cen- tered on one purpose and that one purpose for health and our betterment. In this way we will be able to have the help of other minds suggesting to ourselves so that we will have a result that we may not have by our single suggestion—auto-suggestion. Auto-sug- gestion (suggesting to one's self) very often fails to accomplish the desired end, because, as stated before, the person's conscious mind is not strong enough to impress the subconscious mind Avith a counter sug- gestion. It is the same principle as it is easier to break a single stick; but put a dozen sticks together in one bundle and the power of the single sticks, united, has become twelve times as strong. Twelve minds sug- gesting to a single mind Avill make the suggestion twelve times stronger. We will take an affirmation where the patient's name can be used, as this always makes an affirmation stronger. To say: "You, John Smith, are life," has a much stronger suggestion than to say: "You are life." In demonstrating, both for yourself and as a practitioner, it is always well to put this personal "punch" into your affirmation. The affirmation we will now take gives us the illustration: "God is spirit, and you (name of patient) are life; life spirit is noAV flowing through you and you HETERO SUGGESTION 715 are well, whole and complete." The demonstrator uses the pronouns in the second person—"you"—and the patient uses the pronoun in the first person "I," as: "God is spirit and I (name of patient) am life; life spirit is now floAving through me and I am well, whole and complete." To practice this Hetero Suggestion, let the demon- strators and patient say together, out loud, three times, the affirmation; then repeat it silently three times. After this, let the first demonstrator, on the left hand side, take the affirmation, out loud, while all of the others concentrate with the same thought silently. After the first person has taken the affirmation out loud, then the second may repeat it audibly Avhile all of the others, including the patient, repeat it silently, Then the third demonstrator does likewise, with the rest silently concentrating. This is done until the whole circle has completed the affirmation, out loud, while the others are concentrating; then the patient, himself or herself, repeats the affirmation, audibly, while the rest are concentrating. After this, let all the demonstrators and patient take the affirmation, out loud, three times; then repeat it three times silently. With this kind of suggestion, many minds helping the patient, Ave oft times get a much quicker result. The affirmation may go around the semi-circle, as per instructions above, just as many times as your good judgment may dictate. If Hetero Suggestion is practiced in class it would be Avell to have the class assemble, as mentioned in the first lesson: namely, close together, with no vacant seats, one toav behind another, or one patient behind 716 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE another patient; and, while the demonstration is being practiced by the operators, on the stage or platform, let the first row remain seated as usual, the second row standing, the third row seated and the fourth row standing; rows standing, alternately; then the opera- tors say: "God is Spirit and you (name of patient) are life; life spirit is now flowing through you and you are well, whole and complete." The patients, of course, will use the pronoun in the first person "I," while the demonstrators use the pronoun "you." NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXVIII. ELECTRICAL HEALING. Lesson Four. We understand now that the body is composed of a great deal of electricity (see chapter on hoAV to elec- trify the body) and there are some people who have the talent for healing others by passing electricity from their body into the one not well and there are some patients who are recipients for this kind of healing, better than any other. By taking the hands of the patient, Avith the thumbs pressing on the backs of the hands, above the knuckles, and trembling the hands—vibrating—both the operator and the patient Avill feel the current. Or, we can have many joining hands in the form of a crescent or semi-circle, as in lesson three, letting the left hand of the patient connect with the left hand of the operator, forming one point of the crescent, the rest of the people in the circle back of the patient and the right hand of the patient in the right hand of the operator, or friend, forming the right hand point of the crescent. In this manner, if we have six or eight in the crescent-circle, by the power of personal elec- trification, the patient will receive much stronger cur- rents of electricity, health, life and vigor. Never complete the circle in front of the patient; keep the semi-circle—crescent—as outlined on page 713. 720 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE This is very simple and scientific. A wire may be strung on poles but it does not follow that the wire will carry a message by elecricity; turn on the dynamo, however, and direct the electricity into the wire and the wire will be charged. The wire is the same old wire but it is now a "live wire" filled with electric current. The human body is the same. The body is as susceptible to a charging and surcharging of human electric currents as is the electric wire subject to the charging of electricity and when there is a good demon- stration that is because the patient is the recipient for strong, magnetic currents, generated by a single per- son or more: the patient is instantly surcharged with the human electric current—vibrations of health—and an instantaneous healing may be had. Some practitioners have a much better result by electrical healing than in any other way. With my- self, I get the best results combining suggestion with vibratory and electrical treatments. It does not matter what is wrong with the patient. If it is a matter of mental disturbances, such as worry, fear, trouble, financial reverses; or perchance it may be health; I always use these three methods, combined. The object in giving these different methods of treatment is so that you may find the kind that you can use most successfully with the greater number of patients. You will also discover that some patients will respond to one kind of a treatment and other patients to some other treatment. Just as we can pass electricity through a wire, from the dynamo, so can the human body pass electric- ity into another. If we are strong practitioners of ELECTRICAL HEALING 721 electrical vibration and are strong in our trembling- vibrating—as we hold the patients hands, we may some- times get such an electrical vibration started that the patient may tremble after the treatment, for some time, without controlling himself; or he may feel the vibration for hours after the treatment. There is no danger or harm in this, rather just the opposite. The patient has been a good receiving station for the strong, healthful, electrical current from the operator or prac- titioner and, like charging a steel from the magnet, the patient has been charged with electricity and, very often, after a strong treatment where the patient trembles when the treatment is over, there has been a complete and instantaneous healing. The class in the same position as in the previous lesson: Also the patient and operators on the platform for Hetero Suggestion, the same as outlined in the last chapter. With the semi-circle around the patient: The first row of the class seated; the second row standing; alter- nate rows standing, as before; all join hands—those on the platform and those in the class. On the plat- form, let the demonstrator at the left end of the semi- circle, with right hand, take hold of the patient's right hand and, with the left hand, join the right hand of the person next to him or her—all clasping hands around the semi-circle until the last one of the semi-circle, on the right side, with the left hand grasps the patient's left hand. The class joins hands—the first row connecting with the second; the third row connecting with the fourth; the fifth Avith the sixth, etc., until there is not a single 722 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE hand that is not clasped. With this joining of hands— completing a human contact of mental magnetic elec- tricity—take an affirmation and repeat it first out loud and then silently, in rhythm, alternating as before. Be sure, in grasping hands, that the thumb of one hand is pressing on the hand of the other person, just back of the kunckles; press tightly and tremble the hands— vibrating them until the current has been generated. Use any health affirmations during the electrical healing. t NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXIX. HOW TO HEAL BY VISULIZATION.* Lesson Five. Recapitulation of Healing Methods. Some people may develop the faculty of visualiza- tion—of visualizing health and have a healing by this visualization, when they are not able to heal themselves in any other way; also some people are better demon- strators by visualization than by any other method. It is a very simple matter and yet extremely scientific and beneficial to those who have this faculty Avell de- veloped. You should visualize the entire body well, Avhole and complete : This may be done by the side of the patient, in the same room or at a distance. Some people are not able to concentrate and repeat the exact affirmation— they may get the Avords confused and tangled but they can concentrate or hold the thought of health and effect a healing even though they are not able to repeat the affirmation word for word. Some people who are not good concentrators in this method are especially good in concentrating on visualization. There are, perhaps, less visualizing demonstrators than demonstrators of other methods but you may be an outstanding genius in visualizing health for yourself or your patients. In your visualization, do not limit the laAv. Do not visual- ize health for the one organ affected but visualize the ♦See Page 89 726 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE whole body well, whole and complete. It is well, if there is trouble with the liver, to visualize the liver well, whole and normal, functioning naturally; but do not stop there. After we have visualized the liver "well, whole and complete," then end this visualization by visualiz- ing the whole body "Avell, whole, complete, harmoniou3 and perfect." Elsewhere in this book we have told you of the woman who had John Alexander Dowie pray that the cancer on her breast would not grow and for thirty years it remained just the same. You want to visualize a complete healing and a whole, well body—not only the organ affected—but All. If you do not know what the liver and lungs look like or any other organ that you may be visualizing, the subcoscsious mind does; you don't have to worry about that. But, if you have a picture in your mind of what the liver and the lungs look like or what the lungs ought to be normally, it would probably help the subconscious mind—exhilerate—add emphasis to the suggestion. Get a chart that will give you the anatomy of man: the color of his liver, of the lungs—what they ought to be, etc.; you may get more speedy results. See "St. John's First Aid Hand Book" for Charts and Func- tions. When we say that "we are well, whole and com- plete," of course, we know that you are not well if you have a pain—if the organs are not functioning nor- mally ; we know that your physical body is not well but spirit is life and spirit is well and you are spirit; God is spirit and we are the same spirit as God and there could be no illness with God—our spirit is God. HOW TO HEAL BY VISUALIZATION 727 If you are understanding the Law—that the body will respond to this spirit—then we have what we want, the spirit is never ill, it is the physical body. When we take an affirmation that "we are well, whole and complete," we are suggesting this to the cells of our body. Remember that the cells have been resolved into atoms, molecules and electrons and that these minute sub-divisions of the cell life have intelli- gence and are subject to mental suggestion; and, when we suggest health, life—that we are whole and com- plete, perfect and harmonious—these cells take up the thought which we have suggested to them and begin to mend the body. If, however, we can get the suggestion strong enough into the subconscious mind, it is not a matter of time for the healing, it may become instaneous. We consider that the spirit is never sick. It can- not be. God is spirit and God is all health. The spirit cannot be sick, only the body. We want ahvays to bear in mind that the body can be made instantly well by the spirit. SILENT DEMONSTRATING. Some of us will have much better results as demon- strators or in healing ourselves by silent concentration Avithout even visualizing. The demonstrator may be in the same room with the patient—or absent, the distance makes no difference —and, silently, hold the thought of health and get Avonderfui results. This is another method that may be operated by some people and not by others. If you 728 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE are a strong concentrator you may be a wonderful demonstrator without ever making an audible sound or repeating an affirmation out loud. If you can heal one way, all right; some one else another way, all right. Let us be just as big and as broad in our scope here as we are in our other Branches of Phychology—let each use his or her own way. When you come together in a CLASS, use ONE particular kind of method that ONE day; but, if you are seeking to be healed, you don't care how you are healed: let us be so big and so broad that we are going to use every method under the sun that may restore health to suffer- ing mankind. Double Hetero Suggestion. You will find it most interesting in class as well as most beneficial, both in class and private practice, to have two people practicing magnetic and electrical treatment on the one person at the same time. This may be done by one practitioner following through the method of magnetic treatment as outlined above, stand- ing behind the patient; with another practitioner stand- ing in front of the patient, vibrating the hands of the patient while the other operator is magnetically treat- ing the head. Practitioner in front of the patient will change from time to time, vibrating both hands, to one hand; vibrating the hand of the patient with the other resting upon the top of the patient's head while the operator behind the patient may be vibrating the organ not functioning well. While the practitioner behind the patient continues vibrating the unwell organ, the prac- titioner in front will alternate one hand and then the HOW TO HEAL BY VISUALIZATION 729 other, keeping the opposite hand on the forehead, tem- ples, hair and the base of the brain of the patient, at different times. The operator in front will also discon- tinue at periods the vibration of the patient's hand or hands and vibrate the patient's head, ears, forehead, eyes, etc., while the other practitioner is vibrating the organ not functioning normally. Hemisphere Therapy. The different organs of the body have a direct con- nection with the tips of the fingers and toes. The or- gans from the waist up are affected by the fingers and from the waist downward are affected by the toes. By pressing or squeezing the finger tips for three minutes, we may stimulate the nerve centers or start the circulation leading to some of the bodily organs. (For a further study of this see Fitzgerald's System of Divine Therapy). If you have not received the benefits which you ought to have from other methods, try putting a rub- ber band around the tips of the fingers or squeezing the finger tips three minutes at a time; remove the rub- ber bands or cease squeezing. Repeat this several times a day; or if the affected organs are from the waist downward, do the same thing with the toes. Also place the thumb of the right hand in the palm of the left and all of the fingers of the right hand on the back of the left, pressing as tightly as it is possible for three minutes; then vice versa—the left hand thumb and fingers squeezing the palm and back of the right hand. 730 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE TO RECAPITULATE: First: Suggestive healing; Second: Vibratory Magnetic Healing; Third: Hetero Healing; Fourth: Hetero Electrical; Fifth: Visualization; Sixth: Silent Concentration; Seventh: Vibratory Silence; Eighth: Double Hetero Suggestion; Ninth: Hemisphere Therapy. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXX. VOICE. All voice exercises should be carefully practiced with the diaphragm striking out each time the tone is made. Be sure that the sound strikes against the tip of the teeth, not back in the throat or at the roof of the mouth. As the exercises are taken, put all of your effort in concentrating on the tone you are making. Throw your whole life into the practice, see that the lips move with an expression each time that the sound is uttered. The lower teeth should always be seen, no matter what tone you are making. If the lower lip should cover the teeth, you will want to practice these vocal exercises, watching in the mirror that the lower lip does not cover the lower teeth. High Voice—A-E-I-O-U. Loav Voice—Roll on thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll—roll—roll—roll— High Voice—La—La—La Low Voice—No, now, no, now, no, now Low Voice—Now o 'er the one half the world, Low Voice—Eternity thou pleasing dreadful thought. High Voice—A-E-I-O-U- U-U High Voice—La-Le-Li-Lo-Lu—Lu-Lu-Lu High Voice—Ba-Be-Bi-Bo-Bu—Bu-Bu-Bu 734 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE • Low Voice—Down-down-down—no-no-no- High Voice—Ha-He-Hi-Ho-Hu—Hu-Hu-Hu Low Voice—Home-Home-Home—Home-Home-Home High Voice—Ring out wild bells to the wild sky The flying cloud to frosty light The year is dying in the night Ring out wild bells and let him die. Low Voice—Now-Now-Now Do-Do-Do Home-Home-Home High Voice—Ding-Dong-Ding-Dong-Ding-Dong Low Voice—Ding-Dong-Ding-Dong-Ding-Dong High Voice—Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha—5 times. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha—10 times. Low Voice—Now-Now-Now Down-Down-Down Home-Home-Home High Voice—Ma-Me-Mi-Mo-Mu—Mu-Mu-Mu High Voice—Sa-Se-Si-So-Su—Su-Su-Su Low Voice—Now-now-now Do-do-do Home-home-home High Voice—Pa-pe-pi-po-pu—pu-pu-pu De-de-di-do-du— du-du-du Low Voice—Now-Now-Now No-no-no Home-home-home High Voice—There was sound of revelry by night and Belgium had gathered there her beauty and her chivalry. VOICE 735 Low voice—Now-now-now Lo-lo-lo Home-home-home High Voice—Ha-he-hi-ho-hu-ho-ho-ho-hom-hom-hom (drop the letter h) om-om-om (repeat three times) Low Voice—Ma-me-mi-mo-mu— mo-mo-mo- mome-mome-mome-hom-hom-hom (drop the h) om-om-om- High Voice—Put any letter before the vowels, as be— making ba-be-bi-bo-bu or d making da- de-di-do-du THEN Low Voice—You may do the same thing with the low voice. You should take at least twenty minutes exercise of the voice a day, following explicitly the directions given above and for diaphragmatic breathing given elsewhere in this book. A person using the voice with the outward stroke of the diaphragm will never need to take any water while singing or speaking, no matter if the practice lengthens into hours. There is probably no man in the country, at the present time, who is talking as many hours, in as large auditoriums, as the writer of these lines and yet, he never takes a glass of water, never has any throat trouble and is never fatigued in the voice. 736 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LLFE SMILE. (Sung at the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic") "It isn't any trouble just to S-m-i-1-e. It isn't any trouble just to S-m-i-1-e, If you smile when you're in trouble It will vanish like a bubble. It isn't any trouble just to S-m-i-1-e." (Chorus.) "It isn't any trouble just to L-a-u-g-h, It isn't any trouble just to L-a-u-g-h, If you laugh when you're in trouble It will vanish like a bubble. It isn't any trouble just to L-a-u-g-h." (Chorus.) "It isn't any trouble just to ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, It isn't any trouble just to ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, If you ha-ha-ha-ha-ha when you're in trouble It will vanish like a bubble. It isn't any trouble just to ha-ha-ha-ha-ha." (Chorus.) NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXXI. AFFIRMATIONS*. Before taking an affirmation at night for ourselves, we should forget every discordant, unfortunate or unhappy incident of the past. Should maintain no negative thoughts of sorrow, of grief reverses, hate, envy, jealousy, etc. Then, after the mind has been emptied and clarified of all discordant thinking, lie flat on the back—no pillow under the head and take affirmations a number of times without being under stress or strain in the repetition, repeating the affirma- tions as we drop off into sleep. See chapter on "How to Charge Subconscious Mind at Night," "How to Cleanse Aura" and "How to Cure Insomnia." For a study in making affirmations see pages 80-1-2. Abundance. For General Affirmations see latter part of this chapter. I am health; I am life; I am prosperity; I am suc- cess ; I am abundance. Abundance now is mine. Abundance is flowing to me from the bounty of infinite supply. All I need is mine. ♦See chapters on "How to Make the Subconscious Mind Work during Sleep" in this book. 740 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE God is universal force, creative spirit is everywhere and where God is there can be no lack, no limitation, no error. I am rich in the abundant spirit of the ever present, life-giving power of God. I think only abundance; I think only plenty; I think only prosperity; abundance, plenty and pros- perity are mine, now. The gold is mine and the silver is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. What belongs to God is mine; all things that the Father hath are mine. They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. I am a part of the Universal Power of Success, Health and Abundance. Everything I do produces abundance and plenty. All I have is my Father's and all He has is mine. The Father and I are one and all that the Father hath is mine. I have abundance in His love. I am happy in my ownership. Man has instantly everything that he needs. There are INFINITE IDEAS in MIND— Man receives those ideas and passes them on To his fellow man, in joy and helpfulness. "All is abundance for God is the All-Supply: The mood of success is the invincible power By which is measured my capacity!'' Infinite supply meets all my needs. Abundance, prosperity, plenty, opulence are mine now, to have and enjoy. AFFIRMATIONS 741 Alcoholic Affirmation. I (name) ................................, am free in mind and body; I enjoy normal and simple living. My desires are for all of the good things of life and the blessings of God. I think purity and live purity. All of the organs of my body are functioning normally and I delight in temperate living in all things. All the organs of my body are functioning nor- mally; I delight in a pure, wholesome, happy atmos- phere. I am free in mind and body, all my desires are natural and normal. I live, move and have my being in absolute harmony with ALL of nature's law. I am perfect in mind and body, harmonious, com- posed, poised and strong. I am in complete control of my mind and body. Aura. For affirmation: "Hoav to Cleanse the Aura," see Chapter on Aura. I am love; Divine love is flowing through me and I am at peace Avith all the world. Beauty. God's spirit is smiling through me. Blessing. This spirit, of health and life and vigor and power and peace and poise, is uoav in you and controls you and now makes you well, makes you whole and makes you complete. God is all-sufficient for your supply. 742 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Breathing.* I am breathing into my body health, life, peace and prosperity. God is breathing into me a breath of life and I am a living soul. I am breathing into my body health, life, vigor and strength. I am breathing into my being prosperity, abun- dance, success and plenty. I am breathing, into the depths of my soul, peace, poise, rest and love. I am breathing love, harmony, joy and happiness from the Divine Source of the Universe. I am a part of the Divine Life, and I am breath- ing into my being the very soul of Divinity. "Life, force and spirit, universal health and energy is now flowing through me and I am well." "I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious and happy.'' Brotherhood. One God and Father of All, who is above all, through all and in you all. There is but one Mind, one Spirit. This one mind and spirit is God. God is no respector of persons. All of the children of His creation—all—are subject to His laws. There is no East or West, no North or South in Mind and in Spirit. Mind is One and this One-ness is in all creation. This One-ness makes brotherhood. ♦See Chapter 26. AFFIRMATIONS 743 What God hath made, let no man despise; from one blood God made all the nations of the earth; the God-Mind is in all—we are brothers. Business. The universal mind, Law—God—rules my affairs and my business. God is perfect in judgment, perfect in wisdom, perfect in abundance; with God my business is success. "Of myself I can do nothing. The Father in me doeth the works; I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me." "The Christ Spirit of me succeeds in every perfect way for the highest good of all." Circulation of Blood. I am warm and comfortable. I am enjoying regular and natural circulation. My heart is beating warmth and life to every atom of my being. My circulation, as well as my lungs and every other organ, is functioning naturally and I am warm! warm! WARM! I am warm and comfortable, I am flushing with regular circulation. My heart is beating warmth and life to every atom of my being. My circulation as well as my lungs and every other organ is functioning naturally and I am Avarm, Avarm, Avarm. 744 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Confidence. "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you." —Luke 10:19. Criticism. "I give up all inclination to selfishness and criti- cism, in love, and embrace the fuller consciousness that love is no respector of persons." I see only the good, only the pure, only the lovely, only the wise in all around me, in all creation. I love all as God loves—seeing only the Divine in each; I will love all by giving my best to all; I will speak only the kindest and most helpful and in- spiring words about everyone. I shall not look upon the outward appearance—I shall look upon the heart. "I will love others as myself; think and speak of others as of myself.'' He who loves enough will have naught of limita- tion, criticism or kindred feelings to dissolve. I am therefore filled with love. For Defective. I am brave and strong and filled with courage, life and wisdom and able to do what man can do. Ears. (See any health affirmation). I am manifesting perfect hearing. AFFIRMATIONS 745 "Evil Spirits." (There is no such thing as an evil spirit but should you think so, take:) You are surrounded by the protecting spirit of God and where God dwells there is strength, rest, harmony and peace. Excitability. (Name) ........................, you are always agreeable, poised and so glad when people and children come to see you. In fact you are so delighted when others come that you will enjoy their companionship and play with the children gladly, relaxed, composed and poised. Exercise. Health, life, vigor, strength, Youth, power, growth, joy. Health, joy, youth, prosperity, PoAver, growth, life, spirit. Faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is knoAving "God is ALL" and, where God is, there is ONLY good- health, wisdom and abundance. Fear. See Pages 80-1-2. "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it Avere not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 746 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE And, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And Jacob awakened out of a dream and he said: surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not. My home is the Lord's house; I have awakened to his presence and know that I dwell in that presence for- ever."—Bible. God lives, moves and has His Being in every place, in every soul and in every thing. If the Lord is with us, who can be against us ? The Lord is on the side of the courageous. I am courage. I am a co-" ; orer with God. Fear—Afraid—Dark. All nature is lovely and kind to others and me. All life is permeated and filled with Love. Spirit is Abundance, Prosperity and Success. God is everywhere, Omnipresent, and where God is, there can be only His Guardian Presence, Abundant Love, Prosperity and Success. Knowing all this, I am filled with Courage, Hope, Faith, Abundance, Health, Love and Success. Fear of Ghosts. All of the Universe is filled with love and protec- tion to me and mine. All of the Universe is filled with love for all mankind. I am therefore surrounded day and night by Infinite Protection and I am at peace and filled with comfort. God's spirit permeates every atom of my being and fills every niche of space. God's spirit is love; love and God surrounds, fills and protects me AFFIRMATIONS 747 every moment of the day and night. Where God is there is light, joy, peace and rest. I am filled Avith com- fort and rest in peace. Fear of Years Ago. All thoughts of life in my conscious and sub- conscious mind have been for my good and I am filled Avith joy to recall life's experiences. I am health, I am strength, I am youth, because God is shining through me. Forget the Past. Everyone who has lived Avith me has had faith and confidence in my love and affections. Every experience of my life has been for my good and I enjoy living, working and planning for the future. Friends. I am rich in health, joy, friends, abundance and happiness. I love everybody, everybody loves me. I enjoy their presence; they enjoy my association and are happy Avhen I am present. God. ONE represents the basis of all truth in the uni- verse ; one infinite, limitless law creates and governs all that is made visible. There is but one law—one force, one substance, one mind, one life, one intelli- gence and one power. "Do I not fill heaven and earth? If I make my bed in hell Thou art there. The fullness that filleth all in all." —Bible. 748 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE I see and acknowledge that this One Presence fills every place, time, substance and condition. Look for Good. I believe in good only and look for good only. I am one with ALL-good; throughout this day I see, think and speak with ALL-good. Grief. God is good—all is good. God is love—all is love. Here there can be no experience of life but that comes from the bosom of Infinite love and can be trans- formed into peace and comfort for us. Gritting Teeth. My jaws are normal and functioning naturally. I delight in relaxation in mind and body. I am now relaxed and poised. My jaAvs are resting and at ease. Harmony—Discord. You love me and every thought and action, Toward me, is for my love, welfare and happiness. You think only constructive, happy and prosperous Thoughts for me and Mine. You love my husband as you love me. You think only of his happiness and my happiness, Of his prosperity and my prosperity. Your love for both of us makes us happy and joyful. (In fifth line, substitute any other person than hus- band, if there should be contention or discord about some other one.) AFFIRMATIONS 749 Happiness. I am a part of Life Spirit and love. I am filled with the presence and fellowship of this Spirit. I am filled with joy in this association and with the company of every living soul. Headache. I have liberty and freedom in every atom of my being while every organ functions normally and har- moniously. My thinking is clear, profound, peaceful and harmonious. Nervous Headache. I am at rest in Infinite love, filled Avith peace, poise and power. All of my being is filled Avith pulsing, happy, peaceful life. I am peace, I am calm, I am poise. I rest peacefully, quietly, calmly, bathed in perfect love and harmony. Health. (For affirmations upon retiring and rising, see chapter "Hoav to Charge the Subconscious Mind" and Pages 85, 89 and 90.) God is Spirit, I (name) am life. Life Spirit is now you are flowing through me, and I am avcII, whole and complete. you, you are "I will register health unto thee. I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as my soul prospereth. "Whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things. "—Bible. Soul is health, spirit is health, God is health, I am health. Since there is but one mind, there is but one 750 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE mentality. This mind and mentality is God; God is health. I am health. '' The prayer of faith shall save the sick. "He hath healed all thy diseases, forgiven thy iniquities and renewed thy strength, as the eagles."—Bible. "I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious and happy and what I am myself I desire for everyone else." Harmony, peace, poise, health, youth, abundance, success, plenty. I am harmony, health and life. All of the organs of my body are functioning normally. All the organs of my body are functioning nor- mally and I am filled with the living spirit of perfect life and poise. You are filled with the ever present body power of Divine Love. I am master of my mind and body and am filled with happiness in normal functioning of all my organs. God is spirit and I (name) am life. Life, spirit (you) (are) is now flowing through me and I am well, whole and (you) (you are) complete. The illuminating, intelligent life, spirit of God, is now flowing through me, bringing health and life to every atom of my being. I (name) am Life; Life- Spirit is now flowing through me and I am well. All is good. You are filled with life, health, strength and spirit and you are now at love and in peace. AFFIRMATIONS 751 God is spirit; you are life; life spirit is now flow- ing through you and you are Avell. When you realize your absolute One-ness with God you cannot be sick or filled with inharmony. You are life; God is spirit; life spirit is flowing through you and you are well. God is spirit, I am bathed in love from that spirit and am made well, whole and filled with life. I am filled with the abundant, intelligent, ever- (You are) present life of Spirit. It flows through me freely, (you) cleansing, healing, purifying and vitalizing every part. I am one with this life and in it I am every whit whole. (you are) (you are) "The all-powerful Christ Mind in me dissolves and dissipates every adverse thought. My body is the pure and Holy Temple of the Living God, and every organ and every function is now in Divine Order and Har- mony." "I praise and give thanks for the rich Substance of Spirit, now filling this body with perfection and health." All is mind, all is God, all is universal energy, I am part of creative force and I am health, abundance, joy and peace. I, (name)................, am filled A\rith the illuminating, intelligent, life-giving spirit of God, it flows through me freely, bringing health and life to every atom of my being and I am Avell, whole and complete. Life force and spirit, universal health and energy is now flowing through me and I am well. 752 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, har- monious and happy. I rejoice in the consciousness of life, love, health and strength, through Jesus Christ. I am filled, I am thrilled with Life Eternal and I radiate that life to all. Man is spiritual, perfect, divine and holy. Man is the activity through which God expresses. God is spirit and I (name) am life; life spirit is noAV flowing through me and I am well, whole and complete. Home. The service of my home is the service of the Lord; Avhere God abideth is peace, joy, harmony, love. The presence of God is in my home and I am made perfect in His love. I recognize only good, love, plenty and peace in my home. Humanitarianism. "I live not unto myself; I work not unto myself; I succeed not unto myself." All that I do I do for myself and others. All that I am and all that I have I share abundantly Avith every child of creation. Immorality (see Purity). I enjoy clean living in mind and action. I have life and have it more abundantly. I have always had control of myself in every par- ticular experience of life. I am master of my mind and body. (Name) ............................, you like friends and asso- ciations that reflect only the pure, the wholesome, the AFFIRMATIONS 753 sweet. Your language shall always be free from any taint and suggestive stories and AAmen companions or friends stoop to anything but proper and dignified lan- guage or stories you will refuse to listen and will not remain in their company while suggestive stories, pic- tures, or conversation is in progress. Indolence. I am a perfect child of Divine Spirit, harmonious (You are) and free; I am normal in thinking and ambitions; (You are) I am aspiring to the greatest talent Avithin me. (You are) (you). I am filled with the eternal spirit of greatness. (You are) I am realizing in my consciousness, NOW, the natu- (Youare) (your) ral development of my genius. I am active, am- (your) (You are) bitious and expectant; I want to do the greatest thing . ... (You) in life. Injured in Sports. Every experience of my life has been for my good. I enjoy sports, outdoor and in. I am free in mind and body, a perfect child of (You are) Infinite Spirit aad I am noAV happy in living. (you are) Jealousy. I am in absolute harmony with every action, move- ment and thought of every one in the Avorld. 754 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Judgment. I am now using judgment and mind to make every effort of my life successful and prosperous. Kind. I am filled with the abundant ever-present spirit of goodness, I am kind and loving toward every crea- ture, man, bird and beast, of the Life Giving, Creative Universal Principle. I shall this day speak words of kindness, cheer, hope and peace to every creature I meet or pass. How td Be Holy. I am filled with thanksgiving and gratitude for every experience of life, past and present and am happy in thought, deeds and actions. Kleptomania. You are filled with the spirit of honor, honesty and truthfulness. Language. (Name) ......................, you like to hear sweet, pure, wholesome, dignified language. You will use only the language and phrases which are uplifting, constructive and pure. Childrens' Lessons. You (name) excel in work, study and play. You (name) delight in getting your arithmetic (or other study) lessons and have joy in reciting at school. Life. "I am the way, the truth and the life; whosoever findeth me, findeth life."—Bible. AFFIRMATIONS 755 God is life. Life is God. God is omnipresent, everywhere; God's life is perfect; my life is perfect; I am a perfect child of the God Life Force. I see the presence of perfect life in man, in nature and in all life.. Since my life is hid in God, I am certain that my life is perfect, harmonious, abundant and peaceful. Lonely. Lo! I am with you ALWAYS. God is my constant companion, my ever-present friend and my eternal guide. I am conscious of my at-one-ment with the eternal. I am at UNITY with God. Longevity. The spirit of the All-pervading Eternal Youth is this moment flowing through me And I am perpetual charm, youth and spirit. Lost Love. John, you love me as no one else and you are loving me as you did in our days of courtship and early mar- ried life—you want me to have all I need for myself and the home; you are happy in providing abundantly and you are careful how you spend your money. You are wise in your investment; you are now using judg- ment in placing our savings where they are safe and will bring abundant, legitimate returns. Your thoughts for your husbands lost love should be to this effect: Our Love is the same today as when we were first wed, is boundless and everlasting. 756 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE All conditions surrounding our home life are har- monious, prosperous and happy. There is nothing so charming, so beautiful and so binding as your love for me and my love for you. In this love our souls are united and our Beings are one, our love will continue to grow, your love for me and my love for you. We are One in eternal happiness. Love. God is spirit; God is love. I am spirit; I am love. I love my environment, my circumstances, my past experience, my present associations and my neighbor as myself. I love every creature, man or beast, child or baby, that lives and moves and has its being in Infinite love. I have the power to love every living creature, this day, with Infinite love. I love all my environment and all my environment loves me, because my environment is God. God is all and in all, and God is love. I have the power that naturally belongs to a loving soul. God is love; I am perfect love because my Father is perfect love. "The spirit of love fills all—fills me, full; fills my mentality; fills every thought and feeling." I love everybody and everybody loves me. Memory. I am a part of universal intelligence and all mind is memory. I am a part of universal mind and memory and am therefore all mind and all memory. AFFIRMATIONS 757 Let me be but the true channel through which Thy word may be spoken with whom I may come in contact. I am memory; I am life; I am vitality; I am strength. I concentrate; I recall all things of the past. I am perfect memory. Mercy. Put on as "the elect of God," Mercy, kindness, meekness, forbearing, one accord. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Mind. Since God is spirit and only one spirit and spirit is mind, there can be but one mind. The God Mind can be only perfect, good and healthful. I am one in this mind; I am perfect; I am well; I am abundance. As there is but one spirit and one mind and this one spirit and one mind is God; and I am a part of this one spirit and one mind, I, therefore, have no false or failing mind. I am one with the Divine and therefor I am perfect mind. Mistakes. There are no mistakes in Infinite love and supply. God never errs. I am part of God. My past is hid with God, is used by God and me to make my future rosy Avith prosperity, health and life. For Closing the Mouth. (Name) ........................, you are a child, perfect in mind and body and will enjoy having all of the organs 758 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE of your body function normally. You like to breathe through your nostrils—you like to keep your mouth tight shut while breathing. You appreciate being the same as all other normal children. Nervousness. All the organs of my body are functioning nor- (your) mally and I am at rest and serene. I am surrounded (you are) (You are) by Infinite love and comforted by Divine spirit. I am peaceful, restful and poised. The eternal (You are) spirit of composure is now floAving through me and (you) I am calm and at rest in Divine Love. (you are) Omniscience. All spirit and all mind is one. This mind is omnis- cient—ALL intelligence; there is but one intelligence— ALL good. I am at-one-ment with this intelligence; I am a part of this intelligence; I therefore plan and act intelligently, wisely and perfectly. Peace. The living spirit of life, God, is now flowing through me and I am peaceful, calm and poised. I am a child of the living spirit, life, abundance, health, prosperity, a part of the universal mind and all is well with me and mine. "Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the sons of God." Mat. 5; 19. AFFIRMATIONS 759 I am peaceful and have the power to make peace wherever I may be, wherever I may go, wherever I may speak. For the water, deep under the sea, is peaceful and calm, no matter how the storm may rage above, so my soul is anchored in the love of the Father and I am at peace Avhile the storms of life may rage. "The Lord is my rock and refuge, in Him will I trust." The peace that passeth all understanding is mine, the promise of infinite love. "The angel of the Lord encampeth around about me and delivereth me." Psalm 34; 7. The Great Consciousness is my consciousness—my ONE-ness with the Father. I am vibrating in harmony Avith Infinite Spirit and am peaceful, calm and poised. '' I will lay me down In peace and sleep, For my watcher Maketh me to dwell in safety." 4th Psalm. Personality. I am filled with Abundant, Ever-Present Spirit of Beauty, Charm, Youth and Personality. I am charm, I am Personality Tho spirit of the All-pervading Eternal Youth is this moment flowing through me And I am perpetual charm, youth and personality. 760 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Poise. "He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city." Proverbs 16; 32. I am peaceful, calm and poised. I have the power to turn all conditions and experi- ences of life into peace, power, poise. I am spirit and spirit is peace; spirit is love; spirit is poise and, being spirit, I am this day, this hour, this minute, poise, poise, poise. If God is with me who can be against me? "The Lord is my defense, I shall not be moved." Psalm 42; 6. I have the power of poise this day. I have the poAver to be calm and serene and undisturbed in and under all circumstances; the poAver to rule my own spirit and thus produce a feeling of poise in those with Avhom I associate this day. For Playing With Children. (Name) ................, you enjoy playing Avith children and will always behave in a kind, considerate and helpful way while playmates are with you. (Name) ................, the children with whom you will play to- morrow are peaceful, kind, considerate and lovable and you, in turn, will be just as courteous as they. Poverty. (See Pages 80-1-2.) Power. "God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of poAver and of love and the sound mind." Timothy, 2. AFFIRMATIONS 761 "All power is given me in heaven and in earth." Matthew, 28: 18. With God all things are possible. God is light, God is wisdom, God is force, God is power and in Him I live and move and have my being; therefore I am light, life and wisdom. All power in heaven and earth is given to me; of myself I can do nothing.—Jesus. Christ, linked with Omnipotence could do anything —this power is ours to use; I claim this poAver; I have this power; I exercise this power. By this poAver I am made stronger each moment; I am upheld each instant; I am sustained every hour. This power is ALL-good, ALL-wise, ALL-health. The universal creative spirit is limitless power; I am in conscious unity with this spirit; Avith this principle; with this life that is ALL-power. "But ye shall receive poAver, Avhen the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth."—Acts 1:8. And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, "All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth."—MattheAv 28: 18. Prosperity. All of my needs are met before I wish for them; there is always supply before the demand and all my life needs are cared for in Divine abundance and supply. I think only of prosperity; I talk only of prosper- ity; I am prosperous always and I know that success is mine. 762 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE "I praise and give thanks for the fullness of sub- stance, now making prosperity manifest everywhere." '' Thou, 0 God, are my Might Resource and I trust and believe in thy unfailing bounty, constantly increas- ing and multiplying in my mind and in my affairs, through my consciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ." "I seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous- ness and all good things are added." "All things the Father hath are mine.—John 26; 15. "All things are yours."—1 Cor. 3; 21. "I have all and abound."—Phil. 4; 18. '' That ye, always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work."—2 Cor. 11; 8. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he medi- tate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatso- ever he doeth shall prosper.''—Ps. 1. 1; 3. "I rejoice in the consciousness of the one living Substance as my inexhaustible supply and support." "The riches of the Spirit now fill my mind and affairs and I am prosperous always. I think only of prosperity, I talk only of prosperity and I know that success is mine." I raise my heart in praise and thanksgiving that all I have asked for is NOW granted. The spirit of God goes before me and prepares my way, making it cheerful, happy and prosperous. AFFIRMATIONS 763 Purity (see Immorality). "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." "To the pure all things are pure."—Titus 1; 15. "Today every word that will surge from my mouth is adding to the purity, chastity and healthfulness of the mental atmosphere of the earth." I am pure in thought, deed and action. All purity is given me by the spirit within and I am living only by pure thoughts, pure deeds, pure atmosphere and pure environment. God, the ever present, all powerful, life giving and love dispensing Spirit fills me with perfect reali- zation of the spotless purity in my life this day. The mind that was in Christ Jesus is in me. The universal mind—the God Mind—is ALL-power, ALL-life, ALL-health. (Name) ...................., your mind is clean, clear and pure. Your thoughts are wholesome, joyful and proper. (Name) ...................., you think only good thoughts, right thoughts, happy thoughts, pure thoughts. (Name) ...................., all of your childhood, adoles- cence, manhood (or womanhood) will be controlled by moral, uplifting and spiritual thinking and acting. Relaxation. I am relaxed in mind and body; my spirit poised and calm; I am resting in Infinite Love. 764 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Revenge. I am at rest and at peace with God and man. I am filled with love toward everyone and everyone is loving me. Salesman's Affirmation. I have a message that will give you perfect health, harmony, love, joy, peace and happiness—prosperity and success. I know as well as others do that we only get out of anything just what we put into it—be it Spiritual or Material things or real true Love. If you want to live a full, rich "abundant" life, you will I know accept "Inspired Truth" at any cost. I am therefore giving my best in real service in the goods which I am selling. My goods are needed and I take delight in showing them. I am getting a fair legitimate profit and am giving the best that can be bought in my line. I can produce sales, I do produce sales. I win. I can because I think I can. Self-Consciousness. (See Pages 80-1-2.) I am confident, strong and harmonious. I enjoy the company of other people and they enjoy me. I am delighted to knoAV that I am perfect in God's image and all the world appreciates my charm. I raise my heart in praise and thanksgiving that all I have asked for is NOW granted. I enjoy the presence of others and they enjoy me. AFFIRMATIONS 765 I like to meet people, mix with folks, talk to men and they in turn enjoy and appreciate my presence and conversation. Cosmic Sex Urge. (See Purity and Immorality.) "All of the organs of my body are WELL, WHOLE, COMPLETE, FUNCTIONING NORMALLY, and NATURE WILL IN EVERY RESPECT, WITH- OUT ANY ANNOYANCE TO ME, TAKE CARE OF HER OWN." "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him." "Rest in the Lord and the Lord will mould thee." Sleeplessness. I am a perfect child of Infinite Spirit and am rest- ing in His care! I am bathed in Infinite love and am now at peace and resting in sleep. (See chapter on How to Cure Insomnia.) Spirit. The Universal, Omnipotent, Creative Principle is One, invisible and unchanging. This spirit is ever per- fect. "That which is born of spirit is spirit; One is your Father; God created man in His own image; in the image of man created He him.''—Bible. Spirit begets spirit; I am spirit because I am part of creative energy; I am spirit because my Father is spirit; I am a perfect spirit because my Father is per- fect spirit. 766 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Sorrow. (See Affirmations General, page 772.) "Rejoice in the Lord, 0 ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. "Praise the Lord with harp; sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. '' Sing unto Him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. "For the word of the Lord is right; and all His works are done in truth. "He loveth righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. "He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap: He layeth up the depth in storehouses; "For He spake and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. "The Lord bringeth the counsel o fthe heathen to naught: He maketh the devices of the people of none effect. "The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheri- tance. "The Lord looketh from heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of men. "From the place of His habitation He looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. AFFIRMATIONS 767 "He fashioneth their hearts alike; He considereth all their works. "A horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall He deliver any by his great strength. "Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that reverence and workship Him; upon them that hope in His mercy; "To deliver their souls from death, and to keep them alive from famine. "Our soul waiteth for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. "For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His Holy name. "Let Thy mercy, 0 Lord, be upon us, according as hope in Thee." All the experiences of my life have been for my good and I am now perfect in mind and body. Stammering. I am free in words and speech; enjoy conversation and speaking, and people like to hear me speak. You will speak easily, clearly and rapidly. My speech is normal, delightful, pure and perfect. I delight in conversing with others and they enjoy hear- ing me. Stimulation. My subconscious mind, I desire and command you to lead me so that the greater number of my brain cells will be stimulated for my greatest success, prosperity and happiness where I can render to the Avorld the greatest amount of service. 768 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Success. I am wisdom; I am power; I am healing life; I am achievement; I am success because the Father and I are one and all that the Father hath is mine. I am filled with the spirit of COURAGE AND VICTORY. It surges through me constantly, making me suc- cessful, prosperous and happy. "I raise my heart in prayer and thanksgiving that all I ask for is now granted.'' I am at peace with all the world, happy in living, enjoying my business; and all things are now in har- mony for me and my success. "God has not given the spirit of fear but of poAver.''—Timothy. Supply. Thy God will supply all thy needs. At what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. Infinite Supply meets all my needs and I have plenty. I have abundance. I have prosperity. The everlasting, ever-present, abundant Spirit of All-Substance is my full supply. All time and place are filled with life, love and joy. I will look and find these wherever I am. Temper. (See Pages 103-4.) I am master of every thought and condition in life and in my daily intercourse with others. I am in perfect poise and harmony in mind and body. AFFIRMATIONS 769 I have control of my mind and every situation in life. Joseph (or name of child), you are free in mind and body and spirit. You are poised at all times. Your temperament is under your control and at your com- mand. Not anything shall disturb your equilibrium or composure. Only thoughts and actions of peace, poise and power shall be manifested in your speech and action. Thanksgiving. Love, joy, gratitude and thanksgiving will solve any problem and these are now bringing my own to me. Timidity. (See Pages 80-1-2.) I am confident, strong and harmonious. I enjoy the company of other people and they enjoy me. I am delighted to know that I am perfect in God's image and all the world appreciates my charm. I am strong and courageous, filled with life and power and able to meet all conditions and circumstances Avith a victorious attitude. Tobacco. I am free in mind and body and enjoy natural breathing and living. I am MASTER of my mind and body and am filled Avith happiness in normal functioning of all of my organs. I enjoy clean living in mind and action. I have LIFE and I have it more abundantly. 770 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE Truth. "His truth endureth to all generations; Thy law is truth; lead me in Thy truth and teach me."—Bible. I am willing that Truth shall supplant in my con- sciousness any theories about anything Avhere precon- ceived ideas have taken root and show me the way of life, abundantly. By the power of truth, I propose to speak only pure, loving, fearless and harmonious words. Trust In every place, moment, substance and experience of this day, I trust the Avisdom and the perfect spirit within me. Vocation. My subconscious mind, I desire and command you to lead me to my life's vocation where I Avill be happy, well, prosperous and successful. The spirit of God is within me and directs every thought and action of my being. My subconscious mind direct me in my vocational bent and give me confidence and courage to develop the same. Will Power. I have faith and courage. I am courageous and have the Avill to folloAV where my subconscious mind directs. I am strong, courageous and brave. I Avill to have a will, "Pike's Peak or Bust." AFFIRMATIONS 771 1 am confident of my success, I have it noAV. I shall begin today to be master of myself and conditions. I am the captain of my soul and master of my future. I knoAV that I have the poAver within me to sur- mount any and all obstacles. I Avill meet all conditions of m.v life Avithout run- ning aAvay from them, knowing that there are none which I cannot use for my good. 1 can become what I will to be, that is my preroga- tive and I claim it noAV. I am success. I am achievement. I am force, power, will. 1 haAC judgment, I am judgment and I use judg- ment. The poAver to succeed is mine and I exercise that power iioav. I am success. Wisdom. "If any man lack AAusdom let him ask of God, that giveth liberally and unbraideth not."—James 1; 5. God is all Avisdom. Whatever Ave ask believe that Ave have and it is ours. I therefore, from the Divine, Intelligent, all pervading Substance of Wisdom, ask knoAvledge for myself today and every hour of my sensuate being. God is Omniscient, All-wise—wisdom; I am per- fect wisdom because I am a part of God. Youth. With God is the fountain of life; I knoAV that God is my life and immersed in God \s love I am youth. 772 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE "Thoughts are Things."—Shapkespeare. We Build Our Bodies By Our Thoughts. EVENING MEDITATION. Love guides and protects me and mine throughout the "silent night" and I rest at peace, bathed in Infinite care and protection. "Rest, peace and harmony are mine, I am filled with Universal Love." MORNING MEDITATION. The rest, peace, harmony and love of the night is mine today and forever, for which I offer profound gratitude and thanksgiving to God the Giver of every good and perfect gift. The Father with me; He doeth all works. Affirmations General. "All things work together for good to those who love the Lord." He that keepeth Israel, shall neither slumber nor sleep. "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me. * * * Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all His benefits; Who f orgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy disease; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with loving kind- ness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles." AFFIRMATIONS 773 "Love guides and protects me this day and al- ways. "Your soul and mine are part of God," I claim my One-ness with Divine inspiration, peace, prosperity, health and happiness. "The Lord upholds my hands while the battle is on. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God; in Him will I trust. "Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. "He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust; His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; "Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thou- sand, at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. "Only Avith thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reAvard of the Avicked. "Because thou has made the Lord, Avhich is my refuge, ever the Most High, thy habitation. "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. "For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all tlnT Avays. "They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 774 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot. "Because He hath set His love upon me, therefore Avill I deliver thee: I will set Him on high, because he hath known my name. "He shall call upon me, and I will answer Him: I will be with Him in trouble; I will deliver Him, and Honour Him. "Be still and know that I am God." '' God is the only power.'' "All things work together for good." —Bible. '' There is no hindrance, Everything works perfectly, divinely, Being governed by God, The Principle of all law and all order." I am, I KNOW THAT I AM, and NOTHING IS GREATER THAN I AM. I am perfect, harmonious and well. I am well, whole and complete. All is good. Life spirit is now surging through me and I am perfect. I am filled with flowing life spirit, energy, power of God, which is health, joy, peace, happiness and pros- perity. I am filled with divine love, joy and happiness. Every Experience of my Life has been for my good. All things are now working together for my suc- cess, health and happiness. NOTES. NOTES. CHAPTER LXXII. BLESSINGS. And now this spirit of the universe That comes into everyone and harmonizes And brings prosperity and joy; Is with you now, always has been And will be forever and forever. Understand the spirit Avithin you because God is within you to do anything that your heart desires. Claim that which you want now; make it a part of your life; take God into consideration—work with Him knowing that there can be no failure, no ill-health, no lack with God and all is eternal peace; the spirit of Omnipotence is with you and will be forever. And now the Great Spirit—Health, Abundance, Joy, Peace, Prosperity—is in you and a part of you; gives you strength and power; gives you all that you want. You have now all the desires of your heart; live it; practice it; and own it; it is yours, now and forever. And now this great spirit of brotherhood which has brought us in creation by love and which is pro- tecting us this moment by love; that spirit which is transforming by thought this very instant our environ- ment and condition, lifting us up to the plane which we want; fills you and surges through you and dAvells 778 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE in you and you cannot get away from it, even though you take wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth, for you cannot get away from love. But by holding negative thoughts and being anxious we can prevent love's manifestations. Love your conditions, your surrounding—your environment —all things and all places; love whatever comes unto your life and what you want will come to you. And now that universal Force—Spirit—Power that is as easy to apply as it is to breathe, is now work- ing in you, about you and is a part of you, always has been and always will be. This law is abundant; this spirit of God is plenty; this spirit of creation is pros- perity. All that we have to do is to believe that we are a part of the abundant spirit of prosperity, love, happiness and blessing and we shall attract to us that Avhich we think. Think right, think prosperity, abund- ance, plenty, happiness, peace and all are yours. And now the great Spirit—this power Omni- potent—that has put the laws in the universe for your success, your happiness, your health, your joy and peace; this Spirit goes before you making prosperous all your ways. And now the great spirit of the universe which is love; which is health; which is abundance, pros- perity, joy and peace, is with you this moment to bring into your life everything you desire and this very instant all things are yours by the power of Omni- potent spirit. Believe it, claim it, the manifestation will be ever present. BLESSINGS 779 And now there is before you, my friends, all abund- ance, prosperity and happiness and joy and peace that the Great Omnipotent can give. It is all yours by thinking it, claiming it, by accepting it, by living it. Now you have your desire. And now the spirit that has given man these natural laws, scientific, logical and true, is in you and a part of you and always will be and you can no more get away from the spirit of God than the sun can get away from its rays. Only believe that the spirit is within you, accept the power that is; know that it is all-powerful, ever-present and all-wise; accept it and practice it and God, within you, will make wonders for you and yours in the world. And now may this great Spirit of God's Love over- flow our hearts until every city in all the world shall feel it and the whole world shall know that God is love and that where God reigns there can be no ill-health, no lack, no limitation, no disturbance of mind; there can be no war. God is in the heart of man; God the Omnipotent remaineth forever. Universal mind—energy—all good, all wise, gives you happiness, peace, joy, abundance and health; for God is within you and always will be; you now own abundance, you now are joy, you now are happiness and peace; and the God of Love and Peace and Joy be with you forever and forever. And this great Spirit of God that can take in every human soul; that takes care of every one of creation; 780 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX LIFE inspires, uplifts and gives us prosperity and abund- ance, is yours now and ever has been. God bless you all, forever and forever. And now the great Infinite Spirit of Love which hovers over all of us and guides us, protects us and leads us into health, happiness, peace, abundance and joy, is with you always, has been and Avill be forever and forever. God blesses, God keeps, God strengthens you all and ever has blessed mankind. He will never Avithhold His blessings or any good thing from the children of His creation. And now this great, Omnipotent, all-pervading Mind—God—is in you and about you and protects you and guides you and inspires you. This One MIND is ALL POWER in the universe and you, being of this one mind—linked with it and knowing it and working with it, will bring anything to your life that God Him- self could bring: you and God are ONE: you and God can bring health, prosperity, abundance, joy, peace and comfort to yourselves, to your neighbors and the world. Accept it, believe it, live it and all things shall be given to you under heaven and in the earth for the accomplishment of God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. And now this infinite, boundless, all-pervading spirit of love and fellowship and brotherhood, hovers over the entire world this moment as a mother hen broods over her chicks and this spirit of fellowship and love is this very moment instilling into the hearts of creation the coming together of all nations in a BLESSINGS 781 great body of love, fellowship and brotherhood and Oh! the JOY that we will have in helping God to help ourselves to bring about world-wide brotherhood, when there will be no ill condition among individuals, among nations—no wars or rumors of wars. The spirit of love and peace, fellowship and brotherhood is with you and the Avorld, for everlasting peace and harmony. And, now, the great spirit—God, Health, Life, Abundance, Prosperity, Joy and Peace—is with you and will be with you forever and forever. Draw from the universal mind all things that you want. Do not limit your demands and do not break your promise by doubts. "All things are given unto me in heaven and earth said the Great Teacher: All things are the Father's and all the Father hath is yours. We offer gratitude from the bottom of our hearts to the Power that is God; to the Law which is Good; to the Spirit which is Infinite, which gives us health, and we have it now; peace, and we have it now; joy and we have it noAV. From the depths of our being we offer Thee our gratitude and thanksgiving as we have and enjoy these blessings. NOTES. NOTES. This book is sold to class members and the profession only. APR2 0 1970