In Part Twenty-two you will find that thoughts are spiritual seeds, which, when planted in the subconscious mind, have a tendency to sprout and grow, but unfortunately the fruit is frequently not to our liking.
The various forms of inflammation, paralysis, nervousness and diseased conditions generally, are the manifestation of fear, worry, care, anxiety, jealousy, hatred and similar thought.
The life processes are carried on by two distinct methods; first, the taking up and making use of nutritive material necessary for constructing cells; second, breaking down and excreting the waste material.
All life is based upon these constructive and destructive activities, and as food, water and air are the only requisites necessary for the construction of cells, it would seem that the problem of prolonging life indefinitely would not be a very difficult one.
However strange it may seem, it is the second or destructive activity that is, with rare exception, the cause of all disease. The waste material accumulates and saturates the tissues, which causes autointoxication. This may be partial or general. In the first case the disturbance will be local; in the second place it will affect the whole system.
The problem, then, before us in the healing of disease is to increase the inflow and distribution of vital energy throughout the system, and this can only be done by eliminating thoughts of fear, worry, care, anxiety, jealousy, hatred, and every other destructive thought, which tend to tear down and destroy the nerves and glands which control the excretion and elimination of poisonous and waste matter.
"Nourishing foods and strengthening tonics" cannot bestow life, because these are but secondary manifestations to life. The primary manifestation of life and how you may get in touch with it is explained in the Part which I have the privilege of enclosing herewith.
PART TWENTY-TWO
1. Knowledge is of priceless value, because by applying knowledge we can make our future what we wish it to be. When we realize that our present character, our present environment, our present ability, our present physical condition are all the result of past methods of thinking, we shall begin to have some conception of the value of knowledge.
2. If the state of our health is not all that could be desired, let us examine our method of thinking; let us remember that every thought produces an impression on the mind; every impression is a seed which will sink into the subconscious and form a tendency; the tendency will be to attract other similar thoughts and before we know it we shall have a crop which must be harvested.
3. If these thoughts contain disease germs, the harvest will be sickness, decay, weakness, and failure; the question is, what are we thinking, what are we creating, what is the harvest to be?
4. If there is any physical condition which it is necessary to change, the law governing visualization will be found effective. Make a mental image of physical perfection, hold it in the mind until it is absorbed by the consciousness. Many have eliminated chronic ailments in a few weeks by this method, and thousands have overcome and destroyed all manner of ordinary physical disturbances by this method in a few days, sometimes in a few minutes.
5. It is through the law of vibration that the mind exercises this control over the body. We know that every mental action is a vibration, and we know that all form is simply a mode of motion, a rate of vibration. Therefore, any given vibration immediately modifies every atom in the body, every life cell is affected and an entire chemical change is made in every group of life cells.
6. Everything in the Universe is what it is by virtue of its rate of vibration. Change the rate of vibration and you change the nature, quality and form. The vast panorama of nature, both visible and invisible, is being constantly changed by simply changing the rate of vibration, and as thought is a vibration we can also exercise this power. We can change the vibration and thus produce any condition which we desire to manifest in our bodies.
7. We are all using this power every minute. The trouble is most of us are using it unconsciously and thus producing undesirable results. The problem is to use it intelligently and produce only desirable results. This should not be difficult, because we all have had sufficient experience to know what produces pleasant vibration in the body, and we also know the causes which produce the unpleasant and disagreeable sensations.
8. All that is necessary is to consult our own experience. When our thought has been uplifted, progressive, constructive, courageous, noble, kind or in any other way desirable, we have set in motion vibrations which brought about certain results. When our thought has been filled with envy, hatred, jealousy, criticism or any of the other thousand and one forms of discord, certain vibrations were set in motion which brought about certain other results of a different nature, and each of these rates of vibration, if kept up, crystallized in form. In the first case the result was mental, moral and physical health, and in the second case discord, inharmony and disease.
9. We can understand, then, something of the power which the mind possesses over the body.
10. The objective mind has certain effects on the body which are readily recognized. Someone says something to you which strikes you as ludicrous and you laugh, possibly until your whole body shakes, which shows that thought has control over the muscles of your body; or someone says something which excites your sympathy and your eyes fill with tears, which shows that thought controls the glands of your body; or someone says something which makes you angry and the blood mounts to your cheek, which shows that thought controls the circulation of your blood. But as these experiences are all the results of the action of your objective mind over the body, the results are of a temporary nature; they soon pass away and leave the situation as it was before.
11. Let us see how the action of the subconscious mind over the body differs. You receive a wound; thousands of cells being the work of healing at once; in a few days or a few weeks the work is complete. You may even break a bone. No surgeon on earth can weld the parts together (I am not referring to the insertion of rods or other devices to strengthen or replace bones). He may set the bone for you, and the subjective mind will immediately begin the process of welding the parts together, and in a short time the bone is as solid as it ever was. You may swallow poison; the subjective mind will immediately discover the danger and make violent efforts to eliminate it. You may become infected with a dangerous germ; the subjective will at once commence to build a wall around the infected area and destroy the infection by absorbing it in the white blood corpuscles which it supplies for the purpose.
12. These processes of the subconscious mind usually proceed without our personal knowledge or direction, and so long as we do not interfere the result is perfect, but, as these millions of repair cells are all intelligent and respond to our thought, they are often paralyzed and rendered impotent by our thoughts of fear, doubt, and anxiety. They are like an army of workmen, ready to start an important piece of work, but every time they get started on the undertaking a strike is called, or plans changed, until they finally get discouraged and give up.
13. The way to health is founded on the law of vibration, which is the basis of all science, and this law is brought into operation by the mind, the "world within." It is a matter of individual effort and practice. Our world of power is within; if we are wise we shall not waste time and effort in trying to deal with effects as we find them in the "world without," which is only an external, a reflection.
14. We shall always find the cause in the "world within"; by changing the cause, we change the effect.
15. Every cell in your body is intelligent and will respond to your direction. The cells are all creators and will create the exact pattern which you give them.
16. Therefore, when perfect images are placed before the subjective, the creative energies will build a perfect body.
17. Brain cells are constructed in the same way. The quality of the brain is governed by the state of mind, or mental attitude, so that if undesirable mental attitudes are conveyed to the subjective they will in turn be transferred to the body; we can therefore readily see that if we wish the body to manifest health, strength and vitality this must be the predominant thought.
18. We know then that every element of the human body is the result of a rate of vibration.
19. We know that mental action is a rate of vibration.
20. We know that a higher rate of vibration governs, modifies, controls, changes, or destroys a lower rate of vibration.
21. We know that the rate of vibration is governed by the character of brain cells, and finally,
22. We know how to create these brain cells; therefore,
23. We know how to make any physical change in the body we desire, and having secured a working knowledge of the power of mind to this extent, we have come to know that there is practically no limitation which can be placed upon our ability to place ourselves in harmony with natural law, which is omnipotent.
24. This influence or control over the body by mind is coming to be more and more generally understood, and many physicians are now giving the matter their earnest attention. Dr. Albert T. Shofield, who has written several important books on the subject, say, "The subject of mental therapeutics is still ignored in medical works generally. In our physiologies no references is made to the central controlling power that rules the body for its good, and the power of the mind over the body is seldom spoken of".
25. No doubt many physicians treat nervous diseases of functional origin wisely and well, but what we contend is that the knowledge they display was taught at no school, was learned from no book, but it is intuitive and empirical.
26. This is not as it should be. The power of mental therapeutics should be the subject of careful, special and scientific teaching in every medical school. We might pursue the subject of maltreatment, or want of treatment, further in detail and describe the disastrous results of neglected cases; but the task is an invidious one.
27. There can be no doubt that few patients are aware how much they can do for themselves. What the patient can do for himself, the forces he can set in motion are as yet unknown. We are inclined to believe that they are far greater than most imagine, and will undoubtedly be used more and more. Mental therapeutics may be directed by the patient himself to calming the mind in excitement, by arousing feelings of joy, hope, faith, and love; by suggesting motives for exertion, by regular mental work, by diverting the thoughts from the malady.
28. For your exercise this week concentrate on Tennyson's beautiful lines "Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and spirit with spirit can meet, Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet." Then try to realize that when you do "Speak to Him" you are in touch with Omnipotence.
29. This realization and recognition of this Omnipresent power will quickly destroy any and every form of sickness or suffering and substitute harmony and perfection. Then remember there are those who seem to think that sickness and suffering are sent by God; if so, every physician, every surgeon and every Red Cross nurse is defying the will of God and hospitals and sanitariums are places of rebellion instead of houses of mercy. Of course, this quickly reasons itself into an absurdity, but there are many; who still cherish the idea.
30. Then let the thought rest on the fact that until recently theology has been trying to teach an impossible Creator, one who created beings capable of sinning and then allowed them to be eternally punished for such sins. Of course the necessary outcome of such extraordinary ignorance was to create fear instead of love, and so, after two thousand years of this kind of propaganda, Theology is now busily engaged in apologizing for Christendom.
31. You will then more readily appreciate the ideal man, the man made in the image and likeness of God, and you will more readily appreciate the all originating Mind that forms, upholds, sustains, originates, and creates all there is.
在第二十二章中我們將會學到，思想是精神的種子，如果把這種子栽入潛意識的土壤，它就會發芽、長大的趨勢。但不幸的是，結出的果實往往不盡人意。
各種形式的炎癥發熱、麻痹癱瘓、神經過敏、疾病纏身，通常都是由一些諸如恐懼、憂煩’焦慮、苦惱、嫉妒、憎恨等想法所致。
生命系統由兩種獨立的程序組成：第一，吸收、利用物質營養，建造細胞；第二，分解、排泄廢物。
一切生命都基於這些建設性和破壞性的活動，而構造細胞所需的一切必需品不過是食物、空氣和水，這樣看來，想要延長壽命，豈不是一件挺簡單的事情嗎？
奇怪的是，生命系統的第二套程序，也就是破壞性的活動，導致了一切疾病，少有例外。體內的物質垃圾積聚起來，滲透到機體的組織細胞中，而引發自體中毒現象。這可能是局部的，也可能是整體的。前者會造成身體某個部位的不適，而後者會影響到整個身體機能。
那麽，擺在我們面前的問題是，想要使病休康復，就要增強整個機體的生命流量和配給。我們只有通過消除意念中的恐懼、憂煩、焦慮、苦惱、嫉妒、憎恨等等破壞性的想法，才能做到這一點。這些破壞性的想法，損耗、摧毀著我們神經和腺體，而那些毒素和垃圾的排泄和清除正是由這些神經和腺體控制的。
“營養食品”和“滋補品”無法延年益壽，因為這些針對的，不過是生命的次要現象。那生命的主要現象是什麽？我們如何聯系它？這些將在本章中闡述，我很榮幸現在開講。
1、知識是無價的，通過對知識的運用我們可以去實現自己理想的未來。當我們認識到自己目前的性情、境遇、力量以及健康狀況都是過去思維方式的結果時，就能更好地領會知識的價值。
2、如果我們的健康狀況並不理想，那我們首先應該反省一下我們的思維方式是否有問題。我們不要忘記，一切的思想都會在心靈中留下印記。而所有的印記都是一顆種子，沈入到潛意識的土壤中，形成某種傾向。這種傾向就會把類似的想法吸引過來，種子就這樣慢慢長大，甚至在我們意識到它以前就已經豐收在望了。
3、如果這些想法中存在著疾患的惡因，那我們收獲到的就是病痛、失敗、軟弱、頹廢。問題是，我們在想著什麽，我們在創造什麽，我們將會收獲什麽？
4、如果你的健康狀況需要做出調整，視覺化的規律對你很有幫助。你可以在你的腦海中構建一幅體格健壯完美的圖畫，並讓它印在你的心靈中，直到被潛意識吸收為止。通過這種辦法，很多人在幾周之內就治好了長期以來的慢性疾病，數以千計的人在幾天之間、甚至十幾分鐘之內就戰勝並消除了各種普通的小病小痛。
5、精神通過共振的原理對身體產生作用。我們知道，精神行為是一種振動形式，所有存在形式也都是一種運動模式，一種振動頻率。因此，任何振動都會改變體內的原子活動，影響到每一個生命細胞，在細胞組織內部引發化學變化。
6、宇宙中的萬事萬物都不過是一種振動形式。改變振動頻率就改變了食物的本質、性質和形態。大自然中，無論是可見的還是不可見的景觀，都處於振動所引起的永恒變化中。因為思想也是一種振動形式，因此，我們可以運用這種力量。我們可以改變思想的振動方式，讓我們的身體達到良好的狀態。
7、我們每時每刻都在運用著這種力量。正因為大多數人都是在不自覺地運用這種力量，因此常常會招致令人不滿的結果的出現。所有問題的產生，其關健就取決於我們是否智慧地運用它，只有智慧地運用才能讓一切隨心所願。這樣做其實並不難，因為我們大家都有足夠的經驗，知道如何讓身體產生愉快的振動，也知道是什麽讓身體產生難受、不快的感覺。
8、因此，我們可以把自身的經驗當作顧問。當我們的思想是崇高的、進步的、勇敢的、高貴的、善良的、具有充分的建設性的時候，我們就啟動了引發某種積極結果的振動形式。如果我們的思想充滿了嫉妒、憤恨、挑剔、惡毒或是其他種種不和諧的情緒的時候，我們就啟動了另外一種性質的振動形式，帶來的也是惡劣的後果。不管是何種振動形式，如果持續下去，就會在現實世界中成形。前一種情況會帶來身心健康、道德完善，而後者則會導致混亂、疾患與種種不和諧的結果。
9、我們現在應該明白，精神擁有一種能夠控制身體的能力。
10、客觀精神會對身體產生影響，這一點眾所周知。如果有人對你說了什麽滑稽的事情，你就會發笑，整個身子都會晃動起來，這說明思想能夠控制身體的肌肉。再比如，如果有人對你說了什麽事情，引發了你的同情，你可能會淚水盈眶，這說明思想控制著身體的腺體。再或者，如果有人說了什麽讓你怒發沖冠的事情，你會感覺到血液湧上你的頭部，這說明思想也能夠控制血液的循環。但這些經歷都不過是客觀精神對身體的作用，這種作用是暫時的，其效果稍縱即逝，一切很快就會恢復原告的樣子。
11、潛意識控制身子的行為方式完全不同。如果你受傷了，會有成千上萬的細胞立即開始行動，進行醫療救治的工作。幾天或十幾周以後，傷口就痊愈了。如果你骨折了，世界上沒有任何一個外科醫生能夠幫助你把斷骨焊接到一處（我不是說，他們不能插上鋼板或是其他的器械幫助骨骼的恢復或是取代斷骨）。醫生可以幫助你把骨頭復位，而潛意識就會立刻開始焊接工作，在短期內斷骨又會像以前一樣堅固了。如果你吞食了有毒的東西，潛意識會立刻發現危險，然後激烈反抗，把毒素驅逐出去。如果你感染了一種危險的病毒，潛意識會馬上開始建築一道防禦墻，把受到感染的區域包圍起來，然後用專門對付侵略者的白血球吞噬那些受到感染的部位。
12、這種潛意識的過程通常不會在人的認識或是指引下發生，只要我們不加幹涉，結果一定是完美的。然而，由於這上百萬個修復傷損的細胞個個都充滿智慧，並且隨時對我們的思想做出反應，因此我們的一些恐懼、懷疑、憂懼的想法常常讓這些細胞癱瘓麻痹、變得無能為力。這些細胞就像是一支工人大軍，每次出發準備執行一件重要的任務時，剛一開始你就號召他們罷工，或是突然改變了它們的行動計劃，久而久之，它們就變得灰心喪氣，最後幹脆放棄行動。
13、通往健康的途徑，是建立在共振法則的基礎上的，這是一切科學的基石。共振法則通過精神、也就是“內在世界”發生作用。這是一種個人的努力和實踐。我們的力量世界就是自己的內在世界。如果我們足夠聰明，就不應該浪費時間，而是趕快行動起來，針對“外部世界”中出現的問題尋找解決方案。外部世界只不過是內在世界的反映。
14、答案總是能夠在“內在世界”中找到。通過改變成因，結果也會發生變化。
15、你體內的每一個細胞都是充滿智慧的，它們聽從你的吩咐行事。這些細胞都是創造者，它們按照你規定的模式創造出準確的圖案。
16、因此，如果主觀意識中存在的是完美的圖像，那麽創造性的能量也會塑造一個健康完美的體魄。
17、大腦細胞的構造方式也是一樣。大腦是受到精神狀態，也就是心態的影響，所以，如果不良的精神狀態導入主觀意識中，主觀意識就會把這種信號傳遞給我們的身體，這樣我們就應該明白，如果我們希望健康、強壯、充滿活力，那麽這種健康、強壯、充滿活力的思想一定會成為我們主導性的思想。
18、我們知道，人體的一切組成都是振動形式的結果。
19、我們知道，精神行為是一種振動形式。
20、我們知道，高等的振動形式能夠統治、引領、改變、控制並消除低等的振動形式。
21、我們知道，振動形式是由大腦細胞的性質決定的。
22、我們也知道，這樣的腦細胞是如何產生的。
23、因此，我們知道應該如何讓身體的健康狀況按照我們希望的方向發生改變。通過了解精神能量的工作方式，我們就知道，我們可以讓自己無限制地與無所不能的自然法則保持和諧。
24、精神對身體的控制，或者說，精神對身體能夠施加的影響，獲得了越來越廣泛的認同。許多醫生開始全力以赴研究這一問題。阿爾伯特．T．肖菲爾德博士就這個問題寫了不少的著作，他說：“精神療法現在在醫學著作中還沒有受到應有的關註。心理學也沒有從對人類有益的角度上研究這種重要的精神能量，更很少提到精神控制身體的潛能。”
25、毫無疑問，很多醫生治療一些功能性的神經疾病非常有效，但我們要強調的是，他們所運用的方法完全是出於經驗和直覺，而不是在學校或者從書本中學到的。
26、事情本不該是這樣的。各個醫學院完全應該對精神療法的力量進行慎重、具體而科學的講授。我們還可以就誤醫、誤診或是醫療缺乏的問題進行更詳盡的探討，論述一些被忽視的環節所造成的毀滅性的後果，但這項工作實在很容易觸犯眾怒。
27、毫無疑問，很多病人從來就不知道他能夠幫助自己做些什麽。如果病人能夠幫助自己，他所能引發的力量至今尚不為人知。我們相信，這種力量也是遠遠超乎想像的。毋庸置疑，這種方式會得到越來越廣泛的運用。精神治療可以靠自己完成，方式有很多，比如，讓頭腦冷靜下來，喚醒歡樂、希望、信念和愛的感覺，暗示自己進行常規持續的精神治療的願望，把自己的思緒從疾病和痛苦中轉移開來，等等。
28、你本周的作業是，聚精會神地思考丁尼生美麗的詩行：“你們要向他開口，因為他聽你們，心靈與心靈在空中相遇，他比手足更加親密，他離你比呼吸更近。”試著去了解，“向他開口”就是觸摸到宇宙全能的力量。
29、對於無所不在的宇宙力量的認知，必將很快摧毀各種各樣的疾病和苦痛，代之以和諧和完整。記住，有些人好像認為疾病和苦難是上天加給我們的，如果是這樣的話，那麽，所有醫生、外科醫師、紅十字會的護理人員豈不都是有悖天意？醫院和療養院也就不再是慈善機構，而成了反抗上天的根據地。自然而然，這很快就會推導出十分荒謬的結論，但居然有許多人依然抱持這種觀念。
30、然後，讓我們的思想停留在這樣一個事實上：直到最近，神學一直講授一個不可能存在的造物主，他創造出有能力犯罪的人類，然後讓他們為了自己的罪惡永遠受到懲罰。自然，這種極端無知的結果，必然是創造恐懼，而不是愛。他們就這樣宣講了兩千多年，直到如今，神學家們才手忙腳亂地為宗教界的荒唐而道歉不叠。
31、現在，你會更樂於承認，理想的人，是按照造物主的形象和樣式所造，一切源於精神，它形成、產生、創造了萬物，也是一切存在的基石和支撐。“萬物不過是巨大整體的一部分，上帝是這個整體的靈魂，大自然是它的身體。”際遇由認知而生，行為由靈感而生。知識帶來成長，進步帶來卓越。最初總是精神上的，然後，才轉化為造化的無窮可能性。
待續
