1922
CONTENTS
The First Cause — GOD
Poem — The Man Who Wins
Breath
Poem — Five Points of Health
The Building Material of the Human Body
Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Nerve Energy — Life Force
Poem — Noblesse Obligo
The Psychology of the Emotions
Poem — Theory and Practice
Life and it’s Forces Is one of a series of lectures on Practical Psychology, given by Evelyn Lowes Wicker, which has created a persistent demand by the thinking public for this knowledge in book form.
Among the many books published upon this subject, none excel the efforts of this author in propounding the Laws of Life. She does so in that clear, simple, and concise manner, which, now, happily meets the needs of an increasing number of people giving thought to this vital subject.
PUBLISHERS
THE FIRST CAUSE — GOD
All life is God and God is all life. Life fills all space; permeates and encompasses all matter. Life contains a Law of Attraction—a creative positive and negative force, which is Love. God is Love. God is Intelligence. All the intelligence of the universe is Divine Mind or God. Divine mind or Intelligence plans and directs the universe and all therein. Divine Love holds the universe in form and all therein. Divine Life is the substance out of which all forms were made.
God is Life; God is Love; God is Intelligence: Three in One, and all three One inseparable Whole.
THE MAN WHO WINS
The man who wins is an average man,
Not built on any peculiar plan,
Not blest with any peculiar luck;
Just steady and earnest and full of pluck.
When asked a question he does not “guess”—
He knows and answers “No” or “Yes”;
When set a task that the rest can’t do,
He buckles down till he’s put it through.
Three things he’s learned: that the man who tries
Finds favor in his employer’s eyes;
That it pays to know more than one thing well,
That it doesn’t pay all you know to tell.
So he works and waits, till one fine day
There’s a better job with bigger pay,
And the men who shirked whenever they could
Are bossed by the man whose work made good.
For the man who wins is the man who works,
Who neither labor or trouble shirks;
Who uses his hands, his head, his eyes;
The man who wins is the man who tries.
—Charles R. Barrett.
BREATH
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of Life, and man became a living soul.’
WHEN the Great Infinite Spirit created man His work was not complete until He breathed the breath of Life into man and man became a living Soul. Breath and man are inseparable, do without food for many days; he can do without water for three or four days; but he cannot do without breath for more than three minutes. Breath is the connecting link between man and his Maker and is the source of his life.
Man functions on three planes—the physical, mental, and the spiritual. But the latter is the plane of which we are most conscious. The first thing that we are conscious of is the fact that we have a physical body. We do not know anything about soul; we do not know anything about mind; but we do know that we have a body. As man evolves he becomes more and more conscious of the fact that he has a mind and a psychic body.
It is interesting to know that 63 1-3 per cent of our food comes from the air we breathe; and it is out of the air we get all energy that makes it possible for us to function mentally and physically. Statistics prove that in the past man has used only 50 per cent and woman 33 1-3 per cent of their lung capacity.
Source of Energy
Out of the air we extract two very important elements for the sustaining of life. The first is energy. The medical profession has not in the past recognized this fact. This knowledge has come to us from the Far East. It was a secret, and only given to those people who were privileged to study in the temples of the East. It was kept a secret because of the laws of caste as practiced by the Hindu. Little by little these secrets have seeped into the Western World. We have scientifically proven the truth of the Eastern philosophy of breath. It has become a part of the teaching of psychology. In the past we have been taught that our energy came from food. The result has been that whenever we feel worn out and innervated, we have been in the habit of trying to eat our way back to health. Through this ignorance we have shortened our life, instead of lengthening it. Man has eaten, and is today in the habit of eating, twice the amount of food necessary to sustain life. This fact is demonstrated and proven by psychologists and physiologists alike. Those who are practicing the principles as taught in psychology are living on a half or a third of the food that they ate when in the old thought. There is a law that the deeper you breathe the less you eat. Man is a fresh air animal.
Oxygen
The other element is oxygen. The average person believes that oxygen energizes. Oxygen does not energize. Oxygen is Nature’s scavenger. The energies of the body are appropriated from the air according to the amount of oxygen absorbed from the air we breathe. We inhale the two in correct proportions to the needs of the body.
During the renewal of the cells of the body the old cells are destroyed and new cells are born. When a cell bursts open and new cells come into life, there is a rank poison thrown out into the blood. It is the business of oxygen to destroy this poison. Oxygen contacting carbon causes combustion and throws off carbon- dioxide gas, which is a deadly poison. This is the process that keeps the internal fires going within man. In order to be well and active we must eat just enough food to give us the proper balance of carbon and oxygen. If we eat too much food and breathe too little we become unbalanced or carbonated. We have not provided enough oxygen to destroy the carbon, and the result is carbonization of the body, which always means disease, and premature old age. We eat too much and breathe too little.
Almost all of the pupils who have come under my supervision have been only partial breathers. Not one in a thousand is a hundred- per-cent breather. The blood, in order to have a balanced, healthy system, must contain 25 per cent oxygen when it leaves the lungs. As a rule we have a dirty blood stream. A pure blood stream means a healthy body, everything else being equal.
It has been said by noted scientists that our cells are so built that we may live a hundred and fifty years. This is not a new idea. The Yogi priests of the Far East temples have been known to live as long as eight or nine hundred years. In other words, they passed out when they pleased. They did this wonderful thing principally through the power of the knowledge of breath.
Right thinking is very important in the building of a healthy body. But of the two, breath is the more important. It has been said by experts that one generation of perfect breathers would make disease a curiosity.’’ With a poisoned blood stream flowing year after year through the system—the arteries and veins not properly ridding their-selves of the poisons of the body—the moral nature of man is more or less impaired and corrupted.
A doctor said to me at one time, “When people tell me that they are sick of life and want to die, I usually say, “You had better go and take a Carter’s liver pill. ” There is something to that. You know and I know that we never feel our best—that our better thoughts do not come to us, when we feel logy, tired and fatigued. Our most inspiring thoughts come to us when we are feeling well and alert, mentally and physically. That is the time when we feel the germ of genius awakening within us; or the urge to be a brilliant success in life. You never exercise this urge of the soul when the head aches and you go around dragging one foot after the other with the thought that you do not care whether you live or die. Such a condition is not conducive to happiness or to success; but it is conductive to a speedy passing out.
Breath not only rejuvenates the system, it is the great power house of your being. It is regular breathing that forces heart action and also perfect circulation. Perfect circulation always means perfect health. Whenever there is a congested condition in your body it means that perfect circulation does not exist in that part of your body. Circulation can only be attained by deep, regular breathing.
Energizing the Body
Deep breathing also generates the energies to all parts of the body. We have at the waistline a nerve center that is called the solar plexus. This center is the reservoir of energy. When there is a continual, deep, steady breathing the solar plexus is massaged and energized. It then generates through the nervous system the energies needed for the body. Whenever the energies are congested in the solar plexus there will often be a case of “blues’’ or bad feeling. When we continually breath deeply we are generating our energies, as well as forcing the blood to circulate.
From the above stated facts you will see the necessity of lung exercise. Without right breathing your development, physiologically and spiritually, is going to be greatly hindered. I do not at any time undervalue the power of right thinking. Right thinking is essential to our spiritual development. Just as right thinking is essential to our spiritual development, so is right breathing essential to our bodily development. You cannot be well; you cannot have perfect digestion; you cannot have a clear mind; you cannot be one hundred per cent efficient until you become a hundred per cent breather.
Breath, Digestion
Breath is also the force that massages the intestines, the liver, the stomach and all of the inner organs. Without this continued massaging there is bound to be a stagnant condition which means poor elimination. Our health depends upon active elimination. We throw off through the skin and breath about two and a half pounds of rank poison daily. Therefore, it is very essential that our skin be in a normal condition. This is impossible unless the circulation is good. With this continual massaging by the movement of the diaphragm, which raises and lowers with the breath, the intestines are forced to be active. When the intestines are active, the bowels will do their duty. The kidneys also will react to the action of breath, as also will the liver. The whole digestive and circulatory system depends upon the motive power of breath. When you realize the importance of these laws you have learned the secret of good health and longevity.
Breath is the connecting link between us and the Great Infinite Intelligence. Shallow breathers do not develop their psychic powers. They are never able to receive deep spiritual revelations. It is through breath that we contact the spiritual forces of the universe. The deep regular breathers can become clairvoyant, can have that clear-sightedness of the mystic.
“In the beginning the Lord made man; He breathed the breath of life in man,” and it is up to man to keep breathing in order to live.
FIVE HEALTH POINTS
I would ELIMINATE and cleanse The poisons out;
Till Nature all her ill amends — Disease rout.
I’d FEED the famished part and give New life within,
And balance keep that longer life For sons of men.
For this I’d KEEP HIM PURE AND CLEAN In flesh and heart;
Pollutions that have rendered mean I’d stir and start.
When thoughts run pure, and BRIGHT BLOOD FILLED His VEINS within,
When all life’s channels gush in rills—
I’d then begin To STRENGTHEN UP THE TONE full well,
And hold up firm Returning strength — the awakening spell —
Implant life’s germ.
And then I’d have a cleaned-up man,
Renewed in youth,
To walk and roam the earth again —
To love forsooth.
—De Moss in The American Journal of Clinical Medicine.
THE BUILDING MATERIAL OF THE HUMAN BODY
I HAVE always maintained that we make a mistake when we give too much time to the study of foods.
To be sure food is a very important factor in the building of the body, but we ought to simplify the much discussed question to a few brief laws, which when understood and applied will do away with the present mental concern of what foods to eat.
I believe that it is not so much what we eat as how we eat, that counts in the final summing up of the question. We can thrive well upon a very meager diet, providing we eat the food properly, but with the same diet we cannot remain well unless we rightly perform the first process of digestion—that of mastication.
Man has been given five senses to use respectively for certain definite purposes. All objective education is obtained by the use of the sense of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. In the analysis of the subject “How to eat and what to eat,” the sense of taste holds an important place.
The faculty of taste has been divinely bestowed upon man for a purpose. Nothing comes by chance. All that we possess in the way of organs and faculties or parts of the body has a reason for their existence. Nature does not build that which she cannot use. Neither does she create a faculty of sense without a practical and economical reason.
It is through this medium that man is privileged the joy which comes from eating good food in the right way. If it were not for the sense of taste no one would care whether they ate their meals or not. Eating would then be tabulated as one of the laborous duties which man must perform in order to live. When the sense of taste is well developed, eating becomes one of the joys of life. It is a pleasant break in the daily routine of our busy lives. A time of mental rest and physical enjoyment of the gifts that an ALL-WISE POWER has arranged with which to bless the life of man. The old idea of pronouncing a blessing upon the food before partaking of it, was psychologically a scientific procedure. The thought expressed was one of gratitude to the Divine Power for the gifts of food. The mental thought of gratitude is one that is positively constructive and always harmonizes both mind and body. It is a recognition of the Divinity of life, therefore it is inducive to the development of an atmosphere of joy and happiness at the dining hour.
True doctrine is the doctrine of gladness. “Mirth is God’s sunshine; everybody ought to harbor it.” Shakespeare said, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”
The sense of taste has another purpose for its existence besides the making a pleasure out of the eating of foods. The innate intelligence or the subconscious mind, which is the power that builds and rebuilds the human body, uses the sense of taste to guide man in his choice of foods. When man is in a normal condition of health it is safe to follow the desire expressed by the sense of taste for certain foods.
The Divine Intelligence of the body has to have many kinds of ingredients to build and rebuild a human body and keep it functioning properly. Bone, muscle, ligaments, hair, teeth, nails, digestive juices of several kinds and lubricating oils—all must be provided for by the food we eat. If by wrong choice of foods we do not provide these elements, the subconscious mind is compelled to make a chemical change in the building of the body, oft times the adjustment is made without a serious break in the health of the person, but usually the health is affected. The subconscious mind of both man and animals is a habit mind. It has the power to readjust itself to conditions, but it always makes the force of its efforts to readjust itself felt by the individual.
Balanced Diet.
Man is a highly sensitized animal. The higher the mind is evolved the more sensitive the individual becomes. Because of his sensitiveness his emotions play an important part in his choice of foods. The reaction of emotions upon the digestive system and the blood, is so varied and continuous that the food which is the right kind to meet the needs of the body today, would not be the right kind tomorrow. Therefore man cannot be held to what is termed a balanced diet.
In the animal world the balanced ration has been found to be successful in its result. Animals are of a much lower type of consciousness than man. They do not respond emotionally to thought to the same degree, therefore the chemistry of their blood does not change as in man.
No law as to a balanced diet ought ever be put on man. To do so would be committing a wrong. A balanced diet will be the right thing when man has evolved a balanced being wherein he no longer is the victim of emotion. As long as this is not the case we must trust our sense of taste in the choice of foods. In other words eat that which tastes good to you; but be sure that you taste the food.
Oft times we find people who let their sense of sight guide them in their choice of food. A food that looks good is not always the best.
This fact is well illustrated by the common liking for white bread. It is the general choice of the American people. Every taster of foods or epicurean will tell you that white bread has no taste as compared to whole wheat bread; and yet the masses are still eating the tasteless stuff. If they were tasters they would not do so. When it comes to eating, the world is full of hasters instead of tasters.
The aesthetic person argues himself into the belief that white bread is alright because it suits his love of beauty. A fresh piece of white bread is a delicious appearing bit of food. The fact that all the best and most nutritive elements have been removed has little weight with him. ire is largely guided by his sense of fineness.
In one of the laboratories a test was made of the three kinds of bread that is in general demand. Six puppies were put 011 a bread and water diet for thirty days. Two of them were put on white, two on rye and two on whole wheat. All six received the same care. At the end of the test the two that ate only white bread were dead; the two that were put on rye were alive but in a weakened condition; the two that were fed on whole wheat only were in a perfect state of health.
Constipation.
The American race is cursed with constipation. There are several reasons for this condition. We are a nervous race. We move in high tension. For this reason we ought to be careful to eat wholesome food. We do not do so. The average menu of the American table contains too many condensed foods. We do not eat enough of the coarse foods. We could learn much from the animal world as to combination of foods. A good horseman knows better than to feed his horse oats and nothing more. Oats alone—with no coarse food—will make a horse sick.
The same principle is involved in choosing the right food for man. Too much fine, condensed food clogs up the system. The intestines cannot rid themselves of the excretions. In time this forms a feculent, turbid substance, which clings tenaciously to the membrane of intestine, causing a constant irritation to the tissues, and creating a putrid, poisonous condition which provides a nesting place for the much-feared disease germs.
Man as well as animals must have as a part of his daily diet, rough food. The best foods that are classed under the head of rough food are vegetables. A varied diet of vegetables provides both food and the coarser substance which acts as a preventative against the formation of fecal matter.
Meat Diet.
The much agitated question of whether it is wise to eat meat, is of interest to all who are developing the psychic man, or the greater consciousness. There is no doubt but that meat has had its place in the evolution of man; at the same time I believe that man, in order to spiritualize himself, will of his own accord cease to be a meat eater. To the highly evolved consciousness meat is repulsive. In time it becomes a poison to the body. I never ask my pupils to desist from eating meat. When they are ready for the change it will come without any effort of will. To those who enjoy meat, it will be wise to give due consideration to the following facts:
All albuminous foods, if indulged in too freely, provides the blood with more muscle building food than the subconscious mind needs to keep the body in repair. The blood throws off that which it cannot use into the various eliminating glands. If the person is energized to that extent where this surplus supply of food is properly thrown off there may be no serious results from this lack of proper balance of food. If this is not the case, eventually a catarrhal condition will develop.
The foods that most directly cause catarrh are meat and eggs. The athletic trainers will not allow their pupils any meat while in training; and only three eggs a week. The athlete eats less than half the amount of food that is consumed by this rank and file. We eat too much and then do not provide the right kind of foods for our body. Milk and nuts make a delicious substitute for meat, and they leave no detrimental results.
Hardening of the arteries is caused by the meat diet. Meat leaves a deposit in the arteries, which is the direct cause of high blood pressure and old age expressed arterially. Old people ought never to eat meat as a regular diet. Instead of meat, they should live upon the sun-ripened foods such as nuts, fruits and vegetables. Such a diet is conducive to health and longevity. Fruit is nature’s natural assistant in the process of elimination. One should drink at least one-half glass of unsweetened fruit juice every day. Orange or grape fruit is excellent.
Water and Its Uses.
One of the great forces that the ALL WISE POWER created in His universe, for practical purposes, is a substance or fluid, which has been named water. It descends from the clouds in rain, waters the earth, becomes a part of vegetation, evaporates into space and again returns to wash and revitalize mother-earth. It covers a large part of the earth’s surface. It is a part of all vegetable and animal life, and without which neither vegetable nor animal life can exist. The human body is 70% water. Water has a real food value, and is an important part of our daily nutrition.
The blood, which is the force that the creative power of mind uses to send the food to the different parts of the body for the purpose of keeping the system in repair, is a stream of water laden with food elements on its way to the millions of cells which compose the human body. It is verily a River of Life to man. As the blood is pumped through the arteries, tne Innate Intelligence of man extracts from it the food elements needed for the building of the many different parts of the body. After the blood has unloaded its cargo of building material it then becomes the sewage canal for the waste thrown off by the reconstruction of cell life. It is therefore obvious that a full bloodstream is advisable. If we do not give the body enough water the blood is bound to lose its proper balance—too scant in quantity and poor in quality—then it ceases to be an Effective River of Life.
When the blood returns through the circulatory system, it washes out the poisons of the body. People who are light water drinkers do not keep the blood properly watered. The pumping station runs short of fluid once in a while. Often a person who realizes that the heart is not acting normally becomes alarmed and the blame is put on the poor heart. Plenty of water is all that is needed; but few people know this fact, and they become patients of the medical world. With due respect to the profession of medical healing, it must be admitted physicians are not in the business of teaching people how to keep and stay well. If physicians were hired to keep their patients well, and were paid accordingly, we would know much more about the governing laws of health.
Water is an important factor in the process of elimination. The five organs of elimination depend upon water in order to do their work effectively. The bowels must have water to cleanse and wash out the putrid excretions. The kidneys also demand a plenteous supply to meet their needs. The skin, which is one of the important eliminating factors, cannot do its work well without water. It has been stated by medical authorities that the skin throws off over two pounds of rank poison daily. The skin has the power to sweat out poisons, and it can do so only when there is enough water in the system to spare for cleansing purposes. Nature uses water to cleanse the human house just as the house-keeper uses it to wash dishes and keep her kitchen clean. Water is the material cleansing fluid of the world, whether it be inside or outside of the body.
Just how much water a person should drink depends upon the size of the individual and the kind of works he does. We do know that every one ought to drink at least two quarts a day at least. On rising in the morning it is well to make a habit of drinking at least a pint of either hot or cold water. If you are in a normal condition of health the cold water is the best. If this is not the case, drink hot water with a little salt in it—just enough to make it taste as salty as you like your soup. It is not wise to keep up the hot water habit too long, for too much heat is enervating.
Bathing is another use of water that we must take into consideration. You would not think that it would be necessary to tell people to take a bath. The impression exists that a daily bath is weakening to the system. I want to rid you of such an erroneous idea. To live in water continuously is not good for any one. We do not belong to the fish family—we are fresh-air creatures—but a sensible use of water as a daily cleansing-process is necessary to health, and no injurious result will ever come from just keeping clean. Your health depends largely upon your power of elimination. The skin is one of the organs of elimination; it therefore is essential that the skin be kept clean, and you cannot keep it clean unless you wash it every day.
I do not advocate the hot bath more than two or three times a week, nor do I believe it wise to take a cold plunge. The first is weakening, while the last is too great a shock to the nervous system. The best form of bath is the shower. You then can govern the temperature of the water. Start with warm water and slowly turn it colder until you get used to a real cold shower. The cold shower is invigorating especially if the bath is followed by a brisk friction rub with a Turkish towel.
Dr. Frank Crane has given these words to the world: “I will respect myself. I can get away from everybody else, but not MYSELF. Since I have to live with ME all the time, and eat with him, I will try not to make him ashamed.’’
Why not thine own? Press on; achieve! achieve!
No man shall place a limit in thy strength;
Such triumphs as no mortal ever gained
May yet be thine if thou wilt but believe In thy Creator and thyself.
At length Some feet will tread all heights now unattained—
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox
NERVE ENERGY
“Harnessed it is the master producer; undirected the feeder of scrap heaps.”
THERE is a subtle force permeating all space and matter, that is a mystery to the world. We know it exists but we cannot see it. No scientist has ever been able to discover, or in any way put his finger upon this power. It is an intangible force that the microscope fails to show. We know that it is here, a vital something that actuates matter. It is the life of all living particles. It is the center of the quintel, the electron, the atom, the molecule, and finally all matter that has been crystallized by the action of mind. We know that it is by the action of this life force that man exists; without which he ceases to live. Every living, breathing thing in the universe is existing because of this force. Take the life force out of the air and the plant dies. Take the life force out of the air and the animal dies, and man dies.
God is Life
There is a verse in the Bible which affirms that “God is life.” Is it not logical to believe that this life force and the life quoted as a part of the Almighty force, is one and the same. The Master said to His disciples “I have come that ye may have life and have it more abundantly.” We know that we can have just as much of this life force as we desire. We know that we are living in a sea of life; that it is around us; that it permeates our bodies as it does all space. We are living in that ocean of energy and we have the power to appropriate just as much of this life force as will adequately meet our needs.
The Healing Force
In the past man has been taught that this life force, which we term “Energy,” was introduced in the body through food. We have learned now that food contains only a small per cent of energy, and that the energy that permeates food is that part which is the air therein, and that the real energy, the abundance of energy which we use; comes from the air we breathe. Oxygen and energy are appropriated from the air by the sub-conscious mind through the breathing process, and we receive the energy we need according to the amount of air that we breathe. Therefore, this wonderful healing force, this life force of the universe, is around us at all times. It is here in abundant supply and it is ready always for us to appropriate and use.
Out in the ether, or out in space, this energy takes different forms. First, that force which through the wonderful ingenuity of Edison and others, is extracted from the air in the form of electricity is a lower form or slower vibration of energy. Plants, animals and all other forms of life extract from the air the life which makes it possible for them to exist. It is all the same force, the same energy, only each is a different degree of vibration. The energy that is extracted from the air for electrical purposes is a slower rate of vibration than that which man appropriates; and yet neither the energy appropriated for electrical purposes nor the energy appropriated for man can be diagnosed. It cannot be seen. It is an unseen force; one of the greatest unseen forces of the universe; for it is Life itself.
Mental Impressions
This subtle force, when in the ether, is neutral. It has not a mental impression. Energy is negative. Mind is positive. The negative force—energy—is waiting to be played upon by the positive force—mind. When we appropriate through the breathing apparatus this energy from the atmosphere it becomes ours. As soon as assimilated it at once takes on the predominant mental impression of the subconscious mind. The predominant mental impression always impresses energy as soon as that energy becomes a part of us. If the predominant thought of the sub-conscious mind is failure, energy becomes laden with the thought of failure, and from the moment that energy is so impressed success to you is an impossible thing. When energy becomes impressed with the thought of illness there is no hope of you becoming well until you change your predominant mental impression into one of health. It is hard to do, but it is absolutely necessary. You have to talk to yourself; you have to talk to your great sub-conscious mind and declare, and affirm until you have dominated the situation—until all the energy that you possess is charged with thoughts of health. The predominant mental impression governs the expression of energy.
Habit Mind
If you have a habit of any kind that you wish to destroy, you cannot destroy it easily by thinking about that habit and wishing that you could get rid of it. Wishing is not going to help you very much, except to make you unhappy. Instead of wishing, affirm to yourself the thing that you want to be, and absolutely refuse to voice now and forevermore the fact that you ever had such a habit.
Not only is it not wise to admit that you have a bad habit, but it is wisdom to never refer to it, unless you are positively sure that you have completely overcome it by the law of substitution. Mind has the power to command energy to do anything that you desire to have done. The sub-conscious mental impression always impresses energy with its predominant impression. If that predominant impression is not good, you can change the predominant mental impression by constant affirmation. It is possible to completely rebuild your sub-conscious mind by daily affirming the thing you want to be. Never at any time use a system of denial. When you deny a thing you bring back the picture by repeating the words. Every word that we speak is a mental picture. If we use destructive words and are trying to get rid of a destructive condition, we are going a long way round in order to bring results. There is a short-cut way. The quickest method is to affirm in constructive words the condition you wish developed.
Healing
This vital force that we call energy, when appropriated and made a part of you, is under your mental direction. Not only does that energy respond inside of the body, but it also responds to an outside demand. Energy is the underlying force of telepathy, or telementation as Atkinson wisely terms it. Energy is the force that does all healing, whether it is inside of your body or in someone else’s body. There is only one healing force in the universe and that is energy. It is the force of energy that has been used by mind to build all that we see in the universe, regardless of what that thing may be. It is the force of energy that makes it possible for the great forests to grow. It is the force of energy that makes it possible for plant life to grow. It is the force of energy that makes it possible for animals to be here. The force of energy makes it possible for man to be here. It is the life force of the universe. When we have appropriated our quantity of energy from the atmosphere we have the privilege of doing with that energy just what we please. It is a life force—a God force; free to all and freely given. You do not have to ask for it. All you have to do is to breathe it. It is here; it is around us; it is everywhere; and after we have appropriated it then we have a responsibility. How are we going to use it?
Sex Energy
Every action is the result of mind playing on energy. We have in our body, three important nerve centers. All told, there are twelve nerve centers in the body in which the psychologists are interested. One of those centers is located in the back of the neck— another is the solar plexis; the other is located beneath the waist, and is called the sacral center. Through all the life of man the energies of his body are being expressed objectively through these three centers.
When man uses his thought in a constructive way—when he uses his power of thought for the creation of thought children—his energies are drawn to the head, making it possible for him to think and to think constructively, to be strong and alert mentally. Emotionalism draws the energy to the solar plexus, the seat of emotion, and expresses its force in all kinds of emotions—good, bad and indifferent. The unevolved of animal type draws his force to the sacral center and expresses his energies sexually. You cannot be sexually dissipated and be intellectually a success. No living soul was ever able to dissipate his energy sexually and keep his place at the top of his profession. Whenever you hear of a man or a women who stands at the peak of a profession or business —when you hear that man talked of as a sexual pervert, etc.—put it down as a damnable piece of gossip. No man or women can waste his energies through a sensuous life and be an artist. He cannot remain on the heights unless he obeys the divine law; as success is the greatest test of character. If he stays at the peak of success, you know that he is constructive; that he is drawing his energies to his head and expressing them intelligently. When you hear of people who stand on the highest pinnacle of prominence as being sexual inebriates, put it down as falsehoods that political enemies like to tell about their opponents. I am not trying in any way to excuse people of weaknesses, but I count it one of the greatest crimes of the world, this eternal condemnation of men higher up in authority. The men and women who are walking on the heights of fame are living a very straight sexual life or they cannot remain in their exalted place. Sexual energy is the most condensed form of energy. Lust is the most dissipated form in which energies can be expressed. You cannot be one hundred per cent efficient and dissipate your energies sexually.
Mind always dominates energy. Energy follows thought. The man or woman who has a righteous, definite purpose in life, has something worthwhile to think about. Only when strong loving natures meet their own—those who are intended for each other—will those energies be drawn from the higher plane, the throne of His kingdom, to a lower plane. Then energy can be spiritualized and the sex love put on a high plane of understanding and realization.
When the energies are drawn through the power of thought to the intellectual center and held there continually, used intellectually, without the warm touch of the emotions, there is a chilling effect upon the nature of that being. They become cold and intellectual. They do not seem to have an emotion within them. They are not the kind of people that have any magnetism. They are not the type that have a large circle of friends. Our intellectuality should always be sweetened, softened and beautified by the love nature. The love nature should ever be expressed upon its highest plane and directed intellectually. When you are able to reach that ideal condition you are indeed a master of yourself. You are a long way on the road to self-mastery.
The Human Aura
When energy is impressed with a predominant mental thought, not only does it permeate the body but it is radiated in the atmosphere around you. The aura which you hear spoken of often is the extension of the energies of the body. It is around you at all times. It expresses your character and your personality.
The predominant thought of the sub-conscious mind is radiated in your aura. The aura has the power of attraction or repulsion. In your hours of reflection—when you are thinking things over—if you have charged your mind and directed your thought along uplifting, inspiring courageous lines, your aura becomes charged with that type of thought. If you have used the time in worrying or entertaining thoughts of jealousy, malice or destructive thoughts, your aura is charged with those thoughts, and you have lost the power of attracting good. You attract your own kind. Whenever you draw in your circle someone who is not true to you, you must know that it is a result of your own thoughts. The law of attraction brings you your environment. You are creating your law of attraction and if it brings to you people that you do not like, look back and see when it was that you thought along the line expressed by the person who came into your environment. The law of attraction is one of the great laws of the universe.
Thought Currents
Every thought in the universe seeks its own kind. There is a law of attraction which permeates the thought world. “Like attracts like.” Every thought that we think, when sent out into the ether is immediately, through the force of its own law, drawn to its own kind. When we think a thought of anger it immediately joins the other thoughts of anger that have been sent out in the world and becomes a part of that thought-current. When we think a thought of impatience the same thing happens, only in a lighter degree. When you think of faith immediately that thought joins the higher plane of thought and you become connected with the thought of faith. Every thought has its own thought-current. Every mental picture that you have has a correspond* ing mental current in the ether. By constantly concentrating upon one type of thought, you become connected with that thought-plane of the universe, and you become a channel for those thoughts to play through. Let us suppose that thought current be hate. You have been hating someone or something. You are constantly thinking upon this destructive thought. You make it a part of yourself; you work your emotions up to a high pitch over the affront, or whatever it is that has brought this thought of hate to you. The more you concentrate upon it the more you become connected with the hate thought of the universe, until you become a channel for that thought-current. Not only do you suffer for your own hate thought, but you suffer from the hate thought of the whole world. When you have carried this far enough it becomes an obsession, and when hate becomes an obsession there is murder in the heart. The murders of the world have oftentimes been committed because the murderer connected up with the murder-thought of the world, and he became obsessed with the thought of murder and nothing but the doing of the deed could satisfy the obsession.
Genius
When people think of music—love music, practice music, concentrate upon music, read about the composers—in fact, learn all there is to be known about music—they become connected with the musical thought of the world, and a channel for the musical thought-current. If a person has concentrated upon the masters; such as Beethoven, Hayden, Mozart and many others; he becomes a channel for classics, and if he continues persistently, he will become a genius.
There are as many planes of thought as there are ideas. To be a genius means only a vision, a persistent concentration, until you become a channel for the thought-current of the universe. If you persist diligently, keeping your vision before you in your practice, you are a success. Energy is the force that is used. If we send out desire with a weak faith we do not get results. Divided attention always means divided energy, and divided energy means scattered forces. Thought is made possible by the life force that is within you. Never scatter that energy. “This one thing I do and that done well, is the best of rule that I can tell.” Keep your ideals, keep your vision and concentrate your energy, knowing that energy lias taken on the predominant mental impression and that though energy is going out into the world seeking its own kind through the law of attraction and bringing to you a manifestation of your vision.
Man has the power to command the negative force energy to build a perfect body; to build success. Do you wonder that certain splendid teachers claim that we are Gods in the making? There is absolutely no limit to mankind’s possibilities when he comes into the right realization of his powers. The only limitation there is is the limitation that he puts upon himself. The forces are all here waiting for us to use them, waiting for us to become conscious of our powers, and then conscientiously, determinedly put them into use.
NOBLESSE OBLIGO
“I hold it the duty of one who is gifted,
And especially dowered in all mens’ sight,
To know no rest until his life is lifted
Fully up to his great gifts height.
He must mold the man into rare completeness;
For gems are set only in gold refined,
He must fashion his thoughts into perfect sweetness
And cast out folly and pride from his mind.”
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTION
THE human race is largely actuated through the force of emotion. It is a power within man, which, when wisely yielded, sways the opinions of men; lulls to rest the wearied souls of the race; gives joy to the world, happiness to the soul, and contentment to the individual. This same power when expressed unwisely, is the actuating force of almost, if not all, of the troubles that beset the pathway of man.
Emotion is an effect, not a cause. It is the result of the impression of thought upon the sensory nervous system of the body. The sensory nerves are the connecting link between mind and matter; between the conscious and subconscious mind; between the objective and the subjective life of man.
When the objective mind impresses the subjective mind with thoughts that stir the interest of the individual, there is an emotion created. If the thought is for the good of the person it is called a constructive emotion: if the opposite, it is destructive in its effect.
The Soul Growth
The soul of man demands growth; for growth is the law of life, regardless of how that life is expressed. There is no such a thing as standing still. Either we are forging ahead and learning in the great school of experience, or we are stagnating. If we wish to make a success of our lives—and we all do—we must obey the Divine law—GROW. Growth means change, and change brings into play the five senses through which the SOUL receives its experience. Every experience is an education. Every experience contains its lesson; and when the lesson is learned the experience will not return. The SOUL refuses to travel over the same pathway continually; therefore the more the life does encompass the greater the growth of the SOUL.
Destructive Emotions
All destructive emotion is the result of an objective contact with the world. The soul desires good, and nothing but good; and when the experience contacted through the senses is not for the good of the soul, there is friction between the spiritual and the material self. The connecting link between these selves is the sensory nerves; therefore the nerves become irritated according to the sensitiveness of the person. We are then discontented, unsettled, and unhappy. Not knowing this truth we refuse to give expression to that which the soul most desires.
When the spiritual self impresses this sensory nervous system the emotion created is always of a pure, noble and constructive type. When we let the soul speak, we hear only that which is good for us. The sin of the universe is ignorance; and we, through our ignorance, fail to listen to the inner voice; therefore the conscious mind—or reasoning mind—directs without the inspiration which comes from the inner or subjective self. The conscious mind is filled more or less with erroneous ideas. The subjective or supra-conscious mind knows all things, and can and will give us knowledge when we learn the pathway.
Constructive Emotions
The constructive emotions eminate from the entertainment of thoughts that please both the inner and outer consciousness—those thoughts that build into the life happiness, success and good health.
Study of the Solar Plexus
With the above truth in mind, I want to take up with you a study of the vehicle through which the emotions function. We have within the body a small fenestrated mass of nerves situated beneath the diaphragm—behind the stomach and connected with the sacral nerves, liver, and all of the other inner organs of the body—called the solar plexus. Thousands of nerves eminate from the center and connect themselves with the inner organs of the thorax and abdomen.
The solar plexus was named by the Occult students of the East “Solar” after the sun. Plexus means a network of nerves. Those students of nature realized that as the sun warmed the earth and brought life, joy and happiness, so did the solar plexus effect the inner universe of man.
This plexus is a very sensitive part of the body. It is the center of the sensory nervous system; therefore it is the center of the connecting organ through which the emotions function.
While the medical world has not recognized the real value of a knowledge of the solar plexus, the athletic world, has to some extent. There is a law in the world of athletics against a blow in the region of the solar plexus. Many an athlete was killed before it was understood that a severe blow on this center will seperate life from man.
It is believed by many students that the solar plexus is the fetus of the human body; and their belief is substantiated by the fact that babies have been born without any perceptible sign of a brain, and yet lived. This is evidence that there is another brain-center, other than the brain itself, which directs the building and the rebuilding of the body. The solar plexus is that brain. It is the organ through which the subconscious mind functions; and, as it is generally conceded by psychologists that the subconscious mind is the force that builds the body, it must follow that the solar plexus is the beginning of life, and that life continues to use the solar plexus as the center of mental action through which the innate intelligence of man operates.
Astral Body
Another theory advanced is that there is a psychic connection between the solar plexus and the astral body. This connection has been described by the psychic as a silver cord which passes from the solar plexus through the umbilicus and connects itself with the spiritual body of man. As long as this connection is unbroken life can be restored; but when it is severed no one but a Christ could resuscitate life in such a body.
The Effect of Emotion on the Solar Plexus
The solar plexus is effected by every emotion we entertain for good or for evil. If the emotion is destructive—as fear, jealousy, hatred, regrets, or any thought designated as destructive— we are in the grip of a force that throws the whole being out of harmony, physically, mentally and spiritually. Thought has the power to harmonize or disarrange the fine, delicate organization of our life.
The world is divided into two classes: the sensitive and the non-sensitive. The sensitive is one whose sensory nerves are alert, ready to enjoy or repulse every impression according to the desires of the individual. When the sensitive entertains worry-thoughts, or any other thought which is akin to fear, there is a detrimental reaction of the nerves. Every nerve that belongs to the sensory system contracts, as if with horror from the thought. There is a tensing all over the body, both mental and physical, according to the affront against the desire of the person. These nerves comprise the system over which the energy of the body is distributed or equalized. As it is the force of energy which makes it possible for the organs of the body to function, any obstruction to the natural flow of the life-force is bound to bring physical disaster.
If the thought comes in a manner which shocks the whole system, the solar plexus tenses and contracts instantly. All the nerves do likewise; therefore every organ of the body is more or less affected, according to the severity of the shock.
Nerve Shocks
In many cases of acute nerve shock the reaction is instantaneous, causing the victim to faint away, become nauseated and vomite, the intestines to relax and lose their tone, or become tensed and refuse to eliminate the poisons of the body. Oft times it has been the direct cause of death.
A person may receive a solar-plexus knockout blow in more than one way. A sudden mental shock often kills as effectively as a physical blow; but there is a more subtle method than either which slowly but surely shatters health and undermines all its beauty of expression. The sensitive man or woman who is constantly being made the “butt” of unjust criticisms and outbursts of temper, is receiving daily in small doses that which is as deadly, in the final analysis, as the sudden and unexpected mental or physical shock.
Incompatibility
There is a condition found only too often in family life where incompatibility reigns supreme. In such cases it will be usually found that the wife or husband has become the receiving station for the unkind thrusts, criticisms and unjust accusations form the dominant side of the union. Abnormal reasoning, lack of self control and good judgment is expressed by the thoughtless, careless, self-asserting person. The refined sensitive person is the negative who receives the impressions that fall like hammer blows upon the sensitive nervous system. They are registered in the brain, the memory, and physically in the solar plexus.
True to their own Law, the nerves contract, energy is tied up for lack of a free channel of transmission, followed by the inevitable—disease—expressed in various ways.
No one should be guilty of allowing his health to be ruined and possibly to lose his life through the constant bickering of another. Meet it if you can by realizing the foolishness of permitting any person to make you miserable. It is your test, and if one can become immune to the idle talk of a thoughtless person with whom one is obliged to associate, a great battle over itself has been won. If you cannot live harmoniously, after trying every method to bring about peace, get out; for this is a fact that “when you get enough you can quit.” If you are bound by the ties of parenthood, remember you have a covenant with your offspring; for you are responsible for your children’s welfare during the impressionable period of their young lives. Therefore it is your place to stand at your post as long as your duty as parent is evident.
I have always admired that Greek philosopher who married the worst tempered woman in the country in order to test out his self-control. His desire for perfection was a very dynamic one, or he would not have used so heroic a method. It is the greatest test of character to be able to stand in your position, because it is your duty, when you are nagged, criticized and complained about, and yet keep your poise, keep cool, calm, and be able to say as the Christ did, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
The Test of Character
Character is not built by walking in paths of roses or living on money that someone else has earned. Character is built by climbing the rugged pathway where every muscle and every nerve is strained to make the climb. It is only by exercise that the muscles are developed. It is by exercise of the power of decision that will power is strengthened. By the same law it is only through the testing power of trouble that character is built. Trouble is the tester. If we can face our misfortunes with a smile we are on the winning side of life.
“Tis easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows along like a song;
But the man worth while is the one who will smile
When everything goes dead wrong;
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years;
And the smile that is worth the praise of the earth
Is the smile that comes through tears.”
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The weak-minded negatives sit down and cry about it. The strong and positive see the lesson that trouble has brought to them, and immediately proceed to correct the cause of the punishment. They stand on their own feet; know themselves, their emotions, and how to control them and the situations that confront them.
The Master Mind
We have been given this divine command, “Be ye perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” Being perfect is learning to master self. We cannot learn self-mastery unless we have something to master. This mastermind quality comes to us by meeting constructively every condition and situation in life. We meet them at every angle from the beginning of our lives. As a child they come to us. We meet them in manhood and womanhood; in the business world; in the martial state; in our children; in fact, they are ever with us forcing us “To be or not to be.”
If we would be master-minds—if we would be super-men and women we will welcome these tests, realizing the opportunity that each one brings to us to develop the power within.
“WE GET OUR GREATEST FORCE FROM OUR SEVEREST TRIALS.”
The weakly undeveloped character concentrates upon his trials and difficulties helplessly. He, because of his lack of understanding, ‘ ‘ Blames the world when things go wrong. ’ ’ He tells his troubles to all that will listen to him. He carries the proverbial chip on his shoulder, and he would be disappointed if some one did not knock it off. He lacks the power of silence. He never knows when to speak and when not to speak. Therefore he becomes the victim of his own emotionalism.
The strong man is just the opposite of this. He knows that idle talk never did get him anything but more trouble; therefore he talks when it is time to talk, and he keeps still when it is wise to do so. He handles his proposition in a scientific, masterly manner. He governs his emotions by using his judgment and wisdom. As a result of his good sense he becomes a power in his own world of achievement.
It is not the untested that have developed character. Strength of character is attained only by overcoming all obstacles that block our pathway. Can you not see that when we sense this light upon emotionalism we will look upon life very differently than we have in the past? Why let emotions govern us? Why entertain any emotion that creates discordant conditions —that drives away from us the realization of our heart’s righteous desire? Is it not foolishness?
Hate’s Revenge
The most destructive emotion which we are guilty of entertaining is hate. There is no thought more destructive than hate and its several modifications. The medical world has proven this statement by their laboratory experiments. The very consistency of the blood is changed with every emotion. When that emotion is hate the blood is actually poisoned. The medical therepa does not explain just what happens to bring about this change. A friend explained the process to me, and as his explanation sounds like good sense I will give it to you.
There are five eliminating organs in the human body—the bowels, kidneys, skin, lungs, and liver. These organs are closely connected with the solar-plexus by sensory nerves. When the solar-plexus responds to a fear thought, the contraction effects each of the eliminating organs. Especially is this dynamically true of the liver. The nerve between this organ and the solar-plexus is about two to three inches long, and large in size. Over this connecting link passes the energy or life-force which actuates the eliminating power of the liver. The kidneys and liver work in close sympathy with each other. When the liver is affected or out of order the kidneys respond to the condition with mathematical accuracy.
When a strong emotion grips the solar- plexus—as for instance hate—that nerve contracts, as does every other sensory nerve of the body, and the inevitable takes place—elimination ceases immediately. The same thought will stop the regular deep breathing of the victim. As the lungs throw off 20,000 grains of rank poison daily, it is IMPORTANT that man does not interfere with nature’s plan to keep the body clean.
Anything which stops the elimination of the poisons of the body will change the chemistry of the blood. The blood cannot be pure unless all the eliminating organs are energized and doing their work in the great plan of man’s inner world.
Love’s Reward
Let us take the constructive side of emotions and see how much more lovely and beneficent it is to allow only that which helps and builds for us to possess our very souls. Love, faith, courage, loyalty, Godliness—all that stands for good —relaxes the sensory-nervous system, and makes it possible for the energies stored away in the solar-plexus to be properly distributed through the body. Not only does constructive thinking build up the health in the manner described but it also changes the character into a positive, forceful and powerful personality.
Love is the greatest healing force in the universe. It is the great Law of Attraction working through man. Love expresses itself in many forms and in many ways. There is the love for home, love for that which is good, love for the beautiful as in nature, love for children, the marital love, and love for friends. Love thoughts so expressed are entertaining angels unawares. The greatest love of all is the universal love for mankind. All the world will ever know of God is that part of God which we see and feel expressed in His universe in spirit and in matter. Matter is thought crystallized.
The body is composed of billions of cells, each cell being an individual unto itself with its own intelligence. Cells can live in peace only as they harmonize with each other. Love is the force which brings peace and harmony into an organization, and the body is no exception to the rule. When man has charged his thoughts with the universal principal of love, the solar- plexus immediately becomes relaxed and the energies are charged with the healing force of love principles. The cells of the body take the impression of mind and at once harmony begins to prevail where discord and its side partner—disease—once held sway.
When love and its many modifications predominate, emotion is radiated to every part of the being through the force of energy, and builds the principle into the cells until the body is completely charged with love which is the greatest healing force of mind. If we want to be well we must think constructive thoughts; if we want to be strong we must think strong thoughts; if we want to be happy we must think happy thoughts; for, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he, ’ 9 is ever true. It is an immutable law that works for our good as well as for our destruction. A thought that does not affect the emotions does not leave a definite impression. We might well paraphrase that old adage, “As a man thinketh,” to “as a man thinketh and is impressed emotionally, so is he.”
Emotional Influence
Emotion plays a very important part in onr lives. Without emotion we would get nowhere. Emotion and desire are twin brothers. A big mighty desire creates a big and mighty emotion. The man who is not able to develop within himself a big wholesome emotion will never be a big and mighty man. Our influence with people can be computed by the strength of the emotions. If they are constructive they become a force for our good and we then possess the power to attract to us the good and the beautiful in life. If they are destructive we become an object of repulsion to the good of the universe.
Emotion is a direct response to the power of thought. Emotion is the color-artist of tone language. It is that something which sweetens the mother tongue; and harmonizes and beautifies the lives of men. It is the power that makes it possible for orators to sway and mould the opinions of people. It is the force that the singer uses to lift the souls of man to aesthetic heights of joy. It is potentially the soul of music, without which no one can become an artist—musically or otherwise.
It is emotion that gives to the world reformers — philanthropists, the altruistic teachers and boosters of men.
THEORY AND PRACTICE
“Theory without practice Is a tree without fruit,
While practice without theory Is a tree without roots.
Well grounded in theory There is sure to be—
When experience is added—
A perfect tree.”
The End