The Right Knock

by Helen Van-Anderson

  CHAPTER XXX.

  "The study of Heredity, _spiritual_ anatomy and physiology is highest of all. The key to this study is your own soul. Study yourself; gain possession and mastery of your own spirit and you hold the key not only to the heights of liberty, but the key that unlocks imprisoned souls."--_Mary Weeks Burnett M. D._

  "MARLOW, October----.

  "My dear husband: Gradually the vision broadens and we become moreaccustomed to the light. It is as though we were put into a beautifulroom filled with all manner of lovely forms and dainty colors, flowersand perfumes, where we have groped blindfolded from one thing toanother, trying to form some conception of the surpassing loveliness,when gradually the bandage is removed, layer by layer until the wholeenchanting scene, radiant with light is revealed to our wondering gaze,showing the vast difference between supposition and reality.

  "The light grew clearer than ever to-day, for we had our first practicalhint on healing, inasmuch as we were told how to take up a case fortreatment.

  "We must never forget that we are, and wish to remain as littlechildren, in our desire to apprehend and understand Truth. The naturalattitude of the child-mind is one of receptivity and eager interest.Under the guidance of wise parents he will always be willing and anxiousto learn more and more, continually growing in wisdom and love.

  "Back to the zeal and innocence of childhood we go then, to learn theever mysterious but ever charming alphabet of Truth, which leads us intothe kingdom.

  "As we present ourselves in the great school room of life, and take orrecognize our appointed place beside the ever present School-master, welearn the letters of the grand knowledge that shall teach us how to readthe most learned books, understand the deepest philosophy, theprofoundest science, the divinest religion. We would learn the ministryof healing, that will set free the 'spirits in prison;' we would be gladmessengers of the gospel of peace. The door to great attainments isfaithfulness in small ones.

  "There are three kinds or modes of healing. The first or lowest, is theintellectual; the second or next higher, the intuitional; the third andhighest, the spiritual. The first only can be taught, the other two areattained by individual development. The first comes by reason, thesecond by faith, the third by understanding. The first is by argument ora system of reasoning, the second by implicit trust or confidence in thePrinciple, the third by the realization of Truth and the speaking of theword or perchance, by one's very presence.

  "But there is nothing arbitrary about this. The person who never heardof Christ's teaching till yesterday may have so caught the fire of Truththat to-day he stands at the altar a priest instead of communicant, ateacher instead of pupil.

  "Many just beginning their study of this method of healing requireexplicit directions and explanations of details, in order to apply theprinciple, feeling that they have no intuitional leadings and can notdepend upon the invisible power because they know so little about it.

  "Wait; be patient; trust. Remember that 'he who is faithful in little,shall be made ruler over much.' You need not learn the rule if you learnthe principle, and only so long as you are ignorant of the principlewill you need the rule. To use the rule, as the child uses the chair inlearning to walk, is to grow strong, and able to dispense with it; touse it as spectacles are used, is to make it indispensable.

  "If we can not yet learn through divine ways, let us learn through humanways. The human is inadequate to express the divine, but many namelesshints and light-gleams and sudden illuminations will flash upon thefaithful worker all along the way. Words are signs of ideas and ideasare signs of God. When we think or speak true words, we have begun ourmission of healing or helpfulness, and from words we go on to theinexpressible thrill of realization.

  "We can not tell when we may thus change from the letter to the spirit,can not tell when we come into the exalted condition of a spiritualunderstanding, and having received the illumination, we are not to feelthat we have grown above the use of argument, for it may be necessary togo back to the rule with the very next treatment.

  "Above all else must the student of this Truth guard against what may becalled spiritual pride. No thought of supremacy or greater advancementshould be harbored for a moment. All such things are clouds that obscurethe light as much as other material beliefs.

  "To gauge ourselves by that inimitable thirteenth chapter of I.Corinthians is to maintain the perfect equilibrium of a loving,charitable heart, that can heal and bless all human-kind, for 'lovenever faileth.'

  "We become, as it were, the cleansed window pane, through which shinesthe divine light of Truth. Could we always be the cleansed pane, Truthwould melt away all error, just as the sun melts the frostwork, butbeing still in the current of human thought we must wait patiently forfurther power to reveal the God-likeness.

  "Wrong thought as the real cause of disease, opens new avenues ofinformation; but we continue to explore and discover. Any kind ofthought opposite the good is sure to break forth into some form ofdisease-pictures, and the question is, what kind of thought is it whichthus reflects itself upon the patient's body? All error will producepictures of error. The world's naming of the belief in heredity is thenaming of its greatest error, or belief in sin, because that implies allsins of the flesh as manifested in the body.

  "Back of all effect is a cause; the disease is the effect, the wrongthought is the cause. One of the great causes of disease is sensualbeliefs, the appetites and passions of the carnal man.

  "It is error to suppose he is subject to conditions unlike God, theSource. 'He that is born of God, can not sin, because his seed remainethin him.' Being in and controlled by the universal thought current, theerror of supposition, he manifests it in his condition. Supposingconsumption hereditary, he suffers from the supposition; supposingimpurities of the blood transmitted through the flesh, he finds it evenso. Supposition, false thinking, being at the bottom of all erroneousconditions, we proceed to deal with them as we do with any other errorsor lies.

  "When we seek for anything with a desire to gain happiness, it isbecause we hope to gain what our previous efforts have failed to bringus, so the one who comes to be healed by Christian Truth, comes with ahope at least that this will bring the health he has sought in vain fromother sources. He has turned in all directions in response to the advicereceived from this or that one of the friendly advisers, so ready toconstitute themselves the body guard of the world. He has tried doctorsof every school; he has traveled east, west, north and south; he hasplunged into healing waters of all kinds and had all kinds of healingwaters plunged into him; he has been burned and steamed and pounded andstarved, till he is finally disgusted enough to want something that willnot harm if it will not cure, so he drags himself before us withpossibly a gleam of hope, possibly the faithlessness of despair, andasks for a treatment.

  "And now you wish to know in what a treatment consists; simply insilently telling the patient the truth about himself as God's child, ingiving him the principles we have learned concerning God and man, andwith earnest gladness assuring him of his freedom. For the benefit ofthe young practitioner, we will give a few directions or suggestivetreatments.

  "We ask the patient for a statement of his belief, which he is only tooglad to give with elaborate and vivid details. We meet every statementwith an emphatic mental denial.

  "The faithful student who has fasted and prayed (denied and affirmed),is now the embodiment of one vast negative that should wipe out thepositive belief of any inharmony. The patient, being in the belief offalse conditions, is of one mind with the world, and so reflects thebeliefs of mankind. That we may be sure of meeting all classes of falsebeliefs, we deny for him the reflection of any false conceptions ofhimself from the race, his parents and ancestors, his friends andassociates, himself and ourself, for we are still one with humanity.

  "Everybody has a conscious or unconscious belief in heredity, and sinceit is one of, if not _the_ most formidable of human beliefs, we dealwith it first as the possible
cause of our patient's belief insuffering.

  "After he has finished the statement of his condition, we say to himmentally: 'James Martin! Hear what I say, for I tell you absolute truth.Not one word of all this you have told me about dyspepsia is true,because the carnal mind, to which you have been listening, is notsubject to the law of God, and _you_, the spiritual, immortal you, aresubject to the mind of the spirit which recognizes the spiritualcreation, therefore your spiritual self can not be sick or suffer fromany inharmony.

  "'This carnal mind belief named dyspepsia is not a condition of yourreal self. The belief of the race, ancestors, daily associates, yourselfor myself in heredity and the sensual appetites can not be picturedforth by your body in the form of dyspepsia, because the real you isspiritual and not subject to material beliefs. It is utterly impossiblefor you, who are spiritual, to be influenced by any thought that isopposite the spiritual, as it is impossible for the light to coalescewith darkness.

  "'_You_ are God's child, made in His image and likeness, and must beperfect like Him, for His conditions are changeless and eternal. Listento this glad message that tells you absolute Truth. Realize that asGod's child you can not suffer, for spirit knows no suffering. You cannot be weak, for God is your strength; you can not fear anything, forGod is your refuge and fortress. 'God hath not given us the spirit offear, but of love and of power and of sound mind.'

  "'Listen to me!--The 'Truth sets free.'--_Now, you are free_. You gladlyacknowledge the truth, and prove it in every thought, word and deed.Like the Master, I say unto you, 'Lazarus, come forth!' Come out of theerrors in which you have been so long entombed, throw off the graveclothes of mortal thought, and rise to new thoughts, new conditions, anew life! Rejoice that you are whole, and let the world rejoice withyou.... It is finished. In the hands of omnipresent Good, in the name ofimmaculate Truth, I leave you.

  "'So may this be established, yea, it _is already_ established. I thankThee, Father, that thou hast heard me.'

  * * * * *

  "This lesson, John, is very hard to report. I find so many questionssuggested to my mind, and so many if's and but's.

  "Mrs. Pearl desired us each to take up a case for absent treatment, someone we would like to help, and from whom we could hear every day or so,or who would be under our personal notice. I am going to treat a littleboy in the house where I board. It is quite a severe case of catarrh.

  "I wish you would take a case, too. Just try this form of treatment thatI have given. It may not seem clear to you at first, but it is not thewords you are to remember so much as the ideas. Get the thought firmlyfixed in your mind, and the words will come of themselves.

  "You readily see it is using the same principle with the patient thathas been applied in self training. First, the denial of all error, andthen the affirmation of truth. This treatment is for any chroniccondition, and is given twice a day, in the morning and at night.

  "Now, I must say good-night. It is nearly eleven, and I really ought tosay my denials and affirmations some more, besides giving my patient thetreatment.

  "With many kisses to the dear ones,

  "I am your loving MARION."