Books: Nature Cure
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Henry Lindlahr >> Nature Cure
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While nonresistance to Nature's healing efforts is better than
suppression by drugs or the knife, there is something more helpful
and rational than the negative attitude toward disease on the
physical plane assumed by metaphysical healing cults. That
"something" is intelligent cooperation with Nature's cleansing and
healing efforts.
Where the Old School fails by sins of commission, the Faith Schools
fail by sins of omission. Many patients are sacrificed daily through
fanatical inactivity, when their lives might be saved by a wet pack
or a cold sponge bath, by an internal bath, rational diet, judicious
fasting, scientific manipulation or some other simple yet powerful
remedy of natural healing. To permit a patient to perish in a
burning fever, depending solely upon the efficacy of prayers,
formulas and mental attitude, when wet packs and cold sponging would
in a few minutes reduce the temperature below the danger point, is
manslaughter, even though it be done in the name of religion.
Incidents like the following are common in our practice: A little
girl in the neighborhood of our institution was taken with
diphtheria. The mother, an ardent Christian Scientist, called in
several healers of her cult, but the child grew worse from day to
day, until the false membranes in the throat began to choke her to
death.
A boarder in the house, who was a follower of Nature Cure, finally
induced the mother to call upon us for advice by threatening to
notify the City Health Department. Within an hour after the
application of the whole-body packs and the cold ablutions, the
blood was sufficiently drawn away from the local congestion in the
throat into the surface of the body, so that the child breathed
easily and freely, and from then on made a splendid recovery.
Another instance: A man had been suffering from sciatic rheumatism
for fifteen years. He had swallowed poisonous drugs to no avail. For
several years he had been under Mental Science treatment, but the
suffering had grown more intense.
When he applied to us for help, we found that the right hip bone
(the innominate) had slipped upward and backward. A few manipulative
treatments replaced the bone where it belonged, and the sciatic
rheumatism was cured.
In this case, the combined concentration and prayers of all the
metaphysical healers on earth would not have succeeded in replacing
the dislocated hip bone, which required the full strength of a
trained manipulator.
Metaphysicians could not have accomplished this feat any more than
they could have moved, by their mental efforts, a hundred-pound
weight from one place to another. Mechanical lesions of that kind
(and there are many of them) require mechanical treatment.
Another factor which makes converts to metaphysical healing cults by
the hundreds and thousands is the get-rich-quick instinct in human
nature, the desire to get something for nothing, or with as little
effort as possible. Herein lies the seductive pull of old-time
drugging and of modern metaphysics. "It does not matter how you
live; when you get into trouble, a bottle of medicine or a
metaphysical formula will make it all right." That sounds very easy
and promising, but the trouble is--it does not always work.
Our forefathers were too pessimistic; higher thought enthusiasts are
often too optimistic. While the former poisoned their lives and
paralyzed their God-given faculties and powers by dismal dread of
hell's fire and damnation, our modern healers and Scientists have
drifted to the other extreme. They tell us there is no sin, no pain,
no suffering. If that be true, there is also no action and reaction,
no Law of Compensation, no personal responsibility, no need of
self-control, self-help or personal effort.
The ideal of the faith healer is the ideal of the animal. The animal
trusts implicitly, it has absolute faith; guided by instinct, God,
or Nature, it follows the promptings of its appetites and passions
without worrying about right or wrong. It acts today as it did ten
thousand years ago.
In man, reason has taken the place of instinct; we must think and
manage for ourselves. We are free and responsible moral agents. If
we deny this, we deny the very foundations of equity, justice and
right. It behooves us to use the talents which God has given us, to
study the laws of our being and to comply with them to the best of
our ability, so that enlightened reason may take the place of animal
instinct and guide us to physical, mental and moral perfection.
Chapter XXXIV
The Difference Between Functional and Organic Disease
Much confusion concerning the curability of chronic diseases by the
various methods of treatment arises because people do not understand
the difference between functional and organic chronic disease.
For instance, there is a close resemblance between pseudo-and true
locomotor ataxy. Often it is difficult to distinguish functional
lung trouble from the organic type of the disease. In our practice,
several cases of mental derangement which had been diagnosed as true
paresis proved to be of the functional type and under natural
treatment recovered rapidly.
Functional diseases may present a very serious appearance and may be
labeled with awe-inspiring Greek or Latin names, and yet yield
readily to natural methods of living and treatment.
In diseases of an organic nature, however, right living and
self-treatment are usually not sufficient to obtain satisfactory
results. In such cases all forms of active and passive treatment
must be applied, and even then it is frequently difficult and
sometimes impossible to produce a cure.
Chronic diseases of a functional nature develop when an otherwise
healthy organism becomes saturated and clogged with food and drug
poisons to such an extent that these encumbrances interfere with the
free circuation of the blood and nerve currents, and with the normal
functions of the cells, organs and tissues of the body.
Such cases resemble a watch which is losing time because its works
are filled with dust. All that such a waste-encumbered watch or body
needs, in order to restore normal functions, is a good cleaning.
Pure food diet, fasting, systematic exercise, deep breathing, cold
bathing and the right mental attitude are usually sufficient to
perform this physical housecleaning and to restore perfect health.
Functional disorders yield readily to the various forms of
metaphysical treatment. Remove such patients from the weakening and
destructive effects of poisonous drugs and of surgical operations,
supplant fear and worry by courage and faith, and the results often
seem miraculous to those who do not understand the power of the
purifying and stimulating influence of clean living and of the right
mental attitude.
In diseases of the organic type, however, good results are not so
easily achieved. A body affected by organic disease resembles a
watch whose mechanism has been injured and partly destroyed by rust
and corrosive acids. If such be the case, cleaning and oiling alone
will not be sufficient to put the timepiece in good working order.
The watchmaker has to replace the damaged parts.
This is easy enough in the case of the watch, but it is not so
easily accomplished in the human body. Besides, in many instances
the corroding acids are the very medicines which were given to cure
the disease and the injury and destruction of vital parts and organs
is only too often the direct or indirect result of surgical
operations.
The watchmaker may remove those parts of the watch which are
suffering from organic trouble, and replace them by new ones. This
the surgeon cannot do. He can extirpate, but he cannot replace.
Operative treatment leaves the organism forever after in a mutilated
and therefore unbalanced condition, and often prevents and
frustrates Nature's cleansing and healing crises.
The Limitations of Metaphysical Healing
In the writings of metaphysical healers we often meet the assertion
that they can cure organic diseases as easily and quickly as
functional ailments. If they understood better the difference
between functional and organic disorders as explained in the
foregoing pages, they would not make such deceptive and extravagant
claims. They would then realize the natural limitations of
meta-physical healing.
I do not underestimate the great value of mental, metaphysical
and spiritual healing methods. Of these I shall speak more fully in
subsequent chapters. But I do claim that we can and should aid
Nature's healing efforts not only by the right mental attitude and
the prayer of faith, but also by natural living and many different
methods of physical treatment.
Mental attitude alone will not clean the watch. To concentrate on
the work of housecleaning without using broom, soap and water is not
sufficient. Reason and common sense teach us that the removal of
physical, material encumbrances can be, to say the least,
accelerated by the use of physical or physiological agents. Anyone
who has observed or himself experienced the efficacy of natural
diet, cold-water treatment, massage and osteopathy in dealing with
the morbid accumulations in the system will never again
underestimate the practical value of these "brooms."
In our study of the nature and purpose of acute diseases we have
found that Nature tries to purify the system from its morbid
encumbrances through inflammatory, febrile processes (acute
diseases) and that these cleansing efforts of Nature are generally
prevented, checked and suppressed by allopathic methods of medical
and surgical treatment, and thus changed into chronic disease
conditions.
The metaphysical healers do away with these suppressive methods of
treatment and allow Nature's acute cleansing and healing efforts to
run their natural course. Thus they profit by the fundamental laws
of cure without understanding them. The acute disease, whose very
existence they deny, is in reality the cure.
Furthermore, rational mental and metaphysical treatment supports
Nature's efforts actively by supplanting the weakening and
paralyzing fear vibrations with relaxing and invigorating vibrations
of hope, confidence and faith in the supremacy of Nature's healing
forces. Under these favorable conditions, the organism will arouse
itself to the purifying and constructive healing crises (the
chemicalizations of Christian Science) and through these eliminate
the morbid encumbrances and restore normal structure and functions.
While functional disorders, in nearly every case, yield
readily enough to the natural methods of living and of treatment and
to the right mental attitude, it is different with organic diseases.
When waste matter, ptomaines or poisonous alkaloids and acids
produced in the body as a result of wrong diet and other violations
of Nature's laws have brought about destruction and corrosion in
vital parts and organs--when dislocations and subluxations of bony
structures, or new growths and accumulations in the forms of tumors,
stones or gravel obstruct the blood vessels and nerve currents, shut
off the supply of the vital fluids and thus cause malnutrition and
gradual decay of the tissues--when, in addition to this, the
organism has been poisoned or mutilated by drugs and surgical
operations, then its purification and repair becomes a tedious and
difficult task.
Not only must the mechanism of the body be cleansed and freed from
obstructive and destructive materials, but the injured parts must be
repaired, morbid growths and abnormal formations dissolved and
eliminated and lesions in the bony structures corrected by
manipulative treatment.
In organic diseases, the vitality is usually so low and destruction
so great that the organism cannot arouse itself to self-help. Even
the cessation of suppressive treatment and the stimulating influence
of mental and metaphysical therapeutics are not sufficient to bring
about the reconstructive healing crises. This can only be
accomplished by the combined influences of all the natural methods
of living and of treatment.
It is in cases like these that metaphysical healing and hygienic
living find their limitations. Such organic defects require
systematic treatment by all the methods, active and passive, which
the best Nature Cure sanitariums can furnish. It may be slow and
laborious work to obtain satisfactory results, and if the vitality
is too low or the destruction of vital parts and organs has too far
advanced, even the best and most complete combination of natural
methods of treatment may fail to produce a cure.
However, this can be determined only by a fair trial of the natural
methods. The forces of Nature are ever ready to react to persistent,
systematic effort in the right direction and when there is enough
vitality to keep alive there is likely to be enough to purify and
reconstruct the organism and in time to bring about improvement and
cure.
This, then, explains why, in the organic types of diseases,
metaphysical methods of treatment alone are insufficient. At least
one-half of the patients that come to the Nature Cure physician have
faithfully tried these methods without avail, but the failures are
easily excused by lack of faith, wrong mental attitude or something
wrong with the patient or his surroundings.
In our experience with patients who had formerly tried metaphysical
methods of healing faithfully, but without results, we sometimes
come face to face with a curious and amusing phase of human nature.
As our patients improve under the natural regimen and treatment,
they gradually return to their first love and ascribe the good
effects of natural treatment to a better understanding of "the
Science." As health and strength return, they say: "Formerly I did
not know just how to apply the Science, but now I know, and that is
why I am growing better."
I suppose this form of self-deception which we have frequently
observed is due to the fact that people feel flattered by the idea
that Providence has taken a special interest in their case and cured
them by miraculous intervention. It is so much more interesting to
be cured by some occult principle than by diet and cold water.
Undoubtedly it is this miracle-loving element in human nature that
makes metaphysical healing so much more popular than plain,
commonsense Nature Cure.
Not long ago Professor Munsterberg investigated the claims of
Christian Scientists that they were constantly curing diseases of
the organic type. He reported his findings in a series of articles
in McClure's Magazine (1908), stating that he inquired personally
into one hundred cases said to have been cured by Christian Science
and found that ninety-two of them had been of the functional type,
while eight were claimed to have been organic, but that in no
instance could this be proved beyond doubt.
Chapter XXXV
The Two-fold Attitude of Mind and Soul
The following is an extract from a letter sent to me by a reader of
my articles in ~The Nature Cure Magazine.~
"Sometimes you say we must rely on our own personal efforts and at
other times you teach dependence upon a higher power. This, to me,
is contradictory and confusing. I cannot understand how,
consistently, we can do both at the same time. Which is right? Is it
best to rely upon our own power and our personal efforts or upon the
'Higher Power'?"
Similar inquiries have come from other friends. I shall now endeavor
to answer these and other questions.
There is nothing contradictory or incompatible in the teachings of
the Nature Cure philosophy concerning the physical and metaphysical
methods of treating human ailments. Both the independent and the
dependent attitudes of mind and soul are good and true and may be
entertained at the same time. It is necessary for us to rely on our
own personal efforts in carrying out the dictates of reason and of
common sense. But this need not prevent us from praying for and
confidently expecting a larger inflow of vital power and intuitional
discernment from the Source of all intelligence and power in the
innermost parts of our being.
This two-fold attitude of mind and soul is justified not only by
reason and intuition, but also by the anatomical structure of the
human organism and its physiological and psychological faculties,
capacities and powers.
The activities of the human organism are governed by two different
systems of nerves, the sympathetic and the motor. The sympathetic
nervous system is the conveyor of vital force to the organs and
cells of the body. Just what this vital force is and where it
ultimately comes from, we do not know. It is a manifestation of that
which we call God, Nature, Life, the Higher Power or the Divine
Within.
Heart action, the circulation of the blood, respiration, digestion,
assimilation of food, elimination and all other involuntary
activities and functions of the human organism are controlled by
means of the sympathetic nervous system. The nature of the
controlling force itself is not known to us. We do know that it is
supremely powerful, intelligent and benevolent.
The more we study the anatomy, physiology and psychology of the
human organism, the more we wonder at its marvelous complexity and
ingenuity of structure and function. Every moment there are enacted
in our bodies innumerable mechanical, chemical and psychological
miracles. Who, or what, performs these miracles? We do not know. Yet
every moment of our lives depends upon the infinite care and wisdom
of this unknown intelligence and power.
Why, then, should we not trust the One so faithful? Why should we
not ask aid from One so powerful? Why not seek enlightenment from
One who is so wise and so benevolent?
However, not all of the human entity is dependent upon a controlling
power, nor are all its functions involuntary. Within the house
prepared by the Divine Intelligence, there dwells a sovereign in his
own right and by his own might. He is endowed with freedom of
desire, of choice and of action. He creates in his brain the nerve
centers which control the voluntary activities of the body and from
these brain centers he sends his commands through the fibers of the
motor nerves to the voluntary muscles and makes them do his bidding;
some he commands to walk, others to laugh, to eat, to speak, etc.
This independent principle in man we call the ego, the individual
intelligence. It imagines, desires, reasons, plans and works out, by
the power of free will and independent choice, its own salvation or
destruction, physically, mentally, morally and spiritually. By means
of the motor nervous system, this thinker and doer directs and
controls from the headquarters in the brain all the voluntary
functions, capacities and powers of the human organism.
This part of the human entity can evolve and progress only through
its own conscious and voluntary personal efforts.
In this, Man differs from the animal creation. The animal is able to
take care of itself shortly after birth. It inherits, already fully
developed, those brain centers for the control of the bodily
functions which the newborn human must develop slowly and
laboriously through patient and persistent effort in the course of
many years.
Of voluntary capacities and powers the newborn infant possesses
little more than the simplest unicellular animalcule, that is, about
all it can do is to scent and swallow food. Its cerebral hemispheres
are as yet blank slates, to be inscribed gradually by its conscious
and voluntary exertions. Before it can think, reason, speak, walk or
do anything else, it must first develop in its brain special centers
for each and every one of these voluntary faculties and functions.
Through these persistent personal efforts, reason, will and
self-control are gradually evolved and developed; while the animal,
being hereditarily endowed with the faculties and functions
necessary for the maintenance of life, has no occasion for the
development of the higher faculties and powers and therefore remains
an irresponsible automaton, which cannot be held accountable for its
actions.
To recapitulate: Freedom of choice and of action distinguish the
human from the animal. In the animal kingdom, reasoning power and
freedom of action move in the narrow limits of heredity and
instinct, while Man, through his own personal efforts, is capable of
unlimited development physically, mentally, morally and spiritually,
both here and hereafter. We say physically advisedly, for in the
spiritual realms, in the life after death, the physical
(spiritual-material) body also is capable of deterioration or of
ever greater refinement and beautification.
Through the right use of his voluntary faculties, capacities and
powers, Man is enabled to become the master of himself and of his
destiny.
Thus we find that the human organism consists of two distinct parts
or departments, the one acting independently of the ego and deriving
its motive force from an unknown source and the other under the
conscious and voluntary control of the ego.
This two-fold nature of the human entity justifies the two-fold
attitude of mind and soul, on the one hand the prayerful and
faithful dependence upon that mysterious power which flows into us
and controls us through the sympathetic nervous system and on the
other hand the conscious and voluntary dominion over the various
faculties, capacities and powers with which Nature has endowed us.
It is our privilege and our duty to maintain both attitudes, the
dependent as well as the independent. The desire and the will to
plan, to choose and to perform are ours, but for the power to
execute we are dependent upon a Higher Source.
Chapter XXXVI
The Symphony of Life
Human life appears to me as a great orchestra in which we are the
players. The great composition to be performed is the "Symphony of
Life," its infinitude of dissonances and melodies blending into one
colossal tone picture of harmony and grandeur. We players must study
the laws of music and the score of the Great Symphony and we must
practice diligently and persistently, until we can play our part
unerringly in harmony with the concepts of the Great Composer. At
the same time we must learn to keep our instrument, the body, in the
best possible condition; for the greatest artist, endowed with a
profound knowledge of the laws of music and possessed of the most
perfect technique, cannot produce musical and harmonious sounds from
an instrument with strings relaxed or overtense, or with its body
filled with rubbish.
The artist must learn that the instrument, its material, its
construction and its care are just as subject to law as the
harmonics of the score.
In the final analysis, everything is vibration acting in and on the
universal ethers, which are held to be the primordial substance.
Possibly the ethers themselves are modes of vibration.
That which is constructive is harmonious vibration. That which is
destructive is inharmonious or discordant vibration.
Against this it may be urged that devolution has its harmonics as
well as evolution, that every symphony is made up of dissonances as
well as of harmonies. To this I answer: "Unadulterated harmony may,
solely for lack of change, become monotonous; but discords alone
never create melody, harmony, health or happiness."
As the artist seeks vibratory harmony between his instrument and the
harmonics of the universe of sound, so the health-seeker must
endeavor to establish vibratory unison between the material elements
of his body and Nature's harmonics of health in the physical
universe.
The atoms and molecules in the wood and strings of the violin, as
well as the sounds produced from them, are modes of motion or
vibration. In order to bring forth musical and harmonious notes, the
vibratory conditions of the physical elements of the violin must be
in harmonious vibratory relationship with Nature's harmonics in the
universe of sound.
The elements and forces composing the human body are also vibratory
in their nature, the same as the material elements of the violin.
They also must be kept in a certain well-balanced chemical
combination, mechanical adjustment and physical refinement before
they can vibrate in unison with Nature's harmonics in the physical
universe and thus produce the harmonies of health and strength and
beauty.
If our instrument is out of tune, or if we ignorantly or willfully
insist on playing in our own way, regardless of the score, we create
discords not only for ourselves, but also for our fellow artists in
the great orchestra of life.
Sin, disease, suffering and evil are nothing but discords, produced
by the ignorance, indifference or malice of the players. Therefore we
cannot attribute the discords of life to the Great Composer. They
are of our own making and will last as long as we refuse to learn
our parts and to play them in tune with the Great Score. For in this
way only can we ever hope to master the art and science of right
living and to enjoy the harmonies of peace, self-content and
happiness.
Chapter XXXVII
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