Harmony Magazine
Vol. 7, No. 1, Oct. 1894.
He who knows what is truth, speaks of what is as eternal life, and of conditions that have passed away as temporary beliefs.
It was early one morning in the year 1885, during an hour of earnest meditation and prayerful seeking, that I asked the following questions in faith, believing that they would be answered, with a willingness to abide the decision, whatever it might be. “Is there any way out of these conditions? Is there any power in the vast universe that can heal me?” The immediate and all-convincing response was not an audible voice, but was an intuitive response by the life-giving spirit, which penetrated the body through and through, and which illumined and vivified its every atom with newness of life. From the depths of Divine perception and understanding I was caused to know and realize that if I got well it would be by the power of the Infinite Spirit. I arose from my chair, and walking the floor said, “If, if, if I ever get well, then there is one way out of these conditions; then I must seek that way.”
At that time I had received medical advice, which I endeavored to obey implicitly, and had been under medical treatment most of the time for more than twenty years. At this point, when I was just giving up hope of obtaining relief from medical remedies or through material means, my good husband and many friends, who were solicitous for my good, were urging me to see another doctor, a specialist. My case had baffled the best physicians, both in the East and California, many having pronounced me incurable. The verdict of physicians, as well as many of the best magnetic healers and electricians and the majority of my friends, was, “She is incurable.” But out of the kindness of their hearts they urged me to see another physician, thinking it would do no harm if it did no good. Being unwilling to experiment further with medical treatment, I was opposed to conforming to their wishes, but concluded to consult two physicians, personal friends, who had treated me, one five and the other two years. I was somewhat surprised when they both advised me to conform to my friends’ wishes, for said they, “judging according to symptoms you have need of his services.” For the first time I rebelled against their decision, and with firmness said, “No, I will not see another physician.” My husband then anxiously asked what I intended to do, to which I replied, not understanding the full import of my words, “Get well, of course,” and went to my room to contemplate the nature of my conduct, for I had not before spoken so decidedly in opposition to the opinions of my friends. It was during this contemplation that I asked the above questions concerning my healing, and received the response.
The last physician employed, who treated me about two years, said: “The only hope I have, whatever, of your recovery, is based in your remarkable patience and willingness to endure pain and suffering.” Quite different this, from the opinion of one of the best and most prominent magnetic healers and physicians who, after having treated me several weeks, wrote “I would have some hope of your recovery, if you were not so patient to endure your conditions, and so submissive to your sufferings; you are altogether too resigned.”
During the entire time of twenty-three years I was either practicing or arranging to practice some external method of cure, fully imbued with the belief that something must be done, constantly, to get well, hoping all the while to obtain relief from conditions to which it seemed I was subject, and most of which were believed to be inherited. During that entire period there was no realizing sense of bodily ease, mental rest, or spiritual satisfaction.
While under treatment in New York, the physician advised California climate as my only hope of relief, which, of course necessitated a long journey in search of health, which I now know is always with us and everywhere present. Those who think according to the popular belief that we are subject to conditions and surroundings, will be somewhat surprised to learn that I lived in this climate for fifteen years before experiencing any real and lasting benefits, and then not because of climate, but because I had learned that neither climate nor locality makes whole, but He who makes whole is Whole in all climates, and in every locality.
The answer to my earnest inquiry, as to whether there was any power that could heal me, was an all absorbing realization of a presence not heretofore realized. This presence was more than personal; it was omnipresence, and was so real, and so vivifying and illumining, that I became It. I realized It to be my Life, my Being, my health, knowledge and power. It was as a “consuming fire,” in that all things became It, and were this Presence manifested. Simultaneous with finding myself in God, I experienced the indrawing of all things; that is, that all are embraced within one eternal God and Father, or One Infinite Source and Cause, and as I looked out over the Infinite’s Creation, I beheld what to me was “a new heaven and a new earth.”
That hour was the beginning of my realization of the oneness of Life, for a gleam of its truth flashed across my mental vision at that time which I now understand to be the at-one-ment of the whole—of the Creator and creation. Dear reader, from that moment I have not questioned concerning “The Way,” nor have I known any authority but self-evident Truth.
Prior to this experience, the presence and omnipresence of God had been but a vague belief; I know it was with me, as it is with many persons at the present time, a very vague belief: for if any one had asked me if I believed that absolute good was everywhere present, that the Infinite Life was manifest perfectly within all living, in that there is one God and Father of All, who is in you all, and through you all, and above you all, my answer would have been, no! I do not; and this is the test of realization or non-realization.
At that time I had no thought of healing and teaching others, or doing any of the work in which I am now engaged.
This to me was going unto God: “coming unto me,” finding God to be All in All, and abiding. I was certainly changed in the twinkling of an eye, and can say, each day, and in the ever present now, “God hath begotten me.” I am here to bear witness of the Truth.
In most convincing and satisfying ways have I been caused to realize and enjoy the freedom of Truth. I certainly have everything, in realization, to be thankful for. The Truth has enabled me to turn mountains of “Difficulties” into the sea of oblivion. My first promise, after the realization of the omnipresence of the Supreme One, was essentially this, that if I could be healed through a knowledge of truth, which to know makes free, I would endeavor to serve the Truth, with singleness of purpose, to the best of my ability. I was conscious that the One to whom this promise was made was witness of all things. This thought was somewhat startling when the full import of the promise was realized. The Truth realized, of being whole now, was so much more than the hope of becoming whole, that it destroyed all disposition to say “Lo here, or lo there;” for the kingdom of heaven was found to be within, and everywhere apparent. The actualization of the presence of one living and true God, was the rending of the veil of separateness, and made visible to me the truth of the living things of substance; and as “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed, by the Word of God,” it was self-evident that through faith our bodies were formed by the word of God.
At this point the question that naturally arises is, were you instantly healed? The answer is this: I at once saw the unreality of the conditions, and was free from the belief that they had any power, or could control for either good or ill. Thus the ax was struck at the root of the tree, and the old conditions passed away as fast as I disowned them by dropping the old habits of thinking and believing.
When my friends heard that I was recovering my health, they called for the purpose of inquiring what it was that had benefited me; and when they found me, as they expressed it, looking like a new person, they would say: “Is it true that you are getting well?” “Is it possible?” “Can you sit up all day?” etc. This enabled me to see with what strength of conviction they held me as being “incurable.” This determined me to free myself from their beliefs, and I saw that the only way to accomplish this, was to free them from their false beliefs about me. So when any of my acquaintances inquired about my health, I told them that I was quite well. I discovered that to enjoy health, it was necessary to break up the habit of inquiring as to your feelings of ease or disease. Putting this discovery into practice enabled me to realize freedom from the environments of the thoughts and beliefs of others. It was not long until my friends asked me to give them treatment, and as I believed that I should do unto others as I would that they should do unto me, and as I wanted to appear in their sight as being whole, I was glad to hold them in the consciousness of being whole.
Among my first patients were three cases of healing that stand out more clearly in memory than others, at this time. My first patient was a young lady friend, whom the doctors had pronounced as having quick consumption. Her friends were contemplating taking her to another physician for a special examination of the lungs. The day before the examination was to take place, she called to see if it were true that I was getting well, and I coaxed her to come to me every day for a week, before going to the doctor, which she did; and before the expiration of that time she realized perfect healing, and has been free from that hour.
My next patient was one who had been an invalid for seventeen years. She was thoroughly healed; and from that time has demonstrated the freedom of Truth in perfect health.
After the healing of this case, the wife of a physician who had attended her for several years, asked me how I came to heal her; she said: “How did you do it? What did you call her disease? My husband believed her to be incurable.” To which I replied: “Truth made her whole, and I neither saw nor named disease.”
The third case was one that had suffered extreme pain, at times, for more than five years, and had tried the so-called cures of the best physicians. She was faithful in coming to me every day for three weeks; at the expiration of that time she suddenly realized that she was healed.
I decided to set apart one afternoon each week for free treatment, and invited all to come who would. The number that generally came was from fifteen to twenty. After experiencing the results of the treatment, they requested me to instruct them in my method of healing, which was the beginning of my teaching.
During the hours devoted to silent meditation and affirmation of the good, I realized that the mental change taking place was the mental act of passing from the individual to the universal; and at one time, while making absolute statements of Life, I saw the fallacy of the popular belief that there is a lower self and a higher self, for Cause and effect must forever be united. With this realization, passed away the belief of the separation of Divine Mind and body. I saw that holiness consisted in oneness; that Spirit and body are at-one in truth. I realized from the beginning, that Infinite Mind and it manifest, was the All in All. When there was no longer two self-hoods, and no body of falsehood to deny, my health sprung forth speedily, and I realized a body free; and could say this day: “A body thou hast fitted me.”
One day, after having treated seventeen cases with a marked degree of success, I experienced a realization of wholeness beyond all previous conceptions: I realized the passing from, or the blending, of the individual mental conception into the conception of the Universal Mind of Consciousness. In thought, I paused, to ask myself: Am I drifting away from my family and friends? But intuitively I knew that in Truth, where “I Am,” there dwell my family and friends. There can be no truth in the belief in separation of families, either interests or feelings, because of spiritual understanding and realization, since there is one God and Father of all.
The principal thought that I held while treating the seventeen cases, was the Infinitude, Omnipresence, and Allness of God; that God is Spirit-hence, all that is, is Spirit; that the Holy Spirit comprised the whole; whose law is Love. I affirmed that the perfect demonstrations of God were before me, and that His Love reigned everywhere in all living.
Upon retiring that evening, I was blessed with a realization that was more than a mere conception. I realized being Omnipresent Mind.
As soon as I laid my head upon the pillow, I consciously withdrew from the body and looked upon it lying upon the bed, and realized it to be a thought, within My Mind. I then said inquiringly: “Where am I, and what am I?” Simultaneous with this question, I saw another form, white and ethereal in appearance, vapory and cloudlike; this form enveloped the one lying on the bed, and pervaded it through and through. My realization was, that it was, beyond all question, a thought in My Mind. Then I thought with increased earnestness: “Where am I, and what am I?” And in answer to my question, there was before me, within my consciousness, a six-pointed star, pure and clear as diamond light; its center calm and clear as pure crystal, and radiating the Light of Life. I knew unto a certainty that it was a center of consciousness, or conscious action within My Mind. I intuitively understood its connection with the forms I had previously seen. I knew it to be also a thought in My Mind. Again I said, with even more emphasis: “Where am I, and what am I?” And simultaneous with the asking of this question the third time, was completed the realization of the full consciousness of Being. “I” was that Omnipresence which lies back of all form; the Mind which contains within Itself the things that are seen; the Mind not seen, but which Itself is Consciousness. “I” was not only conscious, but was consciousness Itself.
This consciousness was absolute Stillness and illimitable Light. As I thought of the immensity of Omnipresence, form appeared with Me, and I pervaded it. The Universe of forms were forms of Thought within My Mind, which to Me were transparent, and I was present in all. As my attention was again directed to this individual form, from which it had been withdrawn, I perceived that to Me it was transparent, and I pervaded it. This consciousness of Being was the actualization of Truth that I had, with earnest conviction, claimed of the Allness of God. In this realization I experienced the true relation existing between Cause and effect; or I saw the Unity and at-one-ment existing in the Mind Infinite, Its action and the result of action, which is the All in All. And thus I learned the lesson that The All is Infinite Mind or God, and It, or Him, manifested.
As I again opened my eyes to the world of form, my experience was that the bliss of Being is the most perfect peace imaginable. Do you wonder at my teaching the Unity of Life, and the Divinity of All Living? Do you wonder at my earnestness in preaching this gospel of freedom, or at my determination to do all in my power to forward this movement of Truth and extend it throughout the world, and bring all to a knowledge of the Truth of Unity and Brotherhood?
This Consciousness of Being has been the one and only basis for all the work in which I am now engaged, or have been instrumental in inaugurating.