Rosicrucian Writings Online

The Miracle of Mental Healing

AN EXPLANATION OF HOW THE LAW OPERATES
 
By The Imperator
[H. Spencer Lewis]
 
[From The Rosicrucian Digest June 1930]
 
 
I PRESUME that most of our members realize that we receive hundreds of letters each week and many telegrams each day from our members asking us to tell them how they can quickly and efficiently relieve a physical condition that has come upon them, or asking similar advice in regard to the treatment of some physical condition. Very often, such telegrams, however, ask us to give our help in an emergency, and these telegrams are immediately turned over to the highest officers of the organization and then assigned to workers in the Welfare Department. Some telegrams occasionally call for drastic and immediate help of a very important or serious nature, and these are given the personal attention of the officers.
 
The results of the activities of the Welfare Department bring us hundreds of letters that read like testimonials of miracles, and if all of these were to be published in a book, it would sound like the most marvelous work in the world. Too many of our members take this sort of work for granted and think that an expression is not necessary, and speak of the results only casually in connection with their reports. All, however, seem to look upon mental healing and especially the processes used by us at Headquarters as miracles. To us, there is nothing miraculous about the healing done through the Rosicrucian methods, and each and every member can learn to do this work without the help of anyone else. At times, however, some results do seem like those reported in the Bible as miracles and none of us ever fail to marvel at the goodness and efficiency of God's laws.
 
Let me tell you the story of one interesting incident in this connection. One Sunday afternoon while working in my studio at a painting, a messenger from the Information Bureau of Headquarters came to me with a telegram he had just received. Telegrams come to us very quickly over the telephone wires, and are received at all hours of the day and night. This telegram read like this:
 
"Doctor says I have very serious condition in gall bladder and states that operation is necessary and will make decision about it tomorrow morning. Am the only support of three children. Please help."
 
Certainly, that was an emergency call. A woman burdened with the support of three children and devoting her life to their welfare, threatened with an operation that would be very costly and mean separation from her children for many weeks, is a serious combination of conditions. I am sure that every one of our members will admit that. We did not stop to figure what might have been the cause of the condition in the gall bladder or what result would come from the operation; all we knew for the moment was that the condition in the gall bladder must be instantly healed or cured, and the operation prevented. I, therefore, sent her a telegram and told her to get in psychic contact with me at 5:00 o'clock that afternoon for ten minutes, and do the same thing at 9:00 o'clock and 5:00 o'clock the next day, and when the doctor came to absolutely refuse to have any operation. I followed the telegram with a letter from the Director of our Welfare Department, giving her further instructions on how to contact us at certain periods for three days and assuring her that we would do our utmost to prevent the operation. Then we proceeded to use the Rosicrucian principles. So much for our part of the case.
 
THE PATIENT'S REPORT
 
Four days later, the sister who sent the telegram wrote the following letter to our Welfare Department:
 
"When I sent my telegram last Sunday, the doctor had just told me there was no help for me except through an operation. He said that his tests stated that I had infection of the gall bladder. I don't recall the name of the disease. I know I was suffering so intensely I couldn't move and could hardly breathe. Your answering telegram came a few minutes before 5:00 o'clock. I sat in concentration from 5:00 to 5:10, as you instructed. The next concentration period at 10:00 o'clock came when I had so much fever it was difficult for me to hold my mind on any thought and to retain consciousness. I actually fell into a sleep or a faint while trying to make the attempt. When I awoke, it was 1:00 o'clock in the morning. I knew that the gall bladder had begun to drain, for the intense pain was relieved and the swelling was reduced. When the doctor called later on in the morning, he was puzzled to find me better, and after examination said that no operation would be necessary. He said it was very unusual for the gall bladder to drain when in such a condition as mine was. The condition has improved right along each day, and I expect to sit up today and be able to go back to work on Monday, the beginning of the coming week. I can't express what a wonderful thing you have done for me nor my deep gratitude for it. I had gone to pieces over so much pain and your help was so quick and effective. I feel disgraced as a Rosicrucian student to have had such an illness befall me, and don't just understand why it did. I will certainly try to improve in the future. With my heartfelt thanks and with all good wishes for Peace Profound, Fraternally, V . . . N . . . Mc . . . "
 
This letter from Arizona was brought to my desk in order that I might know how the sister felt in regard to the work, because it is a law of the Cosmic that unless a person expresses in some way appreciation for such individual help on each stage of progress made in the solution of a problem, no further help can be expected. This is not a rule or law that AMORC has made and if we had our way, it would be greatly modified in many cases. This letter of appreciation, however, warranted me in continuing to the next stage of help for her rapid improvement. Now, let us see another angle to this typical case. The patient has told us what the doctor said when he called in the morning and found that her condition had changed. Now, let us see what the doctor would say to us if we asked him what he thought of the whole case and its result.
 
THE DOCTOR'S STATEMENT
 
The doctor, sitting down opposite me and looking me squarely in the eyes with that understanding attitude that intimates that now he will be perfectly frank and honest, proceeds to speak as follows:
 
"Really, I was somewhat surprised when I called on the patient the next morning and found that she was feeling so much better. I had diagnosed the case and was quite sure that the inflammation, the congestion, swelling, and presence of pus in the bladder indicated the necessity for an immediate operation. Of course, after all I am only human and I may have misjudged the intensity of the suffering as well as the intensity of the inflammation and swelling. She may have had after all only a passing attack coupled with a cold that may have caused some of the pain, and, of course, the presence of a little pus would create as much fever as would a great deal of pus. In other words, the fact that she had pain and fever does not prove that there was a great deal of pus or that there was a serious condition. The woman was very anxious to have immediate help and relief and, of course, I know that an operation is the only thing that will cure such a condition when it is as intense and as serious as I thought it was, and that was why I conscientiously recommended the operation. When I called and found that a change had either taken place or that the temporary condition had passed and that the little congestion was being relieved through nature's own processes of draining when necessary, I naturally agreed that an operation was not necessary and, therefore, postponed the plans for the operation. Of course, you cannot expect me to admit, let alone believe, that your thoughts or your concentration, or whatever it is that you did in California, had any effect upon the gall bladder in Arizona. The woman's own mind may have some slight effect at times upon parts of her body and I am willing to admit that a cheerful attitude is better than a despondent one in any case of illness, but most certainly, I cannot conceive of any effect upon her condition having been produced by anything that you may have done in California. You may be very well-learned in pathology and physiology, as I note from your comments on the case, and you may understand the operation of the vital forces and healing principles of nature in the human body, but you certainly cannot know any law or process that will permit of your mind affecting an actual physical condition in a distant state. The whole case is merely one of mistaken diagnosis and I am glad that the patient is better."
 
A FRIEND'S REPORT
 
Now comes to us an intimate friend of the patient who witnessed much that occurred. Her report reduced to a few words would read as follows:
 
"I saw the patient in intense suffering for a number of days. The pain began slowly in a definite area of the body and before we could realize how serious it was, the patient was losing strength not only through the intense suffering but through the evident lack of functioning of certain parts or organs of the body. There is no question but what the patient was in a mighty serious condition when the physician was called in, and we were impressed with his very serious attitude and his statement that nothing short of an operation could relieve the condition. He spent considerable time in asking questions, investigating local conditions in the body, and in diagnosing the entire case. He was positive in his analysis of what was wrong and his statements agreed with what the patient had discerned from her own senses. After his departure, the patient was frantic with the thought that an operation would have to be performed and with the realization of the effect this would have upon her personal affairs, her finances, her absence from home at a hospital, and her care of the children. There is no question in my mind but what the doctor meant what he said when he plainly stated that there was nothing else that he or medicine could do, for the condition in the gall bladder had gone so far that only an operation could relieve the patient. He was to call the next morning and arrange for the accommodations at the hospital and the hour of the operation. The patient suffered intense pain and a high fever on Sunday evening and night up to the time that she awakened at about 2:00 o'clock in the morning. At that time she found she was being relieved of her pain and fever, and when the doctor came later in the morning, he was more than surprised and greatly in doubt when the patient said she felt better. He demanded to make an examination to see whether the patient was trying to deceive him and was considerably puzzled to find that there was an actual change in her physical condition. I have noticed that the patient is improving each hour and each day since she sent the telegram to the AMORC Headquarters."
 
OUR STATEMENT OF THE CASE
 
Now the important matter before us for consideration is simply this:
 
Was there a miracle performed and did our principles actually produce any real effect? The doctor, representing not only a great many in his profession, but representing thousands upon thousands of average human beings, says that it is impossible for any physical effect to be produced through mental concentration at a distance. On the other hand, the patient, who is the best witness in any case and an observer of the entire situation, is inclined to believe that the Rosicrucian methods did produce a change in the situation.
 
Now let us analyze what was actually done. Regardless of what the patient was suffering from and what was the cause of her suffering, or the remote cause of her physical condition, the fact of the matter is that a responsible physician had definitely diagnosed the condition as an infected gall bladder requiring an immediate operation. Even the patient was little concerned with the pathological or histological nature of her condition, and she even forgot the name of the condition as given by the physician when he examined her. Really, she cared little whether the cause of her suffering was poison in the foot, the intestines, or the gall bladder. The cause might even have been an error in her mind and not a physical, mortal cause at all. So far as we, at Headquarters, were concerned, we were not impressed by the statement in the telegram that the patient was suffering from an infected gall bladder or from any other thing of a definite nature. All that we were concerned with was that the dear sister was in an inharmonious state and that she was facing not an infected gall bladder, or a high fever, or poison of the physical body, or suffering of the mortal body, but facing a threatened operation with the attending enormous expense, absence from home, and serious effect upon the three children whose sole support she was. Whether we believe that the physical body can have disease or not, and whether we believe that the diagnosis of the physician was an error of his thinking or not, or whether the whole condition was one of mortal thought in the patient's mind or not, the outstanding fact that was not imaginary, or mental, or psychic, or an error, but actual and real, was that an operation was to be performed which must be avoided and prevented.
 
Our treatment processes did not attempt to visualize and concentrate upon any pus or poison in the gall bladder, or upon any congested condition there, or upon the fever and pain that the patient was suffering, but was concentrated upon the thought that the patient must be relieved of any mortal condition of any cause and any nature, and that she must become so well and harmonious, and peaceful with the Cosmic vibrations, that no operation would be necessary. We did not attempt to tell the Cosmic or instruct the Cosmic to drain the poison out of the gall bladder if there was any poison there, or to stop the pain if there was any fever, or reduce the fever, for we know that the Cosmic knows what to do better than we, and furthermore, that the Cosmic would be more intimate with the real cause of the condition and what was to be changed than any doctor or any mystic. Our process, therefore, was to place this sister in harmony with the constructive, creative, loving, peaceful vibrations of the Cosmic and allow the natural laws to pursue their normal process without any interference, whether that interference was due to a physical condition or a mental condition on the part of the patient. If there was any miracle in the change that took place, it was the natural miracle of God's magnificent creative, corrective, harmonic laws. It was a God miracle manifesting as a miracle of natural law. God performed one of his usual miracles and all praise must be to God for any cure that was effected. What was actually done, however, and what the patient is most interested in is that the threatened operation was prevented. The doctor may deny that any physical change was brought about in the patient's condition through our processes, but he cannot get around the fact that the operation did not take place. He may smile and say that nature stepped in and corrected what was merely a temporary condition and which he thought was a permanent one. But the fact still remains that even if this is true, the operation was prevented. Those who look askance on mystical and metaphysical healings may say that we did nothing, no one did anything, and that the patient just simply got well, but nevertheless, such persons will have to admit that by sending the patient a telegram and telling her not to have the operation, we prevented the operation. After all is said and done, this sister in Arizona appealed to us to help her avoid the operation and avoid the tremendous expense, and the effect the operation and expense would have upon the three children. This was done and in doing this, we rest with the satisfaction of having answered the sister's plea and accomplished completely what she requested. Some may call it a miracle, but we simply call it another illustration of the Rosicrucian application of Divine laws in a brotherly, sympathetic good-will manner.
 
I might cite hundreds of other cases, for this is merely one of many each week and each month that are reported to our Welfare Department. Only recently, a sister in another western state was threatened with the amputation of her leg because a fractured bone refused to heal. Her brother telegraphed us that three different operations had been performed in which the bone had been scraped and in each case, the infected area grew larger, and that now nothing was left but to amputate the leg above the knee, and she was in the hospital at that very moment with preparation being made for the amputation. We telegraphed to insist upon the operation being delayed twenty-four hours. This demand on the part of the brother so annoyed the physicians at the hospital that they ordered the patient to leave the hospital then and go home, for if they could not perform the operation and amputate the leg, there was nothing left for them to do. The patient was taken home, and thirty hours later an X-ray picture was taken which showed a considerable change in the diagnosed condition. Twenty-four hours later another X-ray was taken showing continued improvement. It was then decided by the physicians that after all, amputation would not be necessary and that evidently nature was going to finally heal the condition after eleven months of suffering and bone scraping. Three weeks later, the patient was out and around at her daily affairs, and there is no longer any danger of future infection or the threatened amputation.
 
Another similar case of bone trouble with a threatened amputation recently brought to our attention resulted the same way. We do not stop to analyze what the Cosmic did in changing the physical conditions in these cases, for all we are concerned with is the fact that the operation was prevented. I could cite cases of goitres, ulcers, and similar conditions of the body where operations were prevented by treatments given by us at Headquarters or by our members in the higher grades of the work.
 
There is just one other point to be considered. The good sister in Arizona was saved many hundreds of dollars through the prevention of the operation. Certainly, that saving more than pays her dues in the AMORC organization for many years to come. The many whose legs and arms have been saved from amputation will never be convinced by any of the scoffing remarks of skeptics that membership in such an organization as AMORC is an expensive thing or a commercial proposition. Members who are inclined to think that they are paying for their lectures and paying for the correspondence received from us, and paying for these things in a manner that may appear to be expensive at times should pause in their reasoning and realize that their monthly dues include far more than the mere receipt of lectures, lessons, and manuscripts, and that the good-will and welfare service, and the efficient help that is always at their beck and call is something that cannot be paid for with dollars and cents, and something that can never be estimated in its true value until a sudden emergency or critical condition arises when such help is needed.
 
If there is any miracle connected with the demonstrations of natural and spiritual law, it is the miracle of having the demonstration occur and the efficient service rendered when it is most needed and rendered in an unselfish, sympathetic, brotherly manner.
 
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