Chapter II
Metaphysics and Psychology
The metaphysical movements which practice healing by mental and spiritual means are based on the principles of monistic idealistic philosophy, --the almost universally accepted philosophy of modern thinkers. It is monistic because it claims there is but one natural order and principle, one system and One God. It is idealistic because it explains the ultimate reality as spirit, and the world of things to be really a world of ideas. Every phenomenon has its noumenon, every form has its soul.*
*The reader may have noted frequent articles in recent news telling of the discoveries of Sir Jargadis Chandra Bose, corroborating this philosophy scientifically.
During the middle of the past century, at the time of the rise of modern metaphysical movements and applied psychology, the position of the religious leaders was that of dualism rather than monism. They taught, as many still do that there is both spirit and matter, but that the spirit incarnates in matter, uses and controls it for physical purposes, and discards it at death. The position of science was opposite to this. It taught that the origin of life is in matter and that there is no intelligence apart from matter. When the body dissolves, the spirit dies. This is materialistic monism because it believes both life and matter to be one, but life to be only a passing phase of the movement of matter.
An inevitable conflict arose between these two concepts and the battle between religion and science has been waged hotly from that day to this.* But the originators of the new movement which we call mental or spiritual science, came in with a new answer. They declared that the materialists were right in the statement that there is only one substance: but they affirmed the primacy of spirit as this one and only substance. They brought about an adjustment between science and religion by accepting the principle of unity advanced by science; and spiritual causation advanced by religion. This position is held today not only by the met physicists but by a large part of the liberal religious leaders of all denominations.
*The Scopes trial in 1925 over the teachings of evolution in the schools, which brought in William Jennings Bryan and other notables, is illustrative of this.
Briefly summarizing the principles of practical metaphysics we find
1. The primary nature of the universe is spirit. Jesus said, “God is spirit.” Moses said, “Beside Him there is none other.” St. John said, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. All things were made by him.”
2. There is only one way spirit can work and that is by thought. Spirit is creative and creates by thought. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made.”
3. Man is the child of God, sharing his nature and being, at one with him; and therefore he creates as God creates, by the word. The actual creation is the movement of mind upon the thought or word spoken by God’s child. It is the demand of the ego upon Principle, which creates accordingly. To speak the word is enough. Nothing else is needed.*
*This refers to the casual treatment. Much else is needed in the training of the mind and consciousness, as this book has sought to show.
Metaphysical Treatment
A metaphysical treatment, therefore, consists of several parts: (1) Statement of Being --the All-ness of God, Mind, or Principle. (2) Recognition of the divine unity by which man is realized as one with God or Principle, His child, sharing His resources, endowed with His power. (3) The elimination of all mental negative states, either by declaring that they do not exist in reality or that they have no power. (4) The utilization of the divine power by speaking the word of authority, “the creative word.” (5) The mental perception of the fulfillment of the desire --”belief that one has received it,” that is recognition by some inner psychic process that the idea is planted in mind, and that it is now the matrix of a new creation. (6) Gratitude.
Psychological Suggestion
A good deal of antagonism has been shown between the method employed by psychologists and that employed by metaphysicians, due to a misunderstandig of definition. The psychologist uses “suggestion.” The metaphysician uses “realization.” Or course with one type of metaphysician no reconciliation is possible, for he declares that the opposite of the desired good never was, never has been, and never can be, and that the desired good, --and only the desired good-- is, was, and is to be. His treatment therefore is merely a process of regaining his mental and spiritual eyesight. This position, nevertheless, is incompatible both with science, sanity, and sense. Creations are taking place, these creations have a beginning. The nature of the creation must depend upon the nature of the “word” that brings it into being. If this word is “destructive” is will get a result in kind: if it is constructive, it will get a similar answer.
Accordingly, a metaphysical treatment means the planting of a thought in the One and Only Mind and realizing that it is planted there. But if we turn back to Volume One,* we shall find that our definition of suggestion is the fixation of ideas in the subconscious mind until they are realized; or, in the language of Baudoin, the interpreter of Coue, “suggestion is the subconscious realization of an idea.”
*”The Twenty Secrets of Success.”
Metaphysical treatment may differ from psychological treatment only in the fact that it recognizes that the creative medium is not merely the individual subconscious but rather is the universal subconscious. In general, Psychology may be considered as the science of the individual mind, while Metaphysics as here used is the science of the Universal Mind. The individual mind may be likened to a plot of ground belonging to one owner. In this he plants his own seed and it grows what he plants. But the surrounding soil, the moisture and sun, the air and the conditions of growth are shared by all plots, that is, they are at-one with his.
Metaphysical treatment however engenders a stronger faith because results one seeks are in no way measured by his own “frail” ability, but rather a universal power is working on his suggestion or affirmation, with infinite wisdom backed by infinite strength. The power he uses is not that of an electrical battery but rather it is drawn direct from the universal dynamo.
The following statement embodies the principles we have just considered and is the form used by the author in his weekly lecture-sermon at the services of the Divine Science Church in the Waldorf-Astoria, New York. It is followed by a healing treatment which will be found in the last paragraph of Chapter V.
Our Principles
My faith is based on the Science of the Soul; there is One Cause, Spirit or Universal Intelligence; one method, Mind or Universal Law; one manifestation, body or matter, with an infinite variety of forms. Man is the expression of God, in spirit of His substance, in mind of His likeness, capable of understanding His nature and laws; and, by conforming to them, can subject them to his use, to the end of health, happiness, supply, and service to mankind. I deal, therefore only with Primary Causation and seek conscious union with Spirit that I may become identified with and directed by Divine Wisdom alone. The life of God is my life, without birth, without death, eternal and joyful. The love of God abides with me and blesses me and all mankind now and forever. Amen.
