Chapter 1

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FREEDOM TALKS

No. II

JULIA SETON, M.D.

AUTHOR OF "CONCENTRATION," "FREEDOM TALKS NO. I," "MARRIAGE," ETC., ETC.

Contents

I The Secret of Healing II The Risen Self III Transcendentalism IV Psychology of Insanity V The Law Eternal VI The Outside and the Inside of Life VII The Measure of Ourself VIII Perfect Liberty IX Cosmic Therapeutics X Absent Treatments

FREEDOM TALKS

NUMBER II

The Secret of Healing

"_In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God_."

"_And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory full of grace and truth_."

Ever since the birth of the human race there have been health and disease. Everywhere we find those who live at levels of comprehension that cannot express in flesh the perfect power of the word and these must by natural law take on the form of whatever they have power to comprehend.

Health is man's immortal birthright; it is eternal in the universal plan, and it can be made to become eternal in the life of men in just the hour they understand the laws of their own being.

There are two expressions of energy in the universe; one is called the constructive, the other the destructive; the one builds up, the other tears down. This must forever be so, for only as matter is destroyed and passed back into energy can the energy pass out again into finer forms.

Living in these great universal currents of construction and destruction, man relates himself constantly with one or both through the simple law of his own consciousness, and only as he learns the laws of his own being and consciously places himself in a position of power can he ever hope to escape the results which the negative, destructive currents produce in his body and his environment.

Today we know that the world in which we live is nothing but a great sea of energy which, in the undifferentiated, is called God, and in the differentiated is called matter or form, or, to make it more simple, we can call one the energy that creates, and the other the things created from and by this energy.

Man and his environment are created by this energy: He is a localized center of force and he becomes the expression in form of just whatever he relates with under the law of cosmic correspondence.

We have found that this great energy is also _intelligence_ and is nothing but mind with its various manifestations. We know today that the atoms of the atmosphere are intelligence, and as they touch one another throughout space, it is through this atomic mind that messages are carried, and currents are generated which can heal patients at a distance.

Everything in the universe is in a state of intelligent association, and when the atoms become expressed in human form, they pass into that expression of the universal mind known as _human_ consciousness.

All human life is simply different tastes of consciousness brought about by the different vibratory rates to which our atoms respond.

The physical body is composed of a group of atoms attuned to move at a certain vibratory rate, and within this physical body is another body of finer atoms attuned to a still higher vibration and in relationship with the higher electrical currents of the universe. There has not been much told about this finer body, but it is time the sick world knows this law of being, for then it will be in a position to control its own life. This finer body is the "thought body" or psychic body and it is upon this that the physical body depends for its power, just as the very best instrument in the world depends upon the player for its expressed melody.

All sight, all hearing, all function is in this psychic body, not in the physical one. What many of the psychologists call the subconscious mind is only the registered intelligence of the psychic self. This psychic self is in direct communication with the cosmic self and with the physical self, and it is through this we become cosmic in our human consciousness.

The psychic body manifests through _idea_ centers of the human brain and it is directly related with the cosmic currents through the solar plexus of the physical body. The higher _concept_ centers of the mind are the switchboard where connections are made, and it is in this way that the psychic body registers its vibrations in the physical, and the physical registers in the psychic--there is a circle of consciousness established by the two minds.

This would be of no particular value to us, if it did not prove to us the source of disease, for when we look scientifically and psychologically at disease, we must see that it is simply disassociation between the psychic and the physical selves, and comes as the natural loss of poise, either physically, mentally or psychically.

Watching the play of human disease around us we can soon see that there are two distinct ways by which disassociation of these selves begins; first, through the mind by negative thinking, and second through the emotions by negative feeling.

Our thoughts and our will are the great avenues by which we admit anything into our psychic self, and are also the means by which we exclude all things.

The whole poise of an individual can be destroyed by thoughts of fear, hate, grief and anger; fright has killed and all these states of emotion are simply grades of vibration, setting up inharmonious, psychical activity, and leaving their corresponding effects upon the physical cells.

It is known only too well today by those who seek to know, that back of all such physical conditions as nervousness, prostration, temporary insanity, nervous disorders, pains resembling rheumatism, hay fever, heart troubles, mental symptoms, nervous chills, morbid forebodings and mild mania, there lurks the abnormal activity of the psychic or "thought body" caused by thoughts and feelings acting abnormally upon the vital centers of the nervous system and mind.

New Thought declares that all diseases, except accidental wounds and fractures begin in the psychic or "thought body" as _energy_ and then are registered in the physical cells as organic or functional disease.

We might follow this farther in order to satisfy science, but suffice it to go this far, and then seek the value of knowing this: We can see that the only thing that naturally follows is, the healer and patient must be taught how to restore the lost equilibrium of the centers and again poise the life in a creative thought vibration. This is done simply and surely by teaching everyone the _correct_ use of the _idea_ centers of the human brain and through this he is taught to form such thoughts and produce such ideas as will allow a normal amount of energy to register on both planes, and not permit the psychical mind to drive the human engine on to destruction in a wild waste and explosion of physical, mental or psychical energy.

This is not a long or wearisome task for in the cortex of every brain there are distinct _idea_ centers whose business it is to take up ideas built from thoughts, and _will_ must follow the idea, and by constantly selecting the thoughts which will produce harmonious vibrations within the psychic and physical selves, we join with the great creative energy of the universe and it flows through us, healing and harmonizing every atom of our body.

The very first step toward healing is to teach the patient to build for himself a _health_ consciousness, and this is done by giving him the positive ideas of health instead of the negative ones of disease. We build for him the _idea_ of health, hold it firmly in our minds, and project it into his _idea_ centers until it registers in his psychic mind; then this is followed by his own increased power of willing, and finally this passes into action and is registered in form.

_Ideation, willing_ and _doing_ is the great _health trinity_, and when this is produced, healing must follow. This is the _law_ and there is no appeal from it.

When we first meet a diseased person we find his field of consciousness full of all kinds of negative thoughts of disease, worry, fear and anxiety--these have been persisted in so long that they have weakened both the idea centers and the power of willing. We at once create for him the positive idea motor-form, and if his conscious mind is too weak to receive the impulse, we project it into his psychic mind, helping him hold on to the new idea until his own mind is able to grasp it, and it becomes registered for him.

After he has learned the truth of the abundance of health energy within and without to be aroused into action by the simple law of his own thoughts and feelings, he sets to work to regenerate himself, and he finds that he can really breathe the breath of life into his own nostrils.

After we have seen the scientific side of the real power of healing, then if we want to get health and keep it, we set about studying how to live our life so as to be able to generate thoughts and feelings, at all times, which shall always move us at a creative health vibration. The very next thing for anyone seeking health is to get easy in his everyday life; no one can ever be well and live with every nerve on a tension. We need to know the higher law of life that teaches us that no one put us anywhere but ourselves; that no one is to blame but ourselves for what we have or have not; we get and have in this world just what we have the power to relate with and will get free from the thing we do not like in just the hour that we build something better for ourselves. All we need to do is to cease resisting conditions and agree with our adversary quickly. Freedom, liberty and happiness are not things of the external world; they come from within and we are sad or happy, bound or free, sick or well, not by our external but by our internal conditions.

The sick, nervous, peevish, worrying mind sees everything as positive to itself and must be taught that there is nothing in all the world that has any power over us except that with which we endow it, and it must begin to live under this idea rather than the old foolish one of being controlled by every external condition.

"God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of love and of power and of a sound mind," and with persistent thought culture we can soon form a habit of thought and feeling that will build us away from our old consciousness of disease and pain into a higher law of health and strength.

Good, positive, strong health thoughts are a certain preventive and cure for every kind of disease. Disease and health have absolutely no relation with each other; disease is the expression of a faltering, undeveloped soul life, while health is the expression of a consciousness that has not broken its law of universal recognition.

There are very good people who are sick and very many so-called bad folks who are well; health is not bestowed as a reward of merit, it simply is by the natural universal law, and it exists for those who know how to fulfill the law within their own being. There are many so-called wicked people who live in greater harmony with their wickedness than some so-called Christians can ever do with their religion and goodness. Wholeness or holiness means simply harmony, and harmony inside and outside gives health. Anyone who has health has earned it by obeying the laws that produce it.

Another great factor active in producing inharmonious vibrations and registering destructive energy, is the old thought habit of living under the laws of opposites, thinking thought of health today and of disease tomorrow; to be passing daily between hope and despair. This is sowing mixed thought seeds and cannot help bringing mixed vibrations.

The path to a health consciousness is to get the strong, positive idea of UNITY and live under the law of similars. To begin at once to affirm UNION with all the health and strength of the universe and stick to it in the face of all the opposing negative thought vibrations generated within ourselves, or thrown into our minds by others. This can be done by resolutely substituting a health thought for a diseased one; no matter how fast negative thoughts crowd in upon the mind, they can be antidoted by the strong positive affirmation of HEALTH.

In order to register _health_ vibrations we must _think, feel_ and _be_ health in mind. The words of health, peace, power and strength do not unfold into radiant flesh and dwell among us through a faltering idea of fear, or vague "perhaps," or "I do hope I shall be well," or "I want to get well," but it demands the eternal I AM HEALTH NOW.

Courage, zeal and consecration to the laws of health and freedom from the law of death are not kindled by the halting consciousness full of the law of opposites, but they are the results of _knowing_ and _abiding_. When we can in very truth and full of believing say to health, "Thy kingdom come," it _will_ come.

Our daily thoughts then become the wires over which there passes into form a finer substance, and our body is rebuilt and fashioned from the indestructible _substance_ of the Universe.

The mortal body as we know it in the old thought world, is a thing of earth and lives and suffers earth's calamities, but through the understanding of this New Thought _union_ it can be made to become a portion of the _cause_ as indestructible as _life_ itself, and live and glory in omnipotence.

We are then in the resurrection of the _life_, and the _word_ that was _with_ God and _was_ God, is made _flesh_ to dwell among us in glory and full of grace and truth; then we know what Jesus meant when he said, "I tell you of a truth, there be those standing among you who shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God."

The Risen Self

"_And entering into the sepulchre they saw a young man sitting on the right side clothed in a long white garment, and he saith unto them, be not affrighted, ye seek Jesus of Nazareth--He is risen! He is not here_!"

When we read the Bible with its story of human lives and their great, wonderful mysteries, we find among them, the greatest of all--the marvellous one of the Christ birth and death, and as we read we are amazed at the many confusing ideas of Jesus and His teachings. His disciples themselves did not understand Him, though He sought always to clearly interpret Himself; often when He spoke metaphysically they interpreted Him physically.

There was throughout all the Christ history something so great, so holy, so inclusive that it was too large for them to comprehend, and for all eternal ages, the developing minds of men will be the same. They will keep busy with their attempts at explanation of His life and His words.

Jesus quitted the world in benediction, and He left to those who followed Him and His precepts, a great inextinguishable hope.

It matters little to those who really understand Truth, whether Jesus the Christ lived, or whether He was only a symbol worked out by the imagination of men and priests; be the origin what it may, Christianity _still_ stands; and Religion still holds sway after centuries of ridicule and generations of secular and scientific analysis. Something unknown and uninterpreted beats and surges in the hearts of men, and brings into expression in every age the clinging to a great mysterious, wonderful, unseen agency that somehow works its way along the silent avenues of the human soul.

The man Jesus may or may not have lived. Humanity may keep its birthright of contradiction forever on this point, but higher than the limited understanding of the few there lives the Truth of the great Christ spirit which the name Jesus embodied, and which for centuries gone, and centuries to be, will wax strong and flourish in the consciousness of men, as they pass one by one into recognition of it.

Great and sacred was the day of Jesus' birth, and great and sacred was the day of his death, for both revealed the stages of our human selfhood, and both point our minds to deeper meanings of existence.

Jesus' life as we follow it from the manger to the cross was the unmistakable story of the pathway of every human life and each little action was a part of the great mosaic which each life is setting for itself, and from which it shall one day read its own great AT-ONE-MENT.

The birth of the Christ consciousness comes to each soul as the dawn of self-awakening. It is the first faint glimmer of a new world, and the first hint the soul of man has of union with its source.

This first dawn of consciousness is purely a possession of the inner self, and those who feel it only follow first by faith. This faith is buffeted and attacked by the things of life until it is tried and becomes steadfast.

In this first dawn of consciousness of the Christ self we are always strangers to ourselves and asleep in the manger of natural things and natural senses. We go on for years, and as consciousness grows stronger we search and search for we know not what; craving pursues us, we go hither and thither seeking, seeking--finding and losing.

The world and the things tangible are never wholly satisfactory in themselves; we know instinctively that they are not all there is, there is a deep, vital something in us that speaks its hidden messages into our being, and we are driven on from sensation to sensation, crying for that open sesame of union which will bring peace to our soul.

Then passing into deeper unfoldment we come into the real work of life, we meet with responsibilities and its experiences; we are baffled again, buffeted, besieged by the perplexities of doubt and fear and human discontent and we feel that, strive as we will, we are not yet at home.

The ten thousand things of the human life entangle us,--the touch of sickness, the expressions of so-called sin,--the baffling consequences of our seeming mistakes,--all these draw us from the cradle of unconsciousness out into the vital power of a self-conscious life, and push us onward to our union with Cosmic Consciousness, or the risen Christ.

On the self-conscious plane life goes on, driven on every side by human experiences and at last turns back upon itself, and then in the Gethsemane of its own making, it stands where earth and its perplexing joys are lost and heaven and its hidden joys are yet unknown, and then facing the expressions of its now half-revealed consciousness it cries out from the depth of its soul's despair, "If it is possible, let this cup pass," and it does not see the purpose in Gethsemane.

Human life at this stage of unfoldment has _fixed laws_, and the soul meets in them the inexorable command to pass on to its own crucifixion, the worked out sentence of its own judgments, and it goes onward bearing its own cross which is built from the consequences of the laws with which it has related.

The laws of human self-consciousness are hard to work out; each life faces sometime, somewhere the proof of itself. There comes a day to all when anything that is less than the truth slips off, and the soul stands bare at the bar of the universal justice ready to be judged by the laws which it has made for itself.

There are hours of human crucifixion that it were well to die on, for the soul that wanders back from these fierce Mounts of Transfiguration has paid the price of human transgression of law by human pain, and is purged and cleaned by the fierce fire of its own igniting.

The path of human living out leads every life up the steps of Calvary carrying its own Cross and it plaits the thorns and pierces the side of "Him who in our life again is spit upon and crucified" until, at last, the great human God-self within us is released through transmutation, and the grave clothes of our dead self no longer entomb us; then the resurrection day is at hand, and the Consciousness of God bursts into the self-conscious mind, and the stone is rolled away from the sepulchre.

The human mind bursts forth in illumination and it passes with the Christ birth on to the table-land of human comprehension and revelation of its infinite union.

In this moment of glorified illumination we feel and know that every moment behind us has been that this hour may be; we feel then that every moment is a special moment; every life a special life, protected by the ALL LIFE, and that everything on our human pathway, high or low, has led us on to this supreme moment of conscious union with our God.

When the Christ Consciousness is risen within us, we feel the universality of life written everywhere on everything; there is but one starting point for all thought--God. There is but one ending place for all human faith--God.

We are filled with a keener sense of the ONENESS of life, and we are thrilled again and again by the nearness and greatness of God in the world which He projected from Himself.

The Father which we sought in self-consciousness has become real and tangible, and the sense of everlasting UNITY is in our hearts.

With this great God-self alive within us, we never fear that God will ever pass away from any part of his Creation. We know too well, then, the truth that "as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end," earth is destined to become a heaven in the lives of men as fast as they develop to the place of understanding, and find the real holy ground within the center of their own being.

God, or the Universal Cosmic Consciousness, has always been revealed to men through the risen Christ consciousness within the self. The men of old who walked with Him were those who had lifted their personal mind to the level of the Universal Mind, so that from the shores of the Infinite Wisdom great thought waves of Love, Truth and Peace beat in on them and filled them, and their lives became a center of illumination for all.

There never was and there never can be any conflict between the power of human consciousness and God consciousness. Truth is always Truth, and Truth in the hearts of men build them back into the Great Harmony.

The Absolute never contradicts itself; as fast as lives are unfolded to the Christ Consciousness, they leave the old thought life like an empty tomb and push themselves into a glorious human expression, just as the Easter lily rising above the dust and mould of earth, pushes itself upward into the clear sunlight of a world where flowers are revealed, just so the soul pushes on through consciousness and self-consciousness, into the glory of the risen Godhood.

We can hear the voice of the Universal calling us through our Christ Consciousness today, just as it called to men throughout the ages, and we know that everything that throbs with natural life or comes into objective expression in our human world, is really only the voice of the Universal Cosmic mind speaking in the holy language of the human heart.

Every experience, every heartache, every joy, every despair, every pulse-beat is only the text by which the great child mind of the world is spelling out _God_.

The Risen Self comes into realization of the great white light of the soul, and it enables us to see _all_ life in its completeness. Human effort and human endeavor glow with an unexpected radiance when seen from the table-land of the risen truth.

The human soul then rejoices in its Divine possibilities. Jesus said: "I do always the things that pleaseth the Father," and the voice from heaven said: "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."

When we turn to those who ask for proof of the risen Christ-self within us, we have only to point to them the empty tomb of the old lives which men everywhere leave behind them. If we desire we can go farther and point them to the production of those in whom this great consciousness is waking; all human life that is alive with thought and faith and deed, is vibrant with a great vital spiritual force.