"As ye will."

Part One

' I touched the crarment-hem of truth, Yet saw not all its splendor."

Preface

In assembling material for this volume I have included considerable matter originally embraced in 1 'Psycho-Therapy," which, after passing through two editions, is now out of print. At the same time, this volume is sufficiently unlike * 'Psycho-Therapy" to warrant its presentation as an entirely new work.

The purpose which herein finds expression is not only to elaborate a system of definite instruction in the Fundamentals of psychic Self-help, but also to qualify those who make the book "the man of their counsel" to become Healers of others.

To many I am sure it will also become a Fingerboard to general Success and an inspiration to Noble Living.

Sheldon Leavitt.

Insist on yourself ; never imitate.

—Emerson.

THE ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS.

WILL AS THE PSYCHIC FACTOR.

From both a theoretical and clinical study of the subject, I have been led to believe that success in any line of human endeavor is dependent upon two cardinal mental and spiritual elements, namely, Desire and Faith.

Let us analyze these.

Desire.

We cannot expect to get what we do not desire, and what we do not believe can be had. The desire must be intense. The wise sub-consciousness does not respond to anything less ardent. It has to be a desire that takes hold of us with vigor, and represents the earnest, honest impulse of our being. This is a place where strong feeling is of service. If there is a sense of distress for the lack of the thing desired; if there is true yearning of soul, moving one to reach out strongly for what is craved, then, and only then, is this essential of success fully met. We have all seen many who appeared to have no such desire for health, and hence have continued in their distress.

Faith.

On the side of the other element, faith, it is not enough to say, "Show me results and I will accept them." One without faith can do that. It is easy enough to believe a thing when it has been demonstrated to our senses ; but it is not so

THE ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS.

easy to believe something of whose existence we have no sensible proof, but of the existence of which, nevertheless, we are assured by reason or intuition.

From a study of phenomena we are justified in inferring that man is in a stage of development where, he is coining to know that he is possessed of conscious power over his entire physical organism, as well as much of his environment, and is gradually bringing that power into obedient action.

I am daily becoming more impressed with the value of confidence, and self-confidence at that, as the final element in the dynamic circuit of human expression. It characterizes capability in all life's affairs. Without it education is powerless to serve the most earnest as it should. All other qualifications fall flat when not animated by it.

Blind Faith.

But blind faith is not worthy of commendation. The commander whose reason for confidence is his simple trust in God or in luck, with the better guns and larger numbers against him, may win, but the chances are that he will not. If placed in such a situation by force of circumstances and compelled to fight, assurance is the proper spirit to hold; but that does not negative the inadvisability of accepting it from choice. He who neglects preparation and rests his faith on the forces intended to work through mental means, will at times perform startling feats, but is, in general, irregular and untrustworthy.

Dependence on sub-conscious illumination alone, belongs to a lazy soul.

CHARACTERISTICS OF FAITH.

The whole wealth of the subjective mind is ours for use, but it serves us best when united with conscious qualification.

Characteristics oi Faith.

Confidence gives stability and power. Who can withstand the man of towering faith ?

Conceit touches the mere surface of things, but faith reaches the very heart of them.

Doubt says, "I hope so." Faith says, "I know."

Doubt says, "I will trv." Faith says, "I can and I will."

Doubt is a man with his hands in his pockets. Faith is a man with hand on pen and plow.

Doubt passes along with his eyes on the ground. Faith has his eyes on the hills, along the caps of which glow the warm hues of the morning.

Doubt lies abed, not believing that success will come. Faith rises early to greet its approach.

Doubt says, U A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. " Faith prepares to serve a whole flock of birds at a feast to his friends.

Doubt says to the tale-bearer, "What a fool I have been, to take this course ! " Faith goes on without a word.

Doubt listens to discouraging reports and exclaims, "Just as I expected." Faith says, "I do not believe them. All obstacles will be surmounted. "

Doubt looks discouraged, but Faith carries a cheerful countenance in the face of disaster.

Doubt says, "There are lions in the way." Faith answers, "Aye, but they are chained,"

Doubt says, "It is useless. We may as well give up." Faith says, "The prize looks nearer than ever."

Doubt says, " I know a man who followed this way and failed." Faith says, "What of it? It is the spirit in man that determines results. I shall win. "

Doubt says, " I fear death ends all. " Faith says, "There is no death. What we call death is only a new birth. I shall never die."

Doubt fears ; Faith believes.

Doubt cries in terror, "My feet sink in quicksand." Faith smiles and says, "It is only to the ankles. "

"Breakers ahead/' says Doubt. "All's well!" sings faith.

When trouble comes, Doubt fears he is forgotten, and thinks God unjust. Faith says, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."

We could ask for no better evidence of the essential character of the elements, Desire and Faith ; but I would not have you think me inconsiderate enough to believe that desire and faith are the only elements involved in success. They are held to be the cardinal psychic elements ; but there are many other factors concerned in the action, and, to succeed, it is necessary to consider, and, in a measure, utilize them.

The Role of Will.

Though desire and faith are cardinal elements in success, they remain relatively powerless until brought into action by the

THE ROLE OF WILL. 11

dynamic force of Will. It is important for us to give this truth careful consideration.

Lexicographers have been greatly puzzled satisfactorily to define the term will. The effects of will are apparent in every move we make, and in every consecutive thought we think.

But what is will itself?

I move my arm in the direction determined by my thought. Now, what is the mental action leading up to and enforcing that physical action ? I reply, It is attention given to the ideal with a purpose to express it in motion; it is attention accompanied by the unquestioning assurance that the thing will be done.

Are we not, then, justified in saying that will is purposive attention linked to and proceeding front, mental assurance? It is attention that has a movement, or a set of movements, for its object.

In this connection I beg you not to forget that it is the subconsciousness which executes every volition, whether the action be commonly recognized as voluntary or involuntary, — whether, to be technical, the muscles involved in the movement are of the striated or unstriated variety.

Physiologists are not prepared to admit it, but it is true, that, in a sense, all action is voluntary. In one department of physical expression, to be sure, the response is prompt, and in another tardy, while between these there is a field in which response is not as prompt as in the first instance, nor as dilatory as in the second.

This leaves us to understand that conscious will is the stimulus of action, and that subconsciousness is the executive that carries out the obligation thus laid upon it.

Having gone so far, we can see that the promptness and energy of an action, whether of the differentiated voluntary system or not, depends in great measure on the power of thejstimulus, and the consequent necessity of giving great attention, in practice, to that particular feature of the problem.

It is left us to determine how to bring the stimulus to bear with the best effect.

Now, let us go a step further.

I have attempted to show that the cardinal elements of success, anywhere, and everywhere, are Desire and Faith, I have attempted to show that WILL is really the dynamic principle in the whole process.

Now, how are we to reconcile these apparent contradictions ?

My idea is that the potential elements, Desire and Faith, become dynamic or active, in WILL. For example, we earnestly desire health, and as earnestly believe that we shall have it ; or, better still, we believe that it is essentially ours. Having gone so far, the energies of Desire and Faith unite to express themselves in Will, which reaches forth and takes the object sought. We can desire a thing and believe that we shall have it, to the end of time. The object of our desire and faith recedes before us as does the horizon before the traveler. It is only when the energies of Will are invoked that the whole process comes to a climax.

Let us form a diagram of this mental conception. I will write "Desire," and beneath it, at a little distance, I will write "Faith." Then, over at the right, at a point midway between Desire and Faith, I will write "Will " Then, since both Desire and Faith focus in Will, I draw converging lines from

THE ROLE OF WILL. 13 them to Will, thus plainly indicating the mental idea.

WILL

Jesus and his disciples furnished conspicuous examples of this very action. Weeping had Jesus come to the grave of Lazarus. He had declared to his disciples that Lazarus was not dead, but sleeping, and it appeared that he was about to prove the truth of his claim. At the tomb the critical moment arrives.

The waiting multitude stand expectant.

It is evident that there is something about to be done.

There is to be a great victory or an ignominious defeat.

Jesus does not pray for power, for his psychic energy was tremendous and he knew it.

He had been groaning in spirit because of the pent-up forces impatient to break forth into expression.

The climax approaches ; and how is it reached ? There is no petition for help, no waiting for energy to adjust itself.

Listen !

In intense, but subdued, tones, he says, "Father, I thank thee that Thou hast heard my prayer ; I knew that Thou always hearest me ; but I say this for the sake of the people standing near, so that they may believe that Thou hast sent me as Thy Messenger. "

The stone bad been rolled away from the mouth of the tomb, at Jesus* command, and the people stood in breathless silence.

Then, behold, there leaped upwards, like the flame of an explosion, the irresistible WILL, as he shouted aloud the command which voiced that tremendous soul energy, and fell with effect on the dull ears of the sleeper, "LAZARUS! COME OUT!" and behold the dead walked forth in life.

It was always thus in the work of this great healer. He spake "as one having authority," and in like manner must we, as healers both of ourselves and others, think and speak, if we] would get the best results.

The Way to Attainment.

To be sure assurance, faith, self-reliance and will are to be acquired but slowly. It takes time to build a structure that is substantial and imposing. In our early experiences we need, as does the child, support, encouragement and instruction ; but psychic power once acquired enables us to command with success. Why should one who is seeking mastery, passively solicit? Let him speak the healing word with power and assurance.

There are those among my readers who have not risen to the height of command over themselves and the unpleasant influences about them, owing to the fact that they have been holding the attitude of submission instead of authority.

/ have no sympathy with the passivity which makes of man a mere plaything of the forces about him. He was made to COMMAND.

We have to do something besides sitting and

AN ELEMENT OF SELF-DEVELOPMENT. 15

dreaming: there has to be resolute TAKING of what we want. Said Jesus, "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. " This utterance has puzzled theologians. A paraphrase of it would read, "The kingdom of the unseen is open to invasion by the resolute, and the resolute take it. " Jesus said this with evident approval, and it indicates the most effectual method of getting what we want.

But remember that he who would command, must have commanding qualities.

Will as An Element in Self=Development.

What I have said of will as a factor in cure applies as well to ourselves as to others. It is the most efficient kind of auto-suggestion.

As strong men and women we shotild sta7td, not in the attitude of suppliants, but of masters. Self is first to be brought into subjection and then do we become well fitted to set in motion the healing energies of those who apply to us for aid. I commend to you what I myself have practiced. Many a time, when in the throes of a personal struggle, have I calmly awaited an intimation of the wise course, and then, when it came, even though its execution appeared to involve difficulty and danger, have I paced the floor with clinched fist and set lips, indicative of the intensity of my feelings, and audibly declared, "It shall be done! I will prevail ! "

"When you have tried and tried and tried "A thousand times and then once more, "And still must humbly stand aside, "Defeated, battered and heart-sore,

" Think not that you have done your best, " And do not yet permit despair " To find an entrance to your breast ; " Let hope be still imprisoned there. " God gives us WILLS to do or die, "He sets the tasks we must assail; " And though a thousand times we try "And though a thousand times we {ail, " Our best is never done " Till we have fairly won. 1}

PART TWO. The PRINCIPLES of PSYCHO-THERAPY

"When the distinction was first drawn, 'ARTES' meant the things one could do, and * SCIENTAE* the things one knew.

I

Chapter I. The Present Status Of Medicine

Drug Medication Does Not Command Professional Confidence.

Not very long ago an eminent practitioner of the dominant school of medicine said in my hearing to a class of students whom he was addressing on the subject of typhoid fever, with a case from the hospital wards lying before him, "Gentlemen: Concerning treatment, let me say that the very best treatment for this disease is plenty of fresh air; little, or no, food; and no medicine whatever. You may have to administer some drugs to appease the anxiety of friends, but I assure you that we have no medicines that are of any practical service in this disease. "

"But, "says the homeopath, "that admission was from an old-school practitioner. The new school can offer better testimony."

Can they ? We shall all do well to give more analytical study to our resources as disclosed in the light of results fairly attributable to remedial action.

The following has been taken from the annual address of the President of the New York State Homeopathic Medical Society, delivered at a recent meeting:

"This is a scientific age and we must conform to the methods of scientists to arrive at conclusions of any value. Today, statistics alone will answer this purpose. Each one of us believes that certain diseases run a more favorable course and the death rate is much less under homeopathic treatment. But where are our statistics to demonstrate this to the world at large? Echo answers where?

11 Many years ago, when homeopathy was introduced into the hospitals of Vienna, when drugging and bloodletting was the practice in the treatment of pneumonia, the death rate promptly fell under the new treatment, and those statistics have often been used to demonstrate the efficacy of the practice. But what happened? A skeptic arose who had little faith in the infinitesimal dose, and who tried treating a certain number of cases with no medicine whatever, with the result that his death rate was practically identical with that under homeopathic administration. Thereupon the treatment of no medicine was substituted for the homeopathic, and continues with few modifications to the present day."

Enthusiasm over the curative power of the remedies commonly used in serious diseases is a characteristic of the Neophyte in medicine. This one, with consummate faith in the action of his little-tried remedies, sallies forth to meet the enemy. In preliminary skirmishes he meets fair success. He praises his armamentarium and rejoices in the skill with which he utilizes it. But when you see the same man a few years afterwards you find him cautious, and conservative, and deliberate: quite unlike the enthusiast that he was.

To be sure this is not true of all, for there are some, possessing small discrimination, who appear to gather their conclusions from the realm of fancy rather than of fact. Most physicians of mature experience, with a fair measure of discriminative and deductive power, feel most

DRUGS HAVE CURATIVE VALUES 23

acutely their relative helplessness in the presence of portentous disease.

The truth is that the best medical skill can do little else than rectify minor physical ills by means of drug remedies and modify the course of the major ones.

Fatal disease appears to ' ' take the bit in its teeth" and gallop resolutely onward to the end of the route, no matter how frantically we may tug at the reins.

I have seen many medical practitioners become enthusiasts over the assumed marvelous action of drug remedies. I have heard them relate, in radiant terms, how they * 'brought through" patient after patient supposedly lost in the mazes of disease, attributing "no action " to one remedy and "pronounced action" to another, when, in truth, a mind capable of properly weighing evidence should have clearly seen that the fluctuations indicated were likely due to the unsteady motions of the vital forces in their contest with the morbific elements. We are all fully convinced that our remedies do possess a degree of power over morbid conditions, and yet there is no denying that indubitable demonstration of their curative action is not the facile theorem it is commonly supposed to be.

Drugs Have Curative Values.—

BUT IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT WE ARE READY TO CONTEND THAT THERE IS A PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE TO PROVE THAT DRUG REMEDIES DO POSSESS CURATIVE VIRTUES.

Advocates of the "New Thought" movement err in conceding to medicine no virtues. There is no denying that the drug itself has little curative power — perhaps none at all. My own theory is that the drug effects its purpose through the subtle action of suggestion upon the subconscious faculties (represented by the sympathetic nervous system). What I mean by this is that the drug, by virtue of selective affinity, irritates (stimulates, if you prefer the term) some particular nerve center, or even nerve terminal, through which a customary physiological action ordinarily passes, or in which it is usually excited, the artificial stimulus being accepted by the controlling power for the genuine, and the usual phenomena accordingly developed.

There are examples of such action resulting from mechanical irritation, and there is good reason for believing that drugs act in an analagous manner.

Valuable Methods Sometimes Rejected.

The spirit of uncertainty and consequent discouragement that has crept into medicine as the result of repeated and conspicuous failures has greatly weakened . its power. It is doubtless because of this that new methods have sprung up so numerously and are claiming so much public attention and patronage.

It is all in accord with the evolutionary trend, and abundant good to humanity is bound to emerge from the confusion.

But in this very place there stalks forth that which to the laity is a most astonishing anomaly. Every one is craving new resources, and yet a suggestion tendered by one outside the brotherhood of science is not only rejected but spurned without investigation of its merits.

TRUE SCIENCE. 25

This, I say, to the popular mind, is an anomaly: to all it is irrational.

True Science.

The scientific man is he who has an intimate acquaintance with laws and principles. Science has been defined by Prof. Hyslop as "a body of truths or hypotheses which have presented empirical credentials in their favor, and are to be modified by the same methods." Scientific investigation is an orderly and critical inquiry into observed phenomena.

Few physicians enter the domain of pure science: they leave that field to him who can command his time and has a penchant for such study. Accordingly the physician is obliged to obtain his knowledge at second hand, accepting as final the conclusions of the pure scientist.

When a practitioner of medicine is spoken of as a "scientific man," allusion is to one who has a good knowledge of truths, assumed or real, which have a direct bearing upon the prosecution of his life work.

It therefore follows that a truly scientific physician or surgeon must have an acquaintance with ascertained facts, classified knowledge and prevalent hypotheses which have an appreciable bearing upon the work that falls to his hand. But the field of research is so broad, and the inferences derived by students of science so varied, that the man whose days are full of ministrations to those suffering from mental and physical ills can hardly find time to inform himself concerning even the essentials of successful and intelligent practice.

In this truth lies the necessity for leaning on others for both data and inferences concerning many things of great practical value.

In the pressure of numerous and tremendous demands it has been thought wise by investigators to study phenomena mainly from the materialistic point of view. It is only within the past decade or two that true scientific inquiry has been attempted, save by the few, in the realm of the immaterial.

Yet all the time investigators have recognized the vast importance of phenomena about which little can be learned through an exclusive study of matter in its varied manifestations.

Matter and Mind.

Matter is known to be nothing more than matter, and, at best, but a medium of expression of a hidden Something. This unknown Something we find variously wrought and are lost in astonishment and admiration at its manifestations.

In general, modern science has rested contented with what can be demonstrated to the five senses, and in practice has reckoned it the all. The vast unknown has been reckoned as unknowable, and men have been willing to leave it unexplored. Even hypotheses concerning it have been, by many, discouraged.

The unity of all phenomena, however, has forced its way into our convictions.

They are all ONE. "The power that manifests throughout the universe distinguished as material," says Spencer, "is the same power which in ourselves wells up under the form of consciousness. "

Emerson says:

DISEASE ORIGIN IN MIND. 27

<4 It is a secret which every intellectual man quickly learns, that beyond the energy of his possessed and conscious intellect he is capable of a new energy (as of an intellect doubled on itself), by abandonment to the nature of things; that besides his privacy of power as an individual man there is a great public power on which he can draw, by unlocking, at all hazards, his human doors and suffering the ethereal tides to roll and circulate through him; then he is caught up into the life of the universe, his speech is thunder, his thought is law, and his words are universally intelligible as the plants and the animals."

The Origin of Disease in Mind.

Into this great unknown it is only recently that the scientist has dared to enter. That he is following the footsteps of the philosopher into a region of exact law and uniform phenomena is very clear. Many facts have already been collated and some of the controlling laws have been uncovered. But these new thoughts and discoveries stand in great need of classification and definition. Progress is being made, hypotheses are forming, and exact experiments are developing truths.

The opinion long held, and often set forth in precise terms by those whose intuitions were allowed to anticipate their reason, that the essential etiology of disease lies in the psychic realm, is being accepted by scientific observers.

There is not now a shadow of doubt that the origin of disease is in perverted mental concepts \ logical enough in form, but built on wrong premises. These pernicious thoughts, however, are not necessarily of the conscious type.

•' Introspective states," says Prof. Elmer Gates, in Monist, "affect metabolism, circulation, respiration, digestion, assimilation, excretion, secretion, growth, sleep, wakefulness, strength, health, hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, temperature, the pressure senses, dreams, movements, complexion, voice, gesture and environment."

A few months ago I had a patient of neurotic temperament whose heat centers, from emotional causes, became so overwrought that her temperature for several hours, on two consecutive days, promptly sent the mercury in my thermometer to the top of the tube, registering 112° F. How much higher her temperature really was I am unable to say; but, from the rapidity with which the mercury mounted to the 112° mark, I was led to believe that it would have gone much higher had the tube been longer. She was not relieved by drugs, freely given, but was quickly put into a normal state by means of suggestion.

The evil effect on the physical organism of pernicious thought is admitted by every practitioner. He will some day learn that the good effect of wholesome thought is equally pronounced.

The average man or woman is a prey to unregulated and uneducated thought. Is it any wonder, then, that his body suffers from the fear, the anger, the malice, and the worry which his lack of discipline encourages and engenders?

Inquiry Should Extend Into the Psychic Realm.

Now what I want to ask is this: Why should we, as scientific physicians, allow prejudice to debar us from therapeutic resources that are apt to prove far more effective,

ADVANCED THOUGHT WINS SLOWLY. 29

it may be, than any now at our command ? Why not enter and cultivate a field now running to weeds but capable of developing the richest fruits ?

We should strenuously avoid the state of mind of the good Scotch woman, who, when charged with not being open to conviction, replied: "Not open to conviction? I scorn the imputation. But,"- she added, after a moment's hesitation, "show me the man who can convince me."

We have but to add the psychic realm to the scope of our inquiry. There is no occasion, and there would be no rational excuse, for lessening in the slightest the ardor of our investigation in the realm of matter. Then why so circumscribe the breadth of our inquiry as to make conclusions one-sided and incomplete? Why not scrutinize every set of phenomena and make our knowledge all-embracing ? Is it becoming to ignore phenomena, as clear and impressive as any, because the unscientific have ventured theories concerning them and have built fantastic beliefs upon them ?

Advanced Thought Wins Its Way Slowly, but Surely.

It is said that every advanced thought of a revolutionary character goes through three stages. It is first spurned, then declared to be nothing new, and ultimately accepted with the comment that it was always believed.

Suggestive therapy has passed the first stage and is now merging from the second into the third. There are many physicians and surgeons of good standing who systematically utilize psychic forces in their practice; but when compared with the host of doctors who attend suffering humanity the world over, they are scarcely discernible.

Why Are These Things So ?

They are so because mental therapeutics has been for so long the real modus operandi of the vast army of charlatans, and the whole subject has thus acquired so bad a name that most men fear for their reputation if they touch it. But the time to claim what is rightly ours has arrived.

The world wants men — large-hearted, manly men —

Men who shall join in chorus and prolong

The psalm of labor and of love.

The age wants heroes — heroes who shall dare

To struggle in the solid ranks of truth;

To clutch the monster, Error, by the throat;

To bear opinion to a loftier seat;

To blot the error of oppression out,

And lead a universal freedom in.

II

"The degree of vision that dwells in a man is the correct measure of a man."- Carlyle.

" SEC. 6.— The physician should be a minister of hope and comfort to the sick, since life may be lengthened or shortened not only by the acts but by the words or manner of the physician, whose solemn duty is to avoid all utterances and actions having a tendency to discourage and depress the patient."— Principles of Medical Ethics.

"Yes, there is luck in this world; but nobody ever had it unless he reached for it ; unless he seized it, and with all his mind and all his might developed his opportunity when it came. There are plenty of apples on the trees, but it's only those fellows who make a spring and climb for them who get them."— Senator Depew inN. Y. Daily News.