Chapter XI
THE HEALING INTENTION
W. John Murray
Mental
Medicine
Divine Science Publishing Assoc.
New York, 1923.
[165]
According to Fichte in his "Destination of Man," the will (intention)
is the effective cause, the living principle of the world of spirit
(mind), as motion is of the world of sense (matter). "I stand between
two opposite worlds; the one visible, in which the act alone avails,
the other invisible and incomprehensible, acted on only by the will
(intention). I am an active force in both these worlds. My will
(intention) embraces both. The will (intention) is in itself a
constituent part of the transcendental world. By my free determination
I change and set in motion something in this transcendental world, and
my energy gives birth to an effect that is new, permanent, and
imperishable."
The reason
why I have inserted the word [166] "intention" after the word "will",
is in order to distinguish the word "will" from the popular use of it,
as when one speaks of a stubborn person as the willful or self-willed
person.
Then again
the word "intention" implies a mental picture of a specific
act to be performed, as when we say, "It is my intention to go home."
We have a mental picture of ourselves doing so, and enjoying the
comfort thereof, and this without any strain, as is the case in the
exercise of what we call an effort of the will. A
good intention is an inner consent of the mind to do something
worthwhile without noise or ostentation, and always this intention sees
the thing intended as completed in mind and only requiring the element
of time to complete it in matter or the world of sense.
Back of every
good intention there is the omnipotence of Good itself, just as behind
every effort to secure light, physical or material, there is light only
awaiting our intention [167] to possess ourselves of it and utilize it.
In another
place Fichte says, "Every virtuous resolution (intention) influences
the omnipotent will, or mind, (if I may be allowed to use such an
expression) not in consequence of a momentary approval, but
of an everlasting Law of His being." The response of
electricity to the turning of the switch is not due to momentary
approval, but to the everlasting law of its nature, or being. I think,
when we once understand that responses to prayer are not due to
"momentary approval," but to the action of Universal Mind to our
particular good intentions, we shall have more faith in our
affirmations of health and wholeness, than we ever had when we begged
for blessings.
When Fichte
says, "By my free determination (or affirmation) I set in motion
something in this transcendental world" (of mind), he is merely in
advance of Haanel in "Mental Chemistry," who says, "Radio-activity
consists in setting in motion certain [168] electric vibrations, which,
after passing through the ether, record themselves on a distant
receiver. The whole system depends on the intangible substance known as
ether. It is a substance invisible, colorless, odorless, inconceivably
rarefied, which fills all space."
What ether is
to the physical world, mind is to the mental world, and who shall say
where one begins and the other ends, or whether they are not the same
substance under different names? If, through radioactivity, form can be
generated in the formless ether, why should not the intentional
activity of specific thinking generate form in the formless Universal
Mind?
Speaking
along the same lines from a different point of view Troward says, in
his "Edinburgh Lectures" concerning the impersonality of the Universal
Mind, "It has no intention, because it is impersonal. As I have already
said, the Universal Mind works by a law of averages for the advancement
of the race, and is in no way concerned [169] with the particular
wishes of the individual. If his wishes are in line with the forward
movement of the everlasting principle, there is nowhere in Nature any
power to restrict him in their fulfillment. If they are opposed to the
general forward movement, then they will bring him into collision with
it, and it will crush him. From the relation between them it results
that the same principle which shows itself in the individual mind as
will, becomes in the Universal Mind a Law of Tendency;
and the direction of this tendency must always be to life-givingness,
because the universal Mind is the undifferentiated Life-spirit of the
universe. Therefore the test in every case is whether our particular
intention is in this same lifeward direction; and if it is, then we may
be absolutely certain that there is no intention on the part of the
Universal Mind to thwart the intention of our own individual mind: we
are dealing with a purely individual force, and it will no more oppose
us by [170] specific plans of its own than will steam or electricity."
Knowing that
the universal tendency of water is to flow down, we provide such
channels as will tend to give such specific direction to it as will
insure irrigation for our lands, and water supply for our homes.
Knowing now, in a more scientific way than we have ever known before,
that it is the tendency of the Universal Mind to flow down into
individual minds in terms of "life-givingness" all we have to do is to
provide such channels of thoughts as will tend to give such direction
to Universal Mind as will insure health and happiness.
Whenever it
is our intention to heal ourselves or others by applied psychology, or
the power of directed thought, this intention sets into motion the
force or energy necessary to the production of this result. It first
acts in and on the Universal Mind, as certain electric vibrations act
in the ether through which they pass, into personal experience in the
form of that particular blessing we seek.
[171] If we
are working for ourselves, we can make our affirmations aloud, so that
two senses will be effected at the same time; or we can work in Silence
making such affirmations as will be conveyed to the subconscious mind,
which will give back to us through the mediating principle, messenger,
or go-between, the finished product of our mental picture, as when a
photograph is developed in the dark room. If we are working with
healing intention for another, it is preferable at first to approach
him through silent affirmation in order to avoid unnecessary argument
and unconscious opposition, which is apt to occur until one becomes
familiar with the laws governing psychology.
As the
patient improves he will naturally become more receptive to the new
idea, after which the work will be more in the nature of teaching than
of healing, for if a student is properly taught he can heal himself.
If we
comprehend the principles laid down in what has been written so far, we
are in a position to know that Thought is the most [172] active force
in the universe, for it is by means of Thought that all other forces
are caused to serve the highest interests of man. "Thought speaks, and
the will responds." Jesus thinks, and then says, "Take up thy bed and
walk," and the will of the palsied man responds to this command, and
what we call a cure is established. It is merely that the will of one
has responded to the thought of the other, and the combination is a
process of mental chemistry which is no more to be marveled at than
that water should be the natural outcome of a combination of hydrogen
and oxygen. Is it a miracle that two invisible gases should, when
combined, result in visible water? Why then consider it a miracle, or
an impossibility for the two invisible gases of thought and intention,
or will, when brought together, to result in such a combination as
shows forth in physical healing?
Mr. Coue' is
right when he says that imagination is superior to will. The will alone
is like an untrained animal, but under the [173] direction of the
imagination and pure thought, it becomes combined with these in the
production of visible manifestations of invisible substances. When man
is no longer at the mercy of what he calls his strong will, so that
when he would do good he finds his will taking the other direction, he
will guide his will as he now guides his horse or his motor car.
Chapter
12
