How to Stay Well
	Renew Your Mind And Be Well <  Previous Contents Next  >

That the mind exercises great power over the body, that every mental state is a cause, producing its corresponding effect upon the moral, the mental and the physical conditions of the individual, and that every thought is a force that can change, transform, or at least modify almost anything in the human system -these are facts that are no longer disputed.

The metaphysical side of man is now receiving its due share of attention, and the facts just stated are therefore being firmly established among all who discern them. Knowing the fact, therefore, that mind and thought have such great power over the human system, and that the whole of life depends for its qualities and conditions upon the nature of one's thought, we find ourselves face to face with a principle of stupendous proportions; and we cannot proceed very far in our study of this principle before we discover that a change of thought means a change of practically everything, and therefore we realize that to make the proper change of thought is so important that nothing in life could be more important.

Metaphysical students in general understand that the renewal of mind means a renewal of everything in life; but to change the thought at will, and to bring about those mental changes that we desire, is an art that the majority have not mastered, the reason being that it is much easier to believe than to act; though it is a fact that we should remember well in this connection that every possibility can be worked out and made actual in the life of anyone.

When we consider the subject of mental change and the renewal of mind, we find that there are two ways through which this may be brought about. We may change our thought through impressions received from without, or through perceptions developed from within. We may renew the mind by living among new scenes and environments, or we may bring about the same result by directing our mind to live in a new field of consciousness; though we shall find that where thousands change their thoughts by the former plan, only a few do so by the latter.

That we can change and renew mind without changing external environments is a fact that is well known, but it has never been looked upon as of real importance. We shall soon learn, however, that it is of the greatest importance; and we shall also find that no one can attain complete emancipation, or realize steady growth of mind and soul until he can change his thought from within according to his desires.

Physicians send their patients away because they know a change will do them good; but what does the change consist of, and why does it prove beneficial? Simply this: that different people are met, strange houses and landscapes constantly appear, and what is heard or seen differs more or less from what was experienced in the former locality. The new place has no magical power of healing, it does not give the system any new elements, and has no special virtue along any line. With a few exceptions, one place is usually as good as another. We find in each place the same earth, the same atmosphere, and the same natural forces. A few slight modifications may exist, but where there are some conditions superior in the new place, there are other conditions that are inferior.

When we go to some new place to secure a change, we find many of the people in that new place planning to go elsewhere, that they may have a change; consequently it is not the place that is beneficial, but the change; and the change is beneficial because you get new impressions upon your mind. You get something different to think about, and your thought is more or less renewed. A change of thought, according to well-known metaphysical laws, produces a change in the system. Old and burdensome conditions pass away through the coming of the new, and you feel a relief. That is why the change is beneficial.

To go away for your health is to take a course of metaphysical treatment from the visible forms of nature, and the results will depend very much upon how favorable an impression those forms make upon your mind. What you see, hear or experience is different, and produces different impressions upon your mind. From these different impressions come different thoughts, different emotions, and different mental states. There is a change of mind and thought, which is invariably followed by a change in the physical system.

We all know that new thought produces new life, and that new impressions upon mind produce new thought. These new impressions may not all be wholesome, but they are always different, and the old is thereby modified to some extent. Should you go away and not be well impressed with the new scenes, you will receive no benefit whatever. You do not respond to the new impressions, consequently there is no change of thought. As a man thinketh, so is he; therefore, so long as you think the way you did, you will feel the way you did. You are the same as before, physically and mentally; you are no different, and in consequence no better.

We can easily establish the fact without multiplying arguments or illustrations, that the benefit received from a change of scenes or places comes because there is a change of thought; and we must naturally conclude, therefore, that if you can change your thought without going away, you can have just as good results by staying at home. This, however, is an art that few have mastered, but it is an art that all must master if perfect health is to be enjoyed all through life. The majority cannot change their own minds. They require new impressions from without to accomplish this feat; they are dependent upon the five senses and what comes through the five senses, and think, not as they wish to think, but according to the impressions they receive from without, coming into mind through the sense channels.

It is not to be inferred, however, that it is wrong to receive new impressions from without, or that it is detrimental to our best welfare to absorb the life and the impressions from new scenes; but it is a fact we should well remember that no man can be master of himself who cannot change his thought without first being placed in a change of scenes. We cannot obtain emancipation or realize our highest ideals so long as we are dependent upon things for a change of thought. We must, therefore, proceed to make this change ourselves, independently, regardless of surrounding circumstances or the world in which we live.

If you are compelled to go away to secure a change of mind or feeling, you have practically no control over your own thinking. You think according to what you see or hear, or according to the sensations you receive from physical or mental experiences. The thought of thousands is governed to a great extent by what enters the stomach. What you take into the system produces a certain sensation. This sensation produces an impression upon the mind, as all sensations do; and this impression originates ideas, thoughts and mental states as all impressions do.

If these ideas and thoughts are helpful, harmonious and constructive in their nature, you have been benefited. Otherwise, what was taken into the system will prove detrimental. It is a well-known fact that thousands of failures have been traced directly to mental disturbances produced by food that was indigestible; and it is also a well-known fact that thousands of misdeeds, even some of the most serious can be traced to food that was not properly prepared. The culinary art, therefore, is not to be ignored. It holds a position, even in connection with metaphysical and psychological studies, that is among the first.

The thought of other thousands is governed by what they read in the daily press, most of which is a detailed account of deeds of darkness. Others form their ideas from their surroundings, what they see or hear at their work, or what they receive from the influence of home and companionship. Still others think what they are told to think by religious authority, and never change until told to do so by that same authority.

Illustrations and details could be multiplied indefinitely, but the fact we wish to emphasize is simply this, that the average person does not change his own thought by exercising his own power of independent and original thought. He thinks according to impressions that act upon his mind, and those impressions come from what he sees or hears or comes in contact with in the external world. He is therefore in bondage to things because he is compelled to think according to the impressions that things make upon his mind. A change among the things that surround him produces a change in his thought, and he feels differently. If the change is wholesome, he feels better, and may even be cured of serious ills in this way alone; but if the new scenes do not produce good impressions upon his mind he may, and often does, become sick both in mind and body.

We realize, therefore, the enormous importance of the subject, and no further details are required to prove that it is entitled to one of the first places in this great study. That there can be no improvement in body, mind, intellect, ability or character until there is a certain change of thought is now a well-established fact; and since every new impression that comes upon the mind will, to a degree, change the thought, the art of forming only those impressions upon the mind that are favorable becomes one of the greatest of arts.

The mastery of this art means absolute control of one's own thinking, which involves the power to produce any impression desired upon mind, regardless of scenes, sounds or environments, and also the power to prevent anything from the without, coming through the senses, from producing any impression upon our minds if we do not desire such impressions. The object we have in view is the change of thought and the renewal of mind, not through a change in outer things, but through a change of interior perception.

It is well to receive all kinds of good impressions from without, and everybody should mingle as much as possible among different people and environments that are wholesome; but no one should be dependent upon new scenes for a change of thought, or permit any change of thought from any cause whatever, unless that change is individually desired.

If we wish to change our thought along right lines, and improve our thought constantly along all lines, we must be able to form upon mind new impressions and the desired impressions whenever we wish, regardless of where we may be at the time. Every person should be able to entirely renew all lines of thought or sensation without being compelled to change locality or association.

He should be able to change his thought, not by going to a different place in the without, but by going to a different field of consciousness in the within. When he can do this, he can think his own thought, and change his own thought just as he likes, whenever he likes. He will be mentally free; and no other freedom can come until we have secured mental freedom. And here we should remember that no one is mentally free until he can think at will whatever he wants to think, regardless of what he may read, hear, see or experience.

There are scores of conditions of bondage in the world at present, and thousands are at work seeking the way of emancipation from each particular condition; but there is no real, permanent freedom from anything until we attain mental freedom. When mental freedom comes, all kinds of bondage will disappear as if they never existed; and the first step to mental freedom is to be able to think your own thought, change your own thought, renew your mind, and form your own ideas, regardless of circumstances, persons or things.

Not that we are to become oblivious to the objective, or become utterly indifferent to the world about us. On the contrary, when we attain mental freedom we shall so much the better see all things, hear all things, and be aware of all things; but we will form our own conclusions. We will change when we like, and remain unchanged when we like.

This great attainment is possible to all; and the art is acquired by training the mind to form new impressions through new experiences gained in consciousness. In other words, employ your interior perception in trying to discern the nature of new and inner states. Instead of looking for new places and new scenes in the without, whenever you feel the need of a change, look for new sensations and experiences in your own consciousness.

What exists in the within is just as real as that which exists in the without, and it is of more importance to understand. Therefore, by training the mind to take journeys into the beautiful worlds within, you are not only acquiring the art of forming new mental impressions within; you are also enlarging mind and consciousness. You are gaining valuable information about many things that material man knows nothing of; and you are preparing the way for real freedom and much higher development.

The real purpose, however, of these journeys to the within, should be the change of thought, and for that reason should be taken whenever the need of mental change is felt. To begin, realize that the larger life within is the fullness of life, and cannot in any way lack the real essentials of life. Realize that the worlds within are ideal worlds, and are therefore not imperfect in any way.

Realize that the new inner states of consciousness that you may discern, contain the unlimited possibilities of absolute existence, and are therefore neither incomplete nor imperfect in any way whatever. Then realize that those inner places are not separated from you, but are necessary parts of your whole being, and also that the I AM, the real you, is at the very center of this whole being; and lastly, realize that whenever you turn your attention upon the potential, the within, the ideal, you are looking upon something that contains within itself all the elements of absolute perfection.

To illustrate: When you feel discord, you know that you can obtain peace just as soon as you change your thought to a state of harmony. You know that the very moment an impression of perfect harmony establishes itself in mind, harmony will begin to express itself through your whole system; but how is this impression of harmony to be secured from within? You can secure it from without by listening to soft and gentle music, or by having someone you love minister to your heart and soul; but these good angels are not always at hand.

We are usually dependent upon our own efforts, therefore if thought can be changed from a state of confusion to a state of perfect peace, through mental impressions gained from the silent within, we have discovered a great secret. To bring this about, we look to the silent within instead of the help of persons and things; and by looking upon the silent within with the eye of the mind, we are impressed with the thought of peace.

When you look upon a quiet scene in nature through physical sight and become absorbed in that scene, you soon become perfectly still in mind and body. The reason why has been explained above. In like manner, when you look upon the silent within through the mental eye, you soon become perfectly still, in the same way exercising the same law. Likewise, when you look upon any ideal and become deeply impressed with it, an image of that ideal will form upon the mind, and you will begin to think thoughts just like that ideal or perfect image.

It is therefore an easy matter to create thought at will that can give peace, life, joy, health, strength -in brief, almost anything you see in the within will impress itself upon your mind, and you will think thoughts that correspond exactly with that impression, thereby producing mental states to be followed by physical conditions that are similar in every respect to the nature of that which you originally saw in the within.

But the power to change your own thought by impressions received from the ideal, or the within, is, aside from this, of exceptional value other ways. It is this power that gives us the secret of original thought; and it is original thought that makes man great in mind, character and soul. It is the original thinker who becomes the mental and spiritual giant, and it is from original thought that everything proceeds that has value and worth in the promotion of human growth and welfare.

The power to change your own thought in this manner also produces mental freedom, and with mental freedom comes all the necessary states and avenues of consciousness through which we may gain whatever the heart may wish for. When we are mentally free, then it is that we can fully employ the wonderful powers that are within us, but until we attain that freedom we are more or less hampered; therefore, to be able to change your own thought, and to renew your own mind at any time through impressions gained from the ideal within, means far more than tongue can ever tell.