The Science of Being Well By Wallace Delois Wattles --- 08 CHAPTER 8. SUMMARY OF THE MENTAL ACTIONS

CHAPTER 8. SUMMARY OF THE MENTAL ACTIONS

Let me now summarize the mental actions and attitudes necessary to the
practice of the Science of Being Well; first, you believe that there is a
Thinking Substance, from which all things are made, and which, in its original
state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe. This
Substance is the Life of All, and is seeking to express more life in all. It is the
Principle of Life of the universe, and the Principle of Health in man.
Man is a form of this substance, and draws his vitality from it; he is a mindbody of original substance, permeating a physical body, and the thoughts of
his mind-body control the functioning of his physical body. If a man thinks
no thoughts save those of perfect health, the functions of his physical body
will be performed in a manner of perfect health.
If you would consciously relate yourself to the All-Health, your purpose must
be to live fully on every plane of your being. You must want all that there is
in life for body, mind, and soul; and this will bring you into harmony with all
the life there is.
The person who is in conscious and intelligent harmony with All will receive
a continuous inflow of vital power from the Supreme Life; and this inflow is
prevented by angry, selfish or antagonistic mental attitudes. If you are
against any part, you will have severed relations with all; you will receive life,
but only instinctively and automatically; not intelligently and purposefully.
You can see that if you are mentally antagonistic to any part, you cannot be
in complete harmony with the Whole; therefore, as Jesus directed, be
reconciled to everybody and everything before you offer worship.
Want for everybody all that you want for yourself.
The reader is recommended to read what we have said in a former work*
concerning the Competitive mind and the Creative mind. It is very doubtful
whether one who has lost health can completely regain it so long as he
remains in the competitive mind.
34
Being on the Creative or Good-Will plane in mind, the next step is to form a
conception of yourself as in perfect health, and to hold no thoughts which
are not in full harmony with this conception. Have FAITH that if you think
only thoughts of health you will establish in your physical body the
functioning of health; and use your will to determine that you will think only
thoughts of health.
Never think of yourself as sick, or as likely to be sick; never think of sickness
in connection with yourself at all. And, as far as may be, shut out of your
mind all thoughts of sickness in connection with others. Surround yourself
as much as possible with the things which suggest the ideas of strength and
health.
Have faith in health, and accept health as an actual present fact in your life.
Claim health as a blessing bestowed upon you by the Supreme Life, and be
deeply grateful at all times. Claim the blessing by faith; know that it is yours,
and never admit a contrary thought to your mind.
Use your will-power to withhold your attention from every appearance of
disease in yourself and others; do not study disease, think about it, nor
speak of it. At all times, when the thought of disease is thrust upon you,
move forward into the mental position of prayerful gratitude for your
perfect health.
The mental actions necessary to being well may now be summed up in a
single sentence: Form a conception of yourself in perfect health, and think
only those thoughts which are in harmony with that conception.
That, with faith and gratitude, and the purpose to really live, covers all the
requirements. It is not necessary to take mental exercises of any kind,
except as described in the chapter titled “Use Of The Will”, or to do
wearying "stunts" in the way of affirmations, and so on.
It is not necessary to concentrate the mind on the affected parts; it is far
better not to think of any part as affected. It is not necessary to "treat"
yourself by auto-suggestion, or to have others treat you in any way
whatever. The power that heals is the Principle of Health within you; and to
call this Principle into Constructive Action it is only necessary, having
35
harmonized yourself with the All-Mind, to claim by FAITH the All-Health; and
to hold that claim until it is physically manifested in all the functions of your
body.
In order to hold this mental attitude of faith, gratitude, and health, however,
your external acts must be only those of health. You cannot long hold the
internal attitude of a well person if you continue to perform the external
acts of a sick person. It is essential not only that your every thought should
be a thought of health, but that your every act should be an act of health,
performed in a healthy manner.
If you will make every thought a thought of health, and every conscious act
an act of health, it must infallibly follow that every internal and unconscious
function shall come to be healthy; for all the power of life is being
continually exerted toward health. We shall next consider how you may
make every act an act of health.