Chapter II - Imposition and Demonstration
89:1
contributes to the general welfare. Principle demands
contributes to the general welfare. Principle demands
to be understood; but phenomena not based on Prin-
ciple, you can explain falsely, insomuch as they are
creations of sense instead of Soul.
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When sensation proceeds from Soul instead of body,
When sensation proceeds from Soul instead of body,
the impressions are lucid and pure, and the intuitions
correct and harmonious. But when mortal mind, or
belief produces them, discord, disease, sin and death
are the result. Mesmerism is error that leaves man at
the mercy of matter, will, caprice, and mortal mind;
God, Spirit, never mesmerized man or matter. The
simplest object in the hand of a mesmerized subject
may shock him with a belief of danger; a napkin be-
comes to him a serpent that stings him; and this is the
sensation that is belief. Place in his hand a cold apple;
create the belief it is hot, and it produces at once the
sensation of pain, the same as fire; destroy this belief
of a burn, and the pain disappears. Is not this proof
that pain is a belief? Again, whatever object the mes-
merizer presents mentally to his subject, he sees; do
not these facts prove the so-called senses of the body,
mind, instead of organs and nerves? But mesmerism
should be put under bonds not to do evil; at any esti-
mate it is a shameful waste of reason and honesty.
That pain and pleasure are produced by belief, in the
absence of all conditions to occasion them, is another
proof that sensation is mind and not matter. To admit
mind sees, hears, feels, etc., without the agency of mat-
ter, is a step toward science.
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In genuine clairvoyance there is no sensation in the
In genuine clairvoyance there is no sensation in the
body during its continuance. But to see in belief is
not to see in reality; the basis of the science of being
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repudiates mesmerism, producing precisely opposite re-
repudiates mesmerism, producing precisely opposite re-
sults; it destroys belief, and insists on understanding.
Personal opinions or belief cannot be dismissed too
soon. To admit that error requires a certain period in
which to prepare us for the higher school of immortal-
ity, is a grave mistake; there is no necessity "to do
evil that good might come"; science begins right, in
order to end right, and it cannot begin right too soon.
Reasoning from false premises never presented correct
conclusions. God never made evil; error produces
error, and belief disappears when Truth is understood,
even as a cloud passes from before the sun. Science
contradicts mortal sense, and reveals in its stead the
immortal understanding that gives harmony to man.
Wisdom is not gained of knowledge that brought sin
and death into the world; neither is it found in pulp,
or the brains of man; this so-called mind is but a belief
that matter embraces mind.
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Magnetism is without a scientific basis; it is one belief
Magnetism is without a scientific basis; it is one belief
or error controlling another one. That Spirit mesmer-
izes, or vitalizes matter, giving it Life and Intelligence,
is the fundamental error of mortal man. Spirit cannot
impart Intelligence to non-intelligence, it has no elec-
tricity, etc.; emanations of materiality are electricity,
and mesmerism is an unmitigated humbug. The im-
mortal basis of man is not matter, electricity, brains,
bones, etc., but Spirit that hath understanding; not
sense but Soul; and phenomena that proceed from this
fundamental Principle of being, are real and harmonious.
A desire to do right may mistake the method of doing
it, for belief is changing and unreal; intention may be
right, but if the Principle of phenomena is misconstrued