Chapter III - Spirit and Matter
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of knowledge enveloping man in darkness disappear,
of knowledge enveloping man in darkness disappear,
the first appeal will be to reason or philosophy, to plant
our next footstep, before we understand the higher
and spiritual resources of being; but when this period
arrives, and before former things have passed away,
the reaction of mind will be fearful. Theology, (I say
this not with reference to Christianity,) and materia
medica have failed to demonstrate what Jesus taught
and demonstrated; and why we have not followed his
precepts and example is not so much from lack of de-
sire, or willful disobedience, as lack of understanding.
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In earlier periods, even the cross that should symbol-
In earlier periods, even the cross that should symbol-
ize a denial of personal sense, was made an instrument
of torture. Error is sometimes deceit; again, it is a
misconception of Truth, and the desire to grow better
is attended with more sermons and ceremonies than un-
derstanding and practice. A clergyman once adopted
a diet consisting of bread and water, to increase his
spirituality, and continued it six weeks, but finding his
health failing, he gave it up, advising others never to
try fasting to grow in grace. But we will add a leaf of
experience here, showing how personal sense, or belief
of any sort, shuts out harmony and science. When
quite a child we adopted the Graham system for dys-
pepsia, ate only bread and vegetables, and drank water,
following this diet for years; we became more dyspep-
tic, however, and, of course, thought we must diet
more rigidly; so we partook of but one meal in twenty-
four hours, and this consisted of a thin slice of bread,
about three inches square, without water; our physician
not allowing us with this ample meal, to wet our
parched lips for many hours thereafter; whenever we
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drank, it produced violent retchings. Thus we passed
drank, it produced violent retchings. Thus we passed
most of our early years, as many can attest, in hunger,
pain, weakness, and starvation. At length we learned
that while fasting increased the desire for food, it
spared none of the sufferings occasioned by partaking
of it, and what to do next, having already exhausted
the medicine men, was a question. After years of suf-
fering, when we made up our mind to die, our doctors
kindly assuring us this was our only alternative, our
eyes were suddenly opened, and we learned suffering
is self-imposed, a belief, and not Truth. That God
never made man sick; and all our fasting for penance
or health, is not acceptable to Wisdom, because it is not
the science of being, in which Soul governs sense. Thus
Truth, opening our eyes, relieved our stomach, also,
and enabled us to eat without suffering, giving God
thanks; but we never afterwards enjoyed food as we
expected to, if ever we were a freed slave, to eat with-
out a master; for the new-born understanding that
food could not hurt us, brought with it another point,
viz., that it did not help us as we had anticipated it
would before our changed views on this subject; food
had less power over us for evil or for good than when
we consulted matter before Spirit, and believed in pains
and pleasures of personal sense. As a natural result,
we took less thought about "What we should eat or
what drink," and, fasting or feasting, consulted less
our stomach and our food, arguing against their claims
continually, and in this manner despoiled them of their
power over us to give pleasure or pain, and recovered
strength and flesh rapidly, enjoying health and harmony
that we never before had done.