Chapter III - Spirit and Matter
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trines and beliefs, that we catch divine echoes. We
trines and beliefs, that we catch divine echoes. We
must be "absent to the body to be present with the
Lord;" only by caring less and less for the body, shall
we attain harmony and Life. Our Master's command
"Take no thought what ye shall eat, or what drink,"
etc., means something. We must seek God, Spirit,
outside of our bodies, and through a disregard for them,
and not until we find Truth thus, shall we ever obtain
it. Looking to the body for pleasure or pain, for Life
or death, is error, and asking amiss to consume it on
our lusts. After severe toil, we say, I am fatigued,
naturally concluding the muscles have been overtasked
and need repose; but our only safe and permanent
method to overcome a sense of fatigue is to deny the
ability of personal sense, to make us weary, and let
mind triumph over matter, with the opposite argument,
that saith, I am not tired, for the "I" is Spirit, and not
matter; bid the physical report depart, even as you
would a temptation to sin. It is science, to put down
the arguments of personal sense, with the higher ones
of Soul. Why this mental method of curing physical
ailments is better than yielding to the feeling of tired,
and taking a respite from labor, is because it is the
science of being, that Spirit should control matter; ac-
tion or sensation belongs not to matter, independent of
mind, and when you conquer through mind, the next
occasion for fatigue will find you less apt to feel it, and
you will not suffer from fatigue as you did before; the
belief that body has a sense of fatigue independent of
what mind says, is error, that the opposite Truth of
being will destroy.
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Your body is as unconscious of action, or weariness,
Your body is as unconscious of action, or weariness,
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setting aside what, mind says in regard to this, as a
setting aside what, mind says in regard to this, as a
wheel, and to understand this point in science, will rest
you as hours of quiet would not. Make a scientific test
of this, if you please, and you will find it true; but in
order to do this, you must understand how to hold and
strengthen the mental argument against the physical,
and guard against the influence of other minds, that
embrace opposite beliefs. When through the Truth
of man you gain one victory over the error, it will
bring out a faint understanding of the Principle that
controls being harmoniously. A disposition is often
manifested to get rid of this physical part of science,
by saying the fatigue did actually occur, but you psy-
chologized the individuals to think they were not
weary; this argument, however, is weak in behalf of
the old positions regarding mind and body, for it admits
the power of mind over matter, and this is just what
you need to admit first, and next to understand its
Principle, and not to mesmerize a man to make him
wise, or yield to the error that belief is superior to
understanding. The difficulty to understand science is,
personal sense comprehends it not, but wars against it,
for belief will not and cannot accept a Principle under-
standingly. We hear a sweet melody, and not knowing
how it is produced, may explain it superstitiously,
and leave the thing in mysticism. The sick often
recover through the science of being; but not com-
prehending the Principle of their cure, misinterpret
it, and do not render to God the things that are God's;
but give them to Caesar, saying, medicine, a change
of air, or some supposed law of matter, did it. How
often have we seen, a chemicalization, produced by the