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Esoteric Christianity and Mental Therapeutics

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Esoteric Christianity and Mental Therapeutics ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY .A.:IID MENTAL THERAPEUTICS. BY W. F. EVANS, A'OTBoB o-r "DI~ LAw o-r CUBII" .uro "PBnliTIVB MIND.CUBJI," " We speak wisdom among the perfect : yet a wisdom not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, which are coming to nought." ·• -I Cor. ii : 6. BOSTON: H. H. CARTER & KARRICK, PUBLISHERS, s BE.A.CON STREET. 1886. Digit, zed by Goog le Entered, according to tbe Act of Congreea, In tbe year 1886, by W. F. EVANS, In tbe 011lce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. J . S. CusmNo &: Co., PRINTJCRB, BosTON. ~. .. Digit• zed by Goog le PREFACE. Tms volume is designed to complete a series of works on the subject of Mental Therapeutics, the publication of which was commenced several years ago, and which was intended to give a view of the subject in its various aspects. It is hoped the book may be found ac<'eptable and useful to those who are interested in the subject of which it treats. It contains a series of twelve lessons or lectures, which the author has given in a private way to a number of persons who were desirous of learning something of the philosophy and practice of the phrenopathic method of cure. In order that the information contained in the lectures might become more generally circulated, and meet the demands for instruc­ tion that are made upon the author, they are committed to the press. There is given in the brief compass of the volume a plain presentation of the principles that underlie the practice of the mental system of healing, so that any person of ordinary intelligence, who is moved by a desire to do good, may make a trial of those directions. The author has endeavored to present to the reader every principle which may be viewed as scientifically and experimen­ tally established, and that is of any practical value, and which it may be proper openly to promulgate to the world at large in the present state of the mind of man. Digit, zed by Goog le PREFACE. Much of the teaching contained in the book has long been occult, and has been withheld from the multitude. In the active enquiring state of the mind of man in the present age, the domains of what is called esoteric science have been in>aded, and well-nigh conquered. The system of mental science and pbrenopathic practice taught in this volume is believed to be identical with the pbilosoplly of the New Testament and with primitive Christianity, not meaning by that term the popular theology. The well of salvation, or system of healing truth, uncovered by Jesus, has not and cannot be drawn dry, but still springs up into and from eYerlasting life. The difficulty with the world has been the well is deep, and our modern materialistic science has nothing with which to draw up the living water from its obsCUTe depths. The disclosure of the leading doctrines of the spiritual science of antiquity, and the tenets of the ancient mystic brotherhoods, together with the rediscovery of the science of the correspondence of the natural and spit·itual worlds, has given us the key that unlocks the deeper mysteries of Christianity. To the sincere and unselfish enquirer after truth is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, that bidden wisdom which was, and still is, concealed from the sensuous multitude, and revealed only to the " perfect" or fully instructed mind. Christianity, like the profound spiritual philosophy of all the Orieutnl nations, is a. revelation to the celestial degree of man's mind, and when that higher region of our triune nature is uneYolvcd into consciousness, and remains latent, its diviner light is eon cealed from view by the clouds of sense, " and upon th~ glory there is a defence" or protecting canopy. (Isa. iv : 5 ' Digit, zed by Goog le PREFACE. 5 The best way to learn the principles of mental healing and the profound spiritual science on which the phreno­ pathic practice is based, is to commence the unfolding of our spiritual and deific powers, under the guidance and oversight of some one who has gone over the winding and spiral path leading up to mountain summits and celestial altitudes of experience. The collection of traditional opin­ ions that goes under the name of Christian doctrine, on the gradual development of the intuition, or the intellect of the spirit in man, will give place to the Gnosis, or absolute interior knowledge and certitude of truth which was denomi­ nated faith by Plato, and Jesus, and Paul. By this supreme intelligence only can men be saved in the full sense of the word, and redeemed from sin and disease. This highest knowledge cannot be taught as our children learn arithmetic and the various external sciences, but must be drawn out from the concealed depths of our inner nature. To aid the student of Christian Theosophy to explore the inner realm of truth into which his own spirit opens, is the object of this volume. If it subserves that use in any one of its readers, it will not have been written wholly in vain. Like the preceding volume of the series, it has been written in the interest of self-healing, and to aid the patient, or suf­ ferer from disease, to climb up from that misbelief and error of the understanding, where disease alone can exist, to that higher range of thought and clearer atmosphere of truth where its existence is impossible. Nothing will afford the writer greater pleasure and satisfaction than to learn of cases where it bas been thus useful. A large number of Digit, zed by Goog le 6 PREFACE. letters have been received from every part of the country, and some from Europe, from invalids who have carefully read and studied the two preceding volumes of the author, gratefully confessing the benefit received from them. This has been felt to be an ample compensation for the time and labor expended in their preparation. The system of mental healing which is coming into such prominence and attracting so much . attention in the world, has arisen, we sincerely believe, in the order of Providence or that intelligent Life which go,·erns the world, and means a higher development, in the near future, of the inner nature of man. It is pro­ phetic of the termination of the reign of matter and sense, and the re-establishment of the dominion of the spirit. As was said at the opening of the first dispensation of Chris­ tianity, so in this age of the second coming of the Christ in the revelation of the glory and power of spiritual truth, we can say, "the kingdom of the heavens is at hand." The fundamental principle of the phrenopathic method of cure is the Jaw of mental sympathy, not using the word in its popular and superficial sense of pity for the afflicted, but in a wider signification to express the influence of our minds upon other minds. Under certain conditions, and in a state of intercommunion of mind with mind, the thoughts, the ideas, the feelings, and all the operations of one mind are transmissible to other minds, and may be reproduced in them without the intervention of the ordinary channels of sensuous communication, but solely through the operation of what we may be allowed to call mental induction­ borrowing the term from the science of electricity-or the o;9;t,zedby Goog le PREFACE. 7 diffusive tendency of all mental states. All communication of mind with mind takes place, in fact, in harmony with this law, even when it is effected through written signs or spoken words ; for unless the two minds come into the same or like states of thought and feeling, they do not understand each other. To fully comprehend what another speaks or writes to us, his mental state, in other words, his ideas and feelings must to some extent be reproduced in us. This law of sympathy seems to extend through the whole domain of nature ; and on it, according to Proclus, was based the system of magic, or the ancient occult science. Through the operation of the law of electrical sympathy or induction, it has recently been proved by experiment, that a small battery in a railroad car, running at the rate of thirty miles an hour, may transmit from the top of the moving car an electric influence to the main wire at a dis­ tance of several hundred feet, and a message can thus be sent. It bas also been proved that two ships on the ocean at a distance of twenty-five miles apart, may thus communi- cate with each other, and send and receive messages through the operation of the same principle. But in the realm of mind, the 1~ of sym,..E.~~~_ind~!!.~ has a .--x still higher and wider range of action. In the world of spirit, its influence is as extended as is that of gravitation in the material universe, and in fact, the latter is but the physical expression of the former. As all life is a mani­ festation of the one Life, the individual spiritual state affects the whole, but in a greater degree those who are in immediate connection with us. All communication of Digit, zed by Goog le 8 PREFACE. mind with mind, as was said above, whether it be in this world or what we call the next, takes place in harmony with it. The phrenopathic system ·recognizes this law of mind, and tnrns it to a practical account.
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