IS
DISEASE A BELIEF?
November
1859
Is
disease a belief?
I
say it is.
For a person is to
himself just what he thinks he is.
And
he is - in his belief - sick.
If
I am sick, I am sick; for my feelings are my sickness; and my
sickness is my belief; and my belief is my mind. Therefore all
disease is in the mind (or belief).
Now
as our belief (or disease) is made up of ideas which are matter, it
is necessary to know what ideas we are in. For to cure the disease is
to correct the error. And as disease is what follows the error -
destroy the cause - and the effect will cease.
How
can this be done?
By a knowledge of the law
of harmony.
To
illustrate this law of harmony, I must take some law that you admit. I will take the law of
mathematics:
You
hear of a mathematical problem.
You wish to solve it.
The answer is
in the problem.
The error is in it.
The happiness and misery are
also
in it.
Your
error is the cause of your sickness (or trouble).
Now to cure your
sickness (or trouble) is to correct the error.
If
you knew the real state of things, you would not call on a person who
knows no more than you do - if you knew the facts.
