Phineas Parkhurst Quimby

Is Disease a Belief?

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 in 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.