|
|
| § |
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby |
§ |
 tecnh Quimby's Letters to His Patients-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Belfast, Nov. 4th, 1856
Madam: Yours of the 2nd inst. was received, and now I sit down to answer your inquiry in regard to your lameness. It seems to me that the skin on the knee is thinner and has a more healthy appearance. But you cannot be made to believe anything that is in plain contradiction to your own senses, and as your opinions have been formed from the evidence of persons in whom you have placed confidence, and facts have gone to prove these opinions correct, it is not strange that you should hold on to your belief, till some kind friend should come to your aid and lead your mind in a different direction. Now to remind you of what I tried to make you understand is a very hard task on my part; for as I said to you, some of my ideas fall on stony ground, and some on dry ground, and some on good ground. These ideas are in your mind like the little leaven, and they will work till the whole mind (or lump) is changed. You have asked me many questions which time and space will not permit me to answer, but I shall write that which seems to be of the most benefit to you. In regard to your coming to Belfast, use your own judgment. The cure of your limb depends on your faith. Your faith is what you receive from me, and what you receive is what you understand. Now if you understand that the mind is the name of the fluids of which your body is composed, and that your thoughts represent the change of the fluids (or mind), you will then be in a state to act understandingly. I will try to illustrate it to you, so you can apply your thoughts to your body, so as to receive the reward of your labor. As I told you, every thought contains a substance - either good or bad - and it comes in and makes up a part of your body (or mind); and as the thoughts which are in your system are poisoned, and the poison has come from without - it is necessary to know how to keep them out of your system, so as not to be injured by them. Now suppose you have around you a sort of heat, like the light of a candle, which embraces all your knowledge, and your body, being the center and you, having the power to govern and control this heat - you then have a world of your own. Now in health, this globe of which your body is the center is perfect harmony. The heat of this globe is a protection to itself, like a walled city, to admit none but supposed friends. Now as every person has the same globe (or heat), each person is a world (or nation), of itself. This is the state of a person in health. Now as you wish to change and interchange with other nations, so does our house like to enjoy the society of other persons; and as we are liberal, we admit strangers to our city (or world) as friends. When this proclamation goes out, our globe is filled with all sorts of people from all nations, bringing with them goods, setting up false doctrines, stirring up strife, till the whole population (or thoughts) are changed; and man becomes a stranger in his own land, and his own household becomes his enemies. This is the state of a person in disease. Now as there is nothing in your own system, of itself, to disturb you - you must look for your enemies from the strangers whom you have permitted to come into your land. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Belfast, Jan. 10th, 1857 Mr. Thomas Pelmgro Dear Sir: Yours of the 4th was received, and I would say in reply to your inquiry that my opinion would be for your wife to remain at home for a short time. On another case, I intend to visit Bangor in one or two weeks, and while I am at Bangor, I can take the case and come to Newport and take a private team to your house and return by the next train. This would be as long as I should wish to stop, and my expense would not be much. At any rate, I would not charge you more than two dollars above my expenses, together. If your wife should improve from that visit, she could come to Bangor or to Belfast, just as you think best. I write in this way, because I am partially engaged to go to Bangor, and if your wife was here in Belfast, it would make it very bad for her, and I would feel very bad, myself. Now if this meets your ideas, if you will leave word at the nearest point or station where the train stops, with someone to carry me to your house, you could then carry me back to take the case, so it would not be much expense. The fare from Bangor to your place and back, you can ascertain, but if I don't go to Bangor, I will let you know; and in the meantime you can ascertain and let me know which of the two would suit your wife best - to come here or to have me visit her. N.B. The price I charge you would have nothing to do with any other person. My charge is $3.00, but to see your wife, I would charge $2.00 over-and-above my expenses from Bangor and back. Yours truly, P. P. Quimby -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Feb., 1860 Mr. Editor: I noticed an article in your paper of the third inst. In answer to Y.C. - I have nothing to do with that; but when a person sees fit to attack me as a sorcerer and humbug, he had better look out for his own theory (or house), and see if it is based on a sure foundation, before he commences throwing stones at outsiders; for he will be likely to break his own windows and let in the cold. Mr. J. seems to be troubled for the safety of the good people of Portland and warns them against mesmerism, sorcery and all sorts of humbug. Who art thou, oh man, that judges another, without any cause? Did you know by what you measure to another, it shall be measured back to you again? Judge not, that ye be not judged. If you know more about my practice than I do, why did you not tell the people where the deception is, and enlighten them upon the subject? Then you would have done good to the sick. But you do not take the responsibility upon yourself, but like a demagogue, you come forward with a face of brass and an impudence that shows itself in every word you say. That shows you are giving an opinion upon what you have not the slightest knowledge, expecting the people to take your bare assertion for truth. Why are you not honest and say to the sick that they have not sense enough to know whether they are benefited by me or not - and that you have just sense enough to see all through the humbug? For this is what you mean. Now the time is come when such oracles as you will be weighed in the balance, and then you will receive sentence, according to your knowledge. P. P. Quimby -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Feb. 9th, 1860 To a patient in Hill, N.H. Your letter apprised me of your situation, and I want to see if I could affect you. I am still trying to do so but do not know as I can, without sitting down and talking with you, as I am at present. So I will sit by you a short time and relieve the pain in your stomach and carry it off. You can sit down when you receive this letter and listen to my story, and I think you will feel better. Sit up straight. I am now rubbing the back part of your head and 'round the roots of your nose. I do not know as you feel my hand, but you twist your arm as though it felt rather queer; but it will make you feel better. When you read this, I shall be with you; and do as I write. I am in this letter, so remember, and look at me and see if I do not mean just as I say. I will now leave you and attend to some others that are waiting, so "Good evening." Let me know how you get along. If I do not write, I may have time to call, for that does not require so much time. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Feb. 9th, 1860 Kennebunk, Me To Miss K., Your letter of the 5th is received. I am surprised that you do not remember that all my patients have a cold, as they call it, when the belief is there. For instance, if you are told you have consumption, this belief is matter, under the direction of error; and as it is put into practice, it changes the mind, so that the idea of consumption is thrown off from the belief. If you are excited by any other belief, you throw off all the misery that follows your belief. For instance, you are made to believe you are not so good as you ought to be. Your belief puts restrictions on your life, and as it is a burden to you, it makes you throw off a shadow that contains the punishment of your disobedience. This makes you another character, and you are not the happy child of wisdom. This was your belief when you called on me. As I struck at the roots of your belief with the axe of truth, everything having a tendency to make you unhappy, I tried to destroy. So in the destruction, there must be a change. This change must be like its father. So if you had grief, it would produce grief for the present. Finally the truth would dry up your tears, and you would rejoice in that truth that sets you free. So in regard to the cold, if you had the idea of consumption - when I drove that enemy of man out of your belief, this must produce a like cough; but it is all for the best. Remember that every error has its reaction; but an unraveling of error leads to life and happiness, while the winding it up leads to disease and misery. All that is taking place in your case is just what I anticipated. So it is all right. Keep up good courage, and all will come out right. Tell Miss F to keep good courage. Her cure is certain. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, March 21st, 1860 To Mrs. Wayne Dear Madam: Yours of the 19th is received, and I was very glad to hear I succeeded so well. But I was not disappointed, for I felt sure I could raise you up. I will say a word or two to you, Mrs. W. I was with you every little while after I first wrote you, till the time I named, and then it seemed as though you were up, so I left you. Now I shall drop in and see you often, so you may not be surprised to feel my influence. Were there any others at your house when you first got up? If so, let me know how long you had been sick, and how long since you walked. I shall be very glad. I think I shall make a statement to the facts of your case. It is so remarkable that it ought to be published for the benefit of the sick. Yours, etc. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Letter to a Patient Recently Helped Portland, March 22nd, 1860 Dear Sir: Your letter of the 21st is received, and I take pleasure in answering it. You must excuse me for addressing Maria, for I come to save her, while those who are well need no physician. So Maria, I am glad to know you are getting along so well. Since I received the letter, I have visited you often and shall drop in every day, just after you take your meals, and sit by you and quiet your system, so that your food shall sit well. I shall visit you at night while you are sleeping in your bed and use my influence to make you rest well, so you will be able to walk. You need not give yourself any fears of my forsaking you, nor leaving you in the hands of your enemies. I shall watch over you, till you are able to take care of yourself, if my power is able to do it. I should be glad to hear how you get along. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Reply to a Young Physician Portland, Sept. 16, 1860 Dear Sir: Yours of the 5th is received, and in answer I would say that it is easier to ask a question than to answer it. But I will answer your question; partly by asking another, and partly by coming at it by a parable. For to answer any question with regard to my mode of treatment would be like asking a physician how he knows a patient has the typhoid fever by feeling the pulse and requesting the answer direct, so that the person asking the question could sit down and be sure to define the disease from the answer. My mode of treatment is not decided in that way, and to give a definite answer to your inquiry would be as much out of place as to ask you to tell me all you know about the medical practice, so that I could put it into practice for the curing of disease, with no further knowledge, independently from what I get from you. You see the absurdity of that request. If it were in my power to give to the world the benefit of twenty years' hard study in one short or long letter, it would have been before the people long before this. The people ask, they know not what. You might as well ask a man to tell you how to talk Greek, without studying it, as to ask me to tell you how I test the true pathology of disease, or how I test the true diagnosis of disease, etc. All of these questions would be very easily answered, if I assumed a standard and then tested all disease by that standard. The old mode of determining the diagnosis of disease is made up of opinions of diseased persons, in their right mind and out of it, under a nervous state of mind, all mixed up together and set down, accompanied by a certain state of pulse. In this dark chaos of error, they come to certain results like this. If you see a man going towards the water, he is going in swimming, for people go in swimming. But if he is running with his hat and coat off, he is either going to drown himself or some one is drowning - and soon. This is the old way. Mine is this. If I see a man, I know it; and if I feel the cold, I know it. But to see a person going towards the water is no sign that I know what he is going to do. He may be going to bathe or may be going to drown himself. Now here is the difference between the physician and myself, and this may give you some idea of how I define disease. The regular and I sit down by a patient. He takes her by the hand, and so do I. He feels the pulse to ascertain the peculiar vibration and number of beats in a given time. This, to him, is knowledge. To me it is all quackery or ignorance. He looks at the tongue, as though it contained information. To me, this is all folly and ignorance. He then begins to ask questions which contain nothing to me, because it is of no force. All this is shaken up in his head and comes forth in the form of a disease, to which he gives a name. This is the diagnosis of a disease, which is all error to me, and I will give you the diagnosis of this error. The feeling of the pulse is to affect the patient, so he will listen to the doctor. Examining the tongue is all for effect. The peculiar cast of the doctor's head is the same. The questions, accompanied by certain looks and gestures, are all to get control of the patient's mind, so as to produce an impression. Then he looks very wise, and so on. All the symptoms put together show no knowledge, but a lack of wisdom; and the general credulity of mankind rendering liable to be humbugged by any person, however ignorant he may be, if he only has the reputation of possessing all medical knowledge. Now sir, this is the field you are about to enter, and you will find the hardest stumbling block from diplomas. Greek and Latin and the like are all of no consequence to the sick. It is impossible to give you even a mere shadow of twenty years' experience. But I may be of some use to you. I will say a word or two on the old practice (not taking much time) that will answer all your questions on the old school; for the less you know, the better. Watch the popular physician. See his shrewdness. Watch the sick patient; nervous and trembling, like a person in the hands of a magistrate who has him in his power and whose real object is to deceive him. See the two together - one perfectly honest and the other, if honest, perfectly ignorant; undertaking, blindfolded, to lead the patients through the dark valley of the shadow of death, the patient being born blind. Then you see them going along, and at last, they both fall into the ditch. Now like the latter - do not deceive your patients. Try to instruct them and correct their errors. Use all the wisdom you have, and expose the hypocrisy of the profession in anyone. Never deceive your patients behind their backs. Always remember that, as you feel about your patients, just so they feel towards you. If you deceive them, they lose confidence in you. Just as you prove yourself superior to them, they give you credit, mentally. If you pursue this course, you cannot help succeeding. Be charitable to the poor. Keep the health of your patient in view, and if money comes, all well; but do not let that get the lead. With all this advice, I leave you to your fate, trusting that the true wisdom will guide you - not in the path of your predecessors. Shun evil, and learn to do good. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Letter Regarding a Patient Portland, Sept. 17th, 1860 Dear Sir: Yours of Aug. 27th was received after a long journey through the state of Maine. I will give you all the information that I am aware I possess. If certain conditions of mind exist, certain effects will surely follow. For instance, if two persons agree as touching one thing, it will be granted. But if one agrees and the other knows not the thing desired, then the thing will not be accomplished. For example, the lady in question wishes my services to restore her health. Now her health is the thing she desires. Her faith is the substance of her hope. Her hope is her desire; it is founded on public opinion, and in this is her haven, the anchor to her desire; public opinion, the ocean on which her barque (or belief) floats. Reports of me are the wind that either presses her along to the haven of health or down to despair. The tide of public opinion is either against her or in her favor. Now as she lies moored on the sea with her desire (or cable) attached to her anchor of hope, tossed to and fro in the gale of disease - if she can see me or my power walking on the water, saying to her aches and pains, "Be still," then I have no doubt that she will get better. The sea will then be calm, and she will get that which she hoped for; her faith or cure. For her faith is her cure, and if she gets it, then her hope is lost in sight, and she no longer hopes. This is the commencement of her cure. I, like Jesus, will stand at her heart and knock. If she hears my voice or feels my influence and opens the door of her belief, I will come in and talk and help her out of her troubles. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To a Gentleman Requesting Help Without a Personal Interview Portland, Oct. 20th, 1860 Dear Sir: In answer to your inquiry, I would say that, owing to the skepticism of the world, I do not feel inclined to assure you of any benefit which you may receive from my influence, while away from you, as your belief would probably keep me from helping you. But it will not cost me much time nor expense to make the trial. So if I stand at your door and knock, and you know my voice or influence and receive me, you may be benefited. If you do receive my benefit, give it to the Principle - not to me as a man, but to that wisdom which is able to break the bonds of the prisoner, set him free from the errors of the doctors, and restore him to health. This I will try to do, with pleasure. But if this fails, and your case is one which requires my seeing you, then my opinion is of no use. Yours, etc. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To a Clergyman Oct. 28th, 1860 Dear Sir: Your letter of the eighteenth was received, but owing to a press of business, I neglected answering it. I will try to give you the wisdom you ask. So far as giving an opinion is concerned, it is out of my power as a physician; though as man, I might. But it would be of no service, for it would contain no wisdom, except of this world. My practice is not of the wisdom of man, so my opinion as a man is of no value. Jesus said, "If I judge of myself, my judgment is not true; but if I judge of God, it is right," for that contains no opinion. So if I judge as a man, it is an opinion - and you can get plenty of them anywhere. You inquire if I have ever cured any cases of chronic rheumatism. I answer, "Yes." But there are as many cases of chronic rheumatism as there are of spinal complaint, so that I cannot decide your case by another. You cannot be saved by pinning your faith on another's sleeve. Everyone must answer for his own sins (or belief). Our beliefs are the cause of our misery. Our happiness and misery are what follow our belief. So as we measure out to another, it will be measured to us again. You ask me if I ascribe my cures to spiritual influence. Not after the Rochester rappings, nor after Dr. Newton's way of curing. I think I know how he cures, though he does not. I gather by those I have seen who have been treated by him that he thinks it is through the imagination of the patient's belief. So he and I have no sympathy. If he cures disease, that is good for the one cured. But the world is not any wiser. You ask if my practice belongs to any known science. My answer is, "No," it belongs to wisdom that is above man, as man. The science that I try to practice is the science that was taught eighteen-hundred years ago and has never had a place in the heart of man since, but is in the world, and the world knows it not. To narrow it down to man's wisdom, I sit down by the patient and take his feelings, and as the rest will be a long story, I will send you one of my circulars, so that you may read for yourself. Hoping this may limber the cords of your neck, I remain, Yours, etc. P.P. Quimby -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Me., Dec. 27th, 1860 To Miss G.F.: Your letter was received, and now I sit down to use my power to affect you. I will commence by telling you to sit upright and not give-way to the pit of the stomach, but hold yourself up straight. If I felt that you saw me as plainly, while I am talking to you, as I see you, then there would be no use in writing, for you are as plain before my eyes as you were when I was talking to the shadow in Portland. For the shadow came with the substance, and that which I am talking to now is the substance. If I make an impression on it, it may throw forth a shadow of a young lady, upright without that gone-place in the substance at the pit of the stomach. Now I am looking into the second stomach, opening the outlet so that all obstructions may be removed; also to prevent you from vomiting. Remember that when I see you sitting or standing in the position I saw you in at Portland, I shall place one hand on your breast and the other on your hips and just straighten you up. If you complain of the back, you may lay it to me, and I will be a little more gentle. You may expect me once in a while in the evening. So keep on the lookout. See that you have your lamp trimmed and burning, so that when the truth comes, it shall not find you sleeping, but up straight, ready to receive the bridegroom. It seems that you understand this, as I tell it to you. But for fear you will not explain it to the shadow (or natural man), I will try to make you understand, so it may come to the senses of the natural man. If I succeed, let my natural man know by a letter. Yours, etc. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Me., Dec. 30th, 1860 To Mr. J.: As your wife is about to leave for home, I take this way of expressing my ideas of the trouble she is laboring under, thinking you would like my opinion of her case. I think her friends are not aware of her true state. Hers is one of a very peculiar kind. She is not deaf in the strict sense of the word, but her condition has been brought about by trouble of long-standing. When I say "trouble" I do not confine it to any neglect on the part of her friends, but trouble when young, which made her nervous. This caused her to become low-spirited, till it has changed her system; so that she is not the same person she was twelve years ago. I have given my attention to her general health, not to her deafness; for I think if she should come right in her mental or physical condition as she used to be, she would be well. You can see and judge of her appearance and buoyancy of mind. If you come to the conclusion that she appears more like her former self, then I should think you would not run much risk to send her back. For if you see any improvement in her now, I think she will still improve to your satisfaction. It takes a long time to produce a change in her system. To give you a full account of her case would take a long time, so I will leave her to explain what I have neglected to do. Yours, etc. P.P.Q. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Portland, Me., Jan. 2nd, 1861 To Mr. H. Hobson: In answer to your letter, I must say that it is out of my power to visit your place in person at this time, from the fact that I have some thirty or more patients here on my hands - but if there comes a slack time, I will come and let you know beforehand, so you can meet me in Bangor. Now a word or two to your wife. I will try my best while sitting by you, while writing this letter, to produce an effect on your stomach. I want you to take a tumbler of pure water while I write this, and now and then take a little. I am with you now, seeing you. Do not be in a hurry when you read this, but be calm, and you will, in a short time, feel it start from your left side and run down; then your head will be relieved, and you will have an inclination to rise. Be slow in your movements, so that your head will not swim around. I will take you by the hand at first and steady you, till you can walk alone. Now remember what I say to you. I am in this letter, and as often as you read this and listen to it, you listen to me. So let me know the effect one week from now. I will be with you every time you read this. Take about one-half hour to devote to reading and listening to my counsel, and I assure you, you will be better. Now do not forget. Yours, etc. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jan. 11th, 1861 To Miss G.: Your letter to Miss W. was handed to me for perusal, to see what course I thought best to take. So I will sit down by you, as I used to do, and commence operations. Excitement contracts the stomach - not from fright, but by being overjoyed at your recovery and having a pretty good appetite; the food digests slowly, and it will make you feel a little sluggish at times. But it will soon act upon your system and produce a diarrhea, relieving you of the trouble in the water, for that is only nervous and has nothing to do with the kidneys. I will rub your head and work on your stomach while I write this, and when you are reading, I will repeat the same, till you are all right. Remember that I am with you when you read this, and every time you read this you will feel my influence. I do not know that you feel it at this time - 6:12, Wednesday night. But I am with you now, knocking at your door, and if you do not hear me - when you get this message, open the door, and I will come in and sit and chat with you, if I do not get too cold waiting out-of-doors. So keep this in remembrance of me; that is, the science, till the cure comes. P.P. Quimby -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Jan. 13th, 1861 Mrs. Dingley: I went to you as soon as I received your letter, but I cannot say you were aware of it. Now at the time I write this, I am working on your stomach and now and then giving you a little water, so as to start this heat in your left side that rushes up to your head. When you receive this letter, at night after you are through your work, just sit down in a chair and take a tumbler of cold water and this letter. Read this letter once or twice very slowly, and in the meantime, take a swallow of water. When you get through, this water will cause a sensation on your stomach, and you will feel the wind moving in the stomach and bowels. This will affect your whole system and cause a sensation or perspiration, opening the pores and throwing off that heat that is confined in the pores and makes the humor. Remember what I say. When you read this letter, I am with you, and just as long as you read this, I shall be in the letter using my wisdom to cure you. I leave you now, so good night - 9:12 o'clock, Sunday evening, P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Jan. 16th, 1861 Mrs. Aukee: I sit down by you, although much hurried, thinking that your face would grow rather long, and you would look down-hearted. It is Wednesday, 7:12, evening, so please give me your attention. I will relieve the pressure across the chest. This will relax the stomach, and you will hear these devils roar up out of your mouth. Don't cough when it starts. As I am so far away, by your unbelief, I do not know as you will feel my influence, till you receive this. If not, when you receive this letter, seat yourself at evening, take a tumbler of water, and as you read this, take a little, and you will feel my influence in you. Be about as long as when I was with you, and after you have read this, I will scratch your head, as I used to - but you won't have to comb your hair; for it is a spiritual scratch. You will feel a glow all over you. This creates a circulation, and you will clear your head easier and speak better. As you read this, remember me, and I shall be with you, till your voice comes. Yours, etc. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Jan. 19th, 1861 Mrs. Wheeler: Your letter of the 11th came to hand, but for the want of time, I have been unable to write, and I had anticipated that I might help you by an examination of your case. At the time I received your letter, I felt as though I was with you, explaining to you your case. I will commence now on my way; and as I always sit down by my patient and take them by the hand, I will seat myself by you and commence telling your feelings. So give me your attention, and listen to what I say. The pain in your head arises from a nervous fear, which you do not understand. This nervous feeling affects you when you are in company, causing a contraction in the stomach, which creates a heat. This heat presses upon the aorta, causing your heart to beat. This causes a flash in your face; brings on a heat all over it, and produces a sort of faint or weak feeling. The fear makes you give way at the pit of the stomach; confines that heat there. This heat numbs the side, like leaning your arm over a chair. This makes the side feel as though it was swollen, and if you compare, you will find the shoulder a little fuller than the other. When you lie on one side, it feels as though there was a weight pulling you down. This you take for an adhesion to the pleura, but it is in the fluids in the flesh. This numbness is often taken for the lungs, but it is nothing more or less than a nervous heat that heats the muscles at the back of the neck and runs down the chest. This causes a contraction of the chest. This contraction makes you give way, like anyone in the hands of robbers attempting to bind him. Imagine yourself in their hands, and see how you would try not to be bound. You would be in the position of a fly in the foils of a spider. When the fly is buzzing, the spider is still at a distance, but draws in all the slack. So this eternal error that man has invented and named “consumption” binds his victim and then waits to see him try to break the bands. It makes you nervous; this nervousness makes you cough. When the stomach relaxes, the heat passes out of it; then it affects the bowels, also the water, etc. Now remember, all that the doctors tell you is false. Your lungs are as sound as anyone's; all that you raise comes from your head. The heat presses over your eyes, makes you feel sleepy and tries to escape out of the nose. The cold comes in contact with it, just as the heat comes in contact with the glass on the window; the cold meeting it condenses the heat and forms a frost - then it melts and runs down. So the heat met by the cold produces a chemical change in the head, like the frost, and runs down into the mouth. This is called catarrh; that which runs into the throat, bronchitis. This is all your disease. I will tell you what you must do. When you receive this letter, I want you to be seated, about eight o'clock in the evening, and take a tumbler of water. As you read this letter, or someone reads it to you, I shall be working on you. You take a little water now-and-then, till you take a tumbler-full. I shall work on your side, and you will feel something like water run down. In a few days, you will sneeze and think you have taken cold. Do not be alarmed. You will be a little sick at the stomach. Then it will work down and produce a diarrhea. This will relieve the cough. If this comes out right, please let me know. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jan. 25th, 1861 To Mrs. Ware: By the request of Emma and Sarah, I sit down by you to see if I can amuse you by my explanation of disease. You know I often talk to persons about religion, and you often look as though you would rather have me talk about anything else. Perhaps it would be better; but if you knew the cause of every sensation, then you would not want a physician. Now you will want me to tell you how you feel, and if you will give me your attention, I will try to explain. This heavy, lazy feeling that you have, accompanied with a desire to lie down and a sort of indifference as to how things go along, comes from a quiet state of your system that prevents your food from digesting as readily as it did while here. But it will act upon you, like an emetic or cathartic; either way is right. So give no care to what you shall eat or drink, for that wisdom that governs all science will cause all things to work for the best; and if you want to eat, consult your own feelings and take no one's opinion. Remember that he who made us knows better our wants than man. So keep yourself quiet, and I will reverse the action from your head, and you will feel it passing out of your stomach. Then do not forget to sit up, as I used to tell you, and remember not to believe what the blind guides say, for they have a new mask. They will come to you, and if your throat is a little sore - as I have no doubt it will be from what I see, for when the food acts as a cathartic, it most always makes the throat sore - they will ask if you think this sore throat is the diphtheria, looking as wise as though they had discovered the philosopher's stone. The heat goes up to the head and tickles the nose; then it condenses and runs down into the throat. Remember what I tell you about this disease, for these hypocrites or blind guides are working in the minds of the people, like the demagogues of the south, till they get up a disunion party. So keep on the lookout for these deceivers. I do not say that you will be troubled with them, but I have kept on their track for twenty years and have not the slightest confidence in anything they say. Their wisdom is of this world. I hear you now, for the first time, asking me if I believe in another world. Yes - but not in the sense of the clergy. I will try to explain my two worlds. You live in Chicago and I, in Portland; and if it will not be blasphemy to call your place heaven, we will suppose you are there in heaven and I, in Portland. Now if I am here sitting and talking with you, I can't be on earth, if your place is in heaven. So I must leave the earth and the matter and come to you. Now if I am with you - what is that that has left the body? It cannot be matter in a visible form; yet it is something. Listen, and I will tell you. You read that God made all living things that had life out of the earth; so that dead matter cannot produce living life, nor anything else. So all living life is matter, in a form or out of a form. As all matter decomposes, the dust (or odor) that arises from it was the matter that man is formed of. This was human life (or man). As the child is of living matter, not wisdom - when it grows to a certain age, it is ready to receive the breath of eternal life. I want to explain one word. I said the child was living life; that is what I mean, not eternal life. Eternal life is a wisdom just as much above human life as science is above ignorance. I think I hear you say, "What becomes of the little child, should it die before it arrived at the age?" It was made of the dust and shall return to the dust again - and the dust of life. So what have you lost by the change? Nothing, for it is still life, but sown in death or matter. A natural body, it rises a spiritual body. Why is it not seen by the natural eyes? Because the natural man cannot discern spiritual bodies. You can see a piece of silver dissolved by a galvanic battery. Is it out of existence? No. Is it its natural self? No, it is the spiritual self. Is it not as much yours as before? I do not know. Well, then reverse the poles of the battery (or your belief), and you condense the silver into a solid; all but the dross. When a child is dead, as you call it, it is dissolved, then raised into a spiritual form in the likeness of its natural body. Why? Because it is free from sin (or matter). Then you may ask, "Where is it?" With its mother's heavenly man (or wisdom) and grows in wisdom, like a plant (or child), till it is ready to receive the wisdom of eternal life. Eternal life is Christ (or science). This teaches us that matter is a mere shadow of a substance, which the natural man never saw, nor never can see; for it is not matter. It never changes. It is the same, today and forever. This substance is the essence of wisdom and is in every living form. Like a seed in the earth, it grows (or develops), either in matter or spirit, just the same. And it is as much under the control of its mother's wisdom as the gold, which is dissolved and held in solution is under that of the chemist. If the mother's wisdom is of this world, then the spiritual child is not under her earthly care. But nevertheless, it is held in the bosom of its eternal wisdom, that will cherish it, till it is developed to receive the science of eternal wisdom. Eternal wisdom and eternal life are not the same; for the latter is not wisdom, but living matter. Eternal wisdom cannot change, but acts on eternal life; changes its form and identity. Eternal wisdom teaches us that all matter is, to itself, a shadow and is no barrier to wisdom; and just as we are wise in one thing, our opinion vanishes. The shadow becomes transparent, and nothing remains but the memory of what was, but now is not. Matter is dense, darkness; spirit is light. So if you are wise, your body (or wisdom) is light; and just as you sink into error, you become dense (or dark). Therefore, let your light shine, so that when this cloud of wind comes blowing round in the form of an opinion, you may know there is something in it; only it is the noise of a demagogue. Believe them not, and you will live and flourish. If you can understand this, you get the basis of my belief. For fear I have not made my two worlds clear to your mind, I will say a few words more. The two worlds may be divided in this way - one opinions; the other, science. Opinions are matter (or the shadow of science). Both are eternal life, but one is limited in its sphere, and the other has no limits. One can be seen by the natural eyes; the other is an endless progression. One is always changing; the other is always progressing. The one is made up of reason, opinions, judgment; and the other is science and is the mystery of the latter. The natural man never will know one; for he cannot see wisdom and live. Wisdom is the natural man's death. So he looks upon it as an enemy; prays to it, pays tribute to it, as though wisdom was a man. He often uses it as a balance to weigh his ignorance in, but never to weigh the difference of his opinions. He often quotes it, talking as though it were his intimate friend, while he - to wisdom - is only known as a servant (or shadow); all of imitation. And all the above is matter. Science is another character. Science rises above all such narrow ideas. He who is scientific, in regard to health and happiness, is his own law, and is not subject to the laws of man, except as he is deceived or ignorant. For wisdom cannot let him disobey her truth, without knowing the consequences. No one, after he knows a scientific fact, can ignorantly disobey it. So that with science, the punishment is in the act. But with man's laws, it is different; the penalty may follow the act (or come after). With wisdom, the laws are science. To know science is to know wisdom - and how can a man work a mathematical problem intelligently, and at the same time, say he is not aware of the fact? It cannot be done. And so it is with every act of our lives. If we know the true meaning of every word or thought, we should know what follows, so that a person cannot, scientifically, act wrong. But being misled by public opinion, we believe a lie, so we suffer. I have gone so far that I have reduced certain states of mind to their causes; as certain as ever a chemist saw the effect of a chemical change. For instance, consumption. I know every sensation of its character, and it is as much a character as it ever had an existence. Its father (or author) is a hypocrite and deceiver. I look upon it as the most vile of all characters. It comes to a person under a most flattering form, with the kindest words, always very polite, ready to lend its aid in any way where it can get a hold. I will illustrate this prince of hypocrites. I will come in the form of a lady; for it has many faces and characters. I enter, as a neighbor, with the customary salutations, and you reply that you are very well. "Oh I am very glad, for I was expecting to find you abed, by what I heard. But you can't tell anything by gossip. You do not seem quite as well as when I saw you last?" "Oh, yes - fully as well." "Well, you know there are diseases which always flatter the patient - but you must keep good courage. I suppose you have heard of the death of Mr. ___" "No. When did he die?" "He died yesterday, but was sick a long time. Sometimes he thought he was getting better - but I knew all the time he was running down. But you must not get discouraged because you are like him, for it is not always certain that a person in the same way as you has consumption. So good morning." Here I make you nervous - and you are glad when I leave. Knowing I am not welcome in that form, I assume another character. I appear as a doctor. I sit down and count your pulse, look at your tongue, take a stick and examine the phlegm that you have raised. Then leaning back in the chair, draw a long sigh and ask if you have a pain in your left side. Now I will not say but that the doctor is honest; but if he is, it is worse for you. He is like a dog who wags his tail while you feed him, but when your back is turned, will bite you. If ignorance and superstition is to be put down by scientific facts, it is useless to mince matters. If a person is aiding an enemy, he is as guilty as the thief. I want you to know that every word that is spoken is something - either matter or wisdom. Opinions are made up of words, condensed into a belief; so if I tell you that you have congestion of the lungs, I impart my belief to you by a deposit of matter in the form of words. As you eat my belief, it goes to form a disease, like unto its author. It grows, comes forth and at last takes form as a pressure across the chest. The doctor comes to get rid of the enemy, and by his remedies, he creates another disease in the bowels. This is done by giving some little simple thing. He begins to talk about inflammation of the bowels. This frightens you. The fright contracts the stomach, so the heat cannot escape, and it presses on the aorta at the pit of the stomach. This sets your heart to beating, causes a flush in the face, which you call a rush of blood to the head. It makes you feel sleepy and weak, as though you must lie down. Then the stomach relaxes, and the heat passes down into the bowels. This causes pains. You call it "inflammation." All this is very simple, if you know what caused it. I will tell you. Your situation is the cause. At the time you were lying on the sofa at your father's house - Judge Ware's; while I was sitting by you, I was aware of your situation, almost to a certainty. I thought you knew it almost to a certainty, for you kept laughing. Don't you remember it? I guess you do. As your system changed, it must produce a chemical change in your breast, for the fluids must change. This would make you feel a little nervous, which feeling would affect your head, making you feel stupid and inclined to loll on the sofa. Finally it would take away your appetite. All of this is not anything out of the way. The sickish feelings are to act upon the stomach. This acts on the bowels, and if you will only drink water, it will produce a diarrhea, which will carry off all nervous excitement, and your health will be better than it has been for some time. This letter is an essay for you to read, so good night. Let me know how it works. P.P. Quimby -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Feb. 8th, 1861 To Mr. S.: In answer to your letter, I will try to explain the color you speak of, if you have forgotten, so that you will not forget it. Give me your attention, while I explain. You know I told you about your stooping over. This stooping is caused by excitement affecting the head. This contracts the stomach, causes an irritation, sending the heat to the head. This heat excites the glands about the nose; it runs down the throat, and this is all there is about it. It will affect you sometimes when you are a little excited, and you will take it for a cold. Remember how I explained to you about standing straight. Just put your hands on your hips, then bend forward and back. This relaxes the muscles around the waist at the pit of the stomach. This takes away the pressure from the nerves of the stomach and allays the irritation. Now follow this, and sit down, and I will work upon your stomach two or three times in three or four days. It will affect your bowels and help your color. Tell your wife to sit down, and give her attention, and I will affect her in the same way. Please take a little water when you are sitting, say about 9 o'clock in the evening. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Feb. 8th, 1861 To Miss S., Hill, N.H.: Your letter was received, and I was sorry to learn that you thought you took cold. Perhaps you did, but you know all of my patients have to go through the fiery furnace to cleanse them of the dross of this sinful world; made so by the opinions of the blind guides. Remember that passage where it says, "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth." As truth is our friend, it rids us of our errors, and if we know its voice, we should not fear, but receive it with joy. For although it may seem a hard master, nevertheless, it will work out for you a more perfect health and happiness than this world of error ever could. So listen to it, and I will try to set all things right. Of course you get very tired, and this would cause the heat to affect the surface, as your head was affected. The heat would affect the fluids, and when the heat came in contact with the cold, it would chill the surface. This change you call a “cold." But the same would come about in another way. Every word I said to you is like yeast. This went into your system like food and came in contact with the food of your old bread (or belief). Mine was like a purgative and acted like an emetic on your mind, so that it would keep up a war with your devils; and they will not leave a person, when they have so good a hold as they have on you, without making some resistance. But keep up good courage, and I will drive them all out, so that you may once more rejoice in that truth which will free you from your tormentors (or disease). If you will sit down and read this letter, take a tumbler of water and think of what I say, and drink and swallow now and then. I will make you sit up, so you will feel better. You must be just about as long as you used to be in Portland. Try this every night, about nine o'clock. This is the time I shall be with Mr. and Mrs. S. You know that where two or three are gathered together in the name of this truth, there it will be in your midst and help you. So try it, and see if it does help you. If you do, let me know. Hoping this letter will be of some comfort to you and the rest, I remain your true friend and protector till you are well - if I have the science to cure you. So I leave you for the present and attend to others. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Feb. 9th, 1861 To Mr. S.: Your wife's letter was received, and I was glad to learn you were all so much better. But your wife says you still cough; this is necessary for your cure, for you have no other way to get rid of that heat in the head, called catarrh. Now this heat seems to be a mystery to everyone; everybody acknowledges it and tries to account for it. Some call it nervous, but when asked to explain that, they fly to some other error. You know I told you that mind was spiritual matter. In order to illustrate my meaning, so you will understand it, I will make use of an illustration that Jesus used. He said, when the skies are red, you know it will be fair weather. Now thought is something, and this acts in space. For instance, the body is nothing but a dense shadow, condensed into what is called “matter” (or ignorance of God or wisdom). God or (wisdom) is all light. Your identity acts in these two elements - light and darkness; so that all impressions are made in this darkness (or ignorance), and as the light springs up, the darkness disappears. One of these elements is governed by wisdom; the other, by error - and as all belief is in this world of darkness, the truth comes in and explains the error. This rarefies the darkness, and the light takes its place. Now as this darkness is all the time varying, like the clouds, it is necessary that man should be posted up about it, as he would about the weather. For the wisdom of man has got so far from the truth, that even the weather is our enemy; so that we step out as though we were liable to be caught by a cold; and if we are - then comes the penalty. All this error arises from ignorance. So to keep clear of error is to know who he is, how he gets hold of us, and how we shall know when he is coming. To make you understand, I must come to you in some way, in the form of a belief. So I will tell you a story of someone who died of bronchitis. You listen (or eat) this belief (or wisdom), as you would eat your meals. It sets rather hard upon your stomach; this disturbs the error (or your body), and a cloud appears in the sky. You cannot see the storm, but you can see it looks dark. In this cloud (or belief), you prophesy rain (or a storm). So in your belief, you foresee evils; the elements of the body of your belief are shaken; the earth is lit up by the fire of your error; the heat rises; the heaven (or mind) grows dark; the heat moves, like the roaring of thunder; the lightning (or hot flashes) shoot to all parts of the solar system of your belief. At last the winds (or chills) strike the earth (or surface of the body); a cold, clammy sensation passes over you. This changes the heat into a sort of watery substance, which works its way to the channels and pours to the head and stomach. Now listen, and you will hear a voice in the clouds of error saying, “The truth hath prevailed to open the pores, and let nature rid itself of the evil I loaded you down with, in a belief.” This is the way God (or wisdom) takes to get rid of a false belief. The belief is made in the heavens (or your mind); it then becomes more and more condensed, till it takes the form of matter. Then wisdom dissolves it, and it passes through the pores; and the effort of coughing is one of truth's servants, not error's; error would try to make you look upon it as an enemy. Remember, it is for your good, till the storm is over (or the error is destroyed). So hoping that you may soon rid yourself of all worldly opinions and stand firm in the truth that will set you free, I remain your friend and protector, till the storm is over, and the waters of your belief are still. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Feb. 10, 1861 Miss Elizabeth Brackett: Owing to a press of business, your letter of Jan. 10th has not been answered, but I have made you a number of calls and find you better, and I shall visit you at times, till you get over your troubles. Sometime I may explain to you how you became frightened, but as it will not alter the case now, it will need no explanation. Perhaps you will remember it yourself. I feel as though you would get well, so let me know how you are getting along. I am getting quite interested in your case and want to know if I understand it. I believe that if persons believe in the truth, it will teach them that, although they may be absent from one another in the body, yet they may be present and feel each other's feelings. So if you will seat yourself in a chair on Thursday eve at nine o'clock, I will sit down by you and make you feel sleepy; cause the heat to pass down from your face and make you feel very well. If you experience any sensation, let me know; and if you remember how you feel at this time - 9 o'clock, Sunday eve - please name it. It seems as though you were enjoying yourself, so I will bid you good night. P.P. Quimby -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Feb. 14th, 1861 To Mrs. H. Merrill: Owing to a press of business, your letter has remained unanswered, but when I receive a letter, I always feel as though I was with the patient, giving them advice. Sometimes I am in doubt whether I see or know who they are, from the fact that so many come to me when I put myself in communication with the sick. I make a sort of general visit, as I used to when you were all in my office; but if I feel certain of one, I make that one a text to preach from. So I believe that if you can make yourself known to me by your faith, I can feel you. Since I commenced writing, you have come up before me, so that I now recall you perfectly well, and I will give my attention to you. I have often seen you and used my arguments to convince you of this great truth. When I say this truth, I mean this light that lighteth everyone that understands it. When I first sat by you, my desire to see you lights up my mind like a lamp; and as the light expands, my senses, being attached to the light - each particle of light contains all the elements of the whole. So when the light is strong enough to see your light in your darkness (or doubts), then I come in harmony with your light and dissipate your error and bring your light out of your darkness. Then I try to associate you with matter as a substance that is separate and apart from your light (or senses). Man, of himself, is in matter. Science is out of matter. Disease is matter; health is out of matter; so that you, i.e., science, cannot receive matter into your science; but your science can separate itself from matter. So do not try to get out of your trouble and believe in the cause, for you cannot serve God and man (or science and error). The opinion is the matter; and the aches and pains are what follows your embracing it. So to say you do not believe in disease and yet complain that you have one is like saying that you do not believe in ghosts and telling the largest ghost story, declaring it is true. P.P. Quimby -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, Feb. 23, 1861 To Mrs. Smith: I was sorry to hear by your letter that your husband was more feeble. There is a time when all things must fail, and it seems as though this would be so, in the case of your husband; but I hope not. I have tried all in my power to carry him through that place, and if he had sunk when he first came to Portland, I should not have been surprised. Seeing him so nervous and in so critical a condition kept me in a very unpleasant situation. To voice my true feelings, he would have failed at once. So as a last resort, I was obliged to drive from myself all doubts of his not getting worse and see if I could produce any effect. As this seemed to take a favorable turn, I never had a time that I dared to think otherwise than that he would get well. So things went on; doubts and fears on one side, and a powerful effort on my part to keep him up, till I felt it would be best for him and you that he should return. If his strength was from me, he must fail at last; but if he could rally of himself, then I felt as though, between us both, he might come up. It is very unpleasant to be placed in such a situation. Knowing how little of a sea or swell it takes to upset our barque, I have to sit and paddle along in breathless silence, lest some little billow may upset all my labors. This was the way in your husband's case. If he had been at home where all things could have been otherwise, I should not have had so many fears; but we must take the world as we find it, and make the best of it. Now as I sit here writing, I cannot leave the helm of his mind to even indulge in the idea of losing him; nor shall I, till that enemy of life tears him from my grasp. If this sets in, I shall have some more hope. I shall visit often and use my best effort for his recovery. So I cannot say anything different from what I want should take place. You, as I have always said, can have your own opinion. Hoping next time I hear, I shall receive more favorable accounts, I remain, Yours, etc. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Feb. 23, 1861 To Mrs. Cole: Your letter of the 12th was received just as I was leaving for Belfast, and upon my return, I was sick, so this is the first time I have had to reply. What you say about your child must take place, for you remember what I told you about his chest, how full it was. This fullness was a deposit of heat that forced itself through the lungs and pores to the surface and affected the muscles around the chest. This made him nervous and caused the heat to go to his head, as it did in your case; this heat was the cause of your color and his asthma. Now when this passes down, it will condense into water and pass off in a diarrhea. So although it may seem as though your child was worse, it seems to me that he ought to get well; for he could never recover while this heat went to his head. Let him drink cold water, and I cannot help feeling that a change must take place before long. You know how it was with you. To reverse the action is not a very easy task, but if you wait patiently, I can't help thinking it will take place. I remember the case well and shall at intervals use my power to correct the error. Hoping you may see some favorable effect soon, I remain, etc. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- March 3rd, 1861 To Miss G.: I will now sit down and put on paper what I did at the time I received your letter. I went to you at that time and have visited you at times ever since. I wish now to let you know that I am still with you, sitting by you while in your bed, encouraging you to keep up good spirits, and all will go right. If you cough, it is to get rid of the heat that has gone to your head, and when it condenses, it runs down into the throat, and you cough it up. P.P.Q. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, March 3rd, 1861 To Mrs. L.A. Burns, I went to your relief on reading your letter and have visited you at intervals ever since. At this time, I am sitting, working on your stomach to make the heat pass down; and if you are affected, you must lay it to me. The pain you have in the bowels is all right; it shows that there is an action; it will relieve the left side. Your head, I shall give a good rubbing, especially the back part of it. It won't bother you to comb your hair, as it is short. I shall remember you and make you frequent calls. P.P. Quimby -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland, March 3rd, 1861 |