Soil&Health: 3rd Chapter of Nature Cure

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Nature Cure

Philosophy & Practice Based on the

Unity of Disease & Cure

by Henry Lindlahr, M.D.

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020123lindlahr/020123to

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Chapter III

 

What Is Life?

 

 

In our study of the cause and character of disease we must endeavor

to begin at the beginning, and that is with LIFE itself, for the

processes of health, disease and cure are manifestations of that

which we call life, vitality, life elements, etc.

 

While endeavoring to fathom the mystery of life we soon realize,

however, that we are dealing with an ultimate which no human mind is

capable of solving or explaining. We can study and understand life

only in its manifestations, not in its origin and real essence.

 

There are two prevalent, but widely differing, conceptions of the

nature of life or vital force: the material and the vital.

 

The former looks upon life or vital force with all its physical,

mental and psychical phenomena as manifestations of the electric,

magnetic and chemical activities of the physical-material elements

composing the human organism. From this viewpoint, life is a sort of

spontaneous combustion, or, as one scientist expressed it, a

succession of fermentations.

 

This materialistic conception of life, however, has already become

obsolete among the more advanced biologists as a result of the

wonderful discoveries of modern science, which are fast bridging the

chasm between the material and the spiritual realms of being.

 

But medical science, as taught in the regular schools, is still

dominated by the old, crude, mechanical conception of vital force

and this, as we shall see, accounts for some of its gravest errors

of theory and of practice.

 

The vital conception of life, on the other hand, regards it as the

primary force of all forces, coming from the great central source of

all power.

 

This force, which permeates, heats and animates the entire created

universe, is the expression of the divine will, the " logos, "

the " word " of the great creative intelligence. It is this divine

energy which sets in motion the whirls in the ether, the electric

corpuscles and ions that make up the different atoms and elements of

matter.

 

These corpuscles and ions are positive and negative forms of

electricity. Electricity is a form of energy. It is intelligent

energy; otherwise it could not move with that same wonderful

precision in the electrons of the atoms as in the suns and planets

of the sidereal universe.

 

This intelligent energy can have but one source: the will and the

intelligence of the Creator; as Swedenborg expresses it, " the great

central sun of the universe. "

 

If this supreme intelligence should withdraw its energy, the

electrical charges (forms of energy) and with it the atoms,

elements, and the entire material universe would disappear in the

flash of a moment.

 

From this it appears that crude matter, instead of being the

source of life and of all its complicated mental and spiritual

phenomena (which assumption, on the face of it, is absurd), is only

an expression of the Life Force, itself a manifestation of the great

creative intelligence which some call God, others Nature, the

Oversoul, Brahma, Prana, etc., each one according to his best

understanding.

 

It is this supreme power and intelligence, acting in and through

every atom, molecule and cell in the human body, which is the true

healer, the vis medicatrix naturæ, which always endeavors to repair,

to heal and to restore the perfect type. All that the physician can

do is to remove obstructions and to establish normal conditions

within and around the patient, so that the healer within can do his

work to the best advantage.

 

Here the Christian Scientist will say: " That is exactly what we

claim. All is God, all is mind! There is no matter! Our attitude

toward disease is based on these facts. "

 

Well, what of it, Brother Scientist? Suppose, in the final

analysis, matter is nothing but vibration, an expression of Divine

Mind and Will. That, for all practical purposes, does not justify me

to deny and to ignore its reality. Because I have an " all-mind "

body, is it advisable for me to place myself in the way of an " all-

mind " locomotive moving at the rate of sixty miles an hour?

 

The question is not what matter is in the final analysis, but how

matter affects us. We have to take it and treat it as we find it. We

must be as obedient to the laws of matter as to those of the higher

planes of being.

 

 

Life Is Vibratory

 

In the final analysis, all things in Nature, from a fleeti g

thought or emotion to the hardest piece of diamond or platinum, are

modes of motion or vibration. A few years ago physical science

assumed that an atom was the smallest imaginable part of a given

element of matter; that although infinitesimally small, it still

represented solid matter. Now, in the light of better evidence, we

have good reason to believe that there is no such thing as solid

matter: that every atom is made up of charges of negative and

positive electricity acting in and upon an omnipresent ether; that

the difference between an atom of iron and of hydrogen or any other

element consists solely in the number of electrical charges or

corpuscles it contains, and on the velocity with which these vibrate

around one another.

 

Thus the atom, which was thought to be the ultimate particle of

solid matter, is found to be a little universe in itself in which

corpuscles of electricity rotate or vibrate around one another like

the suns and planets in the sidereal universe. This explains what we

mean when we say life and matter are vibratory.

 

As early as 1863 John Newlands discovered that when he arranged

the elements of matter in the order of their atomic weight, they

displayed the same relationship to one another as do the tones in

the musical scale. Thus modern chemistry demonstrates the verity of

the music of the spheres--another visionary concept of ancient

mysticism. The individual atoms in themselves, as well as all the

atoms of matter in their relationship to one another, are

constructed and arranged in exact correspondence with the laws of

harmony. Therefore the entire sidereal universe is built on the laws

of music.

 

That which is orderly, lawful, good, beautiful, natural, healthy,

vibrates in unison with the harmonics of this great " Diapason of

Nature " ; in other words, it is in alignment with the constructive

principle in Nature.

 

That which is disorderly, abnormal, ugly, unnatural, unhealthy,

vibrates in discord with Nature's harmonics. It is in alignment with

the destructive principle in Nature.

 

What we call " Inanimate Nature " is beautiful and orderly because

it plays in tune with the score of the Symphony of Life. Man alone

can play out of tune. This is his privilege, if he so chooses, by

virtue of his freedom of choice and action.

 

We can now better understand the definitions of health and of

disease, given in Chapter Two, " Catechism of Nature Cure " as follows:

 

" Health is normal and harmonious vibration of the elements and

forces composing the human entity on the physical, mental, moral and

spiritual planes of being, in conformity with the constructive

principle of Nature applied to individual life. "

 

" Disease is abnormal or inharmonious vibration of the elements and

forces composing the human entity on one or more planes of being, in

conformity with the destructive principle of Nature applied to

individual life. "

 

The question naturally arising here is, " Normal or abnormal

vibration with what? " The answer is that the vibratory conditions of

the organism must be in harmony with Nature's established harmonic

relations in the physical, mental, moral, spiritual and psychical

realms of human life and action.

 

 

What Is an Established Harmonic Relation?

 

Let us see whether we cannot make this clear by a simile. If a

watch is in good condition, in harmonious vibration, its movement is

so adjusted that it coincides exactly, in point of time, with the

rotations of our earth around its axis. The established, regular

movement of the earth forms the basis of the established harmonic

relationship between the vibrations of a normal, healthy timepiece

and the revolutions of our planet. The watch has to vibrate in

unison with the harmonics of the planetary universe in order to be

normal, or in harmony.

 

In like manner, everything that is normal, natural, healthy, good,

beautiful must vibrate in unison with its correlated harmonics in

Nature.

 

 

Obedience the Only Salvation

 

Orthodox medical science attributes disease largely to accidental

causes: to chance infection by disease taints, germs or parasites;

to drafts, chills, wet feet, etc.

 

The religiously inclined frequently attribute disease and other

tribulations to the arbitrary rulings of an inscrutable Providence.

 

Christian Scientists tell us that sin, suffering, disease and all

other kinds of evil are only errors of mortal mind, or the products

of diseased imagination (though this in itself admits the existence

of something abnormal or diseased).

 

Nature Cure philosophy presents a rational concept of evil, its

cause and purpose, namely: that it is brought on by violation of

Nature's Laws; that it is corrective in its purpose; that it can be

overcome only by compliance with the law. There is no suffering,

disease or evil of any kind anywhere unless the law has been

transgressed somewhere by someone.

 

These transgressions of the law may be due to ignorance, to

indifference or to wilfulness and viciousness. The effects will

always be commensurate with the causes.

 

The science of natural living and healing shows clearly that what

we call disease is primarily Nature's effort to eliminate morbid

matter and to restore the normal functions of the body; that the

processes of disease are just as orderly in their way as everything

else in Nature; that we must not check or suppress them, but

cooperate with them. Thus we learn, slowly and laboriously, the all-

important lesson that " obedience to the law " is the only means of

prevention of disease, and the only cure.

 

The Fundamental Law of Cure, the Law of Action and Reaction, and

the Law of Crises, as revealed by the Nature Cure philosophy,

impress upon us the truth that there is nothing accidental or

arbitrary in the processes of health, disease and cure; that every

changing condition is either in harmony or in discord with the laws

of our being; that only by complete surrender and obedience to the

law can we attain and maintain perfect physical health.

 

 

Self-Control, the Master's Key

 

Thus Nature Cure brings home to us constantly and forcibly the

inexorable facts of natural law and the necessity of compliance with

the law. Herein lies its great educational value to the individual

and to the race. The man who has learned to master his habits and

his appetites so as to conform to Nature's Laws on the physical

plane, and who has thereby regained his bodily health, realizes that

personal effort and self-control are the Master's Key to all further

development on the mental and spiritual planes of being as well;

that self-mastery and unremitting and unselfish personal effort are

the only means of self-completion, of individual and social

salvation.

 

The naturist who has regained health and strength through

obedience to the laws of his being, enjoys a measure of self-

content, gladness of soul and enthusiasm which cannot be explained

by the mere possession of physical health. These highest and purest

attainments of the human soul are not the results of mere physical

well-being, but of the peace and harmony which come only from

obedience to the law. Such is the peace which passeth understanding.