How The Mind Works
	The Power Of Mind Over Body <  Previous Contents Next  >

It is through the law of vibration that the mind exercises its power over the body. And through this law every action of the mind produces a chemical effect in the body, that is, an effect that actually takes place in the substance of the physical form. The process of this law is readily understood when we find that every mental action is a vibration, and passes through every atom in the body, modifying both the general conditions and the chemical conditions of every group of cells.

A chemical change in the body is produced by a change in the vibrations of the different elements of the body because every element is what it is by virtue of the rate of vibrations of its atoms. Everything in the universe is what it is because of its rate of vibration; therefore, anything may be changed in nature and quality by changing the rate of its vibrations.

When we change the vibrations of ice it becomes water. When we change the vibrations of water it becomes steam. When we change the vibrations of ordinary earth in one or more ways it becomes green grass, roses, trees or waving fields of grain, depending upon the changes that are made. Nature is constantly changing the vibrations of her elements thus producing all sorts of forms, colors and appearances.

This being true the problem is to use this power intelligently and thus not only secure desirable results, or results as desired, but also to secure superior results to anything we have secured before.

When we analyze this law of vibration we find that every unpleasant condition that man has felt in his body has come from a false change in the vibrations of some of the elements in his body. And we also find that every agreeable condition has come from a true change in those vibrations, that is, a change towards the better. Here we should remember that every change in the vibrations of the human system that takes us down, so to speak into the lesser grade is a false change and will produce unnatural or detrimental effects, while every change that is an ascending change in the scale is beneficial.

To apply this law intelligently it is necessary to know what chemical changes each particular mental action has the power to produce, and also how we may so regulate mental actions that all changes in the vibrations of our system may be changes along the line of the ascending scale. This, however, leads us into a vast and most fascinating subject; but on account of its vastness we can only mention it here, which is all that is necessary in this connection, as our object for the present is simply to give the reason why every mental action produces a chemical change in the body.

Since every element in the body is what it is because it vibrates at a certain rate; since every mental action is a vibration; since every vibration that comes from an inner plane can modify vibrations that act upon an outer plane; and since all vibrations are within the physical plane of action, we understand perfectly why every mental action will tend to produce a chemical change in the body. Although it is also true that two different grades of vibration on the same plane, or in the same sphere of action, may modify each other, still they do so only when the one is much stronger than the other.

All mental vibrations act more deeply in chemical life than the physical vibrations; therefore the former -can entirely change the latter, no matter how strong the latter may seem to be. And this is how the mind exercises power over the body. Some mental vibrations, however, are almost as near to the surface as the physical ones and for that reason produce but slight changes, changes that are sometimes imperceptible.

Knowing this we understand why the power of mind over body becomes greater in proportion to the depth of consciousness and feeling that we enter into during any process of thought.

Therefore when we promote such changes in the body as we may desire or decide upon we must cultivate deeper consciousness, or what may be called subjective consciousness. This is extremely important because we can eliminate practically any physical disease or undesired physical condition by producing the necessary chemical change in those physical elements where that particular condition resides at the time. This is how medicine aims to cure and it does cure whenever it produces the necessary chemical change. But it fails so frequently in this respect that it cannot be depended upon under all circumstances.

Mental vibrations, however, when deep or subjective can in every case produce the necessary chemical change in the elements concerned. And the desired vibrations are invariably produced by positive, constructive and wholesome mental actions, provided those actions are deeply felt. Thus we realize that the power of mind acting through the law of vibration can, by changing or modifying the vibrations of the different elements in the body, produce almost any change desired in the physical conditions of the body.

What we wish to emphasize in this connection are the facts that every mental action is a vibration; that it permeates every atom of the body; that it comes up from the deeper chemical life, thereby working beneath the elements and forces of the physical body; and that according to a chemical law can modify and change the vibrations of those elements and forces to almost any extent within the sphere of natural law.

To modify the vibrations of the physical elements is to produce a chemical change in the body. But whether this change will be desirable or undesirable depends upon the nature of the mental action that produces the change. Therefore by entertaining and perpetuating only such mental actions as tend to produce desirable changes, or the changes we want in the body, we can secure practically any physical change desired; and we may thereby exercise the power of mind over body to an extent that will have practically no limitation within the natural workings of the human domain.