Health

“ A knowledge of the duties which we owe to society, resulting from the relation in which we stand to one another, is an object of the next importance. After this, whatever relates to the welfare of the body deserves our most immediate concern.—Life, when burdened with disease, is but a complication of woes. Health is that choice seasoning which gives a relish to all our enjoyments. As the end of medical science is to restore and preserve health, the welfare of every individual, of whatever age or sex, is concerned in the improvement of it amongst them. ”

“ I name these facts to show that disease has a mental origin, — that faith in rules of health or in drugs begets and fosters disease, by attracting the mind to the subject of sickness, by exciting fear of it, and by dosing the body in order to avoid it. ”

“ Well, said I, in the first place, I would make good health catching instead of disease. ”

“ "But what avail the largest Gifts of Heaven,
"When sickening Health and Spirits go amiss?
"How tasteless then Whatever can be given?
"Health is the vital Principle of Bliss,
"And Exercise of Health. ”

“ The hygienic and medical arts assume, the one that the preservation of health, the other that the cure of disease, are fitting and desirable ends. These are not propositions of science. Propositions of science assert a matter of fact—an existence, a co-existence, a succession, or a resemblance. ”

“ But in proportion as we improve our health do we thereby increase life itself. Viewed in any and every aspect, health is life and life is health. By as much therefore as life is valuable should health be preserved if good and restored if feeble.
Health is the great seasoner or relish of all our blessings; nor is it possible to enjoy the latter except by means of the former: without health what can we be? What can we do?—What can we enjoy? For other things being equal, our capabilities of accomplishing and [139] enjoying are proportioned to our health and diminished by disease. ”

“ I have not only found good health, but perfect health; I have found a new state of being, a new potentiality of life; a sense of lightness and cleanness and joyfulness, such as I did not know could exist in the human body. ”

“ But while this Part of Education is justly commended as conducive to Health, and pleasing to behold, what shall we say of those, who under the Appearance of increasing their Beauty destroy it; and who, while aiming at Health, often deprive themselves of Life. I have shewn that bodily Defects are more or less the Lot of all Mankind; but where Judgment free from Error can rectify them, we have Power to do it. If we can find a Cure for Diseases born with us, we certainly may and ought; if we can increase our Strength, and add Graces to Nature, we undoubtedly should ”

“ But the immense strides made, in recent years, in every branch of modern science, has led the thinking public to consider such a condition of things as an outrageous libel on the God of Nature, and to question whether there can be such a thing as an incurable disease.
Health is such an inestimable blessing, that the individual who shall devise means to preserve it, or to restore it, when lost, is deserving of all the thanks and honors that a grateful community can bestow. ”

“ When treating the sick, first make your mental plea in behalf of harmony, — that health is the everlasting fact, and sickness the opposite falsity. Then realize the absence of disease, since Science denies its presence, and the senses will say Amen! Stick to the Truth of Being, in contradistinction to the error that Life, Substance, or Intelligence can be in matter. Plead with an honest conviction of Truth, and a clear perception of the unchanging, unerring, and certain effect of Science. Then, if your morals are half equal to the virtue of your plea, you will heal the sick. ”

“ Reading Science and Health has restored the sick to health; but the task of learning thoroughly the Science of Mind-healing and demonstrating it understandingly had better be undertaken in health than sickness. ”

“ It is not our concern to discuss in this connection questions of diet, sanitation, hygiene, exercise and similar aids to the promotion of health. Their value is of the first order and may not be ignored or discounted. But just now we are concerned with another part of human nature which has much to do in determining our condition of body—the sense which furnishes us with ideals. ”

“ To PRESERVE HEALTH,–to guard against disease, should be the object, on the score of economy, comfort, and safety; and this may be accomplished in all cases, unless under rare and very peculiar circumstances of exposure. A uniform state of health may be maintained until old age, by a careful observance of the rules already set forth. ”

“ Health consists in the vigorous and normal or constitutional action of all the physical organs and functions. Life consists in precisely the same action: in proportion to the vigor of this action is the amount of both health and life, but in proportion as the physical functions are enfeebled or diseased, is health enfeebled and life diminished. ”

“ Before, Physicians attempt to cure disease, they should know now to sustain normal health, and equally comprehend what disease is. Perfect health signifies Physiology, but comparative health is bordering on Pathology or disease. Perfect health is that condition of the human system in which every organ, gland and fibre is sound and fully developed, and each performs its duty, and no more nor less. ”

“ If the people would only read my books on physiology and hygiene, and learn something of the nature and laws of their own physical organization, and what will promote the health, growth and action of all its parts, and let that ‘old fable’ alone, they would be healthier, happier and better off every way. ”

“ But — pace the doctors and all their materialistic followers — I question very much whether bodily health, the mere absence of physical disease, be nearly as indispensable a condition of happiness, as certain peculiarities of the mental and moral constitution. ”

“ Death may and should be risked, the slow but certain undermining of the physical health may be laudably embarked on, if only the mind and character are not damaged, and if the end to be attained is found to be necessary or seriously helpful, and unattainable by other means.” [11]
Secondly, special and mystical means of promoting or regaining health must have as a background the accumulated knowledge and scientific skill of the day. ”

“ Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; ”

“ If you value your health, you will avoid those knaves who unblushingly tell you 'That they only can cure you, and that their one kind of medicine is all that is necessary for disease in all its forms.' Persons whose health has been ruined by these egotists call upon me daily. ”

“ I have set forth Christian Science, and its application to the treatment of disease, only as I have discovered them. I have demonstrated the effects of Truth on the health, longevity, and morals of men, through Mind, I have found nothing in ancient or in modern systems, on which to found my own, except the teachings and demonstrations of our great Master, and the lives of prophets and apostles. ”

“ We know from observation that proper clothing, wholesome food, good hygienic surroundings, avoidance of over fatigue and of depressing psychic impressions, and that physical care of the body, all contribute toward maintaining health as the reverse conditions predispose to establishing disease. ”

“ As the familiar saying goes, 'Prevention is better than cure.' It is far easier and safer to prevent illness by the observance of the laws of health than to set about curing the illness which has been brought on by our own ignorance and carelessness. ”

“ The best local and general treatment that can be adopted, therefore, will be that which is calculated to fortify and invigorate the general health. Every 58thing in diet, exercise, bathing, the daily occupation, and the moral and mental habits of the individual, should be, as far as possible, regulated according to physiological principles, and the laws of health. ”

“ “True and constant vigour of body is the effect of health, which is much better preserved with watery, herbaceous, frugal, and tender food, than with vinous, abundant, hard, and gross flesh ”

“ What enlightened eye therefore cannot discern, yet further, that bodily health was designed by the ALMIGHTY to call man to the investigation and consideration of its primary and supreme cause, and thus to the humble and grateful acknowledgment of the astonishing favours continually dispensed to him from above, by the operation of that cause? ”

“ The great need of the present day is adequate instruction in physiology and hygiene, that humanity may not only know how to secure the restoration of health, when lost, but by attention to physiological and sanitary laws may retain good health indefinitely. The body is the theatre of constant change. ”

“ Consider the advance which has taken place in our knowledge relating to those affections which owe their birth to a want of appreciation of those hygienic principles so necessary to the perfect health of a community ”

“ To preserve the body in health is an easy matter, if the individual will only bring the same thoughtful intelligence to bear on the subject that he does on the ordinary affairs of life. The natural agencies for the preservation of health are, as previously stated, Pure Water, Sunlight, Fresh Air, Diet and Exercise. ”

“ Only the healthy should keep these rules. Whoever is ill or a sufferer from any injuries, or has lost his health through bad habits, for him there are special rules for each disease, only to be found [Pg 105] in the medical books. Let it be remembered that every change in a life habit is the beginning of an ailment.
21. If no physician can be secured, then ailing people may use these rules as well as the healthy.
These rules are, of course, full of the common sense of medicine that endures at all times. ”

“ Health fortified by such conditions as the organism depends upon for its fabrication and maintenance opposes itself to all exciting causes of disease by the relative integrity, strength and vigor of all the organs and functions of the body. ”

“ Such being the case, we have sought rather to present motives for the preservation of health, than rules for attaining the so much desired object. Where a disposition to take proper care of the health exists, a knowledge of the means necessary to be used are easily attained. ”

“ Every person should be acquainted with the organization, structure, and functions of his own body—the house in which he lives: he should know the conditions of health, and the causes of the numerous diseases that flesh is heir to, in order to avoid them, prolong his life, and multiply his means of usefulness. ”

“ We have reference merely to that common-sense hygiene which has become more or less a part of modern existence, and the daily practise of which, while firmly establishing the health, has at the same time an undoubted reflex action upon the mind. ”

“ The intuitive old guys who coined language saw that plainly enough when they connected the idea with health. Fundamentally health is salvation and salvation is health—only perfect health, health not only of the body, but of the mind. Did it ever strike you that health and holiness and wholeness are all one word? ”

“ Health is represented in the natural or standard condition of the living body. It is not easy to express that condition in a few words, nor is it necessary. My wish is to be intelligible rather than scholastic, and I should puzzle myself as well as you, were I to attempt to lay down a strict and scientific definition of what is meant by the term ‘health.’ It is sufficient for our purpose to say that it implies freedom from pain and sickness ”

“ This is just one little instance of the good that comes from reading Science and Health.
T. W. H.
Opinions of the Press
This is, perhaps, the most remarkable book on health, in some respects, which has appeared in this country. The author evidently discards physiology, hygiene, mesmerism, magnetism, and every form of medication, bathing, dieting, etc., — all go by the board; no medicine, manipulation, or external applications are permitted; everything is done through the mind. ”

“ The soil of disease is mortal mind, and you have a crop abundant or scanty, according to the seedlings in that soil, by whomsoever placed there.
Anatomy, physiology, treatises on health, — sustained by what is termed material law, — are the husbandmen of sickness and disease. It is proverbial that as long as you read medical works you will be sick. ”

“ Now, health being dependent upon the due and regular performance of the vital functions by the several physiological organs of the body, any excessive development of these organs, or undue manifestation of force on their part, must, of necessity, be contrary to the general health of the body, and be productive of disease and pain. ”

“ The laws of health are as simple as the elements of arithmetic or geometry. It is required only that a man should open his eyes to perceive the three great forces which support health.
They are these: 1. The blood requires exercise: 2. The great central organ of the stomach requires adaptation of diet: 3. The nervous system requires regularity of sleep. In those three functions of sleep, diet, exercise, is contained the whole economy of health. ”

“ If the science of being was familiar to them as the edicts of the schools, blessings numberless would flow from such high sources. In every case of disease, or of health, to heal the one or preserve the other, the science of Life is all that is necessary. ”

“ The General Aim of Hygiene.—There are many so-called laws of health, and for these laws it is essential in the management of the body to find a common basis. This basic law, suggested by the nature of the body and conditions that affect its well-being, may be termed the Law of Harmony: The mode of living must harmonize with the plan of the body. To live properly one must supply the conditions which his body, on account of its nature and plan, requires. ”

“ To achieve good health, we will have to begin with basic preventive medicine. Simple common sense just might be the solution. For example, well-fed babies will become healthy, intelligent adults. Won't you care? ”

“ They will teach how to get dependable health, how to remain well in spite of climatic conditions, bacteria and other factors that are given as causes of disease, and how to more than double the ordinary span of life.
Good health and long life result in better work, increased earning capacity and efficiency of body and mind, greater understanding, and more enjoyment of life. It gives time to cultivate wisdom. ”