Healing at a Distance Ernest Holmes
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HEALING AT A DISTANCE written by Ernest Holmes for The Uplift Magazine In the realm of spirit, time and space do not exist. Yesterday, today, and forever are the Eternal Now. Age cannot be attributed to God, he lives from eternity to eternity and his "years" are ever the same. So the real man, the ego, the inner life which bears the divine likeness is ageless, and in the infinite reaches of eternity will bear no relation to time. Nor is there the element of distance in the spirit realm. The Spirit which fills the interspaces of the universe and thrills through all things, does not cognize space. The thought of God does not begin at one point and pass hence to another. The thought is immediate. The Spirit has often been symbolized by a winged dove and the messenger of God, as a flying angel but in truth, the departure and the arrival of God's thought are always at the same point. Now in healing, we work entirely through the medium of the spiritual nature. In the realm of spirit, one mind does not lie at a distance from some other mind. Entering the realm of the spirit, one lays aside distances. For example, love is as real and as vital when two friends are far apart as when they are near. "Absent in the body but present in the spirit," expresses it. Love unites though hearts be far apart. Or we may find an illustration in prayer. It has been long recognized in the church that prayer leaps at once from the petitioner to its object. I can pray for my friend half way around the globe; the effect of the prayer is immediate. Innumerable instances are on record showing that the time of the prayer and its answer were identical, although the parties were far apart. Acting upon this principle, in common with untold others we have healed many "afar off yet near at hand."
AN ILLUSTRATION Illustrative of my experience in healing at a distance, is the case of a woman living some fifty or sixty miles from my home. I received a telephone message one evening from a mutual friend, who told me about her condition. He said she had lost control of the voluntary muscles of the throat and was unable to swallow anything. Her physician declared that he could do nothing for her and commended that she try this kind of help as a last resort. I enquired her name and other facts and said, "She will be well in the morning." The next morning I received another telephone message stating that she had come down to breakfast and had eaten toast and had drunk her coffee. I continued treating her for some time and although she is eighty years of age, she has shown remarkable improvement in general health and mental condition.
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Chapter II, NO REAL "DISTANCE" IN SPIRIT One realizes that the "healer" is not the source but the channel, not the light but the window, will readily realize that it is no more difficult for him to release the laws of healing at a distance than immediately at hand. If we are to convey a message by our own voice, we soon reach the limitation in the distance sound will carry. But if we turn to the laws of electricity we find that it is as easy for us to transmit a message for a hundred miles as it is for a hundred feet. We have enlarged the medium of our communication, we have made use of a higher law of vibration. By infinitely enlarging this concept we get some idea of the significance of the process by which healing is secured at a distance. Were we dependent upon our own powers we would find an immediate limitation. Like Jesus, we must say, "I can of myself do nothing. It is my Father who doeth the work." Suppose that by magnetic power we were to attempt to heal. The patient in our immediate presence would doubtless benefit somewhat but we would have a very narrow circle of power. But let us realize that the healer is not himself the source. He is simply putting into operation laws which will operate upon the patient. His thought is like the touch of the wireless operator at the keys; he releases forces which themselves act to transmit the message. The healer releases not electric but spiritual power. As the electric vibration enters the great transmitting medium of space, so thought enters the great medium of Spirit. The question then arises, What is Spirit? And the acceptable answer is, “God is Spirit." God, the Ever Present, who moves through an, in all and over all, who fills all things with His presence and moves through everything, knows no space nor bounds. He is here. He is there. He is everywhere. Into this great ever present Spirit we pour our healing prayer. We have entered a realm where distance is unknown. If God knows no space nor form, if in Spirit the limitations of space do not exist, our thought is at once in touch with the object of our healing desire. Distance is then only a relative term and it is as easy to heal one who is "miles" away as when present. If it be objected that man seems thus to be working upon God to secure results, which in all reason God would give before man ever thought of asking him, we would reply that there is much that God never gives until asked. If it be true that he would as readily give unasked as asked, then he did not need even the request of Jesus, but would have performed all the healing wonders on his own initiative. But we know from experience and observation that the forces that accrue to us from the Almighty are released only through faith and prayer. And finally we realize, since they are infinite forces which we release, that we can release them anywhere and at any distance. Of this there is a suggestive example in the life of Jesus. We are told by the Apostle John that "He came, therefore, again unto Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him and besought him that he would come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said unto him, "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe." The nobleman saith 3
unto him, "Sir, come down ere my child die." Jesus said unto him, "Go, thy son liveth." The man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servant met him, saying that his son lived. So he inquired of them the hour when his son began to mend. They said, therefore, unto him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth; and himself believed, and his whole house."
Chapter III, THE NATURE OF SPIRIT Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." So the Father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said unto him, "Thy son liveth."--Jn. 4 :52-53. There is always a certain sense of gratification when one who thinks much and teaches incessantly finds his teaching corroborated by the scientific thought and investigation of others. This is particularly true when we deal with a field of exploration and endeavor new to the world, in which many of us move as pioneers and wherein we are not able to refer our students to the familiar landmarks of authority in other branches of human knowledge and endeavor. Having ventured far into the unmarked regions of discovery and having served as guides to hesitant and weary wayfarers, it is pleasant for us to meet with some other who has ventured too, into the great unknown, but from a different point of the compass. Finally, it is particularly gratifying to meet such a bold spirit, if he hail from a country where he is well-known and his word carries the weight of authority. From time to time we meet with such spirits and from them we sometimes secure a light which casts a brilliant illumination upon a landscape we have sought to describe. How often have we taught the truths of the following text: "It is, is it not, a fact that God lives and works in ether, as we live and work in our physical bodies. It would thus follow that other spirits and our own souls may yet live and act in a direct sense in God, in the same space, the same ether, the same God who fills all things. And may we not wonder, and perhaps learn some day, whether the ether is not the medium in its strain by which our spirit, our will, acts on our physical structure? We know that it is through strain in the ether that physical movements are secured; why may not the mind act on and through ether? Are we quite sure that the mind is not itself a modification of ether? just as the electron is? Thus we might conceive of the beasts as having an ether soul to be compared with the low combining weight of hydrogen, while the human soul is complex, like an organic molecule, and the vital soul of the tree is inert, like argon. We do not know, but at least the conjecture is plausible that, as the ether is only semi-material, it may be that my mind creates a current, a wave, in the ether, and this semi-material ether is the conducting link between my immaterial mind and my material body. I t is as good a conjecture as any, and in line with phenomena not yet explained, in which, if a multitude of apparently well-authenticated tales are true, telepathic influence has been conveyed from one mind to another far distant-wireless telegraphy 4
through ether. I do not accept it as based on any real evidence, but I am allowed the conception of God as an infinite spirit, residing in infinite ether, acting in it, working through it, ether as really himself, as our bodies are ourselves, converting it into matter or mind, and controlling it by his will. Thus I may dare to conceive of ether as in a sense the body of God, and may conjecture that when God made all things out of ether he made them not out of nothing, as men have been wont to say, but out of himself; and yet I would conceive of the ether out of which everything is made, as God only in the lower sense in which I speak of my body as myself, when it is only the organ by which the I, that is, my mind, reaches its purpose." I am sure little comment is necessary. We have here a text from which it is easy to draw lessons. We perceive the nature of the surrounding medium, we comprehend the method by which intelligence can or does dominate it. We understand the process by which thought is projected by the individual and is transported to any distance. You will recall that in the September number of The Uplift, under the title of "The Way of Love," we said, "We know that we cannot project a thought of love into the air, but Love Divine will bear it on swift pinion to the remotest physical object of our thought." And again, we have taught, "it is love within setting the waves of Love outside us into motion." Thought, love, passionate desire, prayer, faith, understanding - divine forces these! How swiftly they pass through the intervening physical distance and like a messenger angel, search out the object of our solicitude! So it is that we can comprehend the power of the compassion and healing thought of Jesus when he said, "Lo thy son liveth" a truth verified hours later by the father when he found on inquiry that the fever had left him at the "seventh hour." Many instances occur to us from our own experience, of which the following is typical:
CURED OF FEVER A woman living in a city in Illinois, telegraphed me one day, saying that she was suffering from malarial fever, with its accompanying aching of limbs, severe pain in the abdomen and excessive headache, and had been sick for two weeks. She asked me to undertake her healing. I began treating her at once and in a few days received a letter saying that the pain had left her immediately and that she was now in a normal condition. This was most satisfactory as she was usually in the finest health. "What I Believe and Why," by William Hayes Ward-Chas. Scribner's Sons, pp 174176.
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Chapter IV, NOT SCIENCE BUT FAITH ESSENTIAL Our previous discussions have shown the power of the healing thought to be so great as to be unhampered by physical distance. We have made clear through philosophic terms the nature of the process, and we have also shown something of the physical process by which the transmission of thought takes place. It is our effort to tear off the curtains that shroud the healing laws in mystery and in so far as we are able to make the healing laws clear to all. In this article we will show what physical science contributes to this thought as this may be of help to some who think most easily along the line of physical science. Yet let us first offer this precaution: Never think you must know everything about the law or laws before you can use them. Every time we shake a luscious apple from the tree we employ the law of gravity, but no scientist has ever been able to solve the mystery of that law. You may send forth the healing word, you may not know how it goes hither or what wings its slender thought may take, yet it speeds to its certain goal. Having once ventured on the path of faith, having received or sent forth the healing word, and having observed its power, you are convinced of the truth of the matter, though you cannot explain it. The father, whose son was healed at "that very hour" in which the remote Christ had spoken the word, could not have known "the how of it," but he could joyfully exclaim, "One thing I know; this, my son, who was sick, is well again." After all, these things may be "hid from the wise and prudent" and "revealed unto babes."
MUTUAL HELPFULNESS NECESSARY Yet, again, whoever wills, it is his right to know what he can of the laws of mind, matter, and spirit. But let no man be too zealous or over-exacting. Let him who boasts too much in physical science declare unto us the ultimate nature and constitution of matter, let him analyze mind into its constituent elements, or let him demonstrate the correlation of the two. Then may he come to us as our teacher and we will sit at his feet. Until then let us take counsel together, and let us each heartily encourage the other, metaphysician saying to physicist, "Brother be of good cheer; physicist saying to psychologist, "March on, we will stand ready to lend a hand." This is the way in which the great thinkers in the several fields are today co-operating and many rich results are the signs that follow their common efforts.
TELEPATHY We have casually mentioned the difficulty experienced by science in correlating the activity of mind and matter. At what point does mind enter a transmissive medium when thought is dispatched to a distant object? What is the process by which that medium again converts the message into a thought registered upon the mind of the recipient? Science designates the phenomenon by the term "telepathy." 6
"Telepathy concerns the passage of thought between two distant but living persons," says Ward, and the two brains may be conceived of as themselves able to transmit and receive the current of thought." The mystery that seems to shroud "healing at a distance" would be largely removed if we were better able to understand how the brain sends forth or receives that message. Underlying the whole problem is the question of the ultimate constitution and nature of matter and spirit. Modern chemistry has done much to assist us by resolving matter from electron to ether. If matter be composed of modifIcations of ether, it is possible to discern how the brain, which is one composite of ether, can send its vibrations through the more immaterial ether, which is yet of like substance. Again, if we may posit, and this as yet cannot be demonstrated, that mind is a "spiritual segregate" of ether, we may then see how thought passes from mind to mind. It would be an ethereal wave, originating in ether, transmitted by ether, received by ether. This theory, for it can only be classed as such at present, would be borne out by the philosophic assumption, which all science constantly corroborates, that there is an underlying unity in the whole universe. It is borne out by the testimony of the philosophic idealist. It seems to me that it need not de-spiritualize the essential philosophy of him who believes that God is all in all. Whatever be the ultimate constitution of mind or matter, the nature of that constitution will not change, call it by any name we will. All, all, belongs to God, all, all responds to the will of him who works through God to the accomplishment of high and noble ends.
ABOUT DR. WARD'S THEORY We venture in this connection to quote at length from Rev. William Hayes Ward, in his recent interesting volume on "What I Believe and Why": “The evidence for telepathy is, I suppose, considerably stronger than that for communication with the dead. Almost every family has some mysterious story of its own. In my family my father when a boy, thought himself one night in great danger of being murdered, and at that same hour his mother received the impression, though many miles distant, that he was in great danger, and she arose from her bed and prayed for him. If there is truth in telepathy a thought can pass hundreds or thousands of miles from one mind, or brain, to another mind or brain. It must be carried by some medium, and we know of no medium but the ether. Now the sensations we know of in the body are not carried by ether, but by the nerves. It would seem likely that the thought waves, carried plausibly and even probably by the ether, most find their source of origin and their receiver in something analogous to ether and thus be able to act upon it; or the transmitting and receiving minds must actually be products of ether, just as is the case in wireless telegraphy, or light, or gravitation. For it is the movements of the ultimate electrons, which are merely modifications of ether, on which their power rests. May we not then think of the mind as the transmitting and receiving organ, and the ether as the conductor of thought; and the mind itself as a spiritual segregate of ether, just as electrons are the physical segregate; so that what Paul calls the spiritual body may be constituted of ether, and be the mind itself, or, if not, the ultra-substantial organ through which the mind works, even as we may 7
think of the whole infinite ether as the coeternal and co-infinite mystery in and through which the infinite God lives and works? God's mind and will pervades ether and has its being in it; and I know of no supposition more probable than that the human mind in its essence and substance is somehow etheral.” Sir Oliver Lodge hints as much when he says in "The Ether of Space," p. 123: "We know that matter has a physical significance, since it can constitute brain, which links together the physical and the psychical worlds. If anyone thinks that the ether, with all its massiveness and energy, has probably no psychical significance, I find myself unable to agree with him." And he quotes Clerk-Maxwell, a chief master of physics, as saying, p. 117: "Whether this vast homogeneous expanse of isotropic matter (the ether) is fitted not only to be a medium of physical interaction between distant bodies, and to fulfill other physical functions of which, perhaps we have as yet no conception, but also to constitute the material organism of beings exercising functions of life and mind as high or higher than ours are at present, is a question far transcending the limit of physical speculation." This stupendous conception has value not only as a word of cheer from science on the question of immortality, but also as a rational basis for the believing in and comprehending the phenomenon of healing at a distance. If thought can pass so far from mind to mind, any kind of thought can so pass. Loving thought will carry words of love. Solicitude of prayer will reach its mark. Health thoughts will come to their goal. You may safely project the healing word and know it will be borne on swift pinion to another's mind. Once lodged in the mind of another it performs its wonted task in exactly the same manner as the spoken word, or the auto-thought of faith, as described in Chapter V. Several illustrations occur to me in this connection:
STOMACH TROUBLE In Oakland, California, a certain woman was suffering from severe stomach disorders. Her mother came to me at my Los Angeles office and in her behalf asked me to undertake her treatment. I shortly received word that she was entirely healed. This woman was herself afflicted with so-called paralysis, and asked me to help her. She was at that time living in Columbus, Ohio, while I was in California. In a short time she wrote me of her recovery.
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BUSINESS MAN'S EXPERIENCE The wife of a business man asked me in his to give him treatments for an unusual trouble. It was necessary for him to take certain trips by train, which he always dreaded, because travel was a strain for him and always gave him severe pains in the back. I gave him treatments at a distance and shortly after received a letter from her saying that he had been entirely free from pain during a protracted journey. He was very happy over it.
CO-OPERATION WITH THE PHYSICIAN The following interesting letter came from Massachusetts, May 9, 1917: Dear Mr. Holmes: I know you must have received our telegram and treated R-, because our doctor says he never saw a child rally so fast in his life. Monday, when we sent to you she was VERY ill and this morning she is her old self. Her throat is nearly clear and she has a good appetite. The doctor says it is marvelous. He has not seen anything like it in the 150 cases he has had this year. Please keep up the treatments; we are going to get her out into the air and sunshine next week. The other children are not going to take it. Sincerely yours,
Chapter V, THE SURE WORKING OF THE LAW
When we think of the fact that there is neither distance or absence in the realms of spirit we see that to speak of giving an absent treatment means the same thing as giving a present treatment. For we are all in one spirit and in one God, so to think of any as absent is to think of that which is not true. Real healing is soulhealing and this takes place only on the mental and spiritual plane where time and space do not exist. Now as we are "all in one spirit," so we are all in one mind. And being in one mind it makes no difference whether we are all present in the body. To think of a person in mind is to be with them in mind.
SENDING OUT THOUGHTS So to speak of sending out a thought to help others is merely a way of expressing an idea. For in realty we do not have to send out a thought; we have simply to think and know the truth which we embody will of itself do the work. What makes people sick is that they have been living away from their source. They have been thinking from the outside. 9
Now what they need is to have their thoughts turned to the spirit. This then calls for a spiritual way of thinking. There is in all people this spiritual realm and in all people it is the same realm, there is no separation in the spirit. To think of a person as a spiritual being is to be thinking the truth about him and if he is in a state of mind to receive this thinking, he will get the thought that you think for him and according to the strength of the thought in truth it will have power to help and to heal him. There must be an action on both sides. The healer must know that he is dealing not with a theory, but with a fact, none the less scientific because it is spiritual. He must have faith in the power that he believes in and must know that this is law and that it will have the desired effect. There must also be an action of receiving the truth on the part of the patient, and if this law is not complied with there will be no healing. This is the law and no good results can be obtained unless the law is complied with. Many people make a great mistake in thinking that a healer is all that is necessary. No greater mistake could be made than to have this idea in mind. There is no healing without it be received by the one wishing to be healed. The wind blows against the window but will not come in unless we open the window and let it come in. I can not make you a gift unless you will take it. So healing cannot be done unless someone receives the healing. This calls for an application on the part of the patient just as it calls for an application on the part of the healer. Healing means a change of our way of thinking, a change in the inside as well as on the outside.
WHERE THE PROCESS TAKES PLACE The whole process takes place on an unseen plane, in the realm of mind and spirit. In the realm of the real or the spiritual, all things are possible to him who believes and in a certain sense all disease may be healed if there can be brought about a realization of health. Some people can receive this and some seem unable to do so. So it cannot be said that all people will be healed, for all people will not take the time and train their thoughts as much as is necessary. No person is really healed and permanently helped who does not become first really changed in his thought. This is the whole process, a change of thought, from a material to a spiritual basis. This takes time and a lot of effort and is not done in a minute. There arc ups and downs in this work as in all other branches of endeavor. One should not be discouraged if he or she does not seem to respond at once. The work is going on and when the mind is finally renewed there will be a perfect healing. It matters not how long it takes, the healing is going on all of the time and to him who endures the results are certain. We must have patience and know that the law is sure and is working and in that faith we must press on, not noticing the little things that seem for the time to be in the way. For law is law, and the person who will comply with it must reap the harvest. Some persons respond almost at once to healing and others take a long time to get results. Some minds are receptive and some are not and we should take into consideration this fact and work with the understanding that all people can be helped. Some in a short time 10
and some in a longer time, but all will be helped if we will use the law and have faith in it. Sometimes the healing that takes the longest is in the end the best, for the ones being healed are at the same time taught and will in time be able themselves to heal themselves and others. No matter what time it takes, this healing and this understanding of life is the one thing worth while. So let us press on, let us endure and by so doing let us again prove to the world the truth of what we teach.
THE UPLIFT A Magazine of Truth, Devoted to Health and Faith Edited by ERNEST SHURTLEFF HOLMES The very number contains invaluable instruction in health and happiness. By reading it, you can learn how to heal and help yourself and others, and how to apply the law of supply.
UPLIFT BOOKLET SERIES Fundamentals to Health Fundamentals to Wealth Near to the Heart of God The Dynamic Power of the Higher Consciousness The Unfailing Formula Healing at a Distance How to Realize the Presence
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