Information on BiPolar Disorder…

*iza

Not long ago I chanced upon some of the writings of P.P. Quimby, the so-called founder of the New Thought movement in this country.

A New England inventor and clockmaker, he had been influenced by Anton Mesmer, but ultimately rejected most of his teachings in favor of a less-invasive, more humanistic approach to what, in those days, was often termed “healing”.

Much of his work was performed using techniques which might be instructive for us in this day-and-time.

Parenthetically, it should be noted, much of what he set forth in his many writings and in his practice occurred before the American Civil War, before we commonly used words like “manifest”, “attraction”, and “observed phenomena” in the culture.

Instead he promulgated thoughts about “Faith vs. Belief”, and taught that “Science is a part of God”… “Science is Wisdom put into practice”… “As God is Wisdom, Wisdom is Science”.

For Quimby, beliefs were all false; and, like false reasonings, were the basis for all disease.

Thus, “the two characters: wisdom and opinion, stand before each other, and the people choose the one they will obey, just as they do in national affairs”.

As for God, he meant the term as defined by the philosopher, Benedict de Spinoza, in “Ethics”.

“By ‘God’ I mean a being absolutely infinite. Besides God, no substance can be granted or conceived. Whatever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be. God is the indwelling and not the transient cause of all things. Things have been brought into being by God in the highest perfection, inasmuch as they have necessarily followed from a most perfect nature.”

“God’s nature and existence, and consequently His providence, cannot be known from miracles, but they can all be much better perceived from the
fixed and immutable order of nature.”

What he promoted with his patients was self-mastery of their conscious input of words… which described their own observable phenomena… in their own words – and which had no hint, or suggestion, of the healer’s words… at all.

I found this all the more remarkable because, at the end of the day, the patients learned – seemingly on their own – how to reverse the “errors” which had led to his/her conflicted thinking patterns in the first place.

And Quimby never took any credit as their “healer” – even when the patient insisted he had indeed – miraculously – healed them.

Far be it for him to decide, but his fame spread far and wide, nevertheless – all this, despite his insistence that he call himself but a “self-educated healer”.

He pioneered positive psychology and highly-evolved empathetic persuasion techniques which advanced the science of humanistic psychology and NLP a hundred years later!

And he spoke out against the learned opinions of the medical faculty when he felt their self-promoting ways often caused more harm than good among their patients.

At a time when “hysteria” was the diagnosis-of-the-day for “afflictions of the womb” among women, and quite apart from his Calvinistic rearing, he insisted that all disease must be approached from a purely scientific and ethical, holistic underpinning.

He foretold much of what has happened in the world of modern medicine since then, when he said, in 1862: “I have observed the effect of medicine and found that there is more virtue or misery in the advertisement than in the medicine.”

Advancements in our better understanding of self-healing, the world of human behavior, and medicine itself, must begin with absolute honesty and a constant re-assessment of what it is – beyond mere words – which grounds us to our real natures in our natural environment.

And if science rules… then a splendid life… and happiness… can be our reward.

Quimby reasoned all of us are clairvoyant; and I also reason this is true.

Edgar Cayce, the famous “seer in a trance” – from what was called a “sleeping” state – was said to possess this same “gift” too.

But I also insist all disease – anomalies like stress, manic depression, bipolar disorder and psychosomatic symptoms which have true physiological roots – can be prevented or cured… by one’s own person.

Bringing ourselves – intuitively and simply – to be fully in touch with our senses, and by beginning from a standpoint of quietude, can end much suffering for us all.

And what can be more exciting than this?

To your health and happiness,

Lark

[P.S. - Much of Quimby's writings can be found in the public domain - and are freely available online. An easy introductory read is, "The Healing Wisdom of Dr. P.P. Quimby". Before New Age-speak and psycho-babble came to be bandied about so frequently, it's helpful to first look back - when such terms didn't exist - and then look forward... to the very interesting research being done... to extend these practical ideas today.]