I felt in my back (I had never dared to ask him to examine me, for I felt sure that my kidneys were nearly gone), and he placed his hand on the spot where I felt the pain. He then told me that my kidneys were in a very bad state—that one was half-consumed, and a piece three inches long had separated from it, and was only connected by a slender thread. This was what I believed to be true, for it agreed with what the doctors had told me, and with what I had suffered; for I had not been free from pain for years. My common sense told me that no medicine would ever cure this trouble, and therefore I must suffer till death relieved me. But I asked him if there was any remedy. He replied, “Yes, I can put the piece on so it will grow, and you will get well.” At this I was completely astonished, and knew not what to think. He immediately placed his hands upon me, and said he united the pieces so they would grow. The next day he said they had grown together, and from that day I never have experienced the least pain from them.
Now what was the secret of the cure? I had not the least doubt but that I was as he described; and, if he had said, as I expected he would, that nothing could be done, I should have died in a year or so. But, when he said he could cure me in the way he proposed, I began to think; and I discovered that I had been deceived into a belief that made me sick. The absurdity of his remedies made me doubt the fact that my kidneys were diseased, for he said in two days that they were as well as ever. If he saw the first condition, he also saw the last; for in both cases he said he could see. I concluded in the first instance that he read my thoughts and when he said he could cure me he drew on his own mind; and his ideas were so absurd that the disease vanished by the absurdity of the cure. This was the first stumbling-block I found in the medical science. I soon ventured to let him examine me further, and in every case he could describe my feelings, but would vary about the amount of disease; and his explanation and remedies always convinced me that I had no such disease, and that my troubles were of my own make.
At this time I frequently visited the sick with Lucius, by invitation of the attending physician; and the boy examined the patient, and told facts that would astonish everybody, and yet every one of them was believed. For instance, he told of a person affected as I had been, only worse, that his lungs looked like a honey comb and his liver was covered with ulcers He then prescribed some simple herb tea, and the patient recovered; and the doctor believed the medicine cured him. But I believed the doctor made the disease; and his faith in the boy made a change in the mind, and the cure followed. Instead of gaining confidence in the doctors, I was forced to the conclusion that their science is false.
Man is made up of truth and belief; and, if he is deceived into a belief that he has, or is liable to have, a disease, the belief is catching, and the effect follows it. I have given the experience of my emancipation from this belief and from my confidence in the doctors, so that it may open the eyes of those who stand where I was. I have risen from this belief; and I return to warn my brethren, lest, when they are disturbed, they shall get into this place of torment prepared by the medical faculty. Having suffered myself, I cannot take advantage of my fellow men by introducing a new mode of curing disease by prescribing medicine. My theory exposes the hypocrisy of those who undertake to cure in that way. They make ten diseases to one cure, thus bringing a surplus of misery into the world, and shutting out a healthy state of society . . . . When I cure, there is one disease the less . . . . My theory teaches man to manufacture health; and, when people go into this occupation, disease will diminish, and those who furnish disease and death will be few and scarce.
What really were the differences between Dr. Quimby’s methods and those of Mesmer? Quimby studied and practiced Mesmerism for no less than twenty-one years (1838–1859) before establishing his own methodologies. Quimby went to great pains to separate himself from the Mesmerists, most likely due to certain stigma becoming attached to them through the Spiritualism community.
As my practice is unlike all other medical practice, it is necessary to say that I give no medicines and make no outward applications, but simply sit by the patient, tell him what he thinks is his disease, and my explanation is the cure. And if I succeed in correcting his errors, I change the fluids of the system, and establish the truth, or health. “The Truth is the cure.”19
Quimby claimed to have “changed the fluids,” which is precisely what animal magnetism does. What is the difference between a “spiritual force” and a “cosmic fluid?” What exactly is the difference between mental influence and animal magnetism? The reality is that there is no appreciable difference, despite the different names.
Mesmer was trying to prove that a physical force was at work, while Quimby went about trying to prove that it was a spiritual force. Mesmer removed the word “God” from his Hermetic sources, and Quimby put it back in. Instead of putting the patient into a mesmeric sleep, Quimby himself would go into a trance-like state.
It is important to realize that this method dates back to shamanic traditions. Quimby would sit next to the patient and speak in hushed tones. Sometimes he would lay on hands and massage, after wetting his hands with water. Quimby said that sometimes he ran into resistance from the patient if he didn’t touch them, although he asserted that touch was unnecessary to bring about a cure.
As you have given me the privilege of answering the article in your paper of the 11th inst., wherein you classed me with spiritualists, mesmerisers, clairvoyants, etc., I take this occasion to state where I differ from all classes of doctors, from the allopathic physician to the healing medium. All of these admit disease as an independent enemy of mankind . . . . Now I deny disease as a truth, but admit it as a deception, without any foundation, handed down from generation to generation, till the people believe it, and it has become a part of their lives . . . . My way of curing convinces [the patient] that he has been deceived; and, if I succeed, the patient is cured. My mode is entirely original.20
Well, not entirely original, since such faith-healing had in fact been used since the time of Hermeticists and shamans.
There is no small amount of scientific research to support the fact that some form of energy can be transferred from one person to another through the windows of our eyes, the gateways to our souls. Rupert Sheldrake has laid forth his considerable research into this matter in his book Seven Experiments That Could Change the World: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Revolutionary Science. Sheldrake asserts that “Vision may involve a two-way process, an inward movement of light and an outward projection of mental images.”
This means that our minds reach out and “touch” the things we see. If this happens, our minds can have some influence on what is within our vision. This is also corroborated by findings of quantum physicists such as Heisenberg, that our observation of electrons alters their behavior. In 1898, the psychologist Edward B. Titchener tested what people can sense when they are being stared at by another person; his findings were later corroborated by several scientists.21 That we can physically “feel” a stare certainly implies some form of energy exchange. This energy can be either helpful or malicious, according to various folk traditions, especially in the Middle East. The “evil eye” has been used for centuries to send bad energy to people, such as curses and diseases. It fits, then, that if one can send a disease to someone through their eye, they may heal them of it by the same means.
As shocking as this may sound to some, it is by no means a new concept. The East Indian equivalent of hypnosis is called sammohan.
Sammohan shakti has been practiced in India since Vedic times. It can be defined as the power of attraction. Sammohan is inborn in every human being. Even while I talk to you, there is a kind of hypnosis where I try to attract and hold your attention, planting subtle suggestions.22
In Hermetic literature, the world is thought of as a panoply of mental images, the mental images as contained within the intellect of the adept (and God) and projected upon the world. We “dream the world into being.” Once the mind of the adept is aligned with the mind of God, the adept can affect change in the world simply through thought.
