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Phineas Parkhurst Quimby: Disease and its Cure are Mental States
Thought is like the aroma of a rose. It permeates and surrounds you even though you do not see it. Our thoughts go out from us and can affect others as their thoughts can affect us. A mother’s thoughts can affect her children and every disease has its own odor.
Quimby was born in New Hampshire in 1802. He apprenticed to a watch and clock maker and was later engaged in this business for himself. He was interested in mechanics and devised several mechanical appliances.
I first learned of P.P. Quimby in 1978 and one week later I was speaking to Errol Collie, he had studied the writings of Quimby for 46, who was considered an expert in Quimby’s philosophy. At the end of our telephone call, Collie, invited me to visit him at his home in Naples, Florida. Three weeks later I was off to see Collie.
I flew from Los Angeles to Miami and then picked up a short flight from Miami to Naples. I was waiting at the luggage carrier, but my bags never made it on the flight to Naples. In fact, I was told that my baggage remained on the original airplane that continued on to Bogota, Columbia.
Although my bag did not make it, standing next to me was 81 year old Errol Collie. He was standing holding on to two bicycles. Now I understood why I didn’t have my bag! I will never forget riding on a bicycle through the streets of Naples.
Here is some background on Quimby and the journey he took in making his discoveries…
“In 1838, a traveling hypnotist, Dr. Collyer, gave a series of lectures in Belfast, Maine, the town were Quimby was residing. Quimby became very interested in the subject and made many experiments himself and became quite proficient. He found that he had considerable influence over a young man named Lucius Burkmar, and they toured together for over two years giving exhibitions in mesmerism that greatly astonished the beholders.”
A typical aspect of their exhibitions would be Lucius' ability, under mesmerism, to locate objects or written documents that town members had deliberately hidden in advance of their visit. Lucius would not only know where the letters were hidden but would proceed to read the contents of the letter.
Quimby often was called upon to use the powers of Lucius to diagnose someone's health problem. He soon perceived that the diagnosis was always identical with what the patient, or someone else who was present, thought was the trouble. He became convinced that disease and its cure were mental states.
For over ten years, Quimby made a special study of the cause and effect of suggestion while Lucius was under hypnosis, and examined and analyzed the various phenomena which resulted from these experiments, until at least he discovered the principle which governed them.
“One remarkable discovery came quite by accident. Quimby was working with Lucius when he realized that he was late for an appointment. Quimby flashed the thought that he had better remember to take his hat. At that exact moment, not realizing Lucius had not been brought out of his hypnotic state; Lucius stated the exact words and cadence that Quimby had only thought.”
It was from this point that Quimby decided that he would not verbally state what he wanted Lucius to do, but would only think it in his mind. This was a profound discovery. When you think of the use of hypnosis today, we are always aware that the hypnotist speaks to their subject.
To further test his new discovery, Quimby decided on another experiment. Lucius was very fond of lemons and would suck on one a day. Quimby placed Lucius in a hypnotic trance and then visualized Lucius sucking on one lemon after another until Lucius began throwing up. At no time did Quimby voice what he was doing.
Further study showed that hypnotism was unnecessary to the success of his work. Quimby had discovered principles that allowed him to possess the same abilities as one who has been hypnotized, AND SO CAN YOU my Facebook friends. He began to put into practice his 'Theory,' of the 'Truth,' as he termed it.
In a circular to the sick, Quimby said, 'My practice is unlike all medical practice. I give no medicine and make no outward applications. I tell the patient his troubles and what he thinks is his disease, and my explanation is the cure. 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.' He frequently called his philosophy Science of Health and Happiness.
Quimby stated, 'Every thought that takes form in the mind or matter has its cause outside of it…to believe a thing is to make it in your mind. If you believe what a person tells you, you create in your own mind the thing, and when you have created the thing, you are either in it or outside of it. For instance, I tell you of some new disease; if I can explain it to you so you believe it; you have it in your mind, ready to spring up at any time when your system is in the right condition, so you are in danger of the disease. If you had wisdom, the lie or disease would be in your wisdom as a lie, and be a dead letter. But if you believe it, your wisdom would be confirmed in your belief, and your punishment is the disease.'
“When Quimby speaks of disease in the mind, he does not mean that it is imaginary; he means that an idea can be planted in your mind and if the idea contains fear of a disease, that disease or phenomenon will manifest itself sometime in or on your body. 'A good illustration would be, suppose I should ask you if you have ever seen a chenet. You say, no, so I commence to tell you what it is and describe it to you in every detail. I say to you that a chenet is a tropical fruit the size of a large grape. It has a dark green semi-hard shell, and there is a large had seed in the center of it. Between the seed and the shell, there is a soft white substance, which can be eaten.”
“Before you heard what a chenet was, it was not in your mind; but now that I have explained it to you, it is in your mind and will remain there as a harmless idea. I can also tell you about a certain disease and explain its terrible characteristics to you in every detail – tell you what the symptoms are, how you are liable to catch it, and how dangerous it is, and this idea will be in your mind, just as the idea chenet was put into your mind. Here is the difference, the idea chenet contained no fear and will do you no harm, but the idea of disease will, and if this fear is allowed to remain in your consciousness, it will create the disease which I have described to you, and this disease will manifest itself in or on your body at any time when you system is in the right condition.'”
Over the course of his healing activities, Quimby worked with more than 25,000 people with all manner of sickness, disease and physical difficulties. He reasoned with them that their disease was unnecessary. He worked with very dramatic health problems as well as blindness, deafness, and all types of physical deformities. Numerous articles and testimonials that appeared during his lifetime attest to his success. He is considered the Father of the New Thought Movement. There is so much ‘meat’ in his philosophy and too little space to discuss it here. If I receive a good response to this post I will share more details regarding Quimby’s philosophy in a following post.
With love, in love and through love.
Thought is like the aroma of a rose. It permeates and surrounds you even though you do not see it. Our thoughts go out from us and can affect others as their thoughts can affect us. A mother’s thoughts can affect her children and every disease has its own odor.
Quimby was born in New Hampshire in 1802. He apprenticed to a watch and clock maker and was later engaged in this business for himself. He was interested in mechanics and devised several mechanical appliances.
I first learned of P.P. Quimby in 1978 and one week later I was speaking to Errol Collie, he had studied the writings of Quimby for 46, who was considered an expert in Quimby’s philosophy. At the end of our telephone call, Collie, invited me to visit him at his home in Naples, Florida. Three weeks later I was off to see Collie.
I flew from Los Angeles to Miami and then picked up a short flight from Miami to Naples. I was waiting at the luggage carrier, but my bags never made it on the flight to Naples. In fact, I was told that my baggage remained on the original airplane that continued on to Bogota, Columbia.
Although my bag did not make it, standing next to me was 81 year old Errol Collie. He was standing holding on to two bicycles. Now I understood why I didn’t have my bag! I will never forget riding on a bicycle through the streets of Naples.
Here is some background on Quimby and the journey he took in making his discoveries…
“In 1838, a traveling hypnotist, Dr. Collyer, gave a series of lectures in Belfast, Maine, the town were Quimby was residing. Quimby became very interested in the subject and made many experiments himself and became quite proficient. He found that he had considerable influence over a young man named Lucius Burkmar, and they toured together for over two years giving exhibitions in mesmerism that greatly astonished the beholders.”
A typical aspect of their exhibitions would be Lucius' ability, under mesmerism, to locate objects or written documents that town members had deliberately hidden in advance of their visit. Lucius would not only know where the letters were hidden but would proceed to read the contents of the letter.
Quimby often was called upon to use the powers of Lucius to diagnose someone's health problem. He soon perceived that the diagnosis was always identical with what the patient, or someone else who was present, thought was the trouble. He became convinced that disease and its cure were mental states.
For over ten years, Quimby made a special study of the cause and effect of suggestion while Lucius was under hypnosis, and examined and analyzed the various phenomena which resulted from these experiments, until at least he discovered the principle which governed them.
“One remarkable discovery came quite by accident. Quimby was working with Lucius when he realized that he was late for an appointment. Quimby flashed the thought that he had better remember to take his hat. At that exact moment, not realizing Lucius had not been brought out of his hypnotic state; Lucius stated the exact words and cadence that Quimby had only thought.”
It was from this point that Quimby decided that he would not verbally state what he wanted Lucius to do, but would only think it in his mind. This was a profound discovery. When you think of the use of hypnosis today, we are always aware that the hypnotist speaks to their subject.
To further test his new discovery, Quimby decided on another experiment. Lucius was very fond of lemons and would suck on one a day. Quimby placed Lucius in a hypnotic trance and then visualized Lucius sucking on one lemon after another until Lucius began throwing up. At no time did Quimby voice what he was doing.
Further study showed that hypnotism was unnecessary to the success of his work. Quimby had discovered principles that allowed him to possess the same abilities as one who has been hypnotized, AND SO CAN YOU my Facebook friends. He began to put into practice his 'Theory,' of the 'Truth,' as he termed it.
In a circular to the sick, Quimby said, 'My practice is unlike all medical practice. I give no medicine and make no outward applications. I tell the patient his troubles and what he thinks is his disease, and my explanation is the cure. 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.' He frequently called his philosophy Science of Health and Happiness.
Quimby stated, 'Every thought that takes form in the mind or matter has its cause outside of it…to believe a thing is to make it in your mind. If you believe what a person tells you, you create in your own mind the thing, and when you have created the thing, you are either in it or outside of it. For instance, I tell you of some new disease; if I can explain it to you so you believe it; you have it in your mind, ready to spring up at any time when your system is in the right condition, so you are in danger of the disease. If you had wisdom, the lie or disease would be in your wisdom as a lie, and be a dead letter. But if you believe it, your wisdom would be confirmed in your belief, and your punishment is the disease.'
“When Quimby speaks of disease in the mind, he does not mean that it is imaginary; he means that an idea can be planted in your mind and if the idea contains fear of a disease, that disease or phenomenon will manifest itself sometime in or on your body. 'A good illustration would be, suppose I should ask you if you have ever seen a chenet. You say, no, so I commence to tell you what it is and describe it to you in every detail. I say to you that a chenet is a tropical fruit the size of a large grape. It has a dark green semi-hard shell, and there is a large had seed in the center of it. Between the seed and the shell, there is a soft white substance, which can be eaten.”
“Before you heard what a chenet was, it was not in your mind; but now that I have explained it to you, it is in your mind and will remain there as a harmless idea. I can also tell you about a certain disease and explain its terrible characteristics to you in every detail – tell you what the symptoms are, how you are liable to catch it, and how dangerous it is, and this idea will be in your mind, just as the idea chenet was put into your mind. Here is the difference, the idea chenet contained no fear and will do you no harm, but the idea of disease will, and if this fear is allowed to remain in your consciousness, it will create the disease which I have described to you, and this disease will manifest itself in or on your body at any time when you system is in the right condition.'”
Over the course of his healing activities, Quimby worked with more than 25,000 people with all manner of sickness, disease and physical difficulties. He reasoned with them that their disease was unnecessary. He worked with very dramatic health problems as well as blindness, deafness, and all types of physical deformities. Numerous articles and testimonials that appeared during his lifetime attest to his success. He is considered the Father of the New Thought Movement. There is so much ‘meat’ in his philosophy and too little space to discuss it here. If I receive a good response to this post I will share more details regarding Quimby’s philosophy in a following post.
With love, in love and through love.
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