Just How to Give Absent Treatments

NOW that the principles underlying radio broadcasting and reception are so well
understood, it is not so difficult as once it was, to perceive that any thought process
which the individual might himself inaugurate, can, with equal force, and
effectiveness of change within his astral form be imparted to his astral body by some
other person at a distance. Thought-elements of any kind, and Conditioning Energy
of any quality, when the tuning-in is adequate, can be conveyed from one individual
to another.

Thus in giving absent treatments, because the thoughts used for a specific difficulty
are the same in Family and in Conditioning Energy as the individual would use if he
had the ability mentally to treat himself, that which specially needs to be understood
and used, is the tuning-in process, which when completed commonly is called
rapport.

Two objects or two persons are said to be in rapport when their vibrations are
synchronous and of similar frequencies; that is, when they both impart to a common
medium vibrations that have the same rate of motion in such a manner that the crest
of a wave-motion in one corresponds, in point of time, to the crest of a similar
wave-motion in the other. In the transmission of thought over short spaces, the
common medium may be the ether, but in giving absent treatments at a distance. the
medium which carries the energies from the healer to the patient usually is astral
substance.

This condition of rapport between people may be only partial, or it may be very
complete. When the same tones are sounded on two musical instruments, the rapport
between them is very complete. But when an orchestra is playing, the same tones are
sounded simultaneously only on some of the various instruments, and other tones
that do not have the same frequencies are sounded on different instruments.
Therefore, the rapport between instruments is complete only in so far as the tones
sounded are the same; and between other instruments and tones the rapport may be
partial, or not at all. Thus also, the rapport between the healer and the patient may, be
confined to a very limited section of the patients astral body, or it may be so complete
that the two personalities, for the time, seem identical.

When two objects are in rapport they may impart energies from one to another, even
at a great distance, with facility. The general principle can be demonstrated by
striking a tone on a musical instrument in the same room with a piano. The tone will
be responded to by a similar tone from the piano, showing that energy has been
imparted to it. In radio, the electric frequencies set up in one aerial impart motions to
the ether which sets up similar motions in any other terminal which is within the
radius of its vibratory waves. But only a receiving set which is in rapport with the
sending set, which is tuned to about the same number of kilocycles, can receive the
message.

And in a similar way, in order that the person to whom the absent treatment is sent
shall intercept it, and through this means have energies applied to the thought-cell
structure of his astral body, it is necessary that more or less rapport be establish
between the healer and the patient. As a rule this rapport is only partial; but the more
complete it is, the greater will be the facility for the thoughts sent by the healer to
reach and influence the patient.

Inducing the Rapport

–Therefore, in giving absent treatments, the first essential is, in so far as possible, to
establish a condition of complete rapport between the healer and the patient. To do
this it becomes necessary for the healer to contact the patient astrally, that is, through
the medium of astral substance, and then to raise or lower his own vibrations until
they vibrate in unison with the patient he is to treat.

To contact the patient, if he has previously seen him, or has his picture, he may
visualize him; that is, make a picture of the patient in his imagination. But if he has
never seen the patient or his picture, he then should hold some object in his hand that
the patient at some time has touched, such as a handkerchief, or a letter he has written.
And even more potent as a means of focusing the attention on the patient than his
picture or an object he has carried, is his astrological birth-chart; for it is an accurate
map, not merely of his physical body, but also of his character, including those very
thought-groups which the healer wishes to manipulate in the process of healing.

Looking at the picture of the patient, or his horoscope, or touching some article he has
had in his possession, the healer then should relax physically, as much as possible,
but at the same time keep his attention alert and keen. His nervous system should be
passive, for the time being, to pick up, radio fashion, the vibrations it intercepts
coming from the patient; but the brain should retain tension enough to be able to
recognize when the rapport has been effected, and also to direct the thoughts
afterwards.

In this state of receptivity, the healer should endeavor to FEEL his patient; permitting
the article he holds, or the chart or picture, to give him the vibratory rate which he is to
tune in on. When he FEELS this vibratory rate, and that he thus has made astral
contact with the patient, he then should raise or lower his own vibrations, and adjust
them as completely as possible to the FEEL of his patient, until he senses that there is
a complete sympathy with him.

Not everyone is sensitive enough to recognize when they have inwardly made
contact with another person, or even when they are in rapport with him. But those in
whose birth-charts either Neptune or Pluto is prominent, with practice, can acquire
this ability.

Maintaining Control

–When rapport is established, which is felt as an inward identity between the healer
and the patient, while maintaining an attitude of sympathy which may be permitted to
go so far as to enable the healer to FEEL the discords within the patient, and from
them to diagnose the difficulty to be treated, the healer, nevertheless, through
alertness of brain, should keep the situation well in hand. He must not permit himself
to be swayed by the thoughts and feelings of the patient whom now he has inwardly
contacted. Instead, he must have a reserve of power, of the kind especially given by a
prominent birth-chart Uranus or Sun, with which he can vitalize the healing thoughts
he now should send the patient.

The Etheric Radiations Given by
Each of the Three Upper-Octave
Planets

–Electrical Potential, or voltage, is something different from the wave length of
electromagnetic energies radiated. Some radio stations, for instance, are powerful
enough to drown out other broadcasts which are operating on nearly the same
kilocycles. Yet for long distance transmission, the high-frequency, short waves
commonly are used.

Course 5, Chapter 9 explains in detail how the electrical energies which become nerve
currents and are used in objective thinking are generated by the protoplasmic cells of
organic life, each of which is a miniature electric battery. And there is explained also
how man, through his thoughts and feelings, has the ability to increase or decrease his
mental and nervous tension, which means the rapidity with which the nitrogen
compounds release radiant energy, and so control the comparative shortness of the
wave lengths emitted, and thus tune in on various levels. And that as the etheric
energies of the nervous system are ready conductors and transformers of
corresponding astral broadcasts, he can tune in not merely on broadcasts through the
ether, but on astral broadcasts from the planets and from minds that no longer are of
earth.

And in that lesson also is explained that the lately discovered electrical properties of
protein, prove that the nervous system is not merely a radio receiving set, but that its
phenomena are reversible, so that it can be made, at will, either a receiving or a
broadcasting set. During use as a receiving set, if through properly Directed
Thinking, or even through the process of more spontaneous thinking and feeling, the
brain-cells are given considerable activity, they generate high electrical charges
which reverses the process, and the nervous system then becomes a broadcasting
instrument.

Electrical processes are both positive and negative. Laboratory experiments prove
that the brain is the most positive region of the body and the liver is the most negative
region. But in sleep, as explained in Course 5, Chapter 9, the most effective electric
batteries of the body, the cells of the gray matter of the brain, become recharged. And
even while retaining consciousness they may be permitted to lose so much tension, to
so relax, that they no longer generate electrical charges of much potential.

The rapidity with which the protein fraction of the cells of the brain and nervous
system release the short wave-lengths which lightning or nitrifying bacteria have
stored in their molecules is largely governed by the hormones secreted by the
endocrine glands. And those individuals in whose birth-charts the planet Uranus is
prominent, probably through its influence upon the parathyroid glands, develop a
higher, even though often unstable and not persistent, electrical potential than do any
other people. That is, temporarily, at least, they have at their command more
electrical power. But while greater in voltage, it seems that the wave-lengths radiated
are not so short, nor have they long distance carrying power, of those developed in
the brains and nervous systems of people in whose charts either Neptune or Pluto is
prominent.

The high nervous tension of those with Uranus prominent in their birth-charts is
coincident with the development of electrical charges which radiate, especially
through the ether, with great force. Orators and those who sway people through the
spoken word or personal influence, to be successful, as ascertained from a statistical
study of their charts, must have Uranus prominent in their birth-charts.

Personal magnetism is the etheric radiations of an individual; and nothing gives the
compelling force to the personal magnetism that Uranus does. Others, with a lower
electrical potential, are unable to resist its power because, after all, we must depend
upon electrical currents, or nerve impulses, to control our behavior. At all times there
is competition between various nerve currents, which are electrical discharges, for
control of the actions; and the one which, at the time, is strongest, that is, has the
highest potential, overcomes its rivals, and determines what is done.

The brain is able to exercise such control as it has over the thoughts and actions due to
its cells generating higher electrical potentials than those generated by the nerves of
the organs, or by stimuli coming in over the nerves from the outside world. Each
person has an electromagnetic field of force, or aura, which when it contacts the
nerves and brain of another person tends to generate electrical conditions there,
through a process of electromagnetic induction, which are in all respects similar.

Thus if at the time there is a marked difference in potential between the two
individuals, the nerve currents, and thus the feelings, and for the time being even the
thoughts, of the person of lower potential will be established by the person of higher
potential; because in the competition between nerve currents, the currents induced
by the electromagnetic, or etheric, radiations of the person of higher potential, have a
higher voltage than those generated by the person thus influenced.

Volume of electrical energy generated also has a bearing upon the ability of the
individual to control himself and to control others. This volume, and the persistence
with which it is generated, determine the vitality and the ability to recuperate from
disease; for the vital force of all physical life now has been proved to be electricity
generated by the miniature batteries which are the protoplasmic cells.

It is the Sun, operating chiefly through a secretion of the front pituitary gland, whose
vibrations rule electricity of the vital sort. To the extent the Sun is prominent in the
birth-chart are the Power thought-cells active and such vital energies generated. And
these, in turn, give the power to exercise authority over others who, not having the
Sun so prominent in their charts of birth, do not generate vital electricity in the same
volume. Thus we find in the statistical analysis of the charts of those who occupy
positions where they direct the activities of others, that such individuals invariably
have the Sun prominent in their charts of birth.

This, however, is a less intense, a far more stable, and a much less erratic, influence
than that exercised by Uranus. The Sun type of personal magnetism holds steady to a
purpose, and gives a feeling of reliability and solid strength; while the temporarily
more powerful magnetic influence of Uranus, with its shorter wave-length
radiations, sweeps others off their feet and carries them into actions which, perhaps,
they would not dream of doing if not thus influenced by electrical forces of a
potential sufficiently high that they can not be resisted.

Electricity, however, is both positive and negative; and the wave-lengths radiated by
the nervous systems of those with planet Neptune prominent seem to be shorter and
of higher frequency than those ruled by Uranus, but they seem to operate on the
negative phase. The Neptune nervous system is far more sensitive than the Uranus
nervous system, but the potential generated is much less, and instead of being a
positive, controlling force, it is a negative and receptive one.

It is specifically adapted to bringing up into objective consciousness, through the
electrical charges generated, whatever is seen, heard, tasted, smelled or felt, by the
senses of the astral body, or unconscious mind. That is, the wave-lengths ruled by
Neptune, when its influence is strongly imparted to the individual, seem specifically
adapted to sensing happenings from the four-dimensional plane. They are of the
frequency that most readily permits that which the unconscious mind records to float
up, through using them to impart vibrations to the nerves and brain, into objective
recognition. And they seem to be of the frequency also which enables the nervous
system most readily to get in rapport with things most diverse in their vibratory rates.

Pluto, the other upper-octave planet, operating through the Universal-Welfare
thought-cells upon the endocrine glands, generates electrical charges which have a
higher potential than those of Neptune, but which are of shorter wave-length and
greater carrying power. Apparently they can operate upon either the positive or the
negative phase, but more commonly do so on the negative. They are less potent than
those generated by Uranus to influence through the spoken word or personal contact,
but are the most potent of all to influence through the method of thought
transmission.

Through collecting the birth-charts of those in some manner closely associated with
radio, and observing the aspects in the cycle charts when news relating to the radio
came prominently before the notice of the public, we have demonstrated that radio is
ruled by the planet Pluto. We find also that when people most readily get telepathic
messages, and especially when they recognize thoughts sent to influence them,
getting the thoughts clearly and becoming aware of the sender, is when there is a
progressed aspect to Pluto operative in their charts of birth.

All the evidence points to the conclusion that for establishing rapport between two
individuals, whether one has left the physical plane or both are still in physical
bodies, and exchanging thoughts, that the wave-lengths generated when Pluto is
prominent in the birth-chart are the most effective. Apparently they are not so
conducive to tuning in on objects, or to perceiving astral scenes, as are the
wave-lengths of Neptune; but as the means by which one intelligence, whether of the
three-dimensional plane or the four-dimensional plane, can impress its thoughts
upon another at a distance, they rank first. And people with Pluto prominent in their
birth-charts are specially adapted to giving or receiving absent treatments.

Psychic Diagnosis

–When the healer is as sensitive as he should be for the highest efficiency in such
work, as soon as the rapport is established he begins to feel in his own body the same
discords from which the patient suffers. But he must not permit these sensations to
become pronounced enough to cause him much discomfort, or to be more than
distinctly perceived. This he can prevent by holding a positive and assertive attitude
of mind, provided of course, his brain generates electrical charges of sufficient
volume and potential to maintain control of his thoughts and feelings. If one has the
habit of being negative, or if one is exhausted, the potential that can be developed
may be lower than that generated in the nervous system by the astral energies
received from the patient, in which case one acquires the aches and pains of the
patient, and retains them so long as the rapport lasts. For this reason one should never
treat when tired or ill. To treat successfully, and without ill results to oneself, one
should be rested and have a surplus of vital, which means electrical, energy on hand.

When he has sufficient electrical potential at his command, he can permit himself to
FEEL his patient to the extent desirable, and yet have the ability instantly to reverse
the process, and to any extent he desires, and instead of being a receiving set, to
broadcast over the rapport thus established, to his patient. This enables him to make a
quite complete psychic diagnosis of the patient without difficulty to himself.

If the patient’s heart is affected, the healer will feel distress in the region of the heart.
If the feet are the region of the trouble, then the healer’s feet will cause him
discomfort. And likewise with any other afflicted region of the patient’s body. Even
when the distress is financial, social, or domestic, the sensitive healer will FEEL the
nature of the discord And by noting the thoughts that come into his mind while he is
thus in rapport with his patient, he can trace the trouble to its Thought Cause.

When he becomes sensitive enough, by following the thoughts that come into his
mind while he is relaxed and in complete rapport with the patient, he can apply the
method of FREE ASSOCIATION to determine what repressions and complexes are
present in the unconscious mind of the patient, and the nature of the disagreeable
experiences in the patient’s past which have been responsible for their formation. He
will feel these conditions within himself–though he must not, for a moment, let
them dominate him–and thus will he recognize the inner cause of the patient’s
trouble, even though the latter be on the further side of the globe.

Basic Inharmonies Between Healer
and Patient

–The astral constitution, that is, the thought-cells and thought structures of the
unconscious mind, of some people belong largely to one polarity while that of other
people belong largely to the opposite polarity. It is this polarity of the thought-cells
which determines whether a person is electric, magnetic, or electromagnetic in
temperament. Although these terms more commonly are used to designate the
polarity, and thus the type of radiations from, the etheric body, its polarity and thus
the temperament, is determined by that of the astral body, to which in this particular it
most closely corresponds. And the polarities of people’s astral bodies are such as to
cause them to radiate astral vibrations that are either wholly positive, commanding
and assertive; wholly negative, receptive and yielding; or a combination of the two
extremes.

If a healer is electric in temperament, it is easy for him to raise or lower his vibrations
the slight degree that becomes necessary to give them the same frequencies, and
synchronous with, the vibrations of any other person who likewise is of the electric
temperament. But it may be quite impossible for him to change the whole polarity of
his vibratory rate to such an extent that he will vibrate at the same rate, and in
synchronism with, the vibrations of another person whose temperament is entirely
magnetic. As a consequence, he will find it easy to come in rapport with electrical
patients and difficult, or at times quite impossible, to come in rapport with magnetic
patients. Or if the healer is entirely of the magnetic quality of vibration, he will find it
easy to come in rapport with magnetic patients, and difficult, or impossible, to get in
rapport with those entirely electric. As a matter of experience, however, only the very
extreme types of people are exclusively electric in temperament, or exclusively
magnetic. But in most people, one of the two temperaments predominates, and when
such is the case they will find it easier to get in rapport with those of the same
predominant vibration. Also, there are some very evenly balanced between the two
extremes. They are electromagnetic, and thus will find it more difficult to come in
rapport with either of the extreme temperaments, and much easier to form the
sympathetic contact with those in whom neither electric nor magnetic qualities are
too pronounced.

The relations between birth-charts that show sufficient similarity of vibratory rates to
make rapport easy, as well as those which tend to prohibit a satisfactory exchange of
energies, are set forth in Course 10-1, Chapter 7, under the heading, PHYSICAL
HARMONY. But the healer who has developed any degree of sensitiveness to
vibration will need no other index to a person’s temperament than his own feelings.
Furthermore, some healers, especially those with Neptune prominent in their
birth-charts, have the ability to alter their own vibratory rate to a remarkable degree,
so that hard and fast rules based on birth-chart positions should not be attempted.

If, however, when the healer attempts to form the rapport between himself and the
patient, he feels a Sinking Sensation in his Solar Plexus, or if, when attempting to
treat he feels a sickening or faint condition which remains during the treatment, he
may know that the proper rapport has not been established. This inward realization
that all is not right, and that he is not blending with the patient will, with a little
practice, be very easy to distinguish from any feeling caused by the patient’s diseased
condition. It is a peculiar sensation that arises when the etheric or astral emanations
of two people, between whom there is no similarity of vibrations, meet.

Malicious Animal Magnetism

–This peculiar sinking sensation is due to the recoil of the healer’s vibrations and
thoughts from the astral body of the patient. This is the special Devil which Christian
Science has brought to notice, and which it calls Malicious Animal Magnetism. In
some cases, to be sure, it is actuated by malicious forethought; for any inimical
thought sent against one may be felt as this peculiar sinking sensation, as a peculiar
confusing vibration in the head, or as a discomforting vibration of the nerves
elsewhere in the body. Commonly, however, the solar plexus is more sensitive than
the brain, and thus the condition is more frequently felt in that region. But either a
recoil from an unsuccessful treatment, or the presence of an inimical thought may
affect the head instead, or even nerves elsewhere in the body; which once
experienced is easy again to recognize.

Animal magnetism may be inimical, whether so intended or not. And its elevation to
the prominence of a super-power for Evil by the founder of Christian Science was not
the outcome of mere speculation, but the result of actual experience. For when two
persons come into close contact astrally, as they must do when a treatment is to prove
successful, they either form a condition of more or less complete rapport, or else the
emanations from one fails to vibrate in synchronism with the vibrations of the other.
And as a consequence they form an astral discord. Neither may be evilly inclined,
and neither may send malicious thoughts toward the other, but both will feel discord,
and both suffer from the contact.

Two musical instruments may both be very perfect, each in its own way; but if they
are playing the same piece of music in different keys, or if they have the same key and
are playing different selections of music, there results a terrible turmoil. Thus also,
two people may both be very good, each in his own way; but if one is keyed to an
electric polarity, and the other is keyed to a magnetic polarity, no matter how much
one may endeavor to benefit the other by mental treatment, there will be only adverse
results. In fact, to give a successful treatment in such a case the vibratory key of one
or the other must be, for the time being, changed so completely that they will vibrate
to similar frequencies.

Furthermore, if both are of the same temperament, and one is vibrating at the time
entirely to one set of thoughts and the other entirely to another set of thoughts, the
result will be unsatisfactory; for they are not in rapport. And whenever this lack of
rapport is present, whatever its cause, the healer will feel internally the lack of the
conditions which are essential to his success. Whenever he feels this, he should not
attempt treatment. And if on repeated trials he gets only such conditions, he should
refuse to treat the patient at all, for no good will result. In such cases it is better to turn
the patient over to some other healer of as near the opposite polarity to himself as
possible. Where he has failed, due to his peculiar temperament, another healer of
opposite qualities should have little difficulty in securing a quick cure.

It will now be seen that malicious animal magnetism far more frequently is
unintentionally malicious. It is merely the natural discord produced by the meeting
vibrations of two persons who are not harmoniously keyed to each other. Thus a
healer in attempting to treat a patient visualizes or thinks strongly about him. And
because his astral emanations, and the thoughts he sends the patient, recoil upon
himself, he is apt to think someone is sending him inimical thoughts.

There is but one way to cure such malicious animal magnetism, and that is mentally
and physically to keep away from such persons as temporarily or intentionally are
discordant to one’s own nature. Yet while malicious animal magnetism is quite as
much of a bugbear as witchcraft, also of New England fame, that at one time was
considered so serious, and afterwards was thought not even worthy of recognition; in
another light it has great significance. For the thoughts and other astral vibrations we
contact, through our physical and mental associates, can not but have a powerful
influence upon our lives.

Unconsciously, and subtly, those with whom we associate are giving us thought and
vibratory treatments, either to produce sickness and sorrow, or to promote health and
success. And often there come those into our lives, attracted by the discords within
ourselves, who, though good people, nevertheless, due to their temperaments and
habits of thought, feed us astral poison. But whenever this is the case, if we will but
heed our feelings we will recognize the fact, and we will then no longer associate
physically with, or think about, such persons.

Psychic Persecution

–Having mentioned deliberately used malicious animal magnetism, it may be well
to relegate this new bugaboo, along with witchcraft, voodooism, black magic, and
sorcery, to the position of insignificance each rightfully should occupy. Not one of
these instruments for evil, when recognized for what it truly is, has any power worthy
of important consideration in the life of the average normal person. They only have
important power over those who fear them, or over those who, either naturally, or
through deliberate cultivation, have little power to control their own thoughts and
physical forms.

If one systematically cultivates the condition of being negative to unseen influences
and intelligences, if one develops irresponsible mediumship, so as to permit any
strong thought-force that comes along to control the actions; then there is serious
danger from these sources. But if one cultivates the ability at all times to dominate
and control his own thoughts and actions, to permit only such thoughts and
perceptions as are desired to be held before the consciousness, then there is no danger
from any one of these things. In fact, their power chiefly is derived from the
circumstance that people give them energy and vitality and force by picturing them
in their minds as things to be dreaded.

The Brethren of the Shadow, Voodooism, and Malicious Animal Magnetism, all
have a very real existence. So do thugs, robbers, and murderers. And if you go into
some low dive where you know criminals of the worst kind abound, and go unarmed
and in fear and trembling, the chances are in favor of harm coming to you. But if you
stay away from such places, or if you must go there, you go adequately armed for the
occasion, then there is little chance of damage.

Therefore, just remember that whenever you think about Inversive Brethern
strongly, that astrally you are coming in contact with them. You are entering into
mental association with them, just as much so as when you go among wolves on the
physical plane you are associating yourself with dangerous animals. And if, when
you think of inversive forces, you are negative and weak and have fear, they will
attack you just as quickly as will wolves when you run from them and exhibit
cowardice.

But there is little necessity for coming in contact either with wolves or
with unseen intelligences of evil. And should such contact seem advisable, or
unavoidable, firearms in the case of wolves, and a calm, confident positive mental
attitude in the case of inversive forces, will cause the danger to be insignificant.

And where some person on the physical plane succeeds in using mental power to
injure another, whether called by witchcraft, voodooism, agi, black magic, or any
other name, it is due to the fact that the person influenced, through his ignorance of
psychic phenomena, has failed entirely to recognize the source of his trouble; or,
recognizing its source, has, through fear and natural negativeness, been specially
receptive to it. Those who cultivate the disintegrative forms of mediumship, and
those who naturally are negative to everything and everybody, and who have little
mental or physical vigor, those who are swayed by every wind that blows; these are
subject to injury by magic under any one of its various names.

But any person who has cultivated a reasonable control of his physical body and of
his thoughts need not be injured by any form of inimical mental influence. He can
recognize it when it is present by the sinking in the solar plexus, or the peculiar
vibrations in his head or other part of his body. And when he recognizes such a
condition he should turn his attention resolutely to some active employment of mind
and body, keeping a firm, unbending, cold and positive frame of mind, and a serene
confidence that he is master of himself and director of his own destiny. To think
about and attempt to fight any such inimical force is to give it additional energy. But
anyone who can resolutely turn his attention to some active work, and keep his mind
positive and interested in the work he is doing, is quite immune from injury from any
magical source.

Repelling Psychic Forces

–As already indicated, volume and potential of the electric energy generated have a
bearing upon the ability of the individual to control himself and to control others. If
an individual develops a lower potential than that which is developed in some section
of his nervous system, either through the impact of a thought sent to him, or through
the impact of a sensory stimulus, such as hearing a sound, or feeling the jab of a
needle; in the competition of electric currents, that developed under the impact,
being the stronger, will gain attention from the brain, and if powerful enough also
will exercise local control.

Furthermore, when an individual places himself in the mood, or state, to feel, either
an external sound, or a thought-wave, he reduces the competition of electric currents,
and tunes his nervous system, or some special section of it, to pick up the anticipated
vibration. That is, mentally, he reverses the direction of electrical flow, giving
predominance to the charges flowing to his brain from the sensory nerves or
sympathetic nervous system. If his brain is alert and vigorous, and he retains the
ability at any time to take control through generating a still higher electrical potential
than those coming in, he is then said to be sensitive. But if his brain is not active
enough to generate an electrical potential which enables him to prevent the electrical
charges coming to it from registering, he is said to be negative to the external
condition. And if this negativeness is sufficient, he loses the power to control his own
thoughts and actions.

The organism of man is a bundle of habit systems; and an individual, through
practice, can greatly increase either his sensitiveness or his negativeness. And having
established the habit of being sensitive or negative in a particular way, it requires but
a thought, or slight impact from without, to induce the state again.

It will be seen, however, that if the brain, and sympathetic nervous system and
efferent nerves under its influence, develop electrical currents of sufficient volume
and potential successfully to compete with those generated by impacts against the
afferent nerves and sympathetic nervous system, that the thoughts of the individual
then will be the only thoughts or impressions recognized by the brain, and he will
retain complete control of his actions. Such is the normal state of affairs, in which
most people, because the electric energies moving outward from the brain are more
powerful than those that their nervous systems generate due to the thoughts of others
which reach them, are unconscious of thoughts other than their own.

Whether the thought thus reaching him comes from some person on the
three-dimensional plane, or from some entity on the four-dimensional plane, the
principle is the same: If the individual is broadcasting, that is, if the brain and nerves
it can reach, carry a higher potential than that generated in the nerves by the impact of
thoughts coming from without, he is unaware of these thoughts. We then say the
individual is too positive to perceive such thoughts.

To keep such a positive attitude, not only must the brain be in a somewhat forceful
state, in which it is active enough to generate the required electrical potential, but the
whole nervous system will be placed under a just perceptible tension, in which there
is a slight feeling as of pushing outward of the individual’s forces, as if, which he is,
he were radiating energy.

But in addition to being able to become positive at will, which is a great asset, both
the healer and the person who is troubled with psychic forces, will find it of
paramount importance to be able to select some line of thinking and hold it resolutely
before the attention. The healer, while in the positive attitude, after establishing
rapport with his patient, must be able to think the thoughts he wishes to send his
patient, and thus because his potential is higher, convey them to the astral body of the
one he treats. And the one troubled with psychic forces, must be able to hold in his
consciousness, lines of thought of his own selection, and keep thinking about them
with sufficient intensity that the electrical potential thus generated enables him to
keep tuned to them, and thus automatically shuts away those generated by the impact
of thoughts from without. So long as he generates electrical potentials that are higher,
his own thoughts, in the competition between electrical currents, will be the only
ones acquiring any influence. And if he is absorbed by his own thoughts, no thought
force coming from the outside can even gain recognition.

To keep the thoughts tuned to some dry subject requires the overcoming of various
resistances, which consumes electricity rapidly and leads to exhaustion. But if there
is some recreation or other interest which easily arouses enthusiasm and pleasure, it
will be easy to hold the thoughts to it with a small expenditure of electrical energy.
This whole matter of How To Direct The Thoughts is explained in Course 5, Chapter 9;
so that here it only remains to point out that so long as the thoughts are rather completely
occupied with one subject, this tunes the nervous system in on vibratory rates of a
similar frequency, and, just as when one dials one station on a radio it cuts off the
programs from other stations operating over a quite different frequency, so when one
thoroughly tunes in on one train of thoughts, this effectually cuts off the reception of
unrelated psychic forces and the thoughts of others, and they then have no influence.
Therefore, to be free from any type of psychic persecution merely requires the
development of the ability, as explained in Course 5, Chapter 9, positively to Direct
one’s thoughts.

This, it will be seen, is exactly the opposite training from that to become a
disintegrative medium; for such a medium cultivates so low a brain potential that not
only is he controlled by the electrical currents generated through the impact of the
thought-forces of others against his nervous system, but under such training the brain
potential becomes temporarily so low that it does not register what is happening upon
objective consciousness.

Giving the Absent Treatment

–When the healer feels that the condition of rapport has satisfactorily been
established between himself and his patient, he may then, after himself becoming
positive while holding to the vibratory rate of his patient, start sending him whatever
thoughts he has decided upon as required for a cure. During this time he should
visualize the patient in a perfect state of health.

It may be that he will decide what the patient most needs is not Mental Antidotes or
Conversion, but the release of some Repression or the diversion of the energy of
some Complex. He does not command, or coerce, or force the patient to any action or
course of thinking. He merely talks to him in a positive manner, talks to the
visualized image of the patient in perfect health, which means talking to him astrally,
as if he were physically before him.

He explains to him, perhaps, that the events and conditions which built complexes
into the astral body, have been exaggerated as to their importance, and that in reality
they are rather insignificant. Or he talks to him about some repression, explaining it
to the patient in precisely the same manner he would if he were physically present,
telling him exactly through what channel to divert its energy so that it will no longer
cause discord but will do some constructive work. The patient may not, and probably
will not, be objectively aware of any part of this conversation, yet he will gradually
begin consciously, as well as unconsciously, to view his past in a different way, and
make the mental adjustments suggested by the healer.

As explained in Chapter 1, both the physical cells and organs, and the
thought-cells and thought structures, have an intelligence of their own. And the
healer, in giving an absent treatment, can talk to any of them which are not
performing in the best manner, and tell them what they must do. If, for instance,
through his diagnosis, he finds the stomach not behaving as it should, while in
rapport with his patient he may visualize his stomach, and give it strong suggestion
what results are desired from it.

But in thus interfering with the work of any organ, it is better to confine the
suggestions given it, which may taken the form of forcefully asking it to do certain
things, to the result expected. The heart, or intestines, or spleen, or other organ thus
appealed to, knows far more about how to get the asked for result than the healer
does; and if the healer tries to give it detail instructions, these are apt to be such that
when followed by the organ give results different from those required.

Whatever the patient could do in the way of giving himself mental treatment, had he
the skill and energy, can be done by another at a distance, providing the condition of
rapport can be established, and the patient is willing thus to receive the treatment.

The healer can use the method of Conversion to alter the manner in which some
group of thought-cells perform by taking a keen delight as possible in the appropriate
thoughts, while in rapport with the patient, and visualizing the result desired. Or he
can use the method of Mental Antidotes, by selecting the appropriate train of
thoughts and, while in rapport with the patient, thinking them vividly and
harmoniously in association with the department of life to be affected. But in such
work he must be conscious not merely of the thoughts and feelings, but also that he is
imparting them to a certain region of the patient’s astral body.

In such a manner, through changing the thought composition and thought structure of
his patient’s astral body, the healer can bring about a change also in the habitual
thinking of his patient; for the condition of the physical health, the events which
come into the life, and the type of thinking, all are expressions of the release of the
desire energies of the thought-compounds which he has changed. And it is upon the
changed habit of thinking the patient must depend to prevent a recurrence of the old
affliction.

Such an absent treatment should last not less than five minutes after the condition of
rapport has been attained. Usually twenty minutes will be long enough; and it is
seldom advisable to continue the treatment over half an hour; for such work
consumes much electric energy. One should never treat after beginning to feel
exhausted. At the close of every treatment the mind should be polarized to an attitude
of lofty, imperious, positive calm, breaking completely the rapport which during the
whole time of treatment has been maintained with the patient. Then the healer,
permitting no further thought of his patient, should immediately turn his attention
positively to something else.