The power of belief was probably best summed up by Jesus when he said . . . "Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." Mark 11:23

A "belief" is a thought that the body distributes into all of the events and circumstances of it's life.

Every new piece of information coming into the body is first compared with prior beliefs before it is accepted as "fact", discarded as "false", or categorized as "maybe".

Beliefs can also be thought of as "thinking habits" . . . ideas that continually "lurk" in the background of the mind (as all habits do) to affect thoughts, attitudes, and performances.

THE POWER

There are numerous things about the human body which mankind hasn't a clue about . . . like, "how the heart beats" . . . or, "how the brain thinks" . . . or, "extra-sensory perception".

Even though we do not understand it, we can make some logical inferences . . . the body is constantly making decisions and enacting solutions . . . and we don't even realize it when it is happening.

The "power" we are searching for is the power that gives life to your body . . . it "knows" how to heal your wounds . . . it makes the "rules" that allows your body to function.

The "power" takes the food you eat and automatically uses it to keep your body alive. The "power" is "good" because it is always working in your behalf to keep you alive and healthy. Without the "power" source how could you make your kidney work? . . . or your thyroid gland? . . . or your liver? How could you breath when you are asleep?

The body is an amazing thing that we know very little about . . . ask any good physician and he/she will tell you . . . "doctors merely 'dress' a wound - so that the body can heal itself.

The "power" that we seek appears to be "physical" in nature because the food that drives our bodies is drawn from the elements of the physical universe . . . but upon closer inspection we can see that it is also spiritualistic! We know this to be true because we can create pictures on the "spiritualistic" blackboard of our minds . . . and the very definition of "spiritualism" is, "a belief in that which cannot be perceived in the physical world".

It is reasonable to assume that there is an intelligence of some sort that controls the internal functions of the human body - and knows what to do and when to do it. It is also reasonable to assume that all life on the earth is blessed with this same life-enhancing "power" that "links" us with all other life forms . . . How does a dog know how to heal a wound or digest food any more than we do?

Many names have been given to "the power" that controls our internal body functions . . . names like: "the inner self", "Karma", "the Soul", the "unconscious", the "subconscious", etc.. No matter what you call "it" - there is little doubt that "it" exists because of the overwhelming evidence that it produces.

How powerful is the "Power"?

Many scientists are now describing the limits of human memory as "infinite". and if the "power" can control memory then one might conclude that the "power" is infinite.

Probably the only limitations that the human body has are the limits that we place upon it with our beliefs. In other words, "no-one ever does anything that (s)he absolutely believes is impossibe" . . . if you believe you cannot do something - then you can be sure that you cannot. Each of us was given a miraculous "power" called a body that can do many and wondrous things but we prevent it from reaching it's potentials with "limiting beliefs".

Probably the best way to understand the awesome power that exists within us is to relate a few cases of healings . . .

Dr. James Esdaille

Between 1843 and 1846 a Scotch surgeon worked in India before ether or anesthesia was invented. Dr. Esdaille performed approximately 400 operations of all sorts . . . operations like amputations, removal of tumors, eye and ear surgeries, All of the operations were performed under hypnotic anesthesia only . . . and with amazing results!

Patients felt no pain during the operations and not one person died while being operated on . . . and it must be remembered that this was before Louis Pasteur discovered that bacteria caused infections due to unsterilized instruments and procedures.

Overall mortality rates for these hypnotized patients was between two and three percent . . . which is extremely low by today's standards.

When asked about his method Dr. Esdaille revealed that he "suggested" to his patients that they would feel no pain and that no infection or septic condition would develop.

Of course everyone concluded that it was hypnosis that caused these events but now we know that hypnosis merely "quiets" the mind and allows us to communicate directly with the "body's intelligence".

Your power seeks to preserve your life and restore you to health . . . if you ate something "bad" then your "power" will cause you to "throw-it-up" or neutralize it in some other way.

Madame Bire

The case of Madame Bire is well known and authenticated . . . she was a blind woman living in France . . . doctors said that her optic nerves were atrophied and useless . . . after visiting the shrine at Lourdes she miraculously regained her sight. After repeated examinations by doctors they concluded that the optic nerves were still atrophied and useless and that by all accounts she should not be able to see.

A month later she was re-examined and her optic nerves were normal and healed (McCall's magazine).

The Bronze Buddha

Of course, religious healings do not only occur for Catholics or Christians, but for peoples of all faiths and religions throughout the world

In Japan there is a 40 foot high bronze statue of the Buddha . . . it is a world famous shrine called Diabutsu where numerous healing have been reported.

THE LAW OF BELIEF

You will get a reaction from your body according to your beliefs.

The eminent psychologist William James said, "Belief creates the actual fact" . . . and the great Mahatma Ghandi said, "Men often become what they believe themselves to be".

Your conscious mind is the captain of your ship --- Your body takes and executes orders that you give it based upon what it accepts as true . . . in other words, "If you truly believe something then your body will use every bit of knowledge that you have gained in your lifetime to ensure that what you believe is in fact true, whether it is or not. It will use your memories, your moods, your attitudes, and other "internal powers" that we can only guess about (extra sensory perceptions?).

There are "laws" in the universe that keep it operating in an orderly fashion . . . "laws" that prevent planets from colliding with each other . . . "laws" that keep us from floating off the earth into airless outer-space.

Everything has a set of laws that governs it's existence . . . and one of the primary laws in the universe is the law of cause and effect which states --- For every action there is a reaction. Everything you do causes an effect on the world in one way or another. Sometimes it's difficult to predict just how significant the outcomes of our actions can be.

Consider the following . . . "Everyone in the world is only six people away from knowing everyone else in the world" . . . many of our actions could have a "ripple effect" and travel great distances.

THE POWER OF SUGGESTION

Adding to this "ripple effect" is the incredible "power of suggestion" . . . Suggestion molds us into who and what we are . . . it controls how we view ourselves and how we perform.

SUGGESTION AND MIND EXPANSION

Because suggestions create and alter beliefs, people react to suggestions in strange ways when they are in states of "mind expansion" (like "hypnosis" and "transcendental meditation)". By "quieting the mind", through "mind expansion" and then agreeing with verbal or mental suggestions, a "subject" can bring about changes in his or her body to correspond with the suggestion . . .

For example, "suggest" to a person who is in a hypnotic state that their body is turning into a stiff and rigid bar of iron and the "subject" will feel his/her body stiffening up and becoming rigid.

Or "suggest" that the subject's arm is "losing weight" and wants to "float up into the air" and you will find that the muscles start to jerk and raise the arm into the air ... without conscious control!

For some reason, when the conscious mind is relaxing and not in an "alert" state it will lessen resistance to new thoughts and ideas that are presented to it.

When the mind accepts something as true, it becomes one of it's "beliefs" . . . and once this happens the body will do everything it can to support the notion that the idea is true.

Brainwashing

But the power of suggestion does not stop with people who are in a state of "mind expansion" . . . it has also been found that when people are repeatedly "distressed", then they too can become highly vulnerable to suggestions . . . this is called "brainwashing"

Suggestions And The Everyday World

A Bulgarian named Doctor Yorgi Lazanov is the founder of a science called "Suggestology". Dr. Lazanov found that suggestion had a powerful effect on people even when they were not in a state of "mind expansion" or "brainwashing" . . . in fact, suggestion - to a great extent, makes us who and what we are and controls our performance.

People tend to believe what other people tell them . . . when it is presented in an authoritative and confident manner. . . they are also more likely to accept suggestions when relaxed and their guard is down . . . or when they have no reason to doubt what is being said . . . or when it "fits" with a belief they already have.

From the time we were born into this world we were told how to talk, how to eat, how to dress . . . these and many other suggestions molded us into the world. At the beginning, our early lives were almost entirely built upon the suggestions of others . . . "suggestions" we "chose" to accept as true from parents, relatives, friends, teachers, television, radio, books, etc. (the foundations of the personality is actually built on the suggestions others).

And so it continued - until the day comes when we realize that we are not in control of our own lives . . . not if we are still allowing the suggestions of others to formulate our world.

Many people decide that they are content to live their lives by the "law of averages" . . . letting suggestions sway them this way and that, sometimes with good results and sometimes not.

Other people decide to take control of their lives by making "suggestions" work for them by suggesting to themselves "strategic" thoughts and ideas which will work quietly in the background of the mind as a self-enhancing "thinking habit".

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