HOW TO HEAL ONESELF & OTHERS. William Walker Atkinson

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СКАЧАТЬ must here remember that the body exists only as a body of cells—a great co-operative community of cells. It is not sufficient to say and think that "the body has cells," but rather that" the body is a collection of cells," or even "the cells are formed into a body of cells."

      Some of the cells are on the active line, while others are held in reserve to be called upon in case of sudden need. Some are stationary, while others remain stationary until called into motion, and a third general class is always moving about; of this moving-about class some make regular trips, while others are rovers and free adventurers, like tramp ships sailing from port to port without making regular trips, between ports.

      Some of the cells carry burdens of material from place to place—building materials needed by certain stationary cells performing building work. Other cells perform scavenger work, and gather up the garbage of the system. Other cells perform police work, and arrest intruders in the system, often actually locking them up by building a wall around them. Other cells form the army which repels the microbes and germs of disease which have invaded the system. The graph wire, joining hands (so to speak) and passing along the message from one end of the line to another.

      The number of cells in the human body is countless. A faint idea of their almost infinite number may be formed by considering the fact that in each cubic inch of blood there are over 75,000,000,000 (seventy-five thousand million) of the red-blood cells alone, not taking into consideration the millions of other kinds of cells.

      The red blood cells travel along in the blood flowing through the arteries and veins; first taking up a supply of oxygen from the lungs, and carrying it through the arteries to the various parts of the body, where they deliver it to the cells requiring it for vital processes. Then, starting on their return journey through the veins, they gather up the waste products of the system, such as the broken down cells which have been used up in their work and which have died; this debris is finally consumed in the crematory of the lungs, and thrown off as carbonic acid gas by the breath. Some of these cells force their way through the wall of the arteries and veins, and through the various tissues of the body, when upon hurried calls for repair work.

      In the blood currents there are also other kinds of cells than those just mentioned. For instance, there are the police cells and the army cells which have been previously mentioned. These very important cells partrol the system and arrest or combat the germs and bacteria which are dangerous to the health of the body.The policeman cell meeting one of these disorderly bacterial characters, enmeshes or entangles it so that it cannot escape. He then proceeds to devour it, providing that it is not too large and strong for him;in the latter case he summons other policemen cells to his assistance, and between them they carry the intruder to some part of the body where it may be thrown out of the system. Boils and pimples are manifestations of this ejecting process on the part of these cells.

      Other cells are laboratory chemists, and extract from the food the elements needed to manufacture the important juices of the system, such as the gastric juice, pancreatic juices, saliva, bile, etc. Not only do these cells select such elements, but they also actually combine them in the proper proportions for the required chemical work.

      But perhaps the busiest classes of cells, and the most numerous, are those whose work it is to continually build up and keep in repair the body as a whole. You must remember that the body is constantly undergoing change; constantly breaking down cells; constantly repairing the damaged places with new cells. Our bodies, in all of their parts, are being continuously made over. All of the work of this kind, whether it be the growth of new hair or finger nails, or the slower processes of other parts of the body, is performed by these minute workers, the cells.

      Perhaps as typical, and as interesting an example of this work of the cells, is that of the healing of a wound. Let us consider this, in order that we may have a clear idea of the character and wonderful nature of the work performed by the cells. Here is the process:

      First, the body is discovered to be wounded by some outside force. The tissues, and often the glands, muscles and nerves are severed. The would begins to bleed, and its sides separate. The nerves carry the report of trouble to the brain, and there is sent out a hurry-up call for help at once. The cells rush to the scene of the trouble, like firemen called to a fire; or like the repair wagon called to the scene of a breakdown on the trolley-car line. While they are reaching the scene, the flowing blood washes away the dirt which otherwise might cause infection; the blood finally coagulating and forming a protecting substance resembling glue, which afterward develops into a scab.

      The repair cells arriving on the scene at once start to work connecting the tissues by bringing together the sides of the wound, and knitting the tissue-cells together. And here is manifested an almost unbelievable degree of "mind." The cells of the tissues, blood-vessels, etc., on both sides of the wound begin to reproduce themselves with marvellous rapidity, each cell growing and separating itself into two, and these into two, and so on, until there is sufficient material created to do the repair work. These new cells increasing in number reach forward from each side of the wound, until finally meeting they connect with their fellows of the other side. But here note the wonder of the process. The connective-tissue cells connect with the connective-tissue cells on the other side; the blood-vessel cells connect with their own kind on the other side; the nerve cells do likewise; until finally there is a complete bridge built, each various parts of each side being connected with the same kind of parts on the other side.

      After this internal repair work is completed, and the connections properly made, then the skin cells start to work and build a· new skin over the healed wound. The whole process shows purpositive action, co-ordinated effort, and an undoubted presence of mental direction. It is useless for materialists to speak of mechanical and chemical laws as an explanation of such vital processes as these. The most skeptical observer, if he is honest with himself, is forced to admit that there is manifested the activities of living, thinking, minute creatures, co-ordinated and regulated; directed and guided, by some mental center higher than themselves. It is impossible to doubt this, any more than one would doubt that the work of the bees in the hive is a vital, mental manifestation. It is not enough to call it "instinctive"-for instinct itself is but a name given to one phase of vital, mental activity.

      A clear understanding of the mental activities of the cells will go far toward giving us a key to the secret of mental healing.

      LESSON IV

       MIND IN THE CELLS

       Table of Contents

      In the preceding lesson we have seen the wonderful work performed by the cells of which the human body is composed. Can there be any doubt that these cells are alive and have mind within them? Any other supposition would be ridiculous. The single cells found in the lower stages of animal and vegetable life, which perform even less complicated and complex actions are regarded as living, thinking creatures; then there can be no reason for denying life and mind to these cells which compose the human body, and which constitute a great co-operative community.

      Biology teaches us that every living thing is possessed of sufficient mind to enable it to perform its tasks, and adjust itself to its environment. Even the tiny cells are possessed of sufficient mind to enable them to preserve their lives, perform their work, and reproduce their species. The cells in the human body have sufficient mind to enable them to seek, select, and absorb their own food, and to move from one place to another in search for it when necessary. Moreover, they have mind enough to enable them to perform the complicated work referred to in the preceding lesson. The intelligence shown in the work of the red blood cells is wonderful, and is an undoubted proof of the existence of a high degree of mind in such cells. And the other work performed by the other cells, such as the secretion of fluids, the selection of mineral matter needed for building up bone, hair, and nails, СКАЧАТЬ