Page:The Quimby Manuscripts.djvu/239

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THE WORLD OF THE SENSES
235

in himself, animal, human, scientific, in different degrees in each person. Man partakes more of the animal, less of the scientific. Women have more of the scientific element, less of the animal; the latter kingdom makes them strong, the human benevolent, and the scientific spiritual and poetical.


From time immemorial the subject of mind has been a theme of ancient and modern philosophers. Now if the idea of mind did not embrace all our reason and philosophy man would not be all the time trying to investigate its nature.

Mind is always associated with something else. Moses used the word wisdom in the sense of mind when he said God created the heavens and the earth, which means mind and matter.

The philosophers of our day separate matter from mind and call matter material, and mind immaterial, so that matter is not [supposed to be] under the control of mind, and as mind is immaterial it is nothing. Now can nothing produce something? This the philosophers of our day may answer.

Why all these different applications of the same term? If mind is matter, what is life? To show that mind is [spiritual] matter we must illustrate by something that men will admit. But some one may ask of what consequence is it to man whether mind is substance or not? I say it is of vast importance to the world, for if it can be shown that mind is [spiritual] matter, it will be seen that mind is under the control of a wisdom possessed by man, so that wisdom acting upon mind changes it and destroys the error and brings man to the truth. . . .

Every person admits that mind has a great deal to do with the body, and each one makes a difference between them. The mind is said to be the intellectual part of man, and the body the servant. In one sense this is true, but to Wisdom it is false, for all admit that the mind can be changed, and if intelligence can change it cannot be wisdom. Jesus taught that the real man is of wisdom. Wisdom cannot change, but can arrange and classify ideas each in its proper place, and show where mind falls short of wisdom. To suppose mind is wisdom is as false as to suppose power is weight.

The natural man, whose intellect is linked with the brutes, and who cannot see beyond matter, reasons this way: He is in matter, but thinks he is outside of it. He cannot see his absurd mode of reasoning, but it is shown in disease. Physi-