The Way Toward Health - June 3, 1984

Part Two: Starting Over

Chapter 10: A New Beginning. Instructions, Suggestions, and Resolutions – and When to Ignore These

June 3, 1984

The thoughts and beliefs that we want to rearouse are those that were often predominant in childhood, as mentioned earlier in this book.  They are spiritual, mental, emotional and biological beliefs that are innately present in the birth of each creature.  Children believe not only that there will be a tomorrow, and many tomorrows, but they also believe that each tomorrow will be rewarding and filled with discovery.

They feel themselves couched in an overall feeling of security and safety, even in the face of an unpleasant environment or situation.  They feel drawn to other people and to other creatures, and left alone they trust their contacts with others.  They have an inbred sense of self-satisfaction and self-appreciation, and they instinctively feel that it is natural and good for them to explore and develop their capabilities.

They expect relationships to be rewarding and continuing, and expect each event will have the best possible results.  They enjoy communication, the pursuit of knowledge, and they are filled with curiosity.

All of these attitudes provide the strength and mental health that promotes their physical growth and development.  However simple those ideas may sound to the adult, still they carry within them the needed power and impetus that fill all of life’s parts.  Later, conflicting beliefs often smother such earlier attitudes, so that by the time children have grown into adults they actually hold almost an opposite set of hypotheses.  These take it for granted that any stressful situation will worsen, that communication with other is dangerous, that self-fulfillment brings about the envy and vengeance of others, and that as individuals they live in an unsafe society, set down in the middle of a natural world that is itself savage, cruel, and caring only for its own survival at any cost.

Your body actually lives on large quantities of joyful expectation.

The fetus is propelled by the expectation of future growth and development.  It is bad enough to anticipate that most unfortunate situations will worsen rather than improve, but it is foolhardy indeed to believe that mankind is bound to destroy itself, or that nuclear destruction is nearly inevitable.

Many people no longer believe in life after death, and so large numbers of the population are philosophically denied a spiritual or a physical future.  This deprives body and mind of the zest and purpose needed in order to enjoy any pursuits or activities.  Such beliefs make any human endeavor appear futile.  There are ways of reacting to the dangers of nuclear energy that are far more healthy and beneficial, and we will discuss these later in the book.

For now, I simply want to suggest that all such beliefs should be understood and dismissed as soon as possible.  We hope to show how most natural health-promoting beliefs can be applied to all mental, physical, or emotional illnesses or difficulties.  I want to assure you that regardless of your circumstances, age, or sex, you can indeed start over, re-arousing from within yourself those earlier, more innocent expectations, feelings and beliefs.  It is much better if you can imagine this endeavor more in the light of children’s play, in fact, rather than think of it as a deadly serious adult pursuit.

In other words, we will try to instill a somewhat playful attitude, even toward the most severe problems, for the very idea of play encourages the use of the imagination and the creative abilities.

Again, because of the simultaneous nature of time, beliefs can be changed in the present moment.

There is no need to search endlessly into the past of this life or any other, for the “original” cause for beliefs.  Making a change in the present of a certain kind will automatically alter all beliefs “across the board”, so to speak.  It is important, however, that you do not strain too hard to achieve results, but allow yourself some leeway.  You react to your beliefs habitually, often unthinkingly, and in usual ideas of time, and in your experience of it – you must allow yourself “some time” to change that habitual behavior.

As you do, you will discover yourself reacting to the desired beliefs as easily and automatically as you did to the undesirable ones.  As you do, keep the idea of child’s play in mind, however.  This will allow you to keep the entire affair in a kind of suspension.

The child plays at being an adult long before he is one, and so you can play with more desirable beliefs while you are still growing into that more beneficial picture.