"Two of the visiting physicians with whom I had worked in the hospital were beginning to delve into the interaction between mind and body.We had experimented with certain out-patients by the use of placebos,which were non-medicinal tablets made to look like medicine.In many instances we had found that the placebos produced as much improvement as the genuine drug might have been expected to produce.For example,we would tell the patient to take three pills daily for a week,then would have the dispensary issue only sufficient for five days,and all fifteen pills would be placebos.Frequently,the patient would say on his return,'Doctor,I felt fine until Thursday,but my pills ran out,and I've suffered terribly the past two days.'
"Since some of these patients suffered from serious conditions,and since I had seen patients under hypnosis freed from extreme distress without the use of morphine,I decided that some sort of mental technique might work for me,especially if I would go into it with my eyes open,thus requiring no placebos.
"This I did! Since a myriad new cells were built every moment,and since each was built under the dominant idea either of health or of illness,I determined that l would stamp each new cell with the concept of health,right structure,right action,right function,and would begin to praise the body for its mutual co-operation and assistance,one part with the other.
"Fortunately,I was quite familiar with the internal structure of the pancreas,having dissected several of them,and I could have drawn a picture of the Islets of Langerhans which are the chemical laboratory in which Infinite Intelligence synthetizes insulin from its components.I began to talk to it,telling it that I knew it wanted to work,that it did not enjoy being on a sitdown strike,that something in my past mental and emotional attitudes had turned it aside from its will to work,and that from now on it would have all the co-operation it needed from me.
"One might ask,"But did you really believe it could hear you? Of course not! But the mere framing of the picture in this way did something to me,I was a child in metaphysics,and knew nothing of techniques; I was as alone as Robinson Crusoe in this new spiritual world,and this was the best way I could devise of to counterbalance whatever in me had caused the stoppage.
"Of one thing I was certain,that the mental picture could produce definite changes in the body.I had seen this already in the hospital.I was now coming to see that this universe is a universe of pure thought.I knew nothing then of the researches that such noted astrophysicists as Eddington and Jeans were then embarked upon,and which have done so much to prove that the universe is one big thought,clothed with form.But I firmly believed that each new cell could receive the impression of my recently oriented thought,so I used whatever words would help me actually to believe the words I was ostensibly saying to my body.
"The hospital experiments had demonstrated that thoughts and beliefs could definitely affect the body,sometimes in serious disorders.But as far as I knew,no one had ever been healed of so profound a malady as diabetes.However,when the alternative is death,a desperate person will try anything.
"I knew that nothing goes on in the universe without some previous action of intelligence.Action is preceded by mental activity.The universe is what Jeans calls 'the thought of the Mathematical Thinker,condensed into rigorous form.' Man's body could quite reasonably be to man what the universe is to the Infinite Thinker,the out-picturing of his individual thought.All thought being therefore creative,the nature and condition of that which is being created would depend on the nature and condition of the thought.I felt that I was on sound,reasonable,logical grounds in thus making the attempt to color this creative process in the direction of perfect function.
"For perhaps eight or ten weeks there was no apparent change,but I persisted.Then,one week,the laboratory test showed a very slight drop in the sugar.Next week it fell further.Unfortunately,I kept no diary,therefore these periods might not be exactly correct; but my general recollection is that the sugar fell for several weeks.Then for no apparent reason,it soared again.This was most discouraging,but I continued with my procedures,and the sugar dropped again.This intermittent rise and fall of the sugar continued for almost six years,during which time I was steadily gaining a sense of mastery over the condition.
"The encouraging feature to me was that each peak of the flare-ups was never quite so high as the previous high point.Eventually,the day came when the urinalysis revealed the fact that the sugar had fallen to the point where it was no longer listed in a percentage figure,and the laboratory report merely said: 'Sugar,a trace.' But this trace persisted for probably six or eight months before the laboratory report said,'Sugar,negative.' This was perhaps the happiest day of my life; yet I was cautious for some months,still refraining largely from carbohydrates in my diet.
"Gradually I came to the conviction that my trouble was gone,and by this time I had learned how to put a certain finality into my belief,so that I knew that never again would I be brought under bondage to this condition.
"For over thirty years I have eaten all the sugars and starches I have desired.I have never in my life had a drop of insulin.My energy and vitality are higher than that of most men of my age,and it has been my supreme pleasure to teach thousands of others this creative principle which has brought me out from under the shadow of death."