MENTAL SCIENCE.

NZ Truth, Issue 65, 15 September 1906, Page 4

MENTAL SCIENCE.

TO THE EDITOB,

Sir,— ln your issue of to-day you refer to a centleman who lectured m New Zealand some time ago under the name of J. M. Wilson, and incidentally you refer to the mental science "fake," and describe it as a form of charlatanry. Now, as to the credentials of Mr J. M. Wilson, I am not concerned, but I would like to ask you to take the trouble to learn a little about mental science before attempting to hold it up to ridicule. The science of the mind is surely something worth paying a little serious attention to, for the mind of man is all that separates him from the beast, and if we ignore that part of his organism we have nothing but an animal m human form left. The power of, reasoning, reflection, and concentration has given man dominion over every form of organic and inorganic life, and raised him from the status of a mere automaton to that of a creative and energizing being. From the study of the mind m the abstract wo pass to its influence upon th<y body, and we find that if the mind is healthy and active the body is nearly certain to be m the same condition, whereas if the mind is m a morbid state the body will speedily show signs of enfeeblement and decay., We do not get this information f ronr professing believers m mental science alone, for men of physical science, doctors and others, all recognise the fact that the mind controls the body; and -that if we could only learn the_art of keeping our minds healthy there would be very little wrong with our bodies. Then again, mental science is the gospel for the poor. The only thing Christianity offers them is the prospect of going to a better world when they die and dispensing with the necessity of working for clothes and food. Robert Blatchford, the modern apostle of fatalism under the new name, Determinism, tells our toilers that they are the victims of their heredity and environment and that therefore their case is hopeless until their environment is completely, changed.

The Theosophists say that we have thousands' of years of Karma to work out and thai it will take more thousands of years for us to* pay off the old scores, we owe the Lords of Karma.

Mental science, however, brings a message of hope and encouragement to those who carry the world's burdens on their shoulders, and who have toiled for ages under the lash of heartless and soulless taskmasters. It tells them that they can accomplish anything they determine , to accomplish, that they need not be dependent upon the will of others i for their daily bread, or ask their employers for permission to live upon the earth. We workers are slaves, even m this vainglorious Empire of ours. In the first place we have a struggle to get a chance to earn thg necessaries of life, and when we have secured that chance, it -is at the sacrifice of our liberty, for we cannot hold ideas of our own or express those ideas without risking the .loss of our employment.

Mental science, if universally understood and practised, would speedily alter this state of things ; for the world's toilers will demand real liberty when they understand their own natures and realise that they have the right to all the good things of this life. What other teaching, system of theology, metaphysics or political economy gives us so much hope for the future or strength for our present needs ? Looked at from any and every point of view mental science is the most helpful and uplifting study that anyone can go m for and» the existence of a few charlatans claiming to be its exponents should not deceive any earnest seeker after truth.— Yours, etc., . NYM. Sept. 1, 1906.