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CHAPTER IV. MIND IN CELLS, AND CELL COMMUNITIES.

In order to understand the nature of Psychic Healing one must have an acquaintance with the nature of the mental side of the Body. Not I only has the Central Mind a number of Planes ) of Manifestation, but each organ has something which might be called an "organic mind", made up of a "group-mind" of a number of cells, each of which cells moreover has a cell-mind of its own. This idea is somewhat startling to those who have not acquainted themselves with the details of the subject, but it is known to be correct, not only by the Yogis, but also by those who have familiarized themselves with the recent discoveries of Western Science. Let us take a hasty look at this cell-life.

As we told you in the "Fourteen Lessons" the Yogi Philosophy teaches that the physical body is built up of "little lives " or cell-lifes, and that each cell had an independent action, in addition to a cell-community action. These little "lives" are really minds of a certain degree of development, sufficient to enable them to do their work properly. These bits of mind are, of course, subordinate to the control of the Instinctive

Mind of the individual, and will readily obey orders from that source, as well as from the Intellect.

These cell minds manifest a peculiar adaptation for their particular work. Their selective action in extractingfrom the blood the nourishment needed, and rejecting that which is not needed, is an instance of this intelligence. The process of digestion, assimilation, etc., shows the "mind" of the cell, either individual or in groups. The healing of wounds, the rush of the cells to the point where they are required, and many other instances familiar to physiologists are evidence of this cell life and mental action.

The entire body is built up of these tiny cells. This is true not only of the soft tissue and muscle, but also of the hard bony parts, including the enamel of the teeth. These cells are shaped in accordance with the particular work that they are designed to perform, such shapes and forms varying materially. Each cell is, practically, an individual, separate and more or less independent, although subject to the control of the organic mind, and, still higher, the Instinctive Mind.

The cells are constantly at work each performing his own particular task, like a well-trained soldier in an army. Some of the cells are active workers, and others are of the reserve force, kept awaiting some sudden and urgent call to duty. Some are stationery, and others are moving about attending to their particular duties and tasks. Some of them act as the scavengers of the system, carrying away the refuse and debris of the system, while others carry the nourishing elements of the food to all parts of the body.

Cell life has been compared to a large and well ordered community, each individual doing his own particular work all for the common good. The community is a large one, it being estimated that there are at least 75,000,000,000 of the red blood cells alone. These red blood cells are the common carriers of the body, and float in the arteries and veins, carrying a load of oxygen from the lungs and delivering particles of it to the various tissues of the body, which give life and strength to the particular parts. On their return journey through the veins the cells carry with them the waste products of the system. Like a merchant vessel, these cells carry a cargo on their outgoing trip, and bring back a second cargo on their return.

Other cells perform police work and protect the system from bacteria, etc., which might produce trouble in the system. These policemen are quite savage, and usually get rid of the intruder by devouring him, but if unable to so dispose of him they rally in number and finally eject him from the system in the shape of a boil, pimple, etc.

The cells enable the body to carry on its work of continual regeneration. Every part of our bodies are being repaired constantly by fresh material. And the cells do the work. Millions of these little workers are constantly moving along, or else working in a fixed position in the parts of our bodies, renewing the worn-out tissues and replacing them with new material, and at the same time throwing out of the system the worn-out and discarded material.

Each of the cells of the body, no matter how humble may be its functions, is possessed of an Instinctive knowledge of that which is vital to its life-work, and its own life. It takes nourishment, and reproduces itself by increasing in size and then separating. It seems to have a memory, and in other ways manifests mind action. We do not consider it necessary to go deeply into this matter at this point, and merely mention these facts that the reader may understand that these cells are "living things," having mind action.

These cells are built up into organs, parts, tissue, muscle, etc., and form what is known as cell-communities, in which their minds seem to combine, in addition to their having independent mental action. In the case of theliver, for instance, the millions of cells composing that organ have a community-mind, which may be called the"liver-mind," and which acts as an "entity" subject, always, to the control of the Instinctive Mind. This is amost important fact to remember, in connection with psychic healing, for the whole principle of the latter depends upon the fact that these organs, through their minds, are amenable to Mental Control and Direction.

As we have said, each cell belongs to a cell-group, and each group forms a part of a larger group, and so on until the whole forms a great group or whole community of cells, under the control of the Instinctive Mind. And the little minds of the entire cell community combine under the control of that great Instinctive Mind. And, at the same time, there are lesser combinations, and still lesser, until the mind of the single cell

is reached. The entire mental organism of the cells is something quite wonderful, and startling.

The control of these cell-communities is one of the duties of the Instinctive Mind, and it usually does its work very well, unless interfered with by the Intellect, which sometimes sends it fearthoughts and demoralizesit. The Intellect insists upon interfering with the established order of the body, and by introducing strange customs and habits, tends to demoralize the cell-communities and to bring disorder into their ranks.

Sometimes something akin to rebellion springs up among these cell-communities or groups, and they revolt at working overtime, or from similar reasons. In this connection we take the liberty of quoting from our book entitled "Hatha Yoga," which gives a clear idea of these cell rebellions. The book says: "At times it seems that some of the smaller groups (and even some of the larger on certain occasions) go on a strike, rebelling

against unaccustomed and improper work forced upon them working overtime and similar causes, such as a lack of proper nourishment. These little cells often act just as would men under the same circumstances the analogyis often startling to the observer and investigator. These rebellions or strikes seem to spread, if matters arenot arranged, and even when matters are patched up, the cells seem to return to their work in a

sullen manner, and, instead of doing their work the best they know how, they will do as little as possible, and only just when they feel like it. A restoration of normal conditions, resulting from improved nutrition, proper attention, etc., will gradually bring about a return to normal functioning, and matters may be very much expediated by orders from the Will, directed immediately to the cell-groups. It is astonishing how soon order and discipline may be restored in this way."

Science has shown us the truth of the old Yogi teachings that all disease was cell-disease, and it follows that if we can manage to get control of the cell-trouble, we have mastered the entire problem. This control may be acquired in a number of ways, and the explanation of these ways and their method of application, forms the subject of this book.

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