The lady who came in to see the psychologist Dr. "Edwin" at his clinic was in a pitiable state of agitation and collapse; her legs could scarcely bear up that thin, sagging, failing body... She complained of everything: of her shattered nerves, of aches she did not know where to locate in her body, and of pains that tore her soul... And she wanted something to deliver her from her aches and pains and restore to her the calm of her nerves.
But the doctor had no medicine for this despairing patient, for in her despair and prostration and utter want of hope she was sick to the last drop of her blood... sick with an illusion hovering in every corner of her soul... He took her gently by the hand, seated her in a handsome chair, and set about calming the storm of her nerves; then he turned to her with a quiet, grave, confident sternness and said to her in a deep voice: "Madam, you are not ill as you claim; but you are weak before your illusions...
It is your illusions that get the better of you, wrecking your nerves and shattering your soul; and unless you overcome this weakness of soul, you will remain sick in your soul forever, and no physician will ever cure you. Your cure is in your own hand alone. Overcome your weakness, pluck these anxieties out of your head, if you wish to be worthy of life."
And Dr. Edwin continued: "There was a lady staying at one of the grand hotels. She summoned the manager to her room and shouted in his face, agitated and indignant: 'Manager, I see black spots dancing before my eyes and I am on the point of fainting. The cause of my distress is that my neighbor in the next room has not ceased, since early morning, pounding on the piano in a way that jars my nerves. If you do not hurry to stop him from this dull playing,
I shall collapse and be carried to the hospital, and you will be the one responsible!'
The hotel manager smiled and answered her politely and calmly: 'Would that I could do so, madam. I dare not interrupt him, for he is preparing to give a great concert tonight in Symphony Hall — he is the great Paderewski!'
The lady was startled and exclaimed: 'Is it true — is it that world-famous musician?!' And what did that lady, who a moment before had been on the point of fainting, do but hurry to the telephone and summon some of her friends to come at once and listen to this marvelous playing; and within an hour her room was crowded with women listeners, and she among them praising and expatiating in her description of these heavenly melodies!
"Nothing in the situation had changed," Dr. Edwin added, "except the woman's view of it. And so it is with you, madam.. sick with an illusion... and your cure is in your own hand!"
There is no doubt that there is a close tie between bodily illnesses and the illnesses of the soul that resemble this case. And the illnesses that arise from a bad state of the soul are more widespread than the illnesses of which germs are the cause. Bodies are, at bottom, armed to a certain degree with a natural immunity; but it is inevitable that this immunity should weaken to the point of disappearing if its owner surrenders to spite or hatred. And then a person may fall ill the moment he is exposed to germs.
Time has proved that the father of
medicine, Hippocrates, was right when he declared, four hundred years before Christ, that anger and fear secrete a poison in the blood; and that a person free of any disease may be stricken with lifelong paralysis as a result of surrendering himself to thoughts of a scheme of revenge that robs him of sleep and then, before long, brings calamity down upon him.
I have never heard a story of this kind without repeating in my heart an old prayer I know, which is: "Lord, give me strength to change the wrong that I can, and courage to face the wrong that I cannot change, and wisdom to tell the one from the other."
When misfortunes overwhelm us and the paths of relief are blocked before our faces despite our competence and our energy, shall we bow beneath the yoke of grief and despair and surrender to the inescapable decree — or shall we face reality with courage, overcoming our despair and our weakness?
I do not deny that it is difficult to create for ourselves the outlook suited to the situation we desire; and those who succeed in conquering their own souls and so create the clear, serene atmosphere — these are the possessors of mighty, all-conquering wills... Courage is a thing indispensable to those who search for life, and not merely for a living; and a person, in order to reach the goal he seeks, must disown
the past and let fall over it a thick curtain of forgetfulness, and turn his face toward the future with