(*Free .pdf Book ~
474 pages)
as edited by
Horatio Dresser, 1921
Biographical Sketch of Dr. Phineas P.
Quimby from
the
Quimby Manuscripts, Ch. 1, by Horatio Dresser, 1921, (Excerpts).
...Quimby's writings were not meant
for
publication,
although their author hoped to revise them for a book, and he had
already written experimental introductions.... Time has shown that
the original teachings have come to possess a value which might not
have been theirs had they been published fifty years ago. Now that
the teachings are given to the world, many new estimates will be
made. The majority of us are little accustomed to thinking in terms
of inner experience, without the embellishments of literary art or
the interpretations of sects and schools; and some effort will be
required to take up the point of view of a writer who wrote precisely
as he thought.
There is little to add to the
biographical sketch
published by his son George A. Quimby, in the "New England
Magazine," March, 1888, so far as external details are
concerned. Quimby was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire, February 16,
1802. When two years of age his home was moved to Belfast, Maine,
where he spent his boyhood days without noteworthy incident. The
family home remained in Belfast. There Quimby began his first
investigations in mental phenomena. Thither he went for rest and
change in the years of his greatest activities as spiritual healer in
Portland; and there his earthly life came to an end, after more than
twenty years devoted to the type of work which gives him title to
fame among original minds.
His education in the schools was so
meager that he
did
not learn to spell and punctuate as most writers do.... Had he been
granted the opportunity as a young man, he would naturally have
sought the best training in the special sciences, as that was the
tendency of his mind. But there are other sorts of education which
some of us value more. If to be educated is to have power to quicken
in men and women knowledge of themselves, love for spiritual truth
and love for God, then indeed he was educated in high degree. The
significant fact is that, with only a common-school education and
with but slight acquaintance with the ages of human thought, Quimby
made the best use of his powers and grappled with the greatest
problems with clear insight. To see why he came to believe as he did
is to pass far beyond the external facts of his biography and turn to
his inner life with its out-reachings.
Quimby early manifested ability as an
inventor,
but his
mechanical interests do not explain him. So, too, in his occupation
as watch and clockmaker, there is no hint of his peculiar ability in
discerning the human heart. His power as inventor was limited by his
interest in mechanics. Before the period of his experiments in mental
phenomena, there is only one incident of any significance recorded -
the recovery of his health, in part without the aid of medicine; but
even in this case his meager account fails to tell us whether the
change was in any sense permanent. It was not until his
investigations were well begun that he wholly regained his health and
began to see that health is a spiritual possession.
But in reviewing this introductory
period of his
life,
everything once more depends on what we call education. Inventive or
creative ability, combined with love for facts; the facts and laws of
the special sciences, is a splendid beginning, if one is to devote
maturer years to establishing a spiritual science. Perhaps it was
Quimby's love for natural facts which kept him from ignoring the
existence and reality of the natural world, when he became absorbed
in the study of the mind.
Quimby's mind was scientific in the
good sense of
the
term. He did not stop many years in the domain of mechanics. He was
not content with letters patent as signs of his ability. Nor was he
satisfied with studies in mesmerism, spiritualism and kindred
phenomena. The impressive fact is that he continued his researches
until he laid the basis for a new structure in the world of thought.
During the period of his preliminary investigations, he read books on
the sciences, to some extent. But with the beginning of his life-work
he branched out in a new direction; working entirely alone, amidst
opposition and with no books to help him. His more productive years
should, therefore, be judged by his high ideal of a spiritual
science.
His great love for truth; his desire
to prove all
things
for himself, is then the most prominent characteristic of his early
manhood. Apparently, those who knew him well in the early years of
his life in Belfast saw nothing peculiar or exceptional in him. Hence
there is nothing recorded that gives us any clue until, putting aside
conventional standards of thought, we seek the man's inner type; the
sources of his insight in the Divine purpose. Yet there is an
advantage in being known by one's fellow townsmen as honest, upright,
dedicated to practical pursuits and by no means peculiar. For when
Quimby took up a study that was unpopular, he was a prophet with
honor in his own country. From his home town he went forth to engage
in public experiments, well recommended. And in his own town, he
began the practice of spiritual healing; winning there the reputation
which led him to move to Portland in 1859 and enlarge his work.
Was he a religious man? In one of his
articles he
says,
"I have been trying all my life, ever since I was old enough to
listen, to understand the religious opinions of the world, and see if
people understand what they profess to believe." Not finding
spiritual wisdom, he was inclined to be skeptical, and later spent
much time setting his patients free from religious beliefs. George
Quimby tells us emphatically that his father was not religious, in
the sense in which one might understand the term “religion.” as
applied to organizations, churches and authorized text-books. We
shall see reasons for this distinction as we proceed. But if to
believe profoundly in the indwelling presence of God as love and
wisdom - if to live by this Presence, so as to realize its reality
vividly in the practice of spiritual healing - is to be religious;
then indeed few men have been more truly religious than he. Those of
us who have known his chief followers have felt from them a spiritual
impetus coming from his work which surpasses what we have elsewhere
met in actual practice.
After he ceased to experiment with
mesmerism and
began
to study the sick intuitively, he took his starting-point in
religious matters from the state in which he found his patients. He
found many of them victims of what we now call the old theology. The
priests and ministers of that theology were, to him, blind guides.
Hence, as he tells us, he made war on all religious opinions and on
all priestcraft. Jesus was, to him, a reformer who had overcome all
his religion, before beginning to establish the “Truth or Christ."
Quimby was very radical in opposing doctrinal conceptions of Christ.
He uniformly called Jesus a “man like ourselves," that he
might win for the Master new recognition as the founder of spiritual
science. To him the “Science of the Christ" was greater than a
religion.
Did he allow his own personality to
become a
center of
interest and admiration? Not at all. He realized, of course, that his
patients would look up to him, as to any physician who had restored
them to health when there was apparently no hope. So he sometimes
freely spoke of his "power or influence." But this was to
divert attention from doctors and medicines. He then disclosed the
way to his great truth and kept his "science" steadily
before his patient's mind. His manuscripts contain scarcely a
reference to himself, save to show what he learned from early
investigations; why he is not a spiritualist, humbug or quack and why
he believed man possesses "spiritual senses" in touch with
Divine wisdom. Thus he often speaks of himself in the third person as
"P. P. Q." - not the “natural man" - but the one who
has seen a great truth which all might understand.
In his constructive period in
Portland, Quimby had
around him - not ardent disciples who compared him with the great
philosophers or with Jesus, but a small group, who defended him
against misrepresentation and regarded him as he wished to be
regarded; as a lover of truth. His patients became his special
friends, and it was to those most interested that he gave forth his
ideas most freely. The Misses Ware, who did most of the copying of
the manuscripts and made changes in them, according to his
suggestions when he heard them read, were especially fitted for this
service, since they brought forward no opinions of their own and were
devoted to this part of the work. So, too, Mr. Julius A. Dresser, who
spent his time after his own recovery in June, 1860, conversing with
new patients and inquirers, explaining Quimby's theory and methods,
was particularly adapted to aid the great cause to which his life was
dedicated. A few followers wrote brief articles for the press, but
none had the confidence to undertake any elaborate exposition, hoping
as they did that the manuscripts would soon be given to the world and
that these would disclose the new truth in its fullness.
It has been supposed that Quimby did
no teaching,
and
this is true so far as organized instruction is concerned. But he did
the same kind of teaching that all original men engage in - he
conversed with his followers, speaking out of the fullness of
experience and with the force of native insight. Thus he began the
educational part of his treatment, as soon as his patients were in a
state of mind to listen responsively. Then he explained his "Truth"
more at length as responsiveness grew and interest was awakened.
Coming out of his office, filled with insights from his latest
sitting, he would share his views with interested groups. Sometimes,
too, his essays would be read and the contents discussed.... In a
way, this is the best sort of instruction in the world; this teaching
by the conversational method, when the works and evidences in
question are immediately accessible to those interested, to follow
the implied principles and learn all they can.
...His patients tell us that Quimby
had remarkable
insight into the character of the sick. He judged character, not by
external signs, not through reasoning from facts to conclusions, but
by silent impressions gained as he rendered his mind open to discern
the real life and "see it, whole." The quest for facts and
the inventive ability of his earlier years became the love for truth
regarding his patients and the creative insight of his constructive
period. He was in the habit of telling the truth, as he saw it; even
if it aroused momentary resentment in the mind of his patients. If a
patient was in bondage to medical or priestly opinion, he disclosed
this servitude with startling directness. He addressed himself to the
real or "scientific" man; summoning the true self into
power.
One of his patients has said, "P. P.
Quimby's
perceptive powers were remarkable. He always told his patient, at the
first sitting, what the latter thought was his disease; and as he was
able to do this, he never allowed the patient to tell him anything
about his case. Quimby would also continue and tell the patient what
the circumstances were which first caused the trouble and then
explain to him how he fell into his error; and then from this basis
he would prove that his state of suffering was purely an error of
mind and not what he thought it was. Thus his system of treating
diseases was really and truly a science, which proved itself. He
taught his patients to understand and they were instructed in the
truth as well as restored to health." [J. A. Dresser, in "The
True History of Mental Science," revised edition, p. 23.]
That is to say, Quimby's work,
emulating that of
Jesus,
was fundamental and central. It began with bodily and mental healing,
when this was called for first - as it was in nearly every instance.
It became spiritual and regenerative if a person desired. For he
could not compel a person to be born anew. He could but disclose the
way persuasively. That his way was indeed persuasive was seen in the
case of followers who came to him as a last resort; deeming him some
sort of irregular practitioner; his method a "humbug" - and
went away deeply touched by his spirit and the power of the great
truths he had to give.
Some effort will be required to
discern his inner
type,
on the part of those who have heard adverse opinions circulated about
during the long controversial years. It is by no means a mere
question of doing him justice, at last. He desired no credit, and
there is no reason for underestimating what others have done, in
order to win recognition for him. His work and teachings were both
like and unlike the teachings and work of his later followers. He
undoubtedly possessed greater intuition and greater healing power
than the therapists who have come after him. He did not stop with
nervous or functional diseases, but more often healed organic
disorders. A closet full of canes and crutches left by patients in
his office in Portland in the last years of his practice testified to
his remarkable power. His followers lacked the requisite confidence
to try to heal as he did, while he was still with them. Later, when
his ideas and methods began to become known outside of Maine and New
Hampshire, the therapists who took up the work had to depend upon
questioning their patients, and some of the early writers restated
the Quimby philosophy in a much more abstract way.
...The Quimby Writings are now
published, because
they
are unquestionably the most important contributions to the subject,
because they show how the modern theory and practice of spiritual
healing came into being.... The underlying theory has been greatly
elaborated since his time. The same ideas and methods have been
applied in fields which he did not enter. Quimby was, if you please,
a pioneer and specialist, devoted to truth as his own insight led to
it, without regard to prior teachings, save those of the New
Testament. But it still remains impressively significant that,
entirely alone in an unfriendly age, he acquired ideas and discovered
methods which gave him title to fame. His writings, therefore, have a
special value of their own.
