The Victorious Attitude

by Orison Swett Marden

Whence comes the intelligence which governs and directs the work of these little builders and repairers? It comes from the Within of us, for our objective mind is comparatively passive in the process. But the great Intelligence back of the flesh, which keeps the heart beating, the lungs breathing, and all of the various bodily functions in activity, never ceases working, and never leaves us for an instant. It permeates every atom of the body, illuminating each separate cell with a reflection of its own light.

Scientists are making marvelous discoveries regarding the location of the seat of intelligence,—mind. Until recently it was supposed to be confined solely to the brain. But now we know the mind, the brain, or the thinking part of us, extends the entire length of the spinal cord, that there is gray brain matter everywhere in the sympathetic nervous system. In fact recent experiments indicate selective power in the cells all through the body.

Regular gray matter has been found in the finger tips of deaf, dumb and blind people, thus showing that wherever there is a need there is intelligence. We know what marvels blind and deaf mutes perform by their sense of touch, in distinguishing colors, even fine variations of shades in delicate fabrics, in correctly sensing denominations of paper money and coins, and accurately describing statues and other forms from merely running their fingers over them. This shows that intelligence is everywhere in the body.

Some of our foremost scientists now believe that the cells composing each organ form a sort of coöperative community intelligence which presides over that particular organ. They hold that the bodily organs have what may be termed minds of their own, and are vitally connected with the so-called spinal column brain and the solar plexus brain, as well as with the brain proper. This theory is borne out in fact. We know how quickly the stomach sympathizes with the mental attitude, how it responds to our thoughts, our emotions; also how quickly the heart, the kidneys respond to our mental states—fear, worry, joy, anxiety, love, hate, jealousy, whatever emotion dominates us.

If there were not a very intimate connection between the brain and the stomach (and the same principle applies to the heart, the kidneys and other organs) the digestion would not be affected so seriously by our changing moods and emotions. Inasmuch as it is so affected, is it not reasonable to assume that the stomach cells are influenced by the thought which you project into them? Is it not reasonable to assume that by sending into these cells black, gloomy, discouraging pictures of indigestion and dyspepsia you injuriously affect them? If these cells have intelligence, and if they respond instantly to our different mental states, as we know they do, isn't it natural that they should be correspondingly affected by our opinion of them, by our lack of confidence in them, our suspicion of their ability to digest our food properly, by our constant complaining of our stomach and our miserable digestive apparatus?

Give a dog a bad name and you might as well kill him, is an old saying. In the same way, impress, force home on your stomach, your heart, your liver, or any other bodily organ the conviction that it is inefficient, weak, good for nothing, and in addition swallow a mouthful of mental dyspepsia with every mouthful of food, and, sooner or later, it will accept your verdict and be just what you claim it is.

In other words, instead of handicapping them by wrong thought, we must give our bodily organs a fair chance to do their legitimate work. If we expect them to act perfectly, as the Creator intended they should, we must treat them as we would treat our children. We must by right thinking help them to be normal instead of making them abnormal by doubting, being suspicious of them. We must visualize them as our co-workers, our partners, our friends, not as our enemies, our tormentors.

Just think of the horrible pictures of their various organs people get from medical books, which describe minutely symptoms of diseases which they imagine they have! Many people never visualize a normal picture of themselves. They never think of themselves as the perfect beings God intended them to be. What they hold constantly in mind is a picture of an abnormal, diseased, weak, defective creature. They picture their stomach, their liver, their kidneys, their heart in a diseased, imperfect condition. Instead of regarding them as friends, as members of the same family, they look on them as malicious enemies who cause them constant suffering. "Oh," they cry out, "I've got such a miserable stomach! I can't eat anything. Everything I eat hurts me." "My treacherous old heart, how it pumps. I can't walk or do any of the things I like because of it." "My liver is all upset. I seem to be out of kilter everywhere. My kidneys are affected, my back troubles me, and really I might as well be dead!"

Such horrible visualizing and belittling of the hard-working bodily organs would ruin the health of the best trained athlete. If you would be a friend to yourself, you must be a friend of your organs, which are so intimately and sympathetically connected with your brain-mind—the central station of your body. You must believe in their perfection, in their normal functioning. You must picture them trying to help you to carry out your great life purpose instead of working at cross purposes with you. You must have confidence in them, think of them as your friends instead of enemies handicapping your success and ruining your chances in life. Replace the pictures of diseased organs with their opposites, pictures of their wholeness, their completeness, their soundness, and you will find yourself coming into health and power.

Assume the victorious attitude, and think of yourself as an absolutely perfect being, divine, immortal, possessing superb health, a magnificent physique, a vigorous constitution, a sublime mind.