Dr. Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, of whom we spoke
previously in this chapter, used the absolute method in the
latter years of his healing career. He was really the father of
psychosomatic medicine and the first psychoanalyst. He had
the capacity to diagnose clairvoyantly the cause of the patient’s
trouble, pains, and aches.
The following is a condensed account of the healing of
a cripple as recorded in Quimby’s Manuscripts: Quimby was
called on to visit a woman who was lame, aged, and bedridden.
He states that her ailment was due to the fact that she was
imprisoned by a creed so small and contracted that she could
not stand upright and move about. She was living in the tomb
of fear and ignorance; furthermore, she was taking the Bible
literally, and it frightened her. “In this tomb,” Quimby said,
“was the presence and power of God trying to burst the bands,
break through the bonds, and rise from the dead.”
When she would ask others for an explanation of some
passage of the Bible, the answer would be a stone; then she
would hunger for the bread of life. Dr. Quimby diagnosed
her case as a mind cloudy and stagnated, due to excitation and
fear, caused by the inability to see clearly the meaning of the
passage of the Bible, which she had been reading. This showed
itself in the body by her heavy and sluggish feeling, which
would terminate as paralysis. At this point Quimby asked her what was meant in the Bible
verses: Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto Him that sent
me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye
cannot come. JOHN 7:33-34. She replied that it meant Jesus went
to heaven. Quimby explained what it really meant by telling
her that being with her a little while meant his explanation of her
symptoms, feelings, and their causes; i.e. he had compassion
and sympathy for her momentarily, but he could not remain
in that mental state. The next step was to go to Him that sent
us which, as Quimby pointed out, was the creative power of
God in all of us. Quimby immediately traveled in his mind
and contemplated the divine ideal; i.e. the vitality, intelligence,
harmony, and power of God functioning in the sick person.
This is why he said to the woman, “Therefore, where I
you cannot come, for you are in your narrow, restricted belief,
and I am in health.” This prayer and explanation produced an
instantaneous sensation, and a change came over her mind.
She walked without her crutches! Quimby said it was one of
the most singular of all his healings. She was, as it were, dead to
error, and to bring her to life or truth was to raise her from the
dead. Quimby quoted the resurrection of Christ and applied
it to her own Christ or health; this produced a powerful effect
on her. He also explained to her that the truth, which she
accepted was the angel or idea, which rolled away the stone of
fear, ignorance, and superstition, thereby, , releasing the healing
power of God, which made her whole.