The Untroubled Mind | Page 5

be
content finally to accept whatever is in store for us--so it be the will of
God. We may even look for something better than mere immortality,
something more divine than our gross conception of eternal life.
This is a religion that I believe medical men may teach without
hesitation whenever the need shall arise. I know well enough that many
a blunt if kindly man cannot bring himself to say these words, even if
he believes them, but I do think that in some measure they point the
way to what may wisely be taught.
There is a practice of medicine--the common practice--that is
concerned with the body only, and with its chemical and mechanical
reactions. We can have nothing but respect and admiration for the men
who go on year after year in the eager pursuit of this calling. We know
that such a work is necessary, that it is just as important as the
educational practice of which I write. We know that without the

physical side medicine would fail of its usefulness and that disease and
death would reap far richer harvests: I only wish the two naturally
related aspects of our dealing with patients might not be so completely
separated that they lose sight of each other. As a matter of fact, both
elements are necessary to our human welfare. If medicine devotes itself
altogether to the cure and prevention of physical disease, it will miss
half of its possibilities. It is equally true that if we forget the physical
necessities in our zeal for spiritual hygiene, we shall get and deserve
complete and humiliating failure. Many men will say, "Why mix the
two? Why not let the preachers and the philosophers preach and the
doctors follow their own ways?" For the most part this may have to be
the arrangement, but the doctor who can see and treat the spiritual
needs of his patient will always be more likely to cure in the best sense
than the doctor who sees only half of the picture. On the other hand, the
philosopher is likely to be a comparatively poor doctor, because he
knows nothing of medicine, and so can see only the other half of the
picture. There is much to be said for the religion of medicine if it can
be kept free from cant, if it can be simple and rational enough to be
available for the whole world.

III
THOUGHT AND WORK
I wish I had a trade!--It would animate my arms and tranquilize my
brain. SENANCOUR.
"Doe ye nexte thynge."--Old English Proverb.
Since our minds are so constantly filled with anxiety, there would seem
to be at least one sure way to be rid of it--to stop thinking.
A great many people believe that the mind will become less effective,
that life will become dull and purposeless, unless they are constantly
thinking and planning and arranging their affairs. I believe that the
mind may easily and wisely be free from conscious thought a good deal

of the time, and that the greatest progress and development in mind
often comes when the thinker is virtually at rest, when his mind is to all
intents and purposes blank. The busy, unconscious mind does its best
work in the serenity of an atmosphere which does not interfere and
confuse.
It is true that the greatest conceptions do not come to the untrained and
undisciplined mind. But do we want great conceptions all the time?
There is a technical training for the mind which is, of course, necessary
for special accomplishments, but this is quite another matter. Even this
kind of thought must not obtrude too much, lest we become conscious
of our mental processes and so end in confusion.
One of the greatest benefits of work with the hands, or of objective and
constructive work with the mind, is that it saves us from unending
hours of thinking. Work should, of course, find its fullest justification
as an expression of faith. If we have ever so dim a vision of a greater
significance in life, of its close relationship to infinite things, we
become thereby conscious of the need of service, of the need of work.
It is the easy, natural expression of our faith, the inevitable result of a
spiritual contact with the great working forces of the world. It is work
above all else that saves us from the disasters of conflicting thought.
A few years ago a young man came to me, suffering from too much
thinking. He had just been graduated from college and his head was full
of confused ideas and emotions. He was also very tired, having
overworked in his preparation for examinations, and because he had not
taken the best care of his body. The symptoms he complained