THE VOICES OF NATURE
In communicating my ideas concerning health, the cure of disease, and human happiness I am merely obeying a serious, powerful, inner command.
Man originally came from the hand of the Creator absolutely healthy and good, without any blemish in body and soul. The handiwork of the almighty, all-good, and all-wise Creator could not indeed have been from the start an imperfect and defective, a diseased and sinful, a miserable and unhappy being.
In paradise man lived originally free from sin and disease, in perpetual joy and unclouded happiness. But man lost paradise—was driven from it. The ancient myths, especially the myths concerning paradise, which we find among all civilized peoples, embody the profoundest truths regarding the original state of man and the primitive history of mankind.
True health is no longer met with among mankind. Everywhere on earth disease and decadence stare at us in infinite variety. From the cradle to the grave men are beset by pain and suffering in all their forms. Not nobility of soul and brotherly love, but hate, envy, jealousy, brutality, vice, and crime rule in the world. It may truly be said that we behold contemporary man only in care and sorrow, in misery and suffering, in unhappiness and despair.
I, too, have had to drain the cup of suffering to the dregs. A serious nervous trouble, the disease of the century, and which was caused chiefly through inheritance, began early to undermine my health.
During this period I passed through all the phases of misery and unhappiness, and, as already remarked, was obliged to drain the cup of suffering to the dregs.
My ailment was a very serious one, all remedies, including
