“In the renewal of life and the preservation of youth, Thought is the chief factor.  If we think we are old—­we age rapidly.  If, on the contrary, we think we are young, we preserve our vitality indefinitely.  The action of thought influences the living particles of which our bodies are composed, so that we positively age them or rejuvenate them by the attitude we assume.  The thinking attitude of the human Soul should be one of gratitude, love and joy.  There is no room in Spiritual Nature for fear, depression, sickness or death.  God intends His creation to be happy, and by bringing the Soul and Body both into tune with happiness we obey His laws and fulfil His desire.  Therefore, to live long, encourage thoughts of happiness!  Avoid all persons who talk of disease, misery and decay—­for these things are the crimes of man, and are offences against God’s primal design of beauty.  Drink in deep draughts of sunshine and fresh air,- -inhale the perfume of flowers and trees,—­keep far away from cities and from crowds—­seek no wealth that is not earned by hand or brain--and above all things remember that the Children of Light may walk in the Light without fear of darkness!”

Something in this latter sentence made me stop, and look again around me—­and again I felt sure that the room was growing darker, and not only darker but smaller.  The purple silk hangings which draped the walls were almost within my touch, and I knew they had not been so close to me when I first sat down to read.  A nervous tremor ran through me, but I resolved I would not be the dupe of my own fancy, and I set myself once more resolutely to the study of the volume before me.  The next paragraph which attracted me was headed

ON THE COMMAND OF LIFE’S FORCES

and began thus: 

“To live long you must have perfect control of the forces that engender life.  The atoms of which your body is composed are in perpetual movement,—­your Spiritual Self must guide them in the way they should go, otherwise they resemble an army without organisation or equipment, easily put to rout by a first assault.  If you have them under your spiritual orders you are practically immune from all disease.  Disease can never enter your system save through some unguarded corner.  You may meet with accident—­through the fault of others or through your own wilfulness,—­if through your own wilfulness, you have only yourself to blame—­if through the fault of others, you may know that it was a destined and pre-ordained removal of yourself from a sphere for which you are judged to be unfitted.  Barring such accident, your life need know no end, even on this earth.  Your Spirit, called the Soul, is a Creature of Light—­and it can supply revivifying rays to every atom and cell in your body without stint or cessation.  It is an exhaustless supply of ‘radium’ from which the forces of your life may draw perpetual sustenance.