"Every step toward progress is a step more spiritual." ~ Mary Baker Eddy
A man of spirit and insight, hypnotist healer Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866) was born on this day in Lebanon, New Hampshire. A clockmaker and philosopher, he inspired religious reformer Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science.
He said, "I have been trying all my life, ever since I was old enough to listen, to understand the religious opinions of the world, and see if people understand what they profess to believe."
Dr. Quimby pioneer work created miracles. The founder of the New Thought Movement, he was the first to develop the correlation between spirit, mind, body, and illness. He used hypnosis in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
He called his philosophy "the science of intuition and greater wisdom," and blamed religion and medicine for creating wrong beliefs that caused disease and prevented recovery. He believed disease was a result of thinking. Change the thoughts and eliminate disease.
"What good is a belief," Quimby asked, "if it does not benefit your life?"
Quimby had an intense personality with piercing eyes and focused concentration. His patients loved his pleasant demeanor and believed in him. Positive ideas about oneself, he believed, was "God's invisible wisdom, all guidance and love."
"I prophesize that the time will come when men and women shall heal all diseases with the words of their mouth," claimed Quimby, who helped thousands considered untreatable by the "regular" physicians of the day.
