man does not have. Treatment, as we understand it, is the conscious act, through prayer (if one prefers to call it by that name) through meditation and contemplation, of definitely accepting the presence of a good which the objective world cannot see -- back of which is the belief that we are surrounded by a creativeness which intelligently responds to us. It is not a beseechment, because it rests upon the belief that the universe already desires to do this, and must because that is its nature. Therefore, what we do in a treatment is to align the mind, the thought, or Spirit, with form, which is the manifestation of that Spirit. The physical universe is a mold and nothing else; it is an effect . . . never a cause.

The first step in prayer, then, is the recognition of this Universal, Creative Presence, which surrounds us and is responsive to us. Then the next step is meditation, or unification with this Intelligence. Prayer has stimulated countless millions of people to nobler deeds and nobler thoughts, because anything that tends to connect our minds with this Oversoul of the universe lets in a flood of Its consciousness. The prayers of Jesus were an acceptance, rather than a request, and yet perhaps no other man has ever lived who