“Well, he works in the courts for either the prosecution or the defense, giving his professional opinion,” I explained. “He would go to court and testify on behalf of various clients, but the constant need to contradict himself to suit each different client eventually caused him so much distress that he felt he could no longer, in conscience, carry on.”
“I’m truly sorry to hear that, Eric. He is such a nice young man.” Andy shook his head. “The poor soul must have gone through a lot of torment to give up his profession.”
“The sad part is, his intentions were always good. And look at him now, he’s a basket case,” Janet added.
“That is too bad,” Andy said as he stood up. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll have to leave you folks for now and take care of some errands. So we’ll see you tomorrow. Thank you for a wonderful lunch.”
Janet gave him a hug and I thanked him for his time and mentioned that we were looking forward to seeing Emily again.
Once Andy was out of earshot, Janet burst out laughing and said, “Welcome back to England! Wasn’t that amazing?”
I joined in her laughter, shaking my head in wonderment. “Do you know, Janet, I’d forgotten what it was like to talk with Andy.”
“I know what you mean, Eric. What gets me is his confidence and the nonchalant way he talks, as if he could care less whether we understood what he said or not. Tell me, did you understand everything Andy said when he talked about the importance of living in the now?”
“Not fully, but I could see that somehow it has to do with disconnecting ourselves from our past negative memories and not continuing to beat ourselves up over them.”
“You know, Eric, I’m just starting to get a glimmer of a deeper understanding of what is happening in our office and why some of my clients have been changing. You know what it is? It’s because they are dropping a lot of their psychological baggage from the past.”
Janet was absolutely right, and just sitting there thinking about it filled me with the most beautiful feelings of gratitude and amazement.
Janet got up to leave to take in some more sights. “I’ll see you at the hotel about six for dinner,” she said, and left me to ponder Andy’s words and bask in the warmth of my pleasant feelings.
Chapter Four
The Three Principles
Janet and I decided to take a morning to explore some more of Torquay. It was wonderful to smell the ocean breeze as wheeling seagulls called, searching for the day’s meal, while we mingled with other tourists out enjoying the summer morning. There was a feeling of gaiety and light-heartedness everywhere and across the bay Babbecombe Beach stretched out in an inviting crescent of gold, enticing holiday makers to open up deck chairs and spread blankets on the sand. We sat for a while, soaking up the heat of the sun in blissful peace and quiet. My thoughts turned to Andy and his words of wisdom. I felt so grateful for all that had happened since the first time we’d talked with him. I definitely had no reservations about taking this trip to meet him again; I suspected that it was one of the most worthwhile things I could ever do.
After a few more minutes, we sauntered on and came to the Princess Gardens, a bright profusion of flowers interspersed with green lawns and neatly trimmed pathways.
Janet had taken to photography with her usual enthusiasm for life, managing to capture some exquisite scenes with her camera. Now, she insisted on my posing in front of a stunning rhododendron bush laden with blush pink flowers. As I was trying to decide on my most photogenic angle, I heard a chuckle behind me.
“I hope you have insurance on that camera!”
I turned around and there was Andy, cheerily smiling at us.
“Well, for heaven’s sake,” Janet laughed. “What are you doing here? I bet you heard about the famous American photographer visiting the area and you wanted to be in one of her pictures.”
“Not exactly,” Andy said, grinning. “You just happened to have discovered one of my favorite spots. I try to get over here once or twice a week to see how the plants are doing.”
Janet was not going to take “no” for an answer and before we knew it, the old gardener and I were being added to her collection of shots.
“Jack would never forgive me if I didn’t bring home some snaps. He so wanted to come but was too busy with the second store. It already seems years since we were together,” she said wistfully. “Anyway,” she brightened, “this is a great way to share a little bit of what’s been happening.”
We meandered along the path for a while and then I suggested we might go for a coffee if Andy could take the time. He recommended the distinguished old Torbay Hotel as the spot to get an excellent coffee. After the brightness of the day, I was ready for a sit down in the cool dining room.
“Andy, I don’t know if you already know this, but in the 1800s there was a well-known psychologist by the name of William James who was widely regarded as the father of psychology. In 1890 he published a work called The Principles of Psychology that referred to psychology as a science. He indicated that his work was exploratory and he knew he didn’t have the answer he was searching for. He hoped and dreamed that some day someone would discover the principles that would change psychology from a philosophy into a working science, principles that would assist the field to better understand and control the cause and effect of mental health. He felt if ever such a discovery were made it would change psychology on a monumental scale. Janet and I have been talking this over and we think maybe you have discovered these principles. Isn’t that right, Janet?”
Nodding her head enthusiastically, Janet exclaimed, “Yes, I think so.” Then she began shaking her head, “Wow, isn’t this unbelievable?”
“That’s very interesting, Eric, and I feel very honored that you would make such a statement, but I’m afraid I know nothing about this William James you speak of, or his psychological theories. But I can tell you this: The Three Principles of Universal Mind, Universal Consciousness and Universal Thought are most definitely the principles that turn psychology from a guesswork philosophy into a working science.”
“Wouldn’t it have been wonderful, Andy, if William James could have known that his dream of finding the elusive principles had come true and had actually become a reality?”
Suddenly Janet sat bolt upright and exclaimed, “Do you know what, Eric? I just realized that I used to think that each mental illness was different and required unique treatment!
“Now I am starting to see that they are essentially one generic condition with many different disguises and the very essence of all mental illnesses is a deluded thought that is relied on as reality.
“You know, Eric, we all characterize each different type of thought and each different behavior that originates from the different thoughts as separate types of illnesses—as separate areas of specialization.
“For example, if you applied the field of psychology’s logic to a worrier, every particular problem that he worried about, whether it be his finances, his job, or whether or not his car will start today, would be seen as a separate area of specialization. Rather, all his problems should be seen as outgrowths of his own thoughts, and not as reality.”
I was impressed with Janet’s understanding. “You know, Janet, I never quite saw it that way before, but you’re correct. Take a phobic person who is deathly afraid of heights, that most definitely would be his thoughts in action.”
Janet joined in again, “What about a grossly underweight anorexic who is deathly afraid that consuming a one ounce piece of meat will make her fat? Or a person with an obsessive compulsive disorder who must return to the house fifteen times every morning to make sure that the front door is locked? Now I’m starting to see that when these thoughts are given the full weight of reality and acted upon, they are the cause of the pathological behavior.