But what about the man so ill that all his confidence is lost? Surely it is right to start him on the road to health by stimulant or other reassuring means? If the means is genuine and constructive in its principle, then certainly some outside aid is desirable and often very necessary. But it must not be something which induces an apparent gain by squandering the sufferer’s reserve of vital energy: not something which banishes a symptom only to consolidate the mass of toxic waste within the body: not something which promises to make good a deficit—only to prove a worthless sham: not something which claims to neutralise the errors of the past—only to encourage the continuance of those habits: not something productive of a state of mind in which the intelligent intentions of the body are over-ruled by hysterias of self-deceit: not something which makes the man accept as natural a blind reliance on laboratory products, the contents of which he does not know and the action of which probably no one understands. None of these things can form the base on which to build an honest frame of health. Apparent recovery may occur, but ignorance of causes, misunderstanding of symptoms, confusion of the processes of tissue-cleansing with the signs of failing health, reliance on flimsy and external buttresses instead of on a sound, balanced and genuine construction, lack of comprehension of the strains and stresses, are all inevitable weaknesses. It is only to be expected then that breakdown and collapse of the whole structure of the "cure" is the normal sequel to such "remedies".

The basic elements of cure are not to be found in bottles or in packets—they cannot be synthesised and administered to humanity in doses sufficient to treat so many at a time. A realisation of the deeper roots which contribute to human well-being; a true understanding of the body’s vital functions, acceptance of full personal responsibility and a determination to carry through to completion tasks which may at times be difficult. These are achievements of a strictly individual kind. They are essential parts of Nature Cure. "