In my yard there is a mango tree. In the summer of 2021, it yielded so many mangoes that one of the branches split from the weight. The branch didn’t fully snap off, however. Half of the branch was still clinging to the trunk, so I climbed up into the tree to cut the rest of the branch down.
But the branch wouldn’t fall, so I gave it a swift kick with my boot, and then cried out in pain from the force of the kick. I wondered whether I had broken my foot.
With great difficulty I got down from the tree, cleaned myself up, and lay down to rest. It felt as though my foot were saying, “Here I am, in the form of severe pain, inflammation, and worry.” While I know my foot wasn’t really speaking, I understood the thoughts to be from what Christian Science terms mortal mind—a supposed consciousness not from God that gives a mortal view of existence.
