PRACTITIONERS meet with varied experiences while engaged in disseminating the gospel of healing through Mind. As the field of action broadens, new and seemingly strange problems come to light. The worker observes many different temperaments and dispositions, and in dealing with these much wisdom is needed. Who is there that has not found it difficult to estimate the real depth of a sick person's desire to be healed? Does a wish, however earnestly expressed, necessarily signify an altogether honest appeal?
Sincerity is the sweet aroma of the Christian faith, and gives us a flavor of rest and comfort as we pursue our daily toil. But a person in distress, is he always sincere when asking for help from another? One says: "A person in pain wants to be rid of his pain, and that is natural enough, is it not?" Yes, decidedly so, but it is too often the wail of mortal sense which we hear everywhere about us, the cry for the loaves and fishes to stay an immediate hunger. When the sufferer is making his appeal it would be well for him to remember that true desire, one which voices the prayer that "availeth much," is rare indeed.
While in the throes of bodily or mental anguish one may feel like offering all he possesses of material wealth in exchange for a single hour of relief. Then is not such a desire for help a sincere one? Yes, but has it not taken the unselfed prayer of the healer, coupled with this extreme desire, to bring relief? Might not an altogether unselfish prayer of the sick one have done the work as well? Or might not a mode of living and thinking shorn of self have obviated the need of asking for help at all? Then does it not all resolve itself into this query: Is one willing to pay the price in individual effort? This is a question that might be asked with profit of every person who seeks help from a practitioner.
