A CERTAIN strong proof of the healing power of Truth, without treatment being asked or given, brought to the writer a clearer vision of the way in which Truth establishes its own activity when the personal element or thought is subordinated to it. It also aroused various questions as to why healing in some cases is not more quickly brought about.
One question often asked by practitioners, as well as patients, is why one person seeking healing in Christian Science responds quickly, while the same truth applied in another case may seem to fail of its fulfillment. Certainly faith plays a large part in the thinking of both the patient and the practitioner. Frequently it is said that a patient lacks receptivity. Yet when we think of the healing works of the Master, which every earnest worker longs to approximate, we seem to find accomplishment through the statements of absolute truth often regardless of the attitude of the thought of the seeker. This shows the difference between knowing and believing. Jesus knew Truth and he saw the truth about every person or condition confronting him. It is true that the Word of God is quick, that "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 13), but the mere repetition of words does not heal.
Jesus' vision was of the Christ, or perfect man, and this opened his eyes to the unreality of externals, by which he warned his followers not to judge. If one is seeking to eradicate disease, one cannot possibly look upon a discordant manifestation as something, and then seek to destroy it while admitting its actuality. However earnestly Truth may be declared, this method fails of achievement.
In his prayer to God, Habakkuk declared, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." On page 261 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, "Look away from the body into Truth and Love." This was the way of Christ Jesus because it was the way of the Father. He knew and gave obedience to divine Principle, of which man is the complete reflection. Every true follower of the Master must learn to speak the Word of God as he did, not with the thought of merely bringing about some material result, but for the sake of speaking the truth because it is true. Then the outward expression of good will be made manifest. Truth is simple; it is the carnal mind that appears to complicate matters. In Truth there is nothing to change, but only unlimited good to know and claim in the name of Almighty God.
Truth to be wholly true must be universal, everywhere available, the same for all people at all times. This fact is positive proof that Truth is God; for He alone is unlimited, unchanging, and eternal. The unfailing truth about all things can be gained only from the standpoint of Principle, and this exact knowledge is invariable and dependable. One whose healing seems prolonged may assert that he will believe when he is healed; that is, when he sees a proof of Truth's efficacy. Here is the tendency to look for results in matter, to look for some actual evil to be destroyed. We need to learn that the destruction of seeming evil takes place inevitably when one's faith is so strongly intrenched in good that it can have no belief in evil. Thus faith in good eliminates fear.
In the universe of God's creating there is no evil. God's own reflection, perfect man, needs no healing. His one purpose is to reflect God's being and activity. There is nothing to change or correct in that which God knows. His work is perfect; and are we not to accept what He created as final? Jesus did, and resolutely refused to see or admit anything as having existence apart from Truth. He did not reason or argue about erroneous conditions, or make excuses for human frailties. To him they had neither place nor power, and he literally applied that which he enjoined upon his disciples when he said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Only as one conforms his thoughts to the divine does one accomplish anything truly good. It is not words, high-sounding statements or formulas of any kind that establish the truth and dispel error. Only the Word of God, the Christ, Truth, can do that; and while good thinking, or thinking good, serves to uplift thought and increase one's desire for good, it is knowing the truth about any situation that brings thought into accord with the will of God, for God and Truth are one. We must speak the truth for the sake of Truth.
Jesus, as the highest human exponent of Truth, came to do the will of God; and he taught that there is no other will or way. Then, surely, when men realize, ever so feebly, that good alone is true and real, and that they have neither will, originality, nor even existence of their own apart from God, His kingdom will be established in individual consciousness, and thus throughout the world. The attempts to destroy something, to heal something, to change and counteract something will cease, and each one will claim that which is forever his—perfection of being, an abiding place in heaven, the kingdom of harmony, now and forevermore. Truth, understood, heals because in Truth there is nothing that needs to be healed.
