Within the consciousness of even an earnest student of Christian Science, the argument may sometimes arise that he is discouraged. There is, of course, never any actual reason for this, since discouragement is only one of the many erroneous beliefs of the so-called human mind, having no power, presence, activity, nor foundation in Truth. Yet so cunningly are its mesmeric whispers devised to reach whatever may be the weakest point in one's mental armor, that if one is not alert he may find himself admitting, sooner or later, that there really is a legitimate cause for their acceptance.
Although every Christian Scientist knows that he should not entertain about himself, or about others, conclusions which he would regret to see manifested in actual experience, yet this archenemy to peace has been known to persuade some hitherto faithful worker first to listen to its lying arguments, and then to repeat them, perhaps something after this fashion: "I am so discouraged. I do not seem to be getting along. I am a failure. I might as well give up."
The subtlety of the attack may be noted in the victim's use of the word "I." If someone had remarked to him, audibly, "You are discouraged," he would instantly have denied it. He would at once recognize it as an argument of impersonal error trying to reach him in the form of directed mental malpractice, and would promptly and vigorously cast it out. If, however, this very same argument, unobserved by him, slips through the unguarded portals of his mental home, he may accept it as his own thought, believe that it originates in his own consciousness, and so may presently find himself saying "I" instead of "you"—and then the battle is on!
