When I first learned of Christian Science through the example of a patient and loving student of Christian Science who was my associate on a newspaper, I was self-willed, temperamental, and unteachable. In my search for truth I had dissociated myself from an orthodox church and investigated theosophy, hypnotism, spiritualism, and new-thought.
When Christian Science was explained by my friend and by a faithful and helpful practitioner, I was unwilling to let go my convictions on many points, because I thought they were true. But I could wholeheartedly agree that God is infinite Spirit, good, and that man is His image and likeness. From this premise I sought earnestly for more of Truth, found it, and learned freedom and joy through the application of spiritual law, which is increasingly unfolding to me the treasures of God.
I learned that there is no place in Truth for the error which denies God and asserts the existence of a mysterious power apart from Him. I soon recognized hypnotism, theosophy, spiritualism, and the like, to be identical with animal magnetism, which, Mrs. Eddy tells us (Science and Health, p. 103), "is the specific term for error." I found through actual experience the fallacious and destructive nature of these so-called powers, while Christian Science answered all my questions with Truth provable through its own supreme spiritual law. This perception of Truth was a great illumination.
