Several years ago I had a severe toothache. About three o'clock one morning the pain was so intense that I awakened and could not get back to sleep. This experience was repeated the two following nights, the discomfort occurring at the same hour. On the third night the belief that matter or error could be intelligent or capable of planning discord became so utterly ridiculous to me that I was able to laugh, even though I was in tears. I recalled the statement by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health (p. 479): "Matter cannot see, feel, hear, taste, nor smell. It is not self-cognizant,— cannot feel itself, see itself, nor understand itself." These words helped me to see that there could not possibly be an effect from any so-called material cause, because God is the only cause. There was immediate relief, and the difficulty soon ended.
During a vacation in the West a number of years ago I was thrown from a horse and taken unconscious to a small hospital in a resort community. I was told that on the way to the hospital I asked my friends, who knew nothing of Christian Science, to call a Christian Science practitioner for help. When we arrived at our destination the doctor in charge did not know of any practitioners in that area, but he did know a sincere Christian Scientist nearby, whom he called for me. I was dismissed from the hospital and taken to my hotel room still unconscious.
I did not regain consciousness until the next morning, when I awakened out of a sound sleep without any memory of what had happened. There was a slight throbbing of the head, but this disappeared during the morning, and there were no further aftereffects whatever. This experience was a proof to me that true consciousness has nothing to do with the functioning of the physical senses and that I can be in no place where God's protecting care does not enfold me.
