Thoughts are active mental forces which mold and fashion our daily experiences, manage our relationships, and bring either harmony or inharmony to the body. Thinking—the art of selecting, entertaining, and utilizing thoughts—guides every endeavor to a successful culmination according to the degree of the Rightness of the thoughts entertained and utilized. And herein is disclosed the value of the study of Christian Science. This study enables us to gain the correct understanding of God as Mind, or intelligence, and of man as the image and likeness of God, the full and complete expression of this Mind. Our understanding of this union makes it possible for all our human experiences, relationships, and bodily conditions to be governed harmoniously.
It is the prerogative of every individual to select the thoughts he wishes to entertain. His thinking is his own domain. It cannot be entered and the thoughts therein changed unless he permits it through indifference or lack of alertness. Since the thoughts he selects will have a direct bearing on his experiences, it seems wise for him to be doubly cautious in making the selection, for it is said of a man "as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7).
The tendency to think evil weakens mental barriers; and without realizing what is occurring, one has yielded his mentality to the forces of erroneous thoughts. Then the mental horizon becomes blurred; thoughts do not adjust themselves properly and cannot be brought into focus upon a given situation.
On the other hand, right thinking, or the selecting and entertaining of thoughts which find their source in God, divine Mind, results in correct decisions and right acting. If we are to obtain a right answer when solving a mathematical problem, it is imperative that we use correct figures; so it is necessary to employ right thoughts if we are to maintain harmony in living.
Mrs. Eddy asks this question in Science and Health (p. 462), "Are thoughts divine or human?" Then she follows with this declarative statement: "That is the important question." The exactness and the resultant effectiveness of right thinking were proved to me when necessity required the application of right thoughts to an illness. The symptoms which appeared were dizziness and extreme nausea. They became so severe that I had to return home from the office about midmorning. While lying down I was confronted suddenly with the question, What am I thinking?
A review of the thoughts being entertained revealed a willingness to believe that pain is real and that man can be sick. This is the reverse of what is taught in Christian Science; so I began silently making declarations of truth. I claimed that my true selfhood as the image and likeness of God is spiritual and perfect, reflecting the qualities of Mind, God, which result in health and harmony. Refusing to listen to the suggestions of the carnal mind, I soon felt an abating of the difficulty. The declarations were continued, and in about an hour I rose and ate lunch. Afterward it was possible for me to return to the office, although a feeling of weakness remained.
Previously made appointments were kept, but declarations of truth had to be made at intervals. When it was time for me to close the office for the day, every vestige of the sickness had disappeared. Mrs. Eddy states in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 196): "The sweet, sacred sense and permanence of man's unity with his Maker, in Science, illumines our present existence with the ever-presence and power of God, good. It opens wide the portals of salvation from sin, sickness, and death."
Believing that man exists as live matter and that he is separated from God, who can be reached only through prayers of petition, would be the same as believing that the sun's ray has light within itself, that it is separated from the sun, and that only by some technological phenomenon could they be brought together again.
But to understand that God created man in His image and likeness, as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis, brings an awareness of the meaning of Jesus' statement, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). Then we see that God is available as Mind, the source of all intelligence, all good thoughts, and that we can utilize these thoughts in the governing of our daily experiences, our human relationships, and our bodies.
There never is a moment when we are not thinking. Then it is doubly important to ask ourselves the question, What am I thinking? Christ Jesus said, "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man" (Matt. 15:19, 20). And Paul said (Phil. 4:8), "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."
May we realize the value of right thinking, the value of entertaining thoughts of God as Mind, our Mind, from which flow intelligence and wisdom, and of man, our true selfhood, as the recipient of intelligence and wisdom. May we entertain thoughts of God as Soul, seeing beauty, symmetry, and grace in its formations; as Spirit, giving substance to man and the universe; and as Life, holding man in its grasp of deathless reality.
As we become aware of these and other great truths concerning God and man, our human consciousness is rejuvenated, regenerated, and strengthened. Then we find our daily experiences molded and fashioned after the pattern of harmony. Our relationships under the management of these truths become models of brotherly love. And our bodies respond to such heavenly stimulus with a lighter step and normal activity.
Great joy accompanies entertaining such thoughts as these; and so, if we are not experiencing joy, it would be well to ask ourselves, What am I thinking?
