MRS. EDDY makes this statement on page 447 of Science and Health: "The recuperative action of the system, when mentally sustained by Truth, goes on naturally." How important it is to understand that there is nothing—absolutely nothing—that presents itself to thought in the form of disease or discord that can actually deny the healing activity of Truth! And how important it is also to analyze the responsibility of the student of Christian Science to realize this divinely mental activity.
We know that promises in the Bible often depend for their fulfillment upon compliance with certain conditions. The man at the pool of Bethesda had had an infirmity for thirty-eight years. Yet when Jesus healed him, the Master did not show human solicitude by helping him to take his first steps after so many years. Rather he said to him, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk" (John 5:8). And we are told that "immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked."
Nor was this all. "Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." Jesus showed that each one must work out his own salvation. The fact that the man had been healed, wonderful as this was, was not enough.
Do we not see a similar need today? An individual may telephone a practitioner to ask for help because of a lame leg and may have the experience of having the leg healed. This is glorious! But is it enough? If the individual has not risen a step higher in his understanding of man as spiritual, what is to keep him from believing the next day that he has a lame arm or a lame back?
For this very reason, we should ponder Jesus' admonition to the man to "sin no more." If belief in a material body is dimming our understanding of the truth that man is perfect and complete, spiritual and indestructible, then this is a sin which must be overcome. It actually means that we are disobeying the First Commandment (Ex. 20:3), '"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
The false gods of fear, worry, doubt, hesitancy, lingering beliefs in materia medica, in the deteriorating effects of old age and the possibility of dependency or lack, cannot be allowed to take precedence in our thinking. A spiritually enlightened understanding of God as ever-present Love assures us that we are protected and guarded from every untoward condition.
Mrs. Eddy writes on page 392 of Science and Health: "Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously." Does it seem difficult to "stand porter" when error comes to our thoughts? Then we need to recognize that there is only one Mind and that every true thought comes to us directly from God.
Taking the proper human footsteps is indispensable. We can shut out the clamor of radio and television commercials, with their insistence about tired blood, sleepless nights, indigestion, and old age. We can stop reading newspaper accounts of individuals stricken with malignant diseases or of crime and tragic accidents.
Does this mean that we shall be burying our heads in the sand? Emphatically no! On page seven of "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy states: "Looking over the newspapers of the day, one naturally reflects that it is dangerous to live, so loaded with disease seems the very air. These descriptions carry fears to many minds, to be depicted in some future time upon the body. A periodical of our own will counteract to some extent this public nuisance; for through our paper, at the price at which we shall issue it, we shall be able to reach many homes with healing, purifying thought."
How grateful we can be for The Christian Science Monitor! It does not whitewash the day's news, yet it does not promote sensationalism and scandal. In its pages we find a comprehensive report of the news of the world and can determine what needs our support and our prayers and what needs our denials. We can be well informed about all phases of world affairs. And we can bless ourselves, our community, and our world by thinking, listening, and reading constructively.
We can help to guard the world if we take time each day to declare what is true of God's universe and to see as unreal the many evils reportedly rampant. We can know that evil falls by its own weight, that it has no truth to support it or to promulgate it, and that it is therefore powerless. This daily realization of the present perfection of God's kingdom helps us to understand more clearly what we read in the first chapter of Genesis, "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Perfection is God's law for His creation, and this perfection includes health. The law of God governs all and is never suspended.
Right at this moment the truth of man is complete; nothing can be taken from this truth or added to it. With a sense of complete freedom we can become conscious of the spiritual fact of man's dominion over matter. Man has dominion now. We never have to check with matter to find out about man. We can, however, ask ourselves such questions as: Do we think that we are not as young as we used to be? Do we ever believe that everyone in our family has had poor teeth or a quick temper? Do we ever look at others critically and see them as having material bodies which could be improved upon? Do we ever allow ourselves to think of anyone as hard of hearing or as having poor eyesight?
If our answer to these questions is Yes, then are we seeing our neighbor as the very expression of God's being? No, we are not. We need to clear our vision. We need to lift our thoughts above the level where matter takes note of matter. If we think imperfection, we see imperfection. Let us heed Paul's advice to the Thessalonians, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (I Thess. 5:21). If this counsel is followed, recuperation of the system automatically follows.
We learn in Christian Science that our body is merely a mental concept and manifests only what so-called mortal mind accepts as true. Because our body is merely an objectification of our thoughts, the spiritualization of our thoughts naturally results in the reconstruction of the body.
We must regulate our thinking if we would regulate our system. Our thoughts control our heartbeats, our digestion, our vitality, just as specifically as they control our muscles when we direct ourselves to get up and close the door or open the window. Through our understanding of God's omnipresence and omnipotence, we can rid ourselves of the illusion that we can possibly harbor any form of disease in our bodies.
One of the seven synonyms for God given in Science and Health is Truth. It is Truth that regulates the system, that naturally restores and maintains harmony. And when we see to it that this Truth alone governs our thinking, it sustains "the recuperative action of the system" until we are entirely whole.
