Animal magnetism is the action of a so-called mind other than God and the influence of that action on human belief and human conditions. Other names for it are hypnotism and mesmerism. It is the exact term for evil, or error, sometimes called the devil, the specific cause of every disease or discord that afflicts men.
God, the one Mind, or Principle, is the only Mind one can rightfully call one's own. Man has no other mind. There is no other real cause or source of thought or action. Man is the idea of Mind, the reflection of Principle, the child of God. He is not the product of material forces. One who understands this knows his Mind and feels its power. But unless one recognizes and resists the belief that matter can form and govern man, he may still be under the influence of this belief and fail to understand his relationship to the one Mind.
Throughout the Bible the workings of evil are clearly shown, and evil's certain defeat is illustrated. Christ Jesus unhesitatingly told those who wanted to kill him (John 8:44): "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him."
