Christian Science was first presented to my mother in 1917; and despite strong opposition within the family, she did her utmost to interest her children in its explanation of the Bible truths and the accounts therein of spiritual healing. During school years and subsequently at a university, I could not reconcile what I thought I knew of Christian Science with the apparently indisputable evidence of materialism and evil which loomed up as reality in all spheres of human existence.
I reacted sharply to the evident hopelessness of aspects of life around me and lost all desire to live in accordance with any standard at all. By the end of the second of three years at the university I had found materialism to be the useless "broken cisterns" referred to in the Bible, book of Jeremiah (2:13), had completely lost all purpose in existence, and was mentally and physically very sick.
At that stage I remembered that in my baggage was a copy of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, always carried with me in deference to my mother but unread for many years. I began to read it and continued to do so at every opportunity, fascinated, and feeling certain that within its pages I had found a satisfying answer to life's "unsolvable" problems. Attendance at a Christian Science lecture then given in the town convinced me that this was the case.
In the textbook Mrs. Eddy asks the reader whether existence without friends would be to him a blank. She continues in the same paragraph (p. 266), "When this hour of development comes, even if you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will force you to accept what best promotes your growth."
In my case, shortly after my reintroduction to Christian Science, this process of being forced to accept what best promoted my growth began with almost brutal force. Today, many years later, the same process clearly goes on, but what was initially a very mortifying process—blasting false human pride and egotism and literally enforcing the making of many decisions and the taking of human footsteps involving apparent suffering and very hard work—has, over the years, given way to a realization that God is not a man in the sky or a superman anywhere else, but rather the eternal Principle governing spiritual (the only real) man in accordance with unvarying law in a spiritual universe right here and now, in spite of any evidence to the contrary.
In the words of our textbook (p. 151): "All that really exists is the divine Mind and its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found harmonious and eternal. The straight and narrow way is to see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and follow the leadings of truth."
In the course of yielding and following, I have lost all desire for smoking and social drinking, university and professional examinations have been passed despite discouraging prospects, flat feet have become normally arched, and annual bouts of influenza and occasional attacks of catarrh have passed out of my experience. A sense of protection was maintained throughout six years of wartime Army service, including years abroad; employment problems have been immediately and beneficially solved, and home and business happiness has been gained. In short, normal health and strength have taken the place of chronic ill health and weakness.
A healing that brought great confidence was quickly experienced in the loving atmosphere of a Christian Science House into which I had had to be carried, completely paralyzed. Within six weeks of the onset of the paralysis I was able to be back at work. Some seven years after this healing I began five years' intensive work organizing and running a flower and vegetable growers' business. My small understanding of the source of true intelligence and strength, as revealed by Christian Science, encouraged me and enabled me to carry on the normal heavy manual work that forms part of such a business.
I shall never cease to be grateful for finding a reason for existence through the study and gradual application of this Science of Life, for the teachings of our Master, Christ Jesus, for the consecrated life of our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, and for the guidance and loving care of Christian Science practitioners and nurses.— St. Martin, Jersey, Channel Islands.
