Oh, the importance of that little word "let"! If in our prayerful work for ourselves or others we only would get the belief of human personality out of the way, and in our thought let God be what He really is— All! He needs no help from us in asserting His harmonious control of man and the universe. We read in the book of Isaiah, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." Isa. 45:22;
It is an egotistical, material sense of life and mind separate from God that causes us to believe we can give Truth a shove and thus get it moving more quickly on our behalf. The fact is, the less we interject human will into a case and really see that God is the only Ego—the perfect, living Principle governing patient and practitioner —the better it will be for all concerned. Christian Science teaches us that all knowing and doing are God's prerogative, for nothing really exists but God and His thoughts or ideas. Man has not been invested with auxiliary power to aid the divine purpose. Man, as idea, is the effect of God's knowing, of His self-revealing activity. He exists only to evidence the divine power and presence, and nothing we can do will make this absolute fact truer than it is at this moment.
Paul said, "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory." And he added, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Phil. 2:3, 5; How important to the success of our scientific prayer that we quietly, humbly, gently, realize God to be what He really is—the only Mind there is and therefore our Mind. We don't need to force the fact that in our real identity we are at one with divine consciousness. This is eternally established without any help from us. Each of us is an individual expression of God—the Ego-man—not a personal self-asserting ego. We are what Mrs. Eddy speaks of as "the humble servant of the restful Mind." The full statement follows a reference to viewing the sunrise and reads: "As astronomy reverses the human perception of the movement of the solar system, so Christian Science reverses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes body tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, who is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it seems otherwise to finite sense." Science and Health, pp. 119-120;
A finite, material sense of man would try to tell us that the human mind is the healer, that one mind controls another, that forceful human thinking aids Truth. But in Science we identify a personal sense of mind as the underlying error, the culprit in every case. Mrs. Eddy tells us in Miscellaneous Writings, "That individual is the best healer who asserts himself the least, and thus becomes a transparency for the divine Mind, who is the only physician; the divine Mind is the scientific healer." Mis., p. 59;
Does this imply a Christian Science practitioner can sit on the sidelines, so to speak, and do nothing because in reality divine Mind already has done it all? Certainly not. There is work to do when giving treatment, but this work is not an intense effort to go to the aid of God. It's the definite but calm labor of silencing material selfhood, quieting the unruly turbulence and aggressiveness of mortal mind. It is unlabored reasoning from the standpoint of Truth, until human thought rises above itself and a clear sense of Mind's all-inclusive harmony is attained.
What we need is the confident, calm, unhurried recognition that the All-Mind is totally present and completely in control right where the illusion of sickness, sin, or lack seems to be. We need to get deeply still in the gentle, restful, grateful recognition that divine Love is the substance of all, the Mind of all, the only source of real sensation and activity. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Remember that the letter and mental argument are only human auxiliaries to aid in bringing thought into accord with the spirit of Truth and Love, which heals the sick and the sinner." Science and Health, pp. 454-455;
Christ Jesus' thought was so superbly attuned to divine consciousness that his healing work was quick and easy. The perfect oneness, or unity, of God and man was so natural to him that disease and discord simply disappeared in the calm glory of his inspired knowing. How completely he must have felt divine Love's control of its ideas! How certain he must have been that Love was the only "I" or Ego—his Mind and the Mind of everyone who came to him for help! Because of this, self-will, strain, or pressure did not interfere with the ease and effectiveness of his metaphysical work. He let go of the false material sense of mind and life, and rested serenely and confidently in the healing presence of omnipresent and omniactive Spirit.
There was a time in my experience when my metaphysical work seemed to make me tense and weary. I always enjoyed studying the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings because this study refreshed and inspired me, but when I began applying the truths I had studied to specific problems, I seemed to lose the inspiration in a plethora of stolid arguments. It took me some time to see where I was going wrong, but I finally glimpsed the fact that effective treatment is not an arduous human process of silently or audibly convincing oneself or someone else of Truth. It is not a matter of battling error into submission through the strength of one's assertions.
I began to see that Truth is self -enforcing because it is All. I realized something of the fact that because divine Mind is the healer in every case this Mind's healing impartations are empowered by Mind alone. They start from Mind and not from human thought. Understanding this healed the sense of pressure and the consequent reluctance to do metaphysical work. I had learned a little of the importance of the word "let." It showed me that my part in the work was to surrender the belief in a brain-centered mind so that the one real Mind could be seen to be the restful, unlabored Principle underlying and impelling all scientific prayer.
We all have many a league to go in our growth Spiritward before we reach the level of understanding and demonstration Jesus attained. Much study and self-discipline may be needed before we completely silence the tendency to think of ourselves as personal healers, as surrogates for God. But in the degree that we rise above the belief that we are originators of anything, the strain and stress of our work will abate. In the words of the Psalmist, we will have learned to "rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him." Ps. 37:7.
