One of the surest ways not to be spiritually healed of believing in the reality of an inharmonious physical condition is to keep looking to see how it's coming along. This is like engaging in a tug-of-war by pulling at both ends at the same time—as though there were two you's: one, a mortal suffering from a matter affliction; the other, the spiritual idea of God, who, as the Father's child, could never be touched by any sense of physicality or suffering.
Such oppositional pulling declares sides. One side is cherishing the spirituality of your real and only self, the consciousness that is your God-imaging identity; the other side is looking to see what material sense is saying is troubling you.
For example: a student of Christian Science noticed a small growth on her face and at once began to discipline her thought to see the growth as the nothingness it is in divine Science. Day after day she confronted this thing with the healing Christ; and day by day it grew in size, even though she frequently declared aloud Mrs. Eddy's statement, "A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive." Science and Health, p. 463;
Then she asked herself: What am I expecting this truth to remove? The physical condition, or the thought believing there is a physical condition to be removed? Which is the offense? Christ Jesus at one time called Peter an offense. Why? Because, Jesus said, "thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Matt. 16:23;
How can we claim our spiritual oneness, wholeness, perfection, as the likeness of Mind and at the same time hold to those things that are not of God's man but of "men"? The answer, of course, is that we cannot. We cannot pray to the Father, reaffirming our pure, unblemished, spiritual being, or consciousness, and at the same time keep looking to see the outward evidence of our prayer. Paul tells us to "look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." II Cor. 4:18;
So a lame, failing, pain-racked, bewildered, or fear-tormented man isn't really here to be seen; he is illusion, and can only be seen by the eye that fails to recognize the divine fact of God as creator and of man—the real identity of all of us—as His image, His creation.
Where do we look, then? Mrs. Eddy gives us this direction: "We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things." Science and Health, p. 129;
If we accept that God is One, supreme over all, the only creator, we can, indeed we must, accept His creation as He created it—like Him, to express Himself.
Do we actually have a choice of seeing or of being any expression other than His? No, of course not!
Then why do we seem to? Because we insist on looking at those "seen" things, those temporal imaginings which, if they had any true existence, would not be temporal but as eternal as the Father. Because they are temporal, they are destructible—no matter what label is given these physical things (for example, hereditary cause or incurable effect). Because in Christ, Truth, they are destructible, they have not an instant's truth.
There are times when physicality looks very real to us; even when we look away, we often seem to "see" it and find ourselves carrying the illusion in our thought as a very real thing. What can we do in such a case? Not believe our lying eyes! Not believe our lying thoughts!
For when we see the lie to be a lie, it no longer finds in us anything to give it credence. Christ, Truth, destroys it, or what it has seemed to be. Principle, God, precludes even the temporal existence of a lie or any ungodlikeness, any other man but God's man.
We are told in Ecclesiastes that whatever God does "it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it." Eccl. 3:14;
As material eyes can see only materially, so spiritual sense can see only spiritually. The material magnifies the discordant; the spiritual credits the harmonious, even when confronting the same object or condition. So we cannot claim to be holding to a spiritually conscious awareness of anything or anyone and feel we have to deal with a sick or sinning or dying mortal. There is no double-visioned man. We can prove this fact when we follow Mrs. Eddy's advice: "Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality." Science and Health, p. 261;
When the Christian Scientist followed this counsel, she stopped looking for something—the facial growth—to disappear. She stopped being alarmed and saw that any physical or mental discord is but an alarm to rouse us to grow spiritually. Then she was healed.
Spiritual healing and spiritual growth become one when we are faithful to the Father's command: "Look unto me, and be ye saved ... for I am God, and there is none else." Isa. 45:22.
