At one time, my twenty-year-old son traveled to India and Pakistan on a comprehensive sightseeing tour. He regularly wrote cheerful letters that gave me no cause for concern. Then, quite unexpectedly, an urgent cable arrived at my home in England from the British Consul in Kabul, Afghanistan. It stated that my son had incurred serious head injuries in an accident and that he was in a mentally unbalanced condition. I subsequently learned that my son admitted not only to smoking hashish but to taking opium. After the accident he became totally disoriented and was so violent that forcible restraint was sometimes necessary.
He was not considered well enough to travel alone from Afghanistan. Even if he were, I was advised by the British Consul that the customs and immigration authorities might delay his departure, or even prevent it and imprison him on a drug charge. I was under extreme pressure from the doctors and the British Consul to arrange for medical treatment for my son (he was being detained in a mental hospital) and a medical escort for his repatriation to Britain.
Clearly, it was essential to entirely reject the mortal evidence of chaos and disability and replace it with the understanding of man's innate spiritual perfection. With the help of a Christian Science practitioner, I made an earnest effort to listen for God's direction. During a week of prayer and study, I deeply pondered such concepts as the fatherhood of God, the absolute control of divine Mind over all its creation, and the ever-presence of infinite Love. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures Mary Baker Eddy assures us (p. 151): "Every function of the real man is governed by the divine Mind. The human mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no control over God's man. The divine Mind that made man maintains His own image and likeness."
