"A small lump appeared. At first I ignored it," a friend wrote. But ignoring the problem, he began to see, wasn't removing it. The lump continued to enlarge. Soon he realized the necessity for more conscientious prayer and study.
Two things were apparent. He needed an overhaul, or perhaps a radical change in his view of man; he needed a rekindling of his spiritual momentum.
This meant getting his thinking about himself more spiritually based and less physically oriented. He had to recognize man's real identity as the reflection of God, good—as perfect, harmonious, intelligent, useful, immortal—and to realize that this was his true identity. Conversely, he had to know that neither he nor anyone was in reality a material being—sick or well, bad or good.
"Who wants to be mortal, or would not gain the true ideal of Life and recover his own individuality?"Miscellaneous Writings, p. 104. asks Mrs. Eddy. We discover our individuality as we reorient our sense of man— radically change from the material to the spiritual, from the finite to the infinite, from the ungodlike to the Christlike.
The biblical story of Job's struggles, seen in the light of Christian Science, shows the ineffectiveness of approaching challenges merely as a good material person wrestling with material—and major—problems. These difficulties, however trying, are always the outgrowth of a larger problem, namely the incorrect view that man is a physical, struggling personality.
The turning point in Job's situation came when he and his friends dropped talking so much about the supposed mortal evidence, its seeming obstinacy and duration. He had to give up his preoccupation with himself as material, as "man that is born of a woman,"Job 14:1. and earnestly acknowledge the omnipotence of God and His ability to save.
To rely on the testimony of the material senses for our views with respect to ourselves, our relationships, our so-called lot in life, is to get hooked by a false premise that inevitably leads to a false conclusion, evidenced in suffering and limitation. The "wilderness" experiences we face begin to fade out as our material view of life ceases to be dominant, and we willingly and gladly accept the fact that man's true being is wholly spiritual.
In much the same way as Job had done, my friend began to see that his primary problem was not the lump but the mistaken though prevalent view that he was a personal being struggling in vain with a distressing bodily condition. To counteract this he had to pray more diligently to know who he really was— the reflection of God's loving, perfect infinitude.
Obviously, one God can have only one kind of man, whose being is immortal, not mortal. Man's substance, essence, and perfection are found in God, or infinite Spirit, not in a body of finite matter.
My friend prayed along these lines. But after a while he became distracted by the alarming physical evidence. The suggestion came that perhaps he should turn to other means for healing. He recognized this as a spiritually uneducated, false belief that matter gives man life and death, health and disease. He realized this concept was contrary to Christ Jesus' teaching that God, Spirit, alone gives life to man. God is man's Life.
In his prayers he was inspired by this thought from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy: '"Instead of blind and calm submission to the incipient or advanced stages of disease, rise in rebellion against them. Banish the belief that you can possibly entertain a single intruding pain which cannot be ruled out by the might of Mind, and in this way you can prevent the development of pain in the body."Science and Health, p. 391.
Specifically, how did he put this truth into action? How did he pray? He recognized that his true and only being was the expression of God or good, of Life and Mind, including all the Godlike qualities and attributes. Because God is All, He must be One, and one God can have but one full reflection, completely spiritual. In view of this, man is not, in truth, a physical body with material parts subject to disease, disorder, and ungodlike conditions. The only condition of God's allness is present spiritual perfection—and that includes His man, or manifestation.
As my friend prayerfully contemplated these truths, he saw that his primary need was not to get rid of a physical growth but rather to gain a more spiritual concept of God and of man's nature and inseparable relationship to Him. He entertained these Godlike thoughts more and more consistently. Then his fears and anxiety for a physical healing started to diminish and fade away.
At this point my friend saw he was in the midst of a radical change in his outlook. He was getting his priorities squared away by putting spiritual growth first, above all other considerations.
Now he realized he needed to develop more spiritual momentum. This meant he had to side with truth continuously and not sporadically.
How did he do this? By acknowledging gratefully, joyfully, and confidently —physical evidence to the contrary notwithstanding—that God is All, all good, the only Mind and Life of man. He recognized that man, as God's own likeness, has to be the evidencing of God's infinite goodness, the conscious, active embodiment of health and harmony. Further, man has to be as immortal as God. Then, he's not a mortal with a material mind to believe in and fear disease, and with a physical body to be troubled by disease. In God's allness, which includes His man, or manifestation, there's no disease to be a creator or creation, a cause or an effect. All that's really going on anytime, anywhere, is God's imaging forth of Himself in His own manifestation, man—spiritual, perfect, complete.
Dwelling on these truths, he was not surprised to see the growth fall away one day. The swelling disappeared. He was healed.
True growth is an inside job. It's not something we acquire from outside. It happens when we gladly surrender our material sense of man, of life, for the Christly sense and adopt the spiritual point of view.
Each time we apply spiritual truths and resist materialism, we increase our spiritual momentum. Each time we persist in knowing and demonstrating these truths, we take a step forward. This is the natural result of an overhaul in our thinking, and it contributes to our spiritual momentum.
As we develop this Christly point of view, we heal discordant conditions and solve problems. We enjoy new views of God's goodness and love and the perfection of His creation. This is the only true growth.
