A while ago I ran into a former college roommate. In the years since we last met, she had become involved in a self-help philosophy that emphasizes the power of thinking. And she delightedly told me that because she had learned that physical health could be achieved by thinking the right thoughts, she finally understood my faith in Christian Science.
It wasn't the time or place for a discussion on Christian Science. My friend wasn't interested in learning more about my religion—she was convinced she had found the answer to well-being. But that conversation—coupled with some well-publicized, growing public acceptance of the idea that sickness has a mental origin—has made me think deeply about the difference between prayer that scientifically acknowledges the supremacy of one Mind, God, and positive-thinking philosophies that claim health can be achieved by swapping bad thoughts for better ones.
Certainly Christian Scientists agree that it is imperative to strive to be better, to live more worthwhile lives. But the healing practice of Christian Science rests on a far more radical basis than the mere acknowledgment of disease as mentally induced. This Science reveals that sickness does not inhere in man but in mortal consciousness—in the belief in a mind apart from divine Mind. Christian Science teaches that healing is found not simply by thinking better thoughts but in yielding thought to the regenerating realization of one omnipotent Mind, God, whose reflection is man.
