I was traveling with my backpack and tent in another country, doing some scientific research, when I experienced what I believed was a hernial condition in my leg. It grew worse rapidly until it was nearly impossible to walk even short distances without severe pain.
In Christian Science I had learned that disharmonious conditions are the result of ignorance of what God and man are and of what the relation of man to God is. So the best way to turn the whole situation into a harmonious condition, I felt, was to overcome this ignorance, that is, to learn more of God and man. In the city near the place where I was camping at that time, I had the opportunity to go to a library. In spite of my difficulty I made the trip every day for one week. In the library I had a place where I could stay all day long to study the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (these books accompanied me all the time on my journey) and her Prose Works, which I found there in the bookshelves. I read and prayed to get a clearer perception of God's creation. These were joyful and uplifting hours filled with refreshing insights and ideas.
I tried to refute every intruding pain with the conscious pleading for divine Love's presence and power, and I became more consistent in doing so every day. I realized much more fully that matter indeed cannot ache or swell or move and that matter is not real substance. Christian Science teaches that matter is only the concrete expression of mortal mind, and that therefore healing must take place in this so-called mind, which is the only sufferer.
