Can thought alone cause harm? We've all heard such phrases as "a look that could kill," and we hardly need the film Fatal Attraction to show the destructive nature of sensualism and envy. A typical day's news offers plenty of "real-life" stories of mental and physical brutality, often reported with such drama and repetition as to blur the line between news and fiction. But can thought alone cause harm?
An experience I had at one time, involving others' criticism which seemed malicious instead of corrective, also seemed to bring me considerable physical distress.
One day I began to feel a sharp pain through my upper body, and what looked like wounds appeared on my chest and back. I called a Christian Science practitioner to help me through prayer. She spoke of the need to respond with pure, Christlike love to hatred and envy. I knew I could do a better job of loving others, just as the work I was doing could be improved.
