Mary Baker Eddy affirms, "Christian Science never healed a patient without proving with mathematical certainty that error, when found out, is two-thirds destroyed, and the remaining third kills itself." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 210. Occasionally we may wish for that "remaining third" to hurry up and self-destruct! If a particular wrong seems very apparent, but the healing hasn't been immediate, perhaps we wonder what is holding it up.
Evil is often less apparent than one would believe. Sometimes, particularly with a physical trouble, we treat the symptoms—try to change the material condition—instead of affirming the spiritual reality of man's present perfection in God's likeness. "If only I could make this go away," we think. This kind of reasoning may seem a natural tendency, yet it ignores the real problem. Why? Because it focuses only on the manifestation of the underlying erroneous, mortal thought. The erroneous thought itself is the actual culprit, and it is uncovered and destroyed through a perception of the spiritual facts of God and man.
If your cat was alarmed at the sight of a dog, would you treat it for raised hair? You would not waste your time, for you would know that fear was the cause of the trouble.
In a fundamental way, pain and suffering of all kinds are manifestations—symptoms—of an incorrect view of man and his relation to God. In confronting such challenges we may think we have found something bigger, stronger, or more powerful than the one God. In a sense we worship it, in conscious or unconscious thought. We know the First Commandment ("Thou shalt have no other gods before me" [Ex. 20:3]), but we don't seem able to let go of fear.
To establish in our thought a correct concept of man and of our relation to God, we might begin with an all-encompassing view of our Father-Mother as the only creator, who excludes from His creation everything less than perfect. Through prayer we can humbly realize that in truth, we're the very outcome of this one creator, the spiritual reflection of the one Mind, God, in all His perfection. Glimpsing this reality opens the door of our thought to healing. The holy consciousness of our true being, inseparable from God, dissolves fear and the false sense of imperfection, and with it the condition that seemed so real. That condition, after all, only seemed to exist to human consciousness; it was not of God's creating.
In filling our thought with good, we see the unreality of evil. Beginning with the solution—or truth of being—instead of the problem destroys incorrect views of our relation to God. This is not ignoring evil, which would be an evil in itself. Praying from the standpoint of divine Truth and its expression actually eliminates anything unlike good by uncovering its falsity. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, "That evil or matter has neither intelligence nor power, is the doctrine of absolute Christian Science, and this is the great truth which strips all disguise from error." Science and Health, p. 454.
The ten lepers who came to Christ Jesus for cleansing didn't doubt what their problem was. See Luke 17:12-19 . After all, their leprosy was readily apparent. Had Jesus agreed with their convictions, he could not have healed the ten. The Bible does not give us a description of the underlying false concept that Jesus unmasked. But he clearly saw beyond the surface appearance of things to the pure, spiritual reality, and his consciousness of this reality served to uncover and destroy error through the power of Truth.
A consciousness mesmerized by evil can only magnify an incorrect view of man. It is not a sound basis for healing in Christian Science. We need to deal with a lie through right reasoning—reasoning that begins with a spiritual view of creation.
Some years ago, finding myself in an unpleasant job, I developed a hearing problem. It seemed obvious: the inharmony stemmed from my view of certain individuals at work. I had every reason for not listening to what they were saying, for they had only made me miserable. Their foisting of their own beliefs on me, particularly those about medicine, seemed to be the "real," hidden trouble. The carnal mind was confronting me, it seemed, with a problem that would not yield.
In filling our thought with good, we see the unreality of evil. This is not ignoring evil, which would be an evil in itself.
Eventually, I realized that this narrow line of reasoning was not bringing about healing. I had to be willing to broaden and deepen my view and look at the reality of good. Spiritual vision had to replace material-mindedness.
Focusing on some narrow theory about a hidden problem ultimately accomplished nothing. But with a spiritually rectified viewpoint, I found I could hear perfectly even before the physical blockage was fully dissolved. Some time later, while I was driving to work at another job, a large quantity of matter found its way out of one of my ears. At that moment, I remember, I was thinking about some aspect of spiritual truth that was not in relation to this particular difficulty.
Science and Health states, "When divine Science overcomes faith in a carnal mind, and faith in God destroys all faith in sin and in material methods of healing, then sin, disease, and death will disappear." Science and Health, p. 395. Uncovering error lies in seeing the allness of God—in perceiving the good that destroys evil. It is not the result of the human mind isolating some apparent cause and using spiritual truth to counteract it. Such thinking can magnify error instead of defeating it.
For every look at error, we can take multiple looks at divine Truth. As we abide in the consciousness of spiritual reality, error's nothingness is exposed. We can dwell on the truth of being consistently, despite outward manifestations of evil. When our mental standpoint changes—is spiritualized—true, Christian healing follows.
