The human body isn't a criminal or wrongdoer. It isn't guilty of the "crime" of disease or other physical discords. It doesn't cause, manufacture, or develop sickness. The general perception, however, is that the body must be constantly watched for signs or symptoms of disease that it supposedly initiates and then develops independently of the mind. But the body is not autonomous. It's not self-acting or self-governing. It is wholly controlled by thought, either consciously or unconsciously.
So-called mortal mind and body are not separate entities. They are a single unit in which mind, according to human belief, is the dominating factor. The body might be likened to the screen of a computer. The messages and pictures that appear on the screen are solely determined by the information that's put into the computer. The body is as innocent, we might say, as the screen. It simply registers the thoughts we're entertaining. If we would heal a sick body, the negative mental states that mortal mind would impose on it, such as fear, must give place to the truths of eternal Mind, to the holy, health-giving thoughts that God constantly imparts to His idea, man.
Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health: "Our Master asked: 'How can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man?' In other words: How can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called mortal mind, which directly controls the body? When disease is once destroyed in this so-called mind, the fear of disease is gone, and therefore the disease is thoroughly cured."Science and Health, pp. 399-400.
