is a Christian Science healer, teacher, and lecturer. Fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and English, he has lectured on spiritual healing in all three languages throughout South America, Europe, and the US for over 20 years. He and his family live in Olivos, Argentina, a suburban area north of Buenos Aires, near Rio de la Plata, an estuary that connects to the Atlantic. "You can see the sky, you can see the sun coming up, and you have nice gardens and flowers. It's a very pleasant place to live," Juan Carlos told the Journal's . They spoke together recently about spiritual healing.
Juan Carlos, like lots of folks today, you're multi-tasking—you have a family, you lecture around the world, and you also teach and practice Christian Science healing. How do you keep it all going?
Prayer. And I remember that it's God's business. It's a question of understanding again and again the same lesson, that God is Mind. God doesn't have confusion or a mixture of things to do at the same time. Divine Mind is completely orderly, and I'm learning that when I follow God as much as I can, things are nicer and more orderly, logical, and useful for others, also.
I like to put it this way sometimes: One of the things I have to learn is that I am a son, and God is the Father. And it's fun, because to be a son is easier than to be a father. Young people just wait for their parents to do everything. So, I need to be a son who is ready to follow his Father!
How did you first get involved in spiritual healing?
I was raised in another religion. I was very interested in the idea of God, I just loved the idea of God. So I began to raise difficult questions. And I found a concept of God that didn't make sense to me. So I concluded there was no God and spent more than 20 years as an atheist.
It was very difficult to live that way. I was in advertising, and I smoked more than 40 cigarettes a day. I hated smoking, but I couldn't stop. I was married for 11 years to a Christian Scientist. I saw during those years that my children were healed by this Science, but I never accepted it. I took the fool's route and never gave credit to Christian Science. But I wanted to stop smoking, and I didn't know what to do. My wife said, "Why don't you go to a Christian Science practitioner?"
When you don't know what to do, you go any place. So I went. To me it was a strange experience, and I came out of that meeting thinking that I didn't understand a word. But that night I thought of the parable of the prodigal son in the Bible, See Luke 15:11–32 . and I had a brief vision that I had come home, I mean mentally. I felt for a moment that God was real again. And it's funny, because it took three days for me to realize, "Oh! I'm not smoking anymore!" Three days! Before, I had tried everything you can imagine, and it always failed. But in three days, I was free, and I never smoked again.
When did you start reading Science and Health?
Well, before I was healed of smoking, I read the book to prove to my wife that what she said was wrong. After the healing, I was in a new stage, trying to understand, but it wasn't easy for me. Still, what I liked is that it didn't ask me to believe. It asked me to prove. It respected me. It started from the premise that I was an intelligent being. But it took me a lot of time to be at peace with the notion that God was real. That was a struggle.
What helped at first were the articles in Spanish in The Herald of Christian Science, especially the stories for young people. I loved them because I could understand them. And the other thing I loved were the testimonies at the Wednesday evening meetings at church. There was a woman, maybe a servant, with not much education, and I admired her wisdom. And I thought to myself, "Wow, if I had just a little wisdom like this woman, I would not be in trouble as I am now." That was the level of my understanding. I used to say that if I am able to practice Christian Science, anyone can!
What other concepts made sense to you?
The rationality of Christian Science. That was important to me as an atheist, to connect with something rational, but spiritual. When I was young, raising questions about God, my questions were rational. So it felt like I was coming back to the beginning and finding rational answers. What Mary Baker Eddy says about God made sense. It was a real God, a rational God that will not tempt you, saying, "Well, you can make a choice between two things, one is right, and the other is not right." The God I discovered in Science and Health was the God I had in my consciousness as a young person, but hadn't been able to find. God is divine Mind, not a man with a beard. And God is not Jesus. God is the power and Spirit that animated and motivated Jesus, and gave him life. The thing is, it's natural—we all have this precious spiritual concept of God in our consciousness.
At some point, you decided to help other people—you became a healer yourself.
Yes. I took class instruction in Christian Science, Class instruction is a two-week course on spiritual healing taught by a teacher of Christian Science . and after that I worked for a while in advertising in the north part of Argentina. I discovered there was a group of Christian Scientists, and I went to their services. They began to ask me to pray for them. Then one day I had to make a decision. I was asked to run an advertising agency, which was a big thing. But I discovered that the main accounts were wine and liquor. So I thought, "My goodness, I'm not going to spend my life telling people to take alcohol." We have four children, and practitioners are not millionaires, but I decided to become a spiritual healer full time. And it was the right thing to do.
How are things different today, 30 years later, from when you started out, say in terms of how you might respond to someone who asks you to pray for them?
The basic thing is that you learn to depend more on God. It's not that you don't know; it's that you grow. At first you say, for example, "God" or "the power of God"—but what does it mean? And this deeper understanding of God, power, health, life—it isn't intellectual. It's deeper, it's clearer, because it's something heartfelt. Really felt.
To me, today, healing depends on two basic concepts. First of all, the power of God. Healing is about God's power and God's presence in human experience. It's as simple as that. But second, there's the question, "What about the practitioner?" The key is to know that God loves me, the practitioner. God created me, so I am loving. As a healer, I'm like a flower, and I'm going to give this aroma to everyone. So it starts with the practitioner asking, "Who am I?" And answering, "I am the expression of divine Love"—then acknowledging and recognizing this in others.
It sounds like this is a special insight that helps you with your healing work.
Well, Love is one of the synonyms of God that most people are ready to understand and accept. But then it may take time to understand what Love really is. And that involves completing the concept of God through the other synonyms for God that Science and Health refers to. So then you discover that God and Life are the same, and that Love and Life are the same God. It's true with the other synonyms, too. You discover that the Creator is Principle. So divine Love, which is Life, is the Principle who creates and governs. Then all the synonyms, including Truth, Soul, Mind, Spirit, come together and fill out your understanding of God. And that fuller understanding helps to bring healing.
Let's talk a little bit about what the patient brings to the healing process.
It's very simple. The patient brings a cry of "Help me!" And it's a good start, especially if someone is new. But if you already know about Christian Science and still have the attitude, "Take this burden from me, but I'm not going to change anything"—that's different. There's more to healing than that. Do you remember Jesus asked, "Wilt thou be made whole?" John 5:6. I translate this as, "Do you want to be changed? Do you want to be regenerated?" Not by me, the practitioner, but by God. I never ask this, but this is my expectancy of the patient.
Do you have any advice about how people can pray more effectively for others and themselves?
Rejoice in truth. And acknowledge God's part in this truth. After all, God is Truth. For example, say that you would like to pray for innocence—your own or someone else's who has asked you for help. Start by affirming what's true, that they are innocent right now, because they are the beautiful, sinless child of God. Right away, this person will feel a bit more innocent. And it will go on from there until their whole life is changed. Truth corrects the human concept that you or I or anyone is not like God, and then our lives naturally reflect this. So I say, rejoice in truth!
You know, there is a Psalm that to me is maybe the shortest, most perfect definition of spiritual healing. It's Psalm 139, and it says, "When I awake, I am still with thee." Ps. 139:18. For me, that is the heart of prayer. Healing is about awaking from a dream, waking up to who we really are as the children of God. It's one stage in what Jesus called being "born again." See John 3:7. So spiritual healing can start from, "Who am I? I am innocent, I am harmonious, I am spiritual, I am eternal. I am not the cause of anything, I am the effect of God." And from that starting point, you can include others in the same package. If I am innocent, then everyone else is, too—everyone is innocent. Everyone is still with God.
What else might you say to someone starting out in the practice of Christian Science healing that could help them?
The only thing you have to be concerned about is your consciousness. Nothing else. Just take care of your consciousness. Don't forget that God loves you, and that is the only real thing in your life. This aroma will go out mentally to your surroundings and heal. And just enjoy praying. For me, healing is like a ten-story building. The patient is on the ground floor, wanting healing, and healing is on the top floor. But where is the practitioner? If his or her consciousness is on the tenth floor, the healing is instantaneous.
The elevator of thought takes you to the top floor of healing?
Yes, where it's already waiting! Reality is already here. In God's kingdom, there is nothing to be healed. God is constantly saying to every individual, "Awake, I am still with thee." There is no illness!
Is there anything else you'd like to say about spiritual healing?
"Who am I?"—that's the big question. And if you answer it right, you are safe: "I am not a creator. I am the creation. I am the son (or the daughter) of God." Go back to that. Then you'll feel free of all the burdens and responsibilities, and you'll just enjoy being the son or the daughter—God's reflected light. And you'll feel comfortable saying, "Dad, I need help." Matter has nothing to give us, but Spirit, God, can give wisdom, as I saw in that humble woman when I first began to attend church.
The only thing I would add is that I wouldn't trade being a spiritual healer for anything else, because when a patient calls to say, "I'm well," nothing else can compare. It's holy ground.
