MARY BAKER EDDY WROTE a brief but very important chapter in Science and Health titled "Animal Magnetism Unmasked." For those early in their study of Christian Science, the term animal magnetism may sound (as it initially did to me) like some semimysterious jargon, unique to Christian Science. But I've recently studied some of the history of what the term animal magnetism meant from secular perspectives, and the results of that study have been illuminating, not only in removing any sense of mystery about this subject, but also in gaining a greater appreciation for why it was so important for Mrs. Eddy to include this chapter in her textbook—and for Christian Scientists and others to be alert today to what she really "unmasked."
Mary Baker Eddy summarized the history of animal magnetism succinctly in Science and Health, but to the 21st-century reader, the references she used—for example, the initial attention given animal magnetism by Franz Anton Mesmer in Germany in 1775; the debunking of animal magnetism by a French commission in 1784; and an 1837 report adopted by the Royal Academy of Medicine in Paris—may be difficult to place in context today. These references can sound like quaint, obscure, and trivial oddities, leaving one to wonder why she thought it important to include them in her book.
So it was interesting to find that even before Mrs. Eddy made her discovery of Christian Science in 1866, British author Charles MacKay had catalogued in 1841 what he considered a variety of interesting "groupthink" phenomena in Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, a book that is still in print. In his summary of "The Magnetisers," MacKay traces the beginning of the concept of animal magnetism to the theory of "mineral magnetism"—a phenomenon springing from people's fascination with the ability of a magnet to move matter by means of an invisible force. People very quickly jumped to the conclusion that if a magnet could move iron from one place to another, maybe a magnet could move disease from one place in the body to someplace out of the body. A variety of disease treatments followed, and, for a time, some mineral magnetism treatments appeared to be successful.
Over time, however, mineral magnetism didn't hold up as a reliable remedy, in part because skeptical researchers discovered that the same effects would follow if the magnetizer used wood instead of magnets in the procedures, thus revealing that the magnet was not the source of the healing results.
Further confusion ensued when Mesmer realized he could eliminate entirely the use of magnets and bring about cures simply by passing his hands downward toward the feet of the patient, even from a distance. This reinforced Mesmer's theory that the invisible power was not in the iron or metal of the magnet, but was instead more of a fluid or influence in every human body, apparently leading to the naming of this phenomenon "animal" (within the body) magnetism. The subsequent magnetic treatments involved the attempt to capture this force or influence of magnetic fluid to lessen disease and/or improve one's existence.
Mesmer's theory and experiments were no minor or obscure sideshow within the larger society. MacKay refers to the comments of a man named M. Dupotet who wrote, "It is impossible to conceive the sensation which Mesmer's experiments created in Paris. No theological controversy, in the earlier ages of the Catholic Church, was ever conducted with greater bitterness." MacKay observed, "[Mesmer's] friends were as extravagant in their praise, as his foes were in their censure. Paris was inundated with pamphlets upon the subject, as many defending as attacking the doctrine. At court, the queen expressed herself in favour of it, and nothing else was to be heard of in society" (Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, pp. 339–340).
Eventually, the controversy led to the appointment of a commission to investigate the phenomenon, which reported conclusions debunking Mesmer's theories. (This is the report quoted in Science and Health, pp. 100–101.) But while the report ruined Mesmer's reputation in France, MacKay noted that imitators sprang up in France, Germany, and England "nourished ... by the kindly warmth of popular credulity," and continued to make great claims on behalf of the "new science." And so this "popular delusion" continued to be prevalent in thought decades after Mesmer's death in 1815.
These 18th- and 19th-century popular theories involving magnetism as a means of treating disease were in direct conflict with Christian Science. The very concept of an invisible magnetic influence was perhaps uniquely symbolic of the battle between Spirit and the flesh—that is, it captured the idea of an unseen, suggestive attraction of thought toward a material or fleshly sense of life and away from Mrs. Eddy's essential discovery: "Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of existence" (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 24). So it is not surprising that Mrs. Eddy found it necessary to address animal magnetism, and it is reasonable to assume that the term animal magnetism, per se, will always have a unique place in the lexicon of Christian Science.
But Mary Baker Eddy's exposure of animal magnetism went much deeper and broader than merely addressing an 18th- and 19th-century phenomenon. She saw through all these theories to the false premise at their very core—the widely accepted but totally untrue concept that matter and evil are real. She wrote, "As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism or hypnotism is the specific term for error, or mortal mind. It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and is both evil and good; that evil is as real as good and more powerful" (Science and Health, p. 103). This false belief is really what she unmasked, and it is this still popularly-held belief that is unmasked throughout Science and Health.
Moreover, besides filling in the historical record, MacKay's book makes clear that the secular theory of animal magnetism was a very big deal in popular thought in Mary Baker Eddy's time. Around the world and for over half a century, kings, queens, and other nobility, as well as the highly educated, were attracted to this theory and were in some cases enthralled by it. All sorts of physical reactions (some good and many bad) resulted from the experiments with and practice of its theories on willing patients seeking relief from various ills.
These circumstances highlight for me the strength of conviction Mrs. Eddy must have felt to go forward with the chapter "Animal Magnetism Unmasked." She marched right into the middle of worldwide popular thought that embraced the core lie and unmasked it by name in her book (and, according to biographers, she met with considerable resistance before successfully including this chapter). She not only put on public record the fact that "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter" (Science and Health, p. 468), but she proved this truth through her own healing work as well as the work of her students. All of which leads to the question of how through a Christian Science perspective we should be dealing with the current forms of animal magnetism.
Looking at our culture, one could list many examples of popular thought that embrace the accepted premise of life, truth, substance, and intelligence in matter. For instance, the relentless proliferation of new dietetic theories as the key to better health (trans fats among the latest preoccupations) or the periodic, rapidly spreading fear of "pandemics" in one form or another. (Remember SARS and "bird flu"?) And certainly at or near the top of any such list in the 21st century is the thought commotion surrounding global warming.
How should we be dealing with the current forms of animal magnetism through a Christian Science perspective?
Like the popular theories of animal magnetism, global warming theories pro and con are embraced, widely discussed, and deeply considered around the globe by world leaders, scientists, and the most highly educated people of our time, as well as by much of the general public. Whether a particular theory attributes warming trends to human activity or solar-activity cycles or a mixture of the two or something else, popular thought is finding in these theories the explanation for all sorts of existing and projected ills, including hurricanes and wildfires.
The inevitable result of the human mind finding the explanation of ills—or "cause"—in any particular theory is a proliferation of prescriptions for activity and changes in behavior to protect from this cause. Yet, is there any such theory that does not have at its core the false premise that "mind is in matter, and is both evil and good; that evil is as real as good and more powerful"? There isn't, and it's time for this false premise to be unmasked, just as Mary Baker Eddy unmasked the popular animal magnetism theories in her day. Our tendency may be to want to show some level of deference to the theories earnestly embraced by others. But Mrs. Eddy didn't show deference to the theories of animal magnetism. In her love for humanity, including those who held those views, she felt impelled to unmask the falsity of those theories to bring healing to individuals and to the whole world. Similarly, when we unmask the spiritually untrue premise at the root of global warming and other theories in our prayers, we will see more of the fear-eliminating, healing effect we desire.
Whether the healing effect of this spiritually scientific prayer takes form in a recalculation or reversal of warming trends, or creative, nondestructive means of adapting to those trends, or something else that isn't currently foreseen, may not be particularly important to know. What is important is to establish in thought the absolute scientific truth that God is infinite Spirit, that Spirit's creation is entirely spiritual, complete, harmonious, and perfect; and that man (meaning the spiritual nature and identity of everyone), as the image and likeness of God, lives, moves, and has eternal being in Spirit. Matter (and fear) never enter the equation—whether in the form of something called warming or cooling, greenhouse gases, CO2 emissions, or physical bodies, or even Planet Earth.
As we deepen our conviction of spiritual scientific truth, affirm these facts in our prayers for the world, and live our lives in accord with them, today's forms of animal magnetism will be unmasked, and the healing power of Truth will be demonstrated for the betterment of all humanity. And that healing power, grounded in the absolute scientific truth of our spiritual identity and our freedom from the fear that accompanies a finite, material sense of life and habitat, will also bring freedom from the matter-based impulses of greed and wastefulness that despoil humanity's environment—whether spatial, global, national, local, or even our own and our neighbors' backyards. All humanity will then find itself in an environment that's stable, healthy, and conducive to the progress that blesses all.
