WHEN I WAS A KID, someone told me that sunlight shining through a magnifying glass could burn a hole in a piece of paper. So, I went out into the sun and held a magnifying glass a few inches above a piece of paper—and sure enough, the light shining through the magnifier became so concentrated that it burned a hole in the paper. The action I took was a demonstration. The effect of that demonstration was the proof that sunlight shining through a magnifying glass is powerful enough to burn a hole in a piece of paper.
Dictionaries define demonstration in various ways, but first and foremost, as it applies to the field of science. One such definition says, "the act, process, or means of making evident or proving" (Webster's New World College Dictionary). In any science, demonstration is an action taken that proves something.
Think of the demonstration as the action you can take.
The word demonstration and its variants demonstrate, demonstrates, demonstrated, and demonstrating appear 235 times in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the textbook on Christian Science healing. For anyone wanting to understand how this Science heals, it would seem important, then, to understand what Mrs. Eddy meant by that term.
When I took up the study of Christian Science, I began to learn that God's power is supreme—even more powerful than the sun. But it took me years to realize I could prove this in the healing of a longtime physical condition. As a little girl, and as an adult, my eyes were painfully sensitive to the sun. Sunglasses gave little relief. I can remember squinting on my walks to school because the sunlight reflected on the sidewalks brought tears to my eyes. And, as a young woman, I recall hanging my laundry indoors because it was too painful to look up at the blue sky while hanging clothes on the lines outdoors. And I always found it difficult to enjoy a boat ride with friends because of the glare from the sunlight reflected on the water.
Somehow, I had just accepted this condition as part of who I was. Then one sunny day, when I was struggling again with the sunlight, the spiritual definition of sun in Science and Health came to my rescue, "The symbol of Soul governing man,—of Truth, Life, and Love" (p. 595).
Through Christian Science I had learned that Soul, Truth, Life, and Love are Biblical synonyms for God, and that the term man refers to every one of God's sons and daughters. I had also learned that, contrary to appearances, just as the earth actually revolves around the sun rather than the sun around the earth, likewise, God, not matter, governs man and the universe. So, the idea that the sun is "the symbol of Soul governing man" came to me as a lovely revelation of Truth. With that revelation I reasoned that the sun was a friend reminding me of God's supreme government of me, not a painful enemy. Right then, I accepted the spiritual truth that my eyes could not be pained by normal, everyday exposure to sunlight. In all the years since, I've rarely found a need to use sunglasses even when the sun is reflected on the water or on a blanket of gleaming white snow.
The action that I took—mentally accepting and holding to the truth that God, not the sun, governed my eyes—was the demonstration. My healing was the effect of that demonstration. Had I wavered in my acceptance of that truth there could not have been healing.
Mrs. Eddy explained, "God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is governed by God" (Science and Health, p. 495). This statement sometimes poses a problem to students of Christian Science who have learned the absolute truth that God's spiritual reflection, man (generic man), is always governed by God. In this case, though, the author is making the point that we must demonstrate this—accept that God governs man and live accordingly—in order to prove that it's true. She wrote, "The highest prayer is not one of faith merely; it is demonstration. Such prayer heals sickness, and must destroy sin and death" (Science and Health, p. 16).
I have often pondered another statement of Mrs. Eddy's, "... I must know the Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and demonstration" (Science and Health, p. 109). She was explaining how she searched the Scriptures for an understanding of how Christian healing works, and the conclusions she came to that make such healing possible for any sincere seeker.
Of those three—"revelation, reason, and demonstration"—it's easy to think "demonstration" refers to the healing result of prayer, rather than to the prayer itself. With this assumption, we ponder the revelation of some spiritual truth, reason as to its reality and the consequent unreality of some discord we are concerned about, and then are disappointed when no change occurs in our situation as a result of our prayers. We may find ourselves asking, "Where is the demonstration?" If so, we're looking in the wrong direction—to matter, instead of to our thinking.
These two statements from Science and Health have helped to clear this up for me: "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts" (p. 261); and, "Realize the presence of health and the fact of harmonious being, until the body corresponds with the normal conditions of health and harmony" (p. 412). "Hold steadfastly." "Realize." These are the mental actions one must take that constitute demonstration, the "highest prayer."
To "hold steadfastly" to spiritual truth, and to "realize ... the fact of harmonious being," requires that we take our prayer—our spiritual consciousness of being—into our daily life. It means that we must live as God's reflection—let our thoughts and actions be governed by God as we go about our daily activities. That doesn't involve repeating statements of spiritual truth to ourselves all day. It does mean, though, that living to glorify God needs to be our sole purpose in life. And that requires us to hold guard over thoughts, words, and deeds to be sure they reflect God's government of oneself and of everyone. Tall order? Well, yes! But when it's done out of love for God and man, it brings joy and fulfillment beyond compare. And with practice it becomes quite natural.
One approach to this I've found useful is to take one specific spiritual truth at the beginning of the day, cherish it in prayer, and strive to keep my thinking in agreement with that idea throughout the day. It's a discipline to be sure, but it has all the power of God behind it.
Remember how the magnifying glass brought the sun's light into such a concentration of power that it burned a hole in the paper? Whenever you live in a way that keeps your thoughts in relation to divine Love's government of you as His child, the infinite power of divine Love is so magnified on the human scene that it brings healing to you and to others.
Our model for Christian healing is Christ Jesus. The love for God and man he lived is our inspiration. He prayed earnestly to keep his thoughts and actions in subjection to divine Love at all times. This demonstration—this loving action of living as God's reflection—healed the sick, transformed the sinner, and raised the dead. To enable us to do this today, Jesus said, "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12).
If you've been disappointed in the effectiveness of your prayers (and who of us hasn't been from time to time), it can make a world of difference to let your thought shift from thinking of the healing as the demonstration, to thinking of the demonstration as the action you can take—an action through which God's supreme power brings healing. After quietly, prayerfully entertaining the revelation of some spiritual idea of truth, reason with that revelation until you see the nothingness of some material claim of discord or disease. Then hold steadfastly to that truth without relenting to material suggestions to the contrary. Realize that it is true until you do see the effect of this demonstration in healing.
In other words, allow yourself to be governed by God, as you actually are. This demonstration is the highest prayer—the prayer of love reflecting Love. And divine Love does heal through us whenever we are governed by Love.
