Q: What should I do when someone asks for treatment for some other adult in his/her family (an adult son, a senior parent, etc.)?
A: The heart of a Christian Science practitioner yearns to help others through prayer. However, Mary Baker Eddy found from experience that adherence to ethical standards based on the Golden Rule is essential to success in healing. Normally, a practitioner would give Christian Science treatment only when someone has asked for such treatment. Praying for someone who has not requested spiritual treatment is unethical in Christian Science, which Mrs. Eddy clearly stated in her Christian Science textbook: “The heavenly law is broken by trespassing upon man’s individual right of self-government. We have no authority in Christian Science and no moral right to attempt to influence the thoughts of others, except it be to benefit them. . . . Therefore the rule is, heal the sick when called upon for aid, and save the victims of the mental assassins” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 447).
However, there are instances (for example, in an emergency) when a practicing Christian Scientist may not be able to communicate their wishes for treatment, and a relative or friend asks a Christian Scientist practitioner to pray for that individual. In such a case it would be appropriate for a Christian Science practitioner to treat the individual until such time as they are able to make the decision to continue with Christian Science treatment, or choose a different method of treatment.
In the specific instance you stated, the ethical course of action would be to find out if your relative would like, or is willing, to have a Christian Science practitioner treat them. In my practice, this has solved the dilemma in most instances—often even when the individual was reluctant to ask the family member if they wanted help in Christian Science. Supporting the individual metaphysically while they ask their relative is important.
What do you do if an individual is reluctant to ask permission for Christian Science treatment of their family member? Or a relative, when asked, says “No, thank you”? Neither you, the practitioner, nor the individual, has the right to specifically treat that relative’s thought as though he or she were a patient. In The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, Mary Baker Eddy provides this guidance: “The rule of mental practice in Christian Science is strictly to handle no other mentality but the mind of your patient, and treat this mind to be Christly. Any departure from this golden rule is inadmissible” (p. 364).
However, one can always pray to “handle” the general resistance to truth, rather than give in to worry. How do we do this? By knowing that true consciousness is Christly and everyone has this consciousness. The fact that man reflects the one perfect God, or Mind, and is conscious only of what this Mind imparts is the basis for all spiritual thinking and reasoning—and healing. Mentally affirming this truth does not intrude upon another’s thought. It is also helpful to know that evil of any kind is no part of anyone’s thought or experience, thereby separating the problem from the individual and treating it as an impersonal claim. Evil and false thinking have no ability to afflict a Christly consciousness. Impersonally putting down the claims of evil has the effect of saving the victim of “the mental assassins,” which is always right to do. There is no need to fret about what seems to be governing another’s thinking. Stick to the truth of being, and leave the rest to God.
Mary Baker Eddy reminds the healer, “The spiritual power of a scientific, right thought, without a direct effort, an audible or even a mental argument, has oftentimes healed inveterate diseases” (Rudimental Divine Science, p. 9).
, Berkeley, California, US
