Pathology is a term that has been used for centuries to mean the study of suffering. It stems from the Greek word pathos and relates to grief or sorrow. Today, the term is used to mean “the science or the study of the origin, nature, and course of diseases” (dictionary.reference.com/browse/pathology). While many are concerned with the origin and cause of disease and its condition and process, others have learned to look beyond the study of material processes to the study of spiritual Science. One such person was Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science.
In her discovery of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy recognized that pathology couldn’t be held to mere material interpretation or usage. By elevating this term to divine Science, she explained the divinely natural science or study of the origin, nature, and cause of health: the condition and method of Truth. In fact, she referred to Christian Science as a spiritual pathology, which has improved mankind (see Science and Health, p. 157). This “spiritual and profound pathology” is the study of God, divine Spirit, and of man as made in God’s image; this spiritual reasoning process draws us closer to God, which naturally results in healing.
The study of Christian Science reveals the origin, nature, and the cause of man. It also unveils God to each of us as we gain a deeper spiritual understanding of our innate relationship to Him. Eddy included two distinct uses of the term pathology in her writings. Beginning with the more accepted definition of pathology, she wrote: “The belief that matter thinks, sees, or feels is not more real than the belief that matter enjoys and suffers. This mortal belief, misnamed man, is error, saying: ‘Matter has intelligence and sensation. Nerves feel. Brain thinks and sins. The stomach can make a man cross. Injury can cripple and matter can kill man.’ This verdict of the so-called material senses victimizes mortals, taught, as they are by physiology and pathology, to revere false testimony, even the errors that are destroyed by Truth through spiritual sense and Science” (Science and Health, p. 294). If we allow ourselves to stay at the material level of understanding of the term pathology, we will inevitably continue to revere the false testimony of the material senses. Yet, spiritual pathology teaches us that we no longer need to revere the false testimony of the material senses, and, in fact, we can reverse their false claims with Truth, through our spiritual sense (understanding) and divine Science. What we have to ask ourselves is: Can a higher understanding of spiritual pathology be gained, and can I use it in my everyday experience; in short, can I heal with it?
