Health care, one of the most discussed topics around the globe today, is often at the forefront of thought—whether regarding some new health challenge that individuals may face, or in trying to figure out how ever mounting health-care costs will be covered. In the United States, where the Affordable Care Act is set to take effect in 2014, health care is of immediate concern to many.
Christian Science brings new light to the subject of health care, and lifts it to a solution-based discussion. The ideas on health that the founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, provides are worth considering deeply. In her book Rudimental Divine Science, for instance, the question is posed, “How should I undertake to demonstrate Christian Science in healing the sick?” Her response indicates a radical shift in thought and a penetrating understanding of the true nature of health. She states succinctly, “Health is the consciousness of the unreality of pain and disease; or, rather, the absolute consciousness of harmony and of nothing else” (p. 11).
Looking deeply into that statement, we see it gives a purely mental focus to health, stating that health is directly related to consciousness, or thought. “Consciousness” can be defined as the “knowledge of one’s own existence.” So, Eddy is saying that health is actually found in knowing “one’s own existence” or true identity.
