According to the World Health Organization, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” They also say, “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being.”
Yet this fundamental right may seem unattainable. One day, we may feel physically great and mentally upbeat, and the next day, for no particular reason, feel tired, discouraged. So, I began wanting to better understand what Christian Science teaches about true health as God’s gift to everyone, not a changeable state of physicality or mood but the unchanging state of being a spiritual idea of God. God, divine Love, is wholly good, as both the Bible and the textbook of Christian Science show, so every quality and condition of God’s creating must be good and unchanging, timeless.
I opened Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures expecting an inspired answer; however, what I read didn’t appear to apply: “Whatever it is your duty to do, you can do without harm to yourself” (p. 385). Suddenly, it was clear—it’s my duty to be healthy by seeing health in entirely spiritual terms. And immediately I thought of the By-Law in the Manual of The Mother Church that says, “It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion. . .” (Mary Baker Eddy, p. 42).
