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).
Suddenly, it was clear—it’s my duty to be healthy by seeing health in entirely spiritual terms.
I saw that this duty was to mentally disagree, every day, with the belief that my life—which is God, Life itself—could possibly be touched by materiality. My duty is to expect sound health, joyfully and obediently accepting the validity of biblical truths regarding God’s design of and care for us.
I’d often pondered the statement in Science and Health, “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). I was intrigued that it doesn’t say “the physical body,” or “your body,” or “your patient’s body.” This made me consider a generic body such as the infrastructure of government, neighborhoods, schools, as well as the human body.
From my study of Christian Science I see reality as the spiritual expression of God’s nature, qualities, and attributes. To prove what this Science teaches requires understanding this fact, which in turn manifests health and harmony. I wanted to live it more deeply—to better reflect God’s attributes, such as intelligence, strength, generosity; to become more aware that divine Life itself is perceived mentally; to replace the inward, self-serving thoughts of fear, pain, and discouragement with trust in good, God’s presence and authority. Such uplifted thought, filled with an intelligent love, changes our own particular mental atmosphere, and in turn uplifts others too.
Recently, on one of my daily walks in my city neighborhood, I set out with the goal of seeing true health all around—seeing spiritual perfection governing all forms of body, including city infrastructure, community councils, school boards, and families. I was very much enjoying this truth. And feeling joy, and surrounded by grace and love.
I determined to see the truth about myself and not identify myself physically.
That day I was wearing sturdy sandals. Halfway along my route I suddenly felt a sharp stab in my foot and assumed I had picked up a stone. I stepped again gently, and realized it was not a stone, but a long nail. It had lodged in the sole of my sandal and gone deep into my foot.
I pulled the nail out and wiped the blood off my foot with my handkerchief, while calmly realizing the uninterrupted presence of health—the truth of spiritual, scientific being, manifested in soul and body. I determined to see this truth about myself and not identify myself physically.
Perhaps surprisingly, I also refused to wonder if this was a “wait and see” thing—waiting to get home and see how bad it was. I simply put my sandal back on and walked the 25 minutes home. There was no more pain or bleeding. When I got home, I cleaned the bottom of my foot and almost chuckled when I went to put a Band-Aid on but couldn’t see where to put it.
That was the end of that. But not the end of the lesson. For I was buoyed by the angelic message that it is our duty to demonstrate health, not only because we are able, but because doing so weakens any resistance to seeing existence as entirely spiritual. Because God is infinite good, as the Bible and Christian Science teach, we can affirm and acknowledge daily that His image, spiritual man, enjoys infinite health.
Such acknowledgments ripple outward and are felt by those around us. We can watch the ripples expand even when sometimes they are only barely evident; and we cannot even know how far those ripples may reach.
