A mom of a young teen called me in my capacity as a Christian Science practitioner because her son wasn’t feeling well. They wanted me to pray with them and give him a Christian Science treatment. I talked to her a bit, and then to him.
Immediately after getting off the phone, I remembered a line from the first Star Wars movie, “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.” I burst into laughter. Without delving too much into the film, the line has to do with a demand that the good guys identify themselves to the bad guys. But one of the movie’s heroes steps in and helps them bypass that demand. The group moves forward unharmed.
Back to my phone call. The mom and son called back a few minutes later and the son was totally fine. What happened there? What healed him?
If we look at ourselves as mortal, material, we’re not identifying ourselves correctly.
When healing happens in Christian Science, we’re getting a glimpse of our Father-Mother God’s already present reality. Mary Baker Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual,—neither in nor of matter,—and the body will then utter no complaints” (p. 14).
What did that line from the movie have to do with this? Since it referred to identification, it made me look to this teenager’s true identity—how God sees him. What came to me was that if we look at ourselves as mortal, material, we’re not identifying ourselves correctly. We’re seeing ourselves subject to a vulnerable, physical existence, with the body seeming to be the master instead of the servant. Through the material senses this young man looked like a victim of illness, but that was not him. He could only truly be identified by God—as spiritual, perfect, whole. Thought shifted to God’s view of him—the only view—and he was healed.
In Christian Science we’re counseled to daily, moment by moment, go to God in prayer. Why? Science and Health explains, “Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it” (p. 2). It brings us “into harmony” with the spiritual laws of the universe, with what is already true.
Christian Science is not alternative health care. It’s not about turning bad matter into good matter. It’s not magic or mysterious, nor is it an academic exercise. In this divine Science we’re taught how to pray, to give Christian Science treatment.
In treatment there’s no formula—no incantations, no saying the right words in the right order. And it’s neither human will manifesting its desire, nor hypnotism—the belief that one mortal mind can exercise power over another mortal mind. It is the recognition of, and yielding to, God’s spiritual reality, which is here right now. It’s knowing that God’s will is done, and God’s will is always good.
There are many ways of praying and giving treatment. I’ve found some prayers are simply “Help me, God.” A simple prayer for a child could be “God is Love, God loves me, and there is nothing else.”
Christian Science treatment helps us look for and see reality—God and His flawless nature. I was once asked to define “treatment” and what came to me was, “It’s not the healing agent, it is a vehicle to get us to the consciousness of Love.” This consciousness of Love is the recognition that God and we are one, and because we coexist, all is well.
My patient’s healing was instantaneous, but there are times that are more challenging. When we are struggling with fear or discouragement, we need to go deeper into the truth of God as we endeavor to understand that Spirit really is all. It is then that we need to deny what seems to be, and persist in focusing on what is—the fact of God’s great goodness.
We’re given tools to help us in this endeavor. In her textbook of spiritual healing, Mrs. Eddy writes of reasoning and argument. These tools, or auxiliaries, can help us realize the consciousness of Love. Human reasoning wants to start with the problem, while spiritual reasoning starts with the cause, not the effect (the problem).
In the Science of Christianity, we learn that God is the only cause. And so in treatment we naturally start with God, because as Science and Health says, “Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress” (p. 170).
There is counsel about healing by argument in several places in the textbook. For instance, “Remember that the letter and mental argument are only human auxiliaries to aid in bringing thought into accord with the spirit of Truth and Love, which heals the sick and the sinner” (Science and Health, pp. 454–455).
Think about that “letter” for a moment. If our prayer and treatment is merely an academic exercise, we can get distracted from the truth when we think we can recall and repeat the letter perfectly—check that “to do” off our list. But what’s missing is the spirit of Love. Honestly, I’ve had times when even though I know God is Love, I can’t seem to feel His love. What has helped me then, is acknowledging that even though I don’t feel it, this love is still the only thing that is real, and I can’t get tricked into being unaware of omnipresent Love. Then I once again feel God’s loving presence with me.
So these arguments are tools to lift our consciousness into the realm of God, and this is where we find healing. Mrs. Eddy writes, “Prayer cannot change the unalterable Truth, nor can prayer alone give us an understanding of Truth; but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us into all Truth” (Science and Health, p. 11).
In treatment, what are we striving to see? The “unalterable Truth”—reality from God’s point of view. How does God see reality, see us individually and collectively, see the world? There’s a beautiful quote attributed to Albert Einstein that echoes this question: “I want to know God’s thoughts; the rest are details.” In Christian Science we might say, “I want to know God’s thoughts; the rest is nothing.” The thoughts of God are the only truth.
We need to persist in focusing on what is—the fact of God’s great goodness.
I remember one day writing out a treatment for myself. All of a sudden it came to me to stop and just have a heart-to-heart with God, asking questions and listening humbly for the answers. I asked, “God, tell me about You—who and what are You?” As I listened, answers came. Then I asked, “God, what do You know about me—who and what am I, in relationship to You?” Again I listened. And then I had a further question: “God, what about all the evil, or what seems to be in opposition to You?” And a feeling of such profound love came over me. All the answers came gently, but so powerfully that I had tears of gratitude and joy.
What does all this studying and praying do for us? Our desire to know God, to know reality, to associate with these wonderful ideas, helps us more deeply understand that we already live in the consciousness of Love. At the same time, it transforms our character, strengthens our trust in God, and makes us love our neighbor more, because we’re not only seeing ourselves better, but seeing everyone else more clearly, more spiritually.
Our goal is not just to have a healthy body or a good human experience; it is to know and experience reality—the goodness of who and what God is, and how God identifies us and all of creation. When we see everyone as the beloved of Love, we find that “one moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity” (Science and Health, p. 598). And this brings healing.
