I couldn’t figure out why I felt as though I was stalling, as if a heavy, invisible blanket were keeping me earthbound and encumbered. Life felt dark and my thoughts seemed sluggish.
Then I came across this startling statement by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of the universal, divine law of Christian healing: “The mild forms of animal magnetism are disappearing, and its aggressive features are coming to the front. The looms of crime, hidden in the dark recesses of mortal thought, are every hour weaving webs more complicated and subtle. So secret are the present methods of animal magnetism that they ensnare the age into indolence, and produce the very apathy on the subject which the criminal desires” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 102).
I was familiar with the author’s definition of animal magnetism: “As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism or hypnotism is the specific term for error, or mortal mind. It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and is both evil and good; that evil is as real as good and more powerful” (Science and Health, p. 103). But when I looked up indolence, alarm bells went off. It means “inaction or want of exertion of body or mind, proceeding from love of ease or aversion to toil” (Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828).
We find our sole purpose for existing is to witness and express God’s nature.
I could see how a “love of ease” was showing up in my own experience, but to realize that it was making me and others apathetic—and by extension, permissive—toward evil itself, was a wake-up call.
One of the most imperative demands made on Christian Scientists is to watch—to be alert and on guard. The word watch means to remain awake. Christ Jesus specifically tells his followers: “What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch” (Mark 13:37). We watch for God’s goodness, His manifest power and presence, and to be sure we don’t fall into thinking and acting in a manner unlike the Christ nature which Jesus taught and demonstrated.
As I more actively watched my thinking, I began to see how, at the heart of the darkness, heaviness, and even confusion that plagued me, was this aggressive, subtle trap of indolence. Here are just three of the ways I realized I was entertaining “love of ease”:
1. The first can be summed up in “I don’t want to”—simply an unwillingness to work for God. Working for God sounds like, well, a lot of work. But it bears great rewards. Working for God means acknowledging and accepting the divine nature of His creation, with everything functioning in perfect harmony. It means being humbly grateful for blessings already received and ready for the unfolding of infinite good. Working for God includes daily prayer, fueling up spiritually by studying the Scriptures and Mrs. Eddy’s writings, and embracing and acting on good thoughts while rejecting selfish, evil thoughts.
Christ Jesus’ disciple Peter wrote: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Peter 1:2–8).
The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible defines the Greek word for barren as lazy. Whereas laziness is nonproductive, the qualities Peter lists reinforce each other to make us abundantly productive. Working for God is not so much a work-and-rewards system, as a means for expressing all the good we already have!
2. The second was in a desire for a more comfortable material experience, without a willingness to rule out sin in thought and action. Mrs. Eddy writes: “Healing physical sickness is the smallest part of Christian Science. It is only the bugle-call to thought and action, in the higher range of infinite goodness. The emphatic purpose of Christian Science is the healing of sin; . . .” (Rudimental Divine Science, p. 2).
Jesus healed by casting out the thinking—sometimes referred to in Bible translations as an evil spirit, spirits, or demons—that caused the outward discord. One time his disciples asked him why they had failed to heal a case. He replied, “Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20, 21).
A spiritual translation of fasting that I’ve found helpful is: “refraining from admitting the claims of the senses” (Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 222). The material senses cannot be relied upon for a recognition of reality—what is universally true here, now, and everywhere. They unfailingly report that there is a power, an intelligence, a substance, a presence, a law outside of and opposed to God. Therefore, when we do mistakenly rely on the claims of the senses, we are invariably breaking the First Commandment of the Mosaic Decalogue: “You shall have no other gods before or besides Me” (Exodus 20:3, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition).
Are we truly willing to cast out sin—any tendency to believe the suggestion that there is another god, another power—from our hearts, thoughts, experiences? Are we seeking merely a more comfortable human existence, or do we truly desire to work for God? Of course, pain and disease are never Father-Mother God’s will for Her precious children and can never be the divine order of things. They result from belief—a belief we can cast out. Since the purpose of Christian Science is the healing of sin, and the effects or “signs following” of the healing of sin are physical healing, we cannot allow ourselves to be lazy about handling sin in ourselves.
3. The third way I was seeing indolence showing up was in the constant pull of distractions disguised as rest and entertainment. World events, coupled with challenges in our own lives, can be overwhelming, demanding that we pause. But laziness would mislead us on what is truly restful and satisfying. Perhaps laziness tempts us to escape through screen time, which can take the form of mere amusement or “doomscrolling” through mortal opinions and bad news. Instead of giving in to temptation, which will only drag us deeper into darkness and depression, we can turn to God for inspired answers.
As we turn wholeheartedly to God, we find that every prayer, every Christian Science treatment, bears witness to God’s nature as loving, principled, harmonious, intelligent. Thought is lifted above indolence, and we find both that our sole purpose for existing is to witness and express God’s nature, and that doing this is joyful, energizing, and fulfilling. The Bible tells us: “Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me” (Isaiah 43:10).
That darkness, depression, and sluggishness I mentioned at the beginning of this article? It took months of dedicated daily effort, study, and prayer to face them. But that word indolence kept me motivated. I did not want to consent to evil. Day by day, moment by moment, I was waking up to God as my source, my true Love, my focus, my one and All.
I cherish working for God as the most important thing I can do.
I learned to defend myself against the pull of ease by turning to the “Daily Prayer” that Mrs. Eddy provides, which says in part: “ ‘Thy kingdom come;’ let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin” (Manual of The Mother Church, p. 41). As I prayed, I would often substitute the word indolence for sin.
Beginning to reconnect with divine Love, I thought of God as Mother. She spoke to my thought with such tenderness, firmness, and mercy, that putting Her first became irresistible, desirable, delightful. I became eager to see what She had to share with me and more enthusiastic to hear the gospel (good news) of Love’s presence than afraid of consenting to evil.
After working consistently to put God first moment by moment—in thought and deed—for several weeks, I felt reborn! And I continue to feel that invigorating sense of inspiration as I cherish working for God as the most important thing I can do.
To a new branch church in Massachusetts, Mrs. Eddy offered guidance much like Peter’s: “Honor thy Father and Mother, God. Continue in His love. Bring forth fruit—‘signs following’—that your prayers be not hindered. Pray without ceasing. Watch diligently; never desert the post of spiritual observation and self-examination. Strive for self-abnegation, justice, meekness, mercy, purity, love. Let your light reflect Light. Have no ambition, affection, nor aim apart from holiness” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 154).
The work of overcoming a love of ease yields salvation, safety, health, and holiness—a deeper conviction and experiencing of God’s grace.
