A friend and I had gone out for supper one night, and after an enjoyable meal we were driving to our next destination. By the time we were a couple of miles down the road I was in such pain that the bumps in the road had become unbearable, and I asked my friend to pull over. I had apparently eaten something rancid at dinner. We found a place where I could be comfortable and quiet for a few minutes.
A copy of Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy, was within easy reach. I opened to the question "What is Mind?" The answer begins simply, "Mind is God." It continues, "The exterminator of error is the great truth that God, good, is the only Mind, and that the supposititious opposite of infinite Mind— called devil or evil—is not Mind, is not Truth, but error, without intelligence or reality." Science and Health, p. 469. I rejected the suggestion that this evil had intelligence or reality. I denied the thought that a material body could be the authority on health, or that God's creation could be subject to pain, carelessness, or poor judgment. I rejoiced that all creation, as the outcome of divine Spirit, is actually spiritual, governed by a loving God. And I realized that right then and there God was in complete control of my situation, and nothing else was. Neither food nor fear can upset God's government! With that perception came peace, and in a shorter time than it takes to read this sentence, all pain was gone. That was fully the end of the matter. My friend and I were able to proceed according to our plans for the evening.
How is prayer, a mental activity, able to heal physical disease? By destroying, through the unopposable power of God, the fear and other mental elements that underlie disease. Bodily dysfunctions have no choice but to yield when our thought yields to God's perfect government, to the healing assurance of Love's presence and care. By recognizing God, supreme good, to be the only genuine source of thought and activity, and yielding to this truth, we effectively negate, render powerless, the fear that evil ever could have power in our lives. When fear dissipates, the body responds in ways that may seem miraculous to those unfamiliar with Christian healing. But healing is the perfectly natural result of the law of God understood and obeyed.
Healing prayer rests on the platform of God's own perfect nature as the one loving and eternal Mind—the only Mind, which creates only good. Since God is the sole creator, the source of all that truly is, everyone has the right—and indeed, the responsibility—to accept as true only those thoughts and things that could have their source in God. Fear and disease clearly do not begin in the all-loving God! They have no intelligence, substance, or power and therefore can't really control us for an instant. Disease is never caused by God, but we—every one of His children—are caused by God to express His harmony. Therefore we never need to fear disease, but we can heal it.
While medical theory presumes health to be a function of the physical body, dependent on certain physical properties and biochemical processes, this presumption wrongly leaves Jesus' healing ministry, and all that it implies, out of the picture. In her search for health, Mrs. Eddy endeavored to understand how Jesus had healed. Eventually, with the Bible as her sole guide, she came to a revolutionary discovery about the nature of health. She found that thought is not only important to health; in metaphysical healing it is the only thing to be treated! Referring to disease, she explains, "It is fear made manifest on the body." Ibid., p. 493.
The chapter of Science and Health entitled "Christian Science Practice" includes a section called "MENTAL TREATMENT ILLUSTRATED." The opening paragraph of that discussion states, "Christian scientific practice begins with Christ's keynote of harmony, 'Be not afraid!' And further along, it says: "Always begin your treatment by allaying the fear of patients. Silently reassure them as to their exemption from disease and danger. Watch the result of this simple rule of Christian Science, and you will find that it alleviates the symptoms of every disease." Ibid., pp. 410, 411.
Fear suggests that we are something less than God's own image and likeness. It also suggests that something other than divine Mind governs us. Fear is always in contradiction to the will of God, but we always have the ability to reason and act in accordance with Him. Understanding God's absolute goodness and supremacy provides a sure basis for recognizing and rejecting fearful thinking. As the Bible says, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." II Tim. 1:7.
Healing is the perfectly natural result of the law of God understood and obeyed.
On what grounds can we allay fear? Why are we always safe in God's care? Since God is the only creator, the only Mind, there is no element of creation that is outside of His control, capable of causing harm. Since God is omnipotent, there is no danger that God's will could be thwarted by evil of any sort. Since God is omniscient, there is no facet, no corner, of creation that has eluded His perfect government. As we hold to such absolute facts, insist on them, and express the purity and integrity that characterize the divine nature—and therefore our own true being as God's likeness— we begin to find the secret of health and happiness. We begin to catch glimpses here and now of the omnipresence of God's kingdom! More than simply positive thinking, this is spiritual understanding, which demonstrates the law of God in action.
In my own case of food poisoning, it was necessary to recognize that apparent carelessness on the part of the restaurant workers was not a factor in my health, since God alone maintains man. I needed to face the fear, the erroneous suggestion, that I was a material being susceptible to harm, and destroy it through the understanding that man is in fact spiritual—God's image and likeness, forever in His care.
Asking where fear comes from is somewhat like seeing 2 + 2 = 7 on a blackboard, and then spending the afternoon trying to figure out where the 7 came from. The 7 is just an error and has nothing to do with the equation. So what do we do with it? Erase it and put in the right answer. Likewise, fear and disease are no part of the equation, no part of the Science of God and man. We don't need to figure out where they come from; we only need to know where we come from— God, divine Mind, the only Mind—and to accept nothing else in thought. Then we'll see healing.
Health is not actually about chemical reactions or properties of the physical body at all. Health is a spiritual, indestructible quality inherent in man as God's image. It's the natural wholeness and intactness of the Divine Being and its expression. Health is the fact of our permanent, harmonious being under God's perfect government. Disease expresses the human fear that God isn't All. We have every reason to rejoice that God is indeed All, and that He governs here and now, in every detail of our being. We can refuse to be intimidated by fearful suggestions about our health or about anything else. Man is safe in God's care, and we have the ability to prove that fact through healing.
