Some People Are Skeptical when they hear about metaphysical healing, because they don't believe words or thoughts alone can heal. They have heard, perhaps, that those who study the teachings of Christian Science claim a person is healthy when he or she is obviously ill—that they say "all is well" when the physical evidence is just the opposite. People may think of such an approach to healing as throwing optimistic but powerless words at a problem, like attempting to douse a fire using pieces of paper with the word "water" written on them!
Students of Christian Science are among those who are skeptical of merely applying upbeat words (or positive mental visualization) to a problem. Those who practice Christian healing on the basis of the divine Science taught in Science and Health don't rely on words themselves to heal. It's the power of divine Love, God, that heals, though words are sometimes steppingstones to a realization of the healing presence of perfect Love. The author of Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, noted with some concern the efforts of healers who gush out words not matched by a spiritual understanding of God's presence and power and lacking the spirit of divine Love. Science and Health states: "If Christian healing is abused by mere smatterers in Science, it becomes a tedious mischief maker. Instead of scientifically effecting a cure, it starts a petty crossfire over every cripple and invalid, buffeting them with the superficial and cold assertion, 'Nothing ails you' " Science and Health, p. 460.
On the other hand, the Word of God— when truly understood and cherished—heals. God's self-revealing, His authoritative spiritual voicing of His own allness and of the perfection of His entire creation, very often comes to us through appropriate words we read or hear, or that come directly to thought. However, it may also come as a wordless, intuitive sense of the infinite goodness of God and of all that He creates. Either way, when an inspired understanding of Truth, God, penetrates thought with the spiritual sense of good, it heals.
The book of Acts
illustrates the
distinction between
voicing the Word
of God and
parroting it.
The book of Acts in the Bible illustrates the distinction between voicing the Word of God with spiritual perception and conviction, and merely trying to parrot words of Truth. When the Apostle Paul was in Ephesus, successfully practicing the healing exemplified by Christ Jesus, sons of a priest called Sceva were among those who "took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth." Acts 19:13. The sons of Sceva, however, were not really applying the Word of God, because they didn't understand and embrace the spiritual truth behind the words they spoke. They were paying lip service to Christianity through phraseology, rather than voicing a genuine, heartfelt understanding of Truth. According to the Scriptures, their efforts were in vain. A man whom they attempted to heal in this way was not cured. Instead he turned on the sons of Sceva, attacking them and chasing them out of the house. According to Acts, "The evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?" Acts 19:15. Error, disorder of any kind, cannot help bowing to the healing authority of the Christ. But it is never destroyed by empty words or thoughts that merely echo Christ's divine authority.
This Biblical account illustrates for us today the inadequacy of trying to apply metaphysical formulas to an illness, as one would apply potions, lotions, or pills. The words in the Bible or in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, don't have a magical power of their own. They are not a mantra. Nor can we read them unthinkingly and expect a cure will come. Being actively engaged with the Word, lovingly yielding our thought to what God is revealing of Himself, is what brings about mental and physical restoration through prayer. Science and Health cautions: "The letter of Science plentifully reaches humanity to-day, but its spirit comes only in small degrees. The vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. Without this, the letter is but the dead body of Science,— pulseless, cold, inanimate." Science and Health, p. 1 13.
The illness yielded
to divine Love's
healing power.
IN looking to be healed through spiritual means, we require more than kind, loving, or even true words, in and of themselves. The heart reaching out in hope or desperation needs that which can and does heal. It needs the recognition and acceptance of God's love for man as His complete and pure spiritual creation. Coming to a heart praying for respite from suffering and sin, this perception of God's love illumines consciousness with the understanding of man's true being as the full expression of divine good.
While spiritual understanding is not gained through ruminating on words alone, speaking the right words at the right time often played an essential role in the healing work of Christ Jesus and his apostles. Even today, healing can come about in response to words read aloud, or sung, as at a church service, for example. Healing may come through words shared by a loving friend or family member, or by ideas voiced by a Christian Science nurse or practitioner. For this to occur, the spiritual meaning of such words must be humbly grasped, at least to some degree. The perception of man's true selfhood as God's image and likeness—expressing all of God's spiritual qualities, such as peace, joy, strength, and love—does heal.
While we may feel some superficial comfort in reading for reading's sake, or in passively listening to words on an inspirational cassette or words that others may speak, the deeper need is for the spiritual comfort that comes from being stirred by those words into mental action and spiritual renewal. I recently found this out when I was suffering from the flu for some days. Not only were there distressing physical symptoms; I just couldn't think clearly, and when I read the Bible and Science and Health, it was like encountering a wave of words that were just washing over me. At last I called a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. As she did so, I finally began feeling a connection with the meaning of the words as I read them. This was the turning point. The illness finally began to yield to the healing power of Love.
Students of Christian Science may indeed say "all is well" despite physical evidence to the contrary. But this is because when one spiritually discerns and loves this truth, one is able to demonstrate its validity by healing sickness and disease. Such works declare the power of God's Word. Willingly working to understand and yield to the Word opens our hearts and thoughts to the spiritual sense of being. This enables us to prove our eternal heritage of liberty through healing.
