Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

M >> Mary Baker Eddy >> Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

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392:24 Reverse the case. Stand porter at the door of thought.
Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in
bodily results, you will control yourself har-
392:27 moniously. When the condition is present
which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise,
heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office
392:30 as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears.
Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the
body cannot suffer from them. The issues of pain or
393:1 pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman
forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forget-
393:3 ting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance.

The strength of Spirit

The body seems to be self-acting, only because mortal
mind is ignorant of itself, of its own actions, and of their
393:6 results, - ignorant that the predisposing, re-
mote, and exciting cause of all bad effects is a
law of so-called mortal mind, not of matter. Mind is the
393:9 master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness,
sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take
possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action.
393:12 Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike
good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing
can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on
393:15 man.

No pain in matter

Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind
governs, and that in Science man reflects God's govern-
393:18 ment. Have no fear that matter can ache,
swell, and be inflamed as the result of a law
of any kind, when it is self-evident that matter can have
393:21 no pain nor inflammation. Your body would suffer no
more from tension or wounds than the trunk of a tree
which you gash or the electric wire which you stretch,
393:24 were it not for mortal mind.

When Jesus declares that "the light of the body is the
eye," he certainly means that light depends upon Mind,
393:27 not upon the complex humors, lenses, muscles, the iris
and pupil, constituting the visual organism.

No real disease

Man is never sick, for Mind is not sick and matter
393:30 cannot be. A false belief is both the tempter
and the tempted, the sin and the sinner, the
disease and its cause. It is well to be calm in sickness;
394:1 to be hopeful is still better; but to understand that sick-
ness is not real and that Truth can destroy its seeming
394:3 reality, is best of all, for this understanding is the uni-
versal and perfect remedy.

Recuperation mental

By conceding power to discord, a large majority of
394:6 doctors depress mental energy, which is the only real
recuperative power. Knowledge that we
can accomplish the good we hope for, stimu-
394:9 lates the system to act in the direction which Mind points
out. The admission that any bodily condition is beyond
the control of Mind disarms man, prevents him from
394:12 helping himself, and enthrones matter through error. To
those struggling with sickness, such admissions are dis-
couraging, - as much so as would be the advice to a man
394:15 who is down in the world, that he should not try to rise
above his difficulties.

Experience has proved to the author the fallacy of
394:18 material systems in general, - that their theories are
sometimes pernicious, and that their denials are better
than their affirmations. Will you bid a man let evils
394:21 overcome him, assuring him that all misfortunes are from
God, against whom mortals should not contend? Will
you tell the sick that their condition is hopeless, unless it
394:24 can be aided by a drug or climate? Are material means
the only refuge from fatal chances? Is there no divine
permission to conquer discord of every kind with harmony,
394:27 with Truth and Love?

Arguing wrongly

We should remember that Life is God, and that God
is omnipotent. Not understanding Christian
394:30 Science, the sick usually have little faith in
it till they feel its beneficent influence. This shows
that faith is not the healer in such cases. The sick
395:1 unconsciously argue for suffering, instead of against it.
They admit its reality, whereas they should deny it.
395:3 They should plead in opposition to the testimony of the
deceitful senses, and maintain man's immortality and
eternal likeness to God.

Divine authority

395:6 Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to
disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to
master the false evidences of the corporeal
395:9 senses and to assert its claims over mortal-
ity and disease. The same Principle cures both sin and
sickness. When divine Science overcomes faith in a car-
395:12 nal mind, and faith in God destroys all faith in sin and in
material methods of healing, then sin, disease, and death
will disappear.

Aids in sickness

395:15 Prayers, in which God is not asked to heal but is be-
sought to take the patient to Himself, do not benefit the
sick. An ill-tempered, complaining, or deceit-
395:18 ful person should not be a nurse. The nurse
should be cheerful, orderly, punctual, patient, full of
faith, - receptive to Truth and Love.

Mental quackery

395:21 It is mental quackery to make disease a reality - to
hold it as something seen and felt - and then to attempt
its cure through Mind. It is no less erroneous
395:24 to believe in the real existence of a tumor, a
cancer, or decayed lungs, while you argue against their
reality, than it is for your patient to feel these ills in
395:27 physical belief. Mental practice, which holds disease
as a reality, fastens disease on the patient, and it may
appear in a more alarming form.

Effacing images of disease

395:30 The knowledge that brain-lobes cannot kill a man nor
affect the functions of mind would prevent the brain from
becoming diseased, though a moral offence is indeed the
396:1 worst of diseases. One should never hold in mind
the thought of disease, but should efface from
396:3 thought all forms and types of disease, both for
one's own sake and for that of the patient.

Avoid talking disease

Avoid talking illness to the patient. Make no unne-
396:6 cessary inquiries relative to feelings or disease. Never
startle with a discouraging remark about re-
covery, nor draw attention to certain symp-
396:9 toms as unfavorable, avoid speaking aloud the name of
the disease. Never say beforehand how much you have
to contend with in a case, nor encourage in the patient's
396:12 thought the expectation of growing worse before a crisis
is passed.

False testimony refuted

The refutation of the testimony of material sense is
396:15 not a difficult task in view of the conceded falsity of this
testimony. The refutation becomes arduous,
not because the testimony of sin or disease is
396:18 true, but solely on account of the tenacity of belief in its
truth, due to the force of education and the overwhelm-
ing weight of opinions on the wrong side, - all teaching
396:21 that the body suffers, as if matter could have sensation.

Healthful explanation

At the right time explain to the sick the power which
their beliefs exercise over their bodies. Give them divine
396:24 and wholesome understanding, with which to
combat their erroneous sense, and so efface the
images of sickness from mortal mind. Keep distinctly in
396:27 thought that man is the offspring of God, not of man;
that man is spiritual, not material; that Soul is Spirit,
outside of matter, never in it, never giving the body life
396:30 and sensation. It breaks the dream of disease to under-
stand that sickness is formed by the human mind, not by
matter nor by the divine Mind.

Misleading methods

397:1 By not perceiving vital metaphysical points, not seeing
how mortal mind affects the body, - acting beneficially
397:3 or injuriously on the health, as well as on the
morals and the happiness of mortals, - we are
misled in our conclusions and methods. We throw the
397:6 mental influence on the wrong side, thereby actually in-
juring those whom we mean to bless.

Remedy for accidents

Suffering is no less a mental condition than is enjoy-
397:9 ment. You cause bodily sufferings and increase them
by admitting their reality and continuance,
as directly as you enhance your joys by be-
397:12 lieving them to be real and continuous. When an ac-
cident happens, you think or exclaim, "I am hurt!"
Your thought is more powerful than your words, more
397:15 powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury
real.

Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt
397:18 and understand the reason why, and you will find the
ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your
disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine meta-
397:21 physics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures
declare Him to be.

Independent mentality

To heal the sick, one must be familiar with the great
397:24 verities of being. Mortals are no more material in their
waking hours than when they act, walk, see,
hear, enjoy, or suffer in dreams. We can
397:27 never treat mortal mind and matter separately, because
they combine as one. Give up the belief that mind
is, even temporarily, compressed within the skull, and
397:30 you will quickly become more manly or womanly. You
will understand yourself and your Maker better than
before.

Naming maladies

398:1 Sometimes Jesus called a disease by name, as when he
said to the epileptic boy, "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I
398:3 charge thee, come out of him, and enter no
more into him." It is added that "the spirit
[error] cried, and rent him sore and came out of him, and
398:6 he was as one dead," - clear evidence that the malady
was not material. These instances show the concessions
which Jesus was willing to make to the popular ignorance
398:9 of spiritual Life-laws. Often he gave no name to the
distemper he cured. To the synagogue ruler's daughter,
whom they called dead but of whom he said, "she is not
398:12 dead, but sleepeth," he simply said, "Damsel, I say unto
thee, arise!" To the sufferer with the withered hand
he said, "Stretch forth thine hand," and it "was restored
398:15 whole, like as the other."

The action of faith

Homoeopathic remedies, sometimes not containing a
particle of medicine, are known to relieve the symptoms
398:18 of disease. What produces the change? It is
the faith of the doctor and the patient, which
reduces self-inflicted sufferings and produces a new effect
398:21 upon the body. In like manner destroy the illusion of
pleasure in intoxication, and the desire for strong drink
is gone. Appetite and disease reside in mortal mind, not
398:24 in matter.

So also faith, cooperating with a belief in the healing
effects of time and medication, will soothe fear and change
398:27 the belief of disease to a belief of health. Even a blind
faith removes bodily ailments for a season, but hypnotism
changes such ills into new and more difficult forms of dis-
398:30 ease. The Science of Mind must come to the rescue,
to work a radical cure. Then we understand the process.
The great fact remains that evil is not mind. Evil has
399:1 no power, no intelligence, for God is good, and therefore
good is infinite, is All.

Corporeal combinations

399:3 You say that certain material combinations produce
disease; but if the material body causes disease, can
matter cure what matter has caused? Mortal
399:6 mind prescribes the drug, and administers it.
Mortal mind plans the exercise, and puts the body through
certain motions. No gastric gas accumulates, not a se-
399:9 cretion nor combination can operate, apart from the
action of mortal thought, /alias /mortal mind.

Automatic mechanism

So-called mortal mind sends its despatches over its
399:12 body, but this so-called mind is both the service and
message of this telegraphy. Nerves are un-
able to talk, and matter can return no an-
399:15 swer to immortal Mind. If Mind is the only actor, how
can mechanism be automatic? Mortal mind perpetuates
its own thought. It constructs a machine, manages it,
399:18 and then calls it material. A mill at work or the action
of a water-wheel is but a derivative from, and continua-
tion of, the primitive mortal mind. Without this force
399:21 the body is devoid of action, and this deadness shows
that so-called mortal life is mortal mind, not matter.

Mental strength

Scientifically speaking, there is no mortal mind out of
399:24 which to make material beliefs, springing from illusion.
This misnamed mind is not an entity. It is
only a false sense of matter, since matter is not
399:27 sensible. The one Mind, God, contains no mortal opin-
ions. All that is real is included in this immortal Mind.

Confirmation in a parable

Our Master asked: "How can one enter into a strong
399:30 man's house and spoil his goods, except he first
bind the strong man?" In other words: How
can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called
400:1 mortal mind, which directly controls the body? When
disease is once destroyed in this so-called mind, the fear
400:3 of disease is gone, and therefore the disease is thor-
oughly cured. Mortal mind is "the strong man," which
must be held in subjection before its influence upon health
400:6 and morals can be removed. This error conquered, we
can despoil "the strong man" of his goods, - namely, of
sin and disease.

Eradicate error from thought

400:9 Mortals obtain the harmony of health, only as they
forsake discord, acknowledge the supremacy of divine
Mind, and abandon their material beliefs.
400:12 Eradicate the image of disease from the per-
turbed thought before it has taken tangible
shape in conscious thought, /alias/ the body, and you pre-
400:15 vent the development of disease. This task becomes easy,
if you understand that every disease is an error, and has
no character nor type, except what mortal mind assigns to
400:18 it. By lifting thought above error, or disease, and con-
tending persistently for truth, you destroy error.

Mortal mind controlled

When we remove disease by addressing the disturbed
400:21 mind, giving no heed to the body, we prove that thought
alone creates the suffering. Mortal mind
rules all that is mortal. We see in the body
400:24 the images of this mind, even as in optics we see painted
on the retina the image which becomes visible to the
senses. The action of so-called mortal mind must be
400:27 destroyed by the divine Mind to bring out the harmony
of being. Without divine control there is discord, mani-
fest as sin, sickness, and death.

Mortal mind not a healer

400:30 The Scriptures plainly declare the baneful influence of
sinful thought on the body. Even our Master felt this.
It is recorded that in certain localities he did not many
401:1 mighty works "because of their unbelief" in Truth. Any
human error is its own enemy, and works against itself;
401:3 it does nothing in the right direction and much
in the wrong. If so-called mind is cherishing
evil passions and malicious purposes, it is not a healer,
401:6 but it engenders disease and death.

Effect of opposites

If faith in the truth of being, which you impart men-
tally while destroying error, causes chemicalization (as
401:9 when an alkali is destroying an acid), it is be-
cause the truth of being must transform the
error to the end of producing a higher manifestation.
401:12 This fermentation should not aggravate the disease, but
should be as painless to man as to a fluid, since matter
has no sensation and mortal mind only feels and sees
401:15 materially.

What I term /chemicalization/ is the upheaval produced
when immortal Truth is destroying erroneous mortal be-
401:18 lief. Mental chemicalization brings sin and sickness to
the surface, forcing impurities to pass away, as is the case
with a fermenting fluid.

Medicine and brain

401:21 The only effect produced by medicine is dependent upon
mental action. If the mind were parted from the body,
could you produce any effect upon the brain
401:24 or body by applying the drug to either? Would
the drug remove paralysis, affect organization, or restore
will and action to cerebrum and cerebellum?

Skilful surgery

401:27 Until the advancing age admits the efficacy and suprem-
acy of Mind, it is better for Christian Scientists to leave
surgery and the adjustment of broken bones
401:30 and dislocations to the fingers of a surgeon,
while the mental healer confines himself chiefly to mental
reconstruction and to the prevention of inflammation.
402:1 Christian Science is always the most skilful surgeon, but
surgery is the branch of its healing which will be last
402:3 acknowledged. However, it is but just to say that the
author has already in her possession well-authenticated
records of the cure, by herself and her students through
402:6 mental surgery alone, of broken bones, dislocated joints,
and spinal vertebrae.

Indestructible life of man

The time approaches when mortal mind will forsake
402:9 its corporeal, structural, and material basis, when im-
mortal Mind and its formations will be appre-
hended in Science, and material beliefs will
402:12 not interfere with spiritual facts. Man is indestructible
and eternal. Sometime it will be learned that mortal
mind constructs the mortal body with this mind's own
402:15 mortal materials. In Science, no breakage nor dislocation
can really occur. You say that accidents, injuries, and
disease kill man, but this is not true. The life of man is
402:18 Mind. The material body manifests only what mortal
mind believes, whether it be a broken bone, disease, or sin.

The evil of mesmerism

We say that one human mind can influence another and
402:21 in this way affect the body, but we rarely remember that
we govern our own bodies. The error, mes-
merism - or hypnotism, to use the recent term
402:24 - illustrates the fact just stated. The operator would
make his subjects believe that they cannot act voluntarily
and handle themselves as they should do. If they yield
402:27 to this influence, it is because their belief is not better
instructed by spiritual understanding. Hence the proof
that hypnotism is not scientific; Science cannot produce
402:30 both disorder and order. The involuntary pleasure or
pain of the person under hypnotic control is proved to be
a belief without a real cause.

Wrong-doer should suffer

403:1 So the sick through their beliefs have induced their own
diseased conditions. The great difference between vol-
403:3 untary and involuntary mesmerism is that vol-
untary mesmerism is induced consciously and
should and does cause the perpetrator to suffer, while self-
403:6 mesmerism is induced unconsciously and by his mistake
a man is often instructed. In the first instance it is under-
stood that the difficulty is a mental illusion, while in the
403:9 second it is believed that the misfortune is a material effect.
The human mind is employed to remove the illusion in
one case, but matter is appealed to in the other. In real-
403:12 ity, both have their origin in the human mind, and can be
healed only by the divine Mind.

Error's power imaginary

You command the situation if you understand that
403:15 mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the
truth of being. Mortal mind is constantly
producing on mortal body the results of false
403:18 opinions; and it will continue to do so, until mortal
error is deprived of its imaginary powers by Truth,
which sweeps away the gossamer web of mortal illusion.
403:21 The most Christian state is one of rectitude and spir-
itual understanding, and this is best adapted for heal-
ing the sick. Never conjure up some new discovery from
403:24 dark forebodings regarding disease and then acquaint
your patient with it.

Disease-production

The mortal so-called mind produces all that is unlike
403:27 the immortal Mind. The human mind determines the
nature of a case, and the practitioner improves
or injures the case in proportion to the truth
403:30 or error which influences his conclusions. The mental
conception and development of disease are not under-
stood by the patient, but the physician should be familiar
404:1 with mental action and its effect in order to judge the case
according to Christian Science.

Appetites to be abandoned

404:3 If a man is an inebriate, a slave to tobacco, or the special
servant of any one of the myriad forms of sin, meet and
destroy these errors with the truth of being, -
404:6 by exhibiting to the wrong-doer the suffering
which his submission to such habits brings, and by con-
vincing him that there is no real pleasure in false appe-
404:9 tites. A corrupt mind is manifested in a corrupt body.
Lust, malice, and all sorts of evil are diseased beliefs, and
you can destroy them only by destroying the wicked
404:12 motives which produce them. If the evil is over in the
repentant mortal mind, while its effects still remain on the
individual, you can remove this disorder as God's law is
404:15 fulfilled and reformation cancels the crime. The healthy
sinner is the hardened sinner.

Temperance reform

The temperance reform, felt all over our land, results
404:18 from metaphysical healing, which cuts down every tree
that brings not forth good fruit. This con-
viction, that there is no real pleasure in sin,
404:21 is one of the most important points in the theology of
Christian Science. Arouse the sinner to this new and
true view of sin, show him that sin confers no pleasure,
404:24 and this knowledge strengthens his moral courage and
increases his ability to master evil and to love good.

Sin or fear the root of sickness

Healing the sick and reforming the sinner are one and
404:27 the same thing in Christian Science. Both cures require
the same method and are inseparable in Truth.
Hatred, envy, dishonesty, fear, and so forth,
404:30 make a man sick, and neither material medi-
cine nor Mind can help him permanently, even in body,
unless it makes him better mentally, and so delivers him
405:1 from his destroyers. The basic error is mortal mind.
Hatred inflames the brutal propensities. The indulgence
405:3 of evil motives and aims makes any man, who is above the
lowest type of manhood, a hopeless sufferer.

Mental conspirators