Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

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

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To the Christian Science healer, sickness is a dream
417:21 from which the patient needs to be awakened. Dis-
ease should not appear real to the physician,
since it is demonstrable that the way to
417:24 cure the patient is to make disease unreal to him. To
do this, the physician must understand the unreality
of disease in Science.

417:27 Explain audibly to your patients, as soon as they can
bear it, the complete control which Mind holds over the
body. Show them how mortal mind seems to induce
417:30 disease by certain fears and false conclusions, and how
divine Mind can cure by opposite thoughts. Give your
patients an underlying understanding to support them
418:1 and to shield them from the baneful effects of their own
conclusions. Show them that the conquest over sickness,
418:3 as well as over sin, depends on mentally destroying all
belief in material pleasure or pain.

Christian pleading

Stick to the truth of being in contradistinction to the
418:6 error that life, substance, or intelligence can be in matter.
Plead with an honest conviction of truth and
a clear perception of the unchanging, unerr-
418:9 ing, and certain effect of divine Science. Then, if your
fidelity is half equal to the truth of your plea, you will
heal the sick.

Truthful arguments

418:12 It must be clear to you that sickness is no more
the reality of being than is sin. This mortal dream
of sickness, sin, and death should cease
418:15 through Christian Science. Then one dis-
ease would be as readily destroyed as another. What-
ever the belief is, if arguments are used to destroy it,
418:18 the belief must be repudiated, and the negation must ex-
tend to the supposed disease and to whatever decides its
type and symptoms. Truth is affirmative, and confers
418:21 harmony. All metaphysical logic is inspired by this sim-
ple rule of Truth, which governs all reality. By the
truthful arguments you employ, and especially by the
418:24 spirit of Truth and Love which you entertain, you will
heal the sick.

Morality required

Include moral as well as physical belief in your efforts
418:27 to destroy error. Cast out all manner of evil. "Preach
the gospel to every creature." Speak the
truth to every form of error. Tumors, ulcers,
418:30 tubercles, inflammation, pain, deformed joints, are wak-
ing dream-shadows, dark images of mortal thought, which
flee before the light of Truth.

419:1 A moral question may hinder the recovery of the sick.
Lurking error, lust, envy, revenge, malice, or hate will
419:3 perpetuate or even create the belief in disease. Errors
of all sorts tend in this direction. Your true course is
to destroy the foe, and leave the field to God, Life, Truth,
419:6 and Love, remembering that God and His ideas alone
are real and harmonious.

Relapse unnecessary

If your patient from any cause suffers a relapse, meet
419:9 the cause mentally and courageously, knowing that
there can be no reaction in Truth. Neither
disease itself, sin, nor fear has the power to
419:12 cause disease or a relapse. Disease has no intelligence
with which to move itself about or to change itself from
one form to another. If disease moves, mind, not mat-
419:15 ter, moves it; therefore be sure that you move it off.
Meet every adverse circumstance as its master. Ob-
serve mind instead of body, lest aught unfit for develop-
419:18 ment enter thought. Think less of material conditions
and more of spiritual.

Conquer beliefs and fears

Mind produces all action. If the action proceeds from
419:21 Truth, from immortal Mind, there is harmony; but mor-
tal mind is liable to any phase of belief. A
relapse cannot in reality occur in mortals or
419:24 so-called mortal minds, for there is but one
Mind, one God. Never fear the mental malpractitioner,
the mental assassin, who, in attempting to rule mankind,
419:27 tramples upon the divine Principle of metaphysics, for God
is the only power. To succeed in healing, you must con-
quer your own fears as well as those of your patients, and
419:30 rise into higher and holier consciousness.

True government of man

If it is found necessary to treat against relapse, know
that disease or its symptoms cannot change forms, nor
420:1 go from one part to another, for Truth destroys disease.
There is no metastasis, no stoppage of harmonious
420:3 action, no paralysis. Truth not error, Love
not hate, Spirit not matter, governs man. If
students do not readily heal themselves, they should
420:6 early call an experienced Christian Scientist to aid
them. If they are unwilling to do this for themselves,
they need only to know that error cannot produce this
420:9 unnatural reluctance.

Positive reassurance

Instruct the sick that they are not helpless victims,
for if they will only accept Truth, they can resist disease
420:12 and ward it off, as positively as they can the
temptation to sin. This fact of Christian Sci-
ence should be explained to invalids when they are in a
420:15 fit mood to receive it, - when they will not array them-
selves against it, but are ready to become receptive to the
new idea. The fact that Truth overcomes both disease
420:18 and sin reassures depressed hope. It imparts a healthy
stimulus to the body, and regulates the system. It in-
creases or diminishes the action, as the case may require,
420:21 better than any drug, alterative, or tonic.

Proper stimulus

Mind is the natural stimulus of the body, but erro-
neous belief, taken at its best, is not promotive of health
420:24 or happiness. Tell the sick that they can
meet disease fearlessly, if they only realize
that divine Love gives them all power over every physical
420:27 action and condition.

Awaken the patient

If it becomes necessary to startle mortal mind to break
its dream of suffering, vehemently tell your patient that
420:30 he must awake. Turn his gaze from the false
evidence of the senses to the harmonious facts
of Soul and immortal being. Tell him that he suffers
421:1 only as the insane suffer, from false beliefs. The only
difference is, that insanity implies belief in a diseased
421:3 brain, while physical ailments (so-called) arise from the
belief that other portions of the body are deranged. De-
rangement, or /disarrangement/, is a word which conveys
421:6 the true definition of all human belief in ill-health, or dis-
turbed harmony. Should you thus startle mortal mind
in order to remove its beliefs, afterwards make known
421:9 to the patient your motive for this shock, showing him
that it was to facilitate recovery.

How to treat a crisis

If a crisis occurs in your treatment, you must treat
421:12 the patient less for the disease and more for the mental
disturbance or fermentation, and subdue the
symptoms by removing the belief that this
421:15 chemicalization produces pain or disease. Insist vehe-
mently on the great fact which covers the whole ground,
that God, Spirit, is all, and that there is none beside
421:18 Him. There is /no disease/. When the supposed suffer-
ing is gone from mortal mind, there can be no pain; and
when the fear is destroyed, the inflammation will sub-
421:21 side. Calm the excitement sometimes induced by chemi-
calization, which is the alterative effect produced by
Truth upon error, and sometimes explain the symptoms
421:24 and their cause to the patient.

No perversion of Mind-science

It is no more Christianly scientific to see disease than
it is to experience it. If you would destroy the sense
421:27 of disease, you should not build it up by
wishing to see the forms it assumes or by
employing a single material application for
421:30 its relief. The perversion of Mind-science is like as-
serting that the products of eight multiplied by five, and
of seven by ten, are both forty, and that their combined
422:1 sum is fifty, and then calling the process mathematics.
Wiser than his persecutors, Jesus said: "If I by Beelze-
422:3 bub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them
out?"

Effect of this book

If the reader of this book observes a great stir through-
422:6 out his whole system, and certain moral and physical
symptoms seem aggravated, these indications
are favorable. Continue to read, and the book
422:9 will become the physician, allaying the tremor which
Truth often brings to error when destroying it.

Disease neutralized

Patients, unfamiliar with the cause of this commotion
422:12 and ignorant that it is a favorable omen, may be alarmed.
If such be the case, explain to them the law
of this action. As when an acid and alkali
422:15 meet and bring out a third quality, so mental and moral
chemistry changes the material base of thought, giving
more spirituality to consciousness and causing it to depend
422:18 less on material evidence. These changes which go on
in mortal mind serve to reconstruct the body. Thus
Christian Science, by the alchemy of Spirit, destroys sin
422:21 and death.

Bone-healing by surgery

Let us suppose two parallel cases of bone-disease, both
similarly produced and attended by the same symptoms.
422:24 A surgeon is employed in one case, and a
Christian Scientist in the other. The sur-
geon, holding that matter forms its own conditions and
422:27 renders them fatal at certain points, entertains fears and
doubts as to the ultimate outcome of the injury. Not
holding the reins of government in his own hands, he
422:30 believes that something stronger than Mind - namely,
matter - governs the case. His treatment is therefore
tentative. This mental state invites defeat. The belief
423:1 that he has met his master in matter and may not be
able to mend the bone, increases his fear; yet this belief
423:3 should not be communicated to the patient, either ver-
bally or otherwise, for this fear greatly diminishes the
tendency towards a favorable result. Remember that the
423:6 unexpressed belief oftentimes affects a sensitive patient
more strongly than the expressed thought.

Scientific corrective

The Christian Scientist, understanding scientifically
423:9 that all is Mind, commences with mental causation, the
truth of being, to destroy the error. This cor-
rective is an alterative, reaching to every part
423:12 of the human system. According to Scripture, it searches
"the joints and marrow," and it restores the harmony of
man.

Coping with difficulties

423:15 The matter-physician deals with matter as both his foe
and his remedy. He regards the ailment as weakened or
strengthened according to the evidence which
423:18 matter presents. The metaphysician, making
Mind his basis of operation irrespective of matter and
regarding the truth and harmony of being as superior to
423:21 error and discord, has rendered himself strong, instead
of weak, to cope with the case; and he proportionately
strengthens his patient with the stimulus of courage and
423:24 conscious power. Both Science and consciousness are
now at work in the economy of being according to the law
of Mind, which ultimately asserts its absolute supremacy.

Formation from thought

423:27 Ossification or any abnormal condition or derange-
ment of the body is as directly the action of mortal
mind as is dementia or insanity. Bones have
423:30 only the substance of thought which forms
them. They are only phenomena of the mind of mor-
tals. The so-called substance of bone is formed first
424:1 by the parent's mind, through self-division. Soon the
child becomes a separate, individualized mortal mind,
424:3 which takes possession of itself and its own thoughts of
bones.

Accidents unknown to God

Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind,
424:6 and we must leave the mortal basis of belief
and unite with the one Mind, in order to
change the notion of chance to the proper sense
424:9 of God's unerring direction and thus bring out harmony.

Opposing mentality

Under divine Providence there can be no accidents,
since there is no room for imperfection in perfection.

424:12 In medical practice objections would be raised if one
doctor should administer a drug to counteract the work-
ing of a remedy prescribed by another doctor.
424:15 It is equally important in metaphysical prac-
tice that the /minds /which surround your patient should
not act against your influence by continually expressing
424:18 such opinions as may alarm or discourage, - either by
giving antagonistic advice or through unspoken thoughts
resting on your patient. While it is certain that the
424:21 divine Mind can remove any obstacle, still you need the
ear of your auditor. It is not more difficult to make your-
self heard mentally while others are thinking about your
424:24 patients or conversing with them, if you understand
Christian Science - the oneness and the allness of divine
Love; but it is well to be alone with God and the sick
424:27 when treating disease.

Mind removes scrofula

To prevent or to cure scrofula and other so-called he-
reditary diseases, you must destroy the belief in these ills
424:30 and the faith in the possibility of their trans-
mission. The patient may tell you that he
has a humor in the blood, a scrofulous diathesis. His
425:1 parents or some of his progenitors farther back have so
believed. Mortal mind, not matter, induces this con-
425:3 clusion and its results. You will have humors, just so
long as you believe them to be safety-valves or to be
ineradicable.

Nothing to consume

425:6 If the case to be mentally treated is consumption, take
up the leading points included (according to belief) in
this disease. Show that it is not inherited;
425:9 that inflammation, tubercles, hemorrhage, and
decomposition are beliefs, images of mortal thought su-
perimposed upon the body; that they are not the truth
425:12 of man; that they should be treated as error and put out
of thought. Then these ills will disappear.

The lungs re-formed

If the body is diseased, this is but one of the beliefs of
425:15 mortal mind. Mortal man will be less mortal, when he
learns that matter never sustained existence
and can never destroy God, who is man's Life.
425:18 When this is understood, mankind will be more spiritual
and know that there is nothing to consume, since Spirit,
God, is All-in-all. What if the belief is consumption?
425:21 God is more to a man than his belief, and the less we ac-
knowledge matter or its laws, the more immortality we
possess. Consciousness constructs a better body when
425:24 faith in matter has been conquered. Correct material
belief by spiritual understanding, and Spirit will form
you anew. You will never fear again except to offend
425:27 God, and you will never believe that heart or any por-
tion of the body can destroy you.

Soundness maintained

If you have sound and capacious lungs and want
425:30 them to remain so, be always ready with the
mental protest against the opposite belief in
heredity. Discard all notions about lungs, tubercles, in-
426:1 herited consumption, or disease arising from any cir-
cumstance, and you will find that mortal mind, when
426:3 instructed by Truth, yields to divine power, which steers
the body into health.

Our footsteps heavenward

The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less
426:6 difficult when she has the high goal always before her
thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps
in endeavoring to reach it. When the desti-
426:9 nation is desirable, expectation speeds our progress. The
struggle for Truth makes one strong instead of weak,
resting instead of wearying one. If the belief in death
426:12 were obliterated, and the understanding obtained that
there is no death, this would be a "tree of life," known
by its fruits. Man should renew his energies and en-
426:15 deavors, and see the folly of hypocrisy, while also learn-
ing the necessity of working out his own salvation. When
it is learned that disease cannot destroy life, and that
426:18 mortals are not saved from sin or sickness by death, this
understanding will quicken into newness of life. It will
master either a desire to die or a dread of the grave,
426:21 and thus destroy the great fear that besets mortal
existence.

Christian standard

The relinquishment of all faith in death and also of
426:24 the fear of its sting would raise the standard of health
and morals far beyond its present elevation,
and would enable us to hold the banner of
426:27 Christianity aloft with unflinching faith in God, in Life
eternal. Sin brought death, and death will disappear
with the disappearance of sin. Man is immortal, and
426:30 the body cannot die, because matter has no life to sur-
render. The human concepts named matter, death, dis-
ease, sickness, and sin are all that can be destroyed.

Life not contingent on matter

427:1 If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change
in Science to the opposite belief that man dies. Life is
427:3 the law of Soul, even the law of the spirit of
Truth, and Soul is never without its represent-
ative. Man's individual being can no more
427:6 die nor disappear in unconsciousness than can Soul, for
both are immortal. If man believes in death now, he
must disbelieve in it when learning that there is no reality
427:9 in death, since the truth of being is deathless. The be-
lief that existence is contingent on matter must be met
and mastered by Science, before Life can be understood
427:12 and harmony obtained.

Mortality vanquished

Death is but another phase of the dream that exist-
ence can be material. Nothing can interfere with the
427:15 harmony of being nor end the existence of
man in Science. Man is the same after as
before a bone is broken or the body guillotined. If man
427:18 is never to overcome death, why do the Scriptures say,
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death"? The
tenor of the Word shows that we shall obtain the victory
427:21 over death in proportion as we overcome sin. The great
difficulty lies in ignorance of what God is. God, Life,
Truth, and Love make man undying. Immortal Mind,
427:24 governing all, must be acknowledged as supreme in the
physical realm, so-called, as well as in the spiritual.

No death nor inaction

Called to the bed of death, what material remedy has
427:27 man when all such remedies have failed? Spirit is his
last resort, but it should have been his first
and only resort. The dream of death must
427:30 be mastered by Mind here or hereafter. Thought
will waken from its own material declaration, "I am
dead," to catch this trumpet-word of Truth, "There
428:1 is no death, no inaction, diseased action, overaction, nor
reaction."

Vision opening

428:3 Life is real, and death is the illusion. A demonstra-
tion of the facts of Soul in Jesus' way resolves the dark
visions of material sense into harmony and
428:6 immortality. Man's privilege at this supreme
moment is to prove the words of our Master: "If a man
keep my saying, he shall never see death." To divest
428:9 thought of false trusts and material evidences in order
that the spiritual facts of being may appear, - this is
the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep
428:12 away the false and give place to the true. Thus we may
establish in truth the temple, or body, "whose builder
and maker is God."

Intelligent consecration

428:15 We should consecrate existence, not "to the unknown
God" whom we "ignorantly worship," but to the eternal
builder, the everlasting Father, to the Life
428:18 which mortal sense cannot impair nor mortal
belief destroy. We must realize the ability of mental
might to offset human misconceptions and to replace them
428:21 with the life which is spiritual, not material.

The present immortality

The great spiritual fact must be brought out that man
/is/, not /shall be/, perfect and immortal. We must hold
428:24 forever the consciousness of existence, and
sooner or later, through Christ and Christian
Science, we must master sin and death. The evidence
428:27 of man's immortality will become more apparent, as ma-
terial beliefs are given up and the immortal facts of being
are admitted.

Careful guidance

428:30 The author has healed hopeless organic disease, and
raised the dying to life and health through the under-
standing of God as the only Life. It is a sin to believe
429:1 that aught can overpower omnipotent and eternal Life,
and this Life must be brought to light by the understand-
429:3 ing that there is no death, as well as by other
graces of Spirit. We must begin, however,
with the more simple demonstrations of control, and
429:6 the sooner we begin the better. The final demonstration
takes time for its accomplishment. When walking, we
are guided by the eye. We look before our feet, and if
429:9 we are wise, we look beyond a single step in the line of
spiritual advancement.

Clay replying to the potter

The corpse, deserted by thought, is cold and decays,
429:12 but it never suffers. Science declares that man is sub-
ject to Mind. Mortal mind affirms that mind
is subordinate to the body, that the body is
429:15 dying, that it must be buried and decomposed
into dust; but mortal mind's affirmation is not true.
Mortals waken from the dream of death with bodies un-
429:18 seen by those who think that they bury the body.

Continuity of existence

If man did not exist before the material organization
began, he could not exist after the body is disintegrated.
429:21 If we live after death and are immortal, we
must have lived before birth, for if Life ever
had any beginning, it must also have an ending, even ac-
429:24 cording to the calculations of natural science. Do you
believe this? No! Do you understand it? No! This
is why you doubt the statement and do not demonstrate
429:27 the facts it involves. We must have faith in all the say-
ings of our Master, though they are not included in the
teachings of the schools, and are not understood gener-
429:30 ally by our ethical instructors.

Life all-inclusive