It’s a question worth asking, “Is my thought being influenced by common belief or by spiritual truth?”
In explaining, Mary Baker Eddy wrote,
“If a dose of poison is swallowed through mistake, and the patient dies even though physician and patient are expecting favorable results, does human belief, you ask, cause this death? Even so, and as directly as if the poison had been intentionally taken.
In such cases a few persons believe the potion swallowed by the patient to be harmless, but the vast majority of mankind, though they know nothing of this particular case and this special person, believe the arsenic, the strychnine, or whatever the drug used, to be poisonous, for it is set down as a poison by mortal mind”
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 177.
Many people have proven, including myself, that when exposed to poison, the bad material effect of the poison can be negated when thought is aligned with spiritual Truth. However, as Eddy points out, if thought is governed by fear, or the common belief of the general population about that poison, the effect of exposure could be lethal.
The “poisons” of mortal mind take many different forms. One form is arsenic and its chemical relatives. Other forms are health fears like, “Cancer is a threat. Your heart may fail. Your parents died young from disease,” and so on. These beliefs, taken into thought and not eradicated with spiritual truth, are mental doses of poison that popular belief would insert into individual consciousness and lead the unsuspecting over a health-cliff.
It is wise to challenge all popular health-fears and to negate them with spiritual truth to prevent them from appearing in one’s experience.
We don’t have to float along with current belief and accept into our lives that which is not healthy for us to live out. We are never helpless. We can defeat the errors of the human mind with Truth, and stay healthy.
Be influenced by Truth alone, and refuse to serve popular belief!
Thank you Evan for these wonderfully clear ideas which you share each day. They are so inspiring and practical.
Wow … this is a such a topical subject right now. Toxic news, Facebook shares, health beliefs, all parading before thought as scary things we need to be frightened of, based on the belief that “Man” can be defined materially and be subject to beliefs included in this “mist”-taken perception of Man. Thank good Christian Science shows us how to make the separation and remember we’ve never been born into that dream. We can joyfully “continue” demonstrating the Kingdom of Heaven right here and now. Thank you Evan for being “on the button”. 🙂
Material medicine promotes much advertising towards their efforts to combat this disease many times without consideration for the mental impact of their promotion in community thought. Thank you, Evan, for reminding us that Truth is our real substantive support and not the common material idea. Each of us has a more spiritual connection to life which is tributary to the harmonious Mind of eternal being.
Beautiful, Evan, thank you!
“The poisons of mortal mind may take different forms.” Like health fears…have never thought of it that way before. A mental poison we “take in.” Thank you for that take on the subject. This is thought provoking.
Evan had a wonderful healing after having his face suddenly struck by agricultural poison, while he was alone. I was just listening to him tell it last night on a compilation of Sentinel Radio programs. I have just looked for the original program on JSH on-line, but was not able to find it. Perhaps someone else knows which one. I do not know if copyright restrictions would apply to posting it here. I can say that I found two very helpful programs with contributions from Evan. On Sentinel Radio program #509 “Prayer: Powerful, effective” he tells of healing a severe illness at night. On program #704 “Unwavering reliance on God” he tells of the healing of a lump on his forehead. I don’t know how to post these here, but they are on JSH on-line.
Here it is Curran. Thanks for mentioning it.
Thanks so much!
I hope you don’t mind Evan but I posted the link to your article Healed following Chemical Explosion which contained your wonderful healing that you referenced this morning. It is well worth reading for those who haven’t seen it yet and for those of us who have as well. Thank you for your message today and everyday.
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/5xr799uxy8?s=e
Oh sure, that’s fine! Thank you.
Thank you for the accurate analogy, Evan We all continue growing, spiritually
Evan, thank you so much for that wonderful reminder, that we don’t need to take in the “poisons” of mortal mind (and its “health-laws”, however they are presented. I too recall your wonderful healing following the chemical explosion–what inspiration for us all!
Gratefully,
Karen
This goes along with Page 155 in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Thank you, Evan, for this and all the inspirations you share regularly! 🙂
I’ve enjoyed this discussion. Thanks for the link to Evan”s healing. Often we are combatting world belief. It is so strong we often just succom to it rather than search and know the Truth about it and thus defeat it! Thanks for the reminders for handling this aggressive form of error!
Hi Patty, Curran and Karen Neff, I can also ad something to your question where you can find Evan`s healing with the chemical pump . Evan tells about his healing in his wonderful lecture “The healing Power of God” which he held 2014 in the Christian Science Church in Pasco. I posted it on facebook, and I myself just watched this lecture, it is so wonderful and lively and inspiring, given by Evan with joy – thank you Evan!
You can also find it, clicking below on “Evan`s talks” and then put in above “surch” the title here mentioned and you can listen to that lecture. I did it also like that.
Thank you Evan for today`s thought provoking but very important SpiritView.
I was not so kind to a member of my church the other days. But today after testimony meeting, when I drove her home, I practised to love her, talked to her friendly and we were good to each other again. And our reader this evening had the theme “Reconciliation”, how suitable. To be unkind or even angry at somebody is also a kind of mental poison. I am so grateful for the healing and comforting religion of Christian Science; oh this is more than a religion, it is the healing Christ. Evan also explains so powerfully what the Christ is in the above mentioned lecture – so wonderful!
How interesting all your today`s comments, thanks to you all for it! 🙂
Oh just thinking again about above topic and the so importent question ,,is my thought being influenced by common belief or by spiritual truth ” needs to be pondered. Through prayer and listening we find the answer. Scientifically understood is there only one influence in reality – the spiritually divine influence. This great Truth is very comforting, and am so grateful to God for the previlege that I may learn that all!
Thank you for this wake up call to keep our focus on our spiritual identity as His/Her child. I can see how important it is to be alert to actively denying the “clutter” and gossip of mortal mind and material sense which are suggested in so many ways. Keeping a clear view of how God knows us–pure & perfect–“He knows our name.” as the Bible reminds us ! Knowing we have the authority to maintain this truth about ourselves and others, free of suggestions and mortal history is a blessing. Christ Jesus certainly had this perspective and Truth in his every action. That is our right also! The last line of your article wraps up this idea so well: Be influenced by Truth alone, and refuse to serve popular belief!
Thank you for this wonderful post!
Thank you for bringing such awareness of this topic and for the reminder to being alert by challenging all the various “poisons” of mortal mind that can often and (sometimes even aggressively) attempt to enter consciousness. Grateful that eradicating these mortal beliefs immediately protects us from harm when hearing complaints from others and also eliminates any fear regarding the health of ourselves and others. Never helpless – love that! Knowing and listening to God gives us the strength to live fearlessly and safely as we defeat these erroneous beliefs that seem to come our way! What a great way to begin a new year – by making certain we are alert to all the “poisons” (erroneous thoughts) and to knock them out with what we know about the truth of God’s perfect man.
As always, a wonderful post Evan. As Janed said, “What a great way to begin a new year – by making certain we are alert to all the “poisons” (erroneous thoughts) and to knock them out with what we know about the truth of God’s perfect man.”