Sometimes I’ve heard students of Christian Science say something like, “I know I’m not supposed to seek physical healing in my prayers.” Or, “I know I’m not trying to change matter.”
The metaphysical sentiment is correct in the above affirmations, but it’s also important to be clear that when one is praying for relief from a physical ailment, one does expect that ailment to disappear and to be replaced with health and harmony in mind and body. When Jesus commanded, “Rise and walk,” he had a very strong expectation that the lame man would get up on his feet and walk. And the man did.
Our goal in a Christian Science prayer is to see the spiritual man of God’s creating that is prolific in health, harmony, order, and wellness. As thought is inspired through prayer with spiritual truth it lets go of material error, or whatever in belief is propping up the physical suffering, and the picture of disease is replaced with a picture of health.
A key to success in making the transition from belief in suffering to knowing and experiencing health, is to see clearly that there is only one man—God’s spiritual man. There are not two versions of God’s man—a suffering mortal and a healthy immortal. There is only one man—the perfect man of Spirit.
The wording, “I’m not supposed to seek physical healing,” stems from the belief that one is physical and suffering from a physical ailment. In that mind-state, a physical problem feels real and looks real. And the way out is to see one’s spiritual individuality more distinctly. In a Spirit-consciousness, what appeared real physically disappears, and spiritual reality takes over.
So, it’s correct, that our primary goal is not to change matter. Material sense is a low-state of mortal thought that is still groveling around in the belief that man is made of dust and at the mercy of it. Our goal is to see spiritual man and to see ourselves reflecting its reality. But it’s still okay to expect physical healing. We do expect our condition to improve when seeking spiritual help. But it’s important to remember that any improvement is all effect, never cause.
Seek the Cause of all good health, and the proper effect will be yours.
Thank you Evan!!!
For a number of years now I’ve been searching for a “process” for prayer. In other words, a step-by-step set of instructions that I could use as a guide when praying for myself and others. For the past few weeks I’ve been challenged by a number of difficulties that required me to read Science and Health with renewed focus. It occurred to me that on page 495 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy does give us a step-by-step prayer process to use. Since you touch on many of these steps, I thought I’d share this step-by-step process in case it is helpful to others. P.S. Using this step-by-step process, I’ve been able to gain freedom from all of the health challenges I’ve faced recently.
1) When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you,
– The first step is to realize the challenge we are facing is not real. It’s only an illusion, or false belief. If we start out thinking we have to change something bad into something good, we’re starting from the wrong standpoint. As you point out…”There are not two versions of God’s man—a suffering mortal and a healthy immortal. There is only one man—the perfect man of Spirit.”
2) cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought.
– Here is where we affirm, through prayer, what is true about God and God’s man/woman (i.e. us!). And we need to do this “steadfastly”, not in a wishy washy way.
3) Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious—as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not.
– It’s important to also affirm that Christian Science IS effective in destroying whatever is contrary to God and His idea. This is the system Jesus used for healing. We are bombarded by the belief that we have to resort to material or medical systems for healing. So I think Mrs. Eddy is telling us here to challenge those beliefs and realize, as part of our prayer process, that Christian Science “can destroy” anything “which Life is not”. Again, anything that “Life is not” is only an illusion…God’s creation is already there where that illusion seems to exist.
4) Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence discord with harmony.
– Prayer is a lot like putting yeast in bread dough. Sometimes the benefits of prayer are not immediately recognized by the physical senses. So the final step of the prayer process is to remember to view what we have just prayed about through spiritual sense and hold to what spiritual sense is telling us instead of what the corporeal senses may still be reporting. As we faithfully continue to view the situation through spiritual sense, the corporeal sense view will change to also recognize harmony where previously there appeared to be discord.
I think it’s important that we not skip any of these steps when giving prayerful treatment! They are all equally necessary and important to follow every time we pray for healing.
THank you Brian . In step #2 could you elaborate on how and what you affirm. I’m going to copy your steps. It is so helpful to read this post.
Hi Patty, What we “affirm” is the “truth” about whatever illusion we are being tempted to believe.
In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy often uses the illustration of hypnotism to describe someone that is experiencing sickness or some other discord (see S&H page 402:20-403:20). Our State Fair the last few years has had a hypnotist show and my wife wanted to go so I went along. The hypnotist in this show started repeating certain phrases over and over to the people being hypnotized until they believed what he was saying (his suggestions) were their own thoughts and therefore they acted out his suggestions for the audience. For example, he made them feel cold when it was actually warm. He made them smell bad smells where no bad smells existed, etc.
If experiencing discord is like being in a hypnotic state, how do we break out of that state? We certainly don’t do it by continuing to think of the discord as real, ruminating over it, telling ourselves we are justified in experiencing the discord because it has a real cause, etc., etc. That would be like those hypnotized people believing the bad smell was real or the bad smell had a cause. ..that would only reinforce the illusion, wouldn’t it?
Therefore the first step to break out of the illusion is to realize the illusion is not real. That was the first step I talked about (and the topic of Evan’s June 9, 2016 awesome blog!). That is often called the “denial” step in Christian Science treatment. You realize the discord cannot be real, is not true, because discord does not come from God and God, good, is all powerful, ever present, etc. But you can deny 2+2=5 all day long and it won’t help you balance your checkbook. So the next step is to figure out what is true and to affirm what is true (i.e. affirm 2+2 is actually 4, not 5).
One of the health issues I was under the illusion of experiencing was what I assume would be called a severely pinched nerve in my back that caused my right arm to lose strength and was also very painful. It occurred to me that the false belief I needed to deal with in this case is the belief that something could be out of place (i.e. in order for something to get pinched, it must have gotten somewhere it wasn’t supposed to be). What’s the counter fact to being out of place? The counter fact is that in God’s universe (idea), everything is always in its right place. And why is everything in God’s universe in its right place? Because God is Love and therefore a) Love creates everything in its right place and b) Love establishes laws that keep everything in its right place (i.e. God is Principle). So as part of my step 2, I kept affirming how God always keeps everything in harmony by keeping everything in its rightful place. There are many many ways you can think about that topic and I enjoyed exploring various ways to think about that until I felt I completely understood the truth about everything being in its right place. I then went on to do the same thing concerning the belief of pain until I understood the counter fact to that illusion.
I hope that helps! Sometimes other issues unrelated to the one we are focused on will come to light and we have to go through the same process to address that other issue (e.g. if we’re angry toward someone that may manifest itself in what appears as some physical disorder and we have to deal with the belief in anger and affirm the counter fact to that illusion). But if you quietly and humbly listen, you will be guided to what you need to affirm in any situation. Also, like when you were in school, sometimes it takes a few sessions of doing this before you completely understand the truth about some subject, or as you do this, other errors will be uncovered and you need to deal with those illusions too. So don’t be reluctant to do the denial and affirmation steps as many times as needed! If you keep at it, you will break the illusion and the truth of God and His glorious creation will be revealed to you right where you previously thought there was discord and that is a truly wonderful experience!
Thank you Evan. Your message is spot on for me today.
Thank you Brian. I love Mrs Eddy’s quote that you worked your way through.I shall do that too.
I am most grateful for each and every post here. Thank you Evan and Thanks to Brian.
I have always cherished page 495 and have often thought that it is right up there with
the Scientific Statement of Being….ALWAYS HELPFUL/HEALING! I love the way Brian
expanded on it and breaks it down for us as a treatment! Thank you again and again!
Evan, thanks for this pertinent Spiritview today and for your article in the CS Monitor’s “Choice to Love” today. I printed today’s Spirtview to I can relish it through the day, including Brian’s notes on praying which are a great addition, thanks Brian. Brian, this is a great underpinning for a Sentinel testimony 🙂
Once again today’s post is so helpful and healing, Evan, thank you! Thanks, too, to Brian for the clear and helpful insights on praying with S&H 495:14. I’m also appreciative for the adaption of your SENTINEL article in the MONITOR’S CS Perspective today, Evan, as well as for all your other posts, articles, webinar/lectures and healing work for Church, blessing all. So ever grateful!
Thanks Evan and Brian. So very helpful. I just want to add that I have used as a guide to treatment pages 410 – 412 in Science and Health. These are the beginning of the section “Mental Treatment Illustrated” in the chapter “Christian Science Practice”. I’ve sometimes thought it’s like a recipe that can be followed.
Thank you Evan and also everyone’s inspiring posts!! I love the sentence in Science and Health on page 262 by Mary Baker Eddy: “To begin rightly is to end rightly.” Enjoy
Thank you all for your inspiring comments! Especially you Evan. I so appreciate your clarity and your love of CS!
Thank you, Evan, for a Great Topic and to All for wonderful, expansive Comments on the Topic. My question is: Why do Christian Scientists want to choose spiritual/mental healing over traditional medical/hands on healing? What is so important and significant about not going the medical route? Do you get to Heaven faster and score more points with God if you only resort to spiritual/mental healing? Is it bad to go to Doctors and/or have something be corrected medically if it can be?
Hi Bevi…I think your question is a little like asking “Why didn’t the British just lay down and let Hitler take over their country? Why was it so important to fight against Hitler’s despotic rule?” See S&H, page 252:15 through 253:14.
It occurred to me this week that the belief in matter is a little like some people’s experience with heroin or cocaine or alcohol. At first they think using those substances is fun, but eventually the drug starts to own them and ruins their lives.
Christian Scientists understand God to be Spirit. Therefore, God’s creation has to be spiritual. God’s creation is healthy, harmonious, loving, etc. Anything idea that opposes those truths (i.e. believing ourselves to be material and therefore needing to manipulate matter for healing) takes us away from God’s truth. So in a sense, yes, by seeing ourselves as spiritual we do experience heaven (harmony) more consistently.
Great questions. Perhaps its helpful to understand that heaven is not a place people die into. It’s a state of Mind that the human mind must rise into. So, the prayer of a Christian Scientist is always focused on spiritualization of thought, striving for heavenly consciousness, for in that state of thought the fears, false beliefs and ignorances that cause physical suffering start to disappear. Healing of mind and body occur.
Now if a student takes a medical step because of circumstances, then so be it. It is not going to stop their ability to continue progressing spiritually and growing closer to Spirit in thought and experience. But whatever the troubling issue was in thought still needs to be dealt with one way or the other.
There is no “scoring of points” with God. God already loves each of us 100%. Healing is about the human mind moving closer to God and finding Truth to be true. As the human mind drops it’s errors of belief, healing happens.
There is nothing “bad” about going to doctors. That’s a choice people make. To my sense of things, there should be no judgment one way or the other. Everyone is working out their salvation to the best of their understanding. We don’t need to judge each other. We shouldn’t! Just love! That’s Jesus’ way and the Christian Science way.
Thanks for all your input!
Just what I needed this morning. Thanks so much, Evan, and Brian for both of your comments: replying to Evan and to Bevi. I especially am grateful for your elucidation of the quote from Science and Health, page 495:14. That is a statement I have used frequently and will now copy your expanded viewpoint.
Thanks Evan & Brian I will try to embrace and prove these truths. I could read this post repeatedly and I will.
A great reminder that Jesus understood how easily we can forget the Law of Growth when feeling plagued by inverting the Law of Cause and Effect in our lives. From the “wonder child” of the Old Testament to the mustard seed in the New Testament – and all about us – is clear revelation of our desire and ability to grow into maturity of actually real-izing there is always the inner and outer – be it the spiritual mode of expression or a physical symbol. My faith is my trust in the power of God’s thoughts.
how perfect. thank you
Thank you Evan and Brian and others for your very helpful comments.
Bevi asked if it is wrong to rely on medical treatment. Mrs. Eddy is clear that each should be free to work out their own salvation by their own choosing. However, medical theory is mortal not spiritual. It is not science but much theory and guessing. I come from a family of medical people. We lost a much loved sister due to medical misdiagnosis. In the past I have personally experienced a long list of guesswork, I don’t knows, over medicating, attempts to get me into unneeded surgeries, which if I had consented would have left me blind and lame or worse. A profession which has a specific term which means death by medical error.
Mrs. Eddy, in Science and Health quotes several well known doctors of her time who acknowledged the many short comings of their profession.
The Monitor, not long ago carried an extensive news article about the pharmaceutical industry falsifying information to the food and drug administration about drugs which were proving more toxic than allowed and ruining people’s lives. When asked, by the Monitor about this they replied “that’s just the cost of doing business”.
Thanks to the Father and Mrs. Eddy for giving us an alternative to the distructions of medical theory. One which also heals moral infirmaries.
Great gratitude for divine Love’s ever presence and all harmonious being.
Comments Brian and Evans format are really wonderful.
These daily blogs and the additions by members help establish the completeness.
Brian, thank you for descriptive input.
Thank you to All who responded to my Question: Why do Christian Scientists think it is important to rely solely on Spiritual means for physical healing? I must admit, I was playing the Devil’s advocate a bit……but I do think it is valid to look at this question. If someone has been praying long and hard for healing of a physical problem (3 years) and has discovered after a doctor visit that all it would take is a quick surgery to remove something that would benefit the lifestyle….why should a person just keep on “suffering through” when something could be done thru surgery to correct it? I really think that would be an intelligent decision and certainly Mrs. Eddy, Jesus and God wouldn’t promote suffering for the sake of merely adhering to the theology of a religion…….????
A student of Christian Science is free to make any healthcare choice they desire! They are certainly free to take a medical step if they want. And they are free to keep praying and working their issues out spiritually the best they know, if they choose.
Sometimes people think “they know best,” and others should do as they do, but I know from experience that often what people think I should do, is not the best thing to do because they don’t understand all my circumstances. So, I do my best to not judge my neighbor, but to love them and support them and know that they can hear God’s direction and act intelligently and wisely to their own best interest.
Christian Science is simply not about whether one goes to a doctor or not. That’s a misunderstanding of Christian Science. Christian Science is all about growing spiritually, listening to God’s direction, and folloiwng through according to one’s best understanding at the moment.
Thank You, Evan! Most Helpful! Much Love, Bevi
I need to forgive those who work for the medical profession for they do it only as to their understanding of physical healing. So far I don’t because I don’t how to.
Hi Tobias! Instead of forgiving them for only knowing how to work within the Medical Model…..maybe you could just Love them and express Gratitude to them for All the Good they are doing in helping You and So Many Others! Just another way of looking at it……Sending You Love and Blessings!