A friend told me about a man texting her mobile phone that she didn’t want to hear from. She put a block on her phone to prevent his texts from getting through, and that was the end of any communication from him.
I loved the lesson, because it could be applied to our state of thought.
If we are hearing messages from the mental ether that we don’t want to hear, we can put a mental block in place to keep them out.
We do it all the time in different ways.
For instance, if I’m exposed to an advertisement that suggests I drink alcohol, I don’t hear it. I have a mental block in place that says, “I absolutely have no desire, interest or inclination to drink alcohol.” So, no matter how many advertisements I see that advocate drinking, or people around me tell me I should drink, I essentially don’t see or hear them. I have absolutely no interest or inclination to do what they want me to do, and I don’t.
The same rule can apply to disease. Suggestions that we should or could contract a disease come at us from all directions. But if we stay clear that we have no interest, inclination or vulnerabilities to contract them, that will contribute immensely to protecting our health.
Keeping it out of thought keeps it out of body.
Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Sin and disease must be thought before they can be manifested. You must control evil thoughts in the first instance, or they will control you in the second. …Evil thoughts and aims reach no farther and do no more harm than one’s belief permits” Science and Health, p. 234.
It takes persistence with truth and enlightened thought to defend oneself from the aggressive suggestions of disease that would bombard us. But the effort to keep thought clean is worth the reward! And one way to secure safety is to have a strong mental block in place that refuses admission to any suggestion of disease.
We are divinely designed to stay healthy. That’s the way God made us and preserves us, and that’s the truth we want to enjoy every day.
This is such a good message Evan. I am quite good at blocking emails I don’t want but not as alert to blocking thoughts I don’t want! Mrs Eddy tells us to “Stand porter at the door of thought” and it’s so important to be alert to blocking out the subtle sneaky suggestions of disease etc and not letting them take a hold on our lives. Starting now I am determined to be more alert and do more ‘blocking’. Thank you again for this timely reminder.
“We are divinely designed to stay healthy. That’s the way God made us and preserves us” What a lovely truth shared…Great… It’s so comforting Evan. Our Father Mother, God designed us to stay healthy and who can stay His hands? Only if we put a big MENTAL BLOCK as soon as suggestions of disease try to hit us, we will be totally safe. As Evan says, if we don’t allow aggressive suggestions of disease to touch our consciousness, then these suggestions can not touch our body…
If we even entertain such thoughts of disease, then they make home in our consciousness. Secondly if we keep pampering these thoughts and are not firm in driving them out of our consciousness, then like some uninvited guests, they will stick around for a long long time. Such a situation needs to be avoided… That’s exactly why Mrs. Eddy asks us to “Watch and PRAY”. She cautions us to be VIGILANT… To stand Porter at the Door of thought and keep a strong guard against subtle suggestions of disease. “When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought” Surely this requires an alert thought which is aligned to Truth and in constant touch with God, good. This calls for discipline and persistence. But then this has its reward…We will be totally free from any disease …”This understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality and silence discord with harmony.”
Yes.
The greatest block of all is, well, the infinite ALL.
“All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation. . .”– MBE
The vast, infinite glory, harmony and perfection of creation known by Mind [our only Mind] here now.
That leaves what we’re blocking [and any sense of a mind holding it or tempted by it] in the category of NOTHING: substance-less nowhere-ness, never-ness, no one-ness, never can or will be-ness, never known, seen, heard, or felt-ness..
When I was a child I loved to lay on my back on the grass and look up into the blue sky. It went up forever, and I knew it was filled with God’s love. I’d imagine myself floating up and up and up, feeling God’s limitless love. Then at night, before sleeping, I turned each thought that troubled me into a cloud and then put a patch of forever blue sky over it, till there was nothing left in my consciousness but the clear blue sky of Love’s infinite all, and I went to sleep in complete peace.
That is lovely Diane! Thanks for sharing that. I will try it. A great way to turn things over to God!
I always loved looking at both the day, and particularly the night sky like that – seeing the infinitude of God. At night I can see so many stars, going on forever – and God goes on forever past even the farthest star!
I like that. I will share with my grandkids. thanks
The trouble I have always had with that quote is that it’s easy for one to read into it and place blame. By that I mean, if sickness originated in thought, wasn’t it my thoughts that have caused me to be sick? Does that mean that I am at fault, a sinner, etc. etc.? And then there is the question off when someone has contacted a particular disease that they may have never even heard of before. How can it be said that ones thoughts caused something to manifest when they were never thinking about it to begin with? I’d be curious to hear your response to these questions.
Hi Gordon, I had similar thoughts about blaming myself, which is one reason I left Christian Science years ago. But that’s mortal mind, those exact false messages Evan speaks of blocking. God created us in God’s image and likeness, which is spiritual and perfect. Understanding this identity brings healing in thought, which results in healing of body.
As far as problems one doesn’t know are out there, the general atmosphere of thought can affect us, if we aren’t vigilant about our awareness as God’s perfect, beloved, and protected children – even if we are unaware of the claim of specific issues.
That’s why we are told to “stand porter.”
Hi Gordon,
I like to think of the quote as very empowering. It awakes us to our spiritual potential to keep out disease and prevent it. It’s like my tennis coach telling me to “stay on my toes,” so I can get to the ball better. If I miss the ball because I’m “not on my toes,” I use the rule, “stay on your toes,” to remind me how to do better next time and be successful. I do not find it productive to get caught up into blame and guilt. That’s a mortal mind twist trying to take a good thing and turn it into an evil one.
When someone experiences a disease that they never thought of, that doesn’t mean they are at fault. It’s just another opportunity to exercise the rule to disagree with that disease and kick it back out of thought. Popular opinion would want to put all kinds of diseases upon the unsuspecting thought, but we can defend ourselves from those suggestions, and put them back off again when they seem to get shoved onto us from unseen places.
Christian Science healing is never about looking for blame. It’s about looking for healing and understanding spiritual rules we can practice to experience more healing. God never condemns us. God loves us.
Helpful Post, Evan. Thank you, as always. You are a fine spiritual warrior, and good role model.
And, Diane, I appreciate your sharing how you do “protective work.” Yes, our best work is in knowing, trusting, understanding, accepting the fact of the allness of divine Mind, of infinite Good. This must be our starting (and staying) point in our prayerful work. I find it too easy to slip into the belief that I am thrashing about in the mental ether and soup of mortal mind’s machinations and suggestions (ad infinitum), even tho I realize it is pointless to wrestle with mortal-mind-illusions. Some would call this spiritual knowing “La La Land,” insinuating that students of Christian Science, in refusing to accept evil as a reality, are simply burying their heads in the sand, refusing to look/see/feel evil. Sorry, insinuators: my logic tells me that to worship infinite God, Good, requires one to NOT worship evil! We can’t do both, huh.
Peace, fellow travelers,
S
What a misconception for someone
to think we are in LaLa Land.
It might help you to read what
Edward Kimball suggest in
This regard..
Peace
Gordon: there can be no growth without a demonstration of faith and no demonstration without an opportunity to be challenged. Each situation with which we are challenged then is the opportunity to express our faith in Spiritual understanding. That Spiritual understanding begins and ends with Love, a divine selfless love that is compassion, forgiveness, empathy, patience which when demonstrated becomes virtue, the realization of wholeness, atonement to the idea of eternal life.
Are you Josef Eller, CS?
Love your insights!
Sue
No. I don’t know Josef Eller.
I had be concerned about negative thoughts concerning the possibility of cancer. After your answering my concerns, the negative thoughts were lifted and I have not experienced those concerns because it was an instant healing. It all occurred in less than a minute. Thank you for taking the time to immediately dress my concerns and thought which I no longer have.
That’s so wonderful Bill! Thanks for sharing that with us.
In conversations I’ve had with my wife about Christian Science, she has expressed the same idea as Gordon mentioned…re: Christian Scientists “blame” other people for having problems because C.S. teaches those people had to think bad thoughts to have problems. When she said that to me, that was a real wake up call that I wasn’t explaining C.S. properly.
After thinking about her comment, it occurred to me to explain it to her this way… A good 1st grade teacher wouldn’t “blame” their students for not being able to add/subtract. The teacher would view their student as being “uninformed” about math and would therefore work to teach their students how to add/subtract. The teacher would know the principle of addition/subtraction is available to their students right now and that nothing can stop the student from using that principle to add/subtract.
Similarly, I don’t think Christian Scientists “blame” anybody for having problems. When we have problems it is because we are “uninformed” (or ignorant…but that word sometimes has negative connotations) about God and His idea. So a good Christian Scientist would want to lovingly help someone with a problem to better understand God and His idea and to realize the solution to the problem exists right now and is available right now. The solution (truth) just needs to be realized in thought to be experienced and a good Christian Scientist loves the truth and wants to share it lovingly with whomever expresses a desire to know the truth.
If we seem to be experiencing a problem we’ve never heard of before, that’s just a signal that we need to learn more about God. Perhaps we aren’t completely clear on the subject of “chance” and need to understand that as reflections of God we aren’t subject to accidents or unknown illnesses…that God knows everything about us and maintains the ideas we reflect harmoniously.
Dear Diane and Ellen, I so appreciate your comments. As a teenager, I used to lie on my back on the sand looking up at the infinite number of stars and contemplate how immense God’s universe was and therefore how unlimited his Love must be.
As for blocking, I wore out the mute button on my remote blocking out all of the medically related commercials. However, I learned to be alert as to any comments I might make if someone was there with me as well as my thoughts. I couldn’t understand how anyone, after listening to all of the negative side effects, would take a particular drug rather than just avoiding what claimed to be the cause of the difficulty. As an example, if a drug for indigestion can cause seizures, heart attacks, etc., why not just stop eating the food causing the problem. Then I realized one time in thinking about this that my son-in-law took medication prior to eating to prevent heart burn. I loved him dearly and certainly didn’t want to offend him in any way whatsoever. So I learned to keep my thoughts to myself and not to be critical of anyone accepting or believing in the power of drugs.
There seems to be, in terms of disease, a new kid on the block all the time. These new kids are all the same, suggesting we are material and therefore subject to all that materiality has to offer-pain, fear, suffering, and death. Our televisions are bombarded with the new fear and the many drugs, with horrible side effects, to combat it or prevent it. I do get a little fearful when I see the disease that is currently being suggested to me. But we do not heal sick bodies, we focus on the truth. I see this challenge as a perfect fit for me to go higher. We have a right to choose our healthcare. Focusing on the truth of our being is for everyday, not just when a scary suggestion comes a-callin’.
Thank you! This blog post comes at the perfect time for me! Such a clear, simple and direct action we can take to oppose anything unlike God, good.
Evan and all – thank you, thank you.
Thank you all! Isn’t it encouraging to find that we stand as one in combating these attempts to make matter real to us? I’m so grateful for the mightiness of this army of thinkers!