Beyond positive thinking

Before studying Christian Science I had been wondering whether positive thinking was effective. I was inclined to worry a lot and felt that this was probably not doing my health or other aspects of my life any favor. So I made a concentrated effort to stop worrying. I even bought a book on the subject and did my best to follow its advice. Result? Worry that I couldn't stop worrying!

After loohkng into Christian Science I realised what the trouble had been. I'd been relying on human will to set me free from negative thinking. But having only a human will or human mind to work with was the problem, and there's no permanent answer from within the framework of a problem itself.

Unswerving strength, invariable inspiration, and the joyous ability to end suffering come only from God, divine Mind.

There are some encouraging aspects of the human mind, but under the stress of circumstances any negatives therein -and there are always some, aren't there?--are apt to outweigh the positives. Sooner or later even the best human abilities and intentions are just not enough to handle serious situations.

The human mind's faith in good may be better than its faith in evil, but it is not, in itself, always strong enough or good enough to remedy a difficult circumstance. To say "Peace, peace; when there is no peace" can be dishonest and occasionally disastrous. Jeremiah told his people that this kind of thinking heals only superficially. n1

n1See Jeremiah 6:14

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Chistian Science, realized that some thought she was advocating the use of a good human mind--an approach now popularly known as positive thinking--to overcome sickness and other discords. It became necessary for her to write in the Christian Science textbook , referring to then current books on mental healing, "They regard the human mind as a healing agent, whereas this mind is not a factor in the Principle of Christian Science." n2 She makes clear that real happiness is only possible when the human mind yields to the divine. Elsewhere in this book she writes, "The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind." n3

n2Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. x

n3ibid., p. 162

As this "change of base" occurs, better things start happening. But they are due to more than positive thinking. They happen because the harmony of the divine Mind is becoming increasingly real to us, more of a present possibility.

Christ Jesus was the best man the world has ever known and might have been called a very positive thinker. Yet when someone addressed him as "Good Master," he countered, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." n4

n4Matthews 19:16, 17

Jesus knew that his undeviating love and ability to heal came straight from God, divine Mind. So he never allowed himself to come down to that mental level where positive and negative elements fight for ascendancy. He knew that it was God, not positive thinking, that heals. He said, "The Father that dwelleth in me , he doeth the works." n5

n5John 14:10

I'm still tempted at times to indulge negative inclinations such as worry; but when I am, I turn to Mind for inspiration, and finally I arrive at a point where I'm free. In the final analysis, healing requires that belief in a personal mind or intelligence apart from God yield entisely to the recognition that the only real Mind is God. Sometimes turning to this Mind for help demands hard work; but the demand can be met because the love and fortitude to do it are divinely, not humanly, derived. As we move willingly beyond a material base to a divine one, to God's sense of existence, we find that "with God all things are possible." n6

n6Mark 10:27

No, the human mind is not a factor in Chistian Scjence healing. But if we, like Jesus, can be meek enough to accept the fact that "there is none good but one, that is, God," we can increasingly awake to divine harmony, which is always at hand.

See Jeremiah 6:14; Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. x; ibid., p. 162; Matthew 19:16, 17; John 14:10 Mark 10:27.

OAILY BIBLE VERSE Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.