Suffering Healed Through Christian Science
No circumstance can produce suffering except through a belief of the human mind. This is something Christian Science reveals. "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy, explains that in Christianly Scientific healing, the influence of the human mind has to be removed from the body; thought needs to be filled instead with a spiritual understanding of God.
This change in thought results in healing. Prayer, the desire to know God, moves the basis of thought from the material to the spiritual - from the influence of false belief to that of understanding God, the divine Mind, and Mind's spiritual ideas.
In one place, Science and Health describes how a man was made to believe the bed he was in had been occupied by a patient who'd died of cholera. Immediately he began to have the symptoms of this disease, and died. But he didn't catch cholera by physical contact; a cholera patient had never been in that bed (see Pg. 154). In another place, the book refers to how a man who thought incorrectly that he was bleeding to death died because of that belief. In fact, what he thought was blood was just warm water trickling over his arm (see Pg. 379).
The point of relating these experiences is to illustrate that belief produces effects, sometimes with disturbing results. On the other hand, spiritual understanding is beyond mere belief, and always promotes good. If a person believes that the weather, food, genetics, and so forth cause suffering, then the outcome may equate with what he or she believes. But realizing that God is the only power improves the quality of one's thinking and improves the quality of daily life. It heals.
Mrs. Eddy, who discovered the Science of Christ, wrote that "the starting-point of divine Science is that God, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that there is no other might nor Mind, - that God is Love, and therefore He is divine Principle" (Pg. 275). Truly, we have no separate mind apart from God, the divine Mind. The fears and false beliefs of the human mind have no ultimate existence, but are found to exist only in a supposed place outside of our relation to God
The basis of Christian healing is that real being is actually spiritual and perfect now. The creator's work is spiritual, complete, and wholly good. Our relationship to God is permanent, unbreakable; this is our divine birthright.
Prayer involves acknowledgment of our relation to the divine Mind and denial of whatever false beliefs, held in the human mind, are causing difficulty. It brings thought into harmony with what is true spiritually - with the way things really are. It is listening to God, to the ideas He imparts. A healing message may come through prayer, a feeling of well-being, or a conviction that the divine presence is in control. This is the Christ, the divine influence, changing thought. Healing is the result.
One night, I woke with nausea and stomach pains. I had eaten fish for supper, and I now believed it might have been contaminated. I prayed and listened. The word sanctuary came to mind. I knew from studying Christian Science that it was possible to find safety in "the sanctuary of Spirit," in spiritual consciousness (see Science and Health, Pg. 15). A sanctuary can be a refuge. Yes, and I could find it right where I was, in affirming my spirituality and my relation to my creator, the divine Mind. I wanted to feel the comfort and safety of this divine presence, knowing it would heal.
I denied the belief that I was mere flesh, blood, bones - mortal; I shut out the belief that contaminated food could harm the real, spiritual me. I reasoned that there is no sickness in the sanctuary of Spirit. I could be conscious only of Spirit, divine Principle, Love, which give peace and harmony.
Then, like a burst of light in the darkness, I realized that there was really no "outside" to the omnipresence of God. It was impossible to get outside the sanctuary of Spirit, because Spirit is everywhere, filling all space. The symptoms of illness receded, and I was healed within a very short time.
