Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📖

like.

 

Like curing like

 

Homoeopathy furnishes the evidence to the senses, that

symptoms, which might be produced by a certain drug, 370:12 are removed by using the same drug which

might cause the symptoms. This confirms

my theory that faith in the drug is the sole factor in the 370:15 cure. The effect, which mortal mind produces through

one belief, it removes through an opposite belief, but it

uses the same medicine in both cases. 370:18 The moral and spiritual facts of health, whispered

into thought, produce very direct and marked effects on

the body. A physical diagnosis of disease - since mor-370:21 tal mind must be the cause of disease - tends to induce

disease.

 

Transient potency of drugs

 

According to both medical testimony and individual 370:24 experience, a drug may eventually lose its supposed power

and do no more for the patient. Hygienic

treatment also loses its efficacy. Quackery 370:27 likewise fails at length to inspire the credulity

of the sick, and then they cease to improve. These lessons are useful. They should naturally and genuinely 370:30 change our basis from sensation to Christian Science,

from error to Truth, from matter to Spirit.

 

Diagnosis of matter

 

Physicians examine the pulse, tongue, lungs, to dis-371:1 cover the condition of matter, when in fact all is

Mind. The body is the substratum of mortal mind, 371:3 and this so-called mind must finally yield

to the mandate of immortal Mind.

 

Ghost-stories inducing fear

 

Disquisitions on disease have a mental effect similar 371:6 to that produced on children by telling ghost-stories in

the dark. By those uninstructed in Christian

Science, nothing is really understood of material 371:9 existence. Mortals are believed to be here without their

consent and to be removed as involuntarily, not knowing

why nor when. As frightened children look everywhere 371:12 for the imaginary ghost, so sick humanity sees danger in

every direction, and looks for relief in all ways except the

right one. Darkness induces fear. The adult, in bond-371:15 age to his beliefs, no more comprehends his real being

than does the child; and the adult must be taken out of

his darkness, before he can get rid of the illusive suffer-371:18 ings which throng the gloaming. The way in divine

Science is the only way out of this condition.

 

Mind imparts purity, health, and beauty

 

I would not transform the infant at once into a 371:21 man, nor would I keep the suckling a lifelong babe.

No impossible thing do I ask when urging

the claims of Christian Science; but because 371:24 this teaching is in advance of the age, we

should not deny our need of its spiritual unfoldment.

Mankind will improve through Science and Christi-371:27 anity. The necessity for uplifting the race is father to

the fact that Mind can do it; for Mind can impart

purity instead of impurity, strength instead of weak-371:30 ness, and health instead of disease. Truth is an alterative in the entire system, and can make it “every whit

whole.”

 

Brain not intelligent

372:1 Remember, brain is not mind. Matter cannot be sick,

and Mind is immortal. The mortal body is only an erro-372:3 neous mortal belief of mind in matter. What

you call matter was originally error in solution, elementary mortal mind, - likened by Milton to 372:6 “chaos and old night.” One theory about this mortal

mind is, that its sensations can reproduce man, can form

blood, flesh, and bones. The Science of being, in which 372:9 all is divine Mind, or God and His idea, would be clearer

in this age, but for the belief that matter is the medium

of man, or that man can enter his own embodied thought, 372:12 bind himself with his own beliefs, and then call his bonds

material and name them divine law.

 

Veritable success

 

When man demonstrates Christian Science absolutely, 372:15 he will be perfect. He can neither sin, suffer, be subject

to matter, nor disobey the law of God. Therefore he will be as the angels in heaven. Chris-372:18 tian Science and Christianity are one. How, then, in

Christianity any more than in Christian Science, can we

believe in the reality and power of both Truth and error, 372:21 Spirit and matter, and hope to succeed with contraries?

Matter is not self-sustaining. Its false supports fail one

after another. Matter succeeds for a period only by 372:24 falsely parading in the vestments of law.

 

Recognition of benefits

 

“Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also

deny before my Father which is in heaven.” In Chris-372:27 tian Science, a denial of Truth is fatal, while

a just acknowledgment of Truth and of what

it has done for us is an effectual help. If pride, super-372:30 stition, or any error prevents the honest recognition of

benefits received, this will be a hindrance to the recovery

of the sick and the success of the student.

 

Disease far more docile than iniquity

373:1 If we are Christians on all moral questions, but are in

darkness as to the physical exemption which Christian-373:3 ity includes, then we must have more faith

in God on this subject and be more alive to

His promises. It is easier to cure the most 373:6 malignant disease than it is to cure sin. The author has

raised up the dying, partly because they were willing to

be restored, while she has struggled long, and perhaps in 373:9 vain, to lift a student out of a chronic sin. Under all

modes of pathological treatment, the sick recover more

rapidly from disease than does the sinner from his sin. 373:12 Healing is easier than teaching, if the teaching is faithfully

done.

 

Love frees from fear

 

The fear of disease and the love of sin are the sources 373:15 of man’s enslavement. “The fear of the Lord

is the beginning of wisdom,” but the Scriptures

also declare, through the exalted thought of John, that 373:18 “perfect Love casteth out fear.”

 

The fear occasioned by ignorance can be cured; but

to remove the effects of fear produced by sin, you must 373:21 rise above both fear and sin. Disease is expressed not

so much by the lips as in the functions of the body. Establish the scientific sense of health, and you relieve the 373:24 oppressed organ. The inflammation, decomposition, or

deposit will abate, and the disabled organ will resume its

healthy functions.

 

Mind circulates blood

373:27 When the blood rushes madly through the veins or

languidly creeps along its frozen channels, we call these

conditions disease. This is a misconception. 373:30 Mortal mind is producing the propulsion or the

languor, and we prove this to be so when by mental means

the circulation is changed, and returns to that standard 374:1 which mortal mind has decided upon as essential for

health. Anodynes, counter-irritants, and depletion never 374:3 reduce inflammation scientifically, but the truth of being,

whispered into the ear of mortal mind, will bring relief.

 

Mind can destroy all ills

 

Hatred and its effects on the body are removed by 374:6 Love. Because mortal mind seems to be conscious, the

sick say: “How can my mind cause a disease

I never thought of and knew nothing about, 374:9 until it appeared on my body?” The author has answered this question in her explanation of disease as originating in human belief before it is consciously apparent 374:12 on the body, which is in fact the objective state of mortal

mind, though it is called matter. This mortal blindness

and its sharp consequences show our need of divine meta-374:15 physics. Through immortal Mind, or Truth, we can

destroy all ills which proceed from mortal mind.

 

Ignorance of the cause or approach of disease is no 374:18 argument against the mental origin of disease. You confess to ignorance of the future and incapacity to preserve

your own existence, and this belief helps rather than 374:21 hinders disease. Such a state of mind induces sickness.

It is like walking in darkness on the edge of a precipice.

You cannot forget the belief of danger, and your steps 374:24 are less firm because of your fear, and ignorance of mental

cause and effect.

 

Temperature is mental

 

Heat and cold are products of mortal mind. The body, 374:27 when bereft of mortal mind, at first cools, and afterwards it is resolved into its primitive mortal

elements. Nothing that lives ever dies, and 374:30 vice versa. Mortal mind produces animal heat, and then

expels it through the abandonment of a belief, or increases it to the point of self-destruction. Hence it is 375:1 mortal mind, not matter, which says, “I die.” Heat

would pass from the body as painlessly as gas dissipates 375:3 into the air when it evaporates but for the belief that inflammation and pain must accompany the separation of

heat from the body.

 

Science versus hypnotism

375:6 Chills and heat are often the form in which fever manifests itself. Change the mental state, and the chills and

fever disappear. The old-school physician 375:9 proves this when his patient says, ” I am better,”

but the patient believes that matter, not mind,

has helped him. The Christian Scientist demonstrates 375:12 that divine Mind heals, while the hypnotist dispossesses

the patient of his individuality in order to control him.

No person is benefited by yielding his mentality to any 375:15 mental despotism or malpractice. All unscientific mental

practice is erroneous and powerless, and should be understood and so rendered fruitless. The genuine Christian 375:18 Scientist is adding to his patient’s mental and moral power,

and is increasing his patient’s spirituality while restoring

him physically through divine Love.

 

Cure for palsy

375:21 Palsy is a belief that matter governs mortals, and can

paralyze the body, making certain portions of

it motionless. Destroy the belief, show mortal 375:24 mind that muscles have no power to be lost, for Mind is

supreme, and you cure the palsy.

 

Latent fear diagnosed

 

Consumptive patients always show great hopeful-375:27 ness and courage, even when they are supposed to be in

hopeless danger. This state of mind seems

anomalous except to the expert in Christian 375:30 Science. This mental state is not understood, simply

because it is a stage of fear so excessive that it amounts

to fortitude. The belief in consumption presents to mor-376:1 tal thought a hopeless state, an image more terrifying than

that of most other diseases. The patient turns involun-376:3 tarily from the contemplation of it, but though unacknowledged, the latent fear and the despair of recovery remain

in thought.

 

Insidious concepts

376:6 Just so is it with the greatest sin. It is the most subtle,

and does its work almost self-deceived. The diseases

deemed dangerous sometimes come from the 376:9 most hidden, undefined, and insidious beliefs.

The pallid invalid, whom you declare to be wasting away

with consumption of the blood, should be told that blood 376:12 never gave life and can never take it away, - that Life is

Spirit, and that there is more life and immortality in one

good motive and act, than in all the blood which ever 376:15 flowed through mortal veins and simulated a corporeal

sense of life.

 

Remedy for fever

 

If the body is material, it cannot, for that very reason, 376:18 suffer with a fever. Because the so-called material body

is a mental concept and governed by mortal

mind, it manifests only what that so-called 376:21 mind expresses. Therefore the efficient remedy is to

destroy the patient’s false belief by both silently and audibly arguing the true facts in regard to harmonious 376:24 being, - representing man as healthy instead of diseased,

and showing that it is impossible for matter to suffer, to

feel pain or heat, to be thirsty or sick. Destroy fear, 376:27 and you end fever. Some people, mistaught as to