Christian Science Reveals Man’s Power to Think Rightly
Lela May Aultman, C.S.B., of
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Are you free to think as you wish
to think? Is anything trying to interfere with your ability to think clearly?
These questions loom large on the world's horizon today.
We have seen efforts to
mass-mesmerize whole nations by repetition of set phrases intended to force
the people's thoughts into certain grooves, and to override their ability to
reason or think things through logically for themselves.
The Discoverer and Founder of
Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, understood God to be divine Love. She knew
that Love, or God, completely controls His own creation. Although efforts to
manipulate men's thinking have become more obvious in recent years, Mrs. Eddy
many years ago foresaw our need of defense against this form of mesmerism, and
we have strong assurance of our freedom from its imposition, in her words
(Pulpit and Press, p. 3), "Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to
think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and
trespass on Love." Her words further imply that if we maintain this
position, nothing and no one can cause us to sin or suffer.
Mental Freedom Challenged
This freedom is being ruthlessly challenged.
Let us value and defend our God-given ability to think rightly.
Traveling in many countries in
recent years, I have heard everywhere the same alarm expressed, that a system
is being developed which might eventually rob us of our freedom to think. A
well-known news commentator in our country, speaking on the radio concerning
the years ahead of us, said, "It will be an uneasy age for an atheist."
But only for an atheist. An editorial in The
Christian Science Monitor stated that "Now, as in other times when
materialistic tyranny has brandished what tyrants suppose are terrifying
weapons, free men are turning to spiritual resources." He who understands
the omnipotence of God, as Christian Science teaches it, the irresistible
power, wisdom and love with which He governs His own creation, faces each day
with expectation of good, and with a sense of security based on quiet trust in
God's care.
What does Christian Science reveal
of God's nature which encourages this confidence? We have spoken of God as
divine Love, ever present, comforting, guiding, preserving His creation.
Christian Science also teaches that God is Principle, governing the universe
through wise and just spiritual law. God is infinite good; and in man's experience,
the effect of such a cause can only be good.
God is both Life and Spirit, which
means that Life has no element of materiality and is therefore indestructible.
Man's spiritual selfhood and immortality are the reflection of God, or Life,
therefore man, too, is indestructible.
Evil, denying God's wise
government of His creation, claims that it can control men's thoughts and lives.
Mrs. Eddy warns that "The crimes committed under this new regime of mind-power,
when brought to light, will make stout hearts quail." She says, "Its
mystery protects it now, for it is not yet known" (Mis. p. 222).
Some of the mystery has cleared,
and many fine thinkers are beginning to be aware of the methods of mental
manipulation. The experience of our captive soldiers with what is called
"brainwashing" aroused many people who had previously been asleep to
this evil. In recent years a number of thoughtful books have been written on
this subject in various countries, but most of them only point out the evil,
knowing no solution to recommend for it. However, even their bringing it out
from under the cover of secrecy is a step in progress.
A well-known British author
(Charles Morgan in "Liberties of the Mind") writes, "The problem
of the liberties of the mind . . . is today as urgent and practical as the problem of the emancipation of
slaves was in the past . . . it is important that we should observe the nature
of the enemy and recognize that our minds, their integrity, lucidity and
freedom, are the object of attack."
As long ago as 1875 Mrs. Eddy
wrote the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to
the Scriptures," which explains to all who read it understandingly, how by
knowing they are influenced only by divine Mind, they can defend themselves
from any system which would try to interfere with their freedom to think
clearly. Enlightened spiritual defense is
the only effective safeguard.
Current Phases of Mental Domination
Those who do not yet understand
God as the creative and governing one Mind, controlling His own universe, are
trying various material ways of changing and molding human thought, in a
mistaken effort to benefit mankind.
Sales psychology has for many
years attempted through suggestion to influence potential customers to buy, and
the method was considered a success even if it persuaded the victim to buy
things he did not need. More recently what is called subliminal advertising has
presumed to control the thought of whole audiences through suggestions
insinuated into television programs. The inventors of this system believe they
can thus force people to buy whatever product is presented to them. These are
phases of interferences with our freedom to think intelligently.
The ability to think is a great
talent each of us has received from his creator. It is our obligation to use
this power rightly, to benefit ourselves and our world. Let us never through
voluntary consent or through neglect, yield this right to another's mental
despotism, even if it claims that it can benefit us.
Some years ago exhibitions of
hypnotism were given as vaudeville entertainment, and it was then well known
that the subject who yielded his mental freedom to despotic control by
another's human will grew increasingly incapable of resisting this mesmerism,
and gradually lost all self-government.
Then you can see that one who
yields his mental independence to the control of another's will would be less
able thereafter to resist the mental attack of those who wished to
"brain-wash" him or to use any other phase of mental manipulation to
harm him or cripple his usefulness. We should never be willing to yield to
anyone's despotic mental control for any reason.
Evil is not power. It is an
illusion that a force opposite to good can exist and operate, when God who is
infinite good is All-in-all and has no opposite. The power of God's wisdom and
love is the only power.
Jesus' Proof of Mental Freedom
The great characters who have
contributed to men's progress, spiritually, scientifically, artistically – have
been the thinkers who were free from being influenced by the narrow limits of
dogmatic viewpoints and static tradition. They were not content to just think
other people's thoughts and follow an established pattern.
Jesus, as a child, must have been
brought up in the customary tradition of the ritualistic religion of his
people, but this did not determine his theology – nor limit his spiritual inspiration.
He had but one theology – the truth God knows of His own being and of His
spiritual and perfect creation.
Those around him might be slaves
to dogma and ritual – not he. They were slaves to
Christian Science differentiates
between the words "Christ" and "Jesus." Science and Health
in explaining this difference tells us (p. 473), "Christ is the ideal
Truth, that comes to heal sickness and sin through Christian Science, and
attributes all power to God. Jesus is the name of the man who, more than all
other men, has presented Christ, the true idea of God, healing the sick and
the sinning and destroying the power of death. Jesus is the human man, and
Christ is the divine idea."
The Fatherhood and Motherhood of God
Jesus taught and lived his
understanding of the fatherhood of God. He knew man to be the son of God and
realized that it was his own conscious oneness with the Father which gave him
power to heal and teach. Jesus knew that our divine Father unfailingly supports
and sustains His creation, and expresses in it His own goodness and wisdom.
It is Christian Science which has
revealed God as Mother, or divine Love. Humanity yearns for the mothering of
God. The feeling of insecurity and fear of the future, an anxious attitude of
"anything may happen," is replaced by a consciousness of safety when
we know man is protected and guided by divine Mother-Love. Conflicting
ambitions and goals of nations or of individuals can only be resolved into
harmonious cooperation by the understanding that we have all one parentage,
and that divine Love's fatherhood and motherhood are reflected in man's
enlightened love for his brother.
Extremes of materialism expressed
in crime waves, drug addiction, the temptation to use human inventions to destroy
life, civilization and culture, instead of applying them to liberate and enrich
men's experience – all these aspects of intensifying materiality can be
nullified in just one way, by a growing, expanding, soaring increase in
spirituality. Where does one find it? In his conscious oneness with his Father-Mother
God, with God's tender purity, changeless goodness and constant love.
We can never be in any place or
condition where the love of God cannot reach us, and when we listen, we can
always hear God's voice telling us
we are safe and beloved.
The Two Great Revelations
A number of Scriptural prophecies
have foretold two great revelations of the Christ to humanity. Only two. This
makes it clear that all that was needed for the full redemption, the complete
salvation of mankind, would be available to us when the first and second
revelations had been accomplished.
In Zechariah (4:l-3,14) we read
the description of the vision of the two candlesticks and two olive trees which
typify "the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole
earth." Jesus himself, whose lifework was the fulfillment of the prophecy
of the first great revelation of the Christ to humanity, told us there would be
a second, the Comforter which would bring his teaching to our remembrance.
What of the second great
revelation? This prophecy found its fulfillment in the discovery of Christian
Science by Mary Baker Eddy. A discovery, not an invention.
Why were only the two revelations
foretold? May the answer be in Jesus' words when he said of the second
revelation of the Christ, that it would remain with us forever (John
Christian Science heals sickness
and sin, but it is more than a system of spiritual healing. It is a theology,
and the purity of its teaching is safeguarded for present and future
generations by the Church founded by Mrs. Eddy – The Mother Church, The First
Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, and its branches in many
countries throughout the world – and by the Manual which governs this Church
through inspired laws written by Mrs. Eddy under God's direction.
Just as Jesus had prepared
faithfully for thirty years for his spiritual ministry, so, although Mrs. Eddy
discovered Christian Science in 1866, she tells us: "God had been
graciously preparing me during many years for the reception of this final
revelation of the absolute divine Principle of scientific mental healing"
(Science and Health, p. 107). How had God prepared her? How was she uniquely
fitted for this discovery?
She had great mental freedom. Even
in her youth she saw beyond the religious teaching of her parent's church and
dared to question the cruel doctrine of predestination. The spiritual clarity
of her thought remained unconfused by the intellectual and philosophic wrestlings
of her day. After her discovery of Christian Science, the criticism and
intolerance she received even from her own relatives did not cripple her
freedom to fulfill God's holy purpose for her mission. In the years immediately
following her discovery she was anything but free from a material standpoint.
She had almost no financial income, no settled home, not even a warm room in
which to work, or the comforting warmth of understanding friends supporting her
great endeavor. But she had great spiritual freedom.
She was prepared for her holy
mission by her deeply rooted spirituality, her willingness to be God's
messenger, and to make every necessary sacrifice of her own comfort and
material security to meet the needs of her fellow men.
Although the Bible had been
faithfully studied and revered in her childhood home, Mrs. Eddy learned that
Scriptural teaching is practical to heal and guide humanity only when it is
spiritually interpreted. When she was healed by inspired study of the Bible,
she proved the effectiveness of her revelation for many years, by healing the
sick and redeeming sinners, before she presented this demonstrable Science to
the world in her book, Science and Health.
Just as Jesus healed and taught
others to heal, so Mrs. Eddy was able to impart to others her demonstrable
understanding of the Christ, Truth, and it enabled them also to heal.
Healing Results of Mrs. Eddy's Discovery
Christian Scientists rely entirely
on God for healing, even as Jesus did, so they use no material remedies. But do
not feel you have given up material remedies if you use material mind remedies, such as will power,
hypnotism, psychiatry and various forms of pseudo-metaphysics.
Some systems which try to imitate Christian
Science recommend a sort of self-mesmerism by the use of vapid repetitions of
optimistic or so-called "positive" statements. This is not at all the
same thing as studying and understanding divine law, and applying it
accurately. The human mind has not power to heal. It is God, divine Mind, which
heals. Mrs. Eddy tells us (Science and Health, p. 12), "It is neither
Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is it the human
understanding of the divine healing Principle as manifested in Jesus, whose
humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth, – of man's likeness
to God and of man's unity with Truth and Love."
When we consider Jesus' example,
it seems strange that anyone could have asked Mrs. Eddy whether it is wrong to pray for the recovery of
the sick. But she was asked, and she
answered (Mis., p. 59), "Not if we pray Scripturally, with
the understanding that God has given
all things to those who love Him; but pleading with infinite Love to love us,
or to restore health and harmony, and
then to admit that it has been lost under His government, is the prayer of
doubt and mortal belief that is unavailing in divine Science."
One who knew Mrs. Eddy tells us
that when she prayed "It was not as though she had gone to the Father in
prayer, but rather as though, because she was with the Father, she prayed"
(We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, 2nd Series, p.6).
Right Understanding of God Essential
If we are to feel as certain of
our oneness with the Father as she did, we must learn to understand Him. People
sometimes question "What is the reason for my sickness, accident, business
failure? Is God punishing me? Why did it happen?" The answer is in a
simple sentence from Science and Health,
(p. 390); "It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which
produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores
harmony."
How can we gain this right understanding
of God? The Bible promises, "Thou shall find Him, if thou seek Him with
all thy heart . . ." (Deut.
The mother of a five-year-old
Sunday School pupil reminded him that the Bible teaches us that God created man
in His own image; then she explained that he himself was therefore God's
likeness expressing perfection, since God is perfect. To help him understand
the word "image" she used the illustration of a mirrored reflection.
She spoke of a rose in front of a mirror and explained that the reflected rose
would have the color, grace and beauty of the original rose. Then she asked her
son, "If it were God instead of the rose being reflected, what would you
see in the mirror?" To her surprise, the small lad promptly answered,
"nothing." He had learned that God
is Spirit, and cannot be seen materially. On this basis she could help him to
understand that man, who is the exact likeness of God, reflects His qualities
and is therefore not material, but spiritual.
Take away church buildings, burn
religious books, and people are still free to serve God. A man who is free to
obey divine Principle is obeying God, for God is Principle. One who is free to
express love is God's witness, for God is Love. A spiritually-minded man gives
evidence that God is Spirit. He is free to express inspiration and joy, and
thus to show forth the nature of God who is Soul. His alertness and the
activity of good in his life give evidence that God is Life.
Much worse than the destruction of religious buildings and books is the mental despotism which attempts to kill the love of God in men's hearts. This cannot succeed. Mrs. Eddy foresaw, however, that the destructive effort would be made, for she wrote (Science and Health, p. 28), "The determination to hold spirit in the grasp of matter is the persecutor of Truth and Love."
In countries under dictatorships
which forbid religious freedom, there are encouraging proofs that love for God
is still a living fire in the hearts of the people. I learned recently of a
Christian Scientist in such an area, whose religious books were taken from her
by the police. A few weeks later the police officer returned to say how sorry
he was that he had had to do it, but
he explained that of course he had to do his duty. Then his face suddenly
lighted up and he added, "But the wonderful things I'm reading in those
books!"
God Blesses and Preserves Man
Even in early Bible history we have records which show that the
worshippers of the one God had experience with enemies who tried to overthrow
them by using mental weapons.
You recall that when Nehemiah and
his people were working to rebuild the walls of
At another time, Balak, king of
the Moabites, distrustful of the ability of his own army to defeat the children
of
Herein lies our confidence of
safety. Jeremiah understood this when he asked (Lam 3:3?): "Who is he that
saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?"
There is no curse on man, the
beloved son of God. The prayer of Christian Science acknowledges that he is blessed and preserved by his creator.
By identifying ourselves with all
the glorious spiritual qualities we know to be attributes of God, we are
praying the enlightened and effectual prayer of Christian Science. Thus when we
consistently maintain that we have "sovereign power to think and act
rightly" because this power is given us of God, we are free from hypnotic
control, from the mesmeric influence of evil propaganda of any kind, and free to
bear witness to God's loving, intelligent government of man's life and
relationships.
Some of our young people today
seem to have lost the great gift called conscience, which tells them what is
right or wrong. They do things
which are radically wrong from any standpoint of their normal home, school and
church education, and blandly say, "1 didn't think it was wrong." Why
didn't they? Who said that? It was never their thinking. This is an enemy
attack.
What is the enemy? It may call
itself one nation or another, one cult or another – but its surname is just the
carnal mind, which the Bible tells us is "enmity against God" (
We heard many reports during the
last World War that even the opposing nations recognized the generally high
moral standards and morale of our young people. Their spirituality, their
purity, is the thing which any enemy fears most. They know this is a source of
spiritual and moral strength which is a Christian country's greatest line of
defense – so of course their attack is chiefly against those qualities which
they fear. A strong spiritual education is the most impenetrable armor we can
give our children.
We must teach them to see the
power of good and acknowledge no other; to yield their thoughts and actions to
the control of God, divine Mind, believing in and obeying no other control – thus
to prove themselves to be children of light, in whom there is no darkness.
God-governed Man is Truly Self-governed
It is natural to everyone to want
to feel self-governed, but there has been a sad misconception of the meaning of
true self-government. Does the liberty guaranteed to citizens under the
constitution of a democratic country mean freedom to interfere with another
man's rights – freedom to ride a motorcycle over a neighbor's garden, or to
destroy his happiness or his life? It means, instead, freedom to do right, and
nothing else is liberty.
Science and Health tells us (p.106), "God has endowed man with
inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, and conscience. Man
is properly self-governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his
Maker, divine Truth and Love."
Freedom to govern one's self and
self-discipline go hand-in-hand, but it is
strange how often people think they can resist self-discipline and still
welcome the freedom to govern themselves.
You may remember that when Jesus
taught the Jews who believed on him, that knowing the truth would make them
free, they answered him: "We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage
to any man; how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?'' He explained that
"whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin" (John
This was clear to a young woman
who was a very new student of Christian Science; when at a college party, she
refused cocktails and cigarettes, a friend asked why Christian Science was
opposed to the use of alcohol
and tobacco, and she replied quite simply: "Because Christian Science is a
religion of freedom, and those things are slavery."
If we are unwilling to "be
enslaved, we should challenge the thoughts which present themselves to us:
"Is this thought from God who loves me, or from an enemy who wishes to
destroy me?" We are warned in Science
and Health (p. 82), "In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a
greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to consider whether it is
the human mind or the divine Mind which is influencing one."
Man's God-given Dominion
You may feel that mental
manipulation is a distant problem not connected with your own experience. But
have you ever encountered insistent suggestion in print or over the air, that a
certain epidemic of sickness was coming, and then let it control your thought
so that you actually developed the disease?
When one understands Christian
Science, it awakens him to his God-given dominion over every type of erroneous
suggestion which knocks at the door of his thought. He realizes that his
thoughts come from God, divine Mind; thoughts of joy, never sorrow; of calm
trust in divine Love, which annuls all fear; of satisfaction with that which is
good in God's sight; thoughts of health, not sickness.
A young girl who is a Christian
Scientist spent the night visiting a school friend. In the morning her friend
was stricken with polio, a severe case which was lost in spite of the earnest
efforts of her parents and the doctor.
The young Christian Scientist was
quarantined by the health authorities. At the end of what was called the
incubation period, this girl had the identical symptoms which had proved fatal
for her friend.
A Christian Science practitioner
was called at
She knew that man who is always in
the presence of God has therefore never been in touch with anything but good.
God's just law decrees for His beloved creation the continuity of uninterrupted
harmony and well-being.
The child was soon at peace and
could rest quietly. By
Fear and its crippling effect on
men's lives flee before enlightened trust in God.
In a little country hotel in
Summary
May I remind you of some of the
points we have discussed in this lecture?
God is infinite Mind, and His infinitude
means that there can be no other mind. Man is created and controlled by this Mind.
Man's thought can never be confused or misguided, for the divine Mind he reflects
expresses order and clarity. He could not be uninspired or joyless or dull, for
God is Soul, and Soul's attributes of freshness, inspiration, and joy are
forever reflected by His creation.
With her glorious understanding of
the nature of God and man, we can see why Mrs. Eddy was able to assure us that
we have "sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can
dispossess (us) of this heritage and trespass on Love."
The Bible teaches that "it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure" (Phil.
We can face each day courageously,
knowing as the Psalmist assures us, that even "the desire of the wicked
shall perish" (Ps. 112:10).
In our prayers we behold the
omnipresence of God, whose goodness and allness leave no place for evil; we see
God as omnipotent, thus we know that good alone has power.
A hymn in the Christian Science
Hymnal (No. 18) tells us "The brave become bolder the darker the
night." I thought of this one evening as I noticed that at twilight the
stars were dim, but as the night grew darker, their light shone with greater
and greater clarity.
No darkness which attempts to
overwhelm us, or our world, can
ever accomplish anything except to bring greater brilliance to our spiritual
light, greater strength to our Christian character, firmer trust in God. Even
Jesus' crucifixion was a step on the way to his ascension, and its only result
was the glorification of God and man.
The challenges of our day look
formidable, but the spiritual strength and enlightenment God has given us are
far greater. How do we solve such problems? We never shout at evil, or retreat
before it, believing it to be something real and powerful. How does a fine
mathematician approach the working out of a demanding problem in mathematics? He
does not begin yelling at it, rushing around the room saying how terrible it is
that he must work it out; but if he is intelligent about it he is calm, he
thinks clearly, he utilizes in a very sure and cool way the law of mathematics
which he knows, and he does not stop the work until he has a clear conviction
that he has solved the problem. A calm thought, filled with spiritual
conviction, is at peace, and this serenity makes it possible for us to hear the
truth which God reveals to us, so clearly that the din of mortal mind's false
claims fades into silence.
We have the comfort of Mrs. Eddy's
words that "He who dwelleth in eternal light is bigger than the shadow, and
will guard and guide His own" (Mis., p. 134).