Christian Science: A Science for Everyday Living
Arch Bailey, C.S., of
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
The birth of Christianity, the
outgrowth of the life and works of Christ Jesus, was cradled in everyday life.
His words and works touched the lives of mankind in the fields and vineyards,
along the Judean roadside, with the shepherd and his flock, with the rugged
fishermen along the shores of
Recently I was studying Jesus'
teaching and healing ministry from the standpoint of its practical application
to everyday needs. I glanced through the King James Version of the New
Testament and found
these Chapter headings: "Jesus cleaneth the
lepers," "stilleth the tempest,"
"healeth the blind and dumb," feedeth the five thousand," "restoreth
sight." I was immediately impressed by the practical application of his
ministry.
Comforter in This Age
For about three centuries after
Jesus, this spiritual activity was expressed by the early Christians with
signs following. His followers continued in the demonstration of his word, and
this made them free. Eventually, however, the spiritual significance of
Christianity - the vital breath of divine Love - as lived by Jesus and his
followers was obscured by paraphernalia and dogma, and men again returned to
formal worship. But had Jesus not promised his disciples, "I will pray the
Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you
for ever; even the Spirit of truth" (John
Mrs. Eddy was raised by God-loving
parents in an age of expanding spiritual thought, but she was not content in
accepting certain fundamental religious teachings. For many years she sought
diligently the answer to healing as Jesus had accomplished it, through spiritual
means alone. She was divinely led to find this answer for herself when she was
pronounced dying from the effects of an accident. Mrs. Eddy glimpsed in this
extremity the practical import and availability of Jesus' healings. She sought
out and found, in the ensuing years, the divine Principle and rule with which
all mankind may now repeat the ancient healings.
Christian Scientists revere and
love Mary Baker Eddy. They acknowledge and appreciate the great purity which
enabled her to become the revelator of Christian Science. She not only founded
the Christian Science movement but is the acknowledged Leader in this modern
crusade against all that would turn us from Spirit and exalt matter.
When Jesus heard the words of his
Father, "This is my beloved Son" (Matt.
Authority Derived from Bible
It is sometimes said that
Christian Scientists do not revere the Holy Bible; that they have a Bible of
their own written by Mrs. Eddy. This, of course, is a misunderstanding, because
Mrs. Eddy states clearly that the Bible was her sole teacher and her only
textbook. She loved and cherished the Holy Bible from early childhood. She had
no intention of writing another Bible or of adding to or taking from the
inspired Word of God. With unequaled insight she discerned the spiritual sense
of the Scriptures and saw the contradictions of a literal reading. These
contradictions were harmonized through inspired interpretation, and in the
mighty words and acts of Christ Jesus she discerned the fundamental truths of
Christian Science. Each Christian Scientist who obediently follows his Leader's
instruction studies the King James Version of the Bible daily. In the Christian
Science textbook the following statement is given as the first tenet of this
Science: "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as
our sufficient guide to eternal Life" (p. 497).
Enlarging Our Concept of God
When Mrs. Eddy sought the answer
to the questions, "What is Deity? What is Truth?" she found it
clearly implied in the Bible that God is Spirit, Life, Truth, Love. The ages possessed these synonyms, but had only
faintly glimpsed their true significance. Despite such clear statements in
the Bible as "God is love" (I John
God is incorporeal. That is, He
has no bodily structure; He is not somatic. This use of the adjective
incorporeal was revolutionary, for the belief of an anthropomorphic Deity had
held the thought of mankind for centuries. God is supreme. This word clearly
denotes absence of superiors. It precludes equals. It denotes the highest rank of power, peerless and incomparable.
It is generally conceded that God is divine, but we are not always consistent
in our acknowledgment of this fact. Deity is accused of indulging in anger or
retaliation toward His creation and of withholding good. These human
characteristics are impossible in the light of His divinity.
Mrs. Eddy has included all these
adjectives in the climactic use of the word infinite. For God to be infinite He
would necessarily be incorporeal, for corporeality is finite. To be divine He
would be infinite, for divinity is God. His supremacy would be included in the
infinite, for infinity precludes any exterior determining power. This word
infinite includes all meanings and terminates argument. The ages will ponder
this great fact of infinity until it dawns upon consciousness that any seeming
unlikeness of infinite good, Spirit, is no thing, no entity,
no place nor power. This infinity of good becomes real to spiritual
sense, and it will eventually be demonstrated in human experience through
scientific right thinking. And the kingdom of heaven, divine reality, will appear.
But these adjectives are only the
qualifying words used to point up the seven synonymous nouns Mind, Spirit,
Soul, Principle, Life Truth, Love. Although these
words, as used in Christian Science, are the same in meaning, they are
specific in function and express the character, essence, and perfection of the
Supreme Being. In considering the sun we are fully aware of it through its
light. Our only knowledge of the sun is from what we know of its reflected
qualities. We know its essence deductively from its reflection. It manifests
light, and we rightly deduct that its nature must be light. And just so the
divine nature is understood by us through the quality of its manifestation.
Mind is manifested in awareness, discernment, wisdom, perception,
comprehension. Soul is manifested in beauty of holiness, nobility, grace,
symmetry, satisfaction, completeness. God as Spirit is manifested in
integrity, soundness, substance. As Principle, God is manifested in government,
law, rule, control, intelligent activity, orderly
unfoldment of good. As Life and Truth, He is manifested in ageless
indestructible Being and the infinity of good,
reality. Love is manifested in God's will enforcing the eternal purpose of
good. And so as we expand the meaning of these seven synonyms for God in our
consciousness we grow in the understanding of true being.
Right Identification Heals
Just as Mrs. Eddy's spiritual
perception of the Scriptural account of creation refutes the age-old belief of
God as a corporeal Deity, so it refutes the belief that man is a corporeal
personality. The image and likeness of Spirit cannot be material. It is stated
in the textbook, "Man is the expression of God's being" (p. 470). Now
the expression of Mind,
Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love could not
possibly be a mortal, material, animal personality governed by material laws
and animal instincts. Man is an immortal, spiritual, individual identity, reflecting
the innumerable qualities of his divine Principle. With the spiritual
understanding of the true nature of man as God's reflection comes an enlarged
appreciation of his true selfhood. He reflects in quality the wholeness of
God. This is the correct view of man which heals the sick today as it did centuries
ago in Jesus' time.
In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy
writes, "The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood,
all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is
that man who seeth his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another's good" (p.
518). This gospel of brotherly love is Christian Science active in everyday
life. I once knew a man who was enjoying a successful career as a singer and
teacher, but despite this he felt defeated in spirit and purpose. He was obsessed
with human will. He was also in bondage to tobacco and alcohol. Reliance upon
them for stimulation had brought him to the point of nervous exhaustion with
its corresponding depression, self-condemnation, and devastating fears. A
Christian Scientist who knew of this man's desire to be liberated from this
confusion told him that a certain branch Church of Christ, Scientist, in the
city in which he was living, was holding auditions for
soloist. The singer was then employed as a soloist by one of the large orthodox
churches of the city, and there seemed no reason why he should change
positions. However, he soon found himself auditioning for the music committee
of that Christian Science church.
At the conclusion of the audition
a member of the committee said, "You might be the next soloist of our
church." Another committee member questioned, ''Of course you do not use
tobacco or alcohol?" At that very moment the singer had a pocket full of
cigars, and with absolute frankness he replied that he indulged in both
tobacco and alcohol. At this the member replied, "Then, of course, you
will not be our next soloist." The finality of this remark, however, was
rebuked by the prompt and loving observation of the first member, who said:
"Let us not be too sure about that. Why not wait a few days and pray about
it?" The singer was healed instantaneously of the false appetite and has
not desired either tobacco or alcohol since. In a month this man was soloist of
that Church and later had his first church membership there.
Christ Jesus said, "This is
my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have
loved you" (John
To Love Is to Understand
Jesus said: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this.
Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these" (Mark
To love God with all our heart,
and with all our soul, and with all our mind means that we must understand Him
with an undivided devotion and loyalty. We must have no divided allegiance
between Spirit and matter, between good and evil, Truth and error, Love and
selfishness. Mrs. Eddy has said, "We lose the high signification of omnipotence,
when after admitting that God, or good, is omnipresent and has all-power, we
still believe there is another power, named EVIL" (Science and Health, p.
469). Any house-divided-against-itself attitude of thought cannot stand.
The fallacy of this way of thinking
is illustrated in the plus and minus quantities of mathematics. If I have a
plus five and a minus six, it is plain that I have nothing. Or, rather, I have a minus one which is less than
nothing. However, if I have a plus quantity of twenty and a minus quantity of
five, it is plain that I have a plus fifteen; I am on the positive side. A
predominant minus destroys a plus, and a predominant plus destroys a minus.
If we affirm that God is good and
is all, and later allow thinking to fall to the level of belief in another
power, consciousness is divided and healing does not readily appear. We must
hold thought steadfastly to the good, to spiritual reality, to the perfection
of God and man. Only plus or positive spiritual thinking wins the victory in Christian
Science. Mrs. Eddy has stated this point with unequaled imagery where she says:
"The bird whose right wing flutters to soar,
while the left beats its way downward, falls to the earth. Both
wings must be plumed for
rarefied atmospheres and upward flight" (Miscellaneous Writings, p.
267).
Principle and Rule
It may be said that the principle
of mathematics is adequate to the solution of every mathematical problem. This
does not mean that each individual has solved all mathematical problems. The individual
must gain an understanding of the principle of mathematics. Then through right thinking, in
obedience to the rules, he will see the solution made manifest. Likewise it
can be said that every human problem is already solved in divine Mind, the eternal
Principle of being. That is, God, the Principle of being, is adequate to the
solution of every human problem. But in the Science of being, as in mathematics,
these problems must be solved through individual integrity of thought held to
the rules of divine Science. This application of Truth to human needs is
practice or prayer, and it is the way of progressive salvation.
On page 111 of the textbook its
author has written, "The Principle of divine metaphysics is God; the
practice of divine metaphysics is the utilization of the power of Truth over
error. Its rules demonstrate its Science." This does not mean that two
antagonistic powers, Truth and error, have been put into perpetual warfare. A
close study of this passage will show that
there are not two real powers at war with each other. It is not stated that
the practice of Christian Science is the utilization of the power of Truth
over the power of error. The passage reads specifically, "the power of
Truth over error," hereby attributing power to Truth, but withholding it from
error. "Therefore," says Mrs. Eddy, "we accept the conclusion
that discords have only a fabulous existence, are mortal beliefs which divine
Truth and Love destroy" (Science and Health, p. 231).
Shadowy Nature of Evil
In Mrs. Eddy's writings the words
illusive and illusion are used by the author over one hundred times to indicate
the unreal nature of evil. She also uses in this light such words as phantoms,
dreams, and hallucinations. An illusion never partakes in any way of reality.
It is a perversion of thought about something. It has no
entity, no place, no power. In approaching any so-called problem of
error in the practice of Christian Science, we must take firm hold of the fact
that we are never trying to get rid of something real or actual. If the
problems called sin, disease, and death were actual or real, they would be of
God, and it would be wrong to undertake to destroy them. This is clearly stated
in the textbook: "Error is unreal because untrue. It is
that which seemeth to be and is not" (p. 472).
The chimerical claims of evil to
reality are shadowy lies which can do no more to mankind than belief allows. I
recently read about a unique and interesting method of fishing practiced by
the people in some southern islands. The natives launch two boats from the
shore and anchor them several hundred feet apart. Between these boats they
extend a rope which is strung with wooden floats several inches apart. When the
sun is at just the right height, each float casts a long shadow into the water.
These shadows appear to the undersea life to be a series of bars. When the
boats move toward the shore, the fish, believing that the bars enclose them,
move ahead until they are easily taken in nets near the shore. They are caught,
needlessly, because they believe the shadows to be real.
The great spiritual fact that Mind
is God, that He is infinite and eternal, having no unlikeness, this eternal
Truth enables the student to break the mesmerism of fear based upon belief that
evil is real.
In dark and hidden places
There shines the blessed light;
The beam of Truth displaces
The darkness of
the night.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 2)
No Duality in Mind
Christian Science teaches that
there is one Mind, one divine intelligent Principle, named God. This Mind is
expressed by innumerable spiritual ideas and their identities which comprise
the universe and man. This Mind is understood to be "I AM THAT I AM"
(Ex. 3:l4). It is the one forever continuing, indestructible Being. The so-called mortal mind
appears to the senses as a contradiction to this oneness of Mind. This seeming
contradiction Christian Science proves to be an illusion, no mind, no intelligence,
no principle.
A simple illustration will help us
to see that there is only one Mind, perfect and complete within itself,
although it appears to the senses otherwise. Let us imagine two circles. Within
one circle we have all the correct equations possible in mathematics. That is:
two and two equals four; four and four equals eight; eight and eight equals
sixteen. In this circle of correct equations we have the complete statement of
mathematics. Now in the other circle we have every incorrect statement of
mathematical equation possible. That is: two and two equals five; five and
five equals seven, and every erroneous statement possible.
At a glance someone might think
that both circles contain mathematical equations, but a closer study will show
that one contains such mathematical equations and the other contains none at all,
only misconceptions about mathematics. Perhaps the most striking part of this
example is, that within the circle of errors there is nothing by which any of
the errors could be corrected or solved. Do you not see the analogy between the
divine Mind and so-called mortal mind, and these two circles? Divine Mind
contains every true statement of Being. Christian
Science shows that the opposite of real Life or Mind is no mind, no
intelligence. It is a circle of suppositional, conceptional,
misstatements of Being. Furthermore this circle of
errors has no solution within itself for its own errors. The blind cannot lead
the blind. Conversely it shows that all Truth, and the solution for every
mortal problem, is in the divine Mind, the one perfect and only Mind.
Application of Healing Principle
So we see that the solution to any
problem can never be found within the problem. In spite of this fact, there is
a tendency for people, in their state of mesmerism, to allow thought to dwell
predominately on the problem. This has a tendency to enlarge one's belief in
the reality of the error and so increase fear. This is overcome only through a
clear realization that all is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation
without an unlikeness. Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health to look away
from the body (problem) into Truth and Love (supreme Mind). (See Science and
Health, p. 261) Whenever we realize the oneness and allness of Mind and sustain
this realization, this spiritual light of divine Truth will so illumine
consciousness as to cause the problem to vanish like smoke in a summer sky.
Several years ago a Christian
Science practitioner was called to a home where a young man was confined to his
bed with a very painful physical condition. Because there was evidence that the
disease might be contagious a physician was called, and his diagnosis was that
the boy had poliomyelitis. The physician said he was required to report the
case immediately to the health authorities and that the patient would have to
submit to segregation. The boy promptly stated that he did not want medical
treatment, that he and his mother had always relied on God, and that it was
his intention to do so now. The mother stood firmly with the son in this decision.
After the physician had left the
house the mother, son, and the practitioner discussed the situation in the
light of Christian Science. It was clearly established that the diagnosis, the
predictions, and the warnings of materia medica would not be accepted as having
any bearing on the case. They recalled that Mrs. Eddy had written that
"Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that Lazarus had never died,
not by an admission that his body had died and then lived again" (Science and
Health, p. 75). It was decided that they would approach the present mortal
belief not from the standpoint of the medical diagnosis, but from the basis of
truth of the one infinite, divine Mind and His image and likeness, without an
unlikeness. This did not mean that the error was left undenied;
rather the understanding that infinite Mind has no unlikeness was all that was
necessary to prove the illusive claim of an unlikeness to just that - an
unfounded claim. The mother and the practitioner maintained these spiritual
facts while the boy was in quarantine in the hospital. He refused all medical
aid, and at the end of five days it was admitted that the boy's condition was
improved. This improvement continued, and in eighteen days, without fulfilling
the predictions of the medical profession, the boy walked out of the hospital
without aid.
In two months the boy made
application for enlistment in the Navy and was accepted after a thorough
examination. He was told that no trace of such a diseased condition could be
found. He served three years in the Navy and now holds a good position in the
business world.
As Mrs. Eddy's discovery of
Christian Science clarifies the popular concept of Deity and of man, so it has
clarified theological beliefs about Christ Jesus and salvation. For centuries
theology had made little distinction between the human Jesus and his divine
nature, the Christ. It had used the belief of a deified Jesus as the medium for
attaining salvation through vicarious sacrifice. This view of sonship and
salvation through sacrifice became so shadowy in
explanation as to be practically impossible to understand. The layman was
expected in some instances to accept the statement of this theology without questioning.
Christian Science shows that the words Christ and Jesus are not synonymous. It
shows that Jesus was the divinely appointed representative of the Christ,
Truth, without beginning of years or end of days. Christ is the transforming
power of Spirit destroying all error. The textbook defines
"salvation" as "Life, Truth, and Love understood and
demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed" (p.
593).
So we see that until every
erroneous illusion of mortal belief yields to the present and forever
perfection of good and all claims of matter and sense are forever silenced, the
Christ, Truth, will be overturning, healing, and saving in human consciousness,
in fulfillment of the eternal purpose of Love.
In her book "The First Church
of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany" (p. 238) Mrs. Eddy has written,
"God is understandable, knowable, and applicable to every human
need." Let us consider briefly two ways in which this great Principle of
supreme good can be applied - in the home and in our thought about government.
Home
Mrs. Eddy says, "Home is the
dearest spot on earth, and it should be the centre, though not the boundary, of
the affections" (Science and Health, p. 58). In a book of synonyms the
only words given for home are: domicile, abode, residence, house, dwelling,
habitation. Each of these words would hold home within the restrictions of
matter. I am sure that our sense of home would transcend such a definition.
Home is in fact a complete spiritual idea, reflecting all the qualities of
divine Love. It appears individually to us as protection, security, companionship,
unselfishness, moral strength, obedience, stability, harmony, joy, peace, and
so on. When we entertain these qualities and express them, then we are home lovers
and home owners. Home, being a spiritual idea, must rise from and rest upon
Principle.
One of the qualities inherent in
and necessary to home is obedience, which implies discipline. Discipline in
Christian Science is never the domination of one human mind over another. Man,
being the reflection of God or good, reflects the good government of God,
divine Principle. When man understands his relationship to God, divine Love,
and is obedient to this understanding, he is properly disciplined. This does
not mean that Christian Scientists do not discipline their children. In the
early and formative periods of childhood it is the duty of parents to wisely
guide these tender thoughts until they are firmly established through
self-discipline as Mind's reflection.
I know of a Christian Science home
where the discipline of two children devolved wholly upon a young mother, and
her approach to this problem was so effective that I would like to tell you
about it. It was simple, scientific, and successful, as the lives of these
children show in their maturity. Confronted by a problem of discipline this
mother prayed for guidance and was led to place the Manual of The Mother
Church by Mrs. Eddy on the breakfast table. When a problem of personal
relationship came up for discussion, the mother referred to and read aloud
"A Rule for Motives and Acts" which reads in part, "In Science,
divine Love alone governs man" (p. 40). This so beautifully handled the
problem that it became a daily custom for the Manual to be before these children
as they left for school. Thus they were taught to govern by God. This early
training has continued with them in their adult experience, and one of them is
now carrying on a successful real estate business, in a large western city, on
the basis of his early teaching in Christian Science.
Government
Those who understand that God is
working His purpose out as year succeeds to year will not be dismayed today by
the overturning of the false concepts of world government. It would be
frightening, indeed, as we look out upon world conditions, if we were not
assured by the revelation of Christian Science that the sense testimony is
never the scientific fact. All progress indicates moving from one state or
condition to a better one, and this progressive movement sometimes appears as
retrogression. But this state of change is never hopeless. It is always moving
forward just as a modulation or change of key in music is always leading to
some new expression. We know that the eternal purpose of divine intelligence includes
the solution to this problem of world government, and we know that mankind's
awakening to the great fact of present perfection is inevitable. Let us be
willing, as the textbook states to "wait patiently for divine Love to
move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept" (p.
454). This does not mean that the Christian Scientist has his head in the
clouds. Rather he is alert to his present responsibility to intelligently apply
his understanding of Science to the everyday problems of government. And
particularly is he aware of his individual responsibility to reflect those
qualities of Love which will bring increased harmony between himself and his
fellowman. He is always striving to eliminate from his consciousness all that
is small, selfish, or covetous, all prejudice or pride. He is endeavoring to attain
a full demonstration of the second commandment, to love his neighbor as himself. He is consciously and joyously striving
to do unto others as he would have them do unto him. He cherishes his
democratic rights in a free government and exercises his right of franchise intelligently, in the everyday affairs
of his community and his world.
In these days when the threat of
atomic extinction is so widely discussed and it is said that atomic energy is
the greatest power in the world, we should be sure that we are rightly
evaluating the power of divine Love. Because God is both omnipotence and Love
we begin to understand the power of divine Love. The human,
finite sense of love so belittles the diviner meaning of this word that we may not
have allowed it to unfold into its native strength and activity. Love
is more than a mood of contemplation. It is divine activity expressed throughout God's universe
and appearing in human consciousness as the transforming power of Spirit.
Destructive atomic energy is but the counterfeit of divine Love. Seventy five
years ago Mrs. Eddy defined the material atom. She spoke of it as "an outlined
falsity of consciousness, which can gather additional evidence of
consciousness and life only as it adds lie to lie" (Unity of Good, p. 35).
This definition of the atom immediately puts it in the realm of the illusive
unreal.
Someone might say, "But where
would Christian Scientists be if
the threat of atomic attack became imminent?" The answer to this question
is that their individual experience would be at the very point of their belief
or understanding. They would be found right where they are found when meeting
other testimony of the material senses. With an enlightened understanding of
divine Love they would be where Noah was when the flood came - in the ark which he had built in
obedience to God's commands. They would be found in the place of safety,
understanding themselves as idea, or reflection, as immortal as their divine Principle. They would
be found in Science where the spiritual realities of all things exist forever.
They would be found where their great Wayshower, Christ Jesus, was found as he
met each step of the way, with divine Love. Mrs. Eddy, paraphrasing a verse of
Paul's, has given a concluding answer: "Then shall man be found, in His likeness, perfect as the Father, indestructible
in Life, 'hid with Christ in God,' - with Truth in divine Love, where human
sense hath not seen man" (Science and Health, p. 325).
As the cinema of world conditions
passes before the senses today we can remember the comforting promise given in
the ninety first Psalm: "He shall give his angels
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in
their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." Through this
understanding of the supremacy of divine Principle we bring the minutiae of
everyday experience into accord with divine law. We are then awakening to the
true Science of living - eternal Life itself expressed in our individual
experience.