Chapter VII - Physiology
False stimulus
186:1
only by removing the influence on him of this mind, by
only by removing the influence on him of this mind, by
emptying his thought of the false stimulus
and reaction of will-power and filling it with
the divine energies of Truth.
186:5
Christian Science destroys material beliefs through the
Christian Science destroys material beliefs through the
understanding of Spirit, and the thoroughness of this work
determines health. Erring human mind-forces can work
only evil under whatever name or pretence they are em-
ployed; for Spirit and matter, good and evil, light and
darkness, cannot mingle.
Evil negative and self-destructive
186:11
Evil is a negation, because it is the absence of truth.
Evil is a negation, because it is the absence of truth.
It is nothing, because it is the absence of something. It
is unreal, because it presupposes the absence
of God, the omnipotent and omnipresent.
Every mortal must learn that there is neither
power nor reality in evil.
186:17
Evil is self-assertive. It says: "I am a real entity, over-
Evil is self-assertive. It says: "I am a real entity, over-
mastering good." This falsehood should strip evil of all
pretensions. The only power of evil is to destroy itself. It
can never destroy one iota of good. Every attempt of evil
to destroy good is a failure, and only aids in peremptorily
punishing the evil-doer. If we concede the same reality to
discord as to harmony, discord has as lasting a claim upon
us as has harmony. If evil is as real as good, evil is also as
immortal. If death is as real as Life, immortality is a myth.
If pain is as real as the absence of pain, both must be im-
mortal; and if so, harmony cannot be the law of being.
Ignorant idolatry
186:28
Mortal mind is ignorant of self, or it could never be
Mortal mind is ignorant of self, or it could never be
self-deceived. If mortal mind knew how to be better, it
would be better. Since it must believe in some-
thing besides itself, it enthrones matter as deity.
The human mind has been an idolater from the beginning,
187:1
having other gods and believing in more than the one
having other gods and believing in more than the one
Mind.
187:3
As mortals do not comprehend even mortal existence,
As mortals do not comprehend even mortal existence,
how ignorant must they be of the all-knowing Mind and
of His creations.
187:6
Here you may see how so-called material sense creates
Here you may see how so-called material sense creates
its own forms of thought, gives them material names, and
then worships and fears them. With pagan blindness,
it attributes to some material god or medicine an ability
beyond itself. The beliefs of the human mind rob and
enslave it, and then impute this result to another illusive
personification, named Satan.
Action of mortal mind
187:13
The valves of the heart, opening and closing for the pas-
The valves of the heart, opening and closing for the pas-
sage of the blood, obey the mandate of mor-
tal mind as directly as does the hand, ad-
mittedly moved by the will. Anatomy allows the mental
cause of the latter action, but not of the former.
187:18
We say, "My hand hath done it." What is this my but
We say, "My hand hath done it." What is this my but
mortal mind, the cause of all materialistic action? All
voluntary, as well as miscalled involuntary, action of the
mortal body is governed by this so-called mind, not by
matter. There is no involuntary action. The divine Mind
includes all action and volition, and man in Science is gov-
erned by this Mind. The human mind tries to classify
action as voluntary and involuntary, and suffers from the
attempt.
Death and the body
187:27
If you take away this erring mind, the mortal material
If you take away this erring mind, the mortal material
body loses all appearance of life or action, and this so‑
called mind then calls itself dead; but the hu-
man mind still holds in belief a body, through
which it acts and which appears to the human mind to
live, – a body like the one it had before death. This body