Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
377:1
If your patient believes in taking cold, mentally con-
If your patient believes in taking cold, mentally con-
vince him that matter cannot take cold, and that thought
governs this liability. If grief causes suffering, convince
the sufferer that affliction is often the source of joy, and
that he should rejoice always in ever-present Love.
Climate harmless
377:6
Invalids flee to tropical climates in order to save their
Invalids flee to tropical climates in order to save their
lives, but they come back no better than when they went
away. Then is the time to cure them through
Christian Science, and prove that they can
be healthy in all climates, when their fear of climate is
exterminated.
Mind governs body
377:12
Through different states of mind, the body becomes
Through different states of mind, the body becomes
suddenly weak or abnormally strong, showing mortal
mind to be the producer of strength or weak-
ness. A sudden joy or grief has caused what
is termed instantaneous death. Because a belief origi-
nates unseen, the mental state should be continually
watched that it may not produce blindly its bad effects.
The author never knew a patient who did not recover
when the belief of the disease had gone. Remove the
leading error or governing fear of this lower so-called mind,
and you remove the cause of all disease as well as the mor-
bid or excited action of any organ. You also remove in
this way what are termed organic diseases as readily as
functional difficulties.
377:26
The cause of all so-called disease is mental, a mortal
The cause of all so-called disease is mental, a mortal
fear, a mistaken belief or conviction of the necessity and
power of ill-health; also a fear that Mind is helpless to
defend the life of man and incompetent to control it. With-
out this ignorant human belief, any circumstance is of it-
self powerless to produce suffering. It is latent belief in
disease, as well as the fear of disease, which associates sick-
378:1
ness with certain circumstances and causes the two to
ness with certain circumstances and causes the two to
appear conjoined, even as poetry and music are repro-
duced in union by human memory. Disease has no in-
telligence. Unwittingly you sentence yourself to suffer.
The understanding of this will enable you to commute this
self-sentence, and meet every circumstance with truth.
Disease is less than mind, and Mind can control it.
Latent power
378:8
Without the so-called human mind, there can be no
Without the so-called human mind, there can be no
inflammatory nor torpid action of the system. Remove
the error, and you destroy its effects. By
looking a tiger fearlessly in the eye, Sir Charles
Napier sent it cowering back into the jungle. An ani-
mal may infuriate another by looking it in the eye, and
both will fight for nothing. A man's gaze, fastened
fearlessly on a ferocious beast, often causes the beast to
retreat in terror. This latter occurrence represents the
power of Truth over error, – the might of intelligence
exercised over mortal beliefs to destroy them; whereas
hypnotism and hygienic drilling and drugging, adopted
to cure matter, is represented by two material erroneous
bases.
Disease powerless
378:22
Disease is not an intelligence to dispute the empire of
Disease is not an intelligence to dispute the empire of
Mind or to dethrone Mind and take the government into
its own hands. Sickness is not a God-given,
nor a self-constituted material power, which
copes astutely with Mind and finally conquers it. God
never endowed matter with power to disable Life or to
chill harmony with a long and cold night of discord.
Such a power, without the divine permission, is incon-
ceivable; and if such a power could be divinely directed,
it would manifest less wisdom than we usually find dis-
played in human governments.