Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
Begin rightly
382:1
health; he annulled supposed laws of matter, opposed
health; he annulled supposed laws of matter, opposed
to the harmonies of Spirit, lacking divine au-
thority and having only human approval for
their sanction.
Hygiene excessive
382:5
If half the attention given to hygiene were given to the
If half the attention given to hygiene were given to the
study of Christian Science and to the spiritualization of
thought, this alone would usher in the millen-
inium. Constant bathing and rubbing to alter
the secretions or to remove unhealthy exhalations from
the cuticle receive a useful rebuke from Jesus' precept,
"Take no thought . . . for the body." We must beware
of making clean merely the outside of the platter.
Blissful ignorance
382:13
He, who is ignorant of what is termed hygienic law, is
He, who is ignorant of what is termed hygienic law, is
more receptive of spiritual power and of faith in one
God, than is the devotee of supposed hygienic
law, who comes to teach the so-called igno-
rant one. Must we not then consider the so-called law
of matter a canon "more honored in the breach than
the observance"? A patient thoroughly booked in medi-
cal theories is more difficult to heal through Mind than
one who is not. This verifies the saying of our Master:
"Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a
little child, shall in no wise enter therein."
382:24
One whom I rescued from seeming spiritual oblivion,
One whom I rescued from seeming spiritual oblivion,
in which the senses had engulfed him, wrote to me: "I
should have died, but for the glorious Principle you teach,
– supporting the power of Mind over the body and show-
ing me the nothingness of the so-called pleasures and pains
of sense. The treatises I had read and the medicines I
had taken only abandoned me to more hopeless suffering
and despair. Adherence to hygiene was useless. Mortal
mind needed to be set right. The ailment was not bodily,
383:1
but mental, and I was cured when I learned my way in
but mental, and I was cured when I learned my way in
Christian Science."
A clean mind and body
383:3
We need a clean body and a clean mind, – a body
We need a clean body and a clean mind, – a body
rendered pure by Mind as well as washed by water.
One says: "I take good care of my body."
To do this, the pure and exalting influence of
the divine Mind on the body is requisite, and the Christian
Scientist takes the best care of his body when he leaves
it most out of his thought, and, like the Apostle Paul, is
"willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be pres-
ent with the Lord."
383:12
A hint may be taken from the emigrant, whose filth
A hint may be taken from the emigrant, whose filth
does not affect his happiness, because mind and body
rest on the same basis. To the mind equally gross, dirt
gives no uneasiness. It is the native element of such a
mind, which is symbolized, and not chafed, by its sur-
roundings; but impurity and uncleanliness, which do
not trouble the gross, could not be borne by the refined.
This shows that the mind must be clean to keep the body
in proper condition.
Beliefs illusive
383:21
The tobacco-user, eating or smoking poison for half a
The tobacco-user, eating or smoking poison for half a
century, sometimes tells you that the weed preserves
his health, but does this make it so? Does his
assertion prove the use of tobacco to be a salu-
brious habit, and man to be the better for it? Such in-
stances only prove the illusive physical effect of a false
belief, confirming the Scriptural conclusion concerning a
man, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he."
383:29
The movement-cure – pinching and pounding the poor
The movement-cure – pinching and pounding the poor
body, to make it sensibly well when it ought to be in-
sensibly so – is another medical mistake, resulting from
the common notion that health depends on inert matter