Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
Awaken the patient
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only as the insane suffer, from false beliefs. The only
only as the insane suffer, from false beliefs. The only
difference is, that insanity implies belief in a diseased
brain, while physical ailments (so-called) arise from the
belief that other portions of the body are deranged. De-
rangement, or disarrangement, is a word which conveys
the true definition of all human belief in ill-health, or dis-
turbed harmony. Should you thus startle mortal mind
in order to remove its beliefs, afterwards make known
to the patient your motive for this shock, showing him
that it was to facilitate recovery.
How to treat a crisis
421:11
If a crisis occurs in your treatment, you must treat
If a crisis occurs in your treatment, you must treat
the patient less for the disease and more for the mental
disturbance or fermentation, and subdue the
symptoms by removing the belief that this
chemicalization produces pain or disease. Insist vehe-
mently on the great fact which covers the whole ground,
that God, Spirit, is all, and that there is none beside
Him. There is no disease. When the supposed suffer-
ing is gone from mortal mind, there can be no pain; and
when the fear is destroyed, the inflammation will sub-
side. Calm the excitement sometimes induced by chemi-
calization, which is the alterative effect produced by
Truth upon error, and sometimes explain the symptoms
and their cause to the patient.
No perversion of Mind-science
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It is no more Christianly scientific to see disease than
It is no more Christianly scientific to see disease than
it is to experience it. If you would destroy the sense
of disease, you should not build it up by
wishing to see the forms it assumes or by
employing a single material application for
its relief. The perversion of Mind-science is like as-
serting that the products of eight multiplied by five, and
of seven by ten, are both forty, and that their combined
422:1
sum is fifty, and then calling the process mathematics.
sum is fifty, and then calling the process mathematics.
Wiser than his persecutors, Jesus said: "If I by Beelze-
bub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them
out?"
Effect of this book
422:5
If the reader of this book observes a great stir through-
If the reader of this book observes a great stir through-
out his whole system, and certain moral and physical
symptoms seem aggravated, these indications
are favorable. Continue to read, and the book
will become the physician, allaying the tremor which
Truth often brings to error when destroying it.
Disease neutralized
422:11
Patients, unfamiliar with the cause of this commotion
Patients, unfamiliar with the cause of this commotion
and ignorant that it is a favorable omen, may be alarmed.
If such be the case, explain to them the law
of this action. As when an acid and alkali
meet and bring out a third quality, so mental and moral
chemistry changes the material base of thought, giving
more spirituality to consciousness and causing it to depend
less on material evidence. These changes which go on
in mortal mind serve to reconstruct the body. Thus
Christian Science, by the alchemy of Spirit, destroys sin
and death.
Bone-healing by surgery
422:22
Let us suppose two parallel cases of bone-disease, both
Let us suppose two parallel cases of bone-disease, both
similarly produced and attended by the same symptoms.
A surgeon is employed in one case, and a
Christian Scientist in the other. The sur-
geon, holding that matter forms its own conditions and
renders them fatal at certain points, entertains fears and
doubts as to the ultimate outcome of the injury. Not
holding the reins of government in his own hands, he
believes that something stronger than Mind – namely,
matter – governs the case. His treatment is therefore
tentative. This mental state invites defeat. The belief