Chapter VII - Physiology
185:1
had not changed, but her thought of it had and so her diffi-
had not changed, but her thought of it had and so her diffi-
culty in breathing had gone. The wind had not produced
the difficulty. My metaphysical treatment changed the
action of her belief on the lungs, and she never suffered
again from east winds, but was restored to health.
A so-called mind-cure
185:6
No system of hygiene but Christian Science is purely
No system of hygiene but Christian Science is purely
mental. Before this book was published, other books
were in circulation, which discussed "mental
medicine" and "mind-cure," operating through
the power of the earth's magnetic currents to regulate life
and health. Such theories and such systems of so-called
mind-cure, which have sprung up, are as material as the
prevailing systems of medicine. They have their birth
in mortal mind, which puts forth a human conception
in the name of Science to match the divine Science of im-
mortal Mind, even as the necromancers of Egypt strove
to emulate the wonders wrought by Moses. Such theories
have no relationship to Christian Science, which rests on
the conception of God as the only Life, substance, and
intelligence, and excludes the human mind as a spiritual
factor in the healing work.
Jesus and hypnotism
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Jesus cast out evil and healed the sick, not only with-
Jesus cast out evil and healed the sick, not only with-
out drugs, but without hypnotism, which is
the reverse of ethical and pathological Truth-
power.
185:26
Erroneous mental practice may seem for a time to bene-
Erroneous mental practice may seem for a time to bene-
fit the sick, but the recovery is not permanent. This is
because erroneous methods act on and through the ma-
terial stratum of the human mind, called brain, which is
but a mortal consolidation of material mentality and its
suppositional activities.
False stimulus
185:32
A patient under the influence of mortal mind is healed
A patient under the influence of mortal mind is healed
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
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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,