Confronting Anxiety
June 24, 1999
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
World thought presents much to be anxious about. If one functions strictly on a world thought basis, his fears and anxieties can be protective. In these circumstances, is the advice, "Fear not," helpful? It's clear that only in the living or practice of Science — the conscious oneness of infinite eternal being as all — can one truly drop fear.
One member quickly sketched some psychological aspects of anxiety. Sigmund Freud said it comes from three sources: real threatening situations; early traumas consciously forgotten but still affecting thought and action; and moral strictures — both reasonable and unreasonable — struggling against instinctual drives. Carl Jung added to these the concept of anxiety attending the birth a something new in consciousness.
It seemed to us that Christian Science could address all four of these anxiety types. While it might not be necessary to know exactly which one it was, a full clearing of the trouble might need this preliminary analysis. Our chairperson asked for any examples to help us grasp the workings of this, for many, new technique. Here's what came up:
- One member recalled a period when dealing with people was very threatening and painful. She has since been able to trace much of the feeling tone of this period back to her childhood setting, even without having total recall of incidents. The healing of this problem has been slow but steady and has revolved around reality testing adult relationships to gain experiences beyond the dysfunctional ones of her youth. She has leaned heavily on Christian Science in this process to gain the courage and direction to proceed.
- Another member has had quite a struggle with his moral compass over being homosexual. Many church members have abused him with unsolicited advice that he should work on a "healing". He searches the Bible and the works of Mary Baker Eddy for crumbs of comfort — of which there are many — to find relief from this barrage. Just this week his study has included the original 1875 edition of Science and Health, page 232, where Mrs. Eddy gives her early thoughts on gender. The confusion and unstable terminology there are cleared up in the last edition of the book, to his considerable relief, since one might not conclude from the early stuff that she would have been comfortable with homosexuality whereas in the last book one really has to strain to find any prohibition. In case anyone should conclude that this member's healing of internalized homophobia will depend on a statement form Mrs. Eddy it should be pointed out that he has seen a tumor disappear overnight when he has, after long years of work to eliminate homosexuality, surrendered to divine Love as the basis of his own experience of love — he was still vibrantly Gay after that healing.
- Another member recalled eluding a Gay bashing by resort to immediate, oral treatment. This may have eliminated to some extent his own self hatred but he still feels it needs attention. Thus, Christian Science was seemingly miraculous in handling an external menace and can now be accessed to dissolve the internal one.
We next discussed use of human means to eliminate anxiety. There are any number of drugs, psychotherapies, relaxation responses and the like available to help. Even the method of wearing down an anxiety through repeated action is nothing more than a derivation of what a child does in dealing with the new activities in his life. We felt all these had validity within the limited view on which they operated. Addictive behaviors and substances came up and were seen, as the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous saw them, as a search for God. In fact all material means are a search for God, the true source of healing. Here are a couple of human auxiliaries discussed:
- One member's mother is a psychotherapist and often helps patients overcome phobias by getting them to relax and imagine themselves in a safe place doing the dreaded activity. Over time the client becomes comfortable and is then instructed to touch a body part, which when touched in the future as a panic attack sets in, will instantly stop it allowing him to proceed untroubled. Science? No, but think of the people, frozen in their seats at church on a Wednesday evening, who might use this to get over the hump and start talking.
- During the week a member had had a disquieting phone call moments before his body work therapist arrived. The therapist took one look at the disfigured face before him and helped our member back to sanity by reminding him of all the work he had done over the years to separate himself from the family dysfunction he had just had a brush with on the phone. Soon he was relaxed and able, as their session went forward, to give the problem scientific attention. In the next few days the value of this scientific seeing was apparent in healed relationships and greatly advanced business prospects growing therefrom.
- Our member who likes to develop "inner figures" when someone or something touches off a reaction in him — thus taking the focus off the trigger person and/or thing, but still having an entity to dialogue with and secure access to hidden psychic contents — recommends this technique as a first step in dealing with a problem. Once this figure is fully up and functioning it can be taken to the non-dualistic counter fact, whence healing flows.
- 83: 13-16
- 393: 16-18
- 384: 30-1
And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
As the children of Israel were guided triumphantly through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing tides of human fear,—as they were led through the wilderness, walking wearily through the great desert of human hopes, and anticipating the promised joy,—so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires in their passage from sense to Soul, from a material sense of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared for them who love God.
The anatomy of Christian Science teaches when and how to probe the self-inflicted wounds of selfishness, malice, envy, and hate.
Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power.
Divine Science, the Word of God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, "God is All-in-all," and the light of ever-present Love illumines the universe.
Divine Mind rightly demands man's entire obedience, affection, and strength. No reservation is made for any lesser loyalty. Obedience to Truth gives man power and strength. Submission to error superinduces loss of power.