Preventative Medicine
January 13, 2000
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
When a member requested Preventative Medicine as our topic for this week, many of us immediately thought of material routines without quite realizing that this is a rich and very important area for consideration in Christian Science.
We spent more time than usual on the readings, enjoying particularly Mrs. Eddy's sense of humor. It was interesting how she came to Christian Science through letting go, little by little, of conventional material curative means. The description of the recovery of one of her homeopathic patients from dropsy indicates how the power of Mind becomes visible as the use of matter recedes (see Science and Health, p. 156: 5-27).
While much of our daily lives is given over to consuming the right food, exercising and resting properly, together with appropriate hygiene, we all had examples where we had observed all these and more, yet had become ill and needed to go straight to Mind for rapid and complete healing. We also had examples of health and peace maintained in the face of aggressive contagion and mayhem.
So why bother with the plethora of material means for preserving health and preventing disease? It's hard to say; like everyone else we tend to drift with the current of popular thought, picking up suggestions from TV, friendly conversations and so on. The requirements for healthy living today are as complicated as the hundreds of daily observances imposed on Pharisees. And quite conflictive. One member pointed out these gyrations of thought: carotene, once recommended to prevent cancer, is now thought to cause it; dieticians wobble on whether one should eat mostly carbos or mostly protein and fat; a world-famous heart surgeon stated on TV last week that "tension, stress and excitement" are good for the heart while other experts regard them as sure killers, (he is in his 90's and still practicing surgery — so perhaps we should pin our hopes on him).
The lead article in the New York Times Magazine of January 9, 2000 discusses the power of placebos in medical practice. Many examples of recovery are described and it is emphasized that the patient must believe that the pill or procedure is the real thing, not just a fake. This confirms Mrs. Eddy's observation that it is the faith of the patient in a medical solution that cures him. And of course, it would be the faith of someone in various preventative measures that keeps him well. However, as with any material means, there is always another side — e. g., the carotene cited above — that detracts from it. Often the side effects are not offset by the primary attraction — as with the projectile diarrhea said to accompany one fat absorber.
There is a level of Christian Science practice which seems to us inadequate in preventing disease or anything else. It is based on a belief in Christian Science and leans on ritual to the exclusion of understanding. Doing the weekly Christian Science Bible Lesson, attending church, consulting with practitioners, even having class instruction are no guarantee of spiritual progress. Yes, they expose one to the Truth — but it is the student's assiduous, moment by moment practice of the Truth that saves himself and others and provides whatever human activity flows naturally therefrom.
Some felt that practicing Christian Science as a preventative is incorrect from the very start. It sets up a dangerous dualism, with so called Christian Science on one side and the offending problem on the other. It implies equality between Science and problem; but it does at least carry a kind of symbolism or hint of correct practice. To prevent means to "go before", like Christ Jesus going before us into the Shekinah of undivided Being. In alchemy, the "tinctura magna" cures one forever — he is never ill again. To accomplish this in Science, one must get off and stay off the dualistic mortal basis of belief by uniting with the divine Mind. This is the Great Medicine and involves living all infinitely, eternally as the I that is Us. It heals the universe.
Near the end of the meeting we had some fun evaluating some temporary means we all lean on in light of their eternal aspect, (see Science and Health, p. 444: 7-12). Avoiding drinking and smoking is seeking and finding instead Spirit and peace. Eating or not eating carbos relates to divine energy. Sex is about oneness. A real diagnosis would be inner knowledge. Inoculations — from "oculus" — are about looking within. X-rays are Christ (think Xmas) vision. One member exhorted us to have "not just hygiene, but the highest-giene, or Christian Science!"
For next week we thought we'd look at Diversity in connection with Martin Luther King Day.
Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
The prophylactic and therapeutic (that is, the preventive and curative) arts belong emphatically to Christian
To prevent disease or to cure it, the power of Truth, of divine Spirit, must break the dream of the material senses.
The act of yielding one's thoughts to the undue contemplation of physical wants or conditions induces those very conditions.
One should not tarry in the storm if the body is freezing, nor should he remain in the devouring flames. Until one is able to prevent bad results, he should avoid their occasion.
It is better to prevent disease from forming in mortal mind afterwards to appear on the body; but to do this requires attention. The thought of disease is formed before one sees a doctor and before the doctor undertakes to dispel it by a counter-irritant, —perhaps by a blister, by the application of caustic or croton oil, or by a surgical operation.
A patient's belief is more or less moulded and formed by his doctor's belief in the case, even though the doctor says nothing to support his theory. His thoughts and his patient's commingle, and the stronger thoughts rule the weaker.
We should understand that the cause of disease obtains in the mortal human mind, and its cure comes from the immortal divine Mind. We should prevent the images of disease from taking form in thought, and we should efface the outlines of disease already formulated in the minds of mortals.
Instead of blind and calm submission to the incipient or advanced stages of disease, rise in rebellion against them. Banish the belief that you can possibly entertain a single intruding pain which cannot be ruled out by the might of Mind, and in this way you can prevent the development of pain in the body. No law of God hinders this result.
Eradicate the image of disease from the perturbed thought before it has taken tangible shape in conscious thought, alias the body, and you prevent the development of disease. This task becomes easy, if you understand that every disease is an error, and has no character nor type, except what mortal mind assigns to it. By lifting thought above error, or disease, and contending persistently for truth, you destroy error.
Which was first, Mind or medicine? If Mind was first and self-existent, then Mind, not matter, must have been the first medicine. God being All-in-all, He made medicine; but that medicine was Mind. It could not have been matter, which departs from the nature and character of Mind, God. Truth is God's remedy for error of every kind, and Truth destroys only what is untrue. Hence the fact that, to-day, as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals the sick.