Treatment
September 5, 2011
Pray without ceasing. Watch diligently; never desert the post of spiritual observation and self-examination. Let your light reflect Light. Forget not for a moment, that God is All-in-all -- therefore, that in reality there is but one cause and effect.
"Yes, we've done it before when we were working with Arthur Corey's book. But this time we wanted to practice rather than intellectualize."
"Still it might be a good idea to go through some basics."
"Right. Who'd like to start?"
"OK. To start with — they say start with God. At least that's what my teacher taught."
"And you agree — that's been helpful?"
"Sure. If you let yourself get bogged down in the problem you might forget God completely. The best way to snap the downward drag of negative thinking is to go straight to God. You know, affirming the total goodness of God, His total control and so on."
"I agree. You may have to start by just mouthing some truths from the Bible or Mrs. Eddy. A few months ago I had a severe knee problem come up as I was climbing some stairs. All kinds of imagery about friends having knee operations flooded my thinking, but I quickly swept all that aside with absolute statements of Truth. It seemed meaningless at first but as I persisted — right there on the stairs! — the words began to make sense and the problem faded out. I was able to go on up and the problem hasn't come back."
"Thanks. That's such a practical example of how to heal. I've always been turned off by treatments that consist of an individual spinning out torrents of words, lots of affirmations and denials, even if that was the way we were taught in class instruction."
"Good point! We're just locking ourselves into being a mortal, marshaling our meager arsenal of beliefs to manufacture what must be a faith healing."
"I guess it's better than taking a pill."
"How does Christian Science differ from a faith healing?"
"I'd cut right through to the infinite idea that the problem is counterfeiting."
"Can you give us an example from your own experience?"
"Here's a good one. Several years ago, late at night, I started getting red blotches on my skin. I had one of those self-help books in the house and looked in it get an idea of what was happening. It appeared to be a food allergy arising from undercooked fish that I'd eaten for dinner. There was a warning of a deadly outcome if the throat started closing up. And my throat was now closing up! It appeared a call to 911 or a rush to an emergency room would fall far short. Finally, I turned to Christian Science! I tried calling my teacher and got his machine. What could I now do? I sat down on the bed and turned directly to God. The cause of this predicament was said to be undercooked fish, so I thought what really is the only cause — and effect? Aha! God is the only cause and effect! God, Life and Love — the only cause and effect! I just stayed with that and my throat opened again and the spots diminished until they disappeared."
"It's interesting you turned to mortal mind before you turned to Christian Science."
"And pretty near died in the process! But would I have had such a rapid recovery if I hadn't got the bejesus scared out of me by that book, which as you can also see provided me the mortal belief that could be flipped into the divine idea lurking right there."
"There was an interesting article in the August 1st Sentinel by a practitioner describing his evolution in the practice. I'll quote from the last paragraph: ' When the first patient called back to say her badly injured leg was completely healed overnight, I confess I was surprised. At that time, I thought I worked for God. Later, as I gained "experience", I believed I worked with God. Today, I pray for enough humility to simply watch God work.""Prayer in Christian Science is so different from other religions, we really should drop the word."
"I think it's OK but we have to be careful to let people know what we mean."
"Does anyone care to say what it is?"
"One could start with Mrs. Eddy's first chapter of Science and Health. But for right here and now, I'd say it's turning wholeheartedly to God, listening to Him, being totally open to Truth."
"Finally it needs to be divine knowing. That's when the healing occurs."
"The trouble is that we turn to everything but God, as my initial experience with the red blotches shows."
"I think it's essential at that point not to collapse into guilt which just compounds the problem. Remember the Prodigal Son — he went back with trepidation but was immediately and totally accepted by divine Love."
"I look for strategies to break the mesmerism. That line in the Responsive Readings from Psalm 139 ' Thou...art acquainted with all my ways ' is not scientific on the human belief level but is wonderfully scientific when I realize God is fully cognizant of all my ways which are really His ways happening as me."
"You're cutting to the divine idea instead of staying mesmerized by the dualistic material belief."
"Exactly!"
"I talked to a practitioner before I went in for my semi-annual dental cleaning the other day. I usually do that so there's no room for mortal mind to take control. She said ' Examine the dental people as they examine you.' What a potent idea! Also, It was in Rockefeller Center, so there were lots of other beliefs to examine — from business, medical and retail perspectives."
"That's a nice bridge to what's called world work. As I was watching all the suffering in Somalia I took a scientific stand against the picture. God knows nothing about such scenes. He sees and comprises only absolute harmony right there. I don't know how much good a treatment like that does, but it certainly can't hurt."
"It can be very powerful. Remember ' One with God is a majority!' No matter how many people are thinking and believing in evil, God good is the only power. Many years ago I went to see a practitioner and when I arrived she announced that the student uprisings then haunting the country — remember Kent State and all that? — anyway she announced they were finished based on a vigorous treatment and particularly deep realization of Truth she'd just had. I sort of mentally rolled my eyes, but you know she was right — the riots ended there and then.""Can you remember anything about how she worked?"
"Not really but she always said if I hear something negative in the news I should work immediately as if I was the only practitioner on the case. We shouldn't wait for someone else to do the work."
"It shouldn't be any harder to heal a so-called big problem than a small one. They're both based on an unreal sense of existence. It's just mesmerism that holds us back."
"Here's something from Mrs. Laird that gives a vision of what would underlie that level of work: ' Man, being the consciousness of God, includes or unfolds — as his own individual being, of body, his world — all the infinite qualities of God symbolized by trees, fish, fowl, rocks, mountains, etc., every individual quality or idea producing after its kind, the seed being within itself because the divine Mind is all and reproduces all. God is forever producing or being his own body, his own world, his own place, his own friends.' That's from a paper called ' Objects of Sense are Ideas of Soul'."
"That's pretty strong. Think of the situations that could benefit from treatment from that standpoint."
"Definitely. Can I be the infinite idea of infinite Mind which includes the world economy, Somalia, Libya?"
"You could even take off from some of Mrs. Eddy's thoughts — I mean, the debt overhang in America and Europe could be dissolved in 'Love is reflected in love' and the starvation by ' Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections' ."
"I came across something in the textbook that indicates to me at least that there's no need to hold back from working in Science for someone undergoing material treatments. It would certainly also apply a situation like Libya where material means are being employed to the hilt...."
"I was watching TV as the rebels were flooding into Tripoli and all the reporters could talk about was the coming bloodbath. It was like 'we have to take a break but stay tuned for the bloodbath."
"Right. Anyway, here's the quote from Science and Health: 'The struggle for the recovery of invalids goes on, not between material methods, but between mortal minds and immortal Mind. The victory will be on the patient's side only as immortal Mind through Christ, Truth, subdues the human belief in disease. It matters not what material method one may adopt, whether faith in drugs, trust in hygiene, or reliance on some other minor curative.'"
"I'm finding it helpful to stay prayerful as much as possible, rather than rendering treatments as problems arise. I try to understand the reality of every so called positive or negative belief. I mean, on the human belief level, everything is a makeshift attempt to pattern the divine. Even positive beliefs will fail until we arrive at a full comprehension of individual infinite eternal being."
"Let's leave it there. We need a topic for the next two months."
"I like working with the Lesson but why don't we focus on the Emergence topic ' Shine a Light' ?"
"Everyone seems to agree — so it's ' Shine a Light' for September and October."