THE CORRECT APPROACH TO TREATMENT
Excerpt from Association Address of 1912
by
Frances Thurber Seal
"The full representation of Mind" - when will man be "the
full representation of Mind"? Now - in the spiritual now.
Where is man? Here.
In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy has
stated that "the human capacities are enlarged and perfected in
proportion as humanity gains the true conception of man and God."
Do you not see that the knowledge that man reflects all the qualities
expressed in the definition of God, sets man free from any sense of
limitation? And the knowledge that thou art the man, is your badge of
freedom. Then you know enough to do anything that you may have to do,
for you reflect the divine knowing. What is it that declares that you
do not know enough to heal this case or to carry out this affair? The
devil - all the devil there is - and it does it in the name of good,
declaring man to be a miserable sinner, finite, limited, doomed to
lose even the little that he now has; and even Christian Scientists
are at times deceived into thinking that it is humility to claim that
they do not know enough now. If this is true, then man is not today
the "full representation of Mind."
I wish I could bring to your attention the great necessity for an
affirmative condition of thought. Know that, through Christian
Science, you are constantly gaining that which will do everything
for you, and make your daily experience a gaining process. This will
open up your mentality, and make it more receptive to the right idea;
whereas the contrary policy of constant denial, and endeavor to become
better and holier and wiser through the process of giving up error,
eventuates in a mesmeric condition in which error seems real.
It is true that forms of erring belief are to disappear, and that the
human consciousness is to be divested of all that claims to be
something as error or sin; but this is to be accomplished by the
influx of pure knowledge, or true ideas. You can no more rake out or
dig out error than you can shovel out darkness. Darkness is dispelled
by the incoming of the light, and our Leader tells us, "The way to
extract error from mortal mind is to pour in truth through flood-tides
of Love," and she adds, "Christian perfection is won on no
other basis." (Science and Health)
The old theological plan of salvation included the constant refrain
that we must give up all for Christ, that one's life should be a
continuous process of renunciation. Many Christian Scientists
hold to this as the necessary mode of progress, and the result has
been a prodigious onslaught of the human will against almost
everything in the environment of human life. Christian Science is not
a process of giving up, but a process of gaining.
The actual service which Christian Science exerts in our behalf is an
educational one. It teaches us to know man, and his infinite
capacities and possibilities in the way set forth by the Apostle John
when he said, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be [what we shall find ourselves to be
when we see ourselves as we really are], but we know that when He
[Mind, God] shall appear, we shall be like Him; [why?] for we shall
see Him as He is."
So our deliverance from the belief of evil is to be accomplished
not by giving up something, but by gaining that knowledge of God which
is our salvation. Jesus' admonition, "Seek ye first the
kingdom of God," is scientifically and literally correct. The one
to whom Christian Science is to be a saviour, must seek the right idea
about everything, and when he has the right idea, he has entered
heaven where sin, disease and death are unknown. Christian
Scientists
frequently render their work more difficult and put off their own
deliverance by working at the wrong end of the problem. The Bible
says, "The government shall be upon his shoulder,"
meaning that Christ, Truth - the right idea - has done the work,
asserts itself, and disposes of the belief.
The Truth that releases our patients is all the Christ there ever has
been or ever will be. It is certain that an erring belief does not
know enough to give itself up. It follows, therefore, that a
purely human giving-up effort does not give up, but does involve the
Scientist in a greater sense of fear, and leaves him to confuse the
action of the human will with divine activity.
Evil can never be given up as though it were something. It can only be
displaced and destroyed through the activity of the right idea, and
this activity in human consciousness will bring the peace promised by
Isaiah when "they shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy
mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as
the waters cover the sea."
Another incorrect thought in line with this salvation through giving
up, a twin error, is that mortals must "suffer out of the
flesh." But since there is no flesh, it follows that this
declaration is a mesmeric suggestion, and if persisted in, it admits
all that is claimed for matter and sin. If we are in the flesh, or in
sin, or anything that we need to suffer out of, then Christian Science
is in error in its basic proposition that all is Mind, and there is no
matter. The Scientist who believes that he must suffer in order to
become better, is arresting his development. Divine Mind knows no
evil, and does not know or believe that anyone is perpetrating evil.
The supposition that God condemns and punishes evil would involve God
in evil, and would confirm every claim concerning the reality of evil.
Christian Science reveals the fact that, in belief, mortal mind brings
forth man for the purpose of destroying him, that it condemns him to
sin and suffer, and then sentences him to die as a result of sin and
suffering. You must recognize this condemnation of man and protect
yourself and patients from the suggestion, "I am not good enough
to heal. I am not loving enough. I do not have enough spiritual
understanding."
The Christian Scientist who claims a limited understanding denies
Christ - yea, crucifies Christ. A limited understanding cannot heal,
and never did heal. A belief of a limited understanding may change
one phase of error for another, but nothing less than the divine idea
heals and saves. The idea is "the divine manifestation of God,
which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error." (Science and
Health) Stop condemning; cease believing that man is mortal and a
sinner. A treatment with condemnation never heals; it poisons. There
is no God in it. The only thing God does for us is to bless us. By
making a connection between God and penalty or suffering, we have
become involved in a belief of a vengeful God, and the fear caused by
this belief is the cause, and only cause, of all suffering, including
sin, disease, and death. . . .
Then cease forever every declaration like this, "I suppose I must
suffer out of it," or "I suppose that I must expect to suffer
until I become more faithful, or more humble, or more something
else." You will never become faithful as long as you expect to
suffer, for you are denying the allness of God. You will never become humble
through believing that you must suffer, for in so doing, you are
arrogantly claiming a self apart from God.
Inasmuch as mortals are defrauded and imposed upon by error, it
follows that the worst sinner is the most pitiable victim, and what he
needs is instant salvation instead of eternal punishment. Some
Scientists have the habit of holding their patients under
condemnation, and thereby rendering themselves unable to heal.
"She will have to give up self-will, vanity, etc., before she can
expect to be healed." Who will have to give it up? Do you not see
that only a mortal can give these up?
Christian Science operates wholly to relieve the victim, not to
condemn him, and this is done by condemning the error, not the man;
error must always be condemned to its native nothingness; it must
always be seen as nothing, not as something.
The practice of Christian Science is the mental activity which
resolves the material things and conditions into thoughts, and
discovers that these are simply erring thoughts about that which is
true; and the basis of our practice is the verity that all that is
real is already complete and perfect. God and man, the universe and
all therein, is finished and is immortal. God can do nothing more
than to express Himself, and a Christian Scientist is not called upon
to aid Him in doing that; a Christian Scientist is not called upon to
do anything to anything that exists. He does not need to help man
or body; all that he needs to do is to know the truth about God, man,
and the universe. . . .
Man is a condition of receptivity. One of our lecturers expressed this
most beautifully when he said, "Man is the receiving of
God's giving." God is forever expressing Himself, and man is
continuously receiving and reflecting the character and activity
of divine Principle. Our textbook says, "Understanding is a
quality of God." And what is man? Man is the reflection of the qualities
of God; hence man is understanding expressed. What do you think is
possible for this man in the way of accomplishments? Just what our
Leader tells us in Miscellaneous Writings, "Whatever is possible
to God, is possible to man as God's reflection."
Man has unlimited opportunity, and yet we are constantly called upon
as practitioners to help people whose claim is a lack of opportunity;
they say they have no opportunity for business connections; no
opportunity to work out proper home conditions, etc. As a matter of
fact, man exists at the standpoint of opportunity. Opportunity to
manifest perfection is not only ever-present and available, but
it is the very law of man's being, the decree of God. "Be
thou and be thou as I am" (image and likeness) is the law of
opportunity to man; and this law enforces its continuance and
availability; and conversely it arrests and breaks down the supposed
mortal law which claims to limit opportunity for each one. The
opportunity to do whatever you should do, to heal the sick, to perform
your every duty to yourself and to mankind and to the Cause of
Christian Science, is here and now. This specific thought of
opportunity should be made part of your daily work, until you become
imbued with expectation of success. Remember, there is nothing in a
treatment other than what is in it as specific thought. Your patient
has no more opportunity to recover than mortal mind concedes, unless
your treatment provides infinite opportunity through recognizing and
declaring the law.
When you grasp this, you will see how limited your treatments have
been in the matter of expectation, and you will see why you have
sometimes failed. The consciousness of the presence of Principle, law,
power, and opportunity is all that is needed to remove mountains. . .
We as Christian Scientists are constantly missing God because we
do not realize that He is with us. All humanity has sought Him and
never found Him until Christian Science demonstrated His presence.
Christ says, "Come unto me," and so leads us to Life, Truth,
and Love as the only realities. We have to see God through that which
manifests God. In gaining the right idea of anything, we find God with
us, Life harmonious with us, Truth victorious with us, Love dispelling
all malice with us.
The slightest manifestation of healing through Christian Science
treatment, is the manifestation of God with us. The only God there is,
cannot forsake us at any time. We must have our anchorage in that
thought. Acquaint yourselves with God and be at peace. Acquaint
yourselves with Life, Truth, and Love. God never fails in His
promises, and the only reason we think He does, is through a faulty
concept which is being destroyed. The only reality is God with us. The
greatest demonstration ever made was Jesus' crucifixion and
resurrection. When he was on the cross, it looked as though God had
forsaken him, but he knew better, for he knew Omnipresence. So we must
cling to the Truth, no matter what error may say about failure. We
know we are proving the allness and might of infinite Life, Truth, and
Love. The only growth there is, is in knowing God is with us. It is
God with us that heals and supplies all wisdom and power, strength and
peace; silences grief and exterminates poverty.
This is being spiritually minded - to know the Truth and to
demonstrate it. The basis of all healing is the fact that all is
perfect now. God's work is finished and is good.
This selection is an excerpt from Our Journey Towards True Selfhood, a
collection of three Association Addresses by Mrs. Seal. To order or
download this collection, go to S3-FTS-1.
Mrs. Seal also wrote Christian Science in Germany. To order this
inspiring account of her pioneering work in Germany at the turn of the
last century, go to S4-FTS-1. http://www.thebookmark.com