Thinker and his thought

I recently witnessed the healing of a hernia. I realize that this statement alone might give a lot of people pause. But the interesting thing was, although the man asked me to pray, I didn’t have any idea he had a hernia. He asked for prayer about something else entirely, and this longstanding hernia issue cleared up in a day without direct attention on the problem.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote, "The spiritual power of a scientific, right thought, without a direct effort, an audible or even a mental argument, has oftentimes healed inveterate diseases." (Unity of Good 9:24)  For several days before I got the call for help, I had been considering the infinitude of divine Good from a zillion different angles. Consequently, I witnessed several quick healings of physical problems, the hernia case included.

A scientific right thought – this isn't just positive thinking. One can think positively and still identify themselves or others as weak, vulnerable or fearful. The flawed perspective of God's creation as material, mortal, limited victims of evil is the Pandora's box of suffering. But a scientific, right thought proves Pandora and her box to be nothing more than a myth, and plants both the thinker and his thought in the unchangeable, spiritual Good that is God. 

A "scientific, right thought" involves a spiritual consciousness of good, which is a natural, spiritual healer. 

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God, being the universal Mind of all, is the only actual consciousness, the only source of true thought. The divine consciousness of Mind fills all space. Mind is Spirit. So the consciousness of Mind consists of divine Spirit and is reflected only in what is spiritual. Mind is Love. So the consciousness of Mind consists of infinite Love and is reflected only in what is loving and lovable. In the consciousness of Mind, everyone and everything reflects the purity of Spirit and the goodness of Love. Spiritual consciousness includes both the thinker and his thought.

Jesus once sent seventy disciples on a healing tour throughout several Galilean towns. When they returned, they were exhilarated by the personal control they exerted over devils - various forms of evil. (See Luke 10:17-20) They attributed this power to Jesus and to evoking his name. They said, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."

Jesus' answer was, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." (ibid.)

One way of looking at Jesus' response is as a three pronged rebuke.  First, he said, “I beheld Satan as lightening fall from heaven.” I don't think this is a compliment. To me, "lightning fall" refers to lightening-quick autopilot thinking. It is the fashion of antidoting problems by linking certain symptoms to certain "truths" - well-worn positive thoughts. Even something as positive-image inducing as Jesus' name, when simply repeated as a formula for prayer, falls into this category.

Formulaic prayers are a seductive and easy way out of the deeper thought that challenges the thinker to discover the true nature of God and the good that he himself reflects. Formulaic prayers, mechanized thinking, even if it is positive, can be a trap if we never feel our own oneness with Mind, God, that makes us true healers. Any positive effects are temporary and produced by a blind faith, which isn't healthy for the healer or the patient.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “When the mechanism of the human mind gives place to the divine Mind, selfishness and sin, disease and death will lose their foothold.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, 176) And then, further on, she explained what this "giving place" looks like: "The evidence of divine Mind's healing power and absolute control is to me as certain as the evidence of my own existence." (ibid. 177)

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Secondly, Jesus emphasized that his followers were to tread down the enemy completely. They were to make nothing of devils, not to bring them into subjection through personal, human control. He said, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." 

The spiritual authority he brings out here illustrates what it means to really pray "in Jesus' name." More than a personal human control over evil, healing in Jesus' name involves opening to the full power of the Christ, the God-sent message of divine Good, to uncover and destroy all the sneaky, slithering, poisonous and stinging forms of sin or disease that may be deviling one.

The humble willingness to release personal opinions and avoid mechanized human judgment allows us to have a fresh healing look through Mind, - the mind of Christ- at what is really going on. Every case deserves the best of our humility and our willingness to turn to divine Mind for the freshest insight into good.

Thirdly, Jesus told them, "Rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."

The thought is only as good as the thinker. To understand Mind to be the Thinker brings an awareness of God's allness. We discover our "names written in heaven" - that is, our oneness with God, Mind, Spirit, Love, who is as close to us as the Thinker is to thought.

In the consciousness of the one Mind, evil is seen as nothing. And we find man in the image and likeness of God, to be a true transparency for the healing Christ.

All it takes is a scientific, right thought. Have you considered that you are that thought? You are the reflection, - the scientific, right thought - of the divine Mind that is God.

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