Article May 30, 2016 Issue

A healing response to symptoms

Elizabeth Trevithick

When cats or dogs are hungry, they often act especially friendly to their owners. They snuggle around our legs to get our attention. By endearing themselves to us, they know from experience they’ll be fed.

Generally, human babies don’t do that. They kick up a racket and make it known in no uncertain terms that it’s time to feed the baby. With our pets or babies, we learn to interpret what we see or hear, and take appropriate action.

This can be useful in thinking about bodily symptoms. When we see or feel something abnormal, we mistakenly think there is a problem with the body that needs fixing. But the body is not the problem. Those who study and practice Christian Science learn to recognize symptoms as signals that thought is crying out for change, for a clearer understanding of the spiritual facts of man’s wholeness as a child of God.

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