Editorial November 17, 1906 Issue

WHOLESOME MENTAL FOOD

Annie M. Knott

It is interesting to note that the publication of a certain class of sensational reports is prohibited in France, where the press enjoys so much liberty. A number of years ago an attempt was made in England to prevent by legal means the publication of all reports of criminal trials, this being urged on the ground that the reading of such reports had a pernicious and dangerous tendency upon the young. It does not seem, however, that this attempt at reform has yet met with much success in any country, although it is now generally conceded that mental contagion is more insidious and harmful than the so-called physical. We may therefore rejoice when any effort is made to prevent impurity from entering the channels of human thought, through the press or otherwise.

In Christian Science we learn the vital need of seeking our mental sustenance in that which is pure, good, and strengthening,—a need which is unfortunately overlooked by people at large. Most people are wise enough to reject impure or improper food, because it is admitted that the body would suffer in consequence of partaking of it, but Christian Scientists have learned the greater need of rejecting whatever is impure or unwholesome from their mental fare.

A lady once remarked that she was not afraid to read anything, because she had sufficient mental stamina to reject the evil while she was reading about it. A physician who was present, and who had been studying "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," replied thoughtfully, "No; if you take evil into your consciousness at all, you will have to suffer your way out of it, though this may teach you a useful lesson." Through the study of this book he had begun to see that not only is the moral sense affected by any evil thought which is entertained, but that the body also must suffer from it. It is not enough that we live up to the world's standard of good; we must go farther, and at every point refuse to take evil into our consciousness, including the records of sickness and sin.

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