Article January 1, 1916 ISSUE

Mind and Body

EVERETT EDGAR KING

Two questions often asked by beginners in Christian Science are these: "What relation exists between me and my body?" and, "If God knows nothing about my body, how can He heal it?"

Physiologists tell us that the body is a self-supporting and self-sustaining organism made up entirely of water and mineral matter. Now these substances have never been accredited with any intelligence of their own, and it is difficult to conceive how, when they are made into the brain and nerves of the material body, they can think, and direct one's actions, any more than they could in their native state. One of the first things we learn in Christian Science is that the material body is the product of mortal thought and is governed by that thought. In Science and Health (p. 177 ) Mrs. Eddy says: "Matter, or body, is but a false concept of mortal mind. This so-called mind builds its own superstructure, of which the material body is the grosser portion; but from first to last, the body is a sensuous, human concept."

The real man is created in the image and likeness of God. He is a divine concept entirely separate from materiality or mortal mind. He can no more be outlined than can God. Man was created for the purpose of expressing the infinite; in fact, all there is to him is what he reflects of God, good. The material concepts which we externalize are the products of mortal mind belief. They do not belong to any one of us, although mortal mind would have us believe they are our own. Neither is the intelligence which we manifest the result of our own thinking. It comes to us from God, and it is the duty and privilege of every one to let these higher spiritual thoughts which are continuously coming to them, govern them. In proportion as they do they will claim and prove man's dominion, and base mortal thoughts will disappear. If we strive to keep mortal thoughts in subjection and let the divine Mind rule our thinking, the human concepts will be harmonious and our bodies will manifest health. If mortal thoughts are allowed to take their own course whithersoever they tend, they will dominate us wholly. At times these thoughts will become discordant, and the body, being governed by them, will become diseased. It is human desire, reaching out for right thinking and acting, which allows the real man to appear.

When we see a man walking down the street, do we unconsciously consider him as so much flesh and blood clothed for his daily tasks, or do we stop to consider that what we see is only the mortal concept and that the real man is unseen to the physical senses? We should endeavor to know the perfect man as Jesus knew him, the man who reflects God. We know that we are constantly expressing thoughts of some kind. They may come from the universal mortal mind, so called, or they may be from the divine. The true Christian Scientist will strive to know himself as God's child, and remember that his existence is in consciousness and is mental. His human thoughts will then take their rightful place and become harmonious.

We learn in Christian Science that sight is a mental process in no wise dependent upon the eye; that hearing is achieved by thought and not by the ear. Mortal mind, however, has taught us for ages that man is wholly dependent upon physical organs; that these organs can become diseased, and when they do they cannot perform their proper functions. If we know that the real man is spiritual, and if we let Truth destroy the mortal thought which is causing disharmony, the body will respond with health.

The apostle Paul says, "We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh." He also says, "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."

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