Article December 1, 1917 Issue

Power of Right Thinking

ALFRED F. GOODMAN

Anyone who is familiar with the teachings of Christian Science knows that the power to heal is in proportion to one's honesty, purity, and spirituality. Success is in proportion to the extent that we are "unspotted from the world;" therefore it is plain that anything which helps to lift us above temporal things or thoughts helps us to gain spiritually, and likewise that anything which tends to make material things more real to us hinders our advancement in Spirit. It behooves us, then, to be honest, frank, and true to ourselves in searching our mentalities to find what thoughts are helping and what are hindering us, and to govern ourselves accordingly.

A truly conscientious worker in the Science of Mind will seprate himself from anything which tends to hinder his advancement in the understanding of Truth. Regardless of the hold material things may have upon his affections, he knows that "higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man" (Science and Health, p. 60), and is willing to dispossess all else and thus make room for just that much more truth. The real beauty of this is that he finds he actually did not give up anything at all, but instead has gained everything. He has parted with a temporal, unreal something, and gained something real and lasting, far more enjoyable and profitable. The material pain, pleasure, or desire did not help his growth in understanding, but hindered it. Therefore he is willing to give it up and gain the spirituality which the effort brings him; and he is blessed accordingly.

A mentality thus purified from evil and made active and awake in Truth and Love, is a wonderful power. It seems remarkable from the material standpoint how powerful such a condition of thought is, and mortal mind therefore calls the outcome "miracles." The many demonstrations of Jesus, instantaneous proofs of a thought free from guile and active in Truth, were not understood. Even now it is not thoroughly apprehended that Jesus did not have to work laboriously for every result he secured; for his thought was so powerful that he had only to speak the word,—connect the individual with the truth he knew mentally about God and man,—and the healing was accomplished. Jesus was indeed so mentally poised, so pure, and so free from materiality, that his thought was ever active in Truth; and the history of his life is full of proofs of the power of such a thought.

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