Spiritual Discernment
No student of Christian Science would deny that in order to attain the best results in healing, the clearest spiritual discernment is needed. Christ Jesus was preparing his disciples for the healing ministry in which he himself was engaged, and in studying the gospels we find that he very often rebuked the spiritual dullness manifested by the religionists of his time, and indeed by the disciples themselves. When the Pharisees asked the Master to "shew them a sign from heaven," he refused to come down to their plane of thought and said, "O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" They were too blind to see that his healing works were most truly signs from heaven.
In commenting upon the lack of spiritual discernment Mrs. Eddy says on page 85 of Science and Health: "It is recorded that Jesus, as he once journeyed with his students, 'knew their thoughts,'—read them scientifically. In like manner he discerned disease and healed the sick." It is, however, perfectly clear that no amount of prying into materiality or error will bring the results which accompany spiritual understanding or discernment. This may be illustrated even on the human plane when we deal with thought rather than with material things. A banker once said to a friend, that in listening to some explanations of Christian Science he had come to understand certain experiences which he had many years ago when he was a young bank clerk. He said that at that time a good many counterfeit bills were in circulation and he greatly feared that because of his inexperience he might accept them for the genuine, but in speaking to the president of the bank this gentleman told him that if he would study the genuine bills a good deal, find out all about them, there would be no danger of his being deceived by a counterfeit, that a single glance would show him the difference between that and the spurious and the genuine bill.
In the same way, one who is engaged in the work of healing learns through his understanding of divine Principle to detect quickly the error which must be destroyed in order that real healing may be experienced, and Mrs. Eddy makes this very plain throughout her entire teachings. She explains to students of her writings that both fear and sin must be uncovered and destroyed by the truth, and the practitioner who discerns any phase of error—insincerity, dishonesty, or impurity—in the thought of the patient, must first of all turn the light of Truth into the depths of his own thought and cast out whatever may remain therein of these errors. He will then be ready to face lovingly and effectively the task set before him of healing perfectly the human consciousness which has come to him for the aid that divine Science alone can give.
In the prophecy of Jeremiah (sixth chapter) we find this warning against those whose attempts at healing did not measure up to the Christ standard. The passage reads, "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace." In ordinary medical practice much experimentation is done along material lines, especially in chronic cases. The patient may say that his stomach is at fault, and if no relief comes from the remedies used, the physician assumes that some other organ is to blame, or suggests that a change of diet would bring better results. But the Christian Science practitioner knows that he must probe the very depths of mortal thought, and through his spiritual discernment find what it is that needs correction. In the fourth chapter of Hebrews we read that the word of God "is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." If, therefore, we are sufficiently in earnest about our work, we need no material diagnosis, but sufficient spiritual discernment to uncover the fear which is to be destroyed, even if it be the fear of death and hell. On page 95 of Science and Health our revered Leader says, "We approach God, or Life, in proportion to our spirituality, our fidelity to Truth and Love; and in that ratio we know all human need and are able to discern the thought of the sick and the sinning for the purpose of healing them."
All this may remind us of Paul's words in the twelfth chapter of I Corinthians, where he speaks of spiritual gifts of healing, and where he also refers to the "discerning of spirits," a passage which has been misinterpreted and misapplied by many. We shall avoid all mistake respecting the meaning of this passage if we study carefully the Master's words to James and John as found in the ninth chapter of Luke. We have all been accustomed to think of John as a most loving disciple, but he and his brother asked permission to call down fire from heaven to consume some people who had refused to listen to their Master's teachings. We read that Jesus rebuked this error and said to them, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." Jesus had the needed spiritual discernment, and because he had it in its fullness his disciples gained it through his teachings and their own demonstrations of the truth, until at length all that was unlike Love was cast out of their consciousness. No number of interviews by proxy with the departed could ever have brought such a result or enabled the disciples to deal with sin in all its phases, and to face fearlessly for themselves even death, on the way to its complete overcoming. Paul assures us that the things of God have not "entered into the heart of man," but that God Himself reveals them to us, and he adds, "For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
Annie M. Knott.
