Article March 3, 1923 Issue

It is a mistake to suppose that Doctor Coué is "giving...

Samuel J. Macdonald, Committee on Publication for the State of New Jersey,—Hoboken

Hudson Observer

It is a mistake to suppose that Doctor Coué is "giving Christian Science a new twist," or that his theories or practices bear any resemblance or relation to Christian Science. Coué attempts to differentiate his practice from hypnotic suggestion by claiming that his system induces conscious self-suggestion. Aside from this attempted distinction, Coué's system differs in no important respect from treatment by hypnotic suggestion, which is at least as old as Mesmer. But neither mesmerism, hypnotism, suggestion, autosuggestion, psychoanalysis, nor Couéism has anything whatever in common with Christian Science. On the contrary, there is "a great gulf fixed" between them.

Neither is Christian Science "an offshoot of theosophy." No theosophist claims this to be the fact, nor does any one else who has any familiarity with both systems. Mrs. Eddy herself explicitly and unmistakably sets forth the criterion by which one may distinguish and differentiate Christian Science from all other systems, old or new, and whether or not based upon the teachings of Christ Jesus. In "Unity of Good" (pp. 9, 10), she writes, "What is the cardinal point of the difference in my metaphysical system? This: that by knowing the unreality of disease, sin, and death, you demonstrate the allness of God. This difference wholly separates my system from all others." In various passages in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy makes clear that all these other systems are in no way akin to Christian Science; but especially on page 484 of that text-book, in answer to a pertinent question, she defines the irreconcilable differences between Christian Science and all these ancient and modern systems which do not rely upon the divine Mind alone for amelioration and healing.

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