Editorial September 14, 1929 Issue

Health a Condition of Mind

Duncan Sinclair

On page 120 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy makes a statement of great importance to mankind. She writes, "Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the subject of health." Her words reverse the usual way of thinking; for, ordinarily, the evidence of the material senses, which is usually accepted by men as reliable, bears witness that health is dependent upon matter, upon the condition of the so-called material body, and not upon Mind. But since Mind is God, the cause, creator, and governor of all that really exists, the belief that health is dependent upon matter would leave God out of the question.

It is highly important that mankind should be correctly informed regarding health, because good health plays such a great part in the affairs of men. Just how does Christian Science regard health? First of all, Christian Science teaches that God is infinite and perfect Mind, and that Mind expresses itself in ideas, which constitute the real and only creation. Further, it declares that since Mind is perfect, Mind's creation must also be perfect, and that there can in reality be no reversal of that perfection. This is tantamount to saying that in the realm of the real, imperfection is unknown, evil is unknown, sin and disease are unknown; or, in other words, that health is a necessity of perfect Being or Mind. How marvelously the understanding of the perfection of God, divine Mind, and of Mind's creation, man, clarifies the problem of health for mankind, lifting it out of the region of unreliable material sense testimony into the unchangeable realm of absolutely perfect Mind!

What, then, does the student of Christian Science do when confronted with the argument of disease? Knowing that it is false material sense which appears to argue for disease, he denies the validity of the argument: to him Mind's creation — the only creation—exists in perfect harmony. This scientific understanding destroys the erroneous argument, and the disease is healed. The Christian Scientist endeavors to rely implicitly on the truth about Mind and man, because in this way alone can he refute and overcome the false beliefs of mortal mind. In the sentence immediately following that quoted above, our Leader says, "The Science of Mind healing shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man;" and she proceeds, "Therefore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testimony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniously existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic."

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