Fear Not!

Duncan Sinclair

"Fear ," writes Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 532), "was the first manifestation of the error of material sense." What a light her words throw on the question of fear! Material sense, then, is the culprit. The sense that apparently tells us of matter and informs us of material phenomena and material law, that seems to acquaint us with sickness and accident, this so-called sense is at the root of all fear and inharmony. When this is recognized, it becomes plain that the way to master fear is to gain an understanding of the erroneous nature of material sense, its altogether unreal nature, through the knowledge which Christian Science imparts that spiritual sense alone is real, and alone can acquaint us with that which is absolutely true.

"I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me," sings the Psalmist in the twentythird Psalm. What enabled the Psalmist to attain to this state of calm, this freedom from fear of evil? There can be but one answer: he had gained an understanding of God which assured him of the presence with him of the Almighty, and a faith in the power of God to protect him from evil. All who would be rid of fear should come to know God as infinite Life, Truth, Love, infinite good, even as Christian Science teaches; for then they will perceive the unreality of evil to which material sense seems to testify, and so lose fear of evil.

Again, consider the question of fear in the light of the knowledge of God as infinite Love. What a knowledge is this! What reverence for God it inspires within us! God, our Father-Mother, is infinite unchanging Love. Then, can His children possibly have any reason to fear? No; because in true spiritual being every idea is governed, protected, and continually blessed by God, infinite Love. When one perceives these great basic spiritual truths, how easy it is to understand the baseless nature of fear; yes, to comprehend that fear belongs to the unreal realm of material sense!

Fear is a factor in every disease; indeed, it is often the cause of disease. Mrs. Eddy writes on page 392 of Science and Health: "Fear, which is an element of all disease, must be cast out to readjust the balance for God. Casting out evil and fear enables truth to outweigh error." Thus does our Leader emphasize what the Christian Science practitioner endeavors to do when he begins Christian Science treatment on a case — destroy the fear of the patient. It goes without saying that the practitioner should endeavor to free himself of fear before he commences treatment. And to ensure this he clears his thought by the realization of Love's allness and of the fact that matter or evil is unreal. Sick people are very sensitive to fear in others, very quick to detect it in them. This is an added reason for the practitioner's making certain that his consciousness is so full of the understanding of Love's presence and power that fear is absent from it.

What a wonderful thing it is to see the fear of another vanish before one's own certain assurance that in reality divine Love alone is present, and to observe the healing effect! Nothing can surpass the joy experienced when in one's practice of Christian Science one realizes sufficiently clearly God's presence as infinite good and the unreality of an evil presence, and sees, perhaps, a fever abate, restlessness overcome, and peace return along with strength and health. And that is what is occurring in Christian Science practice continually. It were well to keep before our thought the words of our Leader, who was so skilled in the healing art, namely, "To succeed in healing, you must conquer your own fears as well as those of your patients, and rise into higher and holier consciousness" (Science and Health, p. 419). It was always that way with Mrs. Eddy. She was ever pointing upwards, ever encouraging students of Christian Science to attain to a greater measure of spiritualization of thought.

How great is the need for Christian Science in the world today, if but to break the fear which is holding mankind so relentlessly in its grasp! Suspicion, jealousy, envy, hate are rampant, all tending to increase the fear which paralyzes constructive effort and precipitates strife. Christian Science is reaching out to the uttermost ends of the earth in its efforts to bring its healing message to men; for only as they receive that message, which tells them of God's allness — Love's allness — and evil's nothingness, and that fear is baseless, will they be able to realize the fatherhood and motherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and be reconciled to one another. In his first epistle John writes, "He that feareth is not made perfect in love."

Duncan Sinclair

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

No Retrograde Step

September 24, 1932

Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit