Editorial July 8, 1939 Issue

The One Evil

George Shaw Cook

THE mistake is sometimes made by students of Christian Science of regarding some particular phase of aggressive mental suggestion as the whole of evil; whereas the specific phase which is under consideration is only a part of the whole. And it is self-evident that the whole is greater than its parts.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says, on page 484 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "Animal magnetism is the voluntary or involuntary action of error in all its forms; it is the human antipode of divine Science." Since, then, animal magnetism is the name for error in all its forms, it is obvious that error, and not one of its phases, is the one evil. In other words, error, evil—the carnal or mortal mind—includes, in belief, all the forms of mesmerism, hypnotism, or mental suggestion through which it claims to work. Therefore, it would be a mistake to conclude that any phase of mental malpractice, however aggressive, is the only claim of evil with which mortals have to contend.

Animal magnetism is impersonal evil. It is as impersonal as the so-called law of centripetal force which appears to attract objects on the earth's surface towards its center. Therefore animal magnetism can never be intelligently dealt with or successfully resisted as person or persons. It simply is a belief of animal attraction, and when seen for what it is, its seeming power can be annulled through realization that there is no other power than Spirit, divine Mind. Mrs. Eddy says (ibid., p. 102): "There is but one real attraction, that of Spirit. The pointing of the needle to the pole symbolizes this all-embracing power or the attraction of God, divine Mind."

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