Editorial March 29, 1952 Issue

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TREATMENT

Helen Wood Bauman

Treatment in Christian Science is capable of broad definition. Its incidental purpose is to destroy sin, to give relief to the suffering sense, and to bring harmony to human affairs. But its deeper objective is to rouse the human self to become conscious of the vast realm of Spirit, which is eternally present. Christian Science practice is the Science of treating disease through divine Mind; the human mind is not a factor in this treatment. Because the objective is spiritual, the means of reaching it must also be; the thoughts which constitute the treatment emanate from divine Mind, or God, and reflect this Mind. They are innocent and unselfed, intelligent, and fraught with tender desire to bless. More than a merely mental method of healing, Christian Science treatment is divinity's mode of revealing man as Christlike, whole and free.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy devotes the chapter "Christian Science Practice" to instruction in healing and treatment. Here she discusses the mental causes of physical ailments and shows how Science is to be applied mentally and spiritually in healing mortal ills. The chapter begins with a description of Christ Jesus' healing of Mary Magdalene, of her deep repentance and readiness for transformation, and of his compassion and freedom from condemnation. For nearly six pages our Leader writes of the spirit needed for healing rather than of the letter or argument involved. She says (p. 365), "If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to win his own pardon, and such commendation as the Magdalen gained from Jesus, then he is Christian enough to practise scientifically and deal with his patients compassionately; and the result will correspond with the spiritual intent."

One needs to have repented from sin and materialism himself before he is ready to relieve others of the burden of evil's aggressive impositions by realizing their unreality. He must have won his own pardon by rejecting the belief that there is an evil mortal mind and that man is less than God's image. One needs constantly to realize that it is the purity of his own real identity coming to light that makes it possible for him to behold his patient as God makes him—spiritually pure and whole.

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