Article March 13, 1954 Issue

DISPELLING THE SHADOWS

HAROLD CARLYON

One evening as a student of Christian Science sat in his study, he began to observe shadows thrown sharply on the wall by objects on the mantelpiece. Why, he thought, here is a strange thing: I can see something which is made of nothing. A shadow, he realized, has no substance. This led him to the conclusion that the mere fact that one can see a thing, or perceive it in any way through the material senses, does not prove it to be substantial. Then there came to his thought Mary Baker Eddy's statement in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 418), "Tumors, ulcers, tubercles, inflammation, pain, deformed joints, are waking dream-shadows, dark images of mortal thought, which flee before the light of Truth."

A friend experienced a healing through Christian Science which illustrates these words. She had suffered from internal growths and misplaced organs for many years, the last three of them spent in bed. Finally the two physicians attending her gave her a week to live.

At this point someone sent her a copy of Science and Health. In spite of her weak condition, she asked her mother to read the textbook to her. After an hour or two her mother noticed that she was lying quietly, apparently in less pain, and so the mother continued to read on and off throughout the night. The next day the patient was free from pain. The reading was continued during the day, and that night she was able to read herself. Then it was that the spiritual sense of what she was reading dawned upon her. She knew that she was healed. She had gained an awareness of the fundamental truth of being—the present spiritual perfection of God and man—and a corresponding sense of the unreality of her troubles. The growths vanished. They had been made to "flee before the light of Truth." Shortly afterwards the misplaced organs resumed their proper place and function.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

DISPELLING THE SHADOWS

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access