Few people admit that they are superstitious. The word brings visions of walking under ladders, seeing black cats, et cetera. However, there is a deeper meaning to superstition than belief in luck, either good or bad. One dictionary definition of "superstition" reads in part, "An irrational abject attitude of mind toward...God, proceeding from ignorance, unreasoning fear of the unknown or mysterious." Superstition, then, is nothing but self-deception based on false mortal opinions.

Consciousness awakened by the study of Christian Science to the truth of one perfect God and His perfect control of His perfect creation nullifies faith in the unknown that springs from imagination based on false evidence and that leads to uncertainties. Paul said, "Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." ^{II Cor. 10:3-5;}

When we rely upon any control except that of divine Principle, God, we are breaking the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." ^{Ex. 20:3;} In Christian Science we learn that God is all-power, the only intelligence, or Mind; therefore there is no other control but His. Because God is Spirit and wholly good, there can be no evil government, no chance of anything happening outside divine control. And we can demonstrate these truths in our daily experience. In a paragraph with the marginal heading, "Tests in our day," Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "We need to understand the affirmations of divine Science, dismiss superstition, and demonstrate truth according to Christ." ^{Science and Health, p. 149;}

Jesus made it clear that it was not the human man but the Christ-spirit at work as God's ideal Truth that did his wonderful works. To prove this fact in our own human experience, we must gain a clear understanding of God and of man's relationship to Him. Then we begin to know that as God's perfect reflection we are governed only by the laws of Life, Truth, and Love. 'We are then able to "dismiss superstition, and demonstrate truth according to Christ."

The claim that evil, whether in the form of epidemics, drought, war, failure, storms, or disease, runs in cycles, is superstition. It stems from the erroneous belief that the universe is both material and spiritual, under the control of both evil and good.

A woman who believed that migraine returned to her in cycles always hurried to do extra tasks on what she called her good days. She felt she must prepare ahead of time for the hours of misery in which she would be bedfast. One day a friend brought her a copy of Science and Health and asked her to read it. As she did so, she saw that she had been expecting something to happen for which she certainly did not want to blame God.

She realized that since God, good, is the origin and condition of all that is actual her fears of a returning unhappy experience were based on superstition. She took a firm stand to reject false beliefs and superstition because she had learned that man experiences only what God causes and knows; therefore man experiences only harmony and health. She claimed her spiritual heritage and was completely and permanently healed.

How often Christ Jesus told his listeners not to be afraid! He knew that God is the only cause and creator and that His government is established eternally. Mrs. Eddy tells us, "He who gains self-knowledge, self-control, and the kingdom of heaven within himself, within his own consciousness, is saved through Christ, Truth." ^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 161.} What an opportunity! Let us "dismiss superstition," quiet fear, and fill our thoughts with the wondrous truths of God and man. We can do this through the spiritual understanding of our self-government and self-control under God's divine law of ever-operating perfection.