[The speaker is Harvey Wood. The questioner is Harlan Witham.]

Questioner: A great many people would like to be more helpful to others, to lead more meaningful and active lives. But many, because of some physical disability —a weak heart, stomach, or lungs —are afraid they can't do the things they should be free to do.

Speaker: Certainly we can admire the desire to reach out and help others, and a desire such as this —wanting to be active and helpful —is actually a divinely impelled and upheld desire. It has its source in divinity itself. God, who is divine Love, wouldn't impel a desire to help and then take us just part way. No fear can hold us back when we realize what God's love means for all of us in our true selfhood. As startling as it may sound, there are inspiring insights in the Bible that provide a practical basis for finding freedom and being more active.

Questioner: What exactly do you mean by freedom?

Speaker: Essentially, I mean freedom from fear. In I John we read (4:18), "Perfect love casteth out fear." John saw God as Love. He saw that perfect Love, divine Love, could not know its opposite, fear. And so he could say with assurance that perfect Love casteth out fear, just as you might say to a child, "Don't be afraid of the dark. Turn on the light, and it will chase away the dark."

Paul wrote to his friend Timothy (II Tim. 1:7): "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." On this basis many have overcome the fear of doing themselves harm and actually have experienced complete healing of those physical conditions which have limited their opportunities to be more active in their homes and communities.

We've all heard of the type of incident in which a parent, for example, has a damaged foot he can't put any weight on it because it is so painful. And yet, seeing his child in imminent danger, he impulsively runs to save it. This hints at the effect thought has on the body. A parent's love in an experience such as this is only a glimpse of the all-encompassing love of God for His entire creation.

Christ Jesus lived a life of love. He taught that it is not the will of God the one Father, to afflict His children. On this basis Jesus healed and saved others. He not only said (Mark 5:36), "Be not afraid," but he restored the withered hand to wholeness he healed whatever needed to be healed—physically as well as morally. This same healing and saving power brings release from fear and its effects today.

Questioner: In what way?

Speaker: First of all by removing some of the fear, ignorance, and sin, or to use a more contemporary term, the alienation from God that underlies the physical disability.

Questioner: What about the person who feels he is very religious, who reads the Bible regularly and feels he is in tune with God, and yet has this fear of disability?

Speaker: There's really not one of us who can't love more. Because God is divine Love, we see that He could impart throughout His whole creation only what He is in terms of love, completeness, and perfection. And certainly this includes man. God is expressed in order, harmony, and right action, without defect or imperfection of any kind, without vulnerability.

Because man is actually the spiritual likeness of divine Love, he really forever expresses soundness, strength, wholeness, completeness, fearlessness. As we understand that man is the expression not only of a loving God but of divine Love, perfect Love, itself, which actually forever includes love and wholeness and fearlessness, our fear of weakness and imperfection begins to fade. As fear fades, we experience a growing sense of strength and soundness, and at the same time a greater outreach and more energy and ability to help others as well as ourselves.

Questioner: What does this really mean, though, to a person who has a serious physical disability and is fearful for his life?

Speaker: As we grow in love and in our understanding of God as Love, we find that it's logical to see man as sustained and supported by Love. And as we see this fact more clearly, the fear and weakness begin to fade.

It's alienation from God, un-godlike thinking, that underlies physical weakness, vulnerability, and fear. The relationship of Love to strength and freedom— physically, morally, and spiritually —is brought out beautifully in a statement in Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. She writes (p. 454): "Love for God and man is the true incentive in both healing and teaching. Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action." Through a growing love for God and man we awaken more to man's at-one-ment with divine Love—an awakening that leads into strength and freedom. It's the quality of our thinking that has a healing effect on our body and gives us the freedom we're looking for.

Let me tell you about an individual who for years was afraid she wouldn't be able to do what she felt she needed to do for others. She had a condition that three specialists diagnosed as heart disease. There was a history of this disease in her family, and that increased her fear and concern about it. The condition suddenly became very alarming, and she was unable to care for her home. She had been introduced to Christian Science and had seen that it brought healing. So when she had this severe attack, she called a Christian Science practitioner for help through prayer.

The practitioner, who came to see her, talked with her about God as divine Love and said, "Your son and daughter-in-law have told me that you've always been an unselfish and loving mother," and he pointed out that this love she expressed only hints at the love of God the divine Father-Mother. The practitioner's simple explanations of divine Love flooded the woman's consciousness with a great light. She said the radiance of it stayed with her for weeks. Her world was beautiful. Her attitude toward a relative she had resented for a number of years was transformed. The relationship has continued to be harmonious and loving. The fear of heart disease simply faded from her thought, and it wasn't long after that she found she was completely free of the heart condition. This healing took place about fifteen years ago and has been permanent. What she glimpsed then has changed her whole approach to life. Through her growing understanding of divine Love she has become more loving, less critical, and certainly less afraid.

Questioner: And more active, too. But this is not something that one recognizes in a flash, and then the fear is gone in a flash.

Speaker: It's not simply a question of saying we're going to express more love. It's aligning thought with God, who is perfect Love. It's loving ourselves and others more in our true selfhood, which includes all that divine Love imparts. And this brings healing, wholeness, soundness, a greater selflessness and love, to every aspect of our experience.