For a good many years I was very much overweight

For a good many years I was very much overweight. A physician who examined me for a license predicted that unless the weight was reduced by at least sixty pounds serious trouble would develop. Halfhearted attempts to cut down on food intake had no effect, and I drifted on, giving the condition occasional thought but not making any appreciable effort to solve the problem. At last I began to feel ashamed of my body because it seemed gross, awkward, and unsightly. The sense of shame resulted in the conviction that vigorous efforts should be made to correct the situation in Christian Science.

After several weeks of study and prayer it came to me quite clearly that I was not suffering from fat matter but from a multiplied sense of physicality. It was obvious that an understanding of the import of this thought was needed. A few days of further study and prayer revealed the error to be overcome. I suddenly realized that for many years I had been accepting without question the subtle suggestion that I was a fat mortal. I had in lighter moments referred to myself as "Fatty" or "Fatso," and I had unquestioningly accepted limitations supposedly reserved for overweight people. The realization was clear that I must rid consciousness of the false concept of man and replace it with the truth of man's spiritual nature through understanding and demonstrating the truth of being, not occasionally but consistently and constantly.

Study of the first chapter of Genesis in the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's answer to the question "What is man?" on page 475 of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, established the conviction that man never was a mortal, that what appears to be a material body is not man but a false concept of man, an illusion, a lie. One passage included in the statements relative to man reads: "Man is spiritual and perfect; and because he is spiritual and perfect, he must be so understood in Christian Science. Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique."

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November 6, 1971
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