Christian Science practitioners hear patients say, when troubled with an illness or other problem, "I know it's all in my own thought." Such individuals are cruel to themselves.

So as not to indulge in or ignore any error, any materialism, we need to meet it in our own thought, with or without the help of a practitioner. But although the place to meet error is in our own thought because the physical is no more than the outward manifestation of the mental, error is never really a part of our thinking.

Fortunately, error is not personal and not real. It is invariably a suggestion of some phase of the fear or ignorance or sinfulness of the carnal mind, the world belief in the presence and power of evil, which, of course, inevitably yields to the exercise of divine intelligence. Christian Science makes a distinction between the real, perfect, spiritual man of God's creating and the erroneous concept of man as material and limited. It teaches that man's true consciousness is always free of error because it reflects God, the one infallible divine Mind.

An engineer may work upon and solve a problem several thousand miles away from him. Sickness may be likened to such an engineering problem. You solve it with your intelligence, but the problem is completely apart from you. Fortunately, error cannot get into the consciousness of the real, spiritual man. Ignorance cannot mingle with his God-given intelligence. If error were actually a part of man's consciousness, no one could be healed of any limitation. But evil is not personal; it is not a condition in man but a mesmeric lie about him to be disbelieved, for it is not real, not actually present.

But candor is most important in overcoming error. Yes, downright honesty is essential—a willingness to face and overcome in our own consciousness the errors that claim to be our own. Nothing else will give us the peace that follows our living the inward prayer of self-correction. We can prove error unreal by seeing it as a lying, mesmeric belief but not actually as part of our thinking.

The wise man said, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." ^{Prov. 23:7;} A human being is what he thinks. His consciousness is what he is. Nothing comes into his experience unless his thought admits it.

There is the importance, then, of watching our thinking, admitting only the true and good thoughts we wish manifested in our experience. Our thinking constitutes our human existence. It determines our homes, our friends, our business—yes, our lives. So it is important to be careful what we think. We legitimately claim only the qualities that are ours as sons of God, such as health, harmony, and inspiration.

The real man is wholly spiritual, including all good qualities and right ideas. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, declares: "In Him we live, move, and have being. Man's origin and existence being in Him, man is the ultimatum of perfection, and by no means the medium of imperfection." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 79:} It is comforting to know that there is no way by which imperfection can be introduced into man.

We see this in considering arithmetic. Every mistake in figures is not in the figures but in ignorance of them. You cannot introduce an error into the underlying rules of arithmetic. You cannot alter the nature of one figure through erroneous belief, or ignorance. Similarly, you cannot introduce an error into God, the Principle of your being. Nor can you alter the inviolate harmony and perfection of individual, spiritual man through erroneous belief, or ignorance. You see that you really cannot possess an unsolved problem when you begin with intelligence, with perfection, and take away the ignorance attempting to hide the solution that is always present.

Christian Science, the Science of Christ, or Truth, reveals that God is simultaneously and always omnipresent, omnipotent, omniactive, omniscient. And man, His image and likeness, reflects these states, or conditions, of divine being. So man is always rightly active and established in divine Mind. He exists in a state of power and intelligence.

This helps us to see what really is in our consciousness. We cannot actually possess discordant states of thought leading to an illness or any other problem, because we really reflect the activity, intelligence, and power of the Almighty. The correct application of these qualities invariably solves problems.

Your true selfhood is the exact reflection of divine Mind. So only what you reflect from Mind constitutes your thought. Mrs. Eddy explains in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The real man cannot depart from holiness, nor can God, by whom man is evolved, engender the capacity or freedom to sin." ^{Science and Health, p. 475:}

In finding our true selfhood, in working out our salvation and demonstrating our dominion over the claims of evil, we are comforted by these words of the Psalmist: "I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." ^{Ps. 73:23, 24;}

Paul urges us to "put off...the old man," ^{Eph. 4:22, 24.} which, to the Christian Scientist, means the old sense of man as material and limited. He also admonishes us to "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Heeding the apostle, we find that completeness, inspiration, intelligence, and even brilliance illumine our thinking. Then evil, sickness, and lack are proved unreal to us. We see that no material, negative, limiting, or discordant thought ever enters our real consciousness or becomes a part of our true being. We understand that the qualities and ideas of perfect Mind, reflected by us, God's expressions, are what is really in our thinking.