Most people believe that if a person is sick, something must be done to correct a condition of the body. Even when the cause of the sickness is acknowledged to be mental, curative steps are usually directed to the body, not to the mind. This is in line with the generally accepted concept of a body containing a mind subservient to it.

But down through the centuries spiritually-minded individuals have in some degree recognized that the material body and mind do not present the correct view of man, who, according to the Bible, is made in the image of God. Christ Jesus knew this. And his follower, the Apostle Paul, said: "We are confident . . . and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." ^{II Cor. 5:8;}

The Christian Science approach to the body and its troubles makes clear that the cause of all bodily affliction is mental, and that healing is brought about only as the disturbed mental condition is spiritually changed for the better. This has been demonstrated countless times since the discovery of this Science over one hundred years ago.

To understand how this Science heals, it is necessary to grasp the fundamental facts that underlie it—facts found in the Bible. If one will accept these with an open mind, he will discern their sound spiritual basis.

God is omnipotent, ever-present, infinite Love, Spirit, Mind, Truth. He is the sole creator, and because He is Spirit and good, all that He makes is spiritual and good. One who will contemplate God along this line cannot help but gain a clearer, more correct understanding of the great I am.

Man—the real man, the true identity of each one of us—is made in the likeness of God. Hence man is Godlike, perfect, spiritual, eternal. Since God made all, there cannot be another man who manifests qualities and characteristics contrary to God.

From these facts the logical thinker deduces that the carnal mind of which the Bible speaks (or mortal mind, as it is termed in Christian Science) cannot have its source in God, the divine Mind, and hence is devoid of real intelligence or power. Mortal mind is really an illusion based on a mistaken concept of being. This false concept is the source of discord, troubles, and infirmities of every nature. When we see it as unreal and therefore powerless, we loosen its mesmeric control over us.

If the real, spiritual man is the expression of the one divine Mind (and he is), then what seems to be mortal man is the objectification of mortal mind, or illusive mortal thought. The way to correct what is wrong with the body is not to attempt to change the body but to change mortal thought. In teaching this, Christian Science emphasizes the need to turn from physicality to God to destroy the false thoughts or beliefs that are the source of sickness.

Mrs. Eddy counsels, "Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality." ^{Science and Health, p. 261;} She also writes, "When we remove disease by addressing the disturbed mind, giving no heed to the body, we prove that thought alone creates the suffering." ^{ibid., p. 400;}

True healing requires more than the recognition that sickness and disease evolve from mortal thought. One must dispose of sickness-producing thoughts through the perception of the omnipotence of God, immortal Mind. As one sees more clearly that this Mind is the source of all true thoughts, and that erroneous, negative thoughts have no source and are unreal and powerless, he is invoking God's law of healing. This understanding nullifies evil thoughts, and they—together with their subjective states in matter —are destroyed. The result is healing.

Christ Jesus healed by beholding the spiritual, perfect man, not by treating the body. There is no evidence that he ever gave drugs, prescribed physical exercise, resorted to dieting. He said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." ^{John 6:63.} Knowing that the real man is not material, he looked away from matter and saw man as God made him—Love's reflection.

Looking away from the body does not hinder the recognition and destruction of afflictive bodily conditions; instead, it makes their annihilation possible. Fear—always an element of disease—is nullified as one perceives that his true identity is not in matter but in Spirit, and therefore not subject to evil, material forces. Because of Spirit's allness and ever-presence there is no true basis for fear.

Each physical condition needing correction can be recognized as the externalization of mortal thought and so seen as an unreal concept. When a malfunctioning organ is perceived to be objectifying a suggestion of inharmonious action and this argument is negated through the recognition that all action has its source in perfect Mind, the condition is healed.

The evidence of disease on the body is eliminated as one refuses to accept as real the picture presented by the material senses and discerns the true status of man as the idea of divine Love, exempt from disease and danger. Whatever the condition is, the process of rejecting the belief of a material body and resolving the trouble into mortal thought, and then destroying it with the spiritual truth of man, will bring healing.

It is not always easy to turn from the body when it has pain or presents a diseased or deformed condition. But since the ability to do so comes from God, it is always possible to overcome material sense and its discords. God gives one the strength, inspiration, and discernment to perceive the spuriousness of the mortal picture and the presence of the perfect, spiritual man, here and now. As one resolutely and steadfastly clings to the fact of being, his real selfhood becomes apparent.

It is always important, and possible, to look away from the body. As we do this with the ever clearer recognition of our real individuality as a son of God, healing is sure to come.