Article September 21, 1974 Issue

Regular Checkup: Physical or Spiritual?

GRANT C. BUTLER

In all his healing works described in the Bible there is never an indication that Christ Jesus examined a human body or recommended material methods of healing. His heavenly Father, he proved, was the source of his curative work. Centuries earlier the Psalmist had written, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases." Ps. 103:2, 3; Examining matter, trying to determine its present or future condition, is wasted effort when one understands the nature of the material body as the manifestation of human consciousness. A medical diagnosis may vary from day to day, from hour to hour, as the mental condition of the patient changes.

According to Christian Science, the real man is not a mortal personality living in a material body. He is the spiritual and perfect idea of Mind, God. He exists as the conscious reflection of what God is. He is always completely harmonious. Mrs. Eddy writes in the textbook, Science and Health: "The blood, heart, lungs, brain, etc., have nothing to do with Life, God. Every function of the real man is governed by the divine Mind." Science and Health, p. 151. For the human being, however, there is a definite need for a regular checkup. But the only reliable checkup—the one that does not cause anxiety and confusion, which may actually induce ill health—is spiritual, not physical. It includes examination of one's thinking from a scientific, inspired basis to weed out disease-prone resentment, malice, impatience, fear, materialism, melancholy, and so forth. One then replaces these illusory, mental enemies, these discordant intruders, with God-related qualities such as compassion, affection, unselfishness, trust, self-denial, joy. These produce harmony and health.

As a person learns the value of scientific, right thinking, based on Christian Science, he thinks less in terms of a material "I" having a limited, physical body. He strives, rather, to recognize his real individuality, his conscious being as a spiritual idea of God, always maintained in perfect health by his creator.

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