Article April 23, 1977 Issue

The Place of Reason and Revelation in Treatment

JOHN R. PETERSON

The truth that heals comes through the inspired perception of spiritual reality, not through human reasoning, however brilliant. The divine Mind that is God does not reason—it knows. It is the activity of this divine Mind in Christian Science treatment that really brings healing.

Yet Mrs. Eddy tells us, "Reason is the most active human faculty."^{Science and Health, p. 327;} Reason plays a proper and helpful part in Christian Science treatment by argument. Why? Can human reasoning heal disease or injury? How can reasoning help in treatment when it is really God Himself who does the healing?

In Christian Science treatment for ourselves or for another, we may reason, even argue mentally, in the preparation of our thought for the consciousness of divine Truth, which actually does the healing. The reasoning and the argument, if they are spiritually perceptive, are helpful to us in quieting the fear that Mrs. Eddy says must be allayed first in all treatment.^{See ibid. 411:27-28;} They help us lay aside the material-mindedness that otherwise would cloud our vision of Truth. To the extent that our reasoning in prayer becomes spiritually rather than humanly based, it becomes more revelatory and less a step-by-step process.