Editorial December 4, 1978 Issue

Thought governs every action and function of our physical...

NAOMI PRICE

Thought governs every action and function of our physical bodies. Each breath, each heartbeat, is as much the effect of thought as the conscious effort to put on one's coat and walk to the grocery store. Did Shakespeare glimpse this fact when he wrote, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"?

Christian Science maintains that the man God made is spiritual and perfect, governed by the divine Mind, but it further explains that in the human realm no limb or organ or nerve operates without being directed by human thought. Mrs. Eddy says in the Christian Science textbook, "The valves of the heart, opening and closing for the passage of the blood, obey the mandate of mortal mind as directly as does the hand, admittedly moved by the will." And she continues farther on: "All voluntary, as well as miscalled involuntary, action of the mortal body is governed by this so-called mind, not by matter. There is no involuntary action." Science and Health, p. 187; Science insists that matter does not make conditions for the body, and that we can never be controlled by others without our consent. By exposing these facts, Science indicates the importance of guarding our thoughts with constant care in order to keep control over our bodies and our lives.

When Mrs. Eddy concluded that "there is no involuntary action" she was stating a thought generally considered absurd in the Western World. But now, a century later, this concept, that all physiological phenomena are governed by the human mind, is quite widely held. Currently it is attracting the attention of members of the medical profession who discern in it possibilities of therapeutic value. Many are watching the progress of developing biofeedback techniques, by means of which, it is claimed, people can learn to control, through their own thought, tensions and reactions of their bodies that were previously considered to be involuntary and uncontrollable, as well as their emotions and mentalities.

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