Article March 27, 1978 Issue

Proving mental illness unreal

ALAN A. AYLWIN

Mental illness can be proved unreal when real consciousness is understood. By defining God to be the only Mind of man, Christian Science has brought a new and healing concept of intelligence and its source. It teaches that what appears to be a vulnerable, brain-controlled, material personality is not man at all but a counterfeit of conscious identity. Acceptance of this counterfeit is the basic error that causes and prolongs abnormal mental states.

The generally held belief that thinking is an organic function leaves mortals unprotected against mental wounds—wounds linked in contemporary thought with chemical imbalance in the human system, with an unhappy childhood, or with the stresses of modern life. In some instances accumulating problems reach a climax where the human mind is driven over the edge of reason into the dark chasm of depressed or fear-tossed thought or unnatural excitement.

However, these discords and their confusing effects are totally foreign to man's real spiritual selfhood, and they can be overcome on this basis. Rising up in rebellion and vigorously opposing them, the sufferer—or the Christian Science practitioner who prays on his behalf—can see them silenced once and for all. In taking a strong stand it is helpful to remember that a number of Bible characters understood and utilized a source of intelligence and courage unknown to the limited material senses. They were calmly rational and expectant of good in spite of overwhelming difficulties, because they were vividly conscious of the power and presence of God. Peter was sleeping undisturbed, chained between two soldiers, when the liberating angel came to him. Paul, facing shipwreck, cheered and steadied all his companions.^{See Acts 12:6-11; 27:21-36;} So sure were these men of God's sustaining love that they faced life and its exigencies with buoyant, unflagging vitality.

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