Article October 8, 1979 Issue

Healing: incidental but inevitable

ALAISTER G. SMITH

While watching the wake of the ferry I take daily to my office, I began to think that this scene might parallel the experience of a Christian Scientist applying the truths of this Science to specific challenges in his life and then looking for proofs of his progress.

The churned-up water left behind by the forward thrust of the ferry was certainly a proof that the ferry was actually moving. But was the captain moving the ferry in order to leave the wake? No, the wake was incidental to the ferry's movement. However, it was also an inevitable result of moving the ship from point A to point B—the captain's real goal. If the captain ever wondered whether he was moving, the wake would give him the answer. It would be, in a sense, his evidence of progress.

When a Christian Scientist is faced with illness, unemployment, unhappy personal relationships, or any other trouble, he may be tempted to spend time looking to see if he is leaving a "wake" —producing physical effects—rather than focusing on moving thought from matter-based thinking to Spirit-based thought. Isn't the spiritual demand to look more deeply into the truth of being, to see more of our true individuality as God's reflection?

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