Testimony of Healing October 15, 1979 Issue

A few years ago the hearing in one of my ears became...

PENELOPE J. BARRETT

A few years ago the hearing in one of my ears became blocked. Thinking at first that the blockage was an accumulation of matter, I tried cleaning my ears. This resulted in clean ears but not normal hearing! I tried praying, but I didn't seem to be making much progress on my own. So I called a Christian Science practitioner for help in understanding that the lines of communication from God to man are always open.

When the suggestion persisted that the obstruction was some kind of matter that could be removed, the practitioner patiently pointed out what Mary Baker Eddy says in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, on page 346: "Material beliefs must be expelled to make room for spiritual understanding." My real need was to clean out my mental closet. I already knew that it was a keener spiritual perception that I needed because I had referred many times to the definition of "ears" in Science and Health, which begins (p. 585): "Not organs of the so-called corporeal senses, but spiritual understanding." So, I began to ask myself what material beliefs needed to be cleaned out in order to bring to light the desired spiritual understanding.

Just prior to this difficulty, I had made a significant career change. Many friends tried to tell me that I'd made a mistake—that I was wasting my education and talents. But since it was my career, I reasoned that I was the best judge, and I tuned out all the free advice. Now I could see that pride seemed to be blocking not only my friends' counsel but also my willingness to respond to the guidance of my Father-Mother God. I wasn't the one who knew what was best for me—the best judge is the one Mind, God, who knows without doubt what's proper for each of His children. So the suggestion of pride, or more than one Ego, was a material belief I could clear out—to make room for humility.

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