Article April 7, 1980 Issue

No physical measurement of health

JOHN K. DANIELS

A family of small electronic devices, which measure bodily functions, diagnose physical symptoms, and predict what an individual's biochemical "mix" will be at a given time, are now being marketed. These devices don't claim to measure health per se, which from a material standpoint is the sum of many variables. What they claim to provide is data. Individuals can couple such data with assumptions about laws that are supposed to govern the body and then draw conclusions about the state of their health. Do such conclusions have any authority? Will they actually lead to fewer accidents, better decisions, and improved health? No. Their use is detrimental to health. Let's see why.

From the unaided human viewpoint, there appear to be two realms of activity: mental and physical. They seem to be distinct because the physical universe doesn't appear to be as controllable as one's thoughts. And it is believed that the material universe is mostly beyond mankind's control. Thus, Jesus' saying "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"^{Matt. 5:48;} could be falsely interpreted as applying only to action within the control of human mentality—such as learning to love our enemies or obeying the moral law. The thought of applying his command to health might seem irrelevant because health appears to be governed by somewhat capricious material laws. While a human being may mentally discipline himself to obey what he thinks those laws require—and use medically oriented machines to acquaint himself better with some of them—such discipline is no guarantee of health. Indeed, such discipline often induces the very results he seeks to avoid. How then, in the face of such arbitrary and powerful material laws—laws obviously beyond the best efforts of mankind to control—can one just be healthy?

We can be healthy in the same way that we can be good—by realizing that there are not two realms of activity, mental and physical, but only one, the spiritually mental. And in this mental realm, there are not two kinds of understanding, human and divine, but only one, the spiritual presence of Mind, God. The more we become conscious of this presence, the more perfection we express. As the Bible clearly states, God is Spirit, and man is His image and likeness. The real nature of man is therefore spiritual, and his God-derived qualities—including perfect health—can only be discerned and expressed mentally. There is no other substance or activity that could represent the attributes of God—His infinite presence and all-power.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

No physical measurement of health

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access