Article September 7, 1987 Issue

Advancing into high country

Regeneration is the road that leads up to a higher, holier consciousness. Our healings are milestones along the way.

Donald M. Swinney

There's a special mountain trip I always enjoy. In this higher elevation the air is fresh, the hills are green, and the views are spectacular. In my journey upward, one sign that I'm entering the high country is the appearance of tall pine trees along the terrain. These pines, with their unusual symmetry and grandeur, tell me I'm approaching my destination, I'm heading in the right direction.

In one sense, healings in Christian Science are like these special pines. They too tell us we're advancing into high country, we're on the right course, and can expect more good. Healings appear in our experience as we approach a higher, a more spiritually enlightened view of existence. They occur as we rise above the mist and obscuration of materialism, above the illusion that we're imperfect mortals including both good and evil, and see ourselves as God's creation—spiritual and perfect.

We might say that spiritual growth is the road leading up to this higher, holier consciousness that heals. Identifying life as spiritual instead of material, we gain a better view of God's flawless creation, in which there is no lack, pain, loneliness, or sorrow. We learn to prove step by step that material discords are invalid. "Neither evil, disease, nor death can be spiritual, and the material belief in them disappears in the ratio of one's spiritual growth,"^{Science and Health, p. 368.} explains Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy.