Editorial January 25, 1993 Issue

Defeating the mental contagion

William E. Moody

Winter need not be a season associated with contagious diseases. But too often, as soon as the temperature drops, reports begin spreading in the media, tracking outbreaks of flu and other illnesses. Commercial advertisers for cough and cold remedies clearly expand their market. And in general, people just seem to give more talk and attention to sickness as the weather changes.

Although medical authorities present public cautions about what is believed to be viral or other various germ-induced diseases during the winter months, society tends to overlook an even more significant factor—mental contagion. The kind of detailed attention, fascination, and anxious concern strewn across the mental landscape has much more to do with predisposing the population to so-called contagious diseases than is commonly realized.

There is, however, an effective means of meeting the belief in mental contagion as well as the belief in bacterial contagion. Christian Science, the law of God, challenges the notion that man is essentially a helpless victim, at the mercy either of manipulative mental influences in his environment or dangerous physical conditions. Christian Science affirms that the only power that can possibly influence man is God, the one divine Mind, and that this divine influence imparts only good. God Himself is all good; and every action, movement, and purpose in His universe expresses the nature of God alone. There is no wandering or unseen evil of contagion—mental, bacterial, or otherwise—in the universe of Spirit, which is the only genuine creation. Evil of any description has no place in God and therefore cannot abide in man, God's pure and perfect idea. The man of God's creating, Truth's expression, is never a host for error.

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