Are there questions you'd like to explore with other readers and with the editorial staff of the Sentinel? This column offers a place for that exchange to happen. What's here isn't intended to give a definitive answer. The queries and the ideas spring from the heart, as we are walking side by side.

Q. Doesn't belief in the mental cause of disease make you feel personally responsible for your ills?—from an inquirer in Massachusetts

A. The recognition that disease has a mental cause does not bring a burden; it puts us on the path of health and healing! It helps us watch our own thought, the first line of defense. Keeping our thoughts true to God's goodness gives us the divine antidote to whatever would threaten our God-given wholeness.

To believe that we are solely responsible for our life and well-being would be to deny that God is the source of life and that He, who is divine Love, perpetually cares for us as His children, His spiritual reflection (see Gen. 1:27; Acts 17:28). Understanding God's love removes fear and a false sense of responsibility, which are among the mental elements that would, in Christ Jesus' words, "defile the man" (Mark 7:15).

We can drop a misplaced view of our responsibility by following Christ Jesus' example in acknowledging God as the only power and intelligence governing all. Science and Health says: "Sickness is a belief, which must be annihilated by the divine Mind. Disease is an experience of so-called mortal mind. It is fear made manifest on the body. Christian Science takes away this physical sense of discord, just as it removes any other sense of moral or mental inharmony" (p. 493).

As to our genuine responsibility, I find that it helps to remember an important distinction: I'm not responsible for the negative or discordant thoughts that come to me, but I am responsible for what I do with them—for whether or not I accept them. It's man's true nature, as the likeness of God, to hold only Godlike thoughts—healthy, pure thoughts. Daily prayer should include defense against thoughts of sin and disease. If the thought comes to us, "I'm getting sick," this isn't Godlike thinking; it isn't our thinking but a godless suggestion that we can reject. If it seems that we already have a disease, we can still take responsibility for knowing that God's child, His own image, always reflects perfect good. Taking responsibility in this way doesn't make us feel guilty but instead helps us demonstrate man's God-given dominion over disease!

A few additional references on this subject in Mary Baker Eddy's writings include Science and Health 391:29—394:4; 419:16–19; Miscellaneous Writings 119:10–21; Christian Healing 5:2–10, 18–25. —from readers Nevada and New Hampshire and the editorial staff

Q. A friend has invited me to look into hypnotherapy. Will it be useful in helping me understand Christian Science?—from an inquirer in Tennessee

A. Hypnotism would put one to sleep. The Bible urges, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Eph. 5:14). The Science of Christ awakens one to the truth of God and His creation, man. In this Science, unconscious or subconscious thought is recognized as having no actual power. Only the divine Mind, God, has power.

As human consciousness is instructed with spiritual truths, any negative thinking yields. The practice of Christian Science is the antithesis of both hypnosis and self-hypnosis. Affirming and understanding the nature of God, Spirit, as good, perfect, and of man as His image and likeness break the hold of mesmerism, including the mesmerism of sickness and addiction to sin.

"The heavenly law is broken by trespassing upon man's individual right of self-government," states Science and Health (p. 447). The Science of Christ teaches one how to resist false mental suggestions as well as how to avoid mentally imposing one's own will upon others. Such intrusive mental practice is termed mental malpractice. Correct mental practice—Christian Science treatment—instead of hypnotizing the individual, enables him to maintain control of his consciousness, resist harmful mental influences, and reflect directly the health, harmony, and holiness of the one divine Mind, God. This divine Mind is the only true healer.

A number of verses in the Bible stress the need for awakening to the power of God and resisting hypnotic sleep and dreaming (see, for example, Prov. 6:10, 11; Matt. 26:36–46; Eph. 5:8–14; II Cor. 10:4, 5). Science and Health devotes a chapter to exposing what lies behind mesmerism (see pp. 100–106). There and elsewhere, Mrs. Eddy stresses the importance of distinguishing between Christian Science and supposedly therapeutic uses of hypnotism. A few other references on this subject in her writings include Miscellaneous Writings 3:25—4:10; 34:10–27; 47:27—48:22; Manual of The Mother Church, Article XI, Section 9; Message to The Mother Church for 1901 20:2–18.—from a reader in Tennessee and the editorial staff

To our readers: If you have a question to raise or if you'd like to respond to one of the questions already published in this column, write:

Christian Science Sentinel Q&A
P–602
The Christian Science Publishing Society
One Norway Street, Boston, MA 02115–3122 U.S.A.

Our E-mail address: Sentinel@csps.com