Article November 13, 2006 Issue

EVERYDAY SPIRITUAL SELF-DEFENSE

BY CHARLES FERRIS

EARLY ON in my study of Christian Science, I focused on filling my thought with the truth and power of what Mary Baker Eddy had discovered. I loved talking with more experienced workers and practitioners in this Science. They would occasionally point out that while I was right to emphasize the positive aspects of exploring divine Truth, I wasn't always as willing to explore its hypothetical opposite, which Mrs. Eddy named error.

Christian Science employs Truth as one of the synonyms for God, and also uses the word as a descriptive term for the laws of God, or divine Science. "Truth," Mrs. Eddy wrote, "is the intelligence of immortal Mind [God]. Error is the so-called intelligence of mortal mind" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 282)

In those early days, my attitude fit this description: "Many are willing to open the eyes of the people to the power of good resident in divine Mind, but they are not so willing to point out the evil in human thought, and expose evil's hidden mental ways of accomplishing iniquity" (pp. 570-571). Examining "evil's hidden mental ways" might seem daunting or depressing at first. But the whole purpose of this examination is to expose the nothingness and powerlessness of evil, whether it takes form as disease, hate, want, or any other phase of mortal life.