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Straight talk about animal magnetism
Sitting in a grade school assembly in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the late 1930s, I watched a hypnotist tell volunteer students from the audience to gaze at a pocket watch he swung in front of them. He told them they were growing sleepy, and they appeared to go into a deep sleep. Then he told them they would awake with red ants crawling all over their bodies. When they awoke, they started slapping the imaginary ants—much to the amusement of the audience.
When I related what I’d seen to my mother, who was bringing me up in the Christian Science Sunday School, she sternly told me to never, ever allow myself to be hypnotized by anyone. Little did I know then the role this experience and her stern warning would play in a healing I would have years later.
Fast forward to 1959 in Key West, Florida. I was stationed there as a naval aviator and had just broken my eardrum diving from a high diving board. No one else realized what had happened, and I made it to my apartment unassisted—but by the time I got home I was in intense pain. That night the ear started to drain, and I lost hearing on that side. After praying on my own, apparently with little success, I called a Christian Science practitioner for her prayerful help. When I went to work the next morning, I heard dire warnings from concerned fellow officers about broken eardrums and mastoid operations and the disqualifying effects they could have on my naval career.
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.
June 18, 2012 issue
View Issue-
Letters
Demarest Bowers Morrow, Penny Witney, Vicki Hoff
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Get out of the mud
Gillian Litchfield, Copy Editor
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You can come home
Lois Herr
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Prayer–not guilt–heals
Deborah Packer
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Thank you, Dad
Karen N. Bain
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My own 'burning bush'
Melanie Ball
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Straight talk about animal magnetism
Hal Shrewsbury
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God has a purpose for you
Pamela Cook
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Build each day on 'Truth and Love'
Bruce Jamerson
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A good guy, not a thief
Name withheld
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Bullying? You don't have to be afraid!
Emily, Jasmine, Becca
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A fresh look at happiness
Kim Shippey, Senior Editor
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Negative political campaigns and what we can do about them
Elizabeth Kellogg
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Understanding the law of God
Ann Edwards
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The way to permanent peace
Steve Warren
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More churches turning to high-tech outreach
Cathy Lynn Grossman
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Ringworm healed
Puneet Sharma
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A fresh sense of purpose replaces depression
Heather Zurlo
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Child saved from rapids
Linda Gorman
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A man who loved
The Editors