Ready for takeoff

Most students of Christian Science can recite from memory “the scientific statement of being” found on page 468 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. It is a staple of the Christian Science lexicon, repeated at the close of every Christian Science Sunday School and as part of the closing of every Christian Science Sunday church service. It is a statement of metaphysics that can be understood and demonstrated, and ends with the assertion that “man is not material; he is spiritual.” Putting this statement consistently into practice, men, women, and children accomplish countless healings every day.

I worked for many years as a military pilot and, later, as a commercial pilot carrying passengers and cargo through the air from place to place. From the start, I learned the principles of aerodynamics that are as basic to flying as the metaphysical laws in “the scientific statement of being” are to healing. When consistently applied, these principles enable planes to take off and fly every time, thousands of times a day.

If you have flown in an airplane, you have experienced these principles of aerodynamics in action. The demonstration begins as the plane begins the takeoff run. You feel the power of the engines thrusting the plane forward and overcoming the drag of all that mass being pushed through the air. As the plane accelerates the wind begins to flow more and more rapidly over the wings, generating lift that begins to overcome the weight of the plane and all its contents. At a predicted speed, the lift beneath the wings exceeds the weight of the plane, and the plane soars into the sky.

It’s an exhilarating feeling, isn’t it? But there’s nothing magical about it. It is the simple, consistent demonstration of aerodynamic principle that lifts the plane off the ground and enables us to “fly as the eagle” (Jeremiah 49:22 ). The metaphysical laws of Christian Science healing work the same way.

I had an opportunity to demonstrate these laws—in particular, a deeper understanding of “the scientific statement of being”—when I was a student at Principia College, a school for Christian Scientists. I was active in sports as a shot putter and discus thrower on the track team. During training, we spent lots of time lifting weights to increase our strength. During this time I also prayed diligently to understand more fully my relation to “infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation,” as “the scientific statement of being” says, and to increase my reliance on this understanding. I often thought of the assurance of Isaiah in the Bible when he said, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (40:31 ).

I prayed diligently to understand more fully my relation to “infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation.”

But one day, on a dare from a fellow teammate to lift my own body weight over my head, I tore something in my abdomen, resulting in a rupture. I told the coach what had happened, and he advised me to take some time off to pray with a Christian Science practitioner. I did, but the condition was not completely healed. I would have good days and bad days, and I must admit my prayers were not consistent.

The physical evidence of this condition was identified by a physician during a routine physical examination, which I took before Spring break to be bonded to drive vehicles for a commercial moving company. Touching my abdomen, the doctor said: “You’re ruptured here! You’d better schedule yourself for surgery as soon as possible because that could be dangerous, and it’s not going to heal itself, you know!” I thanked him for his advice, but I was discouraged. I knew in my heart that “the scientific statement of being” was a valid spiritual concept—that it accurately described me as a spiritual reflection of God, rather than an injury-prone mortal, and that that truth could become evident in physical healing. But I was having a hard time knowing how I could make that law operative in my experience. What could I do to think and pray rightly, in a way that would bring healing?

By praying only sporadically, I was like a plane going down the runway putting in full power, then retarding the power to idle, then full power again, then idle. Could I be surprised that the principle of aerodynamics would not support a takeoff under those conditions? Did the principle of aerodynamics hate me because I was not being consistent at full power during the takeoff run? No, the principle was always there, just waiting to enable winged flight as soon as takeoff speed was reached.

The principle was always there, just waiting to enable winged flight as soon as takeoff speed was reached.

Then something wonderful happened. It has happened many times since when I am patiently listening for an answer that I know is there, but which I haven’t found yet—the answer comes in an unexpected way. I went to a talk being given by a Christian Science lecturer on campus, and afterward, I went up to the lecturer and asked what he would recommend to help me have a healing. He said, “Look on page 242 of Science and Health, where Mrs. Eddy says, ‘The divine Science of man is woven into one web of consistency without seam or rent.’ You start weaving that seamless web of consistency, and you will have your healing.”

I was impressed at how the lecturer could just call up the page number and quote such a helpful passage. And I realized I hadn’t been consistent in thinking of myself spiritually. This passage was a turning point for me, and I started praying consistently from the spiritual basis illuminated by “the scientific statement of being.” I started seeing myself as a divinely scientific reflection who was “woven into one web of consistency,” whole, with not only no rent, but also no seam!

I had been letting the material event in that weight room seem real, when the need in prayer was to see that I had never left God’s care, even for a moment. In discussing accidents, Mrs. Eddy writes, “Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God’s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony” (Science and Health, p. 424 ).

I realized I had been thinking of myself alternately as spiritual and then as material. I started to think of myself consistently as spiritual, the image and likeness of God. To support this line of thinking, I became more consistent about attending (and staying awake during!) church services; I read the Christian Science Bible Lesson more regularly, and I made notes in places where spiritual truths lifted me up; I went to testimony meetings hosted by the college’s Christian Science Organization and gave thanks for progress being made; I joyfully sang hymns. These consistent actions supported a harmonious outcome, and the divine law of healing was demonstrated.

Weaving that web became such a seamless part of my life that I stopped seeing or feeling a “rent.” I earned a letter in track and field. I didn’t even think of the dare and that experience in the weight room until I had graduated from college and gone on to Officer Training School in the United States Air Force, where I was named the sit-up champion of my training flight. The healing through mental surgery was complete. I underwent numerous and thorough physical examinations in my career as an Air Force pilot, and there was no evidence that there had ever been a rent or a seam! Divine law expressed in “the scientific statement of being” and a willingness to “leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind,” made the healing possible.

The joy of every healing is becoming more and more consistent in knowing, loving, and being confident that we all are the image and likeness of God—not material, but wholly spiritual.