The city foursquare, and healing
Mary Baker Eddy’s discovery of Christian Science, which is based on a scientific, spiritual understanding of God, is as revolutionary today as it was when she discovered it in 1866. She describes how to reach this understanding of God in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, in which she has reduced divine metaphysics “to a system, to a form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of the age in which we live” (pp. 146–147 ). In the Preface she explains healing in Christian Science as the “operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation” (p. xi ).
In some ways this phenomenon is similar to mathematics where a mistake such as two plus two equals ten is corrected by the fact that two plus two equals four. Just as any mathematical error can be corrected by recognizing what is true, the errors of material sense can be corrected or eliminated by spiritualizing consciousness. Then, all that is unlike God, or good, disappears much as all the wrong answers can’t fool someone who understands mathematics.
Mrs. Eddy’s discovery was based on her lifelong study of the Bible and her understanding of Jesus’ healings. The book of Genesis tells us of a creation where “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (1:31 ). In this perfect, spiritual environment, evil has no part. An allegory that presents evil as a lie or mistake is found in the second chapter of Genesis. And in John’s Gospel, Jesus describes the devil, or evil, as “a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44 ).
The remedy for any lie is the truth. Jesus tells us that if we know what is true about God, Spirit, and man, His perfect creation—truly know it—we will find the answers we need. As Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32 ). This knowing of the truth was for all time, not just for his immediate followers. So it’s logical that Christian Science heals by our knowing (understanding) the truth that anything erroneous in human experience—that is, unlike our totally good God—is unreal and powerless. This scientific understanding transforms consciousness and purifies it. In the face of spiritualized consciousness, sin, disease, and death disappear.
Instantly the loneliness and depression left me, and I felt a sense of peace and well-being.
Science and Health gives a step-by-step explanation of how to achieve this transformation. The chapter titled “The Apocalypse” summarizes this process through its profound interpretation of the book of Revelation. There, the sacred city descends out of heaven from God. In Mrs. Eddy’s exegesis of Revelation, she explains that this city’s four equal sides are “heaven-bestowed and heaven-bestowing.” She goes on to explain, “The four sides of our city are the Word, Christ, Christianity, and divine Science; …” (see pp. 574 , 575 ). The city, New Jerusalem, is heaven-bestowed because it comes “down from God, out of heaven,” and it is heaven-bestowing because it reveals how the Word of God transforms human consciousness. It lifts thought from a human basis, where both good and evil exist, to the spiritual, or Godlike base, in which only good exists and all that is ungodlike such as sin and disease disappears.
To me, the city foursquare illustrates that system of divine metaphysics cited above where the Word of God comes to us as the Christ, the divine message from God, which destroys error. This produces Christianity, with its healing effect, where we gain a greater understanding of divine law, and specifically, Christian Science. So to heal in Christian Science, we need to understand the Truth (Word); identify ourselves with it, and experience the Christ destroying error as healing (Christianity). As we gain greater spiritual understanding, Truth becomes a self-evident fact (Science) to our now spiritualized consciousness and all that is unlike Truth disappears.
A healing I had illustrates this point. During flight training in the Navy, I found myself lonely and depressed at a new base where I knew no one. As a student of Christian Science, my needs had been met through my understanding of the statement from Science and Health: “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need” (p. 494 ). As I turned again to that statement for healing, I felt I was covering the ground I had covered before. When it suddenly dawned on me that since I was God’s image and likeness, I was the expression of the divine Love that meets the human need, rather than the human in need of this love. I realized I actually had moved forward, instead of back. Instantly the loneliness and depression left me, and I felt a sense of peace and well-being. It was as if a light had been turned on in my room.
As the expression of divine Love, I felt I should be meeting a human need and busied myself at the base swimming pool that afternoon, teaching youngsters how to dive as I had done at summer camp as a counselor. While I was attending a Christian Science church in town the next Sunday, a woman introduced herself and her daughter to me. For the rest of my stay at that base I had the wonderful companionship of this family.
My experience changed as my consciousness changed and my human need was met. As I moved from identifying myself as a needy human to the expression of the Love that meets the human need, my experience reflected that new understanding. In some cases you may notice that a change in thought may be the first sign of healing—sometimes long before the material circumstances change. But this change in thought will give you a feeling of confidence and progress.
I was healed while still in the lonely room, just as John saw his vision of the city foursquare while still in prison on the island of Patmos. The resulting companionship was the way my understanding of divine Love manifested itself in my experience. As we spiritually digest the truths of the Bible through our understanding of Christian Science, we become the expression of those truths wherever we are. And all of us are engaged in an ongoing, eternal journey of new views and healing.
