Editorial September 25, 2017 Issue

There is a spiritual awakening going on

Kim Crooks Korinek

A doctor once told me a story that meant a great deal to him in a conversation we had about healing and prayer. He said that he had been treating a woman for cancer for over a decade. One day, she came into his office and asked to stop all treatment. After talking it over with her, he released her and encouraged her to go and celebrate all the joys in her life. Two years later, she came back—totally clear of the cancer—realizing that she was healed when she stopped identifying herself with the disease. The good doctor recognized the healing brought on by this mental shift in thought and commented thoughtfully that there is so much more we need to learn about healing.

I’ve appreciated this brief encounter with the doctor for its feeling of respectful camaraderie and for finding common ground in our interests to understand more about healing. I’ve also become aware that there are a number of people asking about and exploring the mental and even the spiritual nature of healing disease. There seems to be an awakening in thought when it comes to understanding healing—and it’s a shift from a material basis to a spiritual basis. It’s a shift I have felt in my own thought.

Many years ago, when I was starting to grasp the ideas in Christian Science for myself, I had a friend who was going through a severe struggle, and I very much wanted to help her. I shared what I was learning about Christian Science and I prayed for her. One key point I was learning in Christian Science is that we are made in the image and likeness of God, Truth, which meant that my friend was made in the image of God, thus spiritual. When she started identifying herself spiritually—with joy, love, and all those things that were life-affirming—instead of identifying with her circumstances, this turned her thought from being fearful to feeling encouraged and comforted. I saw that when the mental picture was spiritual, there was a change and that it was the spiritual element in thought that prevailed and determined the outward and actual experience.

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Bible Lens

Bible Lens—September 25–October 1, 2017