I was waiting at an airport gate and, along with others, began watching a televised football playoff game. The viewers had some strong feelings about the teams that were playing, and it wasn’t long before some began yelling at the TV: “Drop it!” “Look out!” “Stop him!” “Oh, come on!”

As loud as everyone became, their intense thoughts and shouts didn’t have the slightest effect on the game. Recognizing this is a helpful stepping stone to thinking about mental power—about the fact that there is a distinct difference between the power of God, the one, infinite, divine Mind, and what Christian Science terms mental malpractice, or trying to influence others through human willpower. 

If it were a real force, mental malpractice could be used for harm. But while it’s unnerving to contemplate the possibility of human thought as a destructive power, we don’t need to accept that it is, because that would go right in the face of divine Mind’s all-presence and all-power. Could God, good, possibly share authority with some additional force of any kind?