Article October 16, 1920 Issue

The Practice of Metaphysics

ROBERT RAMSEY

The study of metaphysics is the study of the cause of true effect. The knowledge of the truth about such a cause is true Science. The right reflection of this cause in daily life is Christianity. Therefore the true knowledge of cause and its correct expression is Christian Science. It is impossible to separate knowledge and expression, to know God as the only cause and yet commit sin, for sin is the expression of ignorance. To claim a knowledge of God as the only cause and yet believe in the reality of sin, is to accept the premise of mesmerism; namely, that an effect can be produced without a real cause. The right practice of metaphysics is action based on the understanding of perfect cause and perfect effect. The supposedly wrong practice of metaphysics, which is malpractice, is action based either on the assumption that God is both good and evil, or that an evil effect can be derived from such a cause as infinite good.

Since God is Mind, man is the intelligent expression of that Mind, and so man's practice, his words and deeds must, in reality, be the expression of that intelligence. It is therefore necessary, when a patient comes to a Christian Science practitioner for the purpose of having some manifestation of error removed, that the lack of understanding of God, which claims to be the cause of the manifestation, be removed as well as the manifestation. Any effort to persuade mortal mind to relinquish a belief in material sickness and hold to a belief in material health, is not Christian Science but mesmerism. The reason for this is that as mortal mind is the exact opposite of divine Mind it is naturally expressed in sin and sickness. To try to convince this mind that it possesses the idea of health is to try to get a good effect from an evil cause, which is as much mesmerism as expecting a bad effect from a good cause. To be healed, one must, in a degree, understand that divine Mind is the only cause and harmony the only possible effect, that the idea of health which has to be understood is an idea of the divine Mind, everywhere expressed, and that the testimony of mortal mind is never to be accepted and its beliefs are never real. The student of Christian Science, therefore, is called upon not only to understand divine Mind as the only cause, but also to refrain from agreeing with mortal mind in thought, word, or other expression.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says, on page 391, "When the body is supposed to say, 'I am sick,' never plead guilty." Again on page 392 we read: "Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously." And on page 390 we find this instruction: "When the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the testimony of the material senses with divine Science." The ability to dispute sense testimony, to watch thought, and to refrain from pleading guilty, depends therefore on the understanding of divine Science. It must never be forgotten, however, that this understanding has to be put into practice to dispute the testimony of the senses. It is imperative that this practice should start at once; it cannot be safely postponed until the symptoms of disease appear. The practice of metaphysics cannot be separated from its theory, and metaphysics is as much practice as theory, although it deals with thoughts, not with things.

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