Dizziness healed, balance restored

Last December, as I hung up the telephone from my last conference call before closing my home office for the holidays, I stood up at my desk and felt a strange dizziness. At first, I thought that I had just stood up too fast and that the feeling would pass. But it did not pass, and I found I could not walk anywhere without holding on to a wall. It felt as if I were in a carnival fun house, only this was not fun. 

When the dizziness continued the following day, fear crept into my thought, so I called a Christian Science practitioner for treatment through prayer. She read to me a passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures where the author, Mary Baker Eddy, refers to Christ Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from death and asks, “Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever intact in his perfect state, and to govern man’s entire action?” (pp. 493–494). 

It was comforting to think about the restoration of Lazarus and to realize that divine Mind, God, was also holding me forever intact in my perfect state. The fear started to dissipate, and I felt the love and support in the practitioner’s words as she agreed to pray with me.

After we talked, I looked up that passage to let the ideas soak in deeper. Then I continued reading and noticed this statement on page 495, which I had previously highlighted: “When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought. Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious—as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not.”

The word illusion jumped off the page at me. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines it in part as “a perception of something objectively existing in such a way as to cause misinterpretation of its actual nature.” Some of the synonyms I found on the internet for illusion are even more revealing: misapprehension, delusion, deception, trickery.

I knew that as God’s child, I was created to express health, harmony, balance, and other spiritual qualities, so it became clear to me that the dizziness was only an illusion, not part of my true spiritual being. 

Then it occurred to me that in the midst of preparations for celebrating the Christmas holidays, I had fallen for the illusion of what Christmas is about. I needed to let go of the long list of things I was feeling pressured to do. Realizing that this pressure was not coming from God, and therefore was an illusion, broke through the mesmerizing fear, and the dizziness and imbalance were greatly reduced.

I then looked up what Eddy wrote about Christmas and found this statement in Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896: “My heart is filled with joy, that each receding year sees the steady gain of Truth’s idea in Christian Science; that each recurring year witnesses the balance adjusted more on the side of God, the supremacy of Spirit; as shown by the triumphs of Truth over error, of health over sickness, of Life over death, and of Soul over sense” (p. 321).

Reading this helped me feel the power and presence of divine Love, God, and it brought an end to any lingering dizziness. I was immensely grateful to have my sense of balance restored, both spiritually and physically.

Marjory Hawkins
Austin, Texas, US