Christian Science teaches that weakness or weariness originate not because one has an iron or vitamin deficiency but because one has somehow lost contact with God. A false sense of man as a mortal, adrift in a material, mechanistic universe, is the real culprit, and spiritual awakening to man's actual unity with infinite Spirit, or divine Truth, can restore his strength and well-being. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Truth is the tonic for the sick, and this medicine of Mind is not necessarily infinitesimal but infinite." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 251, 252;}

The Psalmist must temporarily have lost touch with his divine source when he wrote, "My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." Then, as he regained his native spiritual perception and experienced its invigorating effect, he said, "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. . . . They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." ^{Ps. 84:2, 5, 7;}

Spiritual inspiration, including the vigor and zest that go with it, flows from a scientific understanding of God. When in sufficient degree He is seen to be the divine Principle of man's being—man's vital, ever-active Life—the results show beyond cavil where health and strength really lie. Thousands of students of Christian Science are proving the practicality of spiritual ideas. As they learn to entertain in thought and express in daily life divine qualities such as love, purity, stillness, integrity, the sustaining presence of God is actually felt. God's qualities are inseparable from His boundless, buoyant, strengthening selfhood, and they, rather than intellectualism, uplift the human mind and convince it of spiritual reality. Speaking of the effect of Truth on the human body, Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "It imparts a healthy stimulus to the body, and regulates the system. It increases or diminishes the action, as the case may require, better than any drug, alterative, or tonic." ^{Science and Health, p. 420;}

The healing and energizing effect of spiritualized thought on the human body may seem mysterious until it is learned that this body is really the subjective state of the human mind, and therefore amenable to its conscious and subconscious impressions. When this fact is glimpsed, the Science and logic of the spiritual method becomes apparent. Then it is seen how the mortally mental concept called body is invigorated and renewed as thought is enriched with spiritual ideas.

On the other hand, this new approach to the nature of matter shows the futility of seeking strength and endurance through medicinal means. These ignore the all-important mental factor, and any seeming benefit they impart is merely the result of a general belief in the power of matter to heal. This belief is unsupported by Principle, and its results are, at best, temporary.

The spiritual thinker—although at present he may require normal amounts of food and rest—has available a source of renewal that never fluctuates, and on which he may draw at any moment and under every circumstance. In the degree that he keeps thought qualitatively in tune with God, divine Mind, he can face any task that duty demands. Mrs. Eddy assures us, "The spiritual demand, quelling the material, supplies energy and endurance surpassing all other aids, and forestalls the penalty which our beliefs would attach to our best deeds." ^{p. 385;}

It was the selflessness and purity of Christ Jesus' thought that unified him with the energy of Mind and made him equal to his mission. In deep humility he acknowledged this Mind to be the "I" of his being, the divine Principle of every thought and act, and it resulted in a profound stillness and rest. He said, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." ^{Matt. 11:29;}

The Master's life was a busy and eventful one, making constant demands on his time and attention. But he was wise enough to withdraw from time to time for periods of quiet, restful communion with God and thus replenish thought with the tonic of Truth. He understood the unity of God and man too well to be taken in by suggestions of limpness and lassitude or by material means of combating them. He never heard of iron-poor blood or vitamin deficiency, and if he had he undoubtedly would have rejected them as false beliefs, powerless to affect the harmony of man.

Thanks to Mrs. Eddy, the truth Jesus knew and demonstrated has been revealed to this age as divine Science. If we study and apply its rules, we too can reflect the unchanging joy and vitality of God, the one divine Life. "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." ^{Isa. 40:29.}

Alan A. Aylwin