A person I know of was suffering from indigestion one night. He found himself sore pressed to believe that his discomfort was due to certain food he had eaten. But he was a student of Christian Science, and could see the danger of agreeing with this conclusion. He recognized that if in any way he admitted he was subject to a power other than the one loving, omnipotent Mind, God, he would be entertaining the possibility of discord, which he might not be able to escape. He might not be able to eat this food again, and other foods might at times have to be proscribed.

Then and there the man resolved to go out of his way to eat this certain food the next day. In this instance, defiance of so-called material laws seemed necessary and right for him. He also insisted right then and there on the fact that God, the benevolent Mind, was the only governing power, and was always in complete control over all his being.

Not only was the indigestion healed this night, but the fear of indigestion was also healed. Ever since then, he has eaten all kinds of food without fear—and without ill effects.

In Science and Health Mary Baker Eddy writes: "If mortals think that food disturbs the harmonious functions of mind and body, either the food or this thought must be dispensed with, for the penalty is coupled with the belief. Which shall it be? If this decision be left to Christian Science, it will be given in behalf of the control of Mind over this belief and every erroneous belief, or material condition."^{Science and Health, pp. 388, 389;}

Our exemption from all discord, including indigestion, is rooted in who we are and how we came to be. We exist to fulfill a divine purpose. God, Mind, has conceived us to show forth Himself, to bear witness to His allness and all-goodness. What we are is determined by the will of God alone, and no other influence exists to alter the result.

Consistent with this divine intent, all our being, including every function of our true, spiritual body, or identity, attests the glory and goodness of God. Science and Health, the Christian Science textbook, states, "Every function of the real man is governed by the divine Mind" and a little later in the same paragraph, "The divine Mind that made man maintains His own image and likeness." ^{p. 151;}

To see these statements as being the truth of one's own existence is to find oneself able to disbelieve with authority those opposite suppositions which would have one think he is a helpless victim of certain material laws of indigestion. And this spiritually scientific denial of false beliefs destroys the effects of those beliefs.

All that makes up any problem is some form of idolatry. In other words, instead of recognizing the one and only cause and creator, the all-acting, all-loving, all-intelligent, all-powerful divine Mind, we are fooled into bowing down and worshiping—so to speak—a belief that some form of matter is a cause affecting our harmony. Thus we mentally lend power to what in fact has no power at all. Consequently, our bodies and experiences appear to be affected by this idol worship.

But always the idol is a baseless belief, without Principle to support it. There is no genuine substance to what it claims to be or to be able to do. It is ghostlike. It will seem to be seeable and feelable only so long as someone believes it exists.

In the case of digestive problems, the idol may be belief in the adverse power of a certain food or group of foods. It may also be a belief in a weak stomach or faulty digestive system as a whole. Or perhaps it is a belief that tension, pressure, or unhappiness in our experience can affect the orderly digestive process. In reality, God is every instant governing and sustaining the perfectly sound, safe, healthy man He has created. Spiritual man's every function is under divine control—including the normal and natural activity of receiving and assimilating divine ideas. This activity is the basis for our demonstrating harmonious digestion.

One night I was awakened from a sound sleep with all the discomforting symptoms of indigestion. I found it impossible to stay in bed and arose to seek through prayer the spiritual facts of my being to reverse the lies, the illusory beliefs, and their apparent effects.

As I prayed for inspiration from divine Mind, which would show me what I needed to know, I came to see that because of my true identity as man, the very expression of God, I was superior to foodstuffs. Since God Himself had caused me to be, it was impossible, I could see, for there to be any weakness in me. I could also see that every organ of my body was subject to the understanding of these spiritual facts, and therefore was functioning in perfect order and cooperation, in no way rebellious, in no way kept from bearing witness to omnipresent divine harmony.

As the sweet authority of these God-sent ideas dawned in my consciousness, I could actually feel my body responding, yielding to these God-established laws of being, which could not possibly be displaced or obstructed. In a very short time I was not only free of the discomfort but much advanced in spiritual confidence and conviction as well.

To refuse to lend power to powerless idols and to insist upon knowing and loving and relating ourselves to the one divine Principle of all being is to stand free of false laws and their effects.

The attempt to base one's life on dietary theories has brought more than a few people to the very doors of death. Science and Health describes in some detail such a case, and then shows how the person was delivered through applying the benevolent laws of God as revealed in Christian Science.

Mrs. Eddy makes this observation concerning what the individual learned from the experience: "He learned that a dyspeptic was very far from being the image and likeness of God,—far from having 'dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,' if eating a bit of animal flesh could overpower him. He finally concluded that God never made a dyspeptic, while fear, hygiene, physiology, and physics had made him one, contrary to His commands." ^{p. 222;}

To break with these sources of false information, these breeders of the false beliefs that would enslave us, we need to diligently do the salutary thing Christ Jesus urges us to do: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness."^{Matt. 6:33.}

And what do we find when we look deeply and consistently into this one and only kingdom, or reality? Why, we find a most loving Father-Mother God, completely in control of every facet of our experience, always, in every way. And we find ourselves to be God's harmonious man. We find that the all-wise and all-providing Principle has caused us to be permanently perfect and forever untouched by any false, material belief, including discord caused by indigestible food or a supposedly self-acting digestive system.

God alone conceives and sustains our being. He is delighted with what He made us to be! And we can find joy as we awake to the spiritual facts. As part of God's beautiful expression, man, every function of our true, spiritual being has a role in glorifying Him. And God's loving laws can be seen to control every human thought and bodily organ, maintaining our entire system as a harmonious whole.