Have you ever heard someone say, "I could kick that habit if I just had enough willpower"? Sadly enough, this method is seldom very effective in taming permanently the beast of temptation. The use of willpower to subdue fleshly appetites and addictive habits often results in a mere exchange of habits.

In the past few years hypnotism has gained notoriety as a supposed help in breaking the smoking habit. But in this way the patient's cravings—symptoms of a deeper problem—are simply changed to another and more subtle form. The problem remains.

Human will acts in somewhat the same way as does the hypnotic suggestion, substituting one state of mortal thought for another. Even if a destructive habit appears to be overcome in this way, the person still may remain in a state of mental subservience, and sometimes years later the problem reappears.

Christian Science offers a complete and permanent solution to situations like these. It teaches that reliance must be placed in the one and only creative Mind, God. It teaches that God is all-powerful and that He is the unfailing source of true moral and spiritual strength. The Bible supports this faith and states the fact that man reflects this power and is, in truth, spiritual and perfect now. It tells us, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." ^{Gen. 1:26.}

Suppression and repression are not evidence of dominion but are tools of human will. Part of the definition of "suppress" in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary is "to keep secret." To suppress a problem only hides the basic error of belief in a power apart from God. Hidden sin is the most destructive because it would victimize the individual and do its damage unrecognized. In this mental state one is bound by matter and coerced into a joyless slavery.

Christian Science, on the other hand, rouses the individual to battle with sin and death. It exposes error, brings it out in the open, and shows it to be a fraud. Science shows that in reality error and evil are separate from the individual, because man's nature is Godlike and Christly.

To try merely to repress addiction is to start with the underlying misconception that sin is natural and normal and cannot be totally destroyed, but only inhibited and subdued. The same dictionary's definition of "repress" includes this: "to prevent the natural or normal expression, activity, or development of." If one believes sin to be natural, there is little hope of ever annihilating it. And if it is natural, the false reasoning proceeds, God must have made it.

Here Christian Science points out that it would be impossible for God to create something so opposed to His omnipotence. As long as we try to cast out bad habits or addiction by depending on mortal beliefs, we do not really succeed. Christ Jesus said, "If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?" ^{Matt. 12:26.} This statement was a response to the Pharisees' charge against him, that he cast out devils by the power of the devil. Willpower, a form of this supposed power, is not actually true power. But by realizing the truth that man is created spiritual and limitless, made in God's likeness and exercising God-given dominion, we are able to demonstrate this dominion and expel parasitic evil, including destructive and addictive habits, from our experience.

Our God-bestowed heritage gives us natural dominion over every earthly belief. It is our birthright to soar above the limits of the flesh into a full expression of God-given courage and strength. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, describes true self-control in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "Reflecting God's government, man is self-governed." ^{Science and Health, p. 125.} This government does not leave us alone to struggle along on limited mental and emotional resources. It points to God, good, as the source of all authority and identity.

The recognition of the immortal truth of our dominion as God's children is the beginning of the freedom process for us. The mortal sense of man is a false mental state in which one has not entirely recognized and claimed his status as God's child and, therefore, is sometimes deluded into believing he is separate from God and at the mercy of a material body. But this state of false belief is destroyed by knowing Truth; then man's true spiritual identity shines through. As the lies about man are wiped out by truth, more and more of man's true nature can be discerned until nothing remains but God's pure image.

Morality is an indispensable step in this redemptive process and is a result of growing spiritual understanding. Self-discipline, diligence, patience, and the desire to know God and man better are needed to meet and overcome false appetites. As our understanding of God grows, the limitations of material sense retreat and eventually vanish from thought. This transformation may not take place in one mighty leap. Generally it is a process of ripening and moral progress, a regeneration accomplished through spiritual growth. It is an emergence. Recognition of our need to change—a desire for spiritual renewal—is a good and honest realization, which is always supported by God, good.

The Christ, God's message of Truth to us, is ever present. It reveals to us what we need to know and do to assert our natural spiritual freedom from matter. Christ comforts, corrects, and sustains us on the path to spiritual freedom.

The frantic, frustrated feeling that we must instantly outgrow mortal beliefs could sometimes act as a stumbling block. Mrs. Eddy advises us in Science and Health: "Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come naturally into Spirit through better health and morals and as the result of spiritual growth." ^{Ibid., p. 485.} In Hebrews we read, "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." ^{Heb. 12:1.}

When we gain good through spiritual growth, we can master any danger of repeats or relapses. The enslaving appetites of the flesh are alien to the true man. God does not impose these weights on His own likeness; therefore, we can overcome them through spiritual understanding and thus prove that not one of these earth-weights can hold us back. Complete and absolute dominion is bestowed on man, and nothing can counter God's command.

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.

Jude 1:24, 25