Many of us love old movies with their legendary actors and actresses and their simple clarity about the difference between good and evil. There is another kind of "old movie," however, that is not so much fun. It is our remembrance of past failures, disappointments, or sickness, and perhaps war experiences.

When we let our thoughts wander into such gloomy shadows, we are entering the theater of darkened consciousness and are watching a film that seems to be of our own making. Even memories of good things—if they blind us to present blessings—can leave us feeling dissatisfied.

Actually, we are neither the actors nor the producers of such "films." These mental picture shows are based on a mistaken view of reality, a belief that life includes a material past that can return to haunt us or prevent progress. If we play such films often enough, we begin to believe in their stereotypes: the mortal actor who made the mistake, the mortal who did the unworthy deed, the mortal who became sick or poverty-stricken, the mortal who went through the horrors of war.

In reality, however, we're not mortals at all. No such beings exist! You and I are actually spiritual ideas of one infinite, perfect Mind, God. So these depressing mental images literally have nothing to do with us.

We know this to be true because of Christ Jesus' teachings. Jesus knew constantly that there is only one Mind, one creator and controller—almighty God! The Master saw only the harmonious action of God, flawless Life, to be going on ceaselessly, everywhere.

Here is a healing illustration from the Bible. It happened when Christ Jesus was at the pool of Bethesda (see John 5:1–9). For thirty-eight years a man there had been hoping to be healed. Surely during those long years he must have felt hopeless and have been plagued by unhappy memories.

Sensing the man's receptivity, Jesus asked him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" The man replied that he had no one to help him get into the pool, which was thought to be a place of healing. Disregarding this reply, Jesus commanded him, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." The Biblical account continues, "And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked."

Now, what really happened? Christ Jesus, through his clear understanding of spiritual man's ever-present freedom and perfection, beheld this individual's true nature as God's immortal, substantial, inviolable image. With the man's receptive thought illumined by the Christ, Truth—by what Jesus was spiritually beholding—he must immediately have seen that he was not an actor in this picture of infirmity. Under the bright light of the Christ, disease disappeared from his thought. As his immortal, indestructible, always strong nature as the child of God dawned on him, he saw that he could leave the mental darkness, or the private "theater" he'd been sitting in. And he was cured.

Mary Baker Eddy's book Science and Health points the way toward the "theater's" exit when she writes, "Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things. Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm of Mind?" (p. 264) This ability to look beyond error into the ever-present reality of Life enabled her to heal the sick, redeem the sinner, and raise the dead.

Man's immortal being as God's image is an indestructible reality. The spiritual recognition of true being gives us the ability to command our experience, to subordinate it to the harmony and control of God's law. This empowers us to let go of the past by discerning that God's love has always been with us, even if we could not see it clearly at the time. Science and Health puts it thisway: "You command the situation if you understand that mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the truth of being" (p. 403).

Because Christ Jesus saw through error's showcase of fleshly presentations, whether sick or sinful, he declared, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing" (John 6:63). He refused to believe in the carnal, or mortal, view of existence with its alluring sin, dreaded sickness, inescapable death. He never lost sight of what God was and is continually presenting and seeing. And what is that? The perfection of His immaculate creation, man! The humility and spiritual purity of his thought enabled Jesus to reflect this all-perfect Love that heals.

Quite some years ago I had an experience that shows how spiritualizing our thoughts sets us free. At that time, I felt that my peace of mind lay in moving back to a home where I had lived for many years.

Even though my understanding of God's law of harmony enabled me to perceive that this wasn't the right thing to do, the false attraction persisted. From time to time, I would catch myself reviewing images of past scenes of the old locale with its pleasant memories, comforts, and pleasures.

I kept praying to wake up—to get out of this mental movie house! In prayer, I declared often that I was in my right place, satisfied, and that evil, or error, could not hypnotize or delude me in any way. Often I affirmed that I was guided and governed only by divine Mind. I insisted that I was not a mortal but an immortal. I acknowledged again and again that my consciousness was radiant with the Christ.

Against such diligent prayer, such false suggestions could not stand. They disappeared completely. I had turned on the bright, joyful lights of reality. I was free and felt happy and satisfied in my present locality. Some years later, a wonderful move to a distant location took place. And there was no longing for the past.

As we study and pray—and, most important, as we live a more Christlike life—each of us manifests more fully the divine Love that heals quickly. This enables us not just to give up our own "old movies" but also to free others from thinking that is darkened by false beliefs.

For as we dwell in the healing consciousness of Love's allness, we realize that in God's kingdom only good has ever happened. And the light of Love shines upon us, uplifts us, and blesses all!