In a report to an appropriations subcommittee of the United States Senate, Andrew Weil, M.D., director of the University of Arizona Program in Integrative Medicine, stated that nearly half of US health care consumers have tried some form of alternative therapy (2000 Healtheon/WebMD). That's a significant number, and in the years to come, it is possible that a larger percentage will look to what is now non-mainstream, alternative treatment and medicine—to homeopathy, herbal medicines, hypnotism, massage, and the like—in addition to, or instead of, conventional medicine.

The alternative, or complementary, health care field today is incredibly broad, and sometimes it may seem that anything goes. Even in traditional medicine, there are some rather thought-provoking studies that stretch conventional views of treatment. An article published in Scientific American takes a look at a number of such studies, including the work of Walter A. Brown, a member of the psychiatry department of the Brown University School of Medicine. Dr. Brown, also a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, has done extensive study and research into what is commonly known as the "placebo effect" (Scientific American, January 1998, pp. 90—95).

In addition to unmedicated pills and inert injections, placebos can also involve what is told or not told to patients about diseases, diagnoses, and treatments. Dr. Brown describes a study of two hundred patients "with physical complaints but no identifiable disease." Some were told by doctors at the University of Southampton in England that "no serious disease had been found and that they would soon be well." Two weeks later 64 percent of that group had recovered. The others were told that "the cause of their ailment was unclear." Only 39 percent of that group recuperated in two weeks.

Such studies illustrate that recovery is often tied to bolstering the patient's confidence through a physician's compassionate consultation or even well-meant fabrication—both of which are successful only to the degree to which they are believed. Mary Baker Eddy recounts an example of this same phenomenon in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, where she writes: "It is related that Sir Humphry Davy once apparently cured a case of paralysis simply by introducing a thermometer into the patient's mouth. This he did merely to ascertain the temperature of the patient's body; but the sick man supposed this ceremony was intended to heal him, and he recovered accordingly" (p. 152).

From placebos to physician-patient interactions, evidence suggests that the human mind, including whatever beliefs it perceives as true, is a leading factor in the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of both mainstream and alternative medicines and treatments. Yet few people would consciously choose to rely on something as transitory as their beliefs and opinions for healing and health maintenance.

Examination of Biblical texts shows that original Christianity admits the mental nature of disease. This is brought out in one of the instances when, after healing a blind and dumb man, Jesus faced criticism from the Pharisees (see Matt. 12:22-29). His response to them included this brief yet telling parable: "How can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house." Mrs. Eddy's commentary points out Jesus' grasp of the mental nature of physical problems. Paraphrasing him, she writes, "In other words: How can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called mortal mind, which directly controls the body?" She elaborates: "Mortal mind is the 'strong man,' which must be held in subjection before its influence upon health and morals can be removed. This error conquered, we can despoil 'the strong man' of his goods,—namely, of sin and disease" (Science and Health, pp. 399-400). It is important to note, however, that Jesus' understanding of the mental nature of disease did not lead him to the human mind and personality for healing. Rather he recognized God as the Physician. "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works," Jesus explained (John 14:10).

It was not only in cases of physical healing that Jesus directed people's thinking away from his own personality and toward God. He did so regularly. The Bible's New Testament describes one such eye-opening incident: "And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God" (Mark 10:17, 18). Isn't this turning toward God the practice not only of original Christianity but of original Christian medicine? Through turning to God in this way, and encouraging others to do so, Jesus healed thousands during his ministry.

Many people today accept that God is not an anthropomorphic personality sitting in judgment, but is the supreme intelligence—divine Mind—that governs the universe.

This divine Mind, God, isn't amalgamated with materiality but is pure Spirit and all good.

It may be a leap for some people even to admit God's existence, although most would acknowledge some sort of supreme, creative power, rather than entropy and chaos, as the source of all around them. Meta-physically, acknowledging that infinite Mind—God—upholds divine law and governs creation intelligently is a reasonable standpoint. Einstein once said: "I shall never believe that God plays dice with the universe." Mind's law—not disorganization, chaos, or chance—governs. Through the Science of Christianity, people are finding that this is a provable, spiritual fact of creation, despite evidence that appears to contradict it. The articles and accounts of healing in this magazine are good examples of proof, although many other Christian cures occur that one never hears about

Mrs. Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, tried a number of the medical systems of her day, including homeopathy, before finding that God is the one and only healing power. She writes in her book Science and Health: "Metaphysics, as taught in Christian Science, is the next stately step beyond homoeopathy. In metaphysics, matter disappears from the remedy entirely, and Mind takes its rightful and supreme place. Homoeopathy takes mental symptoms largely into consideration in its diagnosis of disease. Christian Science deals wholly with the mental cause in judging and destroying disease. It succeeds where homoeopathy fails, solely because its one recognized Principle of healing is Mind, and the whole force of the mental element is employed through the Science of Mind, which never shares its rights with inanimate matter" (pp. 156-157). Mrs. Eddy's own life proved the truth of her statement that "Christian Science exterminates the drug, and rests on Mind alone as the curative Principle, acknowledging that the divine Mind has all power" (ibid., p. 157).

How do treatment and cure rest "on Mind alone as the curative Principle"? God is wholly good, so dependence on God, Mind, alone would have to exclude both one's trust in matter and one's false beliefs about the supposed necessity and causes of disease. Fixed dependence on God relies on Mind's knowledge of its own completely good creation, thereby eliminating dire diagnoses predicting suffering, debility, and/or death.

Recently I had an opportunity to use treatment based on absolute reliance on divine Mind. I had been around several people who were suffering from a newer strain of flu. Because of my contact with them, I was all too familiar with their symptoms. After a few days I began to have identical symptoms. Some of the people even commented on this, telling me, "You don't look well," and "Now you've got it, too."

Instead of treating these early symptoms medically, I honestly recognized how strong my beliefs about this sickness were. At that point I apparently believed, along with my friends, that this strain of flu was more powerful than my immune system, and that it was inevitable that I would be incapacitated.

Even though that was what I was believing, I knew from my exploration of the Bible and Science and Health that neither God nor what God, divine Mind, creates included flu. This excerpt from Science and Health describes man (a generic term including woman) in spiritual terms, as God's creation: "The compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spiritual image and likeness of God; the full representation of Mind" (p. 591). Since everyone is included in God's infinite creation, I knew that I, too, must be the representation, or outcome, of Mind. So I am actually an idea. I am not material.

I didn't feel that this was some sort of theoretical hypothesis out there in space. The presence of God and of His law of good was tangible to me. I let divine Mind's rule overrule what I had been believing about the flu. I felt myself recover at that moment. The symptoms stopped immediately, and in the next few days, whenever I thought about those few hours of illness, I remembered what I'd perceived about Mind and about myself, Mind's creation. There were no recurring symptoms.

Was this the use of "alternative," or complementary, medicine? Was it a placebo? Or was it rather a radical, spiritual alternative to both conventional and nontraditional medicine? In contrast to the way placebos and such things work, this healing came through understanding, not belief. The healing agent was the rule, the law, of divine Mind, God—not the changeable impressions and influences of the human mind, with its beliefs and opinions. Resting "on Mind alone as the curative Principle" could be viewed not so much as an alternative therapy but as original, divine medicine.

A person turning to the Science of Christianity begins treatment through prayer by realizing the perfection of God and of God's entire spiritual creation. There is no attempt (or need) to improve God or to turn the children He made into God's likeness, since the perfect nature of both God and His creation is already established.

When believed, the lie that God or any one of us could be diseased or injured may appear outwardly as illness or injury. But when this lie is annihilated through the recognition of our true being, disease stops. The law of God destroys it with supreme effectiveness.