Preface
In placing before my thousands of Science friends The Right Thought Series., my greatest motive and desire is to enlighten and help the honest seekers for Truth.
Our great leader, Mary Baker Eddy, in defining the word “Wilderness,” wrote on page 597 of Science and Health as follows: “Wilderness: Doubt, darkness. Spontaneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence.”
We have all been in this same wilderness of doubt and mental darkness. Those of us who have emerged into the “vestibule” where “spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence” can, if we choose, light the way for our friends and thereby, perhaps, save them many heartaches.
I now know the wilderness of mental darkness thoroughly and was in it for years, though in belief I thought I was out; and from my own experience I know that there are thousands more who have the belief that they are out, but in actuality are not.
Some time ago a new and deeper understanding of Christian Science was presented tc me, and, in a remarkable manner, enlightened my waiting consciousness to that Light in which there is no darkness, no dcubt, no mystery. This wonderful enlightenment I shall endeavor to give to my friends in simple story form in The Right Thought Series, so that these friends may also enjoy that peace which comes with actual understanding, which peace I now know and enjoy.
The Hidden Truth is the first story of the series, and in due time the other stories of this enlightening series will be published.
The Author.
THE HIDDEN TRUTH
Millicent Curtis was happily engaged in the arrangement of a mass of exquisite pansies that she had just brought into the house from her own flower garden.
It was just as the last little face was carefully tucked in the low flower holder that the telephone rang.
“I hope no one wants to see me right now,” thought she, as she flung her garden hat upon the nearest chair and stepped into her office.
“This is Mr. Walter Williams,” came the voice.
Such a surprise was this to Millicent that, for a moment, she was lost for speech.
“Where—where are you?”
“Right here in town. I have been on a long motor trip, and on my way back through your town, thought I would stop and ask if you would care to have me call at your home.”
Care? Well of course she did. She insisted that Mr. Williams stop by all means, and assured him of the great pleasure it would give her.
As Millicent hung up the receiver, her heart was beating with the glad excitement she was feeling. Thoughts came like floods to her as she made ready for her guest.
Walter Williams was one who had long stood out in her estimation as a great man, and she had heard hundreds speak of him in glowing terms. Although she had known of him for several years, and had occasionally corresponded with him, yet she had never enjoyed the pleasure of seeing him. Mr. Williams, like herself, was an author; and, as they wrote on the same subject of metaphysics, this was the bond between them.
“I suppose he will be a big man with a forceful bearing,” she mused. “I hope not altogether unapproachable, as I have many questions I would like to ask him.”
With a glow of color still in her cheeks, Millicent herself answered the bell. “I am so glad to have you come,” she said simply.
Mr. Williams held her hand in a strong, firm grasp while he looked very directly into the face before him.
“And I am very happy to have this pleasure of meeting you, Mrs. Curtis.”
Millicent knew, even before they were comfortably seated in her office, that she was at perfect ease with her guest. As they talked for a few moments upon the general lines of thought, she was conscious that his appearance was very unlike what she had formulated in her imagination. His whole bearing was marked by simplicity. His hair was grey, his eyes very clear and kind; but that which held her attention most, was a warmth, a light, a certain illumination that seemed to emanate from his presence. “Surely there is something unusual about him,” decided she, happily, and at once she plunged into the matter at her heart.
“Mr. Williams, I have read with great interest your various writings on metaphysics, and I note that your thought is somewhat different from the many other writers of Christian Science stories, myself included. Do you know something the rest of us do not know?” she asked pointedly.
A bright smile broke over his face, and he looked full into the earnest face before he spoke.
“Mrs. Curtis, you understand, do you not, that metaphysics is a Science; that every science has only one side and that is its right side? It is not a matter of what you have come to believe, and I have come to believe, regarding this Science. It is a matter of knowing the truth about metaphysics; and all who correctly know this truth have the same understanding of it.”
“I have often thought along this way, Mr. Williams. I can see that mathematics is an absolute science, and all of us who have learned its truths use them the same way and have the same understanding regarding them. But, when it comes to the Science of Mind there seems to be such a noticeable difference of opinion between those who claim to understand it. In fact, I have never met any two people who talked exactly from the same point of view, and I have often asked myself why this is, since the science of metaphysics must be an accurate, changeless and perfect science.”
“It is. And any of us who actually understand this Science, think alike regarding its laws and nature. It is one thing to believe in metaphysics; it is quite a different matter to understand it. Christian Science, as known by Mrs. Eddy, is true metaphysics or science of Mind. There are millions of people today who believe in Christian Science, and believe that it is the truth that our Master taught; but the actual understanders are much less in number. It is not our belief in mathematics or our faith in its teachings that enables us to solve mathematical problems, but it is our understanding of its principle and laws that enables us to solve its problems. This is true of all sciences, metaphysics in* eluded. Christian Science, as understood by Mrs. Eddy, is not founded upon blind faith nor belief, but it is founded upon the absolute facts of Life, the laws of Being; and it is only as we learn what these facts are, and learn the method of their operation that we have started rightly.
“How long have you been a student of Christian Science?” he asked, with interest.
“Since about twenty years ago. My sister and my mother both had very remarkable healings through Christian Science at that time, and this made Scientists of our whole family. I have had class instruction, and I have been a practitioner myself for several years. I do believe thoroughly in progress. I want to grow into higher understanding, and if you can open up new fields of thought to me, I am ready and anxious to listen. I know, personally, of the wonderful healing work you have done as a Christian Science practitioner, and ‘by their fruits ye shall know them.’ Will you tell me of some of the cases that you have healed?”
The man was silent for a moment, and then he said: “Our Leader spoke frankly of her healing works. If you will turn to page 105 of The First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany, you will read these words: ‘I healed malignant diphtheria and carious bones that could be dented by the finger. … I have physically restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb and have made the lame walk.’ Probably I can answer your question in no better way than to repeat those words of Mrs. Eddy’s; for I can honestly make the same claim.” The words were quietly but convincingly spoken, leaving no doubt in the mind of the listener that here was a man whose whole manner was the essence of one who knew and who spoke from the standpoint of understanding.
Unconsciously Millicent drew a sigh. “Will you talk plainly to me?” she began. “I feel sure that you know more of Truth than I know. I want to know more of the how and the ‘what of healing, and I want to know upon what my progress depends.”
An irresistible smile lighted up the pleasant face, and Millicent could feel herself warmed as though by a bright light.
“I will answer your last question first,” he replied. “Your progress depends entirely upon yourself.”
She drew back, startled. “Of course, God helping me, you mean.”
Mr. Williams replied: “Before I could grant this, I should have to know what your idea of God is. If you believe that you gain health or happiness, or bring these to another by doing your mental work on the case and ‘leave the rest to God/ then you are wrong. Mrs. Eddy says plainly, ‘you are the judge’; ‘you are the attorney for the case’; ‘you are the arbiter of your own fate’; and the Bible states that we are to work out our own salvation. In a Christian Science lecture that I recently heard, the lecturer said that God is Wisdom, Understanding. Our Leader says that God is Mind. When you have gained an actual understanding of Truth or the true facts of Life, then you are ready to begin to work out your salvation.”
“But it is God that ‘worketh with you,’ ” insisted Millicent.
“Of course,” was the smiling response. “We cannot work out salvation or any other good thing without Truth or true thoughts— without wisdom or understanding. When we work out our problems upon this foundation, then we are working right.”
“But that seems to put the matter quite up to us.” A pink flush crept over her face and she gave her head a decided little toss. “I don’t like that way. I have never thought like that, for it is leaving God out altogether, it seems to me.”
“Not at all, if you have the right understanding of God. Let us see what Mrs. Eddy has to say on this very vital question of who heals and what heals; and let us go back to the teachings of the Master metaphysician, Jesus. If we study these teachers carefully, we cannot be led astray.”
Mr. Williams quietly examined the various books that lay on the table beside him, and finally picked out a little pamphlet called Christian Healing, by Mrs. Eddy. He noted the date of the edition on the cover, “1911.” The pages were clean and crisp.
“I see that you have had this little book for several years,” he mused, “and how very fresh and new it looks.”
“I’ll admit that I never read much of it,” said Millicent, a little embarrassed by the clear light in his eyes; “but, look at my Science and Health!” and she exhibited a well-worn little book. “This to me is the most important.”
“All of our Leader’s writings are important, Mrs. Curtis. Every one. I own a great many of her earlier writings, too. I have a copy of the first edition of Science and Health ever published; also one of each of many of the following editions. I have found it of great importance to study all the various writings of Mrs. Eddy, as without a doubt she was the greatest metaphysician of her time. But come, let us see what she has to tell us in this little sermon.”
The room was quiet as slowly he turned a few pages of the book. “Listen: ‘Metaphysics places all cause and cure as mind,’ also ‘Metaphysics requires mind imbued with Truth to heal the sick.’ Just note, Mrs. Curtis, that mind is here written with a small ‘m.’ ”
Millicent took the book and examined the words very carefully. She had a feeling of being a little mystified. “This would make mind a healer,” and her brows began to pucker. “Why, Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health that divine Mind is the only healer.”
If she expected the face opposite to look chagrined she was disappointed, for his countenance was as serene as the summer’s day.
“Let me read you this from People’s Idea of God, by Mrs. Eddy. I will begin on page 10. ‘We possess our own body, and make it harmonious or discordant according to the images that thought reflects upon it.’ Here is something further on the subject on the next page: ‘The feeblest mind, enlightened and spiritualized, can free its body from disease.’ ”
“But God is the only healer,” insisted Millicent. “You know that Mrs. Eddy says so positively in Science and Health. These statements seem contradictory. This has never come to my attention before”; and with quickened feeling she read and reread the words of Mrs. Eddy that Mr. Williams had selected.
“These statements and the one that you quote from Science and Health do not contradict each other, although to a believer in Christian Science it may appear so. Don’t you recall in Science and Health where Mrs. Eddy writes, ‘When the Science of being is universally understood, every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be the universal panacea’?”
“Yes, I admit that I have noted that and have wondered in my heart how we each can be our own physician, and God, divine Mind, the only physician.”
There was no resisting the radiance that danced from the smiling eyes. Millicent’s mood was melted by this contagion of good, and she burst into a merry laugh. “I must be very stupid, Mr. Williams, but for the life of me I cannot see how my mind can heal, your mind can heal, and still there be only one Mind and one healer. I know by your face that you have the solution for this problem.”
“Yes, through deep study I have gained it; and it is one of the foundation stones to good healing. Let us leave this for the moment. I want you to use your reason more. Did you ever notice how many people like to read certain parts of Mrs. Eddy’s writings, and even certain parts of Science and Health, leaving many other parts almost unread?”
“Yes. I am inclined to do that myself,” was the frank answer. “I like to read best what I understand the best, and I am sure that in time I will understand more.”
“You will never understand a thing by leaving it alone. Is that the way you progress in music or in mathematics?”
Millicent shook her head.
“If Mrs. Eddy’s Science is good—and it is —then we should study, ponder, weigh, every statement she has ever given us. Many of us stay behind because we do not do this. Let me illustrate this to you: Suppose that in a big arena there was an enclosure of some kind. The people were told that in this enclosure was every conceivable good thing for the eyes to look at, and they were invited to go in and investigate for themselves. Of the many that go within is one vitally interested in flowers—a botanist. As he enters the enclosure multitudinous sights are arrayed before his vision. Birds of gorgeous plumage are flying about; pictures of surpassing glory hang upon the walls; exquisite music is wafted upon the air; joyous children play about; but soon his eyes rest upon flowers of the most dazzling beauty he has ever seen. All entranced with their rare wonder, a feeling of great satisfaction comes over him, and at once he ceases to explore the infinite storehouse of wonders around him, for now he is content to examine, to study and to love the flowers. Now, there is another individual who cares not so much for flowers, but he is a lover of art. So he stays with the pictures. Another is completely satisfied just to listen to the strains of delightful music; he cares not to even move about or away from his position.”
The voice paused for a moment, and he watched the light that dawned in the face before him.
“Many thousands have approached Christian Science after this manner,” went on the mellow voice. “They approach the text book as though it were some great medicine bottle with supernatural qualities. One person reads that God is Love. This person is of a gentle, simple nature, and this new idea of God is entirely satisfying. She likes to read everything that revolves around this fact that God is Love; to every problem that confronts her, she applies this statement of Truth and is quite satisfied as to the results it brings. Another likes to think of God as Mind, and so fashions her thinking around ‘right ideas.’ Another uses God as Principle; and so on. Do you see the point that I am bringing out?”
“Yes. I guess we are not thorough enough. We are too contented, too satisfied.”
“Mrs. Eddy tells us that there are three classes of neophytes. The third class, she says, are the thinkers who build with solid masonry. If we are actual thinkers, we will look into her various writings and pick out the deeper things. For instance, what are some of her definitions of God that escape the attention of the ordinary reader? She says, ‘God is All, and in all’—Christian Healing’, ‘God is the sum-total of the universe’—Miscellaneous Writings’, ‘God is all true consciousness’—Unity of Good. These definitions are not so familiar as ‘God is Love/ but when comprehended they will lead you into a deeper truth. Suppose we build upon this last statement as a fact of Life, and let us see where it will take us. If God is all true consciousness, then all true consciousness is God.”
“Yes.”
Millicent looked intently into the face before her until suddenly her mind seemed to open and the true meaning come forth.
“Then my true consciousness is God.” She spoke the words slowly, thoughtfully.
The man nodded and his look carried to her the expectation that he was waiting for her to go on.
Again her mind seemed to penetrate into the deeper reasoning.
“Then—my true life is God, my true mind is God, my true soul is God.”
The ticking of the little gold clock on the mantle was all that broke the stillness of the room.
Presently the man spoke. His voice carried the hush of feeling. “I will not press you further now, Mrs. Curtis. I will let the rest unfold naturally to you in the quiet of your own heart. It will come. And now,” he exclaimed, with a winning change of manner, “come, ask me some questions that are the stumbling blocks to your progress, and that will take us back to the subject that we left—‘Who and what heals?’ ” “Well, then, this verse,” she began, laughing, “ ‘I can of mine own self do nothing,’ and this, ‘Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is God.’ These verses seem to imply that we must look outside of ourselves for our help.”
“No, indeed,” was the positive reply. “I am glad that you have mentioned these verses, for there are many that start building here upon a wrong foundation, and I am confident that I can give you the true sense of those verses. “Just let us suppose for the sake of the argument, that I am a new patient coming to you for treatment for sickness. I know nothing about Christian Science, nothing of its methods of healing. I have been told by my friends that they have been healed through Christian Science—so I am here. I ask, ‘Can you heal me?’ I note a shocked look come over your face, and you gently say, ‘No, I can’t heal you, but God can,’ and add as a mild reproof, ‘I can of mine own self do nothing.’ Then, after a few more remarks that do not enlighten me at all, you close your eyes, and I wonder—‘if she can’t heal me—if, as she says, she can do nothing, then what is she trying to do?’ Presently you open your eyes, and I ask seriously, ‘Does God know about my rheumatism?’ Lovingly you give your head a negative shake, and look at me in such a manner that I feel rebuked.
“ ‘No, God knows nothing about sickness,’ you reply, with supreme decision. Then, seeing that I am mystified, you admonish me not to fear; you assure me that everything will be all right, and you tell me to return the next day for further treatment.”
Millicent was beginning to sense what would come next. She sat back in her chair, her face a study.
“Now, Mrs. Curtis, if I happen to be any kind of a thinker at all, I will go out of your office mystified. Of the statements that you have made to me, I hold these in mind: ‘Mrs. Curtis can’t do this healing. God can. Still, she says that God don’t know I’m sick; so it seems that I have little chance there.’ I also am very curious to know what you were doing when you had your eyes closed. I haven’t the faintest idea of the principle of scientific, mental healing. I am a reasoning being, and there seems something about this that is mysterious to me, and I wonder if I am just being plucked of a few dollars. I may, and I may not go back—with the emphasis on the not”
Millicent smiled broadly and waited. “Now, suppose that our conversation had been after this fashion: I say to you, ‘You are a practitioner of Christian Science, and, as such, I ask, Can you heal me?’ You reply, confidently, in the words of the Master: ‘ “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,” and given unto all who acquire an actual understanding of Life and its laws.’ ‘But, I have heard it said that I, of myself, can do nothing,’ I persist. You smile serenely, and I note that when you speak it is with a common-sense tone that leaves no doubt in my mind that you understand what you are saying. ‘Mr. Williams, Jesus healed, didn’t he? The Bible says that Peter healed; Paul healed; and Mrs. Eddy says, “I healed”; now, I claim that I am a follower of these teachers, and therefore, if I understand Life as they did, that I can heal too.’
“I am very interested at once, for it sounds reasonable to me, and you go on, confidently. ‘ “I of my self can do nothing,” simply means: I without this actual understanding can do nothing. I without an understanding of mathematics and its rules of application cannot solve a mathematical problem. I without some knowledge of music cannot read a note; and so,’ you add, with a confidential smile, ‘I without some understanding of Mind and right thought can do nothing for you; but I with this understanding can do something for you.’
“Mrs. Curtis, if you talked like this to me, I would be back in your office the next day.” They both laughed heartily.
“If you talk like this to your patients you will gain their confidence, which is essential. Has your attention ever been called to the fact that in nearly every instance Jesus, before he undertook to heal a case, said to the patient, ‘believe ye that I am able to do this?’ When they had admitted their confidence in him this made their mentality receptive to the process of healing. Just think, Mrs. Curtis, if you should go to a well-known teacher of mathematics and say to him, ‘Will you solve a problem for me, or show me the method of its solution?’ Suppose he answered, with gentle reproach in his eyes, ‘I cannot solve your problem, but of course the principle of mathematics can. You don’t have to fear or worry, or in fact have a single care about the matter. I will just sit here quietly and mentally know the truth about the whole affair; that there are no mistakes in mathematics, and, therefore, you haven’t made any. This is my part to do, but it is the principle that will do the work; this principle that is pure and spotless will solve this problem for you, only wait and you will see.’ Now, what would you think of this reasoning, Mrs. Curtis?”
“I know that would be absurd, of course,” and her face showed that she was thinking intensely. “Yes, I will admit, too, that I have treated my patients very much after this fashion, and feel that many practitioners do likewise. I tell my patients to trust God, or divine Love for everything. I say that we do not have to fight, we do not have to struggle, we only have to know.”
“That is true in its right sense. But your patient will get your idea which is: ‘There is nothing for us to do but trust, and shift all responsibility upon God, Love, who can accomplish all things’; and, do you know, that through this very wrong teaching, thousands of honest hearts are needlessly waiting, waiting. If you get any results at all from such a line of thought it is sheer blind belief. If you have faith in that foolish method, you will get the results of your faith, but it is belief pure and simple, and it is the reason that practitioners seem to reach one case and fail on the next; it is because I understand metaphysics that I know that there is nothing for us to fight against. In helping a student of mathematics we do not fight the mistake that he has made, but we do fight or righten the mistaken sense that is in his mind and that caused the wrong result in his work. So, in scientific healing, we should have some actual understanding of the facts of Being; and, as we apply these right thoughts or facts to the mentality of the patient and he accepts them, he is freed from his mistaken beliefs about himself, and consequently his body will now reflect his better thought.”
A light broke over Millicent’s face as the common sense of this dawned upon her. “Then that would also explain another verse that I find great consolation in: ‘The battle is not your’s but God’s.’ ”
“The battle is not one of human belief, but is the destruction of the belief with actual understanding, which is God. If I am to work out my salvation, and the Bible states this is the case, then I am to work it out with understanding, and through understanding I win the battle, or solve the problem.” Millicent’s radiant countenance left no doubt that she had grasped very clearly the truth of this explanation.
“I see that you have not taken things for granted as I have done; you have thought more and believed less.”
“Metaphysics should be reasoned out simply and clearly.” He spoke with great earnestness. “Its truths must be discovered and made very plain and simple, leaving no doubt whatever in the mind of the student as to who heals, what heals, and how the healing is brought about. Any mystery surrounding the matter will be a detriment to the progress or the advancement of the student, and retards actual healing. Mrs. Eddy recognized this fact, for she said ‘there is nothing so detrimental to Christian Science as blind belief.’ If all the believers in Christian Science were actual understanders we would have revolutionized the world before this.”
Mr. Williams took from his pocket a folded paper and, opening it, said: “Here is something bearing on this subject which is most enlightening. It is called Principle and Practice, and was written by our Leader in 1910. It appeared in a recent Christian Science Sentinel. Listen: ‘If the faith-healer succeeds in securing (kindling) the belief of the patient in his own recovery, the practitioner will have performed a faith-cure which he mistakenly pronounces Christian Science.
Millicent interrupted, “Does that mean if my patient believes what I tell him, though he does not understand it, his own faith or blind belief is what brings about any change in his condition?”
“Exactly. The faith that a patient has in you or in what you tell him will have the same effect upon him as the faith in drugs has upon one who employs them. You know that a drug has no power of its own to heal; it is only the faith that is put in them that gives drugs their seeming power, and blind belief in a practitioner, or in a God which is not at all understood, will have just that result that the faith brings forth.”
“I can now see that such practice is all very wrong,” admitted Millicentj with a troubled expression.
“Let me read you some more of the article written by Mrs. Eddy. ‘In this very manner some students of Christian Science have accepted, through faith, a divine Principle, God, as their savior, but they have not understood this Principle sufficiently well to fulfill the Scriptural command, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel. Heal the sick.” ’
“Cannot you see, Mrs. Curtis, that this message of our Leader’s is of vital importance? She meant that many Scientists believe in God, and in Science, but they do not actually understand God, Life, or the facts of Being sufficiently well to preach or explain these truths simply and intelligently to the inquirer or patient, and thereby enlighten and heal him. Instead, not knowing actual Truth themselves, but believing that they do, they gain the confidence or trust of the patient, and may thereby perform a faith-cure, which they mistakenly believe was based upon their understanding, and this is what these practitioners are pleased to call Christian Science, but it is not.”
“Then what—how?”
“I will read a little more. ‘It is the healer’s understanding of the operation of divine Principle, and his application thereof, which heals the sick, just as it is one’s understanding of the principle of mathematics which enables him to demonstrate its rules.’ ”
Millicent drew a deep, trembling breath. “That sounds very simple and common- sense, still I do not see my way clearly,” she said slowly. “I note, though, that Mrs. Eddy here speaks of the ‘healer.’ ”
“And a healer is one who heals,” asserted the man plainly, though with the ready smile that from the first had won the heart of his listener.
“I surely never thought that it was I that did the healing, but I can now see that if I understood the truth of Life, and present these truths to the mind of the patient and he accepts them, I would simultaneously have taken away his wrong beliefs, and he would be healed of them, and consequently healed of his sickness. But is it not true that my mind reflects the divine Mind and so heals?”
“No, this is not true Science; the reflection comes in elsewhere. You already admitted a while ago, did you not, that your true consciousness is God?”
“Yes,” nodded Millicent. “I think I see where this would lead me. I will dwell on it when alone, and let the true significance unfold to me.
“Is there more of that article that you want me to hear?”
“Only this. Mrs. Eddy further states that Christian Science is not a faith-cure, and unless human faith be distinguished from scientific healing, Christian Science will again be lost sight of from the practice of religion as it was soon after the period of our Master’s healing.”
Millicent seemed deeply moved. “I can see this much very vividly—that I have built a great deal of my house upon blind faith, and it is now tumbling over my ears; that, though I have studied Christian Science twenty years, I have not grasped its real meaning. Now that you have taken some of the false beliefs upon which I rested from under me, I will not let you go until you give me a more solid foundation to stand on.”
“I will give you all you can take,” was his assurance.
“Before I ask you some questions, I want to tell you that I believe, so far, all that you have told me, and a certain experience is now quite clear to me that I could not understand before. A few days ago, while I was engaged with a patient in this office, my telephone rang. It was a call from a lady whom I had often helped before. She asked me to help her at once, saying that she was in severe pain, but adding, ‘I have never called upon you when you did not help me, and I am sure that you will now.’ After promising her that I would treat her, I gave my attention again to the patient in my office, and as this patient did not leave me until an hour later, I did not treat my absent patient until that time. I was a little disconcerted when the next morning the lady called me again on the wire, saying, ‘I want you to know that I was entirely healed within ten minutes after I asked you to treat me, and I am very happy.’ It is plain to me now that it was her absolute faith in me that healed her, for I had not treated her at all at that time. Understanding played no part.”
Millicent continued, brightly, “I have learned, so far, that we, by presenting the facts of Life, can heal another of his wrong beliefs and consequent sicknesses, providing he accept the facts presented; but now I ask —What are the facts of Life that we should know?”
Mr. Williams smiled whimsically.
“That is quite a big question,” he observed smilingly.
“Well, then, tell me some of them,” she laughed back.
“Suppose we begin by asking, ‘What is Mind?’ ” suggested Mr. Williams.
“I presume that I could readily say, ‘God,’ and that would be true; but I would not know any more than I did before. Please reason it out. I don’t want to repeat things like a parrot any more, but I do want to understand.”
“Good,” nodded he, appreciatively. “Let us go beneath the surface.
“Mrs. Eddy has given us the definition of God as Mind. Let us see where this will bring us. What is the nature of Mind?” For this Millicent could find no immediate answer.
“I ought to know,” she said hesitatingly. “Can it be that the nature of Mind is to know? I recall now that I heard a student of metaphysics say that Mind does not think —Mind knows, and so I say that the nature of Mind is to know.”
The man toyed with the pencil that he held in his hand, and Millicent could not help feeling that her answer was wrong. Something in the calm, assured manner of her guest convinced her that he had built his house upon a rock. He knew.
“Mrs. Curtis, what is the only method by which we can know anything?”
No answer.
“Is there not something that must precede knowing? In plainer words, is knowing the primary state of Mind?”
“Yes, I thought so,” trembled Millicent. “I thought that God, Mind, knows everything, just by knowing it,” she concluded lamely.
“Let us see how nature would instruct us. For instance, if you will recall your first day in the schoolroom, did you know everything just by knowing it?”
“No, of course not; yet Mind must include all and know all.”
“That is true, but you are skipping some steps of importance. Suppose we think of Mind, the starting point, as a stillness. Now, I ask what is the activity of Mind? What is he process that Mind employs to reach the knowing state?”
Millicent’s face showed that she was laboring hard to get the answer.
The man leaned forward, smiling, and again the room seemed filled with sudden brightness. “What are you doing now?” “I’ve got it,” and the shadow left her face. “I’m thinking. Oh, now I see it clearly! One cannot, of course, arrive at any conclusion except by thought. Therefore, the nature of Mind is to think. I see by your face that I am right.”
“Yes, you are right,” he agreed. “The person that told you that ‘Mind does not think—Mind knows,’ did not understand metaphysics. He probably meant that ‘Mind does not believe a thing—Mind knows.’ That Mind knows all, is true in this way. The full-blown rose is in the bud; the lily within the bulb; the oak within the acorn. While my mentality has all understanding now, all understanding is not consciously known to me, and only that much of understanding that has consciously unfolded to me, do I actually know or sense and embody. God, Mind, through its activity (thinking) will forever continue to unfold itself (Intelligence).”
“Oh, that is beautifully clear to me!” cried Millicent, “and so reasonable. I see plainly that the nature of Mind is to think; all understanding is arrived at through the process of thought.”
“Then with this as the foundation, we will go a little deeper, and let our reason take us. What is Truth?”
“True thought,” was the quick reply. “Certain it is that there could be no Truth without true, or right thought, and without a feeling or a sense of Love, Love would be unknown. This is consistent with Mrs. Eddy’s words, ‘Christianity reveals God as ever-present Truth and Love, to be utilized in healing the sick, in casting out error, in raising the dead.’ Here she speaks plainly of utilizing God. To utilize means to employ or to use. We are instructed therefore by our Leader to use Truth, true thoughts, and Love or loving thoughts in healing.”
“Then the healer of ills must be right or true thought,” said Millicent, slowly. “I am beginning to see things in a very new light. Since thinking is of such supreme importance, please tell me something more about it. According to our reasoning thus far, everything would spring from thought.”
“You have said it right. Everything does spring from thought. On the title page of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy quotes these words from Shakespeare: ‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’ Have you given this your attention, Mrs. Curtis?”
“I have read it, of course, but I cannot say that it was of special significance to me.” “The very fact that our Leader placed it so conspicuously in her text-book would surely indicate its importance,” was the gentle reply. “Give it your attention now, and tell me what you get out of it.”
Slowly the words fell from her lips: “ ‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’ ” Her eyes looked past him, penetratingly, as her mind reached out for the meaning.
“Why, if thinking makes a thing, then thinking would be a cause.”
The man nodded expectantly.
“Then—the—the good in existence is the result of good thought, and the wrong is the result of wrong thought.”
Another smiling nod.
“But, Mr. Williams,” cried she, in alarm, “I seem to be losing sight of God altogether!” “Just the reverse, dear friend. You are getting nearer to God, Truth, Understanding, than you have ever been before. Come,”he said, winningly, “trust me. For many years I was just where you have been in thought, but it is a belief-stage only. Now I understand. I can save you many a heartache ; I can, by showing you the truth in our Leader’s books, give you the best God, helper, that you have ever had. Will you trust me and let us go on with our reasoning?”
Without a word Millicent reached her hand across the table and at once it was held in a strong, confident clasp.
“I am ready to go on,” she said softly. Then, after a moment, “If Mind is cause, then thinking must be the creator in the act of creating. Is this right? Does Mrs. Eddy say anything that upholds such a proposition?”
“Yes, she does. I “wall give you a few references from Science and Health. On page 553 there is a marginal heading: ‘All nativity in thought.’ Webster gives the definition of nativity as birth or beginning; therefore, Mrs. Eddy virtually meant that all creation springs from Mind through thought activity.”
Pausing a moment that his statement might carry weight, he went on. “On page 114 we read under marginal heading, ‘Causation mental,’ this: ‘Christian Science explains all cause and effect as mental, not physical.’ Again, on page 384, she says: ‘Through this action of thought and its results upon the body, the student will prove to himself, by small beginnings, the grand verities of Christian Science.’ You will note that she says, through the action of thought. She has used the words ‘thinking,’ ‘thought’ and ‘thoughts’ over 500 times in her book Science and Health alone, and if you will make a very careful study of her use of these words you will find that she tells us of certain specific things that right thought will do, and certain things that wrong thought will do. Are you beginning to see the great importance attached to the true meaning of the Shakespearean statement?”
“I am sure that I am. It seems to me now that the good things that have been brought into my life through Christian Science, and which I somehow attributed to divine Love as something outside of myself, after all, came to me through my own thinking. Then what is the full meaning of that much-beloved saying of our Leader’s: ‘Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need’?”
“It means that right Understanding, divine or right reasoning, Truth or true thinking, Love or loving feeling will always and forever meet our every need, if we correctly apply this all-power.”
Millicent drew another long, deep breath. “You certainly are giving me a more reasonable God than I ever have had before.
After all, now that I think it over seriously, and am very honest with myself, my sense of God has not differed very tremendously from the orthodox thought of God. Before I studied Christian Seience I thought of a man-God in the skies; through the study of Christian Science I took away his form, increased His proportions, and put Him everywhere. I have thought of Him as good only, but still I have been looking outside of myself for my help. I expected a power and presence to help and guide me. I was not depending absolutely upon my own right and true thinking, as I now see that our Leader meant we should. I was not depending upon Mind or right reason within me, but I was thinking, the best that I knew how, about God and man, and leaving the rest for divine Love to adjust harmoniously.
“And yet,” she went on meditatively, “Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is within you. Oh, did he mean—could he have meant—that within my own right mind or thought is the power to bring forth heaven or harmony?”
“He surely did; and a closer study of his life will show you that it was thus he worked out the problems of sickness, sin, and death that were presented to him. He said, ‘The Father [true thinking] that dwelleth in me doeth the works,’ harmonizing with Mrs. Eddy’s statement that all nativity is in thought.”
“I can see very clearly now, how I have many times helped myself through faith and blindly believing in God. For instance, my child was very ill, and although I endeavored very earnestly to know that sickness is not a reality of Life, and that health is the right and normal condition, yet there was no improvement in the condition of the child, and I found myself getting fearful. Now, I love the Christian Science hymns; never have they failed to bring me comfort, cheer and courage. So now I took my hymn book and sang one hymn after another until, gradually, I had stirred an emotion in my heart—an emotion of fearlessness, faith, hope and confidence. The conviction came to me that all was well, and if I would trust God absolutely and completely, the error would melt away and rightful harmony reign. Within a very short time the change for the better came and the child recovered.” Millicent had spoken rapidly, as one working her way to a certain end. “And now,” she said finally, “that healing was not based upon that understanding that our Leader wanted us to have, at all; nor was it based upon the understanding that our Master used; it was founded principally upon faith, and I simply got the result of my faith, that was all.
“How glad I am that you came!” she exclaimed impulsively. “You have shown me something better, something higher.”
“You can now see, Mrs. Curtis, that you turned to that hymn book as another turns to his drug. Why, all of these hymns are not considered strictly scientific right thought even by those who print them; just look on the first page of the preface and see for yourself. You had a pure, devout faith in some supernatural power to help you. This pure and earnest faith put to flight all your previous fears, and as we are taught that fear is the foundation of sickness, when your fear was removed, and sublime faith was enthralled, the child was well—your thinking so made it so. Faith, without understanding the law of Life, may work for a time, and without a doubt many wonderful works have been performed through faith alone, or with only a small degree of understanding; but at some time or other when help is most needed, this blind faith fails and our hearts are all but broken. This ought to awaken us to the fact that there is something lacking, but many misunderstand this life lesson and entirely desert Science.
“Our Leader says, Life is progress, and some day faith must give way to actual understanding, if we are to possess the seamless robe of our Master’s teachings. If blind faith alone would continue to solve our problems, our mentality would be satisfied with this, and the actual understanding of Being would cease to unfold. But this cannot be; for Nature, God, will constantly and forever continue to unfold itself in progress and in the understanding of itself.
“Faith in understanding is right faith, any other is blind. In one of Mrs. Eddy’s early editions of Science and Health, she states: ‘In Hebrew, Greek, Latin and
English the word “faith” embraces two meanings, viz., “trustfulness” and “trustworthiness.” The first trusts all to another, and the second understands and relies on one’s self.’ ”
“I am fully convinced that this must be the fact,” she agreed earnestly.
“I would not have you misunderstand my view of the hymn book. It without doubt contains the very best hymns of any hymn book in the world; but they should never be approached as a mental medicine bottle, nor should we allow them to transfer our faith in our own understanding of good to a power or a principle without us. Go to the bedside of the sick and depend absolutely upon your understanding of the facts of Life, that the good alone is all, and that all power is given unto right thought, and apply the corrective right thought; and then will you heal intelligently and upon a fixed Principle. Jesus had absolute faith in himself and in his own understanding of Life. So must we. When the centurian asked Jesus to help his servant, did Jesus say, ‘I will come and pray for him, but God will do the healing’? No. He said plainly, ‘I will come and heal him.’ ”
As Millicent was very deeply interested, the man went on.
“Jesus spoke words of authority, based upon his deep understanding of what Mind is and of what it consists, and he is our way- shower. Listen to his words: ‘I am the Truth, the Life’; ‘I am the bread of life’; ‘I am the light of the world’; ‘I am the resurrection and the life’; ‘I am the good shepherd’; ‘All power in heaven and on earth is given unto me.’ ”
As one entranced, Millicent listened to the voice that carried the rhythm of music and the hush of understanding.
Presently, she spoke with deep feeling. “As I listened to those wonderful words of our Master, some correlative words of Mrs. Eddy came to my thought—words that I have never understood until now.” She opened the book, First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany, and turning to page 165, read aloud, “ ‘What am I ? … I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing.’ I can now see a great depth to these words; but I won’t question you about them, for I want to think them out for myself.”
“There is no other way to heaven, my friend, except the door of right thought. Many are seeking more convenient or easier avenues, but all such are seeking in vain. ‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ It is only as we know, reason out, understand, the actual truth of Life or Being that we become free from beliefs and consequent discords of the body. The only way that we can prove that what we have accepted as true is Truth, is to have constant success in healing ourselves and others of sickness and sin, and to be continually adding to our storehouse of understanding. ’ ’
“I am convinced that you are an ardent disciple of progress.”
“You are right,” he smiled. “We should never be satisfied to stand still; we should always be pressing on. Our Leader said that, though rejoicing in ‘some progress,’ she was still a willing disciple at the heavenly gate. Through the gate of right thinking we must constantly desire and seek greater un- foldment of understanding; and it is true that this unfoldment of Mind will go on forever, for even eternity will never reveal the end of unfoldment. Nature, Life, is constantly unfolding itself, and this is Life’s purpose and enjoyment.”
A hush of gladness seemed to flood the room with its presence, and for several moments neither spoke.
Then Millicent said, very earnestly: “You have become a dear friend. You have pointed me to a greater light; you have taken false props from beneath me and have given me a clearer meaning of our Master’s teachings and those of our Leader, Mrs. Eddy. How can I ever thank you?”
“In just one way,” was the answer, and his countenance again reflected that light that Millicent was beginning to feel was a part of him. “In just one way,” repeated he simply. “ ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.’ ‘Heal the sick.’ Seek, study, ponder, meditate. Gain some actual understanding of Truth, as taught by the Master, and by his follower, Mrs. Eddy; then, bring this light to the attention of those who are longing for it.”
“I promise you faithfully that I will,” was the solemn, yet fervent response.
Presently, Millicent rose and, in a warm tone, remarked: “You have been feeding me the bread of life; now I am going to find some refreshment for you from the storehouse of my home.”
Soon she returned, wheeling up between them a table of good things.
“It is a warm day, and I am sure that you will enjoy this cool drink,” smiled she, and she poured into the crystal goblet a sparkling beverage that she had prepared from fresh fruits.
“It is certainly delicious,” and his relish of good things did not escape Millicent’s keen sense.
As they talked and laughed over the tea table, it seemed to her that she had always known this man. There was such a natural, wholesome air about him, so refreshing and genuine, that made her yearn in her heart to cultivate his friendship.
After the table had been removed, Mr. Williams glanced apprehensively at his watch.
“Please don’t think of leaving me yet,” urged Millicent. “How the time does fly when one is absorbed in the contemplation of spiritual things!”
“We have been talking several hours,” he smiled back, “but I will stay a little longer if there is more that you care to talk about.”
“More?” echoed she, “it seems to me that we have only just begun. As I am a practitioner, I would naturally like to know something more about the method of healing; or, as I now am sure you would say, the application of true or right thought to the destruction of erring beliefs.”
“I see that you are an apt pupil; you are earnest and desirous; and to such it is a joy to talk. Along the particular line of healing, there is nothing better that I can advise you than to study what our Leader says directly upon this subject.
“Here it is,” he remarked, as he opened the volume Miscellaneous Writings to page 219, Mental Practice. Mrs. Eddy tells us here that mortals think after a sickly fashion. If you will look deeply into this, you will find that this is in perfect agreement with the rest of her teaching, that sick thought is the root of sickness. After deciding that a sick thought is the cause of the illness, the next question would naturally be—by what method can I change the sick thought of the patient and thereby restore him to health? Right here, Mrs. Eddy says that the healer, if he would remove the feeling of sickness from the patient, ‘must change his patient’s consciousness of disease and suffering, to a consciousness of ease and loss of suffering.’ ”
“You mean it is I that must do this? It is I that must make such a change in the patient?” marveled Millicent.
“Yes, that is what Mrs. Eddy plainly says. The healer, of course, must have some understanding of Life and its laws; and the first thing that he is to do, this article says, is to produce a change in the thinking of the patient.”
“That is where I lost the way. I can see it clearly now,” nodded she. “I did not follow our Leader closely enough. Now I readily see that it must be I, myself, through a process of reason based upon Truth, who brings about the healing of another.” “Absolutely. If a child comes to you and tells you that two and two are five, you argue with him and show him the facts of mathematics, and you aim to change his thought to conform to actual truth; and, if you succeed, then you have healed him of his wrong belief and the consequent wrong answer. So it is with the healing of sickness, as this article further states; for it states that the practitioner changes his patient’s consciousness from sickness to health. I am sure that this is plain enough, simple enough, for any one to comprehend.”
“It does sound so, now that you have enlightened me as to its meaning.”
“Of how many essentials is Mind composed?” asked Mr. Williams, after a moment’s pause.
“I really don’t know,” was the frank reply. “Thought, I know, is one; and knowing, perhaps, is another.”
“Why, you have said it just right,” he nodded, with a ready smile. “First, we have Mind, or mentality. Second, thought, or the activity of the mentality, and third, the conclusion or conviction which is understanding.”
“Could that be the meaning of the three essentials in the God-head?” inquired Millicent, in astonishment.
“Exactly the same. First, the Father, Mind or Consciousness. Now, the son of God would be the son of Mind, would it not?”
There was a smiling nod of assent.
“Then the son of Mind would be what?”
There was a moment’s stillness, as she searched for the answer. “Why—it must be right thought!” she exclaimed, exuberant.
“Good. Now, we have the Father, Mind or Consciousness; and the son, right thought. Let us see if we can reason out the third essential of the Trinity, which we call the Holy Ghost. The third state of Mind must necessarily be its final state or the truth known, or understanding, which same is the mental body, the whole body of the spiritual consciousness, of which the visible state is the manifested embodiment.”
“That is all pretty deep for me to grasp at once,” said Millicent, leaning her head upon her cupped hand and striving very earnestly to bring from her mind the quickened meaning that she had caught. “Let me see if I have it.
“First, we have Mind, Creator, God. Second, we have true or right thought, the Son.”
She paused to see what effect her words were having upon her guest, and he met her look of appeal with a smiling nod of approval, which gave her courage to go on.
“Third, Mind’s thoughts embodied, understood, made visible—and I can feel that this is right,” she finished glowingly.
“And it is. You have got it very nicely.
You might add that the last position is Mind’s sense of itself—in plainer words— the thought idea has become a thing.”
“Oh, I am sure that I have it!” was the happy exclamation. “The last state is the externalization of the thoughts of the mentality. I will surely study carefully over this when I am alone, for I see that it means progress for me, and that is what I am looking for. The world is progressing very rapidly at present along all good lines of purpose and endeavor, and why should we not advance in actual understanding of Life, which includes all?”
“We should, and we are. All nature teaches unfoldment. Nothing can stop it, for it is Nature, God, unfolding itself. ‘Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source’—Science and Health. The best way for any one to determine whether or not he is advancing is to take a retrospective survey of conditions. When one is climbing a long hill, very often the climb is tedious and he scarcely feels that he is gaining. Then let him stop and look back; that will tell the tale. He can at once convince himself whether or not he is making rapid progress. It is exactly so with our mental or spiritual progress; we can determine it very accurately. Let one look back over the past year or six months. If he has actually made the progress that counts, he will plainly see these results: his mentality much clearer as to his comprehension of Mind, man, body, Nature, Life, Substance, thought, so-called matter, sickness, sin, death; he will readily discover betterment in his quality of thinking; he will admit that little or no sickness has come near his home; he will note great progress in prosperity, enjoyment of Life, absence of cares or worries; contentment and peace of mind never before experienced; and joyful desire to press on to higher understanding and to help others to the light.”
“Oh, how plain you make it!” said Millicent, eyes moist with feeling. “I feel so ashamed of myself, for if I took that survey I would see no such progress in my life. Anyhow,” added she with a happy expression, “I am going to get to work in the right direction now, and I know that only the result that I bring forth from my effort will convince you of my heart’s earnestness and of my deep, unspeakable gratitude to you for pointing me to the light.”
“I feel satisfied already, dear seeker, that you are worthy, sincere and honest, and rest assured that I understand you perfectly. I have here a couple of little pamphlets on Christian Science,” said he, taking them from his pocket. “Read them and ponder, and they will help unfold your thought along the path of actual understanding.”
There was just a slight hesitancy on Millicent’s part, as she reached to take the books, and this was noticed by Mr. Williams. “Yes, they are authorized;” then, smiling broadly, he added, “and by the highest authority, namely, Christ or Truth.”
“I have heard these booklets highly spoken of by many practitioners and by a prominent teacher, and I shall read them,” said she, looking through the pages. “But I scarcely understand what you mean when you say that they are authorized by Christ or Truth.” “Nothing mysterious about that,” declared he; and that knowing smile again appeared. “Any true thought or statement has the authority of Truth, for Truth is its own authority, and these little booklets are filled from cover to cover with thoughts and statements of Truth, consequently they are authorized by Truth.”
Gradually the face of Millicent became radiant with light as she gained the true purport of his words. “I now, for the first time, fully understand what has often puzzled me in the past regarding the explanatory note read in our Science churches, and which ends with ‘and divinely authorized.’ I see now that this does not mean authorized by a church or a publishing committee, as I supposed, but authorized by the very Truth contained in the book or statement or thought expressed.”
“Why, you are gaining actual understanding beautifully! While it is true that the Christian Science church has done more to enlighten humankind than any other church organization, it nevertheless is a mistake of great magnitude for any of us to fall into the error of thinking that our salvation depends upon any material church; and if we allow ourselves to believe that it does, we are no more enlightened than the thousands who believe that their salvation depends on this or that particular orthodox church.”
But there seems to be so much agitation about authorized literature?”
“Yes, that is true, but you will find nothing in the Manual that warrants it. The matter, however, is all very simple when seen in its right light. If you will turn to the Church Manual, page 81, you read this: ‘Only the Publishing Society of The Mother Church selects, approves and publishes the books and literature it sends forth.’ But this does not give anyone the right to state or imply that the Truth or true statements of another is not Truth.”
“I can see that what you state is no doubt true, but I have often heard it said that these safeguards have been thrown around Christian Science literature to keep it pure and unadulterated.”
“In answer to this I will say that Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health that ‘all of Truth is not understood.’ Therefore there is no one competent positively to judge as to how much there is to Truth. And, so, if someone should discover some Truth unknown previously, and he should present it to those who do not know this part of Truth, they would think this actual Truth an adulteration, and thus stop progress.”
Millicent’s face was a study, as the force of this new presentation made itself felt in her consciousness; then a glad light appeared in her eyes as she cried, “Oh, I am so glad that you said that! For many have said to me that I was not doing right in placing my science stories on the market; but I could never agree with this view, for I had the proof in thousands of grateful letters received from people all over the world, that I had benefited them.”
“By a deep study of the Master’s methods we can learn very valuable lessons,” asserted Mr. Williams. “In spiritual matters, he recognized as authority God, Mind, Understanding. Jesus paid no attention to the ’ accusations and wrong things said against him. He knew that his success did not depend upon anyone but himself, his own right thinking. The way to rise in the scale of understanding is to ignore all foolish gossips and criticisms. We cannot satisfy human beliefs. Just keep on with right thinking and you will reap the only satisfaction and enjoyment there is. I fully agree with a motto card that I found in one of our various good Book and Art Shops. It reads:
“ ‘Tamper not with idle rumor, lest the truth appear to lie;
Carve thy life to hilted silence; wrong shall fall on it and die.
Tamper not with accusation; harvest not what thou hast heard;
Christ stood in the court of Pilate, but he answered not a word! “
“That is beautiful,” spoke Millicent, with deep feeling. “I felt confident all the time that my books were bringing thousands into a better understanding of Christian Science.” “You judged rightly, for by their fruits ye shall know; good fruits are the best evidence possible of what is right”; then he added with great sincerity: “A great mistake is being made in not encouraging every Science story writer to write more and more; for the American public especially is a reading public, and public libraries are filled to overflowing with the nonsensical fiction of many writers. These stories are not enlightening the masses to the facts of Life, but are written to amuse and interest, and often set forth the baser emotions to catch the eye of the sordid reader, and ofttimes these books find their way into the hands of the younger folks and bring forth in them the baser emotions they read about. If, on the contrary, our libraries contained many wholesome Christian Science stories, these would find their way into the hands of the casual reader, and so would tend to elevate and at the same time enlighten the masses.”
“Surely, you are right, and I am glad that I did not heed the words of the narrowminded,” replied Millicent in a serious tone.
“The more educational these stories are the better, and no harm would be done even if all the statements of the various writers were not based upon the meat of the Word. We also need the milk for the babes in Science. I fully agree with Mrs. Eddy’s statements, Miscellaneous Writings, page 802: ‘If Christian Scientists occasionally mistake in interpreting revealed Truth, of two evils the less would be not to leave the Word unspoken and untaught.’ From this statement you can readily see that Mrs. Eddy considered it the greater error, or evil, to entirely refrain from stating Truth, simply because you feared you might not state it absolutely scientifically. Even Mrs. Eddy herself changed her statements from time to time, as she felt she could state them more scientifically.”
Millicent’s face was beaming as she spoke. “After hearing these statements of Mrs. Eddy’s, I am positive that I am right; and shall continue to work with my pen, to give the greatest good to the greatest number. Surely our right thought expressed in simple, uplifting story form must wield a certain power for good.”
“Right thought, applied in story form or otherwise, tends constantly to cast out or destroy wrong thought. Right thought is the power of Mind. Using this power of Mind, the Master commanded the winds and the waves be still; cast from the human consciousness demons or wrong thoughts, and brought forth the so-called dead to life and health. He commanded us to do likewise; and the one and only way that we can ever do these works or similar ones, is to gain an understanding of Life such as he had. It requires honesty of heart, fearlessness of nature, deep desire for understanding, and the soul’s conviction that one is right. These are the mental qualities that our Leader, Mrs. Eddy had, and these are the mental qualities that we must have if we wish to press on.”
“I can see that you have them,” breathed Millicent softly. “You have got beneath the surface. You have dug deep.”
“That is the only way that we can progress in any line of undertaking,” was the simple answer. “I made up my mind in the beginning that metaphysics or the science of Mind must be composed of facts, and I searched the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings early and late until I dis-covered what these facts are. As soon as the hidden truth was uncovered, all previous sense of confusion and mystery departed. Many are reading into our Leader’s writings their own meanings. This is not right. We must read from her writings her meaning, then we have it right.” “And do you think that the spiritual or metaphysical meaning of the Bible is veiled or hidden?”
“There is no doubt of it at all. It was Jesus who expounded or opened up to his students the spiritual meaning or hidden truth of the old testament; and you well know that until Mrs. Eddy’s discovery of Mind healing, the new testament was a sealed book. The truth was there all the time, but it had to be un-covered. Jesus said to his students at one time, ‘I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.’ No doubt our Leader also felt this way.”
Millicent was listening intently to the words that fell so naturally from his lips.
“Just picture the mental standpoint of the world about fifty years ago, Mrs. Curtis, when Mrs. Eddy was making her wonderful discovery. Almost the whole world believed in a man-God, and a sky-man at that; believed in a private devil; believed in an eternal place of rest for some, up in the clear sky; believed in an eternal place of torture for the remainder of mankind, somewhere in the bowels of the earth; believed that man comes and goes without wish or will, and a thousand other absurd and nonsensical things. Think what our Leader made up her mind to do, in the face of this seemingly world-wide opposition and ignorance. She aspired to convince the whole world of its grave mistakes regarding nearly all things under the sun, and insisted that she alone was right in her conclusions.”
“Oh, how brave she was!”
“One can afford to be brave when he knows that he is right. She was right and she knew it; and that right that she discovered and knew will live and reign throughout all eternity; for, as our hymn says:
“ ‘And right is right, and God is God; And right the day must win;
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter would be sin.’
“I have studied Mrs. Eddy’s writings carefully and earnestly, beginning with the first edition of her great work, Science and Health, which she published in 1875. I have found everything that she has written and published of greatest value. She has various writings or books, and in them she gives milk for the babe and meat for the adult or thinker. It is for each to decide which he wants.”
“I recall now that she said to let the Word have free course and be glorified; also, that the people clamor to leave the cradle. I can see now, that this means that the truth should not be hidden longer, for the time of thinkers has come.”
“There is no doubt of this whatever. St. John, the divine, was the most metaphysical of any of Jesus’ disciples. His great work, Revelation, few understand, because of the seal he placed upon it. The deep meaning of Life is so completely hidden in the writing of this book that only those who can spiritually fathom the seal (which seal is metaphysical) can rightly interpret the book. The truth of being is hidden, more or less, by all the metaphysical writers of the Bible; this was no doubt practiced so that the evil-minded could not abuse it; but, as Jesus said to the earnest hearts, ‘Seek and ye shall find’; and we must keep on seeking until we find, and, as we find, we should give it to the honest thinker among our fellow men. It is up to us, as the saying is, to do the seeking, but let us not be selfish and withhold it from the worthy.”
“I can readily see that this is justice. Truth should be given to all who are ready for truth, as the verse says, ‘No day ever dawns for us except that for which we are ready.’ This is correlative with what Mrs. Eddy has written that we are the arbiters of our own fate.”
“I think that I must be traveling along now, as I have some other stops to make before night,” smiled Mr. Williams.
“Oh, do stay a little longer,” pleaded Millicent. “Let me see,” she began, meditatively, “I don’t want you to go away and then later wish that I had taken more advantage of this wonderful opportunity that you have given me and had asked you more questions. We have talked about Mind, about thought, about healing, about progress, and I won’t forget a word of what you have told me. I mean to study carefully all the references that you have made use of today. There’s matter!” she exclaimed, suddenly, “you haven’t mentioned that at all.”
Mr. Williams smiled broadly. “There just isn’t any.”
“But I’m not satisfied with that statement,” and Millicent gave her head that quick little toss. “I can see by your expression that you understand that expression better than I do. Won’t you tell me, please, isn’t anything real that we see?”
“Everything is as real as you make it, and no more so,” quoted the man from Unity of Good by Mrs. Eddy. “You must surely know that the discoverer of Christian Science wrote that either all is matter or all is Mind. Now, you well know that all is not matter; then it must be Mind.”
He smiled expectantly at her, and she apprehended that he meant her to go on and do a little reasoning for herself.
“Then—then, we should not try to do away with any good thing at all,” she argued aloud, “for the very good things that we see are Mind, in its objectified state?”
“That must be, since everything is Mind and Mind, God, is all. Mrs. Eddy also says, page 26, Miscellaneous Writings: ‘The only logical conclusion is that all is Mind and its manifestation, from the rolling of worlds, in the most subtle ether, to a potato patch.’ You will please note the capital ‘M’ and ponder.”
“I am sure that I am seeing a little plainer; things, then, are thoughts objectified,” ventured she.
“That is right, Mrs. Curtis. The thought is primary, the thing is secondary, and all things which are termed material are, in their last analysis, mental.”
Millicent was lost in thought for several seconds. So much new truth had been presented to her consciousness that the whole room seemed full of light. More questions came pressing for solution.
“How, then, do you classify sickness and discord?”
“As objectifications of wrong thought.”
“Caused by lack of understanding, I suppose?”
“Yes. Lack of understanding Life, Nature, as it really is. Lack of comprehending the facts of Being. Lack of living, loving, serving good. Surely, you know enough of Truth to comprehend the fact that we must begin to reason from the standpoint that God is all. If, then, God is all, good is all, and all is good. If the mind refuses to accept the actual truth that good is all, then the mind commences to weave itself into a delusion; for, if a mentality believe that anything but good is cause, it is laboring under a delusion. Just as soon as any one believes that the weather is cause, food is cause, mortal mind is cause, germs are cause, and a thousand other things are cause, he is having a thousand gods.”
“He evidently is not familiar with the first commandment, at any rate,” interrupted Millicent, laughing.
“He is not alone, but has plenty of company,” said the man, joining in the laugh. “He is one out of many millions in the same boat. Now, sooner or later, these wrong thoughts will, as they gain conviction in the mentality, objectify or externalize themselves as disease. First and last, disease is the objectification of wrong thought or the deluded sense of the individual. Exactly the same as with the child not grasping the truth of mathematics. He says that two and two are five. He is laboring under a delusion, and the figure five that he writes down in his example is his mistaken thought embodied or expressed. The teacher pays no attention whatever to the ‘5’ that he writes as his answer, but at once undertakes to make the truth of mathematics so simple and plain to the child that the five-belief vanishes from his mind and he accepts the truth that 2 and 2 are 4.”
“Yes, I am understanding,” nodded Millicent, as he looked questioningly at her.
“The fact is that 2 and 2 are not 5 and never were and never will be; but to a deluded mind it may appear so, and this appearance seems to be real to him until either he gains enough truth about the subject to have convinced himself of his mistake, or else some one else convinces him. Thus it is with all sickness; it appears to the patient to be real, and it is as real to him as he makes it, but it is not a fact of Life, never was and never will be; and, as soon as he learns the true facts of Life and learns how to conform his thoughts to these facts, then his delusion will leave him and the natural condition of health be in effect again.”
“You do make it sound very simple and easy, and I feel confident that I understand it. I am sure, from what you have told me, that you believe in talking to your patients and making them understand what it is that causes them to be sick and how it is possible for true reasoning about Life to free them.” “I believe in following all the instructions of our Leader,” he said emphatically, and she tells us to ‘give your patients an underlying understanding to support them and to shield them from the baneful effects of their own conclusions’; also, she says we should explain Christian Science to our patients as soon as they are prepared to receive our words; and again, ‘The student who heals by teaching and teaches by healing will graduate under divine honors.’ In just that proportion that we understand metaphysics can we demonstrate it. Any subject is easy to demonstrate when once we know the principle and the method of its operation. This applies also to metaphysics, the science of Mind.”
“Thank you so much, so very much,” and Millicent impulsively extended both hands to him as he prepared to leave. “You have awakened me to that which is vital, and to say that I am grateful is saying little that my heart is feeling. When I have feasted more upon what you have given me, and when I am satisfied that it is all mentally digested and assimilated—and—I am hungry for more, may I hope that you will let me see you again?”
“Most certainly you may,” he promised. “The study of Mind is so infinite in its scope, that I thought best to touch on those things today that would bring you the most good at this time. At future talks we will take up some things we have not considered today.”
“Then it will be ‘reflection’ for one thing,” laughed Millicent, confidentially, “for Mrs. Eddy says that ‘few’ understand it. We will talk about the universe and man, too.”
“I am afraid we will begin at once, if I do not say good-bye,” said the man jovially.
Millicent walked by his side down the driveway to his car.
Before taking his place at the wheel, he turned and once more clasped her hand warmly, saying, “My going brings to mind John 17, verse 1, where Jesus is accredited with these words, ‘Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee,’ so, also, my desire at parting is, ‘Father, glorify thy daughter, that thy daughter may glorify thee.’ Many use the word ‘glory’ who do not understand its primary meaning which, according to Webster, is ‘to clear, to enlarge,’ in other words, unfold the mentality.”
Then, with a wave of his hand, “Till we meet again!”
“A wonderful man,” thought Millicent, and with eyes moist with feeling she watched the car as it slowly wended its way down the street and was lost to view.
As she entered the office the light seemed still to be there.
“This light is the glow of a new hope in me,” thought she. “There is nothing worth while but the calm and satisfaction that comes from actual understanding; and I now resolve that I will think, study, search, until I, too, have arrived at that point of conviction where I can say to others as in my heart I have heard said to me today: ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ ”