MARY BAKER EDDY LETTER

Letter No. Eleven, October 19, 1998

"Dare to be a Daniel,

Dare to stand alone,

Dare to have a worthy cause.

Dare to make it known."

The Mary Baker Eddy Institute Letters "have a worthy cause, and dare to make it known."

There are those in authority, in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, who feel that our giving Mary Baker Eddy her rightful place in world consciousness is deifying her. They want instead to humanize her, to make her look ordinary. This has the same effect-by withholding the truth about our divine being-as when the church deified Jesus (at the Council of Nicea 325 A.D., which made Mary the mother of God), so that Jesus was no longer our humanly available example. In both cases we lose the truth that frees us.

In Bicknell Young's 1934 Association address he warned, "The tendency of the whole movement at present is to fall back into old theology, somewhat improved, but the same error. There must be a mental and definite stand against this on the part of those who are genuine Christian Scientists. Real Scientists alone, of all the people on earth, stand for, and should stand as, fundamental self-existent consciousness"

They should see that the one Mind, the one divine Mind that is our Mind, "the kingdom of God within" us is our true consciousness. Once we have learned what we already really are, we will realize heaven on earth. But if we don't, Bicknell Young offers an ominous warning:

"The reason that I speak of this is because of the tendency of the Christian Science movement to become merely a denomination. If it yields to that temptation, it will become as lifeless as denominations."

In reality, "the Christian Scientist is alone with his own being and with the reality of things" (Mess. '01. 20:8). In this "reality of things" all is well. But without the radicalism of divine Principle in our thought and work, and in our movement, we tend to revert to mortal mind and to its ways and means, thus losing the Science of Christianity. (See Ret. 61:26-2.)

How can we reclaim the truth that frees us, that makes us one with Love and all good?

By systematic study of the "divine system" Mary Baker Eddy discovered and revealed in the textbook of Christian Science, in the Second Coming of the Christ, that fulfilled Jesus' promise of the "Comforter." Once we have learned the "system" we can look out from the stars, instead of up to them. But before we begin this study of the "system" in Christian Science, let us, in this Letter No. 11, confront and clear away "animal magnetism," which would keep us in bondage to false beliefs, illusions, hypnotic suggestions.

What is Animal Magnetism?

What does Mary Baker Eddy mean by "animal magnetism that keeps us from seeing our oneness with all good"-our oneness with God, Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love, the seven synonyms for God? Why did Mrs. Eddy say that if we don't handle animal magnetism, Christian Science will do very little good in the world?

It is animal magnetism that keeps us from learning what we already are. It keeps us from actually being the "system" Mrs. Eddy discovered and founded in human consciousness.

Animal magnetism is the suppositional absence of the Christ-the suppositional absence of your true and real Mind's reflection. The nature of animal magnetism (evil) is to hide itself. If Mrs. Eddy and Jesus were here, in person, with us today, both would tell us that animal magnetism is the lie about our true being. Here let us remember that Mrs. Eddy told her first, her early students: "You, my students are God"-a truth she later had to hide because it was badly misunderstood. Your true being is "the kingdom of God [infinite good] within you." This "kingdom of God within you" is your very own Mind. Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." This "knowing" heals every difficulty, because your real Mind, "the kingdom of God within you," is "the omnipresence of present perfection." Nothing can "know" except Mind, and Mind (your true Mind) is God.

What happens when we fail to "know the truth?"

Not recognizing animal magnetism (error) as evil or hypnotic suggestion, we take its claim into consciousness, listen to it, reason with it, and try to figure it out, instead of turning at once to deal with and negate the error that is presenting itself. Through so-called "good" qualities such as compassion and human love, we feel obligated to listen to its arguments. Too late do we begin to see that it is harming us; and that we should have turned away instantly and completely from the false picture, saying as Jesus did, "Get thee behind me, Satan." We should have immediately cast out what error was saying, and so relaxed and found peace.

If we become irritated by another's wrongdoing, animal magnetism has accomplished its first step. It has made us forget our real self as Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. It has made us forget the one spiritual selfhood, our Christ-expressing consciousness, and has made us see instead a false sense of selfhood. This personal sense, that blinds us and binds us, cannot rise to discern and uncover the real culprit to our ever-present harmony. Experience is something we don't get until just after we need it.

"Physician, Heal Thyself."

Through Christian Science we learn to leave error to destroy itself while the true Christ idea which has no negative side remains untouched.

To be spiritually correct, we should instantly turn, and know that our true selfhood, our infinite Christ-consciousness, is all there is, and manifests itself as what is called "man." It is always a case of "physician heal thyself" of any error (animal magnetism) seen "out there." Why? Because "the Christian Scientist is alone with his own being and with the reality of things" (Mess. '01 20:8).

Our work is to maintain our own true infinite spiritual selfhood. We do this as we learn the divine Science of our being. In divine Science nothing can rob us of our spiritual selfhood.

In "Ways That Are Vain" (My. 210:18) Mrs. Eddy speaks of the great need to expose the "error that is damning men" - namely, animal magnetism. She states that many victims of animal magnetism "are sticklers for a false, convenient peace...they are too cowardly, too ignorant, or too wicked to uncover [this wrong], and excuse themselves by denying that this evil exists.... All that error asks, is to be let alone."

Our problem, every problem in the world, is animal magnetism. Every discord is a false concept of something, and it acts mesmerically so that you are drawn away from the eternal fact that your own right Mind-which is Love and knows only good-is always in operation as "the omnipresence of present perfection." (Note: Everything I have written in my books and in these "Letters" is an endeavor to handle aggressive mental suggestion, or animal magnetism, that tries to convince us there is something going on that is not Godlike, not infinite Love at work.)

Animal Magnetism Always a Lie

Because animal magnetism is supposition only, and doesn't exist, it must be defined as an absence of something, the absence of something divine, since "God [infinite good] is All." You will be divinely irresistible when you realize you are Love, Truth and Life.

In Science and Health, p. 484:21, Mrs. Eddy writes: "Animal magnetism is the voluntary or involuntary action of error in all its forms; it is the human antipode of divine Science. Science must triumph over material sense, and Truth over error [animal magnetism], thus putting an end to the hypotheses involved in all false theories and practices." Animal magnetism is not something real. It is only a term for the opposite of all that is real, a term we use to indicate the suppositional opposite of reality. Matter has no sensation, no intelligence, no life. "The mortal body is only an erroneous mortal belief of mind in matter" (S&H 372:2. See also 372:3-13, telling what animal magnetism is).

Christ - the truth about you and your true being as Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love - comes to the human consciousness to destroy what is not real. But animal magnetism, the suppositional opposite of the true idea, comes only to destroy the truth about us. Animal magnetism is like the dry cleaning firm inadvertently advertising: "We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand." Awful as it sounds, it's not true.

When error, animal magnetism, tries to argue with us and tries to make us think error (namely, that which animal magnetism says is true), we are to say, "No, you are not real! You are not from God! I only believe what God, infinite good, is telling me." Argue this vehemently, if necessary, until animal magnetism, with its aggressive hypnotic suggestions and its lies, leaves you.

In reality, because the Christian Scientist has learned in Christian Science what God is, namely: "incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite, Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love" and that this God is his own Mind, the "kingdom of God within" him, he is able instantly to heal any error, just as the mathematician, having learned that 2x2=4, can instantly heal 2x2=5.

If divine Mind is all and is omnipresent, then when you see an error, you can instantly say to it, "You are not real! Truth is right where error (as hypnotic suggestion) appears to be. And since Truth is infinite and omnipresent, you, error, are nothing. If error is nothing then there is nothing to heal!"

In all God's kingdom (meaning, in reality) there never was a sick man, or an inharmonious man or situation. Why? Because God - Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love - is All and infinite. So there is nothing to heal. Knowing this, is called giving a treatment. Jesus and Mrs. Eddy beheld in Science the perfect man, and this healed instantly.

"Worry," said Corrie Ten Boom "is an old man with bended head, carrying a load of feathers he thinks is lead." Mary Baker Eddy gives us a sure way to lighten the load: "Today, and every day, I will know that I have strength to meet and conquer every claim of error, and that under the guidance of divine Principle I will be led to throw open the door for the entrance of Truth, and know that through that same door error is cast forth. Then with a sweet sense of infinite good's ever presence, I will know that yesterday has gone, and left no bitterness, and that today is big with blessings, that tomorrow belongs to God; and to realize this today eliminates all worry and pain and trouble, and brings us peace and happiness."

Persisting in the Truth

In an early writing, Mrs. Eddy said, "I tell you truth when I say there is only one source of all good [namely, God, your own right Mind, "the kingdom of God within you" as your own true consciousness]. The conscious recognition and acceptance of this fact acknowledged by every activity of the mind, not two or three times a day - but every few minutes all day long - no matter what the outer self is doing, and this maintained will enable anyone to express his perfect freedom over all things human." "A grain of Christian Science does wonders for mortals, so omnipotent is truth" (S&H 449:3).

More and more medical doctors are saying that beliefs can make you sick or make you healthy. They are really telling us that presenting a false suggestion is the basis or modus operandi of hypnotism. Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health (p. 441:21), "recommended that materia medica adopt Christian Science," and this is happening as more and more doctors are seeing the light, and adopting alternative methods of healing-more spiritual methods.

Dr. Koenig is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine, and a pioneer in the scientific study of faith's healing potential. His research team, studying thousands of Americans, has compiled powerful evidence that religious faith not only promotes overall good health but also aids in recovery from serious illnesses.

Harvard Medical School Associate Professor Dr. Herbert Benson (of whom we have written before) has brought new understanding of the physiology involved in such healing faith. He tells us that up to 90% of doctor visits are for stress-related illnesses. Dr. Benson has found that "repetitive prayer slows heart rates, lowers blood pressure, and even slows brain waves, all without drugs or surgery.

In Science we know (humanly speaking), that every physical happening is the fruit of an error of belief (in thought). Since we don't live in a matter world, but rather in a thought world, nothing takes place, even humanly, without thought. Matter, discord of any nature, is only sin embodied; it is the subjective state of mortal mind.

"The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity [your own right Mind, "the kingdom of God within you"] are reflected by [your Mind's] creation; and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere" (S&H 516:4).

Your Present Ownership of All Good

Seeing Diety's "true likeness and reflection everywhere" is not always easy. Someone once said that a clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory. Our salvation lies in "seeking first the kingdom of God." If we are honest with ourselves we know how far short our actions fall from the high standard of Truth and Love. "Dear God, help me to be the person my dog thinks I am," we pray. And the world around doesn't look much better. "At least the dog loves me. No one else seems to care - unless I miss a payment."

Does knowing the Truth mean ignoring the facts? No, of course not. Our task is neither to gloss over our situation not to dwell on it. Our salvation lies in deliberately setting self, and whatever error is telling us, firmly behind us and "seeking first the kingdom of God."

Why?

Because we will find that this "kingdom of God is our very own true Mind, our true consciousness, in which is found every divine quality. Then, as we persist and persevere in holding to Truth, every good thing will be added unto us.

In My., p. 356, Mrs. Eddy asks: "When will mankind awake to know their present ownership of all good?" In Pul. 3:7 she urges, "Know then that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly." Let us think about this "present ownership" and this "sovereign power"; let us be grateful for it, and begin to exercise it. "I can do it," are four words that can change your life if you take them seriously.

Why Do You Possess This Power?

You possess sovereign power to think and act rightly because "the kingdom of God [infinite good] is within you." It is your true Mind, your true consciousness right now. It was never taken from you. Human birth - that which Mrs. Eddy calls "the first death" - alone has hidden it. It has pulled the wool over our eyes so that we "see through a glass darkly." It has made us think we are fleshly mortals. This is why Mrs. Eddy said bringing a child into the world was "a crime," it was "murder." Jesus said the same thing when he said, "Ye are of your father, the devil...." and told us that death would never cease "until ye women cease your childbearing," and proclaimed "Blessed are the wombs that never bare."

But human birth did not take anything away from us; it has only blinded us to what we already are and have always been. We still have, and always will have, all that God (infinite good) is; and we will become aware of it as "probation after death" reveals it. It will be revealed as we see, become aware, that the first death, or birth into matter, was illusion, hypnotic suggestion only.

We are going through this "probation after death" now, as we "seek first the kingdom of God; and find that, as Jesus said, this "kingdom is within you." It is our own real Mind, our true consciousness. Again, the only thing that human birth does is to pull the wool over our eyes so we don't see correctly. Through study and learning we are awakened out of this "first death," this Adam dream, the blindness that keeps us from seeing that our own true Mind is God. We begin to understand what we already really are, here and now, and have always been. We begin to learn that right NOW we are Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love, as Mrs. Eddy makes clear in the first edition of Science and Health, "the little book open in the hand of the angel." And each time we knowingly declare "I am Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love, Now," we are giving ourself a Christian Science treatment.

Blind From [Human] Birth

It is imperative that we open our eyes to the Truth. St. Paul urged: "Study to show thyself approved unto God...a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of God."

In the account of Jesus healing "the man which was blind from birth" (John 9:1), the man's blindness is a reflection of an even darker condition. It shows that the man was blind to the reality of man's divine existence. Mrs. Eddy tells us: "The world of error (animal magnetism) is ignorant of the world of Truth, - blind to the reality of man's true existence, - for the world of sensation is not cognizant of life in Soul [true identity], not in body" (S&H 13:29). In this world we all seem blind to the glory of true being - blind to the spiritual fact of "the omnipresence of present perfection."

The "blindness," of which Jesus healed the man seems to stalk all of us in this hypnotic world of physical sensation. Mrs. Eddy tells us that "human belief is a blind conclusion from material reasoning" (S&H 124:11).

"Who Did Sin? This Man or His Parents?"

Regarding the man born blind, Jesus was asked (John 9:2), "Who did sin, this man, or his parents?" Knowing that the true Mind of the parents and the true Mind of the "man...blind from birth" was God,-the kingdom of God within their consciousness, which could not sin-Jesus answered forthrightly, "Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents." Blindness was not a reality, it was an illusion, hypnotic suggestion, coming to Jesus to give it life, and Jesus refused to give it any life.

To this argument of blindness Jesus said, "Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savorest not of the things that be of God." And this is just what we should say to any argument blinding us to our glorious spiritual being, when error presents itself to us to give it life. As a wise man said, "If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before. We must reject every erroneous suggestion. Mary Baker Eddy's great revelation was that only good is real; evil of any nature is not real. Jesus knew that only good is real. The only Mind is Love. KNOWING this, Jesus could say, "Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."

Once we, too, learn this, we will awaken from the Adam dream, the illusion, the hypnotic suggestion that we live in a matter body, and that we are flesh, blood, and bones. What is called "man" (when correctly seen) is your divine Mind's reflection, manifestation, the visible manifestation of "the kingdom of God that is within you," and that is your true Mind and consciousness. The invisible Mind must have a visible manifestation. What good would Mind be if it didn't have a visible expression or manifestation?

"Man Is Not God"-"Man Is Reflection"

An important point to remember here is that "man" is your Mind's reflection, your Mind's manifestation. "Man" is not God, but many stumble over this divine fact. I have often used Mrs. Eddy's statement, found in the Carpenter books: "The reason church Scientists do not make their demonstration is because they believe they are man, instead of God." All the while that they think they are "man," they are really Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love-all terms for God. All must learn that "man" is the reflection, the shadowing forth, of your God-Mind, the shadowing forth of "the kingdom of God within you." Therefore we can never say "man is God."

"Man" is the manifestation of what your true and real Mind knows. In the first edition of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy states a number of times that "you are Spirit," "you are Soul," "you are Principle," and "will be Life, Truth, and Love when you understand them;" she states that what is called "man" is the shadowing forth of your Mind. Man is your Mind's reflection, the manifestation of your Mind. Therefore "man," being "that which has not a single quality underived from Deity [your real Mind]" (S&H 475), is the manifestation of Mind, of Spirit, of Soul, of Principle, Life, Truth, and Love, which Mrs. Eddy in the first edition tells us plainly you are. She later had to hide this great truth about your true being, because it was misunderstood. People were not ready for it a hundred and forty years ago. But by "keeping abreast of the times" as many today are doing, we are beginning to understand this divine truth about ourselves.

I have tried to make this plain in all my books, and in the Mary Baker Eddy Institute Letters; but some readers still misunderstand when I quote Mary Baker Eddy's first edition and her other early teaching: "You, my students, are God." They misinterpret this as meaning "man is God," whereas "man is the reflection, the manifestation, the shadowing forth of your Mind." So, do not think of yourself as "man." Remember Christian Science teaches us that we are Mind and Mind is God. Mind wouldn't be Mind if it didn't have manifestation, ideas, a Christ, something that shadows it forth, expresses it.

"The kingdom of God within you" is your true consciousness, your true Mind. This we are all destined to learn. And, as Mrs. Eddy states in the first edition of Science and Health, at the end of the seventh thousand year period all will have learned it, just as today all have learned that the earth is round and not flat. We now are Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love. Only animal magnetism (error) keeps humanity from seeing, enjoying, and demonstrating this true identification NOW.

Through Mary Baker Eddy's great revelation we have the ability to change our world, by always saying "No" to animal magnetism, and replacing it with Truth. This is the way we scale the mountain, and come to see the wondrous spiritual view.

Unmasking Animal Magnetism

Mrs. Eddy asks, "When will the error [animal magnetism] of believing that there is life in matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations of God, be unmasked?" (S&H 205:7). The Science Mrs. Eddy discovered and founded in human consciousness must teach us error's unreality. To become conscious of reality is answered prayer. We never deal with a sick man. We deal only with the suggestion, the animal magnetism, the false belief, that man is sick. We see that suggestion as a lie, since God, (infinite good) is All.

Suppose you were asked to treat a man for consumption because he had slept in a bed in which a consumptive patient had died. Wouldn't you convince him that he was only accepting false beliefs, aggressive mental suggestions, animal magnetism, and that these aggressive mental suggestions (and not the bed) were the problem? Overcoming the false beliefs, the animal magnetism, would certainly heal the case.

Adam Dickey in his Memoirs states that Mrs. said, "The workers in the field are not healing because they are not meeting animal magnetism which says they cannot heal [but] if you stay here until you learn to handle animal magnetism, I will make a healer of you."

This Science must be learned. In Science and Health there are about 120 references to "learn," "learning," and that Science must be "learned," and in Prose Works, the Concordance shows over 200 such references. So let's apply ourselves.

"When thought is lost in the eminence of Mind the healing takes place." Let's expose animal magnetism, and see that every problem is a hypnotic state of thought-that it is something that does not exist, and we don't have to fear what doesn't exist. Do a little more Truth-knowing each day, and it will change your life. In this way we all have the ability to change our world. Let's not be afraid to start, and to do a little more each day than we thought we could.

"Awake, Thou That Sleepest"

All Christian Scientists must learn to handle animal magnetism against their practice, because error would try to tell us and the patient that we cannot heal, that we cannot know and be the Truth that heals. The patient is well, has always been well, and we must know this great truth. If GOD IS ALL, and is infinite good, what is there to heal? Healing is discovering the divine fact of the omnipresence of present perfection; it is the revealing of reality. It is the recognition that God [infinite good] never made a dream or a dreamer, since both the dream and the dreaming are as nothing when we awaken to what is true about us. Stick with God, with what you NOW really are, and with what the patient is.

There is no better time than right now to get out of the error, the animal magnetism, this rut that keeps us believing we live in a matter body. Today let us see and declare every few minutes that we live in Love-that Love is our very Mind, "the kingdom of God within" us. As we said before, you will be divinely irresistible when you realize you are Love, Truth and Life. "Be Love," Mary Baker Eddy counseled. "Be nothing but Love."

Being Love, we must always address the error, never the person. Remember, every lie is overcome by Truth, and the Christ, the Truth, is ever-present to correct any lie about a person or circumstance. Address animal magnetism. Tell it: "Get thee behind me Satan," as Jesus did. Jesus knew there was no physical personality, so in saying, "get thee behind me Satan," he could have as easily said, "get thee behind me, Jesus," just as I could say, "get thee behind me, Helen," if I think of myself as a mortal personality. Mrs. Eddy said she did her wonderful healing because she "got Mary out of the way," which is like saying: "Get thee behind me, Mary."

Tell animal magnetism, error, that it has no mind, no law, no substance, no identity, no principle, no life, truth, or love. Tell animal magnetism (error) that it is only a suppositional opposite of the Christ, the Truth. It is a lie and the father of a lie that has no substance, no law, no mind, no power. "Error [animal magnetism] comes to you to give it life, and you give it the only life it has," said Mary Baker Eddy.

To give a treatment means handling animal magnetism. And we handle animal magnetism as we see it to be nothing but a lie. We must see it as just a term without power, law, substance, reality, identity. We do not ignore animal magnetism when we see it as nothing, but we do away with it. Animal magnetism is the error that stands between us and our knowing, actually believing what we are divinely, in reality-as Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth and Love. Mrs. Eddy healed as she did, because she believed what she said.

Our Leader said that we must rise to the point where we can destroy the belief of mesmerism (animal magnetism), or we will have no Cause. This belief tried to overcome our Leader for forty years, but she withstood it all. Now it is up to us to rouse ourselves out of this Adam dream, this animal magnetism, and overcome the mesmerism, the aggressive mental suggestions that evil, or what animal magnetism argues, is real. Daily, hourly, give yourself a Christian Science treatment by knowing what you now, in reality, are as Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.

Mary Baker Eddy's Prayer

Mrs. Eddy told her students, "Every time you declare you are perfect in God, there goes through the body a health-giving power. When you realize this truth of truths, that you are now - not will be-perfect in God, without a single doubt, wonderful changes will come to pass.

"But let me urge you - however difficult it may seem - to declare times without number, that you are perfect, joyful, triumphant and complete. Say often, 'God is my strength, God is my life, God is my health, God is my understanding.'

"You have dominion in Him [your true Mind, "the kingdom of God within" your consciousness], over the world, the flesh and the devil, a dominion that is omnipotent. Your life is in Him [God, infinite good]. No power can bind you." She continued, as though in prayer for herself, and for all mankind:

"God is the only life. Spirit is the only substance. Love is the only cause. Harmony is the only law. Now is the only time.

"This is God's spiritual household. Nothing can enter to annoy or destroy. Nothing can enter to manifest sin, sickness or discouragement, for God [infinite good] fills this household with perfect Love and peace, and governs every member of it.

"There is no will-power, obstinacy nor animal magnetism to darken the atmosphere of any home, for God [infinite good] does indeed dwell on earth with man and governs every event. There is no evil condition or thought that can argue or suggest or make any law to dominate me or control me or intimidate me, or crush me, or bring any evil to pass upon me, or shut out of my consciousness any good.

"[In spite of what animal magnetism would argue] there is no law but divine law, which is plenty, abundance, harmony and dominion. No mortal mind or minds, good, bad or indifferent, individual, collective or universal, can touch me or anyone in the radius of my thoughts this day, for God, Good, governs me and every member of this household with perfect love."

What a wonderful treatment. Her prayer continues: "Beloved Father, Mother, God, [my own real Mind, "the kingdom of God within" me] give me wisdom to meet the problems that come to me today. Give me understanding to deny error [animal magnetism]. Give me grace to remain silent, when it is not necessary for me to speak. Oh Love, take me in, give me one Mind, one consciousness and enable me to love my neighbor as myself.

"When I cease to judge, criticize or condemn, I begin to make progress."

Animal Magnetism Can't Influence the Scientist

Why, in reality, can't animal magnetism influence us? Because there is only one Mind, and that Mind is our Mind. In reality "the kingdom of God within" our consciousness, is All. Therefore, evil, animal magnetism, can't influence us.

In Miscellany 160:5 Mrs. Eddy tells us, "To live so as to keep human consciousness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and the eternal, is to individualize infinite power; and this is Christian Science." Hold to the spiritual fact that in reality you are divine Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. This means that most of our time must be spent in handling error, animal magnetism, this lie of mesmerism, since the belief of the flesh, and all inharmony, seems so real to us in our present state of ignorance.

Adam Dickey writes that Mrs. Eddy told her students: "Teach your students what animal magnetism is, how it works in themselves and from outside sources on them. These are the points in which my students fail most in teaching and are the most difficult to teach rightly so as not to frighten, but rather to strengthen the students." She wanted students to know that inharmony of any kind is illusion, hypnotic suggestion, error, animal magnetism, and is always a lie about God, infinite good, our true being. Like Jesus, we must say to it, "Get thee behind me, Satan, thou savorest not of the things that be of God," and then declare the Truth, reality.

Because error, animal magnetism seems so real to the student, it must be addressed. We must unmask and destroy the lie about true being, as well as declare and realize the absolute truth of being.

Jesus and Mrs. Eddy Were Not Hypnotized

Mrs. Eddy tells us that "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals" (S&H 476:32). When everyone else saw a sick and sinning mortal man, why did Jesus behold "the perfect man"? Because he wasn't hypnotized. He saw man, the perfect man-man as he really is. Because Jesus knew that man reflects the one perfect divine Mind, Jesus could not be hypnotized. And, because he was not hypnotized he could heal the man born blind. Mrs. Eddy saw that when we are (to the senses) being born into matter, dense blindness engulfs us. With human birth animal magnetism overtakes us, and we no longer are aware that we are spiritual beings here and now. So it must be learned.

The many wonderful healings performed by Mary Baker Eddy showed that she could not be hypnotized, and that she, like Jesus, "beheld the perfect man." She didn't see what all the mesmerized people around her thought they saw. When Mrs. Eddy was asked, "How can we heal like you heal?" She answered, "When you believe what you say. I believe what I say." At another time when she was asked how she healed as she did, she said, "I just got out of God's way." She let God, her own real Mind, be All-in-all.

Mrs. Eddy, like Jesus, knew the truth that man is the reflection, the manifestation, of the one perfect Mind, so she could not be hypnotized. And hypnotism is all there is to any disease or inharmony, or flesh, blood and bones man.

Our Beliefs Don't Change Anything

It is general world belief, total ignorance of what we really are, that hypnotizes us. Of course this ignorance does not change reality any more than the universal belief five-hundred years ago that the earth was flat, changed anything. The earth remained round. Just so, you, in reality, remain perfect no matter what animal magnetism (error) might argue. Knowing this, is treatment and brings healing.

We must stop dealing with what looks like a problem, and deal instead with the real problem: the hypnotized state of thought. Why? Because the hypnotized state of thought is all there is to the problem. Aside from the hypnotized state of thought all is harmony, since your own right Mind, "the kingdom of God within you," is ever perfect, and expresses itself in perfection.

So important is the instant seeing of error as just a hypnotic state, that Mrs. Eddy has a By-Law in her God-dictated Manual instructing: "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church [the structure of Truth and Love] to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion [animal magnetism]." We must know that the law of God [infinite good] is in perfect operation here and now and forever. And as we do, we find that Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science, is transforming the universe. The world is being healed of the blindness that overtook it at the belief of human birth, the first death.

Mary Baker Eddy, our Leader, tells us to keep our minds so filled with Truth and Love that suggestions of error, animal magnetism, cannot enter our consciousness.

The Hour is Come

"The hour is come. The great battle of Armageddon is upon us. The powers of evil are leagued together in secret conspiracy against the Lord and against His Christ, as expressed and operative in Christian Science....

"Never was there a more solemn and imperious call than God makes to us all, right here for fervent devotion and an absolute consecration to the greatest and holiest of all causes" (Mis. 177: 4, and l).

CHILDREN'S CORNER

Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

This reminds me of a mother who was called in by her boss at work, and fired. He said to her, "You're just a flop; you are a flop at everything you do."

That night, at home with her six year-old daughter, the mother was crying, saying over and over: "I'm just a flop, I'm just a flop."

Finally her little girl said to her, "Don't cry, mother, I learned in Sunday School that Jesus said, "Fear not, little flop, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

This little girl had the word wrong, but she certainly had the sense right.

It is not only little children that get the wrong word, sometimes at the expense of sense. The following are actual excerpts from classified sections of city newspapers:

"Man, honest. Will take anything."

"Auto Repair Service. Free pick-up and delivery. Try us once, you'll never go anywhere again."

"Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children."

"Wanted. Man to take care of cow that does not smoke or drink."

"The Universal Solvent of Love"

The wrong word can be amusing or embarrassing, but the wrong sense can really get in our way. A Sunday School teacher, name not given, writing in the Christian Science Journal, said that soon after she joined a branch church, her first assignment was to teach in the Sunday School. She thought it would be a wonderful privilege because she loved children.

The first Sunday came with great expectation and joy, but several teachers stopped her on the way to the class, saying: "Nobody lasts more than one Sunday in that class." This did not faze her, because, as she says, "I was proud of being a good disciplinarian.

"That was a mistake." She continued, "That Sunday School session was the most embarrassing experience I have had, and it taught me a big lesson in humility.

"At home, reading Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy woke me up. It says, 'In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error,-self-will, self-justification, and self-love,-which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death" (p. 242).

"Taking each false belief about myself and, through prayer, seeing it dissolved and replaced with the spiritual understanding of man's pure selfhood-the perfect image and likeness of God-I was ready to return the following Sunday to practice my discipleship to Christ. Everyone in the class responded-ready to learn more about God."

"The healing had far-reaching effects both in Sunday School and at home. No more did I use corporeal punishment with my own children. And not again were there disciplinary problems in the Sunday School. I've learned that whether at home, in church work, or in one's work for the community, no condemnation or mortal opinions should get in the way of our Christian discipleship."

False Attraction Aimed at Children

It is more important today than ever to be aware of things we can do to help children, because of the many false attractions aimed at children, particularly what they see on television.

Let's see and hear the children around us. The most important thing in every child's life is a caring adult. Take time to listen, to play, and to be there for a child or a teenager.

In a recent Reader's Digest article, "The Most Elusive Love of All," Sue Monk Kidd tells of a moment when she realized she had been treating her children "more like interruptions than family members whose lives I wanted to share and enjoy."

It was her little girl, ten year-old Ann, who taught her that lesson.

Sue Kidd says she was huddled in her favorite chair, enjoying a small oasis of quiet in a frustrating day. That morning, while watering her marigolds, her two children had drenched each other with the garden hose, and she yelled at them to go to their rooms. That's how it had been all week.

Suddenly ten year-old Ann started shouting from the back door, "Mamma, come see! There's a chipmunk outside." Peeved, Sue told her to go do her Sunday School project, the assignment to make a booklet illustrating four ways to love someone, a teacher, parent, neighbor, friend-anyone.

"All right," Ann said, her voice so quiet her mother could barely hear her.

In the late afternoon Sue peered into Ann's room. The child had just finished her project. "Can I see?" Sue asked.

Reluctantly Ann dropped the booklet into her mother's hands: "Four Ways to Love a Child" by Ann Kidd. Sue saw the booklet was for her. She started to tell Ann the idea was for her to show how she could love someone, not ways her mother could love someone. But she kept quiet. Was her daughter so in need of love?

Page l said, "Go see chipmunks and stuff like that, with your kids." Beneath was a picture of a smiling mom and a little girl peeking at a chipmunk. Sue realized she had been treating the kids more like interruptions....

Page 2 said, "When kids mess up, give them some hugs." Sue smiled at the sketch of a mother and a child reaching to embrace each other, and she recalled the angry banishment to their rooms earlier in the day. Maybe the moments they messed up were the very times she should embrace them with the assurance that they were loved.

On page three was scrawled, "Give kids a chance to talk."

On page four, "Laugh a lot." Sue thought of the water follies Ann and her brother had had with the hose. Could laughter have shifted things into perspective, and helped her see that it was, after all, only water?

She realized she had been hoarding time without sharing it, disciplining without loving, lecturing without listening, "even," she says, "forgetting her sense of humor." And in that moment of realization, "I knew that the love I showed in the small, nitty-gritty moments of whines and water fights, grumbles and interruptions, may be the most elusive love of all-and the most important."

Mrs. Kidd concludes, "As Ann sauntered back into the room, I gave her a hug and a wink. The next day I was puttering in the kitchen, when through the window I spotted Ann's chipmunk. I dashed for her room, as outside there beckoned a fleeting moment for us to capture and tuck away in a little girl's heart."

Teach Me To Love

Our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, whose life work is teaching us all to love, to be Love, advises, "Dear one, realize for yourself and all each day, clear and strong, that the Christ, Truth, does not merely open 'the windows of heaven' for us, or promise us heaven, but the knowledge of the Christ in Christian Science is heaven here and now. This knowledge of Truth as it is taught in Science is heaven's open door for all."

With love to every reader,

(signed) Helen M. Wright

P.S. Letter No. 12 will begin to teach the "system" which Mary Baker Eddy discovered, and revealed in Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science. Once we understand the "system" of Christian Science we can look out from the stars instead of up to them.

Do you wish to continue receiving these Letters that show how Mary Baker Eddy's astounding work on earth fulfilled Jesus' prophecy of the Second Coming of the Christ in the Comforter? We are trying to consolidate our mailing list to focus on those who find these Letters meaningful. If we do not hear from you, the next Letter, Letter No. 12 will be the last Letter you will receive.

END OF LETTER 11

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