0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

9	(By permission) 

  	HOW TO UNDERSTAND SCIENCE AND HEALTH 

  	    My Dear Friend H.: — Your good letter of the 26th
12	ult. came duly to hand several days ago, and I am not
  	greatly surprised at its contents. You say, in substance,
  	that you procured the book, "Science and Health with
15	Key to the Scriptures," which I recommended, and
  	that to your surprise and disgust you found it to be a
  	work on faith-cure, and ask by what process of reason-
18	ing I could possibly bring myself to adopt or accept
  	such visionary theories. In answer to your very nat-
  	ural question, I will try, in my own way, to give you
21	what appears to me to be a reason for the hope that is
  	in me. 
  	    My religious views of fifteen years ago are too famil-
24	iar to you to need any exposition at my hands at this
  	time. Suffice it to say that the religion of the Bible,
  	as taught by the churches, to my mind appeared to be
  
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Letters From Those Healed             
  page 464

1	self-contradictory and confusing, and their explanations
  	failed to explain. During the next eleven years my
 3	convictions underwent little change. I read everything
  	that came in my way that had any bearing upon, or
  	pretended in any degree to explain, the problem of life;
 6	and while I gained some knowledge of a general nature,
  	I was no nearer the solution of life's problem than when
  	I began my investigations years ago, and I had given
 9	up all hope of ever b...eing able to come to a knowledge
  	of the truth, or a satisfactory explanation of the enigma
  	of life. 
12	    In all my intellectual wanderings I had never lost my
  	belief in a great First Cause, which I was as well satis-
  	fied to call God as anything else; but the orthodox ex-
15	planations of His or its nature and power were to my
  	mind such a mixture of truth and error, that I could not
  	tell where fact left off and fancy began. The whole ef-
18	fort of the pulpit being put forth, seemed directed to the im-
  	possible task of harmonizing the teachings of Jesus Christ
  	with the wisdom of the world; and the whole tendency
21	of our religious education was to befog the intellect and
  	produce scepticism in a mind that presumed to think
  	for itself and to inquire into the why and the wherefore. 
24	I fully believe that the agnosticism of yourself and my-
  	self was produced by the futile attempt to mix and har-
  	monize the wisdom of the world with the philosophy of
27	the Christ. 
  	    In my investigations into the researches of the savants
  	and philosophers I found neither any satisfactory expla-
30	nation of things as they seemed to exist, nor any solu-
  	tion of the great and all-absorbing question, "What is
  	Truth?" Their premises appeared to be sound, and
  
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Letters From Those Healed             
  page 465

1	their reasonings faultless; but in the nature of things,
  	no final conclusion of the whole matter could be reached
 3	from premises based wholly on material knowledge. 
  	They could explain "matter" and its properties to their
  	own satisfaction, but the intelligence that lay behind or
 6	beyond it, and which was manifested in and through it,
  	was to them as much of a mystery as it was to the hum-
  	blest of God's creatures. They could prove pretty con-
 9	clusively that many of the generally accepted theories
  	had no basis in fact; but they left us as much in the
  	dark regarding Life and its governing Principle as had
12	the divines before them. 
  	    About four years ago, while still in the mental condi-
  	tion above indicated, my attention was called to what at
15	that time appeared to me to be a new phase of spiritism,
  	and which was called by those who professed to believe
  	in it, Christian Science. I thought that I had given some
18	attention to about all the isms that ever existed, and that
  	this was only another phantasm of some religionist lost
  	in the labyrinths of mental hallucination. 
21	    In my reflections at that time it seemed to me that
  	life was an incomprehensible enigma; that the creator
  	had placed us on this earth, and left us entirely in the
24	dark as to His purpose in so doing. We seemed to be
  	cast upon the ocean of time, and left to drift aimlessly
  	about, with no exact knowledge of what was required of
27	us or how to attain unto the truth, which must certainly
  	have an existence somewhere. It seemed to me that in
  	the very nature of things there must be a great error
30	somewhere in our understanding, or that the creator
  	Himself had slipped a cog when He fitted all things into
  	their proper spheres. That there had been a grand mis-
  
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Letters From Those Healed             
  page 466

 1	take somewhere I had no doubt; but I still had doubt
  	enough of my own capabilities and understanding to be-
 3	lieve that the mistake, whatever it was, was in me and
  	not in the creator. I knew that, in a fair measure at
  	least, I had an honest desire to live aright, as it was given
 6	me to see the right, and to strive to some extent to do the
  	will of God, if I could only know certainly just what it
  	was. 
 9	    While in this frame of mind, I inwardly appealed to
  	the great unseen power to enlighten my understanding,
  	and to lead me into a knowledge of the truth, promising
12	mentally to follow wherever it might lead, if I could only
  	do so understandingly. 
  	    My wife had been investigating Christian Science to
15	some extent, but knowing my natural antipathy to such
  	vagaries, as I then thought them, had said very little to
  	me about it; but one day, while discussing the mysteries
18	of life with a judge of one of our courts, he asked me
  	whether I had ever looked into the teachings of the Chris-
  	tian Scientists. I told him that I had not, and he urged
21	me very strongly to do so. He claimed to have investi-
  	gated their teachings, and said that he had become a
  	thorough believer in them. This aroused my curiosity,
24	and I procured the book called "Science and Health
  	with Key to the Scriptures," and read it. Before read-
  	ing very far in it, I became pretty thoroughly nauseated
27	with what I thought the chimerical ideas of the author,
  	but kept on reading, — more because I had promised to
  	read the book than because of interest in its teachings;
30	but before I had gotten through with it, I did become
  	interested in the Principle that I thought I discovered
  	the author was striving to elucidate; and when I got
  
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Letters From Those Healed             
  page 467

 1	through it, I began again and reread it very carefully. 
  	When I had finished reading this book the second time,
 3	I had become thoroughly convinced that her explana-
  	tion of the religion taught by Jesus Christ, and what
  	he did teach, afforded the only explanation which, to
 6	my mind, came anywhere near harmonizing and making
  	cohesive what had always seemed contradictory and
  	inexplicable in the Bible. I became satisfied that I had
 9	found the truth for which I had long been seeking, and
  	I arose from the reading of the book a changed man;
  	doubt and uncertainty had fled, and my mind has never
12	been troubled with a serious doubt upon the subject from
  	that day to this. 
  	    I do not pretend to have acquired the power it is claimed
15	we may attain to; but I am satisfied that the fault is in
  	me, and not in the Principle. I think I can almost hear
  	you ask, What! do you believe in miracles? I answer
18	unhesitatingly, Yes; I believe in the manifestations of
  	the power of Mind which the world calls miraculous;
  	but which those who claim to understand the Principle
21	through which the works are done, seem to think not
  	unnatural, but only the logical result of the application
  	of a known Principle. 
24	    It always did seem to me that Truth should be self-
  	evident, or at least susceptible of unmistakable proof, — 
  	which all religions seemed to lack, at least in so far as I
27	had known them. I now remember that Jesus furnished
  	unmistakable proofs of the truth of his teachings, by his
  	manifestations of the power of Mind, or, as some might
30	call it, Spirit; which power he plainly taught would be
  	acquired by those who believed in the Principle which he
  	taught, and which manifestations would follow as signs
 
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Letters From Those Healed             
  page 468

 1	that an understanding of his philosophy had been reached. 
  	It does seem to me, that where the signs do not follow
 3	professing Christians which Christ said should follow
  	them, there must be something wrong, either in his teach-
  	ings or their understanding of them; and to say the
 6	least, the foundations of their faith require a careful re-
  	examination, with a view to harmonizing them with the
  	plain teachings of the Christ in whose footsteps they
 9	profess to follow. 
  	    I never could understand how God could be ever-pres-
  	ent as a personal Being, but I think I can and do under-
12	stand how divine Principle can pervade every thing and
  	place. 
  	    I never could understand how heaven could be a place
15	with gorgeous fittings, but I think I can and do under-
  	stand how it might be a spiritual (or if you please mental)
  	condition. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God cometh
18	not with observation:  neither shall they say, Lo here! 
  	or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within
  	you." 
21	    "Knowledge (or understanding) is power." Since
  	adopting the views of life as set forth in "Science and
  	Health with Key to the Scriptures," I have seen proofs
24	of what can be accomplished through a knowledge of the
  	truth, which to my mind amount to demonstrations, and
  	which no longer seem incredible, but which I do not ask
27	another to accept upon my statements. Every one must
  	see or feel for himself in order to be convinced; but I
  	am satisfied that any who will lay aside their preconceived
30	notions, and deal honestly with themselves and the light
  	they have, will come to a knowledge of the truth as illus-
  	trated in the teachings and life of Jesus Christ; that is,
 
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Letters From Those Healed             
  page 469

 1	that Mind, or Soul, or whatever you may be pleased to
  	call it, is the real Ego, or self, and that mortal mind with
 3	its body is the unreal and vanishing, and eventually goes
  	back to its native nothingness. 
  	    Truth is, and ever has been, simple; and because of
 6	its utter simplicity, we in our pride and selfishness have
  	been looking right over it. We have been keeping our
  	eyes turned toward the sky, scanning the heavens with
 9	a far-off gaze in search of light, expecting to see the
  	truth blaze forth like some great comet, or in some ex-
  	traordinary manner; and when, instead of coming in
12	great pomp and splendor, it appears in the simpleness
  	of demonstration, we are staggered at it, and refuse to
  	accept it; our intellectual pride is shocked, and we are
15	sure that there has been some mistake. Human nature
  	is ever the same. The Jews were looking for something
  	transcendently wonderful, and the absence of it made
18	the Christ, Truth, to them a stumbling-block. It was
  	foolishness to the Greeks, who excelled in the worldly
  	wisdom of that day; but in all ages of the world it has
21	ever been the power of God to them that believe, not
  	blindly, but because of an enlightened understanding. 
  	    I always did think that there was something beautiful
24	in the philosophy of life as taught by Jesus Christ, but
  	that it was impracticable and not susceptible of applica-
  	tion to the affairs of life in a world constituted as this
27	appeared to be. As I now view it, that belief was the
  	result of ignorance of the real power that "moves the
  	universe," — too much faith in matter or effect, and not
30	enough in Mind or cause, which is God. 
  	    To one who can accept the truth that all causation is
  	in Mind, and who therefore begins to look away from  

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Letters From Those Healed             
  page 470

1	matter and into Mind, or Spirit, for all that is real and
  	eternal, and for all that produces anything that is last-
 3	ing, the doubts and petty annoyances of life become
  	dissolved in the light of a better understanding, which
  	has been refined in the crucible of charity and love; and
 6	they fade away into the nothingness from whence they
  	came, never having had any existence in fact, being only
  	the inventions of erring human belief. 
 9	    Read the teachings of the Christ from a Christian Science
  	standpoint, and they no longer appear vague and mysti-
  	cal, but become luminous and powerful, — and, let me
12	say, intelligible. 
  	    It is true, as you intimate, that this theory of life is
  	much more generally accepted by women than by men,
15	and it may be true that as a rule their reasoning is much
  	less rigid in its nature than that of the sterner sex, and
  	that they may be liable to scan their premises less keenly;
18	but may it not also be true, that they are of finer texture
  	and more spiritual in their natures, and that they may
  	be just as likely to arrive at the truth through their in-
21	tuitions, in connection with their logic, as we are through
  	the more rugged courses? If it be true that man is the
  	more logical, the fallibility of our own reasonings very
24	frequently becomes painfully apparent even to ourselves,
  	and they are therefore not the safest gauge by which to
  	judge others. 
27	    I believe, myself, that when it comes to standing up
  	for Truth in the face of the world, and possibly at the
  	sacrifice of position and popularity, women possess the
30	necessary courage in a much greater degree than do
  	men. 
  	    I had not intended to weary you with such a long

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Letters From Those Healed             
  page 471

1	letter, but after getting into the subject, I hardly knew
  	where to stop. As an old and loved friend, I have given
 3	you a glimpse of my inner life, because I hardly knew
  	how to explain my mental condition to you in any other
         way. . . .
Read more