Watching Point 127

127 — WATCH lest you exalt the process called mental argument to the point where you consider it to be more important, than that state of spiritual-mindedness, that reflects the Spirit, and heals without the argument.

Argument belongs to the transitional state, or second degree, as given on page 115 of Science and Health, since spiritual sense does not argue, but knows. When you argue the truth, you acknowledge the presence of something in you that does not know the truth, and, therefore, that needs to be convinced of it.

The process of argument might represent the effort needed to whip the human mind into line, so that it will cease to interfere with the demonstration of Truth. Surely argument would not be necessary for one who acknowledged no reality in the human mind.

A book agent comes to your door. There is a difference between stating that you are not interested in what he has to offer, and declaring this with conviction and authority, or listening to his sales talk and then seeking to refute his assertions one by one.

The following quotations gathered from various sources give some insight into our Leader’s thought about the process of argument:

On page 454 of Science and Health she writes, “Remember that the letter and mental argument are only human auxiliaries to aid in bringing thought into accord with the spirit of Truth and Love, which heals the sick and the sinner.”

“I sometimes think that argument hinders the work by materializing the thought. Hold with God. Jesus did not stop to argue with a lie (argument of error), did not say, ‘Now, Mr. Devil, I will argue with you about it;’ he said, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan.’ He ‘spake the word and it was done.’ Shut it all out. You do not have to argue. Know. KNOW God and His idea, and not argue about sin. It was years before I argued.”

“The time will come, and I feel it will be soon, when Christian Scientists will not have to make a conscious effort in giving treatment; for through the constant desire and endeavor for a Christian life, their consciousness will have become so purified that healing will go forth from them as naturally as the perfume from flowers to those who are ready for it.”

“If you are a Christian Scientist and can speak the Word and it is done, all right; but if you have to argue, be very careful what you argue. You may sit in your chair all day and say over beautiful words and it does not amount to anything; it is the spirit that is needed. I used to do my healing with — God is All. I never argued until I began teaching students and I had to meet the thought where it stood. Now drop arguing and hold to God. Hold to the allness of God; there is nothing else.”

“Your revery when treating the sick is a belief that comes of a vivid imagination, and I would handle it with the intellect, confine myself to sober reason illumined by understanding, instead of imagination, and practice from a calm fixed sense of the nothingness of all error and the conscious harmony of Spirit, wherein are no outlines of mortal beliefs.”