Watching Point 183

183 — WATCH lest, through a false conception of the purpose of the Bible and Science and Health, you give animal magnetism a chance to work through you, in becoming a deterrent rather than a help to your growth. The time never comes when it is not necessary to study these textbooks, yet the advancing student must watch lest he accept the suggestion that they are ends, rather than means to an end, that they are salvation, rather than the means to salvation.

The purpose of the instruction contained in these books is to lead one to divine Mind, where through reflection he may gain for himself the same inspiration that they contain. In Christian Science the primary goal is not to attain a knowledge of truth that others have reflected. All study in Science has for its goal the development of spiritual sense, through which one reflects inspiration directly from God.

It can be said that secondhand truth from any source gradually loses its inspirational nature to one who is content to stagnate with it. The Bible and Science and Health are inspired books. Their ultimate purpose is to lead students to dig for the spiritual and underlying meaning of their teaching, since in this way students not only gain understanding, but develop spiritual sense, which in turn enables them to gain their own inspiration directly from God.