Obtrusive Mental Healing

From Miscellaneous Writings by




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         The question will present itself: Shall people be treated
         mentally without their knowledge or consent? The
         direct rule for practice of Christian Science is the Golden
10    Rule, “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye,”
         Who of us would have our houses broken open or our
         locks picked? and much less would we have our minds
         tampered with.

         Our Master said, “When ye enter a house, salute it.”
15    Prolonging the metaphysical tone of his command, I say,
         When you enter mentally the personal precincts of human
         thought, you should know that the person with whom
         you hold communion desires it. There are solitary ex-
         ceptions to most given rules: the following is an exception
20    to the above rule of mental practice.

         If the friends of a patient desire you to treat him with-
         out his knowing it, and they believe in the efficacy of
         Mind-healing, it is sometimes wise to do so, and the end
         justifies the means; for he is restored through Christian
25    Science when other means have failed. One other oc-
         casion which may call for aid unsought, is a case from
         accident, when there is no time for ceremony and no other
         aid is near.

         The abuse which I call attention to, is promiscuous


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1      and unannounced mental practice where there is no neces-
         sity for it, or the motive is mercenary, or one can to ad-
         vantage speak the truth audibly; then the case is not
         exceptional. As a rule, one has no more right to enter
5      the mind of a person, stir, upset, and adjust his thoughts
         without his knowledge or consent, than one has to enter
         a house, unlock the desk, displace the furniture, and suit
         one’s self in the arrangement and management of another
         man’s property.

10    It would be right to break into a burning building and
         rouse the slumbering inmates, but wrong to burst open
         doors and break through windows if no emergency de-
         manded this. Any exception to the old wholesome rule,
         “Mind your own business,” is rare. For a student of
15    mine to treat another student without his knowledge, is
         a breach of good manners and morals; it is nothing less
         than a mistaken kindness, a culpable ignorance, or a
         conscious trespass on the rights of mortals.

         I insist on the etiquette of Christian Science, as well
20    as its morals and Christianity. The Scriptural rule of
         this Science may momentarily be forgotten; but this is
         seldom the case with loyal students, or done without
         incriminating the person who did it.

         Each student should, must, work out his own problem
25    of being; conscious, meanwhile, that God worketh with
         him, and that he needs no personal aid. It is the genius
         of Christian Science to demonstrate good, not evil,—
         harmony, not discord; for Science is the mandate of
         Truth which destroys all error.

30    Whoever is honestly laboring to learn the principle of
         music and practise it, seldom calls on his teacher or mu-
         sician to practise for him. The only personal help re-


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1      quired in this Science is for each one to do his own work
         well, and never try to hinder others from doing theirs
         thus.

         Christian Science, more than any other system of
5      religion, morals, or medicine, is subject to abuses. Its
         infinite nature and uses occasion this. Even the human-
         itarian at work in this field of limitless power and good
         may possess a zeal without knowledge, and thus mistake
         the sphere of his present usefulness.

10    Students who strictly adhere to the right, and make the
         Bible and Science and Health a study, are in no danger
         of mistaking their way.

         This question is often proposed, How shall I treat
         malicious animal magnetism? The hour has passed for
15    this evil to be treated personally, but it should have been
         so dealt with at the outset. Christian Scientists should
         have gone personally to the malpractitioner and told
         him his fault, and vindicated divine Truth and Love
         against human error and hate. This growing sin must
20    now be dealt with as evil, and not as an evil-doer or per-
         sonality It must also be remembered that neither an evil
         claim nor an evil person is real, hence is neither to be
         feared nor honored.

         Evil is not something to fear and flee before, or that
25    becomes more real when it is grappled with. Evil let
         alone grows more real, aggressive, and enlarges its claims;
         but, met with Science, it can and will be mastered by
         Science.

         I deprecate personal animosities and quarrels. But if
30    one is intrusted with the rules of church government, to
         fulfil that trust those rules must be carried out; thus it
         is with all moral obligations. I am opposed to all personal


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1      attacks, and in favor of combating evil only, rather than
         person.

         An edition of one thousand pamphlets I ordered to
         be laid away and not one of them circulated, because I
5      had been personal in condemnation. Afterwards, by a
         blunder of the gentleman who fills orders for my books,
         some of these pamphlets were mistaken for the corrected
         edition, and sold.

         Love is the fulfilling of the law. Human life is too
10    short for foibles or failures. The Christian Science Jour-
         nal will hold high the banner of Truth and Love, and be
         impartial and impersonal in its tenor and tenets.






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Love is the liberator.