|
She reported in a later letter, that during her eleven day stay in that city, she had treated seventy patients a day, and that most of them were healed quickly. The same cannot be said about the work of any Christian Science Practitioners known today, as far as the author has been able to determine. Christian Science practitioners are a professional group of healers associated with Christian Science churches throughout the world. Indeed, if the early efficacy had continued, the medical profession would have been long out of business. Rather the opposite has taken place. Reports are heard that the work of Christian Science Practitioners is increasingly resulting in failures rather than healing. Although Christian Science healing still continues today, the healing work is less effective and appears more difficult, results occur slower, also they are by no means guaranteed.
Mary Baker Eddy's response to impending collapse.
Without an impetus that powers constant development, every aspect of life is doomed to collapse. This recognition - that is only rarely made today as is reflected in the near universal opposition to economic redevelopment of mankind - was none-the-less made by Mary Baker Eddy in the late 1880s. That she was correct is evident by collapse of the efficacy of Christian Science healing, which has occurred although the basic reality of being has not changed from what it was in the days when Christ Jesus had practiced, or in the days when Christian Science healing first abounded. What was truth in those days, is still truth today, and so are the consequence of God, divine Truth, being understood. Nor has the science changed by which truth is being understood. Christ Jesus' words will forever echo through the ages: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."*(John 8:32) But something has changed.
It may be pointed out that the collapse in Christian Science healing is not much different than a similar collapse that occurred about a century after Christ Jesus' days. After the first century, the effectiveness of Christ healing had likewise become lost. It had flourished for some period after Jesus' passing, but then faded away. The conclusion that presents itself is that our modern situation appears not so much related to personal failures of the scientific practitioners, than it relates to an underlying trend in human habit that had already had the same effect centuries earlier. Was it caused by apathy towards the truth?
It is evident that Mary Baker Eddy was aware that the trend would repeat itself unless specific work is done to prevent it. Except, there was nothing more that she could do. The people couldn't reach higher than their thought models would allow. They couldn't understand more. Yet, more was needed. It was evidently in direct response to this situation that she set out to incorporate an outline of a very deep reaching scientific structure into the body of her major works, which when discovered by advanced perceptions, would germinate and put forward the work of development and discovery of Science that her own generation could deal with only superficially. Although this structure that she has outlined is profound and extensive, it had indeed remained unseen by her generation. Not the faintest trace had been discovered. It had remained hidden from view for over sixty years, when the very tip of it was recognized briefly, but was quickly obscured again. So it lay obscure for another forty years, and may remain so even now should mankind fail to recognize its significance.
The manner in which the structure was hidden indicates that it was not intended for any specific epoch in time, but for an atmosphere of progress when creative scientific discoveries are pursued. Mary Baker Eddy must have recognized that the time for creative discoveries would not occur until some time after the initial momentum of Christian Science had worn off, for she is said to have predicted that a certain major part of the outline would disappear from public view before its value would be understood. It was as though she had said that the original Science and what came out of it must be rediscovered from the ground up in a sanctuary of thought where one is alone with God - with Truth. It was as if she had said that this work must be done individually whenever consciousness is ready to operate truly scientifically, and spiritually, rather than being moved along in the collective environment of a mass movement where discovery, development, and spiritual unfolding are of secondary importance.
Next Page
|| - page index -
|| - chapter index -
|| - Exit -
||
|
