(Written by Hal Shrewsbury)
Mary Baker Eddy describes the physical healing of Christian Science as "...the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation." The term, "Principle", as a synomym for God, is unique to Christian Science which Mrs. Eddy defined as a "scientific system of divine healing", as well as to the age in which she lived when the principles of electricity, the automobile and airplane were being discovered and utilized. These principles had always existed and in were in operation but were only useful to mankind when they were discovered and understood. An airplane seen flying in Jesus' time would have been considered a miracle but today we understand it to be the principle of aerodynamics in operation. Likewise, Jesus' healings had been considered miracles for nineteen hundred years until Mrs. Eddy discovered them to tbe the operation of divine Principle, God.
After discovering Christian Science in1865 she spent the balance of her life stating and explaining it so that all may understand and utilize this system or science of healing which is available in her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures". In the final edition of her book of 1907, she defines God in her chapter, Recapitulation, as "incorporeal, divine, surpreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love" which express the nature (Mind, Spirit, Soul), essence (Life, Truth, Love) and wholeness (Principle) of God. The understanding of the spiritual definition of these synonyms as well as the order in which they appear are important to healing since Recapitulation is the chapter Mrs. Eddy chose for teaching the healing practice of Christian Science in class instruction. Although I understood that "order" was necessary to understand any science--numbers for mathematics, notes for music, etc., I did not appreciate the relationship of the order of these synonyms to healing until I reviewed an important healing for me--the healing of the fear of death associated with flying. I found the order of events leading to this healing matched the order of the seven synonyms on page 465; each synonym leading to the next synonym and lifting my thought from that of a mortal fearing death to that of God's image and likeness which knows no fear.
Awaiting orders to Navy flight training while serving on an aircraft carrier which had just come back from action in the Korea war, I heard so many horror stories of crashes and casualties involving flying on and off the ship I became very fearful. It appeared I was risking my life due not only on my flying ability but on that of hundreds of individuals from those who designed the airplane to those who maintained and serviced it. I realized I had to heal my fear of flying or it could prove disastrous. I started reading every refence I could in "Science and Health" as well as "Prose Works" on death. One Sunday I saw one of the squadron pilots on board ship in church and, telling him of my fear of flying, I asked him how he dealt with that fear as a Christian Scientist. He took me up on the flight deck where the airplanes were tied down and asked me to look at the F4U Corsair which he flew and which had the reputation of being a "widow maker" because of its tendency to roll and crash when power was applied unless the pilot corrected the roll quickly. He pointed out that there was nothing dangerous about the airplane sitting on the flight deck but the only danger was in what I thought would happen to the plane in a given situation. He then referred me to Mrs. Eddy's definition of man in "Science and Health" as the "compound idea of God including all right ideas". He said, the airplane did not include me but that I included the right idea of the plane.
I cannot explain the freedom and peace I felt as the fear left my thinking. It was as if a heavy weight was lifted off my back. However, as with any spiritual insight, it isn't really understood until demonstrated much as one has to prove mathematical understanding by working out the problems. The following week I was on the flight deck and a Corsair was on approach trailing gasoline from a leak. With the abrupt stop as the hook caught the wire, the plane burst into a big ball of fire as the leaking gas rushed forward on the hot engine. I felt sick as I visualized the pilot being burnt to a crisp in the cockpit and was miserable all afternoon. At supper that night I looked down the table from me and there was the pilot of that plane eating dinner with his shipmates. He had jumped from the airplane after landing and hadn't been touched by the fire ball. I then realized the suffering I had experienced was from what I "believed" and was just as real to me as if it had really happened. I then accepted from all those references I had read that death was likewise an illusion rather than the reality of God's creation, and that I could rely on my spiritual (Godlike) senses to protect me from what the material senses tell me.
Looking back, I saw my healing occur as I understood each snyonym in the order of the definition of God in Recapitulation. it was "Mind" which told me to heal the fear of flying and seek a more spiritual understanding; "Spirit" thorugh studying the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings which, in turn lifted the fear of flying from my consciousness. However, this spiritual understanding was not sufficient until I saw that even the material picture I was suffering from was false. This gave me the confidence to trust the spiritual senses of "Soul" which was my identity as God's image and likeness. As my thought was uplifted through Mind, Spirit, and Soul, my prayer brought me into harmony with the operation of "Principle" which in turn demonstrated a career in flying, "Life"; the protection from error during that career "Truth" and the joy and satisfaction of expressing God in that activity "Love".
This healing had a projound effect on my life as it freed me from the fear of being the victim of any accident, be it airplance, automobile or even a crashed economy. I am grateful for Mrs. Eddy's discovery of God as the divine Principle which is always operating in our lives. And as the mathematician identifies his thinking with the laws of math to solve a problem, we can experience the operation of this Principle to heal our life problems by identifying our thinking with the spiritual understanding of those seven synonyms for God.
