Greetings! Today, we shall conclude our study on, The Right Use of the Mind.

 A Day of Rest

The fundamental necessity of periods of rest is evidenced by the act of the Creator in establishing the seventh day of every week as a day of rest in the routine life of all mankind. This day of rest is therefore not only a religious privilege and duty, but a physiological necessity, in order to maintain the highest physical and mental efficiency. He who disregards this necessity, in doing so suffers a loss of fitness for his work, and will diminish his happiness and cut short his days of usefulness.

Ponder the beautiful lines from Janet Hegbie, entitled, Sleep: “O you who give new lives for old, who heal, and never ask for gold. Kind sleep, receive and make afresh this flagging mind and weary flesh. At nightfall, as the shadows do, my cares grow tall and threatening, too, I doubt the cause for which all day I wore the golden hours away, and as I stumble to my bed the beauty of the world seems dead. O best Physician, I resign this treachery tainted heart of mine, which, like a sword, I prithee make all bright once more before I wake; anoint these eyes, too weak too stare straight up and see the glory there; oh, steep my soul in seas of dew and make me clean and brave and new.”

Mental Attitude Not A Substitute For Food

Notwithstanding the truth of all these principles, the control of the emotions, the will, and mind, will not take the place of right food – of vitamin B1 for the nerves, and phosphorus for the nerves and brain – but this mental attitude is to be added to the use of right foods. This class does not take away or lessen the force of the preceding ones, but is an addition to them. All of these principles are necessary to good health. Even the brain itself must be fed good food, if it is to function normally. The force of the will cannot take the place of food.

The King Corrected

The mind rules over the body. The mind must not recognize the existence of the body (not regard it as a phantom), and must know the laws governing the body – the rules of life – the laws of physiology and the Ten Commandments – and must enforce them. Sickness comes from failure to do so; that is being made abundantly plain in this class.

The change from sickness to health must begin in the mind; it must start with learning the rules of life, and understanding the mistakes of the past. The mind must first be convinced. People need to change their habits, but they will never change their habits until they first change their minds.

And so, we have been working to change your minds to recognize the importance of whole grains, natural foods, raw foods, balanced meals; and to see the harm of using flesh, caffeinated tea, coffee, unhealthful spices, soda, sodium bicarbonate baking powder, white sugar, tobacco, etc., etc.

But Johnnie may say, “I don’t like spinach!” He can, if he will change his mind and try. Mother may say, “I cannot get along without my coffee,” but she can if she will make up her mind and try. Father or brother may say, “I must have my cigarette,” and so it goes! No one can change until he changes his mind and comes to a definite decision, and in doing that the battle is more than half won.

The Right “Mind Cure”

The change of mind that produces a change of habits is the right kind of “mind cure.” All health-seeking should begin here. To study the laws of health is a science. To keep them in obedience to the Creator is true Christian Science. To deny the existence of the body with its organs and their laws –in order to deny the reality of sickness– is not science, and is a repudiation of the Author of all things and of laws governing all. Such a teaching makes obedience unnecessary. It demands only a change of mind without a change of life. True Christianity and true science demand a change of mind that it may produce a change of life. And that optimism associated with the truth is far more wonderful than that associated with error. It is that we are to know the right way of living, live that way, confess to God our departures therefrom, and then confidently trust all our cares and affairs to the Author of the Truth. Optimism belongs; linked with truth, not with error.

Mental Health Philosophies

There are many health philosophies offered the people today. The popular ones hold that man is innately good; that within him reside the elements of goodness and powers which will relieve him of sickness and trouble, and bring him the desires of his heart. Such teachings do not recognize that man is a transgressor, and that his transgressions are the primary causes of his troubles, and that they must have his first attention; they do not recognize that the kind ministrations of a forgiving God are necessary to our healing and restoration, without which man cannot achieve the longings of his heart. And so-called “mind cure” that is popular, is weak in its call for obedience to the laws of life.

Perhaps the most dangerous of all mental philosophies is that in which one mind is asked to surrender to another mind. That is the devil’s substitute for surrender to God; it is the devil’s plan to ruin his victim. The will should be yielded only to the Maker thereof.

“It is not God’s purpose that any human being should yield his mind and will the control of another, becoming a passive instrument in his hands. No one is to merge his individuality in that of another. He is not to look to any human being as the source of healing. His dependence must be in God. In the dignity of his God-given manhood, he is to be controlled by God himself” {MH 242}

This, now, is the ideal, completed. The mind is a king which knows the laws of the realm and enforces them. It is to choose every thought, and direct every word and act. The king, in turn, is to be surrendered to the Great Mind on high, who is the Great King over it; that He, through the human mind, may have complete charge over every detail of life – of every thought, and work, and act. That is the right use of the mind.

Grab a friend and share the wealth, from what you’ve learned in the School of Health! In our next class, we shall have a quiz on The Right Use of the Mind, sections 1-4. God bless!

 Previous Classes: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4