As a new student of Christian Science, one of the first false beliefs to fall away was that of contagion. I understood well enough that the source of discordant experiences is actually mental, so I also knew that physical contact with [fill-in-the-blank-unpleasant-condition] didn't make me susceptible to it--even if other people thought it would.
I saw this was true through living with family and roommates, and even through beginning to work as a teacher in a public school system. Each year, as colleagues talked about--and then developed--the "initial cold" you "had to" catch after being introduced to a new bunch of kids, I found myself well.
But, I didn't actually stop having colds. As it turned out, I continued to experience them periodically and without respect to human so-called laws about "cold seasons" and contagion. Going back to what I understood about the mental nature of all disease, I reasoned (albeit imperfectly) that if I was not feeling well, something must be going on mentally that was manifesting itself as a cold. It had to come from somewhere, right? So then began a period in my life where I'd take physical discomfort as a cue to dig around mentally for something that might need to be handled, that is, proven untrue and unreal in thought. Typically, I determined the so-called cause to be stress and handled it. The end. Until the next time.
Fortunately, as I've committed myself to understanding and practicing Christian Science, I've made friends with the same commitment. One of these friends and I were talking one day this past summer, and my method of dealing with colds came up. I mentioned that I only got them when I was "stressed." But my friend stopped me short. I don't remember his exact words, but the idea was, "Erin--first of all, you don't need to expect that a particular situation will always result in certain coordinating physical symptoms. Second, disease doesn't have a cause--God is the only Cause, and disease is no part of Him."
He was right! And now I knew he was right--it was time for deeply-ingrained old beliefs to fall away once again. By concluding (incorrectly) that these colds were the result of stress, I was making a major mistake! Part of it was that I was starting my reasoning about my situation with the cold instead of starting my reasoning with God, who is the only Cause, the only Principle, or Source. He is wholly good, and is Spirit--so reasoning from the basis of a bad, material situation was about as backwards as I could get! The other part of the mistake was that by starting with the cold, I was making it seem real, even though Christian Science works by seeing the unreality of disease. By way of analogy, my former line of reasoning was like believing ghosts were in my house and concentrating my efforts on scaring them away, when what I needed to do was understand that ghosts aren't real, and weren't there in the first place.
At any rate, since the time of that conversation I've checked, i.e, stopped in their tracks, any thoughts that came and suggested that there was cause for a cold, or other form of illness. I've been exposed to so-called contagion. I've experienced my fair share of stress. But I haven't experienced a cold. More than being grateful for experiencing health, I'm grateful to understand to a greater degree the nothingness of disease--and the allness of God's goodness.
God is good
God gives good
God is the only Cause
God is Spirit
Man is spiritual
There is no disease
