BIBLE VERSES FOR SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT AND HEALING

'Man's mind belongs to a category of being essentially

different from matter and superior to it, however limitless

the dimensions of matter may be.' - Pope Pius XII.

I have had a long and happy association with the metaphysical churches, including Unity and Religious Science. Although I never joined it, I have also attended many services at Christian Science churches. As a spiritual psychologist, I use many of the ideas, teachings, and practices of these churches not only in my own life but also when counselling others. In recent years, many of these very same ideas, teachings, and practices have found their way---or way back---into more mainstream, if Pentecostal, forms of Christianity, including the Word of Faith movement. I am thinking of the writings of people such as Charles Capps.

Deep down, though, I am ever the skeptic, always aware of the dangers of magical thinking. When asked about Christian Science, in particular, I often joke and say, ‘It works well---when you’re not sick. It doesn’t work so well when you’re sick.’ I also happen to think that spiritual mind treatment works better for mental and psychological conditions than for physical ones, but as the latter are so often the result of psychological maladjustment there is in principle no reason why spiritual mind treatment should not work for all types of conditions and dysfunction of both mind and body.

So, I say this---spiritual mind treatment and healing can work wonders, especially in assisting you to stay well, happy, vibrant and alive. It's much easier to stay healthy and vibrant than to regain healthy and vitality when you have lost them through neglect or other means. If, at the end of the day, it all be no more than ‘mind over matter,’ or no better than placebo, then we are still dealing with a formidable power---and I happen to think that there is a lot more involved than just mind over matter.

Here are some verses from the Bible which encapsulate some important metaphysical and psychological principles for spiritual mind treatment and healing---ideas and teachings that you can use for good in your own life.

‘Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you’ (Mt 6:33)

The ‘kingdom of God’ is within you (Lk 17:21) ---within your own mind. Jesus used the words 'kingdom' and 'life' interchangeably. To him, they were one and same. The 'kingdom' is life---abundant life (cf Jn 10:10)---and life renewed, regenerated, resurrected, and redeemed. 

'The eternal God is your dwelling-place' (Deut 33:27). This is, of course, metaphorical language. God is the self-existent and self-sufficient eternal now, the omnipresence of life, and, most especially, the power of your own mind. ‘It is the Father’s [Divine Mind] good pleasure to give you the kingdom’ (Lk 12:32). In other words, it is your divine birthright. You already have within you---within your mind, that is---everything you will ever need to be happy, healthy, vital, whole, and alive.

'Righteousness,’ metaphysically interpreted, refers to right-thinking, and the right use of one’s mind and thoughts. 'We become what we habitually contemplate,' wrote George Russell. 'The future is your present thoughts grown up,' wrote Divine Science minister, lecturer, and author Dr Joseph Murphy. Thought power is always creative---for better or for worse---according to the nature, emotion, impulse, and conviction behind the thought. And what is 'thinking'? Well, the great Plato put it this way: 'Thinking is the talking of the soul with itself.' I like that.

‘You shall decree a thing, and it shall be established for you’ (Job 22:28)

‘There is no power but of God’ (Rom 13:1), ‘God’ being the ‘all in all’ (1 Cor 15:28), or the action of Mind (infinite Intelligence) upon Itself. 'I AM God and there is none else beside me' (Is 45:5). Thus, God is all there is, and thus all that we are. 'God thinks only one Word---Himself,' wrote the great Catholic archbishop Fulton J Sheen. 'Everything that exists is the realization and concretion of an idea existing in the Mind of God from all eternity. ... Every bird, every flower, every tree, has been made according to an idea existing in the Mind of God from all eternity.' Unity co-founder Charles Fillmore expressed it this way: 'God is the silent voice that speaks into visibility all the life there is.'

The power to change your life for the better lies in your own mind, and in the proper use of that mind and your thoughts. ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue’ (Prov 18:21). 'For as you think in your heart [that is, mind], so are you' (Prov 23:7). Thought is the real causative force in life. Indeed, everything owes its existence to an original act of pure, creative thought. Further, that to which we give our attention grows. 'To think is to create,' wrote the founder of Religious Science, Dr Ernest Holmes [pictured left]. 'Thought is the seed of action,' wrote the great Ralph Waldo Emerson. 'The ancestor of every action is a thought.'

One theory is that thought creates a 'mold' in the unconscious mind, into which your thought or idea is 'poured' and then accepted. Then, certain forces are set in motion in accordance with your thought or idea. In the Dhammapada, that great collection of sayings of the historical Buddha, we read this: 'All that we are is the result of what we have thought.' Then there's this gem, also from the Buddha: 'The mind is everything; what you think you become.' The Bible expresses it this way: 'As you sow, so shall you reap' (Gal 6:7). Never forget that.

You would all have heard of the law of cause and effect---that is, all things ('effects') are caused, and are themselves causes of further effects. Metaphysically, we are always becoming cause to our own effects. Also, different kinds of conditions can be expected to have different effects. Finally, things arise dependent on conditions and cease when those conditions cease. A single logic applies to all things, and to how they are related to each other.

Now, although there will always be some things you cannot ‘decree,’ there are many positive things you can ‘decree’ for yourself and others, and if you are prepared to ‘work’ (mentally and otherwise) for those things, then they may well be ‘established for you.’ There are many Bible verses on this theme, including this one: ‘Let the weak say, “I am strong”’ (Joel 3:10). The last mentioned verse encapsulates the nature and technique of affirmative prayer, the aim of which is always the same---to lift one's consciousness to the level of the answer, for the solution is already complete in God-Mind.

‘But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it’ (Deut 30:14)

Your own ‘word’---spoken and deeply held thought---is creative. The Bible says, 'what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart [that is, mind]' (Mt 15:18). A word is simply a spoken or articulated thought. Everything---I mean, every thing---starts with a thought in the mind. According to the Bible, God spoke all things into existence, but first these things began as thoughts in the eternal Mind of God. 

'The world is the outpicturing of human thought,' wrote the well-known Divine Science minister, lecturer and author Dr Emmet Fox. 'Your life is conditioned by your own thoughts, not by the thoughts of anyone else. ... You can only express in experience your own true sense of what you really are.' So, let your word go forth, for it shall not return to you empty (cf Is 55:11).

That is the power of creation in the macrocosm. The rationale behind all spiritual mind treatment is this---that very same creative power is also available to each one of us in the microcosm. Why? Because the macrocosm and the microcosm are, in truth, one. 

But where, you may ask, do we 'go' to find and access that power? In our own individual minds, of course. There is no place else. Many philosophers postulate that all individual minds are simply an incarnation, expression, and agent of the One Absolute Mind. This is what Jesus really meant when he said, 'I and my Father are one' (Jn 10:30). It is a reference to the indwelling presence known as 'Our Father which art in heaven' (Mt 6:9). Now, even if our individual minds are not part or agents of one great Mind---I have an open mind on the matter---the fact remains that thought is creative according to the nature, emotion, impulse, and conviction behind the thought. 'All actions, good or bad, start with a thought,' wrote the much-loved minister and author Dr Norman Vincent Peale. 'We draw to ourselves exactly what we are.'

So, give voice to your desire, hope, or goal, and then ‘hold’ your desire, hope, or goal deeply in your mind (‘heart”). Here’s another relevantly applicable Bible verse: ‘It is true unto me according to the Word of God’ (Ps 119:25).

‘He sent forth his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions’ (Ps 107:20)

Like Jesus, send forth your word. ‘All power is given unto me [that means you] in heaven and on earth’ (Mt 28:18). Your word (‘thought’) must, however, be backed up by both conviction and feeling. Your creative thought needs to be emotionalized---that is, both felt and believed---before it can be accepted by your mind and later come forth as the answer or solution to your ‘prayer.’ ‘Unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone’ (Jn 12:24). 'It shall be done unto you as you believe' (Mt 9:29). 'As you believe, so is it done unto you' (Mt 8:13). In addition, there must be a state of expectancy in your mind: 'Whatever you ask in prayer [that refers to your desire or wish], believe that you receive it, and you will' (Mk 11:24). Dr Joseph Murphy put it this way: 'Whatever you think, feel and believe to be true, your subconscious mind will bring to pass---good or bad.'

One other important thing---your conscious and subconscious mind need to be in unison for anything positive to happen. That is the real, inner meaning of the Bible verse, ‘If two of you agree about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven’ (Mt 18:19). The reference to ‘two of you’ refer to your conscious and subconscious mind. When they agree, the creative power (Father ‘in heaven,’ or ‘within’) is then able to bring your desire to pass.

‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me’ (Jn 12:32)

Your ‘I’ is your inner centre of awareness---your core-self. ‘Earth,’ metaphysically interpreted, refers to your present, perhaps limited, state of consciousness, and present lack. It is the realm of all things worldly, physical, and temporal. ‘Heaven’ is the realm of perfect and spiritual ideas (eg perfect health and vitality, true joy, peace, serenity, and abundance)---a ‘kingdom’ not of this world’ (Jn 18:36). 

These spiritual (that is, non-material) ideas---a veritable ‘table of plenty’---are implanted in your DNA and are part and parcel of your phylogenetic heritage. For example, you could never be healthy unless there were the perfect idea (or 'form') of health built into you---into every cell, tissue, and organ of your mind and body. It’s as simple as that. This truth is common to all of the world’s major religions and religious philosophies. For example, Swami Vivekananda [pictured above left], whose teachings have greatly impacted my own life, said, ‘Vedanta not only insists that the ideal is practical, but that it has been so all the time; and this ideal, this Reality, is our own nature.’

So, in the words of the great Plato, 'take charge of your thoughts; you can do what you will with them.' Lift up your ‘I’ from the earth, that is, from everything that is holding you back in your life. Then, if you do what is necessary to bring it to pass, you will ‘draw all men’ [that is, thoughts and aspirations] unto you. Here’s another important Bible verse: ‘Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go unto him that send me’ (Jn 7:33). Stay with your condition (the mental state of lack, limitation, etc) for only ‘a little while,’ then ascend in consciousness to the ‘Father within,’ more particularly, the perfect spiritual image of what you seek to create. Concentrate upon, and contemplate, whatever it is you seek (eg perfect health, freedom from the bondage of addiction, etc).

‘He calls those things which are not as though they were’ (Rom 4:17)

This Bible verse encapsulates the essence and technique of all spiritual mind treatment. You treat the spiritual man or woman. You see things as you would like them to be, for, in truth, those things already exist, in you, as perfect ideas implanted in your DNA and your phylogenetic heritage. All you need to do, metaphysically, is to achieve, by inducing in yourself, a greater capacity to recognize the present existence of what you seek. 

The Christian preacher and teacher Charles Capps makes this very important point in his little book God's Creative Power for Healing: 

'This is God's method of calling things that are not as though they were until they are. There are some who have misunderstood this principle, and they call things that are, as though they are not. In other words, they deny what exists. The power is in calling for healing and health by mixing faith with God's Word.' [Emphasis in the original]

The Bible recognizes that there is, implanted in our DNA, a blueprint for every part of our body and mind: ‘My substance was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and consciously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them’ (Ps 139:15-16). In other words, the infinite Intelligence that created you, according to a spiritual ‘blueprint,’ and fashioned all your cells, tissues, and organs, according to the detail of that blueprint, indwells every part of you, and is therefore capable of refashioning those cells, tissues, and organs when they become damaged, injured, or diseased in any way. ‘The Spirit of God has made you, and the breath of the Almighty gives you life’ (Job 33:4). So, 'attend to my words ... they are life ... and health [that is, medicine] to all their flesh' (Prov 4:20-22).

Now, whether treating yourself or others, the technique is the same---you do not deal with the material or physical man or woman, rather you say (speak the word) that the spiritual person is perfect, healthy, and whole. You envision that state of affairs---seeing yourself as you would like to be---for in truth what is sought and conceived is always available, and presently existing, in and through the perfect ‘forms’ that were instantiated in you when you were in the womb, and through the power of creative consciousness. To a very large extent, what you 'see' is what you'll be. Here's another Bible verse that sets out this wonderful technique for spiritual mind treatment: 

'Every valley [any state of lack, limitation, etc] shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill [any obstacle] shall be made low, and the crooked [any entanglement, disorder, or other difficulty] shall be made straight, and the rough plains [difficult, hard times] smooth' (Is 40:4). 

Again, it's calling things that are not as though they were---until they are.

'Every plant, which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted up' (Mt 15:13)

Spiritual mind treatment proceeds as follows. As God is life and all there is, and that life is our life right now, there is therefore no place for anything unlike God. Thus, there is no place for anything that is foreign to God, or in objective contradiction to God (eg illness, lack, and limitation of all kinds). 

In spiritual mind treatment we affirm that everything that contradicts God is passing from us and at the same time we reject opposite and fallacious assertions. We are the 'image of God' (Gen 1:27), and the activity of God-ness is the activity in each of us---right now. Therefore, what is true of God is also true of us---right now. In short, illness, lack, and limitation are 'plants' that the 'heavenly Father' (Life perceived as an indwelling Presence) has not planted, so let all such plants be uprooted---right now! In the words of Swami Vivekananda: 'The greatest sin is to think yourself weak. No one is stronger. ... Deny evil, create none. Stand up and say, "I am the master---the master of all."'

‘Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity’ (Hab 1:13). In traditional evangelical Christianity it is said that Jesus Christ, by his death and resurrection, conquered sin and bought for us a ‘robe of righteousness,’ such that, although we are all said to be dead in sins, if we repent and accept Jesus as saviour and lord, God then sees us clothed in a robe of righteousness. We wear this robe, and God sees us so robed. Another interpretation of the foregoing is that when God looks at the person (you or me), God sees only Christ (God’s Son) in all his perfection, Christ himself being the robe of God’s own righteousness.

What all this means, metaphysically, is quite simple---we need to see ourselves as God’s perfect son or daughter, clothed in a robe of right-thinking, health, and wholeness. The truth is, there are always two ‘images’ of ourselves. One image is of us as we presently are, in all our imperfection, and the other image is of us as we could be, or as we would like to be. Now, if we want to change for the better, we need to envision ourselves as we would like to be---indeed, as we are in Truth. If, for example, we are sick in some way, or in bondage to some condition or state of consciousness, we should see ourselves as healthy or as free, as the case may be, for, in the words of the old Oriental maxim, ‘what we think upon grows.’ 

 

'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom [table of plenty] prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ (Mt 25:34).

And so it is.



RELATED POST

MINDFULNESS IN THE BIBLE

LET THERE BE A FIRMAMENT IN THE MIDST OF THE WATERS

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst

of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Gen. 1:6.

In previous posts I have expressed the view, which I have long held, that sacred scripture makes much more sense when it is interpreted spiritually or metaphysically. What that means, among other things, is that many of the stories and events described in sacred scripture should be taken to occur within the mind or consciousness of the reader---that is, you and me.

Now, the above verse from the Bible, when interpreted metaphysically, means this. Just as God is said to have created a ‘firmament’ to divide the waters from the waters, so must we in our moment-to-moment living. The word ‘water’ (or ‘waters’) is a very important word in sacred scripture; it refers to ‘spirit’---that is, your consciousness or mind. More specifically, the word refers to the creative process of mind dynamics at work in your mind. The word ‘God’ refers to that ‘I Am-ness’ that is the very ground of your being, the reality of your life---that is, life in you, and as you. More specifically, the word 'God' refers to your own particular understanding or concept of God as a power-not-oneself, that last mentioned expression encapsulating the ‘real’ person that you are, as opposed to all those little ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ that parade before your consciousness and demand your attention. More than that, those 'I's' and 'me's' distract and divert you from living mindfully from one moment to the next. You may say, ‘Well, I don’t believe in God, at least not the God of traditional religion.’ That may be so, and I won’t argue with you on that matter, but please accept that it is still the case that whatever you give power or authority (that is, attention) to---that is your god. 

I am not into Christian Science---although I have made quite a study of it---but as I see it Mary Baker Eddy (pictured left) got a number of things right. In the ‘Glossary’ to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures Mrs Eddy defines ‘firmament’ as spiritual understanding, being the line of demarcation between Truth and error. I see it this way---‘firmament’ is the line of demarcation between living mindfully and living mindlessly. Living mindfully is living from and with a choiceless awareness of Life as it unfolds from one moment to the next. Living mindlessly is living in bondage to those false selves, those likes, dislikes, cravings and attachments in our mind and body, which we mistakenly believe are the ‘real’ person that each of us is. In Truth, each one of us is a person among persons. We are not those waxing and waning false selves, those ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ that misdirect and mislead us into thinking they are ‘us.’

A Divine Science minister of yesteryear, H B Jeffery (pictured below right), wrote in his book The Principles of Healing that each of us must be a ‘firmament,’ which Jeffery described as a ‘firm mind.’ Jeffery advised us to ‘stand firm with your eye single to one thing only---the Presence of God.’ Another way of expressing that is this---don’t allow yourself, that is, the person that you are, to be deflected by the content of your consciousness or mind. Watch, with choiceless awareness, what unfolds from one moment to the next, but don’t identify with any of the content or mental wallpaper. It is not ‘you.’ Not at all.

What Mrs Eddy referred to as ‘mortal mind’ are various beliefs---actually, misbeliefs---and subjective states of consciousness that have no substantive reality. In the Glossary to Science and Health she defined ‘mortal mind’ as ‘nothing claiming to be something.’ I like that. Nothing claiming to be something. That is precisely what those ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ do---they claim to be something, that something being the person that you are, but they are not that person. They are ‘nothing’ in the sense that they have no separate, independent, permanent, substantive existence of their own. They are mental wallpaper that have no power or authority other than what we give them by our attention and identification---and it is best that we don’t do that. Otherwise, we have, in the words of Mrs Eddy, ‘error creating other error,’ and that is a recipe for human failure.

You see, what I am talking about is this---we need to rescue ourselves, the person each of us is, from everything that separates us from the fulness of being. We need to shift our focus from a false concept of being to a right one, the latter being nothing less than---be-ing-ness itself ... the 'one primal cause.' At its best, every religion seeks to rescue us ... from our 'selves' ... in the knowledge that everything---yes, every thing---is being created, or rather re-created, afresh in each new moment!

So, live mindfully. Create and maintain a ‘firmament’ in your mind, separating error (your false selves) from truth (life as it unfolds from one moment to the next).

THE PSYCHOLOGIST AND THE MAGICIAN

“To see the false as the false, to see the true in the false,
and to see the true as the true—it is this that sets
the mind free.” J. Krishnamurti.

In 1984 I began attending lunchtime meditation classes twice a week at a Unity centre in Sydney, Australia. A most enlightened woman who ran the meditation classes gave me a typed copy of a curious short story to read. I fell in love with the story and I have loved it ever since. I have given many talks and lectures on the story at church groups, metaphysical societies and other gatherings. By the way, I still have the copy of the story given to me in 1984. (I throw little or nothing away.) Here is the first page of the document:

The story was called The Psychologist and the Magician: A Psychological Study in Story Form (1920), and it was written by one Ernest Christopher Rodwick (1857-1944), who was an American painter, paperhanger and inventor. He was quite a creative person; he even designed a suggested international flag which he copyrighted in 1918. He also had an interest in 'mental science'—and he wrote quite well. I don't know whether he wrote anything else but this short story of his is well worth reading. 

Here's a link to the story, which is sometimes referred to as "The Cave Story"—not to be confused with Plato's "Allegory of the Cave", although there are quite a few similarities between the two stories. Both stories highlight the fact that impressions gained through the senses can and often do mislead us. What we sometimes take to be reality can in fact be a gross distortion and misrepresentation of the truth.

Set in 1910, the story takes place in a certain mountain cave known as Black Art Cave ['Black Cat Cave', in some versions of the story], up in the Himalaya Mountains. The story concerns, yes, a psychologist (Professor Herman von Scholtz), described as “one of the ablest scientists of Europe”, and a magician [or “hypnotist”] (Marbado), who is said to have “no peer in India as a magician”. The regents of Heidelberg University elected him "to study, to unravel, to explode or explain, scientifically is possible, the extraordinary performances of India's magicians". 

Deep in the Himalayas.
Photo credit: Yuval Sadeh. Distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu.

Von Scholtz journeys to India where he meets Marbado. Von Scholtz agrees to go through a three mile (4.8 km) long cave--in which Marbado will practise his art on him--to see if von Scholtz can overcome the hypnotist's influence on his thinking.

Von Scholtz immediately goes through the cave and sees nothing unusual in it. This is important. The two men then begin the test. Almost immediately von Scholtz stands “transfixed, horrified, yes, petrified with fear,” as he sees Marbado's prostrate body covered with poisonous cobras. But after taking time to reason, he decides that the hypnotist’s work has already begun. Next, “a wall of rock” stretches across the cave. Von Scholtz tries physically to knock it down, but then sees his mistake and reasons:

To try to knock it down is to admit it is there and only adds to its solidity by hammering away at it. The truth is, the wall does not exist as an objective fact. I should have walked on and not slapped, kicked and hammered at it; I should have looked upon it as a form of thought which the magician would have me accept as an objective reality, but which I deny.

So saying, von Scholtz closes his eyes and walks straight ahead and passes the apparent obstruction without hindrance, the wall disappearing as mist before the sun. While in the cave von Scholtz is met with many horrible and terrifying images. He sees them and he feels them. However, he refuses to let any of them have any power over him. True, he is scared to death but he presses on through the cave. Marbado the magician throws even worse things at him. Von Scholtz thinks of giving up and running back. (Don't we think of giving up from time to time?) Nevertheless, von Scholtz knows that Marbado is an expert illusionist. 

After von Scholtz surmounts several terrifying ordeals which follow the wall episode, he becomes inclined to give way to a feeling of drowsiness, hunger and thirst. In the interest of scientific research, von Scholtz decides, with mental reservations, to submit to the suggestions of the hypnotist’s influence. This decision puts von Scholtz through more harrowing “experiences.” 

However, before partaking of the water and food, which magically appeared, von Scholtz charges his subconscious mind with the truth that even though he will be submitted to suggestions unacceptable to reason such that his conscious mind will be set adrift in an abnormal direction, his unconscious mind will nevertheless continue to carry out its own normal purposes during the time the contrary influence is at work. Thus, in spite of all the hypnotist’s suggestions, von Scholtz is able to conquer illusion.  

Gran Caverna de Santo Tomás, Valle de Viñales, Cuba.
Note. The author of this post explored this cave,
which is Cuba's largest cave system, in August 2018.

Eventually, von Scholtz sees light at the end of the cave. Yes, he makes it back to the mouth of the cave. He proves that all the hypnotic suggestions of the magician were unreal. Von Scholtz has made it through the various tests. He is victorious!

Like so many spiritual or metaphysical stories, this one also concerns a “journey” or “quest” of some kind. It's the journey of life that we all must travel. The psychologist (who is generally referred to in the story as either “the Professor” or “von Scholtz”) agrees to undergo what is described as an “ordeal”-- the ordeal of life. The psychologist must “go to the end of this cave and out again regardless of what [he] will see, hear, feel or think, and regardless of what becomes of me”.

Herbert W Eustace

Rodwick's short story was promoted and popularized by Herbert W Eustace CSB who was an independent Christian Science teacher and writer and who had been anathematized (lovingly "excommunicated forever" [!] for daring to think differently) by the Mother Church in Boston. Eustace was one of the members of the board of trustees of the Christian Science Publishing Society overthrown and excommunicated by the board of directors because, so I have read, he stood loyally with his leader and her deed of trust rather than yield to the power grab of others back in 1918 and 1919. 

Eustace had been instrumental in establishing Christian Science in California, and during his long lifetime he toured the world lecturing and teaching as an independent Christian Science teacher and practitioner. His last lecture tour was at the age of 90 when he went to Australia where I live. He wrote an introduction to the story in 1950, and included the story in his bulky book Christian Science: "Its Clear, Correct Teaching" and Complete Writings. Eustace died in 1957, but his many books, pamphlets and some spoken word voice recordings he made are still available to listen to.

Now, I have no brief for Christian Science, and you don't have to believe in Christian Science in order to enjoy and derive some spiritual insight from this short but amazing allegorical story. Indeed, there is nothing inherently "Christian Science" about the story. 

The Psychologist and the Magician is an allegory--some have called it a parable--containing a wonderful lesson about the power of the mind, as well as its limitations and misuse. The story illustrates the way we are so easily hypnotized (that is, deflected and led astray by things that have no power in themselves at all, except the power we give to them through our attention). Our minds tend to operate "hypnotically" far too often, especially when we place beliefs—yes, beliefs—between ourselves and reality. 

Beliefs distort our perception of reality; indeed, they veil the truth—that is, that which is—from our vision and understanding. Beliefs are the direct and immediate cause of so much of our anguish, for they prevent us from seeing things as they really are. The result? We cripple ourselves; we weaken our power. Power comes from seeing things as they really are. 

Eschew beliefs! Bugger beliefs! Beliefs are a form of self-hypnosis. They are illusions—misbeliefs, all of them. I note that Herbert W Eustace writes, "You must cheerfully give up cherished beliefs if you would enter into the kingdom of your birthright." As I see it, we must give up all beliefs—cherished or otherwise. None of them are any good.

Here's another thing. We lose our identity when we mistakenly identify with all the little "I's" and "me's" in our mind—our 'false selves'—believing them to be the real person that we are. For example, there is the "I am inferior" self, the "me who is scared" self, the "I am weak" self, and so on. We hypnotize ourselves by our ignorance of who we really are and by our superstitions, fears and desires. However, as I have said many times on this blog, none of these 'selves' are anything more than images in our mind. Got that? They are mental images, that is, they are created by thought. They come and go, even though some of them seem permanent. They are powered by feeling and emotion. You are not the "inferior self". You are not the "me who is scared". You are not the "weak self". None of these little "I's" and "me's" has a separate, independent or distinct identity from the person that you are. You are a person among persons. These so-called false selves are labelled false, not because they have no existence whatsoever, but because they exist only as mental images. They are a "borrowed life", so to speak. They are not you.

As I see it, Marbado in the story symbolizes all our misbeliefs about ourselves and our false selves. Marbado represents our mistaken belief in the "self" as a thing-in-itself. In reality, the "self' has no separate, permanent identity from the person that each one of us is. In Rodwick's story the cobras, Bengal tigers and deep crevasses symbolize these false selves in our mind.

When our lives are going more-or-less "normal" and uneventful, we often lose our way. Indeed, that is when we are most likely to be deflected and led astray. In Rodwick's story, it was the so-called normal, ordinary, everyday appearances of relative good that completely disoriented von Scholtz. It was at those times that he was so deeply asleep, so to speak, that he lost his dominion over circumstances. That happens to us as well, if we are honest with ourselves. 

Ernest C Rodwick's gravestone in
Oak Hill Memorial Park, San Jose, California

Rodwick's story also tells us that every problem, difficulty or obstacle we face in life—in the story, the various encounters with cobras, Bengal tigers, deep crevasses, and so forth—is an "initiation" of sorts by means of which we can either progress or regress, and reminds us that our environment is, for the most part at least, a shadow cast by our consciousness. If you mindfully see things as-they-really-are, and give up your illusions, all power and success will be yours. In the words of von Scholtz:

It soon dawned on me that I was not in the water at all, but in a submarine in which I found myself giving orders to its crew as if it were my accustomed duty. The vessel was completely under my control, delving to the bottom of the sea or rising at will to its surface by manipulating a series of levers placed conveniently at hand.

If you bother to read the story—and I hope you will—you will note that when the psychologist first went through the cave he saw that there was nothing in it that could harm him. However, things turned out differently after the magician had started his "magic". Fortunately, the psychologist had already fortified his mind, and was (with only a couple of lapses of attention) mindfully aware at all times of what was taking place from one moment to the next. Each one of us must watch our self-talk. Our minds are the door to our experience and, as Mary Baker Eddy pointed us, we must 'stand porter at the door of thought'. I also like what H P Blavatsky wrote, namely, "The Mind is the great Slayer of the Real. Let the Disciple slay the Slayer."

The story has some important things to say about the relationship between one's "subjective" (or unconscious) mind and "objective" (or conscious) mind. Suffice to say that even if the conscious mind is in error, if the unconscious mind is rightly directed and in its proper "place" (state), all will be well. The story also reminds us of that important psychological and spiritual truth that we ordinarily tend to do whatever is our strongest desire. That is especially important with respect to giving up bad habits and recovering from life-threatening addictions. Here's someting else that's enormously important:

I see my mistake,' said the Professor, throwing away the rock as if disgusted with himself at his blundering. 'To try to knock the wall down is to admit that it is there and but adds to its solidity by hammering away at it. The truth is, the wall does not exist as an objective fact. I should have walked on and not slapped, kicked and hammered at it ... .

In other words, what we resist persists. This is known as the metaphysical or psychological "law of non-resistance". Also, more often than not, the indirect--as opposed to the direct--approach is best in mental working, especially when one is trying to deal with, say, unwanted thoughts. That's called the "law of indirectness". Never—I repeat, never—try to drive an unwanted thought out of your mind directly. You know what happens if you do that. Yes, enough said about that matter. There's a huge lot of wisdom in this story.

Here's another interpretation of the story, though probably not one intended by the author himself. The psychologist is referred to in the story as a scientist. Indeed, he is "Professor of Science" at Heidelberg University. He is a man who places reason above "magic" and superstition, the latter represented in the story by Marbado, the magician or hypnotist. We live in an age when irrationality and superstition all too often seem to triumph over reason and science. Take the climate change deniers, for example. Then there are the anti-vaxxers. I could go on. Anyway, the story urges us to look to the truth. When faced with "magic", we must be forever skeptical. Like Professor Herman von Scholtz, we must always be on our guard and say to ourselves and others, when necessary, "This is illusory thinking. This has no place in a normal mind."

Indian cobra

So, what are we to do, when we see cobras, Bengal tigers and deep crevasses? 

Well, our particular cobras and tigers may take the form of lust, sensuality, and cravings and appetites of various kinds (all silly little "I's" and "me's")—as well as beliefs of all kinds. Simply say, "Who is speaking?" Say it loud and clear, "Who is speaking?" No voice answers back, for hypnotic suggestion in the form of a mental self-image is neither presence nor power. We must release our belief in the supposed independent reality of our mental states, being merely hypnotic suggestions of various kinds brought about by the illusory belief in the supposed separate, independent existence of an "I" and "me", made worse by sensory overload.

So, what are we to do in this life, when confronted by difficulties and troubles? Listen to the instruction given by the magician to the Professor: 

[Y]ou go to the end of this cave and out again regardless of what you will see, hear, feel or think, and regardless of what becomes of me. 

That takes courage, but we must do likewise. Yes, there will be difficulties and problems, but we must press on nevertheless. And notice those words—"regardless of what becomes of me" [emphasis added]. Yes, the "me"—that false self in us—must go if we are to make any real progress in life.

Now, lest you think I am terribly naive and deluded, I want you to know this. I know this to be true, namely, that pain and suffering are very real to our mortal senses. No religion or philosophy of life that seeks to deny their existence deserves to have any future. That is one, but not the only one, of the reasons why Christian Science is in terminal decline, even though it refuses to admit it. Why? Because Christian Science doesn’t believe that death is real. (Hmm.) 

However, even though pain and suffering are very real, we make them so much worse for ourselves by our attitude toward them. It is sometimes said that attitudes are more important than facts (a statement attributed to both Norman Vincent Peale and Karl Menninger). That may or may not be true. In any event, an attitude is also a fact. Can one fact be superior to another? What is true is that, when we change our attitude toward the external facts, the "outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thought" (James Allen).

Gran Caverna de Santo Tomás, Valle de Viñales, Cuba.
Note. The author of this post explored this cave,
which is Cuba's largest cave system, in August 2018.

I leave you with this. Early in the story Marbado says to the Professor:

The cave will be lighted by our own personal presence, but if you are in any doubt, or suspect any trickery, take your light with you, though you will find it a hindrance, as it will interfere with your vision.

Each of us must be our own master and our own pupil. We have within us sufficient light (in particular, reason) to guide us throughout our journey in life. We do not need any artificial light. That would only interfere with our vision.

Enjoy the story—and remember to stay mindfully aware at all times. Be not deceived by anything other than reality—not even that. You, too, can conquer illusion and make it safely through, and to the end of, the "cave of life".

NOTES. 

1. For those who are interested, here's a link to a longer article I've written on The Psychologist and the Magician. There is also a reading of the story on YouTube; here are the links to Part 1 and Part 2 of the story, read by Carol Conroy.

2. This post was revised with the inclusion of some additional material in March 2019.