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HYPNOTISM
say that there is no matter, but in these days the advocates of Christian Science say that there is no matter, but only spirit. If there is only spirit and nothing else in the universe there is no room for anything else, and if the spirit is the purest entity, there is no reason why it should become impure ; but we know as a fact that there is disease. People feel it and know it. However, the modern advocates of Christian Science do not go to that extent, and they do say that evil exists, but that it is subordinate to the soul, because the soul is the highest entity in the universe, and it ought not to be subordinated to the laws of matter. Mind is the cause of bondage or liberation; it is only that the mind thinks that it is bound down to the action of the body. The human being, according to our experience, in order to think and in order to act, has to use an organisin, and there comes in the importance of the body. If the body was of no importance, there would be no necessity for practising Christian Science or mesmerism. Health means health of the body. If the spirit is the only thing existing, it is healthy always, and there is no cause for its being unhealthy ; but there is something besides, which causes it to think that it is unhealthy ; therefore this mind will make itself able to overcome all difficulties which come through matter. What the teaching ought to be is not that there is no existence of matter but that mind ought not to be affected by matter or influenced by it. There is a certain disturbance in the physical system; the cause may be
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