The bone-on-boneness of living in only one world

Having done it myself for over 35 years, most Christian Scientists attempt to live in two worlds at the same time - the ideal and the real - though they won’t admit it. I would take every opportunity to deny the less-than-ideal facts of the real world, calling it just a dream or delusion, or at most a “temporary” accommodation to inferior understanding, while asserting that the world of the “spirit” was tangible and real, even though our sensory apparatus cannot detect it. By “real” I mean the world where scalpels get the job done, even though believing in a perfect other dimension may provide comfort and may induce relaxation that aids the physical process.

Now that I am out of it, I readily notice that giving this freebie to CS is a trait that seems indelible in people who were raised in that system. As often, and in whatever way possible, they rise to give credit to their religion for every good outcome regardless of simpler material explanations.

But the tyranny of a “lifer’s” indoctrination may be no worse than the chronic agony of a jilted convert, like me. I find it difficult to shake the resentment of the mental abuse I suffered from the ideas I ingested. I know I should forget about it and move on, but I still have a pain whose cause needs to be fully excised. Or else I should learn to live with it, the same way I used to live with the physical difficulties that didn’t get resolved through prayer. Some Christian Scientists I know eventually turn to medicine - and the older they get the more readily they turn to it - and get the relief they’ve been postponing out of loyalty to the theory of spiritual healing. They even conclude that prayer and spiritual forces had something to do with it, if only to enable acceptance of and peace with themselves afterward. Good for them. But it’s all still out of reach for me. I don’t have the alternative of an ideal, spiritual world to explain away the bone-on-boneness of walking around in the real world. The only one.

The new look

**I really liked the old template but it was pretty old - about ten years. and the archives and comments modules were broken. And since lately I seem to have stirred up some comment activity, I chose another template that will display them. Hope this one isn't too wacky for your eyes. I'll work with it awhile and change if I see something better.