** I’ve commented that my re-reading of the "Foundation" trilogy by Isaac Asimov left me underwhelmed (or only just whelmed in spots). I had read the books as a young teenager but I’ve been wondering why it had occupied a special place in my adult psyche. The re-read at this time so much later in life has cleared that up for me.
It’s all about mental power.
The trilogy posits two “Foundations” as the basis of a new world order. The First Foundation was meant to develop physical power, the evolution of “science” if you will. The Second Foundation’s purpose was to develop mental power. As much of a lover of physical science as I always was, the prospect of power that could be exercised without physical components was startling to me as a youngster. If you tend to feel inadequate, as many teens do, the idea of wielding power just by thinking has great appeal. Even so, the idea lay dormant for many years.
In my mid-30s, I came across Christian”Science,” and learned that it purported to use “mental science” (in those very words) to accomplish wondrous feats in the physical world. Of course, the idea of “healing” through mental power was enormously appealing. and the fact that one could develop this power by studying the writings of its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, seemed a way for me to get out of the grip of helplessness and hopelessness that accompanied the emotional disasters of two failed marriages and the impending disaster of a third relationship. Mix in the insecurities and craziness of my advertising career and I was caught in a perfect storm of conversion.
It took only ten years but I rose to some prominence in the “movement” and not only became a “teacher” of this “mental science” but a writer and public speaker on the subject. In 1989, following the needless death of a child under my “care,” began another ten-year period of intense denial and magical thinking. However, my own “foundations” of belief started to crumble, hardly noticeable at first, but increasingly as reality started to impinge on me. With the political shenanigans at the headquarters church where I worked, and my eventual expulsion from their employ and subsequent forced retirement, the dismantling of my life as a Christian Scientist became more visible to me and others. Much of that disintegration is chronicled here and need not be rehashed. The point of this post is to recognize a little-suspected component of the great delusion that wasted a good part of my life.
5 comments:
Sorry but in reading your blog, you appear to be a bitter old fool full of yourself. This diary of your confused life is nonsense and it appears from your rambling you are back to the bottle or more. Sounds as though the 'headquarters' of Boston saw through your personal rouse and you are now going negative on the 'movement'. Should you choose to read biographies of Mrs. Eddy and the movement, you would understand that your attacks are in keeping with others who precede you. Every generation has its share of teachers and practitioners who begin to believe they are God and are the healing power and not the reflection. Time to be positive and honest and forgive yourself and others. Stop blaming.
I just poked around your comments on CS from 2010, and enjoyed them quite a bit. I especially concur with your analysis in dividing TMC and the CS "Movement" into Old and New Guard, and how they are irrelevant to the 20th/21st Centuries. I was just poking around a New Hampshire antique store which had an abundance of old, 19thCentury patent medicine bottles (e.g."Tinture of Abracadabra, 19 grains codeine, 20-25% alcohol, blah-blah"). I thought, "this is the 'medicine' which CS was competing against 135 years ago!"
I'll bookmark your blog in my CS file,and look forward to your further remarks.
"followingHim" in Boston
Cool. I am not as diligent about updating this site as I used to be - maybe that's a good thing? I know there are lots of references to Christian Science here, naturally since that's the way I wasted a large part of my life. But I should say I'm really averse to anything spiritual." Not just religious but "spiritual" - if it means anything like another actual dimension. I can understand striving for better ways to deal with ordinary problems, and many religions and spiritual lifestyles have acquired prestige from adopting such ideals. But any any claims about their being based in any kind of universal reality are bogus.
Dear Mr. Tosto,
If I, like you, had been involved in the needless death of a child under my care, had been subjected to the subsequent legal difficulties, and had been along with two other persons on the losing end of a million dollar law suit, my current mood could be much like yours. I sympathize with you.
I am a Christian Scientist who after not being able to get a healing from God of a life-threatening illness went to see a medical doctor. The result is that I am still alive, am under the care of a number of doctors and am taking prescribed medicine. I am also becoming more spiritual, which I know that you don’t think much of.
The CS party line put forth by the CS periodicals is that if one can’t get a healing in CS within a reasonable time, one should still persist. I think that is a foolish position. If one can’t get a healing within a reasonable time, one should consider going to see a M.D. If one can’t get a healing within a reasonable time for a child under one’s care, one should immediately take the child to an M.D. If you had not obediently followed the CS party line and instead have followed my philosophy, the Lundgren (sp?) boy might still be around and you might not have gone through a legal hell. In my opinion, your beef is with the CS party line, not with God. However, I have great respect for you as a person and a thinker; so I will leave you to live your life.
Respectfully yours,
Jon Larson
bravelysaid@yahoo.com
Dear Mr. Tosto,
Just to remind you, I am the Christian Scientist taking medicine. I don’t think I did a very good job writing you the email I did; so I would like to try again.
When I was unable to gain a healing from God of a life threatening illness, I prayed to God for guidance; and God told me to see a doctor. (I know that you are an atheist, but please humor me momentarily.)
My philosophy is that if one can’t get a healing in CS within a reasonable time of a serious illness, one should pray for guidance from God; and if God says, “See a doctor,” one should do so. If one can’t get a healing from God for the serious illness of a child within a short time, one should immediately take the child to the E.R.
The CS movement party line as presented in the CS periodicals is that if one can’t get a healing in CS within a reasonable time of a serious illness, one should persist in praying. It is very rare for the testimonies in the periodicals to report anyone praying to God for guidance if healing is delayed. The CS movement appears to think that it is so wise that it can just state “truths” and eventually get healing: there is no need to consult God to find out what the will of God is on the matter.
When you were the practitioner praying for the Lundmann boy, my guess is that you did what the CS movement said you should do: you prayed “truths” to get healing. You never prayed to God to find out what was God’s will. If you had prayed to God for guidance, I think God would have told you to have Lundmann’s mom take him to the E.R. Although you didn’t know it, when you persisted in an attempt to obtain healing through prayer, you were in a sense trying to will the Lundmann boy to recover, which was not in accord with God’s will. You may think that I am nuts, but I think it was God’s will that the Lundmann boy receive the best medical care available.
Don’t blame yourself that the boy passed on. You were doing what you had been told to do. Also, don’t blame God. God had nothing to do with the boy passing on. God was left out of the picture. If God had been involved by you, in my opinion, God would have had the boy get medical help. The result would have been that Lundmann probably would still be around, and you would have been spared the hell you went through after his death. Blame the foolish man-made rules that the CS movement has made up so that it doesn’t have to turn to God for guidance and humbly obey his guidance.
Respectfully,
Jon Larson
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