Suggestion is a term employed by unbelievers who refuse to call upon the Divine Mind through religious avenues, but are led to Him through other channels. There is no source of healing other than the Divine Source, as there is no other Helper but God. Whatever method it is that we use to re-achieve health, it is He alone who does the healing.

41. While suggestion is akin to prayer, in result, however, it proves far less efficacious than prayer, since it is not offered with the deep consciousness of the Divine Mind as the receptor of the appeal. It necessarily lacks in faith and profound earnestness, which are the essential factors in prayer. The man who does not seek to dodge the presence of God, but who, on the contrary, seeks to commune with Him and supplicate Him for help, is the very one who receives it most readily. The man who, on the other hand, merely receives or repeats suggestions, appeals to God only indirectly, through a back door, as it were, without devotion and without zeal, and therefore, very often, there is no response from the Divine Mind.

42. We do not use suggestion in Jewish Science healing, because the method of direct prayer is far more efficacious. We must therefore not identify a suggestion with an affirmation which is offered with the realization that it is a supplication to the Divine Mind for help; for in the latter case, one anticipates restoration from a higher source, from the Divine Mind, and regards his affirmative prayer only as a medium by which the Divine help is invoked; while with suggestion alone, the ultimate faith is in the suggestion itself; and very often, where

the suffering and discomfort are great, faith in the suggestive repetition is undermined and the results still further diminished.

43. In Jewish Science healing the essential truth that must be borne in mind is, that all appeals for help must be offered to the Divine Mind, who is the Source of all health and power, and that the value of prayer lies in the whole-heartedness with which it is offered. The more earnestly one seeks God's help, the more readily will he receive it; the earnest prayer, coming from a soul filled with faith and devotion, never fails in its function.

CHAPTER V

PAIN

1. "Whatever the All-Merciful doeth is done for the best," says the Talmud.

2. Pain has been a baffling mystery to mankind. The question has arisen time and again: Why should man be afflicted with pain? Why should he be subject to torment and suffering? Many teachers of religion have taught that pain is a retributive measure, that like sickness itself, which it often accompanies, it is inflicted by God as a punishment for sin. This conception of God as a judge and an avenger is not accepted in the philosophy of Jewish Science. The Scriptures tell us that God is "merciful and full of loving kindness," and it is inconceivable that He would punish with misery those whom He Himself has brought into existence. God never punishes the sinful. God only creates the laws whereby man may lead a perfect life. These laws are akin to all the other laws of nature; a compliance therewith brings its reward in happiness and health, while their violation brings the punishment of illness and misery. Man may punish himself, but it is inconceivable that God, the AllMerciful, the Father of all, the Fountain of loving kindness, would inflict punishment, in the form of pain, upon His children. We, therefore, in Jewish Science, reject this

traditional view of pain as inadequate and incompatible with our faith in Divine goodness.

3. Pain, far from being a punishment, is a divine guide by which man's steps in life are directed. Man comes ignorant and uninstructed into this world. Being enIdowed with absolute freedom to choose and direct his own destiny, he finds himself constantly at the crossroad, having constantly to choose between the wholesome and the injurious, the noble and the base, the safe and the perilous. There is no human guide who is able to protect him from all the baleful and reveal to him all the beneficial aspects of life. These lessons man must mostly master himself. The two teachers which the Divine Mind set to instruct man as to what to eschew and what to follow, dwell in his own being; they are Pain and Joy. That which is base, deteriorating and ruinous is accompanied by pain; while that which is salubrious, fine and elevating fills his heart with joy.

4. Pain from this view-point is not a calamity, it is a blessing; it is a red signal marking the dangerous spots of life. How would the innocent babe learn to avoid the danger of fire, if his first touch of the flame would not cause him severe pain? Without this teacher to urge his immediate withdrawal from this dangerous phenomenon, he would play with the insidious flame until his tiny limb would become entirely helpless. How would man learn to eschew destructive gases, poisonous foods and drinks, if not for the acute pain which lurks in each of these and which is sure to ensue? How would man learn to guard himself against pernicious habits which ruin the body

and debase the mind; or when clutched by these habits, what would prompt him to wrench himself away, if not the warning of pain and suffering? God has created pain to teach man to preserve himself in the midst of obstacles and deleterious circumstances.

5. And in addition, God planted in man the feeling of joy to lead him into the higher and finer spheres of life. What is it that makes man seek the wholesome, the noble and the beautiful in life? It is the increase of joy which the pursuit of these brings to him. It is the greater happiness that accompanies them.

6. Let it not be said that such a seeking after joy is an emphasis of egoism and self-centredness in man. Self-centredness is to be condemned when it becomes selfishness, when it seeks its own end at the expense of all that is good, and at the expense of others' happiness. But when it takes the form of seeking the highest and the greatest joys of life, it becomes one of man's greatest assets. By taking joy as the criterion of the value of his pursuits, man is led to nobility; for only in the noblest actions can he find the highest joys; he becomes tender towards his fellow-man and solicitous of his happiness, for he learns through experience that only by giving expression to his altruistic emotions does he taste of the deepest joy. Man is unconsciously utilizing this sense of joy as the touchstone for his activities; he feels it as the concomitant of certain acts and pursuits, and therefore instinctively seeks to repeat that which brings with it joy. There is no egoism, in the baser sense of the word, attached to such a reaction. The Divine Mind created