October 10, 2025 • 8 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Use of the will in the practice of the science
of being well. The will is not used to compel
yourself to go when you are not really able to go,
or to do things when you are not physically strong
enough to do them. You do not direct your will
upon your physical body or try to compel the proper
performance of internal function by willpower. You direct the will
(00:24):
upon the mind and use it in determining what you
shall believe, what you shall think, and to what you
shall give your attention. The will should never be used
upon any person or thing external to you, and it
should never be used upon your own body. The sole
legitimate use of the will is in determining to what
you shall give your attention and what you shall think
(00:46):
about the things to which your attention is given. All
belief begins in the will to believe. You cannot always
and instantly believe what you will to believe, but you
can always will to believe what you want to believe.
You want to believe truth about health, and you can
will to do so. The statements you have been reading
(01:08):
in this book are the truth about health, and you
can will to believe them. This must be your first
step toward getting well. These are the statements. You must
will to believe that there is a thinking substance from
which all things are made, and that man receives the
principle of health, which is his life, from this substance,
(01:30):
That man himself is thinking substance, a mind body permeating
a physical body, and that as man thoughts are so
will the functioning of his physical body be. That if
man will think only thoughts of perfect health, he must
and will cause the internal and involuntary functioning of his
body to be the functioning of health, provided that his external,
(01:52):
involuntary functioning and attitude are in accordance with his thoughts.
When you will to believe these statements, you must also
begin to act upon them. You cannot long retain a
belief unless you act upon it. You cannot increase a
belief until it becomes faith unless you act upon it.
And you certainly cannot expect to reap benefits in any
(02:13):
way from a belief so long as you act as
if the opposite were true. You cannot long have faith
in health if you continue to act like a sick person.
If you continue to act like a sick person, you
cannot help continuing to think of yourself as a sick person,
and if you continue to think of yourself as a
sick person, you will continue to be a sick person.
(02:36):
The first step toward acting externally like a well person
is to begin to act internally like a well person.
Form your conception of perfect health and get into the
way of thinking about perfect health until it begins to
have a definitive meaning to you. Picture yourself as doing
things a strong and healthy person would do, and have
faith that you can and will do those things in
(02:58):
that way. Continue this until you have a vivid conception
of health and what it means to you. When I
speak in this book of a conception of health, I
mean a conception that carries with it the idea of
the way a healthy person looks and does things. Think
of yourself in connection with health until you form a
conception of how you would live, appear, act, and do
(03:19):
things as a perfectly healthy person. Think about yourself in
connection with health, until you conceive of yourself in imagination
as always doing everything in the manner of a well person.
Until the thought of health conveys the idea of what
health means to you. As I have said in a
former chapter, you may not be able to form a
(03:40):
clear mental image of yourself in perfect health, but you
can form a conception of yourself as acting like a
healthy person. Form this conception and then think only thoughts
of perfect health in relation to yourself, and so far
as may be possible, in relation to others. When a
(04:02):
thought of sickness or disease is presented to you, reject it.
Do not let it get into your mind, do not
entertain or consider it at all. Meet it by thinking health,
by thinking that you are well, and by being sincerely
grateful for the health you are receiving. Whenever suggestions of
disease are coming thick and fast upon and you are
(04:23):
in a tight place, fall back upon the exercise of gratitude.
Connect yourself with the Supreme, Give thanks to God for
the perfect health he gives you, and you will soon
find yourself able to control your thoughts and to think
what you want to think. In times of doubt, trial
and temptation. The exercise of gratitude is always a sheet
(04:46):
anchor which will prevent you from being swept away. Remember
that the great essential thing is to sever all mental
relations with disease and to enter into full mental relationship
with health. This, this is the key to all mental healing.
It is the whole thing. Here we see the secret
of the great success of Christian Science. More than any
(05:08):
other formulated system of practice. It insists that it converts
shall sever relations with disease and relate themselves fully with health.
The healing power of Christian science is not in its
theological formula, nor in its denial of matter, but in
the fact that it induces the sick to ignore disease
as an unreal thing and accept health by faith as
(05:31):
a reality. Its failures are made because its practitioners, while
thinking in a certain way, do not eat, drink, breathe,
and sleep in the same way. While there is no
healing power in the repetition of strings of words, yet
it is a very convenient thing to have the central
thoughts so formulated that you can repeat them readily, so
that you can use them as affirmations. Whenever you are
(05:53):
surrounded by an environment which gives you adverse suggestions, when
those around you begin to talk of sickness and death,
close your ears and mentally assert something like the following.
There is one substance, and I am that substance. That
substance is eternal, and it is life. I am that substance,
and I am eternal life. That substance knows no disease.
(06:18):
I am that substance, and I am health. Exercise your
willpower in choosing only those thoughts which are thoughts of health,
and arrange your environment so that it shall suggest thoughts
of health. Do not have about you books, pictures, or
other things which suggest death, disease, deformity, weakness, or age.
(06:38):
Have only those which convey the ideas of health, power, joy, vitality,
and youth. When you are confronted with a book or
anything else which suggests disease, do not give it your attention.
Think of your conception of health and your gratitude, and
affirm as above. Use your willpower to fix your attention
(06:59):
upon thought of health. In a future chapter, I shall
touch upon this point again. What I wish to make
plain here is that you must think only health, recognize
only health, and give your attention only to health, and
that you must control thought, recognition, and attention by the
use of your will. Do not try to use your
will to compel the healthy performance a function within you.
(07:23):
The principle of health will attend to that if you
give your attention only to thoughts of health. Do not
try to exert your will upon the formless, to compel
it to give you more vitality or power. It is
already placing all the power there is at your service.
You do not have to use your will to conquer
adverse conditions or to subdue unfriendly forces. There are no
(07:44):
unfriendly forces. There is only one force, and that force
is friendly to you. It is a force which makes
for health. Everything in the universe wants you to be well.
You have absolutely nothing to overcome but your own habit
of thinking in a certain way about disease, and you
can do this only by forming a habit of thinking
(08:07):
in another certain way about health. Man can cause all
the internal functions of his body to be performed in
a perfectly healthy manner by continuously thinking in a certain way,
and by performing the external functions in a certain way.
He can think in a certain way by controlling his attention,
and he can control his attention by the use of
(08:28):
his will, He can decide what things he will think about.
Use of the will in the practice of the science
of being well. The will is not used to compel
yourself to go when you are not really able to go,
or to do things when you are not physically strong
enough to do them. You do not direct your will
upon your physical body or try to compel the proper
performance of internal function by willpower. You direct the will
(00:24):
upon the mind and use it in determining what you
shall believe, what you shall think, and to what you
shall give your attention. The will should never be used
upon any person or thing external to you, and it
should never be used upon your own body. The sole
legitimate use of the will is in determining to what
you shall give your attention and what you shall think
(00:46):
about the things to which your attention is given. All
belief begins in the will to believe. You cannot always
and instantly believe what you will to believe, but you
can always will to believe what you want to believe.
You want to believe truth about health, and you can
will to do so. The statements you have been reading
(01:08):
in this book are the truth about health, and you
can will to believe them. This must be your first
step toward getting well. These are the statements. You must
will to believe that there is a thinking substance from
which all things are made, and that man receives the
principle of health, which is his life, from this substance,
(01:30):
That man himself is thinking substance, a mind body permeating
a physical body, and that as man thoughts are so
will the functioning of his physical body be. That if
man will think only thoughts of perfect health, he must
and will cause the internal and involuntary functioning of his
body to be the functioning of health, provided that his external,
(01:52):
involuntary functioning and attitude are in accordance with his thoughts.
When you will to believe these statements, you must also
begin to act upon them. You cannot long retain a
belief unless you act upon it. You cannot increase a
belief until it becomes faith unless you act upon it.
And you certainly cannot expect to reap benefits in any
(02:13):
way from a belief so long as you act as
if the opposite were true. You cannot long have faith
in health if you continue to act like a sick person.
If you continue to act like a sick person, you
cannot help continuing to think of yourself as a sick person,
and if you continue to think of yourself as a
sick person, you will continue to be a sick person.
(02:36):
The first step toward acting externally like a well person
is to begin to act internally like a well person.
Form your conception of perfect health and get into the
way of thinking about perfect health until it begins to
have a definitive meaning to you. Picture yourself as doing
things a strong and healthy person would do, and have
faith that you can and will do those things in
(02:58):
that way. Continue this until you have a vivid conception
of health and what it means to you. When I
speak in this book of a conception of health, I
mean a conception that carries with it the idea of
the way a healthy person looks and does things. Think
of yourself in connection with health until you form a
conception of how you would live, appear, act, and do
(03:19):
things as a perfectly healthy person. Think about yourself in
connection with health, until you conceive of yourself in imagination
as always doing everything in the manner of a well person.
Until the thought of health conveys the idea of what
health means to you. As I have said in a
former chapter, you may not be able to form a
(03:40):
clear mental image of yourself in perfect health, but you
can form a conception of yourself as acting like a
healthy person. Form this conception and then think only thoughts
of perfect health in relation to yourself, and so far
as may be possible, in relation to others. When a
(04:02):
thought of sickness or disease is presented to you, reject it.
Do not let it get into your mind, do not
entertain or consider it at all. Meet it by thinking health,
by thinking that you are well, and by being sincerely
grateful for the health you are receiving. Whenever suggestions of
disease are coming thick and fast upon and you are
(04:23):
in a tight place, fall back upon the exercise of gratitude.
Connect yourself with the Supreme, Give thanks to God for
the perfect health he gives you, and you will soon
find yourself able to control your thoughts and to think
what you want to think. In times of doubt, trial
and temptation. The exercise of gratitude is always a sheet
(04:46):
anchor which will prevent you from being swept away. Remember
that the great essential thing is to sever all mental
relations with disease and to enter into full mental relationship
with health. This, this is the key to all mental healing.
It is the whole thing. Here we see the secret
of the great success of Christian Science. More than any
(05:08):
other formulated system of practice. It insists that it converts
shall sever relations with disease and relate themselves fully with health.
The healing power of Christian science is not in its
theological formula, nor in its denial of matter, but in
the fact that it induces the sick to ignore disease
as an unreal thing and accept health by faith as
(05:31):
a reality. Its failures are made because its practitioners, while
thinking in a certain way, do not eat, drink, breathe,
and sleep in the same way. While there is no
healing power in the repetition of strings of words, yet
it is a very convenient thing to have the central
thoughts so formulated that you can repeat them readily, so
that you can use them as affirmations. Whenever you are
(05:53):
surrounded by an environment which gives you adverse suggestions, when
those around you begin to talk of sickness and death,
close your ears and mentally assert something like the following.
There is one substance, and I am that substance. That
substance is eternal, and it is life. I am that substance,
and I am eternal life. That substance knows no disease.
(06:18):
I am that substance, and I am health. Exercise your
willpower in choosing only those thoughts which are thoughts of health,
and arrange your environment so that it shall suggest thoughts
of health. Do not have about you books, pictures, or
other things which suggest death, disease, deformity, weakness, or age.
(06:38):
Have only those which convey the ideas of health, power, joy, vitality,
and youth. When you are confronted with a book or
anything else which suggests disease, do not give it your attention.
Think of your conception of health and your gratitude, and
affirm as above. Use your willpower to fix your attention
(06:59):
upon thought of health. In a future chapter, I shall
touch upon this point again. What I wish to make
plain here is that you must think only health, recognize
only health, and give your attention only to health, and
that you must control thought, recognition, and attention by the
use of your will. Do not try to use your
will to compel the healthy performance a function within you.
(07:23):
The principle of health will attend to that if you
give your attention only to thoughts of health. Do not
try to exert your will upon the formless, to compel
it to give you more vitality or power. It is
already placing all the power there is at your service.
You do not have to use your will to conquer
adverse conditions or to subdue unfriendly forces. There are no
(07:44):
unfriendly forces. There is only one force, and that force
is friendly to you. It is a force which makes
for health. Everything in the universe wants you to be well.
You have absolutely nothing to overcome but your own habit
of thinking in a certain way about disease, and you
can do this only by forming a habit of thinking
(08:07):
in another certain way about health. Man can cause all
the internal functions of his body to be performed in
a perfectly healthy manner by continuously thinking in a certain way,
and by performing the external functions in a certain way.
He can think in a certain way by controlling his attention,
and he can control his attention by the use of
(08:28):
his will, He can decide what things he will think about.
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