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Study
Topics
For
more information on the teachings of Christian
Science, explore the following study
topics:
Angels
Animal
Magnetism
Baptism
The
Bible
CS
vs. Evolution and
Creationism
Christ
Jesus
Death
Devil
God
Heaven
Hell
Holy
Ghost
Marriage
Mortals
and Immortals
The
New Tongue
Purity
Salvation
The
Term "Science"
"Science
and Health"
Stages
of Advancement
The
Tenets of Christian
Science
The
Trinity
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An Introduction to Christian
Science
ANIMAL
MAGNETISM
References
for Study
The following passages are from the Bible (King
James Version) and the Christian Science textbook,
Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
Galatians
5:19-21 (emphasis added)
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which
are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife,
seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the
which I tell you before, as I have also told you in
time past, that they which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God.
Matthew 15:19,
20 (to :)
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
witness, blasphemies: These are the things which
defile a man:
Science and
Health, pp. 100:1-101:32
Mesmerism or animal magnetism was first brought
into notice by Mesmer in Germany in 1775. According
to the American Cyclopaedia, he regarded this
so-called force, which he said could be exerted by
one living organism over another, as a means of
alleviating disease. His propositions were as
follows: "There exists a mutual influence between
the celestial bodies, the earth, and animated
things. Animal bodies are susceptible to the
influence of this agent, disseminating itself
through the substance of the nerves."
In 1784, the French
government ordered the medical faculty of Paris to
investigate Mesmer's theory and to report upon it.
Under this order a commission was appointed, and
Benjamin Franklin was one of the commissioners.
This commission reported to the government as
follows: "In regard to the existence and utility of
animal magnetism, we have come to the unanimous
conclusions that there is no proof of the existence
of the animal magnetic fluid; that the violent
effects, which are observed in the public practice
of magnetism, are due to manipulations, or to the
excitement of the imagination and the impressions
made upon the senses; and that there is one more
fact to be recorded in the history of the errors of
the human mind, and an important experiment upon
the power of the imagination."
In 1837, a
committee of nine persons was appointed, among whom
were Roux, Bouillaud, and Cloquet, which tested
during several sessions the phenomena exhibited by
a reputed clairvoyant. Their report stated the
results as follows: "The facts which had been
promised by Monsieur Berna [the magnetizer]
as conclusive, and as adapted to throw light on
physiological and therapeutical questions, are
certainly not conclusive in favor of the doctrine
of animal magnetism, and have nothing in common
with either physiology or therapeutics."
This report was
adopted by the Royal Academy of Medicine in
Paris.
The author's own
observations of the workings of animal magnetism
convince her that it is not a remedial agent, and
that its effects upon those who practise it, and
upon their subjects who do not resist it, lead to
moral and to physical death.
If animal magnetism
seems to alleviate or to cure disease, this
appearance is deceptive, since error cannot remove
the effects of error. Discomfort under error is
preferable to comfort. In no instance is the effect
of animal magnetism, recently called hypnotism,
other than the effect of illusion. Any seeming
benefit derived from it is proportional to one's
faith in esoteric magic.
Science and
Health, p. 102:16
The mild forms of animal magnetism are
disappearing, and its aggressive features are
coming to the front. The looms of crime, hidden in
the dark recesses of mortal thought, are every hour
weaving webs more complicated and subtle. So secret
are the present methods of animal magnetism that
they ensnare the age into indolence, and produce
the very apathy on the subject which the criminal
desires. The following is an extract from the
Boston Herald: "Mesmerism is a problem not lending
itself to an easy explanation and development. It
implies the exercise of despotic control, and is
much more likely to be abused by its possessor,
than otherwise employed, for the individual or
society."
Science and
Health, p. 103:18-24
As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism
or hypnotism is the specific term for error, or
mortal mind. It is the false belief that mind is in
matter, and is both evil and good; that evil is as
real as good and more powerful. This belief has not
one quality of Truth. It is either ignorant or
malicious. The malicious form of hypnotism
ultimates in moral idiocy.
Science and
Health, p. 104:13
Christian Science goes to the bottom of mental
action, and reveals the theodicy which indicates
the rightness of all divine action, as the
emanation of divine Mind, and the consequent
wrongness of the opposite so-called action, —
evil, occultism, necromancy, mesmerism, animal
magnetism, hypnotism.
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