I have been accused on occasion of telling people they created their illness. In fact, this is a prevalent criticism of those who investigate the Science of Mind and Other New Thought philosophies. What do we truly teach about this subject and do we profess that we create our diseases? The answer for me is both yes and no.

No, we do not decide one day that we are going to develop cancer, or, for me of recent, that I would develop a severe tooth infection and sinusitis. That is not the way It (God) works at all. There was a time in Religious belief systems when this was taught. People were blamed for their illnesses and accused of sinning which was its cause. We do not believe in this sort of God or that we could be punished with the suffering caused by diseases. God is Love and we are Love.

The Law of Mind and Spirit creates from Itself and we live in a state of Grace when we are conscious of this Love. When we become ill or suffer from disease, God (Love) is here within us every step of the way. For me, disease is only here to bring us back to our Truth, or Divine Identity. It is an effect of the collective consciousness of the world and is felt by many of us as real and constantly available to be experienced. The necessity of disease is a belief very ingrained in the subconscious.

There is a Principle of the Science of Mind that states that “We believe that the ultimate goal of life is to be a complete freedom of all discord of every nature and that this freedom is to be attained by all.” If we look at this one passage deeply, we will see that it doesn’t state that we will have no discord, but that we will be free of it. What does this mean? I will bring it to my own example with my dental journey this week. Although, I suffered from the physical aspects of this experience, I did not suffer mentally. Instead , there was peace, an opportunity to go deeper and acknowledge where this whole dis-ease began in the mental field and to begin to be willing to clear and drain away the old (literally) and embrace a new thought about myself. That, for me, is freedom from discord.

So that is my no about the personal creation of disease. The yes part might be a little harder to digest, because it means taking responsibility, not for the physical disease, but for the discord in our mental atmosphere, forms of self-condemnation, unforgiveness, an inability to embrace the good for ourselves. These are good reasons to continue to torture ourselves will all sorts of diseases and not just those to do with our physical bodies.

It all comes back to self-love and the willingness to penetrate the depths of our beliefs and to heal them. Does this always bring healing in the body? This all depends on the person. Healing is not always physical healing, but it is always emotional and mental healing. Quantum Science attests that negative emotions locked in the body live on and will eventually manifest as some sort of disease, if they are not healed and released.

So, you can see, that this answer as to whether we create our diseases is deep and takes deep introspection, accompanied by gentleness and lots of self-love. It is not about blaming ourselves or continuing to struggle with “trying to heal.” It is about getting so up close an personal with the Divine Presence within us that the healing journey begins and the layers of consciousness peel back deeply again and again. Life is eternal and this is an eternal journey of our evolution.

And another thing to make clear, Science of Mind philosophy believes in all types of healing, including medicine and doctors and physical treatments. There is a beautiful passage in the Science of Mind discussing this on page 219. Ernest Holmes begins by saying, Since our spiritual understanding is not sufficient to enable us to mentally set bones, we call a surgeon, since we cannot walk on water, we take a boat. We can only go as far as far spiritual knowledge takes us. …Do not let anyone discourage or belittle your efforts by asking, ‘Why don’t you walk on water? Jesus did.’ …If we had the understanding which Jesus had, we would be able to walk on water.”

So, in conclusion for now, yes, I believe dis-ease is humanmade and not God ordained, and I also believe that as soon as we accept our Divinity and Perfection, we will not travel this route and move into a higher order of being. In the meantime when we experience any type of illness, instead of condemnation, give ourselves lots of love, kindness, and look within to our Healer for our answers, as we work in tandem with the medical world. We will always know the correct path for ourselves, when we truly seek to know it. More to come on this topic…

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren, Co-Spiritual Director CSL Kaua`i