VII
IS DISEASE REAL, OR APPARENT?
“It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.”
--John 6:63
In dealing with the reality or unreality of disease, the first thing to be established in the mind is the sense in which we are to use the word “reality.” It is destined in various ways, so that it is difficult to understand in what sense one is privileged to use it. One may speak of a mirage as a real illusion, for such it is, but the definition of the word “illusion” discloses the fact that it means that something which seems to be real is not real. Alluding to a real illusion is like speaking of a true lie, and yet the lie may be real as a lie, but when it is discovered to be a lie it is seen to have no truth in it; therefore the only reality about it is the suffering it has caused, and this would never have been if all concerned had known it as a lie. A lie would hurt no one if no one accepted it as truth. Even the liar would not tell his lie if he knew that no one would believe him, and so we see that it is not the lie which hurts, but the belief in it.
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