In the United States, it’s the Thanksgiving Day holiday, and all the good little American Christian Scientists will be dutifully heading to church for the annual Thanksgiving Day church service. Here in Canada, where I live and work, it’s just another day at the office. Our Thanksgiving Day was just over a month ago, and the one or two hundred or so Christian Scientists out of our population of over 30 million have already effusively thanked Mary Baker Eddy for her accursed “discovery” of Christian Science. However, a post from my friend over at Kindism has inspired me to throw down a few words of gratitude as I reflect on another year free of the massive mind-fuck that is Christian Science.
First of all, a big reason this year why I’m so very grateful I’ve left the senselessness of Christian Science is the successful treatment (via medical science) of a severe foot infection. I had a staph infection in one of my feet, severe enough that had I not been a healthy, non-diabetic person, I might have been in danger of losing the foot. I shudder to wonder how the infection would have played out, however, had I still been in the grip of Christian Science and foolishly elected to pray about it, rather than seek medical attention. Even with two courses of antibiotics, it took most of the summer before all of the damage this infection did was healed. While I lost out on a large chunk of normal summer activity, I am grateful to be fully recovered, with no lasting effects.
In general, I am grateful that when I suffer pain, I reach now for pain medication rather than abjectly suffering with the pain, waiting for a healing. I’m grateful for cold and flu medications that mitigate the symptoms of these unpleasant diseases. On a completely lighter note, I enjoy a beer once in awhile with friends after work, not fearing that I’m committing some sort of sin against God.
I’m also very grateful for an on-line community of former Christian Scientists who understand the Krazy Sauce I marinated in for so many years. When you’ve been through the mind-fuck of Christian Science like I have, you sometimes need someone to rant to who understands exactly what you’re going through, because they’ve been there too. They’ve marinated in the same Sauce you have. I’d love to be able to rant to my friends I see day-to-day, but when I start telling any of them about Christian Science, they look at me like I just grew two heads. Only another former Christian Scientist can truly understand what it’s like to feel euphoria at the effects of ibuprofen, or the wonderment of antibiotics, or how liberating it feels to simply enjoy and accept the world as you see, hear, smell, and feel it. No, it’s NOT an illusion! It’s real, damn it, and I like that, and you totally understand why this is such a big thrill for me!
Lastly, I’m grateful that I enjoyed my Thanksgiving last month without even going near a Christian Science church and the dreadful Thanksgiving Day service, filled with mind-numbingly boring readings, followed by effusive testimonies of gratitude for all the healings through Christian Science. Nevermind that the body and it’s innate healing abilities should get the credit, and that those idiots would have suffered a lot less with some simple medications. Oh well. Anyway, I’m just grateful to no longer be a Christian Scientist.
Emerging Gently 