Animal Magnetism and Polarization

Wherever there is a magnetic field, we find forces pulling in opposite directions. Much of the violence that occurs in the world today is the result of a kind of mental magnetism that can be described as animal in nature. One form in which it appears is polarization of thought, and this polarization produces conflict.

Christian Science defines animal magnetism as the influence on human consciousness of materialistic, or mortal, belief. This influence is generally recognized in cases of mass hysteria, where intense emotion expressed by a large number of people affects the feelings and decisions of others. But Christian Science explains that this same influence is often the cause of everyday fears, apathy, mental irritation, and even sickness, unless it is understood and its influence resisted so that its action can be nullified.

If Christian Science stands for anything, it stands for the individual’s duty to do his own thinking uninfluenced by the thoughts of others. It reveals God as the one, infinite Mind, and it demonstrates man’s capacity to express himself as an idea of this Mind. It shows further that by rejecting all thoughts that do not emanate from the infinite Mind one can discern clearly what is right and what is wrong in human life, and he can make decisions that are constructively effective. As one maintains this kind of an alert against false influences, he can also maintain the health of his body.

When nations are going through great changes, human opinion sometimes becomes so polarized as to produce an electrifyingly magnetic effect. People respond to mass mental influence by doing things they would never do under ordinary circumstances. And many who consider themselves opposed to what is going on become so mesmerized by this influence that they do not see what is being done before their eyes. Recent history provides vivid illustrations of this, and we can see it today in the way people think in regard to such problems as war and the concept of law and order. Opinions have become so one-sided that a magnetic mental effect is being produced. Many are influenced by it without knowing it.

When you talk to people about war, the polarization becomes evident, for reason stands the chance of being blurred by animal magnetism. Facts are ignored or disbelieved—either war is unjustified and should be stopped immediately or war is necessary and must be carried to a victorious conclusion. If one believes that war is unjustified, he refuses to consider the possibility that it might in the long run save many more lives than are lost by it. If one believes war is justified, he refuses to consider how many innocent people are destroyed in the process of winning it. The millions of people already killed by ruthless political forces are unseen on the one side; the moral, mental, and physical damage done to both friend and foe are discarded as irrelevant by the other side. Likewise when people discuss the actions of the police in the handling of racial disturbances or student riots, there is little middle ground; one seems to be either for the police or against them.

It is not the purpose of this editorial to argue for or against war, for or against current methods of maintaining law and order. But for anyone who needs to make important decisions today, it should be helpful to recognize that unless one understands the influence resulting from the polarization of human opinion and guards himself against it, this influence can cause one to make wrong decisions. It can also affect one’s health. But one can be alert to the nature of his thoughts and to their source. He can reject thoughts and feelings that do not originate in the all-intelligent Mind and reflect the thoughts that do have their source in this Mind. He can recognize the symptoms of false mental influence and arrest their effect upon both his decisions and his health.

Such mental alertness demands humility—the humility that recognizes the one Mind only as right. Human decisions can approximate what is right. Until the human yields entirely to the divine, there must be at least two sides to consider in working out any human policy.

Polarization of opinion is a denial of a supreme Mind, or God. It is the result of the human mind deciding for itself that it holds the issues of right and wrong. But if there is an infinite Mind, and if man is the image, or idea, of this one Mind, the very existence in human consciousness of conflict shows that this consciousness has yet to reach the point of divine intelligence where it can judge what is all right or all wrong.

One defending himself from the animal magnetic effects of polarized thought can acknowledge the ever-presence and infinite power of the one Mind. And he can guard his thoughts, searching prayerfully to know their source until he is certain that he is influenced by the divine Mind alone. Christ Jesus said, “The Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.” And Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously.”