Although the theory of these cults is in part quite fallacious, the practice of them brings striking results at times. This is because the healing power really comes forth from the patient's own higher self, to which the cults do--although somewhat unconsciously--direct him.
One of the yoga paths is the creative use of imagination and thought for self-improvement, and so far as it embodies such a technique, Christian Science is a yoga path too. It instructs its disciples to see themselves as perfect, as the Universal Mind sees them, to concentrate on the concept of, and hold to the belief in, the divine in man. These meditations and attitudes draw forth higher resources, which may effect results where ordinary ones fail.
This thinking runs somewhat as follows. The entire universe is but an idea. Therefore the human body is also an idea. Therefore the human being, as the thinker of this idea, possesses complete power to alter, improve, and even change the body. Therefore he can abolish disease, annul sickness, restore health, and perform miraculous environmental betterments at will, provided he can suitably re-adjust and control his thoughts. All this sounds plausible and attractive, but there is a fallacy in it. And this is that the human being is the sole thinker of the World-Idea. He is not. He only participates in it along with the World Mind. His power over the body is a limited one. By his thoughts he can influence its functioning and sometimes modify its mechanism.
-- Notebooks Category 10: Healing of the Self > Chapter 5 : The Healing Power of The Overself > # 66
