Faith is described as a necessary attitude for effective treatment and healing.

• Explaining the underlying theories and principles can strengthen one's faith and effectiveness.

Treatment Active, Not Passive A treatment is an active thing. When one gives a treatment, he is not sitting around, hoping that something may happen. He is definitely, constructively, actively stating, sensing, knowing some specific good. This is in accord with the Principle which we seek to demonstrate. If we give treatments without a definite motive in mind, the most we can accomplish will be to promote a salutary atmosphere. A passive meditation will never produce an active demonstration, any more than an artist can paint a picture by sitting down with his paints but never using them. The mind must conceive before the Creative Energy can produce; we must supply the avenue through which It can work. It is ready and willing. It is Its nature to spring into being through our thought and action. In an iron foundry, the pig iron is thrown into a great furnace and melted. That which was solid becomes liquid, and is then poured into molds which are fashioned in different shapes. The iron itself neither knows nor cares what particular form it takes, it is formless, ready to take any form supplied. If we did not place it in the proper molds, the liquid would assume no particular form. This is the way it is in dealing with the subtle energy of Spirit, but the molds are made in our own subjective minds, through conscious and specific thought, purpose and direction. We should be very careful not to think that because we make the mold, we must create the substance. It already exists; It is part of the Life in which we live, a part of the Universal Energy. Definite molds or concepts decide the shape which is to be created from the general liquid. This should prove to us that there is a specific technique in mental treatment which we should not overlook. If we wish a certain good, we must instill into our own minds a realization of this specific good and then—as this idea is the mold we place in mind—it will be filled by the substance necessary for the complete manifestation of this good in our lives. Therefore, if a man is seeking to demonstrate, he must tell himself that he has faith in his power, in his ability, in the Principle, and in the certainty of the demonstration for which he works. Faith, being a mental attitude, is according to law; and even though one doubts, he can overcome his doubts and create the desired faith, definitely. If this were not so, only those who by nature have faith in God could ever hope to understand the Principle of the Science of Mind and Spirit, which is subject to certain, definite, immutable and impersonal laws. However, even though faith is a necessary attitude, it is something that can always be established by explaining the theory and proving the Principle.