Principia College held a Christian Science Lecture by Nikki O’Hagan in Wannamaker Hall. The event was hosted by the Principia’s Christian Science Organization and took place on Oct. 25.
O’Hagan spent the last decade as a CS Practitioner, a job that involves full time prayer. She grew up in South Africa, loving dance and wanting to understand the why of life. As an adult, O’Hagan lived in the United States for 30 years. There she married her husband and raised their children. She now lives primarily in County Kildare, Ireland. O’Hagan recently Joined the CS Board of Lectureship which authorizes CS lectures. The lecture that she wrote and delivered at Prin was called, “The Science of God and its Power to Heal Us.”
In the lecture, O’Hagan started by describing a “paradigm shift from a matter-based model of the universe to a spiritual understanding of being.” To address this, she focused on “misperceptions on a grand scale that are corrected by science,” in this case, the Science of God. She cites many traditional scientists who have decided that there is too much evidence that matter is not the basis of reality in order to guide listeners to the spirit-based reality about which she speaks.
To illustrate this paradigm shift, O’Hagan described two healings of severe injury and illness which led her to a greater understanding of God’s healing power and presence. She further showed how the healings were not merely physical restoration but also caused great character growth. She explained that when understood, God’s law produces the kind of healing Jesus performed.
In the second part of her talk, O’Hagan described consciousness and how it relates to experience. She articulated a logical argument beginning with God as the I AM. She shared that the statement “I Am,” which both God and the children of God say, demonstrates that the speaker is “conscious, aware, and capable of self-expression.”
Following this, O’Hagan used several metaphors to demonstrate that what people are conscious of is what they experience. To experience God is to be conscious of the health and peace that exist in the Mind of God. If someone feels they are not experiencing the harmony of God, it is because they are not conscious of the presence of God. What one is conscious of, they experience.
After the lecture, O’Hagan said she most wanted to emphasize how consciousness relates to experience and that she hoped that everyone who attended felt “embraced by God’s love.”
