A guest post written by Michael Fisher

In a 2012 TED.com talk, Andrew Blum attempted to uncover the mystery of the internet. He talked about one of the twelve most connected buildings in the world, 60 Hudson Street in New York City, about the undersea cables that link the continents, and about his own experience of a squirrel chewing through his wires connecting him to the internet. Mr. Blum reveals something few of us really grasp – the internet is not in the “cloud,” it is very physical.

The internet represents, and to some extent conveys, the collective knowledge and thinking of mankind. In doing this, it reveals something about our own thinking – that we are often just thinking the thoughts of others. Most of us, when beginning to ask the internet a question, have had the question completed before we finish typing it. For example, “What is the” comes up today with “fiscal cliff” since that was a recent news topic. Or, “What is the tallest” may be finished with “building” or “mountain.”

This demonstrates that not only is the answer not coming from us, but the question is also not ours. It has been asked before. We are thinking something that was thought of by others, perhaps many others.

In like manner, thoughts about health often do not originate with us. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, said, “We weep because others weep, we yawn because they yawn, and we have smallpox because others have it; but mortal mind, not matter, contains and carries the infection.” She boils all this down to human thoughts.

Through the example of the internet, we can see that each of us is sensitive to world thought, including thoughts about health and contagion. I’ve found that learning to protect myself from these thoughts improves my health, and the Bible aids me in this regard. The 91^st Psalm says, “…he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” By praying to listen to God’s thoughts instead of world thought, I find myself mentally and physically in tune with the message of perfection as stated in the first chapter of Genesis.

One time, for no apparent reason, I began to feel the aggressive symptoms of a cold. I turned in prayer to God. I prayed for perhaps an hour and found myself free of the symptoms.

We each have a right to health. An important factor in protecting our health is defending our thought from the influence of the world. The internet shows us that we need to be alert to this influence because we can easily see that thoughts we have often are not original to us. We can counter this influence and be healed with thoughts from God.