Dr. Maxwell Maltz has gained quite notable fame through his popular self-help book entitled "Psycho-Cybernetics." The theory of psycho-cybernetics is based on Dr. Maltz's work as a plastic surgeon. Listen as he describes how he became interested in the human personality:

"One day many years ago a woman in her mid-twenties came to my offices. She had a deep indented scar on her left cheek, a constant reminder of an automobile accident she'd been in. She looked unhappy, with herself and her life."

"'Who wouldn't be, in her situation,' I asked myself. As a kid, looking in the mirror when she brushed her teeth or combed her hair, she saw a perfectly normal face and began to take it for granted. Now, when she looks in the mirror, she must think, `Gosh, I look awful! I used to have a normal face, now I have two entirely different cheeks.'"

"I told her that I'd remove the scar and, after surgery, she'd look fine once again. `Don't worry,' I said, `We'll take good care of you.'"

"She asked how she would look, and I reassured her and tried to soothe her fears. Later, I operated on her."

"After a week's time, she came back. I took the bandages off and handed her a mirror. Her scarred cheek was a thing of the past."

"Then I waited for her reaction. Many patients are overjoyed when they first see their new, improved image. But her reaction was uncertain; she expressed no real positive emotion. I waited a few seconds, then said, "What do you think? Do you like it?"

"She responded, `I really don't see any improvement.'

"I was stunned. My surgery had been totally successful. `Would you like to see the pictures of your face before the operation?'

"She looked at the "before" pictures, then surveyed her new face in the hand mirror.

"`It looks better,' she admitted, `but I don't feel better!'"

"Cases such as this one (and there have been many!) helped me to understand that all scars cannot be seen, that some are deeply embedded, worse than physical scars, they are inside us and infinitely painful."

It was those inner scars that Dr. Maltz sought to explore. Here is where our greatest needs lie "not on the outside of us, but on the inside. That, of course, is the meaning of the Gospel. "The light shines in darkness . . ." What is that darkness but the darkness of our own souls?