Spirit’s senses are without pain, and they are forever at peace.
~ Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 214
Spiritual sense is pure harmony—conscious harmony and peace which translates into physical harmony and peace too.
To break out of pain and stay out of pain, cultivate spiritual sense. Stay keenly aware of Life in Spirit where God is All, Life is good, and health is permanent.
Material sense gets lost in the realm of mortality, entertaining notions that pain is possible, and even unstoppable. But material sense is wrong. It’s not man’s native sense as a child of God. Spiritual sense is our native sense. And spiritual sense readily tunes into spiritual reality where any sense of pain fades away like mist in the morning sunshine.
You have spiritual sense. It is your natural and normal sense, and it’s working well. Trust it to dissipate the pains of material sense, and take your thought into heavenly places where harmony reigns. A place where pain is no more.
Perfect .. thank you so much Evan .
Spiritual sense …. The protection of our perfection❣️
Love this article
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/m6pg7gnnm0?s=copylink
Wonderful article. Really helps me “cultivate” spiritual sense. Many thanks!
That is so lovely Barbara. I also find the concept of an idea in God’s mind hard to grasp, so that article does help. Does he see us as a ‘person an outline, a fuzzy image etc. What does he actually see? Is there another article that might help? Listening to Phillip Hockley’s lecture he talks about he and his brother backing up to the mirror and looking out, rather than the image in the mirror in front. Try as I might cannot understand the concept of image and idea. Love C.
From what I understand of the teachings of Christian Science, Caz, God sees only His own reflection, as man, reflected back to Him. As He is infinite Mind, He includes and reflects in His idea, man, all his qualities and abilities. He does not see mortals, only His own spiritual ideas. So as we learn about what He is, by studying Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures, we can discover more about what He is, and therefore what
we truly are, from the synonyms
of Principle, Mind, Soul Spirit, Life Truth and
Love, This is an entirely different view of
God and ourselves than we had ever
contemplated by accepting a material view
of everything. I expect someone has a good article that explains this more clearly.
Dear Caz…so, God the only Mind, the only cause , creates a beautiful spiritual universe with all that includes because cause or idea must have an effect . But God is only conscious of good, of Love and Life so his image ( you , me and all living things ) can only consist of His knowledge, His Principle, His law….eternally. So , don’t look in the physical mirror and get the wrong perception of who you are. Turn your back on erring material sense and be the individual God sees. The real you. The perfect image or idea of our Father /Mother.
I feel this is true CS thinking and helps you. But there are others here plus Evan of course who may explain in more depth.Bx
Hi Caz, I also struggle a bit with understanding how God sees us as idea or image. It can seem vague. Since God doesn’t see material images or material ideas, maybe it is more like when we think of or have a strong experience of things like Peace, Harmony, Love, Joy, Contentment etc. We can’t “see” these things in the ordinary sense of material seeing, but we know they are there, they are real. We feel them, we sense them intuitively, they can be more real to us than the so-called solid things of human mortal life. Maybe that gives some idea of how God sees and knows us.
What does Love look like? How would one outline Love? draw Love? describe Love. Love is an idea that somehow we can see by the activity that it generates (someone opening the door for someone else) It is infinitely expressed. Not limited to a prescribed form. It is not material or confined to a person. How does one describe the wind? The material senses cannot see the wind, but we see what the wind does. Maybe if we think about these things that do not appear tangible, but yet has form, outline and color, may help. Mind is expressed in intelligence that we can understand, but can one draw Mind. Not talking about brain. How does one describe gravity? the intelligence that holds up the universe? We see God in the good that is present, the sun that gives warmth to the world, the flowers, trees, the beautiful birds, not limited, but unlimited expressed. the sunset, the sunrise, all God expression of himself/herself.
Oh Barbara, that is so beautiful – I love it too. Thank you for sharing it.
this is really beautiful Evan. Thank you!
Thank you ALL, everyone of you, for your sweet and honest inquiries and answers. Such love! This is the generous love of Love expressed!!
Thank you Evan and all. Lovely thoughts to carry and prove through the day and every day.
“Always free”. By Karen Neff. From the December 6, 2023 issue of The Christian Science Monitor:
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2023/1206/Always-free/?src=shared
❤️
Just the inspiration I needed today! Thanks as always, Evan, for starting our day right.
Hello Betsy in Bend, if you are in Bend, Oregon, I live here too! See you in church?
Carol
Awesome
Thank you Evan and everyone for your comments. Caz’s comment/question was very thought provoking to me because I too have struggled for many years to grasp what Mrs. Eddy means by man being “idea”, “reflection”, “manifestation”, etc. But just now it occurred to me that “man” is both a “what” and a “who”.
WHAT: Just like the rose in the wonderful article Barbara shared that has a “what” consisting of “petals”, “stem”, “aroma”, “color”, etc., as Mrs. Eddy wrote in S&H, “[man] is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas”. So the compound idea “man” includes all right ideas, such as “intelligence”, “freedom”, “strength”, “peace”, “harmony”, “spontaneity”, “health”, “discernment”, “understanding”, etc.
WHO: And just like there is one idea “rose” but many manifestations of rose (e.g., the red rose growing in my yard, the yellow rose in the bouquet someone will get today for their anniversary, etc.) there is one idea of man, but there are infinite manifestations of man and that is the “who”. Each of us is a unique identity, or a individual expression or manifestation of those ideas that comprise the compound idea “man”. I like to think of the “who” as “the ‘what’ in action.” Humanly speaking, one of us may manifest the compound ideas (qualities) of “man” today as a mother or father, or as a business person, or as a practitioner, or as a gardener, or as all of those things.
Again, it is the manifestation that is the “who” and the compound idea that is the “what” of us. Mrs. Eddy also uses the word “reflection” to point out how inseparable both the “what” and “who” of each identity of man is like God. Just like a human being’s reflection in a mirror is exactly like the human standing before the mirror, each of us, and everything else, “mirrors” God. And what keeps the mirrored reflection the same as the original? Science! Materially speaking, it is the laws of physics that keeps the reflection identical to the original. But in reality, it is divine Science (the laws of God, Love) that keeps God’s reflection inseparable from, and identical to, God. But we, as reflection, aren’t separate from God like the human reflection is somewhat separate from the original in the mirror analogy and I don’t think Mrs. Eddy was implying we are separate from God when she used that analogy. And if you think about it, a mirrored reflection is not really separate from the original because it depends on the original for its existence. The mirror analogy is just an analogy Mrs. Eddy uses to point out how God and man are INseparable and how man has the identical characteristics God has. In reality, man as “reflection” is God, Mind, reflecting (knowing, loving, etc.) his idea “man”. And in that sense, it’s clear how man and God are inseparable.
Robert, this is really good. Thanks for your insights.
Thank you, so very helpful.x
Here’s another idea that came to be about 6 months ago…
Let me tell you about my friend, Pat. Pat is very loving and generous. So when Pat was invited to a party, she decided to make a cake. And the host of the party was overjoyed to receive the cake because it was very beautiful, in addition to being delicious!
Now I have a question for you. Who made the cake?
a) Did Pat make the cake?
-or-
b) Did Pat’s manifestation make the cake?
I think it’s clear Pat’s manifestation made the cake.
But wait! When speaking humanly we don’t differentiate between someone and their manifestation. So why does Mrs. Eddy differentiate between God and God’s manifestation? Perhaps it’s because the apostle John did that..
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [manifested]. John 1: 1
In thinking about Pat and her manifestation, it’s clear the manifestation has to be just like Pat and reflect all of Pat’s qualities. Similarly we, as God’s manifestation, reflect all of God’s qualities or attributes. We are God in action and quality. Mrs. Eddy brings this out beautifully in the citation below:
Knowing that Soul and its attributes were forever manifested through man, the Master healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, feet to the lame, thus bringing to light the scientific action of the divine Mind on human minds and bodies and giving a better understanding of Soul and salvation.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 210:11–16)
Thankyou Evan, and all ! this is very deep thinking. I will be reading this thru out the day letting these inspired Ideas unfold to my thought. so grateful Thanks again.
If you’ve never listened to the Phillip Hockley lecture that Caz referred to in the comment above, if you click on the link below it will start the lecture at the point he starts talking about man as reflection and then realizes the reflection is like having his back to the mirror…imaging forth God. If you instead want to listen to the lecture from the beginning, just move the slider bar below the video screen to the left and start from the beginning. I’ve listened to this in the past, but it was inspiring to listen to it again today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjfW_JaUnbc&t=1887s
Your daily messages are truly a blessing. As I read them, I feel lifted up. They are guides for goodness and a happy life. Thank you so much, Evan.
Thank you very much, Evan for all your wonderful SpiritViews. I love them dearly and I also feel very inspired and so uplifted as Susan says. I also feel awakened to spiritual thinking and praying. And for me it is often an admonishing to stay on the right side, on the good side, yea to stay on the side of our iternally good God! The today’s SpiritView is very needed and helpful to me; and all the inspiring comments and articles are so good and helpful. Thank you all very much !! 🙂
Thank you Evan for your posts on Spirit View. We are indeed greatly blessed! Right here, truth explodes with everyone adding their experiences, views and spiritual vision. It is the Spirit revealing itself to each of us, answering questions, bringing spiritual clarity or an encouraging word to a seeking heart; something for everyone!