Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things.
~ Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 264
God is Spirit, a universe of Mind, where things are thoughts, and ideas are substance.
To experience God, and the goodness God has available for you, be sure to look beyond the realm of the finite, with all its shiny material objects, into the realm of the infinite, where the good and true are eternal, always present to bless you.
To gain a right sense of things, we must release the false.
Any material view is a false view. The spiritual view is the true view.
Gain the true view and prosper!
What a thought provoking message today !
I recently thought about how I go about looking for a more spiritual view. It felt like a progressive path looking at things as Soul and not sense. Maybe thought of it as a continual path to understanding my true spiritual being. But, it came to me that maybe this could lead to a kind of ‘’it’s somewhere to get to’’ attitude…maybe even separating me from my source. I’ve found much more peace by turning this around ….ie the source ( God, perfect Love ) first… and as the effect ( expressing only this perfect Love) ..there is nothing to become, nowhere to get to , no substance to fear , because I am part of the ever present , impenetrable ALL.
Ie..the flowers in my garden are beautiful but their reality is Gods beauty expressed and not my garden care! Now they are not seasonal but are the demonstration of Principal…everlasting beauty, Soul.
Spirit View certainly makes me dig a bit deeper….thank you Evan and everyone for their input. I’m truly grateful .❣️
I should have written Principle! Apologies….
This is beautiful Thank you for your comment. The post is wonderful as well
Thank you so much for this insight. It’s just the spark I need. I’m not waiting to get somewhere. I’m already there in God’s spiritual realm.
I’m very grateful for Evan’ s posts and all the comments they inspire.
God bless
Thank you so much Evan and Barbara. I am so very grateful
to both of you. ❤️l
Accepting the material view as reality is like trying to focus wearing glasses when you don’t need them. Or if you do believe you need them, wearing the wrong strength or prescription. You’ll never see clearly that way.
Trying to make sense of a material world by reading, watching videos or listening to lectures does the same thing. Reading about a thing doesn’t make it real. Only in the secret place of the most high, where the material senses cannot enter, in that quiet stillness, can we experience perfect Love.
Yesterday, I had a confrontation with someone. I neglected to pause and pray before starting a conversation with him. I unconsciously proceeded to give full reign to mortal mind, you know, those false teachings of the material world that tells us we are right and the other person is wrong. Needless to say, it did not go well. He became defensive and dug his heels in more deeply to his understanding of the situation. I left in frustration but didn’t get very far before that still, small voice could be heard. It was gently reminding me of who I AM and of who He is. We are both children of Our Father. I knew I needed to turn around and drive back to apologize. I didn’t know that immediately because I continued stewing in that mortal thought sewer, I know from experience why it’s called a “still, small voice.” It’s always present, it was present during that conversation. It is slight, but full of might IF I choose to heed it. Even when human conditioning tries to overtake it, it will save the day once I acknowledge that Love IS the only Truth of being. I did return and apologize. He had also been affected in the same way. We both spoke calmly and lovingly and came to a harmoniously mutual conclusion.
Yes, any material view is a false view.
All, ALL IS well.
Great demonstration Love of actually living what we know to be true. As you said , reading , listening and reciting truths is not the aim….ie..to know something is somewhat different to using /living this knowledge in daily challenges.B.x
Oh! My experience yesterday, also! Your comments help; thank you!
Now, Sue, pray “backward” …. in retrospect….refute the lie that says you (I!) could offend, or be offended…could listen to error, could goof-up the conversation…could….etc. etc
All these are false belief’s claims that “man can break the forever law of Love!” Not true!!!!
Whew.
(There are at least two “Kay’s” here, so I add the underscore) The Bible says we are to go from “strength to strength”. I think that is referring to moving from spiritual thought to spiritual thought, moving through ideas of Love itself. I read once where a mother told her young son that one day he would no longer enjoy playing with his favorite toys. This statement threw the child, because he thought that meant he would lose his joy. What we learn as we go along is that we had the joy already in us as we played as children. And we never lose that. As we grow,, we stop playing with airplanes and eventually fly them. So we take the spirit of joy with us. We learn in Christian Science that the expression of joy does not come from the material scenario, but the so called material scenario is the picture of our inward joy being expressed. Gradually we learn everything is mental, and to go to God, our divine Mind, for fresh ways to express joy in each day, instead of thinking we will have joy as soon as we are doing certain activities or are with certain people. But from a spiritual perspective, we will never lose our joy and its expression. We, like Even, can still go hiking and appreciate nature safely and joyfully as we realize we are moving not in matter, but in divine Love and its expressions, which like the manna of old is new every morning and cannot be hoarded.
Kay….this is beautiful and powerful! Something I’m working on right now. Thank you!❣️
Question: Why are Christian Scientist adverse to face anger? We don’t have lessons in how to handle anger of our own or others. We sort of skim over it because that is “mortal mind” – We only recognize harmony. My sister in law once told me when I had asked her why she had not tried to comfort me when I was really angry. She said ” that was just mortal mind and I don’t add to mortal mind by asking questions” and she is a Christian Science nurse. When I was so upset, I would have really liked to hear “What’s wrong? or What happened? or I am so sorry about that” I as not in the frame of mind to hear “oh you are just expressing mortal mind” That sounded so callus to me.
Now, I have a 6 year old Sunday school student dealing with her mother’s extreme anger. What do I have to help her? Do i just say ” That just mortal mind, honey, ignore it?!” Not Working!!
I’ll let others share ideas for your SS student but I agree that we must be compassionate and caring when we come upon people struggling with things. I think it’s important to declare the Truth in any given situation but we also must meet the human need. Ask the question, give the hug, hold the hand, listen for as long as it takes…..completely agree. We must be compassionate. ❣️
If a child is dealing with extreme anger (possible abuse) and is telling you about it as a Sunday School teacher, you must ALWAYS advocate for the child.
Thinking about this more, you should mention this situation to your Sunday school superintendent. They are the person in charge of the Sunday school. And if you don’t have a superintendent, go to a board member. Don’t keep it to yourself. If a 6 year old is telling you something, error on the side of caution. I have family members that are teachers and have reported abusive situations that children have told them about. Don’t dismiss extreme anger/possible abuse. The child always comes first, religion or no religion.
Oh boy! Thank you for your candid question. I still have the challenge of anger to overcome myself st times. However, I have come to recognize the difference between settling into the false beliefs that are fueling my anger, which is like throwing gasoline on a fire I’d like to put out, and recognizing whether the anger is gaining control or God, good, is already at the scene with His great big fire hose (Love, Truth, Harmony, Realty). Not to dismiss a strong, often overpowering emotion like anger as merely mortal mind. I once had a challenge of a different sort and said to my Practitioner “Now I’m just angry!!!” (Because the belief of pain seemed SO real that I of mine own self could not heal it.) He simply said “Don’t get mad at error. Handle it!” I right then decided that I’d had enough of that mental suffering, turned over, (I was in bed, it was 2 am), and went to sleep. Once I’d quieted the screaming voice of error, I was able to hear that still, small voice of Truth, Power, and Peace. I came to realize why I’d been “suffering”, and within a couple of days ALL false evidence of the symptoms vanished into their native nothingness.
We can apply this to anger as well. If it isn’t good, it isn’t from God. Therefore it must be a false claim. I have compassion for people who display anger.At the root of it is usually fear. A mother’s anger could be driven by feeling overwhelmed. Humanly, we have a lot to overcome. We can help one another by seeing each as God’s image. Everything else is part of the Adam dream. In traffic this morning, I had to remind myself that there was no body driving the car in front of me. It was either God, telling me he wants me to slow down, or it was error falsely parading as a man spitefully and personally trying to upset me. Today I choose God.
XO We are all on the same path, but at different paces. Have compassion for the mother and child. As Ram Das said ” We’re all just walking each other home.” (I read it on a tee shirt).
HI Cassie,
I would like to say that Christian Scientists are absolutely not averse to facing anger. We definitely face it, deal with it, and pray to dissolve it with love. Christian Science teaches us to be proactive with facing anger, to render it powerless, to heal it. That’s what Jesus taught. He taught us how to love with compassion, understanding, patience, forgiveness and kindness in such a way that anger loses its foothold in thought and falls away. Love doesn’t ignore anger. It heals it!
You have a wonderful opportunity to help your SS student learn the power of Love to bring harmony into her home, and even reform her mother. Young children are so receptive to Truth, and very powerful demonstrators of Love. Honor that child. Honor that child’s capacity to live and demonstrate the omnipotence of Love. If you can see it, she will see it. See their God-given capacity to stand in Love, respond with Love, bring peace to their mother through Love, and improve the home experience. Her home life needs to improve, and you can help her improve it! Anger loses its seeming hold in the presence of Love.
Love to you.
“Healed of substance abuse and panic attacks” By Jeffrey Gresham Tinkham. From the September 2015 issue of The Christian Science Journal:
https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/h0wy1v7z7g?s=copylink
I didn’t find an article for the topic today, but did come across this one that could have been added to comments with reference to AA yesterday. It’s an inspiring testimony.
I grew up in Christian Science with a CS mother and grandmother and went to SS every week, read the lesson, was surrounded by loving, kind people in the church community. But at home my father (not CS) was angry, very controlling of everyone in the family and was a severe alcoholic. It was never talked about and no one in the church community knew about it. In my 20’s I went through a long period of anger and resentment about the hurtful denial I felt had taken place but only once I had society’s language for what I’d experienced. It was not a fruitful period! However my need to be freed from this anger ultimately became the door through which I rediscovered CS. What a blessing! I look back on the situation now and rather than seeing myself as a victim, I feel deep gratitude for the love of God and God’s Love that was demonstrated all around me. Although I was seemingly living in a dysfunctional and even dangerous situation, there was ultimately no harm done to me, nor my siblings who are all living fruitful, whole lives. And we all feel we had happy childhoods, as odd as that sounds given the seeming human circumstance. We also hold great love for our father. I credit Christian Science for the protection.
Anger is no more real nor able to cause harm than a cut or bee sting is; “ailments” that we would all likely deny right away. But the emotional hurt of a child can be even more mesmerizing than a physical wound.
I agree that being attentively present with, listening, showing compassion and care for this beautiful child in your care each Sunday, is very important. But also not fearing for the child. Completely trusting that she is in God’s care 24/7 and cannot be harmed by her mother’s anger. This approach doesn’t automatically preclude practical steps or action. Rather, being unwavering in knowing this Truth will illuminate the way forward. And showing as much love to the mother, of course! I wish my father could have experienced the love I felt at church.
we are the perfect designs of the Infinite Artist,…always.. even as Children?
Trauma during childhood can paint us ‘without’ the Beauty as if it’s worth a million bucks hanging on a gallery wall..Really? The same way Shock and Awe.. makes the headlines….I didn’t become a Christian Scientist..resenting the fact,’ They’ didn’t understand me, couldn’t and wouldn’t…
Thank God, for getting me ..down on my knees .. that i’m not as mortality seems.
“I didn’t want to stay on the old ride, but to get off the merry go round, ..I couldn’t imagine there is another View. …That anyone wanting to hear or acknowledge my old ways giving sympathy? or encouragement ..praise for getting on well.. it felt dismissive,…but didn’t know what else could be possible ..what could be uncovered.
The perception and perspective needs unlocking out of darkness to See .. “the Word.. “GOD “ what.. who.. where?.. in all, the Truth, beyond the seemingly mortal ”obvious” ..
Past the ‘dim’ wit of finite mind…..that cannot see and resists the Light. The Wonder, and if Saul felt that way.. until ‘Made’ blind of his past, ..to let go .. seeing in Spirit, We see, Paul.. the Divine reality we all are…the Shock and Awe of Christ speaking.. uncovering the Truth of Spirit … wow, the W.–onderfull O—bvious W-eeee,
WOW.. what a wonderful ride! Thank you C Science, MB. Eddy, and SpiritViewers !!
Thank you for your inspiration Evan! It was fun to hear your spiritual insight shared on a new Sentinel Watch where you were quoted