So, do you need matter to live? It’s a query that intrigued me recently.
Christian Science teaches that God is Life, God is Spirit, and thus Life is Spirit. The question naturally arises, “What role does matter play in supporting life?” Does it play any role at all? Or is the assumption that life is matter-dependent a big fraud, a deception?
Material sense constantly reinforces the belief that we need matter to live. The human mind identifies with a physical body for individuality, believes it needs food, water and air to survive, a shelter to live in and a planet earth to walk on. “Yep, life without matter is in impossibility,” mortal mind concludes.
But Jesus Christ proved the opposite. He came to teach humanity a spiritual view of life and existence that is contrary to common mortal assumptions.
When his dead crucified material body was placed in the tomb, he was not dead. He was alive and well working out the problem of being as always. If he was truly dead, he could not have resurrected. The very definition of dead is “No life.” Life does not birth out of death. The fact is, Jesus never died when he was crucified. He carried on spiritually, as always. He was always Spirit in action, even when people identified him as a physical body walking among the masses doing miracles. God was literally his life, and is our life too, as he taught.
And so it is, we are all spiritual right now. It is Spirit that empowers us, always.
Consider this question: If all spirit was stripped from your existence today, what would be left? Nothing would be left. You would have no consciousness, no thinking, no awareness, no activity, no vision, hearing, sense, mobility…no life at all. The fact is, Spirit is your life! Without spirit, there is nothing. And that’s exactly what matter is—nothing.
We are not dependent upon matter for existence, and we never have been. This is a demonstration that we make gradually, lest you are tempted to think, “Okay, I can quit eating and breathing now!” To take a step you are not scientifically prepared to demonstrate is not Science, but ignorance and naïve foolishness. But nonetheless, truth is truth. A first grade student of math does not disprove algebra because she has not mastered algebraic functions yet. The ability comes as the understanding grows.
But I find it spiritually stimulating, refreshing and encouraging when I remember that I am not dependent upon matter for existence. It forces me to challenge common assumptions about life in matter which left unchecked, hold me back from progressing spiritually as fast as I otherwise could. I remind myself that I am dependent upon Spirit for everything truly important to health and happiness. And so are you…
“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” Jesus Christ
Have a Spirit-filled day!
Would that apply to medicine or medical care? Should someone give it up before they are scientifically ready to demonstrate?
This is so inspiring and such a wonderful reminder of what Jesus came to teach us and is explained in our textbook, Science & Health. Thank you for such clear thoughts. Vicki
Hi Dennis,
Yes, it applies to medicine. If a person relying upon medicine thinks they are “giving up something” to stop taking the medicine, then they haven’t glimpsed much yet the Truth that saves. In truth, there is nothing to give up when releasing medicine because any effect is all placebo. But a patient needs to see that. They are not giving up anything at all, except for an illusion. And this is seen to the degree the patient understands true health to be spiritual supported and sustained by divine Love.
Wonderful! The Q & A diolog with Dennis that followed is also wonderful… this is what I have discovered and the discovery is continuing. I always look forward to your posts. Thank you. Namaste.
Thank you for the inspiring thoughts!
All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation.
I enjoy your thinking provoking posts Evan.
This morning while studying the lesson the thought came: the true concept of God’s man is right here where there seems to be a mortal concept of man.
Ualll that was so clear – that it is all about divine Mind’s conception of us all and the mortal mind lies about this truth of God’s creation.
So, I was challenging myself as lots of thoughts on material living were sitting there in my consciousness – and had so much fun to understand they can go away, be dismissed.
Happy day!
so, even though we don’t believe in accidents. There are none.
I still need to buckle my seat belt!
I think I got it.
But let’s see, then to the degree I still use medication, is the reflection of my faith, and how much I still embrace the mortal illusion.
I guess I will wait a bit longer to demonstrate, I notice I still sink when stepping in the bathtub for a bath. Dang!
woody
Yeah, Peter sunk in the water too…but he still was able to cure chronic disease and raise the dead with his prayers. So, finding the freedom you seek might not be as distant as you think! chuckles…
WHEN ONE OF MY CHILDREN WAS ABOUT TWO HE CAME CRYING TO ME THAT HE HAD AN EARACHE. I SAT ON THE BED AND HELD HIM. I HAD BEEN THINKING ALONG THE LINES THAT WE DON’T ACTUALLY LIVE IN THE MATTER BODY. SO I CONSCIOUSLY REALIZED THAT HE HAD A SPIRITUAL IDENTITY. WHEN I SPOKE TO HIM I LOOKED A FEW INCHES AWAY FROM HIM, TO MAKE CLEAR TO MY OWN THOUGHT THAT I WAS NOT SPEAKING TO MATTER. INSTANTLY HE WAS QUIET, AND THE EAR DRAINED, AND SHORTLY HE WENT BACK TO PLAYING. THANKS FOR REMINDING ME OF THIS HEALING.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE, AMONG SOME CS LADIES, THEY CALL THE BODY THEIR DOLL. AND SAY SUCH THINGS AS WELL, I GUESS I’LL GIVE MY DOLL A BATH, OR I THINK I’LL PUT MY DOLL TO BED NOW. MUCH AS YOU WOULD REGARD YOUR DOG OR CAT.AS SEPARATE BUT STILL CARED FOR, AND NOT THEIR REAL SPIRITUAL IDENTITY.
Evan,
Thanks so much for all your postings. This one bring to mind a question that has been lurking below the surface of my thinking for a while now.
You say that it would be “naive foolishness” for anyone to give up food or air at this point in our progress. But, Mrs. Eddy also recommends in one place that we continue to rely on surgeons in certain instances (such as setting broken bones).
How are we to judge what “demonstrations” are naive to attempt? If a problem persists over a long period of time or even appears to worsen, is it “foolish” to continue with CS treatment? I appears that most Christian Scientist regard the spiritual care of their teeth as something that would be foolish. Is it?
It appears that some demonstrations are just beyond what we presently understand or can understand. There aren’t a lot of testimonies about folks being raised from the dead.
I’d be interested in your thoughts on discerning which demonstrations we would be wise not to attempt.
Thanks again for your get blog!
To above,
You make the demonstrations you know you can make. That pretty much says it. There is no blind-faith or wishful thinking about CS demonstration. A student acts upon their understanding, and understanding brings along with it a certain confidence, trust and faith that things will turn out well, and they do.
Now sometimes a student doesn’t have the full understanding needed at the beginning of their prayers to heal a problem, but they gain it as they pray and move toward their demonstration. I think one simply has to be very honest with themselves and where they are in understanding and demonstration. If there is an element of fear, there is more praying to do until that fear is gone! When the fear is gone, healing happens. Pray to conquer that fear with an increased understanding of God’s omnipotence, and you’ll be in a good place.
Raising the dead is not a fair comparison. That’s one of the last demonstrations one makes in the ascending scale of spiritual understanding. You can heal a whole lot of diseases and ailments without having raised the dead! One step at a time gets us to our destination.
Y
I want to share this with you, which I found in a book written by
Paramahansa Yogananda from the Far East called The Second Coming of Christ Volume l1 in which he writes about a woman named Therese Neumann,a peasant girl of Bavaria who, in 1924 did not eat or drink. She has eaten no solid food since
1923, except water or a little fruit juice. When the author saw Therese in 1935, she had lived without food or water for 12 years, but she looked as
fresh as a flower. As she said, “I live by God’s light.”
She was moderately active, tending her garden, everything in her body
working normally.
And another woman, a Bengali saint, Giri Bala had lived without eating for more than 56 years when the author visited her in 1936. She told him that ever since her guru had initiated her into a technique that freed the body
form dependence on physical food, she had been able to live entirely on Cosmic energy. In all those years of non-eating, she had never been sick or experienced disease. She said she did this “to prove that man is Spirit. To
demonstrate that by divine advancement he can gradually learn to live by the Eternal Light and not by food.”
Then he also mentioned other saints who lived without eating: St.
Lidwina of Schiedam, Saint Catherine of Siena, Dominica Lazarri, Blessed Angela of Foligno and Louise Lateau. He also said that St. Nicholas of Flue
(the 15th century hermit whose impassioned plea for union saved the Swiss Federation) was an abstainer of food for twenty years.