“Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.”
~ Niccolo Machiavelli
“Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” NLT
“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” NRSV
~ Jesus Christ, John 7:24
And if we look beneath the surface of mortal human experience, we see the spiritual reality of divine love supplying all need where only good is the outcome of every situation. Thank you Evan.
I have been grappling with threat of Islam in America and Sharia Law. so I took upon myself to read the Koran and some other supportive literature to see just what this threat was that could create so much fear. I discovered on a human level the threat can seem very real because the passages are there that would justify the perceived threat. But after some very committed metaphysical thought, I realized that God does not lose his status as omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent source of all being for one or another group of individual, he is the source of all self existent being and therefore only good is existent and anything separate from that is enticement to false belief. This for me is my greatest challenge, not to lose faith in spiritual reality for the lessor thought of a material, separate from all divine loving spiritual reality. And thus, looking beneath the surface of material belief lies the spiritual truth as Mary Baker Eddy discovered and shared with us. I am so profoundly grateful for her discovery and sharing.
NLV “Men cannot say they do not know about God. From the beginning of the world, men could see what God is like through the things He has made. This shows His power that lasts forever. It shows that He is God.” –Rom. 1:20
The great healer and spiritual teacher Mary Baker Eddy brings out that things are thoughts, and so to see the invisible thoughts behind the things is to see their true meaning and substance.
Everything in our rooms had to be thought first, then loved into existence. Outside the window the tree, sky, bird, had to be thought first, then loved into existence — or rather, as God is eternal Mind,– eternally known, eternally loved, eternally existent.
Once several heavy boards slammed down on my toes. Although the pain was excruciating, i focused on the fact that both the toes and the boards were actually thoughts, and the thought of the boards could not harm the thought of my cute little toes. The more it made sense, the more the pain subsided. When i took off my socks the next morning, my toes were perfect, not even bruised.
So to discern the invisible thought behind anything — and to realize that only God’s thought has authority, is not only to see truly, but to bring to light God’s ever-harmonious creation.
Thank you Diane and thank you a l l for your inspired comments.
But specially I love your comment, Diane, in the fourth paragraph
where you said that boards and your cute little toes are both thoughts.
And therefore they cannot do any harm to each other. Because one idea
can do no harm to another idea.
Thats a very nice and sweet idea to heal the situation.
Thank you Evan for your SpiritView of today.
The outcome of these simple but profound spiritual ideas are
so inspired and interesting, I had not imagined before all
the lovely comments.
Just realizing I have been doing something backwards
The first thing I do when having an encounter with someone is immediately go to personality, history, like and dislikes and then if I gain the presence of mind, remind my self to look at God in and as them….
Backwards….. unscientific ..
I would rather have a thought reflex to see immediately the child of God before me and then marvel at this and also understand, by careful observation, how their personality masks this….
Makes for a much caring person who can clearly understand the area of concern they may have, and effectively demonstrate for their benefit…. which would bring them closer to awareness of Truth
Love the way you have phrased this, Maximo. I think people sense immediately when someone approaches them with respect and some degree of approval, and then you have opportunity to bless them with your thought, letting the spirit guide you as to words and deeds. “Judging” would be about judging thought, therefore, not about judging people, and for me would be largely unconscious, the focus being on loving and following that inner guidance. Always enjoy your posts.
Wonderful thoughts to cherish and use as a template for our thoughts, Evan!
Josef- what an inspired approach to healing world fear and belief! Maximo, I always enjoy your posts. As far as personality masking one’s true and pure selfhood, I affirm I can’t be fooled by a false claim of God’s reflection. The FACT is we are spiritual- perfect. The BELIEF is we are the result of mortal birth, experiences etc. Beliefs are always untrue: facts never change.
Enjoy this beautiful day!!
What excellent and thoughtful posts you all have sent. Evan inspires this wonderful thinking and you all expand on it. With great appreciation.
I ditto Joan W. “What excellent and thoughtful posts you all have sent. Evan inspires this wonderful thinking and you all expand on it. With great appreciation.” Needed this today in particular.
I certainly appreciate and agree with all of the comments. “Love is reflected in Love.” (MBE)
This isn’t particularly spiritual, I guess, but I taught my kids when they encounter a new person and their behavior is setting off bells, pull your focus back like a camera lens and just watch like a movie, with no judgement. It helped them to not get drawn into mental garbage. The rest of the ideas came later. I still use this technique when I am caught off guard until I can get my spiritual bearings.
Thanks everyone for your replies and thank you Evan for today’s blog post.
Our discussion today makes me imagine what would happen if Jesus somehow time traveled and showed up to church on Sunday morning. How would we receive him? Would we look at his outward appearance and personality and not recognize him? Or would we look for his works and recognize them as having come from our Father? (John 10:25). “Personality is not the individuality of man. A wicked man may have an attractive personality” (SH 491:25).
So very true. Generally speaking judgments are made keeping in mind the outward appearances, seeing the mortal and material picture. But going beyond the material picture, rising above it and seeing the true and real picture and the spiritual reality,
requires a spiritual sense which is always right.
The moment we start seeing with our spiritual sense, the beauty and goodness becomes so evident. Then the question of being judgmental does not arise. “Judgement and justice belong to God.”