While hiking near Yellowstone last month, a guide told my group that forest rangers were quick to clear campgrounds and hiking trails of dead animals. And periodically, campgrounds and trails that had a dead carcass would be closed for the season to protect future campers and hikers.
Closing a campground or trail for several months because of a dead animal that had been removed seemed odd to us, so we asked why? And the metaphysical implications of his answer have kept me thinking ever since.
Our leader explained that dead carcasses attract predators, and the predators can come for weeks after the event, detecting the smell of death lingering in the air for miles around even though the dead animal was gone. Unsuspecting campers and walkers could be victims. So, the forest service found it best to keep those areas cleared of people until the scent was totally gone.
I had read in a museum that a bear’s sense of smell is several times more powerful than a bloodhound’s. Wow! I thought. Smells humans think are long gone, are still present to the more acute nose.
Metaphysically speaking, I saw large lessons in this scenario. Most importantly, it’s important that we absolutely not harbor “death beliefs” in our thinking if we don’t want predators attracted to our campsite!
And by death beliefs, I mean any suggestion of lack or loss.
For example, have you ever gotten depressed or feeling hopeless and your circumstances just got worse and worse? This is a classic case of one feeling of lack attracting another, and the picture of hopelessness escalates until checked. Or, one may start to believe they are old and aging and susceptible to loss of health. One health problem occurs, then another… This is another example of one death belief attracting another. The predators of dismay, discouragement, apathy, gloom and doom, doubt, suspicion, fear, and resignation would pounce upon and annihilate hope, confidence, courage, faith, trust and fruition.
Setting up camp in a safe place
The lesson I learn from this is that we need to stay extra alert to keep our campground, or consciousness, clean of any hint of death. Any suggestion, claim or assertion of decline, lack, or loss needs to be instantly eliminated from the premises. From our thinking! And promptly replaced with the purity and wholesomeness of Life!
From a mental point of view, we can choose the site where we wish to set up our tent. And we can choose the campground of Life, where death is unknown; there are no predators to fear, and no prey to be found. Love is all.
Wow! This is incredibly helpful. Now I can’t quit thinking about it.
I really never thought about death beliefs in terms of just being any suggestion of loss or lack. I always assumed it was dark, sinister, hidden or complex but realize now that idea is fed by centuries-old superstitions and traditions and film/literature.
Glad you went on vacation — this has been great stuff!!
Hi Evan: Very helpful on several levels. Thanks! Peggy
This is an interesting analogy, Evan, between the long-lingering campsite odors when death is involved, and our lingering mental campsite aromas where thoughts are involved. I suppose a temporary cover-up of the scent by an aerosol spray-can would be equivalent, here, to a transient change of thought for the better that doesn’t reach into our habitual thought patterns.
It can take some mental discipline, blessed discipline, to keep our thoughts “stayed on Thee,” i.e. to keep our mental aroma habitually one of good-will and kindness and honesty and peace, plus being content with simple food and raiment, etc. But this kind of thinking doesn’t, as you say, attract predators.
You sure keep your mind stayed on collecting meat for your teaching ministry. This is another good one.
I was thinking of Psalm 91 as I read this entry, like verses 2-3: “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.”
To Peggy…you are welcome!
And to anon…I like your analogy of trying to cover-up a foul smell with an aerosol can. Have to get rid of the cause for genuine safety…
This is so good Evan. We’ve recently had a quite young practitioner pass on in very untimely and difficult circumstances – it has been challenging to say the least to all of us in our faithful little church. Today they held a service for her. I chose not to go but many did and after I spoke to one who was there I have been feeling that lingering smell of death and dispair, in spite of the fact that I certainly know, at least from an intellectual sense, that as Jesus proved, death is Scientifically unreal. But the ‘smell’ certainly does seem to clamour for acceptance even for a long time after the so-called event. To expunge this human history from ones’ thought does not seem easy in a case like this.
One thing I that seems pertinent to me is that having a ‘memorial’ can be sort of like all the animals hanging around the place where the kill took place. It surly tries to keep the ‘event’ fresh and ‘real’ in thought. Better to walk away; not revisit at all.
Would love your thoughts on this particular circumstance.
Thanks so much for writing this at this time!! It is really quite a help.
To anon above,
I don’t care for attending funeral services myself, but occasionally find it best to do so. When I go, it’s for the others, usually to support the family, or even, in many cases, I’ve been the one officiating the service.
When I go, my goal is to be a healing presence, to uplift thought from death to Life. When I officiate memorials, my whole thrust of thought is to celebrate Life, to break the mesmeric belief of loss and help people be free of their grief.
I figure if your goal is to heal, and you’re motivated by Love, you’re protected.
Thank you for this wonderful post. I can certainly relate to falling prey to a cycle of doom and gloom and having it seem to manifest and grow in the human experience. Stopping that trend seems difficult.
The question of death is so difficult. Because when we see it humanly, we say there is no death and that person is still going on. I must lack faith because I find that hard to swallow; especially when the person died under difficult circumstance. I wish it were true that the moment you die, you discover that you are not dead. But if this were true, why do we value demonstration so much? Why don’t we all think, “Great! that person passed on.”
What’s most discouraging to me is when you read a testimony where someone was healed of some disease and “demonstrated life”, only to find out that a little later, they passed on.
Hoping for your comments to “anon – 2:03 pm.” thanks
Death is the last enemy to be conquered, meaning the last error we will demonstrate over. In the meantime, we demonstrate over it in degrees. Everytime we conquer a sin, we conquer death to a degree. And all sin is conquered eventually, either here, or hereafter. Life goes on. It never ends, even to the on-going relative sense of things. Jesus proved this. His body was laid in the tomb, but Jesus was not dead. He was alive working out the problem of being. Three days later he picked the body up and walked it out the grave for all to see that he had never died or been killed.
We are consciousness. Spiritual consciousness is immortal. It is never killed, and it never dies.
The ultimate demonstration is learning we live in Spirit, which transcends all material sense of things. This is the Christ consciousness that is eternal life.
We strive to conquer disease now because it has to be conquered sooner or later for everyone. Here is better than later. If it happens to be “later” the demonstration still will be made. But sooner is better.
Would it make a difference if Jesus had not come back in human form?
Some people don’t believe that he did, literally. There are things in the New Testament and old that just seem impossible: people turning into pillars of salt, burning bushes, fire not burning things, voices coming down from heaven. Some physical scientists say that these things are not possible, and they are not scientific because you can’t repeat the phenomena to prove it. So if Jesus didn’t really come back, would your premise still stand?
I was fascinated to read that there are many gospels out there, one according to Mary Magdalene, one of Judas, and who’s to tell if they are true or not. But it’s all in the realm of faith, and there’s so many different faiths out there that all ahve different conclusions.
The part that’s always confused me is that in the Old Testament, many of the strange phenomena is attributed to God doing it, but it’s certainly different from the way Christian Science understands God. (the OT portraying God so humanistically and as knowing man as mortal and material) So maybe those things didn’t really happen, and if those things didn’t, why would the New Testament be any different?
And why aren’t there more people who can ascend? Man is not less spiritual now than before, are they? And certainly others can demonstrate to the point that Jesus did, since he did say that anything he does, we can do too. But here again, my faith falters. Just like children who faithfully believe in a Santa Claus but never see him actually coming down their chimney (despite the fact that all the movies out at that time tell them to believe and it’s true!) we all know that it’s not. The state of our world and earth is such that we could surely use another reminder, another visit from the savior, to steer us right. The fact that we don’t get this helps reminds me of the child staying awake on Christmas Eve.
Also, MBE writes that once you pass over you can’t come back because it’s a different realm of existence. But Jesus did it…or did he?!?!? (I don’t know how she can make those statements without really knowing)
This reminds me of the recent book of Mother Theresa’s letters which she never wanted the public to see. What a shock to learn how tormented she was in her faith, and how she came to doubt the existence of God. I guess when you have witnessed so much suffering firthand, it’s hard to see the promises in the Bible as anything but fiction.
I never gathered from the news that Mother Theresa’s faith capitulated. She only had moments of doubt, which all great leaders have. That is not unusual. But she prevailed. She did not lose her faith. The moments of doubt were part of the struggle. Most people don’t even struggle. Many just give up. She did not. She struggled and won. Jesus did too. We all must.
The promises of the Bible are fact, not fiction. And for those willing to struggle with the issues of Life fairly, they reap the promises.
To anon above,
You are full of questions!
Jesus did come back. This is not a question of dispute among the vast majority of thinkers and scholars. A few skeptics, usually atheists or their kin throw postulating theory out into the wind of public thought, but they do not have credibility with the vast majority of people who have studied the facts.
You query as to whether another Savior, like Jesus, should appear to confirm his testimony and promises. Actually, this has happened, and exactly in the way Jesus said it would. CS has appeared, just as he promised. He said the Spirit of truth would come and teach us all things. This has happened in the form of CS. CS has been received today in the same way Jesus was received in his time, with doubt and skepticism but many who should know better. But in time, Jesus’ prevailed, and CS will too.
As to the efficacy of CS, it is not in doubt. It’s been proven by millions. I’ve experienced incredible blessings in my own life from putting CS into practice. To go for decades relying solely upon Truth for healing is an incredible privilege and blessing, and to see its blessings for one’s own children too. I do not pretend to understand it all, but what I do understand is truly Wonderful!
I recently listened to your podcast on TMC Youth where you talked about the healing of the nail in your foot; how your teacher told you that you would die unless you got a tetanus shot, but it was healed through prayer.
What a wonderful and impressive healing. I suspect many people would have taken the teacher’s advice and gotten the shot out of fear.
My question is what you would have done if it didn’t get better and in fact got infected and grew worse? At what point do you resort to medical help? And is it right to turn to medical help if the healing is slow to come? It seems to me that it doesn’t help the cause of Christian Science to have people pass on trying to make a demonstration. Does your healing practice heal every problem successfully? And what is so wrong about following the teacher’s advice and praying also, especially if it helps to alleviate the fear?
To anon above on nail in foot podcast…
You ask the “What if question…” As I explained in the podcast, there was no “What if” in my mind once I had reasoned the situation through spiritually. Whether to go to the doctor or see it through spiritually is what I reasoned out in the the early stages of the experience, and I continued to reason it out until there was no more “What if” in my thinking. And I believe that largely contributed to the success I saw.
If one is asking “What if” they are not yet sure they can be healed spiritually, and they need to keep reasoning on that subject until they find peace of mind about it. Because the “What if” question saps our faith and trust in God. It means we’re really still believing in the error, that it’s real, and this fear could be the whole crux of the problem that needs to be resolved before a healing can occur.
I explained in the podcast why I chose not to go to a doctor, so won’t repeat that answer here. A tetanus shot may have had a short term protective effect, but in the long term, it would have left me even more fearful because I wouldn’t have conquered the real enemy to my health, which was not rust, but fear of it. A tetanus shot would have acted like a narcotic, temporarily lulling me into a false sense of safety. I wanted long term benefits, so chose the spiritual route.
Hope that helps!
To the person who wrote, “It seems to me that it doesn’t help the cause of Christian Science to have people pass on trying to make a demonstration”:
I agree. We all have to be honest to where we are. I don’t have Prose Works in front of me at the moment, but there’s something in there to the effect that “the way is absolute divine Science; walk ye in it … but remember that truth is demonstrated by degrees” and don’t beat yourself up if you find yourself “guided … into the use of temporary means,” as the Manual puts it. In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy also advises us to “emerge gently from matter into Spirit.”
In other words, don’t bite off more than you can chew. I have several friends who have had dental work done without the help of Novocain. I’m not there yet, and I know it … so I had a shot the last time I had a tooth filled.
It was disappointing, but I didn’t get too wound up about it. After all, third-graders typically aren’t very good at calculus, either, but that’s not an indictment of calculus — or of the children. They simply haven’t developed the higher consciousness they need to understand calculus. The key is to keep working, knowing that you will reach that point of understanding someday, and not give up on math just because you forgot your multiplication tables and had to use a calculator once or twice.
Excellent observations Emily. Thanks for sharing.
The ultimate solution for any problem we ever face is always spiritual. But we often have much learning to get there. One step at a time. We do what we can do, and always keep striving to grow and progress. There may be some “suffer it to be so now” decisions along the way to preserve the greater good, but God is still going to give us everything we need to arrive successfully at the final destination of Life in Spirit!
To Emily,
That is an excellent point, but not one that is often talked about. (that Truth is demonstrated in degrees). To many people, healing cancer, or getting out of a terrible financial crisis, or overcoming some huge adversity IS like a calculus problem. So it’s not much comfort to know that we may not be able to demonstrate over this. Sometimes I think there is false hope…like where Mary Eddy says “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need”. She never said, but only if you are at the understanding of spiritual calculus. I have known countless people who clung to this statement shunning all means of help to make a demonstration that was beyond the “degrees” you talked about. That must be why so many people find difficulty in trusting God to the extent that Christian Science does. Most people want that demonstration, and are counting on it, now, and not at some future point on different plane of existence from family and friends.
I can make complete sense out of Eddy’s statement, “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need,” when I understand that the primary human need is always spiritual. It’s when people think their primary need is material, that they get confused as to how this can be true.
Evan,
Why does she not say “…meet every spiritual need” then? When I think about human needs, I think of food, shelter, employment,companionship, freedom from pain and disease. Human needs apply to the human experience. It’s not wonder people get confused.
She said “human need” because that’s what she meant. Divine Love does meet every human need, but the human need is always spiritual.
Jesus said it to, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” When we get our priorities right, and realize that all needs are truly spiritual, we find our human needs met as a consequence. It works that way.
The spiritual fullness we discover in spiritual understanding manifests itself outwardly as a full experience, replete with adequate supply.
A place to live, money to pay justifiable bills, friends, etc, are effects not cause. God is the source. We need to go to the source first, then we see the effect.
Yes … and I think that Love has a wonderful way of meeting us where we are.
A few years ago, I discovered an alarming physical symptom. I hadn’t studied Christian Science since I was a little girl, but my first instinct was to call a practitioner.
My husband, who didn’t know much about CS at the time, was uncomfortable with that idea, so I reluctantly agreed to undergo a minor surgical procedure to correct the problem.
Although I wasn’t wild about the idea of surgery, I could still see divine Love meeting my needs through the whole experience, as the procedure was quick and easy, the amount of medical intervention involved was minimal, and the recovery period was short and painless.
Divine Love certainly does meet our needs, and it meets them in the way that is most appropriate for our individual situations, though we may not always realize it at the time.
Boy, I can relate to this discussion!
I spent a lot of years wondering why Love didn’t come to my rescue and meet what I thought were my human needs and being very frustrated with these same arguments. It wasn’t until I became willing to look at myself and my life from a spiritual point of view rather than a material one that the problems have been healed or melted away.
Just one example.
A year ago I was several thousand dollars in debt with no hope of relief. I just got deeper in every month. As I prayed about this it was pointed out to me somewhere along the way that money was the “symbol” of supply – not the source. As I began to understand God as the source of supply it changed how I looked at my job. I began to see that my job didn’t give me my supply — Love’s supply gave me my job. Knowing that my job was one way that God’s love was tangible to me made me begin to appreciate it in a way I had not before. I began to do it with a different spirit and did a better job. I also found myself forgiving family members who I felt had cheated me out of my rightful inheritance, in fact, everything that humanly would appear to be security had been torn away from me. Forgiving became easy to do once I became convinced that supply was spiritual not material. The sense of loss fell away. I learned supply and security had never been in matter to begin with so it couldn’t be stripped away.
Because I am a contract worker my salary didn’t change, but my habits did. Each month when I sat down to pay bills I first prayed earnestly to remind myself of the present spiritual fact that God was the unlimited source of supply and the $$ were only a symbol of it. If I needed something I bought it — if I didn’t I waited and never felt deprived and for several months I never had anything left over. However, one month last spring I did have more which quite surprised me, the next month (and every month since) the same thing. I really can’t tell you how, but within about eight months I had erased nearly $10,000 in debts without a change in my salary or my bills and in fact I had committed myself to paying a fairly large extra bill upfront every month during that time. Also during that time one old debt I hadn’t paid on in some time that had hung over me for years was totally forgiven out of the blue by the person it was owed… just called up one night and said it’s done. At Christmas some friends unexpectedly sent me a plane ticket to spend the holidays with them. I experienced abundance in many other ways.
This is still an ongoing demonstration for me, but what I learned was that Love had been supplying and meeting this need all along, but I had been so focused on what I thought should be happening I couldn’t see the good that was there all along. It was the change of perspective that made the meeting of the needs evident.
There was no spiritual magic wand and maybe for some the problem could have been solved instantaneously, but I do not regret what I learned from the persistence and perseverance it took to make this demonstration. It strengthened me spiritually in ways that are still paying huge dividends in other aspects of my life.
And yes, my bosses have improved too…….
To Bigsky,
Wow! Excellent experience and story. Thanks for sharing…