Reality recognition

April 15, 2021 | 43 comments

Healing is all about recognizing reality.

When praying for relief, there is a temptation at times to think that one must get rid of a problem to be free. Whereas the key to healing is recognizing the spiritual reality that proves the problem is unreal.

Jesus Christ taught, “Know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). He didn’t say, “Try to get rid of evil and make it go away.” There is a huge difference.

To focus on a getting rid of a problem may build evil up in thought as real, true, and powerful. Whereas in Truth, there is no problem. God is All. God is good. All is good. The problem goes away in a recognition of God’s allness.

It’s impossible to be conscious of suffering and spiritual harmony at the same time.

Suffering is awareness of evil. Harmony is a consciousness of God.

Evil is unreality. God, good, is reality.

To be healed of suffering, focus on having a consciousness of God. As light dispels darkness, a consciousness of reality dispels unreality.

Recognize reality and enjoy its bliss. That’s when the healing comes.

43 thoughts on “Reality recognition”

    1. Wonderful ideas, Evan. Thank you. I took notes-as I often do when something resonates like I’ve struck gold! ✨✨✨✨
      Thank you Angie- for sharing the article above. I often read what you post and send it off to share with others!

  1. Thank you so much for this, Evan. It good to be reminded that we start with God and not with the problem!

  2. Thanks, Evan. Stop focusing on a problem, rather focus on reality. A dear practitioner used to say
    God’s allness is perfect elimination.

    Angie, thank you for the article. Wonderful!

  3. Thank you Evan, perfect timing for me today. Angie thanks also for the wonderful complementary article.

  4. Staying with a problem would be
    like trying to take a hot air balloon
    trip while being tethered to the
    ground.

  5. This is very helpful for me today as I find it necessary to break a false belief of health and well being at present. So, thank you Evan especially for the line that it is the consciousness of the real which dispels the unreal. I have to dig deeper into the healing power of Truth and Love.
    I must add also how helpful your link is today too Angie. Full of beautiful statements and guidance for prayer. I ( maybe stupidly) put a comment on a lecture on u-tube as it said so much to me. But today I find a somewhat harsh / rude comment from a third person. What to do? But there’s a line in the article ‘wake up to reality’ today which states..’ no suggestion of the carnal mind can deprive us of joy and fruition” . Enough said….Divine Love encompasses all.❣️

    1. I find it helpful, Barbara, when someone says something unkind or rude, to think that:
      “when error speaks, nothing has been said”. Evil is impersonal, it has no identity,
      whereas good is the reflection of the one infinite Person, God. That always helps me.

      1. I think it was worse because it was slating Christian Science Maggie, and my love of its teachings. Thank you for sending your thoughts on dealing with such situations. It’s very helpful and supportive.x

  6. So appreciate this strong reminder to recognize the present reality and to not let evil, in any form, try to claim attention. So helpful, Evan. And Angie, the article you shared has reinforced the ideas Evan shared. Thank you both, and all who share comments.

  7. Thank you. This vlog today couldn’t have come at a better time! With pleasure will I tackle my day and as you said on another day, “Love God more and worry less.”

  8. This is great. But why does her chapter on prayer focus so much on the sinful mortal? Making moral mind seem real and aggressive? Having trouble with this. Feeling buried in sin.

    1. Thanks for sharing this question.
      Best sometimes to start with Gratitude which facilitates Love, such as being grateful Mrs Eddy was led to share all these inspired metaphysical tools, so we are endowed with every ability to follow our Christian path to Love God with all our hearts.
      -helpful to reset thought with making a ‘grateful list’, which helps get our attention back to our natural thoughts -centered on Love (back in the Kingdom of Heaven, buoyed by & recognizing God’s tender, constant care).

      ‘Love frees from error’s thrall.
      -Love is liberation.

      Love bids all discord cease,
      Conquering sin, enthroning peace.
      Love, Love alone is power.’
      [Hymn 179]

      &
      “Love & gratitude
      should dwell
      in every heart
      each day if the year’
      [Manual 60:15-17,
      Easter Observances]

    2. Ali,
      One of the most challenging demonstrations is learning who we truly are. That is because as a child we anticipated lovely things, like Mother’s hugs, good night stories, walks, learning, fun!

      What has happened to that child in us? As adults we are continually presented with erroneous pictures of inharmonious goings on. As students of Christian Science we learn to look away from those inharmonious events. We recognize only good, in everything, mostly in our selves.

      Reading Science and Health, as most of us have experienced, messages each of us differently. It tends to speak differently as it unfolds an individual message to each of us. If the message to you suggests emphasis on sinful mortal belief, then it’s time to know that sin can, will and must be eliminated. Sin isn’t a part of anyone. It is error to be replaced with the child like trust we had in our Mother’s arms. You will have answers as you forge on through the Science that our dear leader sacrificed to deliver to us throughout her tire life here.

      Help yourself to this original poem, with all our lovingkindness, you are free from sin.

      I opened my Bible,
      Looking for a message from above.
      The Saints of old through the verse they ent,
      Images of God’s dear Love.
      I studied line and verse
      Looking at a certain one
      Enlightened, uplifted.
      Then looking back, I found it gone!
      It came to me through out my care,
      I had read words that were never there.
      Spoken gently in mind alone,
      The reality of our real home.
      It said in secret to me,
      “As long as I was, you were perfect and free!
      You never began, will never end.
      Every step you take I will defend”

      1. I am always grateful when you share your thoughts David. This was especially wonderful for me.
        Thank you so so much.

  9. I am realizing that C.S. seems difficult to demonstrate when we study to make ourselves and our thinking more spiritual INSTEAD of realizing that we ALREADY are spiritual. That should be our starting point. Thank you Angie for sharing that article. And Evan, for reminding us every day of what is Truth.

    1. Amen to we are already spiritual. I still remind myself I don’t need to become spiritual. Amen again. We are already spiritual.

    2. D.P. what you said is so true. To try to make our thinking more spiritual means there is a belief that we and our thoughts can be more or less spiritual at different times. It is a tricky business, we need to watch out for this lie because when we are feeling crummy or our thoughts seem to be in the gutter of mortality it is verrrry tempting to think that is what’s really going on. But we can start with the truth, that we are already spiritual, made that way permanently by God. Our thoughts naturally gravitate to and find their home in Truth. We can’t do anything to make that be so — it is so.

      1. Rose, thank you so much for expanding on D.P’s comment. “To try to make our thinking more spiritual means there is a belief that we and our thoughts can be more or less spiritual at different times.” “Feeling crummy” is not possible when we are already spiritual, Thank you Evan for the continued blogs and to the commenters for their insights, poems, etc. They are always so helpful.

  10. I enjoy everyone’s comments, they are so helpful and up-lifting. The past two days I seemed to struggle with a headache. I kept thinking about it from a material standpoint and it wasn’t until I realized I wasn’t really dealing with a headache, but an incident that happened with a neighbor. In reality I couldn’t suffer from a headache anymore than my neighbor could upset my day. Once I humbled myself to correct my thought and feel only love for this neighbor the headache vanished within moments. Like a blanket lifted off me. I’ve never had an experience like this before. It’s always important to stay in reality as a spiritual idea not touched by any error or be hypnotized to hold onto anything ungodlike. I am grateful for this experience and for this blog. Onward Christian soldiers!

    1. Carrie thanks for your beautiful testimony about the unreality of headaches.

      I have been dealing with a false belief of so-called migraine headaches for a long time. I “had” one yesterday. The pain is sometimes very aggressive and distracts me from being able to rest my thoughts with God and see the higher truth of my spiritual existence. Mortal mind always tells me a lie that I can’t pray successfully about these headaches. Last night there was a good amount of progress in being able to address this lie and I am grateful. Evan tells us that we judge progress by how spiritually uplifted or connected to God we feel as we pray, and we don’t judge progress by measuring material changes (see March 29 SpiritView – Checking for Progress)

      Thank you Evan, we need many reminders to not to be tricked into beginning with the “problem” or seeing it as something real that must be removed.

      Thank you M for the image of the hot air balloon and Angie for your continued sharing of helpful articles.

      1. Before my husband and I married, we were both counselors at summer camps in N Michigan. We were able to get together now and then.. He asked me on one of our dates “what is a “ green headache”? I said I never heard of it before. A speech therapist from Texas he worked with complained constantly about it. With her Texan accent discussed, it was revealed she was talking about mi”graine” headaches. We laughed about it and when he told her, she laughed too! Incidentally it was never mentioned the rest of the summer. Go Green!! Our college motto..

  11. This is big if we really want to be healers! For me it’s all in accepting this paragraph towards the beginning of the post:
    “When praying for relief, there is a temptation at times to think that one must get rid of a problem to be free. Whereas the key to healing is recognizing the spiritual reality that proves the problem is unreal.”
    Wow! How simple is that, really, if we let it be in thought. It reminds me of a quote from “Science and Health” in our lesson this week on “Doctrine of Atonement” that I have been clinging to:
    “The man of sorrows best understood the nothingness of material life and intelligence and the mighty actuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or Christian Science which armed him with Love.” S&H 52:19

    Does anyone know how to successfully print the daily blog? I see a print option but it doesn’t do anything when I click on it. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

    1. Hmmm…the print button works really well when I click on it. A new page opens up and then the print option appears. I’m wondering if something is blocking it on your PC?

      1. Thank you. I tried to print from my phone which I do a lot and that didn’t work. Then I tried from my tablet, and that worked.

  12. Awakening each morning to “reality” is
    A goal to achieve. Thanks for. Rousing us
    To our only true being, Evan and Angie and all.

  13. Thank you Evan. From time to time I get to demonstrate this in a fun way! 🙂 I will have someone call me convinced their credit card has been charged for something they did not order. Sometimes when they call they are very convinced of this belief. I ask for a couple of pieces of information from them to look it up and then let them know what they purchased. It is fun to hear the change in them. The self-righteousness just melts away and all of a sudden they become very humble and apologetic and happy! The lie is dissolved because the truth is realized. All ill feelings dissipate and there is a sense of gratitude. But, how to apply this to a situation that seems “physical”? A couple of times in the last couple of months, I have been able to demonstrate it. The thought (suggestion) comes that I feel weak or ill and that I am going to get sick but, I recognize this as a suggestion (and not truth). Once I recognize it as only a suggestion, I realize I can reject that suggestion because God never made sickness, weakness or illness. So, it is not something I can reflect or experience as God’s child. Well, woohoo! Sometimes I have to remind that thought-suggestion that it is not real and eventually it dissipates into its native nothingness. However, I have to “know” that that thought is not real – only a suggestion. I have to “know” that regardless of world thought telling me a suggestion like that must be real that it really is not real – I have a choice. I have to know I have a choice. Thank you Mary Baker Eddy for revealing this to us! And, thank you God for creating us in your perfection and not susceptible to sickness, sin or death!

  14. Evan, Thank you! This is perfect to clarify the approach I need to take in my praying/studing right now. It’s helpful, needed, and appreciated . To begin rightly is so important. Thank you to those who share and comment as well. Love and blessings to all.

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