Whoa, I was just hit by a thought that has my mental gears a churnin’. I was discussing how to avoid accidents and injuries with a friend.
And it’s this:
Injuries and accidents are not proof that chance and risk are real. They are evidence that someone believed in a possibility of chance and risk.
I need to think more about what this means and what it implies for daily thinking and spiritual growth, but I believe there is much truth to appreciate here.
For decades, I’ve noticed some people are a lot more prone to accidents than others, and they have different attitudes about life than others too.
I remember when I managed employees on the family farm that I learned to keep one worker in particular off the big equipment because he was always breaking down whenever he went out to the fields. And the break downs were not necessarily stupid things he did. They could be wheels falling off, or pulleys freezing up, motor failures, and other incidents that would be written off as a normal part of wear and tear on the equipment. But the break downs happened so often with him, and not with others, that I eventually decided there was something in his thought that was causing all the unexpected problems.
I believe Mary Baker Eddy glimpsed the solution for preventing accidents when she wrote,
“Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God’s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony.
“Under divine Providence there can be no accidents, since there is no room for imperfection in perfection.”
Realistically, I don’t expect to totally demonstrate over the belief of chance in a day, a week, or a year, because the world is so prolific with faith in it, and I’ve probably many places in thought that need to be examined to totally eradicate any faith in risk from my consciousness. But I will hold to the ideal and rise to it as fast as I can.
Especially in my tennis game…oh man, do I have plenty of opportunity to eliminate the belief of chance there!!
And let’s include general “klutzy-ness” in this whole belief of accidents, blunders, goof-ups, etc.
It has gotten so bad that someone gave all this
a name: “Murphy,” and his stupid so-called laws!
Folks, let’s REBEL!! MUTINY! CAST HIM
–IT!–OUT… FOR GOOD!!
It is, after all, nothingness, for how can there
be more than Good and His Allness?
And let’s not forget to handle the belief in “good chance” as well … people playing the Lottery, or gambling … “risking” their money to get more money, believing there is the chance they will increase their security and well being.
With the mental tide for gambling as a source of happiness increasing, it seems that we would also see an increase in “accident” being made manifest. Good OR bad “chance” is all the same erroneous belief.
Aren’t we so grateful for Christian Science, with its teaching that we all have One Source for happiness and safety, for health and harmony, for abundance and affluence? God, divine and ever present Love, is always a sure thing! No chance about it!
Good post for today, we are having snow, freezing rain, and then more snow. Often I stay home because the thought of driving in such weather conditions just frightens me. Staying home doesn’t make my workplace happy or me happy. I really want to use wisdom and see progress. But some weather just seems so all-encompassing and over-whelming. Any thoughts?
The first enemy to address is fear of the weather. Ideally, you don’t want to stay home out of fear, or go in fear. When fear is out of the picture, we make out best decisions.
If staying home is becoming a problem at work, then there is a higher demonstration to be made. There is a way to demonstrate over the weather conditions and still stay safe.
God gives you intelligence, wisdom, foresight, ability, patience, skill and capacity to navigate trying weather.
Don’t let fear hold you back, but don’t drive in fear either. With God, all things are possible. Strive for more dominion, peace of mind and control in your thinking, and that will translate into the same qualities expressed when driving.
Evan, “that I eventually decided there was something in his thought that was causing all the unexpected problems” Isn’t the problem in our thought? How we see any so-called belief or claim? If there is only one God reflecting one Man which is perfect, then there is no accident or “problem in thought” as there is only one consciousness, not many as that would be dualism. Did not Jesus see the perfect man where others saw a mortal man or material belief outside the Divine consciousness? Just wondering.
To above,
Yes, to take the metaphysical reasoning further, you are correct. But I was not that far along in my understanding to figure that out and make that demonstration at that time. Was a long time ago…
This article was so helpful to me tonight. I caught myself saying “Good luck” to someone recently and I was so embarrassed because I KNOW I don’t believe in luck! It was a gentle reminder of the attention needed on handling the belief of chance.
Thank you Evan!
Evan, Thanks for your answer above, the reason I responded to it is I am dealing with what you were many years ago so I wanted to make sure I was on the right track. Thanks.