Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures Part 18

G.o.d and nature

In one sense G.o.d is identical with nature, but this na- 119:18 ture is spiritual and is not expressed in matter. The law- giver, whose lightning palsies or prostrates in death the child at prayer, is not the divine ideal 119:21 of omnipresent Love. G.o.d is natural good, and is repre- sented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should be regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature 119:24 of Spirit, G.o.d.

The sun and Soul

In viewing the sunrise, one finds that it contradicts the evidence before the senses to believe that the earth 119:27 is in motion and the sun at rest. As astron- omy reverses the human perception of the movement of the solar system, so Christian Science re- 119:30 verses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes body tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, who is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it 120:1 seems otherwise to finite sense. But we shall never under- stand this while we admit that soul is in body or mind in 120:3 matter, and that man is included in non-intelligence.

Soul, or Spirit, is G.o.d, unchangeable and eternal; and man coexists with and reflects Soul, G.o.d, for man is G.o.d's 120:6 image.

Reversal of testimony

Science reverses the false testimony of the physical senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the funda- 120:9 mental facts of being. Then the question in- evitably arises: Is a man sick if the material senses indicate that he is in good health? No! for matter 120:12 can make no conditions for man. And is he well if the senses say he is sick? Yes, he is well in Science in which health is normal and disease is abnormal.

Health and the senses

120:15 Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the sub- ject of health. The Science of Mind-healing 120:18 shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man. There- fore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testi- 120:21 mony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniously existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows 120:24 false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic.

Any conclusion _pro_ or _con_, deduced from supposed sen- sation in matter or from matter's supposed consciousness 120:27 of health or disease, instead of reversing the testimony of the physical senses, confirms that testimony as legitimate and so leads to disease.

Historic ill.u.s.trations

120:30 When Columbus gave freer breath to the globe, ignorance and superst.i.tion chained the limbs of the brave old navigator, and disgrace and star- 121:1 vation stared him in the face; but sterner still would have been his fate, if his discovery had undermined the favor- 121:3 ite inclinations of a sensuous philosophy.

Copernicus mapped out the stellar system, and before he spake, astrography was chaotic, and the heavenly fields 121:6 were incorrectly explored.

Perennial beauty

The Chaldean Wis.e.m.e.n read in the stars the fate of empires and the fortunes of men. Though no higher 121:9 revelation than the horoscope was to them dis- played upon the empyrean, earth and heaven were bright, and bird and blossom were glad in G.o.d's 121:12 perennial and happy suns.h.i.+ne, golden with Truth. So we have goodness and beauty to gladden the heart; but man, left to the hypotheses of material sense unexplained 121:15 by Science, is as the wandering comet or the desolate star - "a weary searcher for a viewless home."

Astronomic unfoldings

The earth's diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical 121:18 eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, instead of the earth from west to east. Until rebuked by clearer views of the everlasting facts, this 121:21 false testimony of the eye deluded the judgment and in- duced false conclusions. Science shows appearances often to be erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple 121:24 rule that the greater controls the lesser. The sun is the central stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned, and the earth revolves about the sun once a year, besides 121:27 turning daily on its own axis.

As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflec- 121:30 tion of G.o.d, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting government of the universe.

Opposing testimony

122:1 The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, - 122:3 a.s.signing seeming power to sin, sickness, and death; but the great facts of Life, rightly un- derstood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false 122:6 witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, - the actual reign of harmony on earth. The material senses' re- versal of the Science of Soul was practically exposed nine- 122:9 teen hundred years ago by the demonstrations of Jesus; yet these so-called senses still make mortal mind tributary to mortal body, and ordain certain sections of matter, such 122:12 as brain and nerves, as the seats of pain and pleasure, from which matter reports to this so-called mind its status of happiness or misery.

Testimony of the senses

122:15 The optical focus is another proof of the illusion of material sense. On the eye's retina, sky and tree-tops apparently join hands, clouds and ocean meet 122:18 and mingle. The barometer, - that little prophet of storm and suns.h.i.+ne, denying the testimony of the senses, - points to fair weather in the midst of murky 122:21 clouds and drenching rain. Experience is full of instances of similar illusions, which every thinker can recall for himself.

Spiritual sense of life

122:24 To material sense, the severance of the jugular vein takes away life; but to spiritual sense and in Science, Life goes on unchanged and 122:27 being is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense of existence.

Ptolemaic and psychical error

Our theories make the same mistake regarding Soul 122:30 and body that Ptolemy made regarding the solar system.

They insist that soul is in body and mind therefore tribu- tary to matter. Astronomical science has destroyed the 123:1 false theory as to the relations of the celestial bodies, and Christian Science will surely destroy the greater error as 123:3 to our terrestrial bodies. The true idea and Principle of man will then appear. The Ptole- maic blunder could not affect the harmony of 123:6 being as does the error relating to soul and body, which reverses the order of Science and a.s.signs to matter the power and prerogative of Spirit, so that man becomes 123:9 the most absolutely weak and inharmonious creature in the universe.

Seeming and being

The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that 123:12 matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves _things_ into _thoughts_, and replaces the objects of 123:15 material sense with spiritual ideas.

The term CHRISTIAN SCIENCE was introduced by the author to designate the scientific system of divine 123:18 healing.

The revelation consists of two parts:

1. The discovery of this divine Science of Mind- 123:21 healing, through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures and through the teachings of the Comforter, as promised by the Master.

123:24 2. The proof, by present demonstration, that the so- called miracles of Jesus did not specially belong to a dispensation now ended, but that they ill.u.s.trated an 123:27 ever-operative divine Principle. The operation of this Principle indicates the eternality of the scientific order and continuity of being.

Scientific basis

123:30 Christian Science differs from material sci- ence, but not on that account is it less scien- tific. On the contrary, Christian Science is pre-emi- 124:1 mently scientific, being based on Truth, the Principle of all science.

Physical science a blind belief

124:3 Physical science (so-called) is human knowledge, - a law of mortal mind, a blind belief, a Samson shorn of his strength. When this human belief lacks organ- 124:6 izations to support it, its foundations are gone.

Having neither moral might, spiritual basis, nor holy Principle of its own, this belief mistakes effect 124:9 for cause and seeks to find life and intelligence in matter, thus limiting Life and holding fast to discord and death.

In a word, human belief is a blind conclusion from material 124:12 reasoning. This is a mortal, finite sense of things, which immortal Spirit silences forever.

Right interpretation

The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science 124:15 from its divine Principle, G.o.d, and then it can be under- stood; but when explained on the basis of physical sense and represented as subject to 124:18 growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is, and must continue to be, an enigma.

All force mental

Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of 124:21 Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support the equipoise of that thought-force, which launched the earth in its...o...b..t and said to the 124:24 proud wave, "Thus far and no farther."

Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and 124:27 creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this 124:30 Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and cla.s.sification.

Corporeal changes

The elements and functions of the physical body and 125:1 of the physical world will change as mortal mind changes its beliefs. What is now considered the best condition 125:3 for organic and functional health in the human body may no longer be found indispensable to health. Moral conditions will be found always har- 125:6 monious and health-giving. Neither organic inaction nor overaction is beyond G.o.d's control; and man will be found normal and natural to changed mortal thought, 125:9 and therefore more harmonious in his manifestations than he was in the prior states which human belief created and sanctioned.

125:12 As human thought changes from one stage to an- other of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and joy, - from fear to hope and from faith to understand- 125:15 ing, - the visible manifestation will at last be man gov- erned by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting G.o.d's government, man is self-governed. When subordinate 125:18 to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin or death, thus proving our material theories about laws of health to be valueless.

The time and tide

125:21 The seasons will come and go with changes of time and tide, cold and heat, lat.i.tude and longitude. The agri- culturist will find that these changes cannot 125:24 affect his crops. "As a vesture shalt Thou change them and they shall be changed." The mariner will have dominion over the atmosphere and the great 125:27 deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air.

The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars, - he will look out from them upon the universe; and the 125:30 florist will find his flower before its seed.

Mortal nothingness

Thus matter will finally be proved nothing more than a mortal belief, wholly inadequate to affect a man 126:1 through its supposed organic action or supposed exist- ence. Error will be no longer used in stating truth. The 126:3 problem of nothingness, or "dust to dust," will be solved, and mortal mind will be without form and void, for mortality will cease when man beholds 126:6 himself G.o.d's reflection, even as man sees his reflection in a gla.s.s.

A lack of originality