Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures Part 38

Thy throne is established of old Thou art from everlasting. - PSALMS.

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. - PAUL.

Inadequate theories of creation

255:1 ETERNAL Truth is changing the universe. As mor- tals drop off their mental swaddling-clothes, thought 255:3 expands into expression. "Let there be light,"

is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love, changing chaos into order and discord into the 255:6 music of the spheres. The mythical human theories of creation, anciently cla.s.sified as the higher criticism, sprang from cultured scholars in Rome and in Greece, but they 255:9 afforded no foundation for accurate views of creation by the divine Mind.

Finite views of Deity

Mortal man has made a covenant with his eyes to be- 255:12 little Deity with human conceptions. In league with material sense, mortals take limited views of all things. That G.o.d is corporeal or material, no man 255:15 should affirm.

The human form, or physical finiteness, cannot be made the basis of any true idea of the infinite G.o.dhead.

255:18 Eye hath not seen Spirit, nor hath ear heard His voice.

No material creation

256:1 Progress takes off human shackles. The finite must yield to the infinite. Advancing to a higher plane of ac- 256:3 tion, thought rises from the material sense to the spiritual, from the scholastic to the in- spirational, and from the mortal to the immortal. All 256:6 things are created spiritually. Mind, not matter, is the creator. Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and Mother of the universe, including man.

Tritheism impossible

256:9 The theory of three persons in one G.o.d (that is, a per- sonal Trinity or Tri-unity) suggests polythe- ism, rather than the one ever-present I AM.

256:12 "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our G.o.d is one Lord."

No divine corporeality

The everlasting I AM is not bounded nor compressed within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can 256:15 He be understood aright through mortal con- cepts. The precise form of G.o.d must be of small importance in comparison with the sublime ques- 256:18 tion, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?

Who is it that demands our obedience? He who, in the language of Scripture, "doeth according to His will 256:21 in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?"

256:24 No form nor physical combination is adequate to rep- resent infinite Love. A finite and material sense of G.o.d leads to formalism and narrowness; it chills the spirit of 256:27 Christianity.

Limitless Mind

A limitless Mind cannot proceed from physical limita- tions. Finiteness cannot present the idea or the vast- 256:30 ness of infinity. A mind originating from a finite or material source must be limited and finite. Infinite Mind is the creator, and creation is the 257:1 infinite image or idea emanating from this Mind. If Mind is within and without all things, then all is Mind; 257:3 and this definition is scientific.

Matter is not substance

If matter, so-called, is substance, then Spirit, matter's unlikeness, must be shadow; and shadow cannot produce 257:6 substance. The theory that Spirit is not the only substance and creator is pantheistic het- erodoxy, which ultimates in sickness, sin, and death; it is 257:9 the belief in a bodily soul and a material mind, a soul governed by the body and a mind in matter. This be- lief is shallow pantheism.

257:12 Mind creates His own likeness in ideas, and the sub- stance of an idea is very far from being the supposed sub- stance of non-intelligent matter. Hence the Father Mind 257:15 is not the father of matter. The material senses and human conceptions would translate spiritual ideas into material beliefs, and would say that an anthropomorphic 257:18 G.o.d, instead of infinite Principle, - in other words, divine Love, - is the father of the rain, "who hath begotten the drops of dew," who bringeth "forth Mazzaroth in his sea- 257:21 son," and guideth "Arcturus with his sons."

Inexhaustible divine Love

Finite mind manifests all sorts of errors, and thus proves the material theory of mind in matter to be the 257:24 antipode of Mind. Who hath found finite life or love sufficient to meet the demands of human want and woe, - to still the desires, to satisfy the aspira- 257:27 tions? Infinite Mind cannot be limited to a finite form, or Mind would lose its infinite character as inexhaustible Love, eternal Life, omnipotent Truth.

Infinite physique impossible

257:30 It would require an infinite form to contain infinite Mind. Indeed, the phrase _infinite form_ involves a con- tradiction of terms. Finite man cannot be the image and 258:1 likeness of the infinite G.o.d. A mortal, corporeal, or finite conception of G.o.d cannot embrace the glories of 258:3 limitless, incorporeal Life and Love. Hence the unsatisfied human craving for something better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a 258:6 material belief in a physical G.o.d and man. The insuffi- ciency of this belief to supply the true idea proves the falsity of material belief.

Infinity's reflection

258:9 Man is more than a material form with a mind inside, which must escape from its environments in order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity, 258:12 and this reflection is the true idea of G.o.d.

G.o.d expresses in man the infinite idea forever develop- ing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from 258:15 a boundless basis. Mind manifests all that exists in the infinitude of Truth. We know no more of man as the true divine image and likeness, than we know of 258:18 G.o.d.

The infinite Principle is reflected by the infinite idea and spiritual individuality, but the material so-called senses 258:21 have no cognizance of either Principle or its idea. The human capacities are enlarged and perfected in propor- tion as humanity gains the true conception of man and 258:24 G.o.d.

Individual permanency

Mortals have a very imperfect sense of the spiritual man and of the infinite range of his thought. To him 258:27 belongs eternal Life. Never born and never dying, it were impossible for man, under the government of G.o.d in eternal Science, to fall from his 258:30 high estate.

G.o.d's man discerned

Through spiritual sense you can discern the heart of divinity, and thus begin to comprehend in Science the 259:1 generic term _man. _Man is not absorbed in Deity, and man cannot lose his individuality, for he re- 259:3 flects eternal Life; nor is he an isolated, soli- tary idea, for he represents infinite Mind, the sum of all substance.

259:6 In divine Science, man is the true image of G.o.d. The divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who threw upon mortals the truer reflection of G.o.d and lifted 259:9 their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow, - thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick, sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of 259:12 scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Prin- ciple and idea, - perfect G.o.d and perfect man, - as the basis of thought and demonstration.

The divine image not lost

259:15 If man was once perfect but has now lost his perfection, then mortals have never beheld in man the reflex image of G.o.d. The _lost_ image is no image. The 259:18 true likeness cannot be lost in divine reflection.

Understanding this, Jesus said: "Be ye there- fore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is 259:21 perfect."

Immortal models

Mortal thought transmits its own images, and forms its offspring after human illusions. G.o.d, Spirit, works 259:24 spiritually, not materially. Brain or matter never formed a human concept. Vibration is not intelligence; hence it is not a creator. Immortal 259:27 ideas, pure, perfect, and enduring, are transmitted by the divine Mind through divine Science, which corrects error with truth and demands spiritual thoughts, divine 259:30 concepts, to the end that they may produce harmonious results.

Deducing one's conclusions as to man from imperfec- 260:1 tion instead of perfection, one can no more arrive at the true conception or understanding of man, and make him- 260:3 self like it, than the sculptor can perfect his outlines from an imperfect model, or the painter can depict the form and face of Jesus, while holding in thought the character 260:6 of Judas.

Spiritual discovery

The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal. Through 260:9 many generations human beliefs will be attain- ing diviner conceptions, and the immortal and perfect model of G.o.d's creation will finally be seen as 260:12 the only true conception of being.

Science reveals the possibility of achieving all good, and sets mortals at work to discover what G.o.d has already 260:15 done; but distrust of one's ability to gain the goodness desired and to bring out better and higher results, often hampers the trial of one's wings and ensures failure at the 260:18 outset.

Requisite change of our ideals

Mortals must change their ideals in order to improve their models. A sick body is evolved from 260:21 sick thoughts. Sickness, disease, and death proceed from fear. Sensualism evolves bad physical and moral conditions.

260:24 Selfishness and sensualism are educated in mortal mind by the thoughts ever recurring to one's self, by conversation about the body, and by the expectation of 260:27 perpetual pleasure or pain from it; and this education is at the expense of spiritual growth. If we array thought in mortal vestures, it must lose its immortal 260:30 nature.

Thoughts are things

If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit, 261:1 we find its opposite, matter. Now reverse this action.

Look away from the body into Truth and Love, 261:3 the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the endur- ing, the good, and the true, and you will bring these 261:6 into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.

Unreality of pain

The effect of mortal mind on health and happiness is 261:9 seen in this: If one turns away from the body with such absorbed interest as to forget it, the body experiences no pain. Under the strong im- 261:12 pulse of a desire to perform his part, a noted actor was accustomed night after night to go upon the stage and sustain his appointed task, walking about as actively 261:15 as the youngest member of the company. This old man was so lame that he hobbled every day to the theatre, and sat aching in his chair till his cue was spoken, - a signal 261:18 which made him as oblivious of physical infirmity as if he had inhaled chloroform, though he was in the full pos- session of his so-called senses.