Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

M >> Mary Baker Eddy >> Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

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Both Jew and Gentile may have had acute corporeal
85:24 senses, but mortals need spiritual sense. Jesus knew the
generation to be wicked and adulterous, seek-
ing the material more than the spiritual. His
85:27 thrusts at materialism were sharp, but needed. He never
spared hypocrisy the sternest condemnation.. He said:
"These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other
85:30 undone." The great Teacher knew both cause and
effect, knew that truth communicates itself but never
imparts error.

Mental contact

86:1 Jesus once asked, "Who touched me?" Supposing
this inquiry to be occasioned by physical contact alone,
86:3 his disciples answered, "The multitude throng
thee." Jesus knew, as others did not, that
it was not matter, but mortal mind, whose touch called
86:6 for aid. Repeating his inquiry, he was answered by the
faith of a sick woman. His quick apprehension of this
mental call illustrated his spirituality. The disciples'
86:9 misconception of it uncovered their materiality. Jesus
possessed more spiritual susceptibility than the disciples.
Opposites come from contrary directions, and produce
86:12 unlike results.

Images of thought

Mortals evolve images of thought. These may appear
to the ignorant to be apparitions; but they are myste-
86:15 rious only because it is unusual to see
thoughts, though we can always feel their
influence. Haunted houses, ghostly voices, unusual
86:18 noises, and apparitions brought out in dark seances
either involve feats by tricksters, or they are images and
sounds evolved involuntarily by mortal mind. Seeing
86:21 is no less a quality of physical sense than feeling. Then
why is it more difficult to see a thought than to feel one?
Education alone determines the difference. In reality
86:24 there is none.

Phenomena explained

Portraits, landscape-paintings, fac-similes of penman-
ship, peculiarities of expression, recollected sentences,
86:27 can all be taken from pictorial thought and
memory as readily as from objects cognizable
by the senses. Mortal mind sees what it believes as
86:30 certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and
sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed
before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it
87:1 with all material conceptions. Mind-readers perceive
these pictures of thought. They copy or reproduce
87:3 them, even when they are lost to the memory of the mind
in which they are discoverable.

Mental environment

It is needless for the thought or for the person hold-
87:6 ing the transferred picture to be individually and con-
sciously present. Though individuals have
passed away, their mental environment re-
87:9 mains to be discerned, described, and transmitted. Though
bodies are leagues apart and their associations forgotten,
their associations float in the general atmosphere of human
87:12 mind.

Second sight

The Scotch call such vision "second sight", when
really it is first sight instead of second, for it presents
87:15 primal facts to mortal mind. Science enables
one to read the human mind, but not as a
clairvoyant. It enables one to heal through Mind, but
87:18 not as a mesmerist.

Buried secrets

The mine knows naught of the emeralds within its
rocks; the sea is ignorant of the gems within its caverns,
87:21 of the corals, of its sharp reefs, of the tall ships
that float on its bosom, or of the bodies which
lie buried in its sands: yet these are all there. Do not
87:24 suppose that any mental concept is gone because you do
not think of it. The true concept is never lost. The
strong impressions produced on mortal mind by friend-
87:27 ship or by any intense feeling are lasting, and mind-
readers can perceive and reproduce these impressions.

Recollected friends

Memory may reproduce voices long ago silent. We
87:30 have but to close the eyes, and forms rise
before us, which are thousands of miles away
or altogether gone from physical sight and sense, and
88:1 this not in dreamy sleep. In our day-dreams we can
recall that for which the poet Tennyson expressed the
88:3 heart's desire, -
the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still.

88:6 The mind may even be cognizant of a present flavor and
odor, when no viand touches the palate and no scent
salutes the nostrils.

Illusions not ideas

88:9 How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from il-
lusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are
emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts,
88:12 proceeding from the brain or from matter, are
offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material be-
liefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Beliefs
88:15 proceed from the so-called material senses, which at one
time are supposed to be substance-matter and at another
are called spirits.

88:18 To love one's neighbor as one's self, is a divine idea;
but this idea can never be seen, felt, nor understood
through the physical senses. Excite the organ of ven-
88:21 eration or religious faith, and the individual manifests
profound adoration. Excite the opposite development,
and he blasphemes. These effects, however, do not pro-
88:24 ceed from Christianity, nor are they spiritual phenomena,
for both arise from mortal belief.

Trance speaking illusion

Eloquence re-echoes the strains of Truth and Love.
88:27 It is due to inspiration rather than to erudition. It shows
the possibilities derived from divine Mind,
though it is said to be a gift whose endowment
88:30 is obtained from books or received from the
impulsion of departed spirits. When eloquence proceeds
from the belief that a departed spirit is speaking, who
89:1 can tell what the unaided medium is incapable of know-
ing or uttering? This phenomenon only shows that the
89:3 beliefs of mortal mind are loosed. Forgetting her igno-
rance in the belief that another mind is speaking through
her, the devotee may become unwontedly eloquent. Hav-
89:6 ing more faith in others than in herself, and believing
that somebody else possesses her tongue and mind, she
talks freely.

89:9 Destroy her belief in outside aid, and her eloquence
disappears. The former limits of her belief return. She
says, " I am incapable of words that glow, for I am un-
89:12 educated." This familiar instance reaffirms the Scrip-
tural word concerning a man, "As he thinketh in his heart,
so is he." If one believes that he cannot be an orator with-
89:15 out study or a superinduced condition, the body responds
to this belief, and the tongue grows mute which before
was eloquent.

Scientific improvisation

89:18 Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational
processes. It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry,
and the power of expressing them. Spirit,
89:21 God, is heard when the senses are silent. We
are all capable of more than we do. The influence or
action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phe-
89:24 nomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips.

Divine origination

Matter is neither intelligent nor creative. The tree is
not the author of itself. Sound is not the originator of
89:27 music, and man is not the father of man. Cain
very naturally concluded that if life was in the
body, and man gave it, man had the right to take it away.
89:30 This incident shows that the belief of life in matter was
"a murderer from the beginning."

If seed is necessary to produce wheat, and wheat to
90:1 produce flour, or if one animal can originate another,
how then can we account for their primal origin? How
90:3 were the loaves and fishes multiplied on the shores of
Galilee, - and that, too, without meal or monad from
which loaf or fish could come?

Mind is substance

90:6 The earth's orbit and the imaginary line called the
equator are not substance. The earth's motion and
position are sustained by Mind alone. Divest
90:9 yourself of the thought that there can be sub-
stance in matter, and the movements and transitions now
possible for mortal mind will be found to be equally
90:12 possible for the body. Then being will be recognized
as spiritual, and death will be obsolete, though now
some insist that death is the necessary prelude to
90:15 immortality.

Mortal delusions

In dreams we fly to Europe and meet a far-off friend.
The looker-on sees the body in bed, but the supposed
90:18 inhabitant of that body carries it through
the air and over the ocean. This shows the
possibilities of thought. Opium and hashish eaters men-
90:21 tally travel far and work wonders, yet their bodies stay
in one place. This shows what mortal mentality and
knowledge are.

Scientific finalities

90:24 The admission to one's self that man is God's own like-
ness sets man free to master the infinite idea. This con-
viction shuts the door on death, and opens it
90:27 wide towards immortality. The understanding
and recognition of Spirit must finally come, and we may
as well improve our time in solving the mysteries of being
90:30 through an apprehension of divine Principle. At present
we know not what man is, but we certainly shall know
this when man reflects God.

91:1 The Revelator tells us of "a new heaven and a
new earth." Have you ever pictured this heaven and
91:3 earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme
wisdom?

Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated
91:6 from God, and obey only the divine principle, Life and
Love. Here is the great point of departure for all true
spiritual growth.

Man's genuine being

91:9 It is difficult for the sinner to accept divine Science,
because Science exposes his nothingness; but the sooner
error is reduced to its native nothingness, the
91:12 sooner man's great reality will appear and his
genuine being will be understood. The destruction of
error is by no means the destruction of Truth or Life, but
91:15 is the acknowledgment of them.

Absorbed in material selfhood we discern and reflect
but faintly the substance of Life or Mind. The denial of
91:18 material selfhood aids the discernment of man's spirit-
ual and eternal individuality, and destroys the erroneous
knowledge gained from matter or through what are termed
91:21 the material senses.

Erroneous postulates

Certain erroneous postulates should be here considered
in order that the spiritual facts may be better
91:24 apprehended.

The first erroneous postulate of belief is, that substance,
life, and intelligence are something apart from God.
91:27 The second erroneous postulate is, that man is both
mental and material.

The third erroneous postulate is, that mind is both evil
91:30 and good; whereas the real Mind cannot be evil nor the
medium of evil, for Mind is God.

The fourth erroneous postulate is, that matter is in-
92:1 telligent, and that man has a material body which is part
of himself.

92:3 The fifth erroneous postulate is, that matter holds in
itself the issues of life and death, - that matter is not
only capable of experiencing pleasure and pain, but also
92:6 capable of imparting these sensations. From the illusion
implied in this last postulate arises the decomposition of
mortal bodies in what is termed death.
92:9 Mind is not an entity within the cranium with the power
of sinning now and forever.

Knowledge of good and evil

In old Scriptural pictures we see a serpent coiled around
92:12 the tree of knowledge and speaking to Adam and Eve.
This represents the serpent in the act of
commending to our first parents the knowl-
92:15 edge of good and evil, a knowledge gained from matter,
or evil, instead of from Spirit. The portrayal is still
graphically accurate, for the common conception of mor-
92:18 tal man - a burlesque of God's man - is an outgrowth
of human knowledge or sensuality, a mere offshoot of
material sense.

Opposing power

92:21 Uncover error, and it turns the lie upon you. Until
the fact concerning error - namely, its nothingness -
appears, the moral demand will not be met,
92:24 and the ability to make nothing of error will
be wanting. We should blush to call that real which is
only a mistake. The foundation of evil is laid on a belief
92:27 in something besides God. This belief tends to support
two opposite powers, instead of urging the claims of Truth
alone. The mistake of thinking that error can be real,
92:30 when it is merely the absence of truth, leads to belief in
the superiority of error.

The age's privilege

Do you say the time has not yet come in which to
93:1 recognize Soul as substantial and able to control the
body? Remember Jesus, who nearly nineteen centuries
93:3 ago demonstrated the power of Spirit and said,
"He that believeth on me, the works that I
do shall he do also," and who also said, "But the hour
93:6 cometh, and /now is/, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth." "Behold,
/now/ is the accepted time; behold, /now/ is the day of sal-
93:9 vation," said Paul.

Logic and revelation

Divine logic and revelation coincide. If we believe
otherwise, we may be sure that either our
93:12 logic is at fault or that we have misinterpreted
revelation. Good never causes evil, nor creates aught
that can cause evil.

93:15 Good does not create a mind susceptible of causing
evil, for evil is the opposing error and not the truth of
creation. Destructive electricity is not the offspring of in-
93:18 finite good. Whatever contradicts the real nature of the
divine /Esse/, though human faith may clothe it with angelic
vestments, is without foundation.

Derivatives of spirit

93:21 The belief that Spirit is finite as well as infinite has
darkened all history. In Christian Science, Spirit, as a
proper noun, is the name of the Supreme Being.
93:24 It means quantity and quality, and applies ex-
clusively to God. The modifying derivatives of the word
/spirit/ refer only to quality, not to God. Man is spiritual.
93:27 He is not God, Spirit. If man were Spirit, then men
would be spirits, gods. Finite spirit would be mortal,
and this is the error embodied in the belief that the infi-
93:30 nite can be contained in the finite. This belief tends to
becloud our apprehension of the kingdom of heaven and
of the reign of harmony in the Science of being.

Scientific man

94:1 Jesus taught but one God, one Spirit, who makes man
in the image and likeness of Himself, - of Spirit, not of
94:3 matter. Man reflects infinite Truth, Life, and
Love. The nature of man, thus understood,
includes all that is implied by the terms "image" and
94:6 "likeness" as used in Scripture. The truly Christian
and scientific statement of personality and of the relation
of man to God, with the demonstration which accompa-
94:9 nied it, incensed the rabbis, and they said: "Crucify him,
crucify him . . . by our law he ought to die, because he
made himself the Son of God."

94:12 The eastern empires and nations owe their false gov-
ernment to the misconceptions of Deity there prevalent.
Tyranny, intolerance, and bloodshed, wherever found,
94:15 arise from the belief that the infinite is formed after the
pattern of mortal personality, passion, and impulse.

Ingratitude and denial

The progress of truth confirms its claims, and our
94:18 Master confirmed his words by his works. His healing-
power evoked denial, ingratitude, and be-
trayal, arising from sensuality. Of the ten
94:21 lepers whom Jesus healed, but one returned to give God
thanks, - that is, to acknowledge the divine Principle
which had healed him.

Spiritual insight

94:24 Our Master easily read the thoughts of mankind, and
this insight better enabled him to direct those thoughts
aright; but what would be said at this period of an in-
94:27 fidel blasphemer who should hint that Jesus used his in-
cisive power injuriously? Our Master read mortal mind
on a scientific basis, that of the omnipresence of Mind.
94:30 An approximation of this discernment indicates spiritual
growth and union with the infinite capacities of the one
Mind. Jesus could injure no one by his Mind-reading.
95:1 The effect of his Mind was always to heal and to save,
and this is the only genuine Science of reading mortal
95:3 mind. His holy motives and aims were tra-
duced by the sinners of that period, as they
would be to-day if Jesus were personally present. Paul
95:6 said, "To be spiritually minded is life." We approach
God, or Life, in proportion to our spirituality, our fidel-
ity to Truth and Love; and in that ratio we know all
95:9 human need and are able to discern the thought of the
sick and the sinning for the purpose of healing them.
Error of any kind cannot hide from the law of God.

95:12 Whoever reaches this point of moral culture and good-
ness cannot injure others, and must do them good. The
greater or lesser ability of a Christian Scientist to discern
95:15 thought scientifically, depends upon his genuine spirit-
uality. This kind of mind-reading is not clairvoyance,
but it is important to success in healing, and is one of the
95:18 special characteristics thereof.

Christ's reappearance

We welcome the increase of knowledge and the end
of error, because even human invention must have its
95:21 day, and we want that day to be succeeded
by Christian Science, by divine reality. Mid-
night foretells the dawn. Led by a solitary star amid
95:24 the darkness, the Magi of old foretold the Messiahship
of Truth. Is the wise man of to-day believed, when he
beholds the light which heralds Christ's eternal dawn
95:27 and describes its effulgence?

Spiritual awakening

Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep
in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours.
95:30 Material sense does not unfold the facts of
existence; but spiritual sense lifts human
consciousness into eternal Truth. Humanity advances
96:1 slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding;
unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christen-
96:3 dom with chains.

The darkest hours of all

Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spir-
itualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Before error
96:6 is wholly destroyed, there will be interrup-
tions of the general material routine. Earth
will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter,
96:9 seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will
continue unto the end, - until the final spiritualization of
all things. "The darkest hour precedes the dawn."

Arena of contest

96:12 This material world is even now becoming the arena
for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord
and dismay; on the other side there will be
96:15 Science and peace. The breaking up of mate-
rial beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want
and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new
96:18 phases until their nothingness appears. These disturb-
ances will continue until the end of error, when all
discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.
96:21 Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization.
This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue
until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is
96:24 changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.

Millennial glory

As this consummation draws nearer, he who has
shaped his course in accordance with divine Science
96:27 will endure to the end. As material knowl-
edge diminishes and spiritual understanding
increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally
96:30 instead of materially.

During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor
to find means by which to accomplish more evil; but
97:1 those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in
check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They
97:3 will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the
certainty of ultimate perfection.

Dangerous resemblances

In reality, the more closely error simulates truth and
97:6 so-called matter resembles its essence, mortal mind, the
more impotent error becomes as a belief. Ac-
cording to human belief, the lightning is fierce
97:9 and the electric current swift, yet in Christian Science
the flight of one and the blow of the other will become
harmless. The more destructive matter becomes, the
97:12 more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches
its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears. The
nearer a false belief approaches truth without passing
97:15 the boundary where, having been destroyed by divine
Love, it ceases to be even an illusion, the riper it becomes
for destruction. The more material the belief, the more
97:18 obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its do-
main, dominates all matter, and man is found in the like-
ness of Spirit, his original being.

97:21 The broadest facts array the most falsities against
themselves, for they bring error from under cover. It
requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth
97:24 lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its in-
articulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion.

"He uttered His voice, the earth melted." This Scrip-
97:27 ture indicates that all matter will disappear before the
supremacy of Spirit.

Christianity still rejected

Christianity is again demonstrating the Life that is
97:30 Truth, and the Truth that is Life, by the apos-
tolic work of casting out error and healing the
sick. Earth has no repayment for the persecutions which
98:1 attend a new step in Christianity; but the spiritual recom-
pense of the persecuted is assured in the elevation of ex-
98:3 istence above mortal discord and in the gift of divine Love.

Spiritual foreshadowings

The prophet of to-day beholds in the mental horizon
the signs of these times, the reappearance of the Chris-
98:6 tianity which heals the sick and destroys error,
and no other sign shall be given. Body can-
not be saved except through Mind. The Science of Chris-
98:9 tianity is misinterpreted by a material age, for it is the
healing influence of Spirit (not /spirits/) which the material
senses cannot comprehend, which can only be spiritu-
98:12 ally discerned. Creeds, doctrines, and human hypotheses
do not express Christian Science; much less can they
demonstrate it.

Revelation of Science