"When Jesus says we should love each other as he loved us (see readings John 13:34) does he mean spiritually or physically?"

"I suppose both. He certainly introduced a new level of spiritual love on the human plane — but he was also physically present, identifying the Christ for mortals."

"Here, look at page 573 of Science and Health: '...the heavens and earth to one human consciousness, that consciousness which God bestows, are spiritual, while to another, the unillumined human mind, the vision is material.'" (See full quote in Readings).

"There's a lot today about Jesus having a wife — was it Mary Magdalene?"

"Yes, and there's also evidence he was Gay. A book by a non Gay Methodist minister Theodore Jennings, entitled The Man Jesus Loved, enumerates Jesus' various possible lovers — Peter, John, even Judas and finally settles on Lazarus."

"Christ Jesus then and now attracted people for far greater purposes than romance and sex."

"Did you know some people dismiss this group as being obsessed with sex?"

"Yeah, we know — we've heard it all. The group was certainly founded by Gay people excluded from the life of the church and always saw part of our mission as providing a safe space to fully air sexual issues. But frankly most people today are obsessed with sex, particularly when they say they're not. It's a dead giveaway."

"We've also seen how helpful a group setting can be in moving the libido along. Where there's desire there's prayer, as Mrs. Eddy says on page 1 of Science and Health. And we work to get at the unifying reality underlying the dualistic presentation called a sex drive."

"I've always felt cared for here in my sexual recovery as well as career problems, health and relationships. In many ways we're just like any other Christian Science get-together."

"Here's a thought: why not think of people or things we're attracted to for reasons other than overt romance and sex. Like Sinatra's and Garland's singing, or Mahler's and Bruckner's symphonies? Why are we attracted? Can anyone really say? Do we need to know? Sure, they're masters and all that. But why not just let the attraction be and celebrate it as evidence of God's perfection made manifest? Now, could we do the same with a romantic attraction?"

"But most spiritual paths warn against that kind of thing — it's far too materialistic and stunts spiritual growth."

"I know, I know. But oohing and aahing over a Beethoven or a Chagal is also materialistic. Why? Because we're seeing something out there produced by a person — and it's giving us a thrill. I say fine to that and to a sexual turn-on. Don't dive-bomb either with a lot of schizo morality, but just sink mentally into the desires thus identified and feel the oneness and wholeness at their base."

"Hi."

"Hi. Were you looking for the Christian Science meeting?"

"Yes, I was here for another meeting, but it's not happening. So I thought I'd give this a try. I'm not a Christian Scientist — is that OK?"

"Sure. We're discussing Attraction in light of Christian Science. Just relax, listen for a while and feel free to ask any questions that come up."

"Getting back to desire as prayer — from the standpoint of the human mind it's a dual concept. It's always a mortal doing the praying But from God's standpoint, we're immortals, constantly supplied with all good."

"It's, 'Before you call, I will answer.'"

"Yeah, that's God's telephone number, Isaiah 65:24. So whatever we're desiring or attracted to in the human sense of things, we have fully and utterly in the reality of our being."

"And since there's only one universe, we also have full satisfaction on earth as we do in heaven."

"If we think about the place of suffering in Christian Science, it seems more a blessing than a curse. I remember Margaret Laird saying something like 'Whatever makes me aware I'm living as a dual concept is actually good and not evil.'"

"Can you explain that a bit more?"

"Let's look at Mrs. Eddy's own experience. She was rushing to a temperance meeting when she fell on the ice and almost died. Was that evil? Apparently so. Here she was a paragon of virtue rushing to ax a keg or two of demon liquor. But instead she almost died and discovered Christian Science in the process."

"Here, I've got a question. Do Christian Scientists heal with prayer?"

"Yes, that's a strong part of our religion. And we do it mainly by negating evil and seeing only good."

"But evil exists in the world. Everyone has a free will to do good or evil."

"Well up to a point. We believe God and His universe are entirely good. If we allow ourselves to fall into a hypnotic state of belief in matter, we can have lots of evil in our lives. And we'll suffer until we seek to live in accordance with God's will. To put it in 12-Step terms, we're matter addicts and have a great time until things start going wrong and pulling apart. Then if we hit a bottom of suffering, we seek spiritual awakening and try to live from that standpoint afterwards."

"We can ask God to help us identify the impediments to spiritual understanding and then to let Her will for good in our lives prevail."

Here's something from the Textbook, in the chapter on "Fruitage": 'I opened Science and Health and these words were before me, "If God were understood, instead of being merely believed, this understanding would establish health" (pg. 203). I saw that I must get the right understanding of God! I closed the book and with head bowed in prayer I waited with longing intensity for some answer. How long I waited I do not know, but suddenly, like a wonderful burst of sunlight after a storm, came clearly this thought, "Be still, and know that I am God." I held my breath—deep into my hungering thought sank the infinite meaning of that "I." All self-conceit, egotism, selfishness, everything that constitutes the mortal "I," sank abashed out of sight.'" (Science and Health, pg. 669:2-17)

"Hey, that's a great description of surrender in Science."

"Christian Science healing basically requires total surrender of the personal 'I'. When I've been in extremely dangerous situations, I've been able somehow to do it, almost without thinking. Guns and knives were pulled — lovers and strangers accosted me — and I had to lean completely on the presence and power of one perfect God to save me and the others from harm."

"I've been dating a woman for about three months and recently we seemed at cross purposes on a number of issues. Also I was having problems with my brother's free wheeling life-style. He lives with me. Last weekend I went on a retreat with my Unity church group; we spent lots of time practicing the presence of God in our lives and praying for ourselves and others. Well, I came back to town filled with the Spirit and — I guess you know what's coming — all the problems and bad feelings quickly resolved themselves. I seem to need this lesson over and over. If you've got a problem with people, start the healing process by communing with God."

"This week I took a good look at the loneliness I often feel. I realized I go back and forth between fear and judgmentalism of people. There's a strong whiff of sexual interest and non-interest guiding things. Oh, and glitter — I mean being drawn to the glitteratti in any group even as I fear them and end up castigating myself for not being brave enough to make contact with them. In this whole process there is almost no attempt to identify who feels good to be with or who might be an appropriate romantic possibility for me. This meeting has helped me tremendously to see I must surrender to a spiritual point of view and not just criticize myself and try to work things out humanly. God is very interested in promoting my real welfare!"

"Time's up for this week. We need a topic for next week. Remember, the Republican Convention and many protestors will be in town. Maybe we should do something about that."

"How about Convention?"

"That's a good one! I like it. What do others think?"

"That's good."

"OK with me."