Completeness
September 17, 1998
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
One attendee began with the point, initially drawn from Buddhism, that emptiness is the ground for divine completeness. Mrs. Eddy brings this out many times in her writings, for instance in the definition of Wilderness (Science and Health, pg. 597:16), which shows material sense disappearing as "spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence."
It was clear that a human sense of completeness, not rooted in God, is a dangerous, even titanic, ego-inflation built on dualistic foundations. This state of error is a danger faced by many religious people, perhaps particularly by Christian Scientists proclaiming the allness of good. How could we know whether we're leaning on "good" matter or really living out from the center of being? After all, we're not an ascetic tradition — we don't shun the world, but participate fully. It seemed to us that we'd know one way or the other by either having a problem develop that would make us seek deeper meanings or alternatively with humility and a prayerful/listening attitude we'd moment by moment check our belief system and surrender to a wider sense of being when cramped and hateful thinking takes over. In other words, "suffering or Science". As one of our members put it, "I see, I must live my matter ('people, places and things') out from its non-dualistic Reality." Yes indeed — then Christ will be my only Jesus, or every day life, moving along the path of resurrection to ascension. Now that's completeness!
Like most others, we were concerned by the situation of the Presidency and the world economy which we tended to view and discuss from a mortal mind standpoint. We broke the mesmerism initially by seeing both situations as chemicalization — and not particularly surprising, given the general level of hypocrisy and belief in matter. But we went further, seeing and deciding to stand with the facts of being — that God alone rules and constitutes the existence of man and the universe. Our topic for next week, Fairness, grows out of this discussion. The so-called Golden Rule looks like a good jumping off place here but we felt intuitively that far greater depths of understanding will unfold as we discern the divine facts and practice rather than merely profess these. Look at what our Leader says on this point: "Practice not profession, understanding not belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence and they assuredly call down infinite blessings." (Science and Health, pg. 15:28-30)
Healings:
One member was asked to teach French to a group. He recalled that he had put away some teaching materials on this subject several years before, but couldn't remember where. He found himself unable to sleep because of his irritation about this but finally had the scientific thought that he'd have an answer in the morning and went to sleep. When he awoke he suddenly realized that these materials which included newspaper articles were way out of date and he needed to develop new stuff for the group.
Another member had to attend a heterosexual wedding during the week. He had done some work on this a couple of months ago, realizing the divine wedding described in the Textbook pp. 574-575, particularly 575:30-6. Our topic Completeness and the collective work done by the Group were most helpful and he actually felt the divine human coincidence as he attended. Furthermore, he was able to translate the old theology of the religious ceremony into Science and even experience the presence of heavy drinking at the reception as Spirit, rather than spirits. As he was able to let go of self-righteousness, he was quite struck by the responsibility shown by the participants (who came to the event fully intent on getting drunk) in arranging for limousines to pick them up and drive them home so they would not put at risk the public by their driving.
Another member had a difficult interpersonal problem to discuss with her therapist but by knowing that divine Love would meet the need, it worked out very well and she found the harmony thus established carried over into other events of her life.
Another member felt a great sense of anger about his business circumstances and quite disaffected from God. It took a lot of suffering to get to the place of surrender to divine control. The healing turned on gratitude. He feels very much more in touch with God. A dreaded call was accomplished after scientific prayer and the results were favorable. As his mood has improved, business prospects previously unseen have become visible.
Another member saw two business contracts he's been working on for months come to a conclusion as he lived the divine completeness of all concerned. Everyone and everything — not just he — is an infinite idea, including all right ideas.
The masculine mind reaches a higher tone through certain elements of the
All consciousness is Mind, and Mind is God. Hence there is but one Mind; and that one is the infinite good, supplying all Mind by the reflection, not the subdivision, of God.
I am All. A knowledge of aught beside Myself is impossible.
The feasibility and immobility of Christian Science unveil the true idea,—namely, that earth's discords have not the reality of Mind in the Science of being; and this idea—dematerializing and spiritualizing mortals—turns like the needle to the pole all hope and faith to God, based as it is on His omnipotence and omnipresence.
Eternal harmony, perpetuity, and perfection, constitute the phenomena of being, governed by the immutable and eternal laws of God; whereas matter and human will, intellect, desire, and fear, are not the creators, controllers, nor destroyers of life or its harmonies. Man has an immortal Soul, a divine Principle, and an eternal being. Man has perpetual individuality; and God's laws, and their intelligent and harmonious action, constitute his individuality in the Science of Soul.
The only correct answer to the question, "Who is the author of evil?" is the scientific statement that evil is unreal; that God made all that was made, but He never made sin or sickness, either an error of mind or of body. Life in matter is a dream: sin, sickness, and death are this dream. Life is Spirit; and when we waken from the dream of life in matter, we shall learn this grand truth of being. St. John saw the vision of life in matter; and he saw it pass away,—an illusion. The dragon that was wroth with the woman, and stood ready "to devour the child as soon as it was born," was the vision of envy, sensuality, and malice, ready to devour the idea of Truth. But the beast bowed before the Lamb: it was supposed to have fought the manhood of God, that Jesus represented; but it fell before the womanhood of God, that presented the highest ideal of Love. Let us remember that God—good—is omnipotent; therefore evil is impotent. There is but one side to good,—it has no evil side; there is but one side to reality, and that is the good side.
God is All, and in all: that finishes the question of a good and a bad side to existence.
As an active portion of one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with universal good.
Mortals have a very imperfect sense of the spiritual man and of the infinite range of his thought.
Man reflects infinity, and this reflection is the true idea of God.
XXII. Immortal man was and is God's image or idea, even the infinite expression of infinite Mind, and immor
He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas; the generic term for