Miracle is a word not much used by Christian Scientists who see healing and the establishment of harmony as perfectly natural and in accordance with the operation of divine Principle. Mary Baker Eddy uses the word a lot in her writings, however, apparently in an attempt to bridge the gap between traditional religions—which put stock in miracles — and the radical standpoint of Christian Science — which, as we've said, does not.

As we worked with the topic during the week, some of us found that miracles have a valid usage in describing sudden spiritual breakthroughs — mental or physical — when one's existence has been allowed to drift along with the popular belief in matter or dualism. From this benighted crouch, we might look up to see a sudden good borne into our lives and thank the Lord God for it; later perhaps we'd fall before pain and cry out to this same Deity for relief. Now we're in the realm of hit and miss, hope and despair that Christian Science is meant to address and heal. We knew ourselves and other Christian Scientists well enough to see that few of us even begin to practice the real wonders provided by our religion, thereby bringing out consistent ongoing demonstrations of Truth. Honestly, how many of us are no more than recipients of miracles?

One of our members, much given to mythology, deconstructed the Genesis II vision of existence described in the previous paragraph as merely the mortal or material/personal view of the real Genesis I. He sees this approach as a quick, non condemnatory way to transit from error to Truth. Then instead of living our earth as though it were heaven, we live our heaven as earth.

Given the fundamental perfection of being, one member wondered how error came about in the first place. Surely, error's seeming existence is the miracle! In fact, he felt it would be a very effective healing technique to treat a problem as a sheer suspension of the laws of the universe—a total infraction of reality. " Look what mortal mind hath wrought in its foolishness." Then, of course, let divine Mind dissolve it.

A member found a passage in Science and Health (p. 560: 10-21) quite interesting in handling error. It includes a statement about miracles, but the part he found especially riveting is that usually thought to apply to Mrs. Eddy's mission We need a correct sense of the highest visible idea — whether it's a tear or a triumph — in order to understand divine Principle, and thus heal.

Another member suddenly saw that predetermination, which so much vexes some Protestant thought, can be seen spiritually. Our perfection is predetermined — pre-programmed if you wish. He reached for Science and Health and read us this: "The divine demand, 'Be ye therefore perfect,' is scientific, and the human footsteps leading to perfection are indispensable" (p. 253:32-2). The perfection is always there, whatever the stories we have to invent to dramatize this fact to the personal sense of ourselves.

A member asked why not just live the facts of being and skip the drama? Another quoted, then read, this: "It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its inarticulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion" (p. 97:22). So, one way or the other, we're going to live out some drama if we're progressing in Science and it's OK. The end result is the oblivion of error, not just tucking it away.

We went on to healings.

1) An internet friend sent a testimony regarding our topic last week, Government. A while back a Christian Scientist friend from another country was visiting and expressed fear about the safety of people back home, who were living in an area where political unrest was occurring. Our friend volunteered to do some work in Science and found the definition of Wind in the "Glossary" of Science and Health particularly helpful. The metaphysical sense is this: "That which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God's spiritual government, encompassing all things" (p. 597:27-29). Upon returning home, his friend found all the relatives well; they even remarked on the sense of peace they had felt in spite of the riotous conditions.

2) A member experienced a down spiral of bad feelings during the week, relating to whether he was entitled to a rich and rewarding life. This low self-esteem is apparently sourced in a quite dysfunctional childhood. In line with our discussion of myth at the meeting he saw he was still living out some really pointless stories and was fully capable of having some new fictions unfold from his divine Source. Would that be Science fiction?

3) Our member who lost money and valuables last week—we did work on this at the last meeting — got his watch back . A friend had found it on a table where they were partying and saved it for him. He was so moved by the demonstration and felt so close to God that he later gave the watch to a homeless person on the street.

4) Another member's dog was having a health problem one night during the week. As they lay beside each other in bed, our member reached out and stroked the dog's head and reassured him with some heartfelt scientific statements. They went to sleep and when they awoke in the morning the dog was completely well — he was his usual happy, perky self.

The meeting was nearing its end when a member read lines 18-21 on page 7 of Science and Health (see our readings above) and asked whether we saw healing as a phenomenal exhibition or as part of an ongoing unfoldment of our spirituality. Several people quickly described seemingly miraculous instantaneous healings of even life threatening situations. Yes, we were still alive, we had gone on to fight another day, but had we honestly looked deeply into these happenings to get the full measure of growth from them? Both Jesus and Mrs. Eddy had problems with how their followers processed the miracles, so we're in pretty good company. We thought perhaps a week on Regeneration might give us an opportunity to go deeper with this idea.