Elimination
April 20, 2000
And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
A somewhat delicate subject perhaps, but we tried to keep it light.
An interesting point arising early on was that our bodies represent how we're actually experiencing God at the moment. If we're thinking of a dualistic Jehovah, we'll have plenty of problems inviting us to live God self-consciously as I and all.
One member had compiled an exhaustive list of eliminations from the human body. Our reactions to the mention of them varied, but fear and disgust seemed to predominate. Let's see if we got them all: feces, urine, breath, sweat, semen, menses, milk, earwax, saliva, phlegm, tears, ovums, and pre-coital flow. His object in going through the list was not solely to toughen our frail Christian Science sensibilities, but to underline the proper functioning and flow of these excretions for human existence and base them as "...moving in the harmony of Science..." (see Science and Health, p. 514: 29).
One member had phoned in a testimony confirming these ideas. He said that whenever some difficulty with elimination threatened, he prayed to see clearly that a divine idea could experience no under- nor over-action. The results were always favorable.
A friend of the group, thinking of our topic, said he was helped in honoring the bodily excretions as bi-products of life. He pointed out that Chinese medicine in particular holds them in great esteem, as does Western practice which views them perhaps more nervously. All of which is human language for the omni-action of Deity.
No meeting on elimination would be complete without a spiritual inquiry into the penis, vagina, prostate and anus. The prostate drew particular attention as an instrument of control, regulating the flow of urine and semen. Urine relates to purification while semen is said to flow in response to love. The impersonal dominant idea represented by the prostate then is Love and purity. A member went on to put the penis, vagina and anus under the same spiritual governance. They are all associated with excretory and sexual functions. He saw no reason for students of Christian Science to leave these organs outside Christly care or non-bifurcated vision: "...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" (Science and Health, p. 573:6-9).
There were a couple of further insights into using scientific statements to purify both thought and body. A member reworded the thought expressed in Science and Health, p. 216: 28-1, as follows: "Be absent from the body as dual belief and present as the oneness of Being." He also recommended reading the Christian Science textbook*, other literature and indeed one's whole life with the Scientific Statement of Being, particularly the first three lines, in mind (see Science and Health, p. 468: 8-15). This is a technique brought to his attention by Margaret Laird, a teacher of Christian Science, separated from The Mother Church.
Our psychology expert could hardly be expected to sit through a discussion of the anus without expatiating on Freud's views. There's a whole theory on anal eroticism — even extending to the urethra. Apparently a child passes through the anal phase between ages one and two years. He derives pleasure from retaining and expelling feces, his very first notion of productivity. Attitudes here together with reactions to diaper care and toilet training carry over into adulthood and are reflected in displaced or metaphoric forms like handling of money, work experience, time management, cleanliness and much more.
Our member had no specific truths in Science to address the anal period and its dysfunctions but felt it was valuable for us to have some knowledge of it so that once phenomena based there are spotted we can quickly find the non-dualistic Noumenon just at hand. Overall it seemed to us that names of God (and therefore man) such as Love, Principle, substance as well as purity resonate within the primal data of anal eroticism.
The new movie "American Psycho" came up as an example of weaning and toilet training gone terribly awry. It shows a man addicted to his persona, out of touch with his narcissistic rage, until it erupts in multiple murders, some perhaps only in fantasy — eventuating in full scale psychosis. It is a comment not just on one man or the 80's, but on everyone, right now. One member was reminded of Jesus' statement about another group much concerned with outer appearances: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27). At the end of the film, after all the horrid details, it is stated that it meant nothing. It was just a recounting of the facts. If so, there would be no healing. Here's what Mrs. Eddy can add to that point: "Mere historic incidents and personal events are frivolous and of no moment, unless they illustrate the ethics of Truth. To this end, but only to this end, such narrations may be admissible and advisable; but if spiritual conclusions are separated from their premises, the nexus is lost, and the argument, with its rightful conclusions, becomes correspondingly obscure. The human history needs to be revised, and the material record expunged" (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 21:25). It seemed to us that we must all live the Ego, rather than our so called human ego, in order to move out of the unfelt surface living depicted in the film.
After seeing this movie and drawing its lesson, as amplified by Science, a member realized his judgment of two people concerning their appearance and activities was about his own self-hatred projected unto them. It was easy to withdraw these projections since they were but dualistic beliefs about the Facts of at-one-ment with and as God.
The IMF and World Bank meetings which evoked so many demonstrations verging on riot were brought up as good examples of competing anal drives — the responsible institutions, perhaps forcing bad work conditions and pollution, while messy demonstrators defend proper work standards an clean environment. Anal, anal, anal. Fine, but can we bring some Science to it? Yes, of course. Again, something like living individually the Love and Principle that is really going on would purify and rectify the situation.
We decided to look at Control for next week.
* Note: The Christian Science textbook, referred to above, is Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy.
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
Jesus knew that erring mortal thought holds only in itself the supposition of evil, and that sin, sickness, and death are its subjective states; also, that pure Mind is the truth of being that subjugates and destroys any suppositional or elementary opposite to Him who is All.
Truth is supreme and omnipotent. Then, whatever else seemeth to be intelligence or power is false, deluding reason and denying revelation, and seeking to dethrone Deity. The truth of Mind-healing uplifts mankind, by acknowledging pure Mind as absolute and entire, and that evil is naught, although it seems to be.
Pure Mind gives out an atmosphere that heals and saves. Words are not always the auxiliaries of Truth. The spirit, and not the letter, performs the vital functions of Truth and Love.