Soul and Lust
October 31, 2002
Transcending the evidence of the material senses, Science declares God to be the Soul of all being, the only Mind and intelligence in the universe.
Again we met to explore a synonym for God as a way to deal with one of the seven deadly sins.
Soul in Christian Science is a term for God, not some part of us flitting in and then out of mortal existence. While it can be said to represent body, the senses and all-inclusiveness, it is never mortal, dual nor finite. It is thus the perfect answer for lust which depends on beliefs in limits, lacks, separations and consequent cravings. Allowing ourselves and others to be and feel what we already truly are — the conscious infinitude of existence — leaves lust with no hook to grab, no place to hide. It can do nothing but evaporate.
Several members were concerned with the prevalence of sexual lust today in the media and in life generally. It's a big part of entertainment and advertising. It figures immediately in dating situations.
Others argued that it was good to have it out in the open where it can be seen and dealt with. The "fabulous fifties" was an era when lust was held in suppression. Was it a coincidence that it was also an era when homophobia, sexism, racism and anti-Semitism flourished to such an extent and were so unconscious that we barely had names for these sins?
We concluded that we need to be alert even in this time of openness to being manipulated by overt and covert lust messages bombarding us.
But how? For one thing, the whole thrust of Christian Science study and practice is to prepare us to handle sin, including the objectification of people in lust-ridden fantasy or action. Some felt any sin is most efficiently dispatched by flipping it from its death-dealing dual representation into its beneficent underlying non-dual reality. A member quoted a Native American shaman, Jamie Sams, to the effect that we must let the conflictive drives of human existence evolve into what she calls the "uniworld".
Here are some quotes members found helpful in making the leap from lust to Soul.
1) "Mortals are struggling for completeness and hope to find it through sexual intercourse; when in fact this desire is simply the divine idea, struggling to express itself in completeness. A recognition of this brings compassion, tenderness, and love for the poor struggling heart and conviction that there is no sin." (Blue Book, p. 224)
2) "This is my support, that the male and female natures are equally expressed, coexistent in me. This is the way that I exist and is the reason I never lack. It is because I am of the nature of infinite completeness; there is never anything in my experience in which the male and female qualities are not infinitely at one, supporting each other." (Blue Book, p. 73)
(The Blue Book is a collection of Mary Baker Eddy's writings outside her church-authorized works.)
3) "He is my self within the heart,...smaller than a canary seed or kernel of a canary seed,...greater than the earth, greater than the sky, greater than all the worlds..." (Khandogya Upanishad, III, 14 Sacred Books of the East, translated by Max Muller (Krishna Press), quoted in Parabola, Nov. 1985)
Freud and Jung made a brief appearance. How do we manage sexual energy? One member is using it to further his art. He seldom thinks of sex per se. Another has been through a long bout of sexual anorexia which seems to have derived from childhood sexual and emotional abuse. Once the transference back to the early dysfunction was clear in his disastrous adult attempts at relationship, he closed down. Recently through Christian Science and with the help of a surrogate, he is re-gathering his sexual energies and even having what may be some healthy desires for emotional intimacy.
We went on to discuss celibacy. One member had talked about it during the week with a friend who has practiced it for a number of years. They both had just read an article "Life Without Sex" in the November 2002 Yoga Journal. Brahmacharnya or celibacy is said to promote enlightenment through semen retention and sparing the nervous system from the trauma of sexual excitation. Some teachers feel celibacy needs updating to view sex as sacred, but most bar any such revisionism. Here's how the article ends: "Brahmacharya is not an answer. It's a question. And the question is this, How will I use my sexuality in a way that honors my divinity and the divinity of others?"
Mystical experiences, such as those described in the poetry of St. John of the Cross, were mentioned. Are these examples of lust turned inward to seek union with Christ? We speculated that something along these lines, building an interior life, might be helpful for the addict of sex, romance or even one of the addictive substances.
Our Assistant Committee on Publication and another member of the group reported on the luncheon meeting they had this week with the Christian Science Committee on Publication for New York. They went over the current status of LGBT people in the Christian Science movement, how things stand at headquarters and what progress is being made around the state. There is a great deal of support in the field, while Boston appears at least to have adopted a stance of political correctness. The administration seems most concerned right now with a recent letter sent to all branch churches and practitioners by a group of dissidents who are ragging the usual list of gripes. Many are listed in the Christian Science Journal and some are noted homophobes. We're working to get a copy of this document, along with The Mother Church's response.
We told the Committee of our outreach activities for the Fall. We've planned visits from Senior Action in a Gay Environment or SAGE (a social service organization), High Ridge House (a Christian Science nursing facility) and a foster parenting advocate. We also reviewed with her our take on the reasons for the cancellation of Emergence's annual conference as well as the status of a beachhead into the Christian Science Publishing Society regarding inclusion of LGBT issues in the periodicals.
Our meeting ended with a brief reference to the glorious life of Harry Hay, a Gay activist who died this week in San Francisco. He apparently felt LGBT folk have a mission, largely suppressed and perhaps overrun by hedonism, to act as mediators in society. This idea emboldened several members to reach beyond political correctness or mere inclusiveness within the Christian Science movement, to our true value as guardians and demonstrators of new views and ways of representing wholeness, completeness, eternality, which we can, indeed must, share with others. If what some dismiss as lust hath led us to that, then "well done thou good and faithful servant."
For next week our topic is Principle and Envy.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
Did Jesus spurn the woman? Did he repel her adoration? No! He regarded her compassionately. Nor was this all. Knowing what those around him were saying in their hearts, especially his host, —that they were wondering why, being a prophet, the exalted guest did not at once detect the woman's immoral status and bid her depart,—knowing this, Jesus rebuked them with a short story or parable.
Why did he thus summarize her debt to divine Love? Had she repented and reformed, and did his insight detect this unspoken moral uprising? She bathed his feet with her tears before she anointed them with the oil. In the absence of other proofs, was her grief sufficient evidence to warrant the expectation of her repentance, reformation, and growth in wisdom? Certainly there was encouragement in the mere fact that she was showing her affection for a man of undoubted goodness and purity, who has since been rightfully regarded as the best man that ever trod this planet.
During the sensual ages, absolute Christian Science may not be achieved prior to the change called death, for we have not the power to demonstrate what we do not understand. But the human self must be evangelized.
Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things.
Question.—What are spirits and souls?
Answer.—To human belief, they are personalities constituted of mind and matter, life and death, truth and error, good and evil; but these contrasting pairs of terms represent contraries, as Chris-tian Science reveals, which neither dwell together nor assimilate. Truth is immortal; error is mortal.
Question. — What are the demands of the Science of Soul?
Answer. — The first demand of this Science is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This me is Spirit. Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no truth, no love, but that which is spiritual. The second is like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established. Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ.
Let the "male and female" of God's creating appear. Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy. Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine "powers that be." Such is the true Science of being.
By what strange perversity is the best become the most abused,—either as a quality or as an entity? Mortals misrepresent and miscall affection; they make it what it is not, and doubt what it is. The so-called affection pursuing its victim is a butcher fattening the lamb to slay it. What the lower propensities express, should be repressed by the sentiments. No word is more misconstrued; no sentiment less understood. The divine significance of Love is distorted into human qualities, which in their human abandon become jealousy and hate.