"Technically it came up in the 20's as a reaction against liberal tendencies in Christianity. Its devotees wanted to negate all questions along critical and scientific lines and get back to what they considered bedrock Christian principles. Every word in the Bible was viewed as inspired and true."

"Hasn't the term fallen out of use? Today they call themselves 'Evangelical' — or even just 'Christian'. Like the rest of us aren't!"

"I don't think they really look at the whole Bible. They take a scrappy approach, picking and choosing quotes that back up positions based on other considerations. You know, like their own shadow material."

"Huh?"

"Prejudices, fears, reaction formations, power drives — shall I go on?"

"I'm sure some of them are sincerely trying to figure out what God's saying through scripture and Jesus' presence here."

"I'm sure too. But look, if religion isn't practiced on the basis of the First Commandment and the Golden Rule, it's very wicked. And that includes all religions — not just those considered fundamentalist. Think of all the wars, holocausts, conflagrations, executions and repressions done in the name of some deity."

"Thank God for Christian Science!"

"Not so fast. We've seen some pretty awful stuff pulled off in its name — when it's dualistically conceived and practiced."

"Let me add — I've seen orthodox Christians who really seem to have touched something deeply spiritual — through their religion or maybe in spite of it — and they're truly loving and peaceful."

"You know ' fundamental' has to do with depth and getting to the bottom of things. When you cut all the guff away, good can shine through a person of any religion."

"So we're talking about a truer vision of fundamentalism."

"Hey! Let's take it over! We'll be the fundamentalists."

"Fine, but it sounds like it needs practice rather than profession, as Mrs. Eddy might say."

"One aspect of our practice right now would be to see fundamentalists as seeking Principle — and finding it beyond dualistic interpretations. See them and all of us as ideas of Principle."

"Fundamentalism is language for God being all. I'm seeing that from the standpoint of Christ Science, not as an argumentative mortal."

"That's very healing to my combative thought. I usually feel like cursing religious people who are caught up in Bible literalism. But just leave them alone and know what's really true there."

"That's wonderful. I still think political pressure and accurate journalism will help eradicate false religion."

"Yes, yes! But we have a special role in this work. So let's not get swept up in causes and demoralized by the stark materialism portrayed there."

"In our treatment, don't leave out fundamentalist Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus."

"Or atheists. They can be quite literal in their reading of obvious physical evidence. And then propound so-called scientific laws based on that."

"Well, we all need help on that one, but I think we're getting at a method of digging below the surface."

"Right! What's my thought or action based on?""You're going to say fundamentalism — your new way of dealing with it — is about spiritual sense.

"You're reading my thought."

"Really. You know what Mrs. Eddy says about reading thought?"

"I do, but maybe others would like to hear a quote. Can you find one?"

"Yes — here: "There is mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind-reading. The latter is a revelation of divine purpose through spiritual understanding, by which man gains the divine Principle and explanation of all things. Mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind-reading are distinctly opposite standpoints, from which cause and effect are interpreted. The act of reading mortal mind investigates and touches only human beliefs. Science is immortal and coordinate neither with the premises nor with the conclusions of mortal beliefs"(S&H 83: 25-2)."

"Great! So which one are we doing here?"

"Both — and I think we need both. It's not a bad idea to pull back the mortal mind projections before you go spiritual."

"I don't know — maybe sometimes you can just cut through to the Truth. Haven't you all had the experience of the material belief practically screaming the fundamental Truth?"

"Sure. It's like those flip pictures. One moment you see a vase, then you see two face profiles. You go back and forth, but you can't see them both at the same time. It's the same with Spirit and matter — it's the same presence, seen in two different ways."

"In Section III of the Lesson on Truth, the Bible quotes from John appear to say we have to follow Jesus in order to do the works. The quotes from Science and Health barely mention Jesus and focus on Truth. Mrs. Eddy takes us to the fundamental, healing point in these Bible stories and sayings."

"Read some of the quotes."

"Okay.
John 6: 28, 29:
'Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.'

John 14: 6 I am:
'I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.'

S&H 510: 9-12:
'Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose "light shall we see light"and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense.'

S&H 288: 31-2:
'The eternal Truth destroys what mortals seem to have learned from error, and man's real existence as a child of God comes to light. Truth demonstrated is eternal life.'"

"So, do we follow Jesus as some kind of human model or do we just bluntly live Truth?""Have you all heard of Adyashanti?"

"I haven't."

"Who or what is it?"

"He's an American guy who's allowed himself to awaken to the Infinite and let it hold non-dualistic sway over his life. It's a pretty sophisticated approach. He's very much into seeing our dualistic judgments as our own shadow. Once we consciously own them at the ego level, we can move beyond it to where everything is perfect."

"Kind of Genesis 1:31 ' God saw everything He'd made and it was very good.'"

"I read about him in Shift, the magazine from the Noetic people."

"Does he engage with the world?"

"Yes. Definitely. It's not just other worldly stuff. It's very much like Christian Science that way."

"I was reading some comments by Rafael Nadal and Tiger Woods about the physical-psychological state they're in when they're in the 'flow' as it's called. They are charged up, fearless, accurate and joyous. They're in full body-mind integration. To me it's a wonderful example of bringing the fundamental or absolute into the relative."

"Where'd you get their comments?"

"They were in a Brazilian magazine called Mente Cerebro."

"We once had 'The Flow' as our topic. We had dancers and artists at the meetings who really got it."

"Well, any of us should be able to get it, whatever we're doing, if we can connect with our divinity and operate from there."

"Here, I brought something from the Journal of Analytical Psychology It's by Murray Stein, a celebrated Jungian analyst in Zurich. The word ' self' basically means God to Jungians. Okay, I'll read: ' At St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre, the star ballerinas, who dance with and far beyond '"technique", pouring their whole beings into well practiced and now deeply ingrained habitual forms, incarnate the self in their effortless-looking movements. It is a complete psychic and physical involvement without inhibition or restraint, holding back nothing, the full all-out abandonment to an impersonal form and style, which makes it "of the self"and not "of the ego". Sometime we talk, read, run, work, play, cook and eat like this. Life in the self means overcoming the divide between conscious and unconscious, being both at once. In this we also participate in the fullness of die Goettlichkeit [ Divinity] as immanent within the space and time limitations of our physical world. One can think of incarnation of the Divine in these grace-filled and full-bodied moments.'"

"In quantum physics light is a wave until consciousness evaluates it as particles. Sounds like the state Murray Stein and the athletes are describing is experienced as wave and particle at the same time. We're beyond vases and faces!"

"Didn't Christ Jesus symbolize wave and particle as coincident experience? Infinite Christ appearing as a concept, Jesus."

"Like Christ Science being you and me."

"Haven't we gone as far as we can with fundamentalism?"

"Maybe in theory but we need to practice our insights."

"Fine. Now we need a topic for two weeks."

"Health Care! Let's work on that."

"Wow — so fast?"

"Aside from which beer who's having at the White House, it's all that's discussed on TV."

"I don't know what we could say. I hate to see us degenerate into a lot of materialistic desperation and politics."

"It doesn't have to be that way. Isn't Christian Science all about health care? If we could handle fundamentalism spiritually we should have no problem with health."

"Okay — let's give it a shot. I'm already starting to see some possibilities."

"Okay folks: Health Care for two weeks."