Description
Volume I – p.69
1938
Unity of Good 3:20 states, “God is All-in-all. Hence He is in Himself only, in His own nature and character, and is perfect being, or consciousness. He is all the Life and Mind there is or can be. Within Himself is every embodiment of Life and Mind.”
Mind beholds itself as itself, and this constitutes the infinite full, indivisible manifestation, or man. Man, therefore, has “not a single quality underived from Deity” (S&H 475:20 only), meaning, of course, that man’s experience is divine Mind experiencing itself.
Mind being one, man must be one, and this One simultaneously the one which is Mind and the one which is man. Mind and man are not two, there being no numbers in God. “Principle and its idea is one, and this one is God … Being” (ibid. 465:17-1, emphasis added). Consider Being from the standpoint of cause, and you may call it God or Principle; consider Being from the standpoint of effect, and you may call it man or manifestation. However, these two different ways of considering Being do not and cannot change Being. In Being itself such a consideration is not going on. There is no duality or plurality in Being. Being is always subjectively, one-ly, single-mindedly conscious of itself, in its unalterable, infinite oneness, or indivisibility. This Being is your Being. The different standpoints, the difference between God and man, cause and effect, are the result of human attempts to understand God, or Being. But Being is being its glorious radiant Self, without ever thinking of different points of view whence to consider itself.
Hence, Mr. Bicknell Young’s profound admonition, “Be, and by Being heal the sick.” In other words, when Being constitutes all there is to you, both as Principle and effect, Soul and body, then whatever seems contrary to this infinite perfection dwindles away into its spurious nothingness. In this manner, we do not assume too much; we do not assume creative force or power. On the contrary, we recognize restfully, joyfully the actuality of spontaneous, self-perpetuating existence, which existence we are and experience, without any effort to keep it going, or any aim to attain it. The infinity — and divinity — of perfect Being precludes both effort to make and aim to reach.
To experience and be this Being more and more naturally, constantly, easily, perfectly, all-inclusively, infinitely is the so-called aim of the Christian Scientist. The aim is attained in the measure that the sense of aim or effort is swallowed up in Being itself, subjectively experienced as the “I” of one’s existence. “If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Matt. 6:22). There would be no objection to writing this “eye” with a single capital letter “I” instead of “e-y-e.” Thinking out from the singleness, or oneness of Mind, you will find Mind’s manifestation, or your body, full of light, that is, as Mind experiencing itself.
Volume I – p.148
1940
This is not the time for narrow personal views. Refuse to be mesmerized by personal thoughts and experiences. We cannot outline, but we can be all-embracing in our thought, and this generic understanding will change many things for all nations. Christian Science makes it possible for universal Being to prevail, but this means that there must be Science. This means that you are the light of the world — in the degree that you are this light! What a great opportunity is ours. It is boundless. The need for help appears to be a universal claim. For this reason, we simply have to be more universal in our thought. This fact does not relieve us of any legitimate work of healing what is called specific cases. We have both the power and the duty to gain in understanding until that understanding is equal to any and every situation. But, our views must be noble, big, and all-embracing beyond human conception. Our mental activity must be commensurate with the Science which empowers it. We must be radical in our thinking — we must see that there is no matter, no materialism, no materiality. This constitutes our spiritual inclusion and divine dominion, which go hand in hand.
Volume I – p.168
1940
The very highest contribution to the movement is living church subjectively, and thereby healing all forms of discord. This will do more for the prosperity and perpetuation of the movement than anything else. In the way I expressed it this winter in a number of addresses on “Church as Divine Activity”: “To do one’s part for the support of our churches, services, and activities, and at the same time rise above a mortal, material, personal sense of church, is a wonderfully helpful thing. It means the lessening of process, and thereby the experience of more spiritual spontaneity.” When thinking of church, do not think immediately of some human organization of which you are a member. You will wonderfully help this church and The Mother Church by let‐ting your consciousness be that which “rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle” (S&H 583:13). In the measure that you include church as a right idea and exclude a personal sense of movement, you will find the movement blest and improved. The improvement of the movement cannot take place merely by thinking of it as a human organization carried on by persons, and trying to improve these persons or this organization.
Movement, or organization, is a human concept about church — “the structure of Truth and Love” (ibid. 583:12 only). Knowing the truth concerning church, you improve the organization by lessening the beliefs about it. Humanly this appears as a more efficient and simple organization protecting its members, in the highest sense of that word, by letting them be their divine, impersonal, spontaneous self.
That which seems to hold our movement down in different ways — lack of attendance, lack of funds, discordant conditions within the churches, lack of membership — is an entirely impersonal error, or claim. The need, then, is for wiping out this claim on the basis of the one divine Mind, not by setting thought on getting more persons to go to church; not by trying to get more money; not by trying to get more harmony; not by trying to get more members. This is all putting the cart before the horse. Unfortunately, it seems that workers are not sufficiently aware of this. Let us handle this argument as a false claim. That is the reason for its being mentioned here.
The great necessity is to get away from personality. It is not mere numbers. Our Manual says: “According to the Scripture they shall turn away from personality and numbering the people” (Art. VIII, Sect. 28). It is the Christ, the depth of the Christ‐understanding, which one should cultivate by knowing that one already IS this Christ. This — alone — is capable of reducing the impersonal mortal mind resistance. With a lessening of the anti-Christ, our movement will blossom forth in higher usefulness and in fulfill- ing its great mission more rapidly and efficiently.
In loving and understanding care, The Mother Church, its branches and activities, are placed. Your including the idea church, keeps it pure, uncontaminated, beneficial, one. Church is safe in your exalted understanding, in the glorious oneness of your Being, in the all-inclusiveness of your Love.
Paperback | 6.94×9.21″ | 318 pages
