Day 51

93:21-95:27

There are so many lines of thought in this chapter regarding spirits that I either didn't know existing or just ignored because it was stupid or didn't make sense to me. However, Mary Baker Eddy spends time explaining them and refuting them. So I'm catching up on spirit theory - if you will.

These two pages start with a great summation of Christian Science thought. It's a big paragraph but it is so clear that I need to remember it:

The belief that Spirit is finite as well as infinite has darkened all history. In Christian Science, Spirit, as a proper noun, is the name of the Supreme Being. It means quantity and quality, and applies exclusively to God. The modifying derivatives of the word spirit refer only to quality, not to God. Man is spiritual. He is not God, Spirit. If man were Spirit, then men would be spirits, gods. Finite spirit would be mortal, and this is the error embodied in the belief that the infinite can be contained in the finite. This belief tends to becloud our apprehension of the kingdom of heaven and the reign of harmony in the Science of being.

Then she goes on to discuss how the ability to read people's thoughts, as Jesus does, was on a scientific basis and necessary to provide a healing:

Jesus could injure no one by his Mind-reading.

This kind of mind-reading is not clairvoyance, but it is important to success in healing, and is one of the special characteristics thereof.

I'm not sure if this is comparing Jesus to the medium or the spirit but I get the point. The next passage I underlined is my favorite of the these pages:

We welcome the increase in knowledge and the end of error, because even human invention must have its day, and we want that day to be succeeded by Christian Science, by divine reality.

Even human invention must have its day - sort of a nice thought for someone in my line of work.

I've been thinking a lot about the higher concept passages. I looked at a star in the sky last night and wondered what idea it was. I understand it's not just one single point but is a fully formed idea with subtleties and complexities - but still - what was the idea.