Day 229: Misc Instruction

453:6-455:2

This reading has several disjointed ideas about teaching students, at first glance. I think MBE is trying to cover a lot of details at once. She covers sin, sickness, and moves on to the important, higher aspects of Christian Science.

The last few pages, perhaps even into the last chapter, mention honesty over and over. This reading discusses honesty with yourself – knowing yourself before you expect to know a patient. I think that is what I’ve been working on but I don’t think I’m done with it yet.

Her higher Christian Science aspects include:

That evil or matter has neither intelligence nor power, is the doctrine of absolute Christian Science, and this is the great truth which strips disguise from error.

Love for God and man is the true incentive.

Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept.

Day 154: Transcendental reflection

300:9-302:2

Today was another reading that is driving me deeper into CS. The two ideas Mary Baker Eddy brings up are reflection and how this reflection appears transcendental to mortal sense. She says:

Few persons comprehend what Christian Science means by the word reflection.

While I understand conceptually what MBE means, I assume there is more to it than I currently understand. She does give some clues to her meaning:

God is revealed only in that which reflects Life, Truth, Love, -- yea, which manifests God's attributes and power, even as the human likeness thrown upon the mirror, repeats the color, form, and action of the person in front of the mirror. 

More thoughts, disjointed:

...the immortal, spiritual man...reflects the eternal substance

He reflects the divine...

This reflection seems to mortal sense transcendental, because the spiritual man's substantiality transcends mortal vision and is revealed only through divine Science. 

 A note about my current parenting challenge -- A Mother's Evening Prayer was sung in church today. Every line felt like a supporting hug and word of encouragement about how to see God, my child and my relationship. So while I'm still looking for ideas regarding "change the evidence," I'm also using this Hymn.

Day 50

91:22-93:20

These two pages start by listing the five erroneous postulates:

• The first erroneous postulate of belief is, that substance, life, and intelligence are something apart from God. 
• The second erroneous postulate is, that man is both mental and material.
• The third erroneous postulate is, that mind is both evil and good; whereas the real Mind cannot be evil nor the medium of evil, for Mind is God.
• The fourth erroneous postulate is, that matter is intelligent, and that man has a material body which is part of himself. 
• The fifth erroneous postulate is, that matter holds in itself the issues of life and death, -- that matter is not only capable of experiencing pleasure and pain, but also capable of imparting these sensations.

The other thing I marked was:

Divine logic and revelation coincide. If we believe otherwise, we may be sure that either our logic is at fault or that we have misinterpreted revelation.

This has that higher concept feel to it. Misinterpreting revelation is almost vague in that it could be revelations from the bible or it could be revelations we ourselves experience -- the small, still voice.

I did look up one word: Esse.

Day 49

89:32-91:21

Today's two pages felt like a higher concept than dealing with spirits as the chapter implies. I see there are only 8 or so pages left in the chapter so maybe Mary Baker Eddy to heading toward the wrap-up. The higher concept I read was about imagining what our experience would be without matter, just reflecting God. That's not exactly how MBE phrased it but that's what I got out of it. Here how she says it:

Have you ever pictured this heaven and earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme wisdom?

There are religions or belief systems that focus on this higher concept with their own flavoring. I must admit, this is another subject in this chapter that I wonder if she is lightly touching on only here or I never got that it was covered throughout the entire book. I'm gaining a lot of respect for this chapter.

Here is another way to convey the higher concept:

The admission to one's self that man is God's own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea.

Free to master the infinite idea? That's huge. That's not saying let's talk about Jesus or here is how to heal. This concept is way beyond that. This is, to me, the end game of the search - or the beginning.

But there is also a nice smaller thought, almost a stepping stone to the higher concept:

Divest yourself of the thought that there can be substance in matter, and the movements and transitions now possible for mortal mind will be found to be equally possible for the body.

This is wild - movements and transitions for the body? I think from a mortal perspective we know what the human body can and cannot do. The Olympic coverage this week in Vancouver shows us in stop motion time.

So as I continue to read through the rest of the book, I'm going to keep these new higher ideas in mind to see if I can spot them any where else.

What do you think? Higher concepts or was she saying something else?

Day 47

86:1-87:28

Today's two pages continue one with ghosts and ghostly communications. Mary Baker Eddy makes the point that ghosts are thoughts of mortal mind we can see, that thoughts be perceived by others. This started me off thinking not about ghosts but about my own thoughts drifting onto someone else's radar. Not the good thoughts, but the dark stuff I don't want slipping out and influencing people.

MBE's writings usually take me somewhere other than where she wants me to go. I don't know if that's good or bad.

Here are the passages I underlined.

Mortal mind sees what it believes as certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees its own thoughts.

It is needless for the thought or for the person holding the transferred picture to be individually and consciously present.

Do not suppose that any mental concept is gone because you do not think it. The true concept is never lost.

I'm interested in this line of logic and would like to pursue it. It is either something MBE wanted to discuss all the way through Science and Health and I didn't get it or she wanted to handle this in one chapter, be done with it, and move on. What do you think?