Day 242: Harmony revisited

479:27-482:12

I must admit there was a lot I marked in this reading. Mary Baker Eddy came back to the discussion of Soul, evil, and material belief. But I want to focus on harmony write now. It seems to ebb and flow in our house which isn’t the truth I want:

Harmonious action proceeds from Spirit, God. Inharmony has no Principle; its action is erroneous and presupposes man to be in matter. Inharmony would make matter the cause as well as the effect of intelligence, or Soul, thus attempting to separate Mind from God.

Day 241: Identity & Belief

477:19-479:26

After today’s reading, I’m considering the chapter nickname of belief.

Mary Baker Eddy starts of the answer to What is body and Soul? with the concept of identity. Plenty of people would identity as either the body or Soul in body, so I understand why she starts there.

This is one of those question/answers that, regardless of Christian Science, I totally get. That’s to say that outside of the nature/nurture argument, I know my body is not me and that there is no other identity (such as Soul) in my body. There are some things that you have to know for yourself, spiritually speaking. This is one I know.

So when I got to this line:

What basis is there for the theory of indwelling spirit, except the claim of mortal belief? 

I broadened it so I could apply it to other issues:

What basis is there for the theory of [insert challenge here], except the claim of mortal belief? 

Still praying about son.

Day 240: Man

475:5-477:18

The question is What is Man? I’m grappling with more issues with my son again. Ugh. This has got to stop. So I appreciated this question because I remember how someone told me to use this answer by replacing the word man with the name of the person who I need to see as God’s idea. Today, that would be my son. So I used the name Bill and changed up the sentences I’m praying with today:

Bill as no separate mind from God.

Bill has not a single quality underived from Deity.

Bill is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The real Bill cannot depart from holiness, nor can God, by whom Bill is evolved, engender the capacity or freedom to sin.

Earnestly see the spiritual status of Bill, which is outside of all material selfhood.

Day 239: Is there no sin?

472:23-475:4

Two things immediately jumped into my mind with this question, before I read the answer. The first was the Trial where Personal Sense, and his attorney, False Belief, are trying to have Mortal Man committed to death. The second is the third tenet of Christian Science:

3. We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.

Before I started this year, I didn’t have a feel for false belief and personal sense in terms of Christian Science. I never focused on it before. The readings, broken up the way they are, unraveled that for me. So I probably never understood the 3rd tenet as much as I do now.

The last line of this reading stood out as the premise of the formula and the formula itself where sin is concerned:

To infinite Spirit there is no matter, – all is Spirit, divine Principle and its idea.

I also learned a lot about matter this year that I glossed over in years past. I think my teacher, during class instruction, tried to point this out but there was so much to learn that this point was lost on me.

Day 238: What is error?

471:22-472:22

I found the definition of error very enlightening. I changed this sentence:

Error is a supposition that pleasure and pain, that intelligence, substance, life, are existent in matter.

To this:

Error is anything that exists in matter.

I think I underlined something like this earlier in the book but I can’t remember where it was.

Day 237: More than one Mind

469:7-471:21

In the definition of Mind, there are several nuggets of thought to work on. The main point is that there is only one, divine Mind:

The supposed existence of more than one mind was the basic error idolatry. This error assumed [1] the loss of spiritual power, [2] the loss of the spiritual presence of Life, as infinite Truth without an unlikeness, and [3] the loss of Love as ever present and universal.

I think the last point, the loss of Love, is the most immediate issue for me. How about you?

Day 236: Life

467:1-469:6

I was out with the family last night, kids off playing, husband watching them, and I had a moment to stop and think about yesterday’s reading. I knew I marked only one phrase and it was about beliefs but I couldn’t remember the words idolatry and ritualism so I came up with all sorts of words like that. It turned out to be a very insightful and restful few minutes just think about human beliefs.

Today’s section is a great place for any one to learn about Christian Science, me included. The question What are the demands of Science of Soul? made me sit up and wander what I had missed in the previous 466 pages. I should probably have the answer memorized but I was happy to not be surprised.

The phrase I marked today is part of the answer for What is Life?:

Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity.

I’ve been praying about time lately so this was a nice thought to add to my thoughts.

Day 235: Idolatry and Ritualism

465-466:31
I spent some time yesterday thinking about single ideas not having an element of error. I thought about how we are all ideas and we aren’t old or new ideas just familiar (old) or unrecognized (new). I got caught up in the spiritual attributes of ideas and let my thoughts just take me to new places. It was nice to have a single, clear idea I could do that with.
Today is the first day of Recapitulation. If you have heard of class instruction or taken it, you know this is the chapter that is the basis for the class. When I figured out what Recapitulation meant, years ago, I was a little disappointed. So, no secret handshake will be revealed, just a summary of ideas already covered. The question/answer format is nice and easy to follow. [I wish class instruction was now just a private blog to read and make notes with links to the books.]
The idea I grabbed from today’s reading is something that has been nagging me anyway:

idolatry and ritualism are the outcome of all man-made beliefs

You could almost hear someone say: “Let’s not think, let’s just do it the way it was done before.” Now that I’m checking my thinking, I’m looking for those little spots in my thought-conclusions that are based on idolatry and ritualism – purposeless stuff that might keep me from listening to God.

Day 234: A New Idea

463:5-464:29

Something I thought was settled in my life has reared up again. It’s minor in the scheme of things but upsetting for its bad timing. Its regarding my son, a situation you may remember I’ve been praying about. So here is what I was happy to read today:

A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes property whatever is offensive. 

The other thing I thought about was that MBE would enjoy writing a blog. She could continue on her spiritual journey but be more visible.

Day 233: Inductive Reasoning

461:1-463:4

MBE says you must accept Christian Science by inductive reasoning which she explains as:

We admit the whole, because a part is proved and that part illustrates and proves the entire Principle.

Taken by itself, this statement is misleading. MBE has always started with God as all, so, to me this is the entire Principle and everything else comes from it. If you understand what she is saying, can you add a comment below with your thoughts?

MBE also lists for elements to demonstrate a healing:

1. self-denial
2. sincerity
3. Christianity
4. persistence

Day 232: Former Beliefs

458:32-460:32

Mary Baker Eddy discusses the idea of healing without any knowledge or training versus healing along the spiritual journey. She explains Christian Science:

Its pharmacy is moral, and its medicine is intellectual and spiritual, thought used for physical healing.

She explains her own journey:

As former beliefs were gradually expelled from her thought, the teaching became clearer, until finally the shadow of old errors was no longer cast upon divine Science.

My former beliefs are fading away but not nearly as fast as I would like.

On a side note: I’ve been thinking about time lately. I was glad to see the Sentinel cover this in its latest issue.

Journal Day Listings are available now

I'm done entering the day listings. They are here.

Day 231: Mental Quackery

457:7-458:31

This reading is about dividing yourself between the material solution and the spiritual solution. Yesterday’s quote about guilt and self-condemnation come to mind in this light. Also the idea that my direction in spirituality must progress.

A couple of ideas I obviously need to work on:

It is anything but scientifically Christian to think of aiding the divine Principle of healing or of trying to sustain the human body until the divine Mind is ready to take the case. Divinity is always ready.

The Christianly scientific man reflects the divine law, thus becoming a law unto himself. He does violence to no man. Neither is he a false accuser. The Christian Scientist wisely shapes his course, and is honest and consistent in following the leadings of divine Mind. He must prove, through living as well as healing and teaching, that Christ’s way is the only one by which mortals are radically saved from sin and sickness.

Day 230: Waters in the Fountain

455:3-457:6

In this section, Mary Baker Eddy uses the imagery of the fountain which can’t send both sweet and bitter water. Her point being you can’t develop a higher spiritual sense and still hold to the lower material thoughts. Another interpretation might be that you can be the empowered but bad Christian Scientist. You can’t have the ability to heal and still be wicked – therefore uses your healing power for evil.

For my own spiritual development, I think her first statement is one I need to work on:

A mental state of self-condemnation and guilt or a faltering and doubting trust in Truth are unsuitable conditions for healing the sick. Such mental states indicate weakness instead of strength. Hence the necessity of being right yourself in order to teach this Science of healing.

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 228: Human Will & Mental Malpractice

451:8-453:5

These two ideas are easy to understand and diffuse on their own but in this reading, somewhere, MBE, ties them together. At least that’s the thought that I came away with.

Every Christian Scientist, every conscientious teacher of the Science of Mind-healing, knows that human will is not Christian Science, and he must recognize this in order to defend himself from the influence of human will. He feels morally obligated to open the eyes of his students that they may perceive the nature and methods of error of every sort, especially any subtle degree of evil, deceived and deceiving. All mental malpractice arises from ignorance or malice aforethought. It is the injurious action of one mortal mind controlling another from wrong motives, and it is practised either with a mistaken or a wicked purpose.

Day 227: The First Impression

449:7-451:7

This reading still deals with sin. MBE informs us that our porter at the door of thought is our sign post of Character:

The first impression, made on a mind which is attracted or repelled according to personal merit or demerit, is a good detective of individual character.

Her instruction is pointed:

Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from the material world and be separate. They must renounce [1] aggression, [2] oppression, and [3] the pride of power.

Her first statement sums up why:

The wrong done another reacts most heavily against one’s self.

Day 226: Sin

447:12-449:6

This reading was about sin. MBE always said it was easier to heal sickness than sin. A distinction she makes in this reading is the difference between declaring the Truth versus knowing the Truth:

A sinner is afraid to case the first stone. He may say, as a subterfuge, that evil is unreal, but to know it, he must demonstrate his statement.

So there is the catch. A sick person is ignorant of the cause of sickness and the pain of the body is all the reason to reach for knowledge of the truth. The same isn’t true for what can sometimes seem like delicious sin. The motive to change isn’t immediate physical pain. The motive must be an interest in a long-term change in thought and deed:

Evil which obtains in the bodily senses, but which the heart condemns, has no foundation; but if evil is uncondemned, it is undenied and nurtured. 

Christian Science rises above the evidence of the corporeal senses; but if you have not risen above sin yourself, do not congratulate yourself upon your blindness to evil or upon the good you know and do not.

Day 225: Human Will

445:19-447:11

Since most of this reading is about human will (or it was to me), I thought I would link up other days I thought included that topic.

Thoughts MBE has about Human Will:

Christian Science silences human will, quiets fear with Truth and Love, and illustrates the unlabored motion of the divine energy in healing the sick.

The human will which maketh and worketh a lie, hiding the divine Principle of harmony, is destructive to health, and is the cause of disease rather than its cure.

The exercise of will brings on a hypnotic state, detrimental to health and integrity of thought. This must therefore be watched and guarded against.

The heavenly law is broken by trespassing upon man’s individual right to self-government.

Day 224: Guidance

443-445:18

This is the first day of Teaching Christian Science. The two ideas that struck me were Mary Baker Eddy’s tone and her clear guidance. Some places in the book, she is very forceful but in these two pages, I didn’t read that. I read compassion and guidance, as if she were speaking to me in a class.

Right off the bat, she says:

under ordinary circumstances a resort to faith in corporeal means tends to deter those, who make such a compromise, from entire confidence in omnipotent Mind as really possessing all power.

There are other places in the book where she says this differently but you get her general attitude here.

There are so many rules listed in these two pages, I was thinking about making a list but I wouldn’t want anyone to stray into the argument of the letter versus the spirit of the rule.

She does discusses the ethics of Christian Science and mentions mental assassins then defines the term:

mental assassins: someone who attempts to kill morally and physically

The Trial Participants

After reading the trial in the lower court of Error and the higher court of Spirit, I wanted a breakdown of who was who (or what was what).

Begins on Page 430

Mortal Man vs Personal Sense

Charge	Liver complaint: The prisoner watched with the sick friend every night in the week. When the sick mortal was thirsty, the prisoner gave him drink. During all this time the prisoner attended to his daily labors, partaking of food at irregular intervals, sometimes going to sleep immediately after a heavy meal. At last he committed liver-complaint. At the time of the arrest the prisoner summoned Physiology, Materia Medica, and Hypnotism to prevent punishment. The struggle on their part was long. Materia Medica held out the longest, but at length all these assistants resigned to Health laws.
Expected Punishment	Death
Defendant	Mortal Man
Arrested by	Health laws
Plaintiff	Personal Sense

Court of Error

Defendant’s Attorney	none
Plaintiff’s Attorney	False Belief
Jury	Mortal Minds, Materia Medica, Anatomy, Physiology, Hypnotism, Envy, Greed, Ingratitude
Sheriff	Fear
Judge	Medicine
Witnesses for the Defense	none
Witnesses for the Plaintiff	Health laws, Coated Tongue, Sallow Skin, Nerve (State Commissioner for Mortal Man), Mortality (Governor of the Province of Body), Death
Verdict	1) Guilty of Benevolence in the first degree; which led to 2) Guilty of liver-complaint in the first degree.
Sentence	Tortured until Death

Supreme Court of Spirit

Defendant’s Attorney	Christian Science
Jury	Spiritual Senses
Judge	Justice
Sheriff	Progress
Verdict	Innocent because no physical laws exist.

Day 223: The Trial (Day 6 – last)

440:33-442:32

This is the wrap up of the trial. There are several lines that popped out at me:

any so-called law, which undertakes to punish aught but sin, is null and void

That’s a sweeping statement. I need to keep that one close by. It is said another way, in case you need a variation:

Man is adjudged innocent of transgressing physical laws, because there are no such laws.

Day 222: The Trial (Day 5)

438:18-440:32

This part of the trial focuses on Personal Sense and False Belief. I love how False Belief is the attorney in the case for Personal Sense. Talk about a conflict of interest. At one point, MBE refers to the masked Personal Sense. I thought that idea that the character of Personal Sense as masked or hidden or hiding was interesting. I marked:

Mortal Minds were deceived by your attorney, False Belief, and were influenced to give a verdict delivering Mortal Man to Death.

Day 221: The Trial (day 4)

436:15-438:17

The idea of this reading is that the principal witness, Nerve, perjured his testimony. Here are the ideas that were very interesting to me:

It was Fear [the sheriff] who handcuffed Mortal Man and would now punish him.

Thus the Court of Error construed obedience to the law of divine Love as disobedience to the law of Life.

I proclaim this witness, Nerve, to be destitute of intelligence and truth and to be a false witness.

Day 220: The Trial (day 3)

434:8-436:14

I feel I must apologize for my irregular posts. August is the month where I live and material life (gardening, trips to the beach, house projects) are front and center. Soon the weather will turn and I’ll be more consistent with my posts.

The trial is moved from the Court of Error to the Court of Spirit.

I liked (and will come back to when I need it):

Mortal Man has had no proper counsel in the case. All the testimony has been on the side of Personal Sense

acting within the limits of the divine law, and in obedience thereto. Upon this statute hangs all the law and testimony. Giving a cup of cold water in Christ’s name, is a Christian service. Laying down his life for a good deed, Mortal Man should find it again. Such acts bear their own justification, and are under the protection of the Most High.

Day 219: The Trail (day 2)

432:9-434:7

I’m more focused on the trail today. I read it and thought how literal it was in that diseased Mortal Man is treated as a criminal – as though the disease is the natural reaction to fit the (usually) unknown crime.

I also stopped to consider the jury of Mortal Minds. While this is an allegory in the book, it is a very real phenomenon in the material world. It is very hard to silence our own thoughts at times, so I could only imagine the dire circumstances someone would feel if the jury of public opinion termed on him. Or worse, a situation leading to mental malpractice.

Day 218: (Not really) The Trial, Day 1

430:13-432:8

Today’s reading is the trial Mortal Man. It’s an interesting way to visualize the intellectual play that happens in thought. I read it and thought was an illusion it is.

My mind has been elsewhere today. I was looking at something, I can’t even remember what, thinking ‘it’s just an idea.’ I’m just an idea. A flower is an idea. Everything is just a whole bunch of ideas. I’ve also been thinking about purpose lately so I thought if we are all ideas, what of it? I had children (ideas), what is my purpose there? To nurture these ideas. If I have a job, what is my purpose there? To nurture the ideas (people, work, etc) there. I saw everything and everyone as just ideas and our only job to nurture all the other ideas. I’m not sure where I’m going with that but I haven’t been able to let it go.

Day 217: Great Quotes

428:3-430:12

Some days, I underline most of the reading. Today is one of those days but for this blog, I’ll just pick out a few:

Man’s privilege at this supreme moment is to prove the words of our Master: “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”

To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear, – this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true.

eternal building

everlasting Father

We must realize the ability of mental might to offset human misconceptions and to replace them with the life which is spiritual, not material.

We must hold forever the consciousness of existence

We must being, however, with the more simple demonstrations of control, and the soon we begin the better.

if we are wise, we look beyond a single step in the line of spiritual advancement

Faith should enlarge its borders and strengthen its base by resting upon Spirit instead of matter.

Day 216: Death

426:5-428:2

A side note: I’ve had 216+ days so far to think about how I want to continue this journal next year. Mainly, I’m focusing on making the tasks less time consuming so that I can spend more time on reading and thinking about each day’s reading instead of the mechanics of how to blog about it. One step is to move off of blogger. Another step is to get all the days’ readings mapped out and linked up before the next year. I’m a little concerned this might be some sort of copyright issue if I do that. While I’m not ‘copying’ the content, you could say I’m breaking the spirit of the copyright. I do burn a lot of time with that process and if it were available, other’s might join in the blog-journal year with me. So, copyright violation? Moral violation? Or seems practical and helpful? Thoughts?

Today’s reading covers death as “another phase of the dream that existence can be material.” Some little idea popped in the back of my mind; its sitting there waiting for me to know it. I don’t know when I dropped the fear of death. Maybe I never had it. I just didn’t seem relevant. And I wasn’t worried about anyone I left behind until I had kids. But that too is not a huge nagging issue for me. But the whole death as another phase implies that there is the ability to side-step the dream altogether. That’s the new idea.

I don’t mean in the Jesus didn’t die way but something even larger than that -- something completely outside of life as we believe we know it.

Day 215: Accidents & Heredity

424:5-426:4

Mary Baker Eddy’s discussion of accidents is a great argument against chance, luck, or fate:

Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of change to the proper sense of God’s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony.

Heredity is a tricky one. Somehow the illness seems more personal, hidden, and inevitable. Mary Baker Eddy says:

If you have sound and capacious lungs and want them to remain so, be always ready with the mental protest against the opposite belief in heredity.

I think the point for me is to understand that God’s law is inevitable and always working, instead of heredity.

Day 214: Symptoms Aggravated

422:5-424:4

Today’s reading covers two points that have become more real to me, instead of being a memory or a quote in the book.

The first is the idea that a person’s physical or moral state, while reading the book, will grow worse. Mary Baker Eddy says “these indications are favorable.”

For the patient, that’s not good but for the long-term, it doesn’t indicate a change happening in the mind. Well, that’s been the last few months for me. Random, weird physical problems have popped up. At first, they are alarming, then I lean back on my readings and my general arguments for practice. While I’m not quick about it as I should be, I do seem to get there.

The second idea is that all is mental causation. Lately, I’ve struggled with materiality, not just in the above-mentioned aggravated symptoms but in the more subtler ways of sin. Sin is a big word and leads people to think about the major sins but I’ve been working on the minor ones: selfishness, and self-centeredness. These are delicate in the balance of the whole parent-child structure of my life where everything feels like it happens because, for or with the kids. Where is the me time? I’ve been working a lot more on harmony and that being a mental status as well.

Day 213: Random instructions for Treatment

420:10-422:4

divine Love gives them all power over every physical action and condition

vehemently tell you patient that he must awake. Turn his gaze from the false evidence of the senses to the harmonious facts of Soul and immortal being.

Insist vehemently on the great fact which covers the whole ground, that God, Spirit, is all, and that there is none beside Him.

Day 212: Harmony as part of Treatment

418:12-420:9

A few points about treatment:

By the truthful arguments you employ, and especially by the spirit of Truth and Love which you entertain, you will heal the sick.

Include moral as well as physical belief in your efforts to destroy error. Cast out all manner of evil.

Observe mind instead of body, lest aught unfit for development enter thought. Think less of material conditions and more of spiritual.

Then something that seemed more about my struggles with harmony:

There is no metastatis, no stoppage of harmonious action, no paralysis. Truth not error, Love not hate, Spirit not matter, governs man.

Day 211: More Treatment Instructions

416:16-418:11

Specific points:

Turn their thoughts away from their bodies to higher objects. Teach them that their being is sustained by Spirit, not by matter, and that they find health, peace and harmony in God, divine Love.

Maintain the facts of Christian Science, – that Spirit is God, and therefore cannot be sick; that what is termed matter cannot be sick; that all causation is Mind, acting through spiritual law.

Show them that the conquest over sickness as well as over sin, depends on mentally destroying all belief in material pleasure or pain.

Please with an honest conviction of truth and a clear perception of the unchanging, unerring, and certain effect of divine Science.

Day 210: More Instruction about Treatments

414:15-416:15

These two points stood out:

Christian Science declares that Mind is substance, also that matter neither feels, suffers, nor enjoys. Hold these points strongly in view. Keep in mind the verity of being,--that man is the image and likeness of God, in whom all being is painless and permanent. Remember that man's perfection is real and unimpeachable, whereas imperfection is blameworthy, unreal, and is not brought about by divine Love.

And:

To remove the error producing disorder, you must calm and instruct mortal mind with immortal Truth.

Day 209: Steps of a Treatment

412:16-414:14

This is a note to myself so I can find this again easily.

To prevent disease or to cure it, the power of Truth, of divine Spirit, must break the dream of the material senses. To heal by argument, find the type of the ailment, get its name, and array your mental plea against the physical. Argue at first mentally, not audibly, that the patient has no disease, and conform the argument so as to destroy the evidence of disease. Mentally insist that harmony is the fact, and that sickness is a temporal dream. Realize the presence of health and the fact of harmonious being, until the body corresponds with the normal conditions of health and harmony.

Day 208: Mental Treatment Illustrated

410:22-412:15

I was surprised by the section title (also this post’s title) because I didn’t remember it. I took class instruction and somewhere in the back of my mind thought I learned about treatments in class, not in Science & Health. Why do I think that? I have no idea. A few points stuck out for me:

Disease is always induced by a false sense mentally entertained, not destroyed.

Silently reassure them as to their exemption from disease and danger.

The great face that God lovingly governs all, never punishing aught but sin, is your standpoint, from which to advance and destroy the human fear of sickness.