Day 254: Rarefaction

509:9-511:6

I had to look up rarefaction, first word I’ve looked up in a while for this journal. I wonder is it was in common use in Mary Baker Eddy’s day or just one of her words.

I found this interesting:

The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind's creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness --yea, the divine nature--appear in man and the universe never to disappear.

I wondered if MBE was saying that our spiritual progress is found in days, seasons, – in our actual experience. She’s said something like this in different ways but the above quote was almost too beautiful and vague for me.

Day 108: Soul and Man

209:5-211:6

These are the ideas that struck me in this reading. Mary Baker Eddy defined Spiritual sense in contrast to her explanations of material sense.

Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God. 

A constant capacity to understand God is, to me, a capacity to love man. They aren't exactly the same idea but something I read a while back in the book made me equate loving God to loving man so I wonder if understanding God is really about understanding Man as the reflection of God. If we had the constant ability to love our neighbor and see them as the child of God, would that be spiritual sense?


This next sentence caught my attention because so many Christian religions argue about Soul: soul in the body, soul leaving the body, purpose of  soul.

Knowing that Soul and its attributes were forever manifested through man...

Soul manifested through man to me is sort of another way of saying man reflects God. But what about Soul's attributes? I looked up Soul in Recapitual( pg 477, line, 19). Soul is defined as

the substance , Life, and intelligence of man.

Vocabulary word:
Solecism

Day 82: What is an idea?

156:5 - 157:32

The first paragraph of this section has an account of a case of dropsy which required tapping.Mary Baker Eddy worked with this patient by attenuating the medication then changing over to a placebo. The patient improved even though no medication entered her body. But the patient didn't know the pills were placebos. So it was a mental drugging of a kind, not physical.

The first line I marked was:

In metaphysics, matter disappears from the remedy entirely, and Mind takes its rightful and supreme place. 

I've been thinking a lot about how matter is the dream which isn't really there. The five senses are powerful and hypnotic. I want those five senses in waking life as much as dream life. But are they real? I've also been thinking about the idea of a thing recently. If I didn't have sight, how would I perceive my existence. I don't mean on a physical level but on a spiritual level. How would I perceive any ideas? What would an existence of all the ideas be like?

The other one I marked is:

...Life is continuous and harmonious.

Harmony is a funny idea. It's easily hidden under the seeming details of life: the little judgements, and thoughts in my own mind. I've been standing porter at the door more actively lately.

Day 80: Attenuation of Truth

152:10 - 153:24

Today's passage is a page and a half and focuses on the idea of attenuation which is the idea of reducing a drug to such a little amount that the actual properties of the curing drug are in question. Mary Baker Eddy's counter point is to use "a high attenuation of Truth" to cure the patient.

I don't want the Truth attenuated (thinned down) but I don't want to loose myself in too many points to concentrate on either. Perhaps attenuation of Truth means focused into of thinned down. I read in a Sentinel I while back I man's account of how he beginnings a treatment. He starts with the first chapter of Genesis - which is the primary example of the beginning/only concept (beginning signifies the only).

This chapter focused on Mind instead of Science, Theology, and Medicine so I think I will focus on one Mind as the curative. MBE ends this section with this:

The fact that pain cannot exist where there is no mortal mind to feel it is proof that this so-called mind makes its own pain -- that is, its own belief in pain.

Day 71: Hope within

133:8-135:20

In this passage, Mary Baker Eddy discusses Judaism and miracles.

The first thing that caught my attention was:

the natural law of harmony which overcomes discord

Beyond it's Christian Science meaning, I've been thinking about the meaning of the terms organic and natural from Mary Baker Eddy's time to this. She uses the word organic to mean literally human organs and she refers to natural as spiritual. Now, organic means natural in a physical or originally material state. And organic and natural are somewhat interchangeable now. Since I've been reading for 71 days now, when I see those words in a non-CS environment (news, Internet, magazines, conversation), I compare how the words are used. Which meaning is being used and why? How am I interpreting the word versus how it was meant? I'm not sure where that is going -- but my thought is definitely changing.

The next thing:

There is divine authority for believing in the superiority of spiritual power over material resistance.

Divine authority stands out. It's a sentence filled with hope and I need that right now.

And:

Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of divine power. 

Tonight, I was once again reminded that spiritual evolution is, in almost all regards, a solo journey. I wish to pass through this phase and get on with the next of my journey. I don't mean death, I mean understanding.

And lastly:

What cannot God do?

I've been thinking about some of the changes that have happened in the last 71 days. I expected to be aware of the change when it happened, but I wasn't. I know now that there are many things that will occur on my spiritual journey, and only as I keep going will I realize them, long after they happen. That's also a very hopeful thought.




Definition: cultus

Day 69: Doubt Evil

130:7-131:11

A quick read but several ideas came to mind. The first line I marked is:

It is vain to speak dishonestly of divine Science, which destroys all discord, when you can demonstrate the actuality of Science. It is unwise to doubt if reality is in perfect harmony with God, divine Principle, --if Science, when understood and demonstrated, will destroy all discord,--since you admit that God is omnipotent; for from this premise it follows that good and its sweet concords have all-power.

Vanity is an interesting word for Mary Baker Eddy to use. One definition is empty but others include the words pride and deceit. I think all all work equally well in conveying the meaning of the paragraph. A student's issue with Christian Science may be one or all three, or something else entirely. I never felt free enough to delve beyond the work supplied or its most-obvious implied meaning before this reading.

The next:

Laboring long to shake the adult's faith in matter and to inculcate a grain of faith in God,--an inkling of the ability of Spirit to make the body harmonious,--the author has often remembered our Master's love for little children, and understood how truly such as they belong to the heavenly kingdom.

And then:

to be astounded at the vigorous claims of evil and doubt them

That's where I should be. That's my goal.

Day 66: Man's harmony

124:3-126:7

The first sentence I focused on is:

[1]Adhesion, [2] cohesion, and [3] attraction are properties of Mind.

I've linked up the dictionary for each of these three words. They are very nearly the same. I don't know why Mary Baker Eddy decided to list all three but I like to think she was throwing the largest circle of meaning possible by using all three instead of one. We reflect these properties so we adhere, cohere and attract each other.Something like that. Its a different way to discuss harmony with our body and harmony with others. 

The next sentence:

Neither organic inaction nor overaction is beyond God's control;

I always look up organic just to remember it meant our organs so long ago, not a farming style. So this sentence is also about harmony.

And the last sentence:

Reflecting God's government, man is self-governed.

This self-government was probably at this point of the page meant to be a physical self-government but I think it applies well to any part of man.

When I read these two pages, I underlined, then kept reading and I didn't get an overall theme for the pages - sometimes I do, but not today. I went back and studied these sentences for meaning and relationship. And then I saw the connection of harmony. I'm so glad someone thought up this journal idea of two pages a day. It helps me focus and not read too quickly or forget what I read.

Day 62: What or Who is God in Christian Science?

116:11-117:28

Mary Baker Eddy spends two pages talking about God, and at the very end Jesus. In her own writing, several words are italicized to differentiate them:

• corporeal
• incorporeal
• person
• personal
• Person (capital P)
• individuality
• One

These two sentences I underlined have to do with a physical challenge I'm working on healing right now:

... God is all, therefore matter is nothing beyond an image in mortal mind

Evidence drawn from the five physical senses relates solely to human reason...

Then a little bit later:

 Truth is a revelation.

So I think this is the third time MBE has made a direct connection (although in two different sentences) to Divine Logic is revelation. This time its worded slightly differently so it might not mean the same thing but I don't buy coincidence - I think this is planned to lead me somewhere.

The one thought that I come back to on the Divine Logic is revelation front - is revelation a synonym for understanding or seeing the future. I know in at least one instance, it meant the later but to me, I keep reading it as Divine Logic will give me understanding.

Day 61: Good is Mind

114:1-116:10

So technically yesterday's post included the quote "Good is Mind" but it didn't make sense until I read today's pages. The first sentence set it out for me:

Usage classes both evil and good together as mind.

In order to distinguish between God and mortal mind, Mary Baker Eddy is saying God is good. Good is Mind (from yesterday's post). So Divine Mind can only be good, never evil. And man, as reflecting God can never reflect an evil Mind or have an evil mind. Evil makes it very black and white. I can think of a lot other words to get the idea across: mind is not sad, mind is not feeling pain, mind is not angry - on and on. So now I have some context for Good is Mind and I like it. I think that might be a possible nickname for the chapter: Good Mind.

I did have to look up solecism. I've probably looked it up before.

The sentence I marked and want to think about more is:

Science shows that what is termed matter is but a subjective state of what is termed by the author mortal mind.

Day 58 - Science: Theory & Proof

107:1-109:31

Today, I'm going to change up how I title each entry in my journal. I hope this will help people get the gist of the reading selection, as I read it. I'm also going to post-pend each entry with the text of the selection. Not sure if this is kosher with The Mother Church so this may not last long. I'm doing it so you can read both the selection and my journal entry at the same time and place. I'm using this Gutenberg site as my source.
[Update Aug. 27, 2010, removed text, added link to S&H on spirituality.com]

These three pages cover in more detail how Mary Baker Eddy came to discover Christian Science. How she was healed, then spent time understanding the the healing, then looking for a provable method to repeat that healing.

I had to look up apodictical. I'm surprised how few words I have to look up now, since I've been looking them up for years - the definitions do eventually stick.

The thought that struck me was the idea of "God with us." It must have been fresh and new back then. Now, with books, TV shows, and movies about this very idea -- it isn't a far stretch to believe it. MBE talks about how the idea seemed so "antagonistic to the testimony of the physical senses." She goes on explain the divine law unfolding to her that matter possesses neither sensation nor life. This last thought is still out there, not widely excepted or understood in popular culture.

The line I marked:

Christian Science reveals incontrovertibly that Mind is All-in-all, that the only realities are the divine Mind and idea.

She goes on to say that healing is a demonstration of the divine Principle:

This proof once seen, no other conclusion can be reached.

These three pages are a melding of physical history of discovery and the spiritual understanding of that discovery. I'm not sure where I'm going with that. I'm going to let it soak over night.

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 48

87:29-89:31

Mary Baker Eddy begins these two pages discussing the "eloquence" used by the medium to prove the existence of a spirit. She moves on to discuss how anyone can be eloquent, educated or not. Anyone can be inspired to levels beyond the material brain's capacity or education.

I imagine the argument MBE is responding to is something like this: Perhaps spiritual enlightenment requires intelligence in the human mind?

What I underlined:

Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational processes.

Matter is neither intelligent nor creative.

Eloquence re-echoes the strains of Truth and Love.

Spirit, God, is heard when the senses are silent.

The tree is not the author of itself

Each page brings a new view of the ideas floating around in our culture about what is God and what is spirit. I wasn't looking forward to this chapter but by reading it two pages at a time, I'm getting a lot out of it, both on topic and off.

I did have to look up a couple of words: viand and erudition.