What are body and Soul? answer
Soul is the substance, Life, and intelligence of man, which is individualized, but not in matter.
Does brain think, and do nerves feel, and is there intelligence in matter? answer (answer cont’d tomorrow)
Matter cannot see, feel, hear, taste, nor smell. It is not self-cognizant,--cannot feel itself, see itself, nor understand itself. Take away so-called mortal mind, which constitutes matter's supposed selfhood, and matter can take no cognizance of matter.
Through false estimates of soul as dwelling in sense and of mind as dwelling in matter, belief strays into a sense of temporary loss or absence of soul, spiritual truth. This state of error is the mortal dream of life and substance as existent in matter, and is directly opposite to the immortal reality of being.
Matter is made up of supposititious mortal mind-force;but all might is divine Mind. Thought will finally be understood and seen in all form, substance, and color, but without material accompaniments.
Matter, sin, and mortality lose all supposed consciousness or claim to life or existence, as mortals lay off a false sense of life, substance, and intelligence. But the spiritual, eternal man is not touched by these phases of mortality.
The testimony of the material senses is neither absolute nor divine.
Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul.
Neither age nor accident can interfere with the senses of Soul, and there are no other real senses.
Soul has always been one of the tricky synonyms of God to me. So much so that when Mary Baker Eddy uses the word, it sticks out to me. Generally, I know what she means with the following, but how do you apply the specific term Soul to it? In other words, how does this specific attribute clarify the passage:
Knowing that Soul and its attributes were forever manifested through man…
I find it fascinating to peek into the history of such interests as Mind-reading. It was obviously as popular in Mrs. Eddy’s day as it is now. Mrs. Eddy states the case for Soul-sense, instead of mind-reading:
It is the illumination of the spiritual understanding which demonstrates the capacity of Soul, not of material sense. This Soul-sense comes to the human mind when the latter yields to the divine Mind.
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.
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.
Only by losing the false sense of Soul can we gain the eternal unfolding of Life as immortality brought to light.I've been asking myself what false sense of Soul I have and why? This leads me to think that Soul is really about a connection without the material that is upheld by other religions. It could almost be considered part of American conversation and culture: soul is in the body. It doesn't hold for every religion or people in American but it is common enough to be used in popular entertainment (movies, t.v., books) without much explanation of what the idea is -- it is just assumed the viewer knows.
