Editorial October 7, 1972 Issue

Matter and Mind

Carl J. Welz

Some years ago I was hurrying to catch a train, and as I drove up to the station, I was amazed to see the train pulling out. I checked my watch, as well as the station clock, and I was five minutes early. I looked at the train again, and it was standing still. What had happened was that the freight cars on the next track were being backed away, and from my viewpoint in a moving auto, everything, including the freight train, appeared to be standing still, while my train appeared to be moving forward.

Material objects are not always doing what they appear to be doing. In fact, matter itself is not necessarily what it seems to be. The viewpoint of the observer and the method of observation can result in dramatic differences in what is observed. For example, observation with the naked eye may record a solid piece of metal. Observation with the aid of an electronic microscope may reveal a system of moving particles. And one accustomed to viewing matter through what he learns from instruments and mathematical calculations may see the same piece of metal as forces acting in a distinct pattern. But there is still another way to look at matter.

Christian Science declares matter to be mental, the subject and object of mortal mind. It explains mortal mind—which we see as the minds of mortals—as the suppositional opposite of the divine, creative Mind, God. The many personal minds are many instances of the one mortal mind, and the many material things and circumstances we seem to experience are the objects of mortal mind's dream of itself. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the author, Mary Baker Eddy, writes: "What are termed natural science and material laws are the objective states of mortal mind. The physical universe expresses the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals." Science and Health, p. 484;

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