Article March 21, 1903 Issue

Counsel by the Way

G. C. Kinsman with contributions from Dhamma-Pada

We are permitted to publish the following letter from a Scientist to an inquiring friend.

Dear Miss R.:— I have yours of the 31st ult., in which you state that your Bible is filled with promises of healing, and that you believe every one of them, but that you cannot seem to make them apply to yourself. You believe, ofcourse, that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, and that He is Spirit, as your Bible states. Suppose you get the dictionary and ascertain from that the meaning of these definitions, so far as our language is competent to explain infinite themes. These definitions will enable you to see and realize that since God is all, there can be no other reality except this infinite Principle and its infinite ideas,—that it applies to, and governs everything that is or can be; that this infinite Principle and its infinite action, never had a beginning, and can, from its very nature, never have an ending. Your Bible tells you that God is Good,—that He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil," which is simply another way of saying that evil only exists as a human consciousness. You would not think of saying that a dream was real, yet it seems real to the human consciousness until that consciousness is awakened. It even affects the action of the heart, the circulation of the blood, and changes the tissues just as surely and more rapidly than malarial or typhoid fever or contagion, yet we are apt to think one is a dream and the other a reality, while in fact one is no more real than the other; neither is of God or known to Him who is infinite Good, infinite Spirit. When you say two and two are four, you state a truth, which has always existed, and which always will exist. In precisely the same way we state that God is exist. In precisely the same way we state that God is Principle, that He is Truth. The child does not know that two and two are four without learning it, but when it is understood, it can be given to others a thousand or a million times without the giver having less. On the contrary, the more that is given, the more there will remain, i.e., the more clearly it is apprehended that this Principle is the same, and its action the same, in Taylorville or Decatur, in Egypt or China,—the same as the air or the sunshine,—each can have it all without depriving another. In the first chapter of Genesis you will find that God created man in His own image and likeness, and that he has dominion over all the earth; and since God I Spirit,—the real man must be spiritual. The prophet Isaiah says: "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" In other words, get away from the material conditions, and look to the spiritual, which is the only real existence.

You state that you have had many talks with Mrs. W., but somehow she could not heal you. If you went to a dressmaker and talked with her about the styles, would you except that to provide you with new gowns? or if you talked with your grocer about his goods, would you expect to find a supply delivered at your house upon your arrival; or would you have to go to them in a business-like way, willing to give something for what you expect to receive? If we go into a dark room, and shut the doors, we cannot expect to obtain much of the sunshine. We, as mortals, all want to do right, and to have health and peace of mind. but the education of centuries is strong within us, and leads us to seek these blessings entirely through material ways instead of going directly to God,—the source of all good and of every blessing, and opening our hearts and minds to Truth. We are educated to think that God is some great and terrible being,—some wonderful power, far off or beyond our reach, instead of realizing the fact that He is ever-present,—always ready to help, heal, and save, and that the only reason we do not see and know this is that the carnal mind which "is enmity against God,"—the old devil, Satan, or error, whom Jesus said was a lie and "a liar from the beginning,"—is ever parading before the human consciousness and manifesting itself on the physical body. This is always the cloud that hides the sunshine. Did it ever occur to you that the sun shines just the same on the cloudy as on the rainy days, but that we simply do not see it? Just so, Truth, Life, and Love are everywhere, and it is our right to receive and reflect all, not only now, but through endless eternity. We are apt to think that heaven is locality,—a future home for which we are preparing. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you." It is a condition of thought entirely,—a condition that should enlarge and become purified until we grow entirely out of all discordant material or physical conditions.

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