Article January 8, 1910 Issue

The sense in which Christian Science maintains and...

M. S. Bruen

Dublin (Ire.) Express

The sense in which Christian Science maintains and proves that our sense perceptions are unreal is in the sense of their being unreliable, passing, and unenduring; not that they do not seem real to us. They do not originate from the creator—the infinite, All-wise, All-loving—nor is He the author of the "nature, red in tooth and claw," to which our material senses introduce us; nor of the hurricanes which destroy and the waves that drown; nor of any discordant thing. It would be pantheism to see all these things in God. God's laws which govern the universe are laws of harmony, as David knew when he wrote the 19th Psalm. Men who have dominion over the so-called forces of nature are coming in some degree into harmony with these laws. Marconi did not "invent" wireless telegraphy in order to use it, but his more exact knowledge gave him the mastery over electricity.

All down the ages mortals have imagined that there are two minds—one good, the other capable of every sort of wickedness. All theories of philosophy and idealism except Christian Science start from the assumption of two minds, two powers governing man and the universe; that there is something more than God, something besides Spirit, to make conditions for mankind. Christian Science declares that there is one Mind,—"one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

Ever since the time of Adam the supposed human mind has been accepting the philosophy of some one else, and, from mere inertness and dislike to thinking for himself, the ordinary mortal has taken his opinions readymade. But history and experience teach us that the people who have been of use and have lifted the race a step higher in the scale of being—such as Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets and preachers, the leaders of men, the discoverers and the pioneers—have all been original in their thoughts, inspired by a genius outside themselves. They have not lived in a groove and accepted the authority of their forbears without understanding it, but have made a new departure. Every real advance has been toward spirituality and away from materialism. The departure which the author of Science and Health has made, has startled the human mind to its base, for it has poured a flood of light on its inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and iniquities, which is most disquieting to it. The perception is dawning on humanity that "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." The supposed thoughts which depend on sense perception are giving way before the more reasonable view revealed to us that all which is really worth having or being does not depend on materialism, but is comprised in the idealism of Jesus. He gave the culminating proof to humanity that man is not material, when his real self ascended out of their sight, neither taking his body away with him nor leaving it behind, for "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." He said, "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."

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