Editorial September 14, 1912 Issue

TRUE CONSCIOUSNESS

Annie M. Knott

It is sometimes asked whether Mind is ever unconscious in its operations, and there need be no difficulty in answering this question if the Mind which is God is understood to be the only Mind, as we learn in Christian Science. It is true that some philosophers have theorized about a mind which "sleeps in the mineral" and awakens to consciousness in man, but this is not the teaching of Christian Science. God, infinite Mind, must not only be ever conscious of His own existence, but also conscious of all His ideas and of the spiritual laws governing them, and this is most beautifully expressed by the psalmist, who says, "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. ... The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil."

Here it is important to note that the word Mind first gained its true significance through Mrs. Eddy's teachings, as given in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." In many modern languages there is no equivalent for the English word, and a profound scholar states that its origin is unknown, but that it was probably derived from the Sanscrit, coming to us by way of the Latin tongue. The etymology of the word is however of small consequence in the presence of the tremendous spiritual fact revealed in Mrs. Eddy's statement that God is infinite Mind. This fact, when spiritually apprehended, explains the whole earthly career of Christ Jesus, from his birth by a pure virgin mother up to his victory over death and the grave,—always manifesting the perfect activity of perfect Mind. More than this, the realization of the one Mind has brought healing to many who were under sentence of impending death, according to medical opinion, when like a flash of light they saw that God is Mind and also Life, and then they were glad to respond to the high demand of Science to "give to Mind the glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its holy name" (Science and Health, p. 143). This inevitably called for a separation in thought between the true idea of Mind and the false concept,—the belief that Mind can sin and suffer; that it is both conscious and unconscious; that it is a product of matter, lives in matter, and dies as matter or brain.

As we contrast these erroneous beliefs with the statements of Christian Science, namely, that Mind is deathless, limitless, self-existent, and eternal, we readily agree with St. Paul, who says that "the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace" (Revised Version). It is, however, deeply interesting and most helpful to note the wisdom with which students of our text-book are gently led out of their erroneous beliefs concerning life and mind into the clear light of Truth. Our beloved Leader tells us that Christian Science "disentangles the interlaced ambiguities of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought," and that "the physical universe expresses the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals" (Science and Health, pp. 114, 484). Besides this, there are in Science and Health numerous references to the unconscious thought-processes of mortals (and these may be easily found by referring to the Concordance), which show us how to carry the light of Truth down to the depths of mortal error, that the operation of spiritual law may annul the asserted power of "the law of sin and death."

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