Article October 9, 1920 ISSUE

Mind Over Matter

JAMES L. BRUCE

Often in talking with those who have a misconceived sense of Christian Science rather than an understanding of it, the remark is heard, "I believe in the power of mind over matter, just as you do." Further inquiry as to just what the speaker means by this brings out the information that "will," a characteristic of the human mind, has been considered and that this has been regarded as the cardinal point or worth while element of Christian Science. This has been added to other views and the resultant has been considered "better than" or "just as good as" the genuine doctrine.

Now if a person is desirous of learning of the tropics and the flora peculiar to them, he does not inform himself of definitions foreign to the subject nor travel in the polar regions. Just so, one should not study into the suppositional vagaries of the human mind or the machinations of the human will and expect to get a comprehensive grasp of what Mrs. Eddy discovered and gave to the world, but he should travel in the country of he Christian Science literature and study its flora and not the flora of a country that is entirely opposite. On page 295 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" we read, "The theoretical mind is matter, named brain, or material consciousness, the exact opposite of real Mind, or Spirit," and again on page 144 of the same book, "Human will-power is not Science." Now this endeavor to identify the divine Mind with the human mind, and to counterfeit the expression of infinite intelligence with will power may seem modern, yet it has been a problem for centuries. Hume, reaching out for its solution, said that mind, and in fact all that man was, amounted to but the association and relation of ideas gained from matter through the five physical senses. Following him to a logical conclusion ends in skepticism.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

The Idea of Infinite Good