Editorial November 3, 1923 Issue

The Omnipotence of Mind

Duncan Sinclair

Mind is a term very frequently used by Mrs. Eddy in her writings when referring to God. No one before her had ever used the word in exactly the same way as she. And now, perhaps no term is used more frequently than Mind by Christian Scientists as a synonym for Deity. It enables them, probably better than any other word, to comprehend God as the Being who is infinitely intelligent; and it helps them to an understanding of God as omnipresent. Furthermore, the knowledge of God as infinite Mind necessitates the admission that matter is unreal, and that every seeming effect of so-called material law, such as disease, is likewise without reality. Whenever one begins to realize the infinite nature of Mind—the truth which rules out the belief that matter is real—one commences to understand that Mind must be omnipotent, all-powerful. And that truth, as it is established in human consciousness, will emancipate mankind from sickness and sin of every description.

To apprehend the method of Mind's activity and power, an understanding has to be gained of the nature of man as well as of Mind itself. Christian Science shows spiritual man to be the image, likeness, or reflection of God, divine Mind. That is to say, the thoughts or ideas of Mind are made manifest through man. As Mrs. Eddy writes in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 37): "Immortal Mind is God; and this Mind is made manifest in all thoughts and desires that draw mankind toward purity, health, holiness, and the spiritual facts of being." The so-called human mind appears, however, to be conscious of both good and evil, of both truth and error; and it is the work of the Christian Scientist to distinguish between these pairs of opposites, retaining the true and rejecting the false. This he can do by reason of the fact that error or evil is unreal and truth or good is real; or to put it differently, he can reject the false because man reflects the omnipotence of Mind. Thus mankind is regenerated.

The Christian Scientist endeavors to let his thoughts dwell on the great spiritual truths of being. Even when he is not giving Christian Science treatment, specifically, or praying for the sick or the sinning who have approached him for help, his thoughts are constantly turning from the contemplation of matter and material phenomena to the real, the enduring, the eternal, the true,—to the realm of divine Mind, where all is perfect and harmonious. This practice of turning to God is invaluable. Not only does it destroy the inharmonies of human belief, but it protects the individual from the fallacies of mortal mind, from the supposititious counterfeits of the perfect ideas of divine Mind. The one who is constantly allowing his thoughts of rest in Mind or on the truths of Being realizes, as did John, that "all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made;" and with Paul, that "of him, and through him, and to him, are all things."

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