Editorial September 24, 1927 Issue

Vision Spiritual

Albert F. Gilmore

The transcendent truth, the reality of the spiritual, and the correlated fact, the unreality of the material, pervaded the teachings of Jesus throughout. On many occasions he taught and exemplified the dominion of Spirit over material conditions, proving for all mankind throughout all time the allness of God and the unreality of Spirit's unlikeness; and at times, it seems, the Master was troubled over the seeming lack of receptivity of spiritual truth on the part of his auditors, even of his faithful disciples.

Such an instance recorded in the second Gospel grew out of the experience when he fed the hungry multitude who had been without food for three days. Only shortly thereafter, when he and his disciples were again embarked on the Sea of Galilee, they found themselves without food, having forgotten to take any bread with them. By way of arousing them to the significance of his works in feeding the multitude, he said, "Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?" Their material vision had not grasped the spiritual significance of this demonstration. Apparently he had hoped that their spiritual sense had been awakened to the understanding of Spirit as substance, of matter as the objectification of material sense, and therefore under scientific control. While they may have recognized in some measure that man as God's idea was possessed of spiritual sense, their vision was still darkened by the belief in the reality of matter.

Christian Scientists understand vision to be wholly spiritual, an attribute or quality of divine Mind. They know that since Spirit, divine Mind, is conscious of all and understands all, Mind also discerns or sees all; and likewise they know that man as the reflection of that consciousness sees because God sees. Sight, therefore, is a divine attribute, a quality of God; hence can never be lost, impaired, or destroyed. Sight depends not upon material organization, but upon Mind; it is never subject to the ebb and flow of material belief, but is permanent as a quality of Mind, reflected through Mind's ideas.

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