Editorial October 24, 1931 Issue

Revelation

Clifford P. Smith

Thirty-one years ago, Mrs. Eddy wrote that "revelation, spiritual voice and vision, are less subordinate to material sight and sound and more apparent to reason" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 265). Now, philosophy offers to all takers, including theology, the following meaning for "revelation": "Immediate consciousness of the real." This definition, quoted from the Practical Standard Dictionary, ought to be of particular interest to Christian Scientists. Indeed, it could help to make revelation entirely reasonable to everybody.

Christian Science, differing from human philosophies, distinguishes between what really is and what merely seems to be. This theology goes farther and teaches that God is the one Mind, the only Soul, the universal Ego; particularly, that God is the Mind, the Soul, the Ego of man; and, consistently, that God gives to man all that constitutes genuine consciousness, identity, and individuality. Thus, the imparting of true thought to man is an incessant action of infinite Mind, while the receiving thereof is the complementary and correspondent function of the real man.

Of course, the consciousness given by God to man is absolute and perfect; it is entirely soulful and spiritual; also, it has the constancy and power that belong to whatever is done by divine Mind. Then, what can be said for humanity or mankind and its consciousness? Christian Science analyzes the so-called human consciousness as partly derived from Mind, but as consisting partly of error or evil; and this religion insists that error or evil is unreal, that it can be cast out of human consciousness, and kept out, and that the ability and power given by God to man are available and completely sufficient for this mental and spiritual process and practice.

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