The All-knowing Mind

George Shaw Cook

Much of the difficulty in which mortals find themselves involved is due to the belief that there are minds many, existing apart from and entirely unrelated to the all-knowing, ever-present, omnipotent divine Mind, the origin of all true thoughts or ideas.

Mortals are educated to believe that each one has a mind of his own, existing and functioning in an organ called the brain, which is admittedly material; hence nonintelligent. The matter called brain is admittedly material; hence as all other matter, and is therefore without power to originate thought, consciousness, or action. However, the brain is generally believed to be the seat of intelligence, and consequently it is believed that if one's brain is injured or diseased, his ability to think lucidly is impaired, if not entirely destroyed. But the kind of thinking that is believed to emanate from the brain is not real thinking, because it is not of God. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." Only those ideas which emanate from divine Mind are righteous and enduring. These are the thoughts which spiritual man possesses by reflection.

In her address, "Science and the Senses," Mary Baker Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 101, 102): "God is individual Mind. This one Mind and His individuality comprise the elements of all forms and individualities, and prophesy the nature and stature of Christ, the ideal man." This is obviously the Mind of which Paul wrote to the Philippians, when he said, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." And it is interesting to note that Paul did not say "make," but "let" that Mind be in you. Therefore, letting the Christ-mind be in us is not a question of willing it to be so. It merely requires us to be humbly receptive to the thoughts emanating from that Mind. And this is as simple and as gentle a process as raising a window shade and letting the light into a dark room. It involves no struggle, no undue effort.

As the light of divine intelligence comes into what is called human consciousness, it naturally and necessarily displaces everything unlike itself. It is thus that healing and regeneration take place in human experience. It is thus that sinful, sickly, unhappy, discordant beliefs are displaced in consciousness and are replaced by pure, healthful, happy, harmonious ideas, which express perfectly the nature of God, infinite good. This change in one's thinking from a material, mortal basis to a spiritual, immortal basis constitutes salvation.

It will be seen, then, that Mind knows. It is omniscient, or all-knowing. It embraces within itself all real knowledge, all real power, all real action, all real law, all real consciousness, will, and volition. There is no other source, cause, or inducement but this one infinite, divine, ever-present intelligence which Christian Science reveals as God, Principle, Love.

There is, in belief, a kind of mind that thinks it thinks, and is termed mortal mind. This counterfeit intelligence claims to exist apart from or outside of immortal Mind, which is All-in-all. Nothing that seems to originate with this finite, mortal mind is true. It is itself a liar and the father of lies. All that it believes is therefore a lie about that which is true. The sum total of its beliefs constitutes its world, which is a false, finite, material concept of creation—a lie about the infinite, spiritual universe of divine Mind. It need not make the slightest difference, therefore, what it argues adversely about one's health, business, home, relationship, or anything that pertains to one's happiness or well-being. And those who are students of Christian Science are learning to detect, deny, dispute, and disprove its false claims. When confronted by one of mortal mind's suggestions, they are finding themselves increasingly able to challenge its validity. They ask themselves, Does this come from God, immortal Mind? And if the answer is, No! they reject the suggestion forthwith and refuse to admit or entertain it. Thus the belief is destroyed and its effects are annulled.

In answer to the question, "Who or what is it that believes?" our Leader says (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 487): "Spirit is all-knowing; this precludes the need of believing. Matter cannot believe, and Mind understands. The body cannot believe. The believer and belief are one and are mortal. Christian evidence is founded on Science or demonstrable Truth, flowing from immortal Mind, and there is in reality no such thing as mortal mind."

George Shaw Cook

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