"A spiritual axis"

Throughout her writings Mary Baker Eddy has used the sun as a symbol for God. On page 209 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she writes, "Mind, supreme over all its formations and governing them all, is the central sun of its own systems of ideas, the life and light of all its own vast creation; and man is tributary to divine Mind." Divinely directed and ordered by Mind, each idea is maintained in its own sphere of scope and usefulness. Because each idea is omniactive, it knows neither hurry nor retardation; neither shoots ahead, nor lags behind; in continuous development it experiences neither accretion nor attenuation. Because each idea is omnipresent, it dwells eternally in the consciousness of that which is; no possibility of absence, of departure or return, of distance or approximation, is experienced by it. Because each idea is the expression of omnipotence, it experiences neither feebleness nor emasculation; in its boundless energy there exists no rivalry to undermine or dispute its strength. Because individual spiritual man expresses omniscience, he is therefore all-knowing, equipped with measureless intelligence, supreme enlightenment, where ignorance and vacuity find no foothold. In this divine order where all ideas are correlated and interdependent, nonconformity of will is inconceivable. In this supremacy of Mind's government, in this oneness of thought, action, power, and presence, man exists but for a single purpose, to show forth his divine Principle, to give eternal evidence of God's infinity. While these "systems of ideas" are, because of the nature of their source, forever in action, yet in the perfect order of their government there is universal stillness; there is movement but never turmoil; there is variety but never repetition.

To mortal sense, action and stillness present an anomaly, a contradiction; but this not so in the realm of Mind. "Be still, and know that I am God," declared the Psalmist, and in these words uttered one of the profoundest admonitions ever given to the human race. For only in stillness do men hear and obey the voice of Truth, do they remain tributary to Mind instead of to those material senses which in conflict and contradiction shut them out from omnipresence. In this stillness of knowing, however harsh and clamorous the world's strife, however terrifying its arguments and ominous its prophecies, the words of the Christ are heard in supreme authority, "Peace, be still."

On pages 88 and 89 of "Retrospection and Introspection" Mrs. Eddy writes, "Mind demonstrates omnipresence and omnipotence, but Mind revolves on a spiritual axis, and its power is displayed and its presence felt in eternal stillness and immovable Love." Because the Master prayed in stillness and went forth, as a result of his communion with omnipresence and omnipotence, undisturbed and undeflected, to do the divine will, he has left for us the perfect example of a life which maintained its inner tranquility in the midst of renown and defamation, of violence and intrigue. Because he understood the spiritual laws of the universe, and the supreme government of Mind, he was able at all times to controvert all false systems and counterfeit formations, whether they appeared as a foul conspiracy, a great storm, or a seemingly incurable disease.

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March 15, 1941
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