Mind's Sure Foundation

MOLLIE D. BATES

Once, while residing in a section of the country which was visited by an earthquake, the writer, during several days of recurrent shocks, had become so weary and ill at ease that she seemed unable to perform her daily tasks. Finally she telephoned to a Christian Science practitioner and asked for help. The practitioner said: "Divine Mind is our support. We have in Mind a sure foundation, a quiet resting place." At this, the one who had been so fearful soon became happily aware of her safety as a child of God, and went her way with a sense of gratitude and serenity that remained with her and sustained her during the remainder of the quakes.

Christian Science reveals God as the only cause, and every real effect as spiritual rather than material. On page 80 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy has written, "It is mortal mind which convulses its substratum, matter." She further declares (p. 287): "The supposition that life, substance, and intelligence are in matter, or of it, is an error. Matter is neither a thing nor a person, but merely the objective supposition of Spirit's opposite." This false supposition, then, is centered upon something, or the belief in something, which God did not create, that is, a material universe and a mortal man, governed or misgoverned by so-called material law.

When one allows his thinking to be influenced by the material senses, to him all that pertains to cause and effect, force and energy, life and substance, is material, uncertain, insecure. For mortal mind has not the power or intelligence to sustain its own illusions or to shield them against its own violence and agitation. Christian Science shows that man, made in the likeness of God, is not material but spiritual; that he reflects God, Spirit, and therefore dwells not in a world of disease, disorder, and upheaval, but in a universe the foundations, motions, and processes of which are in divine Mind, where harmony reigns.

Isaiah, the prophet, portrays beautifully God's omnipotence: "I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded." Jesus knew that God, the Father-Mother of all, embraces all that really exists with infinite, unerring wisdom and love. Jesus overcame the supposition of evil. Through his understanding of the might of infinite Mind over the belief in matter he said, "Peace, be still," to the angry waves, and the wind ceased. He proved, to those who doubted, the powerlessness of material law to overrule or set aside spiritual law and its perfect control.

As a counterfeit of the divine, mortal mind disregards the creative Principle or Mind which underlies all reality. Yet the Scriptures tell us that "all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."

Spirit does not express itself in a material universe. Outside the material sense of things no such universe exists. Nothing needs to be changed but the false concept of existence as material; for all that is real is perfect, harmonious, and complete. We need to pray daily, yes hourly, for wisdom and understanding. In so doing we become more conscious of our relationship to God, and therefore less apprehensive regarding our safety and security. The prayer of understanding is far-reaching and availing.

The carnal mind, claiming to operate in direct opposition to the divine Mind and to the law of God, would attempt to destroy all that is good and true. Yet these supposititious forces of evil are unreal. When Love reigns in the human consciousness, what good result cannot follow? What cannot a spiritualized state of thought do to clear away error and bring peace upon earth?

As we bring into our surroundings love, tolerance, and compassion, those mental qualities which bless and heal mankind, the impact of chicanery, animosity, and hate will no longer seem to act and react. Through the teaching of Christ Jesus and Christian Science all are privileged to find peace and security within the realm of eternal Mind.

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