Purification of human consciousness
removes offensive physical condition

SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION REVEALS EVER-PRESENT PERFECTION

The Scriptures declare that God is Spirit and that man is made in His likeness; but the physical senses can give us no information about this man of God's creating. So long as it is believed that the information obtained through the personal senses is true, the universe of Spirit and the real substance of man remain unseen.

Let us suppose that an uneducated person is placed before a blackboard and the figure 2 is written on the board. To this uneducated person the symbol conveys nothing beyond that which his physical sight shows him, and which he is now told is a 2. On the other hand, if an educated person is placed before the board, his physical sight shows him a material symbol, but his educated mathematical sense informs him of the idea which that number represents, its relation to the principle of mathematics, and its relation to other numbers. Even if the figure on the board is erased, the mathematician experiences no sense of loss, for he retains the reality back of the symbol and knows it cannot be destroyed.

To the personal senses the physical form—flesh, blood, bones, and so on—constitutes the reality of man, but spiritual discernment perceives the indestructible, spiritual substance of man, his relation to his divine Principle, God, and his harmonious relation to every other spiritual identity. The way, therefore, to discern the reality of man and the universe is to cultivate spiritual perception, which looks "not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (II Cor. 4:18).

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Poem
THE BROKEN SPELL
March 26, 1949
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