Article September 12, 1953 Issue

RISE ABOVE MATERIAL SENSE

WILFRED S. THORPE

Unless you have made a careful study of Christian Science, the injunction to rise above material sense may seem to present a major problem. You may aver: "I sometimes encounter a tenacious tendency to dwell upon myself as definitely material and consequently subject to the many difficulties that beset mankind. When I resist these suggestions with the statement that in reality God is my creator, hence I am perfect, evil retorts, 'You may have been perfect at one time and you may be gradually regaining perfection, but most assuredly you are far from perfect now." Such fallacious suggestions of the carnal mind must be vigorously denounced.

Mary Baker Eddy, to whom we are unboundedly grateful for giving us a sound basis by means of which we may successfully cope with erroneous suggestions and inharmonies of every sort, writes in "Unity of Good" (p. 11), "Jesus taught us to walk over, not into or with, the currents of matter, or mortal mind."

Yes, again and again Jesus walked over "the currents of matter." One striking instance of his disregard of the mistaken notion that man is material is recorded in the twelfth chapter of Matthew. Jesus said to the man with a withered hand (verse 13), "Stretch forth thine hand," and the Bible states that "he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other." Mrs. Eddy, commenting on this demonstration of instantaneous healing by Jesus, writes on the same page of "Unity of Good," "He heeded not the taunt, 'That withered hand looks very real and feels very real;' but he cut off this vain boasting and destroyed human pride by taking away the material evidence."

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