Editorial February 16, 1974 Issue

Belonging

Geoffrey J. Barratt

We belong to God, the only Mind. Everything real does. As Mind's man, we don't belong to matter. Because we belong to Mind and not matter, we are—in our real self—idea, not physicality. All that seems to belong to matter—pain, confusion, anxiety— never belongs to us. Mortals believe in a reality separate from the spiritual, but the mind of mortals is not divine Mind, God; therefore it is not real. Nothing belongs to mortal mind. We do not belong to it. It has no influence or control over us. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy affirms: "All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, immortality, cause, and effect belong to God. These are His attributes, the eternal manifestations of the infinite divine Principle, Love. No wisdom is wise but His wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life but the divine; no good is, but the good God bestows."^{Science and Health, p. 275;}

All good is attributable to God. Evil is not attributable to anything. It never has actuality or presence. No truth or life belongs to it, and we can't really give it any. It's the Christ that assures us we belong to God. The claim that we belong to matter and its constrictions is animal magnetism. But this hypnotic false belief possesses no power and sinister persuasion, for it belongs to oblivion, and oblivion to it. Knowing this keeps us free of false belief to prove more effectively that good belongs to God.

With the truth about belonging we can refute friendlessness. Because man—our real being—is the infinite expression of infinite Love, we belong everywhere. Friendlessness is a belief that no more belongs to us than high temperature belongs to ice. Mind, God, knows that all belongs to Him. Representing the testimony of God in human language, Science and Health states, "I am Spirit. Man, whose senses are spiritual, is my likeness. He reflects the infinite understanding, for I am Infinity. The beauty of holiness, the perfection of being, imperishable glory,—all are Mine, for I am God. I give immortality to man, for I am Truth. I include and impart all bliss, for I am Love. I give life, without beginning and without end, for I am Life. I am supreme and give all, for I am Mind. I am the substance of all, because I am that I am."^{ibid., pp. 252-253;}