Article October 27, 1986 Issue

Discovering the unfathomable depths of Spirit

Scott Truesdale Thompson

The purer a lake, the greater the clarity with which its depths are revealed. If pure and still, a lake can be almost transparent—open to light and vision. If on the other hand a lake is rough or covered with algae, its depths are concealed. So it is with our thinking. If thought is shifting, sensuous, and sullied, the true depths of being seem dark and inaccessible. But as our consciousness becomes clean, steady, and receptive to the spiritual light that ever flows from God, we discover new dimensions and potentials in ourselves and others.

Why is this so? And how is it so? These words of Christ Jesus' give a clear answer: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."^{Matt. 5:8.} As we respond to the Christ, the divine manifestation of God in human experience, consciousness is cleansed of material murkiness and begins expressing more of the unfathomable depth of God, Spirit, who is the source of all being and substance. Actually, God and His ideas are the only depth that we can know. Man, in God's image and likeness, manifests all that He is. Therefore the limitless depths of God are reflected in His offspring, man.

Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, makes plain throughout her writings that only in God and His spiritual expression can we discover the substance, purpose, and depth of being. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the Christian Science textbook, she writes: "We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We must reverse our feeble flutterings—our efforts to find life and truth in matter—and rise above the testimony of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the Godlike man to reach the absolute centre and circumference of his being."^{Science and Health, p. 262.} What could be more profoundly fulfilling than the discovery of "the absolute centre and circumference" of our being?