Article August 19, 1996 Issue

Absent-minded? Impossible!

Barbara L. Kelly

Have you ever forgotten where you put your keys, or entered a room and wondered what you came there for? If so, perhaps you accused yourself of being absent-minded. But where is mind absent from? The brain? The brain is obviously a form of matter. If the mind is there, where does it go when it is absent? Has anyone ever seen a mind in the brain?

In her writings Mary Baker Eddy uses the term mortal mind to refer to a false concept of mind. It describes a mistaken view of life in which man is mortal, living in a material body, which is vulnerable to illness or loss of faculties. This is surely a world that God, Mind, would not and could not create. The only mind that can be absent, and in fact is absent, is this mortal mind, the carnal mind that Paul tells us is "enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7).

In answer to the question "What is man?" Mrs. Eddy states in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health: "Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God" (p. 475). What, then, is God? Science and Health describes God this way: "The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence" (p. 587).