Article September 11, 2000 Issue

What impels thought and action?

Relax. God is at the helm.

Carol Rockhold Miller

What is it that makes us think what we think, feel what we feel, say what we say, or do what we do? Many theories try to explain thoughts, feelings, and actions in terms of psychology or psychiatry, tracing the influence of heredity, life experiences, and emotional interactions with others. How freeing it is to look away from this complicated tangle of impulses and emotions and open up to the spiritual fact that God alone governs us, His creation. God is our creator, our Father and Mother, and each one of us is actually the outcome of God's being. As God's outcome, or idea, we can think, feel, say, or do only that which God causes us to express. The book of Amos makes this clear: "He that ... declareth unto man what is his thought, ... The Lord, The God of hosts, is his name" (4:13).

That very basic truth of man's spiritual being holds profound importance for the way we think of others. Understanding that God impels every one of His children frees one from anxiety, and reveals God's goodness in every situation.

At times we may long to convince someone of something or may feel we're at the mercy of someone else's words or deeds. If we are seeking employment, for instance, or looking for a home, the decisions or actions of others may seem crucial to our happiness or success. This outlook changes dramatically, however, when we turn such situations around and view them from the scientific perspective that "the Divine Mind includes all action and volition, and man in Science is governed by this Mind" (Science and Health, p. 187). Mind is another name for God, and we learn to think deeply about the fact that we are an idea of Mind existing in the allness of Mind, where all is under the divine control. In this realm, which is actually the realm in which we all live, every spiritual idea is governed by this Mind.