Article April 29, 1991 Issue

Challenging our becauses

Giving a reason for something can mean giving it honor and authority. So how we think about causes and effects is vitally important.

Phyllis A. Klang

Because is such a common word that its significance is easily overlooked. It is derived from a combination of by and cause. So, in a sense, whenever we use the word, we are actually stating both a cause and an effect. Do we ever stop to question our becauses? For instance, do we have to have a cold because we sat in a draft? Or indigestion because we ate a certain food? Or a loss of sight or hearing or strength because we are older? Christ Jesus certainly did not accept as causative whatever appeared to him. The more than four thousand men, women, and children did not have to go hungry because there were only seven loaves and a few fish to feed them. Nor was stoning of the adulteress woman inevitable because she had committed a sin.

From as far back as history goes, mankind has been searching for becauses. Why does the wind blow? Why do blue and yellow paint make green? Why are we here? Many scientists are looking for an ultimate cause or universal laws or principles. Religious belief generally calls the primal, or first, cause God. But then it stops there, only identifying God as the one great cause. Christian Science, however, goes on actually to answer the question "What is God?"

It recognizes that God must indeed be the Principle, the one cause of the universe, and then it defines this Principle as divine Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, Truth, and Love—all terms for God that are stated or implied in the Scriptures. How meaningful and rich is this recognition of God! It indicates the all-inclusiveness of Deity and is the premise for determining the nature of man and the universe, of defining reality. Logically, the universe and man must express the nature and qualities of God, since creation must be like the creator. Therefore Life must be constantly expressed in aliveness; Love, in harmony and peace; Spirit, in spirituality; Soul, in indestructible identities and capacities; Truth in truthfulness and uprightness; Mind, in intelligence and understanding. "The real jurisdiction of the world is in Mind, controlling every effect and recognizing all causation as vested in divine Mind," Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science.

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