Spirituality: moving from belief to understanding

Fear, pain, and discord can seem pretty believable. When you're laid low with flu, or anxious about the future, or stressed about work or family, it can be a struggle to accept that these things are not real—and not really part of you.

But the next time you’re confronted with fear or pain, ask yourself: Do I believe that these are true about me? Am I letting them convince me that I’m a material being, struggling for existence with other equally material beings?

Or do I dig a little deeper, go beyond mere belief, and understand that I am spiritual, and that everyone else is too?

There’s a big difference between belief and understanding. Suppose a hundred people stood outside your front door, telling you the green pine tree in your yard was orange with purple spots. Suppose they were so insistent that they succeeded in convincing you that it really was orange with purple spots. Would that make it true? Of course not. You would only have changed your mental position from understanding what is true to accepting their mistaken belief.

This is what happens when we get sick. We change our mental position from spiritual understanding to a mistaken belief and we end up accepting the belief that we are material beings, subject to disease.

So where we place our belief determines our experience, because we tend to act on what we’re thinking. That's true whether we place our belief in good or in evil, in matter or in Spirit, God.

To understand our spiritual nature is to recognize God as the source and cause of all that is good. His laws enforce what is right and eliminate what is wrong. God’s power is manifested everywhere—including in us, when we yield prayerfully to His guidance.Spiritual understanding is different from belief, because it is provable and practical, rather than uncertain and changeable. Understanding rests on divine Principle, God, and it enables us to apply God’s laws and prove them. We're not just hoping or wishing something were true—we're confident that it is true, absolutely and eternally.

Christ Jesus proved this. He showed, over and over, that what he perceived about God and man enabled him to heal those around him. And he also taught that the same is true for us. What you and I spiritually understand of God and His creation—you and me— improves our health, as well as all other aspects of our lives.

In her book she wrote, “Changes in belief may go on indefinitely, but they are the merchandise of human thought and not the outgrowth of divine Science” (12:24 ).What Christ Jesus knew and taught about the spiritual facts of God and man’s relationship are explained by Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Mrs. Eddy yearned to know God better, and in seeking a clearer understanding of God, she also gained a clearer understanding of man—God’s child, you and me.

We are constantly confronted by changes in belief. One day, a high-protein diet is bad for us; the next day, it's good for us. One year we’re told jogging keeps us in shape and one can’t jog too much; the next year, too much jogging is hazardous.

These are changing beliefs that can't be relied upon. True health, true freedom from anxiety and stress, must be established on God, who is substantial, unchangeable Love.

When we follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus, and look solely to God, Spirit, unreliable beliefs are replaced with spiritual facts, which then govern our experience. These dependable laws replace the constant teeter-tottering of mere belief. And once they are established in thought, we see evidence of them in our everyday lives.

One thing that best demonstrates spiritual understanding is healing. In prayers for healing, our thought changes from a belief in matter to a conviction that we live in Spirit. Fear is dissolved and replaced with abiding trust in God’s power. Pain dissipates as thought yields to God’s love and comfort. And when these things occur in thought, they are manifested in experience.

Jesus knew that he didn’t have to be present to heal, so he told the centurion, “Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee” (Matt. 8:13 Go ). Jesus didn’t just believe the servant would get better. He understood his Father, God, to be all good, and it was this spiritual understanding that healed the servant.An example of this is Jesus' encounter with a Roman soldier, a centurion. The man came to Jesus because his servant was sick, but when Jesus offered to go to the soldier’s house and heal the man, the centurion declared that his house wasn’t worthy of the Master.

God and His idea, man, are Father and child, so they are inseparable, always united. And because God is Spirit, each of us is, in actuality, spiritual. This means that no matter what we face, we are never severed from God.

Jesus proved this when he healed those who came to him. He proved that man is—we are—God’s child, not the child of mortal parents with a material heritage. This understanding enables us to prove that our God-given heritage is entirely spiritual and complete.

Thought that is at one with God—that is governed by God, Spirit—relies on Him for all that is needed, whether it’s protection, supply (right ideas that lead us), or health. Thought governed by God is fearless and trusting. It is spiritually minded. But more than this, thought that is God-governed results in a life that is God-governed, because there is no room for any false, material belief to take hold.

This is what Christ Jesus taught. It’s what he proved. It’s what you and I can learn to know and prove. Then we’ll find belief replaced by spiritual understanding that is provable, practical, and healing.