Vision Spiritual

Albert F. Gilmore

The transcendent truth, the reality of the spiritual, and the correlated fact, the unreality of the material, pervaded the teachings of Jesus throughout. On many occasions he taught and exemplified the dominion of Spirit over material conditions, proving for all mankind throughout all time the allness of God and the unreality of Spirit's unlikeness; and at times, it seems, the Master was troubled over the seeming lack of receptivity of spiritual truth on the part of his auditors, even of his faithful disciples.

Such an instance recorded in the second Gospel grew out of the experience when he fed the hungry multitude who had been without food for three days. Only shortly thereafter, when he and his disciples were again embarked on the Sea of Galilee, they found themselves without food, having forgotten to take any bread with them. By way of arousing them to the significance of his works in feeding the multitude, he said, "Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?" Their material vision had not grasped the spiritual significance of this demonstration. Apparently he had hoped that their spiritual sense had been awakened to the understanding of Spirit as substance, of matter as the objectification of material sense, and therefore under scientific control. While they may have recognized in some measure that man as God's idea was possessed of spiritual sense, their vision was still darkened by the belief in the reality of matter.

Christian Scientists understand vision to be wholly spiritual, an attribute or quality of divine Mind. They know that since Spirit, divine Mind, is conscious of all and understands all, Mind also discerns or sees all; and likewise they know that man as the reflection of that consciousness sees because God sees. Sight, therefore, is a divine attribute, a quality of God; hence can never be lost, impaired, or destroyed. Sight depends not upon material organization, but upon Mind; it is never subject to the ebb and flow of material belief, but is permanent as a quality of Mind, reflected through Mind's ideas.

The meaning of our Leader's words on this subject is unmistakable. On page 162 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she writes, "The indestructible faculties of Spirit exist without the conditions of matter and also without the false beliefs of a so-called material existence;" and she also states on page 209 of Science and Health, "Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God." Material belief has no place in the faculties of Spirit. Whatever material sense, so called, may say about vision is not true. Not having eyes, that is, spiritual vision, it cannot see spiritually. On the other hand, spiritual sense, including vision, is exercised in the contemplation and understanding of good.

We see mentally; hence we rightfully say of a problem placed before us, "I see," meaning, I understand it. Seeing and knowing thus become synonymous. Therefore the socalled mortal mind may truly say, "I see that," because we do see, not with the eyes but mentally, when we grasp the truth about any given situation. Transposing vision to the mental realm is the first step toward solving the belief of lack of vision. The next step is to grasp the spiritual fact of vision, that as a divine quality it can never be lost, but attaches to every idea of Mind; hence is coexistent with God. When the fact is grasped that sight is wholly spiritual and can never be lost because it belongs to God, we lose our sense of impaired vision and, like the man whom Jesus healed of the belief of blindness, come seeing.

Mrs. Eddy has made available the paramount truth that age and blight never destroy or impair man's faculties. That human belief so affirms has no slightest relation to the truth of man's eternal possession in unimpaired perfection of all God-bestowed faculties. It follows, then, that mortals are under no necessity of accepting the belief that vision fails with the passing of years. In relating time and materiality, our Leader has put before us the fact that as belief is overcome, that is, as we lose the sense of human personality as man, perfect demonstration may be made of the present possession of all faculties and attributes which God has bestowed upon man. Christian Scientists know the problem facing them to be the overcoming of belief in personality, that is, in the human sense of selfhood as man. This solved, the perfect idea divinely endowed is revealed. Of the character of personality, Mrs. Eddy writes in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 309), "According to Christian Science, material personality is an error in premise, and must result in erroneous conclusions."

Then our task is to correct the premise, to cease to accept personality as man, and to turn our consideration to the perfect idea, now and forever possessed, by reflection, of all the attributes of God. Our only limitation in any direction exactly conforms to our belief. Our sense changed and corrected, we have the present possibility of demonstrating perfect vision and all spiritual faculties. God's universe is both completed and perfect.

Albert F. Gilmore

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Confidence in God

September 24, 1927

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