"Lo, he was not"

Violet Ker Seymer

The Psalmist speaks of having "seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not." This shows that there was never real power in any evil appearance, else it could not have passed away. Real power is spiritual and permanent. It can neither pass away nor fail to be active.

What student of Christian Science cannot thankfully tell of the vanishing of one or more traits of error which he used to manifest; also of the disappearance of disease, chronic fatigue, or other physical disability? The reason of this is that whatever has not issued from God, the one Mind, is not a true condition; it is merely a mortal belief which we do not have to accept. As false belief it is destined to disappear from mortal thought. How? Through the appearing of the spiritual counter fact, which is always harmonious and always spiritually discernible. Christian Scientists therefore center all their thought on spiritual facts, vehemently denying discordant, material counterfeits.

Because genuine Christian Scientists love Christian Science and give evidence of their sincerity by demonstrating its teachings, nothing can arrest the spread of this revelation or hinder the growth of the organization through which it is expressed. Who, with feeble hands outstretched, could presume to stay the sunlight from flooding his room at dawn? But what is our part, our responsibility, in forwarding this redemption for all mankind? It is the sacred office of every student of Christian Science to be true to his present measure of spiritual understanding and to prove what he knows by definite reformation and healing.

Mrs. Eddy writes in "No and Yes" (p. 16), "The mists of matter—sin, sickness, and death—disappear in proportion as mortals approach Spirit, which is the reality of being." We cannot approach Spirit without mentally departing from matter. We approach Spirit by depending more and more upon divine Mind and proportionately less and less upon materiality. Man is endowed by Spirit with intelligence, strength, health. All these gifts are spiritual and invariable; they are not material or variable. It is therefore upon divine Mind, and not upon the physical body, that the Christian Scientist depends for the maintenance of each one of these gifts. So he finds himself less prone to fatigue, foolishness, sickness, and other evidences of materiality.

When God, Spirit, created man, He endowed him spiritually, unalterably, for all eternity. The Christian Scientist claims this endowment on the ground that there is but one creator and one creation. In proportion as he does this his divine heritage begins to appear and error gradually passes out of his thought and experience; and he is instrumental in liberating others. Fear is rebuked and dismissed as a claim of infidelity to Spirit, insufficient reliance upon divine Mind. Increasing spiritual dependence is always rewarded.

It is not unusual for some physical scar to vanish from the body when the claim of disease or accident has been mentally denied any time, place, or actuality by the student of Christian Science. What mortals call the past, as well as the present, is embraced in eternal good. The consciousness of spiritual man has never been branded by false belief. As the Christian Scientist dwells on this fact, the traits of God's image increasingly appear and, quite naturally, the counterfeit beliefs which alone appear to constitute a mortal disappear, for they were never anything more than obscure notions, theoretical denials of substantial facts. Spiritual facts can only be denied in theory, never actually, never scientifically. Error alone can be denied, for "lo, he was not" is the fact about it from start to finish. And since it "was not" it is not!

On page 9 of "Unity of Good" Mrs. Eddy writes: "Destroy the mental sense of the disease, and the disease itself disappears. Destroy the sense of sin, and sin itself disappears." In Christian Science healing it is primarily the destruction of a false material sense which leads to the disappearance of disease or any other discord. Those seeking its help should therefore be on guard lest they be watching for the physical disappearance of error while paying insufficient heed to their mental fidelity to the one Mind and Life. True watchfulness, which consists in resisting error and yielding to Truth, opens the way for the healing light of Christian Science to transform human thought. Generally speaking, a Christian Scientist is not so much engrossed in watching for the disappearing of error as he is prayerfully maintaining his true watch, and reaching out for greater Godlikeness.

Even as a watcher for the sunrise concerns himself little with the departing night, so intent is he in drinking in the beauty of dawn, so one who mentally reaches out to God finds the glory of spiritual reflection illumining his consciousness. This is the light of Soul, leading on to greater spirituality, and meanwhile bringing the assurance that, as Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 353), "all things will continue to disappear, until perfection appears and reality is reached."

Violet Ker Seymer

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Spirituality and Its Effects

February 7, 1931

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