Does the universe of God's creating include a horse?
Earth Day will be officially celebrated this year on April 22, although many activities will take place during the previous weekend. A special section in the Sentinel this week looks at the creatures on the planet, particularly those with whom many of us share our homes and lives. Can animals be healed through prayer? asks one author. An experience with her horse provides a resounding "yes!" And the other writers in this section confirm her results. It's not a big jump from horses and cats to seeing that prayer makes a profound difference for all life on earth.
I LOVE nature. I often ponder how the natural world can be transformed by a more spiritual vision.
I've wondered, if God's universe is spiritual, does it include horses, cats, cows, lions, bears? Does it include mountains, savannas, flowers, forests? Can spiritual truth heal animals just as people are healed? The Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy have been indispensable to me as I've explored these issues.
In Matthew, Christ Jesus says: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, . . . shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" (6:28-30).
If God provides for the wildflowers, their true substance must be part of His spiritual universe! In reality, they are expressions of Deity, reflecting specific qualities of God, such as beauty, grace, and life.
And the real identity of animals? The first chapter of Genesis describes creation at length. "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. . . . And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good" (verses 21, 25).
I felt God's love encompassing all of His creation.
Mary Baker Eddy shows how the spiritual identities of animals reflect God's nature. Interpreting that verse about the whales and birds spiritually, she writes, "Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power, and also by holy thoughts, winged with Love" (Science and Health, p. 512).
Each blade of grass, each flower, every animal, every star, hints of the multitude of forms in the spiritual universe. This universe consists solely of spiritual ideas reflecting God, which are useful, harmless, loving, harmonious, eternal.
What I've come to see is that this spiritual universe is the only universe, the only reality, there is. So anything that seems inharmonious in nature is an inverted appearance of what is real. God's universe is neither material nor physical, and not included in His universe, for instance, are animal ferocity, sickness, lameness, weakness, hunger. These are no part of the infinite, all-good God. In Miscellaneous Writings, Mrs. Eddy writes, "The ferocious mind seen in the beast is mortal mind, which is harmful and proceeds not from God; for His beast is the lion that lieth down with the lamb" (p. 36).
The mind referred to here is false; it is matter-based thinking that always limits, that reports evil everywhere and good as only a sometime thing. It suggests that discord and deficiencies in the animal world are normal and that natural disasters such as droughts and dying forests are to be expected. Everything is out of balance and in conflict when viewed with the material senses.
These imbalances do not jibe with the creation presented in the first chapter of Genesis. Nor do they make sense when compared with Jesus' declaration of God's loving provision for the flowers of the field and for all. According to these views, we are part of a graceful, purposeful, spiritual creation. One version of reality is true, the other a lie. God, good, is true, so evil cannot be true.
Knowing this truth changes the way we solve predicaments in the natural world. We don't start by trying to "fix" a hurt paw or a shrinking forest, for example. Instead, we start by seeing that animal or that forest as representing an already perfect spiritual idea. We focus our thought upon the unity, balance, and harmony that God, good, has already created. Everything—including man, beast, and plant—belongs to God. They are all good. Their true, spiritual identity is exempt from destruction, lack, disease, imbalance, inharmony, and conflict. Viewing nature from this spiritual basis opens our eyes to the possibilities for solutions to a problem.
The harmony of God's creation unfolds itself to each of us one moment at a time. One of these moments happened for me when my filly began moving stiffly one summer. I didn't think much about it at first. I figured time would make her better, but no change occurred. A couple of weeks after I noticed the difficulty, a farrier came to trim the filly's hooves. She felt I had better have the horse's legs X-rayed if improvement did not appear soon. That's when I felt the shock waves of fear.
The atmosphere pervasive in the horse world is rather like that of the professional athlete. Turning to medicine is a normal daily event. One look at almost any magazine about horses tells the story. Often several articles are dedicated to information about how to diagnose, heal, or improve this or that bump, wound, lameness, disease, conformational misalignment, and so forth. Health and harmony appear almost impossible without drugs and other forms of medical intervention. To prove that harmony in animals is possible without drugs—through prayer—becomes more significant in this mental arena. But the temptation to turn to medicine also seems more immense.
To find a healing for my horse, I first called a veterinarian. He could find nothing specifically wrong. He suggested giving her an antiinflammatory drug and painkiller for three or four days. After completing his prescribed drug program, I again let several days pass. The filly continued to drag her back hooves on the ground, moving stiffly. The drugs had not made any difference.
Finally, I turned to God. I listened for God's ideas. In a humble moment of inspiration I saw that, of course, I could pray for my animals. Animals are just as much included in God's creation as I am. God loves all that He creates, great and small. All are Love's ideas.
I began thinking about the qualities this young horse so naturally expressed: boundless joy, innocence, freedom of movement, grace, beauty, vivacity, love. Because she is a spiritual idea, none of these could be stolen from her.
I looked up references on freedom in Science and Health. One phrase jumped from the page: "The influence or action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phenomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips" (p. 89). The . . . action of Soul confers a freedom. Soul, God, not only gives me freedom of expression, but it also gives my filly freedom! It is God's gift to each of His spiritual ideas. God, good, would never take it back. Any fearful or limiting thoughts based on the belief that life is in matter, any "what ifs," I replaced with thoughts of Soul conferring freedom, without condition, to all. My mental state changed. I demanded and accepted that harmony was God's law for everyone and everything. The filly responded. Within a day or two, the stiffness disappeared without a trace. Harmony prevailed.
How do I know this was a healing from God and not just serendipity? Because more happened than just the improvement in the filly's legs. I changed, too. I felt a little more of the humility required to turn to God for help. I learned about the persistence needed to turn away consistently from the false paradigm that mortal consciousness presents. I felt God's love encompassing all of His creation.
I have seen other healings of animals since this one. A mare's stressed and sore back legs became flexible and free-moving again after persistent prayer. Another mare's sore shoulder, causing lameness, was healed within an hour after I turned wholeheartedly to God's law for correction. Remaining resolutely with God in consciousness brought the turning point each time.
When I have insisted on seeing God's creation as spiritual—saying "yes" to God's law of harmony and "no," consistently "no," to the false, material version of the universe, to limitations or fears—my horses have been healed.
What does a healing of a horse signify? To me it is a peephole into the possibilities of spiritual healing. If a horse can respond to spiritual healing, then the same must be true of everything we see—fields, forests, lions, tigers, and bears, even ourselves!
A walk in the park or an hour in the garden can be an opportunity to seek and find the divine harmony and goodness everywhere. A drive down the road can open our eyes to the spiritual nature of the forests and flowers (and people!) we pass. All are representatives of God's vital creation.
This way of seeing transforms our view of the universe and our own lives—one moment at a time.