by Bicknell Young
Infinity is self-existent and self-expressed. The power or ability to think must be so cultivated that it approximates Principle, or infinite Mind.
Affirmation is essential, and denial must spring from the realization and affirmation of the allness of good.
There is one consciousness, one Mind, and only one law.
There is no such thing as animal magnetism. The belief in it is all there is to it.
When you extinguish the belief, you make an adequate denial, and you prevent or set aside or annul the whole claim without any difficulty at all.
Understanding is not a person who understands; it is understanding.
All the beliefs incidental to a claim have no more reality than has a mistake made by a child in arithmetic. The fear incidental to such false beliefs is equally unreal. The only Mind there is, is not afraid, and there is nothing in this Mind that could cause fear or originate fear or know fear. The fact is, there is no fear. For this reason, we are not afraid.
First establish your thought on the basis of the one infinite Mind, its perfection and its law, and the enforcement of its law.
Begin every day with that which has no beginning, Principle, and state its law to the day and to all the incidents of the day. That law is a law to the effect that all things are already accomplished and are perfect. Let this fact be a kind of an inclusive view of everything that you have to consider or do day by day. In this way, “wisdom is justified of her children” – which is to say that you will know what to do with the certainty of Science, and time and place and all other incidents of your work will fall into line harmoniously.
There is one Mind. All things are already accomplished in completeness and perfection. Nothing can be added to or taken from infinity. There is in reality nothing to be taught, nor anybody to teach.
Stand for the absolute facts. Do not struggle with error. See its nothingness from the standpoint of infinite Mind. Enter upon your dominion with your first statement in a treatment, and do not swerve from it. Know that Mind is the one Mind, the only Mind, therefore your Mind, and then let Mind assert its own presence and power and law to the utter extinction of the belief of many minds, or of any other mind than itself.
Being IS, and its isness has no opposite. There is no limited expression, nothing that could possibly be withheld, no place where anything that could bless could be lacking. Refuse to be afraid. Stand and know, and above all, rejoice constantly.
Man is a state of possession, not a state of desire. Just so long as you want something, you are keeping yourself out of your heritage. Get so you wouldn’t turn your hand over to be ----- or anything except the Son of God. Don’t care two cents whether people like you or dislike you because of misunderstanding you, because they cannot help but like you if they understand you. Be happy in reflecting infinite Love.
“The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness.” (S&H, 536) In this light and in this spiritual attitude and altitude, there is no fear. Even if you seem to express fear or feel it, it is nothing. It cannot do anything and it cannot prevent anything that you are doing through demonstration.
I am rejoicing in the allness of good. Any testimony of the senses contrary to my divine being is unreal, and to be ashamed for it would be to make it real. I have no resentment because of remembering the years I have given to my work and at the same time finding that it has not saved me from some unpleasant beliefs. I could not be resentful even for this, nor for anything, because I know that I have never been anywhere than in heaven, and I am there now, and the belief that I have passed through anything contrary to heaven or that I am passing through any such thing now, is a lie, and it cannot deceive me in any way, nor can it induce me to take part in any thoughts that would be contrary to my own well-being.
I have never made a mistake. Nobody has ever made one. A mistake is a part of the belief that there is a mind apart from God. There is no such mind. God, Mind, is the only Mind — infinite Mind. There has never been a mistake nor a problem in this infinite Mind, and this Mind – the only Mind, the only consciousness – is my Mind now, and is the activity and power to every function and organ of the so-called human body, and this activity, all-harmonious, is now established for my sense of body, for it is the law to my divine body and its immutable power is demonstrated in behalf of anything that seems to be my body.
All there is to a book is idea. Certainly print and paper and binding do not constitute a book. On the other hand, that which makes the book is really idea, is it not? It has its being in what you call Mind, or intelligence, and, in the measure that the book is useful, certainly the ideas set forth in the book have some relationship to divine Principle.
It seems to me, therefore, that the question simply resolves itself into this: There is one infinite Principle manifesting itself in infinite ideas, eternal, perfect, harmonious and complete. These ideas are ever unfolding and the supreme unfoldment of them is man, in the image and likeness of God. That is, the supreme idea includes all right ideas, and this inclusion of right ideas and their activity, is all there is to body and all there need be, and the continuity and perfection of all this is the fact Principle is Spirit, imperishable, perfect substance.
Unfoldment of right ideas necessarily means satisfaction every step of the way. In fact, it requires satisfaction far beyond any human conception of the meaning of this word. The first step in all this supreme satisfaction is such a realization of the perfection of Mind and idea and such a consciousness of the oneness and allness of these, that joy springs forth spontaneously and is a continuous conscious sense which sets aside and nullifies every false claim of the material senses. This is all there is to a book or anything else.
Mental malpractice is a false belief, a phase of the false claim that there is a mind apart from God. As a false claim, it is a mere belief or phase of mortal mind. It has no origin, no thought, no being in infinity, and therefore no being at all. It has no self-existence, no entity. It has no power of itself, and no derived power. It does not operate according to law. It is lawless and without entity and without power, for the only power there is, is the infinite Mind that created the universe. As a claim, it is wholly destructive, and in belief it is opposition to the one Mind.
There is no law by which or through which this false belief, this phase of mortal mind, can operate in belief to interfere with the action of Christian Science in behalf of this patient, or in my behalf, or any circumstance. There is no law of belief by which this false claim could assert itself or be asserted. No person, no channel, no medium through which or by which such a false belief could find any place, power, or any kind of entertainment. No circumstances, event or occasion through which or by which this false claim or belief of mental malpractice can operate. It is wholly a belief of mortal mind and cannot operate in any way to delay the healing or induce the return of the belief already overcome. No law of relapse can operate in belief through this false claim, or find a means of activity of utterance to bring about a fear of relapse through the activity of human law, or by any means whatsoever.
Mind, God, and the law of God, active in this treatment, is wholly active or operates in thought and experience and is the law to the case, and extinguishes, annuls and annihilates the belief of mental malpractice. As a belief, it is powerless, because it is entirely without intelligence and law, and cannot arouse fear of itself in the thought of any human being, and the false belief or fear is extinguished by this understanding of its utter powerlessness and unreality.
Always say “the belief of mental malpractice.” Do not say that “mental malpractice” cannot operate, et cetera. Say “the belief of mental malpractice” is without origin or power or substance or self-existence; consequently as a belief it cannot operate or express itself as a claim or belief of thought-transference, thought vibration, or in any way known or unknown, or by any belief of power.
You cannot do better than to know exactly what is meant by the statement of Isaiah, “The government shall be upon his shoulders,” for this statement shows that the divine idea reflects the infinite consciousness and governs every situation.
Do not strive so much to bring to pass good conditions. Take time every day to realize that God hath done all things well, and refuse to believe that you are doing a lot of things. Declare your ability to meet every evil suggestion and affirm and maintain the divine fact that you are happy always, even to the point of joyousness. All that you say of man is true of yourself.
Science declares the allness of Being and the completeness of it. It is not something to be attained, but something to know. It is already here and everywhere. Place is included in man; he is not in a place. Whatever is spiritually true about the association meeting is a part of man’s being, and therefore a part of your being. It becomes demonstrable humanly in the measure that you stand for it.
In view of this, in the measure that you realize what you really are, you will most certainly be at the association meetings annually.
Nothing is lacking in the substance of being. Not even chalk, if chalk is needed, — although, of course, material chalk does not exist in infinity.
Denounce and deny fear. Cast out the devil called fear. It is nothing but a myth. It has no being, no mind, no body, no existence, anywhere in infinity. Refuse to believe fear. Refuse to believe in fear. Refuse to be afraid, even when material sense claims you are afraid. You can do it, because you are never afraid, for love is the only consciousness, and perfect Love casteth out fear.
Principle alone is absolute wisdom, and that is wisdom to you in all human affairs, because you are wedded to that divine Principle and you know absolutely that it is your very life and substance and being, and that it guides, directs and changes in any way that may constitute a human need and that, above all, Principle opens out to you the grandeur of infinity and the possibility of all its blessings. All time and place are included in it, because their true meaning is apprehended through the demonstration of infinity. You include place; therefore, you include anything that may constitute a change from one place to another, and that inclusion is a reflection of boundless being, and ever present, ever available opportunity is a part of this.
Infinity realized meets the claim of lack. We must see this clearly and think and act accordingly. Man has all that God has, because God must have manifestation in order to verify his own existence, and man is this manifestation. I, individually, am that man. Therefore I am not afraid. Meet the claim of limited, finite sense with the all-presence of all-inclusive, all-possessive, infinite consciousness, and think and act as possessing all power from Him in whom we live and move and have our being.
Words frustrate, dissipate, dispel and cancel; Truth will blot out the last degree of obscuration; active law – energizing law.
Truth cannot be obstructed, hindered, paralyzed, misdirected nor stopped.
Mind is never retrogressive, sluggish nor inert. Truth is harmonious and without friction; beautiful, magnificent, perfect; is in operation everywhere. The law of Truth is active, energizing.
One infinite Mind is enough Mind for everybody, and is always original. Man thinks as Mind, speaks as Mind, walks as Mind, acts as Mind, and cannot do otherwise. He lives and has a sense of being as Mind. For this reason, a human being should walk and talk and carry on his daily work, and even breathe and digest his food, through the demonstration of Mind.
In Principle, Mind, Spirit, Soul, reside and ever shine in full effulgence all originality, wit, humor, versatility, appreciation, responsiveness, spontaneity, beauty and joy. These are not mere qualities, but characteristics of Being. They belong to man – which is saying, they belong to each one of us.
Our work is to see the allness of God and the utter nothingness of evil, and the great thing to maintain constantly is the fact that there is no such thing as any kind of an accident or other belief contrary to the welfare of man. Nothing ever happened to anybody’s arm, and that is the absolute fact and must be maintained. Everything that exists in God’s universe exists in perfection and is maintained in all its relationships in such perfection that nothing can possibly occur that would in any way interfere with that perfection.
Mind heals. We do not have to make it heal.
Because Mind is one and infinite, every divine idea is a unit. Consequently, an assemblage of things is not even a counterfeit, but is always a secondary belief (or a belief about a belief). An automobile, for that reason, cannot be said to be the counterfeit of a divine idea; neither can any other means of transportation be considered a counterfeit of a divine idea – unless we see that the truth about transportation, or moving about, is the fact that man represents God as Omnipresence, and therefore does not have to move about – seeing that he must be inclusive of all that we call space. In this sense, every means of transportation may be regarded as a counterfeit of the reality of omnipresence. The word “counterfeit,” however, has the objection of implying likeness, whereas Mrs. Eddy points out in Science and Health that we must reverse the testimony of the senses, be it pro or con, in order to gain some idea of reality.
Now as to the question of what is called material force represented by such things as machines of various kinds, I should hardly say that a machine is a symbol of a divine idea because it represents force or activity or power. Force, activity and so-called power in belief are very uncertain terms, and the meaning of them is constantly shifting because of the advancement of so-called material science. Anything that represents material force can be called a symbol only when the fact that force is Spirit is thereby made more apparent; then the symbol, metaphysically speaking, disappears, just as it should do. You speak of a chair, which, of course, is a human convenience also, but it is an assemblage of things or pieces. It is not such a primal belief as a tree, or even a flower, and for this reason, a tree more nearly symbolizes a divine idea than does a chair. However, there is a divine idea back of every desirable thing, in a certain sense. Certainly all the conveniences of life – chairs and stoves and everything else – indicate the divine fact that man is provided with all the beauty and what we may call the conveniences that could possibly be desired, and more than can be humanly conceived of.
You see, the fact is that the word “idea” always means idea, or Mind manifested. It does not mean a kind of idealized form of matter, nor anything of that kind.
Progress is the law of being, and every step through demonstration means a measure of heaven to those who experience it.
Deny self-pity. Deny it thoroughly. Cast it out. Get rid of all the beliefs that would make you think you are more or less a victim of circumstances. You are no victim at all. You are the Son of God. You need to know this and get rid of the other self, and in this endeavor be not weary in well doing.
Meet the suggestion that Christian Science does not completely heal. Do not locate disease or permit thought to locate disease in the human body. All so-called disease exists exclusively in so-called mortal mind, entirely outside of what is called the human body. Meet the claim in so-called mortal mind, and entirely abolish and extinguish all the beliefs of mortal mind in regard to any particular thing that may be troublesome to yourself or others.
Is it not possible that you are limiting yourself? Do you believe that you actually must demonstrate along one particular line? Is God limited to the musical profession? I do not mean by this that you should give up the profession of music without due consideration. Far from it! Do not give up anything – and certainly never give up music, because it is a beautiful and inspiring and highly educational study. But remember that Mrs. Eddy says, in the definition of “Mind,” “Deity which outlines but is not outlined.” If we believe that all of our income, so to speak, is to be realized through just one particular avenue of thought or activity, we are certainly not gaining the true idea of infinity. See that all of the activities of the divine man are ordered of God (Mind), and are infinite and infinitely satisfactory – which means infinitely remunerative.
The eternal Truth is all there is. Whatever evidence is contrary to it is nothing but illusion.
Permit Mind, the only Mind there is, to have its full sway, and leave out the effort.
One Being is all the being there is; one infinite Mind; one ceaseless, harmonious, all-inclusive, satisfied and satisfying Life, is the true state of man, and nothing has ever happened to it.
It is impossible that even a belief in life should actually be in matter. What is called mortal mind exists as a belief outside of the material body, and then, according to its own sense of limitation, insists upon including itself theoretically in a material body. All the thoughts which seem to govern the human body are not in the human body; they are merely the atmosphere of general belief, which a human being calls his own mind and character. Christian Science comes to lift the cloud of belief and reveals the divine fact that, from all eternity to all eternity, man exists in perfection, representing Father-Mother God, Love.
Handle delay. It is always animal magnetism. In endeavoring to gain the realization that there is no matter, do not be misled into a sense of the absence of substance. Mrs. Eddy’s declaration of the unreality of matter, properly understood, reveals substance – I mean tangible, real, harmonious substance, the substance of everything. Every idea in the universe has perfect substance, exists as perfect substance, continues forever to unfold as substance, or as the manifestation of substance.
Gain this realization; that Spirit is substance, and that there is none other. Stand for it, and know that Spirit is the only substance. You do not have to heal a body that is out of order, for the only body there is is in perfect order. You don’t have to get something out of or away from body, because there isn’t anything that could ever be associated with body that you would want to part with, or that it would be proper to part with. The real, eternal expression of Mind, or Soul, the identity of your real being, is body, and it is perfectly well now and forever.
We are not engaged in contending with matter. False beliefs constitute all that appears to be material existence, and the illusions of disease incidental thereto.
Human belief presents itself as cause and effect, but it is one false belief, for it is neither cause nor effect.
In the infinity of good, all satisfaction is already and eternally established.
The fact is, we must be ready to take whatever steps are necessary and not be afraid. The business which you are in may be all right, and it may not be. The operation of divine Principle may not necessarily keep you in that business, but it might take you out of it. At any rate, it is wise to open your thought to that possibility and permit infinity to operate according to its law. If you confine your thought to one particular line of work, where is infinity? Understand me; I am not advocating the notion that you should give up – or even change – your business; but I do want you to see that there is no separation between God and man, and, because of this, the outlook of man is that of measureless opportunity and availableness.
All good is already and eternally accomplished, and Science provides the Principle, law and proof of that fact. Every incident of this proof is unfoldment of the primal proposition; all good is eternal and already accomplished. In proportion as our thought corresponds to this primal proposition, everything appears at the right time and in the right way (in the order of perfection).
This treatment is a law to that which calls itself my happiness.
Man is the evidence and presence of divine, infinite, satisfactory and satisfied consciousness.
There is no material consciousness that can attract, create, oppose, obstruct, deny, delay, deceive or destroy the Christ idea.
Mrs. Young: “Mind is the faculty to think. Real Mind is perfect, — it is what it wants to be. Its being is perfection, — the other thing is supposition. Real man is that which understands. There is one Mind only, and that is all the Mind there is. What Mind is conscious of itself? Infinite Mind, infinitely manifested.
“All there is to know is that which the perfect Mind knows.
“‘God is All,’ is the greatest self-denial you can know. Knowing that, your true individuality comes out.
“All is Mind and its consciousness, or it is the faculty to think. The result of this faculty to think is infinite Mind and its thoughts.”
When we remember that perfect Mind is ever-present and the only presence, then we will recognize that every improved experience or condition is a proof of better understanding.
Mrs. Young: “When the Scientist who knows that perfect Mind or consciousness is the only presence, experiences improved conditions, improved surroundings, health, occupation, possessions, et cetera, he must see that these improvements signify an improved understanding of the reality of being. It would be unscientific to deny and reject these improvements, though we should always remember that they are only advancing steps towards Truth.
“These dear persons who talk about renouncing all earthly pleasures and satisfactions do not hesitate, however, to try earnestly to better their conditions, and if any loss occurs they go to a practitioner and ask to be helped to recover what has been lost; in other words, they want to recover the very things which they said ‘must be given up.’”
1928. Declare the Truth and deny the reality of the belief. See clearly that the belief in disease is all there is to disease. That it is a false belief, having no origin, or cause, no self-existence, no substance, no matter, no mind, no principle, no intelligence, no active intelligence, no law to sustain it, and no place, space or occupancy for it, and no substance.
1928. Sin is not a cause for suffering; it is never anything except a lie.
To proceed correctly in the handling of fear, we must revert to, or start out from, our primal proposition, which is infinite Mind, therefore there is only one Mind, eternal and perfect. Everything in the infinite universe, — or, to speak more correctly, all that constitutes an infinite universe, — is an expression or idea of this one infinite Mind, and every idea of this Mind has exactly the substance, or being, of Mind, and in its order as an idea of Mind, is as perfect as Mind, God.
It is perfectly clear that infinite Mind could not fear itself, neither could it fear any idea in its own infinite universe. Therefore, fear is a myth. It is unknown to infinity. Consequently, there is no such thing as fear. The divine Mind could not conceive it, and as the divine Mind is the only Mind, there is no Mind to conceive it, or believe it, or believe in it, and because of this fact the belief that fear is real and that it has influence on so-called human minds or bodies, is a false belief and can be utterly abolished.
Declare there is nothing in human history, events or circumstances or possibilities, and that there is no prophecy or prognostication or belief of law, by which or through which fear can be projected upon or into the thought or consciousness of Christian Scientists, or other people, or produce by any means or method whatsoever any impact upon individual or universal consciousness.
Finally, there is no mind or body where fear exists or is entertained or operates as law, or otherwise, and there is no place or space or occupancy in the whole universe for fear or for anything that could induce, produce or perpetuate the belief of fear.
If Truth were to take you by the hand and explore with you the whole realm of infinity, Love, you would find no fear there.
Know that the seeming presence of fear on the part of practitioner or patient, or both, cannot constitute an element or influence of danger or obstruction or delay in the healing work. The presence of God, Mind, which is actually all there is to our treatment, means actual and utter extinction to the belief of any presence, or power, or law, called fear.
Perfect Love is infinite and therefore cannot be localized. The power of this infinity of Love is available in the smallest detail of existence, because Mind, Spirit, Love, is the substance of every idea in the divine universe; therefore, everything, every idea, from the infinitesimal to immensity, has the substance and only the substance of Mind – which is Love.
Whatever phase fear may assume in belief, whether called malignant or otherwise, dangerous or incurable, the remedy is this divine presence, substance, Mind, Spirit, Love, for this is the substance, or being, of every idea. For this reason, we know that whatever it appears to have, whatever the so-called disease appears to be, or wherever it appears to have location, right there infinite Love, Mind, substance, actually is, and is its own being, its own location, its own substance, and its own law of permanent, harmonious healing.
True thoughts are tangible, because they are real and immortal, and we possess them anywhere, at any time.
Beliefs may be dealt with metaphysically just as definitely as one may handle pieces of matter; but precision in Christian Science rests upon and proceeds from Principle, and Principle is Love.
To be attentive, accurate and consecutive in our thinking is demanded of us. Keep your thinking clear. In order to be clear, it must be cheerful. This is a most important point to be recognized and maintained when dealing with malpractice. However much we may elaborate this essential feature of Christian Science work, we always arrive, if we work correctly, at the one, single, scientific conclusion: the reality and allness of good and the unreality and nothingness of evil and powerlessness of evil.
Know that you can avail yourself of all the adroitness and cleverness that may be needed in order to nullify and obliterate the seeming activity and influence of mental malpractice, or of animal magnetism, in any form whatsoever.
We are not working out of something, nor working something out. Everything is already perfect and complete in infinity.
All good is eternal and already accomplished, and every idea exists in completeness and perfection now and forever. If we ceaselessly know this, ordinary human events come under the law of this knowing, and occur at the right time and in the right way.
We are to see infinity as perfection, and recognize that all that which infinity includes manifests perfection.
The divine consciousness includes only eternal and perfect ideas, and there cannot be any other consciousness.
We should learn to bless whatever we are doing. Any legitimate calling, even though it be material, if useful or helpful in any way, should be recognized as having a certain dignity. This will appear more and more as our thinking improves, and as a result, the mere materiality of the work will be less in evidence, and we shall find we are demonstrating Christian Science in a practical everyday occupation.
When you are assailed by the suggestion of needing this or that, you can declare: I have no such need. The I AM that I AM, the only I AM there is or can be, is not a state of need, but is Spirit, substance, constituting – and thereby possessing – all things.
Man is the evidence and presence of divine, infinite, satisfactory and satisfied consciousness. The health, perfection and immortality of man are divine and real.
In handling the claims of disease and death, one should not ignore the claim of lack. Truth is all true at the present moment, and is demonstrable in the measure that we actually know it.
Do not accept the suggestion of delay, no matter how plausible it may sound or seem. You do not have to be patient, in the ordinary acceptation of the term. God does not have to exercise patience. There is nothing in God’s creation that could possibly require the exercise of patience. Our sense of God, of good, may – and does, sometimes – seem to require that we shall be patient, and, generally speaking, that means to the average person that he must take every kind of imposition lying down. On page 390, line 32, of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes: “Rise in the conscious strength of the spirit of Truth to overthrow the plea of mortal mind.” Do this habitually, and especially when mortal mind says, “We can’t decide today,” “We will see what can be done,” “We must wait for this or that,” et cetera. Refuse to believe this stuff. It is merely animal magnetism and there is not a word of truth in it. You don’t have to wait a minute for the infinity of good, because the infinity of good is all there is, and its manifestation is one and cannot possibly fail to be in full evidence. Absolutely refuse to be fooled. Hold on to God, good, and know that everything that would or could be good for your business is yours now, and even though that manifestation must, according to the requirements of the belief, take the form of what mortal mind calls cash, it cannot be lacking, nor can the evidence of it be withheld for a single instant. Get a bigger view. See that your view corresponds to the boundless presence and boundless supply of Principle.
In the withinness of consciousness, where the kingdom of God is established, the vigor and power of your knowing, the false claim of delay has no place, nor space, nor occupancy, and is not causing – nor can it cause — you the least inconvenience. No delay is happening, simply because there is no such thing in God’s creation, and therefore no such thing in your business.
All good is accomplished, and is forever unfolding in and through the stately and irresistible operation of Christian Science in this specific instance.
It is increasingly important that parents should recognize the divine Fatherhood and Motherhood. More than half of the battle is won when you both see clearly that the only parent that man can have is Father-Mother Mind, Spirit, God. Free yourselves from fear, by recognizing the divine facts. Refuse to be afraid; and when fear seems to knock at the door of consciousness, declare that it is not your fear, and that there is no fear to have. Declare that if you seem to be afraid, the divine Christ – which you reflect in and as consciousness – is greater than any or all beliefs of fear, and heals in spite of fear.
Be sure that the claim which seems to trouble you is nothing but a belief. It is not in matter nor of matter, because there is no matter. Stick to the fact that Spirit, God, is all-in-all, and there is no other substance.
You say that the circular received from a certain quarter “did not bring a lot of sunshine.” I trust that you are not touched by any suggestions from that quarter. You may be sure that all of that particular phase of malpractice is trying to get you to think something contrary to your best interests and contrary to the facts in the case. Even if what it says had a vestige of truth in it, it would make no difference to you or to me. At the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, probably most of his disciples thought that he had failed. As a matter of fact, he had succeeded, and the outcome made the fact apparent. Christian Science is Science.
The trouble with Christian Scientists is that they have tried to make it personality. Mrs. Eddy herself constantly begged them not to do so, and yet, in a certain way, they insisted upon ignoring her plea. Let us see that reality is going on. One infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, which is necessarily idea. Nothing else is gong on with you or with anybody. Eliminate from your thought all personality and all the beliefs that we call personal mind. Let us have Science and nothing else going on, and the result can only be health, because that is the eternal fact of all being, and consequently the eternal fact of body.
One of the most important things in Christian Science healing work is to sustain the work of the practitioner by strong faith and understanding.
Things of this kind can only mean that we are being roused to the necessity of better protective work all along the line. Just now this protective work must include a clear realization of the nothingness of mental suggestion seeming to emanate or operate through a certain organization that makes great pretense to activity just now. The best way to handle all these things, of course, is to rise fully above them and realize that there is only one Mind and that there are no mortal minds. Nobody’s got a mortal mind, because there isn’t one to have. Consequently, there isn’t any such thing as disease or pain. Mrs. Eddy says, in Science and Health, “God’s being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss,” and it is not possible for you or anybody else to really have any other being. Let us stand for this and find our deliverance.
The reality of being has never been touched, and the reality of _____’s being has never been touched, and cannot be. Why such errors should seem to come or repeat themselves, I am unable to say. Mortal mind seems to be full of subtleties, but the fact is, there is no mortal mind. There is only one Mind, which disposes of the false claim that there is any other mind, and also obliterates its seeming subtleties.
As to your question, I can only say this: that we cannot cease working, not exactly for those who have passed on, but for ourselves. You remember that Mr. Kimball said, more than once, that Christian Science is the redeemer of consciousness. Our work is to redeem our own consciousness from all sense of materialism so that we know there never was any material man or child, and there never was a material mother, because God is the only Mother there is. This is the way in which we can work not only for those who have passed away but for those who are here.
As to the belief and the things attendant upon the belief of having passed away, who can say? One thing we know, and that is that Christian Science will ultimately destroy the whole belief of materiality, or materialism, and thereby establish the fact that man has always been the Son of God, and never has passed away.
The one Mind is the Life of everything, and this one consciousness, one Mind, is all the Mind, or consciousness, there is. For this reason, Christian Science, as Mrs. Eddy says, “lights the torch of understanding,” and enables us to consider everything from the standpoint of infinity, perfection, the one Mind. In this light and by this divine presence, every condition of error, however seemingly real, fades out into nothingness.
A_______’s being and your being is one being, and that one being is Mind, God. Science and Health says, “God’s being is infinity, harmony, freedom, and boundless bliss.” Stick to that. You do not have to contend with difficulties. The infinite includes none. Let your understanding rise to the point of Omniscience and abide there.
We are saved by consciousness, not by conscientiousness.
Deliverance does not depend upon property, nor any other visible thing. Infinity is the only presence and the only law. (Rev. 19:6)
Notwithstanding all of the suggestions that would crowd upon consciousness, you know what you are, and you know that what you are is as safe and as well as that divine and infinite Principle in which all that you are has its being and its permanent peace.
Do not make too much of being a Reader. While it is a great privilege, in a certain way, you can do the work quite naturally, and there should be no unnatural sense of responsibility. After all, the only thing that can do anything at all is Mind, and Mind is so perfectly sure of Itself and Its own ability that It has no sense of responsibility.
Speaking in public should be just like speaking to yourself, and should occasion you no more concern than speaking to yourself. What you have to say is a demonstration on your part of the fact that Mind is equal to every occasion, because every occasion that is real is already provided for by Mind, and every detail of it is already arranged and perfected.
You are working right and the result is already accomplished. Know this, and stand for this fact against the seeming testimony of the material senses. What is it that says that the work does not accomplish its purpose? God does not say anything like that, but, on the contrary, God declares that His creation is already perfect. There is nothing left out of it, and consequently there is nothing omitted that could possibly be needful or helpful to you as a human being. Refuse to accept the suggestion that the work is done in vain. It is never done in vain. It always accomplishes its purpose.
Let us not be weary in well doing, and the well doing consists in knowing what is, and in not believing anything contrary to what actually is. Man does not have to sell or buy, for he already has everything, and that is exactly the state of the case in this particular matter. For that very reason, this knowing, properly maintained, will stimulate the whole situation and will result in the destruction of the seeming inertia that now claims to be in evidence.
I am sure that you will find the work that you are doing quite easy, because you will realize more and more that God’s work is already done, and there cannot be any other work in an infinite creation. Keep this well in view, and be joyful all the time.
We only need to keep on the right track. It is important in all our endeavors to demonstrate Christian Science that we should take cognizance of our own mental attitude. We must think in big ways – that means, in loving ways – if we expect to get big results. It is important not to restrict our thought by any fear or suggestion that would make us too much inclined to want all the good results for ourselves. In every direction, we must be generous in our thought. It is important that one should examine himself and not have something inside that is small, when he is dealing with that which must be big. Divine Principle has already established all things. We only need to adjust our thoughts to the grandeur of that Principle, in order that we may be blessed by Christian Science.
The whole thing will straighten out, because everything that is, is already as it should be. You could not improve infinity nor any of its manifestations. We shall keep on knowing the Truth, and as the Truth is the truth and its law immutable, human evidence will have to correspond to it.
The great thing is for us to keep a level head and do our work from the standpoint of Principle, without fear and without severe chemicalization, as we progress onward.
Science has nothing to do with the opinions or acts of persons. It announces one divine Principle, self-existent, necessarily undying, because eternal. The thought by which this divine Principle is to be demonstrated must be in strict accord with this divine Principle. It does not even ask why somebody did this or that. It continues to be the image and likeness of Principle. Such thought is the only kind of thought that will ever help anybody. It is quite clear that Jesus acted in accordance with the necessities of the case and, in any event, the demonstration of Life eternal on his part, or the part of any other human being, would certainly involve a change of consciousness from all that is called mortal. As to how or where or what or when, the human being can only safely rest in the divine facts as to God and man, and permit the facts and the Principle of them, through its immutable law, to demonstrate for himself or herself the immortality which these facts not only foretell, but, when strictly maintained, actually accomplish.
The true denial of error is that which enables us to arrive at the realization of the nothingness of the particular error which we are striving to deny. Until that realization is reached, there is no actual and effective denial of error.
I have had occasion to observe the work of Scientists for a good many years, and my impression has become more and more strengthened to the effect that what is called denial of error is frequently nothing more than keeping it alive.
We realize more and more that whatever success comes to us through Christian Science is due to the action of Truth and to the law of Truth, and we would be a strange kind of creatures if we took the whole thing to ourselves. Improvement in our characters and the awakening of latent talent are brought about through the demonstration of divine Principle. We have the advantage of knowing that while there may appear to be such an awakening, and while we are grateful for it, it would be unwise to limit the power or the opportunity which are thus brought to light.
What is this wanting something? Man is a state of possession, not a state of desire.
You speak of physical labor, and I can quite understand what you mean, in view of the situation, but sometimes that kind of thing is an unrecognized blessing. We all need to be physically active, and we are inclined to the other extreme, if we are Christian Science practitioners.
I am perfectly sure that the false claim is yielding, even though it may appear to be slow. Sometimes it seems that our progress is of this nature. We do not always go forward by leaps and bounds. There are times when we appear almost to creep, just as little children do before they learn to walk. I am not pretending to say why this should be our experience, but I know that it cannot be without its lesson, and I know and you know that we are learning that lesson in such a way as to gain our dominion.
There is one Mind, in which everything exists in completeness and perfection, which is always conscious of its own ideas. Here is the belief of human consciousness that says, I have something, and then says, I have lost something. Everything that exists in consciousness is there now and forever. Anything that I own comes under this law, and I cannot lack consciousness of it or lose the sense of it, and there is no belief of loss on my part, or dishonesty on the part of what seems to be any person, that can cause me to lose or to be deprived of what is mine. This is a law of restoration of whatever seems to have been lost or stolen.
Treatment in Christian Science approximates accuracy and full effectiveness in the measure that it is the very presence and law of divine Principle. The fact is that we treat neither material sense nor spiritual idea. Treatment is not treating something, it is knowing that which is and the law of the divine Principle of that which is. A human being may feel that he needs a treatment, and that seeming need must be met in Christian Science. It is met whenever understanding is brought to bear upon the case, and understanding is the very reflection and law of divine power. Our own sense of it all would perhaps best define the situation by saying that, through Christian Science treatment, divine power becomes available in human affairs and dispels the beliefs and fears that constitute sin, sickness and death. What you say about infinite Mind, Spirit, including all space, and the impossibility of anything contrary to this divine nature finding a place in infinite consciousness, is entirely correct.
No injustice can ever stand before the activity of divine Principle. Your work is the very evidence of Omnipresence and Omnipotence. All the belief of dishonesty and incompetence will fade out. We know that our God, the divine Mind, is available to us as actual, divine presence and infinite protection.
The first thing for you to do is to get rid of all self-condemnation. Mistakes can never be corrected by anything other than Christian Science, in which there is no condemnation. The work that you have to do is to find your real being and stick to it, in spite of all testimony of the senses that may be contrary to it. Pay no attention to the condemnation that others may feel. It has no power and it cannot do anything to you.
Words would seem to sound hollow in relation to such an event, and yet we must use words in order to express our thoughts and our understanding. You see the essential thing – which is, that man never existed in matter and could not therefore pass out of it. That dear boy is, of course, perfectly alive, and just as active as he ever was, and just as useful. His work as a Scientist is not lost and cannot be. Perhaps we all need to learn more of the protective power of Truth, and there are human elements in a case of this kind which may appear later on, as you go on knowing the Truth about the whole false belief. Paul said that he rejoiced in tribulation, and that has always been misinterpreted. What he actually meant, was that he rejoiced while in seeming tribulation, because to rejoice in the calm certainty of Life eternal and the harmony and beauty and grandeur of it, is the only thing to do under all circumstances.
The fact is, there is one Mind. Stick to it and make your understanding so absolutely clear that it operates according to the power and law of this one Mind. In this way, malpractice becomes what it actually is – nothing at all, and having no seeming reality except that of the belief in it. So long as the human race believes in thought influence, we cannot wholly ignore the claim of malpractice; but to handle it intelligently, one must rise above it and look down on all such false claims, and thereby have dominion over them. Struggling with them does not allow this dominion and is not the actual way of Christian Science.
There is absolutely no reality in that material thing called “glands.” If you were to take the searchlight of Truth and go completely through the realm of infinity, you would find no such thing. The belief of mortal mind is always something back of the material, or the material organ, so called, and the claim of glands is sensitiveness, somewhere or other – a fact which is illustrated by many incidents which we could easily recall. The mistake which we make in handling these things is the belief that some wrong act on our part, or some failure to do the right thing, is at the root of the trouble, whereas the root of the trouble is far back of these beliefs, in the uncertainty of mortal mind and in its realm of unsatisfied desire. Go deeply into these things. Put no personality in it at all; handle the belief wholly from the standpoint of Science, with Science, and you will see that all these difficulties of the patient vanish into their native nothingness.
The boy must be all right, seeing there is no other boy in God’s creation than the one who is all right. The trying present will be replaced by the harmonious and eternal now, in the measure that we are faithful to the facts and, by means of them, reject and utterly deny the fictions.
The symptoms which you mention might indicate what doctors call high pressure or low pressure, but, as a matter of fact, abnormal blood pressure, so called, is nothing more nor less than the conflict of human emotions in what is called human consciousness. The remedy is to realize one infinite consciousness, in which there are no emotions and in which all ideas are in harmony.
Your way of working is correct – the allness of infinite Presence – one consciousness, that has no turmoil, malice, et cetera, that seems to be going on according to the testimony of the senses. The more we recognize one Mind and think as that Mind, the more dominion is ours. As we cease to work against what we call evil and, working from the standpoint of good, realize the nothingness of evil, you will find the whole situation yielding to absolute Science.
The matter seems to be somewhat slow in yielding the false claim, but God is not slow, and really is ever active. We cannot for an instant believe that the work is in vain. In ways that we may not at present realize, changes are taking place, and the evidence of these changes will be improved conditions. In the meantime, we go on denying the erroneous testimony of the material senses, through the understanding that all that really exists is not only satisfactory, but is perfect, and could not possibly be anything else than perfect.
Learn to study, and insist upon disciplining yourself in this respect. Do not think that Christian Science frees you from the necessity of hard work in your studies. I use the term “hard work” because it is convenient, and I mean by that, that when you are studying any particular lesson, you should not permit what mortal mind calls your mind to wander, and should this wandering occur, you must bring your thought back, just as you would take hold of the hand of an unruly child and bring the child back into the path where it ought to walk. If you persist in doing this, you will find that your ability to pay attention is greatly enhanced.
The demand upon us is that we shall more and more recognize here and now the fact that man is spiritual and not material, and stand for that fact. In the measure that we demonstrate it, we shall find that these events are less real, and presently they do not occur.
Isn’t man one with God? What is the use of all this old theological stuff – “God worketh with me to will and to do”? Is there any separation between you and God? Any space? Any matter, or anything? Isn’t it time that one divine consciousness should be recognized as reigning, governing, being, and nothing else in sight? Why not wake up? Don’t make much of what is called opposition to Christian Science teaching. There is only one Mind and it is the only thing that is going to do any teaching. It certainly is not opposed to Itself.
The particular claim you speak of has become a kind of obsession, and needs to be denied as such. The thing itself is nothing, and only the feeling you have about it seems to be something.
A mistake that seems to have been made is not beyond correction. The divine Mind can nullify any mistake and wipe out any supposititious evidence from such a mistake, or any mistake.
You cannot possibly be induced to believe anything contrary to your own welfare. Meet the error which says, “When I seem to get just so far along,” et cetera. The power which helps us and heals us maintains its own work, and we need to know this unswervingly.
THE COURAGE OF MIND IS INCAPABLE OF EXHAUSTION.
Mrs. Eddy says that we should assert our freedom in the name of Almighty God. Do not hesitate to do so. If God can lengthen a human being’s limb, God can certainly change an environment and give you your heritage of peace and comfort and opportunity to do His work.
The weakness of your treatment lies in your effort to connect the patient with God’s man. Fortunately, it is not fatal to your treatment, but it is enervating to it. Mr. Kimball’s declaration that the patient is neither person, place, nor thing, but simply a suggestion or claim that man is material and is sick, removes this duality and gives your treatment more of the divine character. Your underlying fear is that your treatment will not reach what you call the patient, and the remedy for this fear lies in the realization of one Mind, which removes all fear as to what the treatment will do, because it gives the treatment its true or divine character. If, in order to satisfy your own thought, you feel the necessity of arguing further, you could say, “The law of Mind to man is the power and law of this treatment.” But by using the word “patient,” or thinking of a patient, you run the risk of nullifying, to some extent, the realization of the allness of Mind that really constitutes the treatment.
I would omit the words, “This patient is God’s man,” and simply declare God and man; that there is no other man, and that which claims to be a patient, as a person or thing or whatnot, or that man is material or mortal or sick, is simply a lie.
A_____’s being neither came nor went, but it eternally is, because the divine idea has no experience of coming or going, and is that idea. “The Lord is mindful of His own,” and she is most certainly His own.
Be sure that the claim is not in matter, nor of matter, because there is no matter. Stick to the fact that Spirit, God, is All-in-all, and there is no other substance.
We can only stand and know the divine facts in every instance. Seeing there is only one Mind, it is not possible that _____, or any other person, has any other mind with which to be tempted to act. It is only the belief that there is a mortal mind that seems to cause fear and distrust. This thing will not give you any further trouble, seeing that divine Principle is governing everything and must of necessity govern this thing. We need only cling to the fact and not be disturbed by the appearance.
The situation, as you describe it, would of course appear disconcerting to mortal mind, but there is no mortal mind. There is only one Mind, and this stir need not give us any concern. It is like a severe chemicalization which, of course, appears only in the realm of the unreal. All that is going on is the eternal NOW. Principle and idea and the law of Principle to idea is harmonious unfoldment. Stand your ground steadily and, above all, know every minute that you have perfect wisdom and unfailing judgement with which to answer in the very best way. Infinity is all that we need to stand for, and there is nothing lacking in it. Every moment, it is equal to the occasion.
It is part of the very business of Christian Science to arouse more love and make it more enduring, so that it shall eventually be seen that divine Love, which could not know cessation, or anything to influence or interfere with it, is the true basis of friendship.
Free yourself entirely from any sense of self-condemnation, or any kind of condemnation. Get rid of the whole belief so that you actually know that nothing has happened. The trouble in the head which you speak of is just a nagging suggestion that something in the universe contrary to God has actually occurred, whereas you know that such a thing could not be.
So far as the family is concerned, it is always well to remember that, when Jesus was told that his mother and brethren were waiting to see him, he replied, “Who is my mother and my brethren? Those who do the will of God.” I feel convinced that we often permit ourselves to be affected by these relationships. The fact is, they ought to be helpful. They would be, if all who seem to constitute our family were actually in possession of a demonstrable knowledge of Christian Science.
In the belief of pernicious anemia, it is well for the patient to have good care, and she should especially have good food (such as is considered to be digestible and nutritious under such circumstances). Daily handle the belief that there is such a disease, and know the falsity of that belief; and, at the same time, clearly understand that Christian Science can dispose of that false belief and can and does heal the disease, in spite of the views of so-called medical science in relation to this particular claim.
Happiness is not a matter of personal association. Principle constitutes happiness. The completeness and fullness of divine Being is a state of unassailable happiness. Nothing can ever touch the realization of completeness on the part of the individual. When the individual attains that sense of his own existence, he is inevitably happy, and he is happy forever. In doing this, one does not lose interest in others, but, on the contrary, attains an interest that is far more helpful than that of mere personal association.
We have a big job before us. It consists in demonstrating Love – the infinite Love that is neither mine nor thine, but is universal. In the measure that we lift our thought above a mere personal sense of existence, and permit it to show forth the omniscience and omnipresence of Mind, just in that measure, all these nagging suggestions, including the belief of insufficient income, fade out.
The great thing is to avoid anxiety, because, as a belief, it interferes with the consummation of plans and is altogether undesirable. After all, there is really nothing to be anxious about. Our fears are generally fears about the future, not about anything that is actually happening today, and we have many times proved that the blessings of today are abundant, and when tomorrow shall become today, there is no reason to doubt that we shall still prove this same abundance.
We have to know that God’s work is finished in order to find that these questions and a recurrence of them are only temptations to believe that God’s work is not finished. Let us stick to the fact and deny the temptation.
Maintain your unity with God. Refuse to be touched by the belief that man is material and separate from Mind. Know that you are wholly spiritual and that the substance and law of your being is Spirit, and is ever present. Declare that there is no other substance and no other law. Know that mortal mind never gave you anything and that mortal mind — being only a false belief, without entity or being – cannot withhold nor take anything from you. Divine Mind inevitably expresses itself in completeness and perfection, in its own infinite idea, and you are that idea. Stand for this and refuse to be afraid.
Remember that the belief that error has some sort of evil intelligence is not entirely obliterated, and that in accordance with this belief and its so-called law, this suggestion would get at you through some sense of duty, if through no other means. Be wise: get away from the work every day for a while. Have a walk or a ride, or do something for an hour or two entirely free from any sense of duty.
There is nothing the matter with your work. When you handle a definite claim for a so-called patient, you must remember that the man who asks you to protect his crops is the one whose crops are to be protected. Your realization may be of universal protection, and should be, but the improved belief is only where it can occur and not where it cannot occur. It cannot occur universally, because universal thought is not yet ready to accept improved beliefs brought about through Christian Science practice. Your work must continue to be the very mandate of God, and that, of course, knows no environment and no limitation of time or space.
Refuse to believe in any limitation, because infinity knows no such thing, and Christian Science treatment is given from the standpoint of infinite Principle.
Now as to the claim which you mention, it is most important for one to realize that body is not material. There is no material body. The claim of materiality regarding man is just as erroneous as it would be regarding God. You cannot associate materiality with God, neither can you associate it with man; consequently, the belief of a material body, or of two kinds of body, is a false belief and wholly unreal. For that same reason, the belief in change is unreal. There is nothing to change in the perfect body, and there is no other body. It is complete and forever unfolding as an idea of Soul. Its substance, its action, its being, and every detail that could be associated with the activity of divine ideas, is forever unfolding, but never changes, because you cannot change perfection.
Love has not forsaken you and can never forsake you. Mrs. Eddy shows us that man is a divine idea of the divine Mind. You are that man. Nothing has ever happened to you contrary to God’s plan and purpose; consequently, this false belief fades out and vanishes into its native nothingness. On page 387 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes, “Spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers and resources.” You have the divine right and the divine power to cast off material sense and exercise a normal capacity to be and to do all that may be required of you in your daily life. You do not have to rest under the burden of wrong belief. The power of Truth can and does lift that belief and frees you.
Set aside all fear and doubt in this matter, and stand for the fact that God hath already done all things well, and that this fact is a law to every situation. Science and Health says, “Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of Mind.” Being properties of Mind, they are in accordance with the divine law and always mean a blessing and never an affliction. Mortal mind has a belief of adhesion, and it is always a false belief because it associates itself with matter and is said to be a law. In the case that you mention, it seems to me that the claim is false cohesion …. The great thing in handling the case is to know clearly that man is idea and is not a material body, and that no accident has ever occurred or can ever occur to this divine idea. Then, with this clear understanding of the absolute perfection of the divine idea, proceed to deny all the beliefs associated with the false claim, and stand your ground.
I note what you say in regard to your insatiable desire for further unfoldment and inspiration, I can only urge you to remember that Christian Science is based upon actual Truth, and that everything already exists in perfection and completeness in the divine order of true being. Let your work always proceed from the standpoint of Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence, and progress and unfoldment will be inevitable.
Of course, we must all do better in our Science work, and we must learn not to fear, and the only way to learn that is to learn to love. Love is the fulfillment of the law, and is the only way in which the law can be fulfilled, and the law is the law of God, the law of good.
You are asked to believe the false testimony of the material senses. You do not believe that testimony and you know that you do not. You are not in matter, and you never were. What is called the material body is but a phase of mortal mind, and it is no part of your real being. Your dominion is in God, and the only consciousness there is, is the one Mind, divine Principle, Love. None of these pictures are real and none of them are happening.
It is well to declare that the law operating through these statements and the realization of them is immediate and complete healing, with the full consciousness and evidence of that healing attained and eternally maintained.
See clearly that you are not subject to any of the beliefs mortal mind puts up. There is just one thing going on and that is the infinity of good. It is quite as much your infinity as anybody’s and, in fact, it is universal. To know it is to have it, and the law of it is the law of extinction to the belief of any such thing as lack, or any such thing as want of remunerative work.
Mind is All-in-all. There is nothing for infinity to learn. It knows, and there is never an instant when its knowing is less than absolute and perfect.
The law of divine relationship and association cannot be touched by any belief, no matter what that belief may be.
All that is real is Spirit, and there is really nothing to be done in the infinity of Spirit. Spirit simply unfolds its own perfection in detail of creation. This is the only truth about that particular project. You really haven’t got anything to do. You have only something to know, and when you know it, the things you have to do will come along so easily that you will scarcely be conscious of them. There is one infinite Mind and none other, and there cannot be any other influence in the universe than this one Mind.
Mind, God, is the only consciousness, and Mind is never sub-conscious. I cannot too strongly urge you to maintain the fact of one Mind. Stick to it day in and day out.
Your statement, “consciously I know there can be no more death for me than for divine Mind,” is good, splendid; but add to it, “in belief or at all” – because back in thought, sometimes, one may discover that he is admitting that there may be a belief of something different; whereas the whole mission of Christian Science is to destroy such false beliefs. Of course, there can be no death for you, or any other divine idea, but that is a scientific statement and mortal mind claims to get in its work along the lines of belief – so get rid of belief.
What are called thoughts of youth, and the feelings of youth, are not only natural, but they are not to be condemned, and you must not condemn them. They indicate something, and that which they indicate is in itself all right. In the measure that one suffers because of such feelings, then in that measure they should be regarded as erroneous and should be rejected. But one does not get at this fully in just that way.
The fact is that man is not a state of desire, but a state of possession. This state of possession means a state of individual completeness. What are called male and female are ideas in the infinite Mind, and man embodies both ideas. That is, every individual man. Consequently, you embody both ideas. But they are ideas, not persons, and they are not personal belongings. They are strictly ideas. To gain the right sense of them and to have a clear realization of the completeness of individual consciousness, or individual man, is the way of absolute happiness.
Anything that may be essential, humanly speaking – or perhaps we might say desirable – will come to light through the realization and proof of individual completeness. Such realization should not shut us out from the companionship of the opposite sex, but should rather be the means of bringing about that companionship. I do not know how – and, of course, any outlining of it is the way in which to spoil the whole situation.
Happiness is not the result of anything. It is preliminary to all things. It is the exact state of scientific being. People are not made happy by finding somebody who loves them, and, generally speaking, that sort of thing results in many disappointments. But where human affection or mutual love comes about because of one or both – and I should say quite likely both – get the realization of complete being, then there is something going on in the nature of Science that means happiness because it is happiness – always happiness.
The first thing to do is to gain happiness, therefore, and do not be afraid that your happiness is in matter. It will appear to be a human being who is happy, and somebody might say that it is in matter, or related to matter. Gain it and maintain it metaphysically, and if it appears to be material, that indeed would be the demonstration which Jesus himself made.
(The following was said in response to a question regarding male and female as ideas.)
Male and female are ideas. The male is idea; the female is an idea. I don’t know what it is. We have a sense of satisfaction in the fact that here is one infinite manifestation of infinite Principle, and that infinite manifestation we call man. That man – and you individually, as well as collectively. Now what we call male, or a female, is, humanly speaking, a certain form and characteristics and qualities which mortal mind associates with that particular concept which it has; but in Science there are no such restrictions and no such qualities as that whatever. Though the qualities may be there, they are so entirely different from anything we can humanly conceive. Everything in infinity has the aspects of infinity. The great satisfaction that comes through the realization that man embodies both male and female is that that embodiment, that divine man, is not restricted in any sense. There is no limitation to his activity.
In response to a letter of sympathy to Mr. Young at the time of his wife’s passing, Mr. Young wrote: “Mrs. Young and I thank you for your expression of sympathy”!
Asked if he would say a few words “about thinning and graying hair,” Mr. Young answered: “Why, yes; I have them both!”
(CONFIDENTIAL) February 11, 1918
My dear Friend:
I do not agree with the advice that you have received. It seems to me that you might very well continue your medical nursing until such time as you would unmistakably be led to do something else.
Nursing under physicians is not the worst thing in the world. You can do a lot of correct thinking, and sometimes you will find that you can save the life of a person who would otherwise die under such circumstances. It seems to me that that is Christian work, and that it is also Christian Science work. Of course, the time would come when you would have to give it up because you would grow beyond it, but when that time comes there will be no question as to what course you should pursue.
I am convinced that young students often give themselves a great deal of unnecessary trouble by trying to take a position which they have not demonstrated, and I surmise that this is your case. Quite evidently, your understanding of Christian Science has not been sufficient to take you out of your old business and put you satisfactorily in a new one. Why not go on with the old one, especially as, according to human belief, it is a legitimate one and a helpful one to your fellow creatures?
I do not wish to advise you too strongly about this. You must, of course, make your own decision; but I cannot believe that the advice you have received has been altogether correct. I do not know that I can say anything more in regard to it.
Take your books and study them carefully, and make your declarations to the effect that the divine Principle of being will lead you and show you what to do, step by step. Declare that you cannot be influenced by animal magnetism to get out of your present work or to go into any other; that only Principle can operate to show you what to do and to give you the opportunity and understanding with which to do it. And make your declarations very firmly to the effect that no matter what might be your desires from the human standpoint, you cannot be led or induced to do anything contrary to the action and law of divine Principle. Then, after you have thoroughly cleared your thought, see that you are peaceful and happy about the whole situation.
Keep your consciousness clear and if it seems to you, after careful thought and correct affirmation, that you should resume your nursing work, then you will find the opportunity of doing it. On the contrary, if you conclude that you are progressing out of the old work and making steps in actual Christian Science demonstration, then be peaceful about what you are doing, and stick to it until something better appears.
Sincerely,
(signed) BICKNELL YOUNG
(STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL)
Know that every thought and act is the presence and power and law and evidence of Mind. This Mind is your Mind. In a proper sense, you do not manifest it; you are it. This is the Christ-way of handling everything. In this way, you find your opportunity to be ceaseless presence, and your power, judgement, discernment, resourcefulness and skill to be equally present; and that you can consciously possess all of these with every quality of originality and initiative, sagacity and energy, in seizing upon and availing yourself of every opportunity with unerring judgement.
Know that the evidence of your metaphysical work is immediate – even at hand. This must be so when you know that it is so; and it is so, because infinity is already accomplished, and our mission is to recognize our infinite individual being in Mind, and as Mind, and thereby to enter upon and continue in a career of joyful activity and success. This means also, and indeed first, that we must strive to love our neighbor as ourself. Notwithstanding ignorance and incompetency and other objectionable things, this individual is to be loved. That is to say, we are wholly to unsee the error and recognize that man is not a point in space, but that he is the very idea of boundless Love and Life, and that his Mind is unerring, ever-present Principle; for this, even every man and every woman is spiritual and perfect. If you see this clearly and do not lose the consciousness of it, those who are not harmonious will improve or leave of their own volition.
BICKNELL YOUNG
(Bicknell Young)
The Bible refers to thought more than it does to people or things. Read it as though there were no people in it.
The Bible is not a single book – it is made up of manuscripts written at different times, hundreds of years part, and then compiled at a certain age in the world, in quite a different way.
There are spiritual facts in the Bible, and also a lot of human history. A great many things are described in the Bible as person or personal.
The ancients personalized experiences and people. The Bible is not merely historical, but is metaphysical. In the study of the Bible, we learn how to prove things. Many things in the Bible are not spiritual at all; there are statements of error, statements of human belief, statements of fear. The Bible is not true from beginning to end in the sense of being spiritual, when you take it from the beginning to the end and read it intelligently.
It is the history of human thought and influence of divine Spirit, or Truth, upon that thought. In the Bible, it speaks of the conversation that the prophets had with God. For instance, Abraham, Lot, Moses, and so forth, talked with God, according to the Bible. People supposed that when these names and pronouns He, His, Him, occur, that they mean persons. They mean thoughts.
The ancients personalized everything. When angels appeared to Abraham, the Bible said two men appeared to him. Angels are intuitions, pure and perfect. Angels are right here. The angels of God are the thoughts that reveal God.
When the Bible said Abraham had conversation with God, what was happening? Abraham was thinking out the facts of being, as it came to him, or was written down by a recorder. Abraham finally came to the conclusion (reasoning it out within himself) that God was good and could not destroy, but save. That was all these “conversations” meant.
The fact that there is a divine cause, and the cause knew what it was doing and did it right, instances where God seemed to be personal, in a human sense, that all fades out as you know the Principle of Christian Science.
The Bible was written in a language that was full of metaphors. Nothing was ever expressed in those ancient languages in direct terms. They always illustrated what they had to say, and said everything in a roundabout way, instead of in a direct way. The Jew never opened his mouth without uttering a metaphor. You have to read the Bible in that way instead of confining yourself to literal terms.
God was wherever Abraham was, to the extent that Abraham understood God. God talked to Abraham face to face. God is wherever you are, to the extent that you understand God.
Elijah understood the power of God in a great degree, and in a spontaneous manner. He did wonderful things, and yet there were times when he felt disturbed. At one time, Elijah was so discouraged that he is described as having gone into a cave. But, in spite of this discouragement, there was enough enlightenment residing in what he called his understanding, that he came out of the cave. He had a great hurricane and an earthquake – and all that happened inside of Elijah --, and as he stood in the opening of the cave, the light came clearer, and there came a still, small voice, and the Bible says that in that still small voice came the Lord (understanding).
We must read the Bible metaphysically, to understand the healing effect of it.
The Bible says the children of Israel were commanded to go into certain places; that is, they were commanded to take certain steps in understanding, and they were to utterly wipe off from the earth those tribes and nations (those conditions of thought they found there in consciousness), and leave those lands desolate. These were not places, but experiences within themselves, where a whole lot of evil beliefs had taken place; and then they were ready to leave these evils, they would go out from that land (consciousness) and leave that kind of a land desolate.
Where the Bible refers to the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus was only asked to believe in the power of evil. But he wholly rejected the evil.
The Bible says the land (consciousness) shall become as the Garden of Eden, and blossom like a rose.
Read the New Testament with a kind of a feeling that it is being revealed to you; and it will be revealed to you.
All through the Bible runs the golden thread of Truth. It is a wonderful book, when read in the light of Christian Science.
Anywhere in the Bible where only good is ascribed to God, there is understanding.
If the Bible shows the way of happiness and we read it without being happy, we have read it wrong.
No book described the evil as the Bible does, but it is put there to make nothing of error. Does not elevate things to God’s attention; it is merely a description of human feelings and faults. Not divine facts. It shows Truth more powerful than evil, but we must accede to that fact; and there is no hope for the person who does not demonstrate the power over evil.
The Truth in the Bible has given hope and comfort for many centuries.
I do not know of any better way of studying the Bible than to have a Bible that you are not afraid of marking. Read some chapters from it, or some passages, which you consider to be scientific, or approximately so, use also for reference a Bible with marginal notes, so that any other passage which indicates the same idea may be readily found, should you desire to study in that comparative way.
The Bible is beyond a process. The time will come when Christian Scientists by the thousands will think with the profundity of the divine Mind without process, and shall acquire the object of their thinking without delay and with the certainty of the divine Mind – and that means not a mere routine of declarations and denials.
Affirmations are all right; but improve them. But the final is not a process. The aim is the realization, which comes through your responsiveness to the divine Mind.
If you are ready and your sandals on your feet, you are active, alert, wide awake, noble, kind, loving, brave, unselfed men and women, you will gain great responsiveness, and it gives you that wonderful thing: immediate understanding.
Mary Baker Eddy consulted the Bible in her research of the Science. Every other method consults every other thing. Mrs. Eddy discovered certain facts set forth in the Bible, and studied them and verified what she saw.
What Jesus knew about God made him the Christ. What you and I know about God makes us the Christ.
Don’t try to be too holy! God is Mind, intelligence, Principle. God does not want to be worshipped.
Peace that passeth understanding. In order to achieve peace, you’ve got to think “unity of oneness.”
A definition of Christ is found in John 6:12: “When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”
Science and Health is a continuous correction, so far as we are concerned, and this correction does not destroy. So nothing is lost. Jesus fed the multitude and told the disciples to pick up the fragments that nothing be lost.
The thinking of Jesus was understanding. The grandeur of his works are not (fully) set down in the New Testament. Much was said in those three years that was never set down. The facts about God that Jesus knew, made him the Christ.
What became of all the followers of Jesus Christ through the centuries, noble-minded men and women, many honest, earnest, sincere believers in Christ? Did they experience heaven? No; they had only hope. That’s all it was – though sometimes accompanied by great religious fervor that in a future state they would have perfect bliss. Who would be prepared for perfect bliss if he had not gradually learned to understand it? Imagine any of us to immediately experience perfect bliss! How would you feel? You could not stand it for a moment! A human being has to be educated; he has to educate himself to think; he has to begin to experience peace, joy and happiness, abundance, et cetera, by realizing there is nothing else that could be in the universe of good. He has to gain it little by little, in order to gain heaven.
Jesus was the best man that ever trod the globe – but that is not going to save you, unless you know something that he knew. It is impossible to go to heaven by merely believing in Jesus. People have always assumed mystery in their thought of God; there is none. Jesus was not assuming any prerogative that he would not gladly share with us, and every divine fact that came to him belongs equally to you and me. He came to illustrate that. The same thing that characterized Jesus we need to have characterize us. Though Jesus’ thoughts were divine, he lived here as a human being. In the measure that you get the same ideas that Jesus had, you have the same power. The same God is present to you that was operating in him. The same utterance and action and demonstration will be yours in the same measure that you get the same understanding.
Jesus never for a moment swerved from the fact of God’s perfection. He knew that was the very rock of understanding and, because he knew that God was perfect, and that the Word of God signified that, and could not have been more nor less than that, he abode in that absolute conviction and it gave him strength in that terrible hour, and it made him the Christ.
The only thing that ever separates you from the Christ is ignorance of the thoughts or ideas that made Jesus the Christ. We do not think about the thoughts of Jesus, but we must think them. Divine thoughts, or spiritual facts, came to Jesus immediately, spontaneously. There was no distance between Mind and idea. If you have an idea, you cannot separate it from what you call your mind. In infinite Mind, expressing itself in infinite ideas, none of them are separated from the infinity of those ideas.
Jesus said he must leave them (his followers) in order that they might understand; but the essential thing about him could never leave them. The Holy Ghost, or Comforter, he promised is Christian Science.
The body that Jesus carried about was clay, just like any other body. The same kind of clay, or matter. It was the grandeur and glory of his mentality, of his thinking, that enabled him to accomplish his wonderful works. And we must learn to think as he thought – more grandly and nobly. And the Bible reveals to us his thought, his way of thinking.
Jesus’ mere appearance will not save us. But he said, “I am the Way, the Life.” What was that? That is the way of thinking. The Life, pure knowing of God – that is what he lived; and he lived it so effectually that he even went through death (experienced it) to overcome it, to show that he was really Life. That which he knew was really Life, the living Truth, and they could not kill it.
Jesus said that disease was a condition of evil, that it was not a condition of Life; that disease was not a natural heritage of man; that God created man. Jesus carried on his work on that basis wholly: because God created man, man must be all right, must have been well created, must be sustained by the power that created him, must be forever so sustained. Jesus said it, taught it, demonstrated it.
Jesus knew the Truth so unmistakably that evil could not stand in his presence. “Jesus the Christ” was supreme enlightenment. The facts which he gave are still alive and still active, still demonstrable to those who will accept them and make them their own. The thoughts, the divine facts, Jesus had are ours. Jesus was the Christ because of what he knew. That which constituted his mentality, the facts which he knew, are as much with us today as they were with Jesus in his day, if we awake and accept them. Jesus’ understanding is the Christ. It wasn’t what he looked like that gave him power and achievement; it was what he knew. What he knew, we may know; and in the measure that we may know it, it will redeem with the irresistible power of God (in which it has its being).
Looking above mere personality, as Christian Science teaches us to do and as Christ Jesus showed us the divine Principle (and no other person has ever done), we also recognize that his ability to do this was and is the Christ; and his ability was Mind’s expression, which is the divine character.
Bear in mind that Christ is eternal – not merely a temporary means to overcome error – for Christ is the divine nature, as both the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s works clearly show.
All the spiritual statements in the Bible are not of equal value. Some of them are clearer than others. Some are more scientific and more practical than others. Science and Health was written to meet all conditions of thought. Some of the statements are educational to the old religious thought, and intended to be so, while others are purely scientific and absolute, as to principle and rule. Furthermore, some statements in Science and Health are explained by other statements in pages quite remote from each other. For instance, on page 47: “The disciple’s desertion of their Master in his last earthly struggle was punished; each came to a violent death, except St. John, of whose death we have no record.” This is explained on page 391: “Mortal mind alone sentences itself.” This shows the great desirability of reading and studying the book thoroughly.
Jesus accepted spiritual facts and maintained them as the very facts of being, and they operated to save people from sin, disease and death. Jesus was without doubt a great genius along the lines of poetry, music, art and Science. But he did not permit himself to follow any one of these lines exclusively – although he must have been very conscious of them in his search for knowledge of God and the application of it. We find them shining through frequently in his sayings. Jesus was absolutely accurate. He was great because he knew something. They could paint a picture of Jesus by getting some idea of his character, but no one has ever painted his thinking. How little Jesus’ joys are spoken of! His cross doesn’t save; we are saved by his crown (understanding). Jesus painted [pointed?] out a living, not a dying, way.
Correct thinking is the Christ. You and I are thinking great thoughts that make us Christians, as Jesus’ thinking made him the Christ. Jesus taught that everyone should and would have deific power.
In the sepulchre Jesus demonstrated over the weight and density of matter, over surgery, hygiene, anatomy and physiology.
If Jesus had not declared his divine origin, he would not have been crucified. If Mrs. Eddy had not declared that Science is the revelation of Truth, mortal mind would be proud of it!
JESUS’ MISSION. With all the Science we have, we are still encountering a sense of existence utterly unlike infinite Being. It is our business to encounter it as good soldiers, with the understanding Jesus maintained, with the same power and dominion that he felt when he was among men, and act as he did, humanly – or humanely (put it that way). Doubtless he was tempted to believe these people who came to him were really suffering from incurable diseases. Every Christian Scientist is so tempted. All are to be “saved through Jesus” – through what constituted his way of thinking, but not his personality.
Jesus spontaneously and naturally knew divine facts. Did Jesus and Mrs. Eddy know something that we may not know? They did not believe this. (Yet) we, as Scientists, even believe that. We are so incorrectly reverential (reverential from the standpoint of old religious and other training), that we hesitate to claim our divine rights.
Acts 22:20, Revelation 2:13, Revelation 17:6.
The uncovering of error does not mean that we should accept error. It was not Truth, but error, which crucified Jesus. The martyrdom of many sincere people came about through their beliefs that what they did not or could not avoid must be accepted as if it were ordained by God. This is true today, in our present thought – with many of us, at least, today this seems true. Because many Christian Scientists, reviewing the incidents of human history, will say, “Well, if So-and-so, or Mrs. Eddy, could not overcome or prevent the last enemy, it is useless for anybody to try to do so.” In that subtle suggestion lies the very means by which we could be undone. There are no personalities involved. Life is divine fact. Life is Principle. It cannot die. It has never died. Nobody has ever passed away, or had anything with which to pass away or pass on. That which IS, ever IS. It is a question of a person discovering that which IS, maintaining it, in spite of the material appearances and irrespective of human beliefs. This must be done.
We are not here to accept the lie about anybody or anything. It does not help them. It did not help Jesus or anyone – that his disciples believed that he was killed on the cross. And he had understanding to overcome the beliefs even of the disciples. It took some understanding, but his understanding was equal to the event. And the understanding of Christian Scientists is equal to the event of demonstrating life now, if they will exercise it and cease to expect the reverse. There is no other way. Sometime, somewhere, you will have to do it, and it is more difficult the longer you put it off.
The martyrdom of many sincere people came about through their belief that what he could not or did not avoid should be accepted as though it were God-ordained. That even Mrs. Eddy took an entirely different view is evident from certain passages in her books (page 83 of Miscellaneous Writings), when in answer to the question, “Why did Jesus call himself the Son of man?” she quotes from John 17: “Then spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes and said, Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son that thy Son may glorify Thee.”
“Jesus demonstrated the Christ.” These words lift the whole veil of mystery from off the words and works of Jesus. They serve to impersonalize Truth and show unmistakably that everybody can demonstrate Christ and that everybody must do it. The ancient Christians thought that this involved martyrdom. They believed in martyrdom. Consequently, they experienced martyrdom. Christian Scientists, in many instances, seem to be under the same belief. Yet they are taught that Christian Science comes to destroy all penalty, all error, and no one properly instructed can believe that martyrdom is anything else than error. Mrs. Eddy writes (Mis. 84): “The disciples and prophets thrust disputed points on minds unprepared for them. This cost them their lives and the world’s temporary esteem.” That is merely human history, but nevertheless a lesson for Christian Scientists, and was intended so to be.
One Godhead: Mind. Its substance is Spirit, Truth, dominion, power and law. “Head above all”: God. (Romans 1:20) Infinite, unchanging Mind, dominion, power and law, forever being is MAN, the Godhead manifested. The Spirit senses or spiritual sense is here and now the ever-operative law of annulment and extinction to the false claim of malpractice, claiming in the name of a superior Christian Scientist to be the head, and claiming the power and ability to attack and destroy Christian Scientists, through the so-called laws of mental assassination, operating through materia medica, surgery and electrical voltage, hypnotically projected, to kill by destroying the nerves, tissues and membranes, causing obstructions and disintegration and decay and death. (I Cor. 11:3)
Roman Catholic condemnations and papal curses are not a Godhead to destroy the cause or its workers, but your understanding is “Head above all,” and is dominion and freedom now. Man has no physical anatomy to be tortured, dissected or destroyed. Man is spiritual. His is the substance of Spirit and is subject to and responds to and evidences forth the divine Godhead. There are no cords to bind, contract or relax. There is only unity of Mind and idea, and there is no matter there. The divine fact declared is instant power and law to this case, and demands and compels immediate and permanent response to the presence and power of the Godhead. This fact is true and has its evidence now and forever. This treatment is God-with-you, and has all the power, steadfastness and unchangeableness of God, and annuls every phase or argument of belief that would attempt to check, reverse or annul its evidence; is “the Word made flesh,” and reveals man as dwelling in the fullness of the Godhead.
The principle thing to be handled is the belief of organized evil operating as Roman Catholicism and the (Annie C.) Bill – (John Valentine) Dittemore thought. The latter (Bill-Dittemore thought) is working with Roman Catholicism. It is a false claim of Godhead. It claims to be head. God, divine Mind, is the only head, and that’s working, and the government is on its shoulder, and it will turn and overturn “until he come whose right it is.” The Bill-Dittemore thought is arguing disintegration, disruption of The Mother Church and all those who stand by it. It argues disruption and disintegration of our bodies, our practice, our finances, and says we can’t prosper unless we bow to it and accept it as head. It prophesies evil concerning Christian Scientists and their work, and operates as malicious prognostications. It says we can’t prosper or heal ourselves or others unless we bow down to it. God, divine Mind, is head above all and is all that is working, all that’s going on. “My Father worketh hitherto and I work.” And God’s work can’t be interfered with, obstructed or reversed. This handles and annuls the belief that my practice or business or social affairs can be reversed. It protects my patients and my work.
(Note: the Bill-Dittemore thought is often referred to in the Field as the “Bill-D thought.”)
Never does the same thing twice in the same way. The divine Mind is infinite. Nothing becomes old in the sense of wearing out. Nothing becomes tired. All action is sustained by Principle and does not produce any weariness, but cheers and maintains. It does not at any point of its revelation declare anything that could touch you with fatigue or permit or experience it.
Why didn’t Christian Science come sooner? It did come sooner. If Jesus hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been crucified. Mrs. Eddy came sooner, and she was maligned and stoned. Intentional malpractice, that would prevent healing, was the thing that crucified the Christ.
Christian Scientists know that it would be a sin to look at a material object or hold such an object in thought and call it spiritual. They know that the evidence of the senses does not represent BEING, but, on the contrary, does misrepresent it. Nevertheless, they know also that BEING is. They know that existence is real, for Christian Science has taught them that and enabled them to prove it in many ways. They know that BEING is infinite, and that the infinite is real and true in every detail, and must be so – for otherwise there would be no infinite, no God and no creation or sense of existence at all. The object of all Science is not destruction, but amelioration or improvement of human conditions. Christian Science is not unlike other sciences in this respect.
The promise of religion is final dominion over all evil. Therefore, both (affirmation and denial) are constructive in their aims, and for that reason, their basis and law are affirmative. Even though a treatment in Christian Science begins with a denial, the basis yet is positive knowledge of the enduring, the real and eternal.
All being IS. All Life is now and forever. Spirit, as cause and effect, must be spiritual. Everything in the universe that exists at all, exists, according to Christian Science, as a perfect, spiritual idea. In God, Spirit, nothing needs to be destroyed and nothing can be.
You cannot spiritualize matter by knowing that everything exists spiritually, because there is no matter. Matter is not entity, but merely belief without substance, being or law. Science shows that a human sense of things needs to be dematerialized in order that the spiritual sense may be demonstrated, and healing takes place in proportion as this is done. This cannot be done by the human will, but only by recognizing the divine Mind and will as one, and as already and forever declaring itself in every detail of creation as I AM. This I AM does not declare Himself as materiality. He does not say, “My hand is spiritual,” and at the same time – or at all – manifest in thought the false, materially mental image we call hand; but He does say, “I AM Spirit. All my creation possesses the infinite sense to the infinite, and is individual because I AM infinite, and is spiritual because I AM Spirit, and is idea because I AM Mind, and is One because I AM one and complete (because infinity cannot know pairs or duplicates).”
With this understanding, we can say man is spiritual, even though we have demonstrated it only to the extent that Jesus did, that is, to the extent of healing a man who appears to be material. And thus we can say blood is spiritual, provided we thereby express not matter, but indicate a spiritual idea.
Science and Health says we know no more of the perfect man than we know of God. It is the same with every idea in the universe. It cannot be outlined nor imagined, and it is no more like matter or like the material concept than Truth is like error, or than the material man is like the spiritual man.
The process of salvation is one of unfoldment. “Creation is ever appearing and must ever continue to appear.” (S&H, 507) All the faculties of Being are real, and the faculties of the human sense of Being are to be redeemed and restored by the fact made active and real in Christian Science practice. Therefore, one must with surety see and say all is perfect, even as the Father which is in heaven is perfect. One must see and say and know and prove that the Truth has not come to destroy, but to reveal. Error falls by its own weight, and it is the province and mission of Christian Science to uncover error.
Everything that would now constitute a happy, normal, sinless being indicates a divine fact or idea. I must know, and I do know, therefore, that, in the order of infinite Science, my blood is not material, not matter spiritualized, not a human concept, not a material fluid, but blood as the divine, beautiful, eternal, infinite idea of infinite Spirit, existing now, as and forever in perfection of substance, and is now and forever substance (in such) perfection by infinite law. And I also know that the apprehension of this fact heals blood diseases, or poverty of blood, or anything else that seems to be the matter with that which human, material sense calls the vital fluid, for it takes away all the fear in relation to one’s blood and shows that no matter-fluid or otherwise is essential to a normal and happy sense of life.
When such mental healing takes place, then the fear being dominated and controlled by knowledge of its powerlessness, the human being becomes more normal, is healed, and, having found out and proved, or had proved for him, that the material blood does not control his sense of life, but that Christ, Truth, does, then presently the blood itself becomes normal – as has been proven by people who had to undergo medical examinations for business or industrial purposes.
“When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall we appear with him in glory.” And this is just as true of blood, which is a spiritual idea, as it is of the compound, spiritual idea, man. Therefore, when Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall blood, or hand, or leg, appear with him in glory, and thus appeared, shall be redeemed, and the false sense of anything shall be obliterated, for the truth about every thing is the spiritual idea, and it must and does redeem us from the material sense of all things and the error about everything.
Now is all.
Everything is spiritual – not matter.
Power of evil is lack of intelligence.
Honest endeavor strengthens character.
God as Principle is most important.
You love God by trying to understand Him.
All power of fancy over reason is insanity.
Self-protection should never be neglected.
Ordinary business is as important as healing.
Foresee evil, and so prevent it from happening.
This is not my thought; I refuse to believe it.
“Acquaint now thyself,” demands something of us.
Nothing is dependent upon time, but on enlightenment.
To know Christian Science is the understanding of the law of good.
You cannot tell people what to do; only how to do it.
Patience: waiting, knowing that you are not waiting.
Christian Science asks nothing of us except to use our intelligence.
In an infinite creation, we have to have an infinite cause.
This danger is not true; it is a lie.
I AM has no tendencies to sin or trouble.
The likeness of God as man is oneness, not twoness.
Life of man when found out did not have anything left out of it.
We all talk too much. The way to bless him is not to talk about him.
Freedom of thought may become so great that freedom of action follows.
Presence and action are simultaneous.
Possession is legitimate.
Love sometimes has to be severe, but Love never ceases to be Love.
Hate is not the cause of the disease. The hate and the disease are one.
Human race not to blame; imposed on in the beginning; all not one.
Understanding, discernment and the acknowledgement of God is the kingdom of God.
If you accept everything from the material senses, then you will not understand Christian Science.
Never treat your business. It is always all right, because it is the activity of Omniscience.
Mental malpractice: refuse to believe anything that is not beneficial to yourself and others.
I never was touched by suggestion. Claim your divine heritage.
I ask myself each day: Is this realization, or is it temptation?
I am a condition of harmony, holiness and boundless bliss. I am Mind.
The foe you dreaded has no origin and no foundation. It is fear and belief.
Mortal creation is a deflection, and not a reflection.
“Mortal mind” is a term signifying the whole claim of a belief of separation from God.
My Mind is Truth, and I do not get or take in suggestions through my Mind.
I cannot be stirred mentally to picture disease.
Know that you exist eternally.
By “Eat my flesh and drink my blood,” Jesus meant that we must think his thoughts and live his life.
Love is more like mathematics than anything else. It is rightness, justice, truthfulness and exactness.
See what the Bible means when it says, “God created man in His image and likeness.” We shall see the fullness of being there. (Genesis 1:26)
The spirit of Truth is what you yourself know of God. That is the Holy Ghost, and the only one there is. (John 14:16)
Know that Soul is the only consciousness; it takes care of the uncovering of error.
This day I shall remember never to forget that all there is to Thee is perfection. (Luke 23:45)
Show man his immortality, and he will never die. This is the Science of living and never dying.
Success in life depends upon persistent effort. (Mis. 230)
Do not take a point in space and call it the perfect man. You cannot see the real man, but you can know him.
You cannot be robbed of improved beliefs. Improved (belief) never becomes the divine fact, but always remains the belief.
Christ-thinking changes the thing within ourselves, not outside, and there is no limit to right thinking. Right thinking is what “Christ Jesus” means.
The less you see materially, the more happiness and health you will manifest. We are not materially human; materially, we are animals.
Love the fulfilling of the law; no interference with your practice, no war, et cetera; but it must be our consciousness always.
When thinking resembles God (and thinking is the only way in which man ever does resemble God), then salvation is taking place.
Cleave to the fact God is infinite, and let the rest come gradually. You cannot get all in a minute, for it is always unfoldment.
Bitterness of materia medica is a sign of weakness – the weakness of faith in material worship and medicine, fighting to the last ditch.
We accomplish by holding to the Truth, not by vacillating thought. Thinking must be basic. And stick to the statements! Not thinking about Truth, but thinking it.
Don’t do anything because you have the money or because you haven’t; only by unfoldment. “Come and buy without money and without price.”
“The prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me,” Jesus said, and Science and Health tells us that the door is open to Truth and closed to error.
The state belongs to the people, not the people to the state. Man is of God, not God of man. (Rom. 8:1-6, 14) (S&H 315:11-20, 26:1-9)
Enmity springs from fear. No organ can came under any law of fear. Get rid of the enmity within and you will get rid of the enemy without., And thereby you love your enemies. The hater gets all the hate.
When do those born Roman Catholic and repudiate it ever cease to be Roman Catholic, and under what conditions do you take them into your church? We think there are circumstances and a time when they cease to be Roman Catholic.
However hard human existence may seem to be, or however difficult may appear the problems of daily life, the fact must be that the creator of the universe made no mistake in His creation.
Mind governing, protecting, guarding its own, obliterates the claim that substance could lessen or be diminished. Mind holds its own precious, valuable being where it ought to be forever.
Obligation: If Love were to take us by the hand and lead us through the whole realm of infinity, we would find there no obligation. Knowing the law of abundance takes care of and disposes of obligation in the right way.
“Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need.” (S&H) The most important thing about it is divine Love. And when divine Love is as present in human consciousness as the need seems to be, there will be no need; all will be divine Love.
LETTER TO A STUDENT: Your understanding, approximating divine Principle, ‘dwells in the secret place of the Most High,’ and from that outlook exercises the dominion of good which utterly annuls the seeming dominion of evil.
Love is the infinity of Being, and is big enough, powerful enough, and strong enough to straighten out everything that is crooked in our human experience. The uninterrupted law of God is operating continuously as a law to every false claim.
Business chaotic condition: now, old traditions swept away. People are finding that the readjustment must come through spiritual apprehension, through individual purification, instead of material devices; through an intelligent study of the Bible, not blind confidence in financial calculations, or political alliance. The words of the Master contain the solution: “Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of these things” . . . “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Science and Health tells us that the Scriptures are very sacred. (S&H, 547)
Market conditions: Substance is a primary idea, business is a secondary idea; stock is a tertiary idea, and belongs to everybody. Stock is the being of infinite Being. To buy back through correct knowing, we must redeem our consciousness from any fear about substance, business, stock, and so forth. That anything could happen to anything of which we are conscious is untrue.
Winnipeg, Canada
June 22, 1907
Beloved Leader:
I most deeply appreciate the time you spared me on Thursday of last week. I shall carefully follow the directions given in the note which you so kindly wrote in your own hand.
Believe me most respectfully and lovingly,
Your student,
BICKNELL YOUNG
(Published in the Christian Science Sentinel, Vol. 9 No. 46)
When our work seems to be interfered with, it is always the belief of opposition to the Christ, the same thing that has always opposed the Christ, just the claim of a mind apart from God. It is afraid of our Christ, and so attempts to dethrone it in our consciousness.
Sometimes it operates as jealousy of our understanding. The person who lets in envy or jealousy has lost his Christ, for the time being. I see this one fact: that all men have one Mind, that every creature in the universe has that Mind, and there is no other. When I have been confronted with a situation where somebody was manifesting resentment or jealousy, I have never had any success in meeting it until I could see the only Mind that individual has got is God (good). The other isn’t Mind – isn’t anything. If a person is supposititiously thinking opposite or contrary to the wisdom and love of that one Mind, then it isn’t real thinking. It isn’t anything. It is not something that we have to resist. It isn’t anything. The real denial does not consist of merely resisting it, but in getting the attitude of thought where you see that it isn’t anything; it is nothing.
Just realize the Christ has not had any such experience and is not having it now. There is nothing arrayed against the Christ. This belief of opposition to the Truth, or the Christ, might operate through a patient who might sense the overthrow of some of his most cherished beliefs without really understanding what it was all about. (Chemicalization) Jesus caused a great deal of discomfort. The carnal mind would like to be rid of troublesome Truth. “Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? Let us alone.” Error wants to be let alone, and when it senses the condition of thought or understanding which sees it is unreal and nothing, it resists it. Also, sometimes the belief of opposition to Truth is universal belief.
A human being who is immersed in sensuality is under an extraordinary mesmeric belief. He cannot conceive of happiness that in any way interferes with that. Sometimes very good people chemicalize many years over that very question, because they dread to deny sensation in matter because they feel as though they were depriving themselves of the thing they most like in the whole universe. When Christian Science comes to them and they begin to see it emits Spirit, they do not accept Mrs. Eddy’s statement that true sensation is purely spiritual.
The harm in “petting parties” is that it jeopardizes a certain self-control, without which a human being is not even human, and they don’t quite control their own thinking or think as clearly and consecutively under such constant stimulation or intoxication. Sometimes as men become a little old, it’s the autumn of their lives and they become soft. They need to demonstrate more self-control and strength of character. Sometimes when Christian Scientists come under this belief of sex-mesmerism, it is the belief of malpractice. The condition of immorality in our public schools is undoubtedly the attempt of Roman Catholicism to destroy and break down our public school system, to discredit it.
Sometimes with people who have been addicted to sexual excesses, we need to handle the belief that the brain works that way – that it’s a kind of habit. Handle belief of excitement or stimulation of brain and nerves. If there is a brain, it could not be anything else than an infinite spiritual idea; and that means that everybody has got it and got it in perfection. It’s the possession of man, and there is no other. There isn’t a brain that could be manipulated or impressed by error, or that could be made to manifest or show forth error. Brain, being a spiritual idea, does not originate error. It is perfect. If it has any faculty or function, they are all perfect, in accordance with the divine Principle or Mind in which they have their origin.
Here's the divine body, or embodiment, complete, perfectly satisfied. That’s the eternal fact. Soul has got its own body and owns it and is wholly satisfied with it. Here comes a false presentation of that fact, wholly perverted, separate from it and, being separate from it, must necessarily express itself after its own false nature – which is that of separation. So, instead of having its concept as a complete, satisfied body, the nearest it can get to it is two bodies; that is, a divided body, a male and a female body, sexual bodies.
But there is always that thing that is inherent and that cannot be entirely hidden or destroyed, even by the false concept that presents itself as man. What is it? It is that completeness. And the human sense of body being deprived of that individual completeness, is always a state of longing for it. So it reaches out always in that way for the other half of itself; and that’s the only thing that is the matter with men and women. The best thing about the whole claim is the very thing that seems to be the worst; the thing that’s good about it is the desire to be complete, and that desire is not understood and not properly handled in Science – as yet is about the root of all the trouble that people have. Science is occupied with its own concept of Being and is always satisfied. Sensuality is an attempt on the part of human beings to find completeness and satisfaction. If they had satisfaction, a great many of these things would not occur.
The next minute isn’t Gods, but every minute is God’s. There is nothing in the next minute that can hurt anyone, for all time is swallowed up in the infinite and eternal NOW, which a Christian Scientist understands and demonstrates, and he knows that NOW health IS, and NOW peace IS and the abundance of good, which cannot fade out. He knows that the only God there is cannot be distant. There cannot be presence to evil where good, infinity, is necessarily All. Elevate thought to that divine standard and think as Mind thinks. Our Saviour is not back two thousand years, but is ever here and always available. We cannot only think about what Jesus said, but think exactly as he thought, and that’s our duty and privilege. We must arise to that privilege and avail ourselves of it. A Christian Scientist must face the conditions of human experience that confront his understanding. He must not only accept Christian Science, but live it, that his understanding may show forth the divine power in its resistance to evil.
It always was the will of God that everybody should live and be happy and have a good time. And that doesn’t mean a foolish time. But it does mean laughter and music and art and Science and the joy of life! There isn’t a legitimate thing that one can enjoy that does not belong to the harmony of Being. The mirth that is good, the wisdom that is always cheerful, and wit and humor and all, belong to real being.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand, because it’s always at hand. Jesus declared that statement because it is universally true. Everything that would bless you, heal you, save you, everything that would give you peace, give you all that heaven means, with all the abundance of peace that is associated with that word, is always here and already exists, and it is just as far or near as your understanding or lack of understanding shall cause it to appear. That is the crux of the whole matter. Shall we then just eliminate a place and know that heaven would include every place that is real or true or desirable, that heaven is so great that nothing would be left out of it that is essential? We can prove our understanding by overcoming the things that are unlike heaven. The proof of that understanding is quite as easy as the understanding.
“Forever” is a very disconcerting thing to the average person. It has always been something that the average person dislikes to hear. “Forever” is NOW. There is no other forever than just now. It will always be now. It is NOW that is always forever. Life eternal will not begin after awhile, because the nature of Life eternal can never begin. It always IS. We awaken to the fact that we have always (had it, because) it always IS. We awaken to the fact that we have always been and always are and always will be. Himself isn’t merely an appearance; it is His ability to think, his ability to distinguish between right and wrong. Intelligence must be itself; it cannot spring from anything. You cannot know a thing when you are merely thinking about it. When you know it, you are thinking it; when you are thinking it, you know it. We cannot rest in the thought, “I must think about the Truth.” “In the beginning, God” . . . in the beginning of human understanding, God is the first thing we must say and think and know, because God, Mind, spake and all things that are true existed – acting like that Mind.
All phenomena, all action, power and law, anything that anybody can do legitimately, has its being in this one infinite Mind. Everything that is useful and good must have its being in the infinite Mind, and it exists as a divine idea, and it exists so perfectly that we cannot add to its usefulness, and there isn’t a thing about it that could hurt a human being. (Everything that appears as a new invention, or something useful in human experience, has a belief attached to it that it can be destructive, or harmful in some way, or can be destroyed.)
You are, then, by knowing the true facts about everything, beginning to lift that law of destructiveness from that particular thing and make it more useful. Here’s the scientific fact: the perfection of man, because he must be like God. God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and a human being can think this in such a way that it will operate to overcome disease and sin. In the infinite order of pure Science, there is nothing that is wicked, not even a person, a thing or a fault. So you cannot see a wicked person, because there is no such thing in infinity. Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their dead.” Those who were not thinking according to Jesus’ standard were not really alive, and those who are not thinking along the right lines are not really living. Christian Science is awakening the human race and the human race may not know it, but it has to be awakened, and it sometimes resents this call to the necessity to right thinking.
Christian Science isn’t merely an argument, by which we try to alleviate that which is objectionable, but it is a realization, a spontaneous, absolute, unmistakable understanding, by which a human being shall exercise his thinking in such a manner as to show forth God in every detail of his life.
My business has not been a failure, for my business is to know God and His infinite provision for man, and to express and reflect Him in thought and in deed. I am not heavily in debt, except to God. I owe Him infinite homage, infinite gratitude, and all my debts to Him are cancelled because of His infinite mercy and kindness to me and to all His children. Having dealt honestly, I have lost nothing through that reflection of divine Principle, but have been blessed in consequence of it.
I have not worked hard, for Truth alone, the divine intelligence, has been ever protective and ever active. I have not been robbed, for that same infinite intelligence has sustained me on the right hand and on the left, and has been my constant guard and guide. I am certainly not down and out, but I am the Son of God. As St. John says, “Now are we the the sons of God,” and this fact entirely annuls the claim that I am down and out, and places me where I eternally am: in communion with my infinite source and substance of being. I have not financially made an utter failure. There is nothing but the false evidence of the material senses, and I deny and denounce it. I have not lost my credit. On the contrary, there is one Mind, which is the only Mind, and the only God, and that one God is my God, my Mind, providing me with infinite confidence and boundless courage.
It is not true that I do not know which way to turn, for I do not have to turn any way, seeing that divine Principle is my Life and my light and my abundant and ever-present supply. I have the richest of relations, for my Father-Mother God is infinite in goodness and never fails to respond, because the divine Father-Mother cannot fail to be good all the time. It is not true that I have not enough to square myself with the world, for the earth and the fullness thereof belong to God, who gives them to man as a heritage through spiritual prayer and understanding.
I do not feel badly, nor can I be made to feel badly. I am not broken down, and I am not having a struggle to keep up. All such suggestions are error, which Truth enables me to deny, denounce and utterly destroy.
The belief that I have not been carrying on my business in such a wide-awake way as to make a success of it is only a false belief, and now, through divine Science, knowing the divine man and reflecting and expressing that supreme, divine intelligence, I am awake, alert, alive, my capacity for business is improved, and the opportunities, which are abundant and ever present, are revealed, and I can avail myself of them.
Stick to the work something after this manner: Read and study Mrs. Eddy’s works and the Bible all the time. Some way or other, you will manage to make both ends meet until the light begins to dawn. Be more faithful than ever. Do not stop praying, but pray harder than ever. And, above all, assert the power of divine Mind to give you business intelligence and capacity, along with your honesty and faithfulness, so that you can re-establish yourself. There is no power in the universe contrary to God and, if you work with Him, you need have no doubt at all of the result – for God will surely work with you in proportion to your faithfulness.
As to buying and selling, all is Mind and its infinite manifestation. And, of course, the manifestation of Mind is always idea. But the great help that Christian Science gives one in business is that it eliminates the fear and gives a better ideal, so that one is not working just selfishly. In fact, the elimination of fear is due to the endeavor to work unselfishly, and the result is in proportion to one’s endeavor in that direction. To see a prospective customer as an idea of Mind would be all right, in a way, but it seems somewhat whimsical to think of it in that way. Why not know that Love is all there is, that it is divine Principle, and that through Christ it enables one to do everything that it is right to do, for Christ is Truth, and is, of course, the Truth about everything. Christ is the Truth about the buyer and the seller, or, to speak more clearly, it is all there is to the buyer and seller.
In this way, you see clearly that there are no obstructions or claims or fears of any kind to interfere with the normal action of business, and, of course, the only business there is is to do good. It always pays wonderfully. The object of all that you do is to bless and heal and save. But you are liable to get things mixed up if you do not keep in view all the time the thought of the oneness of Being, and that the interests of all the people in the universe are just one interest. People say that there are diversified needs, and all that is all right; but you handle it by knowing that there is just one Being and that Being is complete and satisfactory. Do not handle a single business proposition anywhere but in heaven. This brings a normal, happy, strong, clear state of mind, so to speak, and makes you a good business woman.
You must remember, when you are buying or selling anything, you must attend to it carefully and exactly, and not allow your thought to wander from the thing in hand; and then you are operating according to Principle, and your business will prosper according to the law of Principle. There is nothing mysterious about business in Christian Science, and you do not have to try to sell something with one hand and with the other try to keep hold of some abstract view of divine Principle! To really be doing work with your whole attention, lovingly and intelligently, is to avail yourself of the aid of divine Principle. Doing things well is according to Principle.
When one desires to sell something, he begins to work in Christian Science with the hope of bringing about a sale; but there is generally a good deal of delay, and sometimes it seems as though the work that is done tends to retard rather than to hasten the desired end. I am convinced that this is due in a measure to the fact that fear seems to be more active in regard to such things than it is even in regard to health or disease; and, besides this, the work that is done in such cases, is frequently metaphysically wrong. Always handle fear. If there is a possession, it is all equal. Everyone has that possession in infinity. That is the law of Being, which operates to reveal the buyer and seller. If you realize something of what this statement means, your treatment will operate to bring to light a buyer for your house, even though they both might be at opposite ends of the earth. The fact is, that in God’s creation, everything is just as it should be. Nobody needs to sell anything, or put anything in order, that he may have something or everything. The fact is that man is a state of possession, and not a state of desire. Everything that occurs in his experience is a manifestation of this law of infinite possession.
You should work from this standpoint. If there is someone in the world who needs your house in belief, then Christian Science can discover that person, and will, whenever genuine Christian Science is operative. If there is something to sell, and it is legitimate and according to Principle, there is absolutely someone to buy it. The need can only exist in belief, as they both have it. The law of infinite Mind is a law of infinite supply. If we are afraid, we will not find the person who will buy it, he will never appear. In these cases, we have to arrive at a point where we see clearly that we would not want to sell a house or anything else unless it were to the advantage of all concerned. Try to forget all about the buying and selling, and simply realize the true state of man – not only for yourself, but for everybody else (and especially for the person who is to be the buyer).
You can sell anything if you love enough. The legitimate desire of a human being to achieve something, or do something, because it seems necessary, constitutes a kind of prayer. Understood correctly, you may say that the divine idea is one with infinite Principle.
Without doubt, every creature in the universe is the idea of God. We should remember that, and also that to love our neighbor as ourself is not only a righteous thing to do, but it is the best business policy that there is in the whole universe, — because it is not policy at all in reality, but it is Principle. And that way of thinking always brings success.
December 11, 1902
“Have mercy upon me O Lord; for I am weak.”
We ought to know that this is not the doubting prayer of one who is trying to persuade God to help him, but it is the very turning to God who is our help; who is our strength and our health.
When in need, we should at once go where all supply is, we should at once and with all assurance turn to God and receive help, strength, health, for they are ours. They are ours, for God is our God.
ELISA M. YOUNG
(From the Christian Science Sentinel, Volume V, Number 15, page 230)
(Excerpt from a letter to a friend by Bicknell Young)
It is always well to get away from work, because a change of environment frequently serves in some degree to free one’s thoughts, and we thereby learn that what we call environment does not include us, but we include it. We are having constant proof of the value of Mrs. Eddy’s statement regarding the efficacy of divine Love. As yet, none of us seem quite able to reach the full realization of the meaning of that passage. We need to seek it more and more. The fact is that divine Love meets every human need, as we generally have, the only thing required of us is that we shall BE Love, rather than be thinking of Love.
(Letter of March 1927)
There is no more truth in the error which you mention in your letter than in any other error which from time to time has seemed to demand recognition.
You know perfectly well that the infinity of good is all there is. There isn’t some place where infinity is not. Let your own thought act as it would if it were omnipotent, omnipresent. It would naturally have no limited expression, no possibility of withholding anything, no place where anything that could bless could be lacking.
Being IS, and its isness has no opposite. Refuse to be afraid. Stand and know; and, above all, rejoice constantly.
(Read to Association 1937)
I hardly need to remind the students of this Association of certain absolute facts of Being that constitute the operation of Christian Science in our behalf. First of all, we are taught, and we know, that divine facts are not materially visible, but they are eternally tangible and real, and exist, because they have their being in God; and the fact of all facts is that God is Life and is the only Life, and because God never dies, nobody ever dies. The tendencies of human beings to regard this as theoretical constantly knocks at the door of our consciousness, and we are tempted to go on in the old way, thinking the old thought, that while it is a nice, pleasant thing to say, that there is no death, yet there is. Now the fact is, there is no death, and there is no other way to think, there is no other way to act, there is no other way to be, than that, and because of that I am asking you to bear it in mind.
You who know your loving friend, my beloved wife, and who, because of your understanding of real being, still know her and will always know her, do not expect me to say anything at this time that would cast even a momentary shadow upon the joy of this hour. She knew Life, and never admitted anything contrary to it, and for this reason, she was and is fully and freely alive. It might be said of her that which Paul said, “I am alive forevermore.” And we can conceive and believe and know that she is aware of this, and becoming constantly more aware of it. For this reason, you will, I am sure, have no thought of her unlike what I have here expressed.
In her letter to you last year, she stated why she thought it not wise to attend the meeting. She wrote: “I shall study and learn and be with you, though apparently alone in my home. It will be a day of blessing. Let us all be happy together.” In view of her feeling and my own and the feeling of all my family, I ask that no remarks be made here concerning the seeming event, either in public or private conversation.
“Life is real and death is the illusion.” (S&H) There is therefore no occasion to mourn and no need for the expression of sympathy. Let us stand and act accordingly. Love silently demonstrated this day, as the consciousness of every individual here, blesses her and me and you all.
(Excerpt from letter by Bicknell Young
Read to the Students’ Association 1937)
I cannot believe that those who seem to have left us have lost any of their power to demonstrate the healing activity of divine Love. That is what the Bible must mean when it says, “Their works do follow them.”
The incident called death should be averted. It is not natural. It is no part of Life. God is the infinite All. The incident called death is a human error and, as such, does not touch the divine understanding of the one who, in spite of his or her best endeavors, becomes subject to it in belief.
What can we do for those whom we love and who love us, and yet who appear to leave us? We want to do our best for them. What is our best? If we could ask them, I am sure they would, without exception, urge us not to mourn, because they would have urged us to that effect before the unhappy event. They know, and continue to know, that joy is the nature of divine Being, and is the active healing law of divine Science. If they could give us any message, it would be: “Rejoice, and again I say, rejoice!”
They would not say it because of this event, but they would say this because in that way that event is less real; and in proportion as we diminish the seeming reality of the human incident, just in that proportion, step by step, we overcome the seeming reality of that objectionable event.
Let us unite our endeavors in the one great cause, which is to establish the omnipotence of good, and which must eventually banish sin, disease and death. In this way, we are really overcoming a sense of separation, for separation of any kind in belief is only a suggestion that man could be separated from God. We know that such a suggestion is not to be tolerated for an instant. We know that there is really no separation between God and man. There is really no separating Him and ourselves. Let us stand for this and, standing, find the peace that comes of pure Science and the abundant opportunities for demonstrating it.
March 21, 1938
Letter to a Bicknell Young Student:
My thought has turned most lovingly to you and other pupils of our dear friend who has passed from our sight, but not from our thought. His works do follow him and will on through eternity. So we must turn from sense testimony and see no reality in the dream that mortal mind presents, but press forward, ever striving to express more and more of the TRUTH our friend exemplified.
It has been my privilege to call him Friend for more than thirty years, and I find comfort in the words of our Leader: “When the light of one friendship after another passes from earth to heaven, we kindle in place thereof the glow of some deathless reality.” (Pulpit and Press)
In the chamber of memory, thousands will keep fresh the deathless reality: the noble qualities that characterized his life. How grateful we are that thirty people last December had the benefit of his clear, correct teaching!
(signed) NELBA RITCHIE
Bicknell Young
(Letter to Mrs. Seaton on death of her husband)
“Love is the fulfilling of the law.” You have the satisfaction and peace that comes from the realization of this divine fact. Loss and separation have no reality. They are no part of infinite consciousness. Consciousness is ever conscious. The deep affection and tenderness which you have always shown cannot cease because of a mere human incident. Such qualities have their being in God. Let us expand more fully. Let us go beyond one human being to all human beings. Let this embrace all mankind. In this way, you will find great peace and even greater happiness than you have ever known.
(Letter to Mrs. Young)
“Body is the servant of the restful Mind.” (S&H, 119:32)
Being is one. The real body shows forth Principle and law, and it is as well and serene as Principle. The real body shows forth Principle and law, and this includes everything – wife, husband, home, business, et cetera, and it is as well, calm and serene as Principle. Suggestions cannot touch us or others. The thought and thinker are one. “I and my Father are one.”
God means eternality. The only power men have is the power to think. And we have been taught to think against ourselves!
Dominion of good is quite a different thing to what we say I want. Dominion is of God, good, Love, and it sets aside a great many things. The human being thinks good for him!
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” The kingdom of right thinking, of divine intelligence.
If we would take every thought to the throne of Grace, we would find out if our thinking is good. If our thinking had power this minute, it would bless everybody. Our blessings are not human. If we understood this, they would not fade out; they could not. Blessings include things more abundantly than we can think.
Definition of sinner: one who has missed the way.
Our occupation is not governed by matter, or the so-called law of matter.
Dominion is over evil, and not dominion of people (which is the reverse, and is tainted with ambition, envy, revenge, and so forth).
The law that redeems consciousness redeems everything that we are conscious of.
In the understanding of the allness of God and in the proof of that is our real being.
Revelation is the primal, natural state of being,. The only way to be eternal is to have constant revelation of the power and presence of good to overcome and dominate evil.
Endless continuity precludes the possibility of destructive elements.
Intelligence includes everything, but is never included.
Things that have to be done exist only as a belief.
Ideas which originate in God have the power of God. Consequently, there is no mental effort in order to heal disease. The diseases of the body not being natural to God, are not natural to man. Truth cannot go anywhere; it has no place to go for it is infinite. We do not have to go someplace to learn two times two equals four.
Believing God prevents you from knowing God.
We are to understand God, and thereby reject that which is unlike God.
True handling of malicious malpractice is knowing you can handle it – not arguing with it.
God is the only action. That action is orderly, harmonious, continuous and eternal; and that action is the action of my body.
I am not a state of desire. I am possession; I am secure; I am serene; I am abundantly supplied and I am satisfied.
Beliefs of materia medica need to be handled. In some cases you do not need to handle anything but belief that patient is mesmerized by materia medica.
“All that I have is thine,” but it is never matter. It is always Spirit. And it displaces the desire by the realization of its presence.
In Science, Being is infinite Principle and its idea. A stone may represent an infinite idea.
Even the slightest understanding of God will sometimes surprise us of the naturalness of God’s presence. [apprise?]
The only God there is is not punishing us because we made a mistake, and Christian Science is the only thing that gives us the right idea about evil.
Declaring God aright: God is Love; God is Spirit, God is good, God is Mind. How far is Love from us? How far is Mind from us? How far is Truth from us? How far is divine Principle from us? Just as far as we make it – just as far as we allow it to be.
It is the business of intelligence to act intelligently. Consequently, every evil we experience is not true. It never was true. Its name is error. Error never means a reality.
In the measure that lack of understanding is overcome, in the measure that occurs, we will find ourselves in possession of our heritage.
The thing that gets us out of trouble is “God is Mind.” Mind means presence, and is manifest to us by ideas.
When you think of the things, the rule doesn’t work. It works when you think the rule, for one must not merely think about the rule, he must think it. Like mathematics, you cannot very well avoid believing it, but it is quite a different thing to use it. When he thinks it, it is his, he possesses it, everybody possesses it.
Let him declare daily the fact revealed in Christian Science that God is sinless, that sin therefore has no divine authority and consequently no real power; that it has no intelligence or mind, no natural being or existence in God; that it has no law, no influence, no attractiveness, no power of suggestion or thought; that it is no part of God and therefore no part of man. God cannot be the cause of sin, and His image and likeness cannot be the cause of sin. Then sin must be wholly false, untrue and unreal in the sight of God. Let him daily, on this basis, resist all sinful tendencies and impulses, and then ask himself, after a month, whether he is more or less of a sinner as a result of this practice.
PLACE: In making a demonstration of being in one’s place, declare what God is and what man is. See that, in the infinite order of Science, man is forever in his right place, doing what he ought to do. The law of his being is that you could not get him out of where God knows him to be. His activity is so absolutely arranged for throughout all infinity that its nature is pure Science and nothing can reverse or interfere with it. This being the case, I do not know humanly what to do, but because I know the Science of Being, I can give a treatment that will absolutely work in such a manner that the human sense of things will be governed by divine Principle and divine idea. Malicious animal magnetism cannot interfere nor influence my understanding and clear judgment.
The first step in learning to love is to stop hating.
Remember, when you have the realization of man’s unity with God, you thereby meet the claims of limitation; and, if the claim does not yield immediately, utterly reject the belief there can be any evidence other than that of omnipotence and omnipresence; and know that a claim that a declaration of Truth is not immediately met by a demonstration of Truth is nothing but the testimony of the physical senses. In this way, you will have immediate results and they are worthwhile.
Infinity can never be absent, and infinity is a name for God. Affirm in words what God is, then deny in words what is not true or like God.
If a person is going to trust, he will have to be more alert (awake) than he has ever been. The old idea of trust is a sitting down and refusing even to think.
Fear is the only thing that clouds our thought. Man’s understanding of the kindness and goodness of God will meet his fears. The power that is working isn’t afraid.
How are you going to spiritualize thought if all the time you are materializing it?
Start the day with majesty and glory of God! That which is true of God is always true. A man can go down to his business clothed with divine power. It is more natural than breathing.
Affirm the Truth when you can’t realize it. Realization is not always attained immediately, so you can at least argue for yourself, instead of against.
Evil is an illusion.
All visibility is divine Being.
Cultivate understanding and do not let belief surmount that understanding.
Learn to be constantly on guard and give no name to error that corresponds with Truth.
Be ready instantly to reject under the name of error all that is afflictive.
If there is any sin or sinner, then God is not real. God could not be conscious of a sinner. The whole picture is outside of infinity and unreal. Realize divine Being is the only Being and state of consciousness.
I AM that I AM sets aside the claim of mortal mind, of minds many.
No malicious malpractice can influence or oppose my welfare. Nothing unnatural in the world could be employed.
If you covet, you don’t have it. It is wanting something that keeps us from having it.
Anything afflictive is not true. My senses say it is real, but I saw from my reason in the realm of the infinite that it was not so. I saw logically from the standpoint of the real, there couldn’t be any disease.
Nobody can really be worthwhile unless he is happy. There isn’t a thing in the world to keep anyone from happiness. The way to attain joy is to start every day and every hour with the fact that the real power of the universe is supreme happiness. The thinker that really thinks is a joyous expression.
“I go unto my Father.” Jesus did not go away – did not go any further than his thinking.
Mortal mind is but a claim that there is cause separate from infinity. Being a claim of separation in itself, it can conceive its so-called man only as two separate bodies. One body, understood, removes the longing instinctive with and incidental to this belief, and reveals man satisfied, because fully awake in the likeness of Spirit, his original Being.
Take a half-hour each day and declare the truth about malpractice. When you do it, know that you are handling the error that is trying to prevent Christian Science from raising the dead. Evil will always come to you as person, place or thing. When malicious malpractice, it will come through a person. Look in SCIENCE AND HEALTH and note the frequency (with which) moral idiocy, erring thought, is mentioned in connection with malicious malpractice.
Daniel II
Daniel not only had to interpret the dream, he had to discern what the dream was that had so disturbed the Babylonish King, Nebuchadnezzar, who had quite forgotten what he had dreamed, but felt such an impending sense of danger from what he had dreamed that he had to know what it meant, or its portent.
The Great Image Daniel saw – 1 of Gold, 2 of Silver, 3 of Brass, 4 of Iron, 5 of Clay – was the five senses, or mortal, human mind. Bicknell Young did not mention the great image, but talked of mortal mind all through. I asked him about the last citation he sent (Daniel II): “And the iron and clay shall mingle with the seed of the people, but shall not cleave to it.” He said: “The ‘seed of the people’ is the divine idea. Though mortal mind (clay) mingle with divine Mind, it shall not cling to it.”
Great Image: The gold of the image tried to show the intelligence of mortal mind, the silver, the worth of mortal mind; the iron, the strength of mortal mind; but the clay feet indicated how false the whole structure was that was founded upon mortality, clay. The stone cut without hands is Christian Science.
Three things that enter into every Christian Science treatment: that there is cause, substance and law. These enter into every treatment that is ever given in Christian Science, so that a claim of disease that is denied, whether you do it in words or not, you always deny the cause, substance and being of it, and the so-called law, or make your declarations of the perfection of being, perfect God, perfect man, perfect function in every particular.
If you know a disease by name only, you don’t sometimes have to struggle with a mental picture. There is no place nor law under which adenoids could ever be evolved or begun or have any place or continuity. It is wholly false, and my treatment is a law of expulsion and exclusion to it.
Take hold of a case as though God had descended from heaven and said, “I will heal that case.” If you do not do that, you are not realizing your rights and are not fulfilling your mission. God has descended from heaven. The Bible says, “He that ascended is the same as He that descended.” In this passage from sense to Soul, you might say that God descends from heaven and heals the case in Christian Science. Infinite Mind understood.
Man must know the divine law of perfect action. God can never cease to be Himself. Your realization of peace, health, happiness and joy is the man.
Be true prohibitionists and do not let people load you up with flattery until you are more drunk than with whisky! It is more subtle than whisky, and unfit for anything. Worst kind of drunkenness there is, because it permeates not only the physical system, but the moral. Watch that thing! Do not be afraid because someone says something mean about you; you will handle that all right! Know that man is doing just the right thing at all times, under all circumstances, and is always in the right place. Everything you want is right in your consciousness.
The immaculate conception is the ascension. First thing to know when a patient comes: there is no patient, no disease to heal; all that is presenting itself is a belief that comes to your consciousness to be destroyed, just as temptation came to Jesus. Christian Science practice is just working out your own salvation. The healing takes place in the consciousness of the practitioner. Christian Science is the healer.
Some people are normal when they are heavy. But for a belief of too much flesh, know that in the divine body of infinite Mind, there is nothing excessive. The law to it is symmetry, perfection, beauty and normality. To add flesh, see that the facts of being are normal. This is a belief of imperfect elimination. (Your patient thinks it is too much elimination, which is not so.) The law of God is perfect elimination.
Be cognizant of the error – or headache. Argue: man is spiritual idea. Arteries, nerves, brain, in infinite Mind, are infinite ideas, each one sustained in perfection, and cannot be touched or influenced by anything else. No matter what you see caused from indigestion or poor circulation, nerves or congestion, the standpoint is always perfection.
Typhoid fever: Realize God, perfect man. Life is God. There is no such thing as germ or bacteria that can destroy. Germ is a claim, belief; never existed. Only thing that exists is God, who is the only Life. If a patient is very emotional or has temper, handle it.
It is foolish to be angry or disturbed. If you know error isn’t doing anything, it isn’t doing anything. It is what you know. I am sorry if somebody hates me, but he can’t get me to hate him. If I hate him, I am in hell – and I don’t propose to get into hell!
Take hold of healing with the sense that God is with us, and God with us does it. The work is absolutely controlled by that Principle, and is operating according to His immutable law. I know it and my knowing is putting into operation the Science of Christianity in this belief.
As fear, it has no effect; cannot produce any evil, nor can there be any penalties, being, substance or law; and without the possibility of effect or penalties. To cover the ground, know that the surrounding fear has no effect on the case. It makes no difference how many people mortal mind may say there are there, what you know offsets all claims of fear and its so-called consequences.
Christian Scientists have to look out for their thinking. It doesn’t matter so much what the Roman Catholics are thinking; it is what I am thinking. Is my consciousness like good? Is it sure there is nothing in the universe apart from God? Is it impervious to human attack?
Practically always, a treatment begins with the affirmation of Truth. You could not deny error if you did not affirm Truth. The object is to prove that only God IS, and error IS NOT. Do not assume that you can do it (work without argument); we have yet to argue.
One in being
One in law
One in plan
One in purpose
One in action, substance and Science
This is what we must establish as a foundation for Christian Science treatment, and it is always in every treatment, even though it is not always said. It is like revelation, and instinctively my creation is like, my creation is according to, my plan and purpose; and, in the same way, the treatment has to establish the divine consciousness and the divine law.
MARRIAGE: Unhappy people – threatened separation. God’s creation perfect, and Christian Science declares man is a complete manifestation of divine Mind, and his peace is one with Mind and is established in perfection forever. That is the divine Mind.
A strict adherence to divine Principle and to nothing else also precludes the possibility of fluctuation.
B.Y. to Mrs. Bolton: In belief, there is a mortal experiencing, in belief, some law of mortality, but I AM says, “In my glory, beauty, grandeur and perfection of infinite being, I AM All-in-all; I AM that I AM.”
You will not be afraid to say “I AM” and you will know that the only thing that is saying it is infinite Mind. It is your thinker.
Christian Science treatment is not concentration. The only Mind there is, the divine Mind, is omnipotent. It cannot be more or less. This treatment is but the illustration of that omnipotence and omnipresence. Omnipotence and omniscience cannot be concentrated; they are simply omnipresent. There is no effort of the brain involved in a Christian Science treatment. The divine idea cannot experience an effort; the divine idea is spontaneous – entirely without effort. This treatment is God with us, and God with us is without effort.
No effort at thought projection will ever enable one to find God or commune with Mind through the process of Christian Science, or get real knowledge of divine facts. The unfoldment of these facts is consciousness, body, man.
Knowledge is the only thing that is doing anything in the universe. Knowledge is the healer, the practitioner. We should rely on that knowledge with absolute confidence. That knowledge is not a person or personal. The knowledge is sufficient to meet every belief or claim. If knowledge alone is doing things, the treatment is unlabored. It is not necessary to make a great mental effort; on the contrary, it is a mistake to do so. This does away with the belief of concentration. Omnipotent Mind does not need to be concentrated.
Psalms 2:7: “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” That passage unfolded to me as follows: The infinite Mind is our Mind. The only thinking is that Mind expressing itself through ideas. That is the only creation there is and it is going on right now in what we call our consciousness. To say that nerve is idea, infinite and omnipresent, that is making or creating nerve. “This day have I begotten thee.”
Belief claiming to be disease cannot be associated with ideas in the past. Neither could ideas deteriorate, for right now, ideas are being born, unfolded. Then how could we say blood contains poison? Your treatment is all there is to blood. The relation of blood to Principle is indestructible, never lapsed from harmony, for blood is Principle operating. We do not say any more there is a right idea of blood. That would imply three: Mind, blood and idea of blood. “Principle and its idea is one.” (S&H) As I have said, blood is Principle operating, Mind expressed.
We should know something like this each day for our work: “The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness.” (S&H 536:8) This day, the divine understanding reigns, is all, and is a law to this day and to all its acts. This declaration is Christian Science treatment and is one with the divine consciousness, and is a law to that consciousness this day, to its activities and its duties. This treatment is the enforcement of an irresistible, immutable, immortal law. It makes law active in every one of this day’s duties. The divine consciousness, Mind, asserts itself in every treatment, in my thought, in every circumstance, in every incident of this day, and governs harmoniously. Nothing can appear as a duty on this or any other day except it comes through Christ, the Truth of Being, which dispels the illusion of the senses.
BICKNELL YOUNG
Moses did not succeed in entering the promised land, because he would not go all the way. He stopped short of the absolute. We must not make this mistake.
William Thomas says: “Matter is a theoretical vacuum in a hypothetical substance!”
Some Scientists have a queer attitude toward beautiful things, contending that they are matter. Well, the objects may be, but the beauty is not!
Errors indicate much, but reveal nothing.
Soul takes form. Soul is never separated from its expression, or form.
Body is the activity of divine ideas and their harmonious coordination. “Body” may be used instead of “substance.”
When we are thinking in terms of limitation, we are leaving out most of ourselves.
Music, sports, et cetera, is good form – tangible. Form, or tangibility, is entirely a matter of consciousness, or spiritual sense.
With the thought of touch, there is a sense of resistance.
Errors indicate much, but reveal nothing. What appears as a material thing is a spiritual idea – and because it is divine and infinite, everybody has it.
A reversal of error always points to something; it never indicates that there is something to destroy.
His body is material who thinks of stars as material. Body is consciousness. Because of the infinity of body, it would be impossible to traverse the entire range of creation and make or use a list. Do not tabulate. There are no comparisons in infinity.
Adhesion and cohesion are Life.
The manifestations of Mind are known to Mind continuously, and Mind knows us so distinctly that nothing can interfere with that.
I wouldn’t make any distinction between “individuality” and “identity.”
To love is the embodiment of Love.
Spirit is all there is to anything, and expresses itself as Spirit to everything that is Spirit. That is oneness. You can never lose anything if you identify it with Spirit.
Mind constitutes divine ideas; divine ideas do not constitute Mind.
Qualities do not constitute Principle; Principle constitutes qualities.
Truth is that which IS.
God’s thinking is being.
The divine creator expresses Himself to us as creation without the intervention of anything.
Mind is never separated from knowing, and never separated from what it knows.
God does not want to be good; a false sense of ego wants to be good.
The true idea of pedagogy is opening the thought so thoroughly that ideas begin to grow in consciousness and the students express it.
Everything proceeds from infinity.
As your thought looks out from infinity, that is reflection.
Let us not be concerned with the little, unimportant things – who’s who and what’s what.
It is a part of one’s daily work absolutely – just as much as it is to declare the allness of Mind – to know there is nothing appearing as a part of the day’s activities or duties that is not sent of God.
There is not anything published except the infinity of Mind and its infinite manifestation. The “news” is that.
Cease to think of the experiences of the past.
A mistake is a lie which never happened.
If I don’t lift my thought above error, I find myself contending for error.
When you say you have destroyed error, you have discerned there is nothing but good, and you are standing for it.
When a person comes for help, we may ask ourselves: What particular phase of the nature of Mind is being lied about?
Health is the ever-unfolding consciousness of God’s allness.
Mesmerism is a general belief which you accept. Hypnotism is directed effort.
How often must you handle animal magnetism? As often as you need to! Do you need to? Yes – if you believe in it! The allness of God handles animal magnetism.
The malpractitioner is malpracticing on a belief about you. Therefore, he is malpracticing on his own self, because it is his belief.
A malpractitioner is a false belief, so you cannot love a false belief. But you can be Love – which makes any false claim disappear.
Handle mortal mind – not Roman Catholicism.
There is no mortal mind to operate through a belief of Roman Catholicism.
If we believe we are in an organization, the organization runs us.
I am not in an office, nor part of an institution, but I include both the office and the institution; and what I think in accordance with divine Mind is the law unto the case. There is no element that can dominate, no organization that can influence. All is governed by divine Mind.
It is not always right to answer questions from anybody, but it is always right to make a general statement that will be an answer to the question.
Decision is a part of Mind which is good.
Make plans for the future as if it were now. This is not outlining.
MAN: Mind expressed cannot be anything but the activity of Mind.
In Christian Science, every statement is positive and affirmative. Even when it is made as a denial, it affirms. (See S&H, 276)
Two men do not mean the same man. If they did, we would not be understanding the nature of infinity.
The revelation is always ahead of the practice, it seems.
Question: Am I correct in saying that the Christ and generic man are the same?
Answer: If you see it that way. There is a slight differentiation between the Christ and generic man. Mrs. Eddy defines the Christ as the “manifestation of God which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.”
Question: When there shall be no more incarnate error to be destroyed, will the Christ cease to be?
Answer: No; it will be generic man, eternally existent, a genius indeed.
Question: Then if we see that fact, even here and now, it is all right to say that the Christ and generic man are the same?
Answer: Yes, if you see it – and with that slight shade of difference I have spoken of.
Man, even yourself, exists at the standpoint of the activity of all right law, and law has its being in Principle. Let your own thought ascend to the throne of grace and dwell there, and let it handle every situation, not as a mere reaching out to Omnipotence, but as Omnipotence itself. In this way, you will not find yourself struggling with seeming conditions, but will realize the selfhood that is dominion over the whole earth. Now let me add, there is one Mind, one intelligence, one Principle, Life, Truth, Love, one Soul, one substance.
(Bicknell Young to a student)
Realize there is no practice. The real way to get a practice is to really know, every day and all the time that you have time to know, that there is no disease, no man, woman or child or any other creature that is sick or is going to die, that the evidence of God’s universe is the only evidence there is, and that His law is ever operative.
If you really know that, with the hope of bringing God’s kingdom to pass, you will have an excellent practice and it will come in order. Know that scientifically there is no need of healing. Know that it is Christ who does the healing. You want the work, of course, but you also want to get into heaven.
Even beliefs are sins. Nobody has to be punished. Punishment is belief, and sin is its own punishment. And you want to deny punishment.
Curiosity, ordinary gossip, makes a person feel sick at his stomach. It is just ordinary gossip. Meet it by knowing that there is no such thing. Mortal mind claims to have presence and personality and gossip. The remedy is to know there is no mortal mind.
In Mrs. Knott’s experience with a smallpox case, she went right to the house, remained there, handled publicity, and there was not a scar left.
Desire is prayer, but a Christian Scientist cannot stay there. He is possession, and his prayer is past desire.
“I go my way in the strength of the Lord.” You can’t go anyplace without doing good, when you say or even think something.
Break the belief that the patient is separated from God. Know
One infinite God
One infinite body
One infinite, individual man
Every “patient” is a chance for you to rise higher in understanding.
Retain peace – spiritual ideas.
Sometimes “unselfishness” is only a cloak for intense selfishness.
What you do is to see constantly the infinite expression of infinite Being, which is called God’s man, I AM, and that’s all there is to him, all there needs to be. (S&H, 325:10-19) “I AM” cannot know anything contrary to His own perfection.
Do work thoroughly each time, unless they come again, unless they come up in one’s consciousness.
Paul said, “Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage; though he sought it in tears, it could not be found.” Repentance in matter – “he sought it in tears” – a wrong step.
Man is well now and is sustained and maintained in all his activity, and (this) enables man in His image and likeness to say, “I AM.”
“Passing on” is the second death.
“Error is without Principle.” It has no root, and all its laws are evil laws.
Handle the heart – that it holds out for every patient. The only heart is idea and perfect, active and harmonious, eternally so.
Thought is man.
“Christ” is not “Jesus.” Christ is always, “The divine manifestation of God which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.” (S&H) Christ is the Truth about everything. Truth rejects error. Christ does show you the specific error in belief.
“When these things begin to appear, look up!” Jesus indicated absolutely that those who know Christianity could not afford to accept that evidence, but must look up and away from it and behold the facts that are.
Let your thought at once assume the character of Science. Do not struggle to get it. BE it. It is just as easy, and far more effective!
The “cardinal sins” are fear, envy, hatred, anger, malice, revenge and jealousy. They manifest mortal mind, and all kill. A man might better be steeped in vice than have one of these.
Handle fear and nearly everything in vice will yield. Vice is in the nature of mesmerism, disease, and is usually willing to yield.
The perfection of man is the safety of man. Let us do our work first thing every day. The first thing is to commence with God – not get your breakfast. God is all right. It is the human sense that is wrong.
Dominion is the perfect freedom of infinite Mind. There is nothing to constrain your dominion. Law is a mandate of Mind – “The peace of God which passeth understanding.” We find quiet assurance in the realm of Mind. God is Principle and man lives that Principle. Man’s dominion is knowing God. The thing that gives man dominion is to know that he does not want anything. Everything good, God made and man knows; everything baneful, God did not make and man does not know.
The first lesson in the New Testament enjoins the habit of thinking for one’s self, instead of allowing others to do one’s thinking. In the first chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, we find depicted the allegorical account of the birth of Jesus Christ. Joseph, the narrative declares, was espoused to Mary, but immediately prior to the nuptial ceremony, he found her with child, and was therefore about to divorce himself from her and put her away privily. While he “thought on these things,” the gospel avers that “an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is the Holy Ghost.’” Joseph heeded the divine injunction and Jesus was born.
The Gospels reveal a higher ideal of the possibilities of man than all previous revelation had disclosed. The masculine and feminine idea of Mind unite at the opening of the New Testament, and Jesus, the most perfect idea of God cognized by the senses, is the result of this heavenly nuptial.
Mary represents the feminine quality of Mind, Joseph the masculine. God had created man in His own image and likeness, endowing each individual with the masculine and feminine qualities of thought which He Himself embodies. An imaginary fall separated these qualities of thought and they became embodied in two distinct personalities. This abnormal state of things must be righted; and before a perfect man could be manifested, these two prime thoughts must again be one.
The opening lesson in the Gospel refers to the drawing here, and the contemplated unity of these two sovereign qualities of thought, on which all things are contingent. An unalloyed spiritual interpretation must be given to the Bible narratives in order to understand the divine signification. They had not come together, the story declared, yet Joseph perceived that Mary was with child; that is, the masculine quality of Mind discerned the inevitable union of these two infinite attributes and, in anticipation, saw that as yet unexpressed embryonic offspring of this higher union of Mind.
Evil determined to thwart this heavenly union, seeking to turn Joseph from the ideal of his thought. Momentarily he yields when the great secret of our lesson inspires him to meditation. “He thought on these things,” and as he thought (mentally penetrated the hitherto unknown), the angelic revelations of the higher ideal manifested themselves to him in convincing conclusions. He saw that the child was the offspring of Christianity as Science – the Holy Ghost – the offspring of the masculine and feminine qualities of Mind, and with this conviction he immediately wedded the higher ideal, and Jesus, the child king, was born.
In the twentieth verse of the same chapter, we read that Joseph “knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son.” We never know the Motherhood of Truth until we see ourselves the perfect offspring or idea. Such is the birth of the ideal child, “who shall save the people from their sins.”
The ideal child is not fleshly, but spiritual; yet the human conception of this child is physical. But Mary still strives to make the world see her child as an ideal child, a spiritual thing. The mother-thought, which begat such purity of being, is beyond the understanding of humanity; hence history bears no record of the mother of the child “without spot or without blemish.” Carnal mind perverted her pure conception, and thus “it was made flesh and dwelt among us.” And the world today worships the incarnate man, rather than the divine idea and the Mother as the divine motherhood of God.
Thinking out from the bigness and endlessness of things, we shall not know, but shall have known. (I Cor. 13:12)
Any event is every event, and I AM is the law to it.
The allness of God (my Mind) is not unhappy today.
KIDNEYS. In working for kidneys, handle disappointment; also handle kidneys when working for stomach, as there is a close relationship.
INSOMNIA. There is only one consciousness, God. God “neither slumbers nor sleeps.” Man neither slumbers nor sleeps, because he is the absolute evidence of the infinite consciousness which does not know how to sleep. No sleep in the universe of God. You establish the fact about sleep – that there isn’t any – that is, the law to the belief of lack of sleep or insomnia, and (this) corrects it. If you sleep too much: there is only one consciousness.
MENSTRUATION. In Truth, there is no law of periodicity. God, divine Mind, is omniaction. Because of this, there is no inaction, overaction, reaction or obstructed action – never any insufficient action or disturbed action or anything that is lost or impaired. (A little spray of cold water put on 85% of water never did anything, never stopped harmonious action, and your understanding annuls this belief.)
CONVULSION. A claim of reflex action. Reflex action is the refusal of any organ to do its work.
CONGESTION. Congestion in the head is a claim of change of life.
PROTECTING COUNTRY AND CAUSE. The claims of evil are rampant, and the suggestions of evil in regard to our country for carrying on the war, and many other things, should be met by every true worker. Consequently, I urge upon you the desirability of protecting all that your thought includes of what is called our country, our soldiers, our sailors, our ships and everything of that kind. Roll back the waves of suggestion that come up through the papers and other channels. They are no part of Truth and they have no power. The only power they seem to have is that which human beings give them by accepting them; hence you see the necessity for rejecting them.
The Science of our real relationship is perfect.
Words have value only as their meaning is understood.
Error: No cause, no effect, no anything that would have the semblance of reality.
Because Jesus knew the Truth, and knew he knew it, and never doubted it, he did his mighty works.
Self-preservation: We have to learn how to preserve ourselves. If we learn about God and man, we learn to preserve ourselves. God being immortal, not after a while, but primarily.
Upon our own understanding of man’s immortality depends our happiness and satisfaction.
Mrs. Eddy’s first edition of Science and Health was not a book to instruct the world in the learning of Science. She set it down distinctly, gloriously with enthusiasm and revelation, but if her later edition is studied prayerfully and carefully and sincerely, it will redeem the whole human thought.
She sets forth a new concept with intelligence and devotion, and human thought has changed its concept. MAN has never before become aware that the nature of Deity was Presence. Knowing this, we adjust ourselves to His divine plan and purpose.
There is no such thing as the unknowable. We must exercise reasoning finally in a divine way. The fact that we exist from that standpoint enables us to find out something about ourselves – better than that which appeared to be ourselves. There must be a reason for existence. We exist because there is a thing that is true in our existence and a reason for everything that is true in our existence. We find that we can discern divine facts which are not discernable in the realm of the senses.
We are not asking God to do something, but permitting ourselves to understand that God hath done all things well.
When Paul said, “The unknown God,” he might have said the unknown man. Man cannot be known if God is not known. God is good, eternally, changeless good. It is not possible for man to be something distinct from God.
If thinking approximates divine power in that mental event, man finds himself, instead of a human personality, a divine idea representing Mind. If he will permit his understanding progressively to understand God is Good, that is a divine fact, and something practical will enter into his life, satisfactory to his heart and to his reason.
It was not his body or his flesh (that made Jesus different from other men.) It was that which nobody sees – intelligence cultivated spiritually.
Our original existence is GOOD, untainted by evil. That is source of existence and substance of existence. If we are alive, then the Science of life is the most important thing. You cannot find out about life by looking into that which is temporal. Jesus invoked divine aid and never doubted for a moment that he had it.
If you and I do the same, it will be the same thing. Thought gaining the divine character will act with the divine power. His power was not visible, but the effect of that power was visible. Those who perceived enough saw the facts of being. The belief of evil is all the evil there is.
The understanding of Jesus made him the Christ. Whatever Jesus did was accomplished by that which was wholly impersonal. The divine Christ is our natural and personal Saviour. Our thought is the divine Christ, wholly impersonal. Each can have that experience individually.
The last trumpet has not sounded, but the first has and the last is coming very soon.
Disease is destined to disappear. There is no reason why any one should be sick. There isn’t any reason why any one should die.
Consciousness includes the body. A human being isn’t in his human body. If you are conscious of your body, you cannot be in it. Ask your body if it feels anything; you will never get an answer. Human consciousness does all the feeling and localizes it in matter. If you have an incurable disease, the whole world thinks you are sick.
The opportunity for enlightenment is at hand, every one can have it. Is it possible that Omnipotence could not overcome the opinions of the human race?
When human beings begin to attain instead of believe they can set aside the beliefs of the human race.
The only thing that is really his – is really Himself, is intelligence. You and I will agree that we have intelligence and if we can cultivate it intelligently, it will act divinely. The mistake is to look at the faults of persons instead of looking through them. They are not ordained divinely.
The situation in belief called depression is world wide; unquestionably we are finding a new earth, whether we are ready to find and virtually to be the new heaven, remains to be seen.
In any event, the new heaven will be forced upon us. We may be tempted to want to postpone this forward movement, but we cannot. “Truth will compel us, etc.”
Something is going on that we do not see with our eyes but it is good for us and for everybody, and that fact will be humanly evident if we faint not. We must see that our knowing is essential to the cosmos because “All is Mind and its infinite manifestation” and so we press on. “It is God which worketh in us to will and to do of His good pleasure,” and nothing unlike that good pleasure is or can be going on.
Goiter claims that some way or other in the realm of man’s being, something has gone wrong because there occurs an enlargement. What shall we do about it? Mortal mind expresses itself according to mortal belief. If there is a relationship between two ideas, your treatment destroys the false claim, restoring the Truth. The belief is that there are certain glands that no physician or any one, knows anything about, because glands respond to thought – example: person eating a lemon – glands responding in person watching – belief being that it influences glands.
If there is a neck for man existing – and this is what we call his neck – it is part of the sense of being. In the order of Science there is something true about that, and man throughout all eternity will have a neck and it will be a perfect neck. It exists forever in perfection. Perfectly proportioned, its substance, being and law is in God. Nothing on it that God did not put in it or on it. It expresses God’s presence and power and that happy and harmonious. No material man, no material substance, no body that has a mortal neck with a mortal swelling on it; without identity, being or evidence, and the understanding of this fact is the obliteration to the sense of it and utter destruction to the thought that it can exist as part of man’s body. No operation is necessary to destroy this belief. Handle the belief of the necessity of an operation. Your treatment must be remedial – there is no operation in God except the operation of Truth and the operation of Truth is established forever.
In handling this, there must be detail in argument, must analyze the claim in such instances. There must be with the intelligent practitioner the ability to analyze the claim until it is nothing; therefore your statement.
Mesmerism is matter (Dickey)
Copy of a letter from Mr. Young to a student.
201 N. Lopeer Drive
February 2, 1933. Beverly Hills, California
February 19th, 1917
My dear Student:
Pardon the very long delay which has been unavoidable. I was very happy to get your excellent letter and I thank you for all the good news contained therein, also let me say that I am always glad to hear from you when there seems to be any claim that requires handling, especially if you feel in doubt as to the way of handling it. It is a part of my work to help you, and in so far as I am able to do so I am always glad to be of assistance.
This particular error which you mention is more prevalent in these times than formerly. The trouble with the hair seems to be about the same as with the teeth. Indeed the hair and teeth and nails are all one belief. I do not know whether you would feel inclined to do anything material, and I would not urge such a thing upon you, but at the same time I would not blame you if you made an effort to cleanse the hair in the same way you cleanse the gums. It is now a theory that there is nothing the matter with the teeth, but with the gums. It is evident there is nothing the matter with the hair, but it is quite evident there is almost everything the matter with the scalp. We consider it all right to go to a dentist. I am not sure it would be less right to go to somebody who knows something about the hair, but I leave that for you to decide for yourself. I will say this much it is claimed by those people who know about the scalp that it cannot be cleansed by mere washing, any more than the gums and teeth can be kept in order by mere washing. Mortal mind says that a scale that cannot be removed except by some method of rubbing, or something else, is the cause of the claim you mention. Now it appears that I have said enough along this line.
Let me say that in all these claims relating to these conditions of the human body, that Mrs. Eddy says are not reached by thought ordinarily speaking, it is necessary that the treatment should be somewhat different, than a treatment would be where the claim might be a more acute attack upon some portion of the body that is supposed to have sensation.
We have to recognize the claim that the teeth and the hair themselves are dependent upon something else even according to belief, and we have to make the law that the treatment can heal any condition that can tend to the destruction of the teeth or hair, no matter how removed the claim of inciting cause may appear to be. You will make headway when you begin to declare and know that you have never lost anything, because it is impossible that anything could be lost in Infinity. You are therefore not contending with the loss of even a single hair. You are only contending with the belief that something can exist and then not exist, or that you can possess something legitimately and then lose it. This belief concerning the hair needs to be met, for if the hair exists it exists forever, and any appearance to the contrary is an utter illusion. The belief, however, being that the scalp is affected rather than the hair, it is essential that you should see that any claim or belief through hereditary taint or any other false claim could not be transmitted to you in such a way as to cause deterioration to the functions of the scalp. If glands exist at all they exist in Mind and have the substance which is Mind, and action which is Mind, and operate according to the law of Mind. Therefore, the sebaceous glands are under the divine law which that treatment enforces and if they are deteriorating or are destroyed, it is the business of your treatment to restore them to their normal activity.
Naturally you will understand that the effectiveness of your work depends upon the allness of Mind and the consequent recognition on your part of the nothingness of matter. You need not be afraid to see clearly that there is no material man, no material body, because man is spiritual, and consequently his identity or body must be a spiritual fact in the infinite universe of God.
Sincerely yours.
(Signed) Bicknell Young
Sometimes a personality will parade before us and lead us to a blind attack; and then we find that anger, wrath, malice, evil speaking and revenge have entered like foes in the rear and have stolen from us our good, and have deprived us of the daily bread of Love on which we might feed, could we have seen where was the real danger – and that (for a Scientist) is not where the clamor or threatened attack seems to be made, or where the obstructive personality is seen, but rather, is detected the aggressive mental suggestion relative to person, place or thing, which come for adoption from without, but which seem to arise from within the heart.
The adoption of such evil suggestions as one’s own thought and feeling defile a man or woman and tend to promote hell rather than heaven.
This apparition of fictitious suppositional mind; this so-called mind calls itself matter; it outlines itself, in belief, as a material personality, with laws, shapes, forms, conditions, circumstances, events – all the phenomena that are embraced in the term “material life;” and yet, not one atom of its testimony is true – not one thing – thought or assumption is true; not one of its so-called events. There is not one solitary fact in all this whole fabric of evil.
You remember when Jacob wrestled with the evil and he said “what is thy name?” but the vanquished answered not. WHY? Because he had no name! He was born of evil, illusion. And so it comes to us to accept it as our thought and it says it is ourselves saying or thinking, then it would be using us, our name, and we would be its personality, and activity.
It comes to us for a name, representative, witness, action, power, and we give it all the life or existence it has. The fact of the matter is, — we are the divine Mind manifested, and that Mind cannot be handled – it has never been darkened or obscured.
We exist in Life as Life itself; in Love as love itself; we are the presence and expression of divine Mind, we have always been one state of joyous, glorious, harmonious existence; completely and forever conscious of our own selfhood. We never for a moment have been out of this perfect existence; there has never been a “relapse from or return to harmony;” the harmony of our existence has always remained intact.
“I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness.”
The claim is often made that “opposing thought” prevents the realization and demonstration for which Scientists long. Let us consider the subject briefly, and see if there is any real foundation for this belief.
Since to each one the only consciousness in the universe is his own, it is evident that our opposition to others is what we feel, rather than their opposition to us.
Believing that we are spiritually beyond others produces an internal antagonism, for if we hold ourselves as superior to another, his sense of personality, which lurks in our thought, resents the distinction.
If we, on the other hand, exalt him beyond ourselves, our sense of personality creates opposition.
“The kingdom of heaven is within,” and comes only by One-mindedness – equality of thought – by holding everyone as possessing all. It is obvious that no external opposition can express itself to such an understanding. As we are in Truth, as we aim to be in realization, so should we view all mankind.
By this transference of responsibility the error is doubled even as Eve’s unkindly laying her guilt to the serpent multiplied her sorrow.
No opposition is felt where we are assured that our thought is a unit with others. We know that we shall meet with no opposition in the declaration that twice two are four, and consequently none is forthcoming; but the instant we attempt to broach a subject that we concede to be foreign to the ruling opinions of men, we expect to be antagonized, and we are.
Should we proclaim Christian Science to the world and meet no rebuff, we would be astounded. Does not this show where the antagonism lies?
To know that all humanity are conscious of their divine relation is to establish “Peace on earth, good will among men,” rather than discord and opposition.
If we would hold our brother as firmly in Science as we do in the deductions of mathematics there would be no antagonism, but foolishly, and perhaps unintentionally, we set ourselves as his superior and in consequence thereof, we feel the resistance that is within.
In our individual varying thought lurks our only foe, for if we consciously know all mankind as spiritual, where would be the opposition? Not externally, but internally, must this error be met and manifested.
It does not take time for you to build up your place and work, for the place is already as fully developed as the idea that fills it; so all you need to do is to see your own consciousness enlarged, expectant, uplifted, so there can be no sense of limitation that can hinder the expression or that will interfere with God’s will for His idea.
My work is the expression of the activity of divine Mind.
Lack is a sin – it does not matter whether it is a belief of lack of supply, business, bodily conditions, or what. Mind has boundless supply of everything – everything; no distinction. You exist at the very basis of all supply and there are no human conditions or beliefs, or combination of circumstances, to interfere with the flowing of that supply.
If you take that position, you will see it work out in every relationship. When you have taken that position, watch the suggestions that would deny your position. It may be a belief of lack of opportunity, belief of competition, etc. Man has every quality necessary for the achievement of all good.
Opportunity is ever present – it hasn’t gone by – it means a chance to act – a favorable chance to accomplish certain things. It is included in Mind, and man is the exhibition of all Mind. Man exists at the very standpoint of opportunity, of all opportunity to achieve, and so has infinite opportunities and cannot get away from them – any of them.
Your opportunity to act doesn’t come through other people, but through this – not bound down to one little way of earning a living – Mind, man, supply, opportunity. If we feel that we have no opportunity we are denying the Christ.
Man exists at the standpoint of all supply – of all substance. Mind supplies you with every idea that goes to make up capacity and ability to achieve. Mind supplies this way – all the time Mind is the basis of supply, and man is one with it.
If you think your supply can come through just one thing – as stenographer, for instance, where is your consciousness? Consciousness where art thou? If you think you are fitted for something better, take the stand that you do exist at the very standpoint of expressing all in Mind. That recognition places us right at the fundamental basis of opportunity and supply. When you have done that, do not settle down into a rut, you must use the abilities you have.
MAN is God acting – so think of it as God acting, not God healing man. God’s acting is man. You must allow yourself to progress. Be alert – work is necessary. There is no mind to stand between you and progress, you can displace all these things, through the activity of right, intelligent ideas. You must not dream for an instant that you can fail. It may take work to do it because of the belief of obstructions, so don’t be fooled by them. You can do it, for God is the source of the opportunity.
You should gain all things for Christ – you don’t have to give up. “Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven and all these things shall be added unto you.” You have got to meet the claim of mortal mind. You mustn’t think God will take care of it and it will come out all right. That is old theology. There must be activity, intelligent activity.
Man is the enforcement of the law of God, then there is no need of any one’s not having, doing, being whatever is right. We all possess the whole of that law, and the whole of the power to enforce that law. MAN HAS DOMINION. Your business does not depend upon you as a mortal. It is the outcome of God, of Principle, and if you let that in, it will expand your business.
One effort of evil is to deplete Christian Scientists financially and thus the church. A. M. is the animus back of the desire to disrupt Christian Scientists by quarrels, jealousy, depletion, etc. There is the claim of power to disturb the business man, housewife, practitioner, etc.; that is the impulsion of mortal mind to destroy the cause of Christian Science.
If we watch there is no need of these things; the one enemy today seems to be centered on these things. Watch and do not let them into your consciousness.
You are the enforcement of the law of God in your own behalf. We should avoid thinking there is anything to be removed by Christian Science treatment. If we do not we are apt to get self-hypnotized.
Whatever seems to be the obstruction in business or anything else, don’t think of it as material condition with a law back of it, etc. or in any other way that will mesmerize you into seeing it as something. It is a claim of mortal mind, and even if not met instantly, stick to it; enforce the law of God to that obstruction until it melts away.
Belief in lack seems to be a universal belief, and comes from the belief that man is incomplete. There is no need of your lacking a thing. It is right for the son of man to be prosperous, and his supply is sufficient for always. We must very frequently know that everything is complete and perfect and our supply is sufficient for always, then we have only to break down the beliefs that argue against completeness and perfection.
The hatred and suggestions which come from A. M. and materia medica, etc., act to deplete us if we let them in. The blame rests upon each of us if we let them in or let in evil suggestions. Some manifestations of these suggestions are temper, apathy, criticism, depression, conceit, discouragement, gossip etc.
If laziness, or its hard to get a scientific sense of business problems, etc., seems to be present, it is because you have taken in suggestions from this hatred of Truth. If you believe you lack, it is nothing but the suggestions that would make you lack, the attempt to make you lack understanding, lack in business and in everything.
When suggestions come that you can’t get employment, right wages, etc., they are nothing but suggestions and you know how to destroy them. Because these suggestions are being made active in general human thought, we need to be very watchful and see that we do not take them in, any of them. They are due to the animus attempting to destroy Christian Science. Taking them in is why we lack employment, business, etc. You must be awake to recognize these suggestions and not try to hide behind a belief of justification.
If you hold to Science and Health, page 472, line 30, about all with whom you come in contact, in church matters, and elsewhere, this will straighten out your trouble, whether business or what. Otherwise you are opening your consciousness to the suggestions which are sent out to deplete, and your mental atmosphere is not clear enough to recognize them. If you are alert to RECOGNIZE mortal mind’s thinking, it cannot interfere with your dominion.
Elijah in his demonstration with the oil knew that everything exists already in Mind as idea, that Mind enforces its action through its idea and that he was that idea – thus he proved dominion over lack. A complete cause could not hold within itself any belief of lack.
In case of property or anything for sale, overcome first the fear that nobody wants it, then know that there is some one – but don’t outline who wants it, and to whom it will be of use, and that there are no thoughts to keep buyer and seller from getting together.
Watch your thought and meet intelligently everything mortal mind is saying or thinking in the matter. It will come to you. The fulfillment is the breaking down the arguments of mortal mind. Now don’t spoil the demonstration by any kind of fear. Do not fear that some one might interfere. A thought to interfere would not be God’s thought – so there is no thought to interfere. Property is not matter, it is Mind expressed.
There is no sense to so much lack. God is infinite. Then He includes all – is all. The very nature of Mind is to give out; it cannot withhold anything and then since it includes all, the supply is yours. Man then receives what God has to bestow. There isn’t anything but man to receive it. You have a right to everything included in Mind. When you have reached the point where you see this, be alert. Your declarations are prayers – make them and then have intelligent activity. In prayer for employment, make your declarations and then seek employment. DON’T JUST DECLARE AND DO NOTHING.
Lack is one thing we have got to look out for at the present time. We must recognize it and overcome it. We don’t overcome it because we listen to the tempter. Do not admit lack. If it tries to whisper to you, turn on it and demolish it by seeing Mind as all-inclusive. Back of lack is the fear that we will not have enough, somewhere.
The wrong sense on our part will stop returns from investments, will stop our dividends.
We get discouraged because we make problems a personal matter. “MY LACK. MY DISEASE. MY PROBLEM. MY BUSINESS.” The conditions in mortal mind are not yours at all.
A Christian Science treatment is not me thinking about you or for you – or to heal you of something. It is the Truth of what you really are NOW and FOREVER, and this Truth blots out the suggestion that claims to be you and blots it out forever.
The term man includes all that is called mankind; man means all men and every creature individually. God is Life, Truth, Love, Mind; man exists in and as Life itself; Truth itself; Love itself; and Mind itself.
MAN is the manifested presence and expression of Life, Mind, Truth, Principle. Existing as perfect presence, expression and activity and including all – he is wanting nothing to beautify, glorify, or purify his existence. Co-existent with God he is the very presence of eternal Life itself, and indestructible substance.
Existing as the manifested presence and expression of God, man is a state of complete possession of infinite Mind including within itself all ideas.
Man’s characteristics are, — love, harmony, dominion, accomplishment, clear discernment and perfect and accurate action in everything he thinks or does.
Man and his activities are the full and normal presence and expression of infinite Principle – incapable of even the slightest variation from absolute perfection.
Man being the presence and expression of infinite Mind, he has within himself all that constitutes completeness and harmonious being – he lacks nothing – he does not desire – he is in a state of possession.
In proportion as we ascribe power to something else we take it away from ourselves. One way of doing this is to believe that another’s wrong thoughts can influence us mentally and physically. By thus believing, we manifest the effects of that belief, because we have transferred to another the power which should be reflected through us.
This is obvious, for we cannot possess a thing and give it away at the same time. To attribute power to any cause but God is to declare our powerlessness and also to manifest it.
The Herculean Sampson became weak because he gave to another the ability to deprive him of his strength – he himself told his enemy how to bind him. We do the same thing by believing in any influence over us apart from the divine.
Each Scientist should realize the mighty power of his own thought reflected from God and from none other; yet many seem slow in learning this lesson. They who have demonstrated, though imperfectly, the great scientific truth, of the omnipotence of God, would never allow fear of any foe to enter their thought. If they do, they are mesmerizing themselves in the name of the supposed foe. Hence they feel the effects of their own fear and unbelief in the supremacy of GOOD.
To know there is but one power and that the power is God should be an ever-present fact to us. The only carnal sense we have to overcome is our own. Realizing this, we need never be troubled with a false sense of external power.
Being “One with God” not with the world, we rise superior to the influence of the world, which are our mortal thoughts. These thoughts set right, the transfiguration MOUNT will stand revealed.
Our knowing, is a law of annulment to the belief that stock could be depressed. Consciousness includes stock and is the law of obliteration to the belief that it, or anything in the universe, could be lessened or diminished.
If love were to take you by the hand and lead you through the realm of infinity you would find there no lessening, no depression, no fear or limit, or diminishing.
Handle stocks as a belief, stock is not a divine idea, but back of stock there is business and back of business there is substance. You might say stock is a subsidiary idea.
We must redeem our consciousness from any fear that anything could happen to anything of which we are conscious.
No one has anything to do with what we possess. We know what is governing; stand for it. Ask – is it true according to Principle and law? If it is not true, it cannot produce any result or influence.
My understanding is the law of protection to all beliefs of stocks and eyes.
WE LIVE AND MOVE AS THE LAW OF SPIRIT. This law of our consciousness sets aside all rapacity, greed, and dishonesty, and becomes like an angel of light to our stock and becomes a law to the claim that we are afraid about eyes and becomes a law of restoration, harmony, perfect relationship in every detail. WE ARE THE MASTERS OF IT.
Realization of the Truth is the effective prayer. Truth is the consciousness of Christ gained when will and understanding unite as one. The “CEASELESS” prayer referred to in the Scriptures is the capacity to see all things in their relation to God. This is not alone a matter of thought but one of being.
Prayer is always justifiable, but it does not always produce what one expects. The purpose of prayer is to gain the consciousness of the spiritual qualities, and not to produce the material things needed. They come as an added result when one seeks first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
People assiduously praying for physical or financial comfort, are still very selfish, and will be cut off from the capacity to receive anything, unless a change of heart (love) is effected. This idea is some times confusing to the student, but it need not be. One needs only to ascertain the motive that prompts his praying. One needs to know that God cannot withhold any good from one able to receive it, and one so able does not need to beg, implore, or metaphysically harangue to get it.
It is the Son of Man who has power on earth to forgive sins, and incidentally the effect of sin which manifests as conditions needing to be healed.
When the right consciousness is gained the laws of Being will operate to produce not alone a well man but a whole man. A whole man is one who can’t be sick.
The purpose of prayer is not to get MATERIAL things but to develop consciousness so as to gain a state of being that will make a formal prayer unnecessary. Formal prayer includes affirmations and denials as well as any other ritual. Through spiritual communion one is expected to gain the selfless spirit by which we may receive more than we can ever hope for. This gain is not measured in material advancement nor in the spiritual, but finally as a new state of being.
One is always receiving what one needs, to grow in knowledge and grace so as to become the “Beloved Son” through whom redemption is effected. What one needs is that by which spiritual man is produced; this is known to the Father, hence “Your heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.”
The outer things that are supplied in the progression of Life are means by which one gains consciousness of the inner values for which they stand. The outer things are necessary as a means of growth, but they come as a result of seeking first the inner Kingdom.
One should rather pray to realize patience, kindness, consideration, forbearance, truth, wisdom, love, understanding and selflessness, than to pray for a well body, a fine automobile, a new stove and other outer symbols.
Righteous alignment of the consciousness to the selfless Christ-spirit will make for the highest expression of harmony possible in the without, though the divine Will continues to control the consciousness toward manifesting the real state of being.
MENTAL HEALING deals with outer effects while spiritual healing deals with the inner qualities. An inner change of consciousness is effected through Spirit, through mental discipline, such as thought control is preparatory to the action of Spirit. The spiritual healing changes both the inner and the outer nature, while the mental healing changes the outer but not necessarily the inner.
Mental healing is the metaphysical, though many metaphysicians pass up the spiritual plane of consciousness through the discipline metaphysics affords.
These are opened in the spiritual laws of Being by which they come into the realization of spiritual good that transcends both the good and the evil of mortality. These no longer seek for health, but for wholeness; these do not seek for wealth, but for spiritual substance. In fact they do not seek at all after the first preliminary steps incidental to advancement, but begin to be.
Ceasing to desire, all things are theirs. A desirable state is a selfless state and conforms to the name (character) of Jesus Christ. Through his name all healing is effected.
385 Commonwealth Avenue,
Boston, Massachusetts
February 5th, 1919
Christian Science Board of Directors,
Falmouth and St. Paul Streets,
Boston, Massachusetts
Dear Friends:
To Christian Scientists Mrs. Eddy’s intention concerning the movement which she originated and established is all important. Whatever may be legally required of the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees under their respective deeds of trust is no doubt determinable, but our movement is a religious movement, its basis and aims are spiritual, so that many things which could not be put in the legal documents are essential. These are either indicated or specified in Mrs. Eddy’s works, and especially in the Manual.
The fuller and more metaphysical application of her directions involves constant progress and consequent changes both in habits of thought and routine of action. This is happening to us individually all the time, in the various activities which she established or provided for. This does not, however, affect what seems to me the unquestionable fact that our Leader intended that the Publishing Society should be subservient to The Mother Church, and under the general supervision of the Board of Directors, and that all important initiative and decision should rest with this Board. I cannot see that under the Manual there is any doubt upon this point, nor do I feel that this precludes discussion, but rather requires it for the purpose of improving methods and gaining the greatest co-operation and consequent efficiency.
The reference to our periodicals as organs of the church on page 44 of the Manual unmistakably classifies them and implies responsibilities resting upon the Directors in relation to them.
Another passage in the Manual reads: “The Directors are also required to see that periodicals are ably edited and kept abreast of the times.” A very slight consideration of the situation shows what a great educational work is being done by our editors. They have to be metaphysicians in the highest sense of the word. That they should be untrammeled by fear or anticipation of meticulous direction or interference with their plans or with their methods of expression goes without saying. Happily the Manual is quite clear upon this point. While it does not require that the Directors shall edit the periodicals it does require that they shall see that these periodicals are ably edited, and thereby it implies the power to make such changes as might be necessary in order to carry out this provision.
On page 81 of the Manual it seems to me unquestionably that the Directors are empowered to remove a trustee, but in order to make these views still clearer, you will I am sure permit me to say again that our movement is purely religious, or, to speak more accurately, Christian, and that therefore I cannot take any other view of the relationship between the two boards, or of their individual or united action in any case, than that it is to rest wholly upon Christian Science.
I am sure from your great experience that you are as keen in this respect as anybody else could possibly be. Few have had the opportunity of observing so clearly as yourselves that the provisions of the Manual at no time relieve anyone from the necessity of demonstrating divine Principle, LOVE.
The ethical side of every situation is what chiefly concerns practical Christian Scientists; and conformity to the law, when it is just, follows naturally. I am aware that I am advancing nothing new in saying this, but I feel that it may not be amiss to say it just the same.
It is generally admitted that Mrs. Eddy did not delegate nor transmit her leadership. She did, however, indicate how that leadership might be demonstrated in its divine meaning in the hearts and lives of Christian Scientists.
In First Church and Miscellany, page 347, she writes: “What remains to lead on the centuries and reveal my successor, is man in the image and likeness of the Father-Mother God. Man the Generic term for mankind.”
As we all adhere to the incontrovertible proposition that an infinite universe implies ONE MIND as the basis or Principle of that universe, we shall, without doubt, come, step by step, into a more spontaneous unanimity of thought and action. Whenever such unanimity is achieved the question of authority naturally does not arise. Lacking unanimity, however, in any given instance, and a decision being imperative, it seems to me that the Manual indicates beyond doubt that such a decision on all questions relating to the church or movement shall be made by the Directors of The Mother Church.
The Christian Science Publishing Society will be the largest (as it already is the most important) publishing business in the world. More and more the very best business ability in our movement will be drawn into this and kindred activities of The Mother Church. Men and women who have been engaged in great affairs, becoming capable metaphysicians, will naturally want to take part in this the greatest of all businesses.
As trustees, managers or in other important positions, they will find the greatest opportunities to exercise their abilities in the only real business, the business of doing GOOD.
The utmost freedom of thought and action in discussing and deciding these great affairs will naturally appear, and while authority must inevitably exist, it will, just as inevitably, be exercised with ever increasing wisdom and love.
“The New Testament says that to whom much is given, of him much is required.” This might be interpreted to mean that the greatest trusts require the greatest trustworthiness, and would apply equally to the Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees.
And now as you have borne with me to such length, you will perhaps permit me to add a few words expressing a conviction which has been to me of the greatest possible comfort. I have traveled practically over the whole world, or at any rate, over that portion of it where there are Christian Scientists. I have had occasion to observe Christian Scientists under many differing circumstances, and have been able to take cognizance of their varying degrees of understanding. Their devotion to the cause established by our Leader is inspiring. Their demonstrable understanding of Christian Science really constitutes this cause. This keeps it in the realm of MIND where Mrs. Eddy’s demonstration placed it, and gives it the character of immeasurability which one naturally associates with a movement based on Infinity; it makes it safe, as safe, in fact as Infinity. Because I have a firm conviction of all this, I feel that you will not think it amiss for me to have it set down here.
The central idea of true Being is LOVE, as indicated by St. John in the seventh chapter of “REVELATION,” where he says, “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water.”
In the preface to the Manual our church is spoken of as “that which restores the lost Israel.” This is clarified by Ezekiel, chapter 37, verse 28: “And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forever more.” And then there is that glorious passage in Science and Health: “Undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the material senses, Science, still enthroned, is unfolding to mortals the immutable, harmonious, divine Principle, — is unfolding Life and the universe, ever present and eternal.”
Most sincerely yours,
(Signed) Bicknell Young.
P.S. I assume that there will be no objection to my sending a copy of this letter to the Board of Trustees, and am acting accordingly.
My dear Student:
I am returning Miss Comb’s letter. I received one from her sometime ago and I really meant to make some inquiries in her behalf but some way or other it slipped by without my doing so.
I wish that she might secure a church position here in Chicago. She is well worthy to have one. There is no singer in any of our churches that I have heard who would begin to compare with her.
The letter written a few days previous to this one came on Saturday. I can only say what I have already said, and yet I know that it cannot be said too often. It is that which the Bible has said all through the centuries: “Love is the fulfilling of the law.”
When Love is demonstrated, or in the measure that it is, there is no sensitiveness. We cannot be hurt neither can we hurt any one else.
Perhaps in speaking to Spence you may not have realized that your words were severe. It does not do any good to be severe, especially where we are convinced that the other party is just as honest in his convictions as we are. Our work is to educate, and the Bible says that in order to do that we must bear one another’s burdens.
It takes long years of patient perseverance to bring about a desirable change in some instances, and generally speaking the change must occur first in ourselves.
To maintain the allness of good and never be moved by the seeming reality of error or evil is the true ideal for a Christian Scientist. Know that this ideal is yours, and that you can maintain it.
Just now I seem to be exceedingly busy, but sometime before long I will try and arrange for half an hour if you care to come in. In the mean time I know and you know that the only Mind there is, is Love, is Truth, is Life, and this is our Mind.
Clinging to this divine fact we are guided every step of the way in spite of what appears to be human difficulties.
With love to you, always your affectionate friend
(Signed) Bicknell Young
My dear Student:
I can only say “God bless you!” and so I am answering your letter of the 23rd instant with the assurance that all of this difficulty which you speak of is fading out.
Being is always Infinity and is always perfection. The standpoint of every real Christian Science treatment is that perfection, that divine Principle. You need not doubt its power or presence and I am sure that you cannot be made to doubt.
Let the work be less of a fight and more of an actual realization that all is well.
Your recital of certain beliefs is essential and you may be sure that I shall not in any way take them in and I will ask you not to make too much of the belief that some things that ought to have been cared for were entirely forgotten.
We do not have to ask ourselves why or how we got into trouble. We have to know that we were never in it. That we do not have to get out but that we are eternally OUT, and that this law of our unity with God has never been annulled, nor has its enforcement ever been interfered with.
Since you ask me I will say daily it is best for you to make affirmations of Truth very clearly and in clear and consecutive expression deny all of the errors which you speak of or any others that may come up to be denied.
Christian Science practice is the appearing of Truth and the disappearing of error. Let us remember that all of the difficulties that come up, even those that are sometimes called domestic, are but phases of an erroneous belief. Our real being is in no way subject to any such thing because it is both satisfied and satisfying.
Our unity with GOOD means our unity with every idea of GOOD, because we could not possibly in any way have such unity except in completeness. There is nothing to fight about and nothing to fight.
So far as my letter to you is concerned, quite likely you may find it, but should you not find it you may be sure that it is all right because what is written in it would help anybody who might read it. Quite likely nobody has read it or will read it because, as you say, it is possible that it fell into the waste basket. These funny experiences sometimes take place but they don’t mean anything and we are already finding our freedom in the Infinity of GOOD.
With love from us both.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) Bicknell Young