According to the German Wikipedia, “A false report, also known as a ‘canard,’ is an inaccurate news story. It arises as a result of flawed or sloppy research on the part of a journalist, or is deliberately publicized by journalists, official bodies, politicians, companies, private individuals, or other informants.” A canard is meant to mislead thought. The code of honor for the media includes, among other things, a respect for the truth, as well as diligence and rectification.
At times, we may be quick to accept the validity of a report, be it something we read or hear about in the media, or something a friend is telling us. We may feel that “we’ve always known it.” It is not rare, however, that a report turns out to be incorrect because it was based on an unreliable source. However, when something confirms and serves our own preconceived notions and entrenched opinions, we tend to believe it, willingly and uncritically. In order to avoid making false assumptions and rushing into wrong conclusions, one would do well, therefore, to always carefully and objectively examine the information that is presented, and ask him- or herself: “Is this true?”
There is another kind of report that we need to be wary of—the testimony of the material senses. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, instructs the reader in her primary work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, to carefully look deeper, beneath the material appearance of things, to understand the spiritual reality. She summarizes spiritual reality in a pivotal statement called “the scientific statement of being”: “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual” (p. 468).
A revolutionary statement! It deeply challenges the general beliefs that the universe and man are material, that matter is real and substantial, and it corrects the testimony of the material senses.
Christ Jesus constantly and consciously turned to God, Spirit, and this enabled him to discern the spiritual truth about any person or situation he encountered.
Christian Science teaches that creation is entirely spiritual because God, infinite Spirit, is the sole creator. There can be only one cause of all being, not two or several causes, working against each other, and this one and only cause is universal, indestructible, eternal, and intelligent. This grand cause of all true existence cannot be limited and material; it has to be immaterial, spiritual. If all causation is spiritual, then what must the effect be like? Just like from an apple tree you pick apples, but not raspberries; just like giraffes give birth to baby giraffes, not to grasshoppers, like produces like—therefore, the effect of a spiritual cause cannot be material; it must be spiritual. Mary Baker Eddy writes: “We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things. Can we gather peaches from a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord of being?” (Science and Health, p. 129).
As we learn to “look deep into realism,” as we become more familiar with God and spiritual reality, we become increasingly aware that the testimony of the physical senses is an error, a “false report,” because it doesn’t stem from a reliable source (spiritual sense), and therefore cannot be trusted.
We cannot, however, apprehend these truths through the material senses. Mary Baker Eddy writes: “What is termed material sense can report only a mortal temporary sense of things, whereas spiritual sense can bear witness only to Truth” (Science and Health, p. 298). We all have spiritual sense, and we can utilize it.
Someone who consistently exercised his spiritual sense was Christ Jesus. As the Son of God, Christ Jesus constantly and consciously turned to God, Spirit, and was able to discern the spiritual truth about any person or situation he encountered. His words and deeds were the result of his listening to God and knowing the truth. Thus, he was able to rebuke sin, heal sickness, and raise the dead.
He promised: “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31, 32). Through our ongoing study and demonstration of Christian Science, we cultivate and nurture our spiritual sense and grow in our understanding of truth. Thus we will be increasingly able to “know the truth” and to detect and correct a “false report”—whether about a situation, about someone else, or about ourselves.
One way we can do this is by constantly correcting our views about others. Instead of seeing someone as sick, or deformed, or annoying, we ought to correct these false reports, and see them the way Christ Jesus saw individuals: as whole, pure, unfallen, free—as the beloved sons and daughters of God. Instead of fixing our gaze on the outward appearance, we ought to look deeper and see qualities such as unselfishness, goodness, integrity, patience, understanding. This practice of seeing correctly blesses and spurs us onward “from sense to Soul” (Violet Hay, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 64).
Recently, when walking my dogs in a nearby forest, I tripped and sprained my ankle on the uneven ground. I felt a stinging pain in my ankle, but almost immediately the thought came to me that this was not the truth; it was just a false report. Because my real being is spiritual, no part of my true being could be material or in pain. The pain left and did not return.
Christian Science shows that everyone can follow Jesus’ example: “Know the truth,” turn away from false reports, behold reality, and experience the healing power and blessing of spiritual truth!
