It is obvious that when Mrs. Eddy wrote, in "Retrospection and Introspection" (pp. 88, 89), "Mind revolves on a spiritual axis, and its power is displayed and its presence felt in eternal stillness and immovable Love," she did not refer to anything merely stagnant; for she continued, "The divine potency of this spiritual mode of Mind, and the hindrance opposed to it by material motion, is proven beyond a doubt in the practice of Mind-healing."
It is difficult, however, for the human mind to dissociate stillness and immovability from the thought of inaction. That is because the human mind is accustomed to think of movement and action in terms of matter. It is apt to think that movement and action relate entirely to that which is going on in finite space; something manifested as material motion; something expressing the quality of so-called dynamic energy. For example, what is called circulation is, in human experience, generally associated with material things, such as air, water, blood, money, books, magazines, newspapers, etc. Absolutely speaking, however, circulation has nothing whatever to do with that which is objective or material. It is not a kind of material movement taking place in time or in space. It has to do entirely with thought or thinking. So, in reality, all there is to circulation is the idea of it. Therefore one may know all that is true about circulation while remaining perfectly still, perfectly quiet.
When Mrs. Eddy wrote, on page 283 of Science and Health, "Mind is the source of all movement," she must have meant that, primarily, movement is the activity of right thinking. Right thinking or knowing, obviously, is not physical. It is purely mental, or spiritual. It has to do with consciousness, not with matter. It does not necessarily involve moving about, or physical action of any kind. In fact, the fullest realization of Truth, including the truth about action and movement, often comes, as has been seen, when one is completely still physically, and entirely serene mentally. "Be still, and know that I am God," wrote the Psalmist. Such quiet knowing of the truth about movement and action is, however, demonstrated humanly in what is regarded as a normal sense of physical action and movement. Otherwise, right thinking would be of no practical value; the "Word" would not be "made flesh"; Christian Science would not be demonstrated in healing sickness and overcoming the different phases of inaction and stagnation common to mankind.
