IN Christian Science, ideas are understood to originate in the divine Mind, Spirit, the only cause or Principle of existence. Consequently they are spiritual, substantial, immutable, eternal, harmonious, indestructible, and ever available. Beliefs, on the other hand, are the transient illusions of material sense, springing from a supposititious mind opposed to the divine Mind, God. They have no cause and are not themselves cause, since God, Spirit, is the only creator.
So long as humanity seeks cause in matter or belief, it will be misled. Christian Science shows matter to be but another name, an alias, for mortal mind. In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes (p. 293): "Matter and mortal mind are but different strata of human belief. The grosser substratum is named matter or body; the more ethereal is called mind. This so-called mind and body is the illusion called a mortal, a mind in matter. In reality and in Science, both strata, mortal mind and mortal body, are false representatives of man."
Because the mental state governs the physical in every case, the student of Christian Science learns to detect and reverse the wrong thinking or belief which is at the bottom of physical discord. Climate, food, contagion, accident, heredity, fear, worry, hatred, envy, selfishness are said to be procuring causes of disease; but these causes are unreal because they lack the divine Principle, God. Actually they, and disease by whatever name it may be called, are "but different strata of human belief," alike causeless and illusory; and they are destroyed by the understanding that God is the only cause and effect, the only Mind.
When a wrong or sinful belief is uncovered in our thought, we sometimes believe that we must get rid of it, and make vigorous attempts accordingly. Whilst it is true that we should strive to overcome all material beliefs, our efforts should be directed to replacing the wrong belief, whatever it may be, with spiritual ideas of Mind, Spirit, Soul. False appetites, self-pity, greed, and so on cannot be eradicated through human will or intellect, for this would be the effect of one belief casting out another.
However, the spiritual ideas of divine Mind, persistently held to with the firm conviction of their truth, can and do replace all false beliefs with the substance of Truth and Love. Thus permanent healing is accomplished. In proportion as we attribute all power to God and gratefully acknowledge the one Mind, we are enabled to replace the self-assertive belief, "I must or I will of myself do something," with the scientific truth affirmed by Jesus (John 5:30), "I can of mine own self do nothing."
The power of Spirit and of spiritual ideas over material belief was proved to the writer. Suddenly attacked by a sharp pain below the shoulder blade which made breathing difficult, he remembered that Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 409), "The belief, that the unconscious substratum of mortal mind, termed the body, suffers and reports disease independently of this so-called conscious mind, is the error which prevents mortals from knowing how to govern their bodies." He recognized the pain as a belief of mortal mind, and denied its validity. But he went further and used the idea that there is only one Mind, and it was his Mind at that moment, expressing in him, as Mind's idea, harmony, peace, joy, love, and so forth. As he accepted this idea the pain stopped at once and breathing became normal. Beyond an occasional very slight twinge for a short time, he experienced no more inconvenience.
Sometimes when individuals are having Christian Science treatment, they report that they feel much better mentally but that there is no physical improvement. Should this situation persist, it may be helpful to consider whether there is being entertained a belief that the body acts independently of mortal mind and is in some way separate from it. Mrs. Eddy expressly tells us they are one (ibid., p. 177). Commenting in the textbook on the Scriptural statement (John 1:14), "The Word was made flesh," she writes (p. 350), "Divine Truth must be known by its effects on the body as well as on the mind, before the Science of being can be demonstrated."
Among the many beliefs which claim to upset the human system are those of ignorance, fear, jealousy, restlessness, and instability. The right understanding of man's relationship to Soul confers dominion over these. Living in Soul, not in body, in Spirit, not in matter, man is immutably identified with harmony, peace, joy, divine government and control by reason of his at-one-ment with God. In the realm of Soul there are no anxieties or forebodings; no ups and downs; no mercurial, volatile temperaments. As the idea of Soul, man expresses the calm, poised serenity of divine Love, the orderly stability of divine Principle, the pure, infinite consciousness of divine Mind.
Mortal mind's dream of material history, the outcome of a mistaken sense of cause and effect, is wholly fictitious, for man's history consists in the unfolding of spiritual ideas, in the spiritual reflection or expression of the qualities, attributes, and faculties of God, his Father-Mother. The spiritual origin of man refutes the belief that he either begins materially or possesses a material record of pleasure and pain. He has no other background than the spiritual. Material conception, birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, maturity, age, and their accompanying beliefs are the false background of the material record. Whether this record be thought of as good, bad, or indifferent, as pleasant or unpleasant, it is no part of man's history. So long as it is believed to be true, it hides the unity of God and man. Thought is regenerated and human history revised in proportion as the omniactive Christ supersedes in human consciousness the belief of a material personality and record with the spiritual fact of man's true nature and likeness to Mind, Spirit, God.
The idea of spiritual oneness and completeness voiced by Christ Jesus, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30), is a law of harmony, health, and abundance, which destroys the unhappy beliefs of material history—lack, separation, and discord. This spiritual idea is expressive of the deepest humility, for by implication it acknowledges that individuality, identity, intelligence, ability, and activity —indeed, the spiritual ideal of everything —all abide in Soul, Spirit, Love. Thus it ascribes all cause and effect to God and destroys the false sense of causation and evidence as vested in matter.
To know, declare, and apply the truth, thus training ourselves to admit cause and effect to be in God, hence to be spiritual and perfect, requires consecration of thought, persistence of effort, and Christly vision and meekness. What rewards, however, are ours as we faithfully and truly bear witness to divine ideas! Healing of all kinds of discords, and the gaining of the true sense of health, security, purity, joy, and peace, are the results which enable us to rejoice in the words of the Apostle Paul (II Cor.2:14), "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place."
The wise man wrote (Prov. 3:13, 14): "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold." Ideas are "the merchandise" of spiritual understanding which triumph over material belief, for they reveal the perfection, harmony, eternality, and nowness of God's creation.
