THAT which is absolute is perfect, free from imperfection or fault, free from mixtures, free from limitation, restriction, or qualification. God, Spirit, alone is absolute. In I John we read (1:5): "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all"; and (4:17), "As he is, so are we in this world." Mrs. Eddy states on page 102 of "Miscellaneous Writings": "God is like Himself and like nothing else. He is universal and primitive. His character admits of no degrees of comparison." Absolute simplicity and purity characterize all the manifestations of Spirit.
That which is relative is comparative. It is a mixture of contrary elements. Human consciousness is relative, being partially good and partially evil, partially true and partially false. This consciousness is the object of Christian salvation, which we achieve by applying that which is absolute to relative human thought. A transitional period ensues in which the good in human thought is preserved even while human thought itself is being corrected, transformed, redeemed.
That which is good in human consciousness is derived from God, infinite good. That which is evil in human consciousness is wholly deceptive and originates in the so-called carnal or mortal mind. Jesus was referring to this false sense of mind when he said to those who disagreed with him (John 8:43, 44): "Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."
Human consciousness is like the field in one of the Master's parables in which the tares and the wheat, though never blending, grew side by side until the harvest (see Matt. 13:24-30). How did the tares get mixed up with the wheat? Jesus explained that while the servants of the man who sowed the wheat slept, his enemy came, sowed the tares, and went his way. Again, the enemy is the mortal or carnal mind.
The coming of the Christ to human consciousness is likened to the harvest. First the tares and the wheat are separated; then the tares are destroyed. Christ, Truth, casts devils, false beliefs (mental tares), out of human consciousness and brings the entire human experience under the government of absolute Mind.
The application of absolute Truth to the relative human situation is indicated in these statements from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy (p. 492): "Being is holiness, harmony, immortality. It is already proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree, will uplift the physical and moral standard of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify and elevate character. Thus progress will finally destroy all error, and bring immortality to light."
In Christian Science the basis of all thought and prayerful mental work is the absolute. The absolute heals. Nothing else can or does. The relative is the shifting, human sense of things which must be brought under the control of divine Mind.
As we learn to discipline our thinking, we shall be more and more conscious of the absolute. Through such spiritual discipline, we shall in ever greater measure learn to think from the standpoint of the absolute rather than up to it.
The premise of Science (what man truly is) and the premise of sense (what man materially seems to be) are contraries. Our understanding of Life, and our demonstrations, must be based on the premise of Science, not sense.
In the application of Science to human situations we learn to think from the standpoint of the absolute that we may understand God, even as we speak in relative terms that men may understand us.
As an illustration: one morning, when I was in business, I was unable to go to work. In reporting the situation to my superior, I realized that while I would have to think in absolute terms in order to heal myself, I would have to speak in relative terms to him. I was asked, "What is the matter, are you sick?"
If I had spoken in the absolute, and said, "No, man is never sick," he would have been apt to say, "Then why don't you come to work?" So I spoke to him in language he understood.
When I turned away from the telephone, I turned also away from the false belief of sickness and continued my joyous consideration of absolute Truth. I realized that as a child of God I was at one with the true source of health in which there is no disease. Disease, therefore, was no part of my being, the being, or selfhood, that I derived from God. And there is no other.
From this standpoint I could deny the suggestion of mortal mind that I was sick. Applying absolute Truth to the relative human situation, in which disease appeared to be real, I was healed; and before the day was over I was busily engaged in my usual work.
As human consciousness is brought under the control of absolute Truth, it becomes a better transparency for Truth. Then we understand the Master's teachings in their spiritual import and learn how to apply them. We may be sure that what we discern spiritually (absolutely) will appear humanly (relatively) in purified and enriched lives. As we become more spiritually-minded, thinking from the standpoint of the absolute becomes more spontaneous, and we experience improvement in every detail of our lives. We become better friends, neighbors, citizens. We seek "first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness" (Matt. 6:33), and then those things which are essential to human happiness and progress are abundantly added.
