Sometimes a person asks, "Why can't I be more receptive to Truth? Why can't I realize more clearly the presence and power of God? Why can't I grasp spiritual facts of God and man more quickly?"
Actually, receptivity to Truth—the ability and willingness to receive spiritual understanding—is native to man. God is omniscient Mind, the all-knowing One, the source of all intelligence and power. Man, made in the image of God as the Bible states, reflects this intelligence and power. Hence man—the real, spiritual identity of you and me—must be receptive of the understanding that Mind imparts. He could not be otherwise, else God's omniscience would be unexpressed.
The carnal mind, evil, argues against this. It claims that intelligence springs from a material brain and can be restricted. It says that one can be unreceptive to inspiration and understanding because he lacks the necessary mental ability to be otherwise. This is not true, Christian Science explains. Divine Mind is the only consciousness there is, and man expresses this Mind without limitation. As an individual increasingly perceives the illusory nature of the claims of the carnal, or mortal, mind and recognizes his innate ability to express Godgiven comprehensiveness and acumen, he will find his receptivity growing.
Paul knew the source of receptivity and our Mind-bestowed ability to express it. He wrote, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." I Cor. 2:12;I Cor. 2:12;
When one is tempted to believe that he lacks the ability to comprehend the great truths stated in the Bible and in Mrs. Eddy's writings, let him ask himself who says he is not receptive. Certainly not God, who provides His image with limitless intelligence. It is mortal mind, error, that suggests this limitation. And mortal mind directs it not to one's real identity but to the false, mortal concept of man. One answers this suggestion and nullifies it by realizing that his real and only identity is man and that man always reflects the receptivity Mind uninterruptedly bestows.
One essential requirement for receptivity is childlikeness. This is what Christ Jesus taught. He told his disciples, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 18:3;Matt. 18:3; Living such child-qualities as innocence, purity, faith, and love, one can confidently expect to receive the inspiration and understanding that reveal the presence of divine Love's harmony here and now.
One of childlike thought will willingly follow the impulsions of divine Mind. He will look forward with expectancy to the wonders of reality God's love unfolds. He will rejoice that he is gaining a clearer understanding of Love's ever-presence and goodness and of man's perfection as Love's idea. He will find himself turning from the limiting beliefs of mortal mind and perceiving that they have no power to hold him in bondage. Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health, "Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea."Science and Health, pp. 323, 324;Science and Health, pp. 323, 324;
The meekness and lack of prejudice in childlike thinking enable one to give up mistaken concepts and be open-minded in considering new ones. They enable him to conquer stubbornness and inflexibility, which smother receptivity. As one makes the effort to stifle these proclivities and be as fair-minded and unprejudiced as he wishes others to be, the understanding he seeks will be at hand.
Although receptivity is a natural quality of man, we have to make a determined effort to bring it to light. This involves denying the suggestion that mortal mind has power to limit our intelligence and unselfed love in any way and realizing that an idea of Mind is forever receptive of all that God imparts.
This is not easy. It requires patient, persistent endeavor. One can't understand the truth of being through a casual reading of the Bible and Science and Health. He needs to study them, sentence by sentence, word by word, ever seeking a clearer comprehension of the deeper meaning. Mortal mind opposes such diligent effort and often tempts one to give up, to conclude that he hasn't the capacity to understand. If one will recognize these lies as delusions of error, face them down, and persist in his study of the truth until he is rewarded with a measure of understanding, he will prove that he actually has the receptivity that Mind has given him.
I recall times when I have spent long hours with my books, striving to gain even a modicum of understanding but with little success. But keeping at it, I have finally experienced the dawning of light illumining the truth in a measure that has made my hours of study extremely worthwhile. Mrs. Eddy points out, "Only by persistent, unremitting, straightforward toil; by turning neither to the right nor to the left, seeking no other pursuit or pleasure than that which cometh from God, can you win and wear the crown of the faithful." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 340Miscellaneous Writings, p. 340
One who masters error's lie of unreceptivity and becomes more clearly aware of his unhindered ability and willingness to receive and understand the truth will be blessed in many ways. He will more readily comprehend what he reads in his study of Christian Science. He will more understandingly grasp what he hears at church services and lectures on this Science, and he will not be inclined to become drowsy. Even more important, he will find that his prayers are more fruitful, for he is realizing with greater clarity the omnipotence of God and the perfection of man and the universe.
Receptivity is native to man. Let's claim it.
