In the study and practice of Christian Science we can begin to comprehend the difference between mortal thoughts (sometimes erroneously assumed to be ideas, though they counterfeit the true) and spiritual ideas, which proceed from God, divine Mind. We become more and more willing and able to exchange what appear to be mortal thoughts or objects for spiritual concepts. We gain spiritual alertness that recognizes the temporal nature of the mortal in contrast to the eternal substance of the immortal reality. We grow in our understanding and ability to perceive that beyond the things we see with our physical eyes is the real, substantive idea of divine Mind, Spirit. We then prove that holding this perfect idea in consciousness as the only reality brings harmony, completeness, and health to our present human experience. It preserves and protects all human activity through the right idea of safety in Spirit.
Study of the Bible, together with the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, discloses that all true, spiritual ideas come from God. Then, if the biblical assurance of one supreme God is accepted, we can grasp the significance of divine Mind as omnipotent and omnipresent. We can begin to prove the supremacy of Spirit in our daily activity and in control of our health. We discover by practice and proof that we can turn to divine Mind for solutions to our daily problems, for intelligence and guidance, and for the healing of bodily ills. Ideas to be used moment by moment harmonize and govern our every activity and bless us and others.
A student of Christian Science was called early one morning by a young friend who asked for help for her husband (not a student of this religion). After spending a day and night in discomfort and pain resulting from a case of what appeared to be influenza, he had agreed to have prayerful help—Christian Science treatment. He hoped to be able to go to work that day. The practitioner turned quickly to divine Mind, God, for the right idea of man. This idea is spiritual, not material. She exchanged the concept of bodily activity for the idea of purely spiritual activity governed by divine Mind. She realized that Mind's activity is perfect, harmonious, without materiality. She denied that man is a mortal, controlled by mortal mind. She knew all to be Mind and its harmonious action. Divine Mind controls all. The man was healed and spent a good day at work.
The integrity of a right idea is in God, the all-wise Mind, or Spirit. Its substance is spiritual, and the idea is not subject to the supposititious influence or action of erring mortal thought. The orderly unfoldment of divine Mind cannot be tampered with. "The only intelligence or substance of a thought, a seed, or a flower," writes Mrs. Eddy, "is God, the creator of it." Science and Health, p. 508;
The Bible tells of men and women who heard "the word of the Lord"—who perceived the divine origin and nature of ideas that came to them. Remembering their trust in God's Word can strengthen our faith in the completeness of divine ideas and their capacity to fulfill themselves and to have their effect in human experience. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews must have had some understanding of this truth when he wrote, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb. 11:1;
Faith, rooted in the spiritual understanding that God is the only Mind conceiving true ideas, the only creator, the source and substance of all genuine thought, does not degenerate into doubt, fear, or misgiving. It rests upon and is nourished by spiritual understanding, by the unfolding of spiritual ideas in human consciousness. Having no connection with a supposititious material god or mind, ideas operate in human consciousness according to divine law. They can be cherished and implemented without restriction, limitation, or burden.
Mrs. Eddy writes, "The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress." On the same page she continues, "Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear." Science and Health, p. 506.
Those who wonder where to discover an idea in the first place can find it in calm, spiritualized thought—enlightened by faith in divine intelligence. This exalted thought provides the view of the new idea. While it might appear at first obscured and limited, wrapped in the swaddling clothes of human apprehension, it is cradled in the arms of divine Love and imbued with the power and action of immortal Mind.
All things, all action and speech, are primarily thought. Whatever appears as human action or speech originates in human thought. And thought, spiritualized by divine ideas, endows speech and action with intelligence, power, and grace.
Health is a spiritual idea. There is only one right idea of health. The substance of that idea is Mind, "the creator of it." Matter has no mind, no intelligence, no substance. Therefore health is not in matter or subject to material conditions. Matter cannot impair health or improve it. The idea of health is forever held intact in Mind.
The substance of true home is the right idea entirely separate from what is seen as home by the material senses. Home is an infinite, ever-unfolding idea, or concept, of divine Mind. This idea cannot be imposed or encroached upon by discord, lack, or evil of any kind emanating from mortal mind's belief. Home's integrity is guaranteed by immutable Mind.
Church is, first, idea, established firmly in Mind, operating under the divine decree of the immortal law of God. The human institution or organization, comprised of many functions and activities, has behind it the spiritual idea of Church, whose substance is Mind. In proportion as this spiritual idea is acknowledged and demonstrated, it embraces the human institution, guaranteeing its effectiveness and integrity.
Ideas are continuously unfolding in true consciousness. There is no insufficient supply of them. These ideas are more quickly seen by those who seek to dematerialize and spiritualize their thought. A way to increase their appearing is to identify oneself daily with the source of all wisdom and intelligence, the divine Mind, God.
Man is the infinite idea of Mind. Recognizing this as the spiritual fact of our being, we can prove ourselves to be imbued with true intelligence. We can know ourselves at one with the source and substance of all thought and ideas. We can trust God with our destiny, which is to reflect the power and action of our creator, our Father-Mother God. Our faith in this understanding is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" by the material senses but demonstrated in human experience through the activity of the sovereign power of the one Mind, God.
