Those in the healing practice of Christian Science who have had baby cases sometimes find that when the time comes for delivery, forces seem to work in both directions at once. The result is labor. But eliminate belief in an opposing force and the birth is effortless.
The hour has surely arrived for the spiritual idea we know as Christian Science to be born to the whole world and accepted as its cherished own. Those who know enough of Christian Science to practice it consistently have before them the opportunity to bring forth this spiritual idea. The world needs it, and as the resistance is overcome the new idea will be received with joy and love.
To overcome the resistance, the one attending a birth needs first to recognize and to eliminate his own resistance to the spiritual nature of what is going on. To the degree he is clear in his own thought that his place in attending the birth is not that of a mortal treating another mortal but a spiritual idea acknowledging and adoring the infinite Mind and the manifestation of that Mind, he is able to detect and to dissolve what appears to resist a harmonious birth. A key problem in presenting Christian Science to the world, therefore, is how to identify ourselves as ideas, spiritual, not material.
When a problem seems to defy solution, the answer is often in some point that is obvious—so obvious that we don't think of questioning it. And where is our resistance to our own birth as spiritual ideas of the one Mind? Not, I think, in our failure to discern or to comprehend far-off hidden truths or to understand deep and obscure secrets, but in resistance to the truth we as Christian Scientists think we know best—the truth stated in Mary Baker Eddy's words as part of "the scientific statement of being"—the truth that "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all."Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468; We seem to work at handling everything else—all kinds of influences and isms—but the labor comes because of the seeming force of our own dependence on matter. When undetected, this dependence opposes our realization of the nothingness of matter and the allness of Mind.
We can find signs of this opposition in our presentation of Christian Science to others. Do we simply say, "Just try Christian Science, and your aches and pains will disappear. Your money problems will be solved. You'll be cured of your ailment without having to go through an operation"? Does this promising of easier life in matter forward the birth of the spiritual idea? Doesn't it rather show the value we place on material things? And isn't it time for us to experience the spiritual birth, which will show forth the beauty, the attractiveness, the vitality, of Spirit? How else can we break down the world's resistance to Christian Science?
Jesus' words "The hour is come" lead us to what may be the most significant of all analogies. In John 12 we read: "And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." And he goes on, "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." John 12:23-25;
Christ Jesus was, of course, speaking of his crucifixion and resurrection that were to come. But his reference to our attitude toward our life in this world shows that he was prophesying much more than a coming event. He was explaining what happens to what we think of as our material lives when we turn and search for life in Spirit.
His crucifixion and his resurrection illustrate dramatically how our progress Spiritward comes only as we bury our sense of material existence. And it points specifically to that essential factor in the progress of Christian Science at this time—our own consciousness of ourselves as spiritual beings.
Unrestricted flow of Mind's ideas
When Jesus fed the five thousand, it was not a matter of how many loaves, how many fishes, how many people. And if he were here today considering how to feed a hungry world with spiritual truths, it would not be a matter of how many church members, how many practitioners, how many people. The Christ-idea he exemplified—the true idea of Life and Love—includes all in the infinite One. And the law of Life and Love he practiced could not fail to interpret that true idea in the way that meets the human need, whatever it seems to be.
Christian Science is the law of Life and Love. It interprets the truth to us today, revealing, in words we can understand, the nonexistence of matter and the grand realities of Mind.
When a grain of wheat is put into the ground, it appears to be dead, but it is not. The result is a plant that produces perhaps hundreds of grains of wheat. The result of the death of the belief that one is a material being is a multiplication of ideas already being fed by divine Love. As our mortal sense of persons—with its belief of life, truth, intelligence, substance in matter—dies, and we bury it, physical sense will yield to the metaphysical, and feeding the multitudes with the truths of Christian Science will no longer be a matter of numbers.
"The hour is come" for people in all parts of the world to catch the spirit of Christian Science, to turn toward it, and find the truth. "The hour is come" for Churches of Christ, Scientist, throughout the world to increase their influence in their communities and their nations. "The hour is come" for individuals to enter the practice of Christian Science and to do healing work that is too bright to be hidden under a bushel.
Let's consider the need for practitioners. What really moves a person to enter the practice? One may decide he wants to practice because of his gratitude to God for what he has gained from Christian Science. He loves God. He loves the Christian Science movement. He wants to be part of it. These are good motives, but are they good enough to make a successful practitioner?
"Except a corn of wheat . . . die, it abideth alone.'" Except the individual who decides to go into the practice loses his sense of life in matter, he sits in an office alone. No amount of mere enthusiasm for the good thing that Christian Science is, or good intentions alone, will make a successful practitioner. But when an individual finds in his concept of himself that enough of the human sense has been buried, or subordinated to the divine—that he no longer finds life, truth, intelligence, substance in matter—he has no life to live but the life of a practitioner. There is nothing else for him to do. Paul expressed it, "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. 3:3;
Mrs. Eddy says further in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, "The death of a false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic matter, is what reveals man and Life, harmonious, real, and eternal." Science and Health, p. 296; Can we honestly work and pray for the death of our material sense so that Life will be revealed? There is no end to where we can go in the direction of giving up a material sense of life, and there is no limit to the effect we will have as we do this.
Reaching humanity
We seem to be happy to accept Jesus' resurrection as our resurrection. But are we happy to accept his crucifixion as our crucifixion? In Miscellaneous Writings, speaking of Jesus' cry on the cross, Mrs. Eddy says: "Jesus as the son of man was human: Christ as the Son of God was divine. This divinity was reaching humanity through the crucifixion of the human,—that momentous demonstration of God, in which Spirit proved its supremacy over matter." Mis., p. 63; As our true nature, the Christ, rises higher in our own view of ourselves, others will see that the Christ is their true nature. The light we reflect will cause them to feel something of their own infinite possibilities, their freedom, the love of God that is their very being.
If we are going to reach our neighbor, our community, our world, with the truth of Christian Science, we need to go beyond methods that are aimed at merely increasing the number of Christian Scientists. This is in no way to suggest that appropriate efforts to promote Christian Science should be abandoned or that we should simply sit still and wait for the salvation of the Lord. But instead of just passing out little bits of fish and bread—giving of our present limited knowledge of the truth—should we not prepare ourselves so that what we are passing out is what Jesus gave to the multitude? It must have been the pure, spiritual idea of infinite Mind, which the Christ, Truth, interpreted for each individual present as the food he needed. And this food comes now from the divine Mind as fresh, new spiritual ideas we ourselves see for the first time. They come to us, and we recognize them because we have opened our hearts to the flow of ideas from divine Love to man.
As we encourage an individual to be a student of Christian Science, should we be telling him of its benefits to him as a mortal, material person or of the truth of being? Is the truth of being less interesting, attractive, or beneficial than the satisfaction of personal material wants? If we believe it is, don't we need to be reborn before our light can impart the value of Truth?
And the Christian Scientist who is contemplating the practice—should he be thinking in terms of the number of patients he might have or of what life, truth, intelligence, substance, really are? When it is clear to him that his sense of life, truth, intelligence, and substance are actually—not theoretically, but actually—more spiritual than material, he will find his sense of life in "divinity . . . reaching humanity through the crucifixion of the human,—that momentous demonstration of God, in which Spirit proved its supremacy over matter." With such a sense of life, one could not possibly lack opportunities to serve as practitioner.
Now how is the individual Christian Scientist going to gain this more spiritual sense of life? Certainly not by being told how easy it is to practice this Science, but by becoming conscious of the truth of spiritual life, intelligence, substance. And to do this, the individual needs to cross the clear line between the theoretical Scientist and the practical Scientist, between the one who is sure he knows the answers from the textbook but does little in the way of actual healing, and the one who perhaps talks little and heals much. The practical and successful one comprehends the message of the Bible, and particularly the message of Jesus.
The theoretical Scientist regards Christian Science only as a set of rules to learn—and when you apply them, you get automatic results. But the practical Scientist sees it as much more. Mrs. Eddy says, "Christian Science may absorb the attention of sage and philosopher, but the Christian alone can fathom it." Science and Health, p. 556; Now what is the Christian? I see the Christian as one who has some sense of the truth of being as it is expressed through the history recorded in the Bible—the struggle of that portion of humanity that believed in God, always looking for a higher and yet higher hope until it was finally recognized in the embodiment of Truth. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16;
A Christian who believes this much believes a great deal. So a Scientist who ignores this much ignores a great deal. None of us can fathom Christian Science without being thorough Christians. When we feel the love of God and the power of Truth shining through mortal consciousness, revealing itself in all periods of human history, we can begin to comprehend the scientific sense of life, truth, intelligence, and substance—not in matter, but entirely spiritual.
Our place in the continuing revelation
To practice this Science and to know what we are doing, we need an ever-conscious sense of our place in this continuing revelation of Truth. To say that you and I, when we give treatment in Christian Science, are merely applying a truth of the nothingness of matter and the allness of Mind to the diseased condition we seem to be facing, is not enough. The reason it is not enough is that only a human mind is saying it. It becomes enough when Truth proclaims it.
The ever-present Christ, Truth, has been appearing to human consciousness through human history. So we have Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Samuel, David, and so on; we have Jesus and the apostles; we have the discovery and founding of Christian Science by Mrs. Eddy. And now we have this practitioner giving treatment in this case today. Practitioner and patient have arrived at this point in history—the history of human consciousness yielding to the ever-present Christ, Truth. When we see this, we never wonder if we can handle the case.
As we study Mrs. Eddy's references to the Bible, and to Jesus especially, we see that she viewed her own life and work in the light of scriptural revelation, and surely this is how we should view our life and work. As Christians, we fathom the truth of Christian Science. As Christian Scientists, we learn from Jesus that the corn of wheat, the belief that we are mortals living in material bodies, must die if we are to be able to find our life and have it bear fruit.
In that wonderful article in Unity of Good, "Suffering from Others' Thoughts," Mrs. Eddy says: "The only conscious existence in the flesh is error of some sort,— sin, pain, death,—a false sense of life and happiness. Mortals, if at ease in so-called existence, are in their native element of error, and must become dis-eased, disquieted, before error is annihilated." She goes on to say of Jesus: "His persecutors said mockingly, 'Save thyself, and come down from the cross.' This was the very thing he was doing, coming down from the cross, saving himself after the manner that he had taught, by the law of Spirit's supremacy; and this was done through what is humanly called agony." Un., pp. 57-58;
Are we afraid of the crucifixion of the flesh? Are we afraid to suffer what is "humanly called agony"? People thought Jesus was staying on the cross and that he died there. But he was coming down from the cross. He was leaving behind what people thought was his identity. He was giving up what he himself knew he must surrender because it was not his true identity. And he told us, "He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."Matt. 10:39;
Mrs. Eddy writes: "The followers of Christ drank his cup. Ingratitude and persecution filled it to the brim; but God pours the riches of His love into the understanding and affections, giving us strength according to our day." Science and Health, p. 5. As we overcome our own fear of the crucifixion of our material sense of life, our clear consciousness of immortal Life will allay others' fear of the scientific truth of being. Our Life is God, our identity is successful identity, limitless identity— expressive of Life. Our work as Christian Scientists is much more than one-to-one or so many patients a day or handing out textbooks or literature. Though we may do all these things, our real activity is in the consciousness of the Christ, Truth. It is in "the scientific statement of being," understood. It is in our consciousness of our place in the revelation of Truth, the revelation of Science, the revelation of the nothingness of life, truth, intelligence, substance in matter, and of the allness of Mind.
As we come to know the truth, we will find that "the hour" has truly come when Truth will establish the kingdom of God on earth; and we will know that we have more than enough of whatever we need, to do what must be done.
My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. . . .
As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven,
and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth,
and maketh it bring forth and bud,
that it may give seed to the sower,
and bread to the eater:
so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
it shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Isaiah 55:8, 10, 11
