I was expecting a baby! And the Christian Science practitioner I'd called was as delighted with the news as my husband and I were. But as she and I prayed together, I began to realize that while there was something fascinating and delightful developing within me, to view it spiritually was to realize that there was absolutely nothing physical or materially structural about God's creation.
In a sense, the development of what seemed to be a physical child could be seen as the development in my consciousness of a clearer understanding of the true idea of man. Through prayer I could cherish and nurture this idea and expect to see it revealed more clearly. My real labor for the next nine months (and beyond!) was to seek to spiritualize my concept of man and birth and to accept the baby as in truth God's own cherished child.
Something Mrs. Eddy says in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, made me feel that this was not an isolated, personal experience but an integral part of all mankind's struggle for spiritual dominion and freedom from materialism. She writes, "Divine Science deals its chief blow at the supposed material foundations of life and intelligence."Science and Health, p. 535.
I saw that the practitioner had not asked my husband and me to undertake study into concepts such as birth, creation, identity, because a baby was coming to our house, but because those cultivating a spiritual understanding of life must perceive that the most fundamental beliefs about material existence—among them, sexual reproduction, genetics, and embryonic evolution—are actually material myths that do not originate or affect Life, which is God. Being Spirit, He could not have made man through material means or methods. Spirit doesn't rely on dust, ribs, eggs, or any other form of matter to produce His own image and likeness. How does He do it? Mrs. Eddy says: "For God to know, is to be; that is, what He knows must truly and eternally exist. ... He is Mind; and whatever He knows is made manifest, and must be Truth."No and Yes, p. 16.
Mind creates ideas, not mortals. And these ideas do not appear at the end of a birth canal, but through the channels of divine inspiration. Then, to prepare the way for God's idea, we should exercise inspiration and keep the channels of inspiration open wide for His spiritual ideas, which are always appearing.
I'll confess, there were so many little human preparations it seemed necessary to make: a room to paint, equipment to shop for, bootees to knit, announcements ... it was tempting to get all wrapped up in the happy world of babies. But if material belief seems to have its pleasures and anticipations, it also has its pains and frustrations.
If you really want to believe that you're a mortal carrying around another little mortal, you may be sorry when that little mortal starts to pick up weight! Why not just accept from the start that God's idea—the true nature of you and the child—dwells in the divine consciousness, not in a material body or a body within a body. And the Love that is revealing the idea cherishes it with joy and buoyancy. Really, doesn't the true identity of both mother and child exist in divine Mind, where man is completely and effortlessly upheld by God? After all, the Bible represents God as tenderly promising, "I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry ... you."Isa. 46:4.
What's more, isn't each idea in Mind maintained as a distinct entity? God's child isn't dependent upon a material respiratory, circulatory, or digestive system, and can't drain away real substance or interfere with true action. Each idea of God depends on Him for its existence and continuity, and it already includes by reflection the spiritual qualities that express its distinct individuality. Divine Love has ample room for all of its ideas, so no idea is ever found burdening or obstructing another.
Viewing birth as a spiritual, not a physical, process also frees one from the false limitations of fatigue. Spiritual growth is invigorating, strengthening, rejuvenating, not depressing or exhausting. And as we face the sheer physical demands of motherhood, we have to muster the consecration and unselfishness that rule out any desire to indulge the belief of fatigue. With joy we can accept the responsibility of challenging the "supposed material foundations of life and intelligence" in whatever form they take.
Necessary human preparations for the birth must be made, and these are certainly no cause for anxiety or concern. The God-inspired unfolding of the true idea of man necessarily includes all that is needed for each stage of progress. We have only to consult the first chapter of Genesis to learn that the Mind that made man has already prepared the scene for the orderly and enlightened presentation of all good. We can trust that spiritual unfoldment occurs in the safety and serenity of Mind, where only Love and its ideas are present to witness it. Just as Herod was unable to detect when or where the child Jesus was born, or to prevent him from fulfilling his mission, we can be sure that human will, personal domination, and resistance to Christ, Truth, cannot interfere with the natural emergence of our spiritual understanding of God and man.
The best and most practical preparation that can be made for the birth is to follow Science and Health's instructions regarding obstetrics: "To attend properly the birth of the new child, or divine idea, you should so detach mortal thought from its material conceptions, that the birth will be natural and safe."Science and Health, p. 463. In Paul's words, "... be absent from the body, and ... present with the Lord."II Cor. 5:8. Be conscious of divine Mind's, God's, presence and His absolute control over His man. This doesn't mean that we stubbornly resist or hold back from the normal bodily process of giving birth, but as we turn to divine Principle, not physical anatomy, in order to understand the birth process, we see through the material scene to the spiritual reality where man, inseparable from his Maker, has his full heritage as the son of Life. I realized that human birth has more the nature of a dream than any intrinsic reality. Although I understood the importance of cooperating intelligently in the birth process, I also knew that waking to the spiritual idea of birth sheds light on the dream and chases away the shadows of pain and fear that belong only to the dream, not to the true idea of birth.
The more fully we accept the spiritual nature of birth, the more effortlessly we can demonstrate that nothing has occurred from which one needs to recover. Man's genuine Parent, divine Mind, has not been misshapen or injured by the creative process! "For God to know, is to be," and the process of knowing doesn't exhaust Life's energies, rupture its cohesiveness, or interrupt Mind's activity. God's reflection is intact, perfect, strong, and at peace.
It's helpful to remember that spiritual birth is not a single event but a continuing unfolding of Life. Mrs. Eddy writes, "The new birth is not the work of a moment." She also says, "Time may commence, but it cannot complete, the new birth: eternity does this; for progress is the law of infinity."Miscellaneous Writings, p. 15. This spiritual birth is not a setback or an injury from which to recuperate. It is actually the spiritual progress that strengthens, sustains, inspires, and heals. It is not manifested in a loosening or rupturing of man's relationship to God but is expressed humanly in increased obedience to Mind, closer adherence to Truth, and a greater demonstration of Love's unity with its idea, man. Spiritualizing our understanding of what birth really is, in contrast to the material process, brings an entirely new—and deeper—dimension to our lives, and to our children's.
Spiritualizing our understanding of what birth
really is, in contrast to the material process, brings
an entirely new—and deeper—dimension to our
lives, and to our children's.
Spiritualizing our thought of birth is a priceless privilege (not an exorbitant expense). It isn't measured in months, and it doesn't culminate in the birth of a mortal. It isn't a matter of waiting for a baby but of waiting on the Lord, of conquering the belief of life and intelligence in matter. It is the painless labor of understanding that God is Life.
