The teachings of Christian Science place great emphasis on the importance of exercising spiritual sense if we would begin to comprehend the true nature of God's universe and discover our own purpose in the divine order of being. To some, however, this frequently unrecognized, though always innate, capacity called "spiritual sense" may not seem like something that would have much relationship to everyday life. Yet, spiritual sense actually makes all the difference if we would hope to lift our lives beyond the dullness and emptiness of routine living—the kind of living that so often is tethered to a limited, material perception of reality.
Spiritual sense isn't in any way mystical or mysterious, nor is it accessible only to a few specially gifted and talented individuals. It's not a psychic phenomenon. It isn't the product of New Age transcendentalism or crystal power or narcotic-induced hallucinations. Certainly, spiritual sense may transcend the common leadings and leanings of a finite, mortal perspective of existence, but it is never flighty, fanciful, imaginary.
Spiritual sense is real, dependable, practical, available to every man, woman, and child. And it is wonderful, in the original meaning of that word as full of wonder. Spiritual sense is a truly remarkable power, a divine impulsion, a force that animates us and infuses our lives with all that is good and beautiful, worthy and valuable. There are no fleeting responses, casual graces, or temporary values attributed to spiritual sense. Spiritual sense communicates the substance, permanence, and immediacy of divine reality. It opens the very windows of heaven and shows us the blessings of joy, peace, and spiritual purpose, which God is already pouring out for His children.
In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, "Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God." Science and Health, p. 209 This is the God-bestowed capacity through which we can actually see the light of divine Mind and comprehend what it really means to be the sons and daughters of God, His pure likeness.
Spiritual sense isn't in any
way mystical or mysterious,
nor is it accessible only to
a few specially gifted and
talented individuals. It isn't
the product of New Age
transcendentalism or crystal
power or narcotic-induced
hallucinations. Spiritual
sense is real, dependable,
practical, available to every
man, woman, and child.
It's a sad commentary on human experience that so much of what people come to accept—and expect—in their lives, when perceptions are based in materiality, is ultimately pointless or confining or just plain wrong. Yet as we turn to God, divine Mind, in prayer, spiritual sense informs us of something infinitely better—the spiritual reality of God, man, and all creation. We behold God as the wholly good creator, the supreme power, the omnipotent intelligence governing the universe with love and grace. We also discover man's pure goodness, wholeness, vigor, vitality, strength, and dominion as the highest idea of God.
This truth of being, of man's relationship to God, is what the mission of Christ Jesus proclaimed to humanity. At one point in his ministry, the Saviour had said to the Jews, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12
This had, however, incensed the Pharisees, and perhaps that was understandable. For here was a man who, to all outward appearances, was but a humble carpenter from a rather insignificant little town out in the provinces. Those upper-class, sophisticated, and highly educated Pharisees may have thought that Jesus could hardly have had the kind of background or training to prepare him to make such a claim. Yet here he was, they must have thought, making this preposterous assertion that he was "the light of the world"! Follow him and have "the light of life"? It isn't difficult to imagine why the Pharisees reviled the claims Jesus made.
Of course, Jesus was so much more than what the Pharisees were willing to see in him. But wouldn't the words of our Saviour always seem preposterous to material-mindedness, whether two thousand years ago or in the 1980s? Only spiritual sense could ever begin to catch the real significance of Jesus' teachings. Only spiritual sense could ever follow in that "light of life," the light of Mind. And as Jesus proved, to have the light of divine Life is to find the way of salvation, of liberation, from sin, sickness, and mortality.
It's no wonder that there is such healing and redemption in exercising our spiritual sense to see the light of Mind. In this light we realize that freedom and joy and peace are actually natural to God's man— to all of us. Science and Health explains the results of this spiritual seeing: "As mortals gain more correct views of God and man, multitudinous objects of creation, which before were invisible, will become visible. When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness." And on the same page is this conclusion: "When we learn the way in Christian Science and recognize man's spiritual being, we shall behold and understand God's creation,—all the glories of earth and heaven and man." Science and Health, p. 264
That's what spiritual sense does for people. That's what the "conscious, constant capacity" to see the light of Mind is really about—we come to behold "all the glories of earth and heaven and man." This is true vision, true perception, true seeing. And this spiritual seeing is a necessary and potent force in all spiritual progress and Christian healing.
Continuing steadfast in our prayer, in love and humility, in a willingness to yield to divine direction, in fidelity to what is good and pure, we will progressively come to know what it means—for our own lives and for humanity—to have God's universe revealed to us. As with the man we read about in the New Testament account who had been born without sight and whom Christ Jesus had fully healed, we too will rejoice: "One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." John 9:25
As spiritual sense opens up our lives to more of God's essential goodness, there will no longer be the blindness of heart or mind or spirit to tie us to the despair and frustration of materiality. And through spiritual sense we are empowered to help others—to help brighten the dark places in human thought, bring comfort to the sorrowing, heal the sick. Seeing the light of Mind will fill our lives with purpose, direction, meaning, and the simple joy of living in God's universe—the kingdom of heaven that is always at hand.
