Every wakeful moment, each of us is engaged in some form of conversation—either a mental dialogue with ourselves or a verbal one with someone else. Often this conversation is based on what we have been educated to believe about ourselves and, in a more fundamental way, about the nature of life itself as being subject to turmoil and troubles. Haven't we all found ourselves thinking, at one time or another, "I'm sick," "I'm in pain," "I'm all alone," "I'm unhappy," "I'm getting old," "I need more money," and so forth? Accepting such thoughts as accurate can make one feel as though he is a hostage, a material organism constantly captive to situations beyond his control.
If we find this is the dialogue we are having, there is something we can do to free ourselves. According to the Bible, God has given each of us the ability and the dominion to lift ourselves above self-centered thinking and living. And Christian Science shows how this is possible, by bringing to light our unity with God, Spirit, the only Ego, or I am. God is forever declaring His own true nature and is expressing Himself in man, God's spiritual reflection, or expression. As Mrs. Eddy explains in Science and Health, "The one Ego, the one Mind or Spirit called God, is infinite individuality, which supplies all form and comeliness and which reflects reality and divinity in individual spiritual man and things." Science and Health, p. 281.
The study and practice of Christian Science bring joy and understanding, because one learns how to think rightly about oneself, one's neighbor, and the world. By learning who and what we are, we can then see our fellowman in the same light of Truth.
How important it is to acknowledge our spiritual, perfect identity as a present fact and follow the Biblical admonition to let our "conversation [our way of speaking and acting] be as it becometh the gospel of Christ." Phil. 1:27.
The world's tendency is to think of man only as a material organism; and of matter in general as the substance of all that exists. We are constantly told through the spoken and written word that life is material, difficult, and that man often expresses more evil than good.
Such materially oriented thinking suggests it is impossible for one to watch his thinking and conversation 100 percent of the time. But the more we watch for and accept only that which is spiritually true concerning what we call our individual world, the more we will contribute to peace and bring safety, happiness, and health to the world as a whole. What is spiritually true is that God, infinite Mind, fills all space and is perfect and complete in the manifestation of Himself. Man is the manifestation, the objectification, of this Mind. The pure, true expression of Life has been wrongly perceived as material by the human mind. But the real man, the expression of God's being, manifests supreme intelligence. The spiritual man always knows who he is because he always knows his creator to be God. Thus, this man thinks and acts rightly.
All too often we accept at face value whatever is being presented as the human condition, forgetting that the scene we see played out has everything to do with whether we are accepting the impressions of mortal mind or acknowledging the spiritual facts of immortal Mind, God. As we hold thought to Christ, the true idea of God, we'll find more of the spiritual qualities such as health, wholeness, beauty, intelligence, in our experience. As Truth penetrates darkened mortal thought, the beliefs of pain, disease, and discord of every nature lose reality in thought and disappear. The realization of the spiritual facts of being acts as law to our experience and brings harmony into visible expression. Did not Christ Jesus promise, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"? John 8:32.
As children of God, we each have an obligation to our Father-Mother God, as well as to ourselves, to challenge the aggressive mental suggestions that come to us claiming man is material, separated from God, doomed to suffer and die. We must vigorously challenge such thoughts because the fact is they are lies! By gaining an understanding that man is spiritually immortal now, the pure and eternal expression of Life and Love, we can enter our protest and defeat these lies.
The daily experiences involving sickness, disease, discord, are mortal illusions, the acceptance of the lying testimony of the five material senses. These errors of thought have no law to force us to think, act, or speak falsely. We can prove that the only law operating and governing man's experience is God's harmonious law of Love.
The spiritual man always knows who he is because he always knows his creator to be God. Thus, this man thinks and acts rightly.
Keeping our thought in heaven—aligned with Truth—applies to all areas of human life. Sometimes we allow ourselves to become curious about what others are doing or not doing, and why they are doing it or not doing it, and we find ourselves participating in idle gossip. We might even assign ourselves the privilege of being a judge, to sentence our friends, neighbors, family, and church members by the criticism we entertain about them. An unchecked tendency to see faults in others opens the door of thought for us to express these same faults, and to accept the same suggestions of lack, sickness, disease, unhappiness. Having the right to choose what we will think, we can keep the door of conscious thought closed to curiosity, gossip, unkindness, hatred, envy, jealousy, impatience, rash judgment, and unfair criticism, and open to the fruits of the Spirit that Paul speaks of—"love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Gal. 5:22, 23.
In group gatherings, such as business meetings, church meetings, and social functions, the verbal discussions sometimes tend to become negative or even explosive in nature. When we find ourselves in a situation that makes us uncomfortable because it is not up to the higher standard of thinking, what can we do about it? If we are spiritually alert in acknowledging our oneness with God, we can bring healing to the situation, as I found when I had to attend a regular meeting that I had been dreading because of the depressing level of conversation that usually took place.
The night before the meeting I woke feeling quite ill. After praying for some time without relief, I suddenly realized that my discomfort was really being caused by the mental opposition I was feeling about attending the meeting. I stopped focusing on healing the physical pain and began to hold to the spiritual fact that there is only one Mind, God, and that Mind is governing all. I knew that each individual who would be at the meeting was under divine Love's control. Divine Love could only be manifested in beauty and grace, and the conversation of Love could only be interesting and informative. I fell asleep holding to these truths.
When I woke the next morning I felt fine. I attended the meeting and enjoyed being there because the discussion was interesting and informative. I learned that if we're committed to keeping our thought and conversation focused on Christ, Truth, we can heal a situation before we enter it, or even after we find ourselves in it.
We can experience more of the kingdom of God, which, Christ Jesus assured us, is "within" us, within individual consciousness. According to our proportionate admission of the good and true nature of being, we will realize we can indeed dwell in that secret place of the Most High—in heavenly bliss, right here, right now.
