Remembering and forgetting: two important concepts. It's vital to know, though, just what we should remember—and what we ought to forget. And, paradoxically, to remember what is still true, even when we seem to have forgotten it!
Christian Science is an immense help in defining the issue in practical ways. For instance, Science and Health says, "The issues of pain or pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forgetting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance." Science and Health, pp. 392-393. That is a significant "forgetting," and a needless one.
Whether we're new to Christian Science or longtime students, it's more than useful to study the letter of the teaching often and alertly. Why? Partly because we tend to forget its essential points. No matter how sincere we are, in the hurly-burly of modern life or the gush of business activity it seems we can sometimes readily overlook scientific, spiritual facts—for example, the fact that there is neither intelligence nor identity in matter, and that we are spiritual and enduringly perfect as God's emanation. Nevertheless, God is all-knowing Mind, and His knowing is with us hour to hour, and permanently. And such scientific thoughts remain true—in this moment and forever. That they may seem to slip out of our notice temporarily, and our perception of them get as fogged up as windows on a frosty morning, doesn't alter their validity. As we return to them, we again find their power.
What not to forget—the need to pray.
We ought to refer steadily to the Bible, Mary Baker Eddy's works, and other Christian Science literature, because they remind us of bedrock truths essential to remember. For spiritual development, we should stay as clear as we can that, for instance, the divine will is supreme and that there is, in reality, no mortal will; that Spirit is infinite, our real self eternal, God omnipotent. Even though we may at times fail to bear these facts in mind, they stand forever true. We don't have to let everyday events distract us from remembering them. Should a kind of spiritual amnesia seem to set in, we can hold it off, knowing that actually divine intelligence can never slide away out of sight.
Regular study jogs us to reiterate to ourselves that there's no evil power—no animal magnetism—to pull us down and drag us to itself. And that's worth remembering—as we do, vividly, when we disarm the foxy mental suggestions that some phase of evil has authority over us. We can neutralize that suggestion through knowing our inclusion in God, good — our unity with God—and our safety there. A nagging thought might suggest that we have life and being apart from God. But to the extent we're remembering central truths and applying them, we won't fall for that sly lie.
The divine will is supreme.
We forget less, and recall more what we ought to recall, by remembering the spirit and instruction of this By-law in the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy: "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind." Manual, Art. VIII, Sect. 6. It's not that we might just sloppily forget, of ourselves; we might be made to forget.
That forgetting might come along through distraction—for instance, drifting off with the mental wanders, going walkabout in our imagination, or talking lengthily on the telephone about not too much when we could be anchoring our thought in Spirit. Or the forgetting might result from looking too much at television entertainment when we might be looking to spiritual reality more often. Significantly, we might not engage in such diversions wholly of ourselves; we could perhaps be made to admit them into thought. By what? False mental suggestion, the belief that consciousness is mortal and exposed to evil, rather than immortal and divine. But that's not the end of the story. We won't be victimized by mental suggestion, and we'll resist blurred focus, by acknowledging that immortal Mind's seeing is never adrift or askew, and that this Mind is truly our only Mind.
Should it seem we forget things of first importance by having untidy minds and lives, and are wasting time and opportunity, we can be more alive to the fact that we may not be sinking into such wastage wholly of ourselves. And we can do something about it. We can wake up and reject the impositions of animal magnetism, of the entire belief that mind is in matter.
We can do likewise should we notice that our priorities are being rearranged—that we're doing things last (or not at all) that we ought to remember to do first. Or doing first, things it wouldn't matter if we never did at all. Enough is enough! We don't always scramble our priorities of ourselves, but it would seem we can be made to tangle them by animal magnetism. Having exposed and denied its workings, we can recall that each identity is always under the orderly direction of God, all-present Principle. And having affirmed an absolute truth like that, we can prove it.
What reminds us of reality, urges and directs us to stay on the right track, is the Christ, God's saving, spiritual idea. The Christ not only empowers us to seek and remember the best values but to demonstrate them. To some extent, a Christian Science healer is a memory-jogger. When we call such a practitioner to pray for us, we're often encouraged to stick with the great scientific truths of our God-given wholeness and not forget them. We may be reminded of foundational spiritual facts, encouraged to live with them, reminded of why we can't forget them—with the result that we can quickly find peace of mind and be well.
Keeping straight the concepts of remembering and forgetting can be so practical in little as well as big things, as indicated in this observation in Science and Health: "You say that indigestion, fatigue, sleeplessness, cause distressed stomachs and aching heads. Then you consult your brain in order to remember what has hurt you, when your remedy lies in forgetting the whole thing; for matter has no sensation of its own, and the human mind is all that can produce pain." Science and Health, pp. 165-166. The practical issue is right there: forgetting versus remembering!
Many of the incidents we mull over might well be dropped as meaningless trivia instead of carried along as large, vivid realities. The same also with festering little resentments that may crop up through the week. Their remedy may be found in "forgetting the whole thing" and not making a skyscraper out of a matchbox.
The sound practice of forgetting mortal garbage on the basis of its unrealness, and moving on to something better, is reinforced in Paul's own policy: " . . . forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things are are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:13, 14.
Remembering and forgetting are useful human concepts. Considering them in relation to our spiritual progress can help us watch our mental standpoint and filter our thoughts. We're expressing more of the divine Mind when we forget what we shouldn't remember, and when we're regularly recalling what we should recall. This kind of alertness helps us to move beyond the belief in a human mind either forgetting or remembering and to accept the divine Mind's knowing.
Scientifically seen, real Mind, God—the only Mind—neither forgets nor remembers. The one Mind knows. What does it know? Its own timeless being and flawless creation. And we reflect Mind's knowing. Neither human forgetting nor remembering there. No consciousness of matter, mortality, personality, fear, disharmony—only the unfolding consciousness of pure, intelligent ideas.
God is never distracted.
This knowing is never dependent on the brain. It's safe from lapses and decline. To prove this in more acute awareness of what we should know and remember—and in resolving and forgetting mortal unrealities— is within the capacity of each of us. The way to do it is to accept more of our identity as Mind's reflection. Our genuine self is always safe as the expression of Mind, aware only of what's real and good.
(Geoffrey Barratt is a contributing editor.)
