AN ANCIENT TALE GOES LIKE THIS: As a man and his camel cross the desert, a great sand storm arises. The man jumps off the camel and raises his tent. Crawling inside, he leaves the camel out in the storm. Soon the camel sticks his nose inside the tent. "Please, sir, may I just put my nose inside? The storm is so great and the sand makes me sneeze." The man, feeling sorry for the camel, allows him to put his nose inside the tent. Soon the camel asks permission to put his head inside because the sand hurts his eyes. Kindness overcomes the man and he moves over to allow room for the camel's head. Soon the camel just wants a little more room for his front legs and so on until the entire camel is inside the tent, and the man is outside in the storm.
What I see in this story is the subtlety of what Mary Baker Eddy called "mortal mind suggestion." She used this term in her writings to describe material, mortal-based thinking as opposed to spiritual, divine consciousness.
Daily, this mortal mind knocks at the door of our consciousness and asks to come in. It says, "I'm sick." "I'm tired." "I ache." "I'm injured." Through human reasoning, we see no harm in going along with this line of thinking, at least once in a while. However, if we are not alert to this type of reasoning, like the man and his camel, we will soon find ourselves, perhaps, with more than we want to handle.
