AN EPILEPTIC CHILD HEALED. A woman restored to health after 12 years of hemorrhaging. A man born blind sees for the first time. A deformed hand completely healed. Jesus performed these and many other healings a couple of thousand years ago through understanding the nature of God, Spirit, and that we are made in the likeness of Spirit. Today similar spiritual healings continue to take place, many recorded in this and other Christian Science magazines. Healings like these can't help but make one challenge long-accepted theories about the nature of matter itself.
In fact, today scientists are questioning theories about matter more than ever before, including the big bang theory about creation. For example, in an article a few years ago in the magazine Natural History, physicist Alan H. Guth noted: ". . . the big bang theory has never really been the theory of a bang at all. It describes the aftermath of a bang—the ongoing ballooning of space itself as the matter of the universe flies apart. But the theory says nothing about what caused this spectacular expansion. It gives not even a clue about what banged, what caused it to bang, or what happened before it banged" ("Genesis: The Sequel," February 2000).
The million-dollar question then is: What banged? In order for the material universe to "bang," matter in some form would already need to be in existence. But how could matter be created out of nothing? Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered the Science of being, posed similar questions: "The Scientist asks, Whence came the first seed, and what made the soil? Was it molecules, or material atoms? Whence came the infinitesimals,—from infinite Mind, or from matter? If from matter, how did matter originate? Was it self-existent? Matter is not intelligent, and thus able to evolve or create itself: it is the very opposite of Spirit, intelligent, self-creative, and infinite Mind. The belief of mind in matter is pantheism. Natural history shows that neither a genus nor a species produces its opposite. God is All, in all. What can be more than All? Nothing: and this is just what I call matter, nothing" (Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, p. 26).
If matter is nothing and isn't truly causative, does that mean existence is fictitious? We obviously all do exist. But if atoms do not originate creation, then something else must cause us to exist, and that creative power must be a form of something other than matter. Mrs. Eddy used the terms, "infinite Mind" and "Spirit" to describe this causative force of all existence, the Creator—the All-in-all.
Because the substance of God is not material, and all of existence emanates from divine Spirit, which is wholly spiritual, we, as God's creation, are also wholly spiritual, not made up of matter at all. Genesis clearly states this fact: "God [Spirit] created man in his own image" (1:27).
So, clearly, the substance of creation cannot consist of matter if God, Spirit, has created the universe and everything in it. Furthermore, a material, molecular theory of creation must necessarily follow a timeline—taking place in a series of events with a "before, during, and after." On the other hand, since divine Mind is spiritual, without any atomic structure at all, time cannot affect God, all intelligence. Mind simply exists. The only "time" for God is the eternal now—there's no before or after to Mind.
Knowing you exist in this eternal now as an expression of God's perfect spiritual being and not as a material mortal awakens you to the wonders of living in the kingdom of heaven, here and now. Your identity as the image of God, created by Spirit, is the only real identity you have. Science and Health explains: "Into the real and ideal man the fleshly element cannot enter" (p. 332). Even an elementary understanding that the substance of our being is spiritual can open the way for healing—even unexpected healing. It has opened the way for me.
For example, one evening we had a pot of peanut oil heating to cook meat and seafood for a family fondue dinner. About halfway through dinner, a family member tripped over the electric cord attached to the pot, and it started to slide off the table. Quickly, without thinking, I reached over and grabbed the pot, immersing my hand in the boiling oil.
At the moment this incident occurred, I had no time to think out any specific prayer. But sometimes more than words make a prayer. And that's what happened in this case. You could say my attitude about the nature of existence formed my prayer. Prior to this incident, I had been thinking deeply about how Mind, not matter, is man's Creator. The concept of being created from a material basis had already begun to give way in my thinking to the understanding that we are only created by Spirit, God, and so our true substance is completely, eternally spiritual, not subject at all to material conditions or theories. So when this happened, I calmly put the pot back in its place and wiped my hand clean with a napkin. Everyone was silent. My daughter, thinking that I must be badly burned, started to cry. I looked at everyone and said, "I am fine. I have no pain or burn."
IF MATTER IS NOTHING and isn't truly causative, does that mean existence is fictitious? We obviously exist. But if atoms do not originate creation, then something else must cause us to exist . . .
I could say this with absolute confidence and sincerity because through my study and prayer prior to this incident, this verse from the Bible had been taking on new meaning to me: "The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted" (Ps. 46:6). In other words, where God is known and understood, the earth (matter) melts or, as I was learning more and more, disappears from thought.
So these ideas had been having an effect on my attitude about the nature of matter itself. If matter is actually nonexistent, I had been realizing, then only the thoughts of God are substantial and can affect me. I exist here and now in only one way—as an expression of divine Mind, not as a material being—so I already knew that as a completely spiritual idea, I could not be burned and would not need to recover from the effects of a burn. Because I had already come to this understanding of my true spiritual substance, the hot oil had no adverse effect on me. That healing was immediate and resulted from my basic understanding of my true, spiritual nature and being, exempt from any material cause and effect.
Along with the deep-thinking scientists of today who continue to question the reality of matter, we all need to open up more and more to the metaphysical fact that we have never been constructed out of matter. We can reject the notion that we will evolve someday from material, molecular beings into spiritual ones. Instead, we can accept the fact that we exist as wholly spiritual beings right now. We always have been, and we always will be, spiritual only. And this understanding can protect us and others from harmful matter-based theories regarding our well-being, just as it protected me from any ill effects from the hot oil.
This experience has encouraged me to keep digging into the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings to continue to advance in my understanding of the spiritual nature of existence. As the world comes more and more to this understanding about reality, humanity will progress out of matter-based theories into the realization that existence is wholly spiritual. The concept that we're the offspring of matter molecules melts away as each of us realizes even a little that the true substance and origin of creation is entirely spiritual, perfect, and free from material conditions.
