When we’re doing some spiritual studying, perhaps reading something familiar, it can be tempting to get into an “I already know that” or “I’ve covered that concept before” mode of thinking. But I’ve found that blessings result when I stop myself from falling into that trap and dig deeper. This is important, especially when studying “huge” metaphysical and spiritual concepts. Mary Baker Eddy reminded us of how important deep study is in practicing Christian Science when she wrote, “The time for thinkers has come” on the first page of the preface of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. vii).
One day, while reading Science and Health, I ran across this sentence: “To attend properly the birth of the new child, or divine idea, you should so detach mortal thought from its material conceptions, that the birth will be natural and safe” (p. 463). I’d studied this passage countless times before and how it applies to new beginnings—whether it be the start of a new business, composing a song, or starting a relationship. I figured I already knew what it meant. But rather than being tempted to skip over the citation, I stopped to consider it a bit more.
What really struck me was Mrs. Eddy’s careful usage of the words idea and thought. As I dug further into Eddy’s writings, I found that she writes about idea as not having bodily connotations, but as a term to describe our relationship to God, Spirit. For example, Eddy uses phrases such as “idea of Spirit,” “spiritual idea,” or “idea of God,” but we don’t find phrases such as “mortal idea” or “material idea.” Instead, Eddy uses “mortal thought” or “material thought.” These thoughts are not divinely derived, but are the opposite of what Eddy describes as angels or “God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality” (Science and Health, p. 581). This got me wondering—what is the difference between thought and idea?
