Part 12 (1/2)

80:9 Yet the very periodical containing this sen- tence repeats weekly the a.s.sertion that spirit-communica- tions are our only proofs of immortality.

Mysticism unscientific

80:12 I entertain no doubt of the humanity and philanthropy of many Spiritualists, but I cannot coincide with their views. It is mysticism which gives spiritual- 80:15 ism its force. Science dispels mystery and explains extraordinary phenomena; but Science never removes phenomena from the domain of reason into the 80:18 realm of mysticism.

Physical falsities

It should not seem mysterious that mind, without the aid of hands, can move a table, when we already know 80:21 that it is mind-power which moves both table and hand. Even planchette - the French toy which years ago pleased so many people - attested the con- 80:24 trol of mortal mind over its substratum, called matter.

It is mortal mind which convulses its substratum, matter.

These movements arise from the volition of human belief, 80:27 but they are neither scientific nor rational. Mortal mind produces table-tipping as certainly as table-setting, and believes that this wonder emanates from spirits and elec- 80:30 tricity. This belief rests on the common conviction that mind and matter cooperate both visibly and invisibly, hence that matter is intelligent.

Poor post-mortem evidence

81:1 There is not so much evidence to prove intercommuni- cation between the so-called dead and the living, as there 81:3 is to show the sick that matter suffers and has sensation; yet this latter evidence is destroyed by Mind-science. If Spiritualists understood the 81:6 Science of being, their belief in mediums.h.i.+p would vanish.

No proof of immortality

At the very best and on its own theories, spiritualism can only prove that certain individuals have a continued 81:9 existence after death and maintain their affili- ation with mortal flesh; but this fact affords no certainty of everlasting life. A man's a.s.sertion that 81:12 he is immortal no more proves him to be so, than the op- posite a.s.sertion, that he is mortal, would prove immor- tality a lie. Nor is the case improved when alleged spirits 81:15 teach immortality. Life, Love, Truth, is the only proof of immortality.

Mind's manifestations immortal

Man in the likeness of G.o.d as revealed in Science can- 81:18 not help being immortal. Though the gra.s.s seemeth to wither and the flower to fade, they reappear.

Erase the figures which express number, silence 81:21 the tones of music, give to the worms the body called man, and yet the producing, governing, divine Principle lives on, - in the case of man as truly as in 81:24 the case of numbers and of music, - despite the so-called laws of matter, which define man as mortal. Though the inharmony resulting from material sense hides the 81:27 harmony of Science, inharmony cannot destroy the divine Principle of Science. In Science, man's immortality de- pends upon that of G.o.d, good, and follows as a necessary 81:30 consequence of the immortality of good.

Reading thoughts

That somebody, somewhere, must have known the deceased person, supposed to be the communicator, is 82:1 evident, and it is as easy to read distant thoughts as near.

We think of an absent friend as easily as we do of one 82:3 present. It is no more difficult to read the absent mind than it is to read the present.

Chaucer wrote centuries ago, yet we still read his thought 82:6 in his verse. What is cla.s.sic study, but discernment of the minds of Homer and Virgil, of whose personal exist- ence we may be in doubt?

Impossible intercommunion

82:9 If spiritual life has been won by the departed, they cannot return to material existence, because different states of consciousness are involved, and one 82:12 person cannot exist in two different states of consciousness at the same time. In sleep we do not communicate with the dreamer by our side despite 82:15 his physical proximity, because both of us are either un- conscious or are wandering in our dreams through differ- ent mazes of consciousness.

82:18 In like manner it would follow, even if our departed friends were near us and were in as conscious a state of existence as before the change we call death, that their 82:21 state of consciousness must be different from ours. We are not in their state, nor are they in the mental realm in which we dwell. Communion between them and 82:24 ourselves would be prevented by this difference. The mental states are so unlike, that intercommunion is as impossible as it would be between a mole and a human 82:27 being. Different dreams and different awakenings be- token a differing consciousness. When wandering in Australia, do we look for help to the Esquimaux in their 82:30 snow huts?

In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to 83:1 consider whether it is the human mind or the divine Mind which is influencing one. What the prophets of 83:3 Jehovah did, the wors.h.i.+ppers of Baal failed to do; yet artifice and delusion claimed that they could equal the work of wisdom.

83:6 Science only can explain the incredible good and evil elements now coming to the surface. Mortals must find refuge in Truth in order to escape the error of these latter 83:9 days. Nothing is more antagonistic to Christian Science than a blind belief without understanding, for such a belief hides Truth and builds on error.

Natural wonders

83:12 Miracles are impossible in Science, and here Science takes issue with popular religions. The scientific mani- festation of power is from the divine nature 83:15 and is not supernatural, since Science is an explication of nature. The belief that the universe, in- cluding man, is governed in general by material laws, but 83:18 that occasionally Spirit sets aside these laws, - this be- lief belittles omnipotent wisdom, and gives to matter the precedence over Spirit.

Conflicting standpoints

83:21 It is contrary to Christian Science to suppose that life is either material or organically spiritual. Between Christian Science and all forms of superst.i.tion 83:24 a great gulf is fixed, as impa.s.sable as that be- tween Dives and Lazarus. There is mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind-reading. The latter is a revelation 83:27 of divine purpose through spiritual understanding, by which man gains the divine Principle and explanation of all things. Mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind- 83:30 reading are distinctly opposite standpoints, from which cause and effect are interpreted. The act of reading mortal mind investigates and touches only human beliefs.

84:1 Science is immortal and coordinate neither with the premises nor with the conclusions of mortal beliefs.