Part 41 (2/2)

Substance _versus_ supposition

278:1 Is Spirit the source or creator of matter? Science re- veals nothing in Spirit out of which to create matter.

278:3 Divine metaphysics explains away matter.

Spirit is the only substance and consciousness recognized by divine Science. The material 278:6 senses oppose this, but there are no material senses, for matter has no mind. In Spirit there is no matter, even as in Truth there is no error, and in good no evil. It is 278:9 a false supposition, the notion that there is real substance- matter, the opposite of Spirit. Spirit, G.o.d, is infinite, all. Spirit can have no opposite.

One cause supreme

278:12 That matter is substantial or has life and sensation, is one of the false beliefs of mortals, and exists only in a supposit.i.tious mortal consciousness. Hence, 278:15 as we approach Spirit and Truth, we lose the consciousness of matter. The admission that there can be material substance requires another admission, - 278:18 namely, that Spirit is not infinite and that matter is self- creative, self-existent, and eternal. From this it would follow that there are two eternal causes, warring forever 278:21 with each other; and yet we say that Spirit is supreme and all-presence.

The belief of the eternity of matter contradicts the 278:24 demonstration of life as Spirit, and leads to the conclu- sion that if man is material, he originated in matter and must return to dust, - logic which would prove his an- 278:27 nihilation.

Substance is Spirit

All that we term sin, sickness, and death is a mortal belief. We define matter as error, because it is the oppo- 278:30 site of life, substance, and intelligence. Mat- ter, with its mortality, cannot be substantial if Spirit is substantial and eternal. Which ought to 279:1 be substance to us, - the erring, changing, and dying, the mutable and mortal, or the unerring, immutable, 279:3 and immortal? A New Testament writer plainly de- scribes faith, a quality of mind, as ”the _substance_ of things hoped for.”

Material mortality

279:6 The doom of matter establishes the conclusion that matter, slime, or protoplasm never originated in the immortal Mind, and is therefore not 279:9 eternal. Matter is neither created by Mind nor for the manifestation and support of Mind.

Spiritual tangibility

Ideas are tangible and real to immortal consciousness, 279:12 and they have the advantage of being eternal.

Spirit and matter can neither coexist nor co- operate, and one can no more create the other than 279:15 Truth can create error, or _vice versa_.

In proportion as the belief disappears that life and in- telligence are in or of matter, the immortal facts of 279:18 being are seen, and their only idea or intelligence is in G.o.d. Spirit is reached only through the understand- ing and demonstration of eternal Life and Truth and 279:21 Love.

Pantheistic tendencies

Every system of human philosophy, doctrine, and medicine is more or less infected with the pantheistic 279:24 belief that there is mind in matter; but this belief contradicts alike revelation and right reasoning. A logical and scientific conclusion is reached 279:27 only through the knowledge that there are not two bases of being, matter and mind, but one alone, - Mind.

279:30 Pantheism, starting from a material sense of G.o.d, seeks cause in effect, Principle in its idea, and life and intelligence in matter.

The things of G.o.d are beautiful

280:1 In the infinitude of Mind, matter must be unknown.

Symbols and elements of discord and decay are not prod- 280:3 ucts of the infinite, perfect, and eternal _All_.

From Love and from the light and harmony which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections 280:6 of good can come. All things beautiful and harmless are ideas of Mind. Mind creates and multiplies them, and the product must be mental.

280:9 Finite belief can never do justice to Truth in any direc- tion. Finite belief limits all things, and would compress Mind, which is infinite, beneath a skull bone. Such be- 280:12 lief can neither apprehend nor wors.h.i.+p the infinite; and to accommodate its finite sense of the divisibility of Soul and substance, it seeks to divide the one Spirit into per- 280:15 sons and souls.

Belief in many G.o.ds

Through this error, human belief comes to have ”G.o.ds many and lords many.” Moses declared as Jehovah's 280:18 first command of the Ten: ”Thou shalt have no other G.o.ds before me!” But behold the zeal of belief to establish the opposite error of many 280:21 minds. The argument of the serpent in the allegory, ”Ye shall be as G.o.ds,” urges through every avenue the belief that Soul is in body, and that infinite Spirit, and Life, is 280:24 in finite forms.

Sensationless body

Rightly understood, instead of possessing a sentient material form, man has a sensationless body; and G.o.d, 280:27 the Soul of man and of all existence, being perpetual in His own individuality, harmony, and immortality, imparts and perpetuates these qualities 280:30 in man, - through Mind, not matter. The only excuse for entertaining human opinions and rejecting the Science of being is our mortal ignorance of Spirit, - ignorance 281:1 which yields only to the understanding of divine Science, the understanding by which we enter into the kingdom 281:3 of Truth on earth and learn that Spirit is infinite and supreme. Spirit and matter no more commingle than light and darkness. When one appears, the other dis- 281:6 appears.

G.o.d and His image

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