Part 42 (1/2)
Error presupposes man to be both mind and matter.
Divine Science contradicts the corporeal senses, rebukes 281:9 mortal belief, and asks: What is the Ego, whence its origin and what its destiny? The Ego-man is the reflection of the Ego-G.o.d; the Ego-man 281:12 is the image and likeness of perfect Mind, Spirit, divine Principle.
The one Ego, the one Mind or Spirit called G.o.d, is 281:15 infinite individuality, which supplies all form and come- liness and which reflects reality and divinity in individual spiritual man and things.
281:18 The mind supposed to exist in matter or beneath a skull bone is a myth, a misconceived sense and false conception as to man and Mind. When we put off the 281:21 false sense for the true, and see that sin and mortality have neither Principle nor permanency, we shall learn that sin and mortality are without actual origin or right- 281:24 ful existence. They are native nothingness, out of which error would simulate creation through a man formed from dust.
The true new idea
281:27 Divine Science does not put new wine into old bottles, Soul into matter, nor the infinite into the finite. Our false views of matter perish as we grasp 281:30 the facts of Spirit. The old belief must be cast out or the new idea will be spilled, and the in- spiration, which is to change our standpoint, will be 282:1 lost. Now, as of old, Truth casts out evils and heals the sick.
Figures of being
282:3 The real Life, or Mind, and its opposite, the so-called material life and mind, are figured by two geometrical symbols, a circle or sphere and a straight 282:6 line. The circle represents the infinite with- out beginning or end; the straight line represents the finite, which has both beginning and end. The sphere 282:9 represents good, the self-existent and eternal individuality or Mind; the straight line represents evil, a belief in a self-made and temporary material existence. Eternal 282:12 Mind and temporary material existence never unite in figure or in fact.
Opposite symbols
A straight line finds no abiding-place in a curve, and a 282:15 curve finds no adjustment to a straight line. Similarly, matter has no place in Spirit, and Spirit has no place in matter. Truth has no home in 282:18 error, and error has no foothold in Truth. Mind cannot pa.s.s into non-intelligence and matter, nor can non-intel- ligence become Soul. At no point can these opposites 282:21 mingle or unite. Even though they seem to touch, one is still a curve and the other a straight line.
There is no inherent power in matter; for all that is 282:24 material is a material, human, mortal thought, always governing itself erroneously.
Truth is the intelligence of immortal Mind. Error is 282:27 the so-called intelligence of mortal mind.
Truth is not inverted
Whatever indicates the fall of man or the opposite of G.o.d or G.o.d's absence, is the Adam-dream, which is neither 282:30 Mind nor man, for it is not begotten of the Father. The rule of inversion infers from error its opposite, Truth; but Truth is the light which 283:1 dispels error. As mortals begin to understand Spirit, they give up the belief that there is any true existence 283:3 apart from G.o.d.
Source of all life and action
Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to r.e.t.a.r.d or check its perpetual and harmonious 283:6 action. Mind is the same Life, Love, and wis- dom ”yesterday, and to-day, and forever.”
Matter and its effects - sin, sickness, and 283:9 death - are states of mortal mind which act, react, and then come to a stop. They are not facts of Mind. They are not ideas, but illusions. Principle is absolute. It 283:12 admits of no error, but rests upon understanding.
But what say prevalent theories? They insist that Life, or G.o.d, is one and the same with material life so- 283:15 called. They speak of both Truth and error as _mind_, and of good and evil as _spirit_. They claim that to be life which is but the objective state of material sense, - 283:18 such as the structural life of the tree and of material man, - and deem this the manifestation of the one Life, G.o.d.
Spiritual structure
283:21 This false belief as to what really const.i.tutes life so detracts from G.o.d's character and nature, that the true sense of His power is lost to all who cling to 283:24 this falsity. The divine Principle, or Life, can- not be practically demonstrated in length of days, as it was by the patriarchs, unless its Science be accurately 283:27 stated. We must receive the divine Principle in the under- standing, and live it in daily life; and unless we so do, we can no more demonstrate Science, than we can teach and 283:30 ill.u.s.trate geometry by calling a curve a straight line or a straight line a sphere.
Are mentality, immortality, consciousness, resident in 284:1 matter? It is not rational to say that Mind is infinite, but dwells in finiteness, - in matter, - or that matter is 284:3 infinite and the medium of Mind.
Mind never limited
If G.o.d were limited to man or matter, or if the infinite could be circ.u.mscribed within the finite, G.o.d would be 284:6 corporeal, and unlimited Mind would seem to spring from a limited body; but this is an impossibility. Infinite Mind can have no starting-point, 284:9 and can return to no limit. It can never be in bonds, nor be fully manifested through corporeality.
Material recognition impossible
Is G.o.d's image or likeness matter, or a mortal, sin, 284:12 sickness, and death? Can matter recognize Mind?
Can infinite Mind recognize matter? Can the infinite dwell in the finite or know aught un- 284:15 like the infinite? Can Deity be known through the material senses? Can the material senses, which re- ceive no direct evidence of Spirit, give correct testimony 284:18 as to spiritual life, truth, and love?
The answer to all these questions must forever be in the negative.
Our physical insensibility to Spirit
284:21 The physical senses can obtain no proof of G.o.d. They can neither see Spirit through the eye nor hear it through the ear, nor can they feel, taste, or smell Spirit.