Part 75 (1/2)

Hypnotic surgery

528:15 Here falsity, error, credits Truth, G.o.d, with inducing a sleep or hypnotic state in Adam in order to perform a surgical operation on him and thereby create 528:18 woman. This is the first record of magnet- ism. Beginning creation with darkness instead of light, - materially rather than spiritually, - error now simu- 528:21 lates the work of Truth, mocking Love and declar- ing what great things error has done. Beholding the creations of his own dream and calling them real and 528:24 G.o.d-given, Adam - _alias_ error - gives them names.

Afterwards he is supposed to become the basis of the creation of woman and of his own kind, calling them 528:27 _mankind_, - that is, a kind of man.

Mental midwifery

But according to this narrative, surgery was first per- formed mentally and without instruments; 528:30 and this may be a useful hint to the medical faculty. Later in human history, when the forbidden 529:1 fruit was bringing forth fruit of its own kind, there came a suggestion of change in the _modus operandi_, - 529:3 that man should be born of woman, not woman again taken from man. It came about, also, that instruments were needed to a.s.sist the birth of mortals. The first 529:6 system of suggestive obstetrics has changed. Another change will come as to the nature and origin of man, and this revelation will destroy the _dream_ of existence, 529:9 reinstate reality, usher in Science and the glorious fact of creation, that both man and woman proceed from G.o.d and are His eternal children, belonging to no lesser 529:12 parent.

_Genesis_ iii. 1-3. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord G.o.d [Jehovah] had 529:15 made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath G.o.d said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of 529:18 the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, G.o.d hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Mythical serpent

529:21 Whence comes a talking, lying serpent to tempt the children of divine Love? The serpent enters into the metaphor only as evil. We have nothing in the 529:24 animal kingdom which represents the species described, - a talking serpent, - and should rejoice that evil, by whatever figure presented, contradicts itself and 529:27 has neither origin nor support in Truth and good. Seeing this, we should have faith to fight all claims of evil, be- cause we know that they are worthless and unreal.

Error or Adam

529:30 Adam, the synonym for error, stands for a belief of material mind. He begins his reign over man some- 530:1 what mildly, but he increases in falsehood and his days become shorter. In this development, the im- 530:3 mortal, spiritual law of Truth is made manifest as forever opposed to mortal, material sense.

Divine providence

In divine Science, man is sustained by G.o.d, the divine 530:6 Principle of being. The earth, at G.o.d's command, brings forth food for man's use. Knowing this, Jesus once said, ”Take no thought for your life, 530:9 what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink,” - presuming not on the prerogative of his creator, but recognizing G.o.d, the Father and Mother of all, as able to feed and clothe 530:12 man as He doth the lilies.

_Genesis_ iii. 4, 5. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for G.o.d doth know that in the day 530:15 ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as G.o.ds, knowing good and evil.

Error's a.s.sumption

This myth represents error as always a.s.serting its su- 530:18 periority over truth, giving the lie to divine Science and saying, through the material senses: ”I can open your eyes. I can do what G.o.d has not 530:21 done for you. Bow down to me and have another G.o.d.

Only admit that I am real, that sin and sense are more pleasant to the eyes than spiritual Life, more to be de- 530:24 sired than Truth, and I shall know you, and you will be mine.” Thus Spirit and flesh war.

Scriptural allegory

The history of error is a dream-narrative. The dream 530:27 has no reality, no intelligence, no mind; therefore the dreamer and dream are one, for neither is true nor real. _First_, this narrative supposes 530:30 that something springs from nothing, that matter pre- cedes mind. _Second_, it supposes that mind enters matter, 531:1 and matter becomes living, substantial, and intelligent.

The order of this allegory - the belief that everything 531:3 springs from dust instead of from Deity - has been main- tained in all the subsequent forms of belief. This is the error, - that mortal man starts materially, that non- 531:6 intelligence becomes intelligence, that mind and soul are both right and wrong.

Higher hope

It is well that the upper portions of the brain represent 531:9 the higher moral sentiments, as if hope were ever prophe- sying thus: The human mind will sometime rise above all material and physical sense, ex- 531:12 changing it for spiritual perception, and exchanging hu- man concepts for the divine consciousness. Then man will recognize his G.o.d-given dominion and being.

Biological inventions

531:15 If, in the beginning, man's body originated in non- intelligent dust, and mind was afterwards put into body by the creator, why is not this divine order 531:18 still maintained by G.o.d in perpetuating the species? Who will say that minerals, vegetables, and animals have a propagating property of their own?

531:21 Who dares to say either that G.o.d is in matter or that matter exists without G.o.d? Has man sought out other creative inventions, and so changed the method of his 531:24 Maker?

Which inst.i.tutes Life, - matter or Mind? Does Life begin with Mind or with matter? Is Life sustained by 531:27 matter or by Spirit? Certainly not by both, since flesh wars against Spirit and the corporeal senses can take no cognizance of Spirit. The mythologic theory of mate- 531:30 rial life at no point resembles the scientifically Christian record of man as created by Mind in the image and like- ness of G.o.d and having dominion over all the earth. Did 532:1 G.o.d at first create one man unaided, - that is, Adam, - but afterwards require the union of the two s.e.xes in order 532:3 to create the rest of the human family? No! G.o.d makes and governs all.

Progeny cursed

All human knowledge and material sense must be 532:6 gained from the five corporeal senses. Is this knowledge safe, when eating its first fruits brought death?

”In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt 532:9 surely die,” was the prediction in the story under consid- eration. Adam and his progeny were cursed, not blessed; and this indicates that the divine Spirit, or Father, con- 532:12 demns material man and remands him to dust.