So, what is existence?

So... what is existence?

The view of existence alluded to in the previous chapter as that of Jesus, the disciples, other prophets, and Mary Baker Eddy, requires a complete departure from how most of us view life and ourselves. If experience is tied to perspective, as Christian Science suggests, this view may not be seen or accepted until enough of it is digested. Like any subject of substance, deep consecration to the subject is requisite for a fair understanding of its premises, and in this case, that is the domain of Eddy's textbook rather than this book.

However, we can gain glimpses of this view through certain ideas provided by Eddy in her textbook. For example, in a questions and answers chapter entitled Recapitulation, she proposes the following "Scientific Statement of Being:"

"... There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual."*

In this Statement of Being, the words Spirit and Truth are capitalized because they are also synonyms for God found in the scriptures. Thus, if our definition of the Mind is in line with the one and only Spirit, Truth, or God of Christian Science, we could also rightly conclude this statement as: man is not material; he is mental.

Elsewhere in the same chapter, Eddy describes man in part as "... the compound idea of [the infinite Mind], including all right ideas; …"* She writes that this idea is "... the generic term for all that reflects [Mind's] image and likeness; the conscious identity of being as found in Science, in which man is the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal; that which has no separate mind from God; that which has not a single quality underived from Deity; …"*

You will note that in this definition, man is a purely mental creation, the activity of consciousness itself. Man is the reflection of Mind.

The man of Christian Science is not in a material universe. The universe, including man, is the identity of reality. It is the ideas Mind is conscious of.

Here the language may prove a bit tricky for several reasons.

First, the term man is not intended as a gender, but as "Man and woman … coexistent and eternal with … the infinite Father-Mother God."** Throughout her writings, Eddy uses the term generically, and only concerns herself with making a metaphysical distinction between this man, Mind's idea, and mortal man, the illusive concepts and false beliefs about man.

In the absolute statement of Christian Science, gender signifies reflected qualities of the Father-Mother Mind, rather than a distinction between men and women as classifications of human beings. Everything between the man of Mind's creating and the mortal man of misunderstanding is a seeming mixture of the real and illusive which most closely relates to the human experience we will explore in the next chapter.

The modern emphasis on replacing the word man for more inclusive language, while absolutely important, may actually direct thought towards the human conception of creation in this context, and be detrimental to understanding what creation is in Christian Science. Therefore I will endeavor to stick as closely as I can to Eddy's language in order to allow for the perspective she intended to develop in your thought.

Second, in Christian Science it is not accurate to say that man or the universe are a separate entity from the infinite Mind, even if that entity is seen as created mentally. In Christian Science Mind is the only being or entity. Therefore the conscious identity of being is not a separate being, universe, or beings, but rather a description of how the one being is expressed—what being does.

It follows then that the distinction we must make between God and man for the purposes of this exploration may create a duality in thought which is inaccurate. We can think of God's creation in this context, what being does or produces, as consciousness. After all, what is a mind but conscious? What does a mind do but think?

To be perfectly accurate, however, the only true consciousness in Christian Science is the infinite Mind, and this consciousness includes man and the universe as its compound idea.

As to the material universe and material humanity, Eddy writes that they are “... the objective state of material sense, …"*** and this material sense can be thought of as the experience of false belief and misunderstanding—a dream of life and consciousness in matter.

This dream is the subject of both physical science and doctrinal theology, though misunderstood in both cases as an actual physical realm or the combination of a physical and mental realm. In Christian Science, however, it can be experienced only in the sense that illusions are believed to be experienced.

"Apart from the usual opposition to everything new," Eddy writes, "the one great obstacle to the reception of that spirituality, through which the understanding of Mind-science comes, is the inadequacy of material terms for metaphysical statements, and the consequent difficulty of so expressing metaphysical ideas as to make them comprehensible to any reader, who has not personally demonstrated Christian Science as brought forth in my discovery."*

As an aid to overcoming this difficulty, she then provides a "Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind."** This can be thought of as the stages of human thought the individual goes through on their way to the demonstration of this science.

"First Degree: Depravity.

Physical. Evil beliefs, passions and appetites, fear, depraved will, self-justification, pride, envy, deceit, hatred, revenge, sin, sickness, disease, death.

"Second Degree: Evil beliefs disappearing.

Moral. Humanity, honesty, affection, compassion, hope, faith, meekness, temperance.

"Third Degree: Understanding.

Spiritual. Wisdom, purity, spiritual understanding, spiritual power, love, health, holiness."**

Again, experience being tied to perspective, the human experience literally changes as thought ascends through these stages of development. For the individual thought afflicted with evil beliefs... sin, sickness, disease, the experience is physical. As these beliefs disappear, the moral begins to form the foundation for a truly spiritual, or infinitely mental, experience. Existence itself changes for the individual. Physical limitations seem to fade away. Mind becomes the real and tangible.

Then we find consciousness to be what existence is. In a manner of speaking, it is who and what we are.

While I quote extensively from Eddy's textbook in the following chapters, the view that develops from my illustrations will not always reflect the Christian Science perspective. For seasoned Christian Scientists, it will often stand at odds with the perspective needed to practice and demonstrate this science consistently.

For Eddy, these illustrations would be the exploration of false belief rather than the perspective of the infinite Mind. In these chapters we are viewing Eddy's discovery from the physical experience signified by the First Degree of mortal mind.

Nevertheless, the mechanics of the thought described in these chapters are very much a part of Eddy's discovery, and I believe they can be useful to those who are approaching the subject of consciousness from outside of the Christian Science practice.

ON CONSCIOUSNESS and the Christian Science view of existence

So... what is existence?