Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures Part 72

Spirit names and blesses

Here the human concept and divine idea seem con- fused by the translator, but they are not so in the scien- 506:27 tifically Christian meaning of the text. Upon Adam devolved the pleasurable task of find- ing names for all material things, but Adam has not yet 507:1 appeared in the narrative. In metaphor, the _dry land_ ill.u.s.trates the absolute formations inst.i.tuted by Mind, 507:3 while _water_ symbolizes the elements of Mind. Spirit duly feeds and clothes every object, as it appears in the line of spiritual creation, thus tenderly expressing the father- 507:6 hood and motherhood of G.o.d. Spirit names and blesses all. Without natures particularly defined, objects and subjects would be obscure, and creation would be full of 507:9 nameless offspring, - wanderers from the parent Mind, strangers in a tangled wilderness.

_Genesis_ i. 11. And G.o.d said, Let the earth bring forth 507:12 gra.s.s, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

Divine propagation

507:15 The universe of Spirit reflects the creative power of the divine Principle, or Life, which reproduces the multi- tudinous forms of Mind and governs the mul- 507:18 tiplication of the compound idea man. The tree and herb do not yield fruit because of any propagat- ing power of their own, but because they reflect the Mind 507:21 which includes all. A material world implies a mortal mind and man a creator. The scientific divine creation declares immortal Mind and the universe created by G.o.d.

Ever-appearing creation

507:24 Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the men- tal molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all expresses Science and art throughout His 507:27 creation, and the immortality of man and the universe. Creation is ever appearing, and must ever con- tinue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source.

507:30 Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas mate- rial. Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall 508:1 to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal man. But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind 508:3 is All and reproduces all - as Mind is the multiplier, and Mind's infinite idea, man and the universe, is the product. The only intelligence or substance of a thought, 508:6 a seed, or a flower is G.o.d, the creator of it. Mind is the Soul of all. Mind is Life, Truth, and Love which gov- erns all.

508:9 _Genesis_ i. 12. And the earth brought forth gra.s.s, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and G.o.d saw 508:12 that it was good.

Mind's pure thought

G.o.d determines the gender of His own ideas. Gen- der is mental, not material. The seed within itself is 508:15 the pure thought emanating from divine Mind. The feminine gender is not yet ex- pressed in the text. _Gender_ means simply _kind_ or _sort_, 508:18 and does not necessarily refer either to masculinity or femininity. The word is not confined to s.e.xuality, and grammars always recognize a neuter gender, neither 508:21 male nor female. The Mind or intelligence of produc- tion names the female gender last in the ascending order of creation. The intelligent individual idea, be it male 508:24 or female, rising from the lesser to the greater, unfolds the infinitude of Love.

_Genesis_ i. 13. And the evening and the morning were 508:27 the third day.

Rising to the light

The third stage in the order of Christian Science is an important one to the human thought, letting in the light 509:1 of spiritual understanding. This period corresponds to the resurrection, when Spirit is discerned to be the Life of 509:3 all, and the deathless Life, or Mind, dependent upon no material organization. Our Master reappeared to his students, - to their apprehension he 509:6 rose from the grave, - on the third day of his ascending thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of eternal Life.

509:9 _Genesis_ i. 14. And G.o.d said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, 509:12 and years.

Rarefaction of thought

Spirit creates no other than heavenly or celestial bodies, but the stellar universe is no more celestial than our earth.

509:15 This text gives the idea of the rarefaction of thought as it ascends higher. G.o.d forms and peoples the universe. The light of spiritual understand- 509:18 ing gives gleams of the infinite only, even as nebulae indi- cate the immensity of s.p.a.ce.

Divine nature appearing

So-called mineral, vegetable, and animal substances 509:21 are no more contingent now on time or material struc- ture than they were when "the morning stars sang together." Mind made the "plant of 509:24 the field before it was in the earth." The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind's creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness 509:27 - yea, the divine nature - appear in man and the uni- verse never to disappear.

Spiritual ideas apprehended

Knowing the Science of creation, in which all is Mind 509:30 and its ideas, Jesus rebuked the material thought of his fellow-countrymen: "Ye can discern the face of the 510:1 sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"

How much more should we seek to apprehend the spirit- 510:3 ual ideas of G.o.d, than to dwell on the objects of sense! To discern the rhythm of Spirit and to be holy, thought must be purely spiritual.

510:6 _Genesis_ i. 15. And let them be for lights in the firma- ment of the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

510:9 Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose "light shall we see light;" and this illumination is re- flected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn 510:12 away from a false material sense.

_Genesis_ i. 16. And G.o.d made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the 510:15 night: He made the stars also.

Geology a failure

The sun is a metaphorical representation of Soul out- side the body, giving existence and intelligence to the 510:18 universe. Love alone can impart the limit- less idea of infinite Mind. Geology has never explained the earth's formations; it cannot explain them.

510:21 There is no Scriptural allusion to solar light until time has been already divided into evening and morning; and the allusion to fluids (Genesis i. 2) indicates a supposed for- 510:24 mation of matter by the resolving of fluids into solids, a.n.a.logous to the suppositional resolving of thoughts into material things.

Spiritual subdivision

510:27 Light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love, and not a vitalizing property of matter. Sci- ence reveals only one Mind, and this one s.h.i.+n- 510:30 ing by its own light and governing the universe, including 511:1 man, in perfect harmony. This Mind forms ideas, its own images, subdivides and radiates their borrowed light, 511:3 intelligence, and so explains the Scripture phrase, "whose seed is in itself." Thus G.o.d's ideas "multiply and re- plenish the earth." The divine Mind supports the sub- 511:6 limity, magnitude, and infinitude of spiritual creation.

_Genesis_ i. 17, 18. And G.o.d set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over 511:9 the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and G.o.d saw that it was good.

Darkness scattered

In divine Science, which is the seal of Deity and has 511:12 the impress of heaven, G.o.d is revealed as in- finite light. In the eternal Mind, no night is there.

511:15 _Genesis_ i. 19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

The changing glow and full effulgence of G.o.d's infi- 511:18 nite ideas, images, mark the periods of progress.

_Genesis_ i. 20. And G.o.d said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl 511:21 that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Soaring aspirations

To mortal mind, the universe is liquid, solid, and aeri- 511:24 form. Spiritually interpreted, rocks and mountains stand for solid and grand ideas. Animals and mor- tals metaphorically present the gradation of 511:27 mortal thought, rising in the scale of intelligence, taking form in masculine, feminine, or neuter gender. The fowls, which fly above the earth in the open firmament 512:1 of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and above corporeality to the understanding of the incorporeal 512:3 and divine Principle, Love.

_Genesis_ i. 21. And G.o.d created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth 512:6 abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and G.o.d saw that it was good.

Seraphic symbols

Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power, 512:9 and also by holy thoughts, winged with Love. These an- gels of His presence, which have the holiest charge, abound in the spiritual atmosphere of 512:12 Mind, and consequently reproduce their own character- istics. Their individual forms we know not, but we do know that their natures are allied to G.o.d's nature; and 512:15 spiritual blessings, thus typified, are the externalized, yet subjective, states of faith and spiritual understanding.

_Genesis_ i. 22. And G.o.d blessed them, saying, Be fruit- 512:18 ful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Multiplication of pure ideas

Spirit blesses the multiplication of its own pure and 512:21 perfect ideas. From the infinite elements of the one Mind emanate all form, color, quality, and quant.i.ty, and these are mental, both primarily 512:24 and secondarily. Their spiritual nature is discerned only through the spiritual senses. Mortal mind inverts the true likeness, and confers animal names and natures upon its 512:27 own misconceptions. Ignorant of the origin and opera- tions of mortal mind, - that is, ignorant of itself, - this so-called mind puts forth its own qualities, and claims 512:30 G.o.d as their author; albeit G.o.d is ignorant of the ex- 513:1 istence of both this mortal mentality, so-called, and its claim, for the claim usurps the deific prerogatives and is 513:3 an attempted infringement on infinity.

_Genesis_ i. 23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Spiritual spheres

513:6 Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of Mind lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings. To material sense, this divine universe is dim and 513:9 distant, gray in the sombre hues of twilight; but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene s.h.i.+fts into light.

In the record, time is not yet measured by solar revolutions, 513:12 and the motions and reflections of deific power cannot be apprehended until divine Science becomes the interpreter.

_Genesis_ i. 24. And G.o.d said, Let the earth bring forth 513:15 the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

Continuity of thoughts

Spirit diversifies, cla.s.sifies, and individualizes all 513:18 thoughts, which are as eternal as the Mind conceiving them; but the intelligence, exist- ence, and continuity of all individuality remain in G.o.d, 513:21 who is the divinely creative Principle thereof.