Chapter 10 CREATION

Thy throne is established of old

Thou art from everlasting. - PSALMS.

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. - PAUL.

Inadequate theories of creation

255:1 ETERNAL Truth is changing the universe. As mor-

tals drop off their mental swaddling-clothes, thought

255:3 expands into expression. "Let there be light,"

is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love,

changing chaos into order and discord into the

255:6 music of the spheres. The mythical human theories of

creation, anciently classified as the higher criticism, sprang

from cultured scholars in Rome and in Greece, but they

255:9 afforded no foundation for accurate views of creation by

the divine Mind.

Finite views of Deity

Mortal man has made a covenant with his eyes to be-

255:12 little Deity with human conceptions. In league

with material sense, mortals take limited views

of all things. That God is corporeal or material, no man

255:15 should affirm.

The human form, or physical finiteness, cannot be

made the basis of any true idea of the infinite Godhead.

255:18 Eye hath not seen Spirit, nor hath ear heard His voice.

No material creation

256:1 Progress takes off human shackles. The finite must

yield to the infinite. Advancing to a higher plane of ac-

256:3 tion, thought rises from the material sense to

the spiritual, from the scholastic to the in-

spirational, and from the mortal to the immortal. All

256:6 things are created spiritually. Mind, not matter, is the

creator. Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and

Mother of the universe, including man.

Tritheism impossible

256:9 The theory of three persons in one God (that is, a per-

sonal Trinity or Tri-unity) suggests polythe-

ism, rather than the one ever-present I AM.

256:12 "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord."

No divine corporeality

The everlasting I AM is not bounded nor compressed

within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can

256:15 He be understood aright through mortal con-

cepts. The precise form of God must be of

small importance in comparison with the sublime ques-

256:18 tion, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?

Who is it that demands our obedience? He who, in

the language of Scripture, "doeth according to His will

256:21 in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the

earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him,

What doest Thou?"

256:24 No form nor physical combination is adequate to rep-

resent infinite Love. A finite and material sense of God

leads to formalism and narrowness; it chills the spirit of

256:27 Christianity.

Limitless Mind

A limitless Mind cannot proceed from physical limita-

tions. Finiteness cannot present the idea or the vast-

256:30 ness of infinity. A mind originating from a

finite or material source must be limited and

finite. Infinite Mind is the creator, and creation is the

257:1 infinite image or idea emanating from this Mind. If

Mind is within and without all things, then all is Mind;

257:3 and this definition is scientific.

Matter is not substance

If matter, so-called, is substance, then Spirit, matter's

unlikeness, must be shadow; and shadow cannot produce

257:6 substance. The theory that Spirit is not the

only substance and creator is pantheistic het-

erodoxy, which ultimates in sickness, sin, and death; it is

257:9 the belief in a bodily soul and a material mind, a soul

governed by the body and a mind in matter. This be-

lief is shallow pantheism.

257:12 Mind creates His own likeness in ideas, and the sub-

stance of an idea is very far from being the supposed sub-

stance of non-intelligent matter. Hence the Father Mind

257:15 is not the father of matter. The material senses and

human conceptions would translate spiritual ideas into

material beliefs, and would say that an anthropomorphic

257:18 God, instead of infinite Principle, - in other words, divine

Love, - is the father of the rain, "who hath begotten the

drops of dew," who bringeth "forth Mazzaroth in his sea-

257:21 son," and guideth "Arcturus with his sons."

Inexhaustible divine Love

Finite mind manifests all sorts of errors, and thus

proves the material theory of mind in matter to be the

257:24 antipode of Mind. Who hath found finite life

or love sufficient to meet the demands of human

want and woe, - to still the desires, to satisfy the aspira-

257:27 tions? Infinite Mind cannot be limited to a finite form,

or Mind would lose its infinite character as inexhaustible

Love, eternal Life, omnipotent Truth.

Infinite physique impossible

257:30 It would require an infinite form to contain infinite

Mind. Indeed, the phrase /infinite form/ involves a con-

tradiction of terms. Finite man cannot be the image and

258:1 likeness of the infinite God. A mortal, corporeal, or

finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of

258:3 limitless, incorporeal Life and Love. Hence

the unsatisfied human craving for something

better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a

258:6 material belief in a physical God and man. The insuffi-

ciency of this belief to supply the true idea proves the

falsity of material belief.

Infinity's reflection

258:9 Man is more than a material form with a mind inside,

which must escape from its environments in

order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity,

258:12 and this reflection is the true idea of God.

God expresses in man the infinite idea forever develop-

ing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from

258:15 a boundless basis. Mind manifests all that exists in

the infinitude of Truth. We know no more of man as

the true divine image and likeness, than we know of

258:18 God.

The infinite Principle is reflected by the infinite idea

and spiritual individuality, but the material so-called senses

258:21 have no cognizance of either Principle or its idea. The

human capacities are enlarged and perfected in propor-

tion as humanity gains the true conception of man and

258:24 God.

Individual permanency

Mortals have a very imperfect sense of the spiritual

man and of the infinite range of his thought. To him

258:27 belongs eternal Life. Never born and

never dying, it were impossible for man, under

the government of God in eternal Science, to fall from his

258:30 high estate.

God's man discerned

Through spiritual sense you can discern the heart of

divinity, and thus begin to comprehend in Science the

259:1 generic term /man. /Man is not absorbed in Deity, and

man cannot lose his individuality, for he re-

259:3 flects eternal Life; nor is he an isolated, soli-

tary idea, for he represents infinite Mind, the sum of all

substance.

259:6 In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The

divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who

threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted

259:9 their lives higher than their poor thought-models would

allow, - thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick,

sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of

259:12 scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Prin-

ciple and idea, - perfect God and perfect man, - as the

basis of thought and demonstration.

The divine image not lost

259:15 If man was once perfect but has now lost his perfection,

then mortals have never beheld in man the reflex image

of God. The /lost/ image is no image. The

259:18 true likeness cannot be lost in divine reflection.

Understanding this, Jesus said: "Be ye there-

fore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is

259:21 perfect."

Immortal models

Mortal thought transmits its own images, and forms

its offspring after human illusions. God, Spirit, works

259:24 spiritually, not materially. Brain or matter

never formed a human concept. Vibration is

not intelligence; hence it is not a creator. Immortal

259:27 ideas, pure, perfect, and enduring, are transmitted by

the divine Mind through divine Science, which corrects

error with truth and demands spiritual thoughts, divine

259:30 concepts, to the end that they may produce harmonious

results.

Deducing one's conclusions as to man from imperfec-

260:1 tion instead of perfection, one can no more arrive at the

true conception or understanding of man, and make him-

260:3 self like it, than the sculptor can perfect his outlines from

an imperfect model, or the painter can depict the form

and face of Jesus, while holding in thought the character

260:6 of Judas.

Spiritual discovery

The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give

way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal. Through

260:9 many generations human beliefs will be attain-

ing diviner conceptions, and the immortal and

perfect model of God's creation will finally be seen as

260:12 the only true conception of being.

Science reveals the possibility of achieving all good,

and sets mortals at work to discover what God has already

260:15 done; but distrust of one's ability to gain the goodness

desired and to bring out better and higher results, often

hampers the trial of one's wings and ensures failure at the

260:18 outset.

Requisite change of our ideals

Mortals must change their ideals in order to improve

their models. A sick body is evolved from

260:21 sick thoughts. Sickness, disease, and death

proceed from fear. Sensualism evolves bad

physical and moral conditions.

260:24 Selfishness and sensualism are educated in mortal

mind by the thoughts ever recurring to one's self, by

conversation about the body, and by the expectation of

260:27 perpetual pleasure or pain from it; and this education

is at the expense of spiritual growth. If we array

thought in mortal vestures, it must lose its immortal

260:30 nature.

Thoughts are things

If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for

Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit,

261:1 we find its opposite, matter. Now reverse this action.

Look away from the body into Truth and Love,

261:3 the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and

immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the endur-

ing, the good, and the true, and you will bring these

261:6 into your experience proportionably to their occupancy

of your thoughts.

Unreality of pain

The effect of mortal mind on health and happiness is

261:9 seen in this: If one turns away from the body with such

absorbed interest as to forget it, the body

experiences no pain. Under the strong im-

261:12 pulse of a desire to perform his part, a noted actor was

accustomed night after night to go upon the stage and

sustain his appointed task, walking about as actively

261:15 as the youngest member of the company. This old man

was so lame that he hobbled every day to the theatre, and

sat aching in his chair till his cue was spoken, - a signal

261:18 which made him as oblivious of physical infirmity as if

he had inhaled chloroform, though he was in the full pos-

session of his so-called senses.

Immutable identity of man

261:21 Detach sense from the body, or matter, which is only

a form of human belief, and you may learn the meaning

of God, or good, and the nature of the immu-

261:24 table and immortal. Breaking away from the

mutations of time and sense, you will neither

lose the solid objects and ends of life nor your own iden-

261:27 tity. Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will

rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird

which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a

261:30 skyward flight.

Forgetfulness of self

We should forget our bodies in remembering good and

the human race. Good demands of man every hour, in

262:1 which to work out the problem of being. Consecration

to good does not lessen man's dependence on God, but

262:3 heightens it. Neither does consecration di-

minish man's obligations to God, but shows

the paramount necessity of meeting them. Christian

262:6 Science takes naught from the perfection of God, but it

ascribes to Him the entire glory. By putting "off the old

man with his deeds," mortals "put on immortality."

262:9 We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's

creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We

must reverse our feeble flutterings - our efforts to find

262:12 life and truth in matter - and rise above the testimony

of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal

idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the God-

262:15 like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference

of his being.

The true sense

Job said: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the

262:18 ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee." Mortals will echo

Job's thought, when the supposed pain and

pleasure of matter cease to predominate. They

262:21 will then drop the false estimate of life and happiness, of

joy and sorrow, and attain the bliss of loving unselfishly,

working patiently, and conquering all that is unlike God.

262:24 Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontane-

ously, even as light emits light without effort; for "where

your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Mind only the cause

262:27 The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of

man's origin. To begin rightly is to end rightly. Every

concept which seems to begin with the brain

262:30 begins falsely. Divine Mind is the only cause

or Principle of existence. Cause does not exist in matter,

in mortal mind, or in physical forms.

Human egotism

263:1 Mortals are egotists. They believe themselves to be

independent workers, personal authors, and even privi-

263:3 leged originators of something which Deity

would not or could not create. The creations

of mortal mind are material. Immortal spiritual man

263:6 alone represents the truth of creation.

Mortal man a mis-creator

When mortal man blends his thoughts of existence

with the spiritual and works only as God works,

263:9 he will no longer grope in the dark and cling

to earth because he has not tasted heaven.

Carnal beliefs defraud us. They make man an involun-

263:12 tary hypocrite, - producing evil when he would create

good, forming deformity when he would outline grace

and beauty, injuring those whom he would bless. He

263:15 becomes a general mis-creator, who believes he is a

semi-god. His "touch turns hope to dust, the dust we

all have trod." He might say in Bible language: "The

263:18 good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would

not, /that I do./"

No new creation

There can be but one creator, who has created all.

263:21 Whatever seems to be a new creation, is but the discovery

of some distant idea of Truth; else it is a

new multiplication or self-division of mor-

263:24 tal thought, as when some finite sense peers from its

cloister with amazement and attempts to pattern the

infinite.

263:27 The multiplication of a human and mortal sense of per-

sons and things is not creation. A sensual thought, like

an atom of dust thrown into the face of spiritual im-

263:30 mensity, is dense blindness instead of a scientific eternal

consciousness of creation.

Mind's true camera

The fading forms of matter, the mortal body and ma-

264:1 terial earth, are the fleeting concepts of the human mind.

They have their day before the permanent facts and their

264:3 perfection in Spirit appear. The crude crea-

tions of mortal thought must finally give place

to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the

264:6 camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spir-

itual and eternal. Mortals must look beyond fading,

finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things.

264:9 Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm

of Mind? We must look where we would walk, and we

must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we

264:12 have our being.

Self-completeness

As mortals gain more correct views of God and man,

multitudinous objects of creation, which before were

264:15 invisible, will become visible. When we

realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of

matter, this understanding will expand into self-com-

264:18 pleteness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other

consciousness.

Spiritual proofs of existence

Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being.

264:21 Matter disappears under the microscope of Spirit. Sin

is unsustained by Truth, and sickness and

death were overcome by Jesus, who proved

264:24 them to be forms of error. Spiritual living

and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can

recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace

264:27 which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.

When we learn the way in Christian Science and rec-

ognize man's spiritual being, we shall behold and under-

264:30 stand God's creation, - all the glories of earth and heaven

and man.

Godward gravitation

The universe of Spirit is peopled with spiritual beings,

265:1 and its government is divine Science. Man is the off-

spring, not of the lowest, but of the highest qualities of

265:3 Mind. Man understands spiritual existence

in proportion as his treasures of Truth and

Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate Godward,

265:6 their affections and aims grow spiritual, - they must near

the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper

sense of the infinite, - in order that sin and mortality

265:9 may be put off.

This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for

Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity

265:12 and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man en-

larged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action,

a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent

265:15 peace.

Mortal birth and death

The senses represent birth as untimely and death as

irresistible, as if man were a weed growing apace or a

265:18 flower withered by the sun and nipped by

untimely frosts; but this is true only of a

mortal, not of a man in God's image and likeness. The

265:21 truth of being is perennial, and the error is unreal and

obsolete.

Blessings from pain

Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained

265:24 stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after

heavenly good comes even before we discover

what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss

265:27 of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending

path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform

us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is

265:30 spiritual.

Decapitation of error

The pains of sense are salutary, if they wrench away

false pleasurable beliefs and transplant the affections

266:1 from sense to Soul, where the creations of God are good,

"rejoicing the heart." Such is the sword of

266:3 Science, with which Truth decapitates error,

materiality giving place to man's higher individuality and

destiny.

Uses of adversity

266:6 Would existence without personal friends be to you

a blank? Then the time will come when you will be

solitary, left without sympathy; but this

266:9 seeming vacuum is already filled with divine

Love. When this hour of development comes, even if

you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will

266:12 force you to accept what best promotes your growth.

Friends will betray and enemies will slander, until the

lesson is sufficient to exalt you; for "man's extremity

266:15 is God's opportunity." The author has experienced the

foregoing prophecy and its blessings. Thus He teaches

mortals to lay down their fleshliness and gain spirituality.

266:18 This is done through self-abnegation. Universal Love

is the divine way in Christian Science.

The sinner makes his own hell by doing evil, and the

266:21 saint his own heaven by doing right. The opposite per-

secutions of material sense, aiding evil with evil, would

deceive the very elect.

Beatific presence

266:24 Mortals must follow Jesus' sayings and his demonstra-

tions, which dominate the flesh. Perfect and infinite

Mind enthroned is heaven. The evil beliefs

266:27 which originate in mortals are hell. Man is the

idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming

the universe with light. Man is deathless, spiritual. He

266:30 is above sin or frailty. He does not cross the barriers

of time into the vast forever of Life, but he coexists with

God and the universe.

The infinitude of God

267:1 Every object in material thought will be destroyed, but

the spiritual idea, whose substance is in Mind, is eternal.

267:3 The offspring of God start not from matter

or ephemeral dust. They are in and of Spirit,

divine Mind, and so forever continue. God is one. The

267:6 allness of Deity is His oneness. Generically man is one,

and specifically man means all men.

It is generally conceded that God is Father, eternal, self-

267:9 created, infinite. If this is so, the forever Father must

have had children prior to Adam. The great I AM made

all "that was made." Hence man and the spiritual uni-

267:12 verse coexist with God.

Christian Scientists understand that, in a religious

sense, they have the same authority for the appellative

267:15 mother, as for that of brother and sister. Jesus said:

"For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which

is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and

267:18 mother."

Waymarks to eternal Truth

When examined in the light of divine Science, mortals

present more than is detected upon the surface, since

267:21 inverted thoughts and erroneous beliefs must

be counterfeits of Truth. Thought is bor-

rowed from a higher source than matter, and

267:24 by reversal, errors serve as waymarks to the one Mind,

in which all error disappears in celestial Truth. The

robes of Spirit are "white and glistering," like the raiment

267:27 of Christ. Even in this world, therefore, "let thy gar-

ments be always white." "Blessed is the man that en-

dureth [overcometh] temptation: for when he is tried,

267:30 [proved faithful], he shall receive the crown of life,

which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."

(James i. 12.)