Chapter X - Science Of Being
Substance is Spirit
279:1
be substance to us, – the erring, changing, and dying,
be substance to us, – the erring, changing, and dying,
the mutable and mortal, or the unerring, immutable,
and immortal? A New Testament writer plainly de-
scribes faith, a quality of mind, as "the substance of things
hoped for."
Material mortality
279:6
The doom of matter establishes the conclusion that
The doom of matter establishes the conclusion that
matter, slime, or protoplasm never originated
in the immortal Mind, and is therefore not
eternal. Matter is neither created by Mind nor for the
manifestation and support of Mind.
Spiritual tangibility
279:11
Ideas are tangible and real to immortal consciousness,
Ideas are tangible and real to immortal consciousness,
and they have the advantage of being eternal.
Spirit and matter can neither coexist nor co-
operate, and one can no more create the other than
Truth can create error, or vice versa.
279:16
In proportion as the belief disappears that life and in-
In proportion as the belief disappears that life and in-
telligence are in or of matter, the immortal facts of
being are seen, and their only idea or intelligence is
in God. Spirit is reached only through the understand-
ing and demonstration of eternal Life and Truth and
Love.
Pantheistic tendencies
279:22
Every system of human philosophy, doctrine, and
Every system of human philosophy, doctrine, and
medicine is more or less infected with the pantheistic
belief that there is mind in matter; but this
belief contradicts alike revelation and right
reasoning. A logical and scientific conclusion is reached
only through the knowledge that there are not two
bases of being, matter and mind, but one alone, –
Mind.
279:30
Pantheism, starting from a material sense of God,
Pantheism, starting from a material sense of God,
seeks cause in effect, Principle in its idea, and life and
intelligence in matter.
The things of God are beautiful
280:1
In the infinitude of Mind, matter must be unknown.
In the infinitude of Mind, matter must be unknown.
Symbols and elements of discord and decay are not prod-
ucts of the infinite, perfect, and eternal All.
From Love and from the light and harmony
which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections
of good can come. All things beautiful and harmless are
ideas of Mind. Mind creates and multiplies them, and
the product must be mental.
280:9
Finite belief can never do justice to Truth in any direc-
Finite belief can never do justice to Truth in any direc-
tion. Finite belief limits all things, and would compress
Mind, which is infinite, beneath a skull bone. Such be-
lief can neither apprehend nor worship the infinite; and
to accommodate its finite sense of the divisibility of Soul
and substance, it seeks to divide the one Spirit into per-
sons and souls.
Belief in many gods
280:16
Through this error, human belief comes to have "gods
Through this error, human belief comes to have "gods
many and lords many." Moses declared as Jehovah's
first command of the Ten: "Thou shalt have
no other gods before me!" But behold the
zeal of belief to establish the opposite error of many
minds. The argument of the serpent in the allegory, "Ye
shall be as gods," urges through every avenue the belief
that Soul is in body, and that infinite Spirit, and Life, is
in finite forms.
Sensationless body
280:25
Rightly understood, instead of possessing a sentient
Rightly understood, instead of possessing a sentient
material form, man has a sensationless body; and God,
the Soul of man and of all existence, being
perpetual in His own individuality, harmony,
and immortality, imparts and perpetuates these qualities
in man, – through Mind, not matter. The only excuse
for entertaining human opinions and rejecting the Science
of being is our mortal ignorance of Spirit, – ignorance