Chapter XIV - Recapitulation
A vacant domicile
478:3
What evidence of Soul or of immortality have you
What evidence of Soul or of immortality have you
within mortality? Even according to the teachings of
natural science, man has never beheld Spirit
or Soul leaving a body or entering it. What
basis is there for the theory of indwelling spirit, except
the claim of mortal belief? What would be thought of
the declaration that a house was inhabited, and by a cer-
tain class of persons, when no such persons were ever seen
to go into the house or to come out of it, nor were they
even visible through the windows? Who can see a soul
in the body?
Harmonious functions
478:14
Question. – Does brain think, and do nerves feel, and
Question. – Does brain think, and do nerves feel, and
is there intelligence in matter?
Answer. – No, not if God is true and mortal man a
liar. The assertion that there can be pain or pleasure
in matter is erroneous. That body is most
harmonious in which the discharge of the nat-
ural functions is least noticeable. How can intelligence
dwell in matter when matter is non-intelligent and
brain-lobes cannot think? Matter cannot perform the
functions of Mind. Error says, "I am man;" but this
belief is mortal and far from actual. From beginning
to end, whatever is mortal is composed of material hu-
man beliefs and of nothing else. That only is real which
reflects God. St. Paul said, "But when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me
by His grace, . . . I conferred not with flesh and blood."
Immortal birthright
478:30
Mortal man is really a self-contradictory phrase, for
Mortal man is really a self-contradictory phrase, for
man is not mortal, "neither indeed can be;" man is im-
479:1
mortal. If a child is the offspring of physical sense and
mortal. If a child is the offspring of physical sense and
not of Soul, the child must have a material, not a spirit-
ual origin. With what truth, then, could the
Scriptural rejoicing be uttered by any mother,
"I have gotten a man from the Lord"? On the con-
trary, if aught comes from God, it cannot be mortal and
material; it must be immortal and spiritual.
Matter's supposed selfhood
479:8
Matter is neither self-existent nor a product of Spirit.
Matter is neither self-existent nor a product of Spirit.
An image of mortal thought, reflected on the retina, is
all that the eye beholds. Matter cannot see,
feel, hear, taste, nor smell. It is not self‑
cognizant, – cannot feel itself, see itself, nor
understand itself. Take away so-called mortal mind,
which constitutes matter's supposed selfhood, and matter
can take no cognizance of matter. Does that which we
call dead ever see, hear, feel, or use any of the physical
senses?
Chaos and darkness
479:18
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep."
(Genesis i. 1, 2.) In the vast forever, in the
Science and truth of being, the only facts are Spirit
and its innumerable creations. Darkness and chaos
are the imaginary opposites of light, understanding,
and eternal harmony, and they are the elements of
nothingness.
Spiritual reflection
479:27
We admit that black is not a color, because it reflects
We admit that black is not a color, because it reflects
no light. So evil should be denied identity or power,
because it has none of the divine hues. Paul
says: "For the invisible things of Him, from
the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under-
stood by the things that are made." (Romans i. 20.)