Chapter IX - Creation
Forgetfulness of self
262:1
which to work out the problem of being. Consecration
which to work out the problem of being. Consecration
to good does not lessen man's dependence on God, but
heightens it. Neither does consecration di-
minish man's obligations to God, but shows
the paramount necessity of meeting them. Christian
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
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
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‑
like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference
of his being.
The true sense
262:17
Job said: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the
Job said: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the
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
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.
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 the only cause
262:27
The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of
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
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
Mortals are egotists. They believe themselves to be
independent workers, personal authors, and even privi-
leged originators of something which Deity
would not or could not create. The creations
of mortal mind are material. Immortal spiritual man
alone represents the truth of creation.
Mortal man a mis-creator
263:7
When mortal man blends his thoughts of existence
When mortal man blends his thoughts of existence
with the spiritual and works only as God works,
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-
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
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
good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would
not, that I do."
No new creation
263:20
There can be but one creator, who has created all.
There can be but one creator, who has created all.
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-
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-
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-
mensity, is dense blindness instead of a scientific eternal
consciousness of creation.
Mind's true camera
263:32
The fading forms of matter, the mortal body and ma-
The fading forms of matter, the mortal body and ma-