Chapter IV - Christian Science Versus Spiritualism
Reading thoughts
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evident, and it is as easy to read distant thoughts as near.
evident, and it is as easy to read distant thoughts as near.
We think of an absent friend as easily as we do of one
present. It is no more difficult to read the
absent mind than it is to read the present.
Chaucer wrote centuries ago, yet we still read his thought
in his verse. What is classic study, but discernment of
the minds of Homer and Virgil, of whose personal exist-
ence we may be in doubt?
Impossible intercommunion
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If spiritual life has been won by the departed, they
If spiritual life has been won by the departed, they
cannot return to material existence, because different
states of consciousness are involved, and one
person cannot exist in two different states of
consciousness at the same time. In sleep we
do not communicate with the dreamer by our side despite
his physical proximity, because both of us are either un-
conscious or are wandering in our dreams through differ-
ent mazes of consciousness.
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In like manner it would follow, even if our departed
In like manner it would follow, even if our departed
friends were near us and were in as conscious a state of
existence as before the change we call death, that their
state of consciousness must be different from ours. We
are not in their state, nor are they in the mental realm
in which we dwell. Communion between them and
ourselves would be prevented by this difference. The
mental states are so unlike, that intercommunion is as
impossible as it would be between a mole and a human
being. Different dreams and different awakenings be-
token a differing consciousness. When wandering in
Australia, do we look for help to the Esquimaux in their
snow huts?
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In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a
In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a
greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to
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consider whether it is the human mind or the divine
consider whether it is the human mind or the divine
Mind which is influencing one. What the prophets of
Jehovah did, the worshippers of Baal failed to do; yet
artifice and delusion claimed that they could equal the
work of wisdom.
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Science only can explain the incredible good and evil
Science only can explain the incredible good and evil
elements now coming to the surface. Mortals must find
refuge in Truth in order to escape the error of these latter
days. Nothing is more antagonistic to Christian Science
than a blind belief without understanding, for such a
belief hides Truth and builds on error.
Natural wonders
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Miracles are impossible in Science, and here Science
Miracles are impossible in Science, and here Science
takes issue with popular religions. The scientific mani-
festation of power is from the divine nature
and is not supernatural, since Science is an
explication of nature. The belief that the universe, in-
cluding man, is governed in general by material laws, but
that occasionally Spirit sets aside these laws, – this be-
lief belittles omnipotent wisdom, and gives to matter the
precedence over Spirit.
Conflicting standpoints
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It is contrary to Christian Science to suppose that life
It is contrary to Christian Science to suppose that life
is either material or organically spiritual. Between
Christian Science and all forms of superstition
a great gulf is fixed, as impassable as that be-
tween Dives and Lazarus. There is mortal mind-reading
and immortal Mind-reading. The latter is a revelation
of divine purpose through spiritual understanding, by
which man gains the divine Principle and explanation of
all things. Mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind‑
reading are distinctly opposite standpoints, from which
cause and effect are interpreted. The act of reading
mortal mind investigates and touches only human beliefs.