Chapter XV - Genesis
Spirit versus darkness
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form the day of Spirit. Immortal Mind makes its own
form the day of Spirit. Immortal Mind makes its own
record, but mortal mind, sleep, dreams, sin, disease, and
death have no record in the first chapter of Genesis.
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Genesis i. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in
Genesis i. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in
the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from
the waters.
Spiritual firmament
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Spiritual understanding, by which human conception,
Spiritual understanding, by which human conception,
material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament.
The divine Mind, not matter, creates all iden-
tities, and they are forms of Mind, the ideas of
Spirit apparent only as Mind, never as mindless matter
nor the so-called material senses.
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Genesis i. 7. And God made the firmament, and divided
Genesis i. 7. And God made the firmament, and divided
the waters which were under the firmament from the waters
which were above the firmament: and it was so.
Understanding imparted
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Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts con-
Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts con-
sciousness and leads into all truth. The Psalmist saith:
"The Lord on high is mightier than the noise
of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of
the sea." Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual
good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between
the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds
Mind, – Life, Truth, and Love, – and demonstrates the
divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in
Christian Science.
Original reflected
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This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result
This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result
of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things
brought to light. God's ideas reflect the im-
mortal, unerring, and infinite. The mortal,
erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to
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themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguish-
themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguish-
ing between the false and the true. Objects utterly un-
like the original do not reflect that original. Therefore
matter, not being the reflection of Spirit, has no real en-
tity. Understanding is a quality of God, a quality which
separates Christian Science from supposition and makes
Truth final.
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Genesis i. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven.
Genesis i. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven.
And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Exalted thought
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Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites under-
Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites under-
standing to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted
thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace.
Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each
successive stage of progress.
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Genesis i. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the
Genesis i. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the
heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry
land appear: and it was so.
Unfolding of thoughts
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Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their
Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their
proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts,
even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose
in order that the purpose may appear.
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Genesis i. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and
Genesis i. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and
the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and
God saw that it was good.
Spirit names and blesses
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Here the human concept and divine idea seem con-
Here the human concept and divine idea seem con-
fused by the translator, but they are not so in the scien-
tifically Christian meaning of the text. Upon
Adam devolved the pleasurable task of find-
ing names for all material things, but Adam has not yet