Watching Point 111

From 500 Watching Points by




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111 — WATCH that you draw a sharp line of distinction between that improved condition of the human mind which is described in Science and Health, page 128:6, and that state where, the human mind having been eliminated, man is governed wholly by divine Mind.

It is a necessary step in progress to improve the human mind to the point where having been stimulated and impregnated with Truth, its endurance is enhanced and its capabilities are improved; but this temporary condition should not be mistaken for the attainment of divine Mind.

The discipline and purification of the human mind by Truth belongs to the early stages of growth in Christian Science. The effect of Truth on the human mind caused our Leader to declare that students of this Science should excel in whatever they undertake. But she did not want them to feel that they were governed by God, when they had merely impregnated the human mind with the “grain of Truth” that one gains in his early study, and that does wonders for mortals.

It is an indication of progress when one has let enough truth into thought to improve his beliefs; but the real student of Science does not begin to appear until one sees the need of putting the human mind entirely under foot, so that one may declare, “I will do my best to make the demonstration to have God talk through me, or I will be silent, when I have not made the demonstration of reflection. I will strive not to let pride cause me to use a substitute. I will seek silence rather than voice that which is not the result of demonstration.”

The genuine reflection of God does not come through the improvement of the human mind. It comes when one seeks to establish the fact that there is no human mind, and that if there were, there is nothing in man that responds or corresponds to it, by which he could be controlled, and hence could be made to manifest it.

This watching point shows the importance of disciplining the human mind, since it must be made flexible before it can be laid aside. Many of the requirements in our Manual, which seem to have no spiritual value, when obeyed, serve to help one to put the human mind under control, in preparation for its elimination.

It is a rule in Science that whatever tends to strengthen the human mind or the human will, even when done in the name of Truth — such as adhering to what one knows to be right in a church business meeting and seeking to enforce it is to be avoided, since flexibility is all that will ever enable one to make the demonstration to put off the human mind.

The overcoming of all sorts of habits in Science is essential, not because such habits are bad or wrong, but because they represent hard places in the human thought that must be softened before the human mind can be laid aside. Every point in which the wrong mind claims to control us we must dispute, and prove that God alone governs.

This watching point also uncovers the mistake involved in founding so-called Christian Science schools for teaching music, art, etc., claiming that in such institutions it is possible to make use of divine Mind, so that the method used can be called a Christian Science method. It is true that the truths of Christian Science serve to improve the human mind to the point where one may excel in whatever he undertakes. Hence schools founded and run by Christian Scientists have a certain advantage over those under mortal mind. But it must be understood that no matter how improved the human mind may become, its activities in art, music, and the like are still human. Divine Mind is not attained until the human mind is put off.




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Love is the liberator.