Watching Point 181

181 — WATCH lest you strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Let the camel stand for the effect, or manifestation of error, and the gnat stand for the belief in cause. Then we learn the lesson that, no matter how large effect may loom up, the cause is no more than a gnat, — mortal man’s belief in the existence of a mind apart from God.

Goliath was the outward visualization of evil as a false belief. David recognized this fact, using a small stone for a weapon as an indication that in reality he had a small enemy to overcome. The weapon one uses in his warfare against evil is an accurate gauge of his conception of its size and power.

Mortals strain at a gnat, or screen their thought against perceiving the true nature of mortal belief as cause, and swallow the camel of its manifestation, as if it were a true gauge of its size and power.

If the small end of a megaphone should illustrate the error in cause, and you start with the big end as effect, in tracing it back it becomes smaller and smaller. As cause it is only a gnat, or nothingness, — merely mortals’ belief in evil, a belief which can be destroyed by truth.

If the megaphone is used to illustrate truth, the process is reversed, since a small manifestation of truth in this human sense traces back to the omnipotence of God which fills all space.

Mortal man accepts effect and overlooks cause. He must learn to deal with cause and to let effect follow. Then a complete sense of truth, as illustrated by David’s stone, will be found adequate to eliminate any error, since all there is to error is mortal man’s belief that it exists.

When mortals witness a large manifestation of evil, they accept a sense of cause commensurate with the magnitude of effect. This false estimate is the source of mortal man’s continued bondage. The material senses misjudge cause, since they only bear testimony to effect.

Mrs. Eddy in her home insisted that students use their understanding to handle the weather. Thus she taught them the lesson of this watching point, so that they might learn the littleness and nothingness of human cause, — in comparison with the apparently overwhelming nature of its effect. She wanted her students to see how easily the Goliaths of effect are handled, when dealt with mentally and metaphysically, using the understanding of truth to smite them in the temple, or in the belief that they have life, truth, intelligence or substance.