Chapter 4 — What God Is God to

From Christian Science, Its “Clear, Correct Teaching” by





Thus far, you not only have established the fact that there is God, but in defining these various terms for God, you have also determined what God is.

You have discovered that all these terms, with countless others are synonyms for God, because in their ultimate meaning, they find their basis in that which is.

In that isness is infinity.




Synonyms For God Interchangeable

You have found these synonyms also to be interchangeable because each word includes within itself all that every other word means.

Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another.

You have carried every word that you have used for God back to its basis or foundation, to that which is.

You have found that the word Life, for example, which means existence, that which is, must mean exactly what Truth means since you have established Truth as that which is.

Thus having found both Life and Truth as that which is, all that Truth means, Life likewise means.

In like manner you have established intelligence and have found it to be synonymous with Life and Truth.

The same rule applied to the attributive qualities of God, just as it did to every word you have used for God. You took them all back to is, the one common denominator to which “every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” (Isa. 45: 23)

Without this one is, this one common denominator from which all proceeds and to which all returns, there could be no oneness, no allness.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . .

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (Jno. 1: 1, 3)

“From the infinitesimal to the infinite,” (S. & H. 336: 7) all is included in this “Word,” this is.

Understanding this, you do not depart from this foundation. You know that the attributes and synonyms meaning God, as you have established them, are all one.

This one God you have found to be all the power there is, all the presence there is, all the Life there is, all the Truth there is, therefore all the “all” there is.

Could there be a God more absolute, moreall-inclusive, than this God you have found to be your God? Not a God of theory but a God you know is God because of your own conscious existence and the inevitable conclusion derived from that fact.

This God completely satisfies you because He includes within Himself all that is and leaves nothing apart from Himself.




Cause Presupposes And Demands Effect

Having established that there is God, the question immediately arises: Could God be and not be God to something?

In other words, could consciousness be, unless it were conscious of something? Would consciousness not spontaneously cease if it were not conscious of something?

Self-evidently, that of which consciousness is conscious is essential to the existence, or being, of consciousness.

The declaration of Mind, “Let there belight,” (Gen. 1: 3) is the eternal necessity that Mind, to be Mind, shall be expressed.

God, consciousness, then, in order to be God, must have that which He is God to. What words can we use to express this that is essential for God’s being?

Of the words generally used to express this that is essential to God’s being, the two most often employed are — man and idea.

What does the word man mean when used in the sense of effect, or consequence of that which is primary?

What do we know about man as the effect of God?

Did God create man in the sense of God having been first in point of time? Or is this man of God forever one with God?

Obviously, man must be eternally one with God, for without him, God would not be God.

There could never have been a time when God was, and that which He is God to, namely man, was not. God could not be, without that which He is God to.




The Nature Of The Man Of God

Hence it must follow that the man of God is all that God is.

The man of God possesses every quality of God, or God also would cease to possess these qualities.

“Spiritual man and his spiritual senses are drinking in the nature and essence of the individual infinite.” (No. 19: 18) At no time could God be and man not be.

The infinite wisdom, intelligence, Truth andLife that is God, is the infinite wisdom, intelligence, Truth and Life that constitutes man.

This man of God is infinitely intelligent, infinitely wise, infinitely living, infinitely truthful, because this is his very being.

Man eternally does what God is.

Is it any wonder that the Psalmist shouldhave declared, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.” (Ps. 8: 4, 6) Man is that which shows forth God.

Man shows forth God by his conscious agreement with God at every point. “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” (Ps. 40: 8)

Man shows forth God’s power and dominion, and there is no power and dominion apart from the power and dominion shown forth by the man of God. The Psalmist could well exclaim, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” God is mindful of man because man is the essential expression of God.

Man is the achievement of what God is, for how could God achieve except as expression?

One cannot be without the other, each being essential to the other, therefore one never is the other. The elimination of one would be the elimination of the other.

The one is always cause, the other always effect.

In the sense that cause is always primary, and in that sense only, is God greater than man.

In Christian Science, the term greater, as meaning greater than something else, should never be used without explanation.

It is the essential oneness of God and man,God as the cause and man as the effect, that Jesus referred to when he said, “My Father is greater than I;” (Jno. 14: 28) “I and my Father are one.” (Jno. 10: 30)

God is noumenon and phenomenon because the very term God must include within itself that which it implies, that which it is God to, that which enables God to be God.

Jesus exemplified this man of God as the man of power, authority, dominion.

Since there is only one God, one isness, there can be only one man. You have already proved that there cannot be more than one is.

With one God, how could there be more than one man, when this man is the infinite presence of God?

How much life has this man? How much good? How much intelligence? There is but one answer — infinite life, infinite good, infinite intelligence.

Nothing you can say about this man of God is too wondrous, for all that God is, this manof God must be. Where is this man?

Is he “over there,” outside of your consciousness?

Is there any “over there” or is “here” all the place there is? There is no “over there” to Mind. Because your thinking is right here where you are, all that you call “over there” is “here.” Therefore, this man of God is here.

When you say “here,” you mean your own conscious being, your own identity, for that is “here” to you.

There is, then, one man and one man only; and you, inevitably, find yourself to be this man, and the Mind of this man is your Mind.

This is the man Mrs. Eddy refers to in Unityof Good, where she says, “The scientific man and his Maker are here; and you would be none other than this man, if you would subordinate the fleshly perceptions to the spiritual sense and source of being.” (Un. 46: 9)

You subordinate the fleshly perceptions, in other words, the material concept of all things, when, from the basis of your own being, you establish God and His one man as All-in-all.

Hence you are this “scientific man” here and now.




The Idea Of Principle

Let us next consider the term idea.

Instantly arises the question: idea of what?

Can there be idea without its being the idea of something? And must not that something be the Principle to the idea?

In establishing Principle as a synonym of God, you found that all that God means and is, Principle also means and is. It is equally true that whatever the man of God is, the idea of Principle is also. The man of God is the “conscious, constant capacity to understand God.” (S. & H. 209: 31)

Then the idea of Principle being synonymous with man must also be the “conscious, constant capacity to understand God.”

You as this man of God, this idea, this effect of God are concerned only with God. David saw this when he declared, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.” (Ps. 62: 5)

There is one Principle and one only. Being God, that which is, and therefore all that is, Principle must be one.

Because it is infinite, there is nothing outside it.

Because Principle could not be Principle unless it was Principle to idea, the omnipresence of Principle must be accompanied spontaneously by the omnipresence of idea.

“Lo, I am with you alway,” (Matt. 28: 20) means infinite Principle made manifest as infinite idea. There can be nothing held back from you, nothing unexpressed by you.

With one Principle, can there be more than one idea?

No, because this idea is infinite, and being the idea of infinite Principle, it is everywhere present; there is no place where the idea is not.

Is Principle limited by virtue of having but one idea?

Does it limit mathematics to have but one unit? There seem to be countless expressions of mathematics in what are called problems; but, as a matter of fact, the whole of mathematics is simply the addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and other operations performed on the unit. The one idea of Principle never becomes ideas, but always remains idea — singular, not plural.

It is as impossible to have ideas as it is impossible to have Principles. Principle, being infinite, must always appear as infinity of variety and perfection, but it remains always one.

The oneness of idea must be thoroughly understood.

You are satisfied that there is and can be but one Principle. You must be equally positive that there is and can be but one idea, one man of God.

It follows self-evidently that you are this idea. If there could be ideas, there would have tobe Principles, because there cannot be idea without that of which it is the idea.

In other words, without its Principle the idea spontaneously ceases to be.

The Principle being infinite, the idea likewise is infinite; then, where is there room for ideas?

If you think in terms of ideas, you will inevitably think in terms of Principles or Gods — which is unthinkable.

It might be well to explain here why Science and Health uses the word “ideas,” just as it uses many other words in the plural.

Science and Health does this as a concession to ignorance and the limitation of the human sense of language.

It must meet every condition of thought, from the most simple to the most profound, from that of the beginner to that of the farthest advanced. To enlighten this wide range of human belief, called person, Science and Health necessarily has to be expressed in language suited to each condition of thought, otherwise it would be unable to lead thought forward. If Mrs. Eddy, in writing the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, had used only the singular form for the words “man” and “idea,” the limited, finite mind (in other words, the mortal) might have become confused and might have had an even more finite, limited sense of God than it had before.

To say that man is the complete expression or reflection of God and then to think of man as a finite mortal, is a parody on what Christian Science means by the word “man.”

To avoid this mistake, Mrs. Eddy endeavored to express in human language the fact that all men, all ideas, go into the making of man, in the generic sense, into man, the idea of God. Hence her statement, “God is indivisible. A portion of God could not enter man; neither could God’s fulness be reflected by a single man, else God would be manifestly finite, lose the deific character, and become less than God. Allness is the measure of the infinite, and nothing less can express God.” (S. & H. 336: 19)

And again, “Generically man is one, and specifically man means all men.” (S. & H. 267: 6)

But Mrs. Eddy’s necessity in the choosing of words is not yours. Science and Health is the textbook for every condition of thought, however ignorant. Its mission is to lift thought from whereit finds it. Mrs. Eddy had “to await the logicof events” (S. & H. 66: 22) and the unfolding of understanding. But you are concerned only with your own understanding; so you use the language best adapt-ed to establish the truth of being.

That language is in the singular, never in the plural form.

Science and Health can state things in the plural while thinking in the singular, and so do only good. You might, at first, find this difficult, since your words give impulse to your thought.

Therefore, think and talk in the singular and you will avoid confusion.

Even Science and Health, when stating an absolutely metaphysical thought, uses the singular, as, for instance, in the scientific statement of being. “All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation [not manifestations], for God is All- inall.” (S. & H. 468: 10)

You cannot be a metaphysician, a Christian Scientist, if you think in the plural.

“I and my Father are one.” (Jno. 10: 30) “Principle and its idea is one.” (S. & H. 465: 17)

You must be absolutely convinced of this fact; otherwise you will discover that you are continually confronted with the temptation to think in terms of the plural, in terms of three or more.

If you are assuming something outside of God and man, something “over there,” your whole structure of Christian Science will fall, for you are admitting something apart from Principle and that which Principle is Principle to — you, its idea.

There is but one Principle and one idea, and this idea is the spirit or likeness, in minutest detail, of its Principle. “God created man in his own image.” (Gen. 1: 27) The very existence of God creates the necessity for His mental image, or idea, man.




The Body Of Soul

The next word for consideration is body.

Should body be classified as cause or effect?

Every word falls into one or the other of these two categories. What is body? Does it mean something formed or created?

Or do you mean by body that which is the embodiment of what it represents or shows forth? Is not body, in that sense, a showing forth of that which you have established as Spirit, Soul? Could Soul or Spirit be, without body to represent it, to make it known?

You have established man’s essentiality to God, as that which makes God known, shows Him forth, performs what God is; then is not man, who embodies all that God is, the body of God?

The body of Spirit or Soul is the man of God. All that man is, as the embodiment of God, body is, also. The one Spirit, being omnipotent, all-acting, is the action of its own body, man.

It is infinite action, harmonious action, eternal action; and this action is the law of being, consciously obedient to its Soul, its God.

Body shows forth Life in living. It is the eternal manifestation of Life. It proves what Life is.

There is only one body, because there is only one Spirit, one Soul; and this body of Spirit is all that Spirit is and means.

Its continuity is infinite; for Spirit, which is infinite, would instantly cease without its embodiment or manifestation. Its purity and perfection is its oneness. There is nothing outside of its own being to contaminate it.

What is God’s own can be His only as it is shown forth as idea, as man, as body.

Science and Health declares body to be “the idea of Life, substance, and intelligence; the superstructure of Truth; the shrine of Love.” (S. & H. 595: 7)




Build On A Sure Foundation

Each one, as he erects the structure of Christian Science, must take every step logically, so that there may be an orderly sequence to his entire building. His must be the house of the wise man who, as Jesus said, “built his house upon a rock,” understanding, so that it “fell not.” The foolish man “built his house upon the sand,” changing beliefs, and “great was the fall of it.” (Matt. 7: 24-27) Jesus did not say that the man who built upon the sand did not build a house, but that when the storm came, the house built upon sand fell and great was its fall.

How important it is then, to build our house on the rock of understanding, which “begins inourselves and by education brightens into birth.” (My. 253: 26)

The rock is your consciously being, which in-separably unites you with the consciousness thatis.

Your house is a “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” (2 Cor. 5: 1) and the stones are laid truly only as they are laid upon what you yourself know.

Of a surety, then, no storm that arises can destroy it.

Thus, not only have you established God, but you have established also that God must be God to something, and this something you have iden-tified as your own conscious being, as the man of God, the idea of Principle, the body of Soul.

In other words, you are the demonstration of that which Principle is.

You have seen that each of these terms includes and means all that the other terms mean and include.

You recognize that whatever term you use for God must mean exactly what every other term used for God means in its fullest sense.

In the same way, every term you use to designate the effect of God includes all that any other term means that is used as a synonym of effect.




The Orderly Use Of Words

While building your structure of reasoning in this class, you stand apart, as it were, and analyze God and what He is God to. You classify certain words which mean God to you and which you propose uniformly to use thus. You place these words in one column, so to speak, and in another you place the words you propose to use as synonyms of the idea of God.

However, you do this only to keep your thought uniform and free from confusion, because you recognize that there is no combination of letters that cannot be used to signify either cause or effect.

As an illustration, take the word Truth witha capital T. You place it in the column meaning God. Now take the same word with a small t, and you will place it in the effect column because you mean the truth of Truth.

In the same way you can say, the life of Life, or the love of Love.

In fact any word can be used interchangeably; but in accurate thinking, it is advantageous to have an orderly use of words and not to interchange them.

The three words that we have been analyzing and classifying, man, idea, body, are commonly used in the language of Christian Science to express the product, or effect of God.

However, one naturally thinks in his own particular language. That is why, in Christian Science, there is no formula, whether in the statement of what God is, why He is, or what the practice of Christian Science is.

Right practice is evolved from individual reasoning in strict adherence to Truth.

No one can formulate thought for another.Thought must always be spontaneous with the individual, or it will not be thought. Your Mind alone can think for you.

Anything cast in the mold of a formula instantly takes on the elements of materiality, because using a formula of necessity outlines, limits, and consequently materializes.

In Christian Science, therefore, there is no formulating by one individual for another. Each puts into his own language what he understands being to be.

Any attempt on the part of another to do this for him results in no thinking on his part and destroys all impulse to his own thought.

Consecrated obedience to Truth alone is thinking.




The Effect Of Cause

Let us consider some other terms not so commonly used as the three just analyzed, but which may be equally important in giving freedom to thought.

You have established cause as synonymous with God.

By cause you mean foundation, basis, origin — in other words, that which is.

That which is, being all that is, must be the basis, the foundation, the origin, the cause of all that is. Paralleling the word cause, and always accompanying it, is the word effect.

Effect instantly implies that it is the effect ofsomething that is primary to it.

For cause to be, it must have the effect that it is cause to, or there would be no cause. Then all that cause is, effect must be.

So you find that since cause is what you mean by the term God, effect is what you mean by the term product of God.

Effect expresses all the intelligence, all the Life, all the action, all the everything that God, as cause, means, and is. There is one effect because there is one cause, one is.

Effect is synonymous with man, idea, body. You are the effect of the one cause, God.

Effect is conscious identification with cause. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.” (Ps. 42: 1)

As the effect of God, you can never lack anything, for you understand that you are the conscious and obedient functioning of what cause, God, is.

Man, as the effect of the one Mind, has infinite capability, boundless opportunity. The infinite Mind can operate only as man — effect.




The Universe Of Mind

How would you classify the word universeand what does it mean to you?

The usual answer to this question is: The universe is that in which I live. But is this a satisfying answer? Universe must be classified under the head-ing of either cause or effect. Where will you place it?

Accepting what you have established: one infinite Mind and that Mind all the isness there is, it follows that this Mind must include within itself all.

From this premise you are forced to the conclusion that all in which you, the idea of God, are included, or live, or with which you can be concerned, is God the one Mind.

But is this what you mean when you say that the universe is something in which you live?

In saying that you live in the universe, are you not thinking of universe merely as a larger effect, in which you, a smaller effect, live?

Such a sense of universe immediately implies two effects, two ideas, one larger than the other in which the lesser dwells.

Admitting two ideas immediately dethrones the infinity of Principle. You have established that you cannot have Principle without its idea, and that idea is co-existent with Principle.

Two ideas would necessitate two principles. But you have proved that there is one Principle and its idea, one infinity.

Assuming, for the sake of argument, the possibility of two ideas, there would of necessity be a dividing line of space, however infinitesimally small, separating these ideas and, therefore, a point where Principle was unexpressed as idea. Consequently infinite Principle would be dethroned as All-in-all.

This being so, what you call universe cannot be another idea, a place in which you live. It must be merely another word for that which meansthe effect of God; hence it must be synonymous with every other word that is used to define that which God is God to.

So we have one universe, and this universe as infinite as the Mind of which it is the universe. All that this Mind is, universe must be.




The Reflection Of God

Mrs. Eddy tells us, “Few persons comprehend what Christian Science means by the word reflection.” (S. & H. 301: 5) In which column will you classify reflection?

Reflection means to give back, implying that it expresses something that is. Then reflection must be another word for effect or man.

Does reflection imply three?

If, as an illustration, you are thinking of reflection as the image in the mirror which reflects the object in front of it, you at once introduce a third and dethrone the oneness of Principle and idea.

God, in His infinite allness, is a “jealous God” (Ex. 20: 5) and allows no third, no power, presence nor authority aside from Himself and His idea.

Principle and its idea is one not two. Twois implied only in the sense that Principle is never idea and idea is never Principle. They are inseparably one in that one can never be without the other, but nothing apart from this Principle and idea can enter into that oneness.

If you concede a third something, you have entity apart from the one Mind and that to which it is Mind.

That, of course, destroys your heaven, for heaven means harmony, and harmony means isness; oneness; consciousness and that of which consciousness is conscious; God and His idea.

The sun and its ray best illustrate what is meant by the word reflection. The ray of sunlight expresses, or reflects, every quality and characteristic of the sun. The sun and the ray are inseparably one, in the sense that there is nothing intervening.

The illustration of the mirror and the object before it does not accurately express the metaphysical meaning of the word reflection, because the mirror appears to be a third. There is no mirror in which the idea of God can be reflected.

The man of God, the reflection of God, is the eternal presence of God, and is that whereby God is known. “Whatever is possible to God, is possible to man as God’s reflection.” (Mis. 183: 13)

The only way in which you can safely use the illustration of the mirror, is to do as Mrs. Eddy does and call “the

mirror divine Science.” (S. & H. 515: 29) This avoids the “third.”

You cannot afford to allow a thought to operate as your mind which implies, in the slightest degree, anything apart from Principle.

Be constantly on guard against a “third” in your thinking. You cannot be too exact in satisfying your own thought.

No matter what the seeming appearance, there can no more be two ideas, (metaphysically, and therefore, absolutely) than there can be two gods.

“Spirit is the only creator, and man, including the universe, is His spiritual concept.” (Un. 32: 6)




The Use Of “In” And “Of”

As man, you do not live in the universe or in anything. You exist as the idea of God. Let us digress a moment to consider the two words “of” and “in.”

“Of” means product of, that which is derivedfrom.

“In” means contained within, that which is completely enveloped.

Accepting this definition of “in,” it is obvious that God, who is All-in-all, cannot be in anything. If He were, He would be less than that which He is in and therefore, not all that is.

Because of this self-evident fact, the word in, as used in Christian Science is, as Mrs. Eddy says, “A term obsolete in Science if used with reference to Spirit or Deity.” (S. & H. 588: 22)

God is not, and cannot be, in anything.

The true interpretation of Paul’s statement should read, Let that same Mind be Mind to you that was Mind to Christ Jesus, not, Let that same “mind be in you.” (Phil. 2: 5)

Since God, Mind, cannot be in anything, neither can man, the idea of God, be in anything.

You as man, are aware of consciously being.You do not find yourself in anything — you simply are.

If you could find yourself in, you would have to presuppose an outside from which you were looking in in order to find yourself — a manifest absurdity.

Metaphysically, the word “in” is as obsolete with reference to man as it is to God, except in the one sense that Mind, being infinite, embraces within itself all that it is Mind to.

You exist as the idea of God.

Therefore, never think of yourself as in anything.

You do not find yourself in God, because you are the idea of God. In communion with Him you discover all that appears to you as consciousness, whether appearing as person, place or thing.




The Language Of Mind

How do you define the word “language”?

Is it not that which Mind is Mind to, namely, the idea expressed? Mind outlining itself in expression is language. Language then, in its broadest sense is the complete, all-inclusive symbol or image of Mind.

It is the idea of Mind, the mental or spiritual image, expressed; the ideal or model of Mind. It declares in spiritual outline what Mind is; performs what Mind is.

Language draws its existence from Mind and so is the effect of Mind. Since it is the effect ofMind, it is one, and is synonymous with all words meaning effect.

You, then, are the language of God and carry out and express all that God is.

You are the idea of God, spiritually expressed, the language of Mind that maintains and enforces what Mind is.

Jesus declared, “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” (Jno. 5: 19)

In Isaiah we read, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” (Isa. 59: 19)

What is this standard of God’s power and authority? It is the language of Mind, the manof God, the conscious expression of what Mind is.




“The Divine Manifestation Of God” (S. & H. 583: 10)

The next word to define is Christ.

Should Christ be classified as cause or effect? The theological concept is that Christ is an-other name for God. If by “Christ” you mean that which appears like God, then it is not another name for God, but another name for the effect of God, for that whereby God is known.

Jesus said of the Christ, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (Jno. 14: 6) Then, he must have meant by “the Christ” the truth or the true way.

The name Christ Jesus means the true Jesus, which, in turn, means the man Jesus, demonstrating the reality of the true man of God.

It is in this sense of effect, or man of God, that the word Christ is used in Christian Science, rather than as a synonym for God.

Science and Health, however, in a number of instances, uses the word as synonymous with Life and Truth, and rightly understood it can be used in that sense as well as in the sense of reflection. But the definition of Christ, as given in the glossary of Science and Health, indicates the best way in which to think of Christ. “The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the fleshto destroy incarnate error.” (S. & H. 583: 10)

Thus Christ means the manifestation or revelation of God; in other words, the man of God. That man of God is the man whereby God reveals or shows forth Himself.

Can there be more than one Christ?

No, that is impossible, because there is but one God. Is there any place where Christ is not?

No. Christ is the one and only man there is.

It is this Christ that is your reality, the verity of your conscious being, your very self. Christ is forever one with Messiah, for Messiah means Saviour.

What is it that saves?

For example, what saves or corrects the error “two times two is five.” Is it not the truth about two times two, that it is four?

Is not that what you mean by the Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour, the very presence of Principle, the truth, everpresent, now?

Christ, then, is the Messiah, and this Messiah is all the Saviour there ever is or can be. God, divine Principle, cannot operate of Himself without expression.

He can operate only as His own idea or Christ.

The Saviour is not Principle; the Saviour is the presence of Principle, called Christ or man. This is why Science and Health declares, “God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is governed by God.” (S. & H. 495: 1)

Think always of this Christ, this Messiah as the saving man, then, finding yourself as this man, you will cease looking for him to come.

With two times two as five confronting you in a mathematical problem, you would not ask the principle of numbers to correct it for you. In your communion with that principle, you would find oneness with two times two as four, and the mistake would automatically disappear.

The same method corrects problems that seem to arise in the study of the Science of being.

Except for the word “Christ,” you will find that Mrs. Eddy generally uses words in the sense in which she classified them, and does not use them first as meaning God and then as meaning the idea of God.

This double use of the word “Christ,” as a concession to popular Christian usage, is an endeavor to cause no offense, and so to be, as Paul puts it, “all things to all men.” (1Cor. 9: 22)

What Mrs. Eddy could do with perfect wisdom and understanding, you may not at once be able to do; hence you will find it wiser not to interchange words in your vocabulary but to use them uniformly in the sense in which you classify them metaphysically.

By so doing you will avoid confusion and be surer of the words you use. They will give impulse to your thought and spontaneously your understanding will respond.

This, however, does not mean that one has not the right to use a word in any sense he caresto give to it. You must, in fact, do so or you will not speak with authority.

To paraphrase the Scripture concerning the Sabbath one might say, “man was not made for words but words were made for man.” Therefore, any word is for you to use in the sense that gives the best impulse to your thought and which carries you most directly to the impersonal Truth.

The point to be guarded against, however, is the use of the same word to mean both cause and effect. That might cause confusion and give a wrong impulse to thought. Apart from this, there is no inflexible meaning for words.




The Understanding Of God

Let us now establish what is meant by understanding.

This word, like the word Christ, is frequently used as meaning both God and His idea.

God would cease to be God unless He were known and understood, in other words, expressed or shown forth.

In this sense of the word, man is the understanding of God, just as man is the body of God.

Man shows forth that which God is; hence man must be the understanding of God.

But if you use the word understanding to imply that which supports or maintains, then it becomes synonymous with God.

Because God is Mind, and this Mind could not be Mind without being understood or expressed, is it not simpler to call man the understanding of God?

In that case, understanding is synonymous with effect rather than with cause. This is also the sense in which you acceptthought.

Mind must have thought in order to be Mind, for thought is the product or effect of Mind.

So, understanding is the product or intelligent effect of intelligence, but it is not intelligence itself.

That which you have established as true understanding, the man of God, the forever showing forth what God is, immediately brings to light the folly of praying in the sense of asking God to grant a request.

True prayer is communion with God, the realizing one’s eternal oneness with Him and so being like Him. “All things that the Father hath are mine.” (Jno. 16: 15)

It would be impossible to define the true sense of prayer more clearly than Mrs. Eddy has done in No and Yes:

“Prayer is the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us It makes new and scientific discoveries of God, of His goodness and power. It shows us more clearly than we saw before, what we already have and are; and most of all, it shows us what God is.” (No. 39: 18)



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Love is the liberator.