Outward, Upward, Heavenward — 1952 Association Address

by Herbert E. Rieke

Table of Contents

• Outward, Upward, Heavenward
• Giving Versus Getting
• Prayer Or Communion With God
• It Is All In The Mind

Outward, Upward, Heavenward

I would like to give you two statements about Christian Science and have you tell me which one you think is absolute Science and which is a bit incomplete in statement.

First — God is ever-present and all-powerful. He is right here with all of us. God is Life, Truth, Love, Spirit, Soul, Principle, and Mind. It is our privilege, responsibility, and duty to reflect these divine qualities in proportion as we reflect Love in our daily affairs, manifest Truth toward all in our dealings with others, express Soul in the events of our careers, use divine Principle in the solution of our problems, trust Spirit instead of matter, keep ourselves lined up with divine Mind, and adore the perfect Life, all things will run smoothly and we shall be well and successful.

Second — Right where we are and everywhere the divine Mind is manifesting itself, and the result is the divine manifestation, man, the true selfhood of each and all of us. Right where we are, divine Love is eternally expressing itself, and the outcome is man whose very substance and being are tenderness and kindness expressed. Right where we are the divine Principle is in operation, and the effect is perfect man who is the complete manifestation of harmony and uprightness. Right where we are, and everywhere, Truth is making itself evident; and we are the evidence of that Truth, the eternal witness that Truth exists, that it is real. Right where we are, and everywhere, Soul is showing forth its beauty and harmony; and the exhibit is man, the true being and eternal consciousness of all of us. Right where we are, Spirit is representing itself in the right attitude of joy, happiness, freedom, and dominion. You know the result — man “the smile of the Great Spirit.” Right where we are eternal Life is making itself manifest, and we are that manifestation because we know the true God and the spiritual idea of being.

Now let us look at the difference. In the first statement you have an inactive God. He is there all right, with all of His divine qualities waiting to be reflected by man; but the full responsibility is put upon man — the full government is on man’s shoulders rather than on God’s shoulders. The first statement tells what man should do, ought to do, must do. It has nothing to say about what God is doing. The first statement is nothing but the old orthodox religion dressed up in a few scientific terms. It is, of course, better for man to put forth effort to love instead of hate, to be honest rather than dishonest; but this is not absolute Science.

In the second statement we have a very active God, a living God. He is ever-present and all-powerful, and He is doing something about it. He is not waiting around for someone to express Him. He is busy expressing Himself, and the result is perfect manifestation, man. Our Leader puts it this way in that familiar statement “All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation for God is All-in-all.”

One of Mrs. Eddy’s early students illustrates this point. He was showing how to give a treatment — to affirm the truth about God, the universe, man, body, law, etc., and then to deny the lies that would testify to the contrary. Someone said, “Yes, but you have to bring this out in the thought of the patient, don’t you?” The teacher replied, “What do you suppose God is doing while you are making those wonderful statements of Truth?” A correct treatment in Christian Science is the very word of God in operation, and it is endowed with infinite power of accomplishment.

John Randall Dunn illustrates these two approaches in one of his experiences. Early in his practice an alcoholic came for help. In substance Mr. Dunn spoke to him as follows: “Man, do you realize what you are doing to yourself, to your family, to your business? You must get hold of yourself.” Then he explained to the man what God was and sought to show the man that he should reflect more love and consideration for others. He tried to help him to see that he ought to reflect more intelligence than to get intoxicated. He told him that he should go forth and be God’s representative in his daily affairs. Do you know what was the result of that treatment? The man went out and got intoxicated for a whole week. So much responsibility was put on him that he got scared and had to do something to forget the terrible responsibility he had of representing God.

Later Mr. Dunn had another alcoholic patient. This time he gave the man a Christian Science treatment rather than an orthodox one. Instead of telling the man what he ought to do, he told him what the loving Father-Mother God was doing. He helped the man to see that right where he was Love, Truth, and all the divine qualities were making themselves manifest, and he was that divine manifestation. He helped the man to see that the full responsibility was on God’s shoulders and that evil was unreal. Of course, you know what happened to this man. He went away from the office completely healed.

When you find yourself telling your patients or members of your family what they should do or ought to do, you are not giving a Christian Science treatment at all. If you will search your experience you will see how often you have given the wrong kind of treatment. We do not declare for what man should do, but for what divine Love is eternally doing.

Can you picture the reflection in a mirror talking like this: “Oh I have so much responsibility. I must be sure that I reflect that original out there. I must make sure that I am the same shape and color. When the original goes up, I must go up; when the original goes down, I must go down; when it wiggle-waggles, I must wiggle-waggle. I do not know whether I can do it, but I must try hard”? Of course not. The reflection has nothing to do about it but reflect the original. What really happens is this — the original reflects itself and the reflection is — well, just the reflection. I know that you will not misunderstand me or misrepresent me when I make this statement. Man really does not reflect God. What happens is this — God reflects Himself, and the result is the reflection, man. Ponder this simple fact, and it will do much for you.

The divine Mind is eternally expressing itself in terms of beauty, harmony, freedom, perfection, and completeness. You know what the result is — man, the perfect image and likeness of this perfect Mind. I know that through your study you are gaining this higher concept of man. Through false teachings we find ourselves often thinking in terms of God and man. Eventually we come to the realization that there are not two, God and man, but rather, that God is all and that man is the complete and perfect manifestation of God’s being. You know how the Bible puts it — “The Lord He is God and there is none else beside Him.” Now I am sure that you see that we do not mean that man is God, but rather the outcome of God, the son of God, God making Himself manifest, the eternal Being expressing itself. This true concept, does not do away with man, but rather reveals him as he really is, the very image of God. When in your prayers all personal sense disappears and you are only conscious of Truth affirming its completeness, Mind declaring its allness, Love declaring its perfection, then man does not disappear, but rather he appears as the complete and perfect manifestation of God.

In order to have this divine sense of man, we do not spend a lot of time and effort thinking about man. Rather, we contemplate what it is that God knows. We let ourselves think as the divine Mind thinks, feel as the divine Soul feels, act as divine Life acts. We allow ourselves to look at every situation as God looks at it. In this way we find man, our true selfhood, which is the divine Mind expressing itself.

Mrs. Eddy is dealing with this absolute concept of man when in her prayer on page 10 of Pulpit and Press she writes: “Divine Presence, breathe Thou Thy blessing on every heart in this house. Speak out, O Soul! This is the newborn of Spirit, this His redeemed; this, His beloved. May the kingdom of God within you, — with you alway — reascending bear you outward, upward, heavenward.”

Here let us ask a simple question: “Are we allowing all of our thoughts to proceed from the divine Mind and to flow outward, upward and heavenward?” As we do this we grasp what it means to be man, the very image and likeness of God.

It is as we allow our thoughts to turn inward and thus downward and hellward, that we lose the true sense of man and rather see him as separated from God, divine Love. On page 91 of our textbook, our Leader writes: “Absorbed in material selfhood we discern and reflect but faintly the substance of Life and mind.” Absorbed in material selfhood! What is that but allowing our thought to turn inward, downward, and hellward?

We might say that the material sense of man is just the result of allowing thought to turn inward and downward. That is absorption. As thoughts go outward, upward, and heavenward, that is reflection.

When people come to you for help, what is usually the trouble? Have they not been thinking too much about themselves, especially their bodies? Their thoughts have been turning inward and downward. Your treatment helps to turn thought naturally outward, upward, and heavenward.

You know how our Leader puts it on page 260 of the textbook: “If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit, we find its opposite, matter.” Why cannot we turn to the material body to find the good things? For one reason only, because they are not there. Then Mrs. Eddy goes on: “Now reverse this action. Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality.” Can you see how she directs every thought outward, upward, and heavenward? She then goes on: “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.” There is no possibility of absorption in a material sense of selfhood here.

Further on the same page Mrs. Eddy says, “If one turns away from the body with such absorbed interest as to forget it, the body will experience no pain.” Oh, what a joyous thing this is to do. She says further that we should “detach sense from the body, or matter, which is only a form of human belief, and you may learn the meaning of God, or good, and the nature of the immutable and immortal.” That is certainly the way to find reality. She says further that we should break away from the mutations of time and sense and thus find our true identity. You will never find your true identity thinking in terms of time and sense, but only as thought flows outward, upward and heavenward. But listen to this: “Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a skyward flight.” Have we allowed our thought to burst itself lose from the egg of materiality, and are we preening our wings for the skyward flight? Just see how thought thus goes outward, upward, and heavenward.

Self-pity is a miserable state of thought, isn’t it? It is so bad that we are giving you a set of references on the subject so that you can prove to yourself that you do not have any of this quality. What is self-pity, anyway? It is just allowing thought to turn inward, downward, and hellward. There is no divine reflection in self-pity — only “poor me! poor me!” There is so much of the false material sense of self in self-pity that all of God is crowded completely out. Before long we are thinking that God has forsaken us. But He has not. It is we who have forsaken Him by indulging in self-pity, allowing thought to flow inward, downward, and hellward.

Or take another sin — selfishness. It is nothing but the inward thought — getting, getting, getting. See how it cramps and closes everything up, even the hands. But what does the giving thought do? Why it goes outward, upward and heavenward always. Because you want a perfect flow of good in your human experience, I know that you will have nothing to do with selfishness. It makes you poor, cramped, restricted. There can be no stagnation, no constipation, no asthma, no arthritis when thought flows freely outward and upward. Because you all want good business I know that you will not try to get something but will rather put forth all your efforts to give more and more of love and divine service to others. This opens all the channels. Give freely by reflection. That is always your answer.

Egotism is another example of thought turning inward. Of course, you will have none of that because you see that all there is, is God expressing Himself. There is no false pride, no conceit. What do we have to crow about, anyway? All the good that is expressed where we are is just God manifesting Himself. To God goes all the credit. Oh, what heaven it is to lay aside some of the me, me, me — I think this; I want that; I feel hurt; I am afraid; I am disturbed; I am lonesome; I am mad. We find no divine reflection in such thinking, there is only an absorption in a false, material sense of self.

In a like manner we could take every sin and discover that there is always an element of thought going inward, downward, and hellward.

Here is another interesting point. When you think in terms of a past sense of creation, you lose the true fact of man’s unity with God. You know the statement, “God made me in His image and likeness.” God did something long ago, and here I am as the result. In that concept you always have two. But when you think in terms of the ever-present Mind, you see that this Mind is forever expressing itself; and the result is man. Then all the false sense of time and sense disappears, and the true, ever-present man is found.

God meditates on His own immutable perfection; the result is man. Divine Mind reflects on His own unchangeable goodness — that reflection is you. Perfect Mind is manifesting itself right where you are, and there is nothing else that can manifest itself for God is all. Disease cannot manifest itself; fear cannot express itself; imperfection cannot show itself forth; death cannot knock at the door; lack cannot evidence itself; unhappiness cannot express itself because God alone has all power, presence, and being and the ability to express Himself.

Does this mean that man is absorbed in God? By no means. God isn’t even absorbed in Himself. Love is never absorbed in itself. Where Love is, every thought flows outward, upward, heavenward. That divine flow of thought is man, is your true selfhood. You are not absorbed in yourself or in God. To be absorbed in Life, Truth and Love would be for you to lose your identity. We are not trying to climb into God. We are not concentrating on the nature of God. That would be absorption and would be restrictive. Instead of concentrating, narrowing thought down, we are consecrating our thought by allowing it to flow naturally outward, upward, and heavenward. God is freely expressing Himself, and you are that expression. That does not leave any room for a mortal, finite sense of selfhood, does it?

We are not mortal beings bowing down before our maker. The eternal Maker is forever creating, revealing, beautiful images of thought. Those beautiful images of thought are you. You are not a Christian Scientist arguing with error. You are not even an individual who is listening to the Truth. The eternal Truth is expressing itself; and that is you, the eternal expression of Truth.

Our Master was not one who was trying to grasp a knowledge of eternal Life. He knew that eternal Life was expressing itself and that this expression was his true individuality. He was the eternal Life made manifest. He was not separate from that eternal Life one iota. He knew that He and the Father, eternal Life, were one. Eternal Life was expressing itself, and the result was our Master. Eternal Life is even now expressing itself, and you are the result. You are not God; but you are the eternal Life making itself manifest.

Where is God? Why, He is right here — Emmanuel, as it were — God with us. Not so much God with us, but, as our Leader says, “God the only I or us.” — God expressing Himself and we are that expression.

Now please don’t take a peek back to see whether God is really expressing Himself on your premises; for if you do, that inward thought will start downward, and you will seem to lose your sense of perfect God and perfect man. Don’t even take one last look back to see whether what I have been telling you is true. Let your every thought go outward, upward, and heavenward; and then God will declare who you are and what you are, and you will know what it means to be man, the very image and likeness of God.

Right where you are, God is expressing Himself — and that is you. Are you not wonderful?

Giving Versus Getting

If someone should ask you where he could get some honesty, where would you send him — to the grocery store, or the meat market?

You would show him that honesty is not a commodity to be purchased or acquired from without. It is a possession of the heart and must be found within consciousness. There is no other place to look for it or find it. There is, however, something that every individual can and must do who wants to be honest. He must affirm that honesty is real; he recognizes that divine Mind is perpetually unfolding the idea of honesty in the consciousness of man. He must also acknowledge that the opposite, dishonesty, is unreal, that it does not exist in consciousness, and then he must permit these basic facts to be demonstrated in his daily experience. As he does this, he finds that there is no limit to the amount of honesty he possesses and may reflect.

If someone said he wanted to get some decency, where would you send him? If he wanted purity, and true culture, where would you send him? Of course, you would show him that these qualities are not to be acquired by accretion. We find them through spiritual unfoldment. The prayer of sincere desire reveals that these qualities already exist in our divine consciousness, because man as the child of God is made in His image and after His likeness. Here too, we need to deny the presence, power and existence of impurity and vulgarity, and permit our speech and actions to prove that true culture is real to us. Divine qualities of thought can never be acquired; they can only be discovered in the ever-present infinite Mind and reflected by man.

Suppose that someone came to you and said that he would like to get well, where would you send him to get some health? Obviously, health is like honesty and purity; it is not something that can be acquired through material means. We cannot find it through a change of diet or by moving into a different climate. Sooner or later everyone must learn that health is a spiritual quality of thought like honesty and purity. It is never something to get. It is forever the divine possession of every one of God’s children, for divine Principle can only express itself in all-harmonious being.

Someone may object and say, “When I say I want to get well, what I mean is that I want to become well.” What they virtually are saying is, “I am in a state of inharmony and I want to get out of this state and into a state of harmony.” Through such statements they are acknowledging that there are different states of being; that the Supreme Being is not the only being, and that there must be a change before heaven can be experienced. Such thinking makes the path difficult.

Christian Science does not teach us how to get well or to become well. It teaches us how to be well, or rather how to manifest health. Students of this Science recognize that God, the giver of all good, is constantly transmitting to His children the right ideas of peace, comfort, release, security and completeness. We see health as real and present and we logically deny the presence, power, and existence of the opposite of health called sickness.

We then seek to allow these facts to demonstrate themselves in our daily affairs. We begin by refusing to talk about aches, pains and disease. We go further and even refuse to think about sickness. To aid us in this endeavor we study our Bible and textbook. Through the great truth expressed in these books our thought is turned away from the contemplation of matter, material bodies, disease, sin, and death to the higher things of God and spiritual reality. As we learn what it means to be the sons of God, we awaken to the fact that spiritual freedom and dominion exist in consciousness and that the material bondage of sickness sin, and death are non-existent. At this point we may be tempted to think that we have acquired health, but the fact is that we discovered ever-present health in our own consciousness and learned what it means to reflect or manifest all-harmonious being.

Jesus emphasized this fact when he showed that the kingdom of heaven is not something outside which we must acquire, but rather that it is within us.

On page five of The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany, Mrs. Eddy has written: “Wholly apart from this mortal dream, this illusion and delusion of sense, Christian Science reveals man as God’s image, His idea, co-existent with Him — God giving all and man having all that God gives.”

Since you as man already possess all good why are you trying to get more and more of it? If you are constantly having the attitude of trying to get more good, what does this indicate that you think about good?

Since the true man already possesses all good, he is not interested in trying to get more health. As students of Science we are learning how to manifest unlimited health. Harmonious action, good feeling, strength, divine inspiration, and spiritual dominion exist, in consciousness; they are real. The opposites, called inaction, overaction, discordant action, pain, weakness, and congestion do not exist. In the Gospel of John, we read: “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” (1:3) God certainly did not make evil conditions of thought or experience; therefore, they were not made and do not exist in the eternal order of things.

A woman came to me for help for her daughter who had seemed to be ill for some time. She kept talking about trying to get the little girl well. There was a great deal of the getting-attitude. In order to awaken her quickly, I finally told her that I was going to say something that she would not like to hear. But she asked me to please tell her anything that might be helpful. Then I said, “Your little girl will never get well.” Of course, she was shocked. Then I went on to explain that she could not get that which she already had. We went over the facts as we have discussed them this afternoon. We helped the little girl to manifest the natural health which was already hers. The mother took an altogether different attitude and in a short time the child was manifesting perfect health.

Is it not the same with all good things? Take companionship, for instance. A young lady came to me for help stating that she felt she needed a companion, someone to love her. I pointed out that love is not something that an individual can get; it can only be reflected (given). She was awakened to see that she already possessed unlimited love because God is Love and is ever-present, she began to comprehend that divine Love is the great reality and that the opposite called dislike, selfishness, criticism, egotism, envy, and loneliness are unreal, non-existent. She was encouraged to acknowledge this ever-present divine Love and to allow it to demonstrate itself in her relationship with others. Immediately she discovered her own natural poise, friendliness, contentment, peace, joy and ability to be of help and inspiration to her fellowmen. She also discovered that she had a host of friends and before long, a companion who was devoted to her welfare and happiness. She had learned the importance of giving companionship rather than trying to get it.

Did you ever spend much time thinking about getting rich? Oh, how many individuals think, dream and plan on accumulating riches. And they make themselves poor as a result.

Why can’t you ever get rich? Because you are infinitely rich already. You have, as Mrs. Eddy says, “all that God gives.” Wealth is not something to get. It is something to reflect. Abundance isn’t something to accumulate; it is something to radiate in the way of helpful and abundant ideas. We should declare often, “I am infinitely rich because right where I am, right there, God is expressing Himself in an infinite abundance of ideas.” Let us look for ways and means of radiating more of this abundance rather than trying to accumulate it. I (any individuals make themselves poor because they are trying to be professional getters rather than abundant givers. You will remember that great truth from one of our hymns, “Ceasing to give we cease to have, such is the law of God.” I sincerely hope that every member of this Association will give careful thought to this subject every day and make certain that you are never trying to get rich but rather to manifest an abundant sense of Life and divine activity. Did you ever try to go out and get some good business? Good business is not something outside of yourself that you have to acquire. Good business is like health and honesty; it is to be found within. When Jesus was a young lad he was about his Father’s business, manifesting intelligence and sincerity in his conversations with the priests and lawyers. Business, to him, was not something to get, it was something to express. Through your study of Christian Science, I know that you are all learning what it means to be intelligent givers in the business world. You are always thinking of ways and means whereby you may be able to give more service, express more helpfulness, and manifest more intelligence in your daily affairs. Good business is always real to you; it exists for it is the giving business and your heart is full of Love and giving. Poor business is unreal, non-existent to you because it is the getting business and that just isn’t your trade and profession. You have learned never to talk or even think in terms of poor business. You know the Father’s business of manifesting perfection is always good. You turn always to the divine Mind in prayer, confident that this Mind will tell you where to go, what to do, and how to serve more efficiently. There is always a demand for good services that will make the experience of our fellowman more comfortable and satisfying; and divine Mind directs its ideas to find these forms of service. Each day is a challenge to give more. Each so-called problem is an opportunity to find ways for additional service. Pride yourself in being a professional giver. Love that idea of yourself. Of course, do it humbly as well as cheerfully and you will find true wealth and abundance. God loves a cheerful giver. What do you think of this Bible passage from Proverbs? “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom: and with all thy getting, get understanding.” I am sure that you can see that Christian Science throws an altogether different light on this Bible passage, for in Science we learn that wisdom and understanding are like honesty, health and love; they are inherent qualities of the one divine Mind and are manifested by this Mind through its idea man. We are learning to acknowledge the presence, power and reality of spiritual understanding and to deny the existence of ignorance, superstition, and confusion. We are letting this divine Mind express itself right where we are. Do you get your Bible lesson every day? I believe that you will find it helpful to be free from the thought of “getting your lesson.” If you approach the lesson with the thought that you are giving intelligent consideration to inspiring facts about God, the universe and man, rather than “getting the lesson,” you will find much more inspiration. I think 1 have told some of you that when I read my lesson I do it with the thought that I am reading it to the whole world, giving it to all mankind. I read it for the government, for my family, for our church, for the Association; but I always maintain the attitude of giving. Do you go to church on Sunday or Wednesday to see what you can get? Of course not. Go to give — give devotion to God, give love to others, give sincerity, prayer, joy, consecration. You will find that as you have the attitude of giving abundantly, you will receive of spiritual understanding abundantly. Give intelligent support to the Readers, to the Soloist, to the Organist, to every member of the congregation. Then you will never leave the auditorium with the thought that you did not get much out of the service. Modern education is almost universally accepting this Christianly Scientific approach to all learning. No longer does the teacher seek to pound wisdom and understanding into the pupil, but rather to bring out the natural wisdom, understanding and divine talents that are in each of us as children of the one divine Mind. Edward A. Kimball, a student of Mrs. Eddy once said, “I became a Christian Scientist at the time when everybody was chasing around to acquire a greater knowledge of the letter. Why, we walked the streets nights to find someone who would give us some high thoughts. As a matter of fact, we do not need high thoughts until we have demonstrated some of the little ones. It is a good deal like eating three hundred and sixty-five meals before digesting one of them.” Let us make use of the understanding we have. As we do so we shall gain confidence in the power of this understanding. It will appear to grow larger and more useful. Then our further study will be more interesting and instructive because we shall know better what Mrs. Eddy is revealing to us. May I say just a word here on the subject of church and its opportunity to give. If your branch church and you are out to get new members, get more people into the services and Reading Rooms, to get more money, to get more of anything, you are on the wrong track. The church that gives and gives and gives of the Truth that is its heritage will find that it truly is a successful church in every way. I think I called to your attention in class that Jesus never used the word “get” except in a very different meaning when he said, “Get thee hence, Satan.” (Matt. 4:10) As we tell selfishness to get out and stay out and then devote our every thought and effort to giving, manifesting the divine qualities of being, we shall see clearly that we possess all good. In the parable of the Prodigal son we read: “Son, thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine.” (Luke 15:31) All the good that exists in the infinitude of Mind is already ours and is eager to express itself right where we are. There is never any need to get.

Prayer Or Communion With God

Last year at Association we discussed in detail the prayer of demonstration. We likened a Christian Science treatment to the pleading of a case by a lawyer before a judge. You will recall how Mrs. Eddy makes this same comparison in the allegory at the end of the chapter on Christian Science Practice in which Christian Science pleads the case scientifically for Truth before the court of Spirit.

We found that there were four steps that we needed to take in giving a scientific proof, or a perfect prayer of demonstration.

Will someone give me the first step in such proving? That is right. We must state our proposition. We cannot prove anything until we know what it is that we are trying to prove. Have you during the past year been definite in your declarations of the propositions that you are proving?

We know that our proposition is always that man is innocent of evil. Man is perfect, well, whole, free, relaxed, peaceful, rich, happy, strong, inspired, successful. There is no use going on until we have stated the proposition.

Will someone now tell me the second step? That is right. We must know the reason why. As our Leader says: “Declare I am not hurt and know the reason why.” We know that the why of all reality is God. We saw that it is Life Truth and Love that makes man happy. It is Spirit, Soul and Mind that makes him rich. It is Principle that makes him perfect. We saw last year that our proof must be more than mere words. We must meditate on the activity of these divine qualities in the affairs of men and nations. We must not only intellectually see but also divinely feel the truth of what makes man whole and free.

First, we state the proposition. Then we know the reason why. What is the next step? That is right. We must know when this is true. We see that man is innocent of evil, sin and sickness, both now and forever. God makes man well now and forever. God makes man happy now and forever. God makes man successful now and forever.

What is the last step? We must know that there is nothing that can reverse these facts. I know that nothing can reverse this truth. But what seems to reverse it? Nothing. What claims to reverse it? Nothing. What wants to reverse it? Nothing. What tries to reverse it? Nothing. What appears to reverse it? Nothing. What suggests that it is reversed? Nothing.

Now that is the general outline of the prayer of scientific demonstration or unalterable proof. Of course, this is not a formula. But these are points that need to be covered. As you pray, or prove divine facts in this manner you are entertaining the Christ which is the Savior in every situation. You will remember our Leader’s statement: “Hold perpetually this thought, — that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being.” (496:15) How grateful we can be that our Leader has taught us how to pray this prayer of demonstration or scientific proof which she says on page 16 of the little book, is the highest form of prayer.

This afternoon I would like to observe some of the lower or more primitive forms of prayer, not so much from a historical standpoint but rather that we might make certain that we are not using some of these lower forms when we can and should be using the highest form.

The earliest form of prayer or communion with God was that of sacrifice. This form of communion was practiced not only by the Hebrews, but also by the Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Indians, Eskimos and all primitive people. The beliefs involved in such worship are to be found in this: The people admitted that there was a supreme ruler or rulers. Because of unhappy situations such as sickness, drought, war, pestilence, storm or death, they thought that God was either angry with them or was too busy to give much attention to their wants or needs. They therefore sought to find ways in which to attract His attention, arouse His sympathy or assuage His anger. They reasoned that they would sacrifice something of value before the Lord. He would take heed unto them and meet their needs. In Genesis we read: “And in the process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.” (Gen. 4:3,4)

They did this because it was the custom of all the primitive people to do so; it was their superstition.

Throughout the Old Testament we read a lot about such sacrifices. In the Book of Job, we read: “And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all [his children]: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus, did Job continually.” (Job 1:5) But this did not seem to do any good. All of his sons were killed.

Abraham was even tempted to sacrifice his own son Isaac to gain God’s favor, until he was awakened to the truth that this is not the way to worship God. Do you know what the prayer of sacrifice is? It is the prayer of bribery; it is as though you would go before a Judge in a court and wave a hundred dollar bill under his nose in order to attract his attention or influence his decisions.

The more enlightened thinkers of the Old Testament saw that this was not the way to approach God. In Psalms we read: “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire — burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.” (Ps. 40:6) And yet at the time of Jesus, the sacrifice of calves, doves, and lambs was still the general custom in the worship of God. History records that the Jews ceased offering such sacrifices in about the year 70 AD when their temple was destroyed. But the prayer of sacrifice in one form or another has not ceased to this very day.

Many early Christian people believed that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was an atonement for our sins, and through that sacrifice God’s anger was assuaged. Then as we acknowledge this sacrifice we are saved. Many churches still teach something along this line. You have heard such sermons over the radio. The Roman Catholic Mass is still a continuation of the prayer of sacrifice. They still have an altar. The wine is supposed to turn into the very blood of Jesus and the bread into his flesh. They believe that their ritualism will appease God’s wrath and gain for them favor. The fast and penance are phases of the prayer of sacrifice. I was recently talking to a theological student of the Episcopal church. He tried to explain to me just what they thought in regard to communion. It ran something like this: Their communion is a memorial for the sacrifice Jesus made. As one performs the act of drinking the wine and eating the bread he is supposed to get a good effect spiritually by performing these acts for it more vividly calls to his attention the sacrifice of Jesus. It was all rather complicated.

But enough for the other churches. What we need to do is to make sure that we are not praying the primitive prayer of sacrifice. Have any of you ever contributed to the church with a thought that this might please God and bring good unto you? This might border on the prayer of sacrifice. How much better it is to contribute because we are grateful for the blessing we have received in Christian Science and we want to do our part to share these blessings with others. Have any of you sacrificed the tobacco habit or liquor with the thought that this might help you to make another demonstration that you feel is important? Might not this border on the prayer of sacrifice? Let us do right for the sake of doing right and not just for what we might get as a result.

Sometimes patients do not want to do much work in the way of corrected thinking. They would just like to have the practitioner do all the work. They are willing to pay a good fee. They would like to buy their way into health, success and happiness. Could not this be a hold-over of the prayer of sacrifices and burnt offerings? Our symbols of value today are not sheep and goats but dollar bills. Recently I heard of a man who hires a practitioner by the month to work so that he will have no accidents or trouble of any kind. That sixty dollars a month is his insurance policy that he will not have trouble. Is not this almost like Job’s burnt offerings? Some people will pay the practitioner, but do not want to contribute to the church. What is the thought here? Is it real gratitude for Christian Science? How do you go about it to gain God’s favor? How do you attract God’s attention when you pray?

Speaking of the prayer of sacrifices, our Leader says on page 15 of Unity of Good: “There are, or have been, devotees who worship not the good Deity, who will not harm them, but the bad deity, who seeks to do them mischief, and whom therefore they wish to bribe with prayers into quiescence, as a criminal appeases, with a money-bag, the venal officer.”

Now in anything have said I do not mean to condemn the prayer of sacrifice. It is undoubtedly much better that one should acknowledge the supreme being and seek to communicate with Him in some way even if it be by sacrifice. Through this form Abraham was awakened to a better form. All I say is that the prayer of sacrifice is too primitive for the modern man or woman.

Now let us consider the next form of prayer — the prayer of petition. The verb petition means to ask or to beg. The Bible is full of prayers of petition. Most of the prayers of orthodox churches are prayers of petition. They also carry over into the Christian Science church. Parts of “Shepherd Show Me How to Go,” and “Oh, Gentle Presence” are prayers of petition — asking God to do something. Jesus prayed the prayer of petition on a number of occasions, but he was always mindful that there was something beyond the prayer of petition. He said that we should believe that we receive what we ask for in prayer and then we would have it. When Mrs. Eddy was asked what she thought of Intercessory Prayer (No and Yes page 39) she says in part: “Prayer can neither change God, nor bring His designs into mortal modes; but it can and does change our modes and our false sense of Life, Love, and Truth, uplifting us to Him. True prayer is not asking God for love; it is learning to love, and to include all mankind in one affection. Prayer is the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us. Prayer begets an awakened desire to be and do good. 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.”

What God is — that is the important question when thinking about the prayer of petition. Do we think of Him as the giver of all good who is temporarily withholding something from his children? Do we have to get down on our knees and beg for a liberal outpouring of His blessings? What are we asking for? If it is something good, why do we not already have it?

If you will think carefully on the subject you will see that the prayers of petition are as though a lawyer would go before a Judge and say, “Your honor, my client is guilty and undoubtedly ought to be punished, but I beg of you, I plead that you might let him go free.” In the orthodox church it sounds something like this: “Lord, have mercy on us; we are all a lot of miserable sinners. We don’t do what you tell us to do and we do what you tell us not to do. Lord, we beg of you, please do not punish us.” Among Christian Scientists it sounds like this: “I know I am not worthy to heal the sick or to make any wonderful demonstrations. I pray that divine Love will give me sufficient understanding to meet and solve my problems.”

When you pray the prayer of petition are you affirming the perfection of all things or are you asking for some sort of a change from imperfection to perfection?

If you pray the prayer of petition in regard to yourself or your patient, you are affirming that you or he or both are guilty of imperfection, liver complaint or what not, and you are asking that God might do something about it.

God is the giver of all good and He gives eternally. He never withholds anything. You do not need to ask Him for anything for yourself or your patient, but you do need to acknowledge that infinite good is flowing forth from the Father to you and all at all times. Jesus said, “Your Father knows what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.” The little book says, “Shall we plead for more at the open fount, which is pouring forth more than we accept?” (2:26)

Do you think it is intelligent for you to ask for or plead for something you already have as a child of God?

Do you think it sounds sensible to plead guilty to the charge that you lack some right quality or some harmonious condition?

We are not the children of lack. We forever possess all good things. On page 5 of The First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany we read: “Christian Science comes to reveal man as God’s image, His idea, coexistent with Him — God giving all and man having all that God gives.” (My. 5:8) May we again state that God knows what we have need of even before we ask Him. He not only knows what we have need of, he is doing something about it. He is bestowing all good upon his children. We do not have to ask, beg, plead, or petition, for when we do these things we indicate that we are not thinking about God as a loving Father-Mother. Does a human child have to plead with a loving parent to give it food, clothing, shelter and all good things? The human parent knows what the child needs, anticipates these needs and does something about it — furnishes all good. If he did not do this he would not be a true parent. Jesus said if we be human parent and know how to give good unto our children, how much more will the heavenly Father bestow all good upon His children.

Now we do not condemn the prayer of petition. Again, it is much better to petition God for a pure heart and a right spirit, than not to pray at all; but it is even much better to know that because we are children of God we forever possess this pure heart and right spirit. The best, of course, is to demonstrate this in our daily affairs.

If you ever do use the prayer of petition make sure that you do not stop there, but that you go forward realizing that as a child of God you already possess that which you have asked for in prayer. This is the prayer of faith. it is much higher than petition.

Cruden’s Concordance defines faith as follows: “The firm foundation of faith is in the essential supreme perfection of God; His unerring knowledge, immutable Truth, infinite goodness, and almighty power.” The prayer of faith might be likened unto a lawyer going before the Judge and saying, “Your honor, I know that you are a faithful judge, a judge of mercy as well as justice. I know of many good things that you have done for this community through this court. I know that in your thought there is no pettiness or meanness. I know that you are capable of letting my client go free and I have faith that you are willing to let him go free. I am grateful for the good you have done, are doing and will ever continue to do.”

If you were a Judge what would be your reaction to such an approach, even if it were given with great sincerity? I do not believe the Judge would be interested. He would undoubtedly tell you that you could eliminate all of that and go forward with the case. You will remember that Tertullus the great orator in Paul’s day used this approach, as he came before King Felix and sought to accuse Paul. This is the way Tertullus put it: “Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix with all thankfulness.”

If you are seeking to commune with a king, a governor, your boss, your wife, your husband, this might be a good approach, but not with God. He knows all things. You do not have to compliment Him in order to gain His favor. You already have it. If you have to convince yourself of God’s goodness, mercy, kindness, wisdom, etc. well and good. Go off by yourself and let the Truth convince you of these facts. But don’t think you have to keep telling God how wonderful He is. He knows it. Why not listen a little — listen to Him telling you how wonderful you and everyone else is? Why not hear the voice from heaven saying, “Thou art my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.” (I am sure you would have many more answered prayers if you told your wife, your husband, your friends, your neighbors how you love them).

Of course, the prayer of faith is much more than just thanking God for his goodness. This prayer also includes trustworthiness as our Leader says. With the prayer of faith, we affirm our confidence in God’s presence, power, love, reality. We also affirm our disbelief in all evil, sin, sickness, and death. We give ourselves over to God. We trust Him, being assured in our thought that He will care for us and meet every need. But always remember our Leader’s statement: “Until belief becomes faith, and faith becomes spiritual understanding, human thought has little relation to the actual or divine.”

It is the prayer of divine knowing, or spiritual understanding that does the mighty works. May I here repeat the statement on page 16 of the textbook: “The highest prayer is not one of faith merely; it is demonstration.”

You could have all the faith in the world in the principle of mathematics, but this faith alone would not solve a single problem. You must apply the principle, you must prove the truth with scientific certainty. You will remember the way our Leader puts it in the little book: “Who would stand before a blackboard, and pray the principle of mathematics to solve the problem? The rule is already established, and it is our task to work out the solution. Shall we ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own work? His work is done, and we have only to avail ourselves of God’s rule in order to receive His blessing, which enables us to work out our own salvation.” (3:4-ll)

Your task before the court of Spirit is to prove the innocence, the perfection, the harmony of man. You do not have to do this to convince the Judge, God. He knows that everything He has made is very good and that without Him was not anything made that was made. What you need to do is to silence the false witnesses which would testify that man is guilty of evil, that he is sick, inharmonious, and worthy to suffer. Read the allegory in the textbook and see how Christian Science silences each of the false witnesses. This is the way it is concluded: “Christian Science turned from the abashed witnesses, his words flashing as lightening in the perturbed faces of these worthies, Scholastic Theology, Materia Medica, Physiology, the blind Hypnotism, and masked personal sense, and said: ‘God will smite you, O whited walls, for injuring in your ignorance the unfortunate mortal man who sought your aid in his struggles against liver-complaint and Death.’”

If you are not trying to convince God, the Judge, of the perfection of man who are you trying to convince? Yourself? Your patient? The family? Other people?

What you are really doing is convincing mortal mind that it is nothing, that there is no mortal mind to argue the imperfection of man and the universe, that there is no mortal mind to talk, feel, act, or be.

Remember also in your prayers that God is always on your side, always on the side of Truth, always on the side of acquittal. You recall how you were advised to be sure to get out of the way finally and let God express Himself.

It is not enough to state your proposition, know the reason why, know when this is true, and know that nothing can reverse it. You must place the case on the Judge’s bench. You must rest your case as it were. In the allegory in the little book we read: “Here the counsel for the defense closed, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, with benign and imposing presence, comprehending and defining all law and evidence, explained from His statute-book, the Bible, that any so-called law, which undertakes to punish aught but sin, is null and void. He also decided that the plaintiff, Personal Sense, be not permitted to enter any suits at the bar of Soul, but be enjoined to keep perpetual silence...... ” Think of that, the decree that Personal Sense must be forever silent. I know he meant the personal sense of the patient and the practitioner. Then the Judge goes on with another full page of wonderful things about man.

In our treatment, we too must learn to get out of the way and let Truth, divine Mind express itself. You will remember several years ago when we discussed the Book of Job, how Elihu pleaded the case scientifically for truth and then finally disappeared for we read from that point on, “And the Lord said.” From that point on it was always God that was talking or expressing Himself. The personal sense of practitioner was gone.

Divine Mind is expressing itself right where you are and where your patient is. Let Him. Let there be light is the mandate from the Bible. Let personal sense be forever silent. The little book says that in order to pray rightly we must enter into the closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses. We do this, of course, so that the Judge of all the earth may express Himself and so that we all might hear His decree of perfection.

He is declaring the innocence of you and your patient. He is declaring for perfect freedom, harmonious action, absolute comfort. Let us look out upon the universe through the eyes of this one divine Mind. Let us see everything as God sees it. Let us feel as He feels and be as He is. In this way we shall be judging righteous judgment because we shall be judging as God judges. Don’t look up to God in your prayers; look out from Him. Take your rightful place at the right hand of the Father. Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work.” Jesus knew that the divine Principle was always in operation, was working, was proving its own omnipresence and omnipotence. Jesus knew that he was in the Father and was therefore proving the perfection of the universe and man. You, too, as an idea of God are in the Father. In prayer you do not have to sacrifice, beg, or have faith in a power outside or apart from yourself. All you have to do is let divine Principle prove itself in your thought, actions and deeds.

Right where you are, right there, divine Mind is expressing itself in the most wonderful thoughts, and the result is man, is you.

Right where you are, right there, divine Love is showing forth its tender compassion. The result is man — you. Right where you are, right there, divine Soul is evidencing infinite harmony and beauty. You are the result. Right where you are, right there, divine Life is making itself manifest in perfect action and inspiration. That manifestation is man — is you.

Right where you are, Spirit is showing forth the evidence of joy, happiness, spontaneity and freedom. You are that evidence in all its glory.

Right where you are, Truth is causing itself to be understood. The effect is man — you.

Principle is forever proving its allness and you are that proof, the eternal demonstration of God.

God is revealing His completeness, His perfection, His allness, and you are that divine revelation of infinite good.

Love and use the highest form of prayer — the prayer of absolute demonstration.

It Is All In The Mind

Nowadays it is often said when speaking of someone’s aches and pains: it is all in his mind, in his thinking. What is meant, of course, is that the trouble is to be found in negative fearful thinking in an imperfect sense of Mind. Even the medical profession is rapidly acknowledging these days that disease is erroneous thought objectified. Through the inspiration brought to the world by Christian Science men are awakening to the fact that disease is never a condition of the body. As we go one step further in Science and see that there is only one divine Mind we see that there can be no negative false sense of consciousness or Mind, and that therefore disease cannot even be in the Mind.

One day as I was thinking on these things, the thought came to me, “How about health, comfort, peace, success, etc. — are not these also all in the Mind?” What do you think about it? Is success, for instance, a condition of your business or of the Mind? What Mind are we talking about? Of course, it is the divine Mind, the positive Mind, the perfect Mind, God.

That day I was being shown through a very active manufacturing plant. Several years before, this was a run-down factory on its last legs. Now every nook and corner was being used. They were making a great variety of products in very ingenuous ways. The manager took great pride in his plant and told me how they had solved many of their problems through Science and how they had been able to maintain harmony in the organization. When we were through with the tour and were back in his office, he asked me what I thought of it all.

I paused a few seconds and then replied, “I have not seen a successful factory or business this morning.” I again paused and noted that he looked a little embarrassed. Then I went on, “No, I have seen a successful business man.”

Of course, the success was not in the machines, the tools, or even in the products that were being turned out. The success was entirely in the thinking of this manager and his staff. They had been entertaining productive ideas, helpful ideas, serviceable ideas. The manager told me how often he could not sleep at night until he had mentally solved some problem down at the plant. Often, he was awakened in the middle of the night with another bright idea as to what might be done to make the organization more productive. He loved his business and divine Love gave his the right ideas that would be most helpful in the running of this business. Of course, all this right thinking objectified itself in what was known as a successful business; but the success was all in the Mind and it remained there. Recently I was reading in a well-known publication about business and saw this statement — that “any business is but the expression of the man who runs it.”

Suppose that you should see that your success is all in your Mind and you should turn to this divine Mind for inspiration, for ideas as to how you might be of most service to your fellowman. And suppose that you discovered wonderful ideas and put them into operation in such a manner that you found you had a successful business. And then suppose that you should then think: “Now I have a successful business and I shall not have to watch my thinking anymore. Now, instead of mentally supporting my business, I shall let my business support me” — what would happen?

That is right; you would eventually lose it because you failed to realize that all success is to be found in the Mind rather than in the business structure.

On the other hand, suppose you see all of your success as in divine Mind, and suppose that even as your business prospers you are never tempted to think the success is in the business but always in the Mind. You keep turning always to this Mind for inspiration; what will always show up in your business?

This is such an important point in Christian Science. Too often patients come to you for help in solving a business problem. You both turn to the divine Mind in prayer for right ideas. They come and the immediate problem seems to be solved. Then the individual often lets down until another problem comes along. Then they wonder why they do not have all the success that they would like to have. They also often wonder why they keep having problems. Is it not because they are thinking of their success as being in material things rather than in the one and only divine Mind?

Remember that in Christian Science practice we never work for a business, we work to help our patient to be a bigger, holier, happier, more inspired business man. When you have that sort of a man you will have a business that runs smoothly.

Where is all your success to be found — your stocks and bonds, money in the bank, in your investments and property, or in your divine Mind?

Is your success to be found in the number of patients you have each day, the manner in which they respond to your treatment, and the manner in which they express their gratitude for the work done? It is all in your right thinking as reflected from the divine Mind.

How do you measure your success? Is it in the good results that you get in your metaphysical work? the aches and pains healed? the altered human relationships of your patients? the dispelling of fear, sickness, lack, unhappiness? Is that where your success is to be found or is it all in the one and only divine Mind which you reflect? The very moment you see it as something outside of your divine Mind, you begin to lose it. A false material sense of success is always a false god and eventually robs the one who worships it of his true success.

On the other hand, as we always turn to the divine Mind to find our success it will always be secure and it will forever manifest itself in our every outward experience.

Do you know what failure is? It is wanting good results and effects without being willing to think the thoughts that produce these good effects.

Failure is measuring success according to material things and human circumstances rather than according to the right ideas entertained in consciousness. You remember the story of Dives and Lazarus. Dives thought he was a success and that Lazarus was a failure. But in the eternal order of things we find that Dives was the failure and Lazarus the success, because the latter entertained the right thoughts in consciousness.

Failure is idolatry, making a god out of so-called material success, either thinking that you have it or that you do not have it and wishing that you had it.

There is never any excuse for failure and there is not a single one of us that has to have any of it; but we must all look to Mind rather than matter to find it.

How do you prove the divine fact that we are all very successful? Where do you look for that proof? — to Mind, Principle, or to material evidence? I know that you will all accept that proof and use it.

Sometimes individuals make comparisons and think that John must be successful because he has a new car, or Bill is successful because he was appointed as a Christian Science lecturer. Or May is successful because her card was accepted in the journal. That has nothing at all to do with it. The only accurate measure is, “What is in the thought?”

Now let us think for a little on the subject of health. Is health a condition of the body or of the Mind? Of course, it is all in the Mind. Health is like heaven which our Leader says “is a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations are harmonious and immortal because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of ‘the Mind of the Lord,’ as the Scripture says.” Your health is never in your body. It is always 100% in your Mind. One of the basic errors of the human race is to look to the body to find health. Health can only be found in good thoughts.

What are some of the good thoughts that go to make up health? — Purity, happiness, inspiration, joy, contentment, comfort, gratitude unselfishness, love, honesty, etc.

Where is all health to be found? Can you find any health in the body?

It is true that as you find health in the one divine Mind through holy, happy thoughts, that it will outwardly manifest itself in that which is called the body, but the very minute you begin to think that your health is material and is in the body you begin to lose it.

A patient comes to you with a problem which seems to him to be a disease of the body. You know instantly that the trouble is not in the body. You turn your thought and help him to turn his thought to the one divine Mind for right ideas about health. You help him to think lovingly about this relative, honestly about himself, joyously about the world. You literally help him to find his health in Mind.

Suppose you get your patient to look for and find his health in Mind, but suppose that he constantly looks back to the body to see how he is coming along, what will happen? You remember the experience of Lot’s wife. We cannot look back. We cannot look to matter to find out the truth about man. This is why some cases do not yield as readily as they should. There is a divided thought. They say that health is to be found in the Mind but they look to the body for the evidence of healing. The healing is not going to take place in the body. Health is all in the Mind and we must look for it there and find it there. Yes, it will show up in what we call the body, just as success shows up in what we call the business, but both success and health remain in Mind, the source and substance of all that is good.

May I illustrate. One time last year a very unhappy situation came up. For about one day I was so busy thinking that something was wrong in Denmark that I forgot to declare that everything was perfect because God was perfect and He was all. Before long I had a headache and the whole system was upset. Then I woke up. I began to declare vigorously for the perfection of all creation. If I said it once I said it a thousand times that everything was perfect because of the infinitude and perfection of God. I did not only say it, I loved this idea. I thought it; I knew it; I held to it. It was not long before the headache was gone and the whole system was normal.

Now did this healing take place in my body? Not one bit of it. I found my health in the one divine Mind by knowing the truth about God, the universe and man.

Would you look into your refrigerator to find out how your furnace is working? Why not? Would you look to your body to find out how much health you have? Why not? If you had guests coming to the front door, would you go and stand at the back door waiting for them? Of course not. Our healings come in through the front door of Mind. Let us stand porter there admitting these healthy and happy conclusions. Let us never watch the so-called back door of matter because nothing is going to happen there.

On page 260 of the textbook our Leader says, “If we look to the body for pleasure we find pain.” Why? Because there is no true pleasure in body — it is all in Mind. If we look to the body for Life, what do we find? Death. This is because there is no Life in the body. All Life is found in Mind. If we look to the body to find out the truth about man, what do we find? Why error of course, because there is no truth in a material body. All truth is to be found in Mind and its infinite manifestation. We might also say that if we look to the body for healing, we shall find sickness for the simple reason that health is not to be found in the body.

Sometimes when people come to Science for help, they learn that they must correct their thinking, but back in consciousness is the concept that they are correcting their thought for one purpose and that is to change the body, to get rid of some pain or imperfection. As long as an individual thinks that way he delays the healing. Help people to see that healings take place entirely in Mind. Help people to find joy in correcting erroneous thought with the truth, not for the purpose of healing a physical body, but because this is the most wonderful thing to do. Help them to be in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, then they too will see a new heaven and a new earth in which there is no sickness, pain or death and all tears will be wiped away.

Sometimes after making the needed corrections in thought and the body responds, the individual says, “Now I have my healing in the body, I will not have to watch my thinking any more for they say that when you are once healed in Christian Science, the trouble never returns.”

That is true. But every healing takes place in consciousness and if one does not maintain that corrected consciousness, there is no assurance that there will not be further trouble. You will remember that when Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda, he told him to go and sin no more lest a worse thing come upon him. Jesus knew that the man’s healing took place in his thought and that thought had to be kept pure and grateful or else something as bad or worse than self-pity might come and again enslave him.

How about happiness — where is it to be found? I am sure that you all can see that it does not have anything to do with where you live, how much money you have, whether you are married to Mary or Susie, to Tom or Bill, or whether you are not married at all. Your happiness does not depend upon whether you are sewing dresses, selling books, making beds or serving as a Christian Science practitioner. It does not matter whether your hair is red or brown or white, or whether you have no hair at all. Your happiness does not depend upon your children, whether they are married or not, whether they go with a Catholic, a Jew or with no one at all. Your happiness does not depend upon your employer, your church organization, the weather or your vacation. Your happiness is all in the one divine Mind. Look for it there and then it will be always yours and will be secure.

Will your happy state of Mind effect the belief of your environment, your family, your job, your location, and even the weather? Sure it will. A smiling happy face brightens up everything round about. But your happiness is never the sport of circumstances. It is never determined by material things and conditions. If you look for your happiness outside of the divine Mind and holy thoughts, you begin to lose it. Is not this what Mrs. Eddy is referring to when in Miscellaneous Writings she writes: “Whom we call friends seem to sweeten life’s cup and to fill it with the nectar of the gods. We lift this cup to our lips; but it slips from our grasp, to fall in fragments before our eyes. Perchance, having tasted its tempting wine, we become intoxicated; become lethargic, dreamy objects of self-satisfaction; else, the contents of the cup of selfish human enjoyment having lost its flavor, we voluntarily set it aside as tasteless and unworthy of human aims. And wherefore our failure longer to relish this fleeting sense, with its delicious forms of friendship, wherein mortals become educated to gratification in personal pleasure and trained in treacherous peace. Because it is the great and only danger in the path that winds upward. A false sense of what constitutes happiness is more disastrous to human progress than all that an enemy or enmity can obtrude upon the mind or engraft upon its purposes and achievements wherewith to obstruct life’s joys and enhance its sorrows.” (Misc. 9)

That is pretty strong language. Do you think Mrs. Eddy was condemning friendships and companionships in this passage? No, certainly not. But she was warning us to see to it that our happiness was not bound up in these friendships, that our happiness was something bigger and higher, something more eternal. She was asking us to find our happiness in eternal Mind so that we could never lose it.

Now it is true that as we find perfect happiness in Mind, it externalizes itself in constructive friendships and inspiring companionships. But then we are not slaves to them. We have found our dominion in Mind and know how to keep it.

Where are you going to find a perfect husband? Can you find him out here in flesh and bones? Can you find him in a fat pay envelope? Can you find him all dressed up in a Tuxedo? There is only one place to find him and that is in the divine Mind. We must see him in Science, in eternal Truth. That perfect ideal concept of husband is very real to you. You love that perfect concept of husband. Yes, it is true that as you appreciate and love that perfect concept of man, it will show up in ideal friendships and even companionship. But the very minute you begin to think that you have found the ideal man in a human personality, you begin to lose him.

Keep finding him in Mind and you will have him forever. Of course, this is what Mrs. Eddy is talking about when she wrote that “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appeared to mortals. In this perfect man the Savior saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.”

Too many Scientists are trying to find the perfect man out here in flesh and bones. That is not where you will ever find him. Jesus found him in Science, in eternal Truth, in divine Mind.

To me these facts are so important in the practice of Science. So many practitioners are trying to see their patients as perfect in body — by that I mean material body. Don’t try to see people perfect in body. See them perfect in Mind, the very embodiment of pure and holy thoughts and then you will find that they have no trouble with that which is called body. Find your patient perfect in Spirit, with a perfect attitude and approach to all things. Find him perfect in Soul having only that glorious spiritual sense of things. Find him perfect in Truth, being honest with himself and with all men. Find him perfect in Love. Then he will be without fear, for as John says, “Perfect Love casts out fear.” Find him perfect in Principle, seeing that all his motives are perfect and right. Find him perfect in Life, knowing that all activity of man is to be found in the all-active One. Find him perfect in God the Supreme Being. That is true prayer. Do not be concerned about the outward manifestations. That is not where you are looking for perfection. Yes, it is true that such thinking will externalize itself in perfect bodies. But the minute we begin to look for that perfection in the body, we start to lose it.

Where will we find good sight, in the eyes or in the Mind? Yes, you know — that it is 100% in the divine Mind. Good sight is seeing good up close in your own experience and out there in the experience of others. It is seeing good in all walks of life, seeing it distinctly without fuzziness, no buts and no ifs. Don’t try to find good sight here in the eyes or you will lose it. Look for it and find it in Mind, then it will always be secure. Now it follows that as you find your sight in the all-seeing Mind, in God and His divine qualities, it will externalize itself in normal vision. But don’t think for a minute that you have found good sight in your so-called eyes or you will begin to lose it. You see good because the one perfect Mind directs and causes you to see good. And because this perfect Mind never changes, your vision can never change.

How about hearing? Where shall we find good hearing? In Mind, of course. We shall never find it in the ears. You hear good because your thought is open to the voice of good. You just love to hear good. You know what it means to hear good. Hearing good is very real and positive to you. Sure such thinking will externalize itself in what is called normal hearing, but the power to hear remains in Mind.

What about feeling? Do you feel out here with your fingers, down here in the trunk of the body, up here in the temples, or down there in the feet? Where are all your feelings to be found? In Mind only. And since there is only one Mind, God, good, all feelings must be good. Never work to feel good in the body! Rejoice that you eternally feel good in Mind, in Soul, in Spirit. As you do that you will find that you feel good all over because Mind is all over and over all.

How about peace? Where is it to be found? In the family? In the store? In the factory? In the country? In the World? It seems that here is a very important point for us who are working for world peace. Too often, I believe, we look for peace as something from without. We think of it as something that the United Nations can bring about. We often work for world peace as though it were a commodity. But peace is never external. It is always subjective, in the Mind. It is there that we must find our individual and collective peace. It is true that as we find heavenly peace with our God, with ourselves, and with our fellowman in Mind, that this divine sense will externalize itself in harmonious relationships with all. But the true peace must remain in Mind. The moment we see it as outside, we begin to lose it.

That is why Christian Science is contributing so much to world peace, for it is teaching us all to find our peace in Mind, in God, in Love. As we do this with joy and gladness we shall be inspiring others to do the same and then we shall awaken to the fact that everyone is at peace. Don’t let yourself be fooled that in some way we can work for world peace and then, having forgotten it objectively, we can just rejoice forever. Peace is all in the Mind and you can have just as much of it as you want right now whether you are in Japan, Korea, Chicago, or Moscow. You can have it as you drive on the highway, as you ride a bus, while you are doing the dishes or cutting the lawn. You can have complete peace for it is all in the divine Mind and this divine Mind is ever present. It is a great joy to pray for world peace in this manner, for your prayer will always be answered, for peace is very very close to each and every one of us.

All these good things that we have been discussing have been grouped together and known as the kingdom of heaven. Is this kingdom of heaven a locality? What is it? Just a little while ago we quoted the statement of our Leader that it is a divine state of Mind. We can only find it as we turn to the divine Mind and permit God’s holy thoughts to take possession of us and our thinking. We can have just as much heaven this very minute as we want; but we shall have to think it in order to have it.

Your health, success, happiness, companionship, good sight, good hearing, good feeling, your peace, your kingdom of heaven is always within you; that is, it is in Mind. It is never external, never objective, never without; it is all in your divine state of Mind. As we look for it and find it there we discover that all thoughts are harmonious and immortal. We see that there is no sin there. Don’t postpone your heaven. Don’t put it off in time or space. You can have all the heaven in the universe right now. All you have to do is to think it, or rather let the perfect Mind express itself right where you are. You do not have to wait a minute. You do not have to go anywhere. Your kingdom of heaven is always at hand for the simple reason that it is always within you. It is all in your Mind, the divine Mind, the Mind of the Christ.