Every time the season changes, I get a cold. What's going on? Does the body have a built-in barometer? How come it does not happen to everyone? No, no, it is a belief picked up along the way, and the more you buy into it, the more persistent the belief. 

For many years, I spent a good part of the winter with a heavy chest cold. My uncle, an MD, even suggested it might be TB!! Finally, I met an independent Christian Science practitioner who refused to accept this persistent condition as legitimate. It did not recede over night, in fact it took a couple of months, but then it disappeared forever. It has been many years now, and that curse has completely left me.

The practitioner explained that it took a while to yield because I was so convinced for so long that the chronic condition was inevitable. I do remember a solid resistance within me, a disbelief that the condition could be healed. But the practitioner was operating from the standpoint of Science, not belief, and this Science won the day.

The following excerpt from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures explains operating from the standpoint of Science:

Based upon the earliest Bible records, the heart of man has not evolved one iota over thousands of years. Job’s pride, shame, fear, self-righteousness, as well as his capacity for redemption, the materialism and sensualism of Sodom and Gomorrah - are these not characteristic of the modern man’s heart? Take any ancient Bible character, and you will find the same human heart that we are quite familiar with.

Today, Venezuala is a case study of how to turn order into chaos in jig time. Take a personality who knows exactly what is wrong in a society and how to fix it. In essence, the personality declares "I am God." Justice Brandeis warned against "beneficent tyranny". Because of the perceived good that is done, the laws of the universe are ignored, and the superstructure of the society soon crumbles.

Found this online definition of immune system interesting:

"To function properly, an immune system must detect a wide variety of agents, known as pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, and distinguish them from the organism's own healthy tissue."

"The thunder of Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount are pursuing and will overtake the ages, rebuking in their course all error and proclaiming the kingdom of heaven on earth. Truth is revealed. It needs only to be practised." (S&H)  (emphasis added)

Forget the Bible, forget Jesus, forget Science - all those outside influences muddy the waters. I just need to get in touch with myself, how I really feel, what I really am. "If it feels good, do it," follows as the moral imperative. This approach is ancient and Paul warns against it: "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."

Too often imbibing the spirit means sitting in your prayer chair and soaking up the truth. Although this may provide a moment of elation, it has no staying power and provides little progress in Christian Science.

Striving for consistent obedience to the requirements of Science will do far more. We use the seven synonyms of God to provide examples:

God is a jealous God, so the Bible says, absolutely intolerant of other gods. It also states that God is love. Contradiction? Or perfect sense?...my ramblings:

Wherever there are principles or fundamental laws, in math, music, etc., you could say there is intolerance to deviation from these principles, could you not? A little mistake here, a little mistake there just does not cut it. Even though you cannot see these principles, it is understood that they exist, and they are unyielding.

When I get settled, have financial security, then I will be happy. When I am healed, then I will have something to be grateful for. When I find a compatible partner, then I won't feel lonely anymore. When I win the lottery... When I have gained a greater spiritual understanding, then I will be at peace. These are examples of vain expectations which lead people to live unsatisfying lives. 

Is this leavening of truth? WARNING! This one will require a little more time and concentration.

In an earlier blog I mentioned Biocentrism, and its intriguing similarities to Mary Baker Eddy's Divine Science -  and I promised to get back to it after reading the book - by Dr. Robert Lanza, a world-renowned scientist. The seven principles of Biocentrism are in bold below - my comments not in bold:

Laws of the universe operate to:

Bind the stubborn will; - "I know what I am doing!"
Wound the callous breast; - "Need around me - what need?"
Make self-righteousness be still; - "I am fine. It is the rest of the world that is messed up."
Break earth’s stupid rest. - "All is well. Life is good."

When the serpent beguiled Eve in the garden of Eden, it was very reasonable, easily showing that God's restriction of eating from the tree of knowledge was not reasonable.

When Hitler beguiled the intelligentsia of Britain and the US, he was so reasonable that every reasonable person had to admit that he was a tremendous force for good and could not possibly have evil intentions!

Was there ever a physical scientist who did not have faith in the basic assumptions of their science?

Christian Science is no different:

Soul outside the body - is that so outrageous? Nobody has ever found it within the body, and the anatomy has been pretty thoroughly explored. Out-of-body experiences are commonly reported; musicians and other performers strive for that space where the limitations of body are completely forgotten.

Why is it that there is no record of a spiritual nature being passed from generation to generation? In the Bible, Samuel had a wonderfully spiritual nature, but his sons were hopelessly immoral. Mary Baker Eddy had one son who showed no indication of spirituality. Most spiritual luminaries in the Bible left no record of progeny. Even "the root of Jesse" prophesying the coming of Christ Jesus is symbolic, not genetic - the lineage of Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary!

Family traits can be the convenient justification for the worst behavior and have the effect of enslaving the individual to a lie. The nature of family relationships tends to repeat the lie over and over until it is accepted as Gospel! Where is God in this? Nowhere! In fact it is a denial of God’s government of man, a denial of man’s inherent individuality as an idea of God.

In our last post, we addressed the ability to sense the approach of danger, but we left off what to do about it.

We ought to ask ourselves, Would a good God provide us with the ability (spiritual sense) to sense danger and then leave us helpless? Impossible! The suggestion that we can do nothing, that we are helpless, is framed by the devil, so-to-speak. It is the nature of the evil one, or the one evil, to mesmerize into inactivity. When we are wise to this, we will have confidence in our God-given ability to overcome the danger.

The toxic politics of today so pervasive in public discourse and growing in intensity is leading nowhere it would seem. How we respond to it makes all the difference. We can add to the toxicity and fuel the flames or rise above it and let the light of Truth in, detoxing consciousness and letting Love reign. Toxic politics is darkness. The truth that makes free (that Jesus referred to) is light. How much light does it take to dispel darkness?

We rise above the fray by holding in thought a higher concept. In the following excerpts, Science is referring to the knowledge of God, Soul is another word for God:

"Science has inaugurated the irrepressible conflict between sense and Soul. Mortal thought wars with this 
sense as one that beateth the air, but Science outmasters it, and ends the warfare. This proves daily that 'one
 on God's side is a majority.' " (S&H)

"Science defines omnipresence as universality, that which
 precludes the presence of evil. This verity annuls the tes
timony of the senses, which say that sin is an evil power, and substance is perishable. Intelligent Spirit, Soul, is 
substance, far more impregnable and solid than matter; for 
one is temporal, while the other is eternal, the ultimate and predicate of being." (S&H)

This book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (S&H) by Mary Baker Eddy, is full of statements like these that belittle evil and magnify "The Lord God, omnipotent, reigneth." As we discussed recently, David was not impressed with the formidable image of Goliath, knowing that the living God, though invisible, was far greater, far more real than a blow-hard who defied the All-powerful, All-present, All-knowing, the Creator of the universe!

This morning I opened to "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (from Paul to the Galations)

What's this all about? Free from what? Paul then went on to say "if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." "Christ shall be of no effect unto you, whosoever are justified by the law." Ouch!! to those faithful church-going types who do everything they are supposed to do...

Vague realities... take the past, present, and future. Can we define the boundary points between each? If we could, we may find the present is the very instant at which the future becomes the past, in which case the present is gone before you know it! If something so widely accepted as the past, present, and future is actually so undefinable, what other vague realities are we accepting?