0.0 – Christian Science – 16 Books by Mary Baker Eddy – Bk 5 – Unity of Good – Chpt 9 – There Is No Matter

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                THERE IS NO MATTER 

 1	    "God is a Spirit" (or, more accurately translated,
  	"God is Spirit"), declares the Scripture (John iv.
 3	24), "and they that worship Him must worship Him in
  	spirit and in truth." 
  	    If God is Spirit, and God is All, surely there can be no
 6	matter; for the divine All must be Spirit. 
  	    The tendency of Christianity is to spiritualize thought
   	and action. The demonstrations of Jesus annulled the
 9	claims of matter, and overruled laws material as emphati-
  	cally as they annihilated sin. 
  	    According to Christian Science, the first idolatrous claim
12	of sin is, that matter exists; the second, that matter is
  	substance; the third, that matter has intelligence; and
  	the fourth, that matter, being so endowed, produces life
15	and death. 
  	    Hence my conscientious position, in the denial of matter,
  	rests on the fact that matter usurps the authority of God,
18	Spirit; and the nature and character of matter, the anti-
  	pode of Spirit, include all that denies and defies Spirit, in
  	quantity or quality. 
21	    This subject can be enlarged. It can be shown, in
  	detail, that evil does not obtain in Spirit, God; and that
  	God, or good, is Spirit alone; whereas, evil does, accord-
 
   
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 1	ing to belief, obtain in matter; and that evil is a false
  	claim, — false to God, false to Truth and Life. Hence
 3	the claim of matter usurps the prerogative of God, saying,
  	"I am a creator.  God made me, and I make man and
  	the material universe." 
 6	    Spirit is the only creator, and man, including the uni-
  	verse, is His spiritual concept. By matter is commonly
  	meant mind, — not the highest Mind, but a false form of
 9	mind. This so-called mind and matter cannot be sep-
  	arated in origin and action. 
  	    What is this mind? It is not the Mind of Spirit; for
12	spiritualization of thought destroys all sense of matter as
  	substance, Life, or intelligence, and enthrones God in
  	the eternal qualities of His being. 
15	    This lower, misnamed mind is a false claim, a sup-
  	positional mind, which I prefer to call mortal mind. True
  	Mind is immortal. This mortal mind declares itself ma-
18	terial, in sin, sickness, and death, virtually saying, "I am
  	the opposite of Spirit, of holiness, harmony, and Life." 
  	    To this declaration Christian Science responds, even
21	as did our Master: "You were a murderer from the begin-
  	ning.  The truth abode not in you.  You are a liar, and
  	the father of it." Here it appears that a liar was in the
24	neuter gender, — neither masculine nor feminine. Hence
  	it was not man (the image of God) who lied, but the false
  	claim to personality, which I call mortal mind; a claim
27	which Christian Science uncovers, in order to demonstrate
  	the falsity of the claim. 
 
   
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 1	    There are lesser arguments which prove matter to be
  	identical with mortal mind, and this mind a lie. 
 3	    The physical senses (matter really having no sense)
  	give the only pretended testimony there can be as to the
  	existence of a substance called matter. Now these senses,
 6	being material, can only testify from their own evidence,
  	and concerning themselves; yet we have it on divine
  	authority: "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is
 9	not true."  (John v. 31.) 
  	    In other words:  matter testifies of itself, "I am matter;"
  	but unless matter is mind, it cannot talk or testify; and
12	if it is mind, it is certainly not the Mind of Christ, not
  	the Mind that is identical with Truth. 
  	    Brain, thus assuming to testify, is only matter within
15	the skull, and is believed to be mind only through error
  	and delusion. Examine that form of matter called brains,
  	and you find no mind therein. Hence the logical sequence,
18	that there is in reality neither matter nor mortal mind,
  	but that the self-testimony of the physical senses is
  	false. 
21	    Examine these witnesses for error, or falsity, and
  	observe the foundations of their testimony, and you will
  	find them divided in evidence, mocking the Scripture
24	(Matthew xviii. 16), "In the mouth of two or three wit-
  	nesses every word may be established." 

  	    Sight. Mortal mind declares that matter sees through
27	the organizations of matter, or that mind sees by means
 
   
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 1	of matter. Disorganize the so-called material structure,
  	and then mortal mind says, "I cannot see;" and declares
 3	that matter is the master of mind, and that non-intelligence
  	governs. Mortal mind admits that it sees only material
  	images, pictured on the eye's retina. 
 6	    What then is the line of the syllogism? It must be this:
  	That matter is not seen; that mortal mind cannot see
  	without matter; and therefore that the whole function
 9	of material sight is an illusion, a lie. 
  	    Here comes in the summary of the whole matter, where-
  	with we started:  that God is All, and God is Spirit; there-
12	fore there is nothing but Spirit; and consequently there
  	is no matter. 

  	    Touch. Take another train of reasoning. Mortal mind
15	says that matter cannot feel matter; yet put your finger
  	on a burning coal, and the nerves, material nerves, do
  	feel matter. 
18	    Again I ask:  What evidence does mortal mind afford
  	that matter is substantial, is hot or cold? Take away
  	mortal mind, and matter could not feel what it calls sub-
21	stance. Take away matter, and mortal mind could not
  	cognize its own so-called substance, and this so-called
  	mind would have no identity. Nothing would remain to
24	be seen or felt. 
  	    What is substance? What is the reality of God and the
  	universe? Immortal Mind is the real substance, — Spirit,
27	Life, Truth, and Love. 

 
   
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 1	    Taste. Mortal mind says, "I taste; and this is sweet,
  	this is sour." Let mortal mind change, and say that sour
 3	is sweet, and so it would be. If every mortal mind believed
  	sweet to be sour, it would be so; for the qualities of matter
  	are but qualities of mortal mind. Change the mind, and
 6	the quality changes. Destroy the belief, and the quality
  	disappears. 
  	    The so-called material senses are found, upon examina-
 9	tion, to be mortally mental, instead of material. Reduced
  	to its proper denomination, matter is mortal mind; yet,
  	strictly speaking, there is no mortal mind, for Mind is
12	immortal, and is not matter, but Spirit. 

  	    Force. What is gravitation? Mortal mind says gravi-
  	tation is a material power, or force. I ask, Which was
15	first, matter or power? That which was first was God,
  	immortal Mind, the Parent of all. But God is Truth,
  	and the forces of Truth are moral and spiritual, not physi-
18	cal. They are not the merciless forces of matter. What
  	then are the so-called forces of matter? They are the
  	phenomena of mortal mind, and matter and mortal
21	mind are one; and this one is a misstatement of Mind,
  	God. 
  	    A molecule, as matter, is not formed by Spirit; for
24	Spirit is spiritual consciousness alone. Hence this spiritual
  	consciousness can form nothing unlike itself, Spirit, and
  	Spirit is the only creator. The material atom is an out-
27	lined falsity of consciousness, which can gather additional
 
   
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 1	evidence of consciousness and life only as it adds lie to lie. 
  	This process it names material attraction, and endows
 3	with the double capacity of creator and creation. 
  	    From the beginning this lie was the false witness against
  	the fact that Spirit is All, beside which there is no other
 6	existence. The use of a lie is that it unwittingly confirms
  	Truth, when handled by Christian Science, which reverses
  	false testimony and gains a knowledge of God from op-
 9	posite facts, or phenomena. 
  	    This whole subject is met and solved by Christian
  	Science according to Scripture. Thus we see that Spirit
12	is Truth and eternal reality; that matter is the opposite
  	of Spirit, — referred to in the New Testament as the flesh
  	at war with Spirit; hence, that matter is erroneous, tran-
15	sitory, unreal. 
  	    A further proof of this is the demonstration, according
  	to Christian Science, that by the reduction and the rejec-
18	tion of the claims of matter (instead of acquiescence
  	therein) man is improved physically, mentally, morally,
  	spiritually. 
21	    To deny the existence or reality of matter, and yet
  	admit the reality of moral evil, sin, or to say that the
  	divine Mind is conscious of evil, yet is not conscious of
24	matter, is erroneous. This error stultifies the logic of
  	divine Science, and must interfere with its practical
  	demonstration.SHOW ALL