0.0 – Christian Science – 16 Books by Mary Baker Eddy – Bk 6 – Retrospection and Introspection – Chpt 25 – The Human Concept

                                 THE HUMAN CONCEPT 

 1	    Sin existed as a false claim before the human concept
  	of sin was formed; hence one's concept of error is
 3	not the whole of error. The human thought does not
  	constitute sin, but vice versa, sin constitutes the human or
  	physical concept. 
 6	    Sin is both concrete and abstract. Sin was, and is, the
  	lying supposition that life, substance, and intelligence are
  	both material and spiritual, and yet are separate from
 9	God. The first iniquitous manifestation of sin was a
  	finity. The finite was self-arrayed against the infinite,
  	the mortal against immortality, and a sinner was the
12	antipode of God. 
  	    Silencing self, alias rising above corporeal personality,
  	is what reforms the sinner and destroys sin. In the ratio
15	that the testimony of material personal sense ceases, sin
  	diminishes, until the false claim called sin is finally lost
  	for lack of witness.  
18	    The sinner created neither himself nor sin, but sin
  	created the sinner; that is, error made its man mortal,
  	and this mortal was the image and likeness of evil, not of
21	good. Therefore the lie was, and is, collective as well as
  	individual. It was in no way contingent on Adam's
  	thought, but supposititiously self-created. In the words
24	of our Master, it, the "devil" (alias evil), "was a liar, and
  	the father of it." 
 
  
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 1	    This mortal material concept was never a creator, al-
  	though as a serpent it claimed to originate in the name of
 3	"the Lord," or good, — original evil; second, in the name
  	of human concept, it claimed to beget the offspring of evil,
  	alias an evil offspring. However, the human concept
 6	never was, neither indeed can be, the father of man. 
  	Even the spiritual idea, or ideal man, is not a parent,
  	though he reflects the infinity of good. The great differ-
 9	ence between these opposites is, that the human material
  	concept is unreal, and the divine concept or idea is spiritu-
  	ally real. One is false, while the other is true. One is
12	temporal, but the other is eternal. 
  	    Our Master instructed his students to "call no man
  	your father upon the earth:  for one is your Father, which
15	is in heaven."  (Matt. xxiii. 9.) 
  	    Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science,
  	treats of the human concept, and the transference of
18	thought, as follows: —  

  	    "How can matter originate or transmit mind?  We
  	answer that it cannot.  Darkness and doubt encompass
21	thought, so long as it bases creation on materiality"
  	(p. 551). 
  	    "In reality there is no mortal mind, and consequently
24	no transference of mortal thought and will-power.  Life
  	and being are of God.  In Christian Science, man can do
  	no harm, for scientific thoughts are true thoughts, passing
27	from God to man" (pp. 103, 104). 
  	    "Man is the offspring of Spirit.  The beautiful, good,
  	and pure constitute his ancestry.  His origin is not, like
 
  
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1	that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through
  	material conditions prior to reaching intelligence.  Spirit
 3	is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his
  	Father, and Life is the law of his being" (p. 63). 
  	    "The parent of all human discord was the Adam-
 6	dream, the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion
  	that life and intelligence proceeded from and passed into
  	matter.  This pantheistic error, or so-called serpent, in-
 9	sists still upon the opposite of Truth, saying, 'Ye shall be
  	as gods;' that is, I will make error as real and eternal as
  	Truth. . . .  'I will put spirit into what I call matter, and
12	matter shall seem to have life as much as God, Spirit,
  	who is the only Life.'  This error has proved itself to be
  	error.  Its life is found to be not Life, but only a transient,
15	false sense of an existence which ends in death" (pp. 306,
  	307). 
  	    "When will the error of believing that there is life in
18	matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations of
  	God, be unmasked?  When will it be understood that
  	matter has no intelligence, life, nor sensation, and that
21	the opposite belief is the prolific source of all suffering?  
  	God created all through Mind, and made all perfect and
  	eternal.  Where then is the necessity for recreation or
24	procreation?" (p. 205). 
  	    "Above error's awful din, blackness, and chaos, the
  	voice of Truth still calls: 'Adam, where art thou?  Con-
27	sciousness, where art thou?  Art thou dwelling in the be-
  	lief that mind is in matter, and that evil is mind, or art
  	thou in the living faith that there is and can be but one
30	God, and keeping His commandment?'" (pp. 307, 308). 
 
  
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 1	    "Mortal mind inverts the true likeness, and confers
  	animal names and natures upon its own misconceptions.  
 3	Ignorant of the origin and operations of mortal mind, — 
  	that is, ignorant of itself, — this so-called mind puts forth
  	its own qualities, and claims God as their author; . . .
 6	usurps the deific prerogatives and is an attempted in-
  	fringement on infinity" (pp. 512, 513). 

  	    We do not question the authenticity of the Scriptural
 9	narrative of the Virgin-mother and Bethlehem babe, and
  	the Messianic mission of Christ Jesus; but in our time
  	no Christian Scientist will give chimerical wings to his
12	imagination, or advance speculative theories as to the
  	recurrence of such events. 
  	    No person can take the individual place of the Virgin
15	Mary. No person can compass or fulfil the individual
  	mission of Jesus of Nazareth. No person can take the
  	place of the author of Science and Health, the Discoverer
18	and Founder of Christian Science. Each individual must
  	fill his own niche in time and eternity. 
  	    The second appearing of Jesus is, unquestionably, the
21	spiritual advent of the advancing idea of God, as in Chris-
  	tian Science. 
  	    And the scientific ultimate of this God-idea must be,
24	will be, forever individual, incorporeal, and infinite, even
  	the reflection, "image and likeness," of the infinite God. 
  	    The right teacher of Christian Science lives the truth he
27	teaches. Preeminent among men, he virtually stands at
  	the head of all sanitary, civil, moral, and religious reform. 
  	Such a post of duty, unpierced by vanity, exalts a mortal
 
  
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 1	beyond human praise, or monuments which weigh dust,
  	and humbles him with the tax it raises on calamity to open
 3	the gates of heaven. It is not the forager on others' wis-
  	dom that God thus crowns, but he who is obedient to the
  	divine command, "Render to Caesar the things that are
 6	Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." 
  	    Great temptations beset an ignorant or an unprincipled
  	mind-practice in opposition to the straight and narrow
 9	path of Christian Science. Promiscuous mental treat-
  	ment, without the consent or knowledge of the individual
  	treated, is an error of much magnitude. People unaware
12	of the indications of mental treatment, know not what is
  	affecting them, and thus may be robbed of their individual
  	rights, — freedom of choice and self-government. Who is
15	willing to be subjected to such an influence? Ask the un-
  	bridled mind-manipulator if he would consent to this; and
  	if not, then he is knowingly transgressing Christ's com-
18	mand. He who secretly manipulates mind without the
  	permission of man or God, is not dealing justly and
  	loving mercy, according to pure and undefiled religion. 
21	    Sinister and selfish motives entering into mental practice
  	are dangerous incentives; they proceed from false con-
  	victions and a fatal ignorance. These are the tares grow-
24	ing side by side with the wheat, that must be recognized,
  	and uprooted, before the wheat can be garnered and
  	Christian Science demonstrated. 
27	    Secret mental efforts to obtain help from one who is
  	unaware of this attempt, demoralizes the person who does
  	this, the same as other forms of stealing, and will end in
30	destroying health and morals. 
 
  
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 1	    In the practice of Christian Science one cannot impart
  	a mental influence that hazards another's happiness, nor
 3	interfere with the rights of the individual. To disregard
  	the welfare of others is contrary to the law of God; there-
  	fore it deteriorates one's ability to do good, to benefit
 6	himself and mankind. 
  	    The Psalmist vividly portrays the result of secret faults,
  	presumptuous sins, and self-deception, in these words:
 9	"How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment!  
  	They are utterly consumed with terrors."SHOW ALL