“Spirit is always fresh, intelligent, renewed, harmonious, intuitive, perceptive, vital, purposeful — and so is its ever-appearing expression (creation!)”
/(1) What do you feel the word creation implies?
This question reminds me of one I often discussed with students over the many years I taught Sunday School. Our very language is bound by the limits of material beliefs and so words have to be seen in their inspired light. Creation is one of those as it immediately implies a onetime act! So, I like to think of it as ongoing revelation, as in revealing! Revealing of God’s creation which is the continuous appearing of reality. It’s like the refresh on a web page. The old information goes away and the new, more relevant and correct information appears. If we stick to the literal meaning of creation, we would be buying into all the beliefs, some good, mostly bad, of an aging thing, whether it be our earth, our bodies, or our society. General belief mixes good with bad, so experience and maturing also bring along decay, decline or just plain old obsolescence! God’s creation can be none of these things if we accept God as Spirit. Spirit is always fresh, intelligent, renewed, harmonious, intuitive, perceptive, vital, purposeful — and so is its ever-appearing expression (creation!)
(2) In your own words describe your impressions of the chapter “Creation” in Science and Health.
The arrival of the assignment was timely as we were in need of a lifeline! There were several unresolved challenges — some longstanding and quite serious — waiting for healing, and I was exhausted. I decided to read the chapter every day, resolved to gain some lift off! What struck me right away was that it is repeated over and over that Mind is the creator — and the ONLY creator, and creation in God’s likeness is infinite and spiritual. Of course, I “know” this, having heard it and believed it all my life, but this time it struck me anew that this is really true, not an alternative take on reality. Mrs. Eddy always gives the “how” as well as the absolute declarations. The first page, for example, states not to affirm that God is corporeal or material. This used to pass me by because I never thought of God as physical, but this time I realized that I did and do think of man as in some way physical. By transference, this is the same thing. If man is God’s reflection, emanation, expression, manifestation and is physical, then so is God, at least partly. This proof never works out! So, we start with making sure that we are seeing God as He is — Spirit, Mind, Soul — and then witnessing the unfolding of His expression — creation, over and over, continuously!
(3) How can the increased understanding of true creation make a difference in your life? Better yet, share with us how the truth of creation has been, or is being, demonstrated in your life.
I cannot report yet that this study has resulted in an impressive healing, but I can honestly say that there is a new turning to the light. Things are being revealed and uncovered as the Bible promises. Just last week I was feeling the accumulated stress in a way I don’t remember having experienced before. The stress of a family member’s persistent challenges, ongoing financial strain, the beliefs of middle age settling in, and the sheer physical and mental labor of going through a hoarded lifetime of a parent’s things and a move into assisted living, and two failed contracts on the house, had settled into an expectation or acceptance of difficulty that was projecting physical symptoms. I have faced each day anew after good study and prayer, but it just seemed that not enough progress was occurring. But then one day the idea of dropping “mental swaddling clothes”, progress taking off “human shackles”, and the “perpetual demand of Truth and Love”, opened up in a new way.
I dragged myself to church Wednesday night and a friend gave a testimony about a fairly prosaic issue. He refused to listen to the negative pronouncements around him and stuck to the true substance of things. I was very chastened by his optimism and discipline in sticking with God’s version of human events. I thought, “Why am I accepting depression, exhaustion, minimal progress as any part of God’s creation? Wake up!!!” The heaviness in my body, stomach aches, feelings that a panic attack was about to come on at any moment lifted away. I have been able to work with more inspiration again. I also found that I was able to handle animal magnetism, something I knew I needed to do but wasn’t always so sure how to do it. This is not so exciting perhaps, but it seemed like a significant step to me! It does seem that some healings are a process of persistence and gentle— and sometimes not so gentle — unfolding. The statement, “...errors (serving) as waymarks to the one Mind” has new meaning. (SH, p. 267) But the promise of the cross is the crown!