Through a lens—clearly
Janet Clements | from The Christian Science Journal
The Christly view of creation that Jesus preached heals today.
If you look at a perfectly normal hand through the lens of a cracked magnifying lens, it’s obvious that the hand would appear to be misshapen. Remove the cracked lens, and you see your hand as it really is. Similarly, if you view the entire creation through the lens of the limited five material senses, it will appear distorted—a mix of good and bad, matter and spirit. Yet this false view, which seems impressively real, contradicts the Biblical account of creation in the first chapter of Genesis, which states unequivocally that God saw everything he had made, and it was very good (see Gen. 1:31). But does His good creation include a mix of good and evil? How many creations are there?
Christ Jesus gave us a compelling answer to these questions through his healing work. Certainly he faced the discords, limitations, and sorrows of the world, yet he showed us that through the lens of spiritual sense we see, or behold, God’s goodness and His wholly spiritual creation. He said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see” (John 9:39).
Jesus understood that the material senses are always false witnesses.
Jesus understood that the material senses are always false witnesses. He saw that what appeared to be solid matter to these senses was as illusive as the misshapen hand seen through the cracked lens. Instead of withered hands, blind eyes, and incurable conditions, Jesus saw health and normalcy. In situations where there appeared to be lack—lack of peace, or even food—he saw abundance. For example, on two occasions Jesus fed multitudes of his followers with just a few loaves and fishes (see Matt. 14:15–21 and Matt. 15:32–38). Instead of enduring a raging storm, or natural disaster, he pacified it and restored calm (see Mark 4:37–39). And when raising Lazarus from the tomb (see John 11:1–44), or restoring life to a young man on his way to burial (see Luke 7:11–16), Jesus proved life and divine mercy to be triumphant over sin and death.
How did these so-called miracles occur? Mary Baker Eddy explained that Jesus saw what the mortal eye or senses could not perceive. She wrote in Science and Health, “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy” (Science and Health, pp. 476–477). This Christly view of creation that Jesus preached to all who were willing to listen, sparkles today with such effulgence in individual consciousness that it heals sickness and inharmony, like bright sunshine dissipates dark clouds. In fact, the Christ is a divine influence in every heart, now and forever, lifting off the veil of the material senses and revealing the present harmony of all creation.
For example, one night our family had gathered around the fireplace, and as my son was about to give our dog an affectionate pat, he was startled to find a tennis-ball-size growth under the dog’s chin. Right away, we each went to our rooms to pray quietly for this dear pet.
Everything associated with true growth is really good.
In my prayer, I affirmed that God, Principle, is the source of all order in the universe; therefore there could be no unprincipled or disorderly growth anywhere in God’s creation. I thought about the word growth as something that increases or multiplies. I reasoned that in mathematics it’s the principle or law—not the material numbers or symbols—that does the multiplying, and so too, the one divine Principle of the universe is the Mind that multiplies its own ideas. Therefore, true multiplication resides in divine Principle, not in cells. All that can be represented in God’s creation is expressive of Principle’s health-giving increase. As I prayed, I opened to Science and Health and read, “Spirit blesses the multiplication of its own pure and perfect ideas” (Science and Health, p. 512). I saw then that everything associated with true growth is really good and that good has no opposite.
In the morning, the growth under the dog’s chin was still noticeable, but I could see a change taking place. The next day, an opening appeared, and the growth began to drain until it was about half gone. However, over the next few days, it began to grow again. Everyone in the family opened their thought to what else needed to be seen in our prayers for a complete healing. One day my son commented, “We could always have the growth removed through surgery.” But we had all chosen to pray about the situation, and we decided to continue to pray. My son’s comment, however, brought to my attention a point I needed to consider further.
I asked myself these questions: Is there more than one creation? Am I thinking that there is a material creation that needs fixing up? Was I being deceived into believing that the dog’s misshapen chin needed to be corrected surgically in order to be normal? Didn’t I instead need to look at our dog through a spiritual lens?
While pondering these questions, I recalled that once I had a troublesome growth on my hand. One night it was very painful. As I was praying, the thought came to me that this was just too ugly and painful to be true about me, God’s perfect creation. My growing understanding that there is just one spiritual creation enabled me to make the separation in my thought between the truth and the lie. I distinctly declared that I wasn’t going to believe in the reality of the material growth for one more minute! The next morning, the growth fell off, and the new skin underneath was completely normal. It was as if nothing had ever been there. That had been clear proof to me of what Jesus said of the devilish testimony of material sense: “When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). Because the lie and the physical condition are one and the same, when the lie is challenged and seen for what it is, the physical condition changes and health is restored.
My prayer was not intended to change reality but to bring everyone into conscious harmony with reality.
So I saw then that my prayer for the dog was not intended to change reality, but rather to bring everyone, including the dog, into conscious harmony with reality. And I could see that my prayer must be single in acknowledging God’s perfect design. So in my prayers, I began to focus on humbly affirming the spiritual oneness of every creature with the Creator. The affirmation of one spiritual creation left no room for a belief in a parallel, material life, or a life combining spirit and matter. There is one law of God, ordering every aspect of creation, leaving no room for abnormal growth; one divine, pure substance, leaving no room for discordant matter. There is one power, a force for health, leaving disease powerless. I came to the absolute conviction and conclusion that there is none other than the one God and His perfect creation.
Off I went for a walk with the dog, rejoicing and accepting these ideas with my whole heart. In the 15 minutes it took for us to walk to the park and back, the large growth had completely disappeared before my eyes. Just like the case with the misshapen hand, this defect left no trace. That which had appeared as solid substance was just a misconception, an illusion about creation. When we see through the illusion of the physical senses and our belief about the body changes, the body conforms, because our body expresses our thought about it. A change in thought inevitably changes the bodily condition. And that’s exactly what happened. The dog responded to our prayers, to our perception of him as perfect, and he was completely healed.
What a joy to see the world through the lens of Spirit, which magnifies with clarity the presence of God’s perfect creation. It’s a glorious view that heals.
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