Understanding Is The Key

In a 1961 Los Angeles Seminar Mrs. Laird said: “Realization is the function of Truth as understanding.”   This direct presence of Mind in action as realization or understanding constitutes man.  God’s self-knowledge is man!

The fundamental characteristic of consciousness is its wholeness, its completeness, its entirety! Nothing exists or can seem to exist outside of consciousness. There is no external to Mind! Without consciousness, Mind, God and all that that idea includes would be unknown—would have no evidence of being. So man is the self-awareness of the God-idea—Mind/Truth/Principle! Consciousness is whole, complete, undivided One-All! Each individuation of Mind absolutely self-exists. Quoting from Mrs. Laird’s seminar: “There is no Self but the I that I am—that Ego.  There’s nothing else, nothing whatever.”

Common usage of the words I and Ego in human living refers to a personal identity. However, Science declares that the God-idea is the only I or Ego. So the reflection is I or Ego by default.  Man displays those divine qualities reflectively, so they are ever-present but never personal.  Whenever a personal sense of anything seems apparent to you, you have forgotten who you are—reality has been forgotten or overlooked. Personal sense is the acceptance of appearances as if they were actual— were real. An individual point of view of the divine, perfect, whole and complete (reality), is the God- presence in expression. This God-constituted existence appearing in understandable form is the world I walk through whether consciously aware or not. This reflected allness includes the two-legged rather than 5 or some other number, while at the same time stirring the imagination to a wondering beyond present boundaries. Ever evolving Being cannot be cast in concrete! Grounded in facts, understanding stands as an immovable force in demonstrating one’s indefinable divine presence as the only constituent of being and of one’s language perception. Remember, the language world is the reflective view of perfection present the only way it can be seen this moment.

In her first edition of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy said, “Mind hath done this!” in the face of the very negative appearance of ulcerated lungs. Only understanding could allow her to validate that statement in demonstrating man’s freedom from the belief and conceptualization of disease. Her clear understanding of the perfection of reality, the reflective nature of being and its identifying evidence enabled her to prove countless times the accuracy of the Science she lived—all is infinite Mind, whole, perfect and complete!

Actually, each one of us is the living of this Principle, since without it there is no existence.  We may live it unconsciously and unaware, thus missing the experience of transformation.  Nevertheless, it is the reality- principle that constitutes existence. Actually, the Principle that is Science is fundamental to all existence, whether it is practiced consciously and accurately or not, just as the principle of mathematics stands in the face of whatever is believed about numbers. Life living itself is universally evident regardless of any seeming judgment, opinion or appearance. Understanding is the key that accesses the peace and joy and power ever-present as divine being and experienced as daily activity.

In response to a student who was seeing his way to individual dominion and freedom, but being sorely criticized, Mrs. Eddy wrote: “You are scientifically correct in your statement about yourself. You can never demonstrate spirituality until you declare yourself to be immortal and understand that you are so.  … Science is absolute; it is neither behind the point of perfection nor advancing towards it; it is at this point and must be practiced therefrom. Unless you fully perceive that you are the child of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demonstrate and no rule for its demonstration. ” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany, 242:2-10)

The facts of being—each one’s factual or reflective presence (whole, perfect and complete)—are seen individually as the world he walks through. Perception is reception, so our view, our language world, is shaped by our recognized self-awareness. And, that self-awareness language (the view) is always the highest perception available under the circumstances, appearing the only way it can be understood each moment.

These ideas graphically pro- claiming that “in my flesh shall I see God” are found everywhere— in newspapers, magazines, books, on television, in movies— elevating the race! A book entitled Illness or Allness (John Dorsey), is just full of statements that Mrs. Laird paralleled with ones Mrs. Eddy had made. “New textbooks are constantly necessary if the discoveries in the field of natural science are to have value in daily life.” (Christian Science Re-Explored 87:31-33)

When “idea-consciousness” shows up, its very occurrence means perception is active doing its thing of appearing/disappearing and then appearing in fairer form as understanding expands.  Perception, our language world, is valuable feedback as Love’s revelation that any limitation or restriction is unreal—an unnecessary invention we’ve added. Each of us lives reflectively and ongoingly as self-existent Mind- action turning back on itself—a continuum disclosing our
own divinity embracing our humanity in the demonstration of reality as the only legitimate presence.

Principle, the reason for every- thing, constitutes and constructs the Life-action living itself, appearing as the conscious human individual and the world he walks through. Mrs. Laird

– Betty Albee