Pictures

The proliferation of automatic and instant cameras on the market makes it a simple matter for almost anyone to take quality photos and snapshots. Gone are the days when complicated gadgets were necessary for a photographer to achieve worthwhile results.

And yet there are other pictures we take -- vastly more important ones -- that are often disasters.These pictures are the mental impressions we gather of the world around us.

Why is our view of our environment so important? Because it has much to do with what we experience.When we take in uncritically a materialistic, matter- bordered view of reality, we tacitly adopt limitation as our fate, and accept without argument all that confirms that fate. On the other hand, learning to see with the depth of spiritual perception -- learning what reality trulym is and living it -- can re- order our lives completely.

A camera has no intelligence enabling it to be selective in what it photographs. Mankind, however, is endowed with spiritual discernment that enables all of us to sort out the good (or real) facts of existence from the evil (or unreal) appearances -- to take on the former and reject the latter.

Viewing materiality unquestioningly isn't the way to get the true concept of God and man. As the intelligent creation of all-loving divine Principle, we really aren't material at all, but spiritual. As we grasp the implications of this fact we can begin to express the harmony that is concomitant with Spirit, God.

Christian Science can help anyone see and live from a more spiritual and harmonious standpoint. To be sure, Christian Science doesn't advise ignoring evil; rather, it shows us how to use spiritual discernment, based on a conviction that God has absolute control over His creation, to see evil's powerlessness. This enables us to heal what needs healing.

When we do this, we are following in the footsteps of Christ Jesus, who presented the true idea of God, the Christ, to the world. Jesus saw the real relationship of God and man, and his understanding of the invincible harmony of God's creation resulted in the healing of every type of discord. Christian Science is perpetuating the teachings and practices of Jesus, proving their continued efficacy with convincing healings today.

I was once standing with a family member when she said she felt faint. As she went to lie down, she slumped to the floor, unconscious. I realized the vital need to focus on the truth of man as perpetually in God's loving care, ever conscious of his oneness with his creator. The false picture I had to deal with was a mistaken concept of man -- in a sense, a double exposure that would define God's child as a mortal, capable of being both sick and well. In fact, he is the eternal expression of God, divine Life.

I urged my relative to wake up to the fact that she was the manifestation, the image, of God. n1 As such, she couldn't be unconscious of the fact that she was in reality perfect, created by a perfect God. She responded immediately and in a short time was completely normal.

n1 See Genesis 1:26.

Mary Baker Eddy n2 writes, "The crude creations of mortal thought must finally give place to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spiritual and eternal." n3

n2 Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science;

n3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 264.

When our mental camera is focused on the "spiritual and eternal," we are seeing correctly. And as we understand more and more of reality, we can expect greater harmony in our lives. DAILY BIBLE VERSE See, I have set before thee this day life . . . Deuteronomy 30:15