Creativity, inspiration, innovation unleashed
A Christian Science perspective.
The cover of the Oct. 17 issue of The New Yorker depicted Steve Jobs at the pearly gates of heaven while the winged attendant checks for his name on an iPad. Mr. Jobs possessed the passion, focus, vision, and realization that future advancements in technology are unlimited. His love of wonder, combined with a great curiosity, resulted in inventions that have changed the way we all communicate.
The magazine cover, more than being a humorous compliment, makes a profound point. From the Gutenberg press to the iPad, an idea and its principles exist before anyone discovers them. In fact, the divine Principle of all great discoveries existed before humans walked the earth. There really is no beginning to the laws behind great ideas – they are just waiting to be discovered. And once discovered, they are available to all and need only to be understood and applied in a scientific manner.
There is, there must be, an intelligent source of ideas. Through my study of Christian Science, I’ve learned that the source of all good ideas is God, divine Mind. This divine intelligence has always existed. Progress of any kind – mathematical, scientific, musical, or ethical – has its roots in divine intelligence. Following this logic further, there is an unlimited potential for future advancements that will make even the most dramatic of new discoveries seem primitive. We are all indebted to innovators who break new ground for their contributions to society and their receptive attitude that allows such ideas to come forth and to take form.
I ask myself, Could not the same sense of advancement be applied to our health, economy, politics, and relationships? Are there principles or laws, already discovered, that can improve humanity’s experience if the world only recognized their existence? The one who presented the greatest ideas is Christ Jesus, who expounded truths that up until then had been unclear to humanity. Centuries later, in 1866, a New England woman, Mary Baker Eddy, made a monumental discovery that explained Jesus’ works in practical terms, and she made her discovery available to all through her book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.”
If we somehow were able to possess the vision, passion, focus, and receptivity to listen for inspiration allowing us to discover new vistas about our own being, we logically should find that laws relating to one’s greatness as a son or daughter of God have always existed and need only to be discovered in our hearts.
Imagine what kind of future would follow our individual discovery of a greater love or truth and of solved challenges, whether related to our physical body or our body politic. Great philosophers, teachers, artists, and musicians certainly took monumental and inspired steps. And we can, too.
The Bible declares that we are made in the image and likeness of God. Thus we can conclude that this idea or image has always existed and will always exist. The higher nature of this ever-expanding selfhood awaits only further understanding and application. The qualities that lead innovators to their discoveries are available to all, requiring only humility and receptivity to a higher source of ideas, and a work ethic that steadily applies one’s spiritual inspiration.
Christian Science defines God as Mind, the all-knowing Mind, omniscient and omnipotent. Mrs. Eddy’s discovery can be applied to today’s relationships, politics, health, or the economy. In fact, application of these divine laws of life can come to the rescue of every human condition. Eddy must have understood this when referring to the Bible verse “God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). She wrote: “Deductions from material hypotheses are not scientific. They differ from real Science because they are not based on the divine law” (Science and Health, p. 273). And earlier on that page, she said, “Human belief has sought out many inventions, but not one of them can solve the problem of being without the divine Principle of divine Science.”
Great thinkers have made enormous contributions to humanity, and their scientific discoveries will be the springboard for even greater works. However, we must not lose sight that individuals did not create these laws anymore than Eddy created the spiritual laws of healing. Christ Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12). Whether they be in metaphysics, technology, or art, greater works shall come as we dispel the idea that man is a creator. We can look to the all-knowing and all-wise Supreme Being as the source of all inspiration and invention.
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