Answers sought in Spirit
A Christian Science perspective: Our questions are answered.
Expecting spirits to appear at certain times of the year is celebrated in many cultures. This is how the holiday of Halloween was started. On these occasions some seek to call on the advice of people who are no longer present. While the advice might be sought in earnest, these attempts at communication are based on human belief and mysticism, and can yield no real results. Ghosts have long been considered the result of fear-based hallucinations or optical illusions. They are imaginary, and by their very nature, they cannot be a source for reliable counsel.
No matter the place or the time of year, there is a source for counsel we can always depend on – the absolute source of all wisdom and truth. In Christian Science, Truth is another name for God – the one Spirit. This definition of God is rooted in the Bible: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). It is in a spiritual rather than ritualistic worship of God – a purification of the heart and an understanding of Truth – that we are able to hear God’s guidance.
God’s guidance is given to all of His children. As described in the first chapter of Genesis, we are each made in the image and likeness of God, Spirit. Our true identity is as children of the one Spirit – good and holy. We not only express His eternal nature but have within us the ability to reflect wisdom.
The Bible shows many examples of people finding help in this limitless resource – the wisdom of Spirit. The prophet Isaiah saw the importance of looking only to God for direction and healing when he said: “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God?” (Isaiah 8:19). Following Isaiah’s instruction, we look to infinite good, God, and see that the goodness of God is present and powerful to help us in every need.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, understood how God directs us: “Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 505). And elsewhere in Science and Health she explains what divine Spirit does for us: “Spirit blesses man, but man cannot ‘tell whence it cometh.’ By it the sick are healed, the sorrowing are comforted, and the sinning are reformed. These are the effects of one universal God, the invisible good dwelling in eternal Science” (p. 78).
We have the consummate example of Christ Jesus, who proved the blessings of the invisible good, God. It was through the power of the divine Spirit that he was able to heal. He taught us to look to “Our Father which art in heaven” for answers (Matthew 6:9). As we do, we will not be found wanting; the infinite Spirit is eternally near us, willing and able to guide us every moment.