The renewal that comes from knowing Spirit
Getting to know Spirit as our divine Parent gives us a more expansive view of ourselves and brings healing results.
There’s a deeper perspective on life we can uncover – a divine Science that shows us the truth about ourselves. It reveals that God is Spirit, and that Spirit is the real creator of us all. Jesus knew this and proved it to the world in his many healing works.
We can explore what this means to us by listening for Christ, the spiritual idea that informed all that Jesus did in his ministry of healing and teaching, revealing the spiritual fact that divine Spirit fills all space, is completely good, and is the actual source and substance of everyone’s life.
In the past I’ve found it easier to focus on the aspect of what it is that Spirit creates—that is, how each of us is made in the image and likeness of Spirit, God, as the Bible says. But as I’ve recently felt more inspired to ponder the nature of Spirit itself, I’ve become more aware that there isn’t even the slightest aspect of physicality to Spirit. Divine Spirit isn’t a presence within a material context, it is the full context within which we all truly “live, and move, and have our being,” (Acts 17:28). Spirit is in action universally, a ceaseless source of goodness that everyone can become conscious of – nurturing us and giving us solid identity and strength.
We can turn to this ever-present divine Spirit at any time, going to God in prayer to listen and learn more about who we really are and just how much Spirit loves us. We are each created by Spirit to show forth its own nature; we are designed to express Spirit’s purity, insightfulness, and even its perfection. As we increasingly yield to the understanding of Spirit’s presence and essence, we begin to feel more spiritual ourselves, which is so comforting.
A positive result of acknowledging Spirit’s pure goodness and power in us is that we begin to disbelieve the world’s misapprehensions about how we are established by God. And when a misconception about ourselves is eradicated from our thoughts through God’s influence, it naturally disappears from our experience. This is one reason why continually embracing the absolute, spiritual truth of God and creation is so powerful and practical.
The power of Spirit heals. I’ve experienced this many times in my life. One instance happened many years ago when I found I had spots in my field of vision. As I prayed, I was prompted to question the whole notion of myself as a materially made being. The Bible shows us that “there is one body, and one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:4). Could that “one body” possibly be a physical body? Not if it’s of Spirit’s creating.
I began to glimpse that my real form and substance result exclusively from Spirit, which creates only spiritual entities. “Ye are God’s building,” says the Bible (I Corinthians 3:9). As Spirit’s construct, we express the infinite, immortal nature of the Divine. Matter is simply not the medium of Spirit’s continuing self-expression in us; everything about us takes place nonphysically, here within the glorious realm of God.
I remember stopping to consider this one uncomplicated thought: A state of matter does not define the state of who we are. I reasoned forward from there. As Spirit’s expression, matter doesn’t reach any of us. It doesn’t limit us. It doesn’t threaten us. It doesn’t fulfill or sustain us. Very soon after, I was glad to see that my field of sight was completely clear, and it remains so.
This experience demonstrated what Mary Baker Eddy, the woman who founded the Monitor, writes in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”: “God, Spirit, dwelling in infinite light and harmony from which emanates the true idea, is never reflected by aught but the good” (pp. 503-504).
When we think or talk about ourselves, it helps to voice only divine Spirit’s perspective of what we are, which is always good and loving. We are able to do this, because God has designed us to be nourished forever in our expression of perfect Spirit. Gratefully, the Bible assures every single one of us, “We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God” (I Corinthians 2:12).