Which is it: a hair shirt or a silk shirt, shad roe or beluga caviar, agony or ecstasy? A reader of Psalm 23 might easily conclude that the way of the righteous is pretty nice indeed. The same reader of Mary Baker Eddy might find her margin heading on page 40 of Science and Health, "Suffering inevitable", a good deal less enticing. Christ Jesus said: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me . . . For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matt 11: 29-30) Hmm, not too frightening. Mrs Eddy says: "Jesus spares us not one individual experience, if we follow his commands faithfully" (S&H 26: 5-6). That can be a "Maybe some other time" kind of statement to grapple with.
So which is it? "A paradox, a paradox,/A most ingenious paradox!" (G&S, "The Pirates of Penzance") Not really. It is true Christ Jesus often presented with the bark on the challenges which await the potential disciple, as in "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." (Luke 9: 23) And as a result of his uncompromising life and words "many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." (John 6: 66) To paraphrase Thomas Paine, "The summer Christian and sunshine disciple will, in . . . crisis, shrink from the service of his Cause".
But neither Christ Jesus nor Mrs. Eddy said it would be all one or the other. Psalm 23 is a comforting promise. It describes the pilgrim's respite from the ferocity of the conflict between the flesh and Spirit. It offers the certainty of an interlude in the struggle, a pleasant caravansary on the route from sense to Soul. Until all is accomplished and the tumult has passed away, permanent peace will not be ours, and "many are called, but few are chosen." (Matt 22: 14) So, in short, putting off the old man and putting on the new involves both sufferings and triumphs. "We must have trials and self-denials, as well as joys and victories, until all error is destroyed." (S&H 39: 8-9) This may also be one reason Mrs Eddy advised us to "Emerge gently from matter into Spirit." (S&H 485: 14)
We might wish or hope that those three great trailblazers, Christ Jesus, Paul, and Mary Baker Eddy, had done most of the heavy lifting and suffering for us and that we could proceed effortlessly in their giant footsteps like the child following good King Wenceslas through the snow. But our knowledge and demonstration of spiritual perfection do not arrive neatly preassembled in some one-off epiphany. Our textbooks are much clearer than some of those risible instructions accompanying products from China, but each of us is still responsible for whatever it takes to achieve perfection in his individual experience.
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31 comments:
You are so tremendous. How you do this just amazes me. This is so solid, so plain spoken, yet so comforting to your reader. (I'm reaching for my dictionary--and I taught school for years!)
You are a blessing to the Field,
I've been checking every day to see your latest, and this one is really good, in a more serious vein. So inspiring to see you mention Jesus, Paul, and Mary Baker Eddy. They've paved the way, done the really hard work, pointed out the way, but we get to walk every step.
This will bless many of your readers around the world, I just know.
I know what you mean, blogger. Some days I feel the wind is at my back, so to speak. Others it's uphill all the way. But I wouldn't give up the treasure of Christ's teachings and Christian Science for the world.
Thanks,
While you have a razor-sharp wit when you're exposing the wrongdoing of TBD, you obviously have a deep love for our Master's words as well as for Christian Science.
A very worthwhile posting.
Very well done -- as always. Just the freshest, most alive CS writing around today.
Love this one especially!
Truly, a blog for the thinking individual. Your writing (and thinking) indicate much time spent pondering eternal truths, and how best to progress spiritually.
A treat to read your postings!
I can tell from the depth of your blog posts that you are one who will not "go back and walk no more with him". I've often said to myself, no matter how difficult it seems at times, what other way is there for us to wake up from this mortal dream than by sticking with the Word of God and the teachings of the Christ Science?
Thanks much,
Thanks for a stimulating website. Never read your well-crafted essays without getting much to think about.
Keep it up, blogger. We need you!
Arresting title, and fine blog post. You do manage to handle important topics in a most original fashion, and I always enjoy seeing how you put things.
Best wishes,
What a nice Sunday morning treat!thank you ...
I remember hearing anecdotally that Mrs. Eddy did not want flowers around her home in her last years because human life was so much NOT not a 'path of flowers'. I wonder if that anecdote is true.
I doubt that this is true. It is clear to me from our Leader's writings that she had a deep love for and appreciation of the beauty of the natural world. I would imagine this continued throughout her time here. But then, like you, I can't say for sure.
Let me weigh in on this: while landscaping wouldn't have been at the top of her list of concerns, can't imagine our Leader not having loveliness in her surroundings--both inside the house and outdoors. Think it would have been a natural outgrowth of her increased awareness of God's omnipresence, don't you?
((((Let me weigh in on this: while landscaping wouldn't have been at the top of her list of concerns, can't imagine our Leader not having loveliness in her surroundings--both inside the house and outdoors. Think it would have been a natural outgrowth of her increased awareness of God's omnipresence, don't you?)))
what 'I think' is irrelevant ... I'd like to know if the anecdote is true
Mrs. Eddy did take a very keen interest in landscaping at Pleasant View ...
I found it!
It is the Gilbert Carpenter Watching point #381 ... no clue how reliable that source is ...
381—WATCH that you pray to understand and interpret our Leader aright in all her
ways, and to realize that she was always a metaphysician and a Christian Scientist. It
is known that she was very fond of lovely flowers and had an abundance of them
on her grounds. Yet she wrote to her gardener on May 17, 1909: "I hereby tell you
that no garden or flowers shall be cultivated on my place. Make no road for one to
see such things on this place; the road to Heaven is not one of flowers, but it is strait
and narrow, it is bearing the cross and turning away from things that lure the
material senses, denying them and finding all in Spirit, in God, in good and doing
good."
While I'm not into flowers myself, find this back and forth interesting. Could it be that in that late year our Leader could see that when she was no longer with us, she didn't want flower worshippers to haunt her property and bug her household staff?
We'd have to have her comments in context, is my opinion, to be sure.
Regarding the letter to the groundskeeper at Chestnut Hill (May 1908) Mrs. Eddy wrote: "I hereby tell you that no garden or flowers shall be cultivated on this place; the road to Heaven is not one of flowers, but it is strait and narrow, it is bearing the cross and turning away from things that lure the material senses, denying them, and finding all in Spirit, in God, in good and doing good." I found this in Robert Peel's third biography of MBE Years of Authority in the notes (#82 to Chapter 9). Mr. Peel comments that the austerity was temporary because later there were flowers at Chestnut Hill.
Thanks for the Peel info.
The date on Carpenter is 1909 and Peel's date is 1908 .. is it possible the flowers restored after she passed on?
One thing that makes it a bit easier is to keep, as Mrs. Eddy did, the high goal in view. When we consciously realize and remember that what we are working for is final ascension it puts the relatively smaller problems in better perspective.
Carpenter is apparently not a reliable source--despite his following. He was admonished more than once by Mrs. Eddy for straying and she apparently did not feel her corrections "took." So I'd go with the direct quote from Peel.
thanks for the info about Carpenter ...
wasn't Peel ostracized by the church as well for some reason ...
Yes, Peel, along with many loyal and dedicated teachers and practitioners have been "ostracized" by the BOD over the years. However based on my albeit limited personal acquaintance with him many years ago along with the obvious scholarship of his body of work, I still have the utmost respect for him. My feeling is that Peel's scholarship and intimate knowledge of MBE's life just naturally put him at odds with Boston's actions over the years. Apparently he was both devastated and heartbroken toward the end of his life by the turn of events in Boston. I'd doubt if there was anyone more sincerely dedicated to preserving MBE's rightful place in history than Peel.
Peel directly expressed his dissatisfaction with the direction of the board in the last chapter of his last book, Health and Medicine in the Christian Science Tradition. The board declared that book incorrect literature and warned members not to buy, sell, or circulate it. Ironically, this was less than two years before the board decided to publish the Knapp book, a work of incorrect literature that the board encouraged members to buy, sell, and circulate. It is my understanding, that Mr. Peel was discusted with the board's decision to do that and that he contributed financially to the Mailing Fund. The Mailing Fund's officers were close academic collegues of Mr. Peel. He was a very great academic, and he and his sister were devoutly loyal Christian Scientists
Thank you...
I thank you kindly for the information about Peel ... how every sad ... I am going to try to locate his last book (that I didn't know about until your post)
I think what Paul said applies: if we have not love we are nothing ... we can know metaphysics and metaphysical lawas and rules upside down but unless we have love we are nothing ...
I have been studying the book of Job this week and in my research found a book about Job that had this blurb attached to it: "In the God speeches, God reveals the mystery that He is intimately aware of and actively involved in His creation. The tenderness and majesty of this speech underscore the focal point for readers wondering about God's response to suffering. God relates to His creatures and provides for them with such tenderness and caring that it leaves all other voices silent."
That struck a real note with me ... made me realize that before we can love others we first have to feel and know how much we are loved by God ... we can reason metaphysically, affirm and deny until we are blue in the face ... but do we FEEL God's love for us? if we feel that love for ourselves, we will love and heal others spontaneously and without effort ... by the opposite token .. if we don't feel God love for us, we cannot possibly love others and telling us over and over that we have to love unselfishly is a waste of time
Well these points may be old hat to some of you .. but it has come to me as a revelation ...
which brings me back to Peel ... where was the love for the man?
apologize I didn't edit the previous post for typos
There was one report noised about that Robert Peel was gay and was involved in some sort of scandal at a boys' school, that the BoD got him out of trouble on the condition that he would leave the church and be silent thereafter. The public front for this was the dissing of his last book. I read that book and felt that Mr Peel's only fault was candid clarity. I don't know how true the other report was, or whether it is just a rumor or an embroidery of partial or fully fictitious fact. Either way, it was a cruel way to do a hatchet job on a distinguished career. As a scholar and reasonably literate person, I appreciated Mr Peel's painstaking scholarship, his truthfulness, and his good writing. We shall not see the likes again, certainly not from the current crop of editors.
If the rumor about Peel is true, and I pray God it it not, it is so damaging on so many levels one can almost understand why the Board would take part in a dishonest cover up. If it was widely known that her best biographer had been caught in such nefarious activities,the collatoral damage done to Mrs. Eddy's reputation would be very serious indeed. If Peel should be relegated to the same status as the architect mentioned in Science and Health.
HOWEVER ... innocent until PROVEN guily and if the rumors are baseless the people who started them are extremely evil.
((If Peel should be relegated to the same status as the architect mentioned in Science and Health.
))
If the rumors are TRUE, Peel should be relegated to the same status as the architect mentioned in Science and Health.
I agree with the penultimate Anonymous post. Innocent until proven guilty, and "proven" should be bolded, italicized, underlined and in all caps. For people professedly governed by Mind, CStists are sometimes the flightiest rumor mongers and sanctimonious witch hunters around. I truly hope this is nothing but a rumor, and that whatever private peccadilloes Mr. P. or any of us may have or may have had, it is seen as forgiven when destroyed. The person should not be destroyed along with the sin and should be remembered for their excellences and positive contributions.
Sorry to be obtuse, but I don't get the reference to the "architect" in S&H. The only use of the word is on p. 68 where God is referred to as the "great architect," and that fits the present context only with a great stretch. Perhaps we should be paying more attention to the next sentence in that paragraph.
to LowlyWise
Sorry, the reference in S&H is "architectural" 142-11
I am not necessarily thinking of the "lordly salary" aspect, only that any biographer of Mrs. Eddy, no matter how skilled, if not extremely moral and pure of heart, (not to mention sympathetic), will shut the door on the progress of the movement she founded.
Thanks for the clarification. It now makes perfect sense. And it links to the spiritual creating by "Great Architect" all the more poignantly.
I hope the host doesn't mind these 'tributaries' in his comments section.
I would really love to some day read our host's take on 'climate change' which seems now to be almost a CS religious tenet.
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