The Unlimited Unfoldment of Holy Thoughts

Prudential Insurance, smartly co-opting a powerful Christian symbol, reassuringly offers us "a piece of the rock" (for a price of course). As Christian Scientists we all would like our own comforting piece of the Rock--Christ, Truth. But do the specifics of how to individualize what can seem like solidly monolithic Truth get lost in a muzzy fog of timorousness and uncertainty? How can one uniquely express infinite God?

We can start by realizing we do not express God's infinity or omnipresence, but His qualities. A small piece of the rock has all the qualities of the whole rock, except, of course, size, but we are not trying to be God, but to reflect Him. Nevertheless, when we get down to the nitty-gritty of our own individual expression, the vastness of the Original can be daunting and overwhelming. We must then claim our oneness with infinite Mind, all-intelligence. Doing that, even imperfectly, should enable us to realize that nothing can limit our ability to understand and express God. That does not mean we think about God, but develop and increase our understanding of Him.

Anton Diabelli, a music publisher and minor composer, sent to a number of contemporary composers a little waltz tune of his own composition, asking each to submit a variation on it, which he would collect from all and publish. One of the composers he included was Beethoven. At first the irascible genius disdained the publicity ploy and the trite waltz as well, calling it a "Schusterfleck", a mere cobbler's patch. But even though he tossed it aside, the tune apparently gestated in that great musical mind, and the result was perhaps the finest set of variations ever written: the 33 "Diabelli Variations", a 50-60 minute masterpiece. My point, long in coming, is that if Beethoven can do this with a humble cobbler's patch to start with, shouldn't we be able to realize unlimited unfoldment in our own contemplation of God and the truths of Christian Science? It can be done and must be done if we are to put off the old man and demonstrate the complete spiritual selfhood of the new man.

If need be, we should see and think of ourselves as artists as well as Scientists. Did not Mrs. Eddy call all of us sculptors (S&H 248: 13) and if sculptors, then artists? And note that as sculptors we mould as well as chisel thought, i.e., work with the pliable in our consciousness as well as the resistant. We cannot be content to merely think about the truths that come to us, but we must wrestle with them like Jacob until our thought is blessed by an uplifting angel message.

One can hear many rich examples of the unfolding, development, or expansion of musical ideas by listening to Haydn. His music is, to me at least, clearer and simpler (but no less great for it)than, say, Mozart or Beethoven, who can be quite complex. Haydn wrote 104 symphonies, 50+ string quartets, 125 trios for baryton, viola, and cello, 43 trios for piano, violin, and cello, and about 60 piano sonatas. A conservative guess would be that there are over 1200 movements in these works alone, with each movement treating a theme in some way. He is a constant joy and inspiration to listen to, and if he can do all this, with original themes to boot, and far more, without Christian Science (genius though he was), how can we entertain the slightest inertia or feeling of limitation with all we have in Christian Science? There should scarcely seem enough hours in each day to ponder all the angel thoughts which God sends to our side to "comfort, guard and guide". (Hymn #9)