Like many of you, I’ve been praying about the present global financial situation and just wanted to share some ideas that have come.
In Christian Science (or divine metaphysics), we always start with the spiritual truth and work out FROM the understanding of our one-ness with God, our present and eternal completeness and wholeness (not towards it from a standpoint of separation). As Mary Baker Eddy explains:
[COLOR="Blue"]Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul.
These ideas are perfectly real and tangible to spiritual consciousness, and they have this advantage over the objects and thoughts of material sense,--they are good and eternal. (Science and Health p 269)
First, what is true income and where does it come from?
I was once completely impoverished when my material source of income was drastically cut. I learnt some great lessons then which have always stayed with me, about God being the only (and infinite) source of our supply and how everything is in His control – we only have to trust, rely on and yield up our human fretting and planning to bring ourselves into harmony with the abundance that is the divine heritage of everyone.
I wrote a thread about that experience, which changed my life when I was just 17, titled, “God's gift - true abundance”
Through that experience I began to understand true income as the inflowing realisation of divine Truth and Love. Once we glimpse that, then it becomes obvious that our supply can’t fluctuate, be lost, stolen, dry up or be limited in any way – quite the contrary, it can only keep growing!
As in the words of the father to the resentful older son in the parable of the Prodigal: [COLOR="Purple"]“Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.” (Luke 15)
Looking at the roots of this situation, which I see now expressing greed, resentment and fear - I had some lovely inspiration with that parable of the Prodigal. As I was reading these words, [COLOR="Purple"]“..the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.” It struck me that the “far country,” (the belief of separation from God), applied so well to the present financial situation. The “far country” today could be likened to a turning away from Spirit; disregard for ethics and morals and worshipping wealth, possessions, fame, personality and self-gratification rather than seeking our identity, joy, guidance, and sustenance in Spirit. It’s looking in the wrong place for what we already have, what is already ours.
Continuing with the parable: [COLOR="Purple"]“And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.” Isn’t that what is happening right now – a famine of trust and confidence? (As well as a flood of resentment and blame?)
Looking up the word “famine” I came across the pages 96 and 97 in Science and Health where Mary Baker Eddy foretold many of the disturbances that are happening today. Here is a link to those pages:
[url]"The darkest hour precedes the dawn."[/url]
On the previous page Mary Baker Eddy introduces this section with:
[COLOR="Blue"]“Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours.”
I see this present turmoil as a wake-up call to the world! Therefore it is not something to be afraid of. This is the beginning of this part (with an addition by me in brackets)
[COLOR="Blue"] Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spiritualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Before error is wholly destroyed, there will be interruptions of the general material routine. Earth will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter, seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will continue unto the end,--until the final spiritualization of all things……
The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, (greed, resentment and fear), sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.
Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization. This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.. (Science and Health p 96)
I’m always encouraged by the end of this piece where she instructs us to “cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection.”
We don’t have to get sucked into either the resentment or the fear. A great antidote to both fear and lack is gratitude. To me, this spiritualisation of all things is an on-going process. I’m sure that people in the two world wars and in the great Depression must have felt far more insecure and overwhelmed than we are now (they didn’t have all he safe-guards in place for a start.) At some point though, lessons will have to be learnt and not keep having to be repeated!
I’ll end with these two citations on the divine economy:
[COLOR="Blue"]Both Science and consciousness are now at work in the economy of being according to the law of Mind, which ultimately asserts its absolute supremacy. (Science and Health p 423)
….mortals are hastening to learn that Life is God, good, and that evil has in reality neither place nor power in the human or the divine economy.” (Science and Health p 327)
[COLOR="Purple"]“Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.”
Love and peace (and abundance!)
Judy