World Thought and Individual Thinking
HOW much does what we think mirror the opinions and estimations currently held by those around us? New concepts are constantly coming over the world's mental horizon, and often these views are accepted as accurate without our even giving them a second thought. The fact is, however, many prevalent attitudes need careful examination if we are to avoid the pitfalls of accepting society's sometimes limited--even detrimental--thought patterns. Humanity's concepts and attitudes are many times based only on opi nion and conjecture. When we simply parrot these prevailing opinions, we may end up suffering as the result.
Doesn't there exist, then, a relationship between what we hold in thought and what we experience? This means that by changing our thought--by changing our tendency to adopt uncritically the world's opinions--we can, in fact, change our experience. To do this, what we are thinking needs to be aligned with and receive its impetus from God. When we are willing to embrace thinking that is grounded on genuine views of God and man, views which are actually God- originated, we see that man--who is in reality Go d's image, or idea--is wholly God-governed. And this truth is the basis for happiness and health in our lives.
Wrong thinking (what Christian Science terms mortal mind or mortal error) has no genuine source or power--it is a self-constituted lie widely consented to. We have the right to reject such false belief on the basis of our understanding of the one divine source of true thought--God, divine Mind. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures brings light to this subject. In it the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes, ``Mortal mind is constantly producing on mortal body the results of false opinions; and it will continue to do so, until mortal error is deprived of its imaginary powers by Truth, which sweeps away the gossamer web of mortal illusion.
Evil, disease, and sin are no part of God's creation, because He is absolutely good. God's unchanging perfection and goodness are the truth and structure from which we can reason correctly and find healing and wholeness. Christ Jesus once encountered a man who had been born blind. Everyone had been influenced by society's false belief that God was the cause of this man's distress. Even Jesus' disciples asked him, ``Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? But Jesus gave no credence to the point of view which claimed that God, omnipotent good, punished people with illness. He answered, ``Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. This was a departure from the world's opinions. But it was based on what was actually true--that God's perfect creation was present; and it completely healed the man.
Once false beliefs are deleted from thought on the basis of one divine Mind, God, they cannot be a part of our experience. No matter how many people are entertaining a particular lie about man, if you are leaning on the understanding of spiritual reality which God imparts, that is enough to destroy a lie in your thinking, and consequently bring healing. This spiritual- mindedness is the very opposite of faulty worldly opinion. We must be willing, too, to scrutinize both the old, well-entrenched concepts about existence and the new thoughts that are presented to us each day. We must be alert to accept as true and valid only what is created by God, Spirit. Then, we are not simply accepting the world's opinions and conjectures--we are truly thinking.
