This is something that many who are trying to find their spiritual path struggle with. It sounds like God is causing all our human struggles, but that is not so. This idea brings to my thought the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
When I give this material universe power over me, I am making a god of it. If I believe it can cause things in my life that I have no control over, I am making a god of matter. I am saying that God has no power over this material universe. God is the only Cause and Creator of His spiritual universe, and everything that he has made is good. It tells us that in Genesis. So, how could all our human struggles have anything to do with Him?
God is here to set things straight. Jesus said, “The works that I do shall ye do also;” and, “The kingdom of God is within you.” I believe he is telling us that with God’s help, we have the power to set all our human struggles right and that the Kingdom of God is heaven and is attainable now. It is within our ability to spiritualize our thinking, listen to God’s still small voice, and change our lives.
Spirit is the fourth dimension, and I need to enter mentally into that dimension to commune with God. That is where all the ideas come from that help me heal all the struggles of my human experience. I found that it did not matter what the struggle is: finding a home, financial, relationships difficulties, physical illness, mental illness, God is there to help us resolve all these problems. He does not cause them. He sent Jesus to show us how. He demonstrated ‘God with us” in every kind of situation.
I found that a sinner could not demonstrate “God with us,” so I needed to eliminate from my thought and life everything that is opposed to God. I work on this every day, and I am amazed to find how much in my belief system is making gods of other things. Little by little, I work to understand the truth of these things and change long-held beliefs. Also, with negative suggestions coming daily at me from everywhere, I need to immediately mentally put these down before they can manifest in my life and make the struggle harder.
Another name for God is divine Mind. It is Mind that creates, not matter. And what does Mind create, IDEAS. Webster defines Idea: An image in Mind; the immediate object of understanding. Once we understand who we really are, an image in Mind, and know what that entails, we are indestructible. Acts 17:28 “For in him we live, move and have our being;” That him is God, Mind.
I know, you are now saying, but we are born and die in this universe. Yes, and Jesus used the term “suffer it to be so now.” When everyone understands that this is a spiritual universe, we will all see God’s creation here and now. But when that time comes, no one knows. Although individually, we can striving now to rise above the belief that this universe is material and demonstrate that in our lives. Changes in society usually take place, one person at a time. Matt.5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18)
This physical universe tries to imitate the spiritual. Our mortal body is thought externalized. It has its source in mortal mind, not divine Mind. I learned that what I think and believe is imaged forth in my body and the world around me. When I change what I think and believe, my body and the world around me changes, and I get glimpses of God’s spiritual universe. The concept is simple, but changing beliefs ingrained in us from childhood is a struggle, but it is the only way. The understanding I have gained of the spiritual creation came from baby steps, it did not happen overnight, and I have much more to learn.
God is All, in all. Everything is spiritual when seen through the lens of spiritual understanding.
Some of you may be questioning, where does evil come from? It is a mistaken belief, a suggestion that can be denied access to your thought. It is difficult when the evil you are faced with is blatant, but it is possible to see past it to God’s spiritual creation.
There is a person in my experience now expressing blatant evil, and I have learned to see past it to God’s creation of good. Now that does not mean that person is expressing less evil; it does not mean he shouldn’t be put somewhere when he can’t hurt others, it means that he does not know any better or he would behave better. Having compassion for him, and seeing his true essence as spiritual, is what is meant by loving your enemy. To prevent him from expressing evil by putting him where he cannot hurt others is the most loving thing we can do.
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”(Matthew 5: 44, 45)
The following quote is something I say almost daily.
“There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.”(Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 468:9)
Out of Darkness, Into the Light 