Whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report;
if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise,
think on these things.
(The Bible – Philippians 4: 8)
Archive for the ‘Consciousness’ Category
Think on these things … 1 comment
Spiritual Healing – Past and Present Leave a comment
Wednesday Testimony Meeting Readings
This recording is of readings on the topic: Spiritual Healing
(Apology: Nature in the form of a wild white sulphur-crested cockatoo has made his presence felt a little raucously on this audio.)
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Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, – neither in nor of matter, – and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p14)
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Every Wednesday at 6.15pm a Testimony Meeting is held at the Christian Science church in Canberra (corner of Macquarie and Bligh Streets, Barton). At these meetings short readings on a particular topic are followed by time for members of the congregation to share how they have been helped and healed through prayer.
Everyone is welcome. If you are in Canberra on any Wednesday, please join us.
Healed of Headaches 2 comments
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
My heart is full of gratitude to God for His constant care and the teachings of the Holy Bible together with a greater awareness of who I am really as taught through the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. Mrs Eddy shared her ideas with the world through the teachings of Christian Science which she discovered through a personal healing in the year 1866.
She explains that through a better understanding of God we can have healing experiences as promised by our Wayshower, Jesus Christ. He reminded us that with God all things are possible and that the wonderful works which he did were available to all and not restricted to any time in human history.
I would like to share how I was healed of headaches early in my study of Christian Science. At this time of my life I was working in a job which put me constantly attending to the public and expected to be always bright, smiling and attentive to the needs of others.
Sometimes this was a challenge as I was bothered by headaches. One particular day as I went about my business I asked myself if I thought that God could have a headache. I already knew a bit about God, His goodness and purity, His all-power and presence, and His constant love for His children, His ideas, totally inseparable from the Creator. God, the author of man, could not have a headache.
Next question – well, could I, as one of those children, possibly have a headache? Answer, totally impossible! I could have only what God gave me and that was all good, so no headache in that goodness. The throbbing vanished immediately, and for all time. The healing was immediate and remained permanent.
Over the intervening years, which are many, I have not had another headache. I cannot say that the temptation has not tapped on the door of my consciousness, but it is briskly dismissed because I know that this suggestion has been dealt with and I do not need to cover that old ground again. To use the words of Jesus, “Get thee behind me, Satan” (Matt 4:10). Satan is a Hebrew word signifying an adversary, an enemy, an accuser. Sometimes I would simply declare: I don’t do headaches.
As I write about this experience I also recall another proof of the completeness of the healing many years later. I was working in an office at the time, and as people went home from work they walked past my desk as they stepped into the lift. On this particular day as one of the ladies left she said she couldn’t wait to go home as she had such a terrible headache. I mentally cried out, “There is no such thing as a headache” God does not have them or give them, so they cannot exist.
A very short time later the lift returned and this same lady stepped out of the lift and asked, “Did you pray for me? By the time I got to ground level the headache had gone” The office was four floors above ground level. This person knew that I prayed about things, but as I recall I just smiled and said “no such thing as a headache”.
Contemplating the Spiritual Leave a comment
… look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(The Bible – II Corinthians 4: 18)
Horse Riding – Not a Problem Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
A few years ago my husband wanted to give me a surprise for our anniversary. He knew I loved horses and that in my youth I had gone on a few short trail rides which I loved. This year he had the romantic idea that escaping our city life for a weekend of riding horses through the bushland in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney would be a good plan. My husband has never been a horse rider and knows very little about horses.
When he presented me with the gift vouchers I was filled with some very mixed emotions. I could see that he was trying hard to please me – that was nice. But, an eight-hour ride through very rugged territory, when I hadn’t been on a horse for about twenty years, seemed daunting in ways he couldn’t imagine. I prayed about this. I reasoned that all good ideas come from God and God’s ideas don’t have a downside. I also know that the beliefs I hold about life determine the nature of this material experience. I tried to stay focused on a conviction that my true nature is spiritual, not material. Only matter feels pain, not spirit.
My husband, as a novice rider, was given Fred, an elderly plodder. However, he had told the stables that I could ride well and I was given Jeda, a young thoroughbred-cross who really wanted to turn everything into a race. I’d been on the horse for about fifteen minutes when I realised that the saddle was horribly uncomfortable; it had two hard ridges that dug into the bones in my bottom.
During the eight-hour outing we spent nearly seven hours in the saddle. The countryside was amazing. We rode across green paddocks with cows, through mountain streams, up and down steep hillsides and along winding forest trails. It was truly beautiful. At every point in the day my Jeda wanted to race ahead and I spent the whole day calming her and reining her in. Even when we were waiting for slow Fred to catch up she pulled and pranced. She was exhausting!
It was late afternoon when we arrived back at our accommodation. I was so sore I felt physically sick. I fell on the bed and thought I would never be able to move again. Every muscle in my body screamed and protested. I thought I had mentally protected myself before the ride but I realised that I hadn’t really given up the idea that this activity could be punishing. In Christian Science, we are taught that what we let into consciousness, is what we experience. So while I lay there on the bed I had a mental reassessment.
A passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy helped me to gain some peace. She asks: Without mind, could the muscles be tired? Do the muscles talk, or do you talk for them? Matter is non‐intelligent. Mortal mind does the false talking, and that which affirms weariness, made that weariness (p217:31). I realized that I had given myself permission to be affected by this ride, so mentally I took back that permission.
Within a very short time I was up and getting cleaned up to go out to dinner. There was not a single twinge anywhere – I walked straight and tall and pain free. We had a happy night and the rest of the weekend was active and harmonious. There were absolutely no after-effects.
I am continually grateful to Christian Science which teaches me that I don’t have to give in to material laws. All right activity can be undertaken without penalty.
The Impact of Thought on the Body Leave a comment
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You embrace your body in your thought, and you should delineate upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p208: 29)
Spiritual Fitness Leads to Physical Fitness Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
When my son was growing up we had a friend who often went on camping and hiking holidays with a group of long-time friends. Once or twice a year he would invite my son and me to join the group. I’ve never been a sporty person and being really physically fit has never been a priority for me but I do love the outdoors and these trips offered a welcome break. I had a very busy job working 50-60 hours a week in a largely sedentary occupation. When I wasn’t working, my life was filled with chores. In fact the only regular exercise I had was doing the vacuuming.
On one occasion, when my son was eleven, our trip took us to a beautiful gorge in Queensland. The first day out walking was to be a warm-up day of about 10 kilometres. The track was rough in some places and there was a lot of climbing over rocks and obstacles. My little ‘girly’ walking boots lasted about half an hour before the sole detached from the body of one shoe and this made the rest of the walk that day somewhat difficult. However, I was determined to enjoy the day and I did. I hadn’t brought a spare pair of walking shoes with me, but my son had and he was happy for me to borrow them. Even at that age his foot was huge and his boots were about three sizes too big. Still I was determined to make the most of things and I developed a new style of walking that accommodated the oversized shoes.
The next day the group had planned a 22 kilometre round trip up the gorge to some Aboriginal caves. This route, they told me, was rougher than the first day – it involved much climbing over huge boulders and up inclines. These other people were experienced walkers and they set a very brisk pace. At first I was concerned about how I would go. Would I be able to keep up with my oversized shoes and my lack of fitness? I quickly stopped these negative thoughts. I may not be physically fit in the usual way but I was spiritually fit. Despite my busy life, I did always find time for prayer, for drawing close to God. I knew that my true identity was spiritual and a spiritual being doesn’t suffer from muscle fatigue. The Bible tells me that I am the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1: 26, 27) and as God is never worn out, nor could I be. I trusted these thoughts and felt buoyed by them. The day flew by and I kept up without any difficulty.
When we got back to camp that day my son and another boy, who was a few years older, asked if they could go down and cool off in the little creek nearby. We agreed so long as they stayed together. The rest of the group talked about how exhausted they were and sat with their feet in buckets of cool water saying they didn’t think they could walk another step. I didn’t feel the need for a bucket of water but I was happy to sit and chat. Shortly the older boy came back without my son. Apparently the little creek wasn’t very exciting but some other children had told them about a place down river where there was a high rock that you could jump off into a deep pool. My son had gone to investigate. The older boy didn’t go because the pool was another two kilometres away and he didn’t want to go that far. I set off to find my son. I found him at the pool and he was happy to return with me. We walked the two kilometres back chatting happily about the day. When we returned the others were still recovering. They decided that the next day would be a very short walk.
I can honestly say I felt no ill-effects at all from any of our walks that week. I enjoyed every minute of it. I proved to be as fit as the others who led much more active lives than me. I totally put this down to my spiritual approach to activity. Whatever it is right for me to do I can do when I claim my spiritual identity.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy is the textbook of Christian Science. In it Eddy states: A mortal man possesses this body, and he makes it harmonious or discordant according to the images of thought impressed upon it (p208). Holding in thought only images of health – images of myself as a perfect child of God – allowed me to experience the full enjoyment of this wonderful opportunity.
Spiritual Healing – Available to All 2 comments
Wednesday Testimony Meeting Readings
This recording is of readings on the topic of Spiritual Healing.
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Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no law of His to support the necessity either of sin or sickness, but you have divine authority for denying that necessity and healing the sick (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p390: 20).
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Every Wednesday at 6.15pm a Testimony Meeting is held at the Christian Science church in Canberra (corner of Macquarie and Bligh Streets, Barton). At these meetings short readings on a particular topic are followed by time for members of the congregation to share how they have been helped and healed through prayer.
Everyone is welcome. If you are in Canberra on any Wednesday, please join us.
Eye Health Restored – Cataract Gone Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
Early last year I needed to have my reading glasses replaced and this meant having an eye examination for a new script. At the end of the examination the optometrist informed me that I had a cataract forming on my left eye. He said that he wouldn’t recommend any treatment at that point but in a year I should look at having it removed.
At first I was tempted to feel concerned about this situation. I had quite a few friends who had had cataracts surgically removed and although they had all said it was a fairly straight forward procedure, it was not something that I had ever contemplated doing. I have always handled problems, both physical and otherwise, through prayer.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is my textbook for life. In it, Mary Baker Eddy writes: Mind, not matter, is causation. … You embrace your body in your thought, and you should delineate upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness (p208: 25). She goes on to say: The physical affirmation of disease should always be met with the mental negation. Whatever benefit is produced on the body, must be expressed mentally, and thought should be held fast to this ideal (p392: 11). I thought on these ideas and every time my eye situation came into thought I claimed my spiritual perfection and denied the necessity for giving in to this verdict. This brought me a sense of peace and within a short time my eye stopped bothering me and I forgot to think about it anymore.
Recently when I again visited the optometrist for new glasses I was told that my eyes were perfectly healthy and there was no sign of a cataract. Christian Science is teaching me that the body is the representation of my thinking – what I believe about it is what I will experience. By learning to see myself as spiritual, not material, I can overcome beliefs of limitation or ill-health
Money Worries – A Thing of the Past Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
When I was growing up money always seemed to be in short supply. There were many, many evenings when my mum had only toast and Vegemite for dinner because there wasn’t enough food to go around. As a child I watched my mum, who was normally a strong, calm woman, weep because there was no money for the electricity or to pay for the groceries. This left me feeling scared and as though life was jeopardous. I felt as though I was vulnerable to forces outside of my control.
As an adult I seemed to take many of these fears about finances and supply with me. Even though I had full employment, and sometimes more than one job, for many years I felt as though I was always borrowing from Peter to pay Paul; shuffling money around in order to pay the most pressing bills. There came a time when the burden of school fees and a mortgage was more than I could manage and we sold our house and moved to a smaller place further out. Still there never seemed to be quite enough.
In my study of Christian Science I had learned that all right ideas were God’s and that God as the divine Father-Mother supplied all that was necessary for those ideas to come to fruition. I had also learned that supply and demand were a part of the one Principle (a synonym for God) governing all; they were reciprocal and inseparable processes. One day I sat myself down and decided that it was time to let go of this false fear. I asked myself whether I really believed these spiritual statements and believed that God was my loving parent who knew and responded to my needs, or not. I had, over the years, had many other healings both of physical and work-related problems that showed me that God was real, and that the love of God was a principle to be counted on. I reviewed the evidence I had of this divine care and I decided that I did really trust in these truths. When I reasoned like this the fear seemed to melt away and it felt as though this huge burden of many years had been lifted off me.
From this time on I never again struggled to pay the bills. The money coming into the home had not changed and the outgoings remained the same but somehow when bills arrived there was always enough to meet them. Nowadays, I don’t worry at all about how much is, or isn’t, in my bank account. I know, because I have proved it, that if there is a need God will meet it. I have discovered that divine Love (another name for God) has a multitude of ways in which to meet the human need. This sense of God’s sure supply has given me a freedom that allows me to be generous towards others, to support worthy causes and so share Love’s wonderful abundance. I continue, every day, to be grateful to God, and to Christian Science which teaches me the power of spiritual reasoning.
