I had to laugh when I read the following quote from the “Thoughts on the business of life,” page at the end of a recent Forbes magazine. The page included several quotes poking fun at absurdities, silliness and nonsensical ways of humanity.
Bertolt Brecht is quoted as saying,
“What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?”
I thought about the relationship between Spirit and matter, and I asked, “What happens to matter when spirit is gone?” Matter is like the holes in Swiss cheese, and Spirit is like the substance.
Isn’t this so true?
I mean really, if there was no Spirit, what would there be? With no Spirit, there is no thought, no consciousness, no love, no joy, no feeling…no anything. There is nothing without Spirit. And that’s what matter essentially is, nothing. Spirit is everything.
Some would argue that matter carries spirit and is necessary for Spirit to be expressed. But this is backward reasoning. If matter was primary, than matter would be something without Spirit. But it is not. Matter is mindless dirt. Spirit gives life, not empty atoms. Jesus proved this on the cross. His physical body died, but his Spirit, or God, lived on, sustaining him in Mind. Jesus lifted the body out of the tomb in three days proving Spirit superior, and not dependent upon matter for existence.
In the material sense of things, it appears that Spirit is dependent upon physicality for expression and identity, but this is only a limited concept of spiritual reality. As human thought is spiritualized, the objects and things of matter become less and less to the human sense, and the ideas of God become more and more. Heaven is a complete realization of spiritual reality in which all things are seen as purely spiritual, and there is no sense of matter anymore.
Spirit is substance. Matter is not.
Spirit is “the cheese.” Matter is “the holes.”
Are you looking at the cheese or the holes?
Showing posts with label substance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label substance. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Monday, September 24, 2007
What matters most in life?
When I moved into my new office last spring, I immediately befriended my neighbor to the left of my space who was a sewing machine repairman. We frequently stepped into each other’s shops and said hi, exchanged a few pleasantries and went about our business.
A month, ago, one Monday morning, Phil, my neighbor, never showed up. His Singer store remained locked. This was highly unusual. He was
a one man operation with no employees, worked 6 days a week, and very faithfully so. And we usually knew about everything he was up to.
Two days passed, and no Phil. Myself and neighbors were a bit concerned, so I called his home. His daughter answered and said Phil had passed away on Sunday night.
He was 79, and lived a full life, but still, the surprise had a sobering effect.
The family hired a liquidator to dispense with Phil’s possessions. Two weekends ago everything in his house was sold. Last weekend, everything in his store--stuff accumulated over decades—was carted off by strangers in a few hours. The store now stands bare empty, with not even a sign of Phil having been there.
This blog is not about death and coping with grief. I know Phil is alive and well in Spirit, prospering in Mind and happily so. I have no concerns about Phil, although I would have liked to give him a hug good-bye before he left so quickly! Aside from that, I’ve been pondering the rapid liquidation of all his worldly possessions in a mere few hours.
Phil spent decades putting together a home and building a business. In moments it was all gone. All of it! Not a trace left behind.
I saw a similar thing happen when my mom passed. My brother and sisters and I had to clean out her house to sell it. It didn’t take long, a few days, in fact, to undo what mom had spent decades building up. How fast the dissolution happened deeply impacted me. What I had grown attached to over a lifetime was suddenly gone, practically overnight.
Watching the rapid liquidation of Phil’s estate had a similar impact. From a matter perspective, one day, all looked well. The next, it was all gone.
I gain strong spiritual lessons from watching such events. This one in particular teaches me to not put my faith in the build-up of matter. Why would you when you realize it will be all gone someday, and probably rapidly so. We need a place to live, books to read, furniture to utilize, and other things to get by with, but the real substance of life is not in the things we accumulate. It’s in the spiritual life we live.
Life is not in matter. And substance is not in things that can be sold and carted away. There's more to existence then a list of worldly goods that can be sold to the highest bidder in a few hours, I figure.
The essence of Life is divine Love lived, joy expressed, generosity shared, spirituality gained, God understood, Truth demonstrated and gratitude given.
Life and its spiritual goodness is forever, but material things are not.
A month, ago, one Monday morning, Phil, my neighbor, never showed up. His Singer store remained locked. This was highly unusual. He was
a one man operation with no employees, worked 6 days a week, and very faithfully so. And we usually knew about everything he was up to.Two days passed, and no Phil. Myself and neighbors were a bit concerned, so I called his home. His daughter answered and said Phil had passed away on Sunday night.
He was 79, and lived a full life, but still, the surprise had a sobering effect.
The family hired a liquidator to dispense with Phil’s possessions. Two weekends ago everything in his house was sold. Last weekend, everything in his store--stuff accumulated over decades—was carted off by strangers in a few hours. The store now stands bare empty, with not even a sign of Phil having been there.
This blog is not about death and coping with grief. I know Phil is alive and well in Spirit, prospering in Mind and happily so. I have no concerns about Phil, although I would have liked to give him a hug good-bye before he left so quickly! Aside from that, I’ve been pondering the rapid liquidation of all his worldly possessions in a mere few hours.
Phil spent decades putting together a home and building a business. In moments it was all gone. All of it! Not a trace left behind.
I saw a similar thing happen when my mom passed. My brother and sisters and I had to clean out her house to sell it. It didn’t take long, a few days, in fact, to undo what mom had spent decades building up. How fast the dissolution happened deeply impacted me. What I had grown attached to over a lifetime was suddenly gone, practically overnight.
Watching the rapid liquidation of Phil’s estate had a similar impact. From a matter perspective, one day, all looked well. The next, it was all gone.
I gain strong spiritual lessons from watching such events. This one in particular teaches me to not put my faith in the build-up of matter. Why would you when you realize it will be all gone someday, and probably rapidly so. We need a place to live, books to read, furniture to utilize, and other things to get by with, but the real substance of life is not in the things we accumulate. It’s in the spiritual life we live.
Life is not in matter. And substance is not in things that can be sold and carted away. There's more to existence then a list of worldly goods that can be sold to the highest bidder in a few hours, I figure.
The essence of Life is divine Love lived, joy expressed, generosity shared, spirituality gained, God understood, Truth demonstrated and gratitude given.
Life and its spiritual goodness is forever, but material things are not.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
God holds you up
I’ve always been leery of walking to the ledge of a deep canyon and peering over the edge. It’s a ridiculous fear, I know, but one I’ve never fully come to terms with until last month when walking the rim of the Yellowstone Canyon.
While approaching one viewing platform that sat 1500 feet above the bottom of the abyss on top of a small piece of rock jutting out from the canyon wall, I stopped to read a plaque that said a previous viewing platform had been 100 feet further out in the canyon. But in 1978 an earthquake crumbled the walk to the bottom of the hole.
“Oh, great,” I thought. “What if an earthquake hit today and the new platform went crumbling to the bottom with me standing on it?”
I looked up, and the destination ahead looked precarious indeed as if dangling out in the middle of space with no source of support.
I took this as a lesson on how mortal mind plants unwarranted fears and doubts into our thinking and holds us hostage to them if we don’t kick them out with spiritual truth.
For me, hovering over an incredibly deep hole in the ground may create some antsy feelings. For others, speaking in front of a thousand people may produce a few jitters, or getting on an airplane, or asking for a pay raise. But any fears come down to one lie, and that is, that God is not in control.
I was not going to shy away from this opportunity to conquer fear. I was going to look over the steep edge of the railing ahead. I knew.
As I approached the wide open space, I thought about how a few days previous I had absolutely no fear about entering the Lewis and Clark Caverns and walking into the heart of the earth through skinny narrow caves and very confined spaces. Evidently, some people fear the experience for the guide had made a big deal about how there was no turning back at one point. So, I thought, why should I have any less confidence and sense of security now?
There was no sound reason, I concluded.
Then I asked, “Why do I fear walking to the edge of this precipice?” The answer was simple. “What if the ground failed underneath?”
Suddenly the premise of my fear was unveiled, I felt.
I was afraid because I was depending upon rocks and earth, or matter, to hold me up, and of course, I would be nervous, because I had no trust in matter. I was spiritually programmed to not trust matter, and I didn’t.
But I had no fear in the cave, which mortal mind could have gone wild with “What ifs…” So, why should I have any more fear here? I pondered. Wasn’t the cave just as material as this canyon wall? I asked. Maybe not, I reasoned. In the cave, for whatever reason, I was not thinking of it as a material experience. I was so caught up into the beauty, wonder and surprise of it all, that the trip was much more a Mind-experience than a so-called matter experience.
There was no sound reason, for my canyon fear, I concluded. The concern was one of those unwarranted conjectures of mortal mind that seems real when believed, but had no logical basis to back it up.
So I changed the premise of my reasoning. As Christian Science explains so beautifully, we do not live in a universe of matter, but of Mind. It’s not matter that holds us up, but the forces of Spirit.
As I advanced down the path, I decided that I was not walking out onto a material ledge, but exploring in the universe of divine Mind.
Mary Baker Eddy astutely wrote,
I was going to rely upon the forces of Mind to hold me up, keep me safe and protected, not upon what mortal mind called matter. The forces of Love were ever-present, above, below, around and beneath. I could proceed with no fear.
The jitteriness disappeared as I went all the way to the ledge and enjoyed the view. And even more, celebrated a victory over an unwarranted fear!
While approaching one viewing platform that sat 1500 feet above the bottom of the abyss on top of a small piece of rock jutting out from the canyon wall, I stopped to read a plaque that said a previous viewing platform had been 100 feet further out in the canyon. But in 1978 an earthquake crumbled the walk to the bottom of the hole.
“Oh, great,” I thought. “What if an earthquake hit today and the new platform went crumbling to the bottom with me standing on it?”
I looked up, and the destination ahead looked precarious indeed as if dangling out in the middle of space with no source of support.
I took this as a lesson on how mortal mind plants unwarranted fears and doubts into our thinking and holds us hostage to them if we don’t kick them out with spiritual truth.
For me, hovering over an incredibly deep hole in the ground may create some antsy feelings. For others, speaking in front of a thousand people may produce a few jitters, or getting on an airplane, or asking for a pay raise. But any fears come down to one lie, and that is, that God is not in control.
I was not going to shy away from this opportunity to conquer fear. I was going to look over the steep edge of the railing ahead. I knew.
As I approached the wide open space, I thought about how a few days previous I had absolutely no fear about entering the Lewis and Clark Caverns and walking into the heart of the earth through skinny narrow caves and very confined spaces. Evidently, some people fear the experience for the guide had made a big deal about how there was no turning back at one point. So, I thought, why should I have any less confidence and sense of security now?
There was no sound reason, I concluded.
Then I asked, “Why do I fear walking to the edge of this precipice?” The answer was simple. “What if the ground failed underneath?”
Suddenly the premise of my fear was unveiled, I felt.
I was afraid because I was depending upon rocks and earth, or matter, to hold me up, and of course, I would be nervous, because I had no trust in matter. I was spiritually programmed to not trust matter, and I didn’t.
But I had no fear in the cave, which mortal mind could have gone wild with “What ifs…” So, why should I have any more fear here? I pondered. Wasn’t the cave just as material as this canyon wall? I asked. Maybe not, I reasoned. In the cave, for whatever reason, I was not thinking of it as a material experience. I was so caught up into the beauty, wonder and surprise of it all, that the trip was much more a Mind-experience than a so-called matter experience.
There was no sound reason, for my canyon fear, I concluded. The concern was one of those unwarranted conjectures of mortal mind that seems real when believed, but had no logical basis to back it up.
So I changed the premise of my reasoning. As Christian Science explains so beautifully, we do not live in a universe of matter, but of Mind. It’s not matter that holds us up, but the forces of Spirit.
As I advanced down the path, I decided that I was not walking out onto a material ledge, but exploring in the universe of divine Mind.
Mary Baker Eddy astutely wrote,
“Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them forces of matter, but divine Science declares that they belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and classification.”
I was going to rely upon the forces of Mind to hold me up, keep me safe and protected, not upon what mortal mind called matter. The forces of Love were ever-present, above, below, around and beneath. I could proceed with no fear.
The jitteriness disappeared as I went all the way to the ledge and enjoyed the view. And even more, celebrated a victory over an unwarranted fear!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
True substance in ideas
I received the below experience today from a reader that points out to a degree what real substance is and where to find it. It’s not things, money and objects that constitute the real, but ideas—spiritual ideas coming from God. And they are forever present in Mind, the creator of them.
Enjoy…
The orchestra teacher showed a short film to my class today about JS Bach called “Bach's Fight for Freedom.”
In it, a person who was very angry at Bach grabbed his recent manuscripts and ripped them to shreds in front of Bach while yelling something like—“This is what I think of your precious music, look at it, where is it now?”
Bach calmly sat down at the harpsichord while looking him steadily in the eye and began to play the pieces. He said, "You destroyed paper—that’s all. The music is still here (pointing to his head). You can't take my music.”
Later, while arguing for Bach's freedom from servitude to the Duke, another said "Bach is already free. No matter how long you keep him locked up he will always have his music, so he will always be free."
He was finally released from servitude to the church and to the Duke to work at the palace where the full range of his music finally gained the notoriety we know today.
I thought this story was a great example of the substantiality of Spirit and a cool way of seeing how things of the Spirit can never be lost.
Enjoy…
The orchestra teacher showed a short film to my class today about JS Bach called “Bach's Fight for Freedom.”
In it, a person who was very angry at Bach grabbed his recent manuscripts and ripped them to shreds in front of Bach while yelling something like—“This is what I think of your precious music, look at it, where is it now?”
Bach calmly sat down at the harpsichord while looking him steadily in the eye and began to play the pieces. He said, "You destroyed paper—that’s all. The music is still here (pointing to his head). You can't take my music.”
Later, while arguing for Bach's freedom from servitude to the Duke, another said "Bach is already free. No matter how long you keep him locked up he will always have his music, so he will always be free."
He was finally released from servitude to the church and to the Duke to work at the palace where the full range of his music finally gained the notoriety we know today.
I thought this story was a great example of the substantiality of Spirit and a cool way of seeing how things of the Spirit can never be lost.
