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One Mind -- One Instructor and One Instruction

How many times have we heard the comment, 'I prayed but to no avail'? Many people are wishing for a way to gain the spiritual animus that heals the sick, but if biblical precedent is correct, the power to heal is never handed out like a diploma from one person to another: "Intercommunication is always from God to His idea, man" (SH 284:31).

Remember the early seekers who were the first to witness Jesus' marvelous works? They did not understand the Principle that lay behind his practice, but they were drawn to his presence by something beyond human reasoning. Even Jesus' apostles, who followed his every move and listened to his explanations, did not understand the means by which his demonstrations were made. Twice, these disciples were sent out to heal, and each time they returned with great joy for all the miracles that they had witnessed, but Jesus was underpinning those healings with his own prayer, holding the apostles in his wings like an eagle. When Jesus was about to be crucified, his disciples illustrated their ignorance by forsaking him. They thought that protecting their material sense of life was more practical than leaving all for Christ. If they had really known Christ, they would not have deserted their Master in his time of greatest need. After Jesus' resurrection, the disciples' hearts burned within them, but they still did not receive the gift of understanding. It was not until eight days after the ascension that they received the Holy Ghost: "A sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind . . . filled all the house where they were sitting" (Acts 2:2). On the day of Pentecost, "every man heard them speak in his own language," and they all received the same sacred Word (Acts 2:6). The sudden realization of divine power enlivened the waiting thought of Jesus' disciples as God became present to them. They finally heard, felt, and saw the all-encompassing nature of Christ and knew how to effectively communicate it, heal in his name, and be unmoved by the appearance of things, persecution, or the fear of death. Material life no longer gave them any comfort, and they knew why, for they had gotten to the bedrock of the first Beatitude. By waiting on God for every movement of mouth, hand, and foot, they did not move a muscle without the divine impetus, and so it was that the diseased mouth, hand, and foot healed at their command.

God must be present to us as the Holy Ghost was to those early disciples on the day of Pentecost; otherwise, we will not have the correct instruction from or know the open secret of our only instructor. I got a hint of this lesson in an interesting way. In a vison, I was a child in a holy place with heavenly light and awareness all around me. Constrained and earthbound thinking did not exist outside of me. I was sitting in a semicircle with other children, facing a teacher who continuously spoke what God was saying. I was not like all the other children who were thoroughly absorbed by the teacher's lesson; I was a little restless. After listening for a while, I had a question, so I raised my hand and asked, "What if . . . ? " As soon as I had done so, I was immediately thrown to earth and found myself in matter with a human brain and physical senses. Then the vision continued, and I was back in this holy place where everything was perfect except for me. Again, I raised my hand with some objection and said, "But . . . ," and immediately, there was a whoosh, and I was thrown back down to material consciousness. This pattern repeated itself many times until the vision ended.

I then had to ask myself, 'Can an idea question the Mind that created that idea? Can the clay question the potter's motives or a musical chord object to a composer's use of it?' I realized that to formulate a question requires a mind separate from God, and since there is no other Mind, there is no other instructor and no other instruction. Thus it is impossible for me to have a real opinion, choice, or question. Divine Mind creates, fulfills, and informs itself. Ideas do not contain any reasoning ability of their own and require none because Mind's ideas are the understanding. Perfect right is one infinite composition - one grand universe - without complication, contradiction, dispute, or multiple choices.

One may think, 'That is all well and good, but I have never experienced the inspired Word - the Comforter has not arrived for me - so what good is this information?' Let us be like Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb. At first she was distraught because she thought they had taken away her Lord, and she knew not where they had laid him, but she continued searching for an explanation. When she turned away from matter, her spiritual eyes opened to Jesus' resurrected thought, and she affirmed, "Rabboni; which is to say, Master" (John 20:16). To Mary, her Savior was no longer the physical Jesus but was the spiritual Jesus. Her spiritual insight was able to identify him, for she was at one with Christ, her instructor. "Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept" (454:22). Then the confident joy and healing works will follow.

George Denninger ©

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