Why does awareness of five physical senses seem more real than awareness of spiritual sense, and whence came a mortal mind, a material human body, aware through five physical senses? I have been considering the following while pondering these questions:

Creation: material or spiritual?
The most common theory of creation of the universe, apparently made up of matter and energy, is the “Big Bang,” whose apparent validity is based on the visible evidence of an expanding universe seen today. Expanding, it must have had a starting point, hence creation. In creation of the universe, the theory states that “…the entire observable universe is imagined to have been compressed to a nugget far smaller than a single atom” (The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene p. 17). It doesn’t say into what this compressed nugget collapsed nor into what this present universe is expanding. If that entire visible universe, made up of matter and energy, was “compressed to a nugget far smaller than a single atom” there doesn’t seem to have been much matter, if any; then, possibly, all is some form of energy, which became so compressed it finally exploded into the expanding universe we see. Maybe all is spiritual and there is no matter. Some thinkers have discerned things spiritually, even though the Apostle Paul observed that “…the material man rejects spiritual things: they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (Holy Bible from the Ancient Eastern Text by George M. Lamsa HarperCollins Publishers 1957 I Corinthians 2:14*). Mary Baker Eddy, a spiritual thinker, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, wrote in The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany 1883-1896 (My. 357:22) that “Spirit is infinite; therefore Spirit is all. ‘There is no matter’ is not only the axiom of true Christian Science, but it is the only basis upon which this Science can be demonstrated.” She also wrote “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.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. SH 14:12-15)

What is consciousness?
“[W]e are just in a situation where there are no good theories explaining what consciousness actually is…” says David Eagleman, a Stanford University neuroscientist, quoted in an editorial By the Monitor’s Editorial Board in “THE MONITOR’S VIEW” jsh-online 180702. “As for how consciousness could arise in the first place, no one even has guesses.” (Beyond Biocentrism: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death by Robert Lanza, MD, with Bob Berman p.3) Although it is not known what “consciousness actually is,” nor “how consciousness could arise,” I appear to be consciously aware, through five physical senses, of external objects and/or something within myself.

The two states of consciousness, or awareness, are awake and asleep – dreaming:

Mortal and material existence, and the Adam dream:
In regards to the 17th century Spanish poet Calderon’s poem “La Vida es Sueno,” Mrs. Eddy wrote, “What is termed mortal and material existence is graphically defined,” where he wrote “What is life? ’Tis but a madness. What is life? A mere illusion, Fleeting pleasure, fond delusion, Short-lived joy, that ends in sadness, Whose most constant substance seems But the dream of other dreams.” (Retrospection and Introspection Ret. 32:10). In Eddy’s writings we also find that “The parent of all human discord was the Adam-dream, the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion that life and intelligence proceeded from and passed into matter.” (SH 306:32)

Either awake or asleep, dreaming, consciousness, awareness, goes on. The 16th century French philosopher Montaigne wrote “We are awake while sleeping, and waking sleep.” (The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations 3rd Edition p. 355). He was apparently considering life, awake or asleep, as a dream. The concept of material life as a dream may have arisen, after the spiritual creation of Genesis one, when in Genesis two a mist arose from the earth and man, Adam, was formed of the dust of the ground, and subsequently caused to fall into a deep sleep; nowhere does it say that he awoke. (see Holy Bible, Lamsa and also King James Version (KJV) vs. 6, 7, and 21).
The 19th century poet, Poe, wrote “All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream.” (A dream Within a Dream: American Poetry and Prose – Foerster 1827, 1829, 1849 p. 370)

Mrs. Eddy disclaims the Adam Dream narrative. She wrote that the Adam narrative, in Genesis two and three, is a “dream-narrative” and “has no reality” for “the dreamer and dream are one, for neither is true nor real.” (see SH 530:26), In another section, answering the question “Do the five corporeal senses constitute man?” she wrote that “Science reveals material man as never the real being. The dream or belief goes on, whether our eyes are closed or open.” (ibid 488:14), Also “When we are awake, we dream of the pains and pleasures of matter. Who will say, even though he does not understand Christian Science, that this dream — rather than the dreamer — may not be mortal man? Who can rationally say otherwise, when the dream leaves mortal man intact in body and thought, although the so-called dreamer is unconscious? For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its unlikeness, mortality.” (ibid 491:21-23…28-6 np) “Life” is a synonym for God (see SH 468:18-22). And further on “The reader will naturally ask if there is nothing more about creation in the book of Genesis. Indeed there is, but the continued account is mortal and material.” (ibid 521:18-22) And she concluded that “No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this allegory — this second account in Genesis — is to depict the falsity of error and the effects of error. Subsequent Bible revelation is coordinate with the Science of creation recorded in the first chapter of Genesis.” (ibid 537:19-24)

Genesis One:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) He created all conscious living things,
“And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” (ibid. 1:21) Note, “after his/their kind.” “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” (ibid 1:24, 25) Note again, “after his/their kind.” But then “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (ibid 1:26, 27) Note, “in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” “God is Spirit,” (John 4:24 Holy Bible – Lamsa) so man, male and female, created in God’s own image is created spiritual, incorporeal, with spiritual consciousness, awareness.

Whence came a mortal mind, a material human body, aware through five physical senses? What is real, spiritual or physical? According to Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1988) physical is “having material existence:” corporeal, while the spiritual is “of relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit: incorporeal:”

What is real, reality?
In Biocentrism one of the central themes is that “the animal observer creates reality and not the other way around.” (Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe by Robert Lanza, MD with Bob Berman. p. 15). The “First Principle of Biocentrism” is “What we perceive as reality is a process that involves our consciousness.” (ibid p. 24) Whether awake or dreaming in sleep, there is conscious awareness. A fundamental in Eddy’s writings, and also the physical sciences, seems to come down to consciousness. Reality only exists if there is a consciousness present to perceive it. Eddy asked the question, “Is anything real of which the physical senses are cognizant?” and answered “Everything is as real as you make it, and no more so. What you see, hear, feel, is a mode of consciousness, and can have no other reality than the sense you entertain of it.” (see Unity of Good [Un p. 8:4-8]) Also, “Mortal mind sees what it believes as certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees its own thoughts.” (SH 86:29-31)

Earth and Heaven:
Mrs. Eddy wrote “The atmosphere of mortal mind constitutes our mortal environment. What mortals hear, see, feel, taste, smell, constitutes their present earth and heaven: but we must grow out of even this pleasing thraldom, and find wings to reach the glory of supersensible Life; then we shall soar above, as the bird in the clear ether of the blue temporal sky.” Of God’s creation she wrote, “I love your promise; and shall know, some time, the spiritual reality and substance of form, light, and color, of what I now through you discern dimly; and knowing this, I shall be satisfied. Matter is a frail conception of mortal mind; and mortal mind is a poorer representative of the beauty, grandeur, and glory of the immortal Mind.” (see Mis 86:26 – 87:14) “Mind” is a synonym for God (see SH 468:18-22). She also wrote that “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.” (SH 476:32-4) It may be that, when Jesus healed the sick, he was seeing the “perfect man,” the man of Genesis One, verses 26 and 27, the incorporeal man, the reflected image in which the unique qualities of God were being expressed, reflected, in the man who had been appearing sick to “sinning mortal man,” and thus, to mortal view the man was healed.

Chet Manchester, a Christian Science Practitioner and Teacher, wrote In a recent article, considering color in a sunset, “The color was never in the clouds or sky.” The color was reflected light from the sun. “Health you can never lose” (The Christian Science Journal, September 2018). Likewise, consider the man of God’s creating as not in a body, but is the reflected qualities of God expressed in what appears to mortals as a material body.

Death:
What happens after life as we know it? In Jesus’ situation, being “The son of God,” which many references in the Bible profess, he provided an answer to this in his resurrection; he reappeared in the same form as he had after the crucifixion. To doubting Thomas he said “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.“ (John 20:27) Eddy stated that “The reappearing of Jesus was not the return of a spirit. He presented the same body that he had before his crucifixion, and so glorified the supremacy of Mind over matter.” (SH 45:28); Forty days after his resurrection, which convinced the disciples that all of his teaching was true, he continued preparing them for their work after his ascension. The Bible states “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. (Mark 16:19)

Does the mortal material body, consciously aware through five physical senses, continue after death? Eddy wrote that “Death is but another phase of the dream that existence can be material. Nothing can interfere with the harmony of being nor end the existence of man in Science. Man is the same after as before a bone is broken or the body guillotined.” (SH 427:13-17) The word “Science,” here, I understand to be as Eddy defined it when she wrote, “The term Science, properly understood, refers only to the laws of God and to His government of the universe, inclusive of man.” (ibid 128:4-6] As the dream continues, she wrote, “As man falleth asleep, so shall he awake. As death findeth mortal man, so shall he be after death, until probation and growth shall effect the needed change.” (ibid 291:22-25) Man must grow into a perfect understanding of God, at some time, since the Bible tells us “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and we should “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,” that, although,“…it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (see I John 3:1, 2) To me, “see him as he is,” means to understand Him, and this must be in a heavenly, spiritual, experience, whether in heaven or in earth, as we know it, or in a “new heaven and a new earth” as the Lord spoke unto Isaiah (see Isa 65:17) and Jesus tells us in the Lord’s prayer “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” (Luke 11:2), and again, Isaiah perceived God to say, “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.” (Isa. 65:17-19), and also in this new heaven and earth that the Lord created “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.” (ibid 65:25)

The new heaven and earth:
I believe that the new heaven and earth, Isaiah perceived, is a state of harmonious spiritual consciousness. In the earthly revelation of St. John the Divine, he also “…saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” (see Revelation [Rev 21:1]) Eddy put it this way “Because St. John’s corporeal sense of the heavens and earth had vanished, and in place of this false sense was the spiritual sense, the subjective state by which he could see the new heaven and new earth, which involve the spiritual idea and consciousness of reality.” (SH 573:19-23) She continued “This is Scriptural authority for concluding that such a recognition of being is, and has been, possible to men in this present state of existence, — that we can become conscious, here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain. This is indeed a foretaste of absolute Christian Science. Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will surely appear sometime and in some way. There will be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away. When you read this, remember Jesus’ words, ‘The kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)’ This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.” (SH 573:23). When man finally realizes and beholds that “the kingdom of God is within,” he will understand heaven and that man is spiritual, with no corporeality, as angels; Jesus said “… in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.” (Matt 22:30) Since, in reality, man is spiritual, incorporeal, how will he recognize the ones loved in this human, material, earthly experience? The more we practice seeing ourselves and our loved ones in their true spiritual nature, qualities, the more readily will we see them when we no longer experience a mortal material human sense of existence. In the transfiguration of Christ (see Luke 9:28-30) Peter, John, and James beheld Jesus talking with “two men, which were Moses and Elias (Elijah):” There were no cameras, pictures, in those days and these “two men” had passed, or ascended, many years before the birth of the disciples, so what they saw must have been their understanding of the spiritual nature, the qualities, that Moses and Elias had expressed.

Jesus’ Mission:
Mrs. Eddy wrote that “His mission was both individual and collective. He did life’s work aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to mortals, — to show them how to do theirs, but not to do it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility. Jesus acted boldly, against the accredited evidence of the senses, against Pharisaical creeds and practices, and he refuted all opponents with his healing power.” (SH 18:5-12) It may be that, after overcoming the temptations of the devil in the wilderness, (see Mat 4:1-11) Jesus anticipated God’s kingdom was coming and foresaw his mission and ministry to “The people which sat in darkness,” who saw “great light;” and for them to repent, so he gathered disciples to him (ibid 4:16-19) to teach them how to pray and heal, as he did. He taught them, in his “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew chapters 5-7), including the Lord’s prayer (ibid 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4). that God’s kingdom is ultimate reality where man is spiritual, as in the beginning, where God, Spirit, created man, male and female, in His own image and likeness; (Gen1:26, 27),)

The promise:
Every Christian Science Sunday service concludes, in part, with readings from the Bible including 1 John 3:2, 3. To me this is an ongoing promise that we will ultimately understand God, as it is written, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” Jesus promised, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Mat 5:8) Man will see, understand, God. Eddy wrote that to understand God is “…the work of eternity, and demands absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire.” (see SH 3:15-16) To me this is achieved by daily keeping thought pure and following the two greatest commandments “…Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (see Matt. 22:37-39)

I am still pondering the questions that prompted this study, have not reached any conclusions, and hope I have not misquoted nor misinterpreted anyone in the way.

*Bible quotes are from the King James Version of the Bible, unless otherwise specified.
Hugh Eccles