'God's open secret'

In many parts of the world, a new book and DVD called The Secret have captured the attention of millions looking for ideas to help them cope with daily living. Major television shows, newspapers, and magazines have featured stories on The Secret’s premise that a fundamental secret, known to a select few over the centuries, has enabled them to be healthy, wealthy, and successful in various aspects of their lives.

I can appreciate why individuals look for ideas that can bring them fundamental changes for good. Hearing about The Secret and learning about its message have made me more grateful than ever for what I’ve learned in Christian Science.

Years ago, I decided to investigate many different schools of thought to see if there was anything beyond the scientific Christianity that I’d been taught as a child—something that would give my life more meaning.

Interest in other religions and philosophies kept bringing me back to the clear and demonstrable message of Christian Science. While I appreciated some of the concepts of these varied ways of thinking about life and its meaning, I never found anything that embraced the fundamental and inclusive nature of what Christian Science brings to the table. I’d like to share with you the conclusions that resulted from my search.

A divine philosophy

Philosophical theories tend to be based on what is possible to the human mind. Human theorizing may be intellectually stimulating, but it doesn’t tend to be spiritually satisfying. Such thinking accepts the limitations of the human condition, rather than elevating thought to the consciousness of the divine Mind, God, to whom all things are possible.

Much of human philosophy actually diminishes man’s status by reducing him to an egocentric mortal—a god unto himself, in charge of his own destiny. The Science of Christianity recognizes God as the Creator of all, and man—the true spiritual individuality of each one of us, male and female—as the apex of His creation.

This Science reveals the divine creation as entirely good. It then shows us how to discover this goodness for ourselves. Through Christian Science, we discover the laws of God, which are universally applicable—not just for some, but for everyone. These laws supersede the generally accepted beliefs of material laws, and enable us to exercise our spiritual freedom to be all that God has made us to be.

It is enormously comforting to know that we have a divine Parent to turn to for help and healing. It’s profoundly logical to realize that a divine and loving Mind is governing the universe in its vastness and majesty. And everyone can prove the truth behind these ideas through their own practice of Christian Science, demonstrating a divine philosophy that heals and saves.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote of Christian Science: “It is the soul of divine philosophy, and there is no other philosophy. It is not a search after wisdom, it is wisdom: it is God’s right hand grasping the universe,—all time, space, immortality, thought, extension, cause, and effect; constituting and governing all identity, individuality, law, and power” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 364).

Revealed Truth

Truth is simple, yet profound. It can’t be hidden, can’t be kept secret, because it is a beacon of light to all who love it and seek it out. Many schools of thought contain elements of spiritual truth regarding God and creation.

Too often, however, the clarity of true ideas becomes adulterated with opinion, creed, tradition, or some other element of materialism and human will. This hides what is true from view. Buried under layers of falsehood, the truth of God and man can seem obscured, darkened, and mystical.

What is real and true lives as revelation. It is unafraid of exposure, examination, and demonstration. In Christian Science, God is also known as Truth and as Spirit. Only in Spirit do we find what is true, because Spirit is substantial and unchanging.

This is why thought systems based on matter, on limited human ability, chance, personal revelation, or the subjugation of real, spiritual identity and individuality ultimately disappoint those looking for help or answers. To the degree that they misrepresent Truth or hide its activity, they lack the authority, power, and legitimacy found in God alone.

No hidden knowledge

The Bible story of Adam and Eve is well known. And the Christian Science textbook by Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, reveals this story as an allegory—an illustration of what occurs when we seek truth outside God. It shows what happens when we believe a lie, rather than listen for and obey the God who is Truth.

The snake in the Adam and Eve story symbolizes the lie of life in matter. Enticing, tempting, corrupting, an agent of all that is false and erroneous, the snake seduces Eve with a promise of special knowledge that will make her smarter, better, and more prosperous.

It convinces her that she can become a sort of personal god, suggesting that there is some hidden knowledge that God has not given her, something that will elevate her to a unique and special level of understanding. The snake knows that if it can just get Eve to accept a power and presence apart from God—evil, falsity, darkness, and matter—she will be willing to eat the forbidden fruit.

The snake’s suggestions appeal to Eve’s curiosity. In effect, they present evil and matter as real, mysterious, and tantalizing. But they also appeal to Eve’s vanity by making the fruit a vehicle for enlightenment—a special, exclusive knowledge that only she can enjoy.

Whatever would deny the spiritual nature of creation and depict a material world governed by many gods and many minds, good or bad, constitutes the snake lie of today. Winding its way into our thought with the same reasonable-sounding arguments, promising glimpses of immortality through mortality, and resigning us to a belief in personal power, rather than God’s omnipotence, it attempts to seduce us in the very manner it seduced Eve in the allegory. We defend ourselves by understanding Truth.

Truth’s standard-bearer

No one better understood Truth than Christ Jesus. He devoted himself to revealing Truth to the world, not only through his teachings, but by demonstrating Truth through his healing works. For him, Truth was not theoretical, but practical and provable.

In Christian Science, Christ Jesus is not simply one of a series of prophets who have appeared through the centuries, one of many sources of wisdom and insight, nor is he just a very good man. He is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Way-shower. Because he is God’s appointed agent of salvation, it is only through the Christ—the spirit of Truth Jesus represented—that we truly know and understand God and gain the wisdom of the universe.

Jesus set the standard for Truth and its understanding. For him, Truth was absolute and final. To the Christ, there is no relative truth, no gray area between fact and fiction, and no cooperation between good and evil. This spiritual recognition of God’s reality establishes the standard for the successful practice of Christian Science.

Truth’s revelator to this age

How do we measure the value of Mary Baker Eddy’s contribution to humanity’s welfare? Her discovery of Christian Science has changed the lives of millions of people around the world. Those who know something of her life realize that it was her deep love of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus that enabled her to make the discovery of the ages in Christian Science. Moved by her love for humanity, she devoted her life to sharing this message with humanity.

Mary Baker Eddy’s discovery is not a personal philosophy; it’s the pure revelation and demonstration of Truth as Christ Jesus taught and lived it. Mrs. Eddy said plainly: “The thing most important is what we do, not what we say. God’s open secret is seen through grace, truth, and love” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 289). And she followed this rule in her own life.

It may be tempting to weave into the study and application of Christian Science concepts from the many systems of thought that comprise human experience—religious, philosophical, medical, etc. But to understand Christian Science in its majesty, and to progress most rapidly in its practice, the purity of its teachings must be maintained. To the degree that they are diluted or adulterated with concepts contrary to Mrs. Eddy’s discovery, the student will find consistent progress and success difficult.

The “open secret”

Christian Science is a universal term for the laws of God, divine Truth. It is Christian in the purest definition of that word, and it is scientific because it is based on the rule of divine law and its effects.

Some systems of thought advocate affirmations and intentions that would seek to deprive other individuals of their goodness, steal their position, or deny another his or her prosperity, health, and well-being. These systems of thought dishonestly and selfishly focus on personal gain, rather than recognizing and accepting the inclusive and infinite gifts that God bestows on all His children.

Visualization techniques that turn the focus on acquiring material things, or on attempting to influence the outcome of circumstances independent of God’s will, leave thought in the realm of human will and mortality, and do not allow for the soaring exploration of Spirit and its very tangible substance.

Unbridled competition, envy, lust, and the gratuitous accumulation of material possessions are always disrespectful of the rights of others. They are forbidden fruit that taints the experience of those who taste it, causing them to feel empty and defeated by a belief of life in matter.

In our spiritual individuality, each of us craves the things of the Spirit. We naturally love what is pure, honest, beautiful, and holy. It is only in the qualities of Spirit that we can ultimately find true satisfaction, peace, and joy.

Our attraction to Spirit reveals the right spiritual ideas that bring to each of us what practically and perfectly meets our individual needs. These ideas are not something separate from us that we lack and must pull toward us through some counterfeit of divine law; they are already part of our spiritual identity.

The qualities of divine good are always present and available—and are tailored to ideally advance us, to bring us into contact with those we can benefit, while at the same time reciprocally benefiting us. Such spiritual development leads progressively in directions that enable us to discover the best of everything for all concerned.

The practice of Christian Science never harms a single individual; rather, it blesses everyone. Its laws of attraction and bestowal bring together what belongs together according to God’s ordering of His creation. This revealed Truth is not a secret. It is an open door through which anyone can enter and find spiritual treasures that make for happier, healthier, and purpose-filled lives.

Barbara Pettis is a practitioner and teacher of Christian Science in Haverhill, Massachusetts, United States.

Read "This 'Secret' isn't worth keeping" in The Christian Science Monitor.

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