Have you ever tried and abandoned a puzzle, wondering who on earth is smart enough to figure it out? Have you ever experienced inspiration-envy, or thought, Why can’t I heal (or be healed) like others? Well, question and envy no more. You can take ownership of intelligence, logic, inspiration and healing power. Maud Fischer, CS, a colleague who writes a Christian Science blog in French, had a great post yesterday. Here is a partial translation. She wrote: 2 + 2 = fish 3 + 3 = eight 7 +7 = triangle “Annoying, right? This is illogical and incomprehensible. It means nothing, so finally I drop it ... And yet it is stated in this small puzzle shared on Facebook that ‘smart people can find the answer.’ “Oh! I go back, I ponder, and finally I think that there necessarily has to be a solution because other people have obviously found the answer. “We mustn’t abandon the logic of calculation, I thought. So I added the letters of the words and I crossed the totals, all in vain. Finally, I tried to accept that there may be a different logic. And bingo! It was obvious. It must be understood in terms of graphics! “That's it. Do you see it, too? “I presented the puzzle to two of my girls (14 and 11.) At first they were unanimous in saying that they did not understand. The elder tried, then she abandoned it. I urged her sister to continue to try. In less than three seconds she replied, ‘Oh it’s easy. You turn one of the sevens backward, put them together and it's a triangle.’ She saw that the two other statements follow the same logic...” (Maud’s full post focuses on the child-like thought that is open to the unconventional and not locked into the same old reasoning patterns. You can put her text into Google translate to read it. It is great.) I have seen these puzzles before, and I admit, I tend to abandon them. But on those occasions when I do see the logic, or when someone points it out to me, I am thrilled to have walked into a whole new and crisper way of looking at things. Her experience and the little girl’s explanation made the answer so clear to me. I found myself immediately taking the logic further: 1 + 1 = eleven 4 + 4 = tree 5 + 5 = vase 11 + 11 = birthday candles Fun! But it also brought out the point that although I didn’t personally figure the puzzle out, by witnessing another’s clear vision I could take ownership of the logic and apply it myself to equations. A client once asked me if I had ever witnessed a healing of a certain condition through Christian Science treatment. I replied that I had and recounted the experience in great detail. When our conversation finished, I began to give the Christian Science treatment through prayer that the patient asked of me. As I prayed, I was suddenly so embarrassed to realize that I had unintentionally lied. I hadn’t personally had a patient healed of that condition. I had recently read a detailed account of such a healing in a periodical that puts on record documented and verified cases of Christian Science healing. “Oh, dear,” I thought. “I have to correct this.” Then I considered to what degree I had taken ownership of the experience. Through documenting the account, the one who experienced it had invited me and all other readers into the laboratory of human experience to witness the divine phenomenon of spiritual healing. By consenting to the logic and applying it to my own cases, I had made that experience fully my own.
What wonderful things I have witnessed. I now realize that insofar as I consent to the evidence of healing and the spiritual reasoning through prayer that produces it, no matter how or where I witness it, it is a part of me. Later, I shared my mistake with the client, but not without the explanation of the right we have to take possession of healing and inspiration wherever we find them, even if we are only indirectly involved as a witness. Don’t fear that inspiration or healing is passing you by when you hear of others’ experiences with healing prayer. In a poem, Christian Science discoverer Mary Baker Eddy wrote that God “will lift the shade of gloom, and for you make radiant room midst the glories of one endless day.” (Communion Hymn, Poems, p.75) To me, that is an open invitation to enter the laboratory of Christian Science where the Christ – the everpresent power of God as Love - welcomes each of us to witness and experience the inspiration and logic of divine healing. Not a subscriber and want to be?
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8 Comments
Bud McKibban
10/4/2014 04:48:08 am
Very thoughtful article. Your example of the number/word puzzle reminded me that we sometimes have to reverse the picture presented to us and see the oneness of God's creation. Thanks for writing and publishing.
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Michelle
10/4/2014 06:18:50 am
Hi Bud, so glad to hear from you! And goid point. Thank you for commenting!
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Kelly Townsend
10/4/2014 07:46:14 am
Thanks, this is wonderful. I have lately been contemplating the Lords Prayer to "give us this day". Because it is eternal - not a 24 hour human concept. Much love and gratitude.
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Michelle
10/4/2014 08:53:34 am
Neat thought, Kelly. It reminds me that prayer and treatment don't wear off at midnight. An eternal view of God and man sticks eternally. And has eternal effects! Thanks for sharing.
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Betty T
10/4/2014 01:48:29 pm
Loved what I could read. The graphics of the solution covered quite a bit of one paragraph as happened with the prior one on being stuck in traffic. On the latter, since it was a quote by Mrs. Eddy that was partially covered, I could get the meaning, but not today.
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Michelle
10/4/2014 02:44:05 pm
Betty, what are you reading the post on? Mozilla Firefox? Google Chrome? Internet Explorer? From the email I send out? Or on your phone? I would like to get to the bottom of the overlap problem, because it doesn't occur on my computer, in my email, or from the mobile version on my phone. If I can't duplicate the problem, it is challenging to fix. Thanks!
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Betty T.
10/5/2014 10:42:51 am
Michelle,
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Michelle
10/5/2014 10:54:57 am
Good to know. Thank you SO much for bringing up the problem. You aren't the first one. But I can never duplicate it. I didn't change anything. I wonder if when you checked back, you may have gone directly to the site, instead of reading from your email. If you ever run into this problem again, I suggest that you click on the title of the post in your email and let it open the webpage. That should correct any formatting issues that may vary from one email provider to another.
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Find me on YouTube I have practiced Christian Science professionally in some form since 1979. But my journey with Christian Science started in a Sunday school where as a young child I was taught the Scriptures and some simple basics of Jesus' method of scientific Christian healing. A significant experience at the age of twelve opened my eyes to the great potential of this practice. After impaling my foot on a nail, I prayed the way I had learned in Sunday school. Within moments the pain stopped and healing began. By the next morning the wound had disappeared completely. Having experienced the great potential of Christian Science, there would be no turning back. |
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