"Only this, father, that this is just what we have been long doing regarding our bodies, thinking that they were material and believing it, but our mistaken thought regarding our bodies has not in reality changed them, any more than the thought that the earth was flat changed the earth. It seemed flat to those who believed it flat, though the truth was that the earth was round in reality. So with our bodies; they are material to us who believe them so, but in truth or reality, they are spiritual."
"I can readily agree with you in regard to the earth, because we know that it always was round, but we cannot prove that the body is spiritual."
"That is just the point, father. We can readily admit that the earth is round after it has been proven so; still before this proof was furnished the people would not admit it, any more than we will admit that our bodies are spiritual. Nevertheless the earth was round before it was proven so, and so with the body being spiritual. The proof of its spirituality does not change it any, as it will always remain as G.o.d made it, regardless of what man thinks or believes about it, nevertheless, Jesus Christ on several occasions proved the body to be spiritual and the proof that He done so is contained in the Bible, He also said "Blessed are they who believe and do not see.""
"I know Jesus Christ said that, but that was about something entirely different. You could hardly want me to believe something I could not see or prove, for you know, Walter, the old saying is that seeing is believing."
Walter immediately thought of what "Science and Health" said on this subject, so he said, "Can we always believe what we see?"
"Yes, I think so, son."
"Father, if you were to look out of this window to-morrow morning you would see in the distance where the heaven and earth seemed to meet; would you believe they did?"
"Certainly not, for I know better."
"Still you say, seeing is believing." His father leaned back in his chair and regarded his son critically; was the boy inspired? How else could he account for his intelligence? What was he to hear next, should he ask any more questions? Yes, he would ask him something more about this material body: "Walter is there anything in the Bible that you know of wherewith to substantiate your claim of a spiritual body?"
"I think there is, father. Jesus Christ must have known that his body was spiritual, and not material, for if his body had been material he could not have walked on the water, and in several places it speaks of Jesus becoming invisible to those around him."
"I know, son, but Jesus Christ was the Son of G.o.d."
"That is true, father, so are we, I distinctly remember reading in St.
John--"now are we the sons of G.o.d." St. Paul also speaks of us as sons of G.o.d and joint heirs with Christ."
The Rev. Williams slowly closed the Bible he had been holding open on his knee and looked at his son. Where would this thing end? He must try and confine the boy to one thing at a time, so he said, "I am still in the dark concerning your idea of how the material body came to be."
"Father, I will quote you again from the Bible--"as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" This means that if you think anything, no matter what, and believe what you think, then so it is with you, and it seems true to you. For instance, take a person that is demented, who imagines he is King George, and believes it; to himself he is king George and no one can make him believe otherwise."
"That may be true of one who is demented, but how about a sane person?"
"This person may be sane on every topic but that one. Still I will give you another ill.u.s.tration of what the wrong thought on any subject will do. I read a while ago about some college students who decided to play a joke on their professor. This professor had several blocks to walk to the college, and the students decided to place themselves at frequent intervals along his path, and each one was to comment on how badly he looked, and intimate to him that he was sick. So on a certain morning as the professor was walking to the college (and he was feeling as well as usual), the first person he met was one of the students who greeted him warmly with a hearty "good morning" and then added, "What is the matter, professor, are you sick?" The professor said, "No, I am feeling as well as usual; why do you ask?" The student then told him he looked very pale, and that he thought he must surely be sick. The professor then a.s.sured the student that he was feeling well and started toward the college. The next student he met also told him he looked sick; this was repeated several times, and caused the professor to imagine there must be something wrong. After meeting several more of the jokers he began to think he must be sick. Then being told the same thing a few more times, he believed he was sick, or believed what he thought, and turned back home a very sick man. So it is with us, we think we have material bodies, and because we believe what we think, it makes it seem true to us, even though it is not the truth."
"A very good ill.u.s.tration, Walter, I think I understand what you mean.
If we all thought our bodies were spiritual and believed what we thought, then our bodies would be spiritual; in other words, whichever way we thought and believed, so it would really be."
"No father, that is not quite right. Simply thinking you are sick or well and believing it does not make you sick, or well, in reality; it only seems to do it to our mistaken mortal sense of things; the truth of anything remains the truth, regardless of how many falsehoods are told about it."
"Am I to understand Walter, that no matter what I or others may think or believe about this body, it does not change the facts regarding it, but only seems to do so to our senses?"
"That is just what I mean. G.o.d made us in His image and likeness, and as He is Spirit we must be like Him or spiritual, for matter is not the likeness of Spirit, but its opposite."
"That seems quite reasonable, Walter," said his mother, "but this material body is here, I can see it and feel it."
"It only seems to be material, mother, because we take our information from our five material senses; and as these five senses can only testify regarding material things because of their materiality, they do not testify to the truth, or reality, of man and the universe."
"But Walter," said the pastor, "if I am not to believe the testimony of my five senses, how am I to know anything?"
"The five material senses are continually deceiving us. The sense of sight I have spoken of before, but will give you a different ill.u.s.tration that shows up the deception of all the senses." "Father, do you believe life to be a reality?"
"I certainly do."
"Can you see life?"
"I hardly know how to answer that, I can see that you are alive. No, I shall say we can not see life itself, but only the manifestation of life."
"I agree with you, father, we cannot see life itself. Can we hear life?"
"No."
"Can we touch life?"
"No."
"Can we smell life?"
"No."
"Can we taste life?"
"No."
"Then our five material senses do not testify anything regarding a reality, for you said life was a reality." The pastor and his wife were very much surprised at Walter"s ability to explain these things, and his mother was fully convinced of his being inspired, and the father was fast coming to the same conclusion.
"Did you understand me, father?"
"Yes, fully, you made it very plain."
"Now, father, would you say that the opposite of a reality was an unreality?"
The pastor hesitated, hardly daring to answer; at length he said, "Yes, it must be."
"Is not death the opposite of life, father?"
"Yes, Walter."
"Then if life is real, its opposite, or death, must be unreal; can you agree with me, father?" He always addressed his father, for his mother was showing by the nod of her head that she fully agreed with him."
"I must say, Walter, that I do agree with you, to quite an extent; but, I shall have to think it all over carefully before I will be fully convinced."
Walter then continued: "We have found that the five senses do not testify regarding a reality, now let us see if they testify regarding an unreality. As we had agreed that death was the opposite of life and that life was real and death unreal, we will take death as our example.
When a person dies, we say life, or the reality has flown, and the unreality, the material or dead body, remains. Do our five material senses testify anything regarding this unreality or dead body? Yes, all five of them, for we can see this unreality with the eye. If we move this unreality, we hear it move with the ear. If we reach forth our hand we can touch it. After decomposition sets in, we can smell it; and if we would put a piece of it into our mouth, as we do of the dead cow or bird, we could even taste this unreality. This ought to convince us of the unreliability of the knowledge transmitted to us by the five senses; for, as I have shown, they all say the unreal is real and that the real is unreal. St. Paul said, "To be carnally minded is death, and to be spiritually minded is life eternal.""
"I know that St. Paul said this, but do not see as it has any bearing on the question we are discussing," said the pastor. "On the contrary, father, I think it is a verification of what I have been ill.u.s.trating."
"Can you explain what you mean, Walter, so your mother and I will understand?"
"To me it seems plain, the carnal mind is the fleshly mind, which thinks everything is material; and this method of thinking leads to the belief in a material body and eventually in the death, or unreality, of this material body, the returning of the fleshly body to its original state, dust to dust, the real meaning of which I think is, nothing you were, to nothing you must return, for only the real is eternal."