Nate Talbot - the Christian Science Sentinel, Oct. 15, 2007
SUPPOSE TWO PEOPLE, John and Linda, are walking down the street. Linda sees a window sign with an invitation to come in and be hypnotized. She’s game for anything. So John follows along as she marches into the office. After a discussion, the hypnotist places Linda in a trance. During this experiment, he plants a posthypnotic suggestion in her mind—when she hears the word blue, she will feel the impulse to react negatively. Then the hypnotist wakes her up from the spell. Later, as Linda and John continue their walk, John makes some offhanded comment about so little smog in the air and the brightness of the blue sky. Linda reacts with an unkind comment—maybe even a strong insult. How would John feel? Probably a smile. Oh yeah, she’s just delivering some words that haven’t originated with her. She doesn’t even understand the impulse that brought about those words.
But suppose Linda’s reaction to “blue” is even stronger. I mean, what if it’s a hard slap on his face? Now, John may not find it so easy to smile—a little harder to consider her actions as impersonal!
What Linda did may help illustrate that the human mind, in many respects, can be pretty vulnerable. Her experience sheds light on a kind of mental susceptibility, even fragility. In a word, the human mind can be used—and sometimes misused or abused.
Most of us have at times done things that are uncharacteristic—a disturbing thought emerges, and we act on it. So where do thoughts come from? Some may say they are manufactured by electrochemical actions in the brain. Others suggest there are vast complexities defining the origin of thoughts, including heredity and environment.
The Bible offers this insight: “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jer.29:11). What if it’s true? That is, what if God is infinite consciousness, and, therefore, all authentic thoughts are invariably pure and Godlike? And what if everything else is artificial, not part of God’s reality? Suppose the natural tendency of consciousness is to express divine thoughts. Then, what about those other thoughts? The Bible tackles that question, at one point describing them as the “carnal mind,” which is “enmity against God” (Rom.8:7). That’s a kind of supposed antagonism toward infinite good, the reality of Spirit.
So maybe our true and normal, God-derived mentality is blessed with goodness. And yet there appears to be this so-called carnal mindedness that suggests a susceptibility to abnormality. In a way, this “mortal mind” might be described as a mentality capable of being hypnotized, soaking up and acting on thoughts that are ungodlike. Those thoughts may be mildly unkind, somewhat resentful, even aggressively hateful. Like Linda’s experience, these thoughts are “foreign.”They are carnal or material instead of spiritually native. Other times, we may be in John’s shoes and feel a slap that has resulted from someone else’s hypnotized mentality.
All this may sound a little far-fetched to a material mentality. But what if all ungodlike thoughts really are without actual substance or validity? And what if all Godlike thoughts truly are reality? Actually, we mortals do typically live our lives a little along these lines. The ungodlike thoughts, and the range of consequences from such thoughts, are a hypnotic experience. Fearful, evil, confused, angered thoughts and their effects are a mental world built on illusion rather than reality.
I believe that’s what the Bible is trying to help us understand. And it’s helping us see the reality of God’s thoughts. The Apostle Paul rejected the authenticity of the carnal mind and assured us that “we have the mind of Christ” (I Cor.2:16). But a hypnotized mentality sees itself as capable of thinking and doing a lot that is unchristly—or being victimized by a lot that is godless. Those ungodlike thoughts are impersonal. They aren’t really ours, nor are they really valid about any of God’s children. Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “To break this earthly spell, mortals must get the true idea and divine Principle of all that really exists and governs the universe harmoniously”(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p.39).
Christ Jesus used some pretty strong language to identify this kind of spellbound mentality. He described it as a “liar, ” and he went on to say, “There is no truth in him” (John 8:44). The devil, or Satan, mentioned in the Bible, is really nothing more than the carnal mind. It is a hypnotized state of thought claiming opposition to God and all His infinite, ever-present goodness and perfection.
Again and again Jesus, with the power of Christ, broke the spell of sickness and sin, even death and mortality. He proved that this assumed mentality had no validity. It’s what we would describe in today’s language as hypnotism or animal magnetism. It’s a false view of reality—vulnerable matter instead of perfect Spirit. Imagine the significance of this spiritual truth: Your real consciousness is permanently and unalterably at peace, perfect and innocent. Anything that is disruptive to the continuity of this spiritual presence is the belief that you can be hypnotized. It’s a deception that your consciousness can have a sense of feeling unwell, afraid, angry, sinful, ignorant, needy. Those are hypnotic aggressions of the carnal mind, an “earthly spell,” suggesting you can think thoughts opposed to God and to your perfection as His likeness.
Jesus’ life illustrated a true way to defend our consciousness. It showed us what it means to be entirely free of thinking a single hypnotic thought. And it revealed how to break free when we’ve been victimized by one. His life was the example of ultimate Christliness.
One way we can think of the Christ is that it’s the urging of God, revealing Truth in consciousness, bringing to light all that is real and permanent. Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness” (Science and Health, p.332). She didn’t say “speaking to the consciousness of those who discern the voice and label themselves Christians.” The Christ speaks to human consciousness without exception. It may not be recognized. It may be ignored, resisted, or even denied. But the Christ speaks to all consciousness, and ultimately this clear, crisp, pure Truth will prevail over every hypnotic thought, for everyone. Yes, every single individual finally will recognize his or her Christly nature. The world resists a clear, Christ-based consciousness in so many ways. One way may be an individual expressing a judgmental attitude toward another. It may expand to a violent thought or act. It could be many people manifesting such thoughts. Sometimes a whole society may express hatred toward another group or tribe or society. Those are mesmerized states of thought. And the person or people being hated—they too may become mesmerized with reaction.
Hatred was certainly not a characteristic that could be attributed to Jesus. Nor did he react to the hatred (or any other type of mesmerized mentality) from those who felt such antagonism toward him. His example of God-empowered love and forgiveness is clearly revealed in his Sermon on the Mount (see Matt., chaps.5–7) and fully lived in the gospel accounts. It shows us how consciousness is preserved from evil and is expressive of good.
Actually, the Christ has enormous influence in human consciousness. Regardless of the picture so often painted, a huge amount of Christliness is being expressed in the world— spiritual affection, honesty, goodness, innocence, joy, vitality of life, beauty , peace. A truly balanced view of humanity would accent the normalcy of a mother’s love for her child, an employee’s honesty in making a decision at work, a young person’s humility in declining attention for a heroic act. If more of these typical images were presented to us daily, people would have a far less mesmerized view of our world.
There is a way to glimpse a fuller view of Truth’s reality. The Christ is voicing it to all consciousness. We can pray for our own as well as everyone’s right to see and know true Christliness. We can pray to recognize what Christ is revealing to all and how this is breaking the earthly spell. The Christ has a transforming influence that enables us to live our lives in accord with this revelation of Truth.
When Linda was brought out of her mesmerized state, the hypnotist simply snapped his fingers. What awakens each of us from a worldly view into a consciousness of God’s reality? You might say it is the saving action of Christ coming to light within consciousness, bringing us right up out of our sleep.
Mrs.Eddy saw the gradual demise of illusory mortality and wrote of roused thought, “This awakening is the forever coming of Christ . . .” (Science and Health, p. 230). The Christ is coming to your consciousness. Time to wake up. |CSS
Nate Talbot is a member of the Christian Science Board of Directors.
He is also Clerk of The Mother Church.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Thank you for this article. My daughter has been (seemingly) mesmerized into a religious cult. I struggle to know how to work for her and even if I should. Many say she just needs to ‘grow up’. My mother was a CS practitioner. I know she would say I should not listen to ‘minds many’ but the only One Mind governing all. Your article has helped me get that understanding ‘on the ground’. Thanks again for sharing those thoughts.
Claudia
June 9th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Thanks a ton! I am living in a kind of environment where it seems so easy to be ‘hypnotized’. And the sad part is that in spite of knowing the Truth, the willingness to accept it gets attenuated. Your article really pumped me up! I think I wont let go of the Godliness for a long time…Thanks again.
June 9th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Glad the ideas helped. And you do have a right to discover that the real environment you’re in is captured in the words of the Bible, “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.”
July 8th, 2008 at 9:46 am
“The Bible offers this insight: “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jer.29:11). What if it’s true? That is, what if God is infinite consciousness, and, therefore, all authentic thoughts are invariably pure and Godlike?”
There seems to be a real leap or gap in the logic here.
What if what is true? There is nothing in the Bible citation indicating *infinite* consciousness - only consciousness.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Good point. Like some other statements in the Bible, I may at times mentally fill in the logic with other familiar Bible verses. But probably like you and others, there are instances when I think spiritual intuition becomes part of our “logic.” For example, I remember when a spiritual sense of this particular Bible precept of God, including the fact that divine consciousness is infinite, free of any sense of evil, healed instantly a disease that had deepened for over a week into a very difficult state. While I may not be able to prove spiritual logic to others, when healing results with enough consistency, it’s very satisfying. Thanks for raising the issue because the wording might have sounded a little puzzling to some.