The deeper warfare
The eruptions of violence between individuals or nations manifest deep conflicts raging in the arena of human consciousness. These battles are not primarily between prejudices or personal and national interests. The most significant mental skirmishes are going on between what isn't true and what is, between belief in ungodlike power and faith in what's Godlike.
What all this means is that when people recognize the important warfare in the world to be the temptation to think and act like mere mortals versus the recognition that man is not material at all but an idea of the creator; when people yield to their higher senses and stop to investigate this compelling spiritual vision; when, after much struggle, much victory and failure, they understand life to be irrevocably linked to the character and substance of divine Love; then warfare in whatever form -- mental or physical -- will halt. Mary Baker Eddy n1 writes this: "The suppositional warfare between truth and error is only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spiritual senses and the testimony of the material senses, and this warfare between the Spirit and flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the understanding of divine Love." n2
n1 Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.
n2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 288.
Each of us is indispensable in this fight, a fight not against persons but against the aggressive forces of a so-called mortal nature. This warfare destroys nothing good. It mobilizes the energies of God in the form of immortal ideas from Him, ideas that can always outnumber and overcome apparent armies of destructive minds.
The power of a spiritual idea cannot be measured in megatons. It is immeasurable, not merely because it is not material but because it is infinite. It is the divine radiation in consciousness that protects the real and good and exterminates the unreal or evil. The Apostle Paul knew the superiority of spiritual-mindedness when he wrote, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds." n3 What a remarkable dematerialization -- demilitarization -- of thought in one who had been so militant in his persecution of the early Christians!
n3 II Corinthians 10:4.
Hatred, fear, and selfishness, from which war is derived, are not exclusive to misguided government. These qualities are rooted in the universal belief that man is corporeal and separated from God. As each of us comes to recognize Love's control, as well as his own true, spiritual being, and willingly wrestles with and progressively frees himself from the holds of a mortal nature, these private victories will radiate true peace in an ever-widening embrace of the world.
Warfare that uproots one from complacent living in limited material beliefs does settle questions. The yielding of hostile feelings and inner conflicts to "faith in and the understanding of divine Love" tells us that all is well, that the supremacy of Love is established and will be recognized in broadening circles of wisdom and faith.
Universal brotherhood is the inevitable outcome of Godlike thought. We can make our own mental skirmishes with the selfish personal senses more effective, and ultimately bring them to an end, by moving our thoughts and lives into accord with infinite Love.
These individual mental conquests are the revolutionary path to true peace. They imply hard work and perhaps agonizingly slow progress at times. But how else than through individual regeneration can we achieve a peace that can't be undermined? DAILY BIBLE VERSE We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day. Ephesians 6:12, 13
