McMansions, move over
The structures we live in offer some clues as to who we are.
from the April 26, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 2
Page 1 | 2
Millenniums ago, the Apostle Paul (likely sheltered most nights by a nomadic sail of cloth, if not the stars) similarly and earnestly groaned: "If our earthly dwelling were taken down, like a tent, we have a permanent house in Heaven, made, not by man, but by God … we sigh with deep longing for our heavenly house" (J.B. Phillips, II Cor. 5:1, 2).
Paul's vision is anything but tiny, small, or shrinking. In fact, it hints at infinite dimension. But it wasn't until 19 centuries later that Mary Baker Eddy, who founded this newspaper, described that infinite dimension in words that depicted her ideal house.
In her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," this fresh spiritual thinker interpreted the last line of the beloved 23rd Psalm: "I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [Love] for ever" (p. 578).
For me, this one spare poetic line answers this question of who or what we are.
First it tells me where man is – in the consciousness of Love, or what I understand to be infinite Mind, all good God. To this, then, I apply humble Christian logic: If infinite Mind is where we are, then we must be what Mind includes or houses – ideas. And since this Mind is all, all there must be for Mind to know is itself, infinite good. So, the nature of the ideas in Mind must be profoundly and unutterably serene. Here the Psalmist adds that we are "forever" so.
Therefore, no date in mortal history, however black, can end the existence or alter the condition of any of the ideas within the sanctity of infinite Mind, our permanent home.
For in him
we live,
and move,
and have our being.
1 | Page 2
RSS feed
