Money
by
Mildred L. LeBlond, C.S.B.
What an important subject this is. Our experience in the practice of
Christian Science reveals that it has to do with substance, health, happiness,
completeness, successful marriages, or the understanding of the "male
and female of God's creating" (S&H 249:5).
We have proved that it must be seen as effect and not as cause. Therefore
it is necessary to know of what it is the effect. The Christian Scientist
having accepted the basis that all cause and effect is mental, because "All
is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation" (S&H 468:10-11)
must put money in the mental realm and so understand it. You have heard
me say that the word money comes from the word mind, the dictionary referring
you to the word mint and then to mind. As a small detour, it is illuminating
to know that the word mint is defined as "a place where anything is
fabricated, manufactured, invented". This gives money a mobile quality
which is helpful.
To us, then, money is a complete mental experience, no matter if the
circumstance be lack of money, money falsely gained, money astutely developed,
abundance of money, or money spiritually discerned. All of these conditions
are the effects of thought and thought only, for of course, nothing exists
except as thought. Next we ask ourselves, what kind of thought? Spiritually
considered we do not earn money. I believe money earned as man is material,
for earning a living is not in accordance with the Bible statement, "Son,
all that I have is thine" (Luke 15:31). Money earned would have to
be perishable substance, for it is obtained from the outside, and we know
that anything obtained in this way is lost on the outside.
Per contra, money which appears in the experience of an individual who
has accepted God as his or her Mind, who is, because of this fact seeing
and understanding true substance, the substance of man and the universe,
is eternal, everlasting, and moth and rust do not consume. To Spirit, all
is imperishable substance and it looks out on the infinity, beauty, and
grandeur of its own universe and man. Everything from a grain of sand to
man is real and eternal substance to Spirit. Our textbook tells us, "Spirit
duly feeds and clothes every object, as it appears in the line of spiritual
creation, thus tenderly expressing the fatherhood and motherhood of God."
(S&H 507:3)
There are perhaps some in the room today who have heard me tell of an
experience of mine which has to do with this statement. A member of our
Association has asked me to repeat it, so here it is. It was at a time when
my affluence seemed very low and it was necessary to increase the borders
of my tent, as the Bible says. On the fly-leaf of my check book I wrote
the reference just stated. Each time I wrote out a check in payment of a
bill I demonstrated this spiritual idea, clothing and feeding the man and
his business as a spiritual idea, just as Spirit would, thus tenderly expressing
the fatherhood and motherhood of God. This prevented me from thinking that
I was paying a bill and glad to be rid of it, and in place thereof, I expressed
true gratitude and appreciation in concrete form by giving him money for
the services he had rendered me. From the moment I saw this concerning money,
the borders of my tent began to expand. I recommend it to you for your consideration.
Gratitude
Right here it will be fitting to say something about gratitude with reference
to our riches and wealth. One time in reading our textbook, I came across
a statement, a very severe one, worded so beautifully that at first one
may not catch its meaning. It is this: "While the heart is far from
divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingratitude of barren lives."
(S&H 3:32-2) In other words, lack of anything, happiness, health, money,
friends, work, etc., is the effect of ingratitude, really a lack of appreciating
everything from the infinitesimal to the infinite as the presence of God,
Mind. God is the only good, there is no other good, so if you have only,
shall we say, a little good, the need is to see more, good, God, in everything.
This seeing can only come by way of gratitude and appreciation for all things
because they are of God.
After all, what is money? In Miscellaneous Writings we find this:
"But, say you, is a stone spiritual? To erring material sense, No!
but to unerring spiritual sense, it is a small manifestation of Mind, a
type of spiritual substance, 'the substance of things hoped for.' Mortals
can know a stone as substance, only by first admitting that it is substantial.
Take away the mortal sense of substance, and the stone itself would disappear,
only to reappear in the spiritual sense thereof. " (Mis. 27:
27-2)
Not God and
If a stone is to be seen as spiritual substance, then why not money?
Someone may say, "Because a stone is an infinitesimal idea of the spiritual
universe and money is material because it is manufactured or minted."
If that is true, then there is matter and Spirit and we have put money and
our possessions "out there" in the belief of materiality, thus
giving them power to tantalize us, control us, when we should do the controlling.
Because consciousness is fundamental, if we deal with money as matter, as
material consciousness, and deal with substance as Spirit, that makes two
consciousnesses - mortal and divine, an impossible proposition. By this
reasoning we have Mind and money. This is also an impossible proposition,
for we cannot have God, Mind and anything. Either Mind is All-in-all,
or it is nothing.
In defining the text from Revelation, "And I saw a new heaven and
a new earth," Mrs. Eddy says: "The Revelator was on our plane
of existence, while yet beholding what the eye cannot see, - that which
is invisible to the uninspired thought. This testimony of Holy Writ sustains
the fact in Science, that the heavens and earth to one human consciousness,
that consciousness which God bestows, are spiritual, while to another, the
unillumined human mind, the vision is material. This shows unmistakably
that what the human mind terms matter and spirit indicates states and stages
of consciousness." (S&H 573:3-12)
In looking up the word new, I found that Webster defines it as
now, so then this new heaven and new earth; really is the "now
heaven and now earth", because Mrs. Eddy tells us that the Revelator
was on our plane of existence. Later on she says that John's corporeal sense
of heaven and earth had vanished, but he didn't go anyplace. And as she
concludes this part, she says that "This spiritual consciousness is
therefore a present possibility." (S&H 574:1-2) So then, accepting
Mind as my Mind, and looking out therefrom, I must see money as the manifestation
of thought, therefore Mind, NOW, instead of seeing it as a material manifestation.
Remember, consciousness is fundamental.
Money is not your riches. Remember, money is effect. So what are your
riches? Why the creations of Mind - everything from a grain of sand to man,
man and the universe inclusive. These are your riches and you already have
them, be them. The belief that makes us regard money as material is because
the world says you cannot have these unless you have money. Also that is
why we say money is a medium of exchange.
Not medium
I do not care for that interpretation, for if I do not have money I can
make no exchange for the riches of God, and that would make me poor. This
reasoning puts the cart before the horse, and makes money cause instead
of effect. Mrs. Eddy once said in a letter to someone, "Money is a
sign that I have access to the riches of God". Money correctly and
spiritually understood is a proof that I am rich. In other words, it is
secondary to my riches. I am rich first, and that right now. I am rich first,
because the Ego is Mind, and Mind is All-in-all.
Medium
Let us clarify to our thinking the erroneous concept we have when we
say that money is a medium of exchange. We are taught in Christian Science
that mediumship is spiritualism which means something in the middle through
which something passes from one point to another Now if we say that money
is a medium, we put it between God and His manifestation, and it becomes
the medium or means by which we seem to acquire the manifestation of God.
What a wrong premise, the vision of which proves to us that this medium
must be removed, but removed where? Simply from seeing money as a medium
of exchange to realizing that it is one and the same thing as the quality
of thought which evaluates something spiritually. Money therefore, identifies
my spiritual appreciation and is not a medium through which something is
obtained. Money in this way is thought manifest.
Not objective
If someone should say, "I do appreciate, but I do not have money,"
this is an indication that he is appreciating the riches of God objectively,
instead of subjectively. He is seeing them separate from himself which then
requires a medium of exchange. There is only one way to prove the truth
of what I've said, and that is do it. And I am not afraid to prophesy, if
and when you do, that that which we call money will be present, as present
as your spiritual appreciation concerning the thing as the immediate emanation
of the Mind that you are. (Immediate, by the way, means having no intermediary.)
God of this world
It is said that money is the God of this world and that money talks.
Let us see why this seems to be so. Until you do put money in its God-given
place, secondary and sub-servient to Mind, it is your God and you cannot
get very far without it. As Hosea says: "idols according to their own
understanding" (Hosea 13:2). If money is a god to you, thought is held
in check, and it says you cannot think about this or that because you have
no money with which to accomplish it. There money is seen as cause instead
of effect. We can see why the world thinks that money talks. It does seem
to do so when it is believed to be cause. But when you put Mind first as
cause, and think ideas of this Mind and know you are already rich, you begin
to nullify this false claim, and money is then understood as effect, the
effect of knowing and being Mind. Then Mind does the talking, not money.
Mind manifested
To dwell just a little longer on this point, let us see that Mind is
the substance of all being, - by this I mean is manifested as man which
includes that which we know as trees, flowers, animals, etc. This is all
the substance or riches there is. There is no other. Now money claims the
same thing. It says, "Without me, you can have no food, home, clothes,
or any of the so-called necessities of life." If this reasoning is
accepted, then money does govern you. But if you know that God is your Mind,
and that you reflect all that that Mind is, you are already rich and money
appears as a proof of this great metaphysical fact.
Remember, we cannot have both matter and Spirit. We can have only one
or the other. Which shall it be? Why Spirit of course; therefore money must
be recognized as indicating the substance of Spirit.
Jeremiah
The belief that money is a medium or a god is ages old and is the false
theological belief that cause and effect are separate, that there can be
something in between consciousness and what it is conscious of. Or as Jeremiah
says, it is one of the false dreams of the prophets who prophesy lies and
cause the people to forget God. "Can any hide himself in secret places
that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth?
saith the Lord. I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies
in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this
be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets
of the deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget
my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their
fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream,
let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.
What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:24-28)
In other words, what if the world does think of money as a medium or as
a god, what is that to thee? Do not let it turn you from demonstrating scientific
appreciation of your universe as Mind.
Immediacy
We must more and more demonstrate the immediacy of money, substance,
in order to eliminate the world's belief of money as a god or a medium.
I'm sure we all remember the incident in which Mrs. Eddy saw a blossoming
apple tree in mid-winter. This is in the archives of The Mother Church.
Jesus produced the loaves and fishes. You and I have seen thought manifested
as renewed tissue, bone, faculty, etc., in our healing work in Christian
Science. Mrs. Eddy again strengthens our thought along these lines by saying
in The Strawberry Festival in an old Journal, that we shall
have strawberries without raising them, and cake without compounding it,
and sugar without buying it. When Jesus needed tax money he told Peter to
go and look for it in the fish's mouth. The fish is symbolic of Christianity,
and Christianity is the understanding of the Christ which reveals that "Man
is the expression of God's being." (S&H 470:23)
Always effect
Thus to know that money is the effect of understanding the oneness of
God and man, puts money as the effect of this understanding. This quality
of thought is ever rich, ever at the standpoint of riches, does not earn
it although it may appear, does not inherit it from earthly relatives or
friends, although it may so appear, does not gain it from investments, although
it may so appear. Investments, income, inheritance, all avenues by which
money comes to the Christian Scientist are the effect of understanding the
spirituality of man and the universe, and why do we limit our avenues to
even these few?
It is history that as Mrs. Eddy grew in the understanding of her own
discovery that God is the Mind of man, money appeared in greater and greater
degree in her experience. When she began her work she had an income of two
hundred dollars a year, and when she passed away she left to The Mother
Church over two million, which in the year 1910 was a fortune in the eyes
of the world. We may correctly say she did not earn that money. It came
as a result of what she knew as Mind, for her books were the result of that
understanding. That was the substantial thought, not the books in and of
themselves. This is the difference between earning money as man, and reflecting
it from the standpoint of Spirit, Mind.
Wealth is defined in Webster as "Those energies, faculties, and
habits directly contributing to make people industrially efficient".
Also, Henry Ford says that "production is wealth, not money".
From this we see that money which comes from individual industry is effect
and not cause, is not in and of itself riches. It is again the effect of
riches, industrially understood, the effect of industry. As Christian Scientists
we may interpret Henry Ford's statement that production is wealth, not money,
to mean not only the produce of the universe, but that also which is produced
by individual industry.
Mrs. Eddy's definitions
To strengthen our thought along this line of reasoning and see how mental
and spiritual Mrs. Eddy's thoughts of money were, we have the following
statement taken from the Sentinel of July 13, 1918, page 910, where she
defined gold, silver and paper money. "Gold: The silent thoughts of
Truth and Love which heal the sick. Silver: The spoken word of Truth and
Love which casts out evil and heals the sick. Currency: The written word
of Truth and Love published and distributed throughout the world healing
sickness and sin. But this currency must be backed up by a gold reserve
in human character."
Gold
First, I think we should note that the only money which has immediate
value is gold. Silver represents gold in the treasury, as does also paper
money. But even the paper of paper money has less value than the value of
silver, for both are only representative of what exists in the treasury.
So in thoughts of money, no matter what denomination, gold must always be
kept in view. Mrs. Eddy calls this gold reserve the gold of human character
The gold of human character is the appearing of the divine idea of the oneness
of God and man, which casts off that which is unlike itself, or as she says,
which heals the sick. The world's concept of gold and money is rather far
removed from this statement.
To my present understanding this description of money indicates types
of thought. Gold, the silent thought of Truth and Love which heals the sick.
This Truth and Love are capitalized, so we may say the silent thoughts of
God, the effect of which is healing the sick. The silent thoughts of Truth
and Love take place as the individual who has accepted God as his, her Mind,
knows the truth of Being, sees and feels the perfection of man and the universe,
nothing out there with which to contend, all safe and sound within Mind,
God, within the kingdom of heaven. The silent thoughts of Truth and Love
are the self-contained, completeness of Truth and Love knowing that all
is well here and everywhere. Christian Scientists then may realize that
as they understand and express the silent thought of Truth and Love that
they have found the pearl of great price and untold good is theirs. Does
not the Bible say: "Come and buy without money and without price"?
Silver
The definition of silver is the same except for this added phrase "which
casts out evil", making the statement less absolute and more educational,
and yet Mrs. Eddy tells us that this also heals the sick. As we ponder the
meaning of this we come to the conclusion that the spoken word is not as
absolute as the silent word, because there must be the temptation to believe
that there is something out there which needs healing, hence the addition
"which casts out evil". Probably the spoken word does include
argument and pros and cons, but even this silver money has value if it is
based on gold, which we understand as the one Mind within us.
Currency
Currency or paper money is defined as the written word of Truth and Love
published and distributed throughout the world, healing sickness and sin.
This type of thought is still further removed from the absolute by the feeling
that the world needs healing, reaching a more universal sense of things.
But even so, we need gold, silver, currency if silver and currency are based
on gold. So we need these three types of healing if thought is based on
Mind.
From this analysis it is plain to see why history records that when nations
have gone off the gold standard, they have gone off the standard of moral
integrity. However, to understand this it must be they could not have gone
off the gold standard financially, if they had not gone off the gold standard
of moral integrity, spiritual being, first. Momentarily in this country
we forgot the necessity of understanding God, and with it went its presently
accepted sense of substance, gold. Is it not wonderful that Mrs. Eddy gives
us this mental analysis of money and has enabled us to see that it is a
spiritual idea and should express the highest.
Male and female
Someone may ask, why do you say that the correct spiritual understanding
of money and supply has to do with the male and female of God's creating?
For the simple reason that if you incorrectly believe in Mind and money,
you have two substances, Spirit and matter, just as you do if you incorrectly
believe in separated male and female, yourself and another. In both instances,
they is one, and this One is Spirit. A man cannot be as complete and successful
as he should be in his understanding of substance until he has accepted
the substance of his own womanhood, not out there, but right within himself,
within the kingdom of Heaven; nor can a woman have this experience of wholeness
until she has accepted the manhood of her being within herself.
Own being
That means when individuals have accepted this premise as the wholeness
and completeness of their being, they can no longer pick on the other fellow
for her or his seeming errors, but of necessity must rush to the scene mentally
and save their darling from the lions, as the Bible tells us. This maintains
the wholeness and completeness of himself, herself, safe within the kingdom
of heaven within, thereby remaining of one substance and proving for oneself
the truth of the statement found in our textbook: "The Lamb's wife
presents the unity of male and female as no longer two wedded individuals,
but as two individual natures in one; and this compounded spiritual individuality
reflects God as Father-Mother, not as a corporeal being. In this divinely
united spiritual consciousness, there is no impediment to eternal bliss,
- to the perfectibility of God's creation." (S&H 577:4)
When this is not done, the effect of believing in two substances expresses
itself in divorce, unhappiness, sickness, lack or loss of supply, which
is lack of substance, or the understanding of one infinite substance both
male and female. Christian Science does not thrive in an atmosphere of two-ness,
two-ness of anything, Mind and money, Spirit and matter, male and female,
good and evil, etc. "Unity is the essential nature of Christian Science.
Its Principle is One, and to demonstrate the divine One, demands oneness
of thought and action " (Mis. 264:10)
The South of our country is an example of this. If you take the Journal
and look at the registered activity of the Christian Science Movement, there
you will see that it is not a great deal. They are still laboring with two
dualisms - secessionism and the superiority of the male. When and as these
are corrected the South will be as active a portion of our Movement as anywhere
else. They are still believing these verses from the Bible: "And it
came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters
were born unto them, and the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they
were fair; and took them wives" (Gen. 6:1-2). Imagine that! The sons
of God thinking they were marrying the daughters of men! But seriously this
is a vital point in our demonstration of supply and substance.
This is of course a belief of two substances, the male thinking of himself
more highly than he thinks of the female, which under no circumstances can
ever work out the scientific harmony of being, for on this basis there would
be constant discord or as Mrs. Eddy says, "The union of the sexes suffers
fearful discord." (S&H 65:10)
On this false basis of inequality, each would be fighting for itself
against the other, instead of each including the other as the appearing
of his or her own being.
Suppose a woman marries a man, brilliant in his profession or in other
ways, should she feel this brilliance could bedim her glory? How foolish!
It is the appearing of her own manhood, and she should rejoice in the glorious
appearing.
Man's womanhood
Or suppose a man marries a woman who has well developed talents that
he may think he does not possess. Should he be jealous of them and think
their brilliance could dim his life and so endeavor to belittle them? Should
he not rejoice over the appearing of it - beautiful and talented womanhood,
his own in fact, because he is conscious of her.
Lack
My experience in the practice of Christian Science shows me that the
financial success of a married couple depends greatly on how scientifically
they understand each other, and per-contra the lack of financial success
goes along with a belief of separated male and female, discord and jealousy,
and of course no substance, for there is no substance in this kind of belief
thinking. It is destructive, not constructive.
If your husband or your wife is a liability instead of an asset, your
money will take on that form. I have seen it happen. But if you choose the
better way, the only way, and consider your husband or your wife as an asset,
the form of your money will so appear. I have seen that happen, too.
If a woman's husband does not make enough money to take care of her,
it is her lack of manhood within herself. It is her responsibility to see
and know him as the manhood of God's creating. If a man feels certain deficiencies
in his wife, it is his lack of appreciating his womanhood, the womanhood
of God's creating. Each man and woman is a whole complete sphere of Being,
each including the other in oneness, one substance of Being, one Life, one
Mind, one infinity. This knowing necessarily includes all things, nothing
lacking, not even money, for money spiritually understood is appreciation
expressed.
Summary
In conclusion, I should like to highlight some points which Summary we
have made in our discussion of money, supply and substance. First and foremost
- it is mental, the word money being derived from the word mind. Mrs. Eddy
so defined it in her explanation of gold and silver.
Money is effect, not cause. Mrs. Eddy said that money was a sign that
she had access to the riches of God.
True riches are the substance of God seen in man and the universe.
Money is not a medium of exchange. It does not get between when spiritually
understood.
And finally, because money indicates completeness, wholeness, it has to do with the male and female of God's creating. There is only one substance, and that is God, the kingdom of God within.