On the Cusp of a Revolutionary Paradigm Shift
By Don Ingwerson
Many years ago my wife and I began taking the time to study and pray at a local restaurant, where we would not be interrupted by our phones ringing, and we’ve continued this practice. For us this time is absolute heaven. Some curious patrons have asked what we are doing. While some say they approve of prayer and wish us well, I don’t think most of these people have any idea that we’re not just petitioning a God who may or may not answer our prayers of gratitude and appreciation, but instead are praying to a God who created us in His image and likeness.
Whoops. I need to stop right there! I just crossed a line of great debate – the divide between materiality and spirituality.
There’s a strong belief that substance, including the substance of our bodies, is only material. However, today many scientists have proof that the body or materiality is not the solid, objective substance that it seems, but is directly related to thought. We’re on the cusp of a major paradigm shift – as to what really makes up matter or substance. This paradigm shift is even more revolutionary than the one that occurred when the earth was found to be round, not flat. And it took centuries for that concept to be accepted and understood. Dr. Irving Oye states, “There is nothing out there. It’s all happening on the back of your eyeballs.” What I understand this to mean is that thoughts, beliefs, suggestions, and opinions all affect how we experience reality.
This is not to say that we create reality. According to cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman from the University of California, Irvine, what we see around us is a facade of a far more complex matrix than humans are able to grasp. Dr. Bran O’Leary, a physicist-astronaut who was on the moon, once said, “We are living through a change, equivalent to the time when life first crawled out of the water on to dry land.” Theoretical physicist Micio Kaku concluded, “…we are in a world made by rules created by an intelligence… To me, that universal intelligence is God.” These scientists and others say the body is greatly influenced by thoughts coming from outside the brain – from a spiritual source, which I call God. They generally agree that the brain is influenced by something they can’t quite define. So it gets called “consciousness” – both individual and universal. This is why I spend so much time studying how man relates to God, the Creator of man and the universe. I want to better understand the essence of spiritual reality.
Many others are searching for answers to questions about man’s existence and the reality we live in. A very promising aspect of this is that many physicians are also realizing that thought is key to how reality is experienced, and this has positive ramifications for health.
Mary Baker Eddy set the stage for a new view of reality when she discovered and founded Christian Science and explained, “Christian Science deals wholly with the mental cause in judging and destroying disease.” If it’s true that my experience is directly related to my thoughts and beliefs, isn’t it reasonable to conclude that if I pray to understand that God is all and is all good, what is real to me will reflect the power and perfection of that infinite goodness?
Jesus refuted the theories of his day that implied God was a cold, impersonal, and distant Deity who was of no help to man in sickness. His three-year ministry became an inspirational beacon for Christianity in the world. He taught that all power was in God and that there wasn’t anything real that was separate from God. This understanding enabled him to heal people instantaneously.
Eddy wrote in her seminal work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “The depth, breadth, height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all space.” I find as I pray to understanding this all-encompassing, healing Love as the spiritual reality of the universe, the result is healing – for myself and others. And this is indeed a paradigm shift in how to think about reality.
Don Ingwerson | Media and Government Relations
for Christian Science in Southern California
Blog: csinsocal.com
Twitter: @scalcs
Facebook: Health and Spirituality
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