It is the prerogative of the spiritual view to see that everything from God's perspective is very good. When something in the human experience isn't good, it is not the end of it. It never ever happened that eternal Truth yielded to limited belief. God, Truth, has always the last word, because it was the first and only word in the first place.

In the last weeks I noticed a little word, that I have come to appreciate and love even more than before. It is the word "effort". It has to do with attempting something, with struggle, with humility and following - but also with work, exercise, resolution, and achievement. Effort tells us that work matters, not just inspiration or feeling. In the healing practice of Christian Science every case is healed. Often healings are quick and permanent. But sometimes a case is tenacious, the healing takes longer, and then effort kicks in. Especially when the mental muscle to carry on seems to have disappeared. It is all about thinking.

In the healing practice this effort is not something you do; it is something you don't do, and that is: Give up.

When recently a friend shared with my husband and me insights into the nature of the cross and the crown, as beautifully displayed on the textbook cover of Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy, the interpretation of the cross as symbolizing "a spiritual effort" stood out to me. And when this week's Bible lesson, which Christian Scientists study diligently, included the term "effort", I felt I had found a gold mine. What is effort? What distinguishes effort from human will? How is effort linked to "effortless being"? I know that healing is not a human accomplishment but a divine gift. But then: How are the cross and the crown linked?

In his second letter, Peter writes: 
"In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises." (2 Pet. 1: 5. NLT)

To make an effort is all about honesty, about the desire to put the ego out of business, about the willingness to learn. Effort needs understanding, f.e. that homework is for you, not for the teacher (that is why cheating doesn't really help). Effort needs love. Effort is different from human will - it is trying, really trying, and resisting the temptation to giving up too early. Honest spiritual effort is the opposite of skepticism, hopelessness, negativity, and cynicism. It is moving forward and willing to let go of past views and learn something new about the goodness of God. It is also not pushing failure into God's camp. The basis of a true effort is a deep and unflinching love for God and man - and a resilience to let this love shape every aspect of our experience. Buddha is reported of giving this advice to the spiritual seeker: "There are only two mistakes one can make along the road of truth; not going all the way, and not starting."

Many Christian Scientists will tell you, that the healing of a tenacious physical problem, a torn relationship, a disastrous financial situation, messy circumstances at work or at school came shortly after they felt they had reached the end of the rope. But willing to go, with Buddha's words, all the way. I remember finding a location late a night, alone in unfamiliar territory in a different country, precisely the moment when I felt I was totally lost. Often the healing comes when we continue to to cherish gratitude, humility, and good just one minute longer, not giving up. Meekness steps aside, expecting to see Love, and only Love at work, and the spiritual laws of Truth and Life carry the day. 

We are not alone - there is a mighty power supporting each one of us. There is hope and a sure reward to goodness. Here are two pieces of advice by Mary Baker Eddy - out of many in her published writings:

"Success in life depends upon persistent effort, upon
the improvement of moments more than upon any other
one thing." (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 230)
"Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated
from God, and obey only the divine Principle, Life and
Love." (Science and Health, p. 91)

The illustrations to this blog are from the famous Rutland Psalter, a sumptuously illumined manuscript produced ca. 1260. They remind me in the unique and for me very moving medieval way that spiritual life is about effort - and about joy at the same time. Because we know how it all ends.

This morning I opened by favorite book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (my beautiful edition in dark blue leather with gilt edge), to continue with the Christian Science Advent Calendar, and I found the answer to the question "What is man?", question #14. I am in awe every time I read this text. It seems to me a little miracle that a book like this, with a text like this, exists on our planet. That it found its way into the memory of humanity, being read and studied side by side with the Bible. That a woman dared to write down those ideas, and persisted and persisted with resilience and an incredible love for God and humanity, until the ideas were printed to start their journey into the hearts of people on all continents, for 150 years now. I remember a moment when in was a teenager, still in High school, when I was sitting in our garden, with the book on my lap, and hoping that Mary Baker Eddy would know that the book had travelled farther than she ever did, translated into a language she didn't speak, healing and informing an individual like me she never met. She of all people knew and knows how to navigate the kingdom of heaven --- so I trust she knows.

When I open the door in the Christian Science Practice, when I answer the phone or read an Email, I meet naturally seldom individuals who want to know how I am doing - that is part of being in a service to humanity, and this is not the point. I meet with calls for help, problems to solve, challenges to overcome, sicknesses to heal - I encounter people bringing to me a physical diagnosis of incurability, life-long regrets, stubborn character flaws, relationship issues, an inability to love, writer's block, a devastating history of sexual abuse, mistreatment of women, infertility, being in love while not being loved back, addiction, financial lack, legal issues, sudden illness, job-related incapacity, the challenging transition from university into a first job or the equally challenging transition from the last job into retirement, slow learning, job related issues, suicide attempt, grief, family challenges, loneliness, a family asking for spiritual care for a dying family member, lack of purpose, consequences of accidents, ambiguity in regard to the next step, overexertion in caring for a loved one, breakdown of a parent because of a teenager which is a heroin addict, drawbacks in the job because you are gay, the flu etc. 

I am amazed to see how quickly divine Love has always an answer, a first, intelligent, individual answer, which comforts and sets the heart and mind on a new path, a fresh perspective. Sometimes the solution, healing, release comes quickly, sometimes it takes time to walk the talk, to feel at home in the new world of goodness and care, to see the whole picture. The solutions, healings, the release and freedom always come, without exception. And that is because of the truth in Science and Health, which activates something in each one of us, which is the truth of being. The book doesn't invent something, it reminds us of what is inbuilt into us. It draws us out of narratives - beliefs and convictions - which we have been telling ourselves for such a long time that we see ourselves as mere listeners to these stories instead of as the story-tellers who we are, with a little help from a talking snake (see Genesis 2). We learn something new, which is the eternal truth of our completeness (see Genesis 1), and move forward. Life is turned into a graceful learning curve, from a material viewpoint to a spiritual perspective. And a learning curve it is, in which the ego must go and Christlike qualities will be put on as the only garment of individuality. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Miscellaneous Writings on p. 5:

"That man is the idea of infinite Mind, always perfect
in God, in Truth, Life, and Love, is something not easily
accepted, weighed down as is mortal thought with mate‐
rial beliefs. That which never existed, can seem solid
substance to this thought. It is much easier for people
to believe that the body affects the mind, than that the
mind affects the body."

When I study the answer to the question "What is man?" I am already prepared for this radical, revolutionary description by what I studied the previous two weeks. I have already learned about Principle and Love, about Spirit, Mind and Soul, about Life and Truth, about the scientific statement of being, about intelligence and substance being spiritual and untouchable by material sense, about the oneness of God and the non-existence of gods, about the singularity of Soul and the non-existence of souls, about the inability of creeds to move thoughts and lives forward and the ability of honest, consecrated efforts to meet the demands of the "Science of Soul". I also remember the history of healing in my family history with 100 years of Christian Science healing around - including healings from spinal meningitis, meniscal tear, broken elbow, toxemia, broken shoulder, tetanus, severed limbs, aftereffects of accidents, a lost sense of purpose. I saw joy restored, inner peace regained, children born at home without fussing, hope regained after tragic loss, stolen items given back, a lost voice found, I saw protection from crime, reconciliation realized, I saw womanhood strengthened and malehood redeemed. I am prepared:

"Man is spiritual and perfect; and be‐ 
cause he is spiritual and perfect, he must be so under‐ 
stood in Christian Science. Man is idea, the image, of 
Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of 
God, including all right ideas; the generic term for 
all that reflects God's image and likeness; the conscious 
identity of being as found in Science, in which man is 
the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal; 
that which has no separate mind from God; that which 
has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which 
possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his 
own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker."
(Science and Health, p. 475)

It takes a life to grasp every detail of the answer, but it is worthwhile the effort to understand it, to struggle with resisting convictions ("because I said so"), to quarrel with oneself instead of with others. In the course of history, eternal Truth never backed away from human conceptions, never shrank back from mortal narratives. And it never will. So can we change sides and move over to Truth's perspective? Can we make the shift from "mortal" to "man" and stop resisting its implications in our experience? In order to get real, I have to continue learning from and yielding to Truth. I love this question, "what is man", for this question is about all of us, it is about you and me. You are in for a treat.