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Ideas



Man, a universe

10/2/2016

 
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Elvis Presley, Jailhouse Rock, 1957
Is more better? Are many people better than just a few? In preparing for a conference with several colleagues it was a mild shock for us to see at the opening only a handful of people in the audience. Another conference organized by the entire faculty on a historic topic, for which the 300 chairs in the hall had been prepared with programs and handouts, found us carrying home 260 handouts. The forty present had a great time, though. Sometimes musicians meet an almost empty audience. A few years ago I bought a ticket for a 20th century opera by a composer I greatly admire. I expected to attend a sold-out performance (my love for music can visualize nothing less than awesomeness). When I arrived the entrance hall was unusually quiet, the jobless ushers asked me to stay where I was (I had a ticket for the balcony on the third floor) and take a seat in first row. The performance was dashing, although only twenty people (out of possible 900 seats) had shown up. 

Recently someone shared with me the disappointment she was feeling when seeing only a few people show up for a service which could have blessed many more. I listened for an answer, and the answer was this: "When I think about the excitement I feel for people and the love I have for humanity, I often feel that each man is like a small universe. It is an honor to meet this universe. It is complete, full of possibilities and qualities, an adventure to get to know. So if you have already one universe in the room, would there be more completeness in the room if there were two?" 

This concept is not as strange as it sounds. It does not lead to hermitism or deficiency of love for our sisters or brothers. "Father, where Thine own children are, I love to be" (from a poem by Mary Baker Eddy entitled "Christ my refuge") continues to be the motto of most Christians' lives. But to accept every single woman or man as a universe contributes to peace and contentment in any social setting. It has been extremely comforting and helpful in dealing with all kinds of small and tiny numbers. It has brought healing, and it has shielded me often from counting numbers, while pushing me to perceive quality instead of quantity. It also taught me to stop judging by physical as opposed to spiritual evidence. It invites everyone to listen better, look deeper, and see what wonderful qualities are already there, in one individual already.

In the Bible translation The Message Psalm 139: 14 is rendered:

"Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!"

This complexity is the fullness of divine being, deeply steeped in exuberant creation. Mary Baker Eddy, following the quote from the beginning of the first record of creation in Genesis 1, writes: "The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning is employed to signify the only, — that is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe." (Mary Baker Eddy. Science and Health with Key the Scriptures, p. 502)

So whenever I attend a reading, a concert, a conference --- and I note that I am only one of a few, I remember that man includes the universe. And that Love is boundless. Fullness and completeness cannot get more complete as they already are. Elvis Presley, who on his quest for God studied Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (you can read more here), wrote in one of his songs how "Love produced the perfect man, that understood, the image of the makers word..." (in his song "Life").

"...man, including the universe" - let this idea open you to a different life style, in which infinity is not the prerogative of the hereafter, but a present possibility of Love, which "produced the perfect man". Evidently with a little rhythm and snap and a wink.
Jacquelyn Reid
10/2/2016 11:25:45 pm

Great article. I'll never be disappointed again with the few in the audience. ...and what a discovery - Elvis read Science and Health. I'll place this article in our reading room.

thanks.

Annette link
10/2/2016 11:34:20 pm

A Christian Science reading room is a wonderful place for this article. I am profoundly grateful for the Mary Baker Eddy Library for providing these insights - and so grateful for divine Love, leading us to those insights. And for you, for sharing.

Lynne
11/2/2016 04:28:38 am

Wonderful wonderful thoughts Annette!
Thank you

Candy Nartonis
11/2/2016 04:02:17 pm

Sweet! Each idea of God is so precious and unique, and I love this idea that we are each a universe. In fact, what could be more true? We each reflect Infinite Mind. Whew!

Gail link
11/2/2016 05:14:41 pm

As I was reading this article I envisioned myself in church, wondering 'why so many empty seats'? But your words about the Universe were so strong that I realized it doesn't matter how many physical bodies we see because the WORD goes beyond the walls and is infinite. Spirit cannot be contained but goes forth to bless ALL mankind. Numbers merely have us believe limitation is 'reality'. Thank you.

Claire
14/2/2016 05:15:43 am

I love this. Some physicists hypothesize that there may be infinite parallel universes. This is a slightly different take on what you are saying. But there is still only one ALL.
So even if there are multiple universes - and each one of us embodies, by reflection, the All-God, then our individual infinitude is, well, almost indescribable. And we behold the ALL in one.


Comments are closed.
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    Who is writing?

    ​Dr. Annette Kreutziger-Herr

    In my work as Christian Science practitioner and writer I draw on listening to God and listening to people.
    I strive to love deeper and work better,
    every day. Here I share ideas as occasion demands.
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