Description
Transcript of three Association Addresses (1934, 1935, 1936) The Open Door Out of Materiality; Heavenly Citizenship; The King’s Highway.
In The Open Door Out of Materiality, Mr. Greenwood emphasizes the need to live and demonstrate Christian Science in daily life — not merely theorize about it. He writes: “We have become so accustomed to observing physical phenomena, that we are apt to unconsciously admit the belief that there is something we call matter, that there is something there to feel and taste and smell. Christian Science teaches that there is no matter at all, absolutely none; and we should not lose sight of this fundamental fact of right metaphysics. The belief which outlines itself as material objects, laws, and sensation, is nothing more than mesmerism, and it should be recognized as such if we are not to be victimized by its delusions.”
In Heavenly Citizenship, he tells us: “We are all more or less particular about the clothes we wear. We would not be happy to go around in rags, or in unsightly garments; but what would we think if we saw ourselves going about, dressed up in the errors we have consented to have attached to us? Would we feel smug and comfortable with nothing to hide our moral blemishes? Would we not get something more becoming to wear as soon as possible?
“The pity of it is, that we could get rid of this inner unsightliness, if we gave the same attention to making the in¬side, the physically unseen, as presentable and attractive as we do the outside. You all know that this is true. You know that if you were called upon to appear here just as you are, with your moral defects and spiritual deficiencies exposed to each other, you would all go into hiding. Then is it not time we made ourselves more presentable, so that we may stand unabashed under the searchlight of Truth!
“I am not saying these things by way of criticism or condemnation, for to some extent we are all involved in them; therefore to some extent, we all need to cultivate a heavenly discontent with the things of the flesh — with the merely sensuously beautiful as well as with the sensuously ugly.
“I do not mean that one should neglect his outward appearance, for no right-thinking person would be satisfied with a shabby exterior. What I mean is, that we should be even more dissatisfied with a shabby mentality. Our pride of character should be as exacting as our pride of person. To that end, honesty demands that we consult the mirror that will show up our temperamental and moral defects, and make the needful correction with as particular thought and care as our physical personality receives.”