I had returned from a bicycle ride and was settling down to read Mary Baker Eddy's book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. At first, I found it difficult to concentrate on what I was reading because of aching muscles from my hard ride. But then I came across this arresting paragraph in Eddy's book:
"You say, "Toil fatigues me." But what is this me? Is it muscle or mind? Which is tired and so speaks? Without mind, could the muscles be tired? Do the muscles talk, or do you talk for them? Matter is non-intelligent. Mortal mind does the false talking, and that which affirms weariness, made that weariness."Mortal mind is Eddy's term for the human mind - thought which seemingly dwells within a material body and sees and evaluates everything from a mortal perspective of life in matter. The counter to mortal mind is divine Mind - one of Eddy's descriptive terms for God. She writes:
"The scientific and permanent remedy for fatigue is to learn the power of Mind [the divine Mind] over the body or any illusion of physical weariness."The Bible says that God gave man dominion over all the earth. This certainly includes dominion over muscles and exercise. I contemplated what thoughts were occupying my consciousness. Was I conscious of mortal mind's thoughts of fatigue or was I conscious of the divine Mind's message of strength and dominion? As I pondered this, my muscles ceased aching and I felt strong and fresh the rest of the day.
You can learn more in Eddy's book about how to listen to the divine Mind instead of the mortal mind. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures can be read online, purchased from many booksellers, or read, borrowed or purchased from a Christian Science Reading Room. The Reading Room in Evergreen, Colorado is located at 4602 Plettner Lane.
