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Being Spiritually Minded

For this month, in my project of contemplating and growing in one attribute of Spirit at a time, I have been concentrating on being spiritually-minded. Like all of these month-long focuses, making an effort to be spiritually minded is actually an ongoing endeavor– not a to-do list item to be checked off– but it was good this month to hone in on it further, brushing up on my practice of it in order to utilize it more consistently.

While thinking about this concept, some bits from the Bible stuck out to me. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, counsels them not to walk “in the vanity of their mind,” but instead, to each “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” And in Romans, he says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

This month, I started seeing on a whole new level that we must radically change our basis of thinking in order to experience the harmony and joy that God has to offer to us. Thinking with our human mind and will, not only does not cut it, but despite our best intentions, can lead us astray– away from God and the blessings spirituality holds for us.

Mary Baker Eddy, the author of one of my all-time favorite books, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, says profoundly, “We must destroy the false belief that life and intelligence are in matter, and plant ourselves upon what is pure and perfect… Sooner or later we shall learn that the fetters of man’s finite capacity are forged by the illusion that he lives in body instead of in Soul, in matter instead of in Spirit.”

I found it intriguing this past month to review a poem about Spirit I wrote last year that was especially relevant in light of last month’s attribute study about work, but also because it hinted at a breakthrough I didn’t really have until more recently. I wrote about that breakthrough a couple weeks ago in a blog entitled Energy Instead of Mass. These have been important thoughts to consider, since it is clear to me that to gain both the freedom and the incentive for a more spiritual view of life, it helps very much to realize that matter isn’t the solid thing we think it is.

Eddy explains, “We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship materially” and then we can “feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life.” The biggest boon of this month’s project was to feel that divine energy pulsing in my life.

While Spirit and matter are opposites, Spirit and Mind are synonymous. The divine Mind that made us, images us forth all the time. As the first chapter in Genesis claims, we are made in His image and likeness. Being spiritually minded, then, is simply aligning ourselves with the truth of our original origin, which is as present and real right now as it ever was.

Sometimes it is a process of shedding, releasing, or surrendering whatever comes between us and that fact, so we can see it more clearly. Sometimes it is a listening and being gently led to see and understand ourselves as God made us. And sometimes it is a reasoning process, like a proof is in geometry, where we can understand who we are by starting with a correct premise –of God as infinite, all-powerful, ever-present and good– and working from there to an equally correct but enlightened conclusion about what we then must be like as His emanation.

But most basically, to be spiritually minded is to live out from the place of the First Commandment, where you have only one God– the real God that made the universe– not your own selfishness, your perceptions or opinions, not matter, money, what other people think, fears, inhibitions, lack, evil, disease, addiction, or anything else that we make into petty gods but are actually unGodlike. We will discover that we like who we are when we give God our full attention and devotion.

Being spiritually minded makes us more Godlike in the truest sense, as we reflect entirely and include completely a whole range of these delightful qualities and attributes of God: purity, tenderness, might, wisdom, intelligence, lovingkindness, faithfulness, health, strength, discernment, generosity, bliss, inspiration, glory, functionality, impartialness, beauty, affluence, dignity, agelessness, lucidity, prudence, flexibility, discipline, calmness, resplendence, infinite potential, conscientiousness, agility, productivity, perseverance, nobility, justice, orderliness, virtuousness, creativity, worthiness… with an endless quantity of etceteras that are all wonderful.

What a jubilation and reward for aligning ourselves with our true nature, reflected from God! As Paul reminds us in Romans, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Why would we want to do otherwise?

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