“Wrong conduct, based on wrong thinking. And wrong thinking is based on wrong beliefs, false thought.”
“But to believe that there is anything but God, and the things He made, is sin, isn’t it, Padre dear?”
“Sin is––yes, to believe in other powers than God is to break the very first Commandment––and that is the chief of sins!”
“Well, Padre dear, can’t you make yourself think right? Do you know what you really think about God, anyway?”
Josè rose and paced up and down through the dark aisle.
“I try to think,” he answered, “that He is mind; that He is infinite, everywhere; that He is all-powerful; that He knows all things; and that He is perfect and good. I try not to think that He made evil, or anything that is or could be bad, or that could become sick, or decay, or die. Whatever He made must be real, and real things last forever, are immortal, eternal. I strive to think He did make man in His image and likeness––and that man has never been anything else––that man never ‘fell.’”
“What is that, Padre?”
“Only an old, outworn theological belief. But, to resume: I believe that, since God is mind, man must be an idea of His. Since God is infinite, man must exist in Him. I know that any number of lies can be made up about true things. And any number of falsities can be assumed about God and what He has made. I am sure that the material universe and man are a part of the lie about God and the way He manifests and expresses Himself in and through His ideas. Everything is mental. We must hold to that! The mental realm includes all truth, all fact. But there may be all sorts of supposition about this fact. And yet, while fact is based upon absolute and undeviating principle––and I believe that principle to be God––supposition is utterly without any rule or principle whatsoever. It is wholly subject to truth, to Principle, to God. Hence, bad or wrong thought is absolutely subject to good or real thought, and must go down before it. The mortal man is a product of wrong thought. He is a supposition; and so is the universe of matter in which he is supposed to live. We have already learned that the things he thinks he hears, feels, tastes, smells, and sees are only his own thoughts. And these turn out to be suppositions. Hence, they are nothing real.”
“Well, Padre! How fast you talk! And––such big words! I––I don’t think I understand all you say. But, anyway, I guess it is right.” She laughed again.