“We hear, see, and feel,” continued the girl, “when our thought is directed to these processes. And the processes are wholly mental––they take place within our mentalities––and it is there, within our minds, that we see, hear, and feel all things. And it is there, within our minds, that the universe exists for us. It is there that we hold our world, our fleshly bodies, everything that we call material. The universe that we think we see all about us consists of the mental concepts, made up of thought, which we hold within our mentalities.”
Haynerd nodded somewhat dubiously. Carmen proceeded with the exposition of her theme.
“Whence come these material thoughts that are within us? And are they real? Can we control them? And how? They are real to us, at any rate, are they not? And if they are thoughts of pain and suffering and death, they are terribly real to us. But let us see, now that we can reason from the basis of the mental nature of all things. We have agreed that the creative principle is mind, and we call it God. This infinite mind constantly expresses and manifests itself in ideas. Why, that is a fundamental law of mind! You express yourself in your ideas and thoughts, which you try to externalize materially. But the infinite mind expresses itself in an infinite 69 number and variety of ideas, all, like itself, pure, perfect, eternal, good, without any elements or seeds of decay or discord. And the incessant expression of the creative mind in and through its numberless ideas constitutes the never-ending process of creation.”
“Let me add here,” interrupted Hitt, “that the Bible states that God created the heavens and earth in seven days. But numbers, we must remember, were mystical things to the ancient Hebrews, and were largely used symbolically. The number seven, for example, was used to express wholeness, completeness. So we must remember that its use in Genesis has a much wider meaning than its absurd theological interpretation into seven solar days. As Carmen says, the infinite creative mind can never cease to express itself; creation can never cease; and creation is but the whole, complete revelation or unfoldment of infinite mind’s ideas.”
“And infinite mind,” continued Carmen, “requires infinite time in which to completely express itself. So time ceases to be, and we find that all real things exist now, in an endless present. Now, the ideas of infinite mind range throughout the realm of infinity, but the greatest idea that the creative mind can have is the idea of itself. That idea is the image and likeness of the infinite creative mind. It is the perfect reflection of that mind––its perfect expression. That idea is what the man Jesus always saw back of the human concept of man. That idea is the real man!”
“Well!” exclaimed Haynerd. “That’s quite a different proposition from the mud-men that I do business with daily. What are they? Children of God?”
“If they were real,” said Carmen, “they would have to be children of God. But then they would not be ‘mud-men.’ Now I have just spoken of the real, the spiritual creation. That is the creation mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis, where all was created––revealed, unfolded––by God, and He saw that it was perfect, good. ‘In the beginning,’ says the commentator. That is, ‘To begin with––God.’ Everything begins with God in the realm of the real. The creative mind is first. And the creation, or unfoldment, is like its creative principle, eternal and good.”
“But,” persisted Haynerd, “how about the material man?”
“Having created all things spiritually,” continued the girl, “was it necessary that the creative mind should repeat its work, do it over again, and produce the man of dust described in the second chapter of Genesis? Is that second account of the creation an inspiration of truth––or a human comment?”
“Call it what you will,” said the cynical Haynerd; “the 70 fact remains that the mud-man exists and has to be reckoned with.”