“Moreover, though the human mind is finite, and can not even begin to grasp the infinite, the divine mind has penetrated the mist of error. There is a spark of real reflection in every mortal. That spark can be made to grow into a flame that will consume all error and leave the real man revealed, a consciousness that knows no evil. There is now enough of a spark of intelligence in the human, so-called mind to enable it to lay hold on truth and grow out of itself. And there is no excuse for not doing so, as Jesus said. If he had not come we wouldn’t have known that we were missing the mark so terribly.”
“Well,” observed Haynerd, “after that classification I don’t see that we mortals have much to be puffed up about!”
“All human beings, or mortals, Ned,” said Hitt, “are interpretations by the mortal mind of infinite mind’s idea of itself, Man. These interpretations are made in the human mind, and they remain posited there. They differ from one another only in degree. All are false, and doomed to decay. How, then, can one mortal look down with superciliousness upon another, when all are in the same identical class?”
Carmen’s thoughts rested for a moment upon the meaningless existence of Mrs. Hawley-Crowles, who had anchored her life in the shifting sands of the flesh and its ephemeral joys.
“Now,” resumed Hitt, “we will come back to the question of progress. What is progress but the growing of the human mind out of itself under the influence of the divine stimulus of demonstrable truth? And that is made possible when we grasp the stupendous fact that the human, mortal mind, including its man, is absolutely unreal and non-existent! The human man changes rapidly in mind, and, consequently, in its lower stratum, or expression, the body. For that reason he need not carry over into to-day the old, false beliefs which were manifested by him yesterday. If he leaves them in the past, they cease to be manifested in his present or future. Thus he 104 outgrows himself. Then, opening himself to truth, he lays off the ‘old man’ and puts on the ‘new.’ He denies himself––denies that there is any truth in the seeming reality of the mortal, material self––as Jesus bade us do.”
“He must make new thoughts, then?” said Miss Wall.
“No,” replied Hitt. “Thought is not manufactured. God is eternal mind. His ideas and the thoughts regarding them must always have existed. His thoughts are infinite in number. He, as mind, is an inexhaustible reservoir of thought. Now the human, mortal mind interprets His thoughts, and so seems to manufacture new thought. It makes new interpretations, but not new thoughts. When you hear people chatting, do you think they are manufacturing new thought? Not a bit of it! They are but reflecting, or voicing, the communal so-called mortal mind’s interpretations of God’s innumerable and real thoughts.”
“And so,” suggested Father Waite, “the more nearly correct our interpretations of His thoughts are, the nearer we approach to righteousness.”
“Just so,” returned Hitt. “There exist all sorts of real thoughts about God’s ideas. And these are good and eternal. But the human mind makes likewise all sorts of erroneous translations of them. We shall solve our problem of existence when we correctly interpret His thoughts, and use them only. When the human mentality becomes attuned or accustomed to certain thoughts, that kind flow into it readily from the communal mortal mind. Some people think for years along certain erroneous or criminal lines. Their minds are set in that direction, and invite such a flow of thought. But were they to reverse the ‘set,’ there would be a very different and better resulting externalization in health, prosperity, and morals.”
“I think I see,” said Miss Wall. “And I begin to glimpse the true mission of Jesus, and why he was ready to give up everything for it.”