The theories I combat, stated fairly, are these: (1) that all is matter; (2) that matter originates in Mind, and is as real as Mind, possessing intelligence and life. The first-named theory, that matter is everything, is quite as reasonable as the second, that Mind and matter co-exist and co-operate. One only of the following statements can be true: (1) that everything is matter; (2) that everything is Mind. Which one is it?
The conservative position, that both matter and Mind have place and power, is untenable. Science is thorough, and permits no half-way positions. My original conclusion in 1866, that Mind is all in all, — that the only realities are the Divine Mind and its ideas, — this conclusion is not seen to be supported by sensible evidence, till the inquirer masters the principle and rule upon which the conclusion rests. This principle once learned, no other conclusion can be reached.
My discovery — that the erring mortal views, misnamed mind, produce all the organic and animal action of the mortal body — set thought to work in new channels; and I demonstrated this as the leading factor in Mind-science, — that Mind is all, and matter naught.
Few will deny that a higher Intelligence forms and governs the universe and man. It is self-evident that this Mind, or Divine Principle, can produce nothing unlike God the eternal Love. Sin, sickness, death, are comprised in a belief in matter. Because Spirit is real and harmonious, everything inharmonious — sin, sickness, death — is the opposite of Spirit, and must be the contradiction of reality, must be unreal. As Scripture states it, dust returns to dust, the unreal relapses into unreality.
