Ex Christian Science

While you've not yet read the book your comments would fit in very well under reviews/feedback on www.acollisionoftruths.com . I'd like to put them there. Let me know. Also, I'd be interested to know how you found this forum.

Since you have "quit religious belief systems for good," according to your original post, I can't help wondering if you have any belief in God. I, too, have left the church and don't see myself aligning with any formal religious organization. But people often ask me if I may join a church in the future and, if so, which one. Presently I can only say I don't know what the future will hold. And, as I make clear in Collision I certainly do not subscribe to the standard Judeo/Christian God.

Meanwhile, I am going to post your original entry in the feedback/reviews section of my website. And I'd love to receive a "review" of Collision from you once you've had a chance to read it.

Many thanks. By the way, you can contact me directly, if that would be helpful, via the website www.acollisionoftruths.com.

I think Mary Baker Eddy was ahead of her time and much of what she wrote has been wrongly interpreted. I feel rather sure that she would embrace the exponential progress in science and technology and, in my opinion, would be able to realize the natural relationship between CS and the scientific community of today-in other words,that science and religion CAN exist as one reality. Thank you so much for that interview on Writers' Block. I will get to the Toad Hall book store tomorrow for your book!! My husband and I were thrilled to hear you and find out about your book. One of my problems with the CS church of today is its rigidity. It has not acknowledged that our time is different from MBE's era and much has been learned and discovered. The church remains largely in the 19th century and the Reading Rooms can be looked upon as mind control when nothing but "authorized literature" can be on its shelves. It is impossible to have a real discussion with a Christian Scientist because flexibility is certainly discouraged when it comes to exploration of anything medical or anything to do with what is termed as "matter." I had to absolutely take myself in hand and leave the church when I saw people in terrible conditions and denying what was so obvious. Because of their belief they could not let themselves be treated any other way-or, if they did, the guilt was terrible. The church will say they don't tell people not to use medical help if they want to do so, but everything within the organization frowns on "going medical." I have seen family members depressed and die because they did not ever realize the help that could be utilized right along with their prayers. I have seen families torn apart with worry when one of the parties has such conviction that no one can invade his/her CS stance. I have seen mind-sets so strong that there can only be tunnel vision. When a person sets himself/herself up as being spritual enough to have all the answers, it really bothers me when that person becomes human and succumbs to all the foibles of us all-all the while proclaiming the "Truth." I guess you can see that I have been angered, but, much less so, at this stage of my life. I am so happy to be able to make up my own mind, to follow where my intelligence will lead me, to enjoy my decisions, and to still feel happy with the Intelligence that I feel holds this universe in place. The evil we see, the wars, etc., will take a back seat someday as we progress, haltingly, toward the convergence of science and spirituality in some distant future. Actually, it may be the only way we will escape annihilation. mjcl

-mjcl

Hello mjcl: Thanks so much for your post. It's the Toad Hall bookstore in Rockport not the Toadstool. The book also is available online and those outlets can be accessed via the website www.acollisionoftruths.com. But it would be wonderful if you patronized our local store. I can't remember to what extent John Ronan and I explored the medical vs. CS issue but I'm right in line with you regarding MBE being au courant with 20th and 21st century advances. I gather that you are in Rockport, at least Cape Ann. You know who I am. I don't know who you are. You have so much to say echoing some of my conclusions in Collision and I have an idea we might enjoy meeting someday. If that appeals to you you can go to the website, click on contact the author and send me an email. Meantime, I'm going to post your comments on the reviews/feeback section of the website.

Bob Ellis

Hi Twistor,

Glad you enjoyed “Collision.” I have to say that, unlike you, I still carry much of what I was taught in CS with me. I don’t bring this out in "Collision," but I had a difficult time making the decision to resign from the church. I had stopped going for several years but still sent the local church money from time to time. Finally, though, I realized I was being a hypocrite and wrote a letter of resignation. I had been a First Reader, member of the executive board, usher, you name it, many times. I don’t believe it’s possible to imbibe something to that extent and just throw it out one day. A number of the letters I’ve received from ex-CS say the same thing. This, I believe, is true for many people of any faith that they have lived with for years. It’s hard to let go.

Having confessed all that, I still find myself relying on my sense of infinite Mind. I’m not sure what this Mind is. According to George Vaillant in his book “Spiritual Evolution” we are all hard wired to be spiritual. His definition of spiritual is rather broad, encompassing our tendency to wonder and to be in awe of such things as the universe. So, perhaps I’m just being a normal human being. On the other hand, as I relate in “Collision” I have had several “transcendent” experiences which, to me, were inexplicable in the normal cause and effect sense.

I do wonder if any of the so-called philosophical implications of theoretical physics have any validity. Is it all just wishful thinking? It took me years to fathom relativity. And many more to grasp quantum theory – and I have limited mathematical capabilities so any understanding I have is that of a layman. Still, if I learned nothing else, it is that our three dimensional way of seeing our surroundings can be very misleading. And that concept brought me back to wondering if, perhaps, there was some validity to CS. Is there?

Yes, I agree, the universe is fascinating and I, too, am glad to be a part of it—also of this earth and of all the wonders that surround me. I, too, see no evidence for a controlling intelligence. The operative word being “controlling.” I do believe I see evidence of Intelligence in those “transcendent” experiences I and others have had. Carl Jung and others declared these experiences, which often included two or more unrelated people, to be a valid part of the human condition. But what do these experiences reveal? Jung called it synchronicity and said it is the manifestation of a universal “a-causal connecting principle.”

Psychiatrists, such as Vaillant, tell us that it’s all in the brain. Much research has demonstrated exactly where in the brain all activity for all functions takes place including all the emotions and, very importantly, insight—the aha! experience. In the July 28, 2008 New Yorker we are told that “insight is a fleeting glimpse of the brain’s huge store of unknown knowledge.” Unknown knowledge? What the author and Vaillant and many others are telling us, seems to me, is that they know where in the brain all activity takes place. But they cannot tell us where ideas, insights, ahas, synchronicity come from. What is their source? That, I believe, is the intelligence upon which I rely. Perhaps you or someone else on the forum can straighten me out.

Well, I have gone on. That tends to happen when anyone invites me to communicate. Meantime, I’m also very curious about organized religion. Why do we have it? Why do we need it? Is it the scourge of humanity as Christopher Hitchins, Sam Harris claim? So many people are so devoted to their various faiths of which there are thousands. I once was too. Why?

I’ve posted your comments on the “Collision” website with a couple of minor edits—your gradfather now is your grandfather. I’d welcome your response either here or via the website. The latter will cause an email to come to me and I’ll then know who you are! On the other hand the forum does allow wider discussion.