An International View of God

I have always loved things international. To me, diversity is interesting and exciting. I find the “boundless base” or “broad horizon’s grander view” thrilling and expanding.

This viewpoint could also be a metaphor for all creation’s oneness with God – the “Unity of Good,” if you will.

In thinking of the international aspect of life, it is easy to comprehend a larger sense of one’s self and experience. That is one aspect of our Association I particularly enjoy – we have members from many corners of the earth.

What I have found is that we all have the same basic needs, desires , and values, no matter how we look. In fact, I have a theory that in a few generations, people will not be able to tell one’s native country just by looking. I have proof in my own family. My two children are adopted (according to the Bible, aren’t we all?). My son is from South Korea and my daughter’s biological roots are in China. My daughter doesn’t look particularly Asian, but my son does. They each have biological children. My daughter’s daughter looks like her. My son’s children look somewhat like him. But probably by the next generation you would not be able to tell their country of ancestry. I love it!

In fact, what DO we REALLY see? I remember watching my son at a basketball game once. As I looked down from the bleachers, I realized how different he seemed to look from the other players. I was surprised because I usually saw my son from my heart, shining with qualities of joy and kindness, and strength and soul. It taught me a great lesson and also helped me to glimpse the way Christ Jesus saw man – clear through to the spiritual idea.

And I found that families are the same world over. I traveled to South Korea on business, to meet with a woman who operated a business out of her home. I could speak no Korean and she could speak no English, but fortunately, her sister spoke both. However, when we arrived at the same time as her children came home from school, the look on her face was stricken. South Korea values hospitality and I could see she was torn between welcoming her guests and taking care of the needs of her children. My heart went out to her. As a mother, even though living clear across the world and not able to speak her language, I understood completely. I assured her (through her sister’s translation) that she was to look after the children first, which she did. We had a very productive meeting and enjoyed a good business relationship.

When we realize how spiritually at one we are, it is completely possible to be “at home” anywhere in the world. And when we spiritually tune in to the needs of anyone, it is easy to communicate wherever we are – maybe not in native languages (we’ve have had a few hilarious experiences trying that) but in the language of the heart.

Going further afield, I am reminded of a story about one of the astronauts who was looking back on the earth from space. He experienced an epiphany. He realized he was not “home.” Then he realized with awe that he was “at one” with the universe he saw all around him. He came home and started the Institute of Noetic Sciences* to study this phenomenon.

Pretty soon you will not be able to tell who belongs to what country. Even today, with all the movement and immigration of citizens of one country to another, because of business, wars, and otherwise, you cannot tell who belongs where. But do we want to? A few years ago, I heard Shimon Peres, now President of Israel, speak. He said warfare will change in the future from huge armies massing on borders, to economic warfare. It seems to be happening now through the development of high technology and social networking, one of its results.

I like to think of all this reflecting Mrs. Eddy’s comment about the “vastness” of Christian Science. In truth, there are no boundaries to infinity. There never were any boundaries or limits. God is all. I feel it is only a matter of time (or spiritual progress) before the earth will reflect that truth. In fact, it seems to me that the human boundaries are disappearing right before our eyes. And when mankind realizes the spiritual “uninterrupted continuity of good,” the earth will reflect that spiritual citizenship: ever–present peace, harmony, and good that is every man’s spiritual birthright. And we will answer Mary Baker Eddy’s call: “Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free! This is your divine right.” S&H 227:24-26

Then we can all realize we live under the law of her amazing vision of divine Love’s inclusiveness. As she says: “I saw the love of God encircling the universe and man, filling all space; and this divine Love so permeated my consciousness that I loved with Christ-like compassion everything I saw. And this realization of divine Love called forth the expression of the beauty of holiness and the perfection of being, which healed and regenerated and saved all who turned to me for help.” “We Knew Mary Baker Eddy” Expanded version, Vol 1. 

* Noetic Sciences

The term noetic sciences was first coined in 1973 when the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) was founded by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who two years earlier became the sixth man to walk on the moon. Ironically, it was the trip back home that Mitchell recalls most, during which he felt a profound sense of universal connectedness—what he later described as a samadhi experience. In Mitchell’s own words, “The presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes. . . .The knowledge came to me directly.”

It led him to conclude that reality is more complex, subtle, and mysterious than conventional science had led him to believe. Perhaps a deeper understanding of consciousness (inner space) could lead to a new and expanded understanding of reality in which objective and subjective, outer and inner, are understood as co- equal aspects of the miracle of being. It was this intersection of knowledge systems that led Dr. Mitchell to launch the interdisciplinary field of noetic sciences.