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Home > Books > Metaphysics and Science in Christian Science
Metaphysics and Science in Christian Science
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Product Code: 0-942958-11-X
Manufacturer: Kappeler Institute Publishing
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Booklet, 36 pages
Level:
SUBJECT(s):
The 7 Synonymous Terms for God
The Christ-idea
The History and Development of the Science of Christian Science
Healing and Christian Science Practice
The Ascending and Descending Way
RELATED RECORDINGS:
X-8, Metaphysics Contrasted with Science (2 hours, audio)
B-6I, Fundamental Questions on the Science of Christian Science (Part I): The Steps from Metaphysics to Science (8 hours, audio & video)
SYNOPSIS: Divine metaphysics proceeds from a basis entirely separate from human thinking. The Textbook states that, whereas ordinary metaphysics is based on "a law of mortal mind" (S&H 154:4), "God is the Principle of divine metaphysics" (S&H 112:32, also 111:11). "Divine metaphysics … shows clearly that all is Mind, and that Mind is God" (S&H 275:20). Therefore, divine metaphysics alone can bring the solution to the human mind, removing the false effects by correcting the false cause. In the light of the Science of Christian Science, we see that: "Metaphysics [meaning the metaphysics of Christian Science] involves the contemplation of ideas, whereas Science involves the contemplation of the infinite One, forever including within itself its own ideas" (see John W. Doorly, Oxford Summer School Talks, 1949, Vol. II, p. 132).
CONTENTS:
Chapter 1: The Development from Metaphysics to Science
Ordinary metaphysics
From ordinary metaphysics to the metaphysics of Christian Science
The metaphysics of Christian Science
From scientific metaphysics to the Science of Christian Science
Chapter 2: The Ascending and Descending Ways
The ordered ways of understanding and demonstration
The ascending way of understanding
The 7 synonymous terms for God viewed from metaphysics and Science
The descending way of demonstration
Chapter 3: The Implications in Practice
Science shows the limits of metaphysical practice
Christian Science practice is based on divine Mind-reading
Only Science can solve today's problems
EXCERPT:
From Max Kappeler, Metaphysics and Science in Christian Science, pp. 10–11. From the contemplation of ideas to the contemplation of the infinite One. This necessary step forward from metaphysics to Science involves a fundamental change in the standpoint of consciousness. The contemplation of ideas is not discarded, but is reconceived from a higher standpoint and placed within a broader frame of reference. Whereas in metaphysics we ponder the ideas of God to gain a conception that approximates the divine, in Science the infinite One is infinitely conscious of itself as idea, and this divine self-awareness brings forth the divine infinite calculus. Ideas are known and operative within the consciousness that Being has of itself; they are not dependent on human thinking in order to be known or to have their effect.
The windowpane analogy. An old and often used analogy for the metaphysical approach is that of a windowpane, through which the sunlight shines. The windowpane represents human consciousness, which is clouded by human beliefs and illusions and must be cleaned by scientific metaphysics, until it becomes transparent to the light. Through this process, thought is more and more cultivated according to the calculus of ideas. Because the spiritual calculus is based on God and reflects what Being itself is, this ideational structure of understanding enables the light to shine through. Metaphysics exchanges human illusions for spiritual ideas, and the light appears. Yet having a clearer and clearer window pane is neither the aim nor standpoint of Science. Science proceeds from the infinite One's own divine self-knowing—from the light itself. The light knows no windowpane, for to the light, all is light. Light, not windowpanes, becomes the focus.
True, for us to see the light, we need scientific metaphysics, which makes all the difference. Without it, the light would still be there, but we would never know it. However, we must also realize that having a transparent windowpane is not the ultimate, not the aim. The more the standpoint of Science gains precedence and informs our work in scientific metaphysics, the more our focus rests on the light as such—on how Being is conscious of itself through its own categories to bring out its own idea. This divinely subjective standpoint automatically clears away the darkness of human beliefs, but without making it an issue or central concern. The accent is not on the comparative transparence or opaqueness of individual windowpanes, but on the nature and workings of the light itself.
Christian Science focuses on God, the whole. The subject of the Textbook is Science—the light and its constituents—and not primarily metaphysics. From beginning to end, it presents its subject from the standpoint of God itself, which is All-in-all and which is conscious of itself as an infinite system of ideas. This high standpoint of the Textbook is indicated by the extent to which the terms "metaphysics" and "Science" are used. "Metaphysics," used positively, occurs only about 70 times, whereas "Science" is used more than 1000 times. The contrast shows clearly where the Textbook places its emphasis and what it intends to teach. Metaphysics is an important step along the way, but it is not the main subject.
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