Ken Cooper’s “POETIC POSTLUDE” shares Bible EXAMPLES of the nothingness of matter, its unworthiness to dominate thought.

Ken Cooper’s “POETIC POSTLUDE” shares Bible EXAMPLES of the nothingness of matter, its unworthiness to dominate thought.
inspired by The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on

 “MATTER”
for September 5-12, 2022

• Ken’s poem “What Is Matter?” gives a minute-long, thorough assessment of the answer to its title and concludes: BEHOLD! THE ALLNESS OF GOD IS THE NOTHINGNESS OF MATTER
• Ken’s monologue “THE GADARENE” traces the innermost thoughts of a young man who has been overwhelmed by a legion of adversities, it seems he is beyond help and control. 

• Ken’s poem “Love Responds – Two blind Men Healed” also tells a similar story, the impact of Love inevitable in their healing too.
  

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[Ken writes:] “The first citation from Science and Health in this week’s lesson could not be clearer: “MATTER DOES NOT EXPRESS SPIRIT. GOD IS INFINITE OMNIPRESENT SPIRIT. IF SPIRIT IS ALL AND IS EVERYWHERE, WHAT AND WHERE IS MATTER?” (citation S1 p223:7-9).  When we ponder the implications of this question, it really is a wake-up call to what we really believe, to what we have as our God or accept as other gods…Is the balance of our thinking towards matter (gods) or the one God, Spirit? We experience what we think.

My poem “What Is Matter?” gives a minute long thorough assessment of the answer to its title, persisting in making the point, and the related pdf shares that theme, and also ends with the same conclusion:
BEHOLD! THE ALLNESS OF GOD IS THE NOTHINGNESS OF MATTER.

 What an extraordinary claim, one might say! How can matter be nothing when we look round and see it everywhere! But what is God, Spirit, seeing? When we read the Golden Text “Can people create their own gods? Man-made gods are not gods at all, – mere fabrications, they are worthless!” it is a reminder that there is only One Creator, as Paul states in the Responsive Reading, “..there is but one God, The Father, the Creator of everything, by whom everything exists, including ourselves”. This is true Science, – the simple logic that as God , Spirit, is ALL, matter, its opposite, is nothing.

I remember the physics master as school discussing Science, – that first you set out the theory, then how it is to be tested, the results of that testing, and the resulting confirmation (or not) of that theory as provable Science. How grateful we are to Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy, for they proved what they taught. Mrs Eddy also wrote of Science and Health: “The earnest student of this book, understanding it, demonstrates in some degree the truth of its statements, and knows that it contains a Science which is demonstrable when understood, and which is fully understood when demonstrated.” (Miscellany p. 112:16–20). In this week’s lesson, we see how the understanding of Jesus was fully demonstrated and wonderfully shared, with Spirit, Mind, overcoming matter in the legion of ways presented.

One of these was the healing of the Gadarene described in Section 3, which followed the calming by Jesus of a horrendous storm at sea. Both demonstrated the simple principle that in the infinity of God there is no storm, – for exceptions to infinite Love, Mind, Truth, do not , cannot, exist, and we have the authority of Christ to cast them out, whatever their nature!

The monologue “THE GADARENE” traces the innermost thoughts of a young man who has been overwhelmed by a legion of adversities, it seems he is beyond help and control. In his story, one day he watches a ferocious storm at sea, but to his amazement, someone stands up in one of the boats, reaches out his arms and the storm ceases! “Heavy clouds that had covered the sky just rolled back and disappeared.”  The boat landed, and Jesus stood on the shore. [The Christ -Truth stands on our shore, what is our reaction?] The Gadarene was in mental turmoil, “I ran down towards him, barely a hundred yards, shouting and yelling, the mad man from the tombs in full cry! He might control the storm, but he won’t control me! I didn’t want to be healed, yet I yearned to be free.” When faced with different kind of storm the Master remained calm, for any storm was as nothing to him.

“Jesus was smiling at me. That’s the real point of what I am saying. Where the storm was, he saw peace and calm. Where I was, he saw not a mad man, intent on murder and self-mutilation, but God’s child. Which was true?”  The authority of the Christ destroyed the false claims of error in all its forms. “All the fears, torments, the self-pity and latent violence, all gone. Not just removed from me to live again, but destroyed.”…… “I remember so clearly with both awe and understanding what happened next. I stood up, looked at my naked body, – all signs of mutilation had gone.”. The legion of erroneous thoughts and actions was completely and visibly destroyed. When the nothingness of matter is seen, the allness of God is expressed.  The monologue concludes: “Love has set me free, and I have found peace”.

It is a lovely history of what happened, for this man who had become lost now had a clear purpose in life, – the removal of material limitations had set him free for spiritual outreach. In his listening to the Christ he found new purpose and fulfilment. He stopped worshipping the gods of material sense and found the One God, Love, as All-in-all.

He found Peace.

And this is the result of seeking the Christ in our lives. In Section 5, two blind men sought after Jesus, and they were healed. My poem “Love Responds – Two blind Men Healed”  tells a similar story, the impact of Love inevitable in their healing too.

“We feel pure love, it envelops we two:
“What will ye that I shall do unto you?”
“Lord , that our eyes may be opened” we say.
He then touches us in such loving way.
Immediately we both receive sight:
Our blindness gone in the face of Love’s might.”

One could say that matter is gone in the face of God’s Allness, and the effect is always healing. It does not matter what the problem appears to be, the Truth is always what is, and when we see the truth (“EYES: Spiritual discernment, not material but mental” (citation S26 p586:3), matter, with all its limitations, is simply not in the picture.

LET MATTER GO, LET SPIRIT IN

NOW IS THE TIME, SIMPLY BEGIN!

Copies of my poems are available in pdf format in color and B&W as DOWNLOADS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ONLINE VERSION OF THIS POETIC POSTLUDE to this week’s Bible Lesson.  The full range of Ken’s videos on YouTube can be found on KenGCooperPoetry.  All Ken’s poetry and other writings can be found on Ken Cooper Poetry.

 Bible verses are taken from my combined translations, which are available for free on an excel spreadsheet for those who may be interested. They have been collated over several years from BibleGateway translations, taking the best from the many translations provided, and taking further inspiration from Christian Science in their compilation. They cover over a thousand key Bible verses, taken from both the BibleGateway verses for the day, and from the Weekly lessons. Reading all verses from any one book is insightful and motivating.  The spreadsheet also includes a genealogy from Adam to Jesus as I have set out, with related notes. Shared with love.

Write to Ken on kengcooper@btinternet.com.