Lessons In Truth - Lesson 3 - Annotation 2
Explain God as "universal Mind." If there is only one Mind why does there appear to be many "minds"?
2. Universal Mind is another name for Divine Mind, the infinite, all-inclusive, all-pervading Mind, teeming with divine ideas. These ideas are permeating all the universe in both manifested and unmanifested forms. In Lesson two we termed this one Mind as omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence.
Just as there is only one air, whether we call it fresh air, foul air, cold air, or hot air, so there is only one Mind which is the source and origin of all ideas of good, all the blessings of God. One person does not have a mind and another person a separate mind in the strictest sense of the word. Each of us has consciousness in the one Mind and we all use the ideas that originate in the one Mind.
"We have no independent mind -- there is only universal Mind -- but we have consciousness in that Mind, and we have control over that consciousness. We have control over our own thoughts, and our thoughts fill our consciousness." (Teach Us to Pray 138).
From an idea that originates in the one Mind we form concepts or beliefs according to our understanding of the idea and the use to which we put it. If we use the idea in the right way then our human consciousness is a clear channel for its expression. If we do not use the idea as God intended, we build states of mind or consciousness, that we term "error consciousness," which will be dealt with in annotation 5 of this lesson (Lessons In Truth Lesson 3 Annotation 5).
The following quotation gives us a deeper understanding of God's ideas:
"An idea is the mode of expression of the mind . . . God expresses Himself through ideas. Ideas, timeless and spaceless agents of the divine will, mold and form all outer manifestations ... It is through ideas that we know God. They might be thought of as ... divine messengers sent from Him to inform us of His nature and of the nature of the world . . . Man works with divine ideas to mold and shape the substance of God" (page 2, Addenda to Metaphysical Bible Dictionary).
When we speak of "your mind" and "my mind," we are referring to the human consciousness, with its activities of thinking and feeling. Thus it appears that there are many minds instead of one Mind (God-Mind) teeming with ideas that are being used by all human beings at the level of their own individual unfoldment.
A great deal of the time we judge according to appearances. Many times our five senses seem to mislead us because we think of them as sources of wisdom, instead of only as sources of accumulated knowledge. We are functioning in a lower state of consciousness when we fail to turn to the true source of wisdom, the Christ within, the pattern of perfection.
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Preceding Entry: Describe the foundation principle of Truth.
Following Entry: What is thinking? Can one come into a realization of Truth by arguing?
