Get out of the rut of limiting thinking

What a joy it is to bike around the poetic country neighborhoods in the area where we live part of the year. Most properties are fenced in, usually with one or more dogs, whose well-worn paths along the fences indicate they know very well their job as guardian.

Something curious that I’ve observed when I ride by is that even if there’s a hole in the fence or the gate is open, the dogs remain inside the fence, running the length of it in territorial defense.

Although it’s certainly not an exact analogy, sometimes human thinking acts like this – bent on protecting its own fenced-in opinions or ways of doing things. What can easily follow is a well-worn track – or even a rut – of self-justification and defense that refuses to budge, even when there is an open door to a more expansive perspective.

Many of us have probably been here at some point. How can we be more alert not to allow this kind of restricting mindset to define our experience?

I’ve found it helpful to look to Christ Jesus, whose lifework – which consisted of healing and changing lives for the better – constantly broke through mortal limits. One example of this was when he healed a man who had been unable to walk for 38 years. The general thinking at that time was that periodically an angel would come and stir the water in the pool, and then whoever entered the pool next would be healed (see John 5:2-11).

When Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be well, he didn’t answer yes or no, but instead cited all the limitations as to why he hadn’t been healed. First, there was no one to help him when the water was stirred; and then when he tried to enter, someone always got there before him.

One can only imagine the compassion and love that must have flowed from Jesus, who knew so fully the supreme power and presence of God, the source of existence who fills all space. The belief that we are fundamentally material beings subject to chance, lack, insufficient good, time restrictions, or superstition is a confining misconception about the nature of life as spiritual, wholly governed by God, and therefore boundless and free.

Jesus’ directive that the man get up and walk was based on this underlying spiritual reality. And with that, the man was healed.

The teachings of Christian Science draw upon the supremacy of the illimitable, incorporeal, divine nature of God, divine Love and Spirit. Jesus’ ministry made plain that on the basis of this divine reality, we can heal and be healed. Infinite Spirit created us in its likeness – entirely good and spiritual, the reflection of unimpeded and measureless qualities such as purity, joy, and intelligence. Our ability to express these qualities can never be circumscribed by fear or frustration because such feelings don’t originate in God.

Over the decades, when I have found myself justifying some restricting view – whether about supply, relationships, employment, or health – prayer affirming these truths has always been a wonderful help. Although it’s still a work in progress, I am learning to be guided by divine Love’s messages of true spiritual freedom. As we’re receptive to these messages, limiting mortal concepts melt away.

“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, shows how understanding God’s abundant good for us brings blessings and enables us to let go of a fruitless, entrenched defense of mortal limitation. It explains, “Material sense expresses the belief that mind is in matter. This human belief, alternating between a sense of pleasure and pain, hope and fear, life and death, never reaches beyond the boundary of the mortal or the unreal. When the real is attained, which is announced by Science, joy is no longer a trembler, nor is hope a cheat” (p. 298).

Prayer to attain a joy and hope that reach beyond confining human concepts and opinions is well worth it, bringing a wider, spiritual view. We can take heart in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Make your tent bigger. Open your doors wide. Don’t think small! Make your tent large and strong” (Isaiah 54:2, Easy-to-Read Version). As limitations lessen, more possibilities of good stretch out before us.