Stepping out of chaos
Is there a way out of chaos and into order and harmony? The present need for that is acutely felt and deeply sought everywhere. But in searching for such a path in the midst of a disordered world, is it possible that chaos itself could be a harbinger of the peace we yearn to see?
The promise of that is found in this remarkable statement by Mary Baker Eddy in her book “Unity of Good”: “The chaos of mortal mind is made the stepping-stone to the cosmos of immortal Mind” (p. 56).
Maybe chaos nudges a natural desire in us to step away from it. In order to be free of the exhaustion of inharmony, it is natural – spiritually innate – for us to seek something else, to reverse direction, to move toward safer, more peaceful ground. There we can begin to see the opposite condition, the orderly, harmonious universe – the cosmos – of immortal Mind, God. Dissatisfaction with the materialistic, chaotic life arising from the limitations of a material mentality that would seem to veil the divine Mind becomes a strong impetus to move in the opposite direction.
For example, if we feel hated or hateful, we can remove that sense by turning directly to divine Love, God, and expressing such love that it pulls us and others out of discord and inharmony. It doesn’t matter how often we feel the need to reverse our course of thought and action, because this powerful sense of Love is Principle and therefore always at hand and active.
If attentive, we can detect early the fear that underlies chaos or hatred and let our thoughts be informed by divine Mind in a peace-generating direction. No chaotic, mortal mind can influence our life to blur our vision of the true course leading to freedom, accord, and stability.
In “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” Mrs. Eddy articulated her discovery – the divine laws that governed Christ Jesus and enabled him to do the works of primitive Christianity, preaching and proving the laws of God. Those laws govern us today.
In this book, we’re asked if we have accepted the mortal model of ourselves and others that the world holds before our gaze. Perhaps this model appears as the chaos of matter-based living that could seem as attractive as it is frightening. But that model is imperfect. It can be vicious and hideous and can limit our lifework and our view of humanity. The remedy is evident: “... we must first turn our gaze in the right direction and then walk that way” (p. 248).
What a word, “gaze.” Beyond merely looking or seeing, there is intention in gazing. Gazing at stars, we’ve chosen to discover something new to us – a constellation, satellite, or aurora. Or, closer to us, gazing through the lens of Spirit, we discern humankind’s amazing, infinite individuality.
Where should we be gazing to reverse our drift toward the mortal model, the darkness and chaos of world belief that would trap humanity in the apparent reality of matter and its conflicts? The reverse, the perfect model, is “unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love – the kingdom of heaven” reigning within all of us (Science and Health, p. 248). There’s nothing chaotic about any of that; in fact, as these divine qualities are lived, discordant conditions lose their influence until they disappear.
Why? Darkness and chaos have no place in God, Mind, and the infinite harmony and order that are actually present. When we turn our gaze toward God, we find that Mind’s light and joy overtake and exclude the darkness and sorrow of chaos. Then chaos has been made our steppingstone to the cosmos, the ever-present and immortal harmony of divine Mind, and no longer causes fear.
A scriptural example of turning one’s gaze in the right direction is Saul, later known as Paul (see Acts 9:1-20). He was afraid that the new teachings of Jesus would disrupt the world he knew. He sided with the suppressors of a dawning Christianity.
But his own moment of awakening, turning his gaze toward Christ and finding light in the midst of darkness, led to a lifetime of sustained expansion of the power of Christ-love and its peace. This was the new order – the true cosmos of divine Mind – the spiritual reality toward which to set our gaze, one that the transformed Paul never failed to pursue and prove.
We needn’t fear chaos. Instead, we can see it as the harbinger of a change in direction, of a step for us all toward immortal Mind’s order and harmony.
Adapted from an editorial published in the April 1, 2024, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
