"Your life is an occasion. Rise to it!" - Mr. Magorium

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Toughest Book You'll Ever Love

Hello. If this is your first visit here, yes I'm the same Randall that used to write about model railroad trains elsewhere on the web. This blog is new, and if this is your first visit here you can catch up quickly by reading the two short posts below which explain my recent "health crisis".

Some people have responded to this blog by encouraging me to keep fighting, and saying that they're hopeful for me. They've missed the point. The fight is over... I won! This blog is about cleaning up the mess after the fight; about putting my mental “house” in order and knowing myself and God better.

The purpose of this blog is not to sell you my religion; it's to share my spiritual journey back into the light. To make this trek I'd resolved to immerse myself in the study of Christian Science. That meant digging deep into the Christian Science textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. I'd read this book about twenty years ago, and found it uplifting. But despite all the ideas in it that I'd identified with so strongly, there were lots of things that bothered me about it. Mary Baker Eddy used lots of familiar words in unfamiliar ways. And some of the metaphysical statements she made I found at first just too much to swallow.

Regardless of these frustrations, I'd continued a casual study of this book off and on over the years. I'd always recognized the value of this book. In fact, I've given literally dozens of copies to friends and acquaintances over the last couple decades. And I'd always told them that you don't have to become a Christian Scientist to benefit from reading it.

So I set out to get to know this book better than I ever had before. I made it my goal to read 100 pages a day. That didn't work out; I'm a slow reader. I'm not even getting though 50 pages a day. But that doesn't matter I'm not fighting with the book like I used to; I'm letting it talk to me and not telling it how it should have worded things. As a result, I'm getting more out of the book than I ever did before. And each day brings improvement to my situation.

I've also learned that I'm not the only one who had problems with this unique book. In a Christian Science lecture, John Adams talks about yelling “How can she say that?” and throwing the book across the room repeatedly during his first reading. John is a man who has gone from being a drug dealer to a Christian Science Practitioner, someone in the public healing practice of Christian Science. I think you'll enjoy John Adams' lecture.

4 comments:

  1. It's great to see you back in the blogsphere and to hear that you're doing well! I'm off to read the lecture now... thanks for sharing it!

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  2. I read scripture every day too Randal. It's not only solace but sustenance for the spirit. Sometimes as I watch the pages go by it’s feels like turning the pages of my life and watching my days and moments go by. I suppose it’s a good perspective we tend to take our moments for granted until one day it seems our time is up. But I feel it’s all perfectly as it’s meant to be.
    I think you are correct. There is a lot of wisdom that you can share as you process what you read that can be applied to any ones life. I look forward to learning with you as you go.

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  3. I feel a sense of peace coming off your posts. Who needs 100 or 50 pages a day? Read what you can and the words will speak to your heart much more than a page number does.
    Randall, if you ever need anything, please know you can call upon me. Anytime.

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  4. Randall, you have such an awesome story....i can't wait to hear more about it!

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