The Conspiracy of Mortal Mind

By John Corderoy, Brisbane, Australia

Isaiah 8:12 “Say ye not, a confederacy, to all whom these people shall say, a confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.”

Animal magnetism, mesmerism and hypnotism are words describing the influence, to a lesser or greater degree, of one human mind over another. Sometimes we might think of hypnotism as beneficial or even an entertainment. Often it is used with an evil intent. It is a belief in the power of mortal mind; a belief which could be seen as either good or evil.To use a more modern terminology, we could call this contrived effect or belief in mortal mind as a conspiracy, or as Isaiah puts it, a confederacy.  It is conspiracy of mortal mind to usurp the power of the only true God by spreading the fear of disease and chaos.

In Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures (S&H 103: 21-23), Mrs Eddy defines mesmerism as:

“ As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism or or hypnotism is the specific term for error, or mortal mind. It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and is both evil and good; that evil is as real as good and more powerful. This belief has not one quality of Truth. It is either ignorant or malicious.”

Mortal mind is a facilitator and propagator of sin, disease and death. The concept of mortal mind appeared​ when mankind claimed to be as gods and turned away from the one true God, the one divine Mind. This created a situation where there were many conflicting human minds all claiming to be  godlike, all with different views, which has given rise to the chaos we see in the world today.

In their attempt to be as gods, human minds have sort out many inventions and continually try to impose their will either consciously or unconsciously on others. As a result of this process of mesmerisation, the woes of this world have been spread from one mortal mind to another. This state of self-ego has deceived us into believing that the physical man is the real and only existence of man. The spread of this false belief continues apace today with new diseases being 'discovered’ and talked about daily. Those who do not guard against such thoughts will find themselves involuntarily victims of these false beliefs.

Mrs Eddy says in S&H 403: 14-20 “You command the situation if you understand that mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the truth of being. Mortal mind is constantly producing on the mortal body the results of false opinions; and it will continue to do so, until the mortal error is deprived of its imaginary powers by Truth, which sweeps away the gossamer web of mortal illusion.”

Eph. 5:14 “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”

We must awake from this hypnotic dream of mortal mind and its false and beguiling promises. Arise from those who are dead to the Christ Truth. Sweep away the cobwebs of the dark sleep  that ends in death and let the light of Truth into your life.

Many people today would protest that some of the inventions of mankind are good. Indeed they are, in a temporal sense. It is not the inventions we guard against but the belief behind them. The belief that because man can invent these things he must be the  creator of everything; that he must be God; that there is no spiritual man or eternal life. Of course we don't consciously think of ourselves as being god, but this is the effect of not acknowledging the absolute power of God and the existence of his kingdom. This is how mortal mind would hold us in subjugation.

How and where then did mortal mind raise its head? The allegory of the temptation of mankind by the serpent in Genesis describes how mortal mind first conspired to claim power over us by tempting mankind with the prospect of power and worldly knowledge.

Gen. 3: 4-5 “ And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then ye shall be as gods, knowing both good and evil.”

When we talk about mortal mind we are really describing the aggregated effect of all the ego-centric human minds in the world. Whether it was Adam or Eve who first succumbed to the temptation to taste the fruit of the tree of knowledge is of no importance in metaphysical science. The singling out of Eve as the temptress of Adam has been perpetuated by mortal mind to this day.  It is yet another conspiracy of mortal mind by which it seeks to divide and conquer mankind. There is no classification of ideas (children of God) in divine Mind as either male or female (Gal.3: 28). Just as God is neither male nor female, we, being created in his image and likeness, are not male or female. Neither are God's children classified by race, colour, creed, size, or shape. These are all divisive concepts of mortal mind.

Mortal mind, like the modern day hypnotist, says ‘ look me in the eye and give me control of your mind and you will experience all the pleasures of the world in return’. In today's world mortal mind more commonly uses the threat of disease rather than a promise of riches and power to hold us in subjugation.  The concept of disease was created by mortal mind itself when it claimed to be as powerful as God. Mortal mind is in a cycle of self-deception, it is the lie and the father of it (John 8:44). In our fear, we seek out temporary medical solutions instead of addressing the cause by denying the power of mortal mind and accepting only God as all-powerful.

How do we recognise and resist this conspiracy of mortal mind? When mortal mind first suggests to you that you have a disease deny the suggestion immediately and say ,’ get thee behind me Satan’ . Recognise that it is an attempt by mortal mind to get you to admit that it has power over you and to thereby involuntarily deny the absolute power of God.

Matt 16: 23 “Jesus said unto Peter, Get thee behind me Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”

We must be constantly alert to the temptations of mortal mind. When Jesus told his disciples of what lay ahead of him, Peter, out of love for him, suggest that he, Jesus, had the power to avoid his human enemies. Jesus saw this for what it was and rejected the suggestion. It was an attempt by the mortal minds around him to mesmerise him and convince him that there was path or a power other than God's.

Peter had only the best of intentions from a human point of view for suggesting this course of action. But this is typical of the subtle forms of mesmerisation that we face today. It appears to be good or the right thing to do to talk about this disease or that illness that so-and-so has. But by doing so we are propagating that very thing in our own and other’s minds. It is this involuntary mesmerism due to ignorance of the Truth which we must guard against every day.

II Cor 11: 3. “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

Paul warns us that we should not let mortal mind hypnotise us so that we believe in it’s power rather than in the simple Truth taught and practiced by Jesus : namely, that there is only one all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving God. This is the key to eternal life, glorious in its simplicity.

In I Cor 8: 5 & 6, Paul eloquently and simply sums up Christ's message to us about the conspiracy of mortal mind and how to overcome it:

“ For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,):

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.”

The first statement by Paul sums up what is wrong with the world today and the second is the solution, the 'simplicity that is in Christ’: One God, the Father of whom we are, and one Christ by which we are one in God. All things are made by God and we exist as spiritual ideas in his eternal kingdom, reflecting his divine thoughts.  Jesus Christ is the example of the perfect child of God. We, by Christ, may regain eternal life in God, divine Mind.  It is so breathtakingly simple!   No scholastic arguments or learned tomes required.