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The final novel in
the series, Lu Mountain, coincides sequentially with the highest element
in the last column. However, the notion of finality is invalid in the dynamic
empire of infinite Mind that is ever unfolding from its boundless basis. But we
can perceive an endpoint in humanist terms is respect to the end of long
struggles that fade into oblivion in the footsteps of healing. There is a
mountain in China, Lu Mountain, that is renowned in Chinese history as the
lodging place for many a healer. When a healing is accomplished a struggle ends.
But when the healing is spiritual, accomplished by spiritual means, the struggle
doesn't just end; it ends with the sparkle of a new dawn and a new and brighter
sunrise. Mary Baker Eddy's Church Manual can been seen in this manner.
While it is specific for the government of her church, it is universal in its
significance as a statement of progression of principles that are essential for
the development of civilization. The final chapter in her textbook is likewise
significant in this manner. The title of the chapter is, The Apocalypse, referring
to the end of all evil on the path of scientific and spiritual development with
which the biblical book of Revelation ends. Mary Baker Eddy's chapter ends with
a reference to this biblically promised ending in the form of a city foursquare descending
from God, infinite Mind, to man as a boundless platform for an active peace. She
presents profound definitions for the dimensions of this city foursquare,
which she herself made the center for all of her achievements. All of her major
works have been designed to be structurally contributory to this one central
structure, comprising a healing of religion with Science and an open door to
infinite discoveries and progressive development.
In the novel China
symbolizes this boundless dimension in contrast to the imperial western world
that is on the fast track of denying itself and destroying its culture and its
achievements. But this contrast in which China is seen in the novel is merely
symbolic as China's train runs fundamentally on the same track with the rest of
the world. No nation can be cited in the modern world as an exemplar, even to
some degree, of the empire of infinite Mind. In this sense the whole of mankind
stands as kindred searchers at the foot of Lu Mountain seeking a healing that it
cannot even define, but whit it knows must be achieved. Still, there is one
principle that stands out as beacon in the night, the one principle that is
threaded through all history, which is the Principle of Universal Love. Nor does
anyone own it. When this principle becomes the guiding light it does so
universally as it has in all the great periods of renaissance. Thus, the real Lu
Mountain is not a place in a far off land, but is divine Science, the science of
Love, of infinite Mind, of the harmonizing Spirit, the power of Principle, the
universal center for all healing. This stands before us now as the potential
light of our future.
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