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Chapter 9 - The Christmas PresentWhile Sylvia, Tony, and I were getting ourselves ready to leave, Ross brought up the issue of active living once more, and the need for actively building the needed scientific infrastructures. He brought the subject up while Sylvia and I were searching for our coats. He said that the coats are in the bedroom. But on the way to the bedroom he stopped us. "Think about what this new challenge means," he said to me. Before we got our coats on, Ross invited me to join him in his study, for a 'moment' as he put it. He said that he had something important to show me. "It won't take long," he said to Heather. Heather just laughed. "I think I better drive Tony and Sylvia home," she said smiling. She turned to Sylvia. "When Ross says it won't take long, he means you'll be lucky if you get home before sunrise. I don't think you want to wait that long." She took her own coat out of the closet to put it on. "You don't need to do this," said Ross. "We won't be long. I'm just going to show Peter what I discovered in Mary's work." I followed Ross into his study. "I call her Mary for short," said Ross as we entered his study. "You mean the famous Mary, the one and only?" I said. "Yes, the one I mentioned earlier, Mary Baker Eddy, America's most famous healer," said Ross. "I have found something on the Internet that got me interested in Mary's writings that might interest you," he said. "It was you who got me interested in her in the first place, or was it Sylvia? Anyway, I started looking around. I found something that was created by this most famous woman, which has remained until now deeply hidden, for almost a century already. I think it was you who referred to her as a healer. I think you said that a woman that you had danced with in Washington had told you remarkable things about her. Or was it Steve? I think it was you who told me the story of a woman who had been completely healed of partial paralysis when this Mary had been merely driving by her in a carriage. That's the Mary I am talking about. I made some inquiries. She was born as Mary Baker on a homestead in New Hampshire in 1821. She healed herself in 1866 of the consequences of an accident. This healing saved her life and subsequently changed the world. She became the discoverer and founder of Christian Science. She is known today throughout the world under the name of Mary Baker Eddy." Ross showed me the discovery he had made in Mary's writings. He took a book from his desk drawer, but didn't open it. "Mary is sometimes described as one of the greatest spiritual pioneers of America," he said quietly. "She brought back into practice the long lost element of Christ healing. But the most daring thing that she did is something that hardly anyone is aware of. She had established a Christian church around the turn of the century without incorporating any provision for marriages." "That's interesting," I replied. Ross shook his head. "No, that it where it merely starts getting interesting, Peter," he said proudly. "That's where the fun starts." Ross told me that this Mary had written a textbook on her discovery, and that this textbook was made up of sixteen chapters. He added that every one of her major works had likewise been created as a structure that was divided by her into sixteen parts, or multiples thereof. || - page index - || - chapter index - || - Exit - ||
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