Hearing Taylor Swift’s popular song “Shake it off” makes me smile, because that phrase reminds me of an idea I have found helpful in my study and practice of Christian Science.
When Jesus was preparing his disciples to go to different villages to heal and to share their new understanding of God – who is eternal Life, intelligent Mind, and infinite Love – he counseled them, “When ye come into an house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet” (Matthew 10:12-14).
I like to think of this as, “Don’t let rejection take away your peace. Just shake off the frustration, drop the disappointment right then and there, and move on.” It’s a message I’ve found helpful in my own life, too.
When we shake something off, we separate it from ourselves. What does it mean to separate ourselves from the dust?
The study of Christian Science has taught me that dust can represent matter – which is the supposed opposite of God, who is All and is incorruptible Spirit. The first chapter of Genesis explains that God made man in His likeness. This must mean that every one of His children – which includes all of us – is entirely spiritual, good, pure, just, flawless, and lovely in every sense of the word. Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, wrote, “Man originated not from dust, materially, but from Spirit, spiritually” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” p. 57).
So, we might think of “shaking the dust off our feet” as shaking off a material, stained, limited sense of ourselves or others.
It may feel impossible to let go of those unhelpful thoughts. Shaking off the dust can’t be done just through human will. Through prayer, however, we can gain a deeper understanding of the nature of the allness of God and our inseparable relationship to Him. Then we find release from illness, bitterness, hurts, and resentment as we realize that God is totally, 100% good. We are each embraced in His goodness and subjected only to His love.
Because there is only one Mind, God, inharmonious thoughts aren’t truly part of us. Christ – God’s forever message of truth about what He is and what we are as His children – enables us to recognize false beliefs about our nature for what they are, and to know the healing truth.
Recently I became ill with severe flu-like symptoms. That night, I prayed to let go of any material beliefs and fears that the harmony of my being as Spirit’s offspring, or idea, could be interrupted. Where in omnipresent God is there room for something harmful? The thought came to me, “You don’t have to believe this. You can shake this off!”
That didn’t mean waiting out or willing away the illness. It was a call to recognize that what the physical senses report is not the fundamental truth of what we are – and to insist on the totality of God and His goodness. We have all been given divine authority to do this.
By the next morning, all symptoms were gone.
The inward voice of Christ, Truth, speaks to us all, reassuring us of our God-given peace and health. Christ calms, comforts, and neutralizes negatively charged thinking. Christ enables us to have a sense of inner poise, dignity, and dominion over discord – whether it be relationship issues, anxiety, depression, disease, or something else.
The Bible tells us of a time when a poisonous viper came out of the fire and attached itself to the Apostle Paul’s hand. What did he do? He shook it off, and was not harmed.
That’s what we can learn to do when toxic thoughts try to attach themselves to us: through the help of the ever-active Christ, we can “shake it off” – hold to the truth of our real nature as spiritual and whole, and let our peace return to us.
