I've been awash in Maya. And there is nothing not to believe to be actual. We live in illusion, whether that illusion be historic, physical, aesthetic or whatever. Americans are heir to Quimbyism and Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science both of which state that there is no life, truth, intelligence nor substance in matter. All is Mind (ie Maya or God) and its infinite manifestations. The Christian Sciene religion began in one form or another in the top middle of the last century. It has been at the helm of spiritual healing, since matter is according to its conception totally "error." To acknowledge this alone is to prepare for the reality of no-mind and to see the human in a state of perfect health.

When we speak of Maya, perhaps we should pay enough homage to Christian Science, Unity, New Thought, Religious Science and other systems more or less related to the earliest writings of the folk 'metephysician' Phenius (sp?) Quimby who travelled the roads of New Hampshire and Massachusetts spreading an indiginous version of Maya. And one that may play some unacknowledged role in certain developments of cognitive therapy (ie Seligman and learned optimism). The Christian Science folk are into optimism since all else is 'illusion'.

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E. Mark Stern, Ed.D., (Clinical Psychology)
e-mail <Dremstern@aol.com>