TMI

A few days ago I was driving down the street and saw all these signs on the side of the road. They were so close together and varied that it wasn't possible to read them all and pay attention to the road. Immediately I thought, "TMI!"

A number of years ago the acronoym TMI became a part of our family's venacular. It's urban-speak for too much information. It's often used when someone has given more details about a subject than necessary or wanted.

I wondered "Where else do we get too much information that we need to be alert to?" The answers flowed: the internet, social media, friends and family, neighbors, magazines, and even our own mental dialog sometimes. Almost every source of information either gives us more than needed or inappropriate content.

When we're feeling barraged with information and need to get to the bottom of something quickly and effectively I've found it helpful to turn my thought to this Bible verse, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Romans 8:6).

Why this verse?

Because often what is being presented in a TMI situation is all about the physical body, carnality, sensuality, addiction, disease, anger, hatred, etc. So, this reminds me to keep my thought spiriutally-minded, as this brings life and peace.

How do we do this?

Well, first it's noteworthy to mention that when faced with TMI it's not about neglecting the issue at hand, but recognizing it as not from God, good. So, in order to counteract it, after seeing its intention, thought goes to the spiritual. We can do this by following this instruction from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy: "Maintain the facts of Christian Science, — that Spirit is God, and therefore cannot be sick; that what is termed matter cannot be sick; that all causation is Mind, acting through spiritual law" (p. 417:10–14).

It's fairly evident that God, the omnipotent, good cause, cannot be sick. That seems generally easy for most to admit. A bit more difficult may be the truth that matter cannot be sick. But, when matter is understood to be an unthinking, inert, unintelligent mass then it's easier to grasp how an unthinking mass could not be sick, since all sickness is falsely mental not physical. Once these two spiritual facts are admitted and understood we can follow it up with the latter part of the statement, "that all causation in Mind (God), acting through spiritual law." ibid.

How does this help when we're faced with TMI?

It helps because it puts thought on what is real -- the spiritual facts of being -- and simultaneously destroys the false. It reminds us that all that God creates is good, that uninitelligent matter has no power to act, and that all causation is spiritual, never material.

Still scratching your head?

Give it a try and see how it works for you!