Chapter X - Science Of Being
Belief an autocrat
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think they are so; and nothing can change this state, until
think they are so; and nothing can change this state, until
the belief changes. Mortal belief says, "You are happy!"
and mortals are so; and no circumstance can
alter the situation, until the belief on this sub-
ject changes. Human belief says to mortals, "You are
sick!" and this testimony manifests itself on the body as
sickness. It is as necessary for a health-illusion, as for
an illusion of sickness, to be instructed out of itself into
the understanding of what constitutes health; for a change
in either a health-belief or a belief in sickness affects the
physical condition.
Self-improvement
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Erroneous belief is destroyed by truth. Change the
Erroneous belief is destroyed by truth. Change the
evidence, and that disappears which before seemed real
to this false belief, and the human conscious-
ness rises higher. Thus the reality of being
is attained and man found to be immortal. The only
fact concerning any material concept is, that it is neither
scientific nor eternal, but subject to change and dis-
solution.
Faith higher than belief
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Faith is higher and more spiritual than belief. It is
Faith is higher and more spiritual than belief. It is
a chrysalis state of human thought, in which spiritual
evidence, contradicting the testimony of mate-
rial sense, begins to appear, and Truth, the
ever-present, is becoming understood. Human thoughts
have their degrees of comparison. Some thoughts are
better than others. A belief in Truth is better than a
belief in error, but no mortal testimony is founded on the
divine rock. Mortal testimony can be shaken. Until
belief becomes faith, and faith becomes spiritual under-
standing, human thought has little relation to the actual
or divine.
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A mortal belief fulfils its own conditions. Sickness,
A mortal belief fulfils its own conditions. Sickness,
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sin, and death are the vague realities of human conclu-
sin, and death are the vague realities of human conclu-
sions. Life, Truth, and Love are the realities of divine
Science. They dawn in faith and glow full-orbed in
spiritual understanding. As a cloud hides the sun it
cannot extinguish, so false belief silences for a while the
voice of immutable harmony, but false belief cannot de-
stroy Science armed with faith, hope, and fruition.
Truth's witness
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What is termed material sense can report only a mor-
What is termed material sense can report only a mor-
tal temporary sense of things, whereas spiritual sense can
bear witness only to Truth. To material sense,
the unreal is the real until this sense is corrected
by Christian Science.
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Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, in-
Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, in-
volves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, real-
ity. Material sense expresses the belief that mind is in
matter. This human belief, alternating between a sense
of pleasure and pain, hope and fear, life and death, never
reaches beyond the boundary of the mortal or the unreal.
When the real is attained, which is announced by Science,
joy is no longer a trembler, nor is hope a cheat. Spirit-
ual ideas, like numbers and notes, start from Principle,
and admit no materialistic beliefs. Spiritual ideas lead
up to their divine origin, God, and to the spiritual sense
of being.
Thought-angels
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Angels are not etherealized human beings, evolving
Angels are not etherealized human beings, evolving
animal qualities in their wings; but they are celestial
visitants, flying on spiritual, not material,
pinions. Angels are pure thoughts from God,
winged with Truth and Love, no matter what their indi-
vidualism may be. Human conjecture confers upon angels
its own forms of thought, marked with superstitious out-
lines, making them human creatures with suggestive
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feathers; but this is only fancy. It has behind it no more
feathers; but this is only fancy. It has behind it no more
reality than has the sculptor's thought when he carves
his "Statue of Liberty," which embodies his concep-
tion of an unseen quality or condition, but which has
no physical antecedent reality save in the artist's own ob-
servation and "chambers of imagery."
Our Angelic messengers
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My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door
My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door
of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried
its fondest earthly hopes. With white fin-
gers they point upward to a new and glo-
rified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys. Angels
are God's representatives. These upward-soaring beings
never lead towards self, sin, or materiality, but guide to
the divine Principle of all good, whither every real indi-
viduality, image, or likeness of God, gathers. By giving
earnest heed to these spiritual guides they tarry with us,
and we entertain "angels unawares."
Knowledge and Truth
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Knowledge gained from material sense is figuratively
Knowledge gained from material sense is figuratively
represented in Scripture as a tree, bearing the fruits of
sin, sickness, and death. Ought we not then
to judge the knowledge thus obtained to be
untrue and dangerous, since "the tree is known by his
fruit"?
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Truth never destroys God's idea. Truth is spiritual,
Truth never destroys God's idea. Truth is spiritual,
eternal substance, which cannot destroy the right reflec-
tion. Corporeal sense, or error, may seem to hide Truth,
health, harmony, and Science, as the mist obscures the
sun or the mountain; but Science, the sunshine of Truth,
will melt away the shadow and reveal the celestial
peaks.
Old and new man
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If man were solely a creature of the material senses,
If man were solely a creature of the material senses,
he would have no eternal Principle and would be mutable
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and mortal. Human logic is awry when it attempts
and mortal. Human logic is awry when it attempts
to draw correct spiritual conclusions regarding life from
matter. Finite sense has no true apprecia-
tion of infinite Principle, God, or of His infi-
nite image or reflection, man. The mirage, which makes
trees and cities seem to be where they are not, illustrates
the illusion of material man, who cannot be the image
of God.
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So far as the scientific statement as to man is under-
So far as the scientific statement as to man is under-
stood, it can be proved and will bring to light the true
reflection of God – the real man, or the new man (as
St. Paul has it).
The tares and wheat
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The temporal and unreal never touch the eternal and
The temporal and unreal never touch the eternal and
real. The mutable and imperfect never touch the im-
mutable and perfect. The inharmonious and
self-destructive never touch the harmonious
and self-existent. These opposite qualities are the tares
and wheat, which never really mingle, though (to mortal
sight) they grow side by side until the harvest; then, Sci-
ence separates the wheat from the tares, through the real-
ization of God as ever present and of man as reflecting
the divine likeness.
The divine reflection
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Spirit is God, Soul; therefore Soul is not in matter. If
Spirit is God, Soul; therefore Soul is not in matter. If
Spirit were in matter, God would have no representative,
and matter would be identical with God.
The theory that soul, spirit, intelligence, in-
habits matter is taught by the schools. This theory is
unscientific. The universe reflects and expresses the di-
vine substance or Mind; therefore God is seen only in the
spiritual universe and spiritual man, as the sun is seen in
the ray of light which goes out from it. God is re-
vealed only in that which reflects Life, Truth, Love, –
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yea, which manifests God's attributes and power, even
yea, which manifests God's attributes and power, even
as the human likeness thrown upon the mirror, repeats
the color, form, and action of the person in front of the
mirror.
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Few persons comprehend what Christian Science
Few persons comprehend what Christian Science
means by the word reflection. To himself, mortal and
material man seems to be substance, but his sense of
substance involves error and therefore is material,
temporal.
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On the other hand, the immortal, spiritual man is really
On the other hand, the immortal, spiritual man is really
substantial, and reflects the eternal substance, or Spirit,
which mortals hope for. He reflects the divine, which
constitutes the only real and eternal entity. This reflection
seems to mortal sense transcendental, because the spiritual
man's substantiality transcends mortal vision and is re-
vealed only through divine Science.
Inverted images and ideas
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As God is substance and man is the divine image and
As God is substance and man is the divine image and
likeness, man should wish for, and in reality has, only
the substance of good, the substance of Spirit,
not matter. The belief that man has any other
substance, or mind, is not spiritual and breaks
the First Commandment, Thou shalt have one God, one
Mind. Mortal man seems to himself to be material sub-
stance, while man is "image" (idea). Delusion, sin, dis-
ease, and death arise from the false testimony of material
sense, which, from a supposed standpoint outside the
focal distance of infinite Spirit, presents an inverted image
of Mind and substance with everything turned upside
down.
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This falsity presupposes soul to be an unsubstantial
This falsity presupposes soul to be an unsubstantial
dweller in material forms, and man to be material instead
of spiritual. Immortality is not bounded by mortality.
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Soul is not compassed by finiteness. Principle is not to
Soul is not compassed by finiteness. Principle is not to
be found in fragmentary ideas.
Identity not lost
302:3
The material body and mind are temporal, but the
The material body and mind are temporal, but the
real man is spiritual and eternal. The identity of the
real man is not lost, but found through this
explanation; for the conscious infinitude of
existence and of all identity is thereby discerned and re-
mains unchanged. It is impossible that man should lose
aught that is real, when God is all and eternally his. The
notion that mind is in matter, and that the so-called pleas-
ures and pains, the birth, sin, sickness, and death of
matter, are real, is a mortal belief; and this belief is all
that will ever be lost.
Definition of man
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Continuing our definition of man, let us remember that
Continuing our definition of man, let us remember that
harmonious and immortal man has existed forever, and
is always beyond and above the mortal illu-
sion of any life, substance and intelligence
as existent in matter. This statement is based on fact,
not fable. The Science of being reveals man as perfect,
even as the Father is perfect, because the Soul, or Mind,
of the spiritual man is God, the divine Principle of all
being, and because this real man is governed by Soul
instead of sense, by the law of Spirit, not by the so-called
laws of matter.
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God is Love. He is therefore the divine, infinite Prin-
God is Love. He is therefore the divine, infinite Prin-
ciple, called Person or God. Man's true consciousness
is in the mental, not in any bodily or personal likeness
to Spirit. Indeed, the body presents no proper likeness
of divinity, though mortal sense would fain have us so
believe.
Mental propagation
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Even in Christian Science, reproduction by Spirit's
Even in Christian Science, reproduction by Spirit's
individual ideas is but the reflection of the creative power
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of the divine Principle of those ideas. The reflection,
of the divine Principle of those ideas. The reflection,
through mental manifestation, of the multitudinous
forms of Mind which people the realm of
the real is controlled by Mind, the Principle
governing the reflection. Multiplication of God's chil-
dren comes from no power of propagation in matter, it
is the reflection of Spirit.
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The minutiae of lesser individualities reflect the one di-
The minutiae of lesser individualities reflect the one di-
vine individuality and are comprehended in and formed
by Spirit, not by material sensation. Whatever reflects
Mind, Life, Truth, and Love, is spiritually conceived and
brought forth; but the statement that man is conceived
and evolved both spiritually and materially, or by both
God and man, contradicts this eternal truth. All the
vanity of the ages can never make both these contraries
true. Divine Science lays the axe at the root of the illu-
sion that life, or mind, is formed by or is in the material
body, and Science will eventually destroy this illusion
through the self-destruction of all error and the beatified
understanding of the Science of Life.
Error defined
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The belief that pain and pleasure, life and death, holi-
The belief that pain and pleasure, life and death, holi-
ness and unholiness, mingle in man, – that
mortal, material man is the likeness of God
and is himself a creator, – is a fatal error.
Man's entity spiritual
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God, without the image and likeness of Himself, would
God, without the image and likeness of Himself, would
be a nonentity, or Mind unexpressed. He would be
without a witness or proof of His own na-
ture. Spiritual man is the image or idea of
God, an idea which cannot be lost nor sep-
arated from its divine Principle. When the evidence
before the material senses yielded to spiritual sense, the
apostle declared that nothing could alienate him from
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God, from the sweet sense and presence of Life and
God, from the sweet sense and presence of Life and
Truth.
Man inseparable from Love
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It is ignorance and false belief, based on a material
It is ignorance and false belief, based on a material
sense of things, which hide spiritual beauty and good-
ness. Understanding this, Paul said: "Nei-
ther death, nor life, . . . nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor
any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God." This is the doctrine of Christian
Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its
manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned into
sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can
never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind
nor life result in death. The perfect man – governed
by God, his perfect Principle – is sinless and eternal.
Harmony natural
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Harmony is produced by its Principle, is controlled
Harmony is produced by its Principle, is controlled
by it and abides with it. Divine Principle is the Life
of man. Man's happiness is not, therefore, at
the disposal of physical sense. Truth is not
contaminated by error. Harmony in man is as beautiful
as in music, and discord is unnatural, unreal.
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The science of music governs tones. If mortals caught
The science of music governs tones. If mortals caught
harmony through material sense, they would lose har-
mony, if time or accident robbed them of material sense.
To be master of chords and discords, the science of
music must be understood. Left to the decisions
of material sense, music is liable to be misappre-
hended and lost in confusion. Controlled by belief,
instead of understanding, music is, must be, imper-
fectly expressed. So man, not understanding the Sci-
ence of being, – thrusting aside his divine Principle as
incomprehensible, – is abandoned to conjectures, left in
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the hands of ignorance, placed at the disposal of illusions,
the hands of ignorance, placed at the disposal of illusions,
subjected to material sense which is discord. A discon-
tented, discordant mortal is no more a man than discord
is music.
Human reflection
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A picture in the camera or a face reflected in the mirror
A picture in the camera or a face reflected in the mirror
is not the original, though resembling it. Man, in the
likeness of his Maker, reflects the central light
of being, the invisible God. As there is no cor-
poreality in the mirrored form, which is but a reflection,
so man, like all things real, reflects God, his divine Prin-
ciple, not in a mortal body.
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Gender also is a quality, not of God, but a character-
Gender also is a quality, not of God, but a character-
istic of mortal mind. The verity that God's image is not
a creator, though he reflects the creation of Mind, God,
constitutes the underlying reality of reflection. "Then
answered Jesus and said unto them: Verily, verily I say
unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he
seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise."
Inverted images
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The inverted images presented by the senses, the de-
The inverted images presented by the senses, the de-
flections of matter as opposed to the Science of spirit-
ual reflection, are all unlike Spirit, God. In
the illusion of life that is here to-day and
gone to-morrow, man would be wholly mortal, were
it not that Love, the divine Principle that obtains in
divine Science, destroys all error and brings immor-
tality to light. Because man is the reflection of his
Maker, he is not subject to birth, growth, maturity, de-
cay. These mortal dreams are of human origin, not
divine.
Jewish traditions
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The Sadducees reasoned falsely about the resurrec-
The Sadducees reasoned falsely about the resurrec-
tion, but not so blindly as the Pharisees, who believed
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error to be as immortal as Truth. The Pharisees thought
error to be as immortal as Truth. The Pharisees thought
that they could raise the spiritual from the material. They
would first make life result in death, and then
resort to death to reproduce spiritual life.
Jesus taught them how death was to be overcome by
spiritual Life, and demonstrated this beyond cavil.
Divinity not childless
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Life demonstrates Life. The immortality of Soul makes
Life demonstrates Life. The immortality of Soul makes
man immortal. If God, who is Life, were parted for a
moment from His reflection, man, during that
moment there would be no divinity reflected.
The Ego would be unexpressed, and the Father would be
childless, – no Father.
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If Life or Soul and its representative, man, unite for
If Life or Soul and its representative, man, unite for
a period and then are separated as by a law of divorce to
be brought together again at some uncertain future time
and in a manner unknown, – and this is the general
religious opinion of mankind, – we are left without a
rational proof of immortality. But man cannot be sep-
arated for an instant from God, if man reflects God.
Thus Science proves man's existence to be intact.
Thought-forms
306:21
The myriad forms of mortal thought, made manifest
The myriad forms of mortal thought, made manifest
as matter, are not more distinct nor real to the mate-
rial senses than are the Soul-created forms
to spiritual sense, which cognizes Life as per-
manent. Undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the
material senses, Science, still enthroned, is unfolding
to mortals the immutable, harmonious, divine Principle,
– is unfolding Life and the universe, ever present and
eternal.
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God's man, spiritually created, is not material and
God's man, spiritually created, is not material and
mortal.
The serpent's whisper
306:32
The parent of all human discord was the Adam-dream,
The parent of all human discord was the Adam-dream,
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the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion that life
the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion that life
and intelligence proceeded from and passed into matter.
This pantheistic error, or so-called serpent, in-
sists still upon the opposite of Truth, saying,
"Ye shall be as gods;" that is, I will make error as real
and eternal as Truth.
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Evil still affirms itself to be mind, and declares that
Evil still affirms itself to be mind, and declares that
there is more than one intelligence or God. It says:
"There shall be lords and gods many. I declare that God
makes evil minds and evil spirits, and that I aid Him.
Truth shall change sides and be unlike Spirit. I will
put spirit into what I call matter, and matter shall seem
to have life as much as God, Spirit, who is the only life."
Bad results from error
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This error has proved itself to be error. Its life is found
This error has proved itself to be error. Its life is found
to be not Life, but only a transient, false sense of an ex-
istence which ends in death. Error charges
its lie to Truth and says: "The Lord knows
it. He has made man mortal and material, out of mat-
ter instead of Spirit." Thus error partakes of its own
nature and utters its own falsities. If we regard matter
as intelligent, and Mind as both good and evil, every sin
or supposed material pain and pleasure seems normal,
a part of God's creation, and so weighs against our course
Spiritward.
Higher statutes
307:25
Truth has no beginning. The divine Mind is the Soul
Truth has no beginning. The divine Mind is the Soul
of man, and gives man dominion over all things. Man
was not created from a material basis, nor
bidden to obey material laws which Spirit never
made; his province is in spiritual statutes, in the higher
law of Mind.
The great question
307:31
Above error's awful din, blackness, and chaos, the voice
Above error's awful din, blackness, and chaos, the voice
of Truth still calls: "Adam, where art thou? Conscious-
308:1
ness, where art thou? Art thou dwelling in the belief
ness, where art thou? Art thou dwelling in the belief
that mind is in matter, and that evil is mind, or art thou
in the living faith that there is and can be but
one God, and keeping His commandment?"
Until the lesson is learned that God is the only Mind gov-
erning man, mortal belief will be afraid as it was in the
beginning, and will hide from the demand, "Where art
thou?" This awful demand, "Adam, where art thou?"
is met by the admission from the head, heart, stomach,
blood, nerves, etc.: "Lo, here I am, looking for happiness
and life in the body, but finding only an illusion, a blend-
ing of false claims, false pleasure, pain, sin, sickness, and
death."
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The Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth,
The Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth,
and talked with God as consciously as man talks with man.
Wrestling of Jacob
308:16
Jacob was alone, wrestling with error, – struggling
Jacob was alone, wrestling with error, – struggling
with a mortal sense of life, substance, and intelligence
as existent in matter with its false pleasures
and pains, – when an angel, a message from
Truth and Love, appeared to him and smote the sinew,
or strength, of his error, till he saw its unreality; and
Truth, being thereby understood, gave him spiritual
strength in this Peniel of divine Science. Then said
the spiritual evangel: "Let me go, for the day breaketh;"
that is, the light of Truth and Love dawns upon thee.
But the patriarch, perceiving his error and his need
of help, did not loosen his hold upon this glorious light
until his nature was transformed. When Jacob was
asked, "What is thy name?" he straightway answered;
and then his name was changed to Israel, for "as a prince"
had he prevailed and had "power with God and with
men." Then Jacob questioned his deliverer, "Tell me,
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I pray thee, thy name;" but this appellation was withheld,
I pray thee, thy name;" but this appellation was withheld,
for the messenger was not a corporeal being, but a name-
less, incorporeal impartation of divine Love to man, which,
to use the word of the Psalmist, restored his Soul, – gave
him the spiritual sense of being and rebuked his material
sense.
Israel the new name
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The result of Jacob's struggle thus appeared. He had
The result of Jacob's struggle thus appeared. He had
conquered material error with the understanding of Spirit
and of spiritual power. This changed the man.
He was no longer called Jacob, but Israel, –
a prince of God, or a soldier of God, who had fought
a good fight. He was to become the father of those, who
through earnest striving followed his demonstration of the
power of Spirit over the material senses; and the children
of earth who followed his example were to be called the
children of Israel, until the Messiah should rename them.
If these children should go astray, and forget that Life
is God, good, and that good is not in elements which are
not spiritual, – thus losing the divine power which heals
the sick and sinning, – they were to be brought back
through great tribulation, to be renamed in Christian
Science and led to deny material sense, or mind in matter,
even as the gospel teaches.
Life never structural
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The Science of being shows it to be impossible for in-
The Science of being shows it to be impossible for in-
finite Spirit or Soul to be in a finite body or for man to
have an intelligence separate from his Maker.
It is a self-evident error to suppose that there
can be such a reality as organic animal or vegetable life,
when such so-called life always ends in death. Life is
never for a moment extinct. Therefore it is never struc-
tural nor organic, and is never absorbed nor limited by its
own formations.
Thought seen as substance
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The artist is not in his painting. The picture is the
The artist is not in his painting. The picture is the
artist's thought objectified. The human belief fancies
that it delineates thought on matter, but what
is matter? Did it exist prior to thought?
Matter is made up of supposititious mortal mind-force;
but all might is divine Mind. Thought will finally be
understood and seen in all form, substance, and color, but
without material accompaniments. The potter is not in
the clay; else the clay would have power over the potter.
God is His own infinite Mind, and expresses all.
The central intelligence
310:11
Day may decline and shadows fall, but darkness flees
Day may decline and shadows fall, but darkness flees
when the earth has again turned upon its axis. The sun
is not affected by the revolution of the earth.
So Science reveals Soul as God, untouched
by sin and death, – as the central life and intelligence
around which circle harmoniously all things in the sys-
tems of Mind.
Soul imperishable
310:18
Soul changeth not. We are commonly taught that there
Soul changeth not. We are commonly taught that there
is a human soul which sins and is spiritually lost, – that
soul may be lost, and yet be immortal. If
Soul could sin, Spirit, Soul, would be flesh in-
stead of Spirit. It is the belief of the flesh and of mate-
rial sense which sins. If Soul sinned, Soul would die.
Sin is the element of self-destruction, and spiritual death
is oblivion. If there was sin in Soul, the annihilation of
Spirit would be inevitable. The only Life is Spirit, and
if Spirit should lose Life as God, good, then Spirit, which
has no other existence, would be annihilated.
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Mind is God, and God is not seen by material sense,
Mind is God, and God is not seen by material sense,
because Mind is Spirit, which material sense cannot dis-
cern. There is neither growth, maturity, nor decay in
Soul. These changes are the mutations of material sense,
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the varying clouds of mortal belief, which hide the truth
the varying clouds of mortal belief, which hide the truth
of being.
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What we term mortal mind or carnal mind, dependent
What we term mortal mind or carnal mind, dependent
on matter for manifestation, is not Mind. God is Mind:
all that Mind, God, is, or hath made, is good, and He
made all. Hence evil is not made and is not real.
Sin only of the flesh
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Soul is immortal because it is Spirit, which has no ele-
Soul is immortal because it is Spirit, which has no ele-
ment of self-destruction. Is man lost spiritually? No,
he can only lose a sense material. All sin is
of the flesh. It cannot be spiritual. Sin exists
here or hereafter only so long as the illusion of mind in
matter remains. It is a sense of sin, and not a sinful soul,
which is lost. Evil is destroyed by the sense of good.
Soul impeccable
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Through false estimates of soul as dwelling in sense
Through false estimates of soul as dwelling in sense
and of mind as dwelling in matter, belief strays into a
sense of temporary loss or absence of soul, spir-
itual truth. This state of error is the mortal
dream of life and substance as existent in matter, and is
directly opposite to the immortal reality of being. So long
as we believe that soul can sin or that immortal Soul is in
mortal body, we can never understand the Science of be-
ing. When humanity does understand this Science, it
will become the law of Life to man, – even the higher law
of Soul, which prevails over material sense through har-
mony and immortality.
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The objects cognized by the physical senses have not
The objects cognized by the physical senses have not
the reality of substance. They are only what mortal
belief calls them. Matter, sin, and mortality lose all
supposed consciousness or claim to life or existence, as
mortals lay off a false sense of life, substance, and intelli-
gence, but the spiritual, eternal man is not touched by
these phases of mortality.
Sense-dreams
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How true it is that whatever is learned through material
How true it is that whatever is learned through material
sense must be lost because such so-called knowledge is
reversed by the spiritual facts of being in
Science. That which material sense calls
intangible, is found to be substance. What to material
sense seems substance, becomes nothingness, as the sense‑
dream vanishes and reality appears.
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The senses regard a corpse, not as man, but simply as
The senses regard a corpse, not as man, but simply as
matter. People say, "Man is dead;" but this death is
the departure of a mortal's mind, not of matter. The
matter is still there. The belief of that mortal that he
must die occasioned his departure; yet you say that
matter has caused his death.
Vain ecstasies
312:14
People go into ecstasies over the sense of a corporeal
People go into ecstasies over the sense of a corporeal
Jehovah, though with scarcely a spark of love in their
hearts; yet God is love, and without Love,
God, immortality cannot appear. Mortals try
to believe without understanding Truth; yet God is
Truth. Mortals claim that death is inevitable; but man's
eternal Principle is ever-present life. Mortals believe in
a finite personal God; while God is infinite Love, which
must be unlimited.
Man-made theories
312:23
Our theories are based on finite premises, which can-
Our theories are based on finite premises, which can-
not penetrate beyond matter. A personal sense of God
and of man's capabilities necessarily limits
faith and hinders spiritual understanding. It
divides faith and understanding between matter and Spirit,
the finite and the infinite, and so turns away from the
intelligent and divine healing Principle to the inanimate
drug.
The one anointed
312:31
Jesus' spiritual origin and his demonstration of divine
Jesus' spiritual origin and his demonstration of divine
Principle richly endowed him and entitled him to sonship
313:1
in Science. He was the son of a virgin. The term
in Science. He was the son of a virgin. The term
Christ Jesus, or Jesus the Christ (to give the full and
proper translation of the Greek), may be ren-
dered "Jesus the anointed," Jesus the God‑
crowned or the divinely royal man, as it is said of him in
the first chapter of Hebrews: –
313:7
Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee
Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee
With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
313:9
With this agrees another passage in the same chapter,
With this agrees another passage in the same chapter,
which refers to the Son as "the brightness of His [God's]
glory, and the express [expressed] image of His person
[infinite Mind]." It is noteworthy that the phrase "ex-
press image" in the Common Version is, in the Greek
Testament, character. Using this word in its higher mean-
ing, we may assume that the author of this remarkable
epistle regarded Christ as the Son of God, the royal
reflection of the infinite; and the cause given for the ex-
altation of Jesus, Mary's son, was that he "loved right-
eousness and hated iniquity." The passage is made
even clearer in the translation of the late George R.
Noyes, D.D.: "Who, being a brightness from His glory,
and an image of His being."
Jesus the Scientist
313:23
Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that
Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that
ever trod the globe. He plunged beneath the material
surface of things, and found the spiritual
cause. To accommodate himself to imma-
ture ideas of spiritual power, – for spirituality was pos
sessed only in a limited degree even by his disciples, –
Jesus called the body, which by spiritual power he
raised from the grave, "flesh and bones." To show
that the substance of himself was Spirit and the body