Chapter X - Science Of Being
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matter? It is not rational to say that Mind is infinite,
matter? It is not rational to say that Mind is infinite,
but dwells in finiteness, – in matter, – or that matter is
infinite and the medium of Mind.
Mind never limited
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If God were limited to man or matter, or if the infinite
If God were limited to man or matter, or if the infinite
could be circumscribed within the finite, God would be
corporeal, and unlimited Mind would seem
to spring from a limited body; but this is an
impossibility. Infinite Mind can have no starting-point,
and can return to no limit. It can never be in bonds,
nor be fully manifested through corporeality.
Material recognition impossible
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Is God's image or likeness matter, or a mortal, sin,
Is God's image or likeness matter, or a mortal, sin,
sickness, and death? Can matter recognize Mind?
Can infinite Mind recognize matter? Can the
infinite dwell in the finite or know aught un-
like the infinite? Can Deity be known through
the material senses? Can the material senses, which re-
ceive no direct evidence of Spirit, give correct testimony
as to spiritual life, truth, and love?
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The answer to all these questions must forever be in
The answer to all these questions must forever be in
the negative.
Our physical insensibility to Spirit
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The physical senses can obtain no proof of God. They
The physical senses can obtain no proof of God. They
can neither see Spirit through the eye nor hear it through
the ear, nor can they feel, taste, or smell Spirit.
Even the more subtile and misnamed ma-
terial elements are beyond the cognizance
of these senses, and are known only by the effects com-
monly attributed to them.
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According to Christian Science, the only real senses
According to Christian Science, the only real senses
of man are spiritual, emanating from divine Mind.
Thought passes from God to man, but neither sensation
nor report goes from material body to Mind. The in-
tercommunication is always from God to His idea, man.
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Matter is not sentient and cannot be cognizant of good
Matter is not sentient and cannot be cognizant of good
or of evil, of pleasure or of pain. Man's individu-
ality is not material. This Science of being obtains not
alone hereafter in what men call Paradise, but here
and now; it is the great fact of being for time and
eternity.
The human counterfeit
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What, then, is the material personality which suffers,
What, then, is the material personality which suffers,
sins, and dies? It is not man, the image and likeness
of God, but man's counterfeit, the inverted
likeness, the unlikeness called sin, sickness,
and death. The unreality of the claim that a mortal is
the true image of God is illustrated by the opposite na-
tures of Spirit and matter, Mind and body, for one is
intelligence while the other is non-intelligence.
Material misconceptions
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Is God a physical personality? Spirit is not physical.
Is God a physical personality? Spirit is not physical.
The belief that a material body is man is a false con-
ception of man. The time has come for a
finite conception of the infinite and of a ma-
terial body as the seat of Mind to give place
to a diviner sense of intelligence and its manifestations,
to the better understanding that Science gives of the
Supreme Being, or divine Principle, and idea.
Salvation is through reform
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By interpreting God as a corporeal Saviour but not as
By interpreting God as a corporeal Saviour but not as
the saving Principle, or divine Love, we shall continue
to seek salvation through pardon and not
through reform, and resort to matter instead
of Spirit for the cure of the sick. As mortals
reach, through knowledge of Christian Science, a higher
sense, they will seek to learn, not from matter, but from
the divine Principle, God, how to demonstrate the Christ,
Truth, as the healing and saving power.
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It is essential to understand, instead of believe, what
It is essential to understand, instead of believe, what