Chapter X - Science Of Being
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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
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relates most nearly to the happiness of being. To seek
relates most nearly to the happiness of being. To seek
Truth through belief in a human doctrine is not to un-
derstand the infinite. We must not seek the immutable
and immortal through the finite, mutable, and mortal,
and so depend upon belief instead of demonstration, for
this is fatal to a knowledge of Science. The understand-
ing of Truth gives full faith in Truth, and spiritual un-
derstanding is better than all burnt offerings.
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The Master said, "No man cometh unto the Father
The Master said, "No man cometh unto the Father
[the divine Principle of being] but by me," Christ,
Life, Truth, Love; for Christ says, "I am the way."
Physical causation was put aside from first to
last by this original man, Jesus. He knew that the
divine Principle, Love, creates and governs all that
is real.
Goodness a portion of God
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In the Saxon and twenty other tongues good is the term
In the Saxon and twenty other tongues good is the term
for God. The Scriptures declare all that He
made to be good, like Himself, – good in
Principle and in idea. Therefore the spiritual
universe is good, and reflects God as He is.
Spiritual thoughts
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God's thoughts are perfect and eternal, are substance
God's thoughts are perfect and eternal, are substance
and Life. Material and temporal thoughts are human,
involving error, and since God, Spirit, is the
only cause, they lack a divine cause. The
temporal and material are not then creations of Spirit.
They are but counterfeits of the spiritual and eternal.
Transitory thoughts are the antipodes of everlasting
Truth, though (by the supposition of opposite qualities)
error must also say, "I am true." But by this saying
error, the lie, destroys itself.
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Sin, sickness, and death are comprised in human ma-
Sin, sickness, and death are comprised in human ma-
terial belief, and belong not to the divine Mind. They