Through a better understanding of the inspired teachings of our revered Leader we are gaining a clearer realization of the sublime reality of Life. No work published since the first translation of the New Testament has done so much to enlighten mankind as has "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker G. Eddy. Because of the better understanding of the Bible gained through the writings of our devoted Teacher, we are no longer willing to accept the meaning of Life as less than eternal. The world had regarded Life, which is but the realization of the "Creator reflected in His creations" (Science and Health, p. 226), as conditioned by the narrow limits of mistaken beliefs and ancient dogmas. Life cannot be spanned by a mortal birth and a silent grave.
Are we, as children of God, created in His image and likeness and reflecting His attributes, less than the earth we tread, inferior to the air we breathe, or subordinate to the elements in which we move? Are we to barter away our realization of Life, with its unlimited possibilities, for a belief so unnatural that its acceptance would reduce existence to a troubled dream, and the future to an unfathomable mystery? We stand now face to face with the realities of things and conditions. Understanding in a measure the deep, sublime meaning of Life we can no longer reasonably submit to imposed limitations. If we have seemed to accept that which is now known to be untrue we must reject it if we would realize Life and its perfectness.
If the early Greek sculptors had represented their figures leaning on canes, or bound up in bandages, or in attitudes indicating beliefs in sickness, we should have lamented their lack of realization of the real, and deplored their belief in the unreal. But with a conception of the truth as lofty as it was sublime, they wrought their ideals into forms expressing their highest conception of perfectness. The lifeless marble, under their skilful hands, was transformed into figures representing strong men and beautiful women, expressing in every feature their highest realization of perfection. In all ages man's unfettered thought of the real man has been a perfect being, without limitations imposed by the confines of the physical. Can it be that man's idea of perfectness is impossible of realization? Are our high thoughts of the real but false, vain hopes? Has man conceived of something grander, more perfect, more beautiful than the Creator has created? There can be but one reply if we are to answer those seeking the truth intelligently. It must be that the loftiest ideal is the real, and the highest conception of grandeur the nearest true.
