"THIS corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." These words of Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians clearly state what every sincere Christian Scientist understands to be a necessity: the material sense of things, and all that pertains to it of change and decay, must give place to the spiritual sense of being with its perception of enduring substance. Mortal seeming must be superseded by the understanding of the eternal nature of the real creation.
Mortals believe in the reality of matter, in the reality of material bodies, and that, in a manner they cannot explain, they inhabit these bodies. Believing thus, they further believe that they are subject to material laws which cause them to be sick, to suffer, and finally to die, and, moreover, that they are liable to numerous mental experiences ranging from the tragically sorrowful to the happifying and gladdening. What is plain about so-called mortal existence is its variable nature—its liability to suffering, its uncertainty, its inability to endure! No one is so spiritually blind as to be unable to perceive these things.
It is because of the unsatisfying, unhappy, and oftentimes tragic experiences of material existence that men have searched for a way out of them. And the long search has resulted in the great discoveries of Christianity, eventuating in the revelation of Christian Science. While the search was proceeding, and while the nature of God and His spiritual creation was being revealed, it became more and more clear to mankind that the corruptible could be replaced by the incorruptible, the mortal by the immortal—but only through spiritualization of thought. In other words, it became evident that false material sense, with its sorrow, sickness, suffering, and death, must be destroyed through spiritual awakening and regeneration, and that this spiritual awakening and regeneration would take place progressively. Mrs. Eddy says in "The People's Idea of God" (p. 1), "Every step of progress is a step more spiritual."
