CHRISTIAN SCIENCE emphasizes the necessity of overcoming every erroneous belief to which human consciousness is committed. Since God, divine Mind, is infinite, is the only Mind, and conscious only of His own perfect ideas, the ideas which constitute the universe, nothing is real which does not have place in divine consciousness. How certain it is, then, that since false material beliefs have no place in divine consciousness, they are unreal, illusory, nonexistent! The regeneration which results from the transformation of thought is accomplished only as the false gives place to the true, as the unreal gives place to the real. This is the process of overcoming which the Scriptures so frequently enjoin upon those who would reap the blessings which God constantly provides for all His children—for all His spiritual ideas.
In his first epistle John states, "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world." And he assures us that the victory over evil is gained through faith, faith in Christ as the Son of God. These words, analyzed in the light of Christian Science, convey the very definite assurance that the world—that is, all false beliefs which emanate from the fundamental error that life inheres in and is supported by matter—is overcome and destroyed through gaining a demonstrable understanding of God and His perfect universe, including spiritual man. This is precisely equivalent to saying that the false is overcome by the true; that the unreal gives place to the real, when confronted by it. This process, simple in itself, is the only means whereby we overcome the false beliefs of so-called mortal mind and gain the Mind of Christ. Salvation is won in no other way.
The Revelator was insistent upon the need for overcoming the erroneous beliefs which constitute false consciousness. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God," is the message which the Revelator received through the Christ, a message fraught with such promise that none can gainsay its importance. To eat of the tree of life must be to partake of the spiritual truth which proceeds out of the mouth of God. It is the gaining of eternal Life, the state of consciousness wherein man realizes his coexistence with God, infinite Life, eternal and indestructible. Surely such an experience could be had in no place other than "the paradise of God."
