MANKIND in general has regarded Soul as chiefly pertaining to salvation in some future state, but Christian Science shows one how to utilize its capacities here and now. The disciple John shows the relation between Soul and the gifts of health and prosperity when he writes, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." Sight, hearing, action, intelligence, which mankind has been wont to locate in materiality, are in fact imperishable faculties of Soul: they are true mental states, exempt from limitation, diminution, and extinction.
"He restoreth my soul." The true sense of God and man restores to one the understanding of every faculty as wholly spiritual and functioning in everlasting harmony. It reveals these faculties as independent of materiality and exempt from the depredations of the belief in time.
Generally speaking, however, material sense, the counterfeit of Soul, has been accepted by mortals as the frail custodian of the faculties of sight, hearing, and general health; and that of which one has seemed to be deprived through corporeal sense can be restored only through spiritual sense. So-called evil is cognized only through the supposed medium of material sense, and the remedy for it lies in understanding God, good, in all His ways, and man in all his Godlikeness. Christian Science imparts this understanding and the capacity to demonstrate it in overcoming discord. As mankind looks to Spirit, Soul, for all good, the veil of fleshly beliefs is lifted, the imperishable substance of Truth and Love is glimpsed, and one becomes the master, rather than the involuntary slave, of circumstances.
On pages 318 and 319 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy states that "the body does not include soul, but manifests mortality, a false sense of soul." The right sense of Soul gives one the right sense of health, and thereby restores it. Spiritual man, the embodiment of good, is incapable of being made an avenue for sickness, sin, or death.
Studying the definitions of Soul with the concordances to the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's works and assiduously applying them in overcoming fleshly beliefs, we find ourselves being liberated from the inharmonies and deprivations of material sense.
Of what avail to a sinful mortal is the sinlessness of Soul? It is his refuge from all sin's accusations and temptations. Sin has never invaded man's individuality, for it has never invaded Soul or its identity. On page 29 of "Unity of Good" Mrs. Eddy writes, "Hence, as Spirit, Soul is sinless, and is God." One can correct self-love in all its phases by knowing that each one of God's ideas expresses universal love. This inspires one to rise above the finite sense of love, which is apt to beget fear, jealousy, mental torment, hate, revenge. The mistaken sense of possession or of monopoly, whether in friendship, health, wealth, or success, gives rise to many fears, heartburnings, and needless pain. But Soul knows nothing of these finite beliefs arising from a personal sense of possession, for Soul conveys all the depth, breadth, sufficiency, and universality of infinite Love. Our way of escape from physical and moral suffering lies in gaining a larger vision of our opportunity and capacity to receive and to reflect the harmony and perpetuity of Soul and its all-enfolding bliss. This vision, held to in our daily lives, makes it easier for us to live harmoniously with others, and for others to live happily with us. In short, a right sense of Soul blesses us and also our environment.
In Soul, God, and in man, His expression, there has never been any seizure of fear, any tempest of anger, any antipathy or friction, any morbidity or sorrow. Man's consciousness, reflecting God, good, is eternally permeated with spiritual joy and purity. Man in God's likeness is never shallow or inconstant. So, if we would prove ourselves the individual expressions of God, good, we must obviously cease to think of ourselves as faulty, physical, finite persons born of the flesh and fettered by its beliefs. How far removed from material finity is the grandeur of Soul; and what a sure refuge it offers from the belief that one inhabits a physical body fettered at all points! That which is Godlike is unfettered. Strength, serenity, fidelity, joy, immutability, are characteristics of Soul, and God's image is not sensual, but soulful.
What student of Christian Science who bravely turns from the turmoil of the physical senses to the Science of being, from fretful speculation to the serene realization of God's purpose for His offspring, does not constantly find a measure of release from human woe?
"Soul is the substance, Life, and intelligence of man, which is individualized, but not in matter" (Science and Health, p. 477). Mrs. Eddy's clear analysis of Soul reverses the material sense of being and shows us the way out of the flesh into the realm of true substance. This is the way our Master trod. He was in the world but not of it; and in due course all mankind will tread this same way with triumph and rejoicing. The Christian Scientist, taking Soul as his beacon light, fears no loss of any kind, but looks to the continuous unfoldment and improvement of all his faculties, all his capacities. Spiritual sense cognizes only harmony and eternality, and this true sense of creation enables one to reverse the so-called evidences of time beliefs, to prevent retrogression, and to progress in all ways. This progress every Christian Scientist must maintain and increase daily, preparatory to earning his translation from sense to Soul.
