The idea that God is the Soul of man deserves more attention and use than it generally gets, even from Christian Scientists. Of all divine facts, this idea is one of the most important and useful.
We who were converted to Christian Science from other faiths may have been taught to regard God as infinite Spirit, and taught not to believe in spirits. As Christian Scientists, we have learned that God is infinite Mind, the only Mind, and have learned that we must therefore distinguish between real consciousness and what seems to be true thought but is not. We have also heard or read that God is infinite Soul, "the Soul of all being" (Unity of Good, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 29), but there are reasons why we may have found that the idea thus expressed is easier to hear or read than to accept and assimilate.
One reason for resistance to the true idea of Soul is that material sense depicts each person as existing by himself, separate from every other, and separate from God. Furthermore, this concept of man is also presented by the legendary account of origins which largely constitutes the second document in Genesis. This legend relates that man, when formed from dust, "became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7). Moreover, traditional theology has used the word "soul" to denote the ego which, so it is said, may be lost or saved— may be assigned to perdition or sent to heaven—as the consequence of what is done or omitted between birth and death. This usage also has a degree of apparent support in the Bible. (For instance, see Hebrews 10:38, 39.) It is to be observed, however, that this text, like ten or twelve other Bible texts, contains the word "soul" as used with reference to God.
