FROM the beginning of history, men and women have sought and hoped for a greater control over adverse conditions and a larger life. Christ Jesus recognized this as the desire and need of all humanity when he said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). Consequently, this attainment—this attainment now, not merely sometime—is or should be the aim and purpose of the Christian religion.
In this situation, Christian Science reveals that the real man is the expression of infinite Life; that there is nothing adverse to anybody's welfare except an illusion or error having no reality or substance; and that the scene of every contest with the only adversary is in what is called human consciousness. Further, whoever abides in good so steadfastly that he does not listen to evil is neither affected by it in his own life, nor does he fail in his duty to other people.
Since this is the case, the characteristic need of human persons is to possess and practice mental self-knowledge. In other words, our fundamental needs are to hear and obey the communications of divine Mind, and to detect and reject the impulses of counterfeit mind. How can we do this? How can we acquire the necessary ability and power? Here is one of Mrs. Eddy's most helpful statements: "To live so as to keep human consciousness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and the eternal, is to individualize infinite power; and this is Christian Science" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 160).
