THE beginner in the study and application of Christian Science may be looking mainly for the changes in physical conditions and environment which seem to him desirable. His study of Christian Science and his effort to live its teachings will surely correct whatever is wrong, and Mrs. Eddy has pointed to a yet wider outlook (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 264), saying, "Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things."
The student will find that Christian Science heals sickness and other inharmonious conditions. Yet this result is not brought about through changing some real condition, but through the understanding that man is eternally perfect in all respects, for he is the idea, likeness, of the perfect God, living, moving, and having his being in Spirit, in the kingdom of God. Jesus' promise to his followers was that they should know the truth and the truth would make them free. Acceptance of what is true will always free one from the effects of believing a contrary to be true.
This true sense of things cannot be gained by gazing upon and holding as real what the human mind mistakenly considers to be real. In Science and Health we read (p. 14), "Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine." It is through looking beyond the conditions that seem real to material sense and beholding the true condition, the real substance of divine Life, that the beliefs and dreams of mortals are changed and dissolved. Paul tells us, "The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." This practice of looking beyond the material brings spiritual growth in the understanding of eternal things.
