We may take the words in Isaiah, "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose," as an assurance of the reversal of every troublesome material condition that can befool mankind and hide the spiritual harmony which human beings are unaware is theirs. And we read with increasing encouragement, "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Here is the promise that the grandeur of the presence of good shall be made manifest in human experience in place of seemingly ubiquitous evil.
To accomplish this reversal, to bring good into evidence in place of evil, human beings must needs attain a scientific, spiritual point of view, whence to demonstrate their true selfhood. By this means, the process of laying aside false selfhood, or the "old man" with the material views of life and existence, and putting on the "new" or spiritual selfhood takes place in each one's consciousness. Christian Science enables its students to glimpse God's spiritual universe and to know themselves as God knows them. Each one must "put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."
Perhaps as yet there has not been developed enough faith in God and His works to have complete trust in this seemingly "new" creation and the ideas therein. Unconvinced, one still may cling to the familiar and the habitual, though longing to be free from its limitations and its miseries. The student thus finds himself in the state of thought referred to as the "wilderness," defined by Mrs. Eddy in part as "loneliness; doubt; darkness" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 597). But an eager determination to progress in the understanding of real being opens thought to the truth which will penetrate and conquer the wilderness of confused thinking, making the desert to blossom, sometimes bringing a sudden realization of one's spiritual individuality, existing entirely apart from matter and its laws. Then is one convinced that he is mentally standing at a point described in the further definition of "wilderness" as "the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence."
Christian Science teaches us how truly to distinguish between the false, mortal personality and true individuality, and points out that personality is not synonymous with the individuality of man. The false sense of personality is of the "old man" with its material tastes and characteristics, its self-will, its blindness to Truth, and its satisfaction in itself as a would-be creator. Of individuality our Leader writes in "No and Yes" (pp. 23, 24), "Man's individuality is God's own image and likeness,—even the immeasurable idea of divine Mind." What a wonderful thing is this! To human sense the "new man," or spiritual individuality, seems vague because it is unfamiliar; but to spiritual sense it is the tangible truth about man. It is man's changeless being, and is preserved in divine harmony, for God, its source, sustains it. Spiritual individuality cannot be imposed upon, nor can its unfoldment be interfered with. Neither does it need to beg for God's favor. It is the sinless, indestructible, joyful, unlimited individual expression of divine good, reflecting all the qualities of Mind.
Jesus' struggle in the wilderness involved personal and spiritual sense. In the Scriptures we read, "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." Because he was impelled by Spirit, that is, filled with all holy desires to triumph over evil, he wrestled with mortal beliefs, "tempted like as we are, yet without sin," as we read in Hebrews. Jesus did not sin, because he did not admit error's arguments into his pure consciousness; and by rejecting them he vanquished error. He proved that as the likeness of God his true individuality was superior to all the suggestions of the fleshly, corporeal mind. Angel messengers then came to him, confirming his trust in Spirit and his spiritual being. This victory over material sense in the wilderness prepared the Master for his three years' work in giving marvelous proofs of spiritual supremacy. What the world calls his miracles, Christian Science interprets as his demonstrations of man's true being. Thus did Jesus prove there is no wilderness for the Christ which he manifested; and he proved that there is no crucifixion or death for the spiritual idea.
The student of Christian Science realizes his real selfhood by claiming the dominion and blessing bestowed upon man, as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis. This blessing has always been man's, and he has never been separated from it. Invested with it, the student faces problems unwaveringly. In the wilderness of sin or of bondage to sickness there can come so clear a realization of true selfhood, free from debasing habits, immune to evil suggestions, that peace, purity, and freedom will replace the dream of error. In the most barren and desolate situation, in the desert of lack and unemployment, the recognition of his invincible spiritual individuality will bring about a complete change of thought; and this improved thinking will be manifested in abundance and remunerative occupation. With vision quickened to behold the realities of Spirit, in whatever condition he may find himself, the student is enabled to perceive the beauty and the affluence of the spiritual man; then his wilderness becomes a place of sublimity wherein he finds how much of God, good, he possesses, and his desert becomes, as we read in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 150), a "resting-place peopled with living witnesses of the fact that 'God is Love.' "
