Perhaps the most pronounced change which takes place in the consciousness of one who has gained an understanding of Christian Science lies in the perception of the fact that matter is not real, and therefore cannot be substantial. So accustomed had we become to regard the ground beneath our feet and the things by which we are apparently surrounded as tangible and therefore substantial, that a dawning realization that they do not constitute actual substance may at first seem somewhat disconcerting. It would undoubtedly be entirely so were it not that an apprehension of what substance really is must always precede a scientific recognition of what substance is not. Only as we see that substance is spiritual do we also see that matter cannot be part of spiritual reality.
On page 177 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes, "Matter, or body, is but a false concept of mortal mind." This at once places matter where we can deal with it effectually, in the mental realm. So long as we think of matter as substantial and extraneous to thought, so long are we more or less subject to its false laws and limitations. When, however, matter is seen to be merely a wrong viewpoint, in other words, that it is only the concept of substance which appears to material sense, we have begun to gain dominion over it. Material sense alone seems to be aware of matter, for this sense cannot cognize true substance, and therefore sees but its own false concept of substance. To the extent, then, that we eliminate material sense from our consciousness we dispose of matter.
Innumerable cases of so-called incurable disease have been healed in Christian Science through the clear understanding that there is no material substance to be diseased and therefore no place where disease can be located. As a matter of fact, nothing real was ever located in matter, nor ever will be. A student of Christian Science was once helped to overcome a sense of severe pain by recalling that many physical scientists regard matter as being comprised of positive and negative electrically charged particles which, though still material, are invisible to the naked eye. This enabled him to see more clearly that the discomfort was wholly mental, that the "mind of Christ" knew nothing about matter or pain, and that he therefore could not be hypnotized into believing a falsity. Matter was repudiated and denied from the Christian Science standpoint of the allness of God, and thought lifted more fully into the realm of Spirit, with the result that the healing was speedy and permanent.
