"The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, ... shall be as a dream of a night vision." In this inspired statement, the prophet uses the Hebrew word "Ariel," a symbolic name for Jerusalem, meaning "lion of God." The seeming forces of evil in opposition to the omnipotence of Spirit exist as mere illusions, or dreams. Concerning the seeming earthly experience Mrs. Eddy says, "Mortal existence is a dream of pain and pleasure in matter, a dream of sin, sickness, and death; and it is like the dream we have in sleep" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 188).
How to awaken from this dream concerns the health, the happiness, the prosperity, and, above all, the spiritual progress of all mankind. Here Christian Science brings an enlightening message of hope and healing to weary humanity, explaining the nature of material existence as a dream, as a mesmeric state induced by mortal mind. It shows that the destruction of this insidious influence through spiritual awakening in individual human consciousness is a present possibility and is possible for one and all. And this nullifies the discouraging theological belief that one must die to find eternal harmony or heaven.
The false belief in a power apart from God is mortal error, having apparently destructive influence in human experience. Ignorance of man's God-given dominion and the credence ceded to the various claims of false belief seem to induce the hypnotic sleep in which bewildered humanity appears to suffer. Thus, it is obvious that the only way scientifically to "cure" a patient is to awaken him. His affliction may seem to be material in cause and effect—a claim of discord, sin, sickness, poverty, or any of the myriad phases of evil—but they are, nevertheless, solely mental. To break the dream requires a mental antidote, spiritual, not material.
