In answer to the question, "What is God?" on page 465 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy says, "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." God, being infinite, is All and is therefore One. This one Mind, or Spirit, which is all-inclusive, all-embracing, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, is the only cause, the only creator, the all-seeing, all-knowing, ever-active, ever-conscious divine Principle. This Principle is universal, impartial, changeless, invariable Love, and is the one and only origin of the universe and man.
Being perfect and divine, this creative Principle is expressed through divine attributes, such as infinity, supremacy, sublimity, completeness, perfection, joy, health, activity, creativeness, power, and dominion. Being infinite consciousness, or Mind, this Principle must be and is expressed or manifested as thought. The sum total of its thoughts or ideas constitutes the universe or universal expression of Principle—its creation. Creation, then, is Mind's infinite image or idea. And being the idea or image of Mind, creation necessarily expresses the exact nature of Mind, and is, therefore, conscious, spiritual, eternal, harmonious, divine, perfect, and complete.
There are several words frequently used by Mrs. Eddy when writing of spiritual creation—the universe and man. Among these are expression, reflection, manifestation, representation, image, likeness, idea, and ideal. For example, she says of man, "Immortal man was and is God's image or idea, even the infinite expression of infinite Mind, and immortal man is coexistent and coeternal with that Mind" (ibid., p. 336).
