Before gaining an understanding of Christian Science we may have regarded creation as almost altogether material. We may have thought that it consisted of the planet which we call the earth, with the substances which compose it and the plants and animals, including mortal man, which appear to live on its surface, and of the other planets and stars and nebulae in space. At the same time we may have thought, in contemplating human existence, that, closely related in some way to the material, was the spiritual; indeed, we may have believed that man is both material and spiritual—a dual being. Probably we never entertained a doubt of the reality of matter and of a material universe; and we may have thought the spiritual beyond our comprehension, if we admitted its existence at all.
But the moment we commenced the study of Christian Science understandingly, our eyes began to be opened, for we were forced to reason, not from the standpoint of material sense, but from the absolute truth about God, as revealed by spiritual sense. We had to admit God's allness, the fact that He is infinite Spirit, perfect Mind, and to base our reasoning regarding creation on these fundamental truths. It was as if we had been invited to lift our thought above the earth, even beyond the planets and the stars, and to focus it in the realm of Spirit.
What, then, is the nature of God's creation? It cannot possibly be material, since God is infinite Spirit. It must therefore be spiritual, consisting entirely of spiritual ideas. On Science and Health, page 331 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes of God and His creation: "The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor existence except the divine Mind and His ideas."
