Unquestionably, the tendency of the human mind is, in all ways, to impose upon itself a sense of limitation. It moves, so to speak, in an area of restriction. To use a homely expression, it may be said that mortal mind has great difficulty in seeing "beyond the end of its own nose." Limited outlook begets limited achievement, and because of this sense of limitation mortals are inclined to accept the suggestion that there is no opportunity to progress, to expand, and to accomplish. Recognizing this to be so, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says on page 191 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "The human thought must free itself from self-imposed materiality and bondage." It is therefore a finite, material concept of existence which imposes on mortals a sense of limitation, and the necessity is, as the prophet Isaiah said, "to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free."
One of the principal sources of enslavement to limitation is the belief that man lives in a finite, material body, and that because this is so, he is limited by the theories of mortal mind concerning this so-called material habitation. Writing on this subject, Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 223), "Sooner or later we shall learn that the fetters of man's finite capacity are forged by the illusion that he lives in body instead of in Soul, in matter instead of in Spirit." However, Christian Science teaches that man, the spiritual image and likeness of God, lives, moves, and has being in the infinite, limitless realm of divine Mind. Man exists as consciousness, not as matter, and is therefore always at the standpoint of limitless opportunity to know and to be the perfect expression of perfect Mind.
Christian Science shows that even from a human standpoint one's so-called physical body exists as a mental concept which one includes, rather than being included by it. To the extent that this is recognized to be a human fact, one may acquire a sense of dominion over what is termed the body and free oneself from the limitations which attend the belief that he is in a material prison and subject to the restrictions made by mortal mind concerning it. To the extent that one thinks of his so-called physical body in terms of avoirdupois one is apt to entertain a sense of limitation with regard to its movement and action. On the other hand, one gains a sense of freedom in the proportion that he is able to free himself from the belief that man consists of material substance and to see that even humanly speaking the body exists only as material thought, or belief.
