Heaven is easy to reach, and safe to dwell in. It does not have to be fought for, or fought over; it does not even have to be waited for. It is, in fact, our native home. The wrongdoer, the sufferer, and the self-righteous miss heaven only because they have not realized its nature. A false sense of selfhood apart from God cannot enter heaven, yet the prayer of a little child will open wide its gates. Human consciousness, in spite of its struggles with evil, need never go far astray from God's presence. A single unselfed thought brings us to the gateway. To the sincere student's enlightened expectation, prayer and healing are one. They are closely linked steps on the stairway by which, through Christian Science, human thought ascends to an understanding of God. These are the steps which lead the sick, the troubled, and the wayward into freedom. And spiritual freedom is heaven, not a place but a blessed state of consciousness, which everyone may humbly enter. It is good to dwell in heaven. In a definition of the word, as brief as it is startling, in the Glossary which is found in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 587), Mary Baker Eddy says: "HEAVEN. Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul." Wicked, sick, and pinched experiences give place to full, free, and joyous living when we learn that "the atmosphere of Soul" is unceasingly ours to enjoy.
Omnipresence is a word of tremendous meaning. It declares God's allness. It takes in every spot, all space, every possibility. It is true that the physical senses cannot grasp it, much less enter it. They falsely testify to finite space and time. To the senses a spot may seem to be festered by disease, or a land ravaged by warfare. When arguments of this kind seek to be heard, the Christian Scientist lets his thought enter heaven, "the atmosphere of Soul." Regardless of the seeming evidence of material sense, he insists that through right thinking he stands in God's presence. Standing there he will be free. Even so, fear or pain or a sense of loss may for a time continue to taunt him mockingly: "You have not made your demonstration. The odds are too uneven. Your spiritual understanding is not great enough to save you." He clings to heaven, firm in the understanding that the senses are powerless to demand a hearing in the holy place where thought lays hold of Mrs. Eddy's teachings trustingly.
