"Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest." The Psalmist here expressed a desire men sometimes feel for a way of escape, a refuge. This desire for escape may be but a subtle suggestion that evil is real. In reality, God is All, and man in His likeness abides eternally in good. When evil presents itself, escape is found in a clear understanding of the presence of God, Love, and the consequent unreality of that which is unlike God. When tempted to feel pressed, driven, limited by evil, we need to know that God, good, alone is real, present, and powerful. In this knowledge is our refuge, our true dwelling place, in which we find our actual being, free from material limitations, and all needs abundantly supplied.
Being composed of the thoughts of individuals, general discordant conditions are corrected through the consecration, courage, diligence, patience, spiritual-mindedness, and humility of individuals. Each individual, wherever he is, whatever his field of activity, has work to do in the establishment of the reign of Truth and Love, the kingdom of God on earth, through the purifying of his own consciousness.
Christian Science makes practical to the world of today the teachings of Jesus, who demonstrated the true way of Life—the way of justice, mercy, freedom, gentleness. Jesus made plain "the way" through Christ. In seeking to follow his teachings, we find that Christian Science opens the door to greater understanding of Truth and brings us nearer to the kingdom of Spirit, which, Jesus said, "is within you." On page 192 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes: "We are Christian Scientists, only as we quit our reliance upon that which is false and grasp the true. We are not Christian Scientists until we leave all for Christ."
