The appearance of the atomic bomb, with its hitherto unexplored possibilities for good and evil, draws humanity's attention renewedly to that strange phenomenon termed matter. Matter, though in some ways familiar to us, nevertheless baffles those who attempt to investigate its nature. The immense forces matter is yielding, according to appearances, by breaking up its atomic structure, palpably reaffirm for many the reality and substantiality of matter.
By calling matter "mythology," in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 591), Mary Baker Eddy, its author, refutes the agelong attempt on the part of physicists and others to explain and deal with matter as an entity—as substance. Her insistence upon the consequent unreality of matter was such a revolutionary conclusion—so far in advance of her time, when many deified material rationalism—that she and her followers have been ridiculed for this unorthodox definition, although in a steadily diminishing degree.
Her conclusion, however, is neither arbitrary nor queer. It is the natural result of a different but scientific approach to the problem of existence. The physicist accepts the humanly obvious reality of material sense testimony. The Christian Scientist is taught to be truly original and scientific. Therefore, he reasons from God, the primal cause of existence, who, being Spirit, infinite, eternal, indestructible, is the source of everything that is the opposite of matter.
