In the sequel to his epic poem "Paradise Lost" John Milton ascribes the recovery of man's primal state of bliss to "one man's firm obedience fully tried." Basing his imagery on the Bible account of Christ Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, the poet declares that Paradise was regained when one man proved evil to be powerless. Since this temptation and triumph of Jesus came at the outset of his career, before he started to teach and heal the multitudes, Milton, by treating of this event rather than of one at a later period, emphasizes the fact that through the handling and destroying of the serpent of error one gains entrance to eternal harmony. In the closing lines of his "Paradise Regained" we read of "the Son of God,"
. . .now thou hast avenged
Supplanted Adam, and, by vanquishing
Temptation, hast regained lost Paradise,
And frustrated the conquest fraudulent.
Christian Science, rightly presenting the Master as the Way-shower for all men instead of the vicarious Saviour of popular theology, enables everyone to conquer evil and recover harmony and health in the way Jesus did. It accepts, as did he, the spiritual fact that the real man, made in the image of God, divine Mind, and therefore the expression of Truth, Life, and Love, has never fallen from his perfect estate. Obviously, an image can never reflect anything other than its original. The impossibility of a lost image shows the falsity of a lost Eden. When mortal belief is replaced in consciousness by understanding of the spiritual facts of existence, we see that paradise was never really lost.
Under the marginal heading "Paradise regained" on page 171 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of materiality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will reopen with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free, not needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brainology to learn how much of a man he is."
Apparently Mrs. Eddy coined the word "brainology" to designate the false teaching that man is born in matter, suffers and dies in it, and then is resurrected from it. The only dictionary definition the writer has found of this word is attributed to her and is based on her explanation of "brainology" in Science and Health in a paragraph beginning on page 295, wherein she says: "The theoretical mind is matter, named brain, or material consciousness, the exact opposite of real Mind, or Spirit. Brainology teaches that mortals are created to suffer and die." She concludes the paragraph, "Thus error theorizes that spirit is born of matter and returns to matter, and that man has a resurrection from dust; whereas Science unfolds the eternal verity, that man is the spiritual, eternal reflection of God."
In paradise, the present consciousness of divine Mind's allness, there are no diseases to diagnose and no symptoms to discuss, for here man is the image of God's perfection. The atmosphere of Spirit is unvaryingly harmonious, not subject to unpleasant or obstructive extremes. The recognition that the spiritual ideas of goodness, peace, purity, joy, wisdom, and love are ever present counteracts and destroys the belief of a material atmosphere capable of containing storms, disease germs, poison gas, accidents, and atomic bombs, or a materially mental atmosphere of fear, sorrow, hate, deceit, greed, lust, and revenge.
In the paradise of infinite Love individuality is never lacking in any quality required for its expression of perfect, complete, divine Life, Truth, and Love; hence there is no need for human psychology, physiology, phrenology, astrology, or any other means of measuring the supposed differences between individuals or of determining their prospects for health, happiness, and success. The infinite scope of God, universal, all-knowing Mind, precludes horoscopes or microscopes wherewith to consider either evil or a limited sense of good. Spiritual discernment envisages the environment in which Jesus saw man as perfect, even as his Father "which is in heaven is perfect."
Is it asking too much to expect a present realization of paradise? No. The promise is that it will be experienced in proportion to one's spiritual discernment and use of "the key of divine Science." While paradise is wholly a state of divine Mind, the realm wherein spiritual harmony, beauty, and bliss reign in all their perfection and power, the understanding of this fact, even in a degree, will be humanly externalized in a more harmonious and beautiful environment, as well as a healthier physical body.
The writer is so grateful for what Christian Science has brought to him that he would like to review briefly his blessings so that others may be encouraged to expect a more paradisaical state of existence here and now as the result of their study and application of this Science. After a childhood and youth spent in a drab, unlovely district of an industrial city, the writer reached maturity with an illness that made him seek help in a sanatorium in a mountain region. Medical science, climate, and every other resort having failed, he at last took up the study of Christian Science and was healed. As he gained greater "discernment of the spiritual opposite of materiality," he found his outward surroundings gradually becoming more harmonious and beautiful.
He had not sought or even visualized so ideal a place; nor had wealth bestowed it. It was, he felt, the gift of divine Love, the outcome of his study and practice of Christian Science. During the years which have followed, his means of gaining a livelihood, the surroundings in which he works, and even his mode of transportation have become more harmonious, providing an abundance of comfort and satisfaction.
To all who will scientifically affirm and strive to live the Lord's Prayer that the Father's kingdom is come, and that His will is omnipotent on earth as in heaven, paradise is a present possibility. "In my Father's house are many mansions," said Jesus (John 14:2).
Following our great Way-shower, we too must overcome the temptation to believe in the reality of a material world with its myriad phases of evil, its sin, disease, discord, and death. We must forsake material beliefs and understand the spiritual ideas that constitute reality. Let us take for our encouragement the Master's assurance (John 16:33), "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Then shall we find health replacing disease, purity displacing impurity and sin, beauty instead of ugliness, order where there was disorder, harmony precluding discord, eternal life not death. "To him that overcometh," says Spirit (Rev. 2:7), "will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."
These divine promises give hope to the world's ill-housed or homeless, to its hungry, sick, unhappy, or sinning ones. Overcoming despair with hope and courage, quelling impatience and resentment with patience and forgiveness, mastering hatred with love, destroying sin with active goodness, they will find themselves experiencing a more abundant sense of life, health, and harmony, the spiritual qualities that constitute "the paradise of God." To those who are striving to overcome error and see the futility of looking for an abiding rest in the material world, Mrs. Eddy says in the Christian Science textbook (Science and Health, p. 254), "Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God."
Paradise is heaven, spiritual consciousness, the present and eternal abode of the real man. Its climate is the warmth and tenderness of divine Love. Its altitude is the exalted consciousness of Truth. Its mountains are grand, substantial ideas of Mind's majesty, beauty, and sublimity. Its streams are tributaries of the river of Life, flowing unobstructed throughout the infinite realm of Spirit and supplying every individual expression of Mind, every idea, with the refreshing water of Life.
Paradise is regained in proportion to one's spiritual discernment that heaven is here and now, is in the Mind of Christ, which is with us always, even unto the end—the disappearance in all consciousness of material concepts. Let us all take the key of Christian Science, open "the gates of Paradise," and enter in!
