WHILE seeking divine guidance to solve a problem, a student of Christian Science was led to this question in "An Allegory" by Mary Baker Eddy (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 327) : "Wilt thou climb the mountain, and take nothing of thine own with thee?" The words stood out with startling clearness, and for days the question seemed to repeat itself. Then, as if in explanation of the latter part of it, Mrs. Eddy's words in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," which refer to Christ Jesus' command to love God supremely, came to her (p. 9), "This command includes much, even the surrender of all merely material sensation, affection, and worship."
In the light of Christian Science, to climb the mountain is to ascend in thought above the claims of matter into the realm of Spirit, into the realization of the allness and ever presence of the one Father-Mother God and of man's relationship to Him. It is to understand that there is but one creator, or Principle, perfect Spirit, and one creation, the effect of this Principle. Christian Science reveals that there is but one kind of man, the spiritual, the reflection or outcome of divine Principle or cause. Therefore what mortal mind calls man is not man, but a false sense of man.
To one student of Christian Science "Take nothing of thine own with thee" implies surrendering this false sense of man, with its "merely material sensation, affection, and worship," and adopting the true, which is spiritual. Taking divine Love as our only guide, we begin to ascend the mount of revelation at the right starting point: perfect God, perfect man, and perfect universe. We examine our thinking and see that to gain a spiritual understanding of God and man is the true motive for climbing. We make sure that our aims are high, noble, and unselfed. We relinquish anything which prevents our spiritual progress, such as hate, fear, impurity, unkind criticism, mean actions, hasty retorts, gossip, resentment, and irritation. As we replace these unlovely beliefs, which have no origin in Principle, with love, purity, humility, kindness, joy, and gratitude, our thoughts become less material. Then we discern more clearly the ideas of Soul, and the false material sense of self begins to disappear, for, as Mrs. Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 1), "The mounting sense gathers fresh forms and strange fire from the ashes of dissolving self, and drops the world."
