IT is generally admitted that God, Spirit, is the great First Cause. It is not, however, generally recognized that God is not the creator of matter. Christian Science declares that the only creator, infinite Spirit, or Mind, is also the only substance, for there can be nothing additional to or outside the infinite. Matter, the opposite of Spirit, cannot be the product of Spirit.
In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 591) Mary Baker Eddy defines matter, in part, as "another name for mortal mind; illusion." She further defines it as "the opposite of Truth; the opposite of Spirit; the opposite of God; that of which immortal Mind takes no cognizance; that which mortal mind sees, feels, hears, tastes, and smells only in belief." This definition shows that matter is neither created by God nor self-created or self-existent, but is simply the phenomenon of false, material sense, termed in Christian Science mortal mind. St. Paul called it the carnal mind.
By resolving matter into its primal element, mortal or carnal mind, Science discloses the fact that in dealing with matter one has only to deal with an erroneous state of thought. God's creation—infinite, spiritual, and harmonious in its varied manifestations—is all that actually exists. It is all that is unfolding at any time anywhere; and this divine truth is the basis from which to destroy belief in matter.
