The fundamental error in all human problems is the belief that man's being or identity is conditioned by matter, that his harmony or well-being is good or bad according to the testimony put forth by the material senses. Christian Science, however, teaches that man is wholly spiritual. It reveals his true identity as the reflection of Spirit. Mary Baker Eddy says in "No and Yes" (p. 25), "Man is the image and likeness of God, coexistent and coeternal with Him." Farther on she continues: "That which is born of the flesh is not man's eternal identity. Spiritual and immortal man alone is God's likeness, and that which is mortal is not man in a spiritually scientific sense."
Through Christian Science we understand that all identities, from the least to the greatest, reflect God, the divine Mind, and are maintained by Him. All identities express specific qualities of God, but man, His highest idea, expresses the complete nature of God—that is, all of His qualities.
In the allegorical account of creation presented in Genesis we find two records of such opposite natures as to make it impossible for both to be true. They present first the true, spiritual identity, man in God's own image and likeness, and then the supposititious opposite, or the false sense of identity.
