Everyone is seeking dominion in some form or other, anxious to find release from pain and sorrow, liberty from subservience to drugs and medicine, or freedom from worry and limitation. Christian Science, with its teaching of the omnipotence, omnipresence, and perfection of God and of man's God-given dominion, brings release from the domination of the so-called carnal mind and all the enslaving beliefs of sin, sickness, and fear.
A familiar Bible passage, and one of great import with regard to dominion, is found in the first chapter of Genesis. It reads, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." This passage contains one of the basic truths of being: that man is the image and likeness of God. Every quality man possesses is his by reflection; he has no ability or power underived from God. There is no power apart from God, and man's gift of dominion lies in expressing the nature of his Maker.
It is a common misconception that man was originally given dominion but later lost it as a result of his fall from perfection, and consequently must strive to regain it. This notion arises from the false concept of man as a sinning mortal, rather than God's own image. But a mortal is not the likeness of God. Man, created in God's image and likeness, is as perfect as his Father; he is spiritual, changeless, and complete, for that is true of God. Man, then, has never fallen; neither has he lost his dominion over all. As the image, or idea, of God he is forever conscious of the allness and omnipotence of God and knows no loss, deficiency, or diminution of good. The actual truth of being is that man by reflection has dominion over all now and forever.
