Simplicity marks the teachings of Christian Science and, increasingly, the highest and best of material theories evolved through the intellectual wrestlings of the world's scientific thinkers. Of the deductions of the latter it is safe to say in the words of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 268), "Belief in a material basis, from which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from matter to Mind as the cause of every effect."
It is the privilege of the Christian Scientist to consider physical theories from the standpoint of his knowledge of absolute Science and to watch with interest when they approach the explanation of matter, as set forth in Christian Science. While no student will claim unduly that he fully understands the intricacies of the theoretical formulae and so-called fundamentals involved, it would be incorrect to assume from the outset that the broad pattern of thought cannot be understood by him who has a demonstrable grasp of the fundamentals of Mrs. Eddy's teachings.
The Christian Scientist judges any material theory from the standpoint of metaphysics, not physics. Jesus said, "If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light" (Matt. 6:22). If the allness and oneness of God, Spirit, Mind, be recognized and maintained in consciousness as the whole truth, our understanding will be enlightened and the ability to separate fact from fiction will be in evidence.
Material theories in themselves do not verify Christian Science, for the verification of divine Science comes by way of demonstration—in the healing of sickness and sin and the overcoming of death. To emphasize this point, let us review one Christian Science healing and see how it authenticates the teaching of this religion that substance is spiritual, not material.
A young child broke his shoulder blade in several places. When the bones were set by a physician, a mistake was made, and a malformation became evident. When this was discovered, a specialist who was called in advised that the bones should be broken and reset. The mother was a Christian Scientist, and with the permission of the father a practitioner was engaged instead. Through the understanding that man is spiritual, not material, and that therefore his only substance is the reflection of Spirit, the healing was accomplished. The bone formation was adjusted with no material aid and so well that when the specialist examined the child at the father's request some time later, he could not discern which shoulder had been broken.
God, Spirit, Mind, is infinite and All. Man, God's image and likeness, according to Scriptural statement, is as perfect as God. Imperfection is unreal because it is unlike God; therefore imperfection is demonstrably untrue. Because sickness yields to the understanding of God, Truth; because distress of all kinds is mastered by the pure consciousness of true being; because the major and minor worries and fears of human experience are made to disappear by the presence of spiritual sense—because of these proofs of the truth taught by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health the Christian Scientist needs no further verification.
For many years after Mrs. Eddy's initial discovery of the divine laws of Life, named by her Christian or divine Science, physical theorists in general still accepted the long-held belief that matter was solid substance and that mechanical laws (laws which deal only with material forces) govern all physical phenomena. In the face of this consensus the Discoverer of Christian Science wrote and proved, by the phenomena of such healing as is outlined above, truths contained in "the scientific statement of being," found on page 468 of Science and Health:"There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all."
But before the turn of the century certain physical discoveries undermined the belief that matter is the solid substance it seems to be. These discoveries led directly to the theory, generally accepted by physicists, that the phenomena of the physical universe cannot be described in any absolute sense by mechanical laws, but that such basic physical conditions as mass, space, and time exist only relative to the consciousness conceiving them. According to this theory the sense of time—of time past, present, or to come—and the sense of distance, velocity, and form are never absolute material facts, but only constructions of mortal consciousness. Mrs. Eddy, many years previous to this time, stated that material phenomena and mortal mind are one, but she went on to declare that neither material conditions nor the so-called consciousness which conceives them is real. Her writings relate all true phenomena to God, divine Mind, and declare, as has been stated, that all reality is the manifestation of this Mind.
Christian Science shows mankind that the allness of God precludes the possibility of the real existence of a consciousness capable of misunderstanding the truth. Thus when a Christian Scientist is faced with material evidence of evil, such as sin, disease, or death, he may declare with understanding: "There is no mortal mind, and hence no truth in the phenomena of mortal mind. 'All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all.'" Making the truth of this declaration his own, he awakens from the error of belief to the knowledge of spiritual being, and the false phenomena disappear from his experience.
Revelation, logic, and—most important—demonstration support the contention that matter, incident to all evil, is a false concept and not an existent reality. The events of an unhappy past, forebodings of the future, and fear for supply, health, and happiness fade as the ever-presence of timeless Love, invariable Truth, all-pervading divine Principle, infinite Spirit, is recognized, and the beliefs of time and material substance and space disappear.
Recently publicity has been given to the expressed hope of many physical theorists that a physical law may be found which will embrace all the phenomena of the universe. Christian Science maintains that since the only universe is spiritual, the only unified law must be spiritual and entirely metaphysical—above physics, in the realm of Mind alone. All true existence is one with God and is thereby spiritually unified.
Christian Science conceives of Principle as all-inclusive, as holding each idea within its orbit, governed by divine law. Man, the idea of God, ever remains subject to Principle. Divine Mind, spiritual and all-encompassing consciousness, never loses sight of man, its idea. Each movement, all spiritual structure, all that exists, is within the realm of harmonious Mind, eternally expressing in perfect orderliness the nature of God. There is no stoppage in this right activity, no beginning or ending to any real condition. Perpetually governed by Mind, man is perpetually free from mortal mind's misconceptions and dictates.
The Christian Scientist never belittles the work of those whose convictions take them along the line of physical research, but he remains convinced that the facts of being in their entirety are set forth by that greatest of all true modern scientists, Mrs. Eddy. So let us each work more earnestly to show mankind clearly, through the demonstration which heals the sick and casts out the sin of materialistic reasoning, that true Science is Christian Science, available now in its purest form to all whose hearts hunger for righteousness and thirst for the living waters of well-being and purity.
