Christian Science bases its conclusion that human tribulations are unreal upon the revealed truth that God is infinite good and that evil and inharmony cannot derive from a good God. Hence its firm stand that mortal existence is a self-constituted mesmeric dream, which peoples itself with its own misconceptions—a dream which Christian Science dispels.
In her writings Mary Baker Eddy makes it clear that mortal mind, not man, does the dreaming. For instance, in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she explains (p. 250), "Mortal existence is a dream; mortal existence has no real entity, but saith 'It is I.'" She goes on to illustrate her discussion by showing that the sleeping dream leaves the mortal untouched by the dream experience; and then she adds: "Now I ask, Is there any more reality in the waking dream of mortal existence than in the sleeping dream? There cannot be, since whatever appears to be a mortal man is a mortal dream."
How to dispel the waking dream and thus become conscious of his true self and his true senses is the basic problem of the Christian Scientist. He knows that he must prove again and again that matter and mortals represent only the imagery of a vanishing sense, and that real substance is invisible but enduring. One of the most effectual means Mrs. Eddy has pointed out for effacing the dream sense is to realize that matter and evil have no identity, no actual selfhood. If one believes sin or sickness to be part of himself or others, he strengthens error's claim to existence by ascribing identity to it; he contributes to error's self-deception by agreeing with it. But the moment he stops identifying evil as an element of individuality he begins to undermine its delusion. It is the indentification of mortals as man that claims to give evil power to prolong its supposed presence, and this identification must be avoided.
