The popular belief that death is the means of being translated to an ideal state of existence called heaven needs to be corrected. No material condition or place, here or hereafter, no matter how relatively pleasant it may be, can produce or impart substantive happiness, or bliss, because this quality inheres in God, Spirit, and in His perfect spiritual reflection, man. God's heaven of Soul includes only that which He knows. This verity inspires him who ponders it to strive to establish a more substantive sense of harmony right where he is and thus renounce the temptation to welcome the belief of death in any of its phases. Mary Baker Eddy covers this subject explicitly in her book "Unity of Good" (p. 37): "Our Master said, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Then God and heaven, or Life, are present, and death is not the real stepping-stone to Life and happiness. They are now and here; and a change in human consciousness, from sin to holiness, would reveal this wonder of being. Because God is ever present, no boundary of time can separate us from Him and the heaven of His presence; and because God is Life, all Life is eternal."
The value of these truths was proved to a Christian Scientist during an attack of sickness. Extreme pain and swelling, accompanying an infection in the throat which made it difficult to breathe and swallow, tempted her to think of death as a means of escape. The Christian Science practitioner whom she called perceived this error of thought, uncovered and denounced it as mesmeric and evil, and unfolded to her the spiritual facts of being, namely, that because God is the Life of man, one cannot really die, nor can the sense of dying bring him anything good. It was shown that Life, God, is reflected in living, not dying, and that this living includes the active reflection of divine Love, Principle, Truth, which is a law of destruction to all belief in pain, despair, or death.
These truths caused her to see that living humanly with pain, unpleasant as it was, was a belief far preferable to the acceptance of death. She learned that regardless of apparent pain she could think in terms of spiritual truth, which is the divine basis for the establishment of peace, harmony, and happiness in human experience. In a matter of moments the sense of despair had lessened, and she was seen happily studying her textbooks, the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. She was on her way toward demonstrating harmony, or heaven. In about ten days she was back at her business comparatively free, and soon she was in normal health.
