The absolute or infinite spiritual sense of being which is set forth in Christian Science is not an abstract theory, but the most powerful regenerative and healing agent that can enter human experience. We must understand it as such. This thought is expressed by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, in her words (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 26): "Mortals must gravitate Godward, their affections and aims grow spiritual,—they must near the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper sense of the infinite,—in order that sin and mortality may be put off."
Christian Science explains that man's being, as the expression of infinite divine Mind, or God, is not material and finite, but spiritual and infinite, including by conscious reflection every idea that exists in Mind's infinitude. The loveliness of Soul, which we can see expressed through art and music, in the kindness of others, in the happiness of children, the majesty and power of Spirit, to which the skies and the ocean point—every blessing, every reality of the divine nature—is included in our true consciousness. The Psalmist must have recognized this to a certain degree, for he presented man as greater even than the heavens and with "all things under his feet." He sang (Ps. 8:3-6): "When I consider thy heavens,...the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained: what is man that thou art mindful of him? . . .Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things under his feet."
Man is the infinite idea of perfect and harmonious Mind. What God does not know, man cannot experience. An idea always expresses the nature of its divine Principle. This is a spiritual fact. Then we need not think of harmony as contingent on material conditions. We need not fear. God's man is not in suspension or waiting for peace to come. All good is now and already included in our true being.
How do we make these truths practical in daily life? By letting our understanding of the infinite divine idea so fill our thinking that each of us demonstrates it to be his actual individuality or selfhood. When we thus learn mentally to look out from the basis of spiritual infinitude instead of up from the sense of a material problem, we strike at finiteness, the suppositional foundation of all evil. Evil cannot, then assume some personalized outline in thought whereby to externalize itself and cause suffering.
Evil always claims finite personality. It suggests to us that our problem is some particular person, or disease, or circumstance: but if we look further than this, we shall see that the basic problem is always just a false finite viewpoint arguing to us that life is material and man a corporeal personality. In the account of Jesus raising the ruler's daughter from the dead we read that "when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose" (Matt. 9:25). May such a statement remind us that in order to take our brother's hand and lift him up, we today might need to put forth the sense of mere corporeal personality and turn thought to man's spiritual individuality, reflecting Mind's infinitude.
"I earnestly advise all Christian Scientists to remove from their observation or study the personal sense of any one," Mrs. Eddy says, "and not to dwell in thought upon their own or others' corporeality, either as good or evil" (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 308, 309). And she further states, "He advances most in divine Science who meditates most on infinite spiritual substance and intelligence."
This lesson was impressed upon a Second Reader in a Church of Christ, Scientist. When seized with dread at the thought of appearing at the desk for the first time, she asked herself, "Is this just a question of a human church service—of two mortals reading to other mortals who might be curious or critical?" And the answer came: "No. The divine fact is that right where material sense appears to be seeing its mortal concepts, there is the presence of infinite Mind, divine Love, unfolding its own perfection. Man is the evidence, as reflected consciousness, of that infinite and blessed unfoldment." This reasoning gave the student a clearer understanding of man's indestructible identity and flooded her thought with love. The fear left her then, and the experience turned out to be a harmonious one.
As Mind's infinite idea, man is not in turmoil or danger, or ever "under fire." He is not mesmerized by the false picture of a world torn by discord. His is the Christ-consciousness, the expression of Love, divine understanding, infinite light, in which is no darkness, no error.
The Christ, God's manifestation in individual consciousness, is never on the defensive, never in the minority. Being infinite, God's idea is always in the majority. It has all of omnipotence supporting it and includes every needed element. When we realize this, we find our dominion; we find that divine Love is caring for us. We find that Love shelters and feeds us, comforts and guides us unfailingly.
As Mind's infinite idea, man expresses unfettered activity. One knowing this, and realizing that he is commissioned by Principle in his pursuits, reflects divine authority. He can feel no burden of personal responsibility, lack, or failure. He cannot be deprived of his reward, since he demonstrates Mind as holding its idea as the very expression of fulfillment and success.
We must remember that man is not an originator. He is but the effect of the one infinite divine cause, which is unfolding its orderly perfection. As we realize this fact we express unlabored unfoldment, in which there is no human will, no pressure or anxiety. Seeing ourselves in terms of Love's unfoldment of perfection, we cannot possibly be hurt or offended, and so shall bear no scars or injuries; we shall not feel pressed or fretful. We shall know ourselves as actually the beloved image, which always feels itself loved and always expresses Love. We shall acknowledge and rejoice in the consciousness of one infinite "I," or Ego, the Father, and without clamor or strife we shall rest in the consciousness of that joy.
"All that I have is thine" (Luke 15:31). This is what the Father is saying to each of His children. God expresses in man His infinite idea, which is forever satisfied and at peace. Understanding this true order of being, we are not afraid that evil will repeat itself. Since divine Love has never known evil, which tries to torment us, evil never truly existed; and how can that which never existed recur or persist? It cannot. When we stick to such truths, we are safe; we are incapable of sin or anguish. We find within the infinitude of our true consciousness all joy, beauty, purity, home, heaven.
One has to think in terms of finiteness, of a material "I" with a physical body, in order to be tempted by evil. Looking out from the standpoint of Spirit's infinitude, what does one see as his identity, or body? He sees the "infinite spiritual substance and intelligence" of his real individuality, his conscious being, and it is this infinite embodiment which he meditates upon rather than matter and physical organs. Divine Love made and fashioned this body perfectly. Love governs every function and maintains every faculty. It is always secure.
Infinite substance cannot fall; it cannot experience collision or accident. Spiritual infinity cannot be congested, invaded, or consumed by any poisonous or discordant element, since nothing exists outside of its own perfection. Spiritual unfoldment is all that is truly going on, the glory and might of infinite Mind unfolding as man's substance, in which there can be nothing degenerative—no disease, no lapsing, no growing old.
There is only one influence, the beneficent, all-powerful influence of Spirit, God. His idea knows no other. In the parable of the good shepherd Jesus said, referring to the sheep (John 10:5), "A stranger will they not follow, . . .for they know not the voice of strangers." He added: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. . . . My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."
Once, after a practitioner had worked for two days for a little boy with a frightening facial infection, the voice of error tempted her to admit defeat. Striving for "some proper sense of the infinite," the practitioner was led to address the error in these words: "You are just mesmerism, just the false suggestion that life is in matter. You cannot outline yourself in my thought in terms of a suffering little child with an infected face. Man is the infinite idea of infinite Mind, and there is nothing immature or frail about infinity! In the infinitude of good there is no fear, false sympathy, dispositional disturbance, medical belief, or harmful influence. The infinite idea is just as perfect and secure as God Himself, who is its Principle and Parent and who is tenderly caring for His own." In less than two hours after this, the child had his freedom.
Ever-presence is One. God's ideas constitute one infinite harmonious whole. They are never divided. They understand and bless each other. This is not just something that is going to be. It is divine actuality now, and we must claim it. Perfection is the divine fact of all being. Mind's infinite idea has no problem. Its record is clear: created and maintained perfect in Mind throughout eternity. In this understanding finite personal sense is lost sight of. The beliefs of coming and going, of death, separation, discord, and war disappear, and we realize our true peace.
Oh, may we so learn these "broader interpretations of being" that we shall be able to show wisdom, patience, and compassion, to work together graciously, to love each other truly, and thus to bless and heal! In speaking of mankind's early concept of Deity as Jehovah, our dear Leader assures us (Science and Health, pp. 576, 577), "This human sense of Deity yields to the divine sense, even as the material sense of personality yields to the incorporeal sense of God and man as the infinite Principle and infinite idea,—as one Father with His universal family, held in the gospel of Love."
