The question of the lawyer who came to Jesus (Luke 10:29), "Who is my neighbour?" is fundamental. This question cannot be answered from the basis of physical sense. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 88), "To love one's neighbor as one's self, is a divine idea; but this idea can never be seen, felt, nor understood through the physical senses."
The divine idea of Love can neither be understood nor practiced from a physical concept of oneself or of one's neighbor. It is not felt physically, for love is not a physical emotion or self-gratification. Spiritual love is so much greater than anything the physical senses can comprehend that it can only be felt, understood, and practiced from the basis of divine Love.
The divine idea of Love is the Christ. It demonstrates the universality of Love. The Christ is the ever-present, ever-active manifestation of the Love which loves because it is Love. This Christ-idea of loving one's neighbor as oneself is illustrated in human experience in compassion, unselfishness, kindness, patience, and so forth. It purifies the affections. It regenerates and heals.
