What is substance? An intense desire to know and understand God is requisite in order to cognize substance, for God, Spirit, is the only true substance, which is spiritual reality—the opposite of matter. According to a dictionary definition, reality is that which is ultimate, as opposed to what is merely apparent or phenomenal. When we seek substance in the realm of the fundamental or ultimate, we find that it exists exclusively in the spiritual realm, not in the physical.
How do we gain the understanding of the spiritual realm? Through faith. The writer of Hebrews states (11:1,3): "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.... Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Faith should not be based upon matter, for true substance has no element of materiality. This statement is in accord with the previous one quoted from Hebrews, "that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."
When we see substance related only to spiritual reality, matter will lose its verity for us. The false assertions put forth by so-called mortal mind concerning substance are completely annulled by the spiritual evidence presented by Christian Science. Those things which are apparent or materially phenomenal are real only to the eye or to the physical senses, upon which no reliance can be placed.
