THE question, "Who am I?" confronts everyone, and the correct answer to it is of great importance. Centuries of knowledge built upon the testimony of the physical senses do not hold the answer. It is not to be found by observation of the human personality or by experimentation with material phenomena. True identity is tributary to divine Principle, God. Our discernment of real identity involves an understanding of God and man.
As a ray of light has its source in and is one with the sun, reflecting the qualities of the sun, even so, God and man are inseparable in being. Thus Christian Science answers the age-old question, "Who am I?" by making clear to human perception the indissoluble spiritual link between man and God. This Science reveals man in his true identity as the reflection of God, forever inseparable from his Maker.
God is the only creator, the only Life, substance, intelligence, and power, and is everywhere present. The oneness, or infinitude, of Deity includes His infinite idea or expression, man and the universe. Therefore, all the knowing, seeing, action, and volition that exist or that can be are functioning within the all-inclusive oneness of divine Mind. Mary Baker Eddy states succinctly in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 267), "The allness of Deity is His oneness."
In the Bible we read (Ex. 3:14, 15): "God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. . . . This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations." This revelation of God establishes true identity throughout eternity, for God, Soul, is infinite individuality and identity.
The First Commandment (Ex. 20:3), "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," precludes the association of any part of identity with anything unlike God. Only that which expresses God's true nature and character has or is true identity.
Mrs. Eddy says of man's identity as revealed in Christian Science (Science and Health, p. 475): "Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas; the generic term for all that reflects God's image and likeness; the conscious identity of being as found in Science, in which man is the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal."
The supposititious opposite of infinite Mind argues that man is material and that he began with physical conception. False supposition says: "Everyone for himself. Man has a mind of his own and must strive for self-expression at the expense of others." Material sense says that man is subject to sin, sickness, death, accident, and limitation. In fact, mortal mind argues that man, the image and likeness of God, is subject to every negative and erroneous state of the false mentality. Thus this mortal mentality, or myth, through pretense, would use its own baseless concept of man to perpetuate and maintain its own claim to entity and identity. Mortal mind's concept of man is not true; it is devoid of Principle, origin, and identity, because it is not of God, the All-in-all.
Man's true identity or selfhood is exempt from error. Therefore problems of mortals can exist only in a dream, or supposititious sense, which is nonintelligent and which Jesus called "a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44). Plainly, our human need is to recognize and enjoy our true identity, our priceless heritage as the perfect reflection of our perfect Father-Mother God.
In my own experience, my willingness to read Science and Health proved to be the unforgettable turning point in my career. Physical healings were experienced. Chronic liver complaint and constipation of long standing vanished almost immediately. Other physical disorders were corrected during the first few weeks of my study of the textbook. My attitude toward Christian Science changed before I had finished the chapter on Prayer. My weight, my disposition, and my desire to live and do things were back to normalcy within a few weeks. The best part of it all was the feeling of really drawing closer to God and of knowing Him better than ever before.
My experience could be considered a normal one for anyone who grasps some of the truths of Christian Science. We soon learn in our search for true identity that the outstanding phase of our demonstration of the truths of Science is the replacing of a mistaken, ignorant, or erroneous sense with spiritual sense—in a word, the rejection and reversal of error and the acceptance and utilization of the truth. This method is unfailing. It always results in the manifestation of good. Good is made apparent to our present state of thinking in the form, manner, and measure that we are prepared to accept, appreciate, and make use of. Divine Mind is infinite in wisdom and is invariable and irresistible.
The student will learn early in his experience that any suggestion that Christian Science is too abstract or difficult is wholly unjustifiable. If the student faithfully and honestly follows the method and rules laid down in Science and Health and the other writings of our Leader, he will have fruitage. He will feel an ever-increasing sense of nearness to God and will experience the ever-expanding joy, health, security, and general well-being which always accompany the recognition of God's presence.
In Christian Science we discover that our true identity is hid with Christ in Spirit, God; that there is no limit to Spirit. Spirit fills all space, and this truth understood exposes the nothingness of error. Various phases of error, or mortal mind, so called, may claim to exist. But error's claim is false. Is it not wonderful to know that man's true identity is untouched by mortal illusions or dreams? The truth is that there is no mortal man to believe in the reality of a mortal mind. Divine Science reduces the mortal dream of existence to its native nothingness. Mrs. Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 205), "The encumbering mortal molecules, called man, vanish as a dream; but man born of the great Forever, lives on, God-crowned and blest."
Man's spiritual identity, his individual being, is at one with God, forever intact in Life, expressing the beauty, grace, and harmony of righteousness and holiness. Man is as ageless as his divine Principle, reflecting the purity of Soul, the loveliness of Love, the completeness and perfection of God, the eternal "I AM."
