Until defined in Christian Science, soul generally was thought of as something of a nebulous nature, something which was supposed to enter the body at birth, to escape from it at death, and then to go into an eternity of bliss or woe. Though capable of joy and suffering, this shadowy being was believed to be immortal.
One dictionary definition of the word "soul" is, "Animating principle, or actuating cause of life, or of the individual life." This definition is one with which Christian Science agrees, since Mary Baker Eddy declares in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 466), "Soul or Spirit signifies Deity and nothing else." Principle and Soul being synonymous terms for God, Soul is indeed the vital Principle of man and the universe; therefore Soul is never found in matter, nor can it be enclosed in the human body.
Since Soul is a synonym for God, there can only be one Soul or Spirit, and therefore when we mean God, we spell Soul with a capital letter. When we do not mean God, we use the word "soul" with a small letter. For example, we may say that a man is "the soul of honor," meaning that honor is the very essence of his character.
Christian Science is divine metaphysics or the Science of Soul. Generally speaking, metaphysics is the science which treats of that which is imperceptible to the physical senses, of that which cannot be discovered or explained by physical or material research or inquiry. It is ontology, or the science of pure being, the science of the actuating or animating cause which explains all existence in the realm of pure thought alone.
Thus metaphysics is above and beyond physics. Divine metaphysics does not treat of matter; it is not concerned with matter. It is occupied only with Soul, divine Mind, and the unfolding of God's ideas and attributes. Through' the spiritual inspiration, spiritual understanding, and consecrated prayerful labor of Mrs. Eddy, "divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of the age in which we live" (Science and Health, pp. 146, 147).
The practice of this metaphysical system results in the cure of disease and sin. Metaphysicians, such as Kant, Locke, Berkeley, and others, deal with the phenomena of the human mind, and therefore their teachings are of little or no help to one in understanding scientific metaphysics, which is based on the divine Mind. To begin with the noumenon, Soul, Mind, and to end with the phenomenon, matter, is to draw a false and illogical conclusion, because Soul and matter are not related in any way, but are forever opposed, as are Truth and error.
Because Soul is God, there never was sin in Soul. There never was a lost soul, because there never was a lost God. The statement, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:4), refers to that material sense of life and sin in matter which must die because it has no Life in it. Humanity's sense of sin is not its soul, and this must be understood. In Christian Science, humanity finds its true Soul to be God.
It is the belief of sin that has hidden from human sense the loving and lovely nature of Soul, and it is Truth which unveils this nature. Sin, error, has no existence in Truth, and therefore no substance, no intelligence. All that can be lost, and which most certainly will be lost, is the wretched sense of the seeming absence of Soul, God, from consciousness, and such belief results in sin and shame.
In "No and Yes," Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 11): "Man has an immortal Soul, a divine Principle, and an eternal being. Man has perpetual individuality; and God's laws, and their intelligent and harmonious action-, constitute his individuality in the Science of Soul."
What a magnificent thought it is that one's individuality is formed and expressed, not by matter, not by mortal personality, not through human parents or ancestry, but by the immortal laws of God, and their harmonious and intelligent action! Nothing limited, nothing sinful, nothing material, can possibly be found in Soul, and for that reason, our individuality, our individual reflection of God, is unlimited, holy, and pure; and what is more, it has never been anything else, for our individual reflection of God is all there is, or ever was, of us and of those we love.
It was Jesus' knowledge of Soul and its manifestation, man, which enabled him to heal the sick. He knew that man is spiritual and perfect because Soul and its attributes forever exist and are manifested. This manifestation is the perfect, unchanging creation or reflection of God. It is the expression of immeasurable and immortal Mind, or Soul.
When Jesus healed the demoniac, the Saviour must have known that because pure intelligence is the primal and eternal quality of Soul, or Mind, the belief that demons or evil spirits can inhabit or govern the pure consciousness of God's spiritual idea is impossible. Jesus' knowledge of the inviolable purity and goodness of Soul was made visible in the man before him. Later the disciples beheld the maniac clothed with humility, all evil's arrogant defiance forgotten, sitting, in his right mind, at the feet of the Saviour.
When Jesus healed the Magdalen, his realization of the purity of the perfect idea of God, Soul, was so compelling that she followed him to the cross and the grave. She was the first to whom he spoke on the morning of his triumphant resurrection.
Jesus was too pure to believe that evil is real. He knew that from Spirit, from Soul, come all high, noble, pure, and healing thoughts and actions; from the material sense of man come evil thoughts, fear, pride, foolishness, disease, and death. These errors never touch the pure, spiritual identity which Jesus beheld as the reality of man in the image and likeness of God, Soul. By his spiritual understanding of Truth, Jesus proved the restoring and healing action of the Science of Soul upon human minds and bodies.
