The world regards a masterpiece as something of unusual excellence, such as a rare object of art. People realize that masterpieces are created by artists who have perfected an art or craft to the point where it is near to perfection. Thus a masterpiece has come to mean something created that is as nearly perfect as can be conceived by the human mind.
The finest and only true masterpiece, however, is more illusive to the material senses. This masterpiece is the idea created by God. It is called man. This masterpiece does not border on perfection; it is the reflection or expression of perfection. Therefore it is a much more momentous creation than mankind realizes.
The Psalmist gave the world a true concept of this idea when he said (Ps. 8:6), "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet."
Mary Baker Eddy gives us seven synonyms of God: Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. God, being perfect, could form only a perfect idea, and He endows His idea with every quality He possesses. Man, endowed with all the qualities derived from the seven synonyms, must therefore reflect those qualities in their infinity. Since he is an idea in Mind, man knows good without limit, but never evil. Evil is an illusion, which cannot even appear as a suggestion to man, who is encompassed by ever-present, infinite Love, Spirit.
This concept of man is quite different from the mortal mind concept, which knows man as mortal and limited, made up of bones, brain, and blood, capable of sin, disease, and death, of growing old and deteriorating, of experiencing happiness and discord, sorrow and joy, and subject to all the passions and appetites of the flesh.
Through Christian Science, mankind is beginning to recognize a higher concept of man. Evil beliefs of mortal mind are gradually dispelled as mankind gains a better understanding of God and of man, His likeness.
It is the duty of each student in his study and practice of Christian Science to realize the truths of man for himself and to see these truths more clearly reflected in his own experience. By being alert to recognize the errors that confront one and by replacing material beliefs with the truths of God and man as they apply to a specific situation, one is enabled to rise above a particular error and to be a better representation of true humanhood—the consciousness in which only good is expressed.
Many of the erroneous conditions that face mankind today stem from a belief of lack, of incompleteness. And so it is important that an individual studying Christian Science gain a concept of the completeness of his true being as God's idea. With this concept, one is equipped to handle mortal mind's aggressive suggestion of lack of supply, home, business, family, friends, or companionship and to see the suggestion fade before the understanding of man's completeness.
As an example, let us look at Mind's masterpiece, the complete idea, and see how the belief of loneliness, one of the most aggressive beliefs of lack in the world today, is healed through Christian Science.
On page 475 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, includes in her definition of man the statement, "He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas." Divine Mind, being complete and whole, could not possibly conceive anything that was not complete. Therefore Mind's idea always includes all the qualities of God, and a belief of lonesomeness or incompleteness cannot be true.
The acceptance of these facts brings a correction of thought to the consciousness of the one believing himself lonely. As he clings steadfastly to the truth of man's completeness, one finds himself no longer feeling alone or experiencing a hunger for companionship. He finds satisfaction in the true concept of himself as the complete reflection of God. While this state of thought may result in one's seeing satisfying companionship manifested in his experience, the important thing is that one no longer believes that he lacks something.
Just as the right concept of man's completeness can heal a belief of loneliness, so can the right concept heal the belief of lack of supply. Mind's complete idea, man, can never lack anything good, for Mind creates supply and sustains it. Mind is Love, and it is Love's nature to supply its idea with everything good. Love, Spirit, being All, its idea is spiritual and includes by reflection Spirit's infinite substance. Love's idea, then, can never know fear of lack, because it always knows only abundance.
These facts clearly realized change an individual's concept of his sense of supply. Instead of thinking of what he lacks, he begins to spend his time thinking of the abundant good Love is supplying to him. This state of thought brings gratitude, and gratitude eradicates fear or beliefs of discouragement or resentment because of lack. With this improved thought, the individual comes to see good manifested in his experience, and the belief of lack disappears. It is desirable that supply should appear instantaneously, as it did when Christ Jesus fed the multitude, but one should not be discouraged if it does not do so at once. He should cling more steadfastly to his sense of abundant good and enlarge this sense continually until the abundance does appear.
Companionship and supply are only two of the many spiritual ideas which man includes. God has omitted no single concept needed for the complete enjoyment, peace, comfort, and happiness of man. God's masterpiece includes and possesses all right ideas. As each individual studies Christian Science from the standpoint of learning more of the completeness of God's idea, man, the ideas constituting man's completeness will gradually appear in the student's experience. These signs are the proofs of Immanuel, or "God with us"—that which we call Christian Science demonstration.
The main motive for our study, however, should be a desire to gain a higher concept of man so that we may develop greater usefulness to mankind. As each individual realizes that man is the highest idea of God, he will see his experience taking on heavenly proportions. He will see that man is indeed created with a magnificence far beyond the comprehension of mortal thought. And he will strive toward that day of spiritual ascension when he will appear in all his glory as a complete spiritual idea—the child of God, His perfect masterpiece.
