"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" asks the Psalmist (Ps. 8:4). Mary Baker Eddy answers this question again and again in her published works. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she says (p. 470), "Man is the expression of God's being."
Being is existence. Man, then, is the evidence of God's existence, the expression or reflection of God's essential nature. Since God is Spirit, His nature, or distinguishing qualities, must be spiritual. Spiritual qualities cannot appear as matter. Then the real man is spiritual, not material.
It was the understanding of man as spiritual that Jesus demonstrated when he healed the sick, reclaimed the sinner, and raised the dead. In "Miscellaneous Writings," speaking of understanding that brings the dawn of the Messiah, rather than faith, Mrs. Eddy says (p. 78), "This is when God is made manifest in the flesh, and thus it destroys all sense of sin, sickness, and death, —when the brightness of His glory encompasseth all being."
