"Suns and planets teach grand lessons," says Mary Baker Eddy on page 240 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." While the material universe in all its immensity and wonder can give at best only a hint of the infinite realm of Spirit, it is true, nevertheless, that mathematical and astronomical concepts can often prove useful in illustrating a metaphysical point.
The science of optics declares that the eye can see nothing without light, and we know from our daily experience that the world about us is cognized visually only in the degree that light is emitted or reflected from a source. So in Christian Science we learn that spiritual enlightenment is essential to the understanding of God's creation.
Celestial distances, beyond the comprehension of human thought, cannot limit the transmission of light; indeed astronomers now calculate that light from the most distant known galaxies has been traveling for many millions of centuries to reach our planet. How much more potent is spiritual illumination, which is instant, all-embracing, unbounded by either distance or time, and which is immediately effective in eradicating any material concept which appears to oppose its omnipresence.
