The study of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," which was written by Mary Baker Eddy, opens to thought the spiritual meaning of words, promises, and statements in the Bible, making them practical in our daily living.
For instance in Genesis (1:6) we read, "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." On page 505 of the textbook, our Leader explains this passage. She says, "Spiritual understanding, by which human conception, material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament." And later on the same page she says, "Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth."
Constant prayer is required to establish in our thought a clear dividing line between Spirit and matter. All mortal beliefs, "the waters which were under the firmament" (Gen. 1:7), from which we all desire to be made free in our lives, are connected with some sense of materiality. Spiritual understanding is showing us clearly man's unity with divine Principle, God, his coexistence with spiritual being, and his immunity from all aggressive mental suggestions.
