A Standpoint is a fixed position, either mental or physical, from which one may view concepts or scenes. Christian Science furnishes a spiritually mental standpoint, new to the world, from which one may view all creation in its true light—as spiritual and perfect because the outcome of perfect God, or Spirit.
The spiritual standpoint calls for the identifying of oneself as an immortal child of God, and this requires that one cease thinking of himself as a mortal with beginning and ending and subject to changes of fortune in between. The true standpoint, adhered to consistently, has the effect of transforming one's life, bringing one's present experience under the control of divine law and causing the ordinary limitations of human life to disappear. Within loyalty to this standpoint and all it implies lie the full possibilities of salvation from mortality.
Mary Baker Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 262,) "Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontaneously, even as light emits light without effort; for 'where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.'" If one's rising is not spontaneous, this is a warning that one is not adhering to the standpoint of real manhood, is not cherishing the treasure of true identification. One's belief in the reality of material personality and environment would keep one earthbound. But the realization that man is God's likeness, without sin or mortality, permits one to rise spontaneously and with unquestionable spiritual authority.
