A Great deal is said today about the pressures of modern life, and it certainly does seem as if the number of stresses were increasing for most people. These pressures appear to be social as well as economic, mental as well as physical. They include the pressure of duty as well as the pressure of work; the pressure of superior officers as well as the pressure of living up to the standards of friends and neighbors; the pressure of quantity as well as the pressure of time. Often the strain of these pressures is believed to lead to physiological pressures within the body.
In Christian Science these strains are seen to be part of the false belief of material living and are no part of reality. They spring from the belief that man is a material form subject to physical forces and conditions; that he is a human being striving in competition with others to become better and greater, yet always subject to frustration and disappointment. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes (p. 14), "Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man's dominion over the whole earth."
Life is infinite, divine Spirit, eternally unfolding its own perfect being in multitudinous forms of beauty and goodness. Neither mortal life nor material conditions are true, nor are they part of divine Life, which is forever unfolding calmly and harmoniously, without struggle or urgency. Life, or Mind, is the infinite Ego, knowing only its all-presence and all-power, and man is the spiritual reflection of this infinite individuality. Man, as the reflection of God, is never conscious of strain or pressure, for his consciousness and individuality are the emanations of Life.
