Man and the universe are perfect because they are created by God who is perfect. However, we are not yet fully aware of this fact and must learn to understand perfection. This understanding cannot be gained in a day or two, but it is a constant unfoldment. Our great Master, Christ Jesus, counseled his disciples, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, writes in Miscellany (p. 242), "Unless you fully perceive that you are the child of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demonstrate and no rule for its demonstration."
These two quotations show us clearly man's perfection, but each one of us has to prove this perfection step by step. He who understands these messages is ready to start on his way from a material sense of existence to the spiritual, and the goal is reached by patient and steady progress.
Among the spiritual facts one learns first in Christian Science is this: that in reality he is not material but spiritual because God, Spirit, has created man in His image and likeness, and He is the only creator.
