Recent years have witnessed a great expansion of activity in the field of physical science as physicists have continued to push the boundaries of human knowledge farther and farther into unknown areas in their search for basic reality.
At this point Christian Scientists may be increasingly grateful for the spiritual insight of their Leader, Mrs. Eddy, who saw clearly far in advance of her time that matter and its accompanying phenomena are subjective states of mortal mind and that simply extending the borders of knowledge concerning matter cannot lead to reality. In Science and Health she gives the following definition (p. 590): "Knowledge. Evidence obtained from the five corporeal senses; mortality; beliefs and opinions; human theories, doctrines, hypotheses; that which is not divine and is the origin of sin, sickness, and death; the opposite of spiritual Truth and understanding." Mere human knowledge, then, is unreliable. Only through an understanding of Truth, or God, can reality be discerned.
Christian Scientists, however, by no means minimize or ignore the work of the physicists. They, as did Mrs. Eddy, rejoice in every advance which tends to expand the thought of mankind to a more correct concept of matter. They see such a trend as a leavening of thought, making it receptive to the Christ, the spiritual idea of God as understood in Christian Science. This will open the way for the acceptance of the presence and power of God, Spirit, as the only reality and thus free mankind from the limitations imposed by belief in matter.
