A STUDENT of Christian Science who wants to gain a clearer understanding of substance, whether it be in regard to his body or his supply, will probably ask, "What is substance?" Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 468): "Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love are substance, as the Scriptures use this word in Hebrews: 'The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Spirit, the synonym of Mind, Soul, or God, is the only real substance. The spiritual universe, including individual man, is a compound idea, reflecting the divine substance of Spirit."
To the material senses, things about us appear to be material, but Christian Science teaches that this is not true, because, as this Science reveals, "there is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter" (ibid., p. 468). Spiritual substance is the reverse of what material sense would term "real" and "tangible." Since divine consciousness is tangible to spiritual sense, is it not clear that our true substance is our consciousness of the divine?
The Bible contains many examples which reveal what real substance is, such as the feeding of the five thousand by Jesus, who knew that the substance of an idea is Mind and that it is unlimited, infinite, and that it does not come and go but is ever present. He was not multiplying matter or material food, even though the disciples and the people saw supply as fish and bread. He was helping them to see the omnipresence of true substance, which is always at hand. He was helping them to see that substance is not material but spiritual.
The Master's understanding of substance was so clear that his followers saw "the evidence of things not seen" (Hebr. 11:1), manifested in the feeding of the multitude. Moreover, the inexhaustible supply of substance was so clearly understood and multiplied that they were able to gather up twelve full baskets after all had been fed. The material law of limitation was completely nullified. What a wonderful proof that the source of true substance is infinite; hence it cannot be diminished.
Another illustration of the indestructibility and inexhaustibility of true substance is given in the third chapter of Exodus. We are told that Moses turned aside to see why the burning bush was not consumed. Did not this experience come to Moses because his thought was prepared for it? While he kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, his vision was uplifted and exalted, and so he came to the mountain of God—to Horeb—where the angel thought appeared to him in a flame of fire. It was in this state of consciousness that Moses saw that substance could not be consumed or identity destroyed. He turned aside from the mesmerism of matter as reality or substance to the vision of God's law in operation.
When Moses turned his thoughts aside to see God's law being manifested, God called unto him (Ex. 3:4), "Moses, Moses." And Moses answered, "Here am I." The instruction then came, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Moses was required to stand in the realization of true substance—in the presence of holiness, harmony, and immortality—before God appointed him to deliver the children of Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians. He must understand that Mind alone is the deliverer.
Isn't this what is required of us also—to turn aside from the material sense of substance, life, and intelligence in matter and recognize that we too stand on holy ground as we entertain exalted, pure, holy thoughts and listen for God's direction as to what He wants us to do? It is not necessary for us to go anywhere to reach this holy ground of elevated thought, for it has nothing to do with time or space. It is reached only through inspiration and the realization of our at-one-ment with ever-present divine consciousness, true substance.
Willingness to listen and to turn aside from the belief of substance as material to the fact that substance is spiritual, as Moses did when God told him he was already standing on holy ground, is the basic requirement for proving that substance is our consciousness of the divine. Seeing true substance as spiritual and omnipresent is knowing the truth. Man's body must be identified, not as made up of material flesh, blood, and bone, but as a spiritual idea— as true substance, forever indestructible and intact.
A friend who had an unsightly growth on her breast, turned wholeheartedly to Christian Science for healing. Although this growth had increased over a period of years, she was willing to turn aside and accept the truth that substance is spiritual. She pondered daily the truth that divine Love is a law of dissolution to any and all abnormal secretions, retentions, or deposits, and that it is also a law of purification, restoration, and harmony to one's body. She acknowledged that matter could not do anything to matter. She realized that Truth, not matter, was her substance.
Purification of self resulted, lifting her thought above the false concept of substance as matter to the realization of her at-one-ment with Spirit, true substance. The conviction that true substance is spiritual brought about complete healing.
Could we but see that such instances of divine healing are not miracles, or the setting aside of divine law, but are the very operation of that law of God, good, what an impetus it would be to the understanding that substance is not material; it is spiritual!
How privileged we are to have this revelation of Mrs. Eddy's, given in Science and Health (p. 468): "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all"! As we realize that material belief must yield to the truth of being through spiritual discernment, true substance is manifested.
