Christ Jesus' healing work demonstrated the nature of Truth by showing its beneficial effect on humanity. His teaching and practice made plain that human life is not to be destroyed or abandoned, but is to be improved and made fruitful in order to glorify God. Our Master knew that there is great value in living one's human life courageously and progressively and that one is able to do this through spiritualization of thought.
Speaking of his mission, Jesus said (John 10:10), "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." The abundant life that he promised is not an accumulation of material things, but is a demonstrable understanding of the Science of being. With this understanding, one can exercise dominion over his human affairs and show forth his status as a child of God.
In reality God and man can never be separated, because they are one in being. Man possesses by reflection all the abundance of divinity. Spiritual man manifests everlasting Life. He shows forth the qualities of vigor, usefulness, originality, and beauty. He is supremely satisfied because he is embraced forever in the atmosphere of Soul. And he is above weakness or sin of any kind.
How comforting and encouraging it is to know that one's true being, one's real identity, is this man that God creates and sustains, while the so-called mortal self is simply an imposition of material belief! Christian Science teaches that this mortal self is to be dealt with from the standpoint of spiritual apprehension and true being. The errors of mortal belief are to be progressively overcome by the demonstration of spiritual truth until this belief disappears entirely.
The application of spiritual truth to human affairs is the practice of Christian Science, and its demonstration unfolds the more abundant life the Master promised. Through this practice human experience conforms more nearly to spiritual reality. Sin is abandoned, disease is healed, and prosperity is shown forth. Any wish to escape human existence is replaced with the desire to demonstrate the power of Christ, Truth, in every circumstance.
Mortal mind, in its claim to oppose God, good, would attempt to dissuade one from practicing Christian Science and thus rob him of abundant life. This so-called mind is self-destructive and shows itself most blatantly in the impulse to suicide. By audaciously claiming to be the consciousness of man, it would impose itself on mankind and induce their self-destruction. But one need not believe it or fear it for a single moment. The Science of being, understood, arrests such a course and rescues mankind by proclaiming the fact that God, good, is the only Mind of man.
Science lays bare the fallacy of a destructive mind by revealing God to be wholly beneficent. The effect of divine Mind is always to save and redeem. The vicious impositions of mortal mind can be met and mastered on this basis. By claiming his sonship with God and striving to demonstrate it, anyone can overcome the urgings of evil.
"If this life is a dream not dispelled, but only changed, by death,—if one gets tired of it, why not commit suicide?" In "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy includes in her answer to the question these statements (pp. 52, 53): "Mortals have the sum of being to work out, and up, to its spiritual standpoint. They must work out of this dream or false claim of sensation and life in matter, and up to the spiritual realities of existence, before this false claim can be wholly dispelled. Committing suicide to dodge the question is not working it out. The error of supposed life and intelligence in matter, is dissolved only as we master error with Truth."
It would be of small comfort to one struggling with a despairing sense of existence to insist that he continue to live merely because it is wrong to commit suicide. Christian Science does much more than this. This Science reveals the grand possibilities of man, who is imbued with spiritual understanding. It declares the solvability of any human problem by the application of the Science of Life. It insists on the possibility of spiritual advancement up to the very point of ascension.
None of this progress is attained by dying, but is to be demonstrated right here. One does not have to go anywhere or do any violence to himself in order to help others or to be better. All that is needed is an awakening of thought to the great fact that man in Science is not a mortal at all but an immortal, the beloved child of God. This awakening quiets fear, dissolves tension and despair, silences the raging of mortal mind, and banishes guilt and self-condemnation.
Steadfast prayer, coupled with the determination to lay aside whatever would oppose one's Godlikeness, brings healing and opens the way of repentance and newness of life. As the mist of evil disperses, the light of brotherly love and forgiveness, gentle as a moonbeam, permeates consciousness. Progress in spiritual understanding and demonstration gives point and purpose to present human experience. This makes life worth living.
Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 90): "The admission to one's self that man is God's own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea. This conviction shuts the door on death, and opens it wide towards immortality. The understanding and recognition of Spirit must finally come, and we may as well improve our time in solving the mysteries of being through an apprehension of divine Principle."
What freedom and joy come to one who demonstrates his heritage as a child of God! A buoyant sense of effortless being and infinite opportunity fills his thought. In the sacred sanctuary of prayer and praise, everyone may hear the message of Christ, Truth, speaking to one's own consciousness and saying: I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.
