Perhaps no one subject presents so much interest to mankind as that of everlasting life. One of the great blessings that has come to us through the revelation of Christian Science is the knowledge and certainty that Life, being God, is eternal, and that man is ever the full, complete, and perfect expression of eternal Life.
What joy and peace are ours when we glimpse, even though faintly, the glory and wonder of this verity! And when the blessed truth of man's coexistence with Life dawns on our consciousness, how truly are the words of Isaiah fulfilled, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."Isa. 9:2; The great fear that ever besets mortal existence, the fear of death, can and must eventually be completely destroyed through the consciousness of ever-present Life.
Among Mrs. Eddy's many profound statements made in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, are these: "Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof."Science and Health, p. 246; To a world that for centuries had been accepting the belief that life is limited to about threescore years and ten, Mrs. Eddy's strong affirmations as to the eternality of life have come with startling effect, despite the fact that the Bible abounds in such statements as that of John, "And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life."I John 2:25;
But Mrs. Eddy has done more than give us the abstract statement that life is eternal. She has done more than merely remind us of a Biblical promise. Comforting and helpful as such a reminder is, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science goes beyond the teachings of other religious leaders by arousing the students of her works to a realization of the urgent need for beginning their demonstration of eternal life.
And how can we better begin this demonstration than by studying carefully the life, the works, and the words of our great Way-shower, Christ Jesus, who not only demonstrated eternal life for himself but told others how to obtain it? "This is life eternal,"John 17:3; said Jesus, "that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Hence the understanding of God and Christ Jesus is requisite to life eternal. And as Christian Science gives the student the demonstrably true understanding of both, it might be correctly stated that it is through this Science that men are to find immortality.
We are taught in Christian Science that "metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul."Science and Health, p. 269; This process in our thinking need not, should not, be delayed. We must give up the illusion that there is another state or realm in which it would be easier to overcome error or that the transition called "passing on" is in any way going to help in solving our problems. Here and now we must begin to lift our thought above difficulties by knowing that there is no realm but the spiritually mental realm. Immortality is available and present through correct, or spiritual, thinking.
In referring to the scientific state of existence wherein the perfect harmony and immortality of Life are discerned, Mrs. Eddy writes, "Death can never hasten this state of existence, for death must be overcome, not submitted to, before immortality appears."p. 76. Thus to help us in our efforts to demonstrate life eternal, Christian Science shows us that we must not submit to any belief that life can be terminated but rather see that we must resist and overcome every such belief that might seem to present itself.
Again, we find this teaching correlative with the Bible, which refers to death as an enemy, something to be overcome. And as we recognize it as such, we shall realize that death has not a single good purpose to perform. Even the relief from pain and discord, which it might seem at times to promise, offers no temptation when it is realized that the evil thoughts which permit these inharmonies must be corrected and overcome on the next plane of existence, if not here, before we can experience complete freedom, true comfort, and lasting happiness.
Our life expectancy, then, is not a designated number of years but eternity. The fullness of human experience should be measured by our understanding of God, not by the events of mortal cycles. To know God is our most important lifework, although we may be occupied in various humanly useful occupations.
In divine Love's perfect universe death is nonexistent, and it is our joyous privilege to understand and demonstrate this glorious truth. Since this demonstration must take place in our consciousness, we should first learn to control our thinking and see that no suggestion of limitation or death enters there. But it is not enough that we merely shut out these suggestions. We must ever keep in thought the great verities of eternal Life and man's eternal perfection as the child of God, changeless and deathless.
Christian Science reveals to human consciousness that since Life is God, Spirit, it must be self-existent, without beginning and without end. The moment we begin to perceive that Life is Spirit and that now we are living in a spiritually created, indestructible universe, the fear of age, incapacity, decrepitude, or any loss of faculties begins to abate. With the unfolding of Truth and the correction of false material beliefs these erroneous concepts are overcome—proved to be unreal.
Men do not actually know themselves or each other until they learn that Life is not in material existence and therefore has no relationship with corporeal sense. So long as they think of life as mortal and vulnerable, they cling to that which the senses alone cognize. Not until they perceive that Life, their Life, the Life which is God, is wholly spiritual does immortality appear. Then that which always has been, that which always will be, is revealed. Being is seen in its eternal continuity, forever unfolding as God and His coexistent idea.
As we gain in our understanding and knowledge of God, as we recognize man as ever the image and likeness of God, Spirit, Mind, ever expressing the attributes of God—love, purity, holiness, gentleness, kindness, justice, integrity, and the like— the more clearly we shall recognize man's immortality. For the more we reflect these spiritual qualities, the more we are expressing our real selfhood, and therefore the less we are manifesting of the mortal dream and its outcome, death. Thus we find that our resurrection is even now taking place, that we are here and now rising above the dream of death and expressing more of eternal life, harmony, and bliss. The recognition of the deathless reality of Life has healed many of fear, disease, and discord by destroying their fear of death.
The moment one glimpses the truth that man is spiritual, he is quickened. As he earnestly continues in his effort to demonstrate that Spirit, God, is the only Life, substance, and intelligence, he acquires an entirely different concept of being. He sees man as dependent for his well-being, not upon matter, but upon Truth. He sees Life, not as finite, but as infinite, without beginning or end. He sees Love as omnipotent, the one ever-present divine Principle.
God's man can never grow old, decay, and die. He can never lose his consciousness of Life, never descend into oblivion and nothingness. He is ever the perfect manifestation of Life, and no belief in the experience of death can blot Life out of his consciousness. Life is eternally his, for God is Life and God is All. How grateful, indeed, we can be for the glorious revelation of Christian Science which, through Mrs. Eddy's unselfed love, has been bestowed upon us!
Thou, even thou, art Lord alone;
thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens,
with all their host, the earth,
and all things that are therein, the seas, and
all that is therein,
and thou preservest them all.
Nehemiah 9:6
