There is probably nothing more deceptive in human experience than the picture of man drawn by the material senses. Herein man is one of millions of mortals. He undergoes birth and death. Matter is supposed to be the substance of his life, his mind, and his body. This mortal man looks to matter to determine whether he is sick or well, aging or dying. Furthermore, in this picture man is subject to all the restrictive and destructive beliefs of material sense.
But is this picture telling us the truth of the real man? What of man's spiritual nature? What of his conscious identity? Can atoms, molecules, protoplasm, or cells declare for man: I exist, I am conscious, I am aware of being? Mrs. Eddy in the following statement asks some thought-provoking questions: "Nature reflects man and art pencils him, but it remains for Science to reveal man to man; and between these lines of thought is written in luminous letters, O man, what art thou? Where art thou? Whence and whither?"The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 124;
Christian Science teaches that no one knows more of man than he knows of God. The real man, according to the Scriptures, is the image and likeness of God. He is not in the picture presented by the material senses. Therefore if we are to fathom the nature and origin of man, it is necessary to understand the nature of God. As revealed in Science, God is infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. These names, found essentially within the Bible, describe the real cause of man's true selfhood.
