In an enchanting paragraph in her Miscellaneous Writings, Mrs. Eddy refers to various signs of spring and asks if mortals are getting closer to God as they observe the marvels of this season. She ends with these words: "Thus abiding in Truth, the warmth and sunlight of prayer and praise and understanding will ripen the fruits of Spirit, and goodness will have its springtide of freedom and greatness."Mis., p. 331; To attain freedom from the cares of mortal existence is surely the deep-seated desire of many people.
This freedom may be attained through the diligent study of the Bible and the works of Mrs. Eddy. Through this study we become aware of God's care for His children. Some of the first lessons we learn are that God, good, is All and that since He fills all space there is no other power or presence; that the real man, as opposed to the mortal, is made in God's image and likeness, and is spiritual because God is Spirit. What He creates must be perfect. The evils, worries, and fears of mortal existence are outside reality; they are the results of erroneous thinking. This erroneous thinking or belief is what needs healing. We learn in Christian Science that evil is not a person, place, or thing and never has been. Gradually we begin to glimpse the "springtide of freedom."
But where does so-called evil come in? Evil is known by many names, some of which are Satan, devil, animal magnetism. It enters into human thinking in the form of fear, animosity, jealousy, lust, dishonesty, duplicity, apathy, criticism, and other evil suggestions that would try to make people believe that they are mortals and can be ill, unhappy, evil, poor. We need not accept these lying errors that seem to beset us. There is an escape provided as we continue the study of Biblical and scientific truths and see that these truths are not only to be known and believed but to be lived.
