In answer to the question "What is man?" Mrs. Eddy writes in part: "Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas." Science and Health, p. 475; This statement in Science and Health refers to generic man, but since every individual in a genus must inevitably display all the characteristics of the species, it may be equally applied to every independent entity included within the category "man"—in fact, to us in our real being.
A compound is a thing or substance formed by a union of elements. The substance of individual man is, therefore, constituted of an indissoluble union of all the spiritual ideas included in the nature of Deity. These elements, or ideas, can each be defined and recognized individually, but as a compound they exist together and can never be separated. Consequently, man as a single being as well as a species must inevitably remain intact, including all the spiritual qualities and right ideas of God's being, of which he is the expression.
Mrs. Eddy writes: "Is not a man metaphysically and mathematically number one, a unit, and therefore whole number, governed and protected by his divine Principle, God?" And she goes on, "Each of Christ's little ones reflects the infinite One, and therefore is the seer's declaration true, that 'one on God's side is a majority.'"Pulpit and Press, p. 4;
