The function of the Christ is to manifest in human consciousness the presence and power of God. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures Mary Baker Eddy defines "Christ" as "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error."Science and Health, p. 583;Science and Health, p. 583;
A term for the evil that opposes the action of the Christ is animal magnetism. This evil would keep us from knowing that God is present and powerful in human consciousness. And to accomplish this purpose, it appeals to the baser instincts in such a way as to make those who turn their backs on human problems think they are being holy.
Christ Jesus exemplified the Christ. He showed God's love for mankind, God's presence to care for all people, and God's power to heal and save all who will recognize the Christ, Truth, and believe. His exemplification of Truth demonstrated "God at hand." This irritated those who felt more at peace with "a God afar off,"Jer. 23:23;Jer. 23:23; and they crucified Jesus. The demonstration of the Christ today produces the same kind of irritation.
In I John we read of the anti-Christ: "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." I John 4:3;I John 4:3; Today, in Christian Science, the anti-Christ is understood to be the hypnotic force of mortal belief opposing the action of God's divine manifestation coming to the flesh. This hypnotic force focuses attention on corporeality, and it says that Christian Science does not heal.
Animal magnetism is not a reality; but to the extent that we believe in it, we find evil subtle, slick, clever. It stirs us to work outwardly against the forces that say Christian Science does not heal, while it entices us to resist involvement in the coming-to-the-flesh action of the Christ, Truth. It tells us we love to read and hear of the wonderful truths of God and man taught in Christian Science, but that we feel uncomfortable when we have to apply these truths in the human scene.
Animal magnetism would have us believe that we love to take time away from our daily work to contemplate spiritual reality, but that the rest of the day is some kind of necessary evil to be endured until we can get back to that reality. It would keep the love of Christ up in the clouds of abstract human thought and never let it come down to where that love means taking the trouble to understand the problems of men, women, and children in our own neighborhood or in the world.
Christian Science is the Science of "the divine manifestation of God which comes to the flesh." When we practice it, every moment of every day becomes an opportunity to express the qualities of God and to reject the qualities of mortal, material belief. The Christ shows us the qualities of God present in human consciousness.
Animal magnetism would have us look away from human consciousness and see the qualities of God only in abstract thought. It entices us by insisting that such looking away is higher, more absolute, metaphysics. But can that which ignores the qualities of God where they are to be seen, heard, and felt be higher metaphysics? It is only partial metaphysics!
John's Epistle begins with a declaration that the Christ is "that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life."1:1 ;1:1 ;
When recognized, the Christ makes our daily lives bright, wonderful adventures in the demonstration of divine Mind's ever-present wisdom, power, love. It makes our church activities brilliant expressions of the practical, up-to-date manifestation of divine Principle in the spirit of Mrs. Eddy's words : "Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away."Science and Health, Pref., p. viiScience and Health, Pref., p. vii
As we become alert to animal magnetism and reject it, our lives express the Christ without reservation or limitation. And the Christ—which is really man's true identity as God's spiritual idea—expresses itself in our lives in bright new approaches to every human problem. There is always a new, right idea of the divine Mind to apply to a claim of disease, and the idea will dissolve the claim.
There is always a new, right idea of divine Love to apply to a problem of human relationships, and the idea will solve the problem. There is always a new, right idea of divine Principle to apply to a question of justice in the home, the community, the church; and the idea will bring the right answer to the question.
Animal magnetism would have us dream about the qualities of Life, Truth, and Love, then swell with egotistic false virtue because we have no time to think of the human problems to which these qualities need to be applied. The Science of Christ would have us live the qualities that understand people—what they think, what they do, and why.
Animal magnetism would interfere with the healing activity of Christian Science by turning our thought away from the evidence in human consciousness of the presence and power of God. But the Christ, understood in Christian Science, enables us to identify that evidence in thoughts, motives, and acts which, knowingly or unknowingly, show the qualities of true, free manhood.
As we reject animal magnetism and embrace the Christ, we are able scientifically to separate the true evidence from the false, identify the real man in the likeness of divine Principle, and prove practically God's presence and power.
