Through the revelation of Christian Science, the possibility of our gaining a higher sense of man is always open to us. Science's depiction of man is quite different from the mundane—he is seen as spiritual, incorporeal, the infinite idea of timeless Life. Human beings may seem to evidence perfect man in some degree. But the real man himself is not a mortal at all, either a worthy or bad or in-between mortal. Mrs. Eddy says, "And how is man, seen through the lens of Spirit, enlarged, and how counterpoised his origin from dust, and how he presses to his original, never severed from Spirit!" The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 129;
There are often two attitudes apparent in the spiritual development of people seeking a metaphysical understanding of man. To one holding the first attitude, man is seen objectively—seen through "the lens of Spirit" as pure, sinless, whole, rather than as a finite mortal. As this enlarged sense of man dawns on us, we find inspiration higher than we've enjoyed before, and our spiritual vision is extended as never before. The realization of the scientific nature of man might well launch us on the lifelong study of Christian Science and prompt us to become active in the Cause of Christian Science.
Through continuing spiritual growth we approach the second attitude: we see and feel more and more tangibly that we are the idea of Mind—the real man—and are not just looking at the real man as something glorious but outside and apart from our own nature. This realization may come as a quiet and gentle dawning of the truth or it may come in brilliant, flickering moments. (The difference between viewing the real man through the lens of Spirit and the even deeper conviction that we are, in truth, wholly involved in being that real man can be simply illustrated. We can be tennis enthusiasts in the sense that we thoroughly enjoy watching this sport. Or we can be tennis enthusiasts in the sense that we actually engage in the game, playing it ourselves.)
