"Imagine an electronic calculator landing on Ben Franklin's writing table. Within a few minutes, the inventor of the lightning rod has figured out how to use the device, but his initial delight soon gives way to perplexity. What makes the confounded thing work?" (Smithsonian, June 1978, p. 64.)
The writer of the article from which the accompanying quote is taken goes on to draw an analogy between the calculator and the human brain: what makes it work? The answer, Christian Science shows, is not to be found in material explanations, because it is metaphysical. Merely physical theories about the brain, whatever their form, can never give ultimate answers. The real nature of consciousness can never be clear to those turning only to matter—to the brain and nervous system.
We can't know what consciousness really is unless we know what God really is. Mind and consciousness are important terms in the language of Christian Science. This Science, taking the hint from the Bible ("His understanding is infinite" Ps. 147:5; . . . "He is in one mind, and who can turn him?" Job 23:13;) and especially from the life and works of Christ Jesus, proclaims that God is Mind. It asserts and shows us how to prove that God is omniscient consciousness, is the only entity that originates knowing, and is boundless intelligence.
