It is significant, perhaps, that two fundamental statements by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health—"the scientific statement of being" and the answer to the question "What is man?"—start with a denial of matter as the basis of life. The first begins, "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter." Science and Health, p. 468; The second, "Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements." ibid., p. 475; This indicates to me how important a point blank denial of the Adam-dream is. Why? Because the mesmerism of mortality appears to be the mental environment in which we live; and unless matter and its ills are summarily denied and rejected, lack, hate, injustice, disease, and death seem normal, even to be expected.
Christian Science teaches us to destroy the belief in evil so that we can clearly perceive good. Good, God, cannot be mixed with bad; Spirit cannot be alloyed with matter. Christ Jesus taught, "No man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles." Mark 2:22; Even so, it is impossible to put spirituality into the Adam man or, more accurately, into the Adam-dream. Instead, the dream of material life must be denied and disbelieved.
A few generations ago, many people displayed a small brass or ceramic figurine of three monkeys, with one covering its eyes, the second its mouth, and the third its ears. It was a reminder not to see, speak, or hear evil. In his recollections John C. Lathrop writes of when Mrs. Eddy was given one: "That, said Mrs. Eddy in substance, is not Christian Science, it is heathen philosophy." We Knew Mary Baker Eddy (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1979), p. 117;
