"Reason," Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health, "is the most active human faculty."Science and Health, p. 327. But clearly this faculty cannot be a cerebral or material function, since, according to Christian Science, matter is inert and unintelligent. Only to the degree that the quickening Christ, Truth, is seen acting for good in human consciousness can reason be considered truly active.
All right activity of thought—all right reasoning or intuition—stems from the animating Mind of man, from the one all-knowing God, of whom the Bible says, "His understanding is infinite."Ps. 147:5. In point of spiritual fact, nothing can be active or intelligent apart from the omniaction of the All-wise.
Like every moral virtue in human consciousness, the faculty called "reason" can be and must be translated into its spiritual essence if we're to gain the most from it. Mrs. Eddy points us toward that deeper dimension of meaning when she writes: "The divine modes and manifestations are not those of the material senses; for instance, intelligent matter, or mortal mind, material birth, growth, and decay: they are the forever-existing realities of divine Science; wherein God and man are perfect, and man's reason is at rest in God's wisdom,—who comprehends and reflects all real mode, form, individuality, identity."Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 361-362.
