For thirty-five years, we are told, a huge block of beautiful marble had been neglected because one side of it had been injured by a careless sculptor. Michelangelo, however, was able to see the possibilities inherent in the marble. Writing about the true sculptor's insight, characteristic of Michelangelo from his youth, one author has said: "He realized that the carving of a statue depended on visualizing in its entirety a figure already existent within the block of marble. The carver's task lay in chipping away the enclosing shell of stone and revealing the latent image enveloped within as one might break away the shell of an almond." Donald Lord Finlayson, Michelangelo the Man (New York: Tudor Publishing Co., 1936), p. 10. Out of his ability to perceive the image he wished to create emerged the majestic and now world-famous statue of the familiar Biblical character David.
Michelangelo could envision beforehand the figure he would carve out of the block of marble. Christian Science helps us see God's idea, man, as already perfect in divine Mind, and enables us to bring out this reality of man right where the limited, imperfect material sense of man seems to appear.
How do we bring out our true, perfect selfhood as God's image and likeness? Doesn't it come first by responding only to thoughts that emanate from divine Mind, God, and second by rejecting or separating from consciousness all that is unlike God? We start this process by understanding the dualism of the human mind, which appears to be a mixture of thoughts that are divinely derived and ones that are not—mortal thoughts.
