We were talking about Shakespeare's observation, quoted in the Christian Science textbook by Mrs. Eddy, that adversity yields precious lessons. See Science and Health, p. 66 My friend remarked that he certainly appreciated the benefits derived from trials. He just didn't like the trials. I sympathized, and yet we both knew that undisturbed human experience wasn't really what we most desired.
Isn't our deepest longing to realize more concretely the profoundly worthwhile nature that we intuit to be ours? Christian Science, in accord with the Bible, reveals that in truth we are created by God, by pure Spirit. Our real desire, even if we don't always recognize it, is for spirituality, because what we genuinely are is spiritual—man in God's image.
Only as the false sense of life in matter becomes disquieted does it gradually give way to true identity, the likeness of God. The paradox of Christian discipleship, best represented by the cross, is that the very situation that seems anguishing to finite sense is also exalting. It compels the surrender of a mortal concept of selfhood and brings us home to authentic spiritual being.
