When we were young parents, my husband and I met a Christian Scientist who was a great–grandmother, and we quickly became good friends. One day she told me that she prayed frequently to learn more about man as immortal. At that time, the subject of immortality was not something that I had considered much. But her comment caused me to think that now would be a good time to think about it more consistently, and in the many years since then I have endeavored to do so.
Man, created by God, immortal Mind, cannot in fact be less than immortal, no matter how real the false, mortal view of creation seems. But as Mary Baker Eddy asks: "Do you not hear from all mankind of the imperfect model? The world is holding it before your gaze continually." Science and Health, p. 248. How can we, in the busyness of daily experience, step out of materiality enough to catch even glimpses of our immortality?
Certainly there needs to be a willingness to consider ourselves to be immortal and to "gaze" less at mortal representations of man—as adorable babies, beautiful young friends, middle–aged people, or senior citizens. If we encounter obstinate resistance in thought toward even admitting to ourselves that immortality is and always has been ours, we can identify this as the limited, human mind pleading for life in finite, temporal terms, and we can reject the temptation to cooperate with this aggressive misconception.
