A number of years ago I read an article in The Christian Science Monitor about famous artists' paintings of twins. Each painting illustrating the article showed each twin's distinctness—in expression, attire, and demeanor. I remembered this article recently while visiting a museum in Europe and coming across one of these paintings. Yes, upon close examination the twins were very different, even though at first glance they appeared identical.
There is no duplication in spiritual reality. God's man shows forth God's nature as pure Spirit in infinitely varied ways. The divine creation is not, then, a collection of material beings either similar or dissimilar to one another. If this were so, existence would be restricted, and we could never know true freedom, because matter by its very nature is limited. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health, "Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love." Science and Health, p. 477 And there is no limitation in this identity. Appearances do not have to deceive us into believing that two of God's beloved children could ever be just alike.
God holds each of His children, or ideas, in spiritual perfection and in perfect relation to one another. However, the deathless, spiritual, and unlimited nature of each of us as God's offspring is demonstrated individually, not jointly with another. Understanding man's true being enables us to see not only ourselves but everyone as children of divine Life, eternally distinct, ever loved by God, and inheriting all good.
