Last spring, when climbing into the tub to take my morning shower, I caught my foot on the edge of it and fell headfirst into the tub. I managed to get up on my hands and knees and, in this position, I began to pray. The very first thought that came to me was a statement by Mrs. Eddy: "To enter into the heart of prayer, the door of the erring senses must be closed. lips must be mute and materialism silent, that man may have audience with Spirit, the divine Principle, Love, which destroys all error" (Science and Health, p. 15). Material sense was reporting extreme pain in many parts of the body. I refused to listen to such a false report, claiming instead my unfallen, spiritual identity, eternally one with divine Mind. Perfect God and perfect man, the forever foundation and standard of creation, change not. Therefore, the inarticulate "voice" of the so-called material senses could make no utterance to the contrary. I determined I would listen only to Truth's report of immutable harmony and perfection.
In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy states: "Before deciding that the body, matter, is disordered, one should ask, 'Who art thou that repliest to Spirit? Can matter speak for itself, or does it hold the issues of life?' Matter, which can neither suffer nor enjoy, has no partnership with pain and pleasure, but mortal belief has such a partnership" (p. 181). I refused to identify myself as material, as a victim of mortal belief, but rather accepted my genuine identity as the beloved child of God—ever watched over and protected, held fast in the embrace of divine Love. The ever-present now of Spirit, in which I live and move and have my being, is all that exists.
The Christ, Truth, as lived and demonstrated by the master Christian, Christ Jesus, our Exemplar, required me to recognize and accept my spiritual identity as the very expression, here and now, of divine Mind, as a pure, perfect, and complete idea in that Mind. I could express and experience only the eternal harmony of the government of divine Principle. Mortal mind had no power to impress me, because there never was a moment in timeless eternity when evil, a lie or false belief about me, ever had reality.
