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Rethinking age and time

From the January 1998 issue of The Christian Science Journal


We think differently about time, depending on what we are experiencing. If we are waiting to grow up or if we are anticipating some special event in the future, we may want time to move quickly. In contrast, we may want time to slow down when we are fearful about the future or about aging.

Time, by its very nature, puts limits on good. It is measured out by the rotation and revolution of the earth. In essence, time is the belief that the continuity of life can be divided into past, present, and future. It is really the human mind's measurement of itself. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy states, "Time is a mortal thought, the divisor of which is the solar year." Science and Health, pp. 598-599. We certainly don't need more mortal thoughts!

Time, together with what seems to be its aging effect, is a mortal thought that has as its premise the supposed material origin of man. This false sense insists that man is a mortal, locked in a cycle that ends with inevitable decline. It argues for loss of sight, hearing, strength, beauty, usefulness —indeed an eventual loss of our whole identity! But man's identity is wholly spiritual and permanent, and mortal thought is not the reality of existence.

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