Joy, tenderness, health, boundless good, a complete sense of family—every true and cherished element of life is included in God, divine Mind, and expressed by man. Therefore man, Mind's spiritual idea, its image, is never excluded from good. Every aspect of genuine, spiritual being is truly divine consciousness, eternal Mind, Love, Life, expressing itself and proclaiming, "I am here!" Mary Baker Eddy, in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, says: "The universe reflects God. There is but one creator and one creation. This creation consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected."Science and Health, pp. 502–503.
Man cannot be excluded, even for a moment, from any good by the belief that he is mortal, for man is spiritual. Believing oneself a turtle does not make one a turtle. While thinking ourselves to be a turtle we might not experience a swift rate of travel, especially if we get caught on our back. But never once can we be a turtle. We might suffer the effects of this silly belief, but soon enough the limits of this belief would force us to rise up and be ourselves.
Christ, the true idea of God, which Jesus fully expressed, awakens us to our right to rise up to our inclusion in God's goodness. No one needs to watch on the sidelines feeling incapacitated and excluded. Our native spiritual sense shows us that health and other qualities of God are inherent in our being despite the belief that we live in matter. The claim that man is separate from good is really a lie of the carnal mind.
