THROUGH THE CENTURIES, exceptional thinkers such as Rene Descartes and George Berkeley have posited their belief in the unreality of matter, but none so boldly as Mary Baker Eddy when she stated, "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468).
A little over a year ago, I found myself wrestling with this very question—Do life and substance exist in matter? I'd awakened one morning to find that one of my legs was covered with bumps—similar to hives, but worse. Over the next several days, red patches started to form, and my leg swelled up. Three other family members had faced challenges with similar symptoms, with very serious effects. Heredity loomed in my mind as a fearful specter. Thoughts hammered, Are you sure disease is not real? The symptoms are pretty alarming. You can't ignore them.
I had learned in Christian Science, however, that perfect health is our heritage as children of God. We don't have to ask for it or work toward it. It's ours by God's grace. Nothing can reverse or override it. Science and Health assures us, "... Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history" (p. 471). In humble prayer, I declared that I was as whole and free now as I had ever been. I affirmed that I was standing on Truth, the foundation of Love, which did not include disease in any shape or form. My support was also in the good qualities that comprise my true inheritance, such as uprightness, purity, and strength.
