On a train from Rome to Florence, Italy, looking over my ticket, I suddenly realized I was on the wrong train—an express train—and my ticket was for a local one with a few stops along the way. I looked out the window, searching for the departure board for other trains to Florence, when my train started to move. I jumped to my feet to gather my belongings, when out the window across the aisle from my seat, I saw that my train hadn’t moved one inch! I realized the movement I’d felt was actually another train, across the platform from my train, pulling away from the station.
Settled into my seat on the right train a few minutes later, and feeling a little foolish, I began to relate this simple optical illusion to what Christian Science reveals about the illusive nature of physical discord. Illusions are false pictures presented to thought—deceptions, untrue images. It may seem like quite a leap to think of disease as illusion, but not when we consider other situations in life where what we think we see or experience isn’t real at all.
For example, we wake up from a vivid nightmare, relieved to find that what we thought was going on didn’t really happen. And we’re not afraid to board a train, just because it looks as if the train tracks come together in the distance. And we call it the “sunrise,” even though we understand that it’s the earth that’s moving.
