While often glorified in literature and movies, sensuality can be one of the darkest places a person can be mentally. Extreme forms of sensuality, such as addiction to pornography, can overtake people, causing them to betray their true selves and separating them from their best interests and from normal relationships with others, especially those they love. Tragically, it can also lead to abusive behavior.
Yet spiritual purity is inherent in us all. It is the essence of everyone’s true individuality. Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, saw what it meant that women and men are created in the image and likeness of God—a foundational concept given in the first chapter of the Bible’s first book, Genesis.
Her understanding of that concept was that God is infinite Love, the only substance, Life, and intelligence there is, and that each individual in reality shines eternally as a unique and perfect spiritual expression of this divine Love. This absolute truth of our present spiritual perfection gives us a powerful starting point for overcoming anything that would seem to separate us from God. In particular, it shows that no sin is ever a part of anyone’s spiritual identity but is a lie about the perfect individual of God’s creating that each of us truly is.
