“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” (Shakespeare). I first read this quote on an opening page of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. It describes how our mental state, including the beliefs, concepts, and perceptions we admit and consent to, determines our experience.
The teachings of Christian Science are solidly based on the Bible, especially on the works of Christ Jesus, which demonstrate that God is perfect, supreme, absolute, and infinite divine Principle. God’s creation, including man, expresses the divine nature and includes all God’s attributes, which are good—such as love, intelligence, and integrity. This is the perfect concept and the reality of our identity as the image and likeness or reflection of God, Spirit. God’s reflection is as spiritual, immortal, and eternal as the creator.
Keeping active and alive in our thinking the divine reality—that we are God’s creation, eternally spiritual, pure, and holy—is vital to our progress. That’s why following the injunction of our Master, Christ Jesus, to “watch” (see Mark 13:37) is essential, in order to admit into our thought only God-based concepts or spiritual reality, which is immutable.
