A television show called Who do you think you are? traces celebrities’ family histories, sometimes going as far back as William the Conqueror and King Henry VIII in the British version. Its popularity hints at our innate desire to know who we are and where we come from.
Some years ago, after I had given up a career of my own and was at home with my first baby, I began to wonder who I was. I had moved away from family and friends and seemed to have lost some of my identity—or so I thought.
Around that time I had become deeply interested in Christian Science. I felt that my answer as to my identity was going to be found in its teachings, so I had set about reading the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. When I reached this passage, I knew I had my answer: “In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions prior to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being” (p. 63).
