"Infinite progression is concrete being, which finite mortals see and comprehend only as abstract glory;" so we read on page 82 of "Miscellaneous Writings" by Mary Baker Eddy. A realization of the Science of being as wholly progressive so stimulates and refreshes us that to be really alive becomes a wonderful thing. The spiritual incentive to make life, in all its infinite versatility, worth while is born of the understanding of Truth and Love, which inspires us with the new light of the revelation of Immanuel, "God with us." In removing the clamps of mere finite sense, we are allowing the influx of Truth, through its own scientific presence and law, to provide its own beauty and abundance.
Since Mind is wholly divine, its phenomena are perfect and eternal; and therefore any attempt to conceive of Mind's phenomena humanly or materially, tends to interfere with the scientific action of Mind, and thereby to delay or prevent our demonstration. "Now are we the sons of God" is a fact about the real creation—the creation which has enduring substance in its every detail, the creation which is perfect and therefore infinitely beautiful and complete. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 258) Mrs. Eddy says, "God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis." The infinite idea is wholly progressive in its spiritual unfoldment, going on "from glory to glory," as we find it written in the third chapter of II Corinthians.
When we understand that infinite progression is an essential element of divine Mind, it becomes an important factor in daily life. By proof we may know we are living in accordance with the standard of Christian Science. If our presence gives gladness and help to others; if our vision is broadening and deepening; if we perceive that our health is improving and our holiness is enhanced — this shows that we are taking part in that infinite progression which is "concrete being." Thus God's being, through the understanding of His ideas, becomes tangible to us, a present possibility; and no longer does it seem to appear as "abstract glory."
Infinite progression being the inevitable element of existence, we must not be induced to believe it difficult. Suggestions of this kind are the illusive result of the belief in something apart from God, which John calls the great red dragon, or the accuser. When the beloved disciple of Jesus rose high enough in understanding to contemplate the new earth and the new heaven,—the concepts of earth and heaven as ideas,— it became evident to him that the dragon is cast out, that "the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." John's experience is not an isolated fact in the history of humanity; on the contrary, it is the consequence of the naturalness of infinite progression, awaiting every one who faithfully and constantly clears his consciousness, replacing the fables of sense with the facts of Spirit. Thus the heavens are opened to us in fresh newness, and we become conscious of our real being, our glorified being, our infinitely progressive being, in our constant reflection of divine Life, Truth, and Love.
