Man does not exist as physique but as idea; therefore he has never lived, moved, or thought as a mortal, but has always existed in the glorious and illimitable realm of Soul. The only past man has ever had is the radiant reality of spiritual completeness and perfection.
Mary Baker Eddy sets forth in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "two cardinal points," which were the foundation of Jesus' works. She says (p. 52): "The 'man of sorrows' best understood the nothingness of material life and intelligence and the mighty actuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or Christian Science, which armed him with Love."
What a wonderful basis for metaphysical work—the "mighty actuality of all-inclusive God, good," and the consequent "nothingness of material life and intelligence." The word cardinal means, according to one dictionary, "Of basic importance; chief; ... essential. " We can readily see, therefore, that these two essentials which Mrs. Eddy so clearly sets forth are a definite foundation for scientifically Christian thinking and living.
To know, for example, that this "all-inclusive God, good," is the only Life and that this Life is infinite consciousness is to realize that there is no other consciousness, no other life or mind. Infinite consciousness knows only its own infinitude, grandeur, and harmony. All there is in reality to know is infinite consciousness, unfolding perfection, and this perfection is what man embodies and always has been conscious of. Divine consciousness, utterly unaware of the existence of mortal mind because there is indeed no such thing, is self-existent, self-sustained and self-expressed and is the sole source of impulsion, volition, and activity. Mind, or infinite consciousness, therefore, is the only Mind, will, or impetus that man has ever known or experienced. This, then, precludes the possibility of Spirit's expression, man, ever having experienced a belief of a mortal past with its disappointments, frustrations, or failures. The only experiences man has ever had or is having now are those derived from the joys and activities in the universe of Mind, infinite in beauty, abundance, and opportunity.
We must absolutely refuse to indulge in ruminating about, or reliving, what human belief calls our past mortal history. Acknowledging the "mighty actuality" of Life, God, we see that unpleasant mortal experiences never really took place. Jesus' reply to Nicodemus (John 3:3), "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," might be interpreted to mean that it is necessary to surrender false pride and condemnation concerning that which calls itself our past history; in short, to have no consciousness of past injustices, mistakes, grievances, hurts, and the like and to realize that spiritual existence is the only fact of life.
To realize that material life and intelligence are nothingness, therefore, would be to prove that error has no intelligence to deceive us and to see that it never has had the intelligence, presence, mind, or volition to act, speak, or think. Knowing that animal magnetism cannot influence or govern man, we are able to effectively wipe out the picture of confusion, disappointment, frustration, and unhappiness in what is called the past as well as to eliminate them in the present. And the realization that Life, divine Principle, is ever present and ever operative, acts as a law of completeness, satisfaction, joy, and abundance to every phase of our experience.
We cannot begin our work from the basis that we are mortals now, but will ultimately be transformed into immortals. In the degree that we claim and affirm the truth of our real being, namely, that as God's ideas we are perfect and harmonious now, shall we assimilate more of the divine nature. In other words, daily affirmation and consistent living of the truths of being act as a law, unfolding to us what has always and uninterruptedly been true of our real selfhood.
In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy tells us (pp. 470, 471), "The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history." Christian Science thus points to man's forever oneness, or unity, with his infinite Father-Mother God, the only parent he ever had. Would it not be dishonoring God, then, if we rehearsed or admitted past difficulties as ever having been a part of us? Difficulties, whether they claim to be in the guise of past or present, are unreal, without history, presence, or dominion, and in our thinking of ourselves or others we should demonstrate that they cannot be identified with man.
All the good, the love, the joy, we have ever felt or experienced was not, could not be, limited to a certain time or place, since good is indivisible, immortal, eternal, and forever unfolding omnipresence. So let us know that all the good we have ever experienced, indeed all the good there is, is right here now, forever unfolding in our consciousness as our being and experience. Then we can know with the Preacher (Eccl. 3: 15), "That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past."
